Healing Basketball

Chapter 450. 450. The Warden's March of Madness
The Trail Blazers are coming off a wild end to the season, and so are the rest of the team!
The season sprint has begun!

Each team has only 15 or so games left, and the competition for playoff spots, rankings, and even worse records is already heating up.

On March 3, the Suns defeated the visiting Cavaliers at home and won their 25th game of the season, becoming the first team to win 55 games this season.

Because of the pressure brought by Liu Xiu, Nash and his teammates played extraordinarily hard. The overall performance of the Suns in the regular season was slightly better than Liu Xiu's impression, and for a team as strong as the Suns, it was slightly better. A little bit, for some teams with mid-range strength, they can already form a stronger suppression. In terms of abuse, the Suns are the strongest this season. After a wave of bang, it collapsed immediately, so the Suns' record was better than Liu Xiu's impression.

There are teams that try their best to be the best, and naturally there are teams that want to be rotten to the end. The next opponent the Trail Blazers will meet is.

打完背靠背休息了一天后，3月25号晚上8点，开拓者队主场迎来了湖人队的挑战，刘秀全场打了37分钟，32投17中，其中三分球8中5，外加4中4的罚球，狂飙43分11板3助攻3抢断！

It can be seen from the free throws that the Lakers did not struggle too much on the defensive end, and the Lakers' offense was also very bad. Relying on Liu Xiu's 11th single-game 40+ this season, the Trail Blazers beat the Lakers 112 to 88 The team improved its record to 50 wins and 18 losses, becoming the fifth team to win 5 wins this season!
After losing to the Trail Blazers, the Lakers suffered a 10-game losing streak and their record dropped to 28 wins and 40 losses.

Looking at the record of the Lakers, Liu Xiu had to admire the courage of the old Buss. If he changed to Buss Jr. or Jenny Buss, he had to think about the so-called "glory of the Lakers" at this time, but the old Buss said he would do it. Fuck, it's only after the All-Star Weekend that they start to play badly, and they can be so bad!
After this wave of 10-game losing streak, the Lakers' ranking dropped to No.13 in the West, 'beyond' the Warriors with 28 wins and 39 losses!
Although it is impossible to surpass the previous Eagles, Hornets, and Bobcats, the Lakers have reached the seventh-to-last in the league, and there is still hope for the fourth-to-last competition with the Magic, Jazz, and Raptors.

Liu Xiu is very curious, if the Lakers get the No. [-] pick, will they choose Bogut?

The probability is not high. The Lakers seldom select forwards themselves, and prefer to directly pick up free agent centers that other teams don't want.

But what if the Lakers management has a brain twitch?After all, he is the Australian genius who calls himself Bai Duncan.

...

After 4 consecutive games in 3 days and 3 games, the Trail Blazers left Portland on March 3, this time with a wave of three consecutive away.

The opponents are the Suns, Jazz, and Supersonics.

There was no back-to-back fight the next day, and Liu Xiu felt that the schedule was good.

And besides the Jazz, the other two teams are the targets he looks forward to playing against.

As for not wanting to play the Jazz...right now he doesn't want to play any kind of hand-to-hand combat type opponent, especially a team like the Jazz that they don't really want to win but want to maintain defensive discipline and die on defense forever.

It's not that he is afraid of such an opponent, he fights everyone the same, the key is his teammates.

At 3 o'clock in the afternoon, the Trail Blazers arrived in Phoenix. After checking into the hotel, they held a meeting to discuss tomorrow's game.

Not only Liu Xiu paid attention to this game, but the whole team also paid attention to it.

Already lost to the Suns twice, at the end of the season, it's time to win once!Must fight!

We've reached this level, 50 wins and 18 losses, 14 games left, 55 wins are all right, and there is even a certain probability that we can hit 60 wins. Liu Xiu once again has expectations for the highest honor... …Eh?Why do you say again?

Because he was looking forward to it when he entered the playoffs with 58 wins and 24 losses last year, but it was a pity that he was beaten in the second round...

