NBA: Back to 97, to be the Jagged Bishop

Chapter 29 Coach, can you let me start

On the evening of the second day, the game between the Raptors and the Sonics was about to begin.

The old Thomas nagged in Comb's ear all day yesterday, and kept saying that the deal was a big loss, and Jones should have been able to get a better bargaining chip.

It's a pity that all he can do now is nagging, after all, the deal has been reached.

"Guys, tonight is the toughest game we've had this season."

"Do you have the confidence to win?"

Kumbu began to sit up in the locker room for pre-war mobilization.

"Have!"

The Raptors were full of confidence and responded loudly to Kong Bu.

Half an hour later, the referee blew the whistle to start the game, and the starters of both sides began to appear on the field.

The Raptors' starting lineup tonight is Big Ben, Camby, Monster, Wu Sheng and McGrady.

"Shh!"

At the beginning, Payton assisted his backcourt partner Hawkins to score a three-pointer.

Hawkins is one of the few defenders who entered the league in the 80s who is very proficient in three-pointers, and has been able to maintain a three-point shooting rate of more than [-]% all year round.

From the late 80s to the early 90s, Hawkins played for the 76ers and was the team's core scorer.

As the game passed minute by minute, Kumbu's expression became more and more serious.

The situation on the court is extremely unfavorable for the Raptors.

After only 3 minutes of the game, Hawkins had already hit two three-pointers with the assist of Payton.

It didn't take long for the German anti-aircraft gun Schramf to resist Mashburn's defense and made two consecutive three-pointers.

Kumbu can clearly understand Mashburn's helplessness. The opponent is much taller than himself, and immediately after receiving the ball, he shoots a three-pointer, and does not give Mashburn a chance to step forward to block the shot.

Moreover, even if it is really close, it is not so easy to block it.

Raheem who played the Grizzlies before, or Tim Thomas of the 76ers, the three-point firepower of these two is not strong, especially Raheem, he has almost no three-point ability now.

Now when he meets Schramff, a big small forward with three-point accuracy, his power is immediately revealed.

On the other hand, the Raptors play very old-fashioned, and more of them end their offenses with mid-range shots and offenses at the basket.

By the halfway point of the first quarter, the Sonics had already led the Raptors by five points with a score of 18:13.

Kumbu quickly called a timeout, and replaced Camby with Ole, who has a stronger offensive ability.

This arrangement had a certain effect, but it did not completely reverse the situation on the field.

Kong Bu smacked his lips, with a helpless expression on his face. When encountering this kind of shooting team, as long as the opponent misses the shot, the situation will become very difficult.

Originally, Kumbu also hoped that in the second half of the game, the Supersonic's touch would cool down.

As a result, Dalle Ellis, who came off the bench, made a 7-of-5 three-pointer, completely ignoring Kumbu's thoughts.

Alice entered the league in 83 and averaged an astonishing 27.5 points per game in his peak season.

Now that he is getting older, his three-point ability has become more and more demonic. This season, he even has a terrifying three-point shooting percentage of close to [-]%.

It's a bit like the old Ray Allen of later generations.

The referee blew the whistle for the end of the game, and the Raptors played away, losing to the Sonics with a score of 92:101.

"Kong, it's a pity that you didn't win the game."

"But don't pay too much attention to it. Our three-point firepower tonight is a bit extraordinary."

George Karl shook hands with Combe after the game and smiled to comfort him.

Kumbu didn't care much about it at first, and this game didn't fully reflect the true strength of both sides.

Not that Combe is consoling himself, but that is the way it is.

A team like the Sonics is extremely unstable. When they feel good, they can win the Bulls. If they don't feel good, they may even lose to the Bucks, who are at the bottom of the Eastern Conference.

If it's a playoff series, Comb doesn't think his Raptors will lose to the Sonics.

The original post-match press conference turned into a trade conference between the two sides.

