From sparring to superstar

Chapter 340

On February 2, the Clippers came to Madison Square Garden to challenge the Knicks.

It was the third time I came to this stadium to play, and Li Ao heard some boos when he entered the stadium.

The little giant has managed the market well during the more than a year he has been here!

A big center, and a big center with the potential to become a super center, is very popular in any city.

“姚明，23岁，226公分，134公斤，综合评价84……场均18.8分9.1板2助攻2.1盖帽……”

"The New York Knicks, 30 wins and 21 losses, averaging 92.1 points per game, allowing 89.9 points per game..."

Ben Wallace, Yao Ming, and O'Neal Jr. are competing fiercely for the remaining two All-NBA center spots.

It is not ruled out that the three will be tied, but in the next three or four years, there should not be a fifth center selected for the best team.

常规赛过半时被评为第5中锋保罗-加索尔，场均17.7分7.9板3.1助攻；第6中锋布拉德-米勒，场均11.1分10.6板5.8助攻……

As for Duncan, he does not admit that he is a center, and Stern will not put this popular superstar in the center position when selecting the best team.

Appropriate honors given to the right people can bring about a popularity bonus. Even if Duncan moves to the center position, he can only be in the second team, which will have a great impact on his popularity.

Duncan's style of play is not flashy, and his personality is not flamboyant. His popularity relies purely on personal performance, team leadership results, and exaggerated personal honors.

If the Son of the Wind finally joins the Suns and the Bully plays center, the situation will be different.

But Marbury wanted Yao Ming to assist him, which caused the deal to fall through. The Suns are now in a very bad situation, and there is a faint feeling that they are going to die in their hands.

At 8 o'clock in the evening, Spider-Man's annual Battle of New York began.

The Clippers' starting lineup remains the same, and the Knicks sent out a starting lineup of Baron Davis, Alan Houston, Anfernee Hardaway, Vin Baker, and Yao Ming.

The Knicks are missing their starting power forward and top interior substitute. The Knicks' new head coach and veteran coach Lanny Wilkens has very strict control over Yao Ming's playing time, allowing Yao Ming to play only 28-29 minutes per game on average. , the continuity of their strength is worse than before.

But with the introduction of Baron Davis, the strength of the Knicks' main lineup has been qualitatively improved.

It's not enough to be the boss of Baron Davis, but with Alan Houston on the outside and Yao Ming on the inside, two teammates who can fire at full strength and average 20+ per game, he doesn't need to bear the pressure. His performance after coming to the Knicks is enough He ranks among the top point guards and is better than Marbury and Francis, two point guards of the same level.

The main reason is that he is suitable. He is a point guard who can break through in isolation and does not need Yao Ming to do the pick-and-roll that Yao Ming is not good at. Alan Houston also likes this kind of point guard as an off-ball shooter.

However, no matter how much the Knicks improve, it doesn't matter to Li Ao.

The Knicks' strongest player is no match for the regular Spider-Man, and tonight he is in 'bullying mode' throughout the entire process!
Yao Ming's crazy performance tonight made O'Neal, a talented high school student, feel what it means to be a truly super talented center.

When playing against weak teams, Yao Ming usually plays 23-26 minutes. Tonight against the Clippers, Yao Ming played for 35 minutes, threw 23 times and scored 15 goals. In addition, he had a terrible free throw accuracy of 14 of 12. In a single game Scored 42 points and got 2+ points in a single game for the second time in his career!

The beating made O'Neal grimace!

但李敖27投16中，其中三分球10中6，加上15中15的罚球，狂轰53分！
加上小奥尼尔的19分8板3助攻1盖帽、基德的13分10板11助攻、奥多姆的13分6板6助攻……快船队以104比94轻取尼克斯队，没给尼克斯队任何机会！
除了姚明的42分，尼克斯队只有巴郎-戴维斯和阿兰-休斯敦得分上双，前者24分12助攻、后者18分3助攻。

Both Big Beard and the mid-range shooting king performed above their season averages when the Little Giant exploded.

They didn't expect that they would perform like this and be beaten by their opponents. There was almost no hope of a comeback in the game!

Yao Ming's mentality exploded.

Why is it that Spider-Man is in such good shape every time he hits him?
The senior who was so excited even rushed inside to face his defense and hit a black mamba pull-up layup for 2+1!

