Chapter 202 The goal is bigger
Emperor Wu rested off the court in the fourth quarter, but he couldn't sit still after only two minutes.
The Rockets led the Knicks away with a 9-point advantage in the first three quarters, and the team's morale was greatly boosted. As soon as they started, the Rockets' substitute actually defeated the second tier led by McGrady and Harrington, and scored a 9:3 attack wave within two minutes. The score difference was quickly widened to 14 points, which is already a very dangerous number.
This season, the Rockets are very good at playing against the Knicks, which is not strong or weak, but they always make somersaults on the weak team. Today, the Knicks are likely to become another pseudo-strong team that falls in front of the Rockets.
Seeing that the good situation was reversed, Wu Huang had to bite the bullet and play early not long after the start of the fourth quarter. However, two minutes of rest was almost enough. Wu Huang's rest was equivalent to four minutes of rest. Today, he did not spend too much effort on the defensive end and had no physical problems.
After taking the field, Emperor Wu did not dare to make three-pointers easily. The Knicks did not score any more, and the score difference was widened to 20 points in one breath. Then the game was explained. The safe way now is to use breakthrough points. Of course, the best way is to play against the team to cooperate, but Emperor Wu still did not give up on his own goal of scoring points, so he had to take a breakthrough attack after pick-and-roll.
The Knicks' lineup: Wu Huang, Livingston, McGrady, Harrington, David Lee.
Rockets lineup: Lowry, Badinger, Bathir, Landry, Jeffries.
D'Antoni is probably crazy. Livingston is not unavailable, but if you use it with McGrady, can you still watch the Knicks' defense?
Wu Huang's attitude towards Livingston is much better than that of McGrady. Livingston's knee had three completely torn four ligaments, one was severely torn, the meniscus was completely torn, the kneecap was completely dislocated, and other structural injuries were almost amputated. The doctor described the operation as rebuilding his knee like a model.
The Knicks players are good at the tragic Livingston, but it is undeniable that after experiencing such serious injuries, Livingston's athletic ability has declined severely. Now he is in a period of transformation, and his previous style of play is no longer applicable to him. This season, Livingston has been deliberately training his back to become a commander in the substitute lineup, but the results are not so fast. He has too many things to overcome.
D'Antoni originally planned to sack Livingston, but after several transactions, the Knicks lacked enough manpower in the back line, so the Knicks were just signing a sparring player.
The pick-and-roll cooperation between Wu Huang and David Lee was not successful. The Rockets players bet that he would not pass the ball, so as soon as the two broke it apart, the Rockets players immediately went to attack Wu Huang and almost intercepted the ball. Fortunately, Wu Huang's current ball control technology has made a lot of progress at the beginning of the season. At that time, he encountered such a ball, and he would probably lose the ball and be hit by the Rockets counterattack. Now he passed the basketball to Livingston before falling to the ground. It seemed that he had to get a little bit, but the result was very different.
Livingston did not have the ability to make a three-pointer. After receiving the ball, he moved two steps in, but was blocked by Bardinger, who assisted in defense. This is the embarrassment after the lack of explosive power and speed. McGrady sometimes encounters this situation now. The first step is that he has used the opportunity of technology and breakthrough to get rid of his opponent, but when he broke into the inside, he found that everyone assisted in defense.
At this time, Livingston made an action that no one expected, and saw him stop and turn around skillfully. The movement was not fast but very rhythmic. He pressed his back against Bardinger, and his foot did not move, and turned around and made a realistic sway.
Badinger had insufficient experience in the game. Seeing this, he hurriedly moved the center of gravity and moved half a step towards Livingston's turn, but unexpectedly, the latter quickly turned around in the opposite direction, and a 15-foot-distance back shot hit the target accurately!
"This is a turn and lean back!" Wu Huang had just gotten up from the ground and stepped forward and slapped Livingston's butt hard. This set of combos reflected Livingston's solid basic skills and ball sense. His turning and shaking when he was on his back were very skillful and realistic. The final lean back also had a shadow of Kobe. No wonder the Clippers would have been so optimistic about him at the beginning. If it weren't for that serious injury, although the title of the second generation of Magicians was a bit exaggerated, he would become a poor magician, and he would be a perfect all-star player.
