Chapter 682 681. Stockton's Exclusive Honor!
"Ace, are you serious?"
During pre-match training, when the team submitted the starting roster, Liu Mang took the initiative to go to coach Kruger and said that he was going to give up the starting position for this game to Stockton.
Originally, Coach Kruger wanted to put Prince on the bench for a while. Since Ratliff is taking a break today, Coach Kruger is going to let Boozer and Rasheed Wallace start together inside. Play double evil tactics.
But Liu Mang offered to give up
Hearing Stockton's words, Liu Mang responded, "Ah... that's right!"
Stockton, who has been moved by the enthusiasm of the Salt Lake City fans for the past two days, was moved, and said in a hoarse voice: "Ace..."
"Damn! John, you are over 40 years old, why are you still so hypocritical!" Liu Mang complained in disgust.
"Haha! Alright, Ace, for today's friendship, I must help you train a substitute before leaving the Eagles!" Stockton patted Liu Mang on the shoulder and laughed.
"What? That's cool, by the way, John, who are you going to train to be my backup? Is it Willie?" This repayment was better than any repayment, and Liu was very excited.
Is it to train Willie Green? This guy's physical fitness is really good, and he fell to the second round entirely because of his attitude. With a celebrity like Stockton to guide him, he might be able to get back. After all, this is purely based on physical talent. He has averaged 10 per game + Combo guard with scoring performance.
"No, Long asked me during the All-Star Weekend, who is more suitable to be my replacement and then I will be your substitute in the future. I chose Jose. Maybe the team is going to trade. We need a third big center. .” Stockton didn’t care at all because his words might change the fate of the two.
This is the cruel part of the NBA. Sometimes a word from a player with league status can cause a player to be waived.
"Calderon..." Liu Mang thought of the guy who can be crushed to the ground by the opponent even when he controls the ball. It's not that Calderon has no potential, but that Calderon is not the kind of guy who is suitable for early in the NBA. Players playing ball.
Some players are suitable to enter the NBA early to shine and improve themselves in the best league, but some players need time to let their bodies reach the level of confrontation in the NBA.
This is not something that can be achieved through training, but it really needs to be at the peak of their physiology to have that ability. Some players just don't have such good physical talent, so they forcefully strengthen their confrontation. Let the original flexibility and speed, soft touch and other things be lost, so he has to wait until his own body grows to the peak of his physiology before he has the ability to survive in the NBA.
Calderon is that type of player. He can make a positive contribution in the NBA when he was at his peak seven years from the age of 25 to 31. In these seven years, he averaged 12 points and 8 assists per game. Only the scoring is passable, and the open three-pointer has no confrontation, but it also dropped his career assists per game to an average of 5.0 points per game.
Hearing Liu Mang's questioning voice, Stockton smiled and said, "No problem, he is the same as me back then, and I will let him be your backing just like me."
"...You are a teacher, you have the final say..." Liu Mang said this, but he started to brainstorm in his head, what are the legacy point guards in this year's draft?
Calderon will be very powerful in the future, and he has received an annual salary of tens of millions, but in the past two years, Liu Mang is really not optimistic about this guy. He is too thin, even thinner than Liu Mang himself when he first entered the NBA. He weighs 80 kilograms, and Iverson, who is ten centimeters shorter than him, is lighter than him.
...
...
Stockton may be returning to Salt Lake City as a visiting player for the first and only time in his entire career, and the Energy Solutions arena is full for the first time this season.
The box office of the Jazz this year is quite miserable, mainly because in order to get a high draft pick, Sloan was forced to start playing poorly in advance. Originally, their lineup did not mention entering the playoffs, and they could still get more than 30 wins. , at least it won't be so ugly, after all, there are Kirilenko and Carlos Arroyo who broke out after a year of Stockton's training, plus the poor version of Hornacek Matt Halperin who is at his peak , The Jazz will not be bad until they want Deron or Paul's 04-05 season to be completely bad.
The reason why he didn't have any doubts about the Stockton disciples was because Liu Mang saw Arroyo's progress after studying with Stockton for a year!
