NBA: Start the water cooler and reach the Hall of Fame

When Li Kaiming walked out of Shepard's office, the rest of the Wizards had already arrived on the training field and started training in full swing, but this time, there was one less unruly player on the field than before. The man, Gilbert Arenas.

Head coach Philip Saunders saw Li Kaiming arriving, and waved towards the latter. When Li Kaiming walked in front of him, Saunders looked at the latter from head to toe, and then nodded with satisfaction, "Li, Jill Burt's departure is a consensus reached between me and the management, and we all believe that you are the most suitable to lead this team in the future!"

Li Kaiming took a deep breath, then nodded, "I will do my best!"

Sanders laughed a few times, and then patted Li Kaiming's shoulder twice, "After the transaction is over, I have already got in touch with Rashad Lewis. If there is no accident, he should be here soon. I will contact you, do you know what to do?"

When Lewis approached Li Kaiming, of course he came to show his loyalty. How could Li Kaiming not understand such a simple matter?

Of course, he became the boss of an nba team in his early 19s, and he still has to ask the coaches and veteran players for some things to learn, but unfortunately, Sanders is not good at dealing with the internal affairs of the team relationship, so the burden fell on team vice president Tommy Sheppard.

And the latter has already taught Li Kaiming one-on-one in the office, so for the upcoming veteran Rashad Lewis, Li Kaiming has already made various preparations in his heart.

Seeing that Li Kaiming's mentality is still calm, Sanders nodded secretly, "Lewis still needs a physical examination, and he will definitely not be able to play today's game. He will not be able to play until the next game at the earliest. Now Jill Burt's gone again, so tonight's game..."

A confident smile appeared on Li Kaiming's face, "Just leave it to me!"

After the two of them chatted on the sidelines for a while, the next half day will be the pre-match training session following the procedure, including video lessons, tactical drills and group confrontations.

The Wizards' opponent tonight is the Boston Celtics, who currently rank second in the Eastern Conference with an 8-2 record. , signed Shaquille O'Neal, the famous shark in history, as the team's starting center. With the growth of the team's self-trained point guard Rajon Rondo, the current starting lineup of the Celtics can be described as luxurious. extreme.

The previous Boston Big Three plus Rondo and O'Neal, no matter how you look at it, they are all a team of space battleships.

Therefore, the Celtics also ranked third in the league in winning odds before the start of the season, second only to the Heat at the top of the Big Three and the Lakers who won the championship last season, and tied with the Orlando Magic.

Faced with such a strong opponent, Sanders himself is actually very vain in his heart. After all, the opposing team is a championship-level team, and it is also the second most glorious team in history. Although the current record of the Wizards is overwhelming Celtics, but in Sanders' mind, the Wizards are like a nouveau riche, and Boston is like an aristocrat with deep roots...

Unsurprisingly, this game was also broadcast live across America. The Wizards beat all the top teams one after another at the beginning of the season, which surprised many people.

But facing the championship-level Celtics this time, various ball critics and fans have also started rational analysis.

In the pre-match live room of ESPN, several commentators discussed the lineups of the two sides in this game.

"I admit that the Wizards have been creating miracles this season. It is incredible that they have come here, but I still want to say that the victory in this game will be Boston!" said the famous NBA basketball commentator, Big Mouth A Smith.

The white host Lawrence Harper nodded and said, "I agree with you, just looking at the lineup, Boston's advantage is too great, and the Wizards also lost Gilbert Arenas in this game, I can't imagine How do they win?"

A Smith spoke very fast, his lips opened and closed as quickly as a machine gun, "Look at the lineup, God, look at the current Celtics, they have the previous Boston Big Three, and now they have Rajon Rondo, I have to praise this kid, he played really well this season, look at the assist list, he is now averaging 16 assists per game! My good boy! And Shaq, I can’t help it I don’t admit it, Shaq’s dominance is indeed not as good as before, but even so, the inside defense of the Wizards is not enough in front of him, Shaq will directly destroy the inside defense composed of Andrey Blatche and Li Kaiming..."

Lawrence Harper intervened in a timely manner, "And on the defensive end, the Wizards can't take advantage. Rajon Rondo averaged 2.3 steals per game last season and was selected to the All-Defensive Team for the first time in his career. , Ray Allen and Pierce's defense is also above the standard. As for the inside defense, Garnett's characteristics seem to be able to fully match Li Kaiming's strengths. He may be the best inside for bulletproof in history, and there are sharks guarding the basket. This kind of defense may even give Li Kaiming a headache, let alone the other Wizards players!"