At this time, Wu Huang should try to play a misaligned attack with Livingston to help him get dislocation with Lowry. At that time, Livingston's 2-meter height beats Lowry's 1.8-meter height. Such an advantage is enough to make the Rockets feel uncomfortable and vomit blood!
"You come and control the ball!" Of course, Wu Huang didn't do this, but he took the initiative to exchange positions with Livingston, letting him play number one position, and he directly turned into a shooting guard to score points.
"No problem!" Livingston accepted the task happily. The main reason why he was not very popular with D'Antoni was that he played too steadily and too ink when controlling the ball.
Livingston's height advantage and cautious character formed after that serious injury made him quickly change to the direction of controlling the rhythm. It would be very uncomfortable for him to attack quickly. It would be strange if his bearded beard could look down on such a player.
Wu Huang ran without the ball according to the tactics in training. There were many cover tactics designed specifically for him in the Knicks. Livingston kept observing his running position from the outside. Seeing that Wu Huang was about to run out of the opportunity to catch the ball, he immediately passed a forward pass. Wu Huang appeared in the basketball position in time the next second, and a slightly leaning back turned jump shot quickly...
"Swish!" When Wu Huang shot, he felt that his shooting rhythm was very comfortable, and the basketball was indeed hollow into the net!
"Well passed!" Wu Huang raised a thumbs up, Livingston's pass was measured in advance and the strength was just right, which made his catch and shoot twice the result with half the effort. The cooperation between the two sparked sparks.
D'Antoni applauded softly on the court. He didn't like to use Livingston, but it doesn't mean he didn't understand Livingston. Speaking of which, he was considered to be a good deal of Emperor Wu. Although he was a little disobedient, Emperor Wu was also his disciple after all. Xiaomouzi knew him deeply and knew how to cooperate with him.
Wu Huang scored his 9th three-pointer and the total score reached 49 points. This goal allowed him to break the highest score in a single game in his career, and it was only one step away from his first 50+ in his career.
Livingston likes this kind of cooperation. His vision advantage is reflected. Wu Huang's running without the ball is also erratic enough. The combination of the two actually exerted unexpected chemical effects. Less than a minute later, Wu Huang used his teammate's double cover again to get Livingston's pass.
This time, Battier changed defense very promptly. Although Wu received the pass, Battier's defense was in place. But Batman never expected that Wu's reaction was so fast, and he was already planning to jump shot. Seeing that he was defending, he changed to a foul at the critical moment. He wisely tricked Battier three free throws at one time, and the entire Madison Square Garden was boiling again!
Wu Huang let out a sigh of relief, and his reaction speed made another contribution. If he had made a forced shot just now, this ball would have to hit the iron under Bathir's defense. Now he has entered the free throw line. With his free throw shooting percentage of nearly 90%, he has been put in his pocket for the first time in his career with 50++ in his career.
All New York fans were shouting "50 points" and "mvp" at this moment. The last time the Knicks got 50+ in a single game was Jamal Crawford. However, that guy was not from New York, nor was he a player who could become the core of the team. He was destined to be just a passerby in New York, so the excitement of New York fans at this time was much higher than that time.
The treatment given to the core and foreign stars of NBA fans is completely different. In the eyes of New York fans, Wu Huang is their own person, just like the Magician and Kobe are to the Lakers. Although O'Neal is not smaller than Kobe in terms of credit, his status in the history of the Lakers and the minds of Lakers fans is simply not comparable to Kobe.
Wu Huang made a free throw for the first time, and he finally got 50+ for the first time in his career. He looked forward to the goal of most of the season, and finally achieved it today. However, Wu Huang was not very excited, because he got 50+ by nearly a month later than Jennings. He was only a few days earlier than James, and finally ranked second. This is really not worth bragging!
Finally, amid the cheers of New York fans, Wu Huang scored the remaining two goals one after another. The personal score had reached 52 points, and the two teams scored 99:107. Wu Huang scored consecutively after he came on the court, helping the Knicks narrow the gap to 8 points.
