I am the Warden Chapter 26 Who will be the stepping stone?
At two o'clock in the afternoon, the Trail Blazers held their last intra-squad practice match before the regular season.
Different from the tactical adjustment training, tactical positioning and coordination strengthening training in the past two days, this is a game. As usual, this is a game that will definitely affect the chances of playing in tomorrow's opening match, so everyone played very seriously.
It’s hard to compare during the game, but compared to the training match on the 25th, Liu Xiu’s defensive performance has improved significantly!
Dale Davis is in a bad state.
He estimated that in the near future, Liu Xiu would become a qualified backup and assist defense player.
This is not an easy task. It is not difficult for a rookie, a guard who was not good at defense in college, to quickly improve his one-on-one defense ability to a qualified level after entering the NBA.
But what Liu Xiu improved was backup defense and assist defense!
It can be said that there is nothing more boring than this in basketball, and it is also the thing that no one is willing to learn.
It's outrageous that this game requires talent to support it.
But Liu Xiu got the hang of it just by learning it casually, and even during the preseason, he was about to reach the passing level!
The passing line is not particularly impressive, and it can't play a role of timely assistance in the game, and it just becomes an embellishment of the team's defensive boss.
All things are difficult at the beginning, and the same is true for playing basketball. If you can't even get started or pass, it means you have no talent.
It's obvious that Liu Xiu has explosive talent!
That's fine, Liu Xiu's basic skills have improved compared to a few days ago...
In the team training match on the 25th, Liu Xiu learned the importance of the stride technique when attacking the basket at close range. In the past few days, Liu Xiu stopped all simulation training except for the defensive end, shooting basics and simulation training, and devoted a considerable part of his physical strength to the stride simulation training, which is one of Derek Anderson's basic skills.
Liu Xiu originally had this ability, but it was not strong, and his training methods were not as good as Derek Anderson's. As a guard, he should have been trained in this area and he also had talent... He had a foundation and made rapid progress, reaching a passing level in just a few days.
Coincidentally, while waiting to get his revenge on the 25th, Liu Xiu went to Derek Anderson to review the details of the basic stride training...
Which veteran wouldn’t like his skills to be learned by talented juniors?
Without considering the strength, but only considering the versatility, Derek Anderson can be called a technical master. His planned job after retirement is to become a trainer or assistant coach and make a move towards becoming a head coach.
Dale Davis is also a defensive stalwart who left his name in NBA history.
Anyway, Derek Anderson and Dale Davis hope Liu Xiu can learn well.
Therefore, extra attention was paid to Liu Xiu during the team's training matches.
Then, Liu Xiu's progress was noticed.
During the training break, the two teachers gathered together and complained...
"Derrick, I used to not believe there are geniuses who can master their skills through casual practice, but now I believe it."
"I've actually heard of this guy," Derek Anderson said with a wry smile, "but I didn't believe it then. Now I believe it too."
Derek Anderson thought of the high school student who smiled and said he wanted to be Pippen next to his brother in Toronto a few years ago...
Dale Davis originally only played with those famous veterans, but recently he got together with Derek Anderson because they had a common student, Liu Xiu.
Now, the two of them had the same idea again - they had been wasting their careers for so many years!
…
The two teachers were discussing Liu Xiu, and the two coaches in charge of the team were also there.
"Morris, have you ever seen a player improve faster than Jace?"
"Yes, but that man entered a period of rapid development after laying a solid foundation. No one is like Jace, who started from scratch and made such rapid progress."
"NO! Morris, he's improving so fast, do you think anyone can really defeat him? How can we make him work harder?"
Maurice Cheeks was speechless when he heard this - why do you have to make your players work harder because of the pressure they put on you? Isn't it enough for them to make progress?
Or are you still thinking about that Porsche 365A?
Someone was even hired to build a garage next to the yard specifically for displaying this car!
The two chatted as they walked to the entrance of the visiting team's training ground. They were just passing by... but they heard the angry that it would be a compliment to describe them. It was simply unbearable to hear!
Even the soundproof door can’t stop it!
