Chapter 406. 404. Prelude to the Christmas War
At 7 o'clock in the morning on December 25th, Liu Mang ran from home to the arena three kilometers away. Today's game is very important.
The Rockets have a big center this year, and Francis has entered the peak period, so the Rockets have become a team in the ranks of the playoff contenders. They are currently ranked ninth in the Western Conference. It is a difficult opponent. The Eagles must ensure In December and January, when the schedule is still relatively easy, win as much as possible, and strive to increase the winning rate to more than 40% before the start of the devil's schedule in February.
Therefore, as long as it is a non-top team, the Eagles want to win as much as possible.
For the game against the Rockets, starting at nine o'clock in the morning, the defensive tactical training for Yao Ming, a retro creature in the NBA, began.
Originally, although the Rockets were the ninth and tenth team in the Western Conference, the Eagles coaching staff did not pay much attention to them. Although the record was not good, the Hawks defeated the Bucks and Hornets as a whole. His own team is still very confident in the strength of his team, but after playing the Hornets, Liu Mang said that he should not underestimate the Rockets, their big men are difficult to deal with.
Coach Kruger knows Liu Mang well, and knows that even if he is a player from his own country, he will never brag about their strength.
Through the previous video of the Rockets, coach Kruger found that Yao Ming, a big guy, was just like what Liu Mang said. His role on the court was very different from that of the previous super giants. Mi Er's big man, he is not like the Sudanese big man Manute Boll who is also a super giant.
In fact, it’s not that the taller you are, the better you are at grabbing rebounds. Often those super tall guys are average in rebounding, such as Big Z Ilgauskas and Manute Ball. , Because he is too tall and his body is too large, even his ability to move around the basket is average, and he can block shots with his long hands.
Even Big Z, who is not particularly good at defense, averaged 2.5 blocks per game, not to mention Ball, who had an epic 5 blocks per game in his rookie season, but Ball's career rebound season was only 6.
It’s too high, I can’t move, it’s okay to stand under the basket and block shots, but it’s not easy to get stuck and grab rebounds, and the defense against breakthroughs is not as effective as expected. The data looks good, but the defensive effect is not as good as that of Mutombo and Ratliff. There is a huge gap between this normal-height big center.
Yao Ming has excellent shooting ability and good mobility. Coach Kruger has seen this when Yao Ming came to the Eagles for trial training last time, but that kind of positioning ability and rebounding ability were unexpected. Although Yao Ming is also very tall, he has the average mobility of a big man of about 2.15 meters. He rebounds well and has a strong ability to block his teammates.
Take a closer look, the Rockets are really tough!
...
The Christmas game is a holiday for fans, and some players can also celebrate the holiday, but every year, 150 basketball players and hundreds of coaches and medical staff cannot rest. Of course, including security, TV staff, etc. more.
But this is an honor for a player, like Kobe, who has not missed the Christmas game almost since his rookie year, and James has not missed the Christmas game since the third season, and has always been talked about by fans. In the era of more and more detailed information, such as how many Christmas games have been played; where is the MVP ranking, the best defensive player ranking, how many times has it been ranked in the top ten, etc., etc., will become things to measure the quality of a star .
Liu Mang is very busy today. He went to the arena for training at 7:00 in the morning. He started tactical drills and pre-match meetings at 9:00. The tactical training ended at 11:00. Nike people came and conducted a group of Liu Mang in the Eagles arena. The photo of wearing the new boots is used as a promotional photo. Liu Mang also wore these shoes for tactical training today. Get used to the new shoes in advance. Liu Mang will wear these sneakers for the next games of this season. It is a red and white color scheme, and the away game is a dark blue and red color scheme.
Then at 12:30 noon, the Eagles began to warm up before the game.
Unfortunately, the Eagles game is the first Christmas game, which starts at 1:30 pm, so today's tactical training and pre-game meeting will be so early.
At 1 o'clock, players from both teams entered the field.
