New York's Madison Square Garden was the home court of the New York Knicks.
Backed by New York, a megacity with more than 20 million people, the Knicks had a huge market.
The purchasing power of the New York fans was also the best in the league. This made the Knicks the richest team in the league.
A player's salary could easily exceed 100 million US dollars. The salary cap was exceeded every year, and they had to pay a sky-high luxury tax every year.
However, the owner did not care. After all, the Knicks had a lot of money because of the big market in New York. Madison Square Garden was also one of the best stadiums in the NBA.
The only thing that made the New Yorkers unhappy was that the Knicks hadn't won the championship in a long time. It had been so long that New Yorkers had forgotten when the last NBA championship parade was.
This also meant that the New York fans were the most loyal in the league, but also the most disloyal.
They were loyal because, among all the teams in the NBA, the Knicks' market was the most profitable. No matter how bad the Knicks play, there will always be fans willing to pay to watch the Knicks. Buy a Knicks jersey.
The New York fans are the most disloyal, because as long as the visiting team plays a good game, they will not be loyal. Then, the New York fans would applaud the visiting team. They would even boo the Knicks when the Knicks did not perform well.
It wasn't like this hadn't happened before. Therefore, New York fans could be said to be one of the strangest fan groups in the world.
The team was clearly not playing well, but there were still people spending money to watch the game. Tickets for NBA games were not cheap, especially during the playoffs.
The New York fans clearly felt uncomfortable watching the Knicks play, but they still went to watch the game live to make themselves uncomfortable.
Maybe being abused is a habit? He had gotten used to the Knicks' results. The fans of the Knicks and the China National Soccer Team were similar in this regard.
Of course, Madison Square Garden would not be idle during the NBA's suspension.
Including the NBA Development League and the preseason, they still had to play. But these two games were too lousy, and not many fans were willing to watch them.
The people who came to watch the game were either true fans, or they were stirring up the NBA because the tickets were too expensive. He specifically bought these cheap tickets to experience the fun of watching the game live.
However, compared to those lousy Development League competitions, the annual National High School Summer League was quite eye-catching.
In fact, in the United States, where the basketball culture was quite developed, The level and intensity of the high school league matches were comparable to many other national team matches.
This was especially true for the matches after the quarter-finals. Because winning the honor of being the number one high school basketball player in the United States was something that not many young people could refuse. Everyone gave their all in these competitions, trying their best to win the championship.
This kind of fighting spirit was incomparable to the development league and the NBA's preseason.
Especially in this year's Summer League, New York's Metropolitan High School had made it into the top eight and had a high chance of winning.
Power forward Thompson was a very well-rounded player. NBA scouts had already looked for him.
As long as he went to college for a year, he could enter the NAB draft. (The NBA rules state that high school students cannot participate in the NBA draft. They must attend college for a year or something.)
Many scouts gave Thompson the template of a player who was LeBron James. He was able to break through and split the ball to attract a double team. He also had good accuracy and could pass the ball to organize the offense. It could be said that Thompson's evaluation was quite high. Thompson now had a bright future ahead of him. He was much better than his stepfather, who had only won one Best Sixth Man award in his career.
Some manufacturers of basketball shoes were ready to sign an endorsement contract with Thompson after he won the championship and the MVP award. Even if he could only enter the NBA next year and they had to pay a year's worth of endorsement fees, some manufacturers were willing to do so. If they signed with Thompson now, it would definitely be much cheaper than when Thompson became more and more famous. Even if they wasted a year's worth of contract value, it would be worth it.
Because a local high school in New York had made it into the top eight and had a chance of winning the championship. Many fans in New York came to support the Metropolitan High School game. After all, winning the Summer League championship was still a championship! It was much better than the Knicks, who had been eliminated in the playoffs for one or two rounds, or even not making it to the playoffs at all!
Therefore, Madison Square Garden, a stadium that could hold more than 18,000 people, had a very high attendance rate today. Although it was only the top eight of the high school league, at least 80% of the seats were filled. Almost 15,000 fans filled the entire stadium.
This once again reflected the spending power of New York fans. Even if it was a high school sports league, they were willing to pay to watch it. Of course, part of the reason was that there were no other important sports games in New York City today. There were no baseball or football games scheduled this weekend.
Therefore, many fans and sports enthusiasts chose to watch high school games to pass the time on the weekend.
Li Jie, who was sitting on the sidelines, glanced at Peter and Harry next to him. He pointed to the front and said, "Look, the man in the two rows in front of us seems to be the assistant coach of the Knicks. I saw this guy on TV. He also came to watch Thompson's game. "
"I heard that the Knicks have talked to Thompson. They want Thompson to join New York University for a year, and then the Knicks will draft him next year. The Knicks have the third pick in the first round. If Thompson really listens to the Knicks' suggestion, he can get a spot in the NBA next year, "Peter glanced at the assistant coach of the Knicks in front of him and said to the two.
It seemed that after he reconciled with Thompson, his relationship with Thompson had improved a lot. Thompson even told Peter about this kind of thing.
Today, Metropolitan High School was playing against an old high school team, the Oak High School basketball team. Metropolitan High School was a rising star team that had never won a championship. Oak High School was a team that had won many championships in its history and had cultivated many outstanding NBA players.
The game was very intense from the beginning. Metropolitan High School played the run-and-gun tactics that were commonly used in the NBA. They played at a fast pace and scored high points. This made Metropolitan High School's game very enjoyable to watch.
