Versatile Point Forward

Chapter 118

After defeating the Timberwolves at home, the Blazers ushered in a wave of five consecutive visitors. They have to go to the away game to challenge the Magic, Heat, Hornets, Timberwolves and Warriors. They will not be able to face the Bulls at home until November 11.Five-game streak is a difficult journey for any team. Ye Feng is also the first time he has encountered such a cheating thing, but he must get used to it as soon as possible. In the annual schedule of 19 NBA teams There are not a few consecutive N games, and there are even occasional back-to-back back-to-back games that are even more calming. That is also a schedule that really tests the rotation of the head coach and the perseverance of the players.

Fortunately, these five consecutive away games for the Blazers did not require them to run around the United States all day long. The Magic and the Heat belong to the Southeast Division, and they are not far apart geographically. The actual distance between Orlando and Miami is only 376 kilometers. There are two away games, and there is actually enough rest time.However, New Orleans, where the Hornets are located, is not very "friendly". Going to this port city in Louisiana requires the team to fly halfway across the United States. Fortunately, the next two games are in Minnesota and Oakland. They are all teams in the West. Only the Pelicans and Timberwolves on the 14th and 15th for two consecutive days are more difficult.

Only then did Ye Feng deeply understand why the league signed a contract with the world's largest commercial aircraft leasing company "GE Capital" in 1998. The company provided special planes for NBA teams, and some bosses who didn't care about burning money simply Just buy a private jet directly for the team, such as Cuban, the owner of the Dallas Mavericks.In the schedule with many away games, there is really a great need for a plane dedicated to NBA players. Among other things, it can at least be a little more spacious than ordinary flights, which can also give the players more space to rest, so that they do not have to fly in the air. Physical exertion during the long journey.

GE Capital deserves to be a well-known commercial aircraft leasing company. In order to provide the best service to their customers, they are also working hard.These special planes that pick up and drop off NBA players have undergone a lot of internal modifications. Usually, the cabin can accommodate 160 passengers. After the modification, only about 40 seats are left.The entire cabin is divided into three parts.The most forward cabin has only 15 seats and is for players.The cabin in the middle has about 12 seats, divided into 6 rows, and there is a square table in the middle for the coach to hold a meeting.The rearmost cabin generally has 7 rows of seats and belongs to the staff.In addition, cabin entrances, toilets, etc. have also been refitted.

The biggest advantage of this is that the players finally have a place to put their long legs. You must know that even the business class cannot have such ample space.In addition, another advantage is that you can avoid being surrounded by fans. As an NBA player, it is of course a very happy thing to have fans who like you, but when you are busy rushing to the next city to play the game, you still have to worry about it. Constantly being asked by fans to take photos or sign autographs, even a good-tempered player will feel very uncomfortable. Maybe this is the same as being abruptly woken up from sleep.

The first away game is at the Amway Center in Orlando to challenge the Magic team led by "Warcraft" Howard.I have to say that Van Gundy's one-center + four-shooter system with Howard as the core was very successful. Under Howard's strong restraint, the Turk Turkoglu scored 35 points and Howard himself received 19 rebounds. But it is a pity that in the end, the Blazers, who were more integrated and more balanced in strength, won this victory, which undoubtedly made a good start for Wulianke.In this game, Roy was the hero of the team's victory. His 27 points and 6 assists in the game were also the highest in the team.

Strictly speaking, it was Ye Feng who benefited the most from the whole team. He saw another form of small forward from Turkoglu. Of course, this is an ancient and trendy style of play, that is, point forward.It is said to be ancient because this position was born as early as the Bull Dynasty, and Pippen, who may be the strongest second-in-chief in history, was also held; it is said to be trendy because top point guards emerged in endlessly at the beginning of this century. From Nash to Paul and Deron, it can be said that there is almost no soil for the survival of organization forwards. At this time, Van Gundy dug this position out of the dust of history, which is undoubtedly a challenge to the trend.

In this match, Ritkoglu's comprehensiveness of being able to organize offenses and conquer cities deeply attracted Ye Feng. He felt that he was fully capable of doing this, even better than Tekoglu. good.In fact, the high-spirited he did not regard the Turks as his opponent, and the number 23 of the Cavaliers was the target he was chasing.LeBron James, the undoubted favorite of heaven, has been considered by many people as a strong candidate for the first small forward in history after just five seasons in the NBA. He is also known as the most comprehensive small forward after Pippen. This is Ye Feng's real goal that has been kept secret all along.

