I just play ball

Chapter 213 God-given opportunity
Li Yue didn't care too much about the fact that he was 1 point short of achieving two consecutive 50+ games. It was nothing more than Nike not putting up posters, but it could win the recognition of more senior fans. After all, 49 points is eye-catching enough, and victory is more important. .

After briefly answering a few questions from the reporter, he quickly returned to the locker room, got out of the shower and received a call from Taylor.

"The Nike team regrets that you failed to complete 3 consecutive games of 50+, but they all expressed their understanding. Because no agreement was signed this time, they are willing to modify the conditions for you to hang a huge poster. This time the request is very simple. You need to get 60+ again this season, and it is not limited to the Christmas game and two games against the Heat."

"Okay, since they are willing to give the opportunity, I am also willing to accept the challenge." Li Yue replied without thinking, knowing that Nike had long wanted to expand its publicity and increase revenue, and insisted on posing as an extra gift, which was caused by a capitalist mentality.

Two 60+ games in the same season are more difficult than three consecutive 50+ games. He recalled that from the establishment of the NBA to the present, only Chamberlain, Jordan, and Kobe have ever achieved it. It took a lot of effort to do it. Every game needs the right time, place and people, which are almost impossible to meet.

"Then I'll go to Nike's headquarters tomorrow and sign the agreement on your behalf."

Li Yue hangs up the phone, sits on a chair and browses Twitter, and finds that 'Nash lore' has become a hot topic.

Surprisingly, fans praised him the most for passing the ball at the last moment. Almost all of them believed that his not greedy for data and performance was an extremely rare quality, which would add more advantages to the MVP selection.

The famous commentator Mark Stein wrote: It is an extremely smart way to pass the lore pass to Nash. First, the hit rate is higher, and second, it can intuitively show his personal attitude and establish a deeper relationship with his teammates. Believe me, even if he takes 20 consecutive shots in the future, his teammates will not be angry. In addition, it can increase his offensive threat at the last moment. The remaining 29 teams in the league dare not use double-team defensive strategies against him without hesitation.

The famous Knicks fan Stephen A. Smith wrote: Compared with two consecutive 50+ games, which are not very eye-catching, passing assists at the last moment can attract more attention.In addition, everyone must not forget that starting from this season, all regular season MVP ballots will be published with their real names, personal preference factors will be greatly reduced, and fan reviews will become an important reference for ticket holders. Watch the game, just search for historical news.

The famous reporter Zak Noy wrote: I have made a decision, no matter what, Li Yue can at least get the second MVP vote from me. If the Lakers record this season surpasses last season, then he will get the first pick vote.

Seeing the good public opinion, Li Yue couldn't help smiling, and continued to browse with his legs up.

Soon, the PR department opened up the locker room to the media, and reporters flocked in.

After patiently answering a bunch of questions, he clapped his hands to attract everyone's attention: "According to the plan, I will treat you tonight."

"GOGOGO!" Nick Yang echoed, "Malibu Beach, the traffic congestion is just relieved right now."

When the reporters heard the words, they wrote down their pens thoughtfully. Some of them chased after to ask about the specific situation, but were blocked by the public relations director, asking for permission first, but Li Yue had already led the team out of the locker room.

Everyone drove there in advance, Nash and D'Antoni went to the press conference, and then met in the hotel.

The dinner was very enjoyable, the whole team started separately, and the time went until the early morning.

Sleeping happily until nine o'clock in the morning, Li Yue got up for a morning run, and then went back to the apartment to browse the news. Considering that his body was a bit heavy after two consecutive days of competition, he did not go to the Toyota Center for shooting training, and chose to watch dramas to relax.

The spin-off drama "Longmen Escort" of "Wulin Biography" has been aired for many episodes. He happily watched it for more than three hours, immersed in Uncle Gong's sharp performance, and completely forgot to make lunch until his stomach growled. Feeling hungry.

He planned to order takeaway, but he gave up on the option of waiting and having very little control. After thinking about it for a while, he chose to go out to find a Chinese restaurant. After driving two kilometers, he found a Cantonese restaurant.

He ordered a large Qingyuan white-cut chicken, put aside all his scruples, and ate two pieces of pork ribs roasted in honey sauce.

The boss is both a Lakers fan and a fan of him. At the end of the checkout, everything was [-]% off. He offered to take a group photo and tweet it, hoping to help bring some popularity to it. As a result, the boss sent a membership card to express his gratitude.

Leaving the restaurant and preparing to go home to continue watching the drama, the second uncle called and asked him to come over for dinner.

He immediately set off by car, arrived in about an hour, drove Black Knife Tower 2 with his cousin, and rushed back to Los Angeles after dinner.

The desire to follow dramas disappeared for a while. Thinking of his indulgence all day, he decided to find something to do. After thinking about it, the goal was to analyze the offensive and defensive strategies of the next opponent-the Bobcats, and directly searched for videos on the Internet to watch.

Like the Lakers, the Bobcats have played two games, winning the Cavaliers at home and losing the Rockets away.

The first thing that caught his attention was the two games. The three teams scored the highest 96 points, and the Cavaliers even only scored 84 points. Compared with the other 27 teams who averaged 99.5 points in the previous two games, there was a huge difference.

He is not surprised by this, because the coach of the Bobcats is Steve Clifford, who has been the first assistant coach of the Lakers for the past two years. The mentor, who claims to be the second Thibodeau, is now in charge of the team and naturally focuses on defense.

But Irving and Harden, the two outside stars, did not take much advantage. One scored 21 points and the other 16 points, but the shooting percentage was close to 50%. Such a strange data composition surprised him, and he watched the video more seriously.

After watching the two games, he finally came to the conclusion that the Bobcats defended well, mainly reflected in three aspects.

First, the Rockets and Cavaliers, two teams dominated by young players, rarely played a quick counterattack.

Second, they have excellent rebound protection in the backcourt, and both Howard and Tristan are below-average rebounders.

Third, both the Rockets and the Cavaliers have fewer free throws than average. Harden is equivalent to losing a major scoring method. Irving also took advantage of many breakthroughs, and his shooting percentage is low, so that's why.

After a little analysis, Li Yue keenly found that there are two huge loopholes in the Bobcats' defensive strategy.

One is to reduce the number of quick counterattacks. They seldom fight for offensive rebounds. As long as a teammate makes a shot, the other four immediately return to defense collectively; the second is to prevent fouls and protect backboards. The main strategy to limit pick-and-roll breakthroughs is to shrink and intercept in advance.

Generally speaking, the Bobcats' defensive strategy tends to be conservative. They restrict opponents from scoring easily through strategies such as rapid contraction, collective retreat, and reduction of fouls. One hit.

Especially the two positions of small forward and point guard. Although Michael Gilchrist has a certain physical strength, he is inexperienced as a rookie, and Kemba Walker is too short.

In order to verify his guess, Li Yue dug up the game video of Deron Williams scoring 57 points against the Bobcats, and found that even if they were blown up, the Bobcats seemed not to make adjustments.

While that wasn't Clifford's game, Walker was still Walker.

After studying some of the Bobcats' offenses, Li Yue felt tired, turned off the computer, took a shower and went to sleep.

Just woke up the next day, picked up the phone and saw the important news push: the latest news, the game between the Lakers and the Bobcats, Steve Nash was absent due to back muscle tension, and Michael Gilchrist was sidelined due to a finger strain.

After reading the news, an idea popped into his mind: Bobcats forward defense is even worse.

(End of this chapter)