From sparring to superstar

Chapter 302 300. The Big Enemy Nets
In the opening game of the Los Angeles Derby, people did not understand what it meant for Jordan to come off the bench.

Because the Lakers have a Black Mamba who averaged 46 minutes per game when the Sharks were absent last season. Once the situation is unfavorable, he will play the entire game without a word. There is always the strongest singles scorer among all outsiders on the court.

Tonight, in the Clippers' second game of the new season, fans have an intuitive feeling.

The starting lineup is already strong enough. All members are under the age of 25. They have outstanding strength, tacit cooperation, high morale, and unlimited momentum.

The triangle offensive lineup of the second team is different from the starting lineup. The starting lineup is good at defense, while the second team is good at offense.

In the third quarter, the Clippers sent out the starting lineup that won last season...

Billups and Ray Allen could barely hold on at the beginning, but Bibby + O'Neal Jr., Li Ao, and Jordan took turns attacking without unnecessary coordination and did not give the Pistons a chance to cooperate defensively.

At the end of the third quarter, Li Ao seized Artest's opportunity to defend Jordan and beat Ray Allen in consecutive singles. He made 4 of 3 shots and 2 of 2 free throws. He scored 8 points and 1 assist. Bibby caught the ball and shot. After scoring three points, the two teamed up to hit an 11-5 run.

单节35比27，三节打完，快船队以107比98领先活塞队9分！
The Pistons' offensive performance in the third quarter dropped sharply compared to the second quarter. After all, it was half a game, and a lot of physical strength was consumed, and the touch was also consumed in the confrontation.

But the Clippers bucked the trend and played even better than they did in the second quarter!
At the end of the quarter, Carlisle sent a combination of Billups, Jon Barry, Ray Allen, Artest, and Ben Wallace. The players who rotated on the field were also strong in offensive ability. They gave it their all. Offensively, he scored 32 points in a single quarter.

However, the defense of this lineup was mediocre, and the inside height and intensity were not enough. The Clippers steadily scored 30 points in the final quarter.

李敖23投13中，其中三分球4中2，加上8中7的罚球，拿到35分6板3助攻2抢断2盖帽！

毕比20分6助攻、小奥尼尔15分10板1助攻1盖帽。

替补上场的奥多姆13分7板5助攻2抢断1盖帽、乔丹14投9中外加6中6的罚球拿到24分2板3助攻……

面对火力如此强横的快船队，雷-阿伦今晚狂飙39分、比卢普斯26分8助攻、阿泰斯特和琼-巴里都拿到12分、本-华莱士吃饼狂飙20分……依旧不敌！
137 to 130, the Clippers defeated the Pistons and started their second consecutive victory!
After the final whistle sounded, Ray Allen looked at the statistics on the big screen and couldn't close his mouth.

The five opposing stars combined to score 107 points!
Give me the ball, I'm going home!
...

After the results of this game came out, the fans' first reaction when they saw the Clippers winning by 137 points was - look, it was only 137 points. Just think about it and you will know how uncomfortable the game scene is... Wait!
The Clippers scored 137 points?Didn't the two teams score 137 points together?
The game between the Clippers and the Pistons was packed with people and the atmosphere was fanatical.

However, the live TV ratings are very poor. At the beginning of the game, the ratings will exceed 3, with less than 300 million paid viewings. At the end of the game, the ratings will not exceed 5.

Based on the match between the two teams last season, except for the ardent fans of the two teams, die-hard fans of a certain player, and passers-by who don’t know the truth, most fans choose to just read the game report after the game.

Some games attract a lot of attention, are very topical, and are discussed by many people, but not many people watch the games. This is the case with the fierce battles in the regular season.

Last season, almost no fans regretted not watching the live broadcast of the Clippers and Pistons game. This time is different!

Who would have thought that the game between the Clippers and the Pistons would be a huge scoring battle?
And judging from several game clips edited in the news, the confrontation between the two teams was gorgeous!

