no shortcuts in basketball

Chapter 297 let’s begin!

On the first day of the Mavericks' training camp, Xu Yong brought something to the locker room and hung it directly on the wardrobe in Jokic's locker room.

It is worth mentioning that during Cuban's tenure, in addition to being kind to Nowitzki, he also invested heavily in the construction of the arena. The Mavericks' locker room is the best in the league.

You must know that in 2001, Cuban invested a full US$350 million to repair the home team's locker room, not to mention several subsequent upgrades.

For example, the Mavericks' wardrobe is directly equipped with a face recognition display. Not only can it be recognized, but any notifications from the team will also be directly displayed on it. It focuses on high technology.

Xu Yong hung what he wanted to put next to the display screen.

Because Jokic's position is closest to the door, the players can see it at a glance when they enter.

When Jokic and Rose came in chatting and laughing, they looked up and saw the thing, and were stunned for three seconds.

Because hanging there is an Olympic medal.

A mask of pain began to appear on Jokic's face.

Rose couldn't help laughing because this was what Xu Yong had done when he won the gold medal at the 2010 World Championships.

Everyone knows what happened next. The Bulls, like the original Lakers, completed a wave of two consecutive championships.

However, the situation this time is a little different. Because of this position, Xu Yongyong was not going to give a locker room speech, but was only targeting Jokic.

Jokic is a person who is so Buddhist that he makes others feel that horse racing is more passionate for him than basketball.

The core rotation of the Mavericks, DeRozan and Rose have trained intensively throughout the summer. Apart from playing in the World Cup, Jokic spent the rest of his time racing his horse in Serbia.

In the offseason, it's normal to take a break after playing for a season.

It’s just that the new season is too critical for the Mavericks, and everyone needs to be at their best.

Xu Yong's move worked. In the training session that day, Jokic played extremely tough. He had various physical confrontations with Purtel under the basket, and even gave the opponent an elbow in the stomach. This kind of confrontation also made The intensity of the Mavericks training camp suddenly reached full intensity.

This intensity lasted throughout the training camp. Looking at the enthusiasm of his teammates, Xu Yong finally showed a satisfied smile on his face.

Basketball is not a game played by weaklings. Confrontation and the technology based on confrontation are the true meaning of it that makes fans crazy about it.

Before the official start of the season, the NBA officially announced the first strength list of the new season.

The defending champion Warriors are at the top of the list.

The Warriors used limited space to strengthen Robin Lopez and Alec Burks this past summer, and their overall strength has increased compared to last season.

The Thunder, Raptors and Bulls ranked 2~4 respectively, and the Mavericks ranked fifth.

This ranking is based on the team's performance last season, which is relatively objective.

However, this made the members of the Mavericks team feel excited.

They didn't show their true strength last season for various reasons, but they have worked hard this past summer.

Although they haven't shown how hard they work through constant social media posts like the Lakers, they can't wait to prove themselves now.

The Mavericks' opponent in the first game of the regular season is the Warriors.

Xu Yong missed the Warriors in their comeback last season, but he caught up in the opening game this time.

After going through the seven-game preseason process, on October 10, the Mavericks went away to prepare for the opening game.

However, what is different from past seasons is that this time they went to the Bay Area instead of Oakland, because the Warriors officially bid farewell to Oracle Arena this season and moved to the next door Bay Area, which is the Chase Center in San Francisco.

Winning the championship for the first time in 44 years at Oracle Arena, and then holding the championship ring awarding ceremony at Chase Center was a very strange and interesting thing for Warriors fans.

This game, like the opening game of the Warriors and Thunder that year, was described by the media as Mars hitting the Earth.

The defending champion and the first player in the league, and the first player who has just returned with the world championship, coupled with the grievances in the playoffs last season, this game deserves that description.

On game night, the Mavericks players were making final preparations in the locker room.

After Malone made his final arrangements before the game and left the locker room, Xu Yong called his teammates together for the final mobilization before the game.

"let's begin!"

