Versatile Point Forward

Chapter 152
After being diagnosed, Ye Feng declined Dr. Jones' suggestion to stay and recuperate, and insisted on returning to Portland with the team.After all, this sprain is not very serious, Ye Feng still believes in Roberts' professional ethics, and the NBA requires that injured players must wear formal clothes and sit on the bench during the game if it is not necessary, and must not be absent without reason.In fact, even if there is no such a rule, Ye Feng would prefer to be with his teammates instead of lying on the hospital bed bored by himself. Whether he loses or wins, he hopes to be able to witness it with his own eyes.

At the insistence of the coaching staff, the team had already taken a special plane to return to their home stadium overnight. Ye Feng and Roberts still had to fly back to Portland by themselves if they wanted the team's entourage.Ye Feng did not appear on the team's training ground the next afternoon, even though McMillan arranged only for recovery training, Roy and others seemed a little worried when they did not see Ye Feng, but Roberts promptly told everyone Good news: Ye Feng slightly sprained his left ankle and needs to rest for a week.Hearing that there was only one week, everyone breathed a sigh of relief, and fortunately they have now won the match point for this round of the series, otherwise they might be even more worried.

McMillan knew about Ye Feng's injury the night before, so he had no special reaction, but he was not as optimistic as his players.Indeed, getting the match point means that there is not so much pressure, but in the history of the NBA, there are indeed teams that fell behind 1 to 3 and finally completed the reversal. It is not time to take it lightly.Now that Ye Feng is absent, he can only start with Outlaw or Batum.In McMillan's opinion, he is inclined to let Batum start, because although Batum is also a rookie, he is also an all-around small forward, which can be said to be a weakened version of Ye Feng. As for Outlaw , If it is put on the starting lineup, the team's bench lineup will lack a stable scoring point, which means that the main players need to play longer.

There is not much preparation time left for the Blazers. McMillan needs to unify his thinking in the team as soon as possible, so after the training session, he deliberately left Batum and Outlaw two people, and said unabashedly His formation for the next match.After hearing the coach's arrangement, Outlaw was a little disappointed. In his opinion, if Ye Feng was injured, the team's starting small forward must be in his pocket. Unexpectedly, the coach chose another rookie.Any idiot could see his disappointment, and McMillan had to explain his considerations in detail, so that Outlaw accepted his arrangement willingly.As for Batum, well, this guy has lost his way, and he only wants to kill the Quartet in the next game.

But McMillan's arrangement has nothing to do with Ye Feng, he is recuperating in his apartment depressedly.He didn't tell his parents about the injury this time. He firmly believed that if he accidentally said something, his mother would definitely fly to Portland on the earliest flight, and he couldn't afford to lose this person. On the evening of April 4th, the fifth game of the series officially started. This was also the first time that Ye Feng did not go to the locker room before the game. Instead, he sat down on the bench in suits and leather shoes.In fact, Ye Feng is still very displeased with this regulation of the league. It doesn't matter if he sits on the bench, what's the matter with wearing formal clothes?Not uncomfortable at all, okay?

After seeing the team's starting lineup, Ye Feng was also taken aback. The coach actually used Batum as the team's starting small forward.As a rookie selected in the same year, Ye Feng had great expectations for this French youth, but soon his expectations turned into torture. I don't know if it was because of too much excitement or something else. A headless chicken who can only see him make mistakes, mistakes, and mistakes.Ye Feng had to cover his eyes, this was really torture, seeing Batum's lame performance, he wished he could tear off his suit and tie, put on his jersey and demand to play.

It was too late for McMillan to change, and the Blazers dug a huge hole for themselves in the first quarter, so big that Roy and Adelaide did not fill it up even if they joined forces.The Rockets had been leading the game by around 10 points. Ye Feng was anxious off the court, but his left ankle, which was wrapped like a rice dumpling, told him that he had to sit on the chair, even if the team was obviously going to lose.Looking at McMillan's frown, Ye Feng smiled wryly: It turned out that the most torturous thing was not that the team fell behind, but watching the team fall behind from the sidelines but being helpless.If he wasn't injured, he could attack with full firepower, but now he can only watch from the sidelines and can't do anything.

After all, the Blazers still wasted a match point, and of course they also wasted a home court. The big score was tied 2-3 by the Rockets.The one who should be blamed the most for this match is without a doubt Batum, he didn't play a role similar to Ye Feng at all, not even the beggar version.Although the stats of 12 points, 5 rebounds and 3 assists seemed quite satisfactory, Ye Feng knew that this guy didn't bring any help to the team on both offensive and defensive ends.The offensive end has repeatedly made mistakes in passing the ball, and the defensive end is even more vulnerable. Batum still has a long time to practice, and there is still a lot to learn.

Batum's performance made McMillan finally determined to start Outlaw in the sixth game, and then reduce the playing time of the substitute.This is completely helpless. Although there is still a match point, the Blazers cannot afford to lose. If it is the regular season, McMillan can of course continue to let Batum practice more on the court, but now it is a life-and-death postseason Sai, no more time for him to squander.He knew that this would harm Batum's mentality, but there was nothing he could do about it. First of all, he had to think about the team. Secondly, if a player couldn't get over such a psychological barrier, there was no need to play professional basketball.

When the final buzzer sounded, Ye Feng limped onto the pitch with a cane, hugged each other sweaty teammates, comforted them with his body language, and didn't care that his suit was stained with sweat It's a mess.He knows everyone is in a bad mood, including himself, and what's worse than his teammates is that he can't do anything about the outcome of the game, no matter how much he wants to help the team win this game, he can't do it It is an objective fact that even McMillan will not let him come back early because of a victory.

Hey, when will this day be the end?
(End of this chapter)