Ben Wallace’s solid wing coverage, the Pistons’ excellent outside moves, Billups’ explosive singles, Ray Allen’s comprehensive and powerful scoring ability...

On the other side, the Clippers have five young talents under the age of 25 with unlimited offensive and defensive play. With Yalic, they have a gorgeous triangle offense and a championship lineup...

The Clippers, which occupied six of the top ten spots in the bottom ten for total points scored in a single game last season, scored a total of 267 points in their second game this season!It almost surpassed the 271-point game between the Timberwolves and the Mavericks early last season!
The ratings of this game were not high, but the topic after the game was so hot!

The Pistons switched to offense and the Clippers' offensive and defensive dominance in the third quarter was hyped by the media.

The next morning, Li Ao got up early to read the newspaper. When he saw topics related to Jordan, he was a little sour.

He was the one who performed best on the team last night, and everyone was touting how terrible it was that Jordan came off the bench and concentrated his energy into the third quarter.

snort! (`へ*)ノ

No matter how great Jordan is as a substitute, he is still just a substitute!

However, Li Ao himself was shocked by the effect of showing the strongest lineup in the third quarter.

Playing against the Pistons and facing such a terrifying outside group as the Pistons, any team will have a difficult time if they fail to gain an absolute advantage in the paint.

Carlisle maximizes the strengths of the Pistons' current lineup.

In the first, second and fourth quarters last night, the Clippers didn't take advantage.

But in the third quarter, they beat the Pistons unable to fight back, and the victory was sealed in one quarter.

Jordan took the initiative to come on the bench not to create such a style of play. He just wanted to play a few more games and didn't want to take a rest. It was a mistake.

Is it better to use the strongest lineup in the first quarter or to save the strongest lineup for the third quarter?After analyzing this, Li Ao found it hard to say. Each has its own advantages.

The biggest advantage of the current rotation method is that even if they lose to their opponents in the first half, they still have the conditions to counterattack in the third quarter.

Jordan came off the bench, and the starting period also gave young players a chance to try to shoulder the pressure, and gave second-year players like Gerald Wallace room to grow.

Playing against weaker opponents does not require Jordan to exert force in the third quarter, which can give Jordan more opportunities to rest...

Jordan will always retire. It's time for young players like them to carry the team forward!

...

At 8 o'clock in the evening, the Clippers faced the challenge of the Cavaliers at home. Two and a half hours later, the Clippers easily defeated their opponents 98-81 and won their first three consecutive victories.

骑士队只有两人得分上双，19分8板2盖帽的大Z，和25投8中、加上10中9的罚球拿到25分6板7助攻2抢断的里基-戴维斯。

Ricky Davis's 7 assists were the most useless assists Li Ao has ever seen. Tonight, Ricky Davis' ball possession rate was at least 4%.

That is to say, except for the time during passing and shooting, when the Cavaliers attack, the total time for other players to touch the ball is not as high as Ricky Davis.

The Cavaliers don't want to win at all, and may still have the idea of ​​​​letting Ricky Davis put up good data and then sell it for a good price after it is ruined.

But the management of other teams are not fools. Li Ao has an impression of the player who said, "I thought the Cavaliers selected James to assist me." The Celtics were short of a sixth man, so they replaced Ricky Davis with two leftovers, so the Cavaliers' management didn't look so ugly.

这场比赛李敖打了27分钟，拿到17分4板4助攻1抢断2盖帽，三节打卡下班。

奥多姆今晚表现最佳，13分13板11助攻4抢断1盖帽，骚得飞起。

Jordan played 18 minutes and scored 11 points, 2 rebounds and 1 assist. It was clear that he wanted to beat the weak team.

How can any sixth man play less than 20 minutes?
Li Ao thinks Odom is more likely to win the Sixth Man of the Year than Jordan... but it's hard to say. If both of them play more substitute games than starters, those who vote will definitely choose to look at their faces.

After back-to-back games, the Clippers got two days of rest. They had one day of rest on the 4th and left Los Angeles for Philadelphia on the 5th, starting a four-game series in the Eastern Conference.

