From sparring to superstar

Chapter 134.

After 4 days and 3 games, the Clippers got two days off.

The next morning, the Clippers returned to Los Angeles, and Li Ao went to school to have a boxed lunch with the auntie.

This Saturday, the auntie of the hospital assistant is working overtime. After understanding the reason, Li Ao feels that he can buy two sets of houses in the school district now. If he wants to invest in shops, he can start making preparations now.

After Thanksgiving to now, the Internet bubble has been completely punctured.

Yingjiang's second largest communication company, 'World Communications Group', had a wave of lore when the building was about to collapse. After raking in tens of billions of dollars from stockholders, it skyrocketed to nearly [-] billion dollars in half a month. The market value peaked, and then quickly collapsed and went directly to bankruptcy and liquidation.

This Internet company, which claims to have 1.8 million users, announced at the beginning of November that it would subsidize 11 billion U.S. dollars and engage in Thanksgiving promotions—that is, online shopping.

Tens of millions of people said on various online platforms, "I want to go to XX website for Thanksgiving." On Thanksgiving Day, the Internet in many places was almost paralyzed. There were hundreds of millions of purchase screenshots on various forums and social networking sites.

So in the three days after Thanksgiving, the market value of this company rose to nearly 3 billion U.S. dollars, and countless netizens ushered in the last wave of carnival. They bought the company's stock for all kinds of mortgages... After the stock price reached its peak, the capitalists All the stocks were sold out, and the stockholders couldn't sell their stocks at a lower price...

As the logistics industry, which has been cheated out of its freight resources for the next month, issued a joint condemnation, the stock price of World Communications Group collapsed and the stock became waste paper.

In addition, the Gallic chicken side imposed anti-monopoly penalties on Intel on behalf of the European Union, with a fine of 10.4 billion U.S. dollars.

The stock prices of Yingjiang computer-related companies, the Internet and hardware have all collapsed. The worst affected is Amazon, which is also engaged in online shopping. It has encountered an unprecedented crisis of trust, capital has been withdrawn, and the stock price has plummeted by 95% in a few days... Their The boss took the opportunity to repurchase shares frantically. While stabilizing the stock price, he also took back the absolute controlling stake.

The dot-com bubble was completely burst, and the stock market also collapsed rapidly.

This has a great impact on USC School of Computer Science, mainly in terms of enrollment, employment, funding and so on.

Dean Teng was already mentally prepared, but he was still overwhelmed by this matter.

The Bund is also a little too thorough, and the first few months were still a little bit bad.

However, computer science has no direct relationship with the Internet bubble, and it can even be said that they are two completely different industries. Therefore, what USC needs to do now is to do public relations and deal with public opinion issues.

Dean Teng is very busy now, and Vivienne, as a hospital assistant, has also started to work overtime, adjusting the budget report for the coming year, and trying not to cut too much funds. The usual routine is to reduce individual expenses and increase "necessary expenses". Ask the school board for money.

There is also the "true" hospital budget plan, and we must make plans for a "tight" life in the next few years.

The School of Computer Science, which is used to spending a lot of money, is not used to it this year, but I will always get used to it in the future.

Originally, I made an appointment to watch a movie in the afternoon, but Vivienne was too busy, so I went back to work after coaxing Li Ao after lunch.

Li Ao had no choice but to come to the Memorial Stadium to continue training.

Surprisingly, he saw several teammates also come to practice extra!

Playing against the Suns the day after tomorrow, the chances of winning...Anyway, Gentry only arranged training for tomorrow afternoon, so that the players who have just played 4 days and 3 games can take a good rest.

Li Ao chatted casually with a few teammates, and found out the reason why the teammates practiced extra.

Some want to seize the opportunity that appears-big Q, and are practicing three-pointers on the sidelines of the two wings.

Originally, Big Q wanted to practice defensive footwork, but the team did not have professionals in this area.

Some are robbed of the starting position-Piakowski, trying to win back the trust of the coach.

Some saw Big Q's active and hard-working defensive attitude to win the starting position, and wanted to work hard.

There is also the fear of being traded.

The middle of the season is approaching, and the strength of each team has almost been demonstrated. Knowing what is lacking and what is redundant, it may soon usher in a mid-term trade wave.

Most players in the NBA will not have the idea of ​​changing teams. Changing teams means an unknown future and a lot of expenses. Human movement is a low-probability event.

And, this is Los Angeles!
Stars yearn for the Lakers, and role players yearn for the Clippers. This is a very common thing since the 80s.