...

After the first half of the season, the Clippers had 40 wins and 12 losses.

In the eyes of Clippers fans, this record is not satisfactory.

In the eyes of the media and other fans, it is amazing that the Clippers can achieve such a record.

Without the team’s second leading scorer and strongest singles point scorer, the top outside three-point shooter, the center’s main backup, and Campbell, a powerful low-post meat shield... Although Kidd has been introduced, the Clippers’ lineup is still deep. Not as good as before.

The Clippers mainly rotate 8-9 players this season, but the system completion and cooperation experience are completely incomparable with the Kings that year.

Under such circumstances, it is quite surprising to be ranked third in the Western Conference with 40 wins and 12 losses.

It's just that Clippers fans have enjoyed too many surprises in the past two years, so they feel that this record does not meet expectations.

Currently, the Pacers currently rank first in the league with a terrible record of 44 wins and 8 losses.

The Magic rely on their status as first place in the Atlantic Division, ranking second in the Eastern Conference with 37 wins and 15 losses.

The Pistons and Pacers are in the Central Division. After acquiring Tianzun, the Pistons have successfully surpassed the Magic's record in the middle of the season. However, they are not the first place in the division. With a record of 39 wins and 13 losses, they can only be ranked third. three.

The Raptors started with 8 wins and 2 losses and ranked first in the Eastern Conference. However, they started high and then fell. As the season progressed, the aging role players lineup and only the outside superstars without the inside core were exposed. The record has dropped to 33 wins and 19 losses. Ranked fourth in the Eastern Conference.

The Wizards improved steadily. With Webber's demise and Tianzun going to the Pistons to play 3D center, Brand and Zach Randolph were placed in the "power forward F4" ranks and were used to play with Duncan and Garnett. When discussing together, Hamilton averaged 45 points, 22.1 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 4.8 steals per game with a 1.3% shooting rate. He and Brand formed a very eye-catching dual-core team. The current record is 32 wins and 20 losses, and he has the potential to pull down the Raptors. possibility.

However, the Wizards' performance still makes people a little disappointed. Brand and Hamilton's helpers are too average. Their small forward Jarvis Hayes has good shooting ability but poor impact; the point guard is rookie Steve Blake is very mature, but lacks ability; center Brandon Haywood is a good blue-collar player, but there may not be other strong playoff teams that let Haywood start. He has a single function and insufficient strength.

Of course, the Wizards lineup also has advantages. Juan Dixon, Edon Thomas, Christian Laettner, Jared Jeffries, Chris Whitney and other substitutes are excellent.

If any one of the three positions of the Wizards is qualitatively strengthened, they will be able to compete with other teams like the top three teams in the Eastern Conference.

The Wizards actually have room. Hamilton's contract that was renewed in advance for the 01-02 season was 3 years and 2100 million U.S. dollars. This season's salary is only 650 million U.S. dollars, which is a child labor contract. Plus Brand's maximum salary, the two occupy the space. The space is less than $1800 million, and they have enough space to get a maximum salary contract.

But the Eagle Capital City may be one of the most unsafe capitals in the world. Few big-name stars take the initiative to join. This has been the case since they were called the Bullets. The same was true for the Washington Capitals of the ABA League back then. Rick Barry He was traded to the newly established Washington Capitals, played for one year and then left immediately after his contract expired, causing the Washington Capitals to go bankrupt and exit the basketball world after only one year of existence.

The Knicks, sixth in the Eastern Conference, have 30 wins and 22 losses. With Yao Ming on the team, they have become one of the teams with the most potential. After the introduction of Beard, and the addition of the top pitcher who is about to turn 33 years old, Alan Houston is very promising. The two positions of power forward and small forward are short of manpower, the center position is short of substitutes, and the owner has money. They have become the team favored by the frontcourt players who are about to become free agents.

The Heat ranked seventh in the Eastern Conference with 28 wins and 24 losses, and the Bucks ranked eighth in the Eastern Conference with 27 wins and 25 losses.

The management of both teams are hard workers. They work hard to improve the bad situation. They work hard and conscientiously in recruiting. The current attention is average. Both teams have many problems and there is no hope of reaching the top four for the time being.

