Chapter 119: A verbal fight with Jordan
The Knicks' winning streak in the new season finally fell to the Spurs.

In the eighth game, they finally met the Spurs, a championship-contending team. Facing the Spurs' GDP troika, the Knicks felt their inability for the first time.

Although the strength gap between the two sides was not very obvious, the whole game was back and forth and the score was not going in the Spurs' favor.

But the Spurs did better in the details. They cooperated well on offense and tried their best to control Zheng Yang on defense, so the Knicks eventually lost to their opponents by 5 points.

Ginobili's three-pointer in the last round of the Spurs' game proved why there is a saying that goes "drive a sports car in good times, worship the stone Buddha in bad times, and sacrifice the demon sword in desperate times." The temperament of this guy made his performance extremely eye-catching at the critical moment.

After hitting that three-pointer, the Knicks only had 5 seconds left to attack, which completely cut off their hopes of a comeback.

In the end, Zheng Yang's three-pointer missed and the game ended.

After the game, Duncan found Zheng Yang and exchanged jerseys with him.

Zheng Yang also performed very well in this game, with 32 points, 8 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 blocks and a steal.

If other players could perform better against the Spurs' defense, perhaps the Knicks could have won the game.

"I have a feeling we will meet on the highest stage. Come on!"

While hugging goodbye, Duncan said this to Zheng Yang, and the latter immediately understood what he meant and nodded with a smile.

The highest stage... Duncan can only be talking about the finals. Will we meet in the finals?

Zheng Yang is also looking forward to that scene!
……

The end of the winning streak is good news for Zheng Yang, because the Knicks are a team that has just been well-coordinated and there are many troublemakers in the team. It would be good to have seven consecutive wins to boost morale and let everyone have a clearer understanding of the team's future.

But if they win too many games in a row, these guys will get complacent!
So sometimes losing a game is a good thing because it allows everyone to adjust their mentality.

If we want to go further this season, the guys on the team need to become even better!

……

With the start of the regular season, the players' and teams' status for the new season will become clear at a glance.

Apart from Zheng Yang, the second best player so far this season is Nowitzki.

Don’t think the Mavericks are weak just because they suffered a crushing defeat to the Knicks in the first game of the new season.

In fact, after that game, the team seemed to have awakened its bloodline and went straight to a record of 6 wins and 1 loss. Currently, it has a record of 6 wins and 2 losses, ranking first in the Western Conference.

The Mavericks' subsequent performance was largely due to Nowitzki's outstanding performance.

In these seven games, Nowitzki averaged 25.3 points and 9.1 rebounds per game, completely dominating the court on both offense and defense.

He is currently ranked second on ESPN's latest 06-07 regular season MVP list.

Needless to say, the first one is Zheng Yang!
After all, Zheng Yang is better than Nowitzki in both personal data and team record.

However, the regular season has just begun, and Nowitzki has every chance to overtake.

NBA Commissioner David Stern noticed the list and began to use it to create hot topics.

"After going from teammates to opponents, who will win the MVP, Nowitzki or Zheng Yang?"

He originally thought that after Zheng Yang came to the Knicks, he would not be able to compete for the MVP due to the team's poor record.

Therefore, he originally planned to bring up other topics to attract attention.

Who would have thought that Zheng Yang was so awesome? Not only did he have excellent personal statistics, but his team's record was also so good that he directly ranked first on the MVP list.

And the second one happened to be Nowitzki. If he didn't use this to hype it up, David Stern would feel a little sorry for himself.

So he started to hype this topic to get everyone to focus on it.

As the topic became more and more popular, naturally many well-known hosts began to mention it.

Barkley, a famous Zheng fan, patted his chest in front of the camera.

“It’s time for Zheng to take the damn MVP award.

This is an indispensable honor for every superstar. Although this is only his fourth year, he is fully capable of winning this award. I even think he could have competed for this award last season.

It's just that, you know, he was interfered with by a lot of off-field factors last season, which made him miss this opportunity.

But this season is the best opportunity. Not only has Zheng's individual performance been outstanding, currently leading the scoring list, he has also led last season's bottom-ranked team to the current first place in the league. As long as he can keep it up, he will definitely win the MVP this season.

Although Dirk is performing well at the moment and showed the responsibility of a team leader after Zheng Yang left, unfortunately, he met a better player.

And this player was his teammate last season...

Of course, it is too early to decide who will be the MVP. After all, it is still early. But Zheng Yongyuan will always be my first choice. This has nothing to do with basketball! Haha! "

Although Barkley's remarks contain some personal subjective factors, the overall analysis is still very reasonable.

Zheng Yang is indeed better than Nowitzki now!

Of course, there are still some media people who support Dirk. After all, the Knicks cannot maintain their current state forever, and their future schedule will not be as easy as it is now.

As long as Nowitzki can continue to perform well, he will have a chance to overtake.

Originally, this topic was mainly discussed by several hosts, but the appearance of a guy made the topic suddenly become popular.

Who is this guy?
He is the basketball god that no one expected - Michael Jordan!

This guy actually took the initiative to mention this matter in a recent media interview.

“To be honest, I don’t think Zheng is an MVP player.

Of course he is a great player. He won the scoring title, was selected to the All-Star team, and was selected to the All-NBA team, but he is still some distance away from the MVP. If I have to choose between Dirk and him, I am more optimistic about Dirk.

That was a great big man, he had great skills, superb flexibility, he was very creative on the court, especially on the offensive end, I like to call him a scoring machine. As for Zheng, although everyone likes to compare him with me, and even likes to call him the basketball god of the 21st century, to be honest, he is much worse than me at the same time. You know, if he met me at that time, I would score 30, 40, 50 points on his head...

