no shortcuts in basketball

Chapter 85 This wave is in the atmosphere

Before the official start of the NBA game every year, there will be nearly a month of preseason games.

For most teams, the preseason is more of an opportunity for the team to run in and examine the rotation.

Of course, it can also reflect a state of the team to a certain extent.

For example, in 2012, the old F4 team of the Lakers team lost all 8 games in the preseason and was eliminated in the first round;

Another example is that in 2021, the Lakers formed 4 "big 75 in history", lost 6 consecutive preseason games, and failed to make the playoffs.

So although the preseason is not counted in the season statistics, it is also very important.

And this year's preseason for the Bulls is special.

Generally, preseason games are held in the United States, but there are also a small number of overseas games.

For example, the China game that Chinese fans are familiar with is actually a preseason game.

Of course, with the implementation of Stern's global plan, this location has begun to spread all over the world.

This year's Bulls game is in London, England, and this is the first time the NBA has held an overseas game here.

The reason why it is the Bulls is the same as the reason why the Rockets were found in the first Chinese game.

Deng Yingqiao, as the name suggests, Deng is now an Englishman.

What's more worth mentioning is that Deng was born in Sudan and later became a British citizen due to the war, but he actually lived in the United States at the age of 14, so he returned to the United Kingdom again after a lapse of ten years.

Just ask if Stern is professional in operations!
The Bulls' opponent is the Utah Jazz.

In terms of familiarity, Chinese fans should not be too familiar with this Jazz team.

Of course, that kind of familiarity has a bit of "hate" in it.

06~08赛季，连续两个赛季，火箭队都倒在爵士队脚下，而且有一次是2比0领先最后被3比4翻盘。

During this period, because of Yao Ming, the Rockets were the home team of the Chinese. This experience is unforgettable.

So many people in this team, such as Deron, Boozer, Okur, Kirilenko, Ronnie Brewer, Korver, and even players like Feshenko, are familiar to fans. The memory is still fresh.

However, the Jazz are not doing well now, because they have been in this lineup for many years, and their best result is to reach the Western Conference Finals once.

If Xu Yong remembers correctly, they will dismantle the team in the next two years.

However, the skinny camel is bigger than the horse. The Jazz was a playoff-level team in the Western Conference before the team was dismantled, and its strength must be stronger than the Bulls.

And this game Rose will not play.

Rose's ankle injury is recovering well, but the Bulls will keep him out for the entire preseason due to safety concerns.

And it doesn't matter whether you win or lose in the preseason games, but when it comes to overseas games, you will have to face it, and you will still win or lose.

So this game is not a small challenge for the Bulls.

After arriving in London, the head coach De Nagro was very considerate and gave the players half a day off to enjoy the British style.

Deng took Ross and Xu Yong to a very mysterious place.

The site for the construction of the London Olympic Basketball Stadium.

The London Olympics will be four years later, but the construction of the arena has begun as early as the end of this year.

Looking at the site where only excavators were working, Deng showed excitement that Xu Yong had never seen before, and enthusiastically introduced them to them.

Although that kind of emotion, Xu Yong can completely understand.

At such a moment, bringing his teammates to this kind of place to eat ashes, he didn't feel that Deng's brain was twitching, but he understood why Deng wanted to form the South Sudanese men's basketball team after retiring.

In just over [-] years, he has lived in three different countries. Deng is too eager to have a sense of belonging to the country.

But at this moment, Xu Yong suddenly thought of a very serious question.

If he remembers correctly, the theme of the London Olympics is environmental protection, and Europeans are anti-human when it comes to environmental protection. It seems that this basketball stadium is not equipped with toilets?

……

That night, the Bulls and Jazz played at the North Greenwich Stadium in London.

Just after entering this arena, part of Xu Yong's long-lasting memories was awakened again.

There are two venues for the London Olympic basketball game, one is the London Olympic Basketball Stadium, which is used for group matches, and there are indeed no toilets.

But as long as the knockout rounds are reached, the game will move to the North Greenwich Stadium.

This is a large hall that can accommodate more than 8000 people, and it is a multi-purpose hall with complete supporting restaurants and shops.

Of course, there are hundreds of toilets.

So I still don't understand the brain circuit of the British. Don't people who don't make it to the knockout round deserve to go to the toilet?
The strange reason for the Olympic Games to enter the knockout round suddenly added another one.

By the time there was half an hour left before the start of the game, the arena was full of seats.

It was the first time that an NBA-level game was held here, and the enthusiasm of the fans was still very high.

Xu Yong also saw many people holding Deng's big KT board.

It is said that Brexit, British basketball is actually not in the same dimension as European basketball.

If you see England in the quarter-finals of the European Championship, it must be that you have rewarded yourself too much and your eyes are dazzled.

