After the confession failed, I went to the NBA to play and lose weight

Chapter 139 Los Angeles Night
On Tuesday, January 1, the Magic first came to Sacramento to challenge the Kings, and this was the game they had to win.

In the past few seasons, the Kings have always been the strong players in the Western Conference. However, after Webber and Peja were traded successively, the performance of the Kings has declined year by year. Last season, the Kings officially fell out of the playoffs. This season is also in the same situation. no improvement.

The current Kings can't tell which player can be the leader of the team, and they can't even find an active All-Star.

The lineup configuration is simply not enough to compete for the playoff tickets, not to mention that they are still in the extremely competitive West, and the only way to do it is to do badly.

The Kings did not cause any obstacles to the Magic in this game. Li Chengming and Howard continued to be in good condition. Howard even released all the grievances he suffered at home yesterday to Sacramento.

霍华德13中11、罚球8中7得到29分15篮板、李成名11中9、罚球3中3拿到21分7篮板5助攻，两人如此的高效表现，也理应帮球队拿下胜利。

However, the first three quarters of this game are still a bit anxious. The main players of the Kings are in good condition. The field was somewhat troubled by fouls.

Of course, it was Lewis who was most affected. Lewis, who made 5 three-pointers in this game, seemed to have finally regained his form, but he was blown off the field abruptly, and Turkoglu was not blown off for several fouled balls. , abruptly pulled down the hit rate.

Fortunately, in the fourth quarter, the magic team's rotation suddenly became stronger. Lewis, who had only committed 4 fouls at that time, took a group of substitutes and almost scored a three-pointer to quickly open the score. Although in the end he was blown to six fouls and left the game , but it played a key role, and it finally reflected the value of the [-] million contract.

After Li Chengming and Howard played again, they didn't give their opponents another chance and kept their advantage until the end.

In the end, the Magic won the final victory with 111:104. Turkoglu scored 12 of 4 and only scored 10 points. Lewis also scored 21 points.

尼尔森今天出手不多，但是串联球队做的不错，拿到了6分7篮板8助攻的奇葩数据，同时还有4次犯规、3次失误和2次抢断……

And another bright spot is Redick, who scored 7 points through two three-pointers and one three-point free throw in less than 9 minutes of playing. Today, the Magic's rotation seems to be very abundant. There is not much playing time, which is obviously preparing for back-to-back games.

Then came to Los Angeles the next day, but not facing the Lakers, but the Clippers in the same city.

However, although they are teams from the same city, the circumstances of the two teams are very different. Not only are they incomparable in history, but they are also incomparable now.

Although the current record of the Lakers is unsatisfactory, it is more due to the lineup, and there is superstar Kobe in charge, the bottom line is still guaranteed, as long as the lineup is slightly improved in the mid-term-the attraction of the golden sign of the Lakers to the stars seems to be the same. It's not difficult, they don't say that the record will take off immediately, and it shouldn't be a big problem to reach the playoffs.

But the Clippers are a real fish belly, and they are the kind that cannot turn over.

However, the Clippers also have a rookie of the same class, the 14th pick in the first round, which happened to be Al Thornton, who was at the bottom of the lottery, and then faced Li Chengming, who was at the end of the draft.

If there is no Li Chengming, Thornton should be regarded as another surprise among the current rookies.

Like Scola, he is actually an older rookie, but he participated in the draft after finishing his senior year, and his combat power is naturally good.

Of course, in other words, the potential is exhausted, and there is nothing to cultivate.

So although the Clippers have given him a chance now, he is destined not to stay in the Clippers for a long time, nor will he be the future the Clippers need.

Although, they now estimate that they don't know what kind of future they need.

If it is the competition between Li Chengming and Horford in the East, then the competition in the West is Durant and Thornton for the time being, and Scola is slowly catching up, but the gap between these two and Durant is bigger than Lee Fame and Horford look even bigger.

Thornton is currently averaging over 10 points per game, which is mainly due to the fact that he did not get too many playing opportunities at the beginning of the season.

It wasn't until the team's starter Tim Thomas was injured earlier this month that he started to start and his performance gradually became brighter. In the previous game against the defending champion Spurs, after he scored 25 points, his playing time gradually increased. Now he has secured his position as the starter and the main force.

Anyway, the Clippers still have no hope this season, and sometimes there is no conflict between training as a rookie and being poor. On the contrary, the more you practice, the worse the record may be. So Thornton was simply put in the main lineup.

Although I don't have any hopes for him, but if he can play well, maybe he can increase the box office.

The Clippers are indeed no match for the Lakers in Los Angeles, but they have not given up and still want to struggle.

But facing Li Chengming today, the gap between the two was reflected.

Thornton is 100 meters tall and weighs only [-]kg. He has no advantage in static matchups against Li Chengming, and his athletic talent is passable. He was naturally apprehensive about Howard's defense, and his hands softened a bit.

On the contrary, Tim Thomas, who turned around and found that his starting position was gone, was able to use his experience to fight against Li Chengming.

But the offense is passable, the defense is a sieve, not much better than Thornton.

But this game still exposed the old problem of the Magic's weak forward defense. Corey Maggette scored 27 points, 6 rebounds and 5 assists efficiently, playing an All-Star performance.

Fortunately, Turkoglu and Lewis are in good form today, and they can form a mutual explosion with him. Both of them scored 20+.

Howard didn't feel good and only made 12 of 5 shots. He still scored 15 points, 15 rebounds and 4 steals. Li Chengming didn't take many shots because the Clippers kept double-teaming him. Simply play more for teammates, shooting 8 of 4 "only" scored 14 points, 10 rebounds and 6 assists.

Nelson, who returned to the starting lineup, got a double-double of scoring and assists, and also continued his personal good state.

This back-to-back pass is perfect, but it doesn't explain anything. After all, the Clippers are really bad. The main players in the team are mainly scoring points. Even if they are serious about defending, they may not be able to defend. What's more, their defense is mostly posturing. .

The Magic once again started a wave of three consecutive victories, and this time the four-game winning streak is half the battle.

However, because the game started relatively late, both teams had a lot of free throws, and it was delayed for a long time, so that it was almost twelve o'clock when it ended.

Then, considering that everyone was exhausted from the back-to-back games, and there was no game on the second day, Van Gundy simply asked everyone to take a vacation on the spot. They could stay in Los Angeles for one night and go back tomorrow.

There is no problem going out to play at this point, after all, it is the entertainment capital of the world, a city that never sleeps, brightly lit and not afraid of being late.

Howard and the others simply went to the nightclub. It could be seen that they were well-versed and premeditated. No wonder they seemed to be consciously urging Van Gundy to give them a vacation in the locker room before the game.

Li Chengming didn't go with him, because he was too tired and wanted to sleep more now, but he didn't have the energy like these donkeys, and he wasn't as easily stimulated as them.

Of course, because it is consistent, although it is not a gregarious behavior, everyone is used to it, so let him go.

In fact, Li Chengming did not refuse all invitations. When he was in Orlando before, he did not refuse the nightclub party organized by the general manager Osti Smith. Later, he went there once with Redick, but he really didn’t like that kind of environment. .

Although he was very lively and joyful in his heart, it was joyful beneath the calm surface, which didn't mean he liked that kind of noise.

And how could the place where these guys go not be noisy? The locker room they were in was noisy enough, but Li Chengming didn't feel much after getting used to it.

(End of this chapter)