Madison Gardens serves as the mecca of basketball, and the basketball culture here is deeply immersed in the city. The Knicks defeated the Philadelphia 76ers at home and started with a 3-1 record, finishing second in the East. This team seems to be writing their winning culture, julius Randall, as the leader of the team, leading this team that has both new strength and mature veterans, more and more powerful.
Talking about the New York Knicks, this NBA veteran-level team, they don't have as many championship rings as the Boston Celtics or the Los Angeles Lakers, this team's glory moments are always short-lived, three different glory eras, two championship experiences, but playing here is always in the spotlight, and the players dream of playing here. Even though the record is not ideal, the Knicks still topped the list of all teams with $5.8 billion in the latest value list of Forbes teams.
Last season, in the first year of the Thibodux Knicks' coaching, he changed the Knicks' playing style system in previous years, basing on defense and then pursuing offense. Over the course of a season, the Knicks became the best defensive team in the league, averaging the fewest points per game in the league, returning to the playoffs after eight years and ranking fourth in the East. Thibodeau pushed the Phoenix Suns' Monty Williams to win the best coach, and the team's leader, Julius Randall, won the award for the fastest improving player and was named an All-Star. It can be said that in addition to the championship, the Knicks were the team that gained the most last season.
Judging from the few games at the start of the new season, the Knicks have been promoted again. Off-season, the team left behind the bench line-up that had been successful last season, with Kemba Walker and Evan Fournier, filling in the Knicks' biggest lineup flaws – an organized offensive and experienced defender, a steady outside ball carrier and thrower. Walker's personal abilities have been improving from the Hornets to the Celtics, but the team's record has not improved considerably, and in the Knicks, Walker's job is not as tiring as before, reducing the pressure to score, and his options have become diverse.
At the end of the second quarter against the 76ers, his wave of 4 consecutive shots completely ignited madison Garden Arena, he and Rose, the two have different styles, it just so happens that this difference, can complement each other, the whole Knicks, the starting and substitute lineups are strung together.
Today's Knicks, the leader is Randle, this is his third season in the Knicks, experienced the Knicks from the trough to the revival of the road, from the lakers' blue-collar players, step by step to grow into stars, his progress, in all parts of his game is displayed. After a low back-up, his options could be a back-up jumper, a three-point cut to an outside line, or a direct thrust into mitchell Robinson on the inside. In the preseason against the Wizards, he completed the final moment of continuous crotch dribbling and then retreated from the jump shot.
In four games of the new season, Randall averaged 25.5 points, 11.3 rebounds and 6.5 assists per game, all of which were career highs. In the opener, the Knicks defeated the Celtics in overtime, and although the Knicks gave the Celtics a magical equalizer at the end of the fourth quarter, they were still the most capable team. In the last moments of the first overtime, the third-year Tanhua Barrett single-handedly defended Jason Tatum's mid-range shot; in the second overtime, with 1 minute and 46 seconds left, Randle hit Lowe hard to make a 2+1, rebounding by 2 points; then, with 57.6 seconds left, Derrick Rose did not rush to shoot outside the three-point line, he passed to the better Chance Fournier, who hit a three-point shot; again rebounded by 2 points.
In the final 22.2 seconds, Rose singled with the ball and passed Schroeder's throw to kill the game. That's the horror of the Knicks, with so many teams able to step up and decide the game at key moments. This is also before this, no one will predict, more people think that they will be a mess again.
"Last season was definitely a successful one, and for us, more importantly, we built the culture and laid the foundation." Knicks president Leon Ross said.
Fourth in the East last season, first in the defensive league, but only 26th in offense, this season, the Knicks are third in the league in points per game, first in the league in three-pointers per game, and second in the league in terms of three-point shots. Their offense was much smoother because of Walker and Fournier's arrival, and more importantly, they were a lot more confident. This kind of self-confidence is empowered by victory.
'I feel like we're a team with depth, we have all-rounder types of players in multiple positions and our players are very selfless. Derrick Ross, 33, said. 10 years ago, he got the youngest MVP in the Bulls, and then seriously injured all these years, he has been recovering himself, back to the story of New York, and now it is the best process, he is still blooming.
The young, mature Knicks, from last season's dark horse to the new season, have occupied one of the eastern powers' seats, the road to revival, earlier than expected.