Chapter 880 879. The Mavericks Who Never Give Up

"Steve, didn't your two daughters come with you?"

"Bella and Laura? They are only four months old. It is too inconvenient to take them out."

"What a pity..." Liu Mang remembered that Nash would become a national father-in-law in the future, and wanted to take a look early.

"Next time you're in Phoenix, I'll treat you to dinner so you can see it."

"That's great. Twins are great. Having two at a time doesn't have to be so troublesome."

"Haha, Ace, you are right, but don't you know what fun you have here?" Nash looked at the Georgia Tech Jackets players training in front of him speechlessly. He and Liu Mang finished lunch. Later, he asked Liu Mang to take him for a walk in Atlanta. Who knew that Liu Mang took him to the training ground of the Georgia Tech basketball team, signed a bunch of autographs, and then watched a group of people come to watch the game because of the two MVP favorites. And the boys, who were screaming with excitement, performed dunks.

Don’t you know I can’t dunk? The dunk king is amazing!

"There's nothing interesting about Atlanta..." Liu Mang thought for a while, but he couldn't think of anything particularly interesting about Atlanta.

"What about the Martin Luther King Jr. memorial? I haven't been there yet."

"What fun is there? It's just a bunch of red walls. You are white and I am Chinese..."

"Where's Stone Mountain Park?"

"A pile of rocks is not as beautiful as the central square in Phoenix."

"There seems to be your NBA court dance performance over at the Olympic Plaza. Let's go and see it together?"

"It only happened that night, and there's nothing interesting to see. Tyshawn dances every day, let him perform for you. There is a tattered Holy Fire Cup. No one has polished it in several years, it's all ashes... "

"Where is CNN's television station headquarters?"

"Dolan hates me so much. Last time I took Dinah to visit and they asked me to buy a ticket! I won't go!"

"...How about the aquarium?"

"I've seen enough of those few fish..."

"..." After hearing Liu Mang's explanation, Nash really lost interest in Atlanta's attractions.

Nash couldn't help but ask: "Ace, you don't like Atlanta here?"

"No, I like it very much, but I have taken Dinah to those places too many times." Liu Mang responded.

Just like ordinary people who stay in one place for a long time, they will feel that everything there is normal. Liu Mang is also the same.

Nash was speechless: You’ve been there, but I haven’t! I only come to Atlanta once a year, and you never seem to receive me well!

But Nash is also used to it, Liu Mang has always been like that.

After watching the training with Liu Mang for a while, and then walking around the school twice, Nash felt that it was pretty good. When he was with Liu Mang, he was not as impetuous as when he was playing with other NBA players.

Although Liu Mang can easily make people angry with his words in private, in general, it is easier to stay with Liu Mang.

The main reason is that Nash's mentality has changed now. After a star reaches a high position, opponents, teammates, media, and fans will all have too strong feelings for the star. This is what Nash is like now.

Nash himself did not expect to become the favorite for MVP. This gave him an overwhelming sense of psychological accomplishment, but with it came pressure.

It's just that Nash didn't feel too much pressure on Liu Mang, who was also the favorite for MVP and this was not the first time he had become the favorite for MVP and had already won the MVP once. This was something Nash envied Liu Mang.

I walked around Georgia Tech for a while. The school is not big. It is considered very small among first-class universities. It doesn’t even have its own football field or soccer field. It only took an hour to watch the training and visit the school. Liu Mang and Nash They were all uninterested and prepared to go to Phillips Arena to train together.

Although they are rivals, there is no problem in training together.

The two arrived at the parking lot at the school gate and prepared to drive to Phillips Arena.

"By the way, Ace, why isn't Tracy here? I thought he would come to have lunch together." Nash asked after getting in the car, he had wanted to ask before.

"Tracy hates you. If it weren't for you, he would be the assist leader with 11.6 assists per game." Liu Mang forced a wave of blackmail.

"..."

…

The meeting between Liu Mang and Nash was very harmonious. They did not dislike each other like the two biggest competitors for MVP, nor were they particularly enthusiastic. They were just like a friendship between gentlemen, as plain as water.

When they meet, they can chat. When they don't meet, they won't deliberately contact each other.

In the training with Nash, the two did not conduct one-on-one training. They were both wary of each other's strength. They only practiced three sets of shooting, 50 balls per point, and spent an hour training.

After training, Liu Mang sent Nash back to the hotel.

The Eagles did not practice today because they had just played five consecutive home games. Although it was a home game, there were no back-to-backs except for the first game. However, there was only one day of rest between each two games, and the physical exertion was still It's relatively big. In order to play against the Suns, the Eagles have a rest today and will conduct tactical training tomorrow.

However, the Hawks have been planning their tactical plans against the Kings and Suns since they beat the Celtics. Mainly, they have been preparing for the Suns' tactical plan for a long time.