Although the Clippers have never given a player an annual salary of more than $500 million before, Jermaine O'Neal was the first, but the Clippers are one of the few players who gave multiple million-level annual salary contracts in the 80s At the end of the 80s, the Lakers only had three contracts with an annual salary of over one million. There is a big gap between...

At present, the Lakers have only seven players with an annual salary of more than $7 million, while the Clippers have eight.

Although the combined salary of O'Neal and Kobe is higher than that of the Clippers...

But role players are not interested in how much money the top players get, but how much money they can get themselves.

And now that the boss has changed, the benefits have also kept up. The sports investment company under the CEO of Microsoft allocates money, and the goal is to have better benefits than the Lakers.

Another very important thing is to play with Spider-Man and gain exposure!

For Li Ao, no matter what the reason is, it is a good thing that the teammates have started to work hard!
Hearing Big Q and defensive coach Norm Nickerson say that there are no good defensive trainers, he thought of a candidate.

The two just talked about it, and didn't pay much attention to it. Norm Nixon is used to the team's lack of people here and there. Now the team is expanding its manpower and making up for benefits. He is already very happy and won't To make a request, Big Q is a person who dares to speak lightly. The general manager Wally Walker has been in office for more than three months and has fired a lot of people.

But Li Ao has no scruples about this...

After practicing until 4 pm, Li Ao came to the blacksmith's room.

Seeing that Kobe was already warming up, Li Ao teased, "Yo, I was reluctant at first, but now you've taken the initiative to come before I call you..."

Before he finished speaking, a ball flew towards Li Ao's head.

He caught it with one hand, ran to the free throw line and sent the ball to Kobe. Kobe didn't talk nonsense, let's practice!
...

"I knew you were loyal, and when you live a good life, you won't forget the brothers who won the championship together!"

"No, I just recommended you to them because of your professional ability. Whether you can get this job depends on your academic performance in the next training and the effect of guiding the team members' training."

"Hahahaha, I know, I won't let go of this opportunity, it's so hard to be in society! I envy you, your family is so rich, you are talented no matter what you do, study, play, act..."

"Don't be envious, you can't envy such things as being handsome."

"Yes, yes, you are handsome, of course you have the final say..."

Seeing that Shelby Jordan still looked like a fool, Li Ao was speechless, but very satisfied.

As a trainer, to make the players obedient and train, or they have to have rich experience, such as the Lakers trainers who have coached Magician and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

Or it's like Sam Hayes, who is cold and impersonal, but looks very majestic.

If you have neither, choose a trainer who is capable but has a mixed personality.

Shelby Jordan's excellent defensive basic skills and mixed personality just fit.

Li Ao heard that Shelby Jordan hasn't had a good time in the past six months, and he has lost the chicness of his student days.

He didn’t make it to the European League, others thought he didn’t shoot, A-A needed all-round scorers to bring in foreign aid, and the salary was too low to go to Australia…

Shelby Jordan and his girlfriend, Lisa, have been inseparable despite the hard times, often living in abandoned houses in the suburbs and doing odd jobs to make ends meet.

If Shelby Jordan didn't support Lisa, he would be able to live a better life; after Lisa gave up the previous killer look, Li Ao discovered that she was a very beautiful girl, but she didn't kick her off either. Shelby Jordan go find a rich man or do one of those lucrative gray trades...  

Of course, Li Ao has the intention of pulling his old teammates, but the main reason is that Shelby Jordan is capable in this regard.

He just asked the general manager for an interview opportunity with a trainee trainer after he finished training with Kobe the afternoon before yesterday.

It was Shelby Jordan himself who showed the basketball professional ability that made Wally Walker satisfied, and got the opportunity to practice and study at the USC School of Sports Management.

Today is December 12th, the two-day rest day has ended, and another match day has arrived.

Today's opponent is the Suns!
Finished training in the morning, made a lunch appointment with Shelby Jordan at noon, and Li Ao took a nap for an hour in the afternoon. After recharging his energy, he read the scouting report other than the game.

After seeing the salary situation of the Suns, he felt that the Suns were simply dragged down by injuries, otherwise they might shake the OK combination earlier than the Kings.

古格里奥塔，97-98赛季，29岁的他场均拿到20.1分8.7板4.1助攻1.6抢断1.1盖帽，太阳队在停摆结束后以6年5800万美刀的大合同将其拿下。

Anfernee Hardaway, the shortened season of 98-99, full attendance in 50 games, averaged 15.8 points, 5.7 rebounds, 5.3 assists and 2.2 steals per game. Although his scoring ability collapsed, his skills were comprehensive and his defense was online. After receiving the maximum salary, he first signed and then exchanged to join the Suns with a seven-year $7 million dollar. This was the maximum salary contract under the salary cap at the time.

