Chapter 142 Who will be the MVP of this season?
The Knicks also won this game easily. Although Kevin Durant performed well in this game, making 23 of 11 shots and scoring 27 points and 5 rebounds, he still failed to lead the team to victory.

Just from his visible scoring talent, it can be seen that in a few years, if Zheng Yang still wants to be the scoring champion, he will have to compete with this guy in front of him.

After the game, Durant found Zheng Yang and hoped to exchange jerseys with him. Only then did the young Durant reveal his true feelings and said that Zheng Yang was his idol.

He said that he had been following Zheng Yang's games since his rookie season, and later gradually fell in love with him. He even has several Zheng Yang jerseys at home.

I didn’t expect that Durant is actually Zheng Yang’s disciple... Thinking of this, Zheng Yang was in a good mood. He immediately exchanged jerseys with the other party and took photos as a souvenir.

……

Next, the Knicks played against the Golden State Warriors and other teams, and the team had more wins than losses. Although everyone was not in good physical condition when they first arrived at the training camp, after so long, everyone has slowly adjusted.

Like Eddy Curry, his weight is slowly returning to normal levels.

During this period, Zheng Yang's personal athletic performance remains very good. He has not missed any game so far and is averaging 31.2 points per game. He will continue to challenge for the scoring title this season.

On the last day of November, the Knicks welcomed the Celtics' Big Three away from home. This was the first regular season match between the two teams this season, and the game attracted countless people's attention.

Let's first look at the starting players of both teams. There is no need to elaborate on the Knicks side, as everyone knows them. The Celtics side includes Big Boss, Ray Allen, Garnett, Pierce, and the team's center Perkins.

After Big F, who was a substitute in the Knicks, went to the Celtics, the team did not have a suitable candidate, so the head coach Doug Rivers, the "NBA King of Reversals", promoted him to the starting lineup.

The effect was quite satisfactory. The team's offensive firepower was further enhanced, but the connection between the players was less, so there were gains and losses.

After the game started, Eddy Curry used his height advantage to pass the basketball and won the first offensive opportunity for the team.

In the original history, due to his extreme lack of self-discipline, Eddy Curry at this time was bloated and his performance on the court was getting worse and worse. However, in this life, with Zheng Yang always by his side to supervise him, there was no major problem with his condition.

A player of this talent will not be a negative influence on the court as long as he is in good shape and has a positive attitude.

After passing half court, Zheng Yang faced Pierce. The former first used his butt to block the position, then raised one hand and asked Quentin Richardson for the ball.

Faced with Zheng Yang's request for the ball, Quentin Richardson naturally would not refuse to give it to him. He was just wondering why Zheng Yang had such a strong desire to attack today that he took the initiative to ask for the ball in the first round.

In fact, Zheng Yang’s thoughts are not complicated. He just wants to compete with the Celtics’ Big Three.

I heard you three are pretty awesome, let me see what’s going on!

It just so happens that I'm facing off against Pierce, so I'll try my hand on him first.

After the ball was passed to him, Zheng Yang started to play with his back to the ball.

When there is an obvious power difference between the two sides, post-up attack is a physical job, but when there is no obvious power difference, post-up attack becomes a technical job.

Obviously, Pierce, who has thick skin and flesh, is as strong as Zheng Yang, so Zheng Yang did not think of forcing his way in.

After pushing inside twice to feel the opponent's strength, Zheng Yang suddenly turned around and shook off the opponent, then rushed into the inside and dunked.

The opponent's center Perkins is only 2.08 meters tall and is a tank. He has a slight advantage against power-type players, but fast players like Zheng Yang have no way to deal with him.

In the first round, Zheng Yang successfully defeated Pierce in a singles match.

Looking back, after receiving the pass from Pierce, Garnett made a mid-range shot in front of Big Ben. There was an obvious height difference between the two, and it would be difficult for Big Ben to interfere with his shot unless it was a good opportunity.

2: 2!

In this attack, Zheng Yang faced Ray Allen with the help of a screen. At first, the opponent thought that Zheng Yang was going to break through him, so he quickly lowered his center of gravity to prevent the opponent from breaking through.

