After the game, Liu Xiu and Yao Ming participated in the post-match interview together.
Yao Ming praised Liu Xiu for being mature and steady, Liu Xiu praised Yao Ming as the strongest center in the world... Before he could finish his words, Yao Ming covered his mouth.
This scene made the fans who were still watching the live broadcast after the domestic game ended smile knowingly.
After the post-match interview process, Liu Xiu and Yao Ming said goodbye.
Yao Ming looked at Liu Xiu's back as he walked into the player tunnel, feeling envious...
The Trail Blazers' billion-dollar lineup is indeed different. They have many premium contracts, but basically no bad contracts, and their strength is strong.
He played 40 minutes tonight, scored 26 points, 11 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 blocks, and performed very well.
However, he went from 5 of 7 shooting at the start to 10 of 18.
Normally, he wouldn't have too many thoughts.
But tonight, there is a contrast and the feeling is completely different.
Liu Xiu has so many great players around him and the lineup is well matched. Liu Xiu can grow under the wings of those great teammates.
And they, the Rockets...
Take the game for example, they are very resilient, but when facing strong teams, their only advantage is resilience.
On the other side, Liu Xiu had more complaints in his mind after the game.
Gasol has Lorenzen Wright, Stromile Swift and other inside partners, and Bonzi Wells, Battier, James Posey, Bo Outlaw on the front line...
And what is this about Yao Ming!
…
Chinese derby, successfully completed.
The next day, December 1, 2003, a new month arrived.
At 7 o'clock in the morning, muffled groans and gasps were heard from Liu Xiu's room...
Simulation training extraction completed.
These past two days, he mainly practiced low-post back-to-the-basket and turnaround jump shots.
Speed ​​of improvement and so on... Anyway, I missed a turnaround jump shot in the low post last night, but it was cool!
He thought that once he learned the low-post turnaround jump shot, it would definitely help him develop all-round turnaround jump shot techniques in the future!
Liu Xiu asked the waiter to bring breakfast to the room. He ate breakfast while reading a domestic basketball forum.
He is still the most popular basketball player in the domestic sports world.
Many people regretted his performance last night. He played for 23 minutes, made 4 of 8 shots, plus 4 of 5 free throws, scoring 12 points, 6 rebounds and 3 assists.
Many people who came to watch the game because they saw the news about his game the day before expressed their disappointment.
Some people seem to be saying that a good player should score 50+ points in a single game every day.
But many people also said that this was Liu Xiu’s normal performance, and he could only explode when he was in good condition.
Liu Xiu thought that such remarks were normal as long as they were normal expressions of opinions, because that night he had indeed "performed above his level."
He didn't just play randomly to improve his stats last night just because he had an obvious overall advantage. First of all, it takes strength to improve stats. Secondly, it's impossible for him to improve in this game and in other games all the time.
Just put your strength out there for everyone to see.
Moreover, many people who don’t understand basketball come to watch basketball games because of him…
This feeling is still pretty good.
But the trolls... He created an account named "My idol, handsome and talented Liu Xiu" to confront those trolls!
…
At around 9 o'clock in the morning, the Trail Blazers checked into the hotel in San Antonio.
They have a game against the Spurs tonight, but the Trail Blazers haven't arranged any training. They can just rest and go directly to the away game against the Spurs in the evening. It's a back-to-back game, so they just go for it.
Liu Xiu had just woken up and started arguing with the trolls online. He felt refreshed. While his teammates went to sleep at the hotel, he ran to the gym to lift weights... Shooting coach Chris Irving, who happened to be going to the gym to work out, saw this and felt fully healed.
He is a famous shooting coach, but Liu Xiu didn't ask him to learn. Instead, he tried to figure out the technical details of the turnaround jump shot by himself, and he actually figured it out!
Even Randolph followed Liu Xiu's example and asked him for help in improving the details!
After 90 minutes of fitness, Liu Xiu's healing value increased by more than 300...
At noon, Liu Xiu called Travis Outlaw and Matt Carroll to have lunch together.
Only these three rookies were full of energy on the second day of back-to-back games, while everyone else was listless.
The family restaurant they were going to was not far from the hotel. Liu Xiu asked, "How could you, a lawless lunatic, find a family restaurant here?"
"Of course, in the entire NBA, no one knows where the delicious food is better than me!" The outlaw was very proud.
Matt Carroll nodded repeatedly: "Yes, the outlaw dares to eat anything, it's really amazing!"
Liu Xiu nodded upon hearing this.
Seeing this, the lawless maniac expected Liu Xiu to follow suit and praise him.
"Food expert" is what he wants to do after his career ends.
