Chapter 154: Constantly Striving

Sitting on the substitute bench, Lin Feng wiped the sweat from his brow with a towel while intently watching the action on the court.

As the Knicks made substitutions, the Cavaliers also adjusted their lineup, sending Thomas and Devin to the bench to rest.

Once the rotation units took the floor, the Knicks' lack of depth off the bench was immediately exposed. Sparked by their Sixth Man of the Year, Lewis, the Cavaliers swiftly orchestrated a 7-0 scoring run.

The score shifted to 27:31!

The Knicks went from leading to trailing. Fortunately, in the dying seconds of the first quarter, Jones drained a heavily contested, unbelievable three-pointer.

30:31!

At the end of the first quarter, the two teams were essentially tied.

The score made it clear that this was an offensive shootout. Together, the two sides poured in 61 points in the opening quarter and knocked down a combined 13 three-pointers, a rare sight in past playoff games.

The second quarter got underway.

The Knicks entered a phase of deep rotation, with Decar as the only starter left on the floor. He served as the team's ultimate defensive anchor and the primary guarantee for securing rebounds.

The Cavaliers also deployed their second unit, but their bench depth far surpassed that of the Knicks. Given that the Knicks were already missing Cook and Podolski today, their roster depth was compromised even further.

During this stretch of bench-versus-bench play, the Cavaliers completely dominated. Three and a half minutes into the second quarter, the score became 35:44, giving the Cavaliers a 9-point lead.

Fills called a timeout and sent the starting lineup back onto the court. After ten minutes of rest, Lin Feng checked back into the game as well.

The Cavaliers also brought back their entire Big Three, setting the stage for another clash between the two starting units.

"Lin Feng is back on the floor. Let's see if he can lead the Knicks to erase this 9-point deficit," Liu Weiping said with a hint of anticipation.

Glancing at the stat sheet, Xu Jia remarked, "Ever since he was subbed out in the latter half of the first quarter until now, Lin Feng has had over ten minutes of rest. I wonder if he can maintain his hot shooting hand from the first quarter." He continued, "Lin Feng went 6-for-9 from beyond the arc in the first quarter. While that shooting percentage is slightly down compared to the previous two games, it's still terrifyingly efficient."

"Here we go, let's watch this play. Chris sets a screen for Lin Feng, Lin Feng drives toward the paint, sigh... what a pity... wait, the whistle blows, Dawatch has fouled."

Coming out of the timeout, Lin Feng chose to attack the rim on his first offensive possession, drawing a hacking foul from Cavaliers center Dawatch.

Lin Feng stepped up to the free-throw line and calmly swished both attempts.

37:44!

The Knicks clawed back two points.

However, on the defensive end, they suffered a major lapse in coverage, allowing Comfort to cruise in for an easy dunk, pushing the lead right back to seven points.

Over the next few possessions, Lin Feng did not actively call for the ball; instead, he focused on creating opportunities for his teammates. Unfortunately, his teammates failed to step up, converting only one out of four offensive possessions. The Cavaliers seized the opportunity to stretch their lead to eleven points.

39:50!

With 7 minutes and 11 seconds remaining in the second quarter, Fills was forced to call another timeout.

"Our offense is stalling right now. Lin, you still need to shoulder the heavy burden of scoring. Jones, I need you to use your speed to attack their interior, draw the double-team, and kick the ball back out to the perimeter."

Fills quickly mapped out the ensuing strategy before the players returned to the court.

The Knicks on offense. The ball found its way into Lin Feng's hands.

"Lin, it looks like you've only scored two points this quarter," Thomas taunted provokingly.

"That'll be five in a second," Lin Feng smiled back at Thomas, raised his arms, and immediately hoisted a three-pointer.

Lin Feng's shot came completely out of nowhere; he didn't even seem to look at the rim.

Yet, despite the sudden release, the basketball swished precisely through the net!

That was the instincts of a super scorer!

42:50!

The deficit was brought back within single digits.

"What in the world!" Thomas cursed in frustration. He had expected that guarding Lin Feng himself would surely contain him, but he never imagined that only halfway through the second quarter, Lin Feng had already racked up 29 points. At this pace, his scoring output tonight wouldn't be any lower than the last game; in fact, he genuinely had a shot at breaking Mike's record!

