Legendary star

Chapter 210 A More Powerful O'Neill
On January 2000, 1, Meng Xu woke up early in the morning. Although he practiced late as usual yesterday, Meng Xu didn't feel tired at all and didn't sleep well all night.Because just tonight, the Spurs will face their biggest rival of the season, the Los Angeles Lakers, at their home stadium, the Alamo Stadium, and it is still unknown whether Meng Xu can play in this game.After experiencing the failure of the Western Conference finals last season, the Lakers have become stronger this season after a series of transactions and signings during the offseason. First of all, they have not been able to integrate into the team's tactical system. Glen Rice, who was conflicted by Jackson, was sent away by Phil Jackson, and then the team traded for Horace Grant, nicknamed Cobra, who was the hero of the Bulls' first 18 consecutive championships. During the period, he was also a 3+15 insider. Even last season, the 11-year-old Grant could still contribute 35 points and 12 rebounds per game.

At the same time, the Lakers also signed the All-Star shooting guard Isiah Rydell with a basic salary of 2 million for 100 years. You must know that Isiah Rydell averaged 19.3 points and 4.3 rebounds per game last season. With the data of 3.7 assists, Isiah Ryder, who is only 29 years old this year, did not know what the reasons and ideas were. He rejected the high salaries of many teams and chose to join the Los Angeles Lakers with a basic salary. It's like mixing the championship ring by hugging the thigh.

After getting Isiah Ryder and Horace Grant, the Lakers' lineup can be said to be unprecedentedly prosperous. The inside partner formed by O'Neal and Grant is only stronger than the twin tower combination of Duncan and Robinson. The trio of Ke Fox, Kobe Bryant, and Ron Harper can also be said to be excellent both offensively and defensively.At the same time, after Grant became the starter, the bench lineup composed of Robert Hawley, Derek Fisher, Tyronn Lue and Isiah Ryder is enough to blow up the bench lineups of most teams in the league. When you encounter the main lineup of those big teams, you can also wrestle with them. It can be said that the current Lakers have always been a team without any shortcomings.

Similarly, at the same time that Meng Xu didn't sleep well all night, Popovich also suffered from insomnia when he watched the video again yesterday. There is no way to make decisions and trade-offs. Meng Xu and Duncan can't realize the integration of their respective systems in a short period of time. Should they give up?Or keep going?Popovich is also in a dilemma now.

This game against the Lakers is very important for the Spurs. After two consecutive poor performances, the Spurs urgently need to make changes to prevent the team from losing streak, otherwise the season has just begun. As the defending champion The Spurs fell into a losing streak, not only losing face, but also a very big blow to the morale of the team and the confidence of the players.

In the end, a few hours before the start of the game, Popovich decided to put Meng Xu on the starting list of today's game. Originally, Popovich wanted Meng Xu to continue to rest for a few days, but the Spurs' outsiders were too weak. It's too weak. If he met a weak team today, Meng Xu might continue to suffer from food poisoning.

The Spurs resumed their regular lineup in this game, starting center David Robinson, power forward Tim Duncan, small forward Sean Elliott, shooting guard Meng Xu, point guard Avery Johnson, Derek Anderson played in the starting lineup After two games, he returned to the bench lineup again. Now Popovich has basically decided that Derek Anderson cannot adapt to the tactics of the starting lineup, so he will honestly play the sixth man in the future.In this game, the Spurs are still playing the double-tower tactic. At the same time, Popovich also strictly prohibits Meng Xu from playing singles with the ball, otherwise he will be replaced immediately.

The Lakers' starting lineup is still Shaquille O'Neal at center, Horace Grant at power forward, Rick Fox at small forward, Kobe Bryant at shooting guard, and Ron Harper at point guard. The Lakers also defeated the Clippers, Grizzlies and Trail Blazers in a row before, achieving 3 consecutive victories.