On the 6th, the Clippers came to the Wachovia Center to challenge the 76ers away.

Iverson was originally the only superstar who agreed to participate in this year's World Championships last summer, but ultimately failed to make the trip. The reason why he did not make his fans very happy - he had knee surgery in Cleveland in June, and the treatment effect was very good. , the knee injury that plagued Iverson for most of last season has recovered.

In Iverson's words - "I feel like I'm back in my rookie season."

Iverson's breakthrough performance at the beginning of this season also confirmed this. The media commented that his breakthrough performance seemed to be back in the MVP season... but the situation of the 76ers was not so good.

Last season, the 76ers averaged 91.6 points per game and were at the bottom of the league in terms of offensive ability. However, they only lost 89.9 points per game and their defense was terrible.

This season, the 76ers conceded more than 3 points in their first three games, starting with three consecutive losses.

The reason is, of course, that without an All-Defensive Team-level center, Larry Brown's defensive system collapsed.

However, the 76ers management's deal to send Mutombo away was not criticized. Even if their defense collapsed at the beginning, the deal was regarded as a masterstroke.

Mutombo has experienced a cliff-like decline this season. Not to mention compared with the 00-01 season, it is far behind last season. His state has collapsed even more than the 76ers' defense collapsed.

Trade Mutombo for Van Horn and make a profit!
At 7 o'clock in the evening, the Clippers' away game against the 76ers begins.

After trying three games and confirming that Jordan would not act like a monster when he came off the bench, Gentry began to adjust his playing style - adding Li Ao to attack with the ball.

Gentry feels strange now. Other teams develop talented rookies' ball-handling abilities starting from their rookie season. His beloved disciple only started in his third grade.

Moreover, Aitu is very strange. He repeatedly emphasizes that only when the opponent's single defense players are not that strong will he increase the ball attack. When encountering an opponent with strong single defense, he will give priority to playing without the ball.

Gentry was speechless, but compared to getting it right in one step, by slowly adjusting and exercising this way, his pressure and record pressure will be much less.

Tonight, when Iverson started to play singles, Gentry chose to respond with Li Ao's singles.

Last season, Li Ao and Iverson were dueling, which was just looking for abuse.

This season, normally, Li Ao and Iverson are looking for abuse when they fight against each other, but the current situation of the 76ers is abnormal.

In addition to the collapse of the defense, the 76ers' offense is also in disarray. With the addition of Van Horn, who is capable of averaging 20 points per game, he naturally needs to be reused, but Larry Brown will not use it.

Derrick Coleman, the 76ers' second-leading scorer last season, seems to be collapsing this season, and his performance is poor.

At the beginning of the season, the two men not only couldn't help Iverson, but also occupied the ball and held back. Iverson also scored the ball to help Van Horn adapt and Coleman to find his form.

However, one of the two has not yet integrated, and the other is in declining condition. Not to mention the difficulty in controlling the ball, his shots are continuously hitting, which also makes it more difficult for Iverson to score.

Iverson carried double debuffs and couldn't beat Li Ao tonight.

李敖17投9中，其中三分球2中2，加上7中7的罚球，拿到27分7板2助攻3抢断1盖帽。

艾弗森23投9中，其中三分球2中0，加上8中6的罚球，拿到24分3板5助攻3抢断。

The Clippers easily defeated the 106ers 90-76, making a good start for their 4th consecutive away trip!

...

Li Ao was very happy to win the game, but he was a little frustrated looking at the number of blocks. After 4 games, he only got 7 blocks in total.

Jordan went to play as a substitute, and the wings were freed up to help defend.

Gerald Wallace's basic defensive skills were very solid in his rookie year, but he has just begun to transform his talent and basic skills into combat effectiveness. He can do one-on-one defense when he is pulled out, and he also does a good job in switching defenses. Even if he does not defend well, he can at least show it. Iron-blooded, it doesn't matter if there are many fouls. Anyway, there is a big Q on the bench, and the newcomer Yalic also did an excellent job of defending at the second and third positions.

