Chapter 1083 1082. If You Don’t Listen to the Old Man, You Will Suffer the Consequences (Seeking Votes)

On January 3, the second game of the new year for the Hawks arrived.

Liu Mang arrived at the Ford Center early in the morning for training. From 6:30 to 10:30, four hours, he practiced half a training day with Gary Payton's defensive training card.

Emmanuel fell asleep on the chair beside him. He thought Liu Mang was going to practice some skills, but Liu Mang put a few chairs and ran around them irregularly, accelerating and decelerating...

Emmanuel couldn't walk yet. Liu Mang had to eat when he was hungry and drink water when he was thirsty.

The teammates came and were confused by what Liu Mang was training. Prince stared at it for a while. When Liu Mang was drinking water, he asked uncertainly: "Ace, are you defending the pick-and-roll?"

"Well, I'll practice more, so that I can use it against opponents who are good at defending the pick-and-roll in the future." Liu Mang responded, and finally someone understood!

"..." Prince did not continue to talk, but put a few chairs on the opposite side of the half court where Liu Mang was practicing...

The main purpose of this training is to practice various methods of bypassing or squeezing through the pick-and-roll when encountering pick-and-rolls at various positions. It requires the body and consciousness to react naturally again and again, so the training is extremely boring.

McGrady came to see it and felt so bored. Is it so troublesome to practice defense? He chose to practice catching the ball and shooting three-pointers.

From the ball-holding style at the beginning of the season, McGrady has now transformed into catching the ball and shooting as the main method, supplemented by catching the ball and attacking. The three-point shooting rate has increased from 36% in the first dozen games to 42% in the next dozen games. Now his goal is to maintain the current stable three-point shooting.

At half past ten, Liu Mang's training time agreed with the coaching staff yesterday ended. The Hawks held a meeting about the Hornets at 11 o'clock.

Coach Kruger felt strange about Liu Mang's practice of often fixing training time and training intensity. He felt that Liu Mang had obsessive-compulsive disorder and there were always some strange things.

The meeting about the Hornets was very simple. After playing against the Lakers, the Hawks began to rest.

In November and December, the Hawks had only three back-to-back games in total, but there were three back-to-back games in January, two in February, and four in March.

Rest is inevitable. This is no longer the era of the 1980s and 1990s when Pat Riley took the lead in using players to death without caring about the future. It is mainly because the health of stars has received more attention since the mid-1990s when the salaries of stars have been higher and higher.

Today, Rasheed Wallace, Prince, and Mourning will not play. Granger, who has been training with the team since the end of December, finally got the opportunity to enter the big list.

Horry and Barry also began to play rotation roles and find the feeling of the game. In the playoffs, these veterans will inevitably be used.

After a brief meeting, Liu Mang went to the lounge with his teammates. The team nutritionist had prepared lunch.

"Oh... Danny, you can finally play, Boss, pass the ball to Danny more!" David Lee was very excited after coming out of the meeting room, even more excited than Granger who was on the 12-man roster.

Liu Mang said "hmm", neither agreeing nor refusing directly.

"Boss, you don't have to pass the ball to me specially. If I have the opportunity to play with you, I can just help you grab rebounds. If I have the opportunity, you pass the ball to me, and I will try my best to shoot it!" Granger was very calm, and did not get carried away by the opportunity to play, and regarded it as an opportunity for him to turn over a new leaf.

This surprised Liu Mang, what a calm rookie!

Compared with David Lee, the rich second generation who always dreams so big, Granger makes Liu Mang admire him more. He is about to turn 23 years old, which is also one of the factors for Granger's maturity.

But... a little too cold...

"Danny Granger, ability rating 74, offense 72, defense 80, three-pointer 79, mid-range shot 68, layup 84, speed 88, strength 83, ball control 70, passing 66... ​​Injury tendency: very high."

Liu Mang looked at Granger, who was actually not bad, a tall big shooter with good mobility and solid defense.

He has certain organizational skills, but his ball control and passing are very average, the league average level, can't be counted on.

But for a rookie, it's already very good.

The key is that Granger adapted to the adult basketball world very quickly. Playing in the Development League, his ability rating has increased from 69 when he was selected to 74. In the Development League, he competed for shooting rights and performance with those players who wanted to be appreciated by the NBA with a core style of play, and he didn't give up just because he was demoted to the Development League. He has been working hard and has made great progress.