Arroyo was almost out of play, and was signed by the Jazz with a minimum salary. Not only did the Jazz suffer at the box office, but the city is also miserable. There are not many sports clubs, and no big-name stars are willing to come, so I can only pick it up. Arroyo to develop.
Then Arroyo averaged 12+3+5 per game this year.
Therefore, the attendance rate of the Jazz dropped directly to the bottom of the league this year. Even Malone was not fully seated when he returned. With a record of 44 wins and 44 losses, there have been several full games.
But Stockton came back, and the Energy Solutions Arena was detonated again!
Compared with Malone defecting to the Lakers, Stockton went to his apprentice to be the leader of the town, and the fans can understand it better.
And the Salt Lake City fans love Liu Mang even more today!
In the past, it was only because Liu Mang and Boozer played the pick-and-roll, or it was the pick-and-roll under the guidance of Stockton, which made Jazz fans have a mysterious love for Liu Mang.
But today, when the starting lineup was displayed on the big screen, the fans of Salt Lake City loved Liu Mang even more!
Stockton replaced Liu Mang as the starter of the game!
It's not that the bullying Prince is in the second grade, but that Liu Mang personally made him the starter. This has a very different meaning!
However, since it is the enemy, the fans gave Stockton the highest respect!
When Stockton, as the "boss" of the team, was the last to enter the field, violent boos broke out at the scene!
The last time this kind of booing happened was in the finals of Shuangsha VS Jordan!
Liu Mang was wearing a training uniform. As soon as Stockton, the first and last player, clapped hands, the boos erupted, and the system prompts followed.
"Ding... The Devil's home court triggers, from the fanatical fans of the Jazz Energy Solutions Arena, the excitement of the Jazz players has greatly increased, and the Jazz players have greatly offset the negative emotional impact caused by the suppression of the team where the host is located."
The Devil's Home is such a good thing! Liu Mang had no doubts about this.
This year the Eagles only lost 4 games at home, one was lost when the Devils hadn’t opened their home court, and two were lost when Rasheed Wallace was suspended and Liu Mang was also suspended. After defeating the Devils at home, the Eagles only lost one home game!
It's just that the devil's home court of their own is only available through Rasheed Wallace, and there is still a big difference from the Jazz's strong background that has been gradually established for more than ten years.
Liu Mang felt that he still had a long way to go.
But right? Always maintaining the hunger for honor is the first motivation for Liu Mang to maintain his original intention after winning the sky-high endorsement contract.
...
The game begins.
Hawks Stockton, Prince, Raheem, Boozer, Rasheed - Wallace's starting lineup.
The Jazz sent Arroyo, Harprin, Kirilenko, Geron Collins, Ostertag's starting lineup.
Liu Mang is sitting on the sidelines, let's watch Stockton perform today! Looking at the love of the Salt Lake City fans for Stockton, Liu Mang thought it was pretty good.
Jaron Collins and Rasheed Wallace came to the middle circle to jump the ball.
Compared to his elder brother Jason Collins, who is a master of back-up defense with meat piles, Jaron Collins is a manic physical fitness man with excellent physical fitness, and beat Rasheed Wallace to win the jump ball.
The Jazz players are very excited today. First, Stockton came back, and second, there was the most fanatical voice of the season. The Jazz players knew that the gap between the Eagles and the Eagles was too big, but they still did not hesitate. Dry!
Also, when Stockton came back today, in addition to giving a big hug, Sloan also made a targeted defensive arrangement for Stockton.
In other games, you can lose at will, but in today's game, Sloan doesn't want to give up directly, but wants to just go ahead!
Stockton is also very excited about this. This year he is no different from last year. He is still one of the best pure point guards in the league. Stockton was not in a hurry, and signaled his teammates not to panic.
When the Jazz used Kirilenko to defend, Stockton played pick-and-roll with Boozer calmly and bit the score.
Moreover, Coach Sloan of the Jazz knows Stockton very well, and Stockton also knows Arroyo very well. This is his apprentice who taught him!
