NBA: I am the god of basketball

Chapter 240 The start was not smooth, Dayao was injured

The Rockets' regular season opener is at home against the Charlotte Bobcats.

The Bobcats, led by Joe, really have a bright future in the new season, because in the past two seasons, they selected Anthony Davis and Victor Oladipo respectively.

新赛季山猫的阵容是11年第九顺位的肯巴.沃克，13年第二顺位的奥拉迪波，09年No.12顺位的杰拉德.亨德森，12年第一顺位的安东尼.戴维斯以及今年夏天用3年4100万签下的中锋艾尔.杰弗森。

If this lineup is at its peak, it will definitely be one of the top teams in the league, but unfortunately it is not.

The second-year thick-browed Davis should be able to average 20+10 double-doubles per game, showing the excellent potential of future top stars, but to truly dominate the game, we still have to wait until the end of the rookie contract.

In his third season, Kemba Walker has grown into a point guard who can stably contribute 18+6 points. However, Walker has had many problems throughout his career and in the future, such as insufficient stability on the offensive end and poor finishing ability. , The short stature needs teammates to help defend on the defensive end and so on.

As for Oladipo, he is still a first-year rookie, and he can't even be ranked at the core of the team's offense.

Therefore, the Lynx team seems to have a pretty good lineup, but from the perspective of Wang Chao, a traveler.

The real fact is that the Bobcats have no problem breaking into the playoffs with this lineup. After all, the competitiveness of the Eastern Conference itself is much smaller than that of the Western Conference, but they are definitely not a strong team.

It only took the Rockets half of the game to end the suspense of the whole game.

At 55:39 in the half, the Rockets led by 16 points.

For the Bobcats inside twin towers, Al Jefferson made 7 of 1 shots, and Davis, the thick eyebrow brother, under the defense of Garnett, performed very well, scoring 7 points on 3 of 7 shots.

The Rockets' starting lineup after the start of the new season is still last year's championship lineup. Wang Chao is the point guard, with Butler and Leonard as the two forward swingmen, Garnett and Dayao guarding the basket.

This lineup is really strong, both offensively and defensively are at the top of the league. Against a team with average combat power like the Bobcats, it can easily form a crushing trend.

After successfully clocking in three quarters, Wang Chao and other main players took a rest, and the rest of the game was played by the substitute lineup. As a result, the final score of the two teams was 104:83. The Rockets beat the Bobcats by 21 points and won the start of the new season.

After winning the first win of the season, the Rockets immediately defeated the Dallas Mavericks and Utah Jazz on November 11 and November 1, winning a three-game winning streak. The Rockets are about to repeat the start of last season 11 consecutive victories, continue to dominate the entire league.

But on November 11, the Rockets challenged the Los Angeles Clippers away, but lost to their opponents 4:118, and the winning streak ended.

As the Clippers are recognized as one of the league's powerful players in the new season, their strength is of course beyond doubt, and they still sit at home. It is normal to win the next game.

But during this game, many caring people noticed the problems or hidden dangers of the Rockets. In fact, this problem had already appeared in the first few games, but the Rockets were in a winning streak. Just mentioned.

This problem is the main defensive force of the team, and Garnett's state has declined.

After the end of last season, many people have actually discussed Garnett's issue. After all, Garnett will be 38 years old in the new season. It is an inevitable result that his competitive state will decline with age, but at that time, people Generally, a more optimistic attitude is still maintained. After all, it is only half a year later. After Garnett voluntarily gave up the offensive end last season and devoted himself to the defensive end, he can still show about 8% of his peak defensive strength.

But the actual situation is not the case.

In the first three games of the three-game winning streak, Garnett averaged 7.8 points and 6.2 rebounds per game. Since the garbage time came early in two of the games, the playing time was not too much. Original.

But in this game against the Clippers, Garnett played 29 minutes and only had 7 points and 4 rebounds, especially in the matchup with the Clippers All-Star power forward Blake Griffin. No, I can't keep it.

