I just play ball

Chapter 56 Official Confirmation
Fans cheered, screamed, and cried at the same time, completely covering the whistle at the end of the final game. Even the DJ's loud shouts and live BGM disappeared. The Staples Center exploded instantly, and all fans fell into carnival.

Gasol quickly rushed to the basket, raised his hands and clapped Li Yue, and nodded his approval frequently.

Howard stood on the sidelines and raised his hands, waving up and down at the fans, signaling that he needs to make more noise.

The Lakers' bench players swarmed into the field, Thackeray jumped forward waving a towel, and Goodlock threw his fist into the air in celebration.

On the other hand, Artest had a calm face, and stood watching from the outside. After all the other teammates had finished interacting with Li Yue, he walked up calmly, bumped his shoulders in greeting, and then lightly beat his chest.

Li Yue blinked to express his understanding. After this game, the Lakers' mental strength improved again, and he was the main contributor.

These actions of Artest are to convey respect, and his attitude towards him has completely changed from protecting his younger brother to being equal to him.

As the teammates dispersed, the Time Warner reporter walked up to Li Yue with a microphone, introduced a few words quickly, and started asking questions.

"You scored a career-high 46 points tonight and led your team to victory. How did you do it all?"

"Maintain long-term scientific training, carefully study the opponent's technical points on the field, trust your teammates [-]% in the game, try your best to do every defense, and patiently play every offense."

"We noticed that the timeout when Kobe left the court was your active foul request. What were you thinking at that time?"

"I want him to get off the field for an examination as soon as possible. I'm worried that his injury will get worse if he pushes hard. He always likes to push hard."

"In the last 2 minutes of the game, you guys chanted for Kobe to win the game from the bench. What does that mean to you?"

"It means a lot! Our journey this season has been quite difficult. Kobe once averaged up to 43 minutes per game. This victory proves that he can relax and we will continue to lead the team forward."

After the words fell, the reporter smiled to indicate the end of the interview, and Li Yue turned and walked towards the players' tunnel.

As he passed by the sidelines, a person suddenly jumped out to block the way, and when he looked closely, it turned out to be Curtis 50 cents.

"Although there is only 1 point left to get 47 points, please accept my formal apology. I am a fool. I shouldn't have acted so rudely to you." Curtis said in a correct manner like a primary school student who made a mistake. Standing there, guilt filled his eyes.

The corners of Li Yue's mouth curled up slightly, and he turned his head to see Nicholson and Denzel Washington with smirks on their faces. This scene was obviously the effect of the law of true fragrance, but he didn't take it seriously, and he didn't want to have too much contact with each other.

"Forgive you, pay more attention in the future."

"Eh..." Curtis froze for a moment, as if his face was hot on his butt, which was quite uncomfortable.

Nicholson laughed out loud, "You're interesting, it's rare to see a rookie player like you who can master the size of the conversation. He neither deliberately pleases nor underestimates you based on his personal ability. I like it very much. I will have a chance in the future. Come out and play."

"Okay, I'll take a step first." Li Yue nodded slightly and continued to walk towards the player tunnel.

Back in the locker room, Li Yue took a shower and changed clothes.

About half an hour later, the coaching staff also came to the locker room. D'Antoni announced that in the remaining two games against the Spurs and the Rockets, the playing time of the main players would be kept below 10 minutes, and the team began to officially prepare for the playoffs.

Gasol wanted to inquire about Kobe's latest situation, and Black told him that he was still under inspection, and that he would announce the news as soon as possible.

...

Li Yue hurried back to the apartment, it was already 11 o'clock in the middle of the night, poured a cup of hot water as usual, and sat in front of the computer to browse Twitter.

Kobe's injury and leaving the game became the number one hot topic, with [-]+ related tweets, and media of all sizes scrambling to report on it, while his own dunk lore ranked fifth, with [-]+ related tweets tweets.

It wasn't that exaggerated at first, because Kobe was still able to run and make free throws before leaving the field. At that time, he thought it was just an acute stress shock. However, a well-known sports nursing expert speculated that it might be a torn Achilles tendon, and fans and the media took it seriously.

Renowned commentator Mark Stein publishes short essays detailing the various possible implications.

[If it is true that the Achilles tendon is torn, it will definitely be a major blow to Kobe, because throughout the history of the NBA, the players who have a torn Achilles tendon have a sharp decline in their competitive level without exception, and some even retire directly.

Even though Wilkins' numbers haven't dropped after his return, his personal style of play has also changed a lot. The number of straight up and down dunks has dropped precipitously. At the same time, he relies more on pick-and-roll and off-the-ball. disappear.

It was also a heavy loss for the Lakers. They struggled to reach sixth in the Western Conference, but lost the strongest core in the playoffs.

What's even more frightening is that they sent a lot of draft picks in the deal to get Nash. If Kobe returns from injury and cannot recover, then they will inevitably enter reconstruction, and it will become more difficult to keep Howard. 】

After reading it, Li Yue felt that it made sense, but these were based on which expert's speculation was true.