"No wonder your grades are so bad. You didn't even get into college. All you do every day is eat and drink."
“…”
The outlaw yelled and pulled Matt Carroll's hand tighter.
After a bit of noise, we changed the topic, continued chatting and walked...
While chatting, Liu Xiu stopped and a system prompt came!
"The host won the Western Conference Player of the Week award in the fourth game week of the 2003-2004 NBA season. Congratulations to the host for receiving the reward: 3,000 healing points."
"The host won the Western Conference Rookie of the Month award in the first month of the 2003-2004 NBA season. Congratulations to the host for receiving the reward: 3,000 healing points."
The two teammates looked at Liu Xiu who suddenly stopped in surprise. Matt Carroll asked, "Warden, what's wrong?"
Liu Xiu didn't answer, but asked: "Do you think you can win the Rookie of the Month award?"
Matt Carroll shook his head: "How is that possible? It's possible for you."
Travis Outlaw nodded in agreement.
"So do you think you can win the Player of the Week award?"
"I took it in my dream... What exactly do you want to say?" Matt Carroll felt very bad now, and he felt like he was going to get beaten again.
really……
Liu Xiu said: "Yes, I forgot to mention that I won the Player of the Week award and the Rookie of the Month award."
"Healing value +99, from Matt Carroll."
"Healing value +99, from Travis Outlaw."
"＊＊＊"
"＊＊＊"
Two rookie teammates from the same class started swearing at each other with a lot of slang!
…
At 12 noon, the league’s official website announced last month’s Player of the Month awards and last week’s Player of the Week awards.
Coincidentally, last month, last week and yesterday ended together, and the 24th to the 30th was the fourth NBA game week.
Player of the Week Award.
Eastern Conference, Chauncey Billups, 3 wins and 1 loss, averaging 18.5 points, 3 rebounds, 7 assists and 2.5 steals per game.
West, Liu Xiu, 3 wins and 1 loss, averaging 19.3 points, 8.8 rebounds, 3.5 assists, 1.3 steals and 0.25 blocks per game.
Player of the Month Award.
East: Jermaine O'Neal, 12 wins and 4 losses, averaging 19.5 points, 10.8 rebounds, 2.2 assists and 2.5 blocks per game.
West: Kevin Garnett, 13 wins and 3 losses, averaging 24.3 points, 14.7 rebounds, 6 assists, 1.3 steals and 2.6 blocks per game.
Rookie of the Month Award.
Eastern Conference: LeBron James, played 16 games, 6 wins and 10 losses, averaging 18.3 points, 6.7 rebounds and 6 assists per game.
west:
Carmelo Anthony played in 15 games, 8 wins and 7 losses, averaging 20.4 points, 6.8 rebounds and 3.2 assists per game.
Liu Xiu played in 11 games, with 10 wins and 1 loss, averaging 15.9 points, 6.7 rebounds and 3.9 assists per game.
After the award was announced, Garnett's super-god-level performance in the first month of the game made people feel crazy!
The team could take off by getting the madman and alien in the late career, which makes people regret it - if Marbury and Gugliotta had not left the team because of salary...
James and Anthony's performance in the first month was exciting, and both of them played well!
You know, in the 2002-2003 season, in the six game months, the only players who had similar performances to the two in a single month were Yao Ming in December 2002, averaging 17.1 points, 10.4 rebounds and 2 assists per game; and Caron Butler in March 2003, averaging 20.3 points, 4.7 rebounds and 2.9 assists per game.
The performances of other Rookie of the Month winners last season were not that outstanding. Ginobili averaged 10.6 points per game in one month and won the Western Conference Rookie of the Month award, and Jay Williams averaged 11.7 points and 6 assists per game in one month and won the Rookie of the Month award.
Three years have passed. After three years, people once again saw scenes similar to those of Odom, Brand, and Francis competing for the best rookie; saw scenes of Carter and Pierce competing with each other; saw scenes of Duncan...
Duncan was not there. Duncan was the Rookie of the Month for 6 consecutive months that year. Van Horn, who averaged 19.7 points per game in his rookie season, was in the same class as Duncan and was really unlucky. He didn't even get the Rookie of the Month award once in the whole season.
At the end of the first month of competition, Billups led the team to improve its record to 8 wins and 8 losses, with a 50% winning rate, which is also eye-catching.
The former parallel import third place has been defeated!
Jermaine O'Neal led the Pacers to first place in the Eastern Conference. At only 25 years old, he was nicknamed "Little Shaq" at the beginning of this season.
But none of them are the most talked about ones right now.
Liu Xiu became the focus of public opinion!