The Heat have attracted a lot of attention from the fans. They have Wang Zhizhi and rookie Wade led the team to defeat the Clippers once, which left a deep impression on the fans of the basketball fans.

In the West, the Lakers rank first with 43 wins and 9 losses, a distant second to the Pacers.

The Spurs defeated the Grizzlies, Timberwolves, and Mavericks, regaining the top spot in the Central Division after three years, and ranked second in the Western Conference with an outstanding performance of 37 wins and 15 losses.

The Clippers have 40 wins and 12 losses, but they are not the first in the Pacific Division and can only be ranked third in the Western Conference.

灰熊队36胜16负第四、小牛队35胜17负第五、森林狼队35胜17负第六。

The top six in the Western Conference still maintain a 50-win performance, but the seventh position begins to break. The Jazz is seventh with 26 wins and 26 losses. The Nuggets, Kings, and Trail Blazers from eighth to tenth are all 24 wins and 28 losses. .

From the perspective of playing half of the schedule this season, it is not the Western Conference that has declined in strength, but the Pacific Division.

In the past two years, 7-5 of the 6 teams in the Pacific Division could make the playoffs. This season, only two are left, the two neighbors in Angel City.

In terms of teams, the Pacers and Lakers are the most dazzling.

In terms of players, the most amazing one this season is undoubtedly Li Ao.

By scoring 53 points against the Knicks, Li Ao's total score this season reached 1722 points, averaging 52 points per game in 33.1 games!
The last time a player averaged 33+ points per game was more than ten years ago. Michael Jordan averaged 1989 points per game in the 1990-33.6 season.

Li Ao, who averaged 33.1 points per game, has a huge gap between him and the second-leading scorer. There are still 32 regular season games left to play. In people's eyes, there is no suspense about the scoring champion.

No. 2 Allen Iverson averaged 26.9 points per game...

In terms of rebounding, Ben Wallace currently ranks first, but his average of 16 rebounds per game in the first month has dropped to 14. The gap with Garnett and Duncan is already very small.

With Tianzun, the Pistons began to play slow-paced basketball, with fewer rounds and fewer shots. Ben Wallace naturally had fewer rebounds, and Tianzun took away some rebounds. Campbell returned to the substitute position and the second team The center is also reliable. Ben Wallace is no longer under pressure to rebound and can devote himself to defense. His defensive performance suddenly improved to... second in the league.

The best defensive performer this season is Artest!

In the assists list, Nash topped the list with 8.6 assists per game, Marbury was second with 8.4 assists per game, and Andre Miller was third with 8.1 assists per game...Kidd... Averaged 7.4 assists, a career low, ranking sixth.

In the steals list, Li Ao averaged 2.8 steals per game, which is far behind Artest, Baron Davis, and Iverson who were tied for second with 2.4 steals per game.

In terms of blocks, after Ratliff was traded to the Trail Blazers as a substitute, the Camby family dominated the list, averaging 3.6 blocks per game and no one could beat him.

Kirilenko, who averaged 3.1 blocks per game, Duncan, who averaged 3 blocks per game, and Ben Wallace, who averaged 2.9 blocks per game, were all speechless.

People are amazed by Li Ao's performance, and he is personally very satisfied with his performance and progress in the past half of the season.

In his opinion, Kidd's assistance, the team's defensive counterattack system, and his personal improvement each accounted for one-third of the performance that averaged 33.1 points and 5.6 assists per game at the half-season.

Halfway through, his overall rating had improved from 91 to 92.

The ability to attack with the ball has been greatly improved!

The turnaround jump shot and fadeaway jump shot have both reached 84, the behind-the-back dribble and turn shot has reached 85, the pull-up jump shot has reached 86, and the high post singles has reached 89 and is about to reach the top...

The triple threat has also reached 81, and the step-back shot has reached 77...

If you start to strengthen your personal offense when you are at an excellent or first-class level, your singles improvement in the past few months may increase by three or four points in your overall rating. At that stage, you can strengthen your shortcomings.

But now he is already at the top level relying only on his ability without the ball. The lower limit is too high. Such improvement can be improved from 91 to 92 in half a season, which is already good.

He doesn't have high requirements. He will be satisfied if he can reach 93 by the end of this season. If he can reach 94... he can sprint to surpass the top next year.

...