Thinking of this, he took out his mobile phone and dialed Garivetti's number, but no one answered the call for a long time.

Putting down his phone, he continued to browse. The short article has received more than 2000 reposts and more than 800 comments.

[Yongai Zijin & 24: Damn D'Antoni, Kobe played 12 minutes in the first quarter and didn't give a rest for 1 minute in the second quarter. The Lakers have already secured sixth place in the West. Why do they have to fight so hard?Just for his own shit win. 】

[Lakers Fan Base Camp: I think the first priority is to keep Li Yue, Howard should be the second priority, and then amnesty Ron Artest, and use that part of the salary to introduce a backup small forward and shooting guard. 】

【Kevin Johnson: Why didn't anyone mention Azeri?I think Kobe was injured and he needs to take the main responsibility.His defensive moves are too big, all kinds of forced collisions and pulls, many of which can call malicious fouls. 】

[Pierslav: D'Antoni is an idiot. The team's main players are all veterans except Howard. They actually insist on running and bombing tactics. The dog in my family is better at coaching than him, and they always insist on rotating eight or nine players. Finally, they hurt Kobe. . 】

After reading three popular comments in a row, Li Yue couldn't help sighing that the fans were making a fuss before they figured out the reason.

Kobe's insistence on playing was his own strong request, and D'Antoni would dare to go against it, otherwise he would have arranged a rotation.

The rotation of eight or nine players is also necessary, because the pressure to enter the playoffs is too great, how dare to leave too much time for the rookies, and the Lakers have been injured this season, D'Antoni has not many opportunities to arrange more players to play.

The key point is that the management headed by Bass personally hired D'Antoni. No one said that he was good at various tactics, and trying fast break tactics was the result of the team's joint discussion. After the verification effect was too poor, he rarely used it.

Many fans don't watch the game at all, and never think about whether what the media and other fans say is reasonable, they just make a fuss.

Just as Li Yue was thinking, the phone rang, and when he looked down, Garivetty sent a text message.

"It is confirmed that the calf muscle is strained, and at the same time there is some inflammation of the Achilles tendon, which needs to rest for at least three weeks."

After reading the news, he casually clicked on the calendar and found that three weeks back would be the second round of the playoffs. Kobe could still catch up when he came back, but it was best to rest for a few days to ensure full recovery from the injury.

Of course, all of this must be based on the fact that the Lakers beat their opponents in the first round of the playoffs.

Thinking of this, Li Yue clicked on the official NBA website to check the records of potential opponents.

The Spurs are currently ranked second, with three games left to play, but their record is four games ahead of the third-ranked Nuggets. Even if they lose all three games, they will not fall to third. Only the Thunder won tonight After that, it was impossible to hit the first place.

Excluding the Spurs, Li Yue continued to look down.

The Nuggets currently rank third, but are one game ahead of the Clippers and Grizzlies, who are tied for fourth.

The remaining three opponents of the Nuggets are the Sun Bucks Trail Blazers. It can be said that they are all weak teams.

The Clippers beat the Grizzlies in an away game tonight. The remaining two games are against the Trail Blazers and the Kings. They must do everything to keep the No. 4. The Grizzlies' remaining two games are against the Mavericks and the Jazz. They will definitely fight for the last minute .

On the whole, the Lakers have a high probability of playing against the Nuggets in the first round, a small probability of playing against the Clippers, and a very small probability of playing against the Grizzlies.

Ordinarily, the Nuggets would be good to play against. It is considered the Lakers’ best pairing in the playoffs. The opponent has no absolute strength. They just need to press the rhythm and fight for defense. But now without Kobe, it is difficult for the backcourt to resist the attack of a group of jumping men from the Nuggets. , The inside line will also be restrained, which will lead to a complete collapse of the defensive system. At that time, most of them can only give up the outside line defense and gamble on the Nuggets.

Not to mention the Clippers and the Grizzlies, even if they win after a match, they will be seriously injured. The second round encounter with the Spurs is basically free.

With these in mind, Li Yue continued to browse Twitter.

As expected, in just a few minutes, the news of Kobe's injury diagnosis has spread and fermented.

What is more surprising is that many fans are very grateful, and they all said that as long as the Achilles tendon is not injured, everything is acceptable. Even if this year's playoffs stop in the first round, as long as Howard and Li Yue are left, they can fight again next year.

Li Yue didn't agree with this view, but he couldn't help the fans to think that way, and didn't make any refutation or response.

I thought, within a few minutes, Kobe tweeted himself, besides a selfie lying on the hospital bed, there was a paragraph.

[I understand the thoughts of all Lakers fans, but I must point out that even if I miss the entire playoffs, Li Yue can lead the team to victory. He has done this many times, and you must believe him. 】

All kinds of comments appeared like a torrential rain, and Kobe even specially replied to one of them.

[Richard David: Your words represent the official confirmation of the Lakers' next-generation core players? 】

[Kobe replied: Of course, I don't care what other people do, I think Li Yue is the future of the Lakers. 】

(End of this chapter)