Six Hundred and Forty-Nine. This Guy Is Actually the Support of Our Team.

After entering the tactical meeting, the players also put away their mentality of trying to show off in front of the camera and focused on preparing for the game.

After the two assistant coaches explained the recent changes of the Mavericks, the Grizzlies players felt pressure for tonight's game.

They want to win!

There are Yao Ming, Sun Ce, and Yi Jianlian. There are hundreds of millions of people watching the game in Asia alone, which is larger than the population of the United States. Moreover, football in Europe is in the winter break. With Nowitzki, the ratings in Europe are It would be nice too, who doesn't want to win with so many people watching them play?

However, as professional players, after understanding that the Mavericks' adjustments have paid off, they know that tonight's game will definitely be difficult.

The opponent definitely wants to win this game!

The reasons for wanting to win are exactly the same.

It's true that their Grizzlies team has a better record. Their Grizzlies team is 22 wins and 5 losses, which is a full 5 wins more than the Mavericks.

But record does not completely represent strength!

In the second round of the Eastern Conference playoffs last season, the Celtics' record was more than a dozen games worse than the Cavaliers, but the Celtics could beat the Cavaliers by 32 points!

Unlike the Grizzlies, a newly emerging team that has a chance to win and will fight for every game from top to bottom, a team like the Mavericks that has been strong for many years and has at least 50+ wins in the regular season often needs tactical adjustments. , greater than the need for a few regular season wins.

For example, Yao Ming played for 23 minutes. Did he keep playing for 23 minutes?

Of course it's impossible. Yao Ming only averaged 11.2 shots per game in these 11 games, averaging 6.5 field goals per game, and averaging 5 of 6 free throws per game, which means he threw 13-15 times per game, including 6.5 field goals per game. At least a quarter resulted in shooting fouls for the opponent.

And after watching some video clips, the Grizzlies players learned that when the Mavericks turned Nowitzki into a containment stage, many of Yao Ming's shots were made by moving in a small range and receiving the ball in a very comfortable position. Just hit the height.

Yao Ming even played very easily in many games, with only a few singles. The whole team focused on his golf IQ, height, talent, and touch.

The key is Nowitzki. This is a player who averaged 24 points per game at the beginning of the season. He is currently averaging 22 points per game and has averaged 17 points per game in recent times. It's not that he has lost his ability. You can see it. It's just a simple team. need.

Tactical meetings, tactical arrangements,

The coaching staff has made detailed preparations and seems to have a way to deal with the Mavericks.

But there is a saying that goes well - all tactics are perfect when planned.

It also depends on the on-the-spot operation.

After the tactical meeting ended at 9:40, the players made simple warm-up preparations and started two tactical training sessions at 10:00.

Time is tight, but that’s all.

Originally, yesterday and the day before yesterday were good preparation times, but there are always many things that take time. Concerts are necessary for the team to expand its reputation or improve the cohesion of local fans. This demand is felt in all aspects, and the players themselves are the biggest of beneficiaries.

Regarding the fact that players have to spend time with their families, if the players came to Dallas with their families yesterday, they would definitely not be able to train on Christmas Eve.

Life is always bigger than basketball.

After training, the players returned to the locker room to take a shower, and then had rest time until 3:30 p.m.

At the end of the day, it's just a regular season game. What's the big deal if we lose a regular season game? There's a high chance it will be suspended next summer.

Testing the strength of the Mavericks is the most important thing. It is still not sure which of the three teams of the Lakers, Mavericks and Bulls is the best. There is plenty of time to adjust in the long regular season.

It’s not a big deal for Coach Hollins as the head coach, but the opponent is the Mavericks, and many people on the team are playing in the Christmas game for the first time, so they are obsessed with this, but for Coach Hollins, just try your best. .

Unlike other opponents that he is unlikely to encounter in the playoffs, it would be better to win against the Mavericks, but for strategic reasons, he would rather play anxiously and push the Mavericks to the limit to see how strong the opponent can be. , even if we lose, we don’t want to win easily when the opponent is in a bad condition.

For the Mavericks, winning or losing a regular season game also doesn't matter.

Coach Hollins really wants to do something in the playoffs, at least touch the conference finals floor!

Coach Hollins said to the players before disbanding: "We all hope to win this game, but we don't have to bear too much burden. I hope we can play this game with a relaxed mentality on Christmas. Happy Christmas That’s the most important thing. By the way, the Chinese New Year is coming soon, Hi Pi Niu Yi Er..."

"Pfft..." Sun Ce couldn't help laughing when he heard this.

What Coach Hollins said before could not make Sun Ce relax. After all, this is the main Christmas game in China.

But that happy new year hit his point of laughter.

Looking at Sun Ce, who had a charming smile, his teammates were speechless, and coach Hollins was even more speechless. He just wanted to make the players relax, but who knew that Sun Ce would laugh so much.

Although he, Hollins, doesn’t care much about the outcome of this game, this is the first Christmas game in team history, so can we be serious? He, the coach, is lecturing!

"Does the future of our team depend entirely on such a second-rate guy? Why do I feel like my coaching career is bleak?"

…

…

After returning to the hotel for lunch at noon, Sun Ce, his teammates and their families gathered in the boss's room.

