Chapter 100

(Seeking recommendations, seeking recommendations, seeking support, seeking support!)

"Lin, you're really amazing, hahaha, I never thought the New York Knicks would be beaten so badly by you."

"Exactly, Lin, your performance in this game is absolutely perfect. I never thought we would have a day when we could dominate the New York Knicks, it's truly unbelievable."

After the first half of the game, in the Utah Jazz locker room, everyone was giving Lin a thumbs up. His performance in the first half was simply perfect. From the start of the game, he broke through Starks and dunked over Oakley and Little Anthony Mason. The subsequent game became a direct confrontation between the Jazz players and the New York Knicks players.

The intensity of the game was almost suffocating. Lin was challenging the New York mafia alone on the court. When Lin repeatedly took the ball and faced off against Starks or the New York Knicks, even players like Benoat and Humphries, who were very不服气 (unconvinced) and disliked Lin, had to admit that this guy was indeed a brave warrior.

As the head coach of the team, Jerry Sloan was extremely pleased to see Lin, who had returned to the locker room and was sitting in his position with Russell and Aaron Williams massaging him. At the beginning of the game, all the New York Knicks' defense was focused on Lin, which surprised Sloan. He had never seen a team hate a player so much.

At the same time, this Jazz head coach was also worried about Lin. However, the final result surprised everyone. The New York Knicks had gone to extreme lengths to stop Lin. Whenever Lin chose to break through, these guys were ruthless, but what was even more surprising was the power of Lin's beast-like breakthrough, which was both shocking and terrifying.

In the previous game against the Pacers, after Lin used this high-impact breakthrough once, Sloan knew that this method was extremely powerful, tearing through the opponent's defense like a scalpel, with a violent and beautiful style. This was a breakthrough style that had never appeared in the NBA before. Even though the NBA had many physically super-strong players like Jordan, Jordan's breakthroughs were highly skillful. However, Lin's breakthrough style had no skill, just a wild nature. Such a sudden attack caught Pat Riley and the New York Knicks off guard.

Even as Lin's head coach, Jerry Sloan was greatly surprised. This breakthrough had such a strong restraining power. In Sloan's view, if Lin's passing vision were a bit better and he were more selfless and better at passing, this rookie could create opportunities for his teammates through his breakthroughs, which would be even more terrifying than Stockton. Stockton was indeed legendary, but due to his lack of impact and strong offensive ability, he often struggled to penetrate in crucial moments, making him somewhat ineffective. In such a situation, with Lin as a weapon almost like a battering ram, the Jazz could have a second core point guard, with no weaknesses except for a lack of a defensive barrier in the paint. Sloan could also lead the team to a full-scale championship assault.

However, if Sloan knew that this breakthrough style, due to its high speed and explosive power, made it impossible for the player to control even a layup, let alone pursue vision and passing, he would understand. If any player could easily pass and create opportunities for teammates while using this skill, Russell Westbrook, the creator of this skill, would have already become a god. It was a joke. With such an almost unstoppable impact, it was impossible for Westbrook to maintain such a clear mind at such high speed and high impact. Even if his mind was clear, due to the high speed and short time, forcing a pass would likely result in many mistakes.

Although Lin was slightly slower and less explosive than Westbrook in terms of speed and power, and had better height and weight, he could control it a bit better in this situation. However, this better control was not much better. At most, when Westbrook used this breakthrough, most of the time he would finish with a layup. In Lin's mind, when this guy passed on the skill, out of ten layups, five were flying high. The speed and impact were too fast, and the time for the player to make a move was too short. This was the biggest drawback of this skill, sacrificing the ability to finish, greatly enhancing the power of the breakthrough. In a certain sense, it was a toxic skill. Of course, when Lin used this skill, it was slightly better because he was taller and could dunk more often.

However, even so, in the first half of this game, Lin felt that after completing his breakthrough, he almost dunked twice on the front of the rim. The speed and impact were too fast, and after his skill was activated, everything in front of him was almost blurry, with no room for adjustment.

However, it was precisely because of this that the New York Knicks' pre-game strategy against Lin was almost in vain. They underestimated the power of Lin's breakthrough, and this allowed the Jazz to dominate the New York Knicks in the first half under Lin's restraint.

It must be said that Pat Riley and the New York Knicks were too obsessed with suppressing Lin. They were determined to bring Lin down, and as long as they didn't bring Lin down or disable him, they had no plans to deal with the other Jazz players.

The final result was that after a hard-fought first half, Lin now felt terrible, with his legs trembling as if he were exhausted. Although his physical condition was much better than before and he had not expended much energy on defense in this game, it must be said that Westbrook was a beast-level player, and Lin was not yet at that level. He was still just an ordinary person.

"Karl, John, stop messing around. Let Lin rest. In the second half, we need to give the Knicks the hardest blow."

Seeing Malone and Stockton, who were making a fuss around Lin, touching his hair and face, Jerry Sloan smiled and shook his head. He really didn't expect Lin to be so tired after the first half, but he could understand, given that Lin's opponent was the New York mafia.

Of course, at this moment, the Jazz locker room was filled with laughter, and everyone was very happy. On the other side, the Knicks locker room was so quiet that a pin could be heard. The Knicks players were feeling very frustrated.

They had prepared for this game and for Lin for so long, even to the point of not caring about the outcome of the game just to disable Lin. But what was the final result?

Lin repeatedly tore through the Knicks' defense like a sharp knife, charging to the basket and completing dunks in the Knicks' paint.

12 shots, 8 made; 6 free throws, 5 made; 21 points. This was Lin's data in the first half, which made the Knicks' pre-game boast that Lin would not score double digits in this game a joke.