However, the system's evaluation of Granger's ability has a very eye-catching "extremely high", which is one level higher than McGrady's. McGrady's serious injury is mainly due to genetics and the fact that he was accidentally injured by his teammates in the original time and space and has never recovered, while Granger is really a glass man.

…

…

At 7:10 pm, after the warm-up, the players of the two teams entered the Ford Center.

The fans at the scene were very enthusiastic and cheered for everyone they saw.

First, the Hawks players entered the field, and then the Hornets players entered the field.

When the Hornets players entered the field, the lights on the field were restored, and Paul was ready to go over to say hello to the big guys, but, to his surprise, the big guys of the Hawks were more enthusiastic than him!

Seeing Paul with 58 standing on his chest, Iguodala went up and hugged Paul's shoulders and said: "Oh, Chris, we left too early yesterday, and I didn't have a good talk with you. You played really well yesterday. Keep working hard today and let me see your outstanding performance!"

Paul responded in surprise: "Thank you..."

Before Paul finished speaking, McGrady interrupted: "I heard that Ace is very optimistic about you. I came to watch your game yesterday. You are much better than Ace was at that time. Come on, you will be better than Ace!"

"With Chris here, I have to defend more seriously. I don't want to be dunked by you." Kwame Brown also came up.

Paul saw a bunch of big guys surrounding him, and he didn't know what to say after hearing what the big guys said. What's going on?

At this time, Prince actually spoke!

"Chris, what a pity, if I didn't play today, I would definitely defend well today..."

Prince didn't finish speaking before someone covered his mouth and pulled him aside.

Several people from the Hawks stared at Prince, what was he talking about! How can we play with a scared kid... No, how can we be so friendly?

Liu Mang finally said, "Chris, let me see your strength!"

After Liu Mang finished speaking, the group of Hawks players who had just surrounded Paul all dispersed, leaving Paul with a confused look on his face.

Paul still doesn't understand what happened.

Paul received a call from James today. Hearing James say that he must adjust his mentality for today's game and must not lose confidence no matter what happens, Paul is still very worried. When he went to say hello to Liu Mang and others just now, he was trembling.

But now, Paul thinks James is worrying too much!

What a good group of people!

The players from the same company are so friendly! Compared with those veterans who want to suppress him, Paul feels that all the Hawks are good people!

...

At 7:59, Liu Mang sprinkled magnesium powder into the air, and McGrady asked the referee to choose a ball that was slightly less air for one or two seconds, and the starting players of both teams came to the court.

The Hawks sent out Liu Mang, McGrady, Horry, Josh Smith, and Kwame Brown as the starting lineup.

Horry is the starting lineup as soon as he returns. He is a multiple-time champion and still has some advantages when the team starts to rest.

The Hornets sent out Paul, Kirk Sneed, Desmond Mason, David West, and PJ Brown as the starting lineup.

Kwame Brown defeated PJ Brown in the jump ball and the Hawks attacked first.

Liu Mang advanced to the frontcourt with the ball and Paul defended him.

Paul is so excited now, facing Liu Mang!

It was a very good defense. Liu Mang felt an airtight feeling from Paul's defense, of course, from Paul's position and footwork.

So, Liu Mang turned his body sideways and actively stuck to Paul.

Paul saw Liu Mang sticking to him and immediately pressed towards Liu Mang, trying to steal the ball, but Paul immediately felt a violent impact from his chest to his chin!

Liu Mang suddenly lowered his center of gravity, swung the ball to the right rear with his right hand, and turned right quickly and powerfully!

Paul has good defensive awareness, good positioning, excellent defensive choices, and his small moves are more concealed than what a general rookie should have.

However, Paul now is not the strong young man Pao Ge later, and was crushed by Liu Mang and turned to break through!

Fortunately, the Hornets are going to win this season. The master of control Byron Scott arranged a targeted defense. Even if the opponent is the Hawks, Byron Scott wants to fight.

Desmond Mason, the super physical fitness man who once competed with Liu Mang for the dunk king, quickly clamped from the sideline.

Liu Mang passed the ball to the left sideline and passed it to Horry who was in an open position.

Horry received the ball and shot a three-pointer...

It missed!