The Spurs and the Lakers, as one of the strongest and most popular teams in the entire league, this game will naturally be broadcast live across the United States. This is also the third game for the Spurs to be broadcast live across the United States this season.Similarly, this game is also a battle of revenge for the Lakers. In the Western Conference Finals last season, the Lakers, who had a great advantage, were reversed and eliminated by the Spurs, so this season O'Neal is also holding back his energy.And this summer, Shark, who has always been lazy, did not go to Miami for vacation, but stayed in Los Angeles, spending most of his time on training, which was unimaginable in O'Neal's previous career. You must know that O'Neal will even miss the team's usual training sessions.

"Ervin, Shaq seems to be stronger this season than before. What do you think Popovich will use to limit him in this game?" In the first five games of this season, O'Neal In less than 5 minutes of playing time, he averaged 34 points, 35 rebounds and 15 assists per game.This season has just started, how to deal with O'Neal has become an important topic in the league now, but as the old Nelson's disciple, Popovich used the shark-slashing tactics against O'Neal in the game against the Lakers last season, hacking Although the shark tactic can restrict O'Neal very well, this tactic also has very big flaws and limitations, that is, it basically cannot be used in regular time periods.

The shark-cutting tactic is actually a defensive tactic with a long history. The first to use this tactic was the Cardinal. Constantly fouling Chamberlain and sending him to the free throw line, for this tactic, Pat Riley, who witnessed his birth, would scoff at the mention of this tactic, thinking it was a very lack of IQ and Shameless tactics.In modern times, due to the rise of O'Neill, the old Nelson rediscovered this tactic from the garbage dump of history, and brought this tactic to a whole new level. Players like O'Neal are now. All players who are not good at free throws are on the old Nelson's candidate list for cutting X tactics.

"This summer, Shaq has been practicing free throws hard, and the results are still obvious, so it's hard to say whether the shark-killing tactic will work." If O'Neal's free throws were better in the Western Conference Finals last season, then The Spurs were sent home long ago, but there was no if in the game.Therefore, most of O'Neal's training content this summer is free throws. For this reason, O'Neal also consulted several famous players in the history of the Lakers, asking them how to improve their free throw percentage, and this includes Magic Johnson.

"Of course, I have also heard the news. In the last game against the Trail Blazers, Mike Dunville's shark-slashing tactic at the last moment ended in failure, so I am also looking forward to this game. Popovich O’Neal will use what method to defend O’Neal.” In the last game between the Lakers and the Trail Blazers, O’Neal got as many as 22 free throw opportunities. If it was last season, if he could make half of the free throws, it would be O’Neal. , but in this game, O'Neal actually made 22 of 17 free throws, and his shooting percentage reached an astonishing 77%.

"Actually, in this game, I am more concerned about Meng. After the game against the Timberwolves, he had a two-game truce due to food poisoning. Although it has been confirmed that he will start this game, how he will perform is still unclear. Definitely." Seeing the players from the two teams warming up, Magic Johnson said with a smile, Meng Xu's performance is really crazy, he can already touch the gate in the second season of his career, And there are two different paths to choose from. This is really crazy. The magician is eager to know the final answer. Which path will Meng Xu choose in the end?

"Haha, Irwin, this is also a question that I am very concerned about." The game between the Spurs and the Timberwolves was just a regular season game, but the ratings of that game exceeded the ratings of last season's finals For the record, this is of course due to the fact that the league has been building momentum, and another important reason is that Meng Xu's outstanding performance in the first quarter, Meng Xu's offensive style is too popular, and the ratings curve at the end of the game It is also a good proof of this point.After that game, the ABC TV network was discussing to increase the number of Spurs live broadcasts across the United States, but Meng Xu took a rest due to food poisoning after the game, which also made some senior executives of the ABC TV network's sports department Very anxious.

"Okay, the game is about to start." After Duncan handed over the basketball in his arms to the referee on duty, he walked into the center circle according to the rules of the jump ball. In this game, Duncan will replace David Robinson as the referee. The Spurs jump ball, and David Robinson's athleticism has dropped another notch after last season's injuries.When Duncan and O'Neal stood in the middle circle at the same time, they both stared at each other blankly. The referee held the basketball in one hand and put the whistle in his mouth with the other hand, ready to blow the whistle to start the game. sounded.

　Thank you Yexuefengfei for your reward, thank you.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)