Chapter 738: Please, Have Some Decency
122 to 103.
The Knicks defeated the Lakers, securing their 3rd consecutive win without breaking much of a sweat.
David West contributed 14 points, 7 rebounds, and 3 assists tonight, showing clear signs that his form was gradually recovering.
For the Lakers, Kobe's stats were still impressive.
26 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 steals, and 2 blocks.
The main reason for tonight's loss was not him.
Garnett carried half the blame.
He only managed 15 points and 8 rebounds, and he was ejected halfway through the final quarter.
The other half of the blame fell on the Lakers bench players.
Every time they stepped onto the court, the lead widened, putting the Lakers in a very passive position.
Despite Mike Brown's confident demeanor in the post game interview after the loss, fans were not optimistic about the new coach whose head resembled a braised egg.
His philosophy seemed unworkable for the Lakers.
When Mike Brown built the Cleveland Cavaliers into a defensive powerhouse, it was because their players were full of energy.
Now, with the Lakers aging roster, fans found it hard to imagine them rotating and switching quickly the way Mike Brown demanded.
"70 Point Frenzy! Chen Yan Sets New Season High in Scoring!"
"Consecutive High Scores, Has Chen Yan Already Locked Up This Year's Scoring Title?"
"MVP Level Performance! Chen Yan Leads the Knicks to a Strong Start!"
"Dunking Over Garnett, Flying Over Fisher, Chen Yan Delivers Another Classic Moment!"
After defeating the Lakers, the Knicks immediately flew to Sacramento.
The condensed season had a brutal schedule, leaving players no time to savor victories.
On New Year's Day, the Knicks flew to Sacramento to challenge the Kings.
Tonight, Chen Yan did not continue his previous explosive performance, only scoring 22 points and adding 5 assists.
It was not that he was in poor form.
The Kings simply collapsed too quickly, surrendering in just over 2 quarters.
The Knicks made 7 3 pointers in the 1st quarter alone, then another 6 in the 2nd quarter.
13 3 pointers in the 1st half completely stunned the Kings.
It was worth noting that the Kings averaged only 6.5 3 pointers per game, which was half of the Knicks 1st half total.
The Kings were riddled with holes by New York's 3 point rain.
Today, Chen Yan's teammates had great touch, so he gave them more shooting opportunities.
The Kings situation was somewhat awkward.
All 5 of their starters had decent scoring ability.
Isaiah Thomas, Thornton, Cousins, and Evans all averaged more than 15 points, but the team lacked a true offensive core.
Previously, the Kings wanted to develop Tyreke Evans as their core.
Evans certainly had potential.
He averaged an impressive 20 plus 5 plus 5 in his rookie season.
However, his stats declined in the following 2 seasons, directly related to Kings management changing their minds every year.
They made Evans play 3 different positions in 3 years, effectively ruining this former prodigy.
The most impressive stats for the Kings tonight came from this year's rookie, Isaiah Thomas, who finished with 20 points and 7 assists.
However, his defensive shortcomings could not be offset by his numbers.
Chen Yan repeatedly targeted him in the 1st half, scoring 12 of his 22 points against him, more than half of his total.
The call out tactic was 1 of Chen Yan's favorite on court strategies.
He often used his actions to tell smaller guards that basketball was still a tall man's game.
After continuously posting up Isaiah Thomas, Chen Yan playfully added, "Welcome to the NBA."
This almost broke Isaiah Thomas composure.
Former Rockets player Chuck Hayes only managed 1 point and 4 rebounds tonight.
The Kings had offered him a 3 year, $15 million contract, completely focusing on his stats while overlooking his weaknesses.
Last season, Hayes recorded 7.9 points and 8.5 rebounds, which was impressive for a blue collar player.
This season, he was highly discussed for an All Defensive Team selection.
Although he ultimately missed out, it had already earned him significant leverage at the negotiating table.
However, outside the Rockets system, Hayes weaknesses were exposed.
He was too short.
An undersized big man under 2 meters could only guard players in the paint.
Facing a big man who could shoot was a dead end.
Hayes only played 8 minutes tonight, precisely because the Knicks power forwards all possessed good shooting ability.
