The rise of the NBA superstar

Chapter 118, Going to Los Angeles.

After the Thunder's morale recovered, they didn't spend much time in the locker room.

Everyone set off quickly and headed straight for Los Angeles.

The day after tomorrow they will go away to another team in Los Angeles, the Los Angeles Clippers. .

This is the last battle before Christmas, and it is also the last battle before Li Senlin goes home.

Thunder was the vice squad leader last year, and based on its record, it was naturally not its turn to win the Christmas battle.

Since the 40s, the NBA has had a tradition of launching heavyweight games on Christmas Eve. This kind of business thinking seemed quite advanced at the time.

After the prevalence of television broadcasts, watching wonderful NBA live broadcasts on Christmas Eve has become a tradition for Americans.

The premise of the Christmas war is that the two sides will either have a strong dialogue or a highly topical duel.

The current Thunder is obviously not such a team, no one wants to watch a bad team play on Christmas.

Of course, no one on the Thunder wants to play on Christmas.

In the United States, Americans treat Christmas just like Chinese people treat Spring Festival. No one wants to work overtime during the "Spring Festival".

Because the festival is approaching, the Thunder plane is a bit special this time, and many family members of the players have boarded the team's plane.

Westbrook's hometown is in California.

He and Nina are going to spend Christmas in California.

Durant and his mother are also planning to go to California for two days, and then he will go to Dallas with Collison.

Compared with the bustle and bustle of his teammates, Li Senlin, a single dog, seems to be alone at this time.

The interior of the team plane was modified beyond recognition.

The cabin can accommodate 160 passengers, leaving about 80 seats after the modification.

The entire cabin is divided into three parts.

The most forward cabin has only 15 seats and is for players.

The cabin in the middle has about 12 seats, divided into 6 rows, and there is a square table in the middle for the coach to hold a meeting.

The last cabin generally has 7 rows of seats, which belong to the staff or some family members.

In addition, cabin entrances, toilets, etc. have also been refitted.

Seeing the bustling crowd on the plane preparing for the festival, Li Senlin also felt homesick.

Although I miss home very much, I have to go to Los Angeles to play this last game. This is the price after the dream comes true.

The distance from Ohlahoma City to Los Angeles is about 1800 kilometers, and the flight took about 3 hours. .

As soon as you get off the plane, the airport in Los Angeles is full of the atmosphere that Christmas is coming.

Christmas trees are everywhere. .

Soon, the whole team arrived at the hotel, and the match was the night after tomorrow.

As a result, the players all went back to their respective homes, each looking for their respective mothers. .

Westbrook, who lives in California, went straight home.

Li Senlin stayed in the hotel. Although it was late at night, Li Senlin suffered from insomnia. .

Picking up the phone, I called my mother and told her the date of returning to China.

I hung up the phone after my mother told me to pay attention to safety on the road.

This summer, the Los Angeles Clippers opened and closed, and became a storm in the transfer market.

Captain Brand and second-in-command Maggette switched to his team one after another.

Instead, it was hot-blooded guard Davis and basket defender Camby.

Whether helpless or deliberate, the Clippers have completed a drastic change from top to bottom.

Based on pure theoretical calculations, the Clippers will still be excluded from the threshold for the playoffs by introducing two stars and leaving two stars.

Of course, this calculation may be unscientific, but the remodeled Clippers still do not have the absolute strength to make their debut in the bloody West, although they seem to have a good lineup.

The reason is roughly the following two points.

First, after the Clippers entered and exited a few times, the team has basically changed its face, all kinds of play routines need to be re-formulated, and teammates also need time to adjust; Davis and the resentful Camby, can the good guy coach manage it?
Of course, the above two points are just general directions, and the team's small problems are even more numerous.

For example, when Livingston left and the newly joined White Chocolate retired from the arena, Davis had only Jason Hart as a substitute...

The former is prone to injury, while the latter is notoriously unreliable;

For example, the team lacks a player of about 2 meters to serve as a small forward.

As Maggette and Ross both left the team, so last season a lot of time the main power forward, 2 meters 05 Thornton is very likely to play the third position.

The two candidates for the team's second position are Mobley, who is less than 1 meters tall, and rookie Eric Gordon...

Such a height ladder is too big;
Another example is that two pure centers with similar characteristics, Camby and Kaman, must play at the same time, and they also need to divide their labor.

The above problems are enough to make the coach Dunleavy scratch his head.

In addition, in addition to the busy transfers, the team has even bigger moves. The general manager Baylor, who has played for the Clippers for 22 years, has no contract, which is incredible.

If an out-of-court settlement fails, the management and labor will inevitably go to court. Although this is only an off-court dispute, it also reflects the irregularity of the team's management.

In addition to these, Li Senlin knows that the owner of the Clippers is also a show.

The current owner of the Clippers is Donald Sterling. In the future, the famous gossip website TMZ will expose a recording of a quarrel with his girlfriend.

And in this recording, Sterling involved racial discrimination remarks, which will stir up waves.

NBA commissioner Adam Silver punished Sterling after understanding.

Sterling was banned for life from participating in any NBA-related activities and forced to sell the Clippers.

The Clippers were later acquired by former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer.

"rest tomorrow?"

Li Senlin, who was browsing the web, received a group holiday text message from Brooks on his mobile phone.

Brooks saw the team's consecutive away games, and Christmas was approaching, so he temporarily decided to give the players a holiday.

Since it is a holiday, there is no training scheduled for tomorrow.

It's a holiday tomorrow, and Li Senlin suddenly doesn't know what to do.

Shall we go shopping?
After traveling back for so long, Li Senlin has not tried a day without competition and training.

What a dick.

the phone is ringing.

The voice of Westbrook's rough mine can be heard even through the phone.

"Li, do you have something to do tomorrow afternoon? If you have nothing to do, come with me to UCLA to participate in an event."

"Um, okay."

Li Senlin was also idle. After hearing Westbrook's invitation, he also wanted to go to UCLA to see the demeanor of this world-famous basketball school. .

"Whew, I'm so tired, I'm so tired, the competition is finally over, sister, let's go to UCLA to see tomorrow."

Lin Weiwei patted her chest and said to her cousin.

"Okay, let me check the address first."

Looking at this well-behaved cousin, Lin Feifei readily agreed.

(End of this chapter)