At the beginning of the death entanglement, Curry followed me to slam dunk

Chapter 56: Hit the rookie wall?

After the away game with the Nets, the Warriors did not get much chance to rest.

Early the next morning, they boarded a plane to Chicago.

This round of road trip for the Warriors is also extremely long. After the trip to Chicago, they have to travel to Detroit and Philadelphia to participate in games before returning to their base camp to take a breather.

Continuously rushing from one city to another is also a daily routine for NBA players, and players have long been accustomed to traveling on planes.

As for how to pass the few hours on the plane, NBA players also showed their talents across the sea.

There are those who listen to music and play games, those who read books and newspapers, those who play cards for entertainment, and those who cook and sleep.

Some maverick players would even bring a few beauties to accompany them on this boring journey.

Of course, Du Zhe didn't have the card of bringing a beautiful woman on the plane, and he has always been at odds with gambling and drugs, so he is naturally not interested in playing cards with his teammates.

So he could only choose to hypnotize himself with a book, so that he could recharge his energy on the plane and have the energy to devote to training after landing.

Just when Du Zhe opened his book and was about to play chess with Duke Zhou, Curry sat down on the seat beside him and started chatting with Du Zhe.

"Brother Du, do you think we can win the next game against the Bulls?" Curry seemed quite afraid of the Bulls in his words.

After all, Curry's father, Dell Curry, has lived in the shadow of the peak Bulls for most of his career.

Under the influence of his father, Curry has been in awe of the team that had a "god" since he was a child.

"Stephen, being afraid of wolves and tigers is no big deal."

"The Bulls didn't even beat the Nets a few days ago, but we beat the Nets by 27 points. If we don't beat them by [-] points in a game, we will lose." Du Zhe is not afraid of anyone, no matter what No matter what opponent he encountered, he would just do it.

Although he felt that Du Zhe's conversion method was unreliable, seeing how confident he was, Curry felt a little confident.

"Speaking of which, the Bulls' rookie named Derrick Rose is really strong. I don't know when I will reach his level." Then Curry mentioned Bulls star Derrick Rose again, his tone full of envy.

Hearing this familiar name, Du Zhe couldn't help but sigh.

Although he is not a fan of Rose, he still has some sympathy and regret for this genius.

However, from the perspective of Curry, who didn't know what was going on, it was obvious that Rose's strength was so strong that even Du Zhe found it difficult.

"Brother Du?" Seeing that Du Zhe didn't reply for a long time, Curry was obviously a little puzzled.

Du Zhe, who came back to his senses, waved his hand to Curry and said: "There is an old saying in our country - those who know the current affairs... The wrong thing is that if you get fat first, you will not be fat, and if you get fat later, you will be overwhelmed."

"Rose only entered the league one year earlier than you. If we play well for a few seasons, we may not be able to catch up with him."

Although he couldn't understand Du Zhe's strange metaphor, Curry could still understand Du Zhe's last sentence.

To catch up with Derrick Rose, the proud man of heaven... Du Zhe's words made Curry's ambition overcome his anxiety.

After all, he is also the No. [-] lottery pick. All rookies who reach this position have stepped up step by step by countless peers. It can be said that their talent and character are one-in-a-million.

…………

At this time, the Bulls are seriously studying their next opponent, the Warriors, in their own stadium.

"Lol, it seems that you are going to have to work harder in the next game. You must keep an eye on that Chinese boy named Du Zhe!" Bulls coach Vinnie Denagro said to Luol Deng with a solemn expression. Assign a task.

As a well-known model worker in the Bulls, Luol Deng naturally has no objection to the coach's arrangements.

However, seeing coach Denagro facing such a formidable enemy, Luol Deng felt that the coach was making a fuss out of a molehill this time.

He couldn't help but say a few more words: "Don't worry, coach, this kid just scored 30 points on the Nets at the bottom. Let's see how I can prevent him."

Hearing what Luol Deng said, Denagro shook his head, frowned and said, "Lol, don't forget, we lost to the Nets a few games ago!"

The Bulls have been in poor form recently. Like the Warriors during Du Zhe's suspension, they have also just experienced a losing streak. Naturally, the battered coach De Nagro doesn't have a good face at this time.