Therefore, the symbolic meaning of Deng to British basketball is very close to that of Yao Ming to Chinese basketball.

Recalling Deng's experience of taking them to the basketball court, Xu Yong already made a decision in his heart.

There is no opening ceremony in the preseason. After the warm-up, the starting lineups of the two teams have been released one after another.

Bulls: Hinrich, Xu Yong, Deng, Sangueira, Noah;
Jazz: Deron, CJ Myers, Ronnie Brewer, Boozer, Okur.

Rose on the Bulls side will not play today, and Kirilenko on the Jazz side is also waived.

Amidst the cheers of the fans, Okur turned the ball back to half court, and the NBA UK game officially started.

The Jazz came up to attack Boozer, and the man who defended him was Noah.

Boozer turned around after playing back and scored a jumper directly.

Boozer at his peak, this low offensive ability is quite fierce.

It's just that this scene is a bit special in Xu Yong's eyes, because in history, Boozer should switch to the Bulls next year.

So this is future teammates flexing their muscles?

Looking back, Hinrich held the ball on the outside, and Xu Yong came out to catch the ball along the bottom line around Sangueila's pick-and-roll.

De Nagro is not a famous coach, and even his coaching level is low. He has only coached the Bulls and Clippers in his career. As a result, these two teams took off after he was fired. This somewhat explains the problem.

But he has a good point, he is happy to reuse young players.

Last year, Rose ranked second in the number of shots per game, and he was 1 less than the original team boss Ben Gordon.

Then you saw, Rose is not here, Xu Yong, a rookie, is the main attack point.

After receiving the ball, Xu Yong quickly chose to break through the basket when he saw that he didn't have a mobile phone. However, the Jazz's reaction was much faster than those of the summer league teams. He met the help defense halfway through.

After seeing that it was Brewer who was helping to defend, he didn't even think about it, and threw the ball directly to the weak side at a 45-degree angle.

When Deng received the ball, there was an open space, and the cheers on the scene had already sounded ahead of time.

"Shh!"

Deng also lived up to expectations, and at his "home court", he came directly to the game and got off to a good start.

The audience cheered loudly, they love this opening method too much.

Deng retreated, but pointed at Xu Yong.

In fact, judging from the offense and defense of him and Xu Yong's training camp, Xu Yong's ability, the ball just now can be attacked by himself.

Because although Brewer assisted in the defense, he arrived in a hurry, and Xu Yong could pass him to attack the frame with another change of direction or a jump.

But he chose to pass the ball to himself in the end. It's hard to say that there is no fulfillment in it.

Boozer played Noah in the low post again, and Arnold used his strength to defend this time.

At this time, Noah was only in the third grade, and he still looked relatively thin.

The rebound was also taken off by Noah, and he dribbled the ball directly to the ball. This is his style of play.

In the three-on-two frontcourt, Noah passed the ball to Deng, and Deng met the defense before giving it to Xu Yong. Xu Yong made a layup in the air to attract the defense and then stuffed the ball back to Deng.

Deng easily put the basket and scored two points.

If the ball just now was not obvious, then this ball is a mole on the buttocks, clearly.

Xu Yong was deliberately playing for Deng.

Looking back, Boozer started to play a pick-and-roll with Deron, and after receiving a return pass from Deron at the free throw line, he accurately bagged the middle-high parabolic mid-range.

Boozer took the Jazz's first 4 points.

How could he give Yao Ming a headache if he had no skills.

But looking back, Deng also made a three-pointer at the top of the arc!
To be fair, Deng is not a player who is too good at shooting, but obviously, just like Yao Ming was able to score three-pointers last year, this home buff is added, and the basket is like an ocean!

"Snapped!"

And in the next round, Xu Yong directly intercepted the pass from Deron to Miles.

I don't know if it's because of underestimating the enemy or the exhaustion of traveling, or because he went to experience the red light district like the banana boat brothers in Australia after arriving in the UK. Deron's opening state is very ordinary.

After stealing, Xu Yong quickly advanced to the frontcourt. After seeing Deng follow up, he threw the ball directly over the basket.

After Deng followed up, he jumped and held the ball with one hand...

"Oh!"

Direct empty catch dunks!

The entire North Greenwich Stadium was set ablaze in that instant.

Not only because of this dunk, but after Deng completed this dunk, he directly scored 9 points in the opening game!
Could there be a more perfect home show than this?
Jazz coach Sloan reached out and called a timeout.

Deng took the initiative to find Xu Yong to give high fives after landing this time.

Xu Yong just smiled slightly, already winning the trust of the bosses in the team.

　I have forgotten most of the plots of the books I wrote before, but when I wrote about this London Olympic arena without toilets, I thought of the plot of killing Bogut...

　　
　
(End of this chapter)