The Legend of the Hungry Wolf in Basketball

Chapter 116 [Salt Lake City Devil Home]

On the morning of October 10, Adidas announced the launch of the red and white "Hungry Wolf Generation" new boots.The Clippers won and Ye Feng performed outstandingly. This is the best time to launch sneakers. Red and white represent the main colors of the Clippers' home and away jerseys.Ye Feng is very satisfied with the new sneakers, they are very comfortable to wear.It feels better to play in your own shoes.Selling shoes will also bring Ye Feng an extra commission.

During the holiday, he also signed an endorsement contract with General Motors of the United States to endorse Hummer.The Hummer brand is a symbol of "power", and Ye Feng's endorsement is appropriate. General Motors gave him a 2008 new concept car, silver and white, very conspicuous on the road.

In addition, there are other product endorsements, and Ye Feng's assets are increasing.People don't know about his vacation gambling, and he fell behind others on the 2008 Forbes suction list.In fact he is already a billionaire.

Ye Feng did not represent the Chinese men's basketball team in the Olympics during the offseason, which made him not as popular as Yi Jianlian and Yao Ming in China, but in the United States, his commercial value has far surpassed Yi Jianlian and is close to Yao Ming.What people value is not his black hair and yellow skin, but his strength.Yi Jianlian's starting point was much higher than that of Ye Feng, but he was traded to the New Jersey Nets as a bargaining chip in the summer.Ye Feng is also only 20 years old, and he is already the leader of the Clippers on the field.

In order to ensure the best condition against the enemy, the Clippers did not arrange training on the 31st.Thibodeau believes that after the start of the regular season, the training intensity does not need to be too high, as long as you move around a little and get familiar with tactics and running positions.High training intensity is not necessarily a good thing. If a player plays hard, the loss outweighs the gain in case of injury.Brand was seriously injured in training and was reimbursed for the season.

On November 11, the Clippers continued to play at home against the Denver Nuggets.

Nuggets player Carmelo Anthony was absent due to injury, and the team's strength was greatly reduced, giving the Clippers another chance to be upset.

After the start of the game, the Clippers put their defensive focus on Allen Iverson.

Last season, Iverson averaged 26.4 points, 3 rebounds, 7.1 assists and 2 steals per game.This year, Iverson's state has declined very badly. In the first game against the Jazz, it can be seen that he only scored 21 points on 6 of 17 shots. In this game against the Clippers, he was even more trapped throughout the game. In the end, he only scored 12 points and 6 assists.

Iverson can become a superstar by speed.Run fast and shoot fast.Continuous injuries made him slower and slower. After leaving the 76ers, his strong fighting spirit began to gradually fade.Nuggets led the field with 18 points and 8 rebounds. Kenyon Martin also scored 16 points.

The Clippers won two consecutive victories 96 to 90.

Ye Feng played 40 minutes and scored 32 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists, 1 steal and 2 blocks. Smith had 16 points, 7 rebounds and 2 assists. In this game, Love became the best rookie with a double-double of 16 points and 15 rebounds.Hesitant Nuggets' two starting guards, Anthony Carter and Iverson, are too short to defend well. Love got misplaced shots from high positions many times, and his shooting percentage was very high.

Ye Feng played at the 2 position in both games, and the Clippers' lineup of three swingmen made the Nuggets feel uncomfortable.

In the third game, the Clippers flew to Salt Lake City to challenge the Utah Jazz, which also had two consecutive victories. Wen Knight.The Clippers are gaining momentum, and experts have changed their tone, believing that the Clippers may be upset and win three consecutive victories.

On the plane, everyone was discussing the game. The young players became more and more confident. They defeated the two strong teams of the Lakers and the Nuggets one after another. They seemed to see that the playoffs were just around the corner.The old players are not so optimistic.Mutombo said with a smile: "When playing against the Jazz, first of all, don't panic and don't be disturbed by off-court factors, otherwise it will be difficult to win. This is especially difficult for rookies."

JaVale McGee and Mutombo have a good relationship. He asked with a smile, "Uncle, they say that the Jazz are the devil's home court. Where is the devil? Is there a beautiful woman with a devil's figure standing under the basket?"

Mutombo laughed. "You'll know when you go."

After chatting for a while, McGee went to chat with coach Thibodeau again, hoping to get some more playing time. Now Gortat has more playing time than him. Smith plays 35 minutes per game, leaving only 10 minutes for him. No chance to perform at all.

Thibodeau told him. "Whenever you stop being stupid, you stop jumping around on the defensive end, and you stop running around on the offensive end, I will give you playing time. I will examine you in this game."

Thibodeau likes McGee very much. His talent is too good, he can make some amazing trick dunks, he can lightly turn around and fade away jumpers, and he can also dribble the ball and stretch the sliding hook.However, these actions are all for the sake of being handsome, and his shooting percentage is very low. His only high-scoring offensive method is dunking.And he is thin, Lowry can resist him, it is difficult to get into the basket.

