Chapter 553 Internal Conflicts Intensify
Yang Mo's powerful tip-in dunk earned a standing ovation, with the entire crowd shouting "MVP." In the past, New Yorkers often called other teams' stars "MVPs," hoping to win them over. Now, they can finally proudly present the MVP award to their own star player.
Amidst the cheers of the crowd, Yang Mo landed gently, his expression unhappy. This wasn't the style of play he'd wanted. While he could grab some offensive rebounds, there was no guarantee he'd always clean up the mess for his teammates. Offensive rebounds were always just a remedy; field goal percentage was the key to winning.
Back in the half court, the Celtics were still operating meticulously. They had already formed their usual pattern, and all the players were running like machines. Finally, Pierce got a chance to shoot, and Carmelo Anthony was messed up by their running, which eventually led to Pierce easily hitting a mid-range shot.
Yang Mo didn't yell at him like he would at other players. Even though it was a low-level defensive mistake, Anthony was new, so he had to be given some respect. And being aggressive with him right after he arrived wouldn't be a good influence.
Back in half court, Yang Mo passed the ball to Carmelo Anthony, who displayed his exceptional basketball skills and scored. However, the cost of this goal was that the rest of the Knicks team watched him and Pierce engage in a one-on-one duel for over fifteen seconds. According to the Knicks' normal offensive rhythm, the game would have been over in ten seconds.
Carmelo Anthony was delighted. His goal was beautiful, and it was his first for his new club. The fans in the stadium also gave him great encouragement, chanting his name. This gave him the satisfaction of a hero.
However, Stoudemire didn't think so. He walked to Yang Mo and whispered, "Pass the next ball to me. I want to dunk on Garnett."
"Let the new player play first, and we'll talk about your dunk later. Besides, KG is in good physical condition now, and there is a 60% chance that your dunk will be directly knocked over by him in the air." Yang Mo was not so gentle when dealing with Stoudemire, and he refused directly.
As for Yang Mo's rejection, Stoudemire could only accept it. There was no other way. Now it has become a consensus in the league that Stoudemire cannot live without Super Yang, just like a fish cannot live without water.
Although he is now the scoring champion and is considered the strongest contender for the league's top power forward, everyone still thinks his statistics are inflated. Many people believe that Yang Mo made him what he is, just like Steve Nash made him what he is today.
Although this guy is accompanied by criticism, he is indeed very lucky. First he met Nash, and now he met Super Yang. This means that he has met the two best passing guards of the new century.
For a power forward like an avian, it is such a happy thing to have a perfect ball-handling partner!
The current painful struggle of the young star player Blake Griffin shows how important a good point guard is.
Back in the half court, the Celtics seemed to understand where the Knicks' weaknesses were, and they began to shift their offense to the forward end. They just wanted to attack Carmelo Anthony and Stoudemire, because they knew that the defense of these two was not outstanding, or even not very good.
And the facts proved that they were right. They scored a goal quickly. Pierce's pass allowed Garnett to easily hit a bank shot.
Yang Mo was powerless to do anything about this and could only hope that Tyson Chandler would be more powerful.
Now that this lineup has been put on the table, it is inevitable that there will be some problems in the defense of the two forwards. This is unavoidable. Especially against the Celtics, whose game sense is too sharp.
Yang Mo passed the third ball to Carmelo Anthony again. This time, Anthony failed to display his gorgeous offensive rhythm. Yang Mo also failed to grab the frontcourt rebound, and the basketball ended up in a miss.
The following games seemed to follow this pattern. Each time, the Celtics were able to tear through the defense and score, while the Knicks relied entirely on Carmelo Anthony's offensive prowess. In this way, the Knicks became a souped-up Nuggets.
How could the Nuggets possibly be a match for the Celtics? Even if they strengthened their defense, it would be useless. So, after the first quarter, the Knicks were trailing by 11 points. Although Carmelo Anthony scored 15 points, it didn't put the team on the right track.
"There is no doubt that Carmelo Anthony has not yet found the point of fit with the Knicks. Although the Knicks' strength on paper has increased a lot, in reality there have been internal losses. The Knicks are now playing very difficultly, and Young is trying to use a lot of passes to activate Anthony's position in the game. But, unfortunately, change and integration cannot be accomplished overnight." TNT commentator Collins said so, he was a little pessimistic.
"The most terrible thing has finally happened. A group of great players formed a team but failed to play a great game. Galacticos is really not a good name. Spain's Real Madrid was also a Galacticos back then, but... in the end it still ended in failure. Is it possible that the Knicks will repeat the same mistake this year?" Kenny Smith said incomparably bleakly.
When the Knicks were doing well, Charles Barkley would always jump out to praise them. But now that the Knicks are in a stalemate, he immediately started cheering them on: "Come on, this is just a temporary difficulty. Super Yang easily overcame so many difficulties before, so what's this one? Carmelo Anthony is not an idiot. If any fool can win a championship with Super Yang, then he can too."
Charles Barkley shouted with all his might, completely showing his loyalty to his idol. As the most senior and die-hard fan, he would not tolerate anyone saying anything bad about his idol.
However, even though he was so optimistic about Yang Mo, Yang Mo himself still felt that the situation was extremely tricky. Before leaving the court, Stoudemire had repeatedly emphasized to him not to continue passing the ball to Carmelo Anthony, not to pass the ball to him anymore, because he would cause the team to completely collapse.
In fact, the other veteran players felt the same way. They didn't care if Carmelo Anthony was a big star or not. If they couldn't win, they'd just sit on the bench. They'd been brainwashed by victory, used to it. They couldn't stand losing. This was the pride of a king.