Last season, Liu Xiu learned experience, learned lessons, and realized that competing for the championship is not an easy task, one should not aim too high, one has to take it step by step... So, his current goal is still to compete for the championship.

The team that must win 55 wins does not aim at the championship, Liu Xiu herself feels sorry for herself!

...

With the 'Paul Allen' landing in Phoenix, there is more talk and media coverage of tomorrow's game against the Suns.

A topic popped up, the only team that was not defeated by the Trail Blazers in the first place in the division-the Suns.

The Miami Heat, the leader in the Southeast Division, have won the Trail Blazers.

The first place in the Southwest Division has been the Spurs for a long time. When the Spurs were the first in the Southwest Division, the Trail Blazers played against the Spurs 3 times and won all of them.

In the Central Division, when the Pistons ranked first, the Trail Blazers won once; when the Pacers ranked first, the Trail Blazers also won once.

The first place in the Atlantic Division has always been the Nets, and the Trail Blazers have won once.

The Trail Blazers in the Northwest Division have always been number one. The only team that the Trail Blazers have not beaten is the Suns, the leader in the Pacific Division.

When Liu Xiu saw that this topic sparked heated discussions among fans, at first glance he thought it was a very powerful thing, and it was indeed very powerful... But when he thought about it carefully, the media could have figured out such a weird topic?It has become a hot topic!

I traced the source and found out which media initiated the topic... Sure enough, it was ESPN.

Liu Xiu feels that Fliggy's business ability has declined a bit recently, and it hasn't come up with any hot topics...

Just thinking of Fliggy, when Liu Xiu refreshed the TNT sports official website, he came across a new article on Fliggy's basketball column.

Liu Xiu looked at it, good guy, blow him up.

The content of Fliggy’s column this time can actually be summed up in one sentence—the Warden’s March Madness has begun again!

The argument is also very simple-after the suspension ended, Warden played 8 games, averaging 32.5 points per game, 8 of the 6 games scored 30+, and the Blazers won the two games without 30+. It's easy, there's no need to get a high score and I didn't try to get a high score. They scored 27 points against the Grizzlies and 25 points and 10 assists against the Rockets.

If it weren't for the ease of winning those two games and not needing high scores, Liu Xiu would have continued to soar 3+ in March!

And 8 games, 6 wins and 2 losses, allowing the Trail Blazers to maintain a 75% winning percentage and hit the playoffs.

The two arguments Barkley gave this time are very, very hard, score + record, simple but impeccable!

After this article came out, it was quickly reposted by various forums, even NBA officials reposted it!

Regarding Liu Xiu's status in March, there were actually people discussing it after he finished his four-game streak in the Southwest Division, but the discussion was not so focused. Now there is Barkley's column, "The Warden's March Madness" This topic is hot!
Of course, no matter what kind of "impeccable" argument, someone will come out to refute it. It doesn't matter whether there is a basis for the refute, it just needs to be refuted...

When Liu Xiu saw these two arguments, he also suddenly realized that he played really well this month!Condition seems to be exceptionally good.

At this time last year, it seemed to be the same!
But after thinking about it carefully, he found that it was not that his state was exceptionally good, but that his state was more stable than other stars.

After March, the competition between the teams became fierce. The stars fought hard, affected by physical strength, injuries, etc., and the state fluctuated a lot. In March, generally speaking, it is the overall list of all the scores, assists, etc. The decline stage is also the stage when the overall list of rebounds, steals, blocks and other data rises.

But he is not affected by these, his performance has been stable, maintaining the highest level he can achieve!
Under the ebb and flow, his average data did not fall but rose in March, which is normal.

Thinking of this, Liu Xiu thought of another player who would be praised to the sky at the end of every season-Tim Duncan.

邓肯也是每年3月份和4月份表现格外好，他职业生涯一共只拿到3次月最佳球员奖，有两次在3月和4月。

Duncan also maintained the best state throughout the season, very stable, so it seems that he always played the best in March and April.

The number of Duncan's player of the month awards is amazing. He has two regular season MVPs, but only 3 player of the month awards!The reason is that although his overall performance in a season is in the top five in the league every year, it is rare for him to perform better than everyone in a single month, and he has no explosive attributes.

