no shortcuts in basketball

Chapter 49 "For Delmar!"

Everything is moving in a good direction, and the players are also eager for the upcoming championship.

Two days before the start of the tournament, the players are preparing to leave for Philadelphia, where their first stage will be played at the Wachovia Center, home of the Digimen.

But just as the players got on the bus and were about to go to the airport, Sandek made an impromptu announcement.

"DeMar won't go to Philadelphia with us, he's having some problems at home."

When this matter was announced, the team members were all stunned.

Although DeRozan is only a freshman, he is the No. [-] scorer in the team after Harden and Xu Yong.

And more importantly, the current rotation of the Devils is very tight, and the sudden loss of such a strong scoring point will have a great impact on their strength.

Xu Yong and Harden looked at each other and shook their heads.

During the training class in the morning, DeRozan was still chatting with them about the game, and in the afternoon, he didn't see anything unusual about DeRozan.

It seems that something happened so suddenly that DeRozan didn't have time to tell them, but only had time to say hello to Sandek.

But Xu Yong noticed that Harden's face was very worried.

After the car started, Harden couldn't help but took out his cell phone to call DeRozan.

But the other end of the phone was busy, so he could only put down the phone.

"Can't we let go of family matters? What if you leave the team at this time?"

"That's right, the championship is coming soon, and their family is really serious. They even called when they knew about the situation."

"Okay, maybe something unexpected happened. Don't you know that Demar has been together for so long?"

The teammates in the back row were discussing.

Originally, the timing, location, and people have all caught up, but now there is one less general, and it is difficult for anyone to calm down.

"Shut up!" But at this moment, Harden suddenly stood up and shouted directly at the teammates behind him.

This moment stunned the people behind him.

At the beginning, it was only the two benches of the team that were being discussed, but it was Ayres who persuaded him in the end.

And more importantly, Harden usually has a gentle personality, and this is the first time they have seen Harden get so angry.

The atmosphere in the bus suddenly became very tense.

Fortunately, Harden didn't continue to say anything. After the scolding, he sat down again and continued to try to call DeRozan, but the phone was turned off.

Xu Yong was also a little worried at this time, because of Harden's reaction, there must be no accident at DeRozan's family.

Harden put away his phone after sending DeRozan a final message.

"Don't worry, it's just that Demar's phone is out of battery." Xu Yong persuaded.

Harden nodded, turning his head out the window.

There was no words all the way, until after the plane landed in Philadelphia, Harden turned on his phone and received a call back from DeRozan.

After the call was over, Harden let out a long sigh of relief.

"What happened to Demar?" Xu Yong also asked at this time.

"Xu, can you imagine the pressure of life that a person's father suffers from severe kidney disease and mother suffers from lupus erythematosus?" Harden did not answer Xu Yong, but asked Xu Yong a question instead.

Xu Yong was stunned, of course he could hear that what Harden said should be the situation in DeRozan's family.

Then he shook his head. He was born in a happy basketball family. He may have heard of a family like DeRozan, but he really can't empathize.

But he somewhat understands why DeRozan will be depressed later, and why he looks brighter than expected now.

If you can't work hard to keep yourself optimistic in this environment, it is easy to be depressed, and then choose to go to extremes.

"DeMar originally wanted to go to the University of Southern California, which is only a 20-minute drive from Compton, which is convenient for him to go home and take care of his parents." At this time, they had already boarded the bus to the hotel, and Harden continued after sitting down.

At this time, the car was extremely quiet, not only Xu Yong was listening, but also other teammates of the team.

DeRozan has never talked about his family with anyone else.

"But Aunt Diane, DeMar's mom, she told DeMar to make the choice he wanted to make, and after watching our game against UCLA last year, DeMar went back and shared with her for an hour, she can Felt the anticipation that DeMar had."

Xu Yong nodded. It turned out that this was the reason why DeRozan chose to come to Arizona State University.

"Aunt Diane was hospitalized. She didn't tell DeMar. Her aunt called DeMar when her condition suddenly deteriorated." Harden continued, explaining why DeMar left so suddenly.

At this time, in the back seat, the two bench players who were discussing before lowered their heads unconsciously, and Ailes was also ashamed.

Harden and DeRozan were young, and he knew DeRozan's family background, so he was so emotional when he heard "an accident happened".

"Relax, everything will be fine." Xu Yong reassured.

Harden nodded, and DeRozan called him just now to report his safety.

In the training session on the second day, Sandek made a major adjustment in the rotation and also made changes in tactics.

DeRozan's absence has had a huge impact on the Devils.

Especially with the match tomorrow, there is only one day left for them to adjust.

Although the players could understand psychologically after listening to Harden's story yesterday, it happened so suddenly that the drop in morale was inevitable.

Returning to the locker room after training, Xu Yong knew what to say as the captain.

It would be a pity for all of them if they were upset because of morale issues.

Seeing that Xu Yong got up and seemed to have something to say, the originally noisy locker room suddenly became quiet.

"Guys, I know that DeMar's sudden absence has a great impact on the team, but I believe he will come back after he handles things well. You have been with DeMar for a season, and you believe it, yes Is it?" Xu Yong looked around and asked.

The players nodded one after another. DeRozan gave them the feeling that he was as easy to get along with Harden and as sunny as Xu Yong.

"So this incident didn't cause us any trouble. On the contrary, it gave us another reason to win. Until Demar comes back, we must keep winning, always." Xu Yong continued to emphasize his tone.

The journey of basketball cannot always be smooth sailing. Those sudden situations, injuries, conflicts, etc. are all part of this journey.

He can understand this because in the Jordan story he had read at the beginning, when the second master Pippen only scored 8 points in the game, when he was suffering from the flu, Jordan still led the team to victory in the end.

And he was able to say that because he himself had been a part of this situation in a previous life.

So when it comes to this situation, all they have to do is face it and get over it.

The championship will last more than 20 days, and they will be absent for a period of time when DeRozan is injured.

And what they have to do is not to be eliminated until DeRozan "returns from injury".

Harden got up when he heard the words, stretched out his hand, and said, "For DeMar."

Seeing this, the other team members also folded their hands one after another.

"For Delmar!"

The neat shouts resounded through the locker room.

　Beg for tickets~~(~o￣▽￣)～[]~
　　
　
(End of this chapter)