After many years, the Eagles once again became one of the protagonists of the Christmas game. The fans are very excited. In addition, the Eagles are finally on the right track. The atmosphere of today's home fans is very good.
The fans are enthusiastic, and the players will be in a particularly good mood, temporarily forgetting about the bad record.
There was a very interesting performance in the pre-match event. The Eagles management did not know where to find a group of domestic acrobatic troupes to perform. Liu Mang and Yao Ming were watching compatriots performing plate throwing and the little sister performing acrobatics. Riding a unicycle on one foot, with more than a dozen plates stacked on their heads, they are still throwing plates on their heads with the other foot. Liu Mang and Yao Ming are quite worried. For such a big scene, more than 100 people around the world The country broadcast the game live, worried that the little sister would make a mistake if she was too nervous, and the two would cheer along with the fans every time the little sister threw a plate.
But the quintessence of the country, those who can come out to perform, have been tempered by the audience for at least ten years, and they are so stable that there are more than 20 plates stacked high on their heads, and there is not a single mistake!
At the curtain call, Liu Mang and Yao Ming applauded loudly along with the scene.
Both of them were very excited. They could see performances that they could only see on the streets in China when they were young in a foreign country, and they almost shouted "traditional Chinese culture" at the fans.
After watching the performance, when it came to the pre-match interview, Director Zhang came with a camera.
The news officer of the Eagles gave the chance to interview before the game, and other TV stations can only use the video signal of Chaoting TV to broadcast.
"Director Zhang, long time no see."
When Liu Mang and Yao Ming saw their old acquaintances coming, they greeted them warmly.
"Long time no see, Dayao, Ace." Director Zhang greeted, "Haha, Ace, seeing you are so happy now, I knew you were all right. questionable."
To say that in the past two months in China, Liu Mang was most worried, besides the loyal fans, it was this group of seniors.
"Of course, no matter how difficult the situation is, our goal... will be to fight for the playoffs." Liu Mang almost set another flag, although there is a bottom line for the system to issue tasks, at least not He came up with a task that was absolutely impossible to complete, but Liu Mang still acted cautiously.
"Ace, Dayao, today is the Chinese Derby. It's the first time you two have played against each other. How does it feel?" Director Zhang asked.
"It's still quite special. I want to try to dunk the tallest big man in the league in the game. It should feel good." Liu Mang hugged Yao Ming with his left hand, and touched the beard on his chin with his right hand , make a look carefully.
Yao Ming did the same thing, looked at Liu Mang and said, "I also think it's quite special, and I want to try to block the most legendary rookie in history who can only block dunks."
Director Zhang will not talk about it here. The domestic fans who are watching the live broadcast are very happy to see that the relationship between the future No. 1 insider and No. 1 outsider of the national team seems to be quite good.
However... Liu Mang, who was sizing up Yao Ming, suddenly had a flash of astonishment, but thinking that the interview was being broadcast live in China, Liu Mang could only continue laughing, smashing his teeth and swallowing in his stomach.
"Ding...Temporary task: button the little giant..."
After the pre-match interview, Liu Mang sat on the bench with a sad face, watching the starting teammates perform their own pre-match rituals.
Raheem's chronic non-ferrous poisoning performance, Jason Terry's hoop-drilling performance, Ratliff's ghost screaming, Muhammad's David thinking in clothes, only Dean Grove is the most honest touch magnesium powder.
Maybe it's because Liu Mang's superstar value is too low, the system takes special care of him, and he comes up with missions from time to time.
Just now, after Liu Mang held back and said that the goal is the flag of the championship, he said that he would try to dunk Yao Ming, and the task came.
"Dunk Giant: Dunk on Yao Ming in the game, task reward skill card: finisher at the basket, penalty for failure: go to Atlanta's Six Nations Park Plaza and find at least ten Chinese aunts over 40 years old to teach them square dance. "
Liu Mang was speechless to heaven!
My own broken mouth!
There will be another chapter to be updated in a while, if the chapter is broken, it will be published, so as not to wait too long.