the great gatsby

Chapter 8 Surprise and Stress

Gatsby didn't look happy when he passed a good ball, but immediately returned to the defensive position. Douglas wanted to dribble quickly across the half court. Like Douglas, Gatsby had to make D'Antoni notice himself quickly and enter The players in the eyes of the head coach have the chance to play. If the coach doesn't take you to heart, it will be the fate of the thousand-year-old drinking fountain watchman.

Yes, what Gatsby wants now is not to become the starter. He has to ensure that he can stay. To a certain extent, the preseason is to determine the 12-man squad. Commercial value does not guarantee that you will be able to stay, but strength is!
After all, the NBA is a sports league. They will not find someone who can’t play the game to make up for the commercial value. Even if the Knicks want to keep Gatsby, he must show the strength of a qualified marginal player .

Gatsby stared at Douglas, lowered his waist and opened his hands, followed Douglas closely, preventing Douglas from speeding up easily. This is what defenders often have to do. Today, when the pace is getting faster and faster, switching offenses has become a The main way for many teams to score, defenders must buy time for their teammates to settle into a defensive position when the opponent starts up.

Douglas wanted to cross the half-court quickly, but Gatsby stuck to him like jelly beans, making it difficult for him to accelerate. He was anxious, so he immediately accelerated and wanted to crush him. Gatsby was not afraid, There was a direct physical confrontation with Douglas, Douglas was forced to stop, Gatsby stepped back a few steps later, and immediately returned to the defensive position.

"Huh!" D'Antoni looked at the physical test report in his hand in surprise. Douglas is a strong combo guard with a height of 188cm and a weight of 86KG, but Gatsby was not obviously crushed in the collision. It seems that his body is not that weak.

Douglas dribbled the ball across half court to Larry Hughes, who took on the organizing task. He turned around and got inside. Gatsby followed closely. Chandler helped Douglas set a screen. After solidly blocking Gatsby, David Lee could only switch to guard Douglas.

Larry Hughes saw that Chandler was out of position under the basket, and passed a pass to Chandler. Gates poked the basketball away with his eyes faster than his eyes, and controlled the ball before Chandler, and immediately launched a fast break. Larry Hughes and Douglas returned to defense very quickly and blocked the center line to prevent Gatsby from breaking into the basket.

Gatsby stopped at the three-point line, as if he was waiting for his teammates to get in position. Douglas felt relieved and took a step back inside the three-point line, preparing to break through the defense, but Gatsby shot directly away from the three-point line. !
"Huh?" D'Antoni was a little surprised. He didn't expect this rookie to be so bold and dare to shoot this kind of ball, but the next moment he couldn't help but praised: "Such a smooth shot, such a high arc!"

The basketball slid out of a wonderful arc and fell straight to the basket!

Larry Hughes was a little surprised: This rookie is very unusual!

Gatsby's performance didn't stop. In the next round, he went down to attack. He and David Lee made another high pick-and-roll. This time he broke through Chandler to the basket and attracted Eddie Curry. Throwing the ball into the air, Milicic pressed the ball into the basket with one hand, and dunked in the air!
Two assists, one steal, and one ultra-long three-pointer made D'Antoni Gatsby look up to him. He was most annoyed that this rookie was too thin, but now it seems that his physical confrontation is not bad. In fact, the rookie just entered Most of the league needs several seasons of hard work to adapt to the confrontation of the league.

The team pays more attention to the potential of rookies. Apart from physical fitness, the so-called potential is mentality and vision. As for dribbling and breakthrough, these are not necessary for rookies, and these can be honed.

The big heart and vision shown by Gatsby made D'Antoni suddenly think of his beloved apprentice Steve Nash. Nash has also been criticized for being thin, but Nash won two NBA regular season MVPs, eight NBA All-Star lineup, three-time NBA All-NBA First Team, five-time NBA assists leader!
Thinking of this, D'Antoni took a deep look at Gatsby, then shook his head and smiled, how could it be so easy to meet a genius like Nash.

The training match only lasted two quarters. The coaching staff considered that the players had not exercised for too long, and it was not appropriate to enter such an intense game all at once, so they started to do other exercises after two quarters. After two quarters of the game, D'Antoni basically The task of investigation was accomplished.

The one who fell the most was Eddie Curry. This fat man was almost too fat to run. D'Antoni was very dissatisfied, but he couldn't do anything about such a player who had no self-motivation.

D'Antoni is quite satisfied with the performance of Larry Hughes and Al Harrington, and the state is still there;
David Lee and Gallinelli performed pretty well, and Jordan Hill and Douglas performed about as expected and were considered usable. The one who really surprised D'Antoni was Gatsby, a player he was not optimistic about at the beginning. After the field, he shined brightly, which surprised him quite a bit.

In the following time, D'Antoni arranged for the players to make physical reserves and restore the players' condition as soon as possible. Gatsby was the most active one. Not only did he complete the training arranged by the coach without compromise, but he also practiced extra after the training. Assistant Coaches also praised Gatsby's initiative.

During the training, the preseason also came quietly. The Knicks’ opponent in the first game of the preseason was the Atlanta Hawks. The Atlanta Hawks were not weak players. Last season, the Hawks ranked fourth in the Eastern Conference. It was eliminated by the Boston Celtics in the first round, but this does not mean that the Eagles are a weak team, but it shows that the Eagles are strong.

Because the Boston Celtics were the champions last season, the Celtics defeated the Eagles, Cavaliers and Pistons along the way, and solved the mighty Los Angeles Lakers in six games in the finals, while the Eagles and the Celtics fought in seven games It was only defeated, which is enough to prove the strength of the eagle!
This season, the Hawks not only kept their original starting lineup, but also joined the strong player Jamal Crawford. This year's strength is even stronger than last season. Playing too ugly is not good, and the key is that the home court of the New York Knicks is too special. Madison Square Garden has always been a holy place for basketball. Almost all players who come here to play games want to make something happen.

D'Antoni is under a lot of pressure!
(End of this chapter)