Chapter 1174: Chapter 373: Explosive Balloons
"That’s quite a vivid analogy, I’ll handle it, thank you Dikembe."
Dikembe Mutombo believes Roger can bring the team back on track, but the NBA schedule won’t pause for you to resolve all your issues before continuing.
Just as the world was reporting on the Warriors’ locker room crisis, the Warriors also welcomed this season’s hottest Eastern team, the New York Knicks, who gathered Dwayne Wade, Kevin Garnett, and Yao Ming.
The New York Knicks, like the Warriors, are currently on a winning streak.
At the beginning, ESPN predicted that the Knicks would struggle for a period at the start of the season.
After all, how the three stars of the Knicks can coexist is a very daunting issue.
Dwayne Wade is the one with more talent, Yao Ming has been with the Knicks the longest and is most popular with the fans, and Kevin Garnett has the highest profile.
When the team only had Yao Ming and Wade, tactical positions and shooting rights were not an issue.
But what happens when you add KG?
Will Yao Ming relinquish his throne as the King of New York? Will Dwayne Wade be willing to become the third option? Will the hot-tempered Kevin Garnett be willing to play second fiddle to the two youngsters?
These are very tricky problems.
Current Knicks coach and one of the creators of the Atlanta Dynasty, Lenny Wilkens, once told reporters at media day: "We have the best opportunity, but we also face the greatest challenge."
Gary Payton, joining the Knicks, volunteered: "I will be the bridge for communication between them."
Lenny Wilkens and the Glove both know that such a multi-star lineup is not easy to manage.
However, things developed beyond Lenny Wilkens and the Glove’s expectations.
Kevin Garnett proactively told everyone on his first day joining the team: "We shouldn’t care about the stats, but rather about winning."
And Kevin Garnett practiced what he preached.
In the three games played this season, Kevin Garnett hasn’t taken more shots than Yao Ming and Wade, even though he’s long been famous, even though he was the second player in last season’s MVP rankings.
He selflessly set up screens for Wade, tirelessly helped Yao Ming fill in those defensive gaps.
At the same time, he hasn’t lost his passion for the game; he would shout and motivate teammates when the score was tight, step up first to support when a teammate was threatened (but if it comes to actual fighting, that’s hard to say), and rush forward to pull up a teammate knocked down. If an opponent tried to shoot after the whistle, he would unhesitatingly leap up to block the shot.
Over time, everyone on the Knicks would do the same, not allowing any opponent to score after the whistle. This is the rule belonging to the New York Knicks, it’s telling the opponents: "Don’t think you’ll score easily over our heads."
With this atmosphere, the Knicks crushed the Detroit Pistons in the last game, and this victory made the Knicks players even closer and more united.
At the post-game press conference after defeating the Pistons, Dwayne Wade commented: "I’ve never seen anyone more infectious, more selfless, more victory-oriented than him (KG)."
Yao Ming also gave Garnett high praise: "He always gives everything on the court without reservation, his passion excites us, his selflessness makes everyone become selfless as well. What he’s bringing is becoming the backbone of this team. He’s like helping a baby learn to walk, and I believe we will step back on track step by step."
Gary Payton was grinning ear to ear: "I said earlier I’d get a ring!"
This is Kevin Garnett, he’s a guy full of contrasts.
Just looking at his character and temper, you might think he’s a ball hog, a troublemaker, a headache-inducing jerk.
Coupled with his violent run-ins with rookies during his Timberwolves days and his split with Stephon Marbury, all served to deepen that impression.
But in reality, he’s an excellent, hugely infectious team player. He’s like "super glue," binding everything together.
KG has never been a perfect main leader, but he’s a perfect teammate.
He smokes, he fights, he parties, he swears, he’s of low class, but he truly is a good player.
This is the New York Knicks team the Warriors will face next, with the three stars getting along incredibly well, and the team’s combat effectiveness thus exceeding people’s expectations.
Before the season started, Las Vegas gave the Knicks a championship odds of 1 in 20, and now it’s 1 in 5.
This is enough to illustrate how disruptive this Knicks team is.
On game day, Kevin Garnett, Yao Ming, and Dwayne Wade all crossed the mid-court line, amicably greeting Roger.
It’s a very peculiar phenomenon for a team’s three main members to have a pretty good relationship with Roger.
However, this friendliness is limited to before the game.
Once the game started, the Knicks’ Big Three showed no mercy to Roger’s team, and Roger felt the strength of this team.
Because Roger needed to focus on offense, defending Wade’s task fell to Jason Richardson.
However, sophomore Wade was already beyond what Jason Richardson could handle.
Wade’s finishing rate around the basket was already remarkably high in his rookie season, and his sophomore progress mainly came from mid-range.
Dwayne Wade knows well that mid-range is the key weapon for a perimeter player. After intense summer practice, Flash’s mid-range jump shot has become highly threatening, making him and KG’s pick-and-roll thriving.