But for flank defense and assistance, which relies on ability, experience, and tacit understanding, you can't count on Gerald Wallace. Even Matt Halprin doesn't do a good job. The substitute lineup includes Jordan, Te... Elon Hill, don't worry about this, Li Ao is the only one in the starting lineup.

Li Ao is quick to pick up, and he has recently been studying Jordan's defensive video clips from the middle and late stages of last season. Although he is not as good as Jordan for the time being, it is enough to beat most opponents.

But this defensive method is destined to significantly reduce the number of his contraction blocks. He has gone from enjoying the fruits of his teammates' defense to interfere with the last shot to creating opportunities for teammates inside and on the wings to interfere with shots.

Although Li Ao was a little upset that his number of blocks had dropped by half, he still did this job firmly.

Once he develops his defensive ability in this area, his defense will be more comprehensive, and his skills will not overwhelm him. If he still wants to play when he is in his thirties or close to 40 years old, not to mention the singles ability of Jordan's age, he will just use this wing to supplement defense. If you have the ability to help defend, you can get a contract.

On the 8th, the Clippers came to Rutherford Town Road to challenge the Nets away from home.At 7:10 pm, the Clippers and Nets entered the court one after another.

Li Ao looked at Kidd, who had a bad expression since he entered the room, and thought of a word - a big injustice.

The Nets have been a pure bastard this summer.

全世界都知道穆托姆博那份4年6000多万美刀的11年老将版本顶薪合同绝对是垃圾合同，去年夏天76人队用那样的价格和穆托姆博续约的时候，76人队的球迷都疯了。

As a result, the Nets swallowed up this garbage contract.

In the eyes of 76ers fans, the Nets have become philanthropists.

After a while, the pre-match preparation time was almost over. Kidd came to the technical table without expression to apply magnesium powder, and Li Ao stepped forward.

Of course you have to watch the other teams’ fun from close quarters.

Kidd looked at Li Ao with disgust and asked, "What's the matter with you?"

Li Ao said: "You introduced a veteran with a maximum salary? What a coincidence, we also retained a veteran who received a maximum salary last season."

Kidd couldn't hold back before he could say the second sentence. He grabbed a handful of magnesium powder, cursed and walked away while rubbing his hands, fearing that he couldn't help but jump up and throw ashes at the other party... and then it was the other party's turn to scatter his ashes. .

However, Kidd was truly envious when he saw Jordan chatting with Steve Kerr on the opposite bench.

They are both veterans, so why is the gap so big?

In fact, Kidd was happy when Mutombo was first traded back.

This means that the team values ​​him and takes big risks in order to immediately replenish its strength.

If Mutombo can have the strength of the All-Defensive Team last season, it will definitely be profitable for the time being. As Richard Jefferson grows up and Corey Kittles enters his peak period, Van Hoo Well, they will definitely be marginalized this year. If the Nets can add an All-Defensive Team-level center, they won't be afraid of Duncan in the playoffs. There is a possibility of a championship this year.

If I can win the championship, it will be worth it in the next two years.

但穆托姆博开局4场比赛，场均打27分钟拿到5分5板1.5盖帽，还不如给他打替补的贾森-科林斯。

贾森-科林斯前4场场均打20分钟，拿到6.5分4.5板1.25助攻。

In terms of strength, Mutombo's down performance has little impact on the Nets. Just put Jason Collins back into the starting lineup. Mutombo can no longer shoulder the burden as a starter and plays every game as a substitute. More than ten minutes is still okay.

Mutombo did not enter the starting lineup tonight.

However, a backup center who averages 5 points and 5 rebounds per game can get it for 3 million in three years. The Nets offered the Magic backup center Andrew DeKlerk this salary during the offseason, but the other side chose to pay the same salary. salary to stay with the Magic.

Mutombo's salary this season is US$1611 million, and his salary in the next two years will be US$1789 million and US$1944 million respectively... De Klerk's total salary in three years is less than a fraction of Mutombo's one-year salary. .