The Rockets requested a timeout. Adelman needs to think carefully about how to deal with Emperor Wu’s problem next?
"Boss. There are eight minutes left in the game. You have hope of 60 points today!" Wu Huang walked off the stadium with a calm expression. After hearing Gallinari's words, the heart that had just calmed down was turbulent again. "Yes, I lost the youngest 50+ record, but I can still strive for the youngest 60+. There is no younger player in the league than me. As long as I break this record now, others will not be able to surpass me."
Emperor Wu smiled and nodded: "Yes, I can try it."
His birthday is December 31. According to the league rules, it is almost impossible for a rookie younger than him in the future. As long as he can break the youngest record of 60+, if people want to surpass him, they must be as weird as his birthday and must score 60+ before the All-Star Game in the rookie season. This is basically impossible.
After the timeout, Wu Huang continued to play with a strong desire to score, and soon scored another three-pointer. In the fourth quarter, Wu Huang bypassed Harrington, who was performing the positioning cover for him, and received a pass from Livingston. This time he faced Ariza.
Ariza dared not be careless when facing Wu Huang. He has had championship experience as a player who has seen big scenes, but Wu Huang, who is in a state, is not much worse than Kobe's terrifying nature. He dribbled continuously on the spot, so he chose to take the initiative, but was turned over by Wu Huang, and scored two more points in the mid-range emergency stop and jumped off.
New York fans began to shout "60 points" slogans!
Emperor Wu has scored 54 points, and there is still half a quarter of the game, and it seems that it is not a problem to get another 6 points.
The Knicks' highest single-game scoring record was set by Bernard King, who scored 60 points in the game against the Nets on December 26, 1984. Wu Huang is expected to break the record set 26 years ago today.
CCTV broadcast this game today. At this moment, domestic fans have regarded this game as a battle of Emperor Wu’s battle for the gods. As long as he scored 6 points, he would be really a gods, because no one has ever scored 60+ points in his rookie season, and even Chamberlain, who once scored 100 points in a single game, has never done it.
Chamberlain scored 58 points in his rookie season twice, but he was two points short of those two games and did not score 60+. Since even the coach could not complete the record, no one has done it in the following 50 years. Today, Emperor Wu will have the hope of completing this impossible task.
Rockets players don't want Wu Huang to complete such a miracle. They don't want people to pull them in as background when they mention the miracles created by Wu Huang, which is no different from being nailed to a pillar of shame.
Adelman made a re-adjustment. Before, he thought it was acceptable to get Wu Huang to get 50+, but if he got 60+, he would never accept it.
Emperor Wu soon discovered the Rockets' defense changes. Even if he didn't have a basketball in his hand, he would follow two defensive players at any time. As soon as he received the ball, the Rockets would immediately send a third person to stare at him, ready to use three-person double-team to limit his scoring.
In this case, it is almost impossible for Wu Huang to score again, but once the defense arranges such a defense, it will be a disguised sign that the game is almost over. As long as the player who is double-teamed by three people passes the ball out, there will be empty spaces everywhere on the court, and the offensive party will soon be able to defeat the defense!
But Emperor Wu didn't pass it. The so-called "almost impossible" would be said to be possible. For example, if you transport the ball to a position more than two meters away from the three-point line, you raise your hand and shoot...
"Swish!" Wu Huang looked at the basketball really falling into the basket, and he secretly called out "good luck". Of course, he was not sure about this kind of ball, but when the feel came, such balls could still be shot. Many players in the training like to play games of ultra-long-distance shooting. Wu Huang has always been the best player in the Knicks.
"This tm is OK!" The fans in front of the TV were stunned, and the Rockets players were also stunned. They sent two players to defend Wu Huang. They were originally going to wait for Wu Huang to enter the position two meters away from the three-point line before starting defense, but they did not expect Wu Huang to shoot at a distance of three meters. This position was equivalent to shooting just after two steps in the midfield. When Wu Huang was shooting, the distance from the middle circle was closer than the three-point line.
After Wu Huang scored the goal, he raised his right hand again and walked back very arrogantly.
Chapter completed!