Basketball starts with breathing

Entering 2004, the Bulls faced the Knicks in their first battle. The Knicks, which had been declining in the past two years, were powerless to fight back.

The Bulls also won their 32nd straight game.

The opponent in the 33rd battle was the Celtics, and the media was ready to announce that the Bulls had tied the historical winning streak.

Because the Bulls have not lost against the Celtics in the past two seasons.

Also, the Bulls have never lost against a lot of teams in the league.

The result did not expect the Bulls to start behind, trailing by 9 points at the half, Hamilton and Richardson became blacksmiths, the role players played abnormally, and the Celtics played very fiercely under the leadership of Pierce.

The Celtics wanted to win, and Pierce wanted to prove he could make the playoffs without Anthony Walker.

Walker was poached by the Mavericks, leaving Pierce alone. Many fans are not optimistic about his strength. Don't look at his nickname is the truth. In the NBA, strength is the truth, and record is the truth. When you can't lead the team to win, If you can't prove your own strength, you are not called the truth, but really bad.

If you want to prove your strength, defeating the Bulls is the best way.

Ricky Davis also wants to prove that he has the strength to be the leader of the team.

Since being ruthlessly abandoned by the Cavaliers, he has also become the laughing stock of the entire league, especially the phrase "I thought he was here to assist me" made him feel ashamed by the mockery of the fans.

It's a pity that I don't know what went wrong. Davis, who averaged 20+ per game in the Cavaliers, became unaccustomed to the Celtics. Although Pierce's performance led the Bulls in the first half, he hit In the last quarter of the game, Lu Yu made two consecutive three-pointers and one 3+1, especially this 3+1, which dragged the game into overtime.

In overtime, Pierce was completely out of physical strength, and Ricky Davis was also a wave pitcher. At this time, Hamilton made consecutive hits and scored 6 points in overtime.

In the end, the Bulls defeated the Celtics 129 to 124, tying the historical record with 33 consecutive victories.

The Bulls' 34th opponent is the Suns.

The Suns are underdogs, and it is normal to beat the Bulls, so fans believe that the Bulls are just around the corner to break the Lakers' winning streak.

2003-04赛季开始后，太阳队一路踉踉跄跄，到了11月底成绩是可怜的7胜8负。

By December, the Suns were even more disappointing, with a 12-5 record that led to the dismissal of head coach Frank Johnson.

After Mike D'Antoni took over as head coach, he decided to reorganize the team. The team traded Marbury and Penny Hardaway to the New York Knicks to reduce the team's salary expenses.

The Suns struggled at the bottom of the Pacific Division for most of the season because of the team's major shakeup.

Without Marbury, without Hardaway.

The team can only rely on the bully Stoudemire to fight, and Stoudemire is even more clamoring before the game, and will never let the Bulls get 34 wins on them.

This is their last dignity!

The Bulls fly to Phoenix.

In everyone's eyes, the Bulls, who have won 33 consecutive victories, and the Sun League count down, winning the Suns in this game should be a matter of course.

But no one thought that the process of the game was not as smooth as everyone thought. Since the opening, the Suns have been pressing the Bulls to play. Lu Yu's shooting rate is ridiculously low. All the first five shots were missed, while Hamilton and Richardson still lost his sight as in the previous game, and was beaten by Stoudemire in a row. Stretched up.

Cartwright can't do anything about it either. It's not something his coach can predict if he doesn't feel good on the perimeter. It is up to the players to adjust themselves. The most important thing is that he didn't expect that even Lu Yu's feel would be a problem, but he can't change anyone else. To replace Lu Yu, he can only leave Lu Yu on the field and let him adjust by himself.

Lu Yu also discovered this situation. His own feel was really bad, and neither was his teammate's. So after he forcibly shot, he didn't make another shot. Who else on the team feels slightly better.

Soon he found Artest's position in the bottom corner, Artest made a three-pointer, and the basketball fell into the basket with a swoosh.

Lu Yu let out a long sigh of relief.

Then Hamilton also gradually found the feel.

It is also with the recovery of Hamilton and Artest that the Bulls can hold the score tightly. At the end of the first half, they were only five points behind 43:48.