Liu Xiu thought that he was used to being full in March when he was playing in the NCAA March Madness. Now he finds that there may be factors in that aspect last year, but it must be more of the effect of the "simulation training mode function repair"!

Not only this season, but in the future, every year in the sprint stage of the season in March, he will be able to 'perform at a super level'!
After discovering this, Liu Xiu felt ecstatic!

There is no need for him to do anything, and he can have an advantage in status every March. If this is not something to be happy about, what else is there to be happy about?

Because of this, his confidence has improved a lot when he thinks of the game against the Suns tomorrow!
……

……

At 2005:3 p.m. on March 27, 7, at the American West Arena in Phoenix, after a day of preparations, Liu Xiu led his teammates into the stadium.

Liu Xiu heard boos, as well as laughter and ridicule.

"Warden, please enjoy the joy of losing again."

"The light of the sun will dispel the darkness!"

"You are number one in boxing, and you are not the number one opponent in basketball!"

"..."

"..."

The fans were extremely targeted, targeting Liu Xiu alone.

It was the home team's turn to play, and the atmosphere on the scene suddenly changed, with cheers and screams constantly...

The Suns fans want to use their enthusiasm to hit the morale and confidence of the Trail Blazers, but this is too childish for the Trail Blazers, which has the devil's home court.

Randolph joked to Liu Xiu: "Warden, I didn't expect you to be so popular in Phoenix City. Do you like it here?"

Liu Xiuying said: "I like it so much. The fans here are really polite. For our fans, I feel strange not to greet the eight generations of the other party's ancestors in such a popular game."

"Hahaha……"

Randolph laughed, but he found that there really seemed to be such a strange phenomenon—the richer the basketball fans in the city, the less qualified they were watching the game.

You have to compare to feel it. The gap between Portland and Phoenix is ​​not that big. It’s not that obvious. Comparing the Knicks and Cavaliers home games together, the one with the worst atmosphere on the scene is definitely the Knicks. Team home.

But this is only relative. If the game is fierce, the fans at the scene seem to have no quality... Yao Ming's home court is a special case.

While Liu Xiu was chatting with Randolph, the five starters of the Suns entered the court one after another.

Liu Xiu's attention was focused on that man - Steve Nash!

"Phoenix Suns, 55 wins and 14 losses, averaging 110.8 points per game, restricting opponents to scoring 103.1 points per game, shooting 47.7% from the field, restricting opponents to shooting 44.5% from the field, shooting 39.6% from the three-point range, restricting the opponent's three-point shooting 33.5%, averaging 9.9 three-pointers per game, limiting opponents to 6 three-pointers per game..."

"Steve Nash, 31 years old, 191 cm, 88 kg, PG, ability evaluation 96, offense 95, defense-, three-pointer 93, mid-range shot 96, layup 90, passing 100, speed 93, strength 72, Bounce 68, stamina 98...

Averaged 16.1 points, 3.2 rebounds and 11.9 assists per game...

Shooting 50.6% from the field, 44.1% from the three-point line, 89.9% from the free throw line..."

Compared with the last match a few months ago, Nash's shooting percentage and three-point shooting percentage have declined, which is normal and just returned to normal.

But the free throw percentage did not drop but rose, it rose by a few percentage points, and it was only 0.1% away from the 180 club!

Liu Xiu remembers that Nash will become the top card of the 180 club in the future.

这个180俱乐部，不是命中率+三分命中率+罚球命中率加起来180那么简单，而是投篮命中率至少50%、三分命中率至少40%、罚球命中率至少90%……

So far, only Larry Bird, Reggie Miller, Mark Price, and Steve Kerr have done it 4 times in total, and Larry Bird has done it twice, the first in history .

A player who can enter the 1 club once in his career can be praised to the sky.

Nowitzki's single-month 180 club made him an MVP candidate in people's eyes.

Liu Xiu remembers that even in the future small ball era, super shooters like Curry and Durant only entered the 1 club once in their careers.

But Nash will enter the 180 club for three consecutive years in the future. When he retired, he entered the 4 club 180 times, far ahead of others.