When the reporters heard that Kumbu had picked up another fringe player that no one else wanted, they couldn't help but become curious about Snow.

Can he rise like Big Ben or Jermaine O'Neill?

Even if he lost the game tonight, Ao's performance was remarkable. He contributed 19 points and 9 rebounds, not worse than All-Star power forward Wen Baker.

"Although the Raptors lost the game tonight, in my opinion, Combe is definitely the best young coach in the league today."

"It's rare to see such a capable but low-key young man these days."

"The growth of the Raptors this season has been witnessed by all. I think Comb is absolutely qualified to compete for the best head coach of the season."

At the press conference, George Karl caught Comb and praised him fiercely.

At this time, Larry Brown, who was far away in Philadelphia, watched the live broadcast of the press conference, his face was cloudy and uncertain.

He wished he could get on the plane and fly to Seattle now, grab old Carl by the collar, and ask him loudly where he knew Kumbu was low-key.

The next morning, Combe led the generals to fly to Portland, and their opponent in the next game was the Trail Blazers.

After arriving in Portland, Combe looked at Xiao Ao and smiled wryly.

Generally speaking, when the Raptors come to Portland for an away game, the old Dunleavy should always make a phone call to say hello and show his friendship as a landlord.

After all, he and Kong Bu are also acquaintances, and they have made deals before.

But now old Dunleavy seems to be missing, as if he didn't know that the Raptors had arrived in Portland.

Kumbu can roughly guess the current mental state of old Dunleavy.

It was nothing more than seeing Xiao Ao taking off, feeling that he had been cheated, and had some complaints about Kong Bu.

Christie is indeed strong, but he can only be classified as a blue-collar perimeter player in the final analysis.

The performance of Xiao Ao in these two games seems to be half an All-Star power forward. Considering that he is only 19 years old, this is a real overflow of talent and a real future superstar.

What's more terrible is that the Trail Blazers also added a first-round pick to this deal.

This makes old Dunleavy very dull.

If you were any other coach, you might slap your face swollen to pretend to be fat, even if you know you are losing money, you still have to pretend it doesn't matter.

But old Dunleavy was not that kind of person.

This guy weighs 150 kilograms, and 149 kilograms is a heart, which is completely different from the honest George Karl.

Being smart doesn't mean you're smart. Looking at old Dunleavy's career, he can't be smart in every aspect.

But he also thinks he is very smart.

Sensitive, suspicious, and like to think smart, these are the characteristics of old Dunleavy.

Kumbu is now [-]% sure that the old Dunleavy will definitely ask Ao for the next game.

The deal has been reached, in order to make the deal look not so bad, in order to save his image of being smart, the elder Dunleavy will never allow Jermaine to break out in Portland.

On the day of the game, Combe was having a heart-to-heart talk with the newcomer Snow.

These former fringe players generally have some psychological problems. They are either extremely inferior or extremely narcissistic. They think that they are just underappreciated and can become superstars as long as they have the opportunity.

Snow belonged to the former. He sat in front of Kong Bu, too nervous to look directly into Kong Bu's eyes.

Just when Kong Bu was about to pour some ecstasy soup for Snow, Xiao Ao walked in with his head poking around.

"Coach, can you..."

"Can I start tonight's game?"

Xiao Ao hesitated and said.

Kong Bu sighed in his heart, it seemed that Xiao Ao's hatred for the Blazers was not the slightest bit.

In this game against his old club, Ole summoned up the courage to come to Kumbu to start, the purpose is self-evident.

If Xiao Ao was really put in the starting line-up, with old Deng Levin's narrow-mindedness, he would probably think that this was Kong Bu's taunting himself.

Kongbu is not crazy, he will not go against people for no reason.

Originally, he wanted to play it as an ordinary game, not to deal with so many moths.

But now that Xiao Ao has opened his mouth, it seems that there is no other way. There is really no reason to reject Xiao Ao.

(End of this chapter)