no shortcuts in basketball

Chapter 18 Essential Skills for Chinese

After returning to Tempe, Xu Yong adjusted his training focus again in the second day's training.

He put ball control training at the forefront, followed by three-pointers and physical fitness.

This adjustment is for the same reason as before.

After confirming that the three-point training is effective, he needs to improve his control ability.

Before the draft, it was his goal to improve his strength, three-pointers, and control to the NBA level.

At this time, the existence of Cooksix becomes very meaningful.

Because of the movement control technology, if it is just training without the ball, it is easy to go in a flashy or even gaudy direction.

But when used in confrontation, many dribbles will become unnecessary, and those necessary dribbles will be gradually proficient.

This understanding is still due to his experience before his rebirth. He has observed many people playing, both in the NBA and the CBA.

He found that many CBA players, including some NBA players with cancerous style of play, like to dribble randomly, and great players such as Jordan and Kobe rarely dribble more than three times when attacking.

Excessive dribbling will not only consume too much energy, but also make yourself trapped in double-teams, and it is easy to turn into a throwing ball after passing the ball.

And to achieve three dribbles or create an offensive space within three times, the requirements for control and offensive skills will be very high.

In other words, there is still a lot to improve to reach Kobe's level, such as ball control, mid-range, back body, footwork, back lean, etc. These skills must be mastered.

Xu Yong obviously can't do it now, but he can formulate a rule of up to three dribbles in the bullfight, which will allow him to achieve the purpose of refining his movement.

As far as Cooksix is ​​concerned, defending against this rapid attack will also greatly improve his defensive ability.

This is the practice of spear and shield. The spear will be sharper and the shield will be stronger.

……

The Devils' Game [-] opponent was the Oregon State University Beavers.

The Beavers ranked second to last in the Pac10 league last season, and they can be called difficult brothers with the Devils.

And they are not as lucky as the Devils. They can recruit high-quality high school students like Harden and Xu Yong, and their strength has not changed much compared to last season.

So in general, they will have an easier next game.

Moreover, the next game will be played at home.

The morning before the game, when the players came to the locker room one after another, they found something extra in the locker room.

The team members couldn't help but watch.

Xu Yong was also taken aback when he went in and saw it.

It turned out to be a ping pong table!
After a while, Sandek came to the locker room.

In his hand was a pair of ping pong bats and a box of brand new unopened ping pong balls.

"Don't be late for training." After putting things away and exhorting, Sandek turned and left the locker room.

As soon as he left, the players immediately took the racket, and Hipp and Cooksix started fighting directly, and they looked good.

The popularity of table tennis in the United States has been severely underestimated. Have you ever seen a Hollywood movie about American soldiers recovering from table tennis?

It's just that table tennis here is more for entertainment than competition, so few people know this.

After a while, Hipp defeated Cooksix and Albert one after another. This guy is really proficient in everything except basketball.

"Xu, I want to challenge you." He then challenged Xu Yong.

As a Chinese in the eyes of foreigners, you may not know many things, but there are two things that you must know.

One is kung fu, and the other is table tennis.

The former is due to the existence of Bruce Lee, and the latter is due to the influence of the Chinese table tennis dream team.

Xu Yong nodded and stood up. He happened to be able to know the two things that foreigners thought.

Then, under the watchful eyes of a group of teammates, Xu Yong staged a "near victory".

As an opponent, Hipp can clearly feel that Xu Yong can completely love him.

Obviously, though, who's going to punch their teammates hard?
After Xu Yong won, he put down his ping pong racket and did not continue to hit others like Shipp.

But soon, other teammates came up to play.

Ping-pong is slow to learn, and it is difficult to reach the competitive level, but it is simple and playable. It belongs to the kind of sport that gets better as you play, which is why it is so popular.

Then when training in the afternoon, Harden found Xu Yong and said that he would learn to play table tennis from him.

It was also at this time that Xu Yong noticed that Harden hadn't been on the table tennis table in the locker room in the morning. It turned out that he still didn't know how to play.

Of course he would not refuse, and after the training was over, he took Harden back to the locker room to teach him how to play.

It's just that compared to basketball, Harden's talent in table tennis is really mediocre.

This talent does not refer to physical talent. Harden's coordination and explosive power are not lacking, but his sense of the ball is too poor.

Those who are lacking in this aspect need at least two and a half years of practice to find the feeling.

Of course, this is entertainment in itself, and Harden still had a great time playing.

This ping-pong table made by Sandek can be said to be an excellent value for money.

……

The next day, the Devils played at home against the Beavers.

The result was not too much suspense, the game was easily won, Xu Yong and Harden's pick-and-roll was used more by Sandek, and it became a great weapon for the team to attack the city.

And it is worth mentioning that Wells Fargo Arena was full.

After the Devils won the derby, their popularity exploded. Not only the local fans in Tempe, but also fans from several major cities in the Phoenix metropolitan area came to support them.

Although it is a state school, it is a team from the Phoenix metropolitan area after all. If it makes it to the championship, it will be their home team.

With two consecutive victories at the start of the game, with this momentum, the Devils followed up with a guest at the Haas Arena at the University of California, Berkeley to face the Golden Bears.

As the same branch school, although Berkeley is not as good as Los Angeles (that is, UCLA), it is still stronger than Oregon State.

And the Devils, especially Harden and Xu Yong, were clearly targeted.

Harden and Xu Yong performed well in the first two games, but they are not without weaknesses.

Harden was more forced to make breakthroughs on the right. His lack of right-handedness resulted in a significant drop in finishing efficiency and increased turnovers.

Xu Yong's off-ball ability is excellent, but his ability to hold the ball is weak. Although he has conducted targeted training in advance, it is the same as the previous three-point training, and it is not immediately effective.

After Harden's performance was limited, his performance was also greatly affected.

And for the Golden Bears, sophomore Ryan Anderson performed exceptionally well, scoring 24 points in the game.

But the good thing is that no one in the Golden Bears can provide more support to Anderson.

The two teams were in a stalemate until the last moment. With Xu Yong's successful defense of Anderson at the last moment, the Devils won the game 60-58.

So far, they have extended their opening winning streak to three games, making a perfect start.

But next, they will face a real challenge. Their opponent in the next game is the king of the Pac10 league and the prestigious NCAA Division I league. The school has won the final championship ten times in school history (the most in NCAA history). The favorite to win this season-UCLA Bruins.

(End of this chapter)