After six consecutive away games, Li Ao returned to Los Angeles with the team. This time there is no need to go anywhere else for the All-Star Weekend because the team hosting the All-Star Weekend this time is our next door neighbor.

Li Ao chose to participate in the Skills Challenge and the Three-Point Contest. In addition to Kidd also participating, there were other reasons.

After a day of rest, on the 13th, he started training with the temporary team members...

Before this year's All-Star starting voting began, a joke suggested that putting Li Ao, Kobe, and Kidd on the back line would create the topic of 'Angel City All-Star back line competition.'

This topic may be very popular, but Stern did not adopt it. Instead, he divided the three people into two positions to ensure that they can all enter the starting lineup.

Compared with the topic during the voting period, Stern paid more attention to the two highlights of "Angel City's four all-star starters" and the "Los Angeles Derby" in the playoffs.

If Garnett wasn't so popular, Stern would even want to put O'Neal at the forward position. If the Western Conference All-Star starting lineup is taken by five Angel City players and the two teams meet again in the playoffs, then the 'peak showdown' will be enhanced. to a whole new level.

As for whether having all the All-Star starters played by players from the same city will dampen the mood of other fans watching the game... maybe, but!

Just like three consecutive championships will bring the NBA's popularity to a boiling point, occasionally a city will occupy 5 All-Star starting seats, which will only make the topic more sensational. After all, there are only a few players who have the opportunity to be selected as the All-Star starter. In a few years, this thing will become a classic.

What Stern dislikes about jokes is that he has no long-term vision. He can only see a little bit of immediate benefits in everything and has no long-term plan.

Soon, the time came to February 2th, and the Los Angeles NBA All-Star Carnival began.

The first thing to start is the Rookie Challenge.

Li Ao appeared in the rookie game for the third consecutive year. During the All-Star Weekend in Los Angeles, he accepted the position of head coach again.

But this time it's not the first-year or second-year coach, but the head coach of the visiting team 'Spider-Man'.

The home team is the 'Sharks' coached by O'Neal of the host Lakers.

Based on the actual situation of the past two Rookie Challenges, the NBA officially restructured the Rookie Challenge, and Joke's ability in hosting such entertainment events was demonstrated.

He launched the 'first and second grade mixed team' in advance.

The Sharks are composed of Wade, James, Anthony, Bosh, Josh Howard, Ronald Murray, Milicic, Stoudemire, and Kaman.

The Spider-Man team consists of Hinrich, Marco Jaric, Ginobili, Haslem, Nene, Tayshaun Prince, Mike Dunleavy, Yao Ming, and Boozer.

The Sharks took all the top five picks of the 03 generation, and their talent is even better.

The starting five of James, Wade, Anthony, Bosh, and Milicic looks even more shocking than the 01 lineup.

But after the game started, the five-man group of Hinrich, Ginobili, Tayshaun Prince, Haslem, and Yao Ming were beaten by the top five picks of the 03 generation.

O'Neal also led the Sharks to train, but their training was full of laughter and fun.

Including O'Neal, 10 people from the Sharks team, from coaches to players, all felt that they had definitely won. They even felt that they were super strong in the regular season together.

韦德场均16+5+6+1+1，詹姆斯场均18+5+5+2+1、安东尼场均21+6+3、波什场均14+7、米利西奇场均9+4+1+1+1……这首发五人组的数据，加起来确实比任何一支NBA球队首发五人组都猛。

But the problem is that each of them is a key training target of their respective teams. The outside trio is the first single RBI point of their own team. They are still rookies. If the five of them really get together, they basically can't fight and can only play against each other. hold up.

As for the Spider-Man team, most of them are team players, and some of them have the experience of being coached by Li Ao. Li Ao practiced for three days, and they played very well together.

113 to 87, the Spider-Man team easily defeated the Sharks. Hinrich scored 23 points, 2 rebounds, 8 assists and 4 steals. He beat Wade and won the rookie game MVP.

This battle helped Jordan to "cleanse his name".

Fans feel that it may not be that the God of Basketball is too bad at coaching, but that Spider-Man is too strong!
Spider-Man's basketball man image began to move closer to Big Bird.

After two coaching performances in the rookie game, fans began to discuss whether Spider-Man would be as good as Big Bird if he became a manager after retiring.

The next day is the comprehensive competition day.

