Basketball Dragon

Chapter 134 Indispensable

Chapter 134 Indispensable

After Antonio Davis' suspension ended, he did not return to the team, and the Knicks directly traded.

On February 2, the Knicks challenged the Raptors in an away game. On the same day, the two teams also announced the details of the transaction. The Raptors exchanged Jalen Rose and a 3 first-round pick for Antonio David of the Knicks. s.

The Raptors want to find a coolie partner for Chris Bosh. Although both of them have seriously declined in strength, they both have expired contracts, and even if something goes wrong, it will not be a big problem.

In this game, the two sides were unable to replace the new club. The Knicks, Lehi and Marbury were absent, and Chris Bosh was blown inside, and the game was simply lost.

On February 2th, the Knicks returned to the home court, and Li Hai decided to make a comeback in this game.

Marbury felt very strange, Li Hai persuaded him to go ahead, but in the blink of an eye he asked to come back early.

Li Hai didn't make the request blindly, he had already passed the test, and he had indeed recovered, which also benefited from his strong body.

Their opponent in this game is the Rockets. The Rockets have had a bad season this season. Yao Ming and McGrady were injured and missed the game successively. Their record did not even enter the top eight in the Western Conference.

However, in this game, both of their core players were there. On the Knicks side, Jaylen Rose, who had just been traded, also appeared on the starting roster. Li Hai and other players also welcomed the new members.

On Yao Ming's side, Li Hai also nagged for a while, just like an old lady, Yao Ming expressed his grievance, this time it was a toe injury, which was impossible to predict.

At the beginning of the game, both sides played inside first, and Eddie Curry's first two goals were considered to be full of fighting spirit, but what he was most unaccustomed to was fighting against a high center forward like Yao Ming. After being blocked twice in a row, Eddie Curry The flag died down.

This is also the reason why Li Hai can't agree with Eddie Curry. This guy has some shooting skills and lacks a strong desire to fight on the court. He is different from the other core players of the Knicks.

On Li Hai's side, McGrady was facing McGrady, perhaps affected by injuries. Li Hai felt that the opponent did not have the aggressive momentum of last season, especially on the defensive end. McGrady did not dare to fight so much. The end is also more dependent on jump shots. Under Li Hai's interference, the hit rate is not high.

But the Rockets still led the Knicks by 100 points in the first quarter, relying on Yao Ming's 4% shooting rate. A player of Yao Ming's height, if he has a good touch, is basically impossible to defend.

This is already Yao Ming's fourth season in the NBA, and his strengths and weaknesses have been known by all opponents. Larry Brown also loudly asked Eddie Currido to fight against Yao Ming physically, consuming Yao Ming's energy.

However, it is also difficult for Eddie Curry. One is that he is not strong enough to defend, and the other is that his physical strength is not good. If he consumes Yao Ming, he will probably be exhausted first.

The Knicks also thought of other ways, letting Gortat and Channing Frye try to match up with Yao Ming one after another. One can consume Yao Ming on the defensive end, and the other can fire long-range shots on the offensive end. Yao Ming cannot be defended.

In the second quarter of the two sides, the situation was much better, but the Knicks still scored most of their points on the outside. After getting acquainted with his teammates, Jaylen Rose also started to score points. He and Crawford, The three of Li Hai basically supported all the team's points.

After Quentin Richardson became the starter again, his condition was not good, and he often failed to make shots. Now there are many people who can play in the Knicks, but Larry Brown is still not satisfied. In this position, the Knicks tried many people, but they always felt a little bit worse.

Of course, there is also the complaint that Marbury wants to emulate Iverson as a shooting guard, which cannot be resolved now.

At the end of the half, the Knicks recovered 1 point and trailed by 42 points with 45:3.

In the second half, the Knicks' wheel battle worked, and Yao Ming's physical strength declined and his shooting percentage had problems.

The Knicks took advantage of the opportunity to aggressively attack and increase breakthroughs. Yao Ming’s decline in physical strength happened to be a good time to make targeted fouls for him. Li Hai is very experienced in making fouls now. As long as he gains speed and leans on the defenders, the defenders can’t keep up with him. His movements are easy to be led by him, and he will easily foul.

This trick is more effective for inside players with physical problems. After all, outside players are likely to give up as soon as they are squeezed by him and let him rush in. However, inside players are often unavoidable, and Yao Ming has no one around him to help him with dirty work. , Juwan Howard is a jumper inside, and the defense is not good at all.

When the whistle sounded, Yao Ming opened his hands and explained to the referee innocently, while Li Hai was smiling all over his face behind him.

It was useless to explain, it was definitely a foul. When Li Hai rushed over, Yao Ming had no time to move. If his physical strength was good, he might give way and a big hat would be sent over.

After Yao Ming made four fouls and went to rest, the veteran Dikambe Mutombo who came up moved slower and had no offensive ability. He was also tall and could stand inside to defend.

However, McGrady, who has been hitting the iron continuously in this quarter, suddenly got a touch. When McGrady got a touch, his pull-up jumper was very difficult to defend. Li Hai was not in a hurry, and tried to squeeze McGrady as far away from the basket as possible. Shot further away.

McGrady, who was [-] in [-] in the first half, shot [-]% of his shots in the third quarter. All-star players are all-star players, and it is difficult to stop even if he defends hard.

It was also McGrady's explosion at the end of the third quarter that allowed the Rockets to take the lead again and entered the fourth quarter with a 3-point advantage.

This was Li Hai's first comeback game, and he had more rest time than before.

When he was resting off the court, the Rockets' backup power forward Stromile Swift scored consecutive points with his excellent physical fitness, and their shooting guard David Wesley also made consecutive kills. Sri Lanka's inside defensive ability is indeed worrying.

Li Hai didn't play until 7 minutes left. At this time, the Knicks were already 5 points behind.

He immediately completed a perfect cooperation with Crawford, assisting the latter to hit a three-pointer.

Scoring is only part of what Li Hai brought to the Knicks. He can do a good job of defense and pass the ball well. This is his irreplaceable role to the team.

The few games he missed, I believe both the team and the fans have seen it clearly. Although he is not perfect, he has become an indispensable core player for the Knicks without knowing it.

After he returned to the court, the atmosphere on the court suddenly changed, and even the cheers from the surrounding fans became louder.

(End of this chapter)