During the intermission, the focus of everyone's comments unsurprisingly fell on Lu Yu.

"It's unbelievable that Lu Yu has played abnormally." Commentator Smith said in surprise: "You must know that Lu Yu's true shooting percentage has always been the highest in the league. Since the beginning of the season, when he has not played abnormally, he has Although he didn't score well in the last game, it wasn't because of his shooting percentage, it was just that he made fewer shots."

The guest next to him, Kerr, didn't speak. He was a player from the Bulls. Of course, he was very concerned about what went wrong with the Bulls. He looked at the technical statistics in his hand. After Lu Yu's name was his first-half data - eight shots. Second, 7 points, 3 rebounds and 4 assists.

If this statistic is put on other players in the league, it's actually not bad, but you must know that Lu Yu was the MVP of the regular season last season. If an MVP takes this statistic, it's unreasonable.

He is Lu Yu!

Last season, Lu Yu scored 50 points, which is not surprising to everyone. During the time when he and Kobe were soaring, everyone saw that Lu Yu made a shot without even watching the ball fall into the basket, and they knew that the scorer would definitely change again. .

Last season's Lu Yu was a scoring machine!
Although Lu Yu's score has dropped this season, everyone knows that as long as Lu Yu wants to score, he will definitely be able to score.

A scoring machine with only seven points in a half game, which is incredible.

Is this still Lu Yu?

"Steve, does a shooter like you ever feel so bad?" Smith asked.

"Of course there will be." Kerr nodded: "Any player will have a bad hand, but each player's choice is different, some players will choose to continue to shoot, because they are more confident than anyone, they need to shoot To prove themselves, some players will choose another way to help the team, such as choosing to play ball for teammates, but I don't know which Lu Yu will be?"

Smith smiled and said, "I know the first one you mentioned is Michael. Do you think Lu Yu will be Michael?"

Cole shook his head: "I don't know, because both options are the right ones."

"But I believe that a great player will make his own choices."

At this time, Lu Yu was sitting in the locker room, with a towel covering his face, sweat dripping down his shoulders along his cheeks, his hands tightly clasped together, he knew that a lot of time in the game, he needed to stand up, but He always had a feeling in his heart telling him that in today's state, he couldn't make it.

Suddenly, Lu Yu found someone sitting next to him, he took off the towel and glanced.

It's Cartwright.

Cartwright sat beside Lu Yu and handed over a clean towel again.

"Lu, how are you feeling?"

"Fortunately, my hands are a little damp today." Lu Yu looked at his hands and shrugged helplessly.

Maybe it's because of the nervousness about breaking the record, or maybe it's just a bad feel. Anyway, not only him, but all his teammates performed poorly in this game.

This situation has already had clues since the last game against the Celtics.

Cartwright laughed and said, "It seems that I haven't seen you feel so bad for a long time. I really miss the time when you first entered the Bulls. At that time, I was worried about how to use you every day."

"I never thought that you would grow up so fast. If I hadn't seen you play such a lame performance, I would have almost forgotten that you are only a third-year player."

Lu Yubai glanced at him: "So, Bill, when you see my performance like this, do you think this is normal? I seriously doubt that you are not my favorite coach."

Cartwright and Lu Yu were both teachers and friends, and Lu Yu's words made Cartwright laugh even more, "Of course I'm your favorite coach, if I hadn't discovered you with my eyes and eyes, How can I get a high salary, I should applaud my wisdom even thinking about it."

Last summer, Cartwright signed a big contract with the Bulls, at least in NBA coaching circles, a big contract.

Lu Yu rarely cares about what kind of contracts other players in the team hold. This is actually similar to the workplace. Don't ask other people's salaries. However, the NBA is slightly different from the workplace, and players have to pay attention to teammates' salaries. , because it involves how much the team has the salary space to give itself, and it can even predict how much salary space the team can leave in the next few years.

This is a paradoxical question.

However, as the core of the team, theoretically, there is no need to worry about the contract, and it is useless to worry about it. Anyway, this year's child labor contract can't get rid of it.

Lu Yu also understands that these two years are the best period for the Bulls to win the championship.