It all depends on how many points I want to get!
As for him, I won't let him get 20 points. I'm not kidding. At that time, I was definitely one of the best defensive players in the league. I would make him play very hard. I have a lot of experience and confidence in this! "

Jordan's words immediately caused an uproar in the outside world. No one knew why Jordan suddenly talked about this matter in front of the media, nor did they know why Jordan had never liked Zheng Yang...

In fact, there is no conflict between Jordan and Zheng Yang. They don't even meet and chat very often, so how can there be any conflict?

It may be that the media often compares him with Zheng Yang, which makes Jordan very unhappy. Although this guy always says that so-and-so plays well, Jordan is extremely arrogant in his heart and he will never admit that someone can reach the same level as himself.

So after hearing such words many times, Jordan felt a little unhappy and took this opportunity to belittle that guy.

Besides, he is not suppressing his juniors. Didn’t you see that he was praising Dirk Nowitzki highly?
He was just telling the truth!

Jordan's words attracted the attention of countless people. Everyone was looking forward to Zheng Yang's response. They all knew that Zheng Yang was not a good guy. Would he have a verbal battle with Jordan?

Zheng Yang's reply did not come too late. On the third day after Jordan made his statement, Zheng Yang shrugged indifferently in front of the media.

"I never cared about Michael's comments. He was a very good player and I admired his performance on the court, but you know, he was not a player with a good vision.

In other words, his vision is terrible! If there is a list of players with the worst vision, I believe Michael will be at the top.

As for who is stronger between him and me in the same period?

I don't want to discuss this impossible problem, it's meaningless. If he thinks he can beat me, let him think it!

If it makes him happy, then I'm willing to vote for him."

Zheng Yang's reply was not so sharp in words, but the effect was extraordinary.

On the one hand, he severely belittled Jordan's poor vision. Although people have not yet had a deep understanding of his poor vision, his performance over the years is indeed not much better.

On the other hand, he also showed his tolerance, thinking that you are better than me, right?
So keep thinking like that! As long as it makes you happy!
This kind of reply gives people the feeling of "Oh, right, right, right". Although it seems that the other party agrees with your answer, it makes people feel uncomfortable for some reason!

So when Jordan saw this sentence, he was so angry that he tore up the newspaper in his hand, and then expressed it again in front of the media the next day.

"There's no way this guy will win this year's MVP. If he dares to bet with me, I'm willing to put up $100,000 as the stakes."

Zheng Yang then responded readily.

"If someone else had made the bet with me, I would have hesitated for a while, but Michael's words...

Haha, I'm happy to take this $100,000. We all know how bad Michael's gambling skills are!"

Zheng Yang continued to jump back and forth on Jordan's pain points...

This made Jordan feel helpless and furious!
……

Jordan's sudden hostility towards Zheng Yang was a surprise to David Stern. The two had no grudges in the past or today, so why did they suddenly start arguing?

Originally, David Stern was thinking about setting up a plan himself to make the two men reconcile, but then he gave up the idea.

Let them argue if they want to. Anyway, Zheng Yang's impression in front of the fans is that he is gentle and elegant, but not a wimp. Having a verbal battle with Jordan will not significantly reduce his popularity.

On the contrary, it can be used to hype up the popularity!
Let them continue to quarrel!

However, the two did not continue to talk nonsense afterwards, because there is no point in keeping talking nonsense, and everything will be clear after the MVP awards are announced!
……

In addition to leading the MVP list, Zheng Yang also leads the scoring list!

He is currently ranked first in the scoring list, averaging 33.8 points per game, while Kobe, who is ranked second, currently only has 31.6 points, which is still some gap from Zheng Yang.

If Zheng Yang keeps up this pace, he will most likely win the MVP and scoring title this season, and even be included in the All-NBA First Team!
It is worth mentioning that currently ranked third on the scoring list is Anthony. This guy has ushered in a breakthrough this season, with his score directly reaching 28.6 points.

It can be said that Carmelo Anthony at this time is a complete offensive kaleidoscope. He can score in any place and in any way on the court.

In the original history, this season was also the highest scoring season in his career.

And the Nuggets are currently negotiating with the 76ers. They are very likely to trade for Allen Iverson to form a backcourt duo with Melo.

This duo, defense aside...

Forget it, I can’t let it go!

Anyway, their scoring ability is definitely strong, but they also lose a lot of points!

In the original history, the weak defense limited the ceiling of this Nuggets team and also led to their eventual separation!

……

In the following games, due to the increasing difficulty of the schedule, the Knicks' team record began to decline. However, since other teams in the Eastern Conference have not yet shown complete dominance, the Knicks are still ranked first in the Eastern Conference.

The Knicks players also began to make adjustments based on the problems shown in the game!

Everyone began to believe that this season, they really had the strength to chase the championship.

As for Zheng Yang, his performance is still excellent. Needless to say, his offense is naturally good. Since his second year as a rookie, Zheng Yang's offensive ability has never declined.

On the defensive side of things, the offseason training has paid off, and his defensive abilities have improved significantly this season, allowing him to successfully block small and nimble defenders and tall, strong small forwards.

As long as there is a problem with the team's defense, there is no need for Larry Brown. The corresponding players will naturally choose to switch defense with Zheng Yang and let Zheng Yang limit the opponent's performance.

They believe in Zheng Yang, he can do it!

Maybe before the start of the season, they were a little skeptical, but now, what reason do they have not to believe in Zheng Yang?

He is the one sent by God to save the Knicks and lead them to win the championship!

(End of this chapter)