A sudden illusion crept into Thomas's mind—living in the same era as Lin Feng might just be his greatest tragedy...

Because his teammates were simply too unreliable on the offensive end, Lin Feng was forced to shoulder the scoring load for the entire team. In the subsequent possessions, Lin Feng became the ultimate offensive finisher for the Knicks.

Living up to expectations, Lin Feng lived up to his name. For the remainder of the second quarter, he scored inside and out, pouring in another 14 points. Combined with his previous five, Lin Feng amassed a staggering 19 points in the second quarter alone.

Throughout the entire first half, Lin Feng exploded for 43 points, a performance that shattered the NBA record for individual first-half scoring by a rookie in the playoffs.

Yet, dazzling as Lin Feng's performance was, the Knicks still trailed as the half came to a close.

57:62!!

The game entered halftime.

Instead of immediately heading back to the locker room, Lin Feng accepted an invitation to the CCTV live broadcasting desk.

"Hello, Lin Feng. First, say hello to the fans and television viewers back home," Xu Jia said after Lin Feng took his seat.

Lin Feng smiled and waved at the camera, "Hello everyone, I am Lin Feng. It's been a while."

As Lin Feng appeared on the CCTV Sports Channel broadcast, his fans across the country went wild, with countless viewers flooding social media to declare they were practically "licking the screen" in front of their TVs.

Spurred by Lin Feng's appearance, the program's already impressive 1.7% viewership rating instantly surged by another 0.2 percentage points, reaching a jaw-dropping 1.9%!

One had to remember this was a sports broadcast. Prior to this, ratings breaking 1.0 had only happened a handful of times, yet today's live broadcast was creeping toward the 2% mark. It was beyond astonishing—the crew members of "Live NBA" felt as though they were witnessing a miracle.

"Lin Feng, we won't take up too much of your rest time. I'll just ask a few questions filtered from Weibo that the fans care about the most," Xu Jia cleared his throat and asked, "The first question is... well, this doesn't seem to be related to sports..."

Xu Jia chuckled awkwardly, "Fans are asking when you and Qin Ruolin are getting married? Haha, it seems they care a lot about your personal life."

Hearing this question, Lin Feng was left momentarily speechless. Wasn't this supposed to be "Live NBA"? Why were they suddenly talking gossip??

"It's not appropriate to discuss this on a sports broadcast," Lin Feng shrugged, skillfully dodging the inquiry.

Xu Jia was no fool; since Lin Feng didn't want to talk about it, he wouldn't press further. In truth, the production crew prepared that question on a whim—just in case Lin Feng gave a definitive response, it would be a massive boost to the show's ratings.

"Alright then, the second question: how far do you think your team can go in the playoffs?" Xu Jia asked.

"All the way to the end, of course," Lin Feng replied with a smile.

"It seems you're as confident as ever," Xu Jia smiled and continued, "Third question: will you truly never play for the national team in the future?"

"Of course not. I am Chinese, and whenever the country needs me, I can return to the team at any time," Lin Feng said with a serious expression. "However, there is a precondition: the existing basketball administration system must be reformed. Under the current setup, I cannot focus on playing basketball with peace of mind."

"Fair enough. Pretend I never asked," Xu Jia said with a wry smile and shook his head. Although CCTV and the Chinese Basketball Association belonged to different systems, it was still best to steer clear of such sensitive topics to avoid stirring up trouble.

"If there are no other questions, I need to head back to the locker room," Lin Feng exhaled and prepared to stand up.

"Wait." Liu Weiping stopped him, "Lin Feng, let me ask one last question. You've already scored 43 points in the first half. Do you think you can break Mike's record tonight?"

"Of course. I'm working toward that record every single second," Lin Feng smiled with unwavering confidence.

...

P.S. To all you loyal readers chasing the updates, are there any free recommendation tickets and Qidian coins left? The 515 red envelope ranking is in its final countdown! I'm here rallying for votes—please send more support and recommendation tickets for one final push! (To be continued.)