When Liu Mang saw Nash walking into the hotel door, he did not drive away immediately. Instead, he asked the system: "System boss, what is Nash's ability evaluation?"

"Steve Nash, ability evaluation 96, offense 98, defense 70, three-pointer 92, mid-range shot 91, layup 90, speed 93, strength 77, endurance 99, passing 100... Talent and skill: Son of the Wind."

It's too strong! Liu Mang noticed something was wrong and asked the system: "Boss of the system, hasn't Nash reached his peak yet? He will be 31 next month!"

"Ding... Steve Nash is past his prime. After he came to the Suns, he released his restricted strength, but he is already past his physiological peak."

"..."

The ability evaluation of 96 is past its peak... Is this going to piss off a few people to death?

Looking at Nash's shooting measurements, it's enough. Except for directly attacking the basket, which is slightly worse, he is "only" at the top level. The mid-range shot of 91 is top-notch in any era. Only three players in this country have 90 three-pointers. The age of ability evaluation is also strong enough, especially endurance, 99,...full value for passing...that is, the defense is too poor, such a good offense and such good passing, which lowers the overall ability evaluation.

Regarding the fact that the peak is past, Liu Mang is right when he thinks about it. At the age of 31, a player may have better skills, playing mentality, and playing experience than when he was 27 or 28 years old, but physical talent is the most important thing in basketball. Importantly, Nash's physical talent is his physical fitness, ball feel, touch, speed, etc. However, the 31-year-old Nash's body is not as good as when he was at his strongest. .

Even Jordan was the strongest when he was 28 years old. The average of 31.5 points per game was not his highest scoring season, but the 53.9% field goal percentage was the highest in his career. The overall efficiency, that is, per game, reached 31.6. The highest in his career, the offensive efficiency was the best year of his career. The offensive efficiency reached 14.9, and the defensive efficiency of 5.4 was also the best defensive player level. However, the Bulls already had Pippen at the time, and Jordan's defensive role was ignored. few.

Including Kobe and James, both were at their peak around the age of 28. Kobe averaged 35+ points per game at the age of 28. The reason why James' seasons in the second half of the 28th year and the first half of the 29th year are regarded as his strongest years , because his offensive efficiency was as high as 14.6 and his defensive efficiency was as high as 4.7 that year, second only to Marc Gasol, the best defensive player of the season.

These era-level superstars are still playing well even at the age of 31 or even 32 or 33. Jordan started his second three consecutive championships at the age of 33. Kobe almost won the scoring title at the age of 33 but suffered a ruptured Achilles tendon. James was 33 At the age of 28, they forcibly dragged the Cavaliers into the finals and had their heads shaved off... But no matter how strong they are later, they are not as strong as they were when they were 28 years old. It's just that when they are not that strong, they are better than others, and they are at their peak. There is still a gap in comparison.

As long as you reach the peak, even if you only fall a little, you have already fallen.

Liu Mang was inexplicably regretful that he didn't see Nelson use running and gunning to let Nash lead the team when Nash was at his peak. There was nothing he could do about it. Nash went to the Mavericks later. He is one of the strongest power forwards in the league. He has cultivated an inside core and a point guard that has been abandoned by other teams. Even Nelson would not dare to give up the style of play that Nowitzki is good at and let Nash be the core. Insiders are always more popular than outsiders. If Nelson did that, he would probably be strangled to death by Cuban.

It is a pity that Liu Mang was not able to see Nash, who was at his strongest in theory, playing in a team that was truly suitable for him. Liu Mang was a little regretful.

But considering that Nash still won the assists title in 2011, Nash's decline was extremely slow, and there was still a long time to play, Liu Mang didn't feel so unhappy.

Nothing can be perfect, there will always be some regrets.

…

Liu Mang returned home. It was Saturday today, so Dinah was at home. When she saw Liu Mang coming back, Dinah played a little song for Liu Mang on the guitar she had just learned.

"How about it, uncle, isn't Dinah amazing?" The little Loli looked forward to encouragement.

"It's not that good, Dinah, let's change the instrument..." It's not that Liu Mang doesn't want to encourage, but what is he playing! He didn't recognize it as a piece of music at all...

"Uncle! Dinah will never play guitar to uncle again!" Dinah angrily threw the guitar into Liu Mang's arms and ran upstairs...

A few minutes later, Dinah came down with a flyer and approached Liu Mang: "Uncle, do you think it's okay for Dinah to learn piano?"

"I remember Dinah, you seem to have learned piano, right?" Liu Mang thought of the piano that had been moved to the warehouse.

“Dina didn’t like music then, but she does now.”

"Then learn it, come on, don't disturb the neighbors."

"Then uncle, help Dinah pay to go to the piano classroom to learn piano!" Dinah handed the flyer to Liu Mang.