But these two were fine before they came to the Suns, but after arriving in the Suns, they immediately suffered from injuries.

And these two are the highest-paid players of the Suns. The Suns' salary of more than 5300 million dollars this season, these two brothers accounted for 2000 million.

Under such circumstances, the Suns are still 13 wins and 7 losses, with a 65% winning percentage.

Li Ao saw a piece of information in the scouting report that others might not notice—in order to improve the injury situation, the current general manager of the Suns, Brian Colangelo, hired a sports medicine professional from the American Airlines through his father’s matchmaking. The famous Dana Thomas Carter, the Carter Medical Studio will officially take over the Suns team medical department from the 1st of next month.

It turns out that the miracle doctor went to the Suns team at this time!Li Ao felt a little sympathetic to Penny and the former wolf king.

If Colangelo Jr. had asked his father for help earlier, Penny might not have suffered a serious knee injury last season, and Gugliota's toe injury would not have deteriorated to the current level.

Creation tricks people!

...

At 7:40 p.m., at the Staples Center, after the warm-up, Li Ao and his teammates came to the player tunnel of the home team and looked at Clifford Robinson, Sean Marion, and Jack Chakary who played in turn. Diss, Mario Eli, Kidd... Li Ao felt the pressure of the defense before the game started.

"Jack Chacaridis, 21 years old, 218 cm tall, 129 kg in weight, comprehensive evaluation 69..."

Li Ao looked left and right and looked up and down. This player at the end of the first round of the same session as him was not very good.

However, the NBA has not yet implemented the three-second rule for defense. Such a white human shield center is under the basket, and the effect of protecting the frame is very good. The round only allowed the opposing player to score 95 points.

There are very few centers with better frame protection efficiency than Chacaridis. Duncan limits opponents to 94 points per 93 possessions, Mourning is 98...and O'Neal is [-].

But even if the three-second defense is cancelled, Li Ao estimates that this giant center will not worry about work, and the shark effect is still on the rise.

O'Neill felt a look called sympathy, and suddenly the feeling of sympathy disappeared. At the same time, he saw Li Ao running out of the player tunnel, and knew who was sympathizing with him.

He is also very painful. Why does every strong team in the West have a large-tonnage center?

Fortunately, Chacaridis, a giant center forward who seems to be made up of lumps of muscles, has poor physical strength and can only play more than ten minutes in a game, which does not affect him that much.

After the entrance ceremony was over, Li Ao took the cameraman from the imperial court to find Penny in a suit to take a photo with, and Penny readily accepted it.

Li Ao was in a good mood, his face tensed.

After he lifted the ban, the court arranged for him a photographer with the team. The photographer was a fan of Pence. He learned that Pence would come to Los Angeles with the team this time and asked him for help.

He thought it was the photographer who wanted to take a photo with Penny, but it turned out that he just wanted him to take a photo with Penny.

Although there was only overlap in work during competitions and training, Li Ao was quite familiar with the cameraman, and he agreed to the other party's request.

But before asking Penny for a photo, he was still a bit worried that his reputation as a 'court thug' had gotten too loud lately.

The photographer was very excited, and took a group photo of the two from multiple angles. While shooting, an alien-like head entered the camera, which made him cry out in fright.

Seeing the cameraman's reaction, Sean Marion moved away in shock, and was pulled back by Li Ao.

Seeing Li Ao's actions, the cameraman realized that he had subconsciously yelled and hurt others just now, so he quickly continued to take a few shots, pretending that nothing happened, and directing Marion to stand.

Kidd on the side was very disgusted with the performance of the two teammates.

Forget about pennies, it's normal for talented rookies to take the initiative to ask for a group photo and enjoy the benefits brought by the glory of the former superstar.

Marion, you entered the NBA at the same time as this Spider-Man, or are you in the same position, and you actually rubbed your face against the camera with a shy face?
face!

But the team's exclusive cameraman... I'm so jealous!
The last rookie to receive such treatment was Grant Hill.

Moreover, what does it mean to ask for a group photo with only pennies?
Look down on him and don't attack?
...

After shooting a whole group of photos, the cameraman took the initiative to ask Marion for his address and contact information. After the photos were developed, he sent them to Marion.