It really proves that the 38-year-old Garnett is really old, and what is old is not only his body, but also his psychology.

Winning the championship is like an obsession that plagues Garnett, and winning the championship with the Rockets last season seemed to have achieved the ultimate goal at once, making Garnett's entire tight string instantly relaxed, and this loosening , If you want to tighten up again, it will not be so easy.

The result is that Garnett's state in the new season has fallen off a cliff, and his performance on the field, especially the efficiency of the defensive end, has plummeted. From the original top defensive insider to a dragging existence.

Why are there so few teams in the league that can create dynasties?Looking at the entire history of the league, only the Celtics, Bulls, Lakers and the Magic during the super magic combination period have done it.

Of course, there are many reasons. The team’s years of high-intensity confrontation will fatigue the players and induce injuries; In particular, the motivation of the veteran to continue to defend the title is insufficient.

Garnett obviously accounts for the vast majority of the reasons, especially the lack of motivation.

Even if he wins another championship with the Rockets, for Garnett, his historical status will not be greatly improved. High-intensity confrontation may lead to injuries and shorten the length of his career.

Even from Garnett's personal point of view, it is a good choice to continue his career as much as possible and earn some salary, so he is not as hard on the field as before.

Of course, the premise of all this is based on the fact that Garnett has grown older and his own competitive state has declined sharply. Garnett just sensed the change in his state and adjusted his style of play accordingly. .

Considering Garnett's average performance of 6.5 points and 6.6 rebounds per game with the Nets in the same period of history, Wang Chao was already mentally prepared, but he didn't expect Garnett's decline to be so fast, even with his own team. There is no way to maintain the state under the blessing of the sparring potion.

What's more terrible is that it's not just Garnett who has a problem, another inside core of the Rockets, Dayao's performance in the new season is also somewhat unsatisfactory.

Although Dayao is only 34 years old in the new season, much younger than Garnett, but he does not have Garnett's physical fitness.

Dayao should have officially announced his retirement in July of 11, completely away from the basketball arena, but in the last season, the 7-12 season, he was still active in the NBA arena, selected to the best second team and served as an insider for the Rockets The offensive core has passed all the way, and the team won the regular season with a record of 13 wins and 72 losses and won the playoffs with all victories.

All of this is naturally due to Wang Chao, and it also has a bit of luck. Wang Chao did not expect that the system would have the existence of reward items such as protective knee pads. This item successfully helped Dayao avoid suffer from injuries.

But the problem is precisely here.

The effect of the protective knee pads only lasted until the end of last season. In the new season, Yao returned to his original state, so he faced the same problem as Garnett. Last season, a large number of appearances and high-intensity games accelerated. Physical wear and tear.

On November 11, the Rockets beat the Portland Trail Blazers away, and on November 5 they beat the Los Angeles Lakers at home.

The regular season started with 6 games. Although they lost one game to the Clippers, the Rockets still achieved a record of 5 wins and 1 loss, ranking among the top in the league.

But no one expected that on November 11, in the second game between the Rockets and the Clippers at home, Dayao was accidentally injured.

In a pick-and-roll cut-in between Paul and Griffin, Griffin used his speed advantage to get rid of the old and slow Garnett. To take off in place, you have to hit Huashan with a move to the basket.

Dayao, who was standing under the basket, immediately went forward to defend without hesitation. The bodies of the two collided fiercely in the air. Griffin's beastly violent dunk was slapped away by Dayao, but after the two landed, Dayao did not Can get up, but fell to the ground in pain clutching his ankle.

Seeing this scene, Wang Chao felt a "thump" in his heart. Knowing that he would suffer, he immediately called a timeout after winning the ball.

Dayao, who was lying on the floor, had a painful expression on his face, and couldn't even stand up by himself, and finally returned to the locker room with the support of his teammates.

In the next game, the entire Rockets team was sleepwalking, and even Wang Chao had no intention of playing. In the end, the Rockets lost 94:105 to the Clippers for the second time.