The Shooting Star Challenge continued, and Magic led Fisher and Leslie of the WNBA Sparks to win the championship.

In the skills challenge, 6 people including Kidd, Li Ao, Kobe, Fisher, Baron Davis, and Yao Ming participated.

It is rare for Li Ao to participate in this type of event. The commentators and fans are full of expectations, hoping to see surprises.

In the preliminaries, Yao Ming ranked third in 42.6 seconds, beating Kobe Bryant in 44.1 seconds, and Kidd in 45.5 seconds. He advanced to the finals with an amazing performance.

Many people have the impression that Yao Ming is a big Z player. It turns out that his athletic ability, flexibility, and skills are so outstanding. He is better than many serious centers who are in their early 210 centimeters. Among players with a height of 220+ centimeters, such as Bugs in general.

Fisher was first in 33.6 seconds, and Baron Davis was second in 39.8 seconds.

Li Ao... had no results. His long-range shot seemed to have a cover on the rim. He kept failing until the time exceeded 60 seconds and had no results.

From a certain perspective, Li Ao's performance really gave the fans a 'surprise'.In the final, Yao Ming and Fisher were defeated. Baron Davis broke the previous record with a time of 30.9 seconds and won the second skills challenge championship.

Then there is the three-point contest.

This year's three-point contest has a very luxurious list of participants, with 8 people participating, including Peja, Nash, Lewis, Mobley, Li Ao, Kobe, Big Q, Nowitzki, and Pierce.

Of these 8 people, only Big Q is not a high-ranking player, the others are all well-known players.

But the one who had the last laugh was Da Q, the lowest ranked person!

In the preliminaries, Nash ranked first with 23 points, Da Q 21 points, Peja 19 points, and Li Ao 18 points.

Nowitzki, Pierce, Mobley, and Kobe were eliminated in the preliminaries.

In the final, Big Q defeated Li Ao with 19 points, Peja with 15 points, and Nash with 17 points to win the championship with 11 points.

Big Q, who returned to the Staples Center, lifted the trophy amidst the enthusiastic cheers of the fans at the scene.

There were surprises in the skills challenge, an upset counterattack in the three-point contest, and there were complaints in the final slam dunk contest.

Jason Richardson, the two-time defending champion of the Slam Dunk Contest, failed to dunk 5 times in the first round of the finals. He could only change to another dunk, but in the second dunk, he changed his hands and dunked with such a simple action. , all were deducted.

In the end, the Spurs' backup small forward Fred Jones, who is only 193 centimeters tall, won the slam dunk contest.

It can be regarded as a counterattack and upset by a small person, but the impression left on people is far less profound than that of Big Q who defeated the former boss, Son of the Wind, and Peja.

On February 2th, the All-Star Game is here.

Eastern team starting lineup: Baron Davis, Tracy McGrady, Carter, Raheem, Yao Ming.

Substitutes: Larry Hughes, Duncan, Ray Allen, Artest, Ben Wallace, Reid, Pierce.

Iverson retired from the game due to injury, and the NBA officially designated Artest to replace Iverson. Larry Brown put Raheem of his team into the starting lineup.

Western team starting lineup: Kidd, Kobe, Li Ao, Garnett, O'Neal.

Substitutes: Nash, Peja, Nowitzki, Kirilenko, O'Neal, Arenas, Gasol.

After the two teams' starting lineup came on the court at 7:58 pm, the Eastern team failed immediately and didn't even think about giving it a try.

When the Western team walked onto the court, they did not drop the ball first, but set up a formation.

Kobe is the first, O'Neal is the last, Li Ao and Garnett are on the wings, and Kidd is standing next to Kobe.

At this scene, the fans cheered wildly.

Three years ago, in the 2001 All-Star Game, it was this lineup that started the Western Conference's brutal rule!

Comparing that year, the two veterans Kidd and O'Neal are getting older and stronger, and they are still the strongest in their respective positions.

The difference is that Li Ao, Kobe, and Garnett have all grown up for another three years and are already among the best in their respective positions.

This picture appeared again, and all the fans were very excited... No, only the world where Lakers fans were injured was achieved again!

...

There is no suspense in the All-Star Game. The starting lineup of the Western team is defending to the death, while the Eastern team surrenders.

