With three points at the start, Nash begged for a maximum salary to renew his contract

Time to enter September.

The Nuggets continued to maintain a stable record with a high winning percentage, but they also began to lose more and more games.

In the previous month's game, although the team showed strong offensive and defensive dominance, the shortcomings of the team's young lineup and unstable performance did exist.

Wang Chao is very clear that if the Nuggets want to make a difference in the more confrontational playoffs, they must go further to attack the championship in his first season of arrival.

For this reason, Wang Chao must further exercise the ability of Mitchell and Murray, the second and third scorers of the two teams, to resist pressure and how to quickly regain their status on the field when they feel bad.

The most intuitive and efficient training method is, of course, to let them take on more offensive scoring responsibilities in the game and increase the proportion of shots, so that other teams can make some targeted tactical arrangements for the two, so that they can feel in advance what the targeted star treatment is like.

Therefore, after entering December, Wang Chao began to reduce his playing time and the number of times he held the ball, and instead handed over more possessions to Mitchell and Murray.

At first, the two were very happy. After all, in the first few games, the opponent's defensive focus was always around Wang Chao. No one would care about their offense. At most, they would arrange one player to defend alone, and the pressure on the defensive end was not great.

In this case, both of them had high-profile performances. Murray scored a career-high 31 points in a single game, and Mitchell also scored 27 points in one game. The average scoring of the two began to increase.

But what followed was the follow-up analysis and targeted defensive strategies of other teams.

That's right.

After all, this is the NBA, the league with the highest level of basketball competition in the world.

Even the weakest team in the league has a very professional coaching staff, scouts, and video analysts. They will carefully watch each team's game video, thoroughly disassemble and analyze the opponent's situation and characteristics, and carry out targeted defense.

This is also the origin of the so-called rookie wall in the league.

Many rookies were able to perform extremely well when they first joined the league, which made people think that they were the rising stars of the league.

But after playing a relatively good game, the basic characteristics, playing styles and weaknesses of these new players will be exposed as the schedule progresses, and then be analyzed and discovered by other teams and carry out targeted defensive arrangements.

For example, if a rookie is good at dribbling with the ball but not good at three-pointers, then the defensive player will deliberately focus on defense and shooting. If it is more detailed, this rookie may be better at right-handed breakthroughs and weaker in dribbling with the weak side.

Under this kind of targeted defense, most rookies with insufficient skills and weaknesses will perform abnormally, have trouble attacking and defending, and fall into confusion. This is the origin of the rookie wall.

Of course, for some rookies with outstanding talents who are the best in the NBA, they can completely ignore the existence of the rookie wall by virtue of their talents. Even if there are obvious shortcomings, there is no way to deal with them at all.

Whether it is Mitchell or Murray, although they are both high-ranking draft players, they have not reached the level of amazing talent in terms of talent.

Therefore, when other teams in the league notice the increase in the proportion of the two on the offensive end, they will naturally conduct a lot of analysis and research on the two.

And at the moment, this Nuggets team looks at it at a glance. In addition to Wang Chao, the players who can rely on the offensive end are Mitchell and Murray.

Both Gobert and Tucker are defensive blue-collar players who don't have the ability to attack independently. Wang Chao will definitely be unable to guard against him anyway. In this case, as long as he can strangle the scoring points of Mitchell and Murray, the two guards, Wang Chao will at least be in a helpless situation on the offensive end.

That alone deserves a lot of profiling and research by any team on these two rookies.

The technical characteristics of the two have been thoroughly analyzed, as if stripped naked, naked.

Immediately afterwards, the nightmare of the two came.

On December 12, the Nuggets played away against the Pacers.

It is not Oladipo's Pacers that Paul George left the team and returned as a bargaining chip. The strength is obviously weaker than the original 17-18 season.

But facing the league's No. 112 Nuggets, the Pacers were very good. They kept suppressing the Nuggets throughout the game until the end of the game. 106:[-] Beat the Nuggets for the win.

In this game, Mitchell and Murray were defended tightly, their shooting percentages fell below 40%, and their scores were only in single digits.