The two coaches couldn't help but stop and eavesdrop for a while.
After a while, the door was pushed open, and the two coaches hurriedly walked a few steps without being noticed by the people inside. When they turned around, when the door closed, a tall white child walked out quickly, and there seemed to be crystal tears in the corners of the boy's eyes...
It is no secret in the entire NBA coaching circle that Larry Brown has a foul mouth.
I don’t know what happened. The two coaches are not sure what to say about Milicic being scolded and crying.
But Kevin Pritchard has something to say: "Morris, tell me, can we learn from Brown, be tough and sharp, and save our team environment?"
Upon hearing this, Maurice Cheeks looked Kevin Pritchar up and down, which made the latter feel uneasy.
"What's wrong? Morris, what's wrong with what I said?"
"No, no, no, no problem, it's a good idea," Maurice Cheeks said with a smile, "Think about our team. We have Zach, Dell, Reuben... Oh, and Jayce. I've been retired for ten years and I work out regularly. I shouldn't die if they take turns beating me. You..."
“…”
Kevin Pritchard felt that the team environment was not that important, so he turned around and walked quickly toward the parking lot: "I'm going to eat first, see you tonight."
In preparation for the opening game, the Trail Blazers coaching staff had to work overtime to make more thorough preparations for coaching.
…
The Blazers coaches are working hard, and so are the players.
After the afternoon training, Liu Xiu called up four good friends from the "Aohu Squad", Tianzun who had created a villain image for himself, and the all-round thug teacher beside Tianzun. The group of seven people discussed tomorrow's game together.
I originally wanted to call Dale Davis, but this guy cares more about his reputation than anything else. He has no problem playing with Liu Xiu and Derek Anderson in private, but he is not willing to come out to play casually when there are too many people and too much trouble. Unless these seven people call him "big brother" in unison, he will come.
But Liu Xiu never acted as a younger brother, and Randolph never acted as a younger brother unless he encountered trouble...
However, even if Dale Davis does not come, this discussion group will account for half of the total team size!
Liu Xiu was not aware of this aspect. This was the case when he started playing basketball.
Randolph looked at Rasheed Wallace and Derek Anderson in shock - Liu Xiu had already become the leader of the most powerful force in the team before his rookie season even started!
Those guys fought within the team last year, but what were they fighting for?
Also, Randolph felt that this seemed to be a matter of course for Liu Xiu...
We communicated, but nothing came of it.
More importantly, through this discussion on the last day before the new season, we confirmed one thing to each other - we are in the same group!
…
The regular season opening game is a big event, representing that the long-awaited new season is about to begin!
A good start, there is a similar saying in the United States. Anyway, every team attaches great importance to the opening game.
The league, media, and fans naturally all attach great importance to it, but the teams they care about are those with popular stars.
Anyway, the Trail Blazers are not taken seriously at all.
They do have some grudges against the Pistons, as they faced each other in the finals more than a decade ago.
But all the players of both teams had retired at that time, and there was no grudge between them. The Trail Blazers were beaten by the Pistons, so there was no grudge at all.
It seems that they were just randomly put together to face off against the popular teams after their opening games were arranged.
It's already the day before the opening game, and there aren't many reporters on the Trail Blazers' side.
Even there were not many Chinese reporters, as all the manpower was concentrated on Yao Ming's side.
Originally, the domestic media was very enthusiastic about Liu Xiu, but Liu Xiu's reputation in the United States became increasingly worse, and the overall domestic environment these days was also problematic, so his popularity in the country faded.
Liu Xiu was a little annoyed, but there was nothing he could do. He had to ignore it for the time being as it was not something that could be rushed.
After a small gathering with a few teammates, Liu Xiu returned home in the evening and watched the live broadcast of the most popular opening game - the Lakers vs. the Mavericks at home!
When Liu Xiu saw the Mavericks sending out Nash, Finley, Antoine Walker, Jamison, and Nowitzki as the starting lineup, he had a lot of questions in his head...
In the end, the Lakers defeated the Mavericks 106-95. Even if Kobe didn't play, the Mavericks would not have much ability to fight back against the Lakers.