Originally it was the 76ers who were blocked in space and unable to move for the next three years, but now it is the Nets.

The salary situation of the Nets this year seems to be okay. They only need to pay more than 200 million US dollars in luxury tax. Kidd's 9-year rookie contract is still in the last year and his salary is only 1 million, but next season... it will explode on the spot!
...

At 7:[-] pm, the game starts.

In the early stages, the Nets led by Kidd dominated the Clippers' five young stars.

The Nets started with 3 wins and 1 loss. Although the introduction of Mutombo was a failed transaction, it only wasted Van Horn's transaction value and failed to substantially strengthen the inside line. The strength comparison did not decline last season... Yes , and cut off the future himself.

With the improvement of Kidd, Richard Jefferson, Kenyon Martin, Corey Kittles, Jason Collins and others, the Nets are one point stronger than last season.

提升最大的是——基德，开局3场比赛场均20.7分8.3板9.3助攻2.6抢断，命中率42%、三分命中率37%。

In the starting stage, Bibby, Li Ao, and O'Neal were unable to withstand the situation.

But when it comes to rotating the lineup, the Clippers have the advantage.

Jordan scored 23 points in 24 minutes against the Pistons, which has already made his opponents understand how terrifying he is as a substitute.

But even if the Nets are mentally prepared, they don't know how to deal with it for a while.

NBA历史上有没有过场均20+实力的替补？有！88-89赛季太阳队的埃迪-约翰逊场均21.5分、89-90赛季雄鹿队的里基-皮尔斯场均23分。

But the teams these two were on were only on the fringes of the playoffs at the time. These two players were forced to play as substitutes. Their playing style was completely inconsistent with their team's playing style that season. After entering, their head coach put them on the bench to give them more room to play... similar to Billups when the Timberwolves were soaring last season.

Jordan is completely different from these two. The two strongest lineups among the Clippers' three main lineups are all when Jordan is on the court.

If Jordan starts the game and the Nets respond with the starting lineup, Jordan is not that scary, but the Nets rotate the lineup to face Jordan...

When the Nets play the Clippers, let them first use a rotating lineup to deal with the Clippers' starters, wait until Jordan comes on the court, and then switch to the main force?Byron Scott didn't dare, and neither did Kidd.

The five young players, Bibby, Li Ao, Gerald Wallace, Matt Halprin, and O'Neal Jr., have made great progress, and the Nets must suppress them.

首节前半段篮网队13比10领先，后半段11比14把领先优势吐了出来，两队首节打成24平。

In the second quarter, Kidd directed his teammates to start playing defense. The Eastern Conference teams will not hesitate to defend when encountering problems.

The Clippers tried to use their personal abilities to break through...The Nets' defense was stronger than last season. Mutombo just didn't let the Nets complete their plan to raise the ceiling. After he came off the bench, he defended the Nets' bench lineup. The improvement is still obvious.

第二节篮网队22比19赢了快船队3分，半场46比43领先快船队。

But in the third quarter, the Clippers scored 30 to 21... The Nets players had the same feeling as the Pistons players that night.

Want(╯‵□′)╯︵┻━┻

In the final quarter, the Nets scored 21 to 17, with strong defense and basic offense under the leadership of Kidd, but they still failed to complete the comeback.

The game ended as Kidd's three-pointer from the pick-and-roll was slapped away by Li Ao.

李敖19分、大Q19分、乔丹16分、毕比12分5助攻、小奥尼尔11分11板、奥多姆8分10板3助攻……快船队以90比88险胜篮网队，开局5连胜！

基德拿到了16分7板11助攻2抢断，还是只能吃下新赛季第2场失利。

...

The day after playing the Nets, the Clippers came to Orlando, southeast of the Hawks' home.

After arriving at the hotel and staying at the hotel, Li Ao watched the video of last night's game and analyzed the areas where the defense was not good enough in the second and fourth quarters.