If Ye Feng didn't know how to catch up with James' footsteps, then Turkoglu's performance undoubtedly opened a new door for him. To be an all-round forward who can score and assist is what he needs in the future. direction of effort.Of course, this is difficult. Under normal circumstances, a player who is desperate to score is naturally unwilling to give up the right to shoot, but there is no shortage of such superstars in NBA history. The most famous one is probably Archibald, nicknamed "Elf". In the 1972-73 season, he won the NBA's scoring champion and assists champion at the same time, fully proving that scoring and organization can be taken into account.

However, the urgency of the competition schedule made it impossible for Ye Feng to adjust slowly, let alone re-establish the direction of future development for himself.The Trail Blazers won again in Miami. Even Wade scored a game-high 36 points and could not prevent the team from losing. Roy, who is also a shooting guard, made a match with him and scored 32 points. Feng also contributed the first 20+ in his career: 21 points, 8 rebounds and 5 assists.It is worth noting that Beasley, the No. 33 pick selected by the Heat, also started this game and got 9 minutes of playing time. He scored 5 points on 14 of 3 shots, but as a big man, [-] rebounds must be a failure. .

After defeating the Heat, the Blazers ushered in a wave of four consecutive victories, but just as they were about to go all out and continue to win, the Hornets gave them a sap.This was a defensive battle, the highest score of the game came from Roy, who scored 21 points, but the Hornets relied on the performance of Paul and David West to bring the Blazers' four-game winning streak to an abrupt end.As if he was infected by his teammates, Ye Feng's shooting percentage was not high. Even if he was standing opposite Peja, who was strong in offense and weak in defense, he only scored 13 points.In this game, the two sides fought wildly. The Blazers shot 43.5% from the field and 33.3% from the three-point range, while the Hornets only scored 42.3% and 31.8%, so when Ye Feng saw the statistics, he was stunned and didn't see the team. Where you do worse than your opponent, you lose.

But this kind of time does not allow him to be sad, because this is a back-to-back. After they challenged the Hornets on November 11, they will continue to challenge the Timberwolves at the Target Center in Minnesota on the 14th.Originally, Loew thought that as the host, he could treat Ye Feng to a meal, but Ye Feng was so tired, he had to find time to recover his strength for the night's game.Fortunately, Love is not an outsider. After listening to his explanation, he understood his approach very well, so he continued to postpone the meal.It's a pity that Ye Feng was still sluggish until the warm-up before the match, he was really exhausted.

McMillan had no choice, and he couldn't force Ye Feng to play. If Ye Feng didn't perform well, he might be in danger of getting injured.So he sent Batum, who is also a rookie this year, to replace Ye Feng, and Ye Feng obediently stayed on the bench, waiting to lead the second team with Outlaw.Ye Feng was still a little depressed about the coach's arrangement, but he knew that this situation could not be tolerated, and he also knew that his body hadn't recovered to the best condition, forcing him to start the game was undoubtedly causing trouble for himself, so he accepted it half-heartedly. Such an arrangement.

I don't know why, Love played poorly again, maybe the Blazers are his sufferer?The data of 8 points and 4 rebounds in the game can only be said to be a failure. The Timberwolves' inside line is completely supported by Jefferson's 26 points and 6 rebounds.So it's not surprising that the Timberwolves lost to the Blazers again in the end, but the Blazers didn't perform well except for Roy, and Ye Feng could barely score in double figures.The score of this game is also not so good, 88 to 83, the Trail Blazers played like this is not beyond the expectations of experts, after all, this is one of their series of away games, but it is a bit puzzling that the Timberwolves played like this.

Oakland is the last stop of this wave of five consecutive away games. The Blazers players seem to be tortured enough. There is no way. After all, they are all young people. Five away games in eight days is indeed difficult for them.However, as soon as the team relaxed, something went wrong. Although the team scored in double figures with five players, the Warriors scored in double figures with six players and three scored 20+. What's more, the Blazers' free throws in this game were very poor, with a 69% shooting rate. It is 25 percentage points lower than the Warriors. Fortunately, the Warriors did not get many free throws, otherwise they would not only lose 5 points, but they may suffer a disastrous defeat in the last away game.

Even so, the Blazers' five-game streak still achieved a record of 3 wins and 2 losses, and they still maintained a winning percentage of more than 50%, which is quite good for a young team.However, Ye Feng still secretly scolded the NBA schedule officials in his heart. There was no other reason. After returning from Oakland, he didn't have any rest time at all, and he was going to play against the Bulls at home again.

(End of this chapter)