Oak High School, on the other hand, played a textbook positional game. Because high school players were not NBA players, the run-and-gun tactics were more demanding on the team's players. Although the score was high and it was enjoyable to watch, because the pace was too fast, it was easy to make all kinds of mistakes.
Oak Tree High wanted absolute victory, not mere spectators. Therefore, they preferred to play the full 30 seconds in each quarter. (High school and college games lasted 30 seconds, not 24 seconds in the NBA). They played the whole game ugly, but they were not willing to speed up the pace.
This kind of play somewhat messed up the rhythm of Metropolitan High School's game. Since the center won the jump ball, Metropolitan High School scored a fast break at the beginning of the game.
The rest of the game was disrupted by Oak High School's full-court press. After the whole first quarter, the score of the two teams was only 23 to 18. Metropolitan High School was behind by five points. This kind of slow-paced attack was extremely ugly. The fans in the stadium started booing Oak High School.
But the coach of the opposing team did not care. As long as they could win, it did not matter if they played ugly.
"Come on, Thompson! Beat those guys! Show me the spirit you used to beat me up! " Peter and his team were sitting in the fifth row. The Metropolitan High School players could hear him shouting at Thompson.
This time, in addition to ordinary fans, there were many Metropolitan High School students who came to watch the game. Everyone supported their school's team. Peter's shouts inspired many of the other students to cheer for him.
Before the start of the second quarter, the whole stadium began to cheer strongly. Perhaps the cheers of the students began to let the somewhat lost Metropolitan High School team find their direction.
Thompson, who originally did not have any form in the first quarter, began to show his strength. At the beginning of the game, he used his sharp breakthrough to attract the opponent's double team. The three-point line in the bottom corner ended up missing a defender. Thompson's beautiful feint tricked two defenders into jumping together.
He then threw a back pass to his teammate at the three-point line in the bottom corner. Swish! The water splashed, and the ball went into the net. It was a very beautiful three-point shot.
Since the first beautiful assist came out, Thompson began to be unstoppable. Just a minute and a half into the second quarter, a three-step layup caused a foul. It was a two-and-one.
After that, Thompson seemed to have the help of God. He shot, broke through, dunked on the spot, and did a back pass. Anyway, he was hot, no matter how he played. The team's coach also saw that Thompson was now hot.
So he directly arranged for Thompson to have unlimited shooting rights, and the whole team surrounded him as the core offensive point. As long as the opponent dared to double team Thompson, he would definitely miss a defender. Thompson was a power forward with the ability to pass, and his vision was also very wide. As long as they double team Thompson, he would definitely pass the ball and assist.
If they did not double team Thompson, he would not be able to defend against any of the Oak High School defenders one-on-one. Thompson could use his body to fight against the smaller players, and against the bigger players, he would just pull out and shoot. In just the second quarter, Thompson had scored 19 points, 5 rebounds, and 5 assists. It ignited the enthusiasm of the fans in the stadium.
The assistant coach of the Knicks nodded repeatedly as he watched. With a little training, such an outstanding player could completely become the core of the Knicks' rebuild in a year or two.
In the second half of the third quarter, the score had become 65-55, and Metropolitan High School had already surpassed by ten points. The coach substituted Thompson, who had played for 25 minutes, to let him rest and bring on a substitute.
When Thompson came off the court, he had already scored 27 points, eight rebounds, and seven assists. And there was still enough time for him to hit a triple-double.
When the game was not so intense, Li Jie glanced at Peter, who had just cheered for the school team and was almost hoarse from all the shouting. He asked, "Do you two want to drink? I'm going to buy some. "
Harry said, "Sprite, thank you!"
Peter said hoarsely, "Gatorade, thank you. I feel that cheering from the sidelines is more tiring than playing on the court. "
Li Jie walked out of the auditorium helplessly and went to buy a drink from the vending machine in the empty corridor outside the court. When Li Jie walked out of the auditorium, a girl who had been watching Li Jie from far away also walked out of the auditorium with Li Jie. She was Lauren, who the night watchers had been secretly protecting for the captain.
Today was the Metropolitan High School team's game, and she had been dragged by her friend to cheer for the school team. In the auditorium, Lauren could see Li Jie from far away. Or to be more precise, she could see the complicated cobweb-like timeline above Li Jie's head.
When Li Jie was about to put in a coin to buy Sprite, Coke, and Gatorade, the girl named Lauren suddenly walked up to Li Jie and said, "Jason Li. You are one of the people sent to secretly protect me, right? You are also a masked hero. "
Lauren's tone was very soft, but what she said shocked Li Jie. "What did you say?"
"Don't be surprised. Captain Rogers asked you to secretly protect me. I believe you are a trustworthy person. As for me, aren't you curious as to why they want you to protect me? " Lauren said to herself, completely ignoring whether Li Jie was listening to her. "If I say that there will be a huge and terrible accident in today's game, do you think you can believe me?"
Roland looked at Li Jie with sincerity in his eyes. The two of them simply stared at each other in the corridor. Li Jie felt that he must have gone mad, or perhaps his ears were damaged.
PS: May 1st is the double monthly vote period. Please vote more monthly votes. If you fall too far behind others during the double monthly vote period, it is basically impossible to catch up after the double monthly vote period.
This book will be on the homepage of Qidian on the 23rd of this month. I can't let the book's performance be too bad at that time.
During the Labor Day period, I will try to make sure that there are three chapters, or at least eight thousand words. Sometimes I will write a big chapter in order to not affect the reading experience.
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