Volume 1: A rookie who breaks into the basketball world Chapter 29: Prefer male fans?
"Jace, you're really famous!" Travis Outlaw was excited as if he was famous.
"Hehe, keep a low profile..." Liu Xiu said this, but the corners of his mouth couldn't stop curling up.
The game was about to start, and Liu Xiu followed his teammates into the stadium and saw that the more than 5,000 seats at the Salt Lake City Pepsi Center were almost full!
Originally there was only a sparse group of people shouting "Jess", but soon there were voices shouting Liu Xiu one after another.
Liu Xiu knew that these people were not actually his fans, and it was obvious that many of them were just joining in the fun.
With the average ticket price of $10, if the ticket price were a little more expensive, there might not be so many curious people coming to watch the game.
However, he still felt very honored to have so many people calling his name.
Although his personality is becoming more and more lazy, he will not slack off on the court.
Of course he also wants to be a star that everyone pays attention to!
I love playing basketball, and when my hobby becomes a career with a rising prospect...what a wonderful thing.
He wants to be a big star and make a lot of money...
After a moment of excitement, Liu Xiu calmed down and returned to normal.
After looking at his ability evaluation which was only at the first-class level in the Rocky Mountain Summer League, he felt completely disappointed and very calm.
At 6:30 in the evening, the game between the Trail Blazers and the Lakers started.
The starting center of the Trail Blazers was Andre Gion, a jumping center from Westminster University. He had a maximum reach of over 370 cm and easily won the jump ball over the Lakers' Valley University center Jimmy Webber, and the Trail Blazers attacked first.
Liu Xiu received the ball and pushed it forward, and another wave of cheers rang out.
There were many female fans at the scene. Some of them were not fans, but came simply because they were interested in Liu Xiu and the ticket price was cheap. When they saw Liu Xiu's skillful pushing movements... they cheered first and then said something.
In fact, there were quite a few male fans among the cheering fans, but these people were there just to join in the fun. Some were called over by their female companions. While joining in the fun, some even looked down on these athletes who became famous because of their looks.
But since I'm here and have spent the money, I must watch the game.
Liu Xiu is definitely the protagonist tonight. Under everyone's attention... Liu Xiu passed the ball to Travis Outlaw who was pulling to the top arc, then ran to the low post on the left side of the three-second zone without the ball, and asked for the ball from the Lakers' college point guard.
The back-to-the-basket process went smoothly. Liu Xiu easily forced the ball into the three-second zone with pure strength, and got as close to the basket as possible before the backup defense arrived. Finally, he threw the ball out before the backup defense arrived, and made an easy layup.
In the first round, Liu Xiu's singles performance was quite different from what many people expected and imagined.
The female fans are somewhat disappointed. Although most of them come for the face of the game, if they really sit down to watch the game, female fans prefer to watch the explosive slam dunks, gorgeous breakthroughs, sharp fast breaks, fierce muscle collisions... This is the instinctive yearning of women.
However, some male fans who originally looked down on Liu Xiu for making a living by his looks became interested in him now.
The offense and defense switched, the Lakers attacked, and Luke Walton advanced to the frontcourt.
Old Walton is a center. Although he is white, he has first-class jumping ability and explosive power. Before his serious injury, he completed dunks over top inside players such as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Moses Malone, and was known as the red-haired monster.
But Luke Walton is a point forward... If his face didn't look basically the same, old Walton would definitely be suspected of having grass growing on his head.
Luke Walton has poor athletic ability and personal offense, but he is very good at organizing the offense and advancing across half court and passing the ball in time. Brian Cook, the "all-around inside player" selected by the Lakers with the 24th pick in the first round, received the ball in one step inside the free throw line and passed it to the baseline. Great Salt Lake Industrial College's shooting guard Luol Lopez caught the ball and made a layup.
When the Trail Blazers coaching staff saw Luke Walton's shot, their eyes lit up and they thought of Liu Xiu from their own team.
Judging from the organization of the attack alone, this was clearly a tactical attack that took advantage of the opponent's unstable position during the transition from offense to defense. This famous son's ability to organize an attack was better than Liu Xiu's...
However, Maurice Cheeks doesn't think Luke Walton can compare to Liu Xiu at all.
When the Blazers attacked, Liu Xiu continued to move to the low post... and still backed up! The Lakers' guard was Tom Person, a small guard from Utah State University. He was 183 cm and 81 kg, and he couldn't handle it at all.
The Lakers' double-team came faster, and the center quickly double-teamed. Liu Xiu did not force his way forward, but seized the opportunity to pass the ball... a high lob!
Liu Xiu threw the ball high to the other side of the basket, and Andre Gion, who was tall and thin and had an explosive jumping height, jumped high and slammed the ball into the basket!
Randolph's excellent low-post back-to-the-basket passing and inside rhythm came naturally when Liu Xiu's back-to-the-basket skills reached a near-good level.
After these two goals, the female fans felt that Liu Xiu's playing style was not quite what they expected, and they were a little disappointed in this respect.
But most people came to see his face. The big screen behind the technical desk showed a close-up of Liu Xiu who had just made an assist... Looking at the scene of Liu Xiu tilting his head and looking up while high-fiving Andre Giang... keep cheering!
The "expectations" of the male fans were also dashed, but they were not disappointed. Some people didn't care, but there were also quite a few male fans who felt pleasantly surprised!