Even though Wang Chao scored a triple-double of 33 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists when the two main scoring points were contained, he was unable to support himself... It seemed so.

But in fact, with Wang Chao's current personal ability and offensive firepower, and the defensive backing of Gobert and Tucker, as long as the opponent is not the Cavaliers, Warriors, Nets and other top teams in the league, he can completely defeat the opponent by himself.

The Pacers are obviously not among them, so as long as Wang Chao is willing, the Nuggets have a chance to beat the Pacers with full firepower.

But Wang Chao didn't do that, because then his purpose of exercising Mitchell and Murray would no longer exist.

The Nuggets have been too smooth in the past month, which is not a good phenomenon, especially with many rookies, continuous victories will make them float, without awe and sense of urgency for the game.

In this case, some failures and setbacks in the game are needed to alert them.

No way, this is completely different from the Rockets, Nets and other teams. Whether it is the Rockets or the Nets, apart from Wang Chao, there is also a player with rich experience and outstanding personal ability in the team.

At the beginning of the Rockets, Yao was followed by Leonard, Butler and others who grew up. The Nets had Brook Lopez in the first season, and Durant was replaced in the second season.

Only for the Nuggets, the only two rookies Wang Chao can rely on are Mitchell and Murray, so for the playoffs, someone can give him enough support, even if he uses the failure of the regular season to give them the opportunity to learn and grow.

The effect is immediate.

In the past week, the Nuggets lost three games, and both Mitchell and Murray played very badly. The two encountered the rookie wall almost at the same time, and were miserable by the opponent's targeted defensive tactics.

Of course, Wang Chao didn't intend to let them figure out a way to break through the rookie wall, that would be too slow.

Now that you know where your weaknesses are, shouldn't it be enough to make up for them through hard work?
Although it has not been mentioned for a long time, Wang Chao's training potion, including the sparring potion that allows teammates to enjoy the training bonus effect, has been continuously used.

In daily training, the Nuggets coaching staff will also train on the technical shortcomings of Mitchell and Murray to find countermeasures.

As long as the mentality of the two rookies is correct and they deal with it seriously, it is only a matter of time before they break the rookie wall. Once they both break through the rookie wall, they will truly become Wang Chao's reliable right-hand men in the playoffs.

For this reason, even if the entire December schedule is sacrificed or even the games in the next two months are affected, and then the league's first record is lost, it is not a loss.

For Wang Chao, who has led the team to win 70+ games in the regular season three times, the regular season record is not important at all. As long as he can contribute to winning the championship in the playoffs, it doesn't matter if he loses more games.

It's just that Wang Chao didn't expect that when the team was in turmoil because of his strategic record, Chen Yaojin unexpectedly broke out in the team halfway.

On December 12, the Nuggets played away against the Charlotte Hornets.

This season, the Charlotte Three Masters ushered in a real explosive period. To be precise, it should be Victor Oladipo's strong explosion, which allowed the Hornets to truly have the Big Three.

Brother Nongmei continued his high-efficiency performance of one team and one defense last season. So far in the regular season, he has averaged 28 points, 11 rebounds and 2.6 blocks per game, and he can dominate the game on both offense and defense.

Kemba Walker's performance was as usual, averaging 20 points and 5 assists per game, and his shooting percentage was quite satisfactory.

What really brought a qualitative change to the Hornets was Oladipo.

Oladipo, who just signed a maximum-salary contract with the Hornets this summer, has shown impressive personal abilities in the new season. His scoring average has directly increased to 23.4 points per game, replacing Walker as the second scoring point in the team. His shooting percentage is close to 48%, which is quite efficient.

At the same time, Oladipo's contribution on the defensive end is also very obvious. He teamed up with Big Eyebrow to build the Hornets' defensive system, making the Hornets an offensive and defensive team.

With this, the Hornets performed well in the regular season. They are currently second only to the Raptors, Cavaliers, and Celtics in the Eastern Conference, and they are only 2 games away from the third Celtics in the Eastern Conference. They are definitely a strong team.

Like other teams in the league, the Hornets also expended a lot of effort to study and analyze the two players of Mitchell and Murray, and because they have one of the best perimeter combinations in the league, Walker + Oladipo, it is more calm to deal with it.