Everything is reciprocal. This time, Li Ao and Kidd took the initiative to feed O'Neal. O'Neal made 28 of 18 shots, including 2 of 1 three-pointers, plus 2 of 0 free throws. He scored 37 points, 11 rebounds, 1 steal, and 4 blocks. , won AMVP.

Li Ao scored 12 points, 4 rebounds and 7 assists. Three of the assists were passed to O'Neal who followed up during the fast break.

Watching Kobe pass to Li Ao as he advanced, Li Ao rushed to the wing to attract a double attack and then passed to O'Neal who was following up, O'Neal violently dunked... Many Lakers fans in front of the TV wanted to turn off the TV.

But these scenes that have appeared countless times in their dreams can only be seen at the All-Star Game, and they are reluctant to let go...

The All-Star Weekend is over, and the NBA regular season resumes operations and enters the second half of the season.

Without going to other cities, the Clippers can resume training on the first day after the All-Star weekend.

After two days of training, on February 2, the Clippers faced their first opponent in the second half... the Knicks again!
In order to expand the influence of the All-Star Weekend in the florist market, Stern moved the 'China Derby' to the last half-way game this season.

In order to give the second half of the season a good start, Stern put the second 'China Derby' in the first game of the second half.

David Stern also announced today that two games in China will be scheduled for the 04-05 preseason. The Knicks and Heat will play one game each in the Imperial Capital and Magic City.

Some media analyzed the reason why Stern did not arrange for the Clippers to play the Knicks - it was too no suspense.

People even think that Li Ao can beat the Knicks with 5 substitutes.

He was brutal every time he played the Knicks.

The Heat also have talented players. They are about the same strength as the Knicks. They are also teams composed of young players, so they are more suitable for the matchup.

There is no Spider-Man game scheduled this time, but it can give fans something to look forward to.

In the evening, Jordan came to the Staples Center to watch the game, and players from his next door neighbor also came to the scene.

Tonight is the Clippers' jersey retirement ceremony for Jordan.

Originally, Ballmer wanted to retire Jordan's jersey when he played against the Bulls, but Jordan took a look at the Bulls' lineup... and didn't see it. After looking at the Clippers' schedule, he decided to retire in a double game against the Knicks. Time to retire.

The opponent is Yao Ming, and the topic among flower growers is much higher than playing against the Bulls.

After retiring, Boss Qiao has entered into a boss mentality and prioritizes interests in everything.

As Jordan's No. 23 jersey was raised, the Clippers finally had their first jersey floating over the court, and it was a very prestigious jersey, not inferior to the famous players next door.

Our team also has a real star!
In order to celebrate this grand event, Li Ao made a little giant to celebrate!

李敖出场38分钟，40投22中，其中三分球6中3，加上9中8的罚球，爆砍55分4板2助攻4抢断2盖帽！

姚明今晚打得很卖力，但没像上一场那样爆发，14投7中，加上10中9的罚球，拿到23分9板1助攻2盖帽。

巴郎-戴维斯也很玩儿命，19投9中，其中三分球1中1，加上10中9的罚球，拿到28分6板7助攻3抢断。

But the combined scores of the two are not as much as Li Ao's...

104 to 90, Li Ao scored 50+ points in two consecutive games, double defeating the Knicks!

With 41 wins and 12 losses, the Clippers started the second half of the season with a victory.

On the 23rd, the Clippers faced the challenge of the Celtics at home.

This game was very intense. Pierce scored 29 points in regular time. Ricky Davis, who came off the bench, exploded. He played 31 minutes in regular time and scored 20 points and 6 assists. The two teams worked together to lead the team to a 90-90 victory. Forced the Clippers into overtime.

In overtime, the two still performed well, both scoring 5 points.

But the Celtics were the only two who scored in overtime.

For the Clippers, Li Ao had 4 points, Kidd had 3 points, Gerald Wallace, Jaric, and O'Neal each had 2 points.

加时赛13比10，快船队最终以103比100险胜凯尔特人队，将战绩提升至42胜12负！
After three consecutive games, the Clippers started three consecutive away games.

On the 24th, the NBA trade deadline, Li Ao came to Milwaukee with the team and saw the news that the Suns finally sold Marbury.