Xu Yong shouted to his teammates who had been eager to try.

After the shouting was over, the players swarmed out of the locker room and rushed directly into the arena.

This is also Xu Yong's first visit to Chase Center. After rushing out, he looked at the three-dimensional location design, coupled with the oversized LED bucket screen, the entire arena is both imposing and modern.

Construction of this arena began when James was still with the Warriors. James even went to the site to take a promotional photo. Although that photo has long been deleted, it also shows that the Warriors have invested a lot in this arena. Effort.

After all, the Bay Area is one of the richest areas in the United States, and the football market potential here is much greater than that of Auckland.

"Boss, look over there." Jokic gestured with his eyes.

Xu Yong followed his gaze and saw many fans wearing his jersey, and even many holding KT boards supporting the Mavericks.

And they are not concentrated, but scattered everywhere, which shows that they are not fans from a certain region, but from multiple regions, and there may even be local fans in the Bay Area.

Although Xu Yong only played for the Mavericks for half a season, the number of fans of the Mavericks has begun to increase dramatically due to his super personal influence.

Before the opening ceremony, the Warriors' championship ring awarding ceremony was held on site.

The owner of the Warriors also spent a huge amount of money this time. It is said that the cost of a ring exceeds 1.5 million US dollars. The players were so happy when they got it that they couldn't put it down.

Of course, in the eyes of the Mavericks team members, that is more motivation.

Especially DeRozan, when Xu Yong turned his head, he saw light in his eyes for the first time.

After the award ceremony, the scene entered the opening ceremony, and the starting lineups of both sides were announced one after another.

Mavericks: Wright, DeRozan, Xu Yong, Gibson, Jokic;

Warriors: Curry, Thompson, Wiggins, Green, Looney.

As Jokic easily moved the ball back to the Mavericks half over Looney's head, the curtain of the 2019~2020 season officially began. The Mavericks came up and asked Jokic to hit Looney in the low post.

The Warriors only hesitated for a moment, and Jokic turned and hooked the ball at the basket.

From catching the ball to scoring, Jokic took a total of 2 seconds, and the whole process was extremely smooth.

However, the Warriors, as the defending champions, also quickly showed their level. Curry ran a screen without the ball, and Wiggins cut in to catch Jokic and score.

The two teams' opening two attacks were similar to the ones they played in the playoffs last season, both of which exploited each other's defensive weaknesses.

But in the next round, as the Warriors began to double attack Jokic who was receiving the ball under the basket, the Mavericks began to show that they were different from last season.

Jokic basically passed the ball to Xu Yong who cut in at the first moment.

And just when the Warriors showed their defensive reaction speed and prepared to pinch Xu Yong, Xu Yong had already knocked the ball to DeRozan on the weak side immediately.

Continuous conduct, quick distribution, and the containment of two offensive strong points gave DeRozan a wide-open opportunity.

DeRozan didn't hesitate and just used his best mid-range shot.

The basketball almost fell straight from the center of the basket, barely touching the net.

This caused a stir among the fans on the sidelines. Although this ball is basically not difficult and it is DeRozan's best scoring method, the feel is a bit too good.

This also caused Cole to stand up directly from the bench.

A layman can watch the excitement, but an expert can watch the door. Compared with DeRozan's touch, what makes him more unsettled is the teamwork of the Mavericks.

This was also more fully reflected in the Mavericks' next round.

In this attack, the Mavericks started the attack with Xu Yong holding the ball. After a double attack, he distributed the ball to Jokic who moved to the free throw line. Jokic didn't even catch the ball. He shot it with one hand, as directly as playing volleyball. Gibson swatted the ball toward the baseline. Gibson took the ball and took a step forward to dunk the ball with both hands.

This round was even smoother than the previous round, not only because of Jokic's unconventional passing method, but also because of his choice, because Green immediately went to cover DeRozan, Jokic Qi found Gibson in an open position in an instant.

Xu Yong took the initiative to high-five Jokic while retreating.