And every time Lin charged to the basket, Starks' pre-game boast that he would break Lin's legs to stop him from breaking through also became a joke. Starks couldn't even touch Lin, let alone break his legs.

Although Lin's performance in the first half gave the Knicks a heavy blow, making the team very frustrated, Pat Riley did not blame his players. Not only his players, but even he himself had not expected Lin to be so impactful. Lin's style of play was unprecedented.

This was a groundbreaking basketball style!

He found it hard to believe that a person of Asian descent could have such basketball talent and athletic ability, and this was also why he underestimated Lin, despite valuing him. He still had racial biases. However, this master strategist did not know that after Lin's skills were activated, his physical attributes reached 16.5, which alone made his physical talent top-notch in the league. Moreover, when Lin broke through, his breakthrough skill could perfectly utilize his physical attributes, meaning he could use 16.5. Some players might have physical attributes of 20, but due to skill limitations, they could only use 15 or 16 at most.

If Pat Riley and the Knicks still treated Lin as an ordinary Asian, they were making a huge mistake. This was why Lin was so surprised when he chose Westbrook's skill. Now, Lin had the physical talent to truly compete with black players.

In this situation, attributing his mistakes to his players was not Pat Riley's style, and he could not do it. However, in the short term, he could not come up with a way to deal with Lin's groundbreaking offensive style, even though he was one of the best coaches in NBA history and one of the smartest people in the league.

Therefore, the entire New York Knicks locker room was almost dead silent.

...

"Awesome, it's really awesome. We're leading the Knicks by 20 points at halftime. This is the New York Knicks, and this team has been brought to its knees by us. Lin's breakthrough is so beautiful. I swear, it's the fastest and most terrifying breakthrough I've ever seen. The Starks who made Jordan look miserable was repeatedly passed by Lin in one step, and Lin even completed dunks over Oakley and Ewing. It's a miracle. I thought I was dreaming in this game."

"Ha ha ha, me too. I thought Lin's shooting was already perfect, but I didn't expect his breakthrough to be even better. It's unbelievable. Now I realize that we may have created NBA draft history this year. We picked Lin with just the 18th pick, and he can do everything. The other two rookies, Russell, is already a starter, and Aaron Williams is an important rotation player. The Jazz are really about to rise! God bless us."

When the second half of the game started, and both teams' players walked out of the locker room and returned to the court, the Jazz fans, who were already extremely excited in the first half, became even more frenzied when they saw Lin and the others come out. In contrast, the situation on the New York Knicks' side was not good.

In fact, after the second half started, it was indeed the case. In this game, the Knicks could only regain some face from Lin, but they had already lost the game. Whether they could regain face from Lin depended on whether Pat Riley could find a way to deal with Lin, but from the Jazz's first offensive play in the second half, it looked unlikely.

"Lin! My God, another dunk! It's unbelievable!"

"Stockton's pass, Lin's sudden start, the speed is really too fast. It feels like he can reach his top speed without accelerating. It's an incredible breakthrough ability, and everyone on the court looks a step slower compared to him!"

"Now Pat Riley and the New York Knicks have a headache. They can't always put Ewing or Oakley under the basket, and Lin always finds that momentary opportunity. Although Lin looks like a rookie, he, like many Chinese, is full of wisdom in the game."

As an ABC commentator and former Bulls head coach, Doug Collins had broadcast Lin's games more than once, but it was only in this game that he truly linked Lin with Jordan, or placed Lin at Jordan's level. This Jazz rookie's performance in this game was truly incredible. The New York mafia, who could make Jordan look bad, was dissected by this kid like a surgeon, which was truly unbelievable.

Even more unbelievable was that the breakthrough technique this guy used in this game, after a brief appearance in the previous game against the Pacers, was now known to the world. This was an unprecedented style of play, not just a headache for Pat Riley and the Knicks, but for all the coaches and teams in the league, especially those aiming for the championship.

If these teams couldn't find a way to deal with Lin, how could they talk about a championship?

Collins really didn't expect a rookie to become a key player in the league's dynamics after just over ten games. The Jazz, who had always had mediocre performance, would become a championship test stone and even a championship contender with the addition of such a player, which was also unbelievable!

"Why is this happening?! Why is this happening?!"

"How could I be beaten by a rookie twice in a row? How is this possible, how is this possible!"

When Collins was shocked by Lin's performance, when the Jazz fans were mesmerized by Lin's performance, and when the reporters were stunned by Lin's performance, on the court, as Lin's opponent, Babyface Starks felt like he was falling apart, or rather, he was being toyed with by Lin.

His skills were not just this. How could a player who could face off against Jordan in defense be just this? Although Lin's breakthrough style was unique, if Starks could calm down, he could find some clues. Even if he couldn't find a solution, he wouldn't fall apart.

It could only be said that the 31 points in 31 seconds or 35 points in 35 seconds in the previous game, plus this game, had a huge impact on him. A player as tough as him couldn't withstand such pressure. It was easy to imagine what the American media would be like the next day after the Knicks were humiliated again. Sometimes, living in a big city and playing in a big city was not necessarily a good thing.

Of course, at this moment, the New York Knicks were in a great crisis on the court, and as the opposing team, the Jazz naturally wouldn't let it go.

"Guys, get your spirits up. In the third quarter, we need to give them the final blow!"

Under Stockton's loud call, even Lin, who was extremely tired, was full of motivation. In this game, he wanted to make the fans cheer from the start to the end of the game.

He loved this feeling so much!

I want to win this game! I want to be their hero!

For the first time, Lin felt that he had the ability to change the environment and the game!