Knicks head coach Thibodeau was a hard-nosed coach, known for his defense.
He addressed his players:
"Wang Yi's three-pointers account for a quarter of his average points per game, while his mid-range and inside scoring account for the other three-quarters. So tonight, our main priority is stopping Wang Yi from scoring inside."
"We'll use a zone defense. As for the other Kings players, if they get inside, let them. Our main target is Wang Yi. We can double-team him, triple-team him, even throw four or five players at him."
"In short, we have to stop him from scoring at all costs."
Hearing this, all the players understood what their coach meant.
The game could be lost, but Wang Yi had to be stopped.
Finally, the coach rallied his players:
"No matter what, we can't let Wang Yi score 65 points tonight. We can't be the backdrop for him making history. We're people, players—not somebody's supporting cast or background."
Coach Thibodeau spoke with impassioned conviction, and all the players in the room were fired up.
Meanwhile, many fans had already arrived at the arena, including quite a few celebrities.
The most devoted fan of all was probably the renowned director Spike Lee.
He was a die-hard New York fan. He never missed a home game, and if he had the time, he even traveled to watch them play on the road.
As he put it, he'd spent tens of millions of dollars just watching New York play.
That was no exaggeration.
His seats were almost always in the first few rows.
Tickets in those rows cost at least ten or twenty thousand dollars.
For important games, like Kobe Bryant's retirement game, a front-row ticket could cost as much as seven or eight hundred thousand dollars.
The prices were outrageous.
There were