If he can learn Garnett's style of play, he might become a superstar in the league in the future.

When the game was about to start, the rookies of the Clippers understood why the Jazz were called the devil's home.The arena is designed very compactly, like a big garage. The crowded arena is full of countless fans.When every visiting team visits the Energy Solutions Arena, it seems that they are cornered by a large crowd and there is no way out. The Jazz team will become extremely addicted to the roar of the fans. Blood.Once the Jazz returned home, they became a team that was hard to beat.

Not only newcomers, even players who have been here many times will feel depressed.As soon as they stand on the field, the crazy fans seem to rush to the field at any time to beat them up.Anyone who can completely relax in this environment must be a god.

Due to his excellent performance in the first two games, Ye Feng has already been regarded as the Jazz's number one enemy.When he played, he became the most hated player by the fans of the home team, and the audience booed him.The Jazz have always been supported by the most passionate fans in the league, and the performance of the fans is similar to the Jazz's slogan-"Live and fight."

The rookies were of course affected more seriously. Chalmers even missed a layup during the warm-up, and Love's shots also lost their usual accuracy.

McGee used to like to show off dunks during warm-ups, but now listening to the boos outside the court, his movements are slow, and he doesn't dunk. He sighed with a stiff neck: "It's too noisy here, isn't it?"

Barnes is a person who has seen big waves, and said with a smile: "Just make a noise. If you treat it as a dog barking, you won't care."

McGee shivered, and curled his lips and said, "God, I care more now. I was bitten by a dog when I was a child, and now I still have scars on my legs."

Barnes: "..."

Only 3 minutes after the start of the game, Boozer gave the Clippers a blow, scoring consecutive singles and causing Love to foul twice.Thibodeau had to replace Love with Gortat.

Sloan is an old and cunning coach. After studying the clips of the Clippers VS Lakers game, he found that the Clippers were struggling to defend Pau Gasol, so he went up and attacked the Clippers' weaknesses.Love is strong, but that's of no use to Boozer. Boozer doesn't like to compete with others for muscle. He plays with skills. His inside footsteps can rank among the top 5 in the league.

As the Jazz's first offensive point, Boozer is very determined to attack and is more difficult to defend than Gasol.At the same time, Deron Williams cooperated with Okur in the pick-and-roll on the outside. Whether it is attacking himself or passing the ball back to the outside, it can pose a threat to the Clippers.After switching defenses, Lowry's height gap is too large, and there is nothing he can do about Okur.Smith had to switch defenses to keep up with Deron.Deron can shoot suddenly and pass the ball, very comprehensive.

The Clippers fell behind by 9 points in the first quarter, and Boozer scored 14 points in a single quarter, causing Love and Gortat to commit two fouls each.Thibodeau has only three insiders available, and McGee can't play more if he doesn't want to.

In the second quarter, the two sides replaced the bench lineup. The Clippers are all young rookies. Amid the crazy shouts of the home fans, it is not bad to be able to play 80% of their strength.There are two generals on the Jazz bench, Millsap and Kirilenko.The Clippers' substitutes couldn't stop the Jazz's offense, and they were hit with an 11-0 offensive climax and collapsed directly.When the main players returned to the court, Ye Feng relied on the pick-and-roll tactics to lead the team to chase points, but fell too far behind and was powerless.In the end, they lost the game with a score of 77 to 94.

Ye Feng only played 34 minutes and scored 24 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists and 1 block.Just after Love was praised by the experts, he was blown into a sieve in this game. Whether it was Boozer, Millsap, or Okur, he couldn't defend well.

There are two reasons for the Clippers' loss. One is that the Jazz restrained the Clippers from the lineup.The Jazz's offensive strength happens to be the Clippers' weak point.The second is that the Clippers players foul too much.Love played 25 minutes in this game and was fouled 5 times.Gortat was sent off for six fouls in the fourth quarter.McGee played 6 minutes and also suffered 20 fouls.

Why do they have so many fouls?It is because of the unspoken rules of the NBA, the referee's home whistle and "deception"!They always stare at the rookies and blow the whistle. As long as the Clippers' three insiders move, it is a foul.For this, Mutombo has little experience to teach.When Barnes was a rookie, he was called 3 fouls in 5 minutes.In order to make a name for yourself in the NBA, in addition to your own strength, you have to pass the hurdle of referees.There is also the issue of location.The place with the most confrontation on the basketball court is the basket, with frequent physical contact.The insiders not only have to defend their own opponents, but when teammates miss their defenses, they have to go up to make up defenses, which can easily lead to fouls.In this game, Smith was pulled out frequently. The three rookies had to defend Boozer and make up defense against Deron who broke through.The result was tragic.

After the game, Thibodeau was still satisfied with the performance of the players. The young players have tried their best and there is nothing to criticize. They just need time to adapt.

Ye Feng also played well this time, but it is impossible for the Clippers to become a strong team and reach the sky in one step.

(End of this chapter)