"Okay..." Liu Mang didn't care too much about how much it would cost to learn a musical instrument. After paying a month's tuition for a guitar class, it was only $2,000... "Holy crap! Five lessons a week, one lesson 2,000 yuan for 40 minutes? Why don’t you go and grab it! A pianist’s piano classroom that has performed at the Golden Hall in Vienna, a bad old man in his 60s is so greedy for money..."

Seeing the tuition fee of 10,000 US dollars per week, Liu Mang felt like he was going to vomit blood!

This thing is really for rich people! The tuition fee is two more months of study, which is more expensive than some very good pianos!

Liu Mang thought about it, and it seemed that learning the guitar for two more months would be more expensive than the guitar, but a slightly better guitar would not be more expensive... Of course, this was considering Dinah's living environment.

"I don't have money, go find your mother!" Liu Mang decisively broke his promise.

"Uncle..."

"No money!"

"Uncle..." Dina hugged Liu Mang's arm and started to act like a spoiled child again.

"No money!"

"Stingy!" Dina rolled her eyes, her eyes were covered with a layer of mist, and she said pitifully: "Uncle, my mother said that I don't want to learn piano for the rest of my life, she won't give Dina money, uncle... Hey, Dina is so pitiful, she has no father, her mother doesn't love her, uncle doesn't love her, and the teacher forces Dina to do homework every day..."

Liu Mang's head was big, he couldn't stand it: "Okay, okay, I'll give you money, you let Levia or Aida take you to register!"

Liu Mang took out his wallet, took out a stack of money, that is, 10,000 US dollars in cash and handed it to the little loli, and quickly drove the little loli away.

Liu Mang felt his heart bleeding: talking about feelings with this little loli, it's too expensive!

Seeing Dina's tears disappear in an instant, and then she ran upstairs to find Levia who hadn't woken up from her nap, Liu Mang felt as if he had been fooled.

Forget it, Liu Mang didn't think too much about it, turned on the TV, and prepared to watch the news.

As soon as he turned on ESPN Sports, he saw the preview of tomorrow's game. The Hawks played against the Suns. The first teams in the East and West played against each other, and the two teams with super strong offenses played against each other. It was the most watched game in the whole month of January.

The Suns' live broadcasts of games increased as January came. Originally, they didn't have a single national live broadcast in January, and there were only 4 national live broadcasts in the whole season. But in January, they had four live broadcasts against the Lakers, Hawks, Mavericks, and Rockets, and the additional broadcasts caught up with the original number of live broadcasts for the whole season.

When the Suns' gorgeous style of play was directly displayed in front of the fans when playing against popular teams, the Suns became popular all of a sudden!

With the Hawks, who were already very popular, the match between the two teams became a game that the three major TV stations competed to broadcast. In the end, ESPN and Time Warner broadcast the first game between the two teams, and T.N.T and American Cable TV broadcast the second game between the two teams.

The league did not expect the Suns to be so strong all of a sudden. Seeing the fans on the Internet so excited about this game, David Stern was overjoyed. Unfortunately, the game started too early, at 6 o'clock in the evening, and the court TV could not broadcast it live, which made him regretful. Fortunately, the next game when the Hawks went to Phoenix to play was in the West, and the game started at 10:30 in the morning BJ time, which reduced David Stern's regret.

Just when Liu Mang was fascinated by the highlights of his team's game against the Suns, a piece of news was interrupted.

Liu Mang instantly felt that someone had stolen the limelight!

Moreover, he was already very afraid of that team, and now he was even more afraid!

…

At 4:35 pm on January 18, 2005, ESPN first broke the news that the Dallas Mavericks, the New York Knicks, and the Milwaukee Bucks had reached a three-way deal.

The Mavericks sent the 2007 first-round unprotected draft pick, Alan Henderson, Shawn Bradley, and Keith Van Horn to the New York Knicks in exchange for Jamal Crawford and Vin Baker, as well as the signing rights of a Bucks rookie from the 1980s.

The Bucks sent the 2007 second-round draft pick and received Keith Van Horn and the Mavericks' 2007 first-round unprotected draft pick.

The Knicks sent Jamal Crawford and Vin Baker to the Bucks' 2007 second-round draft pick, Alan Henderson, and Shawn Bradley.

When Liu Mang saw this deal, he felt that the Mavericks were really determined! Last summer, they wanted to trade Finley for Jason Terry, but were rejected. After dragging it out for half a season, they found a replacement, Jamal Crawford, and the super singles team went further and further away!

As for the Knicks, the record was bad anyway. In order to make Marbury happy, they traded away Jamal Crawford, who was a ball-grabbing player, and also sent away Vin Baker, who had two years left on his contract worth more than 8 million per year, and got a second-round pick.

Why did Liu Mang feel that the Knicks did it on purpose? Deliberately created opponents for them?

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