……

ESPN is one of the largest sports media in America, and their programs have a very wide audience among fans. Therefore, once this program was broadcast before the game, it received a lot of recognition from the fan circle.

This is not the difference between fans or blacks. Even fans who support the Wizards are a little pessimistic before the game.

Judging by ESPN's pregame analysis, the Celtics seem to be finishing off the Wizards...

After a day of training, the pre-match hors d'oeuvres, press conference, and questions from reporters, the Wizards kept a low profile. After all, the average age of the Celtics could make Li Kaiming call him an uncle. Yes, so there is still some respect that should be given. Besides, Shark and others are also famous superstars in history.

"They are all legends. I have only played less than 10 games in this league. I grew up watching their games. Now I feel very honored to be able to compete with my idols on the same stage!" Li Kaiming Say so.

And Sanders' answer was very cautious, "Doc Rivers is the champion coach, we must take off our hats to him!"

It can be said that before the game, the Wizards were full of respect for the Celtics from top to bottom, and they almost poured a bottle of milk into the opponent's mouth!

At 07:30 in the evening, Kane Fitzgerald, the referee of today's game, stood in the middle circle with the ball, and the starting centers of both sides stood on both sides of him, ready to jump the ball.

And on the huge LED screen directly above the stadium, the list of starting players from both sides is also presented on it.

Washington Wizards, point guard Kirk Hinrich, shooting guard Nick Young, small forward Al Thornton, power forward Li Kaiming, center Andre Blatche.

Boston Celtics, point guard Rajon Rondo, shooting guard Ray Allen, small forward Paul Pierce, power forward Kevin Garnett, center Shaquille O'Neal.

The players on the field were ready, and the technical table on the sidelines had also completed the pre-match adjustments. The referee Fitzgerald held the whistle in his mouth, held the ball with one hand, and after the whistle sounded, he held the ball upright. Throw it up!

Blatche and O'Neal took off almost at the same time, but O'Neal is the No. [-] talent after all, and he is taller than Blatche. Although he is older, his explosive power is still not weak. The latter helped the Celtics with a slight advantage. Got the ball for the first attack!

Counting this season, O'Neal has changed teams every year in the past 7 years, from Miami to Toronto, from Phoenix to Cleveland, and finally came to the Celtics, so many people are joking, is O'Neal planning to gather before retiring? Gather jerseys of all colors and form a rainbow jersey. At present, this project is almost complete.

The ball that O'Neal dialed out was grabbed by Garnett. After the latter grabbed the ball, he gave the ball to Rondo, and then ran to the frontcourt by himself.

The players of the Wizards are already in place, and the eyes of the audience are fixed on the court or the screen above. Everyone wants to see whether the Wizards will be as miserable in front of the Celtics as ESPN analyzed before the game one strike?

Rondo quickly dribbled the ball to the frontcourt. Facing Hinrich's defense, Rondo hardly felt the pressure. O'Neal inside was already stuck in the basket, although Hinrich desperately moved left and right, trying to interfere Rondo's pass, but still allowed the latter to find a gap, and directly hit the ball and passed it to O'Neal under the basket!

Although O'Neal has come to the end of his career, his height of 216 and his weight of 316 pounds still make him unmatched in the basket. Even if it is not O'Neal, just a center of the same size is not good in the basket. defensive.

After receiving the ball, O'Neill only took a pat, and then easily arched Blatche away, and then hit the cricket with a small hook before Li Kaiming came over to defend him!

2 is better than 0!

There was silence in the MCI center. Although many people knew that the Wizards were not good at defending the Celtics, but the game was played for the first time, and the opponent played too easily. The Big Three didn't even exert their strength. The old sharks at the end, it seems that the Wizards can't bear it anymore!

After scoring, O'Neill ran back while squinting at Li Kaiming and Blatche.

While standing on the baseline to serve the ball, Blatche showed a helpless smile at Li Kaiming.

Li Kaiming knew that it was fantastic to let Blatche defend against the big shark's attack. Although O'Neal has reached the end of his career, his threat in the penalty area is still the first in the league. His biggest problem now is injuries. And defense, O'Neal has played more than 8 games in only two of the last eight seasons. His huge weight made him invincible inside, and it also made his lower limbs suffer from pressure and pain.

In addition to injuries, O'Neal's speed was still okay at the peak, but now, the huge weight and potential injuries make him have to paddle on the defensive end. As for those fast opponents, he is even more powerless.

So in the face of such O'Neal, the only way is to move forward when defending, to prevent O'Neal from receiving the ball, to misplace the offensive end, and to allow O'Neal to switch to fast players.