This Kings team was very young.
Isaiah Thomas was in his 1st year, Tyreke Evans was in his 3rd year, Cousins was in his 2nd year, and Thornton was in his 3rd year.
Such a young team was very energetic, but it could also be easily stunned and disoriented by opponents.
Tonight, they clearly belonged to the latter category.
The Knicks extended their lead to more than 20 points in just over 2 quarters.
Later, against the Knicks bench, the young Kings players still could not gain any advantage.
Their mentality was already unbalanced.
Everyone ignored teamwork, taking the ball and trying to score by themselves.
The game entered garbage time at the start of the 4th quarter.
Ultimately, the Knicks defeated the Kings 118 to 89 in a blowout.
After the game, reporters asked Chen Yan why he had targeted Isaiah Thomas.
Chen Yan smiled and adjusted the microphone.
"It is pretty obvious, is it not?"
The reporters also laughed.
Chen Yan's meaning was simple.
He wanted to bully Isaiah Thomas with his height.
After the laughter subsided, Chen Yan continued, "I think Isaiah Thomas is very talented and spirited. Truly. I hope he continues to prove himself. Of course, my continuous mismatch post ups against him tonight were not just because of his height, but also because he was wearing my shoes. I wanted to see how good a guard wearing my signature shoes really is."
Upon hearing this, netizens joked that no player would likely want to wear Chen Yan's signature shoes in a game against him in the future.
Otherwise, they would be brutally beaten by Chen Yan.
After winning against the Kings, the Knicks returned home.
Their next opponent was the Bobcats.
The Bobcats were traditionally a weak team, but tonight, they played exceptionally tough, with 6 players scoring in double digits.
The game was not decided until the final 4 minutes of the 4th quarter.
Chen Yan entered God of War mode, scoring 8 points, adding 3 assists, and recording 3 steals in the final 4 minutes, single handedly crushing the Bobcats.
Chen Yan finished the game with a massive triple double of 51 points, 16 assists, and 15 rebounds.
Tonight, Chen Yan's college friend and Bobcats starting point guard DJ Augustin also performed well, recording 16 points, 10 assists, and 6 rebounds in 32 minutes.
Chen Yan targeted Augustin more than once tonight.
Although Augustin's height was not as exaggerated as Isaiah Thomas, his true height of around 180 cm still made him 1 of the shortest players in the NBA.
After the game, a reporter interviewed Chen Yan.
"DJ Augustin was not wearing your shoes tonight, so why did you keep targeting him?"
This question was clearly asked for entertainment value, and everyone laughed when it came out.
Chen Yan's answer was even more entertaining.
"He is an old friend of mine. We are usually very busy and do not have time to catch up. Tonight, I just wanted to spend a little more time with him on the court."
2 days later, the Knicks continued playing at home.
Their opponent was the Toronto Raptors.
Tonight, Pierce was out due to injury.
According to careful observers, in recent years, Pierce had either been injured or rested whenever he faced Chen Yan.
Many fans suspected that Pierce might have been traumatized by Chen Yan and was afraid to face him.
Some fans even gave Pierce the nickname Pierce the Runner.
Fortunately, Pierce did not visit domestic basketball forums.
Otherwise, he would have been so angry that he might spit blood because of these imaginative fans.
The Raptors record since the start of the new season had been disappointing.
1 win and 3 losses, failing to meet management's expectations.
Tonight, DeRozan was completely dominated by Chen Yan.
Chen Yan scored a whopping 42 points, 11 assists, 10 rebounds, and 4 steals.
DeRozan finished with 11 points and 4 rebounds.
Chen Yan guarded DeRozan for the entire game.
After the game, the media were curious why Chen Yan had targeted DeRozan so heavily tonight.
DeRozan was not a short player, was he?
Facing the reporters questions, Chen Yan slowly said, "I remember DeRozan wearing my shoes last season. But tonight, he was wearing Kobe's."
Upon hearing this reason, fans were left speechless.
Whether someone wore Chen Yan's shoes or did not wear them, he still destroyed them.
Please, have some decency.
.....
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