After researching until he was dizzy, he opened his computer and browsed the forum, and saw the hot topic - Barkley wanted to kiss Kenny Smith's butt.

Last night, when the Knicks played against the Lakers, Barkley threatened to kiss Kenny Smith's ass if Yao Ming couldn't score 20 points.

姚明10投10中，加上3中3的罚球，100%命中率狂砍23分10板3盖帽，尼克斯队以104比99险胜湖人队，让科比的单场40分成为背景。

It is worth mentioning that O'Neal did not play due to injury.

Now fans are looking forward to seeing Barkley take off Kenny Anderson's pants and give him a passionate kiss.

Li Ao gave a thumbs up, it is indeed a golden combination, there is a hot topic to talk about, it is really easy to talk about... I wonder if Kenny Smith has bought the donkey.

But when it comes to overall life, you still have to watch ESPN.

Barkley can survive only if he has the conditions to do so.

ESPN, if there is no way, they will create a way.

ESPN, the master of corrections, has 'integrated' another term into the NBA - error correction ability.

In the morning, ESPN found several experts and celebrities to do a live morning news program to analyze the Clippers' opening performance and playing style.

This group of people analyzed that the Clippers made Jordan come off the bench in order to start the process of 'de-Jordanization'.

Listening to this adjective, it seems that there is some conflict between the Clippers and Jordan. In fact, the unanimous opinion of experts and celebrities is that the Clippers are preparing for Jordan's retirement.

They even felt that Jordan did not choose to retire immediately as a champion after winning the championship in order to give the Clippers a year of buffer time to accompany the growth of young players.

Jordan went to play as a substitute, no matter what the reason was, the actual effect was to give young players more room to play and grow up against the opponent's strongest lineup.

'De-Jordanization' was the title given by ESPN in the later period. No expert or celebrity has ever said this.

After Jordan came on the bench, the Clippers' young players were overwhelmed in the first half. By the third quarter, the Clippers had the ability to turn the situation around. This was described by experts and celebrities as 'the Clippers' The team's error correction capabilities'.

Li Ao used to watch ESPN news and liked to read the sensational headlines. Now when he looks at the content, he finds that they still have something to say. The analysis is very clear and logical, and most of the content is analyzed very correctly.

But this is normal. If ESPN wants to create topics, it must be professional.

Li Ao checked other news. The two players with the best performance so far are... Big Dog and Lewis, who won the first week of the week.

Lewis, who averaged 16 points per game last season, received a five-year, $5 million contract extension and was criticized by the media and fans.

Many fans' concept of salary is still stuck in the 90s. At that time, superstars may not be able to get such contracts. Lewis, like Bibby, started to be criticized after completing the contract extension.

Li Ao wondered where he was going. If the Magic felt that Duncan lacked a shooting power forward as a helper in the future and gave Lewis a [-] million yuan contract, it would not be too late to complain at that time.

Lewis wanted to prove himself at the beginning, taking crazy shots and shooting accurately. He averaged 4 points in the first 31 games and led the Sonics to a 3-1 performance.

A pitcher like Lewis is accurate and unstoppable, and Li Ao can understand that he won the best of the week.

But what about big dogs?
After searching for relevant news, Li Ao understood the reason - the Miami Times broke the news that the 94-year, $10 million rookie contract signed by Big Dog in 6800 was in the penultimate year. It was different from Kidd's contract. Big Dog There is a player option in this final year. If he wants to get out of the contract, he must perform well this season.

I want a big contract, so work hard... Li Ao felt his heart pounding when he thought about this.

But Big Dog has this talent and strength!
People are so infuriating, so Spider-Man should just defend his title honestly.

After a day of rest, on the 10th, the Clippers came to the TD Waterhouse Center to challenge the Magic.

At 7:40 pm, Clippers players entered the court first.

Enemies were extremely jealous when they met, and Magic fans violently booed the Clippers.

One finals made Magic fans regard the Clippers as their mortal enemy in the era of TT combination!
(End of this chapter)