The Trail Blazers sent Ratliff's expiring contract with an annual salary of US$1096 million, Quintel Woods and Ruben Bontje, two rookies who were scrapped in the last round of the first round, in exchange for Marbury.

This deal seemed like a total loss for the Suns. After analysis by the media and fans, they felt that the Suns were eyeing a hot young man - Garnett.

Garnett's seven-year contract has reached the last year. There are rumors that he no longer wants to stay with the Timberwolves and has rejected the Timberwolves' five-year, $7 million contract extension.

This statement made Li Ao a little curious-if they could sign Garnett naked, would the Suns still choose Nash?
There is no problem for the Suns to free up a maximum salary space. If Ratliff's contract expires and does not renew, it will free up nearly 1100 million in space. Just one or two more contracts will expire, but if they want to free up a maximum salary + It is completely impossible to have room for an annual salary of tens of millions.

The Suns did not have the same conditions as the Clippers in 01. That summer, O'Neal, the Clippers' highest-paid player, only had an annual salary of more than $600 million.

And will Garnett continue to stay in the West?Will the Mavericks still give Nash a humiliating contract?
At 12 o'clock in the evening, the trade deadline ended. In the end, there was no buzzer-beating transaction, which meant that the Rockets failed to successfully send Francis out.

The Dallas Morning News gave the Rockets a decisive blow. They broke the news that the Rockets were eager to sell Francis - he was addicted to alcohol, drugs and gambling.

This revelation caused those teams that were interested in the backcourt duo of Francis and Madman to withdraw their offers.

For example, the Wizards were ready to use all high-quality role players except Brand and Hamilton, but when the deal was about to be completed, the Dallas Morning News broke the news and made them cancel the deal.

Li Ao thinks this is true.

He had the impression that Francis would be disabled when he was 27 or 30 years old. It was not injuries that disabled him, but simply a loss of condition. He would look as decrepit as a 50- or [-]-year-old homeless man on the streets of San Francisco when he was less than [-] years old.

And it is true that because of gambling, Francis lost all his after-tax salary of more than 4000 million U.S. dollars and endorsement fees of more than 3000 million U.S. dollars and went bankrupt in a few years after retiring, and finally went to jail for theft.

Li Ao only watched the affairs of other teams. He was actually waiting to see if their team could complete the transaction... As a result, they got nothing during the mid-season trade period.

Strong teams are unwilling to trade with them, while weak teams treat high-quality role players as treasures this year.

The reason is something Li Ao didn't expect before - Garnett!

The Hornets are waiting for Garnett, the Sonics are waiting for Garnett, the Nets are waiting for Garnett... even the Suns may actually be waiting for Garnett.

Fans who are not the Timberwolves or Garnett all like to scold Garnett.

But if Garnett can go to their team, they can rush forward and kneel down to greet him.

Li Ao can only be thankful that they signed Eddie House and Bobby Simmons during the offseason. The former integrated quickly and the latter improved quickly, allowing them to support a rotation of 8-10 people.

He thought from another perspective, this is not bad, he can continue to build the system without being affected by the lineup changes.

It's already late in the season, and the system is still being built, which is slower than during the rookie season...

...

On the 25th, the Clippers defeated the Bucks 91-83, kicking off four consecutive away games.

27号，快船队98比80击败黄蜂队，28号，快船队背靠背以91比96输给小牛队，战绩来到44胜13负。

In the words of ESPN, the Clippers have lost their theoretical hope of tying the best record in team history.

On March 3, the Clippers narrowly defeated the Kings 1-4 in their last four-game away game. Peja hit a three-pointer to pay tribute to the rookie Peter Pan. The first object he encountered after the ball was thrown was the courtside camera.

After four consecutive away games, the Clippers returned to Los Angeles for two days of rest. On March 4, the Clippers ushered in a strong opponent-the Detroit Pistons!
The team with the best record in the mid-term stage of this season!

The Pistons had a mediocre record in the early part of the season, with 18 wins and 10 losses. When they first traded for Tianzun, they suffered a three-game losing streak.

But after Christmas, the Pistons seemed to be a new team, with the ultimate evolution on the defensive end. They had a 24-21 performance in 3 games in the middle of the season, and Ray Allen also took advantage of this to win January. Player of the Month Award.

