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On American Cable TV, once again, the New York Knicks faced a backlash with heavy promotion of the narrative that the Knicks didn’t treat Zhang Hao as a star and humiliated him on his birthday by selling tickets. This game went viral!

The New York Knicks have 41 regular season home games every year, all broadcast nationwide by American Cable TV. Regardless of their performance, the viewership remains decent, even in their worst seasons averaging over 2 million purchases per game.

Zhang Hao is currently red-hot, sparking a "gentleman’s style" and "shot put movement craze" in the basketball world. As a rising star of the Lakers, his limelight recently even overshadowed Jordan, who is having his career-best individual and team performance.

After American Cable TV’s maneuver, the reservations for this originally promising pay-per-view game skyrocketed!

This kind of operation by the New York Knicks, humiliating a star, is unprecedented in NBA history and has sparked immense debate.

Now that this matter has been exposed, it has, in fact, saved Zhang Hao trouble. He doesn’t have to bring it up himself, avoiding looking petty.

He always considered himself to be broad-minded.

After finishing morning pre-game training, Zhang Hao first accepted an exclusive interview with the Imperial Channel.

Lately, his popularity at home is also skyrocketing. Of course, there are quite a few negative voices, but it doesn’t stop him from being recognized as a representative of Chinese athletes in the top league of a sport.

Regarding him being humiliated, Zhang Hao noticed that everyone seems more indignant than he is—his friends, newly acquainted young fans, teammates, and domestic media... The feeling of being supported is great, and it only makes him want to win more!

After the Imperial Channel interview, reporter Su Qun, who was responsible for pre-game interviews today, revealed a piece of news to Zhang Hao—the Chinese Basketball Association has shown signs of softening, and they may mention Mr. Zhang at some point in the future, but possibly not during this year’s Olympics.

Zhang Hao felt a bit regretful about this, but not as frustrated as before. Back then, not knowing how much longer he could play, participating in national team games was something he would do if possible.

Who doesn’t have a heart to serve the country? Even though the people managing the Chinese Men’s Basketball Team are peculiar, the sense of accomplishment in enhancing a national aspect far outweighs the annoyance with those people.

Mr. Zhang doesn’t have many other skills; he can only play basketball. Helping the country with what he’s good at is enough.

Zhang Hao always believed that a person’s contribution to society may lie in their achievements, but for an ordinary person, doing what they’re supposed to is already a huge contribution to society.

During the Imperial Channel interview, Zhang Hao didn’t need to say anything; they would surely report on the New York Knicks’ negative news with a sense of shared resentment.

After the afternoon rest, the American Cable TV interview came.

At the start of the interview, the American Cable TV reporter indignantly said, "Zhang, the Knicks’ behavior is unsportsmanlike. Such a team doesn’t deserve to be in the sports world..."

Listening to the reporter’s rant, Zhang Hao thought, is this even a question?

Anyone unaware might think American Cable TV is owned by the Lakers.

After a wave of passionate criticism, the American Cable TV reporter asked, "Zhang, how will you respond in tonight’s game?"

How to respond? What Zhang Hao intended to say was entirely expressed in the journalist’s fiery introduction!

Suddenly, Zhang Hao recalled an old interview clip he had seen in his previous life...

He coldly said, "I hope they won’t cry over spilled milk."

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The Knicks host the Lakers!

The Lakers have been exceptionally strong recently. Since Zhang Hao joined the team, they have won 15 of 18 games, including victories against top teams like the Bulls, Spurs, and Utah Jazz, bringing their record to 25-8, just 1.5 games behind the Supersonics, who hold a 27-7 record at the top of the West.

Although the Lakers aren’t expected to ultimately reach the top of the West and might have to fight for the top four in the latter half of the season, their performance at this midpoint of the season is phenomenal.

It can even be said that the Lakers have been that adrenaline shot for fans fatigued by viewing after the Christmas games, reigniting interest and viewership!

This year, the number of All-Star starting votes has increased significantly compared to the same period last year.

Last season, just like the 93-94 season where the All-Star vote leader had only 790,000 votes, Grant Hill last season sparked voting enthusiasm among fans. To vote for Grant Hill, they also had to vote for others, nearly doubling the number of All-Star starting votes compared to the 93-94 season, with the All-Star vote leader having close to 1.3 million votes.

This year, the first batch of votes has increased by more than a third over last year’s first batch. Although Jordan’s return has its effects, the data per day shows greater boosts from Zhang Hao’s outstanding performances against David Robinson and Malone!

Rookies naturally come with topics of discussion.

With the Knicks’ move and the American Cable TV’s fierce backlash, the Knicks’ negative image has deepened quite a bit. However, the Knicks have had good records in recent years and even reached the finals previously, holding high support locally in New York. The Knicks’ move was instead seen as a point of pride by many local die-hard basketball fans.