Who would have thought that Zheng Yang would actually take a three-pointer from the outside, the basketball flew out from his fingertips and then hit the target accurately.

2: 5!

The Celtics' next attack failed, and Zheng Yang took the ball again to prepare for a single play. This time Garnett took the initiative to ask to defend Zheng Yang, obviously preparing to give him a hard time.

But this is exactly what Zheng Yang wants. He has beaten Pierce and Ray Allen, and now he is just short of beating you!

Zheng Yang was dribbling the ball and constantly adjusting Garnett's center of gravity. Suddenly, he changed direction and accelerated to pass Garnett directly. The latter was originally thinking of catching up with him and blocking him from behind.

Who would have thought that Zheng Yang was so fast that he could rush into the inside in an instant.

In three rounds, he hit each of the Celtics' Big Three. Zheng Yang's offensive ability is so invincible.

……

Although Zheng Yang's personal offensive ability is unstoppable, basketball has never been a one-man game. The advantage of the team is the real advantage.

The biggest advantage of forming a Big Three is that when one of the three performs poorly, the second or third person will step in to stabilize the situation.

Like this game, Pierce performed poorly on offense because he was strictly guarded by Zheng Yang.

But Garnett began to stir up trouble in the Knicks' interior. Throughout the game, he scored 32 points, 13 rebounds and 5 assists, and ultimately helped the team win the game.

The reason why Garnett performed well in this game has little to do with Ben's decline in form.

In the original history, Big Ben has not been on the All-Defensive Team since the 07-08 season, but he currently averages 4.8 points, 8.4 rebounds, 1.5 assists, 1.2 steals and 1.6 blocks per game. Although all data have declined compared to last season, the decline is not large and is within the team's acceptable range.

The reason why Garnett played so comfortably in this game was entirely because the opponent's style of play restrained him too much.

Garnett himself is the kind of player who fights and retreats. He rarely scores in the interior by scoring at the basket after intense physical confrontation, but relies more on his height and wingspan for mid-range or lob shots.

Especially after coming to the Celtics, mid-range shots accounted for an increasingly higher proportion of his offensive means, which made it very difficult for Big Ben to play.

What Ben likes most is to have men on both sides, and men on top of men. The more intense your resistance, the happier Ben laughs.

But now someone is fighting and retreating, and suddenly Ben can't be dealt with. Therefore, he can't limit Garnett at all in this game.

The final score of the game was 108:98. In addition to Garnett's 32 points, Ray Allen made 6 of 3 three-pointers and scored 21 points. Pierce performed poorly and only scored 18 points.

On the Knicks side, Zheng Yang scored 35 points, 9 rebounds and 4 assists, and Crawford scored 20 points, 2 rebounds and 3 assists. This season, the young Crawford continues to improve, averaging more than 20 points per game, which greatly enhanced the offensive firepower of the team's starting lineup.

As for the bench, Hill scored 13 points and 3 rebounds. This guy still has gas in the tank. As long as he is not injured, he can definitely support the offensive firepower of the Knicks bench.

Rondo's performance was also good, with 6 points and 5 assists. This guy's offensive ability is indeed mediocre, but his basketball IQ is indeed very high, and he has shown great talent in connecting the team.

……

As the regular season started, the Eastern and Western conferences showed different states. The Celtics in the East took the lead and led the entire league in record.

The Knicks followed closely behind, although there was a gap, but the gap was not too big. However, the third-placed Pistons maintained a relatively large record gap with the two teams in front.

As for the Western Conference, there are many teams emerging, including the Hornets, Spurs, Jazz and Rockets, all of which are competing with each other. One is first today, and another is first tomorrow. The rankings are constantly changing every day.

This year's Western Conference should be one of the wildest in history, if not the wildest, then at least one of them.

In the original history, the Golden State Warriors failed to enter the playoffs with 48 wins and 34 losses, but in the Eastern Conference, this result would rank them fourth.

This shows how fierce the competition in the Western Conference is this year.

Of course, the fact that so many teams in the Western Conference have excellent records naturally means that the records of other teams will be worse than in previous years.