Yang Mo was now in a difficult position. To be fair, he wanted to win, too. No one wanted it more than him. But... the Carmelo Anthony issue had to be addressed. Since he'd been traded, he couldn't just be thrown to the bench. Otherwise, wouldn't it be like he was looking for a fertility test, then found the person ugly after being masturbated?
"Yang, how about we make some personnel adjustments!" Back to the bench, Stein also came over. He also thought that they should temporarily appease the pride of the old players, and then take into account the problem of Carmelo Anthony.
Yang Mo thought it over again and again, then nodded and said, "Next we need to change our style of play, focusing on defense. Turiaf, you replace Stoudemire. Jeffries, you replace Carmelo Anthony. Billups, you replace Ronnie Brewer."
Yang Mo's direct announcement of the personnel changes surprised Carmelo Anthony and Billups, who had never seen a player so overstep their authority. But just as they were surprised, Stein handed over the tactical board, and Yang Mo took it and continued to explain the detailed tactics.
This further astonished the two. Was this still the relationship between a coach and a player? Why did the head coach seem like a handyman? Why was he so happy about this?
Astonished, they also began to realize that the Knicks were different from other teams. Here, Yang Mo was the leader who had the final say. He was not only the core of the team, but also the head coach. Most importantly, he was also the owner.
Invisibly, Yang Mo has erected a tall monument with two words written on it: authority.
Soon, the whistle blew, signaling the resumption of the game. Before taking the court, Yang Mo summarized his tactical thinking: "From now on, I'll leave the defense to you all, and the offense to me!"
This tactic is too simple. To sum it up in one sentence, give him the ball and let him beat the Celtics.
Others might be dismissed as arrogant when they say this, but Yang Mo's statement is perfectly justified. The highest score ever scored by a Celtics team against another team was set by Yang Mo, as was the second-highest score, and the third-highest score. This was a man who single-handedly scored 88 points and then handed the Celtics defeat. He said the offense was his, and who dared to disagree? No one on the Celtics disagreed. Last year, they were beaten so hard by Yang Mo that they nearly collapsed.
From the start of the game, the Celtics felt intense defensive pressure as soon as they had the ball. Unlike Carmelo Anthony, Billups was a defensive player. Anthony was a complete averse to defense, while Billups was a defensive player from the start. Back when he was with the Detroit Pistons, he was known as a tough point guard, even more favored by Larry Brown than Ben Wallace.
Therefore, he fit in seamlessly with the Knicks' defensive lineup, even improving the quality of their zone defense.
The Knicks' defense was already strong, and with Billups, it was even stronger. Against this powerful and resilient defense, the Celtics couldn't hold their nerve... Bang! Pierce's shot went wide. He had no chance against Jeffries. Jeffries' defense was too sticky, even more stubborn than taffy.
Pierce's shot missed. Kevin Garnett wanted to rush for the rebound, but was directly blocked by Turiayev. Then Yang Mo grabbed the rebound with a light jump, and then dribbled forward. After a fake shot outside the three-point line to deceive Ray Allen, he jumped directly... whoosh!
The stability of the three-pointer almost gave Rivers a heart attack.
Yang Mo can now shoot three-pointers with ease. Although he misses some, he almost never misses in crucial moments of chasing points. This makes Knicks fans very proud because their leader is so powerful.
Amid the cheers of the audience, Yang Mo shouted domineeringly: "Winning streak! Winning streak!"
Yang Mo's shouting made the entire Madison Square Garden agitated , and they also joined in the revelry. Since Super Yang had spoken, it would definitely not be a problem.
The famous sharp-tongued Bill Simmons once said that there is only one player in the world who declares he must win in times of adversity. You need to pay attention to him, because he will really step on you, even if you are ahead of him by more than 30 points.
Meanwhile, Carmelo Anthony, sitting courtside, clearly didn't quite understand Madison's court culture. Surprised, he patted his old teammate on the shoulder and said, "Allen, isn't Young worried about what might happen if he doesn't make it? After all, we're still behind. That would be embarrassing."
"He won't. He's never let his fans down." Iverson turned his head and smiled softly, a bit proud. "This guy will definitely become the superhero who ends the troubled times. There are too many strong teams in the league right now, and we need a ruler to emerge. And he will be the chosen one!"
"So powerful?" Carmelo Anthony was a little surprised. Although he knew that Yang Mo was very strong, he felt that there were so many stars in this league, and it was either I beat you or you beat me, so there was no question of who would dominate whom.
Regarding Carmelo Anthony's question, Stoudemire, who was sitting on the other side, was very unhappy: "If you weren't here for the championship, would you come here?"
Carmelo Anthony's anger flared up upon hearing this. While Stoudemire's words were truthful, he simply couldn't stand his sarcastic tone. He immediately retorted, "Even if I came here to win a championship, I'd still be better than you. You won the scoring title by catching alley-oops. What's so bragging about that? At least I can handle the ball and play one-on-one."
"Don't even mention your one-on-one ability. Your one-on-one ability destroyed the chemistry of the entire team. If it weren't for you, we would have been leading by more than ten points. There would be no need for Super Yang to play hard. We could have dealt with the Celtics. Last time, that's how we defeated the Boston Celtics." Stoudemire also retorted angrily.
"What did you say?" Carmelo Anthony's eyes widened instantly.
"I said, you destroyed our chemistry, and we will be better off without you." Stoudemire did not give in at all, and glared at Carmelo Anthony and said tit for tat.
The two men immediately started arguing, and Iverson quickly intervened: "Stop arguing, we're all teammates, there's nothing to fight about!"
Iverson was a small man. As soon as he sat down, before he could separate the two men, the two big men over two meters tall stood up, staring at each other, as if they were going to fight!