What he did, eliminated the remaining knot in Marion's heart.

But the cameraman didn't ask Penny for contact information.

After returning to his bench, Li Ao asked, "Brother Lang, why didn't you ask Hardaway for his contact information? This is a good opportunity. He will definitely give it to you. Don't you admire him?"

The cameraman named Li Lang replied: "I just worship the penny in my mind, he may be different from what I imagined, just like you, when I received the task of following you, I had already prepared you When I got angry, I was ready to be sent to the hospital. When my colleague sent me to the airport, it seemed to be seeing me off... In the end, you were completely different from what I imagined. You helped me arrange a closer place to live and drove me away The little bastard who robbed..."

After explaining for a while, the cameraman stepped aside, came outside the baseline, and continued to shoot.

Li Ao felt that the photographer had a good attitude towards idols.

Also, he discovered that the real top player didn't seem to care much about his 'one hit seven' incident.

Payton, Ewing, Marbury, Bibby, Raheem... are all like this, but some players who don't pay attention to the game itself pay special attention to his title of "court thug".

Originally, he was quite worried that his image in this aspect would affect his ability to find experience babies... No, it was about making friends, but now he felt relieved.

At 8 p.m., the referee blew the start whistle and tossed the ball into the air, and the Clippers took on the Suns at home.

Jermaine O'Neal easily beat Chaka Ridis to win the jump ball, and the Clippers took the lead.

Li Ao's fast break failed, and Marion stuck to him immediately.

He came to the frontcourt and started running after Greg Anthony advanced to the top arc, but he couldn't get rid of Marion's active pursuit.

He came to the flank, went around the post, and walked to the inside. Marion didn't care. He saw Chacaridis under the basket...wrapped out, was blocked by Mario Eli, and Marion returned to him beside.

Seeing that Li Ao had no chance to run, failed to disrupt the opponent's defense, and couldn't play tactically, Odom pulled the ball to the middle distance and leaned on Clifford Robinson to receive the ball, turned around with his back, and burst into a close-range throw. hit!

Offensive and defensive transition, Kidd received the ball and advanced quickly, Marion and Clifford Robinson both wings quickly!
Clifford Robinson's speed is not like a 34-year-old veteran at all, and Marion's speed can be compared with most point guards. The Clippers players quickly retreated.

After Clifford Robinson passed the middle circle, he secretly slowed down and moved to the left sideline. As soon as he reached the three-point line, Kidd's pass arrived.

But Li Ao also came to him almost at the same time, reaching out for the ball!

Thanks to Clifford Robinson's quick response, he immediately grabbed the ball and stretched it behind his back, avoiding Li Ao's steal, but he was immediately held tightly by Li Ao, unable to move. Although he was 208 cm tall, he weighed 102 kg. I was crushed to death by Li Ao!

In addition to suffering from physical confrontation, he also felt a strong sense of oppression.

As if he could just move and dribble and he would be forced out of bounds!

Kidd hurried up to catch up, and Clifford Robinson passed the ball, before he escaped from the suffocating pressure.

Kidd was also relieved, and almost made a mistake!
When did the defense of the small broken ship get so good? Odom retreated to the basket to protect the frame, the big Q interfered with Marion receiving the ball, and Li Ao blocked Clifford Robinson from the outside...

Especially the big spider, it was outrageous, a 203cm small forward surrounded a 208cm tall power forward with a 221cm wingspan!
Chacaridis slowly entered the three-point line with a huge weight of 129 kilograms. When he reached the left side of the three-second zone, Kidd suddenly started to break through from the outside!

The big Q defended very steadily, and kept up with Kidd's footsteps in time. Kidd took the initiative to withstand the big Q, and still freely completed the crotch dribble in the confrontation, changed direction, squeezed the big Q into the three-point line, and got stuck Taking advantage of the position, advance in the middle!
Chacaridis on the left side of the three-second zone took advantage of the trend to press inside, and on the bottom line on the right, Marion cut in to contain Odom, and Li Ao was pulled to the right at a 45-degree angle by Clifford Robinson.

Jermaine O'Neal showed his top-level defensive awareness, first went to push Chacaridis, and then immediately rushed to the middle, but Kidd threw the ball before Jermaine O'Neal's two-sided defense was in place...hit!
The onlookers Li Ao's eyes widened when they saw it, "Yaoshou is so young, Ji Bugong's breakthrough is so sharp!"
It's not that Li Ao didn't know that Kidd's breakthrough was very powerful during this period, but he didn't expect it to be so powerful.