The luxurious super frontcourt didn't seem to bring any improvement to the Mavericks.
But the most important thing is the astonishing strength shown by the Lakers.
Even Charles Barkley, a rising star in the commentary world who enjoys criticizing O'Neal, lamented that if Kobe was there, with Kobe and Malone supporting the Mavericks on the wings, given the strength the Mavericks had shown, they probably wouldn't have lasted more than half the game.
It was just the opening game, and Liu Xiu recalled a statement in the future that would be laughed at as soon as it was brought up - if the Lakers in the 03-04 season had not had internal strife and so many injuries, they might have been the strongest team, even though they were so old.
On October 31st, the second game day of the regular season, the Trail Blazers' opening game arrived.
Liu Xiu got up at 7 o'clock in the morning. After enjoying a refreshing drink, he got up full of energy and looked forward to today's game!
At 6 pm, they will face the Pistons in their opening game at home!
The most anticipated opening matches all took place yesterday, and the heat of today's matches has obviously dropped.
Liu Xiu ate breakfast and watched the morning sports news and read the newspaper...Except for the final opening game between the Magic and the Raptors, there was almost no analysis of other games on TV programs and newspapers!
Even the local media in Portland were not very enthusiastic about reporting the game itself.
It’s really a bit miserable... But Liu Xiu knows that this is their Trail Blazers team.
Liu Xiu was in very high spirits and arrived at the gym more than ten minutes earlier than usual, which surprised many of his teammates.
Tonight is the opening game, and not all teammates have focused their attention on him. Although he is often in the limelight in the team, his actual competitor is Damon Stoudemire. Judging from their height, there are only two pure point guards.
Like Liu Xiu, the teammates were also in high spirits today. The real competition was about to begin! From the official game!
…
Regardless of whether they are taken seriously or not, there is always some connection between the two teams that are put together in the opening game.
Although the game between the Trail Blazers and the Pistons is not very topical, it is related - the records of the past two years are similar!
The Trail Blazers had 49 wins in the 01-02 season and 50 wins in the 02-03 season; the Pistons had 50 wins in both the 01-02 season and the 02-03 season.
The Pistons lost Clifford Robinson during the offseason and the Trail Blazers lost Bonzi Wells, but the main players of both teams have improved... In the pre-season analysis of the teams' prospects, the two teams were put in the same tier.
The Trail Blazers agree with this statement and are preparing to face the Pistons as an opponent of equal strength.
Even Liu Xiu thought so when Tianzun was still on the Trail Blazers.
But the Pistons don't see it that way.
Losing Clifford Robinson... was a decision made after detailed discussions between Joe Dumars, Larry Brown and the team's key players. It's more like giving up than losing.
Rick Carlisle spent two seasons patiently building a system, and now he has replaced it with a stronger, more defensively accomplished veteran coach... The ambitions of the Pistons players have become apparent!
After the morning training, they will rest for a few hours and then play against the Trail Blazers in the evening.
In a coffee shop near the stadium gate, Billups and Ben Wallace sat together, chatting intermittently. Billups was quite talkative, but Ben Wallace didn't say much.
However, both of them are full of expectations for the upcoming new season!
Billups now...Larry Brown's words "Can't you play like Iverson?" have ignited his confidence.
Although Rick Carlisle is Billups's mentor, before last season, Billups had never started a full season.
But Larry Brown allowed Billups, who had spent six years honing his basic skills, to fully unleash his nature. Billups became the first Pistons player to accept Larry Brown as their new coach.
Coincidentally, Liu Xiu and Randolph and his group passed by the entrance of the cafe, talking and laughing.
Billups looked at the people downstairs and said to Ben Wallace, "We have to win tonight! Let them know that we are different from them and let them understand the gap!"
Ben Wallace nodded and said nothing more, everything was said without words.
When an athlete's confidence and ambition swell, all opponents in front of him will be regarded as stepping stones.
Every member of the Trail Blazers is a stepping stone in the eyes of Billups and Ben Wallace!
