no shortcuts in basketball

Chapter 24 Idol
After returning from the timeout, the Bruins replaced both Love and Josh Shipp. This is the return of all the starting five.

After this substitution adjustment, although the Devils still clenched the score under the leadership of Xu Yong, they failed to further narrow the point difference.

As shown in the opening game, the starting five of the Bruins are not only very talented, but also have high tactical and spiritual attributes.

However, with the talents of the Devils' five players on the court, it is already incredible that they can hold a stalemate.

When the game reached the second half, the score was quickly opened by the Bruins.

Although under the leadership of Xu Yong, they stubbornly approached the score, forcing Haolan from the back to directly dare not play the main force.

But in the end, the score on the court was fixed at 67 to 54, and the Devils lost by 13 points.

After the game, the fans at the scene chose to applaud their home team.

The strength gap between the two teams is obvious, and UCLA deserves to be the card of the Pac10 league and the favorite to win this season.

But the fighting spirit the Devils displayed was equally admirable.

"Well done, brother." As an opponent, Westbrook took the initiative to hug Xu Yong and expressed his respect during the handshake after the game.

For players, the charm of basketball lies in this kind of on-court competition.

Whether it is Jordan or Kobe, they are all convincing players of the same generation.

Although Xu Yong is still far away from them, he has won the respect of his opponents tonight.

In fact, Xu Yong won more than just the respect of his opponents.

After the game, the Suns' Trident was waiting for him at the player tunnel.

Xu Yong's attention was all on the game before, and he didn't notice their arrival.

Seeing the three of them now, he was very excited.

"Son of the Wind" Nash, "Little Overlord" Stoudemire, "Hacker" Marion, this running and blasting Suns are part of his youth.

"Now we are your fans." Nash's first words made Xu Yong even more flattered.

"I am also your fan." Although he was excited, Xu Yong still showed excellent emotional intelligence.

And as he spoke, he asked the fans on the side for a signature pen and asked Nash and the others to sign their jerseys.

"I will never wash this jersey." Xu Yong said with a smile after they all signed.

Marion's expression was a little moved at this time.

A player with outstanding skills, a tough style of play, a tenacious struggle against a strong opponent, and a player who behaves like a spring breeze off the court, is full of personal charm.

"I'll recommend you to management," Marion continued.

Xu Yong didn't expect Marion to say that. He smiled and said thank you, but he didn't take it seriously, because it was obviously a polite remark.

But speaking of going to the sun, it is indeed a good choice for him.

One is that his technical characteristics are in line with the style of the Suns. With Nash passing the ball, his scoring will become much easier; the other is that the Suns are going downhill. He has been promoted by Nash for two years and has the opportunity to become the new core of the Suns. of.

When he was first reborn, he didn't think so much, because he knew that even if he didn't get sick, it was still too difficult to become an NBA star. At that time, his more realistic goal was to enter the NBA and survive in the NBA.

Don't think this goal is small. With so many rookies in the NBA every year, it means that at least the same number of players will be eliminated. The competition in the world's highest basketball hall is extremely cruel.

But as he persisted in these years of training, while feeling that his strength has improved rapidly, his mentality is also changing.

Because he can clearly feel that his efforts can bring himself to a higher level.

It is entirely possible to become an NBA star, and even better.

……

In the locker room after the game, Sandek praised the team's bench players by name.

"I'm proud of what you have done." The stern Sandek did not hesitate to praise.

But then, he changed the subject: "But we could have played better and even had a chance to win the game, if our starters could play as they should."

When he said the following words, Sandek's eyes stayed on Harden for a long time.

In this game, Xu Yong was undoubtedly the best player in the team, followed by the team's substitutes, and then Ayers and others who also worked hard in the second half.

The worst player is Harden.

After giving up in the first half, Harden did not recover in the second half, and he did not show the desire to win as the core of the team.

After the whole game, he only scored 8 points and made 5 turnovers. Osama bin Laden gave it a solid blow.

If this was a big defeat, maybe others would not feel so strongly, but with the comparison of other players, he looks very dazzling.

Sandek didn't directly call the names, which was to give Harden some face, but everyone knew it in their hearts.

After leaving the arena, Xu Yong and Harden went back to the dormitory.

Harden was silent along the way, and looked a little depressed.

He is so smart, it is naturally impossible not to know that Sandek is pointing at him.

And more importantly, because he knows the importance of this game, he understands that playing such a bad game in front of so many scouts will have a great impact on his draft market.

If the draft pick is not predicted well, then he may only be able to play for another year and participate in the draft again next year.

Xu Yong didn't speak all the way, he knew that Harden needed some time to buffer now.

After returning to the dormitory, Xu Yong said after the two sat down, "James, who is your idol?"

Harden was still thinking about scouting. When Xu Yong asked, he was stunned for a moment, and then subconsciously gave the answer: "Kobe, he is the idol of every Southern California kid."

And after answering, he also looked at Xu Yong: "Where's yours?"

Xu Yong pointed to the jersey he hadn't had time to take off yet, and the position of that number.

Harden nodded with a smile.

If anyone is the most idolized player on the planet, it must be number 23...

Michael Jordan.

Jordan's influence on a global scale is like a disconnected existence. Xu Yong regards him as an idol, and he should have known it from his jersey number.

"James, we can't win UCLA without you." Xu Yong continued.

Harden froze for a moment, Xu Yong's sudden words made him a little unresponsive.

"Without you we can't win Kansas, North Carolina, Memphis, or even Stanford, Washington State, your talent is the best of us, no one can change that, but you can really do better, We also need you to do better." Xu Yong continued.

"I tried." Harden said with a wry smile.

He tried hard, but those skills of his didn't work against the Bruins.

It's not that he wants to give up, but that he really can't.

"James, I am impressed by Michael's words. He once said 'I can accept failure, but I can't accept giving up'. The difficulties he faced with the Pistons back then, I think, were far greater than what we encountered tonight. But he didn't give up after the failure, but kept improving himself and crossed that mountain, didn't he?"

Harden was silent when he heard the words, Xu Yong said it very tactfully, but it could not be refuted.

If it were Sandek, the same words would be: the difficulties you encountered today are nothing compared to what Jordan encountered!
"James, have you noticed that you like to use words like 'I tried' or 'I tried my best' to convince yourself that when you played "Halo 3" with Jay, in the third game you were defeated at the beginning. You just gave up after hitting residual blood, and when you were learning table tennis, you gave up after trying for a week.

Yes, those are not big things, but isn't a person's character reflected in small things?James, have you really tried, or tried your best? "

Harden was stunned. It is easy for smart people to know what other people are like, but they often don't realize what kind of person they are.

"Kobe is the player who is most like Michael and idolizes Michael. I don't think Kobe would say 'I tried'. He would just say 'I need to do better'. He didn't Will give up under any circumstances.

You said that Kobe is the idol of every kid in Southern California, so Russell (Westbrook) didn’t choose to give up after Casey’s death. If Kobe is also your idol, you can do it too, right? "Xu Yong continued.

Harden looked up at Xu Yong, and what he saw in the other's eyes was not disappointment, but expectation.

At this moment, he wanted to understand something.

Why Xu Yong can train so desperately, why Xu Yong is always so confident on the court, and why Xu Yong gave people a feeling of deja vu when he talked about the 360-degree windmill dunk.

Because Jordan is Xu Yong's idol, it is not just "my idol is Jordan" that stays on the lips, but really strives to do what Jordan has done.

(End of this chapter)