After playing, Stockton found the feeling and began to suppress Arroyo on both ends of the offense and defense. Morale can make players perform super-level, but if super-level performance fails to gain an advantage, then morale is very low. It will slide down soon.
Halfway through the first quarter, after Liu Mang replaced Prince, the Jazz had no room to resist.
Stockton, Liu Mang, and Boozer's double-bad tactic made the Jazz, the origin team of this tactic, unstoppable.
The fans at the scene seemed to be dreaming back to six years ago. Stockton had good teammates. Although he was old, his shooting ability and passing ability did not decline significantly. When he was physically fit, he was still the performance of a top point guard.
It's just that it's not their own team that performed like this, but their opponents!
Except for the Jazz leading in the first three minutes of the first quarter, the Jazz never had a chance to lead after that.
When Stockton was tired, he went to the bottom corner and waited for Liu Mang or Jason Terry to pass the ball. Liu Mang and Jason Terry came up in turn. Liu Mang is the same as the ball holder, and when Stockton has rested, he will continue to dominate the offense.
Fans were already in tears at the scene!
At halftime, no fans went to the bathroom or bought second-half snacks, etc., because the Jazz owner saw that the tickets were sold out before the game, and it was one of the only two Jazz games in the United States this season. The atmosphere at the scene was so frenetic. In today's game, the Eagles also sold the Jazz's face. They were not so miserable. After the point difference reached more than 10 points, the defense began to relax. It was enough to maintain the offensive level. The game was not too bad. Embarrassed, so the Jazz boss announced that he will retire Stockton's jersey today!
Unlike other teams who will sign a contract one day before the veteran retires, the owner of the Jazz is so different. When Stockton was still playing in the NBA, he announced that he would retire Stockton's jersey and asked After Stockton won the championship, erect a statue to Stockton!
It's that direct, the Jazz owner personally supports the Eagles to win the championship.
As for possible fines, the boss of the Jazz agrees! Whether it is supporting the Eagles to win the championship or retiring Stockton's jersey without submitting an application, league rules do not allow it.
And Jazz fans, at least this season, also regard the Eagles as the "home team"!
This treatment is far from the indifference of the audience when Malone comes back!
Other players on the field looked at Stockton's treatment, and envied them as much as they wanted. The Eagles had the opportunity to retire their jerseys. Perhaps only Liu Mang and Ratliff, one is a prospective MVP, and the other is the best defensive player. If the Eagles have a lower standard for retiring jerseys, and if they win the championship this season, Raheem, Jason Terry, and Rasheed Wallace are also possible, while others are not feasible, the Jazz It is a player who does not even have the possibility.
And he retired his jersey without retiring. This is the only one in NBA history!
...
Stockton was surprised and delighted to get the second highest honor of a player in a team and the promise of the highest honor. Stockton scored 11 points and 4 assists in the half. Play harder.
Still giving the Jazz enough face, coach Kruger asked the players to relax their defense, you have a ball and I have a ball, playing very happily.
Coach Sloan didn't do anything deliberately, and he didn't expect that his boss would be so impulsive, retired the jersey for Stockton who was still playing, and expressed his support for the Eagles in his jersey testimonial.
This gave the Eagles a chance, and Coach Sloan was unwilling to fight forcibly. On the one hand, it was one thing to provoke hatred. The most important thing was that this was his best disciple!
Although Malone is better and stronger, Malone did not discuss with him before leaving the Jazz, but Stockton communicated with him several times. There are likes and dislikes.
In the end, Liu Mang scored 26 points and 3 assists, Jason Terry scored 22 points, Boozer, Kwame Brown, Rasheed Wallace scored 44 points, and Stockton played 48 minutes , scored 20 points, 11 assists and 4 steals. For the first time this season, it may be the only time 20+10, helping the Eagles beat the Jazz 117 to 106 and win five consecutive victories.
It didn't make the game so ugly, and played a beautiful offensive battle.
But... Liu Mang was very embarrassed today, because the fans kept shouting "Shuangsha successor..."