"Amare Stoudemire, 22 years old, 208 cm, 110 kg, PF/C, ability rating 89, offense 93, defense 65... averaged 26 points, 8.8 rebounds, 1.6 assists and 1.6 blocks per game..."

"Sean Marion, 26 years old, 201 cm, 103 kg, SF/PF, ability rating 90, offense 87, defense 91, rebound 95... averaged 19.4 points, 11.3 rebounds, 2 steals and 1.5 blocks per game..."

Liu Xiu carefully looked at the ability evaluations of the Suns players, and found one thing - the statistics of the Suns' scorers are higher than the statistics they should get for their demonstrated strength!

Like Little Overlord, he showed the strength of a close-to-top inside line, but his statistics are those of a super scorer; the same is true for Marion, with first-class offensive ability, but he can score in a situation where he is not the first scoring point. The next game averaged 19+.

The same goes for Big Q, Jim Jackson, Barbosa and others.

One of the few Suns that is not in this situation is Joe Johnson. In the Suns, the offensive performance of this talented scorer has been greatly restricted and he cannot fully exert his abilities.

Liu Xiu has seen rumors that Joe Johnson has rejected the four-year $4 million contract extension offered by the Suns, refused to continue to be Nash's helper in the next four years, and wanted to test the free market.

Although the separation has been decided, there is no doubt about Joe Johnson's professional attitude, and he is still conscientious in his playing. The exaggerated performance of 48 three-pointers per game with a 2.2% three-point shooting rate shows his dedication to the game.

Seeing Jim Jackson and Joe Johnson standing together, Liu Xiu remembered an interesting thing.

It seems to be the time period when Joe Johnson’s contract extension was not negotiated. The Suns wanted to get Jim Jackson of the Rockets and planned to trade with Joe Johnson. Send Joe Johnson to the Rockets.

But the Rockets refused, and almost gave Jim Jackson to the Suns for nothing. As long as there is a non-guaranteed expiring contract, Colangelo, who is used to his father's face, was stunned. The Rockets refused. The reason is because Joe Johnson is only willing to renew his contract with a maximum salary.

The Suns can only give Joe Johnson an average annual salary of tens of millions, because Marion holds the maximum salary, Stoudemire must renew his contract with the maximum salary, Nash also has a salary of tens of millions, and cannot afford Joe Johnson's salary Yes, otherwise Colangelo Jr. also wants to force Joe Johnson to stay. If the money is enough, things are still easy to talk about.

As for the Rockets, the salary this season has not yet reached the salary cap...

In the original time and space, Liu Xiu had never heard of Joe Johnson almost joining hands with Yao Ming. He estimated that it was because the Rockets already had Tracy McGrady as a swingman. Colangelo's ability may not be very good, a typical relying on his father Eating, but there is nothing to say about the human touch. When it is easy to get together and leave, I will help Joe Johnson find a more suitable environment.

...

The hostility of the fans to the Trail Blazers was extremely strong, much stronger than the hostility shown by the Trail Blazers fans to the Suns. Those who didn't know thought that the Trail Blazers had won the Suns twice.

Because the Suns are No. [-] in the Western Conference, it's okay if they don't reach this point, but after reaching this position, the feeling of worrying about gains and losses comes.

The last time the Suns became No. 12 in the regular season was already [-] years ago. Suns fans don’t want to lose all of this. For a long time, the Trail Blazers ranked second in the Western Conference. Naturally, Suns fans are most afraid team.

Although the popularity and madness of the American West arena is not as high as that of the Rose Garden arena, the hostility and pertinence of the Suns fans are more clear. This kind of atmosphere is actually liked by the players who are playing the game. When the players greeted each other, it was more explosive than the previous two matches. The fans on the scene mobilized their emotions, and the already strong desire to win was further enhanced in this environment.

After a friendly exchange with Nash, Liu Xiu returned to his bench, and the system prompted!

"The wave of running and bombing set off by the son of the wind swept across the alliance, dazzling like the sun, radiant... Mission: The opposite of light triggers..."

(End of this chapter)