The change of direction during the confrontation, the start after the confrontation... 193 cm tall, 95 kg in weight, and the speed is also a top-level 90 evaluation, which is a bit fierce!System 96's comprehensive evaluation is really not blind!
But the most important thing is the use of big centers.

Chacaridis would most likely be regarded as a "trash" when changing teams, and would only be used to consume O'Neal's meat shield in the game against the Lakers when he had sufficient physical strength. He was actually regarded as an offensive partner by Kidd. easy to use!

Before the game, Li Ao wondered how Kidd was able to shoot a career-high 64% close-range field goal percentage this season, which was an increase of 14 percentage points from last season. Turned over.

He had watched some videos in the past two days, but the editors rarely cut the scenes of Kidd scoring, mainly how he organizes the offense.

Now playing against each other on the field, the feeling is very intuitive.

As expected of Popovich's "god of active point guards", Kidd seems to take advantage of all the advantages on the offensive end.

When it was the Clippers' turn to attack, Li Ao used the fastest running speed that could ensure the stability of the catch and shoot to deal with Marion's pursuit...and failed again.

For the first time since he entered the NBA, he encountered an opponent who can defend so well in single defense!
“肖恩-马里昂，22岁，身高201公分，臂展221公分，体重101公斤，综合评价85……速度92，力量89……场均16.3分9.5板2助攻1.7抢断1.4盖帽……”

In addition to being a little shorter and shorter than him, in terms of weight, speed, strength, etc., Marion's physical condition is better than him!
Li Ao gave up his running position and came to the right side at a 45-degree angle and two minutes long to open up the space.

Kidd, who defended against Greg Anthony in the top arc, glanced at Li Ao in surprise. Tan Hualang, a super rookie scorer averaging 24 points per game, honestly pulled away?

He doesn't believe it!
But in the back, Li Ao obediently opened up the space. After Greg Anthony and Odom made a pick-and-roll rush, Li Ao moved to the free throw line very cooperatively, bringing Marion to the position of "shrinkable pinch" and Marion didn't pinch. , Li Ao was ready to withdraw and fast break.

Kidd's single defense was fierce, Clifford Robinson did a good job of switching guards for a short time, Chacaridis's physique couldn't stand in the three-second zone, and he did a good job protecting the frame. In the end, O'Neal was caught Facing Clifford Robinson's interference, he made a close-range jumper with a fadeaway...it felt good, and he made it!

Kidd has been looking at Li Ao from time to time this round, seeing Li Ao's position movement, and the rest of the Clippers really took Li Ao's shots. He is sure that Li Ao's playing is really selfless and calm.

And very smart!
Not only does it give teammates enough freedom, but it also saves energy!
Such a rookie... makes him very upset!
In addition, the small broken boat is not nervous at all when facing their "championship team"!
This makes him even more unhappy, what is the deterrent power of his superstar?

Can't even scare a small broken boat?
Kidd just misunderstood the Clippers.

It is precisely because of his strong ability to lead the team that the Clippers have no psychological pressure.

The Clippers players want to win now, but the difference in strength is so big, they struggle to win even against the Nets, it’s useless for them to think nervously, they might as well take it easy, if they win, they won’t be in a good mood for several days.

Kidd advanced to the frontcourt with an unknown fire, saw Li Ao and Odom came back after switching defenses, and Odom went to defend Clifford Robinson.

He kept that in mind, there might be an opportunity for Clifford Robinson.

Odom is often distracted by this, and he was famous in his rookie season.

After paying attention, Kidd continued to break through the big Q in singles!

Kidd wanted to score another one, but O'Neal Jermaine O'Neal directly emptied and cut Chacaridis to make up for the middle.

Kidd, who grabbed the ball from the free throw line, turned it into a lob. The ball came, took off, and dunked with both hands... "Pa", "Kang"...

Li Ao let go of Marion, who was cutting in from the bottom line, quickly retracted, and slapped Chacaridis's dunk on the basket with one palm!

'Siege Level 3' triggers, speed +3, start increased to 92, speed increased to 93, he shrinks and defends so fast that even the opposing Marion is shocked!
The ball hit the basket and bounced high, Li Ao immediately turned around and pounced on Kidd after completing the block, covering Kidd's head, Jermaine O'Neal took a step back to the inside line, blocked Marion, and received a defensive rebound.

Kidd:? ? ? ?

I attack the frame and you don't come to fill me up, I stand here and you come to prevent me from grabbing the rebound?
Several meanings!
(End of this chapter)