The team can use its own child labor contract to strengthen, especially the team's inside line. In fact, no matter from any point of view, the Bulls' inside line is not strong now, and even after switching to a power forward, it is definitely not as good as above. He was dominant when he won the MVP last season.

If you get a big contract, then there will inevitably be other players on the team leaving.

It could be Richardson, it could be Artest.

However, Lu Yu hopes that Artest will go out and find a bigger contract. After all, playing here is to make money, and with Artest's body and skills, no matter which team he goes to, he can be firmly in the rotation position. , If you go to a weak team, you may even have the opportunity to become the core of the family.

"Thinking about it now, the first time we met was really an unforgettable memory."

Cartwright's words interrupted Lu Yu's thoughts.

Lu Yu didn't speak. For him, if Cartwright didn't reuse him in the summer league, he might not have become the main force of the Bulls so quickly.

Cartwright said sternly: "Actually, I know that the reason why the Bulls have shown such huge changes in the past two years is because they chose you. Rapid growth, and my level of coaching...you know, the most I do every day is just enjoy your game off the court."

Lu Yu shook his head: "Bill, you are wrong, not because of me, but because of everyone."

"This team has grown into the Bulls it is today because of Ron's sacrifice, Richard's hard work, Quentin's hard work, and the growth of every player and, of course, every member of the coaching staff. Get today's results."

"If it wasn't for everyone, I might have been a great player, but I would never be where I am today. You made me, not me."

"Your level of coaching is not reflected on the pitch, but because of you, bringing everyone together, everyone in the locker room is part of the family because of you."

"You are our leader."

In the end, not only Lu Yu, but everyone in the locker room felt something.

Everyone was also moved by Lu Yu's words.

They all heard what Cartwright said before, and they all understood that Cartwright was trying to adjust Lu Yu's emotions. After hearing Lu Yu's words, although everyone didn't say anything, there were inexplicable emotions in their hearts.

Such a team, such a leader, is worthy of everyone's sacrifice in every game.

Richardson came over at this time, "Lu, although I admit that I am moved by what you said, I still want to tell you that you will be a great player, so you don't have to be humble, what you have to do is to Lead us to that O'Brien again."

"Yes, now I'm playing for you." Artest has been loyal.

"Lu, you know I'm just a role player, but by your side, I found the feeling of being the protagonist."

Hamilton smiled and said: "We are all getting better and better because of you, I hope you lead us to victory after victory, look at today's commentator, Steve Kerr, he is very Great? I think I can shoot better than him, and he's where he is because he's got a guy named Michael Jordan by his side, and you, by your side, I'll be another Steve Cole."

"You are our basketball god."

Lu Yu was silent, to be honest, he felt very bad today, and he was a little depressed.

Of course, as a professional player, he can adjust quickly.

I just didn't expect that the teammates would use such a way to help him get out of the slump, and the voices made by everyone were sincere and touching.

What can he do?
"Lead the team to victory!"

This was the only voice in Lu Yu's heart at this time.

The second half of the game started. When people were still making fun of Lu Yu's poor performance in the first half, Lu Yu had already walked onto the court.

His touch still hasn't recovered, but he has started another way of performing.

Although he was already doing this performance at the end of the first half, it is now obviously more active and more threatening.

Quickly changing direction in front of the body and cutting in like a scalpel, the Suns had to shrink the defense line because Lu Yu was too fast.

Breakthrough faster than ever!
Just when everyone thought that Lu Yu was going to make up for the lack of feel by breaking through, Lu Yu threw a backhand and the basketball appeared in Richardson's hands at the top arc.

Richardson made an easy [-]-pointer and threw the ball into the basket.

then……

Artest hit a three-pointer.

Hamilton made a high jump shot into the basket.

Brad Miller raised his hand from beyond the arc.

Suns coach D'Antoni sadly discovered that after halftime, the Bulls were all like taking gunpowder?
Give me the ball, I'm going home!
The original D'Antoni wanted to be a man who stopped the Bulls from breaking records. Like Stoudemire, he didn't want to be a stepping stone to the Bulls' record.

But he suddenly discovered that the gap between the two sides is not only a gap in strength, but also a gap in spirit.

Perhaps, the Bulls breaking records is inevitable.