Soul of the Golden State

Chapter 109
No matter how happy the members of the Warriors are for the victory of this game, they can only be happy for a while, because they have no time to celebrate and need to set off that night to go to Sacramento to participate in the next game.

As the first team to join the NBA, the history of the Kings is a bit bleak. Since winning the NBA championship as the Rochester Royals in 1951, the Kings have been doing nothing for more than 30 years.

However, the long history has also brought them a special record, that is, the team with the most name changes in the NBA.

From the earliest Rochester Royals to the current Sacramento Kings, a total of 5 names have been changed, and it has only been 2 years since they moved from Kansas City to Sacramento.

As a team that has been doing nothing for a long time, don't think it's a big fish. In fact, the strength of the Kings is really not weak.

The Kings team has a lot of little-known but powerful players, Reggie Seuss, Eddie Johnson, Larsa Thompson, Otis Thorpe and so on.

Relying on this group of players last season, the Kings ranked 37th in the Western Conference with a record of 45 wins and 7 losses and successfully entered the playoffs.

Don't be surprised, as a weak West, with such a poor record, it is normal to still make the playoffs.

This season, the Kings acquired Purvis Short, the Warriors' former scoring leader, through a trade, and planned to do a big job.

As the top scorer of the Warriors last season, Purvis Short can definitely be called an excellent scorer. He averaged 25.5 points, 5.1 rebounds and 3.7 assists per game last season.

Such a player who has been selected by the Warriors since his rookie period and has played in the Warriors for eight years, never imagined that in this season, he would be traded by his old club, and the exchange object was actually two The first-round pick, who are you looking down on?
Compared with Purvis Short who was almost going crazy, the management of the Kings felt that they got a huge bargain. + Players, why should they improve to the next level?
But who would have thought that Purvis Short suffered a knee sprain after only playing 7 games, making him unable to play for at least 3 months.

This is not over yet. With the lineup that entered the playoffs last season, even if they lost Purvis Shorter, they should have good results. Unexpectedly, they have a poor record of 5 wins and 8 losses. Such a record that they can't even rank in the top eight in the Western Conference. If this continues, they won't even be able to make the playoffs.

Of course, no one thinks that this is all Frank's conspiracy, and no one can predict the onset of injuries. Therefore, everyone still believes that Frank's deal failed, even if Rodman was selected this year with the King's overall pick.

However, regardless of whether the deal is a good deal or not, it does not affect the one-sided situation in this game.

In this game, Teague continued to miss due to injury, and Rod Higgins ushered in his return from injury. Unfortunately, he still played as a substitute this time.

Nelson put Rodman on the starting lineup. Although Rodman is still very immature in all aspects, he doesn't care about the offensive end. Except for going down and slipping the bottom line to catch dunks, other scoring methods are for Rodman. , almost equivalent to scratching a lottery ticket, you can't ask for more.

But Rodman's vitality and passion are very lacking in this team. Other players, Li Weisi and Mullin play very calmly, Smith and Malone are very experienced in playing, and they seem to lack some vitality. Now, with Rodman On the field, it was like a catfish effect, mobilizing everyone's emotions, and it seemed easier than before to set off a wave of superb attacking skills.

In the end, the Warriors defeated the Kings who were waiting for work 106:97 away.

As his first starting game, Rodman's performance can only be described as mediocre. He played 25 minutes and scored 2 points, 7 rebounds and 1 assist. He made 6 of 1 shots and his shooting percentage was only a poor 16.7%. .

However, the value of Rodman on the court is not reflected by the statistics. Although the opposite small forward Reggie Seuss performed strongly and scored 30 points in the game, in the first half under the defense of Rodman, he only made 7 shots. 2, get 5 points.

In the second half, due to Rodman's foul troubles, Seuss turned on the super god mode and scored crazily. Neither Mullin nor Higgins could defend Seuss at all.

Fortunately, Malone's advantage in the interior is too great in this game. Although Kings center Larsa Thompson is considered an excellent center, he still cannot stop Malone's offense.

In the end, Malone scored a game-high 36 points and grabbed 21 rebounds, completely dominating the penalty area.

Li Weisi scored 21 points and 13 assists in this game, successfully completed the 20+10 average task, and raised his average data to a double-double level of 24.3 points and 10.1 assists per game. As for the triple-double, I dare not think about it , Whether it is Malone, Smith or Rodman, they are all rebounding monsters, and they will never give way to Li Weisi.

In addition, Mullin scored 13 points, Price 8 points and 6 assists, Hornacek 16 points, and Higgins, who returned from injury, scored 2 points.

It can be seen from the data that the young members of the Warriors, except for Li Weisi, a perverted rookie who is as steady as an old dog, all other rookies are more or less unstable. Fortunately, someone stands up in every game. There is also a Dinghaishenzhen in the team, so there are more wins than losses.

After defeating the Kings, the Warriors also ended all games in November and got a precious two days of rest.

No one would have thought that it has been a month since the start of the game. Last season, the Warriors were at the bottom of the Western Conference. At this time, they actually achieved a record of 12 wins and 3 losses, ranking second in the Western Conference.

No need to ask first, it is naturally the Los Angeles Lakers, the king of the West, with 12 wins and 2 losses, leading the Warriors by half a game.

With such a record, not to mention the fans, the coaching staff couldn't believe it, and even Frank, the instigator, couldn't believe it.

Frank always thought that the people he had chosen had great potential, but that was only potential after all. If it really wanted to be transformed into strength, it would take two or three years.

But he didn't expect the team to run in so well. As the mainstay of the team, the veterans are the guarantee of the lower limit of performance, while the young players can give the team the greatest help within their ability.

Apart from the hard work of the coaching staff, Li Weisi is the biggest contributor to making the team unite into one rope so quickly.

Li Weisi can not only serve as the commander on the court, perfectly execute the tactics of the coaching staff, but also act as a sharp knife in times of crisis, relying on scoring to save the team's crisis when necessary.

At this moment, Frank really understood how great a good point guard is for the team.

(End of this chapter)