Seeing that the coach was in a bad mood and had begun to turn over old scores, Luol Deng shrugged and spread his hands to express his admiration.

However, Rose on the side agreed very much with what coach Denagro said: "Lol, the coach is right to pay attention to Du Zhe, and this guy is not only good at the offensive end."

"In the last game, he scored six steals alone, which is enough to show that his defense has reached the level of a self-contained system."

Rose's words spoke to Denagro's heart, and he nodded approvingly.

Although this is only his second season with this young man, Denagro can assert that with Rose's strength, talent and attitude, he will definitely become one of the league's stars in time.

As a player born in a slum, Rochas, who became famous at a young age, has a character that is inconsistent with his background and age.

Although his style of play is very explosive on the court, Rose is a restrained and low-key player off the court.

Talented but young and mature, Rose is undoubtedly the hope of the Bulls' revival after Jordan's departure.

And the reason why he and coach De Nagro reminded Luol Deng several times was not that he didn't trust each other's strength.

The two were just worried that with Du Zhe's ability, if Luol Deng didn't deal with it seriously, he might capsize in the gutter.

…………

The next day, the game between the Warriors and the Bulls officially started.

The starting lineup sent by the Warriors is still the same.

The starting lineup for the Bulls is: point guard Derrick Rose, last year's Rookie of the Year, has now grown into the undoubted boss of the Bulls.

Shooting guard - John Salmons, a typical single player, the breakthrough is not fast but very rhythmic, and the three-pointer is quite accurate.

Power forward-Brad Miller, a veteran at the end of his career, has shooting ability.

Center - Joakim Noah, a passionate inside player who will defend against one team in the future.

Of course, there is also the small forward who plays against Du Zhe - "British Jordan" Luol Deng, also known as Deng Yingqiao as fans often jokingly call him.

Before the Lakers were taken advantage of in his previous life, Luol Deng had always been a player whose strength outweighed his fame.

Since entering the league in 04, he has stepped up every year and quickly became the backbone of the Bulls.

Although not as talented and eye-catching as Rose, at this time Luol Deng was indeed the most important helper beside Rose.

On the offensive end, his scoring has been steadily improving in recent seasons, and even the three-pointers, which have been unreliable before, have improved this season.

On the defensive end, he is even more hard-working. While averaging [-] or [-] points per game, he often has to deal with the opponent's toughest outside players.

It can be said that Luol Deng is a player with no obvious shortcomings, but apart from good defense, he also has no obvious strengths.

Especially on the offensive end, what stands out about him is that he can point everything, but is not proficient in everything.

However, although "British Jordan" does not have the unsolvable ability of the original owner, he is a reliable small forward in a team like him, and as the second or third leader of the team, he is definitely qualified or even excellent.

…………

With the start of the game, Mickey Moore and Joakim Noah completed the jump ball, and the game between the two teams officially started.

The morale of the Bulls sitting at home today is obviously a bit sluggish. After all, they have lost four games in a row before the start of this game.

In these four games, there were disastrous losses with big scores, and there were also narrow losses with small scores.

But the most unacceptable thing for the Bulls was the loss to the Nets at home.

Being so humiliated by a 1-19 team at home is obviously a huge humiliation for the Bulls who are aiming for the playoffs.

Facing such a low-morale Bulls team, the Warriors' starting lineup can match the opponent's.

Throughout the first quarter, the scores of the two teams rose alternately, and the coaches of both sides let the players play without making any personnel adjustments.

After the first quarter, the Warriors temporarily led 28:26.

Through observation in the first quarter, Du Zhe found that the current Bulls' outside offensive ability is really bad.

Needless to say, the star Derrick Rose, although he has sharp breakthroughs and scores inside like a bag, but throughout his career, his shooting percentage from beyond the three-point line has not been reliable.

And Luol Deng, although he is working hard to develop his three-pointers, but for now, the three-pointer cannot be regarded as one of his main weapons.

Salmons, the only one with decent three-point ability, obviously didn't feel very good today, and he still has no success on the outside.

At the beginning of the second quarter, Du Zhe immediately ushered in the opportunity to perform. Among the bench players, he took the lead in playing.