Technical point guard!
…
There is a chain of contempt in the fan circle.
The favorite basketball star has the best combination of physical fitness, skills, and basketball IQ, which makes him feel the most superior. If he can also be good at offense and defense, then his sense of superiority reaches the extreme.
A man with pure physical fitness. If a fan says he likes this kind of player, he will be regarded as a joke.
Outside the chain of contempt, there is a type of player who is very transcendent - technical players!
This technical flow is not the same as "offensive kaleidoscope".
But there are limiting conditions - technical players who do not have outstanding athletic abilities must have high basketball IQ and good skills, and it would be best if they can master some difficult techniques.
Such players will give supporters an inexplicable sense of pride and superiority.
Post-up play is undoubtedly a very difficult technique.
At the beginning, Liu Xiu surprised some fans, but the surprise came suddenly.
Later, Liu Xiu went down to the low post to launch attacks 5 times in the first quarter, 3 times in the second quarter, and 4 times in the third quarter. He played for 23 minutes in three quarters and launched attacks in the low post a total of 12 times.
He initiated 12 low-post attacks, took 6 shots, made 4 of 6 shots, and scored 14 points with other points, plus 3 rebounds, 5 assists and 1 steal, 2 of which were obtained in the low-post back-to-the-basket attacks.
In these 12 low-post attacks, Liu Xiu practiced all the low-post skills he learned from Randolph without hesitation.
Strong eating, footwork, turning, low-post back pass, inside pass, lob, outside pass... Randolph's low-post technique is not superb, it is only at an excellent level now, but his basic skills are comprehensive! When learning the basics, the foundation was well laid... Liu Xiu also has these advantages!
When Liu Xiu demonstrated his comprehensive and excellent low-post skills, the fans who were surprised and focused on watching the game began to really pay attention to Liu Xiu as a player.
However, although Liu Xiu launched tactical attacks with him as the starting point more than a dozen times, most of the time he was doing what he was good at - organizing the attacks within tactics.
Travis Outlaw and Matt Carroll also have tactics built around them.
The coaching staff doesn't care about the outcome of the game. If the players want to win, they have to play good tactics, make shots and play good defense on the court. If they can make independent adjustments on the court, the probability of winning will be higher.
The Trail Blazers' tactics have priorities. No matter how good the back-to-the-basket play is, as long as Liu Xiu has the most energy and comes back from a rest, the offense will revolve around Liu Xiu's back-to-the-basket play. Travis Outlaw's main attack ranks second, and Matt Carroll third. Other tactics are also aimed at training certain aspects of the three players' abilities.
The Lakers are similar, focusing on Luke Walton's organization and Brian Cook's comprehensive skills...
The role players of both teams are at the NCAA first-class level, and the players' characteristics are selected around several rookies... Based on this, the difference in strength between the two teams is quite obvious.
The Trail Blazers are much stronger than the Lakers!
With Liu Xiu's 14 points, 3 rebounds and 5 assists, Travis Outlaw's 21 points and Andre Dieng's 15 points, the Trail Blazers led the Lakers by 17 points, 77 to 60, after three quarters. Liu Xiu clocked out after three quarters.
In the end, the Trail Blazers defeated the Lakers 99-88 and won their first victory in the Rocky Mountain Summer League!
After the game, the situation was somewhat different from what Liu Xiu had imagined...
After the game, Liu Xiu said to his two teammates, "Matt, Travis, I suddenly realized that the three of us are really good at fighting! Maybe we can make a push for the rankings?"
"It's all thanks to you, Jace. When we play as a team, our performance is a little bit worse than the Lakers, but every time you start an offense in the low post, you are able to gain the upper hand!"
Travis Outlaw is very excited tonight, he finally became the team's leading scorer!
"Yes, this is the change I brought about. You are just lucky to score points with me." Liu Xiu decisively poured cold water on him.
Travis Outlaw was stunned for a moment, then he relaxed a little and said with a wry smile: "Jess, I know, can't you let me be happy for a few more minutes before reminding me?"
This time it was Liu Xiu's turn to be surprised, but he didn't say anything else. He just smiled and walked towards the player tunnel.
Travis Outlaw scored 21 points in the first three quarters tonight and 7 points in the final quarter , scoring a game-high 28 points. He was interviewed post-game as the MVP of the game.
Liu Xiu's statistics were not outstanding, and the media didn't care about his performance. They just wanted to stir up some negative information about him... Of course, he didn't have the energy to care about these things now. His attention was on the system prompts during the game.
From the beginning of the game, after forming a competitive relationship with the Lakers Summer League team, Liu Xiu began to receive healing values from the Lakers players.
At the beginning, when the female fans were cheering most enthusiastically, every time there was a cheer, Liu Xiu could see the healing value increase. The amount was not much, just a few points or more than ten points each time... but it was good to have it, and he didn't mind it.
However, in the middle of the game, in the second and third quarters, most of the female fans could not appreciate his playing style, and their cheers decreased. At this time, the cheers and applause from the smaller number of male fans became more enthusiastic. At this time, the Lakers players seemed to get more stimulation, and the healing values they gave were generally a few points higher!
After returning to the locker room, Liu Xiu was doing physical therapy, looking at the healing value growth prompts, and thinking... He came to a conclusion that he felt was incredible but seemed to be nothing wrong - "Do basketball players pay more attention to male fans?"