After the game, Dayao was immediately sent to the hospital for examination, but then the MRI results showed that Dayao suffered a stress fracture in the middle of his left ankle. The preliminary judgment is that he will recover for at least 3 to 5 months. Before the playoffs, basically It is impossible to return to the game. If the recovery progress is slow, it may not even be able to participate in the playoffs.

This is really a bolt from the blue. Dayao is reimbursed for the regular season. It is a fatal blow to the Rockets. You must know that Dayao is the second scorer in the team. It's almost like O'Neal at the basket. The reason why the Rockets can show such a strong dominance is due to Dayao!
Many angry Huaguo and Houston fans scolded Griffin bloody, and regarded him as the culprit for Dayao's injury. If he hadn't used such dangerous moves, Dayao would not have been injured. up.

But only Wang Chao knows that Griffin is a scapegoat. This guy's playing style has always been like this, otherwise no one would have given him the nickname of a white monster. It is Griffin's selling point. Griffin has staged many violent dunks before, including the dunk of the century that dunks Perkins and the brutal dunk that overwhelms Gasol.

The slow-motion footage of Griffin’s physical confrontation with Dayao was replayed many times after Dayao was injured. The physical contact between the two did not involve additional actions, and Yao’s legs did not touch Griffin when he landed. The fierce collision caused the body to lose balance, and the unsteady landing and twisted ankle were the real cause of Dayao's injury.

To put it bluntly, although Dayao has lost a lot of weight under Wang Chao's suggestion, his height of 2 meters and weight of more than 26 kilograms are still too much burden on his ankles. In the great NBA, injuries are only a matter of time.

In other words, it is a kind of luck or a miracle that Dayao has been able to maintain relative health in the past few seasons.

It's just that Dayao's reimbursement for the season is still a bit too big a blow to the Rockets.

The contract between Dayao and the Rockets was originally a four-year contract of 4 million yuan. This season is the third year of the contract. Dayao’s annual salary this year is as high as 9000 million U.S. dollars, which is the highest salary in the team, and he will keep it next year. There are player options.

Even if Dayao is injured, the Rockets must pay him and fill up the salary space without a single gap to sign other players to fill Dayao's vacancy.

In this case, the Rockets management was completely panicked and didn't know what to do.

The reputation of the Rockets in the league also changed overnight. The odds of winning the championship dropped rapidly, and they were quickly surpassed by the Heat, Spurs, Thunder and other teams.
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"Dayao was reimbursed for the season, and Garnett was in poor condition. In the blink of an eye, only Wang Chao was left in the Rockets' Big Three. The prospect of winning the championship is worrisome!"

"Under Wang Chao's single-core leadership, how far can the Rockets go this season? It is true that even without Dayao, as long as Wang Chao is there, the Rockets are still one of the top teams in the league. , but will undoubtedly withdraw from the title race."

"Unfortunately, even if Garnett can maintain the state of last season, the Rockets will still be the favorites to win the championship. The Rockets have no support inside, and their shortcomings are too obvious."

You can see various experts’ analysis of the Rockets’ prospects for winning the championship everywhere on the Internet, and the conclusions are completely consistent—unless Yao can resume the playoffs and stage the return of the king, otherwise the Rockets will find it difficult to defend the title. Considering that Yao is already 34 At this age, the possibility of this is still too small.

The management of the Rockets held a meeting for several days, and the general manager specially invited Wang Chao to the meeting to discuss countermeasures.

According to their thinking, the team should try their best to find a suitable replacement player before the All-Star Game, even if they use the future first-round pick as a bargaining chip, they must make signings and reinforcements to ensure the Rockets' ability to win the championship.

The previous discussions by the management have determined several center players who have performed well in the league recently, and then just need to negotiate with the opposing team to ask for a price.

"What do you think, Wang?"

The general manager of the Rockets is still very clear about his position in the team, so before making a decision, he obediently asked Wang Chao for his opinion.

(End of this chapter)