Facing Luol Deng, a quasi-All-Star player, Du Zhe's halo of the villain on the court can only be said to be very limited.

As a veteran, Deng's strength is definitely not comparable to that of Roberts and Javier sent by the Nets in the last game.

And with his defensive experience, he can crush the second Nets general.

Sure enough, compared with the accompanying defense of the Nets, Luol Deng's defense was much more difficult and made Du Zhe more uncomfortable.

Du Zhe felt that the opponent not only had a good defensive awareness, but also seemed to have specially studied his offensive habits. He was very particular about following the defense or bypassing the pick-and-roll, and did not give him any space to take action from the outside.

After playing half of the game, Du Zhe only found one opportunity that was not considered a chance. After reluctantly taking the shot, it still ended in a blacksmith.

It would be great if his ability to shoot three-pointers was stronger!At least he won't be so passive.

Although Du Zhe was anxious, he also suppressed the urge to activate the thief's gloves.

It’s better to wait until the Bulls replace the bench before using it!He decided to stabilize his hand first and have a horse race with Tian Ji.

After all, the thief's glove only lasts 15 minutes, and Du Zhe still wants to use it to activate his microwave skills.

The "British Jordan" in front of him not only had excellent defensive ability, but also conducted targeted research on him. Facing such a player, Du Zhe didn't want to take risks.

Moreover, in addition to Luol Deng, Du Zhe also found that Salmons, another Bulls perimeter player, always glanced at him intentionally or unintentionally, and seemed to have ill intentions towards him.

Now, Du Zhe feels vaguely that he has hit the "rookie wall" that everyone often calls him.

The so-called rookie wall refers to the fact that after entering the NBA, rookies face a dense schedule, high-intensity games, and cruel competition, and it is easy for them to reach physical and psychological critical points after a period of time.

It can be said that many NBA players have personal experience of the fatigue and powerlessness after hitting the wall.

Mike Bibby, the "white devil" who was the second overall pick in the draft that year, vividly described the feeling of hitting the rookie wall.

"I'm very tired. Sometimes I feel like I'm running on the beach. In today's training, I feel like I can't run at all."

It can be said that only by passing this hurdle can these rookies break out of their cocoons and become butterflies and break through themselves.

Another type of rookie wall is that some rookies can often perform well when they first enter the NBA because of their good personal strength and the league is not familiar with his style of play.

But as the competition progresses, they will definitely attract the opponent's key research and key targets.

Under this kind of targeting, these rookies often also experience a decline in performance.

Du Zhe felt that the Bulls' targeted arrangement today was to make him hit this second kind of rookie wall.

Fortunately, his defensive performance was as stable as ever, allowing his opponent Luol Deng to only make 4 of 1 shots.

In this way, in the mutual injury between the two, more than half of the second quarter has passed.

The point difference between the two teams is still around two points.

Hold on, hold on... Since the situation on the field hasn't changed much, Du Zhe feels that it's still not too hasty.

There are times when you, Luol Deng, are not on the court, right?See how I deal with your substitute then!

Just when Du Zhe was furious secretly, the Bulls finally called a timeout.

It's time to replace someone!With his rich experience in watching and competing, Du Zhe can be sure that in addition to adjusting tactics, Du Zhe will definitely rotate personnel during this timeout for the Bulls.

And these Bulls starters, especially Luol Deng, after the rest, he can kill and kill.

After the short pause, Du Zhe returned to the court.

For the Bulls, Kirk Hinrich replaced Derrick Rose, James Johnson replaced Joakim Noah, plus power forward Ty Gibson who was on the court just now...

wrong!Why is this Luol Deng still on the court?

Seeing the "British Jordan" who followed him everywhere, Du Zhe couldn't help but cast his sights on the Bulls' bench.

Looking at the unfamiliar face of Bulls coach De Nagro, Du Zhe also looked confused.

I wonder if the head coach of the Bulls is not Thibodeau, so why are they starting to ignore Luol Deng?

Or is it that the dead grass Luol Deng is not actually a habit of Thibodeau, but a consistent tradition of the Bulls?
(End of this chapter)