After the All-Star Weekend, the Pistons won all 6 games. In addition to the 3 consecutive victories at the end of the first half, they have won 9 consecutive games!
At 5:40 in the evening, after the two teams entered the stadium, Li Ao opened the team report.

"Detroit Pistons, 45 wins and 13 losses, averaging 92.1 points per game, conceding 85.3 points per game..."

This opponent's record has tied with their Clippers, and their statistics are almost the same. Their Clippers averaged 92.6 points per game and conceded 84.7 points per game.

The Clippers' defense was established very early, and this defensive performance is sustainable.

As for the Pistons, they started to go on a defensive rampage in the middle of the season. During this period, the Pistons played stronger defense than the Clippers!

"Ray Allen, 28 years old, 196 cm, 93 kg, comprehensive evaluation 92... played 45 games, averaging 18.6 points, 3.8 rebounds, 4.4 assists and 1.6 steals per game, shooting 44% from the field and 41.7% from the three-point range. Made 3.3 three-pointers (1)..."

"Chauncy Billups, 27 years old, 191 centimeters, 92 kilograms, overall rating of 88... played 55 games, averaging 13.8 points, 2.8 rebounds, 7.2 assists and 1.2 steals per game... shooting 39.8% from the field and 42.6 from the three-point range. %……”

"Ron Artest, 24 years old, 201 centimeters, 110 kilograms, overall rating of 86... played 49 games, averaging 17.6 points, 5.3 rebounds, 2.9 assists and 2.4 steals per game..."

“本-华莱士，29岁，206公分（？），109公斤，综合评价83……出战58场，场均8.5分14板1.1助攻1.4抢断2.9盖帽……”

“拉希德-华莱士，29岁，211公分，106公斤，综合评价88……代表活塞队出战38场，场均13.6分7板2.5助攻1.1抢断2盖帽……”

This group of five made Li Ao's scalp numb. These five people combined averaged 5 steals per game!
When the worst defensive player on a team is 28-year-old Ray Allen in his prime...

However, the Pistons' lineup has many problems, and of course it's not a problem with the starting lineup. Their starting lineup is almost the most perfect configuration in the Iron-Blooded Era.

It's a substitute. There are only two substitutes in the back line who have stable playing time-Chucky Atkins and Lynch Hunter.

Atkins is a very famous player. He loves to challenge superstar guards and then gets beaten up. His fame is very special. His style of play is very similar to Billups. He is a skyscraper version of Billups, especially It's the defensive end, which is about zero.

Said to be a substitute with stable playing time, Atkins only averaged 13 minutes of playing time per game.

Lynch-Hunter is an outstanding veteran. He averaged 17 minutes per game, 3.6 points, 2 rebounds, 2 assists, and 1.2 steals. He was good at offense, defense, and passing. However, his problem was that he had many injuries. He played in 58 games. He only played 30 games, otherwise Atkins' defense would not secure him as the main substitute for the Pistons.

To be precise, the Pistons' injuries this season are concentrated on the outside. Ray Allen has missed 13 games, Artest has missed 9 games, and even Iron Man Billups has missed 3 games. Billups has scored [-] points this season. The defenders get a lot of time.

Compared with the weak back line substitutes, the Pistons' interior substitutes are very good.

“达科-米利西奇，18岁，213公分，113公斤，综合评价75……场均9.1分4.1板1助攻0.9抢断1.1盖帽……”

"Eldon Campbell, 35 years old, 211 centimeters, 127 kilograms, overall rating of 69... averaged 13 minutes per game, 3.6 points, 3.2 rebounds and 0.8 blocks per game..."

"Tyshawn Prince, 24 years old, 206 cm, 95 kg, overall evaluation 74... averaged 22 minutes per game, 7.1 points, 3.6 rebounds and 1.8 assists per game..."

The Pistons have eight main players, six of whom are frontcourt players. It is surprising that there are not many injuries on the back line.

Comparing it with the Pistons, Li Ao thinks their Clippers lineup is very reasonable!

Seeing that the Pistons also suffered during the mid-season trade period, Li Ao felt instantly happy.

But the Serbian center opposite is really drool-worthy... When Larry Brown refused to join the Pistons because they focused on offense last season, the fate of the youngest genius of the 03 generation changed!

Wait, Carlisle seems to have changed his destiny because he was forced to play offense last season!

(End of this chapter)