PJ-Brown defended the defensive rebound.

Attack and defense changed, and the Hornets attacked.

Paul pushed to the frontcourt. Liu Mang had passed him too easily just now. Paul had no choice but to bear it.

However, Paul was very confident on the offensive end!

From Paul's research, he felt that he was not inferior to Liu Mang in terms of speed. After reaching the front court, he immediately accelerated to break through!

Liu Mang's current defensive awareness is much better than last year. With the prediction bonus of the blocker level 5, Liu Mang quickly judged that Paul was going to break through and moved to Paul's breakthrough route.

Paul quickly changed direction, with a bit of Allen Iverson's feeling, and the change of direction was very large!

He threw Liu Mang aside at once, but... McGrady's double-team arrived!

Desmond Mason saw McGrady double-teaming Paul and immediately cut to the inside.

Paul was also looking for teammates who were left open, but Liu Mang and McGrady blocked the passing route with Desmond Mason. Because of his height, Paul didn't even see Desmond Mason cut.

Paul wanted to turn around, retreat or find an opportunity to shoot, but as soon as he turned around, he saw the third person!

Josh Smith is here too!

Liu Mang, McGrady, and Josh Smith sandwiched Paul in the middle and formed a circle...

Paul felt that the gym was a bit dark today! The light was blocked!

The Hornets did not expect the opponent to defend like this, and neither did Paul! Unable to pass the ball or retreat, Paul could only force a jump and shoot...

"Snap..."

"Bang..."

Liu Mang jumped high, stretched out his left hand, and took the ball thrown by Paul and slapped it on his right hand.

Cap!

Paul blocked Liu Mang as soon as he came up!

Paul immediately hugged Liu Mang's hands holding the ball, and committed a tactical foul before Liu Mang could counterattack.

Hawks sideline ball.

Liu Mang received the serve and advanced to the frontcourt, continuing to break through and pass the ball to Horry.

But Horry still missed!

Horry's regular season... was really iron!

And Barry, the regular season was really accurate!

The two have completely opposite characteristics. Barry played well in the regular season, but he withered in the playoffs.

Horry just couldn't make a shot unless it was a crucial ball. Last season in the Spurs, Horry's three-point shooting rate was more than 20% in the regular season, and in the playoffs, it increased to more than 30%, and more than 40% in the finals...

PJ-Brown is no longer the 92-generation center who can fly and dunk, second only to O'Neal, Mourning, and Laverso Ellis. He no longer has the ability to continue flying, but this veteran in his fourteenth season still defends the defensive rebounds well, and he is good at positioning and grabbing defensive rebounds.

The Hawks quickly retreated, and Paul received the ball and advanced to the frontcourt.

Paul had a bad feeling, the first ball was too weird!

Paul wanted to find a broad shoulder to calm down, and waved to David West for a pick-and-roll.

David West came up to help Paul block Liu Mang.

Paul saw Josh Smith switching defense, and did not force a breakthrough, but prepared to shoot a three-pointer...

Just when Paul grabbed the ball, Liu Mang did not switch defense and went straight up the line, and sandwiched Paul outside the three-point line with Josh Smith!

Paul wanted to pass to David West, and at this time McGrady had already sandwiched over, blocking between Paul and David West, who was pulling away to the right mid-range after the pick-and-roll.

Three-man defense again!

Paul did not choose to break through, and was sandwiched by three people again!

The key is that this kind of thing was not expected at all!

Paul quickly thought of a way at this time, smashed the ball on the ground, and then dribbled to the left, trying to pretend that the ball hit the opponent's player.

However, the referee at the three-point line on the left side of the basket saw clearly that the ball did not hit the body of the Hawks player, and immediately blew the whistle, clenched his fists, and began to move his forearms in circles.

Traveling!

Paul's nightmare began!

In the following period, both teams made mistakes or missed shots at the beginning, and the fans at the scene almost fell asleep.

Paul also wanted to wake up from his "dream"!

After a few rounds, he caused a foul, was blocked once, was intercepted once, passed the ball to Desmond Mason, Desmond Mason missed three three-pointers, and made two mistakes...

After more than four minutes, Paul finally understood!

What did his old high school friend mean!

The next chapter is between 12 and 1 o'clock~ I have been sleeping all day today, sorry for the long wait.