The Conquered Holy Land

Link: 30 points, 6 assists, 4 rebounds. Anthony: 25 points, 2 assists, 5 rebounds.

If you thought those numbers were nothing special for these two stars, you would be dead wrong.

Because those were merely their totals after the first half. There was still an entire half left to play. God knew what those numbers would look like by the end of the game!

Everyone held their breath. It was no longer just Shumpert—even the fans and commentators had not expected to witness a scene like this today.

The New York commentators had initially expected a high-scoring game at Madison Square Garden tonight, but they had never imagined scores as high as 30 points in a single half!

Thirty points in a half might not rank among the greatest feats in NBA history. After all, Link's opponent, Carmelo Anthony, had once done something so inhuman as scoring 33 points in a single quarter.

But you could not compare every game to history. The fact was that Link's 30-point first half had caused the Knicks enormous trouble. Even with Anthony playing brilliantly, they still trailed by 11 at halftime.

For the Knicks, who moved one step closer to the abyss with every additional loss, such a situation was pure hell.

No one on the Knicks could stop Link, so Joerger simply let Link attack without restraint.

At a time like this, spreading scoring opportunities around to others would have been a waste instead.

Link did not disappoint. Everyone looked forward to seeing him become the eighth visiting player in NBA history to score 50-plus points at Madison Square Garden.

Madison Square Garden was a basketball shrine, and every star took pride in conquering it.

Although Link had won plenty of games at Madison Square Garden, calling it a conquest would still