As of mid-December, the Heat, who are ranked last in the Eastern Conference, currently have a record of 6 wins and 16 losses. The championship team in 06 has completely declined.

But do you think they have completely hit rock bottom?

You're overthinking it. In the original history, their final record was 15 wins and 67 losses, which means that in the next 60 games, their record was 9 wins and 51 losses.

That was their bottom, and now they were still falling in mid-air.

In the West, the Grizzlies, Timberwolves and SuperSonics are also taking turns to be the last in the Western Conference. Their current winning rate is 6 or 7 wins.

As the regular season progresses, people are constantly discussing who will receive the various honors.

The most discussed candidate is naturally the MVP.

The three people with the highest voices this year are Zheng Yang, Kobe Bryant, and Chris Paul.

The team performance and personal data of these three people this year are very good, especially Chris Paul. In his third year, he has been able to lead the Hornets to fight with major giants in the West for the title of No. 1 in the West.

However, the other two should not be underestimated, especially Zheng Yang, because in terms of personal data, Zheng Yang should be the best.

He currently averages 32.1 points, 8.7 rebounds and 4.3 assists per game, continuing to lead the scoring list.

LeBron James, who ranks second in the scoring list, has only 30.1 points. Given Zheng Yang's stable offensive state, he should still be the scoring champion unless he gets injured next.

With the support of the scoring champion, Zheng Yang will have more advantages in personal data.

However, in terms of team performance, Chris Paul is currently the player with the best record.

So there is indeed a lot of suspense about this year's MVP.

Although Zheng Yang and Nowitzki were competing for the MVP last year, in fact, Zheng Yang's chance of winning has always been greater than Nowitzki. However, apart from Nowitzki, there is no third person who can join the MVP competition, so the media has been reporting on who will win the MVP between the two.

But given the situation this year, it is not certain who will win the MVP in the end.

When there is no big difference in personal data and team records, it depends on who performs better during the game.

On December 12, the Knicks played their first game of the season against the Lakers. The Lakers are currently ranked fourth in the Western Conference with 28 wins and 18 losses. At this moment, Gasol has not been traded yet, so this Lakers team is not complete yet.

At the moment, the Knicks are ranked second in the Eastern Conference with 21 wins and 7 losses, but they are still several wins away from the first-placed Celtics. After all, the Celtics are currently an amazing 24 wins and 4 losses, leading the entire league.

Since he wants to compete for the MVP this season, Zheng Yang must win a beautiful victory before Gasol is traded, so that he can take the initiative in the subsequent competition.

In this game, Zheng Yang fully demonstrated his offensive ability. No matter whether the person defending him was Kobe or Ariza, he would score the ball in various ways.

最终他24投中14，三分9投6中，狂砍42分11篮板5助攻，并带队以104：112带队赢得了胜利。

This season, Zheng Yang not only improved his three-point shooting, but also focused on his passing ability.

Since the Knicks currently lack a second scoring point who can prove himself in the playoffs, opponents will easily choose to double-team Zheng Yang and pass the ball to him in order to limit the Knicks.

Always thinking about one against two is not a good thing. After all, no matter how good you are, the hit rate of one against two will never be higher than that of normal attack.

So now Zheng Yang is taking advantage of the regular season to hone his passing ability so that he won't be without a proper way to deal with double-teaming in the playoffs.

Let’s take a look at the Lakers.

Although the Lakers lost this game, they still played with their own style.

After three seasons, the Lakers' reconstruction around Kobe can be said to have been successful. Even though Pau Gasol has not been traded yet, they still showed their competitiveness for the championship this season.

The player with the highest score in this game was naturally Kobe. This season Kobe's points are a little less than the previous two seasons, but you can't doubt his scoring ability because of this. At this moment, his physical and technical skills are at their peak, and scoring is as easy as cutting melons and vegetables for him.

In this game he scored 32 points, 4 rebounds and 7 assists, but he also made 5 turnovers. Judging from the data and game results, Zheng Yang performed better in this game.

On January 1, the Knicks played their first game of the season against the Hornets, now the Pelicans.

(End of this chapter)