At the beginning of the game, the Hornets directly arranged for Oladipo to defend Mitchell, and let Walker, who was weaker in defense, to mark Murray, who mainly played off the ball and mid-range shots.

Speaking of it, the technical characteristics of Oladipo and Mitchell are a bit similar. Both of them are relatively strong and explosive players among the defenders. On this basis, the 1-meter Oladipo is much taller than Mitchell.

In the 17-18 season, Oladipo himself will be selected for the best defensive team because of his outstanding defensive ability. It can be seen that his defensive ability is strong. Facing a mere first-year rookie Mitchell, Oladipo can easily lock him up without any chance.

If you just can't beat it, that's all.

But Mitchell may have been struggling because of his performance in previous games, and because of being messed up by Oladipo, his mentality was a bit burst.

Mitchell attacked with the ball and wanted to use his speed advantage to forcibly break through Oladipo, but the latter judged the breakthrough path in advance, rushed forward to steal the dribble, and immediately wanted to counterattack the fast break.

When the ball was intercepted in a one-on-one situation, Mitchell broke the defense on the spot and couldn't help but go up and hug Oladipo's neck to defend with a chokehold, directly pulling the opponent to the ground from behind.

"Squeaky-!"

The referee's sharp whistle immediately sounded, and Mitchell paid the price for his impulsive and irrational behavior.

After repeatedly watching the playback video, the referee determined that Mitchell's defensive behavior was very bad, and decided to whistle Mitchell for a second-level malicious foul and directly expel him from the field.

The head coach of the Nuggets who learned of the penalty immediately raised objections. After all, Mitchell's actions did not cause Oladipo to be injured. At most, it is enough to give a warning for a first-level malicious foul. There is no need to call a second-level malicious foul.

But how can the referee who has already made a decision change the penalty at will.

The young Mitchell paid a heavy price for his impulsiveness. Not only will he be expelled for a second-degree malicious foul, he will also be fined up to $3.5 after the game.

In this regard, Wang Chao expressed his gratitude.

The first-year rookie's lack of emotion management ability has led to the current situation. It is a good thing that this happened in the regular season. It is a good thing to learn from a fall. When Mitchell encounters a worse situation in the playoffs, he should think of what happened today and calm down.

However, Mitchell was ejected, making the Nuggets have to re-play a point guard game.

Therefore, Rose on the bench had to go into battle in advance.

Derrick Rose's performance this season is remarkable, which is impressive.

Wang Chao and the Nuggets kept their promises, not only giving Rose at least 25 minutes of playing time per game, but also giving Rose full control of the ball during the bench time.

Facts also proved that Ross did indeed have fuel in his tank.

So far in the regular season, Rose has averaged 16.2 points and 4.8 assists per game on the bench. His scoring has even surpassed Mitchell, whose scoring average has dropped to 15.6 points per game due to hitting the rookie wall, becoming the third-highest scoring player on the team.

Of course, this kind of performance is far from that of Rose in the Windy City back then, and what he can get is only some praise from some fans.

At least Rose himself is very satisfied with this. He can still serve as a team's main substitute sixth man, shine on the court, and perform well enough. This is enough.

In this game, when Rose replaced Mitchell who was sent off, there were less than 4 minutes left in the first quarter.

With Rose's debut, the Hornets also changed their defensive strategy. Oladipo and Walker switched defenses, ran to defend Murray, and handed over the job of defending Rose to Walker.

This is understandable. In the eyes of any team, Mitchell and Murray are more difficult opponents than the scarred Rose. Even though Rose's average of 16.2 points and 4.8 assists per game is almost comparable to the two, and his 48% shooting rate is higher than the two rookies.

But Rose's data is obtained more often when he is on the bench, and the strength of the opponent he faces is completely different, so scoring is of course easier.

There is not much difference in height between Rose, who is 1 meters tall, and Walker, who is 88 meters tall. Without the explosive power he relied on for survival, Rose basically has no advantage over Walker, who has outstanding speed.

However, who would have thought that in this competition, the original Wind City rose would bloom again! (end of this chapter)