Rookie wins Player of the Week award!
Others who won the Player of the Week award in their rookie season include Carter, Duncan, Iverson, O'Neal, and earlier there were David Robinson, Jordan, Bird, Magic... Listed alongside these people, Liu Xiu was once again pushed to the forefront!
…
In the North American basketball world, on the first afternoon of a new month, the media were hyping up things related to Liu Xiu.
The evening paper is still in the works, but video interviews, audio interviews and written interviews are constantly being reported in sports news bulletins and on the Internet.
Most of the news released by major media outlets did not praise Liu Xiu...
"One Game of the Week", "Three Game Rookie of the Week".
Similar headlines can be found on the websites of major media outlets, and news flashes also have similar comments.
This means that Liu Xiu won the Player of the Week award with 52 points in a single game, and won the Rookie of the Month award with 52 points, a triple-double, and 34 points in a single game.
At the same time, the Rose Garden prison riot, campus gang background, domineering behavior within the team, frequent conflicts with opponents on the court... and so on were all brought up again.
The hype around those negative things is even greater than the coverage of a rookie winning the Player of the Week award.
Not only in the United States, the reports of several mainstream media in China naturally tend to favor Liu Xiu, but those second- and third-tier media, Internet portals, and even some first-tier media, report in the same way as the American media.
…
…
"Warren, you've won the Player of the Week award, but why do you feel like more and more people are scolding you?" Randolph was puzzled as he looked at Liu Xiu, who was waving his keyboard to argue with netizens.
"Some people are either stupid or bad."
"What's the meaning?"
"You wouldn't understand even if I told you, so it's better not to know."
"That's right." Randolph felt that what Liu Xiu said made sense.
"Besides, there are not only more and more people scolding me, but also more and more people speaking up for me, right?"
“Yes!”
"It's just that what we noticed is always the negative voices, but there are actually a lot of people who support us."
"That seems to be true, but, Warden..."
"What's wrong?"
"Are you such an open-minded person?"
"Do you have any misunderstanding about me? I have always been a broad-minded person, okay!"
Randolph rolled his eyes, a look on his face that said - are you kidding me?
Liu Xiu snorted twice and continued, "Isn't it that I am still weak? When I become a superstar, I will confront those reporters live every day!"
…
"Congratulations on becoming the first player from our country to win NBA Player of the Week. Do you think you can surpass Yao Ming's two Rookie of the Month awards?" The reporter's tone was full of anticipation.
Liu Xiuying said: "I hope my rookie season can be as good as Yao. If I can be better than him, I will certainly work hard, but my current goal is just to catch up with his two monthly best rookies..."
At 7:40 p.m., at the ATT Center in San Antonio, the Trail Blazers and the Spurs entered the stadium one after another.
Today's pre-game interviews are very simple. The interviews about the Player of the Week and Rookie of the Month will be done when I return to Portland tomorrow.
After dealing with the interview for a while, Liu Xiu turned his attention to the man opposite him - Tim Duncan!
"Tim Duncan, 27 years old, 211 cm, 115 kg, C/PF, ability rating 100 (peak)...averaging 21.9 points, 12.2 rebounds, 3 assists, 2.7 blocks..."
This is the strongest player Liu Xiu has ever seen since entering the NBA!
In his previous life, Liu Xiu read a very detailed analysis.
Judging from personal honors, Duncan's peak seems to be the 2002-03 season, with double MVP, but in that analysis, the 2003-04 season was the year when Duncan's personal ability reached its peak.
Now, Liu Xiu believes it!
The Admiral retired, Parker averaged 14 points and 5 assists, Ginobili averaged 12 points, 4 rebounds and 3 assists. The Spurs did not have a fourth player averaging double-digit points. Duncan was still able to lead the team to compete with the Kings and Timberwolves for the top spot in the Western Conference, and was still able to lead the team to a 60-win start to the season.
There is also efficiency. Duncan's efficiency at the start of this season is even better than last season.
"If Garnett hadn't had the Madman and the Alien and played outrageously, I'm afraid no one would have been able to compete with Duncan for the MVP this season, right?"
Liu Xiu unconsciously moved closer to Duncan...
Duncan, who was practicing free throws before the game, felt like someone was staring at him, as if a thorn in his back was uneasy. He turned around and saw that it was the rookie who was very popular recently... He turned around again and saw... Huh?
Is it an illusion?
Why does it seem to be getting closer?
I turned around and looked...where was the person?
"Hi, I'm Jace."
Where did the sound come from? Duncan lowered his head. Oh, I found someone.
“……”Liu Xiu didn’t want to say hello anymore, he wanted to hit someone!