Robert Pera naturally had to watch the first Christmas game in the team's history. He stayed in the largest room in the hotel, which was so large that it had a heated swimming pool. Today, he gave up the room to the players and their families to have a Christmas party in it.

The women and children set up the venue with the help of the hotel staff. After the game, they had to celebrate Christmas no matter what.

Most of the players, including Sun Ce, gathered in the smaller living room to watch the live broadcast of the game.

At 2 pm Central Time, the opening game of the Christmas game between the Magic and the Celtics started.

Maybe it was because he had been playing with the two bears since he entered the NBA, Sun Ce felt that Howard was just so-so. Last year, when Gasol was very fat, although he couldn't beat Howard, Gasol, who had top defensive awareness under the basket, defended Howard very well.

Although Gasol's low-post defensive efficiency has declined this year, the team's defense has become stronger, and Howard doesn't feel that difficult to deal with.

However, now watching Howard play against the Celtics...

Sun Ce finally understood why Howard's Magic team in the 10-11 season in the original time and space was only ranked fourth in the East, but almost won the MVP.

Except for a few centers Howard couldn't handle, playing against other players was like playing for Howard at his peak!

In the first quarter, Howard got a maximum salary of 8 points and 8 rebounds, and also blocked two shots in a single quarter, one of which slapped Rondo away, and one of which jumped to the outside to block Ray Allen.

Athletic ability, defensive ability, rebounding... Howard had his own defensive system before he suffered an incurable injury like a back injury, and he won the best defensive player in a row, the strongest defensive player in the new century... and so on, and so on, and it's not exaggerated!

The inside combination of Garnett + Perkins is very strong, but it was destroyed by Howard alone!

Mainly due to Garnett's decline. The Celtics' defense is still very good this year, but it is not like last season that they can compete with the weird teams like the Bobcats for the first place. The defensive efficiency of the Bobcats last year is similar to that of the Grizzlies this year, but the defensive efficiency of the Grizzlies this year is far ahead of the Celtics.

Sun Ce seemed to see the scene of the Cavaliers being beaten by the Magic in the Eastern Conference Finals in 2009.

Although the Magic are not as strong as the finals-level team, the Celtics led by Rondo and the old Big Three are probably not as strong as the Cavaliers in 2009. The Celtics are old and those who don't shoot don't shoot, but Howard is at the peak of his career.

The analysis is correct, but it is still amazing. In last year's Eastern Conference Finals, the Celtics almost swept the Magic. This year is only a year later, and Garnett's defense pales in comparison to Howard.

One is at his peak, and the other was injured in 2009 and his peak is over.

The main reason is that O'Neal, who the Celtics used to deal with Howard, was injured after only a few games this season. O'Neal couldn't even play in such a happy game as the Christmas game.

Perkins, who they had high hopes for, looked very powerful when Garnett was in good shape in the past three years, but when Garnett declined, they found that Perkins was not useful either, and was not as useful as O'Neal.

Sun Ce watched this game and remembered that the Celtics traded Perkins and Garnett to the Thunder in exchange for Jeff Green because of O'Neal's good performance this season. I don't know if this will happen again.

Howard was happier and better, and his performance was getting better and better. He scored 28 points, 22 rebounds, 5 blocks, 2 steals and 5 turnovers. He was so excited today that even hacking the Shark was useless. He made 6 of 12 free throws and scored once in each attack. The Celtics would rather not hack the Shark.

In the end, the Magic easily defeated the Celtics 107-88 and won this Christmas game.

This game was Howard's solo dance, just like the Magic defeated the Cavaliers in 2009, and Howard was in the limelight.

After watching the game between the Magic and the Celtics, Sun Ce and others received a notice from the coaching staff and took the team bus to the Mavericks arena.

They couldn't watch the next game between the Bulls and the Thunder.

Although it was a pity that they couldn't see two of the three young superstars play against each other, the Grizzlies were more excited.

In less than three hours, it will be their Christmas game!

The first Christmas game in the team's history, and it has created another record in the team's history!

Arriving at the visiting team's training ground at the American Airlines Center, the warm-up was live-filmed by the court TV station, and a group of people were serious as hell.

After Sun Ce finished stretching, massage and other work, he was ready to try his hand at shooting.

Randolph may have come to Sun Ce to practice together in order to get the camera, but it was fine if he got the camera. Sun Ce saw that this guy's shooting action had changed and deliberately moved closer to the standard posture. After Randolph shot one, he said to Sun Ce: "Lord, we have to work hard together tonight, and the Grizzlies will win!"

Sun Ce looked at Randolph speechlessly for a long time, and said: "Zach, we don't speak English in our country."

"..."

……

……

It's the first day back to work, a little busy, bear with it, and go to squeeze the subway to go home first.

Say three sentences.

As long as I am allowed to write, I will continue to write. As a writer, I still have to have professional ethics. I write about basketball not because of the NBA, but because I grew up watching Yao Ming play basketball when I was young. That era is a memory of youth.

Second, I don’t watch the NBA, not because the NBA was so good before, but because I haven’t watched the NBA for a long time. I have come a long way without the happy player.

Third, I love my country, and I support everything unconditionally, even if I am not allowed to write about the NBA. Professional ethics is very important, but above that, there is the country.

The above will be deleted after the next chapter is written.