Basketball is indeed a sport that depends on talent. In terms of passing skills, even if he has been training, he still can't be as good as Jokic.

Cole walked directly to the sidelines now, frowning.

The Mavericks lost to the Warriors last season, ostensibly because of physical problems, but upon closer analysis, it was actually due to too many individual singles, because the only person with physical problems was Xu Yong.

Although that was forced because DeRozan was out of shape and Jokic still needed to improve, the Mavericks last season had poor teamwork.

This also caused Malone to suffer a lot of doubts after the end of last season.

But this season, the Mavericks are obviously playing more as a team.

Facts have proved that it is not that he is not good at Ma Long, but that it is difficult for a clever woman to make a meal without straw.

This is not the same stove, but with good ingredients, he can still cook you a full banquet.

Five minutes into the first quarter, the score on the field was 14 to 13, and the Mavericks were 1 point ahead of the Warriors.

And after a 50-50 draw with the defending champion, the Mavericks players' desire to compete before the game began to gradually transform into confidence.

Curry made a beautiful cut to meet Jokic's throw and took another shot, but Xu Yong flew out from the side and slapped his shot directly onto the backboard.

Jokic got the defensive rebound and turned around with a quarterback-style long throw.

DeRozan was the first to break out of the three-point line. He took the ball in stride, rushed to the frontcourt and directly performed a gliding windmill dunk.

After landing, he let out a rare roar, as if he had released all the pressure he had held back for the entire season.

When Xu Yong saw this, he couldn't help but reach out and punch. Many people have forgotten that DeRozan was a serious dunker when he first entered the league, and he was the kind who later won the slam dunk contest.

When DeRozan returned to half court, Xu Yong went up and touched his head with a smile.

It may make people believe it, but DeRozan didn't dunk a few times with the Mavericks last season.

It's not that he can't dunk, but that he really wants to help the team in a more effective way. This is actually a sign of his struggle, because many times the more you want to do that, the less you can do it.

In other words, the dunk just now was a demonstration of DeRozan getting out of depression.

Thompson used Green's cover to try an outside three-pointer to tie the score.

But Gibson was very experienced and bypassed Green's pick-and-roll in advance. At this time, Green had an obvious mobile screen foul and was caught by the referee and was called an offensive foul.

Cole couldn't help but pace on the sidelines. This period of stalemate was only possible because the Warriors played well on the offensive end.

Now that the Warriors' offense is interrupted, it is easy for the Mavericks to widen the point difference.

Then in the next round, the Mavericks gave Cole a performance as you wish.

Xu Yong was playing singles with the ball in the high post on the strong side. After encountering a double attack, he passed the ball to Jokic who was outside the three-point line at the top of the key. Jokic made a shooting motion, but it looked obviously a little missed, and then both sides prepared. While fighting for a rebound, a figure rose into the air where the basketball landed. It was clearly Xu Yong who had just passed the ball.

This is not a missed shot, but a shot to deceive the defense and then pass the ball!

On the imagination of a center passing the ball!

"Oh!"

Xu Yong made an alley-oop one-handed dunk and smashed the ball into the basket.

A huge muffled sound came through the loudspeaker, and Chase Center was in a state of excitement.

This is no longer just a game, but a show!

A question can't help but flash in the minds of many fans: Is this the same Mavericks team they played in the Western Conference Finals last season?

The Mavericks team last season was a team that completely fucked Xu Yong, but tonight Xu Yong has taken 2 shots and scored 4 points since the beginning of the game. However, the Mavericks team has obviously lost its score, both in terms of score and momentum. Suppressed them!

No, this may just be a temporary good feeling. After all, there is only one offseason between them, and Xu Yong and Jokic both went to the World Cup this offseason and did not have much time to train.

But gradually, when the Mavericks opened the point difference to double digits, and when Cole's five-point death penalty could not maintain the situation, when Xu Yongdu threw the ball over Jokic's head, they Only then was it confirmed and affirmed that the Mavericks were really different from last season!

(End of this chapter)