unfinished glory

Chapter 102 Opening Battle ([-])
In a team training after returning from the China preseason, McGrady fell to the ground with too much force during a dunk, causing a recurrence of the back injury, and did not participate in the next few preseason games.

After finally recovering from injury, the team doctor thought he could play the opening game, but his condition was not good, and he did not know when he would be able to recover.

In the second quarter, Tracy McGrady played and led the team, and Van Gundy Jr. had high hopes to equalize the score, but his back injury did affect him too much and he did not perform well.

Facing Li Chongxiao's defense, he seemed unable to do what he wanted. The breakthrough was either blocked or blocked, forcing McGrady to make a dry shot. He only hit one goal in 6 shots and was blocked once. His performance was very embarrassing.

On the other hand, Li Chongxiao not only performed well in defense, but also excelled in cutting, breakthrough and shooting in offense.

Barkley commented during the game and said to his old partner Smith: Today Li Chongxiao played like McGrady, and McGrady played like Li Chongxiao who just faced McGrady for the first time.

Many people in front of the TV watched the preseason game last season. At the home court of the Rockets, Li Chongxiao faced McGrady for the first time. How McGrady taught the rookie in front of him.

Who would have thought that just one year later, the situation on both sides would be reversed.McGrady played like a waning veteran, while Li Chongxiao was a rising star.

Relying on Li Chongxiao's outstanding performance, the Spurs opened the point difference to 11 points in just over four minutes.

Yao Ming, who had been unable to restrain himself off the court for a long time, returned to the battle. Even in the face of Duncan's defense, he did not back down.

At halftime, the Rockets were still 9 points behind.

In the third quarter, the Rockets also maintained the momentum of chasing points.Except for McGrady, other players performed well. After all, Finley has rich experience and adapts quickly. He scored 16 points for the Rockets. Alstom and Juwan Howard also scored 10 points each.

The best performer was still Yao Ming, who scored another 12 points in a single quarter, and the score has reached 35 points.It was almost a rebound, and without the help of his teammates, he only got 7 rebounds.

And after playing for 27 minutes today, he still seems to be in good spirits, and he can't tell how tired he is.

But soon the Spurs ended the game. The excited Spurs players suddenly rained three-pointers when Yao Ming was off the court.

Horry, Barry and Li Chongxiao made 3 of 7 shots and scored 5 points in just 15 minutes at the end of the third quarter.Forced to the beginning of the fourth quarter, Van Gundy replaced Yao Ming.

But Yao Ming also failed to stop the bleeding for the team. He scored two points, and the Spurs responded with three points.After a few rounds, Yao Ming scored 6 points, but the Spurs have opened the point difference to 20 points.

The Spurs' offensive slowed down slightly, but they have maintained a point difference of more than 20 points.

As for the first game of the new season, the Rockets are not willing to give up, still relying on Yao Ming's goal to continue to struggle.

But the resistance had to end when there were 4 minutes left in the fourth quarter. Yao Ming had scored a new personal high of 45 points, and the Rockets still had no hope of winning.

Although Yao Ming seemed to be able to continue playing, Van Gundy Jr. had no choice but to give up resistance and sent a substitute lineup to finish the game.

In the opening game, the Spurs won the "Texas Civil War" with a 25-point difference at home, adding glory to the championship banner hanging high above.

……

At the end of the game, Yao Ming came over and punched Li Chongxiao, saying that you are too arrogant, you must be trying to dunk me with that ball.

Li Chongxiao didn't deny it either, "hehehe" perfunctory, and then asked Yao Ming: "Are you going to carry out a power transition this season?"

Yao Ming glared at him, and said, "Don't provoke dissension, we have strengthened a lot this year, and we are going to do a big job, just wait and see!"

This game has attracted widespread attention in the league. It is impossible for any team aspiring to the championship not to understand the status of the defending champion.

While they were amazed at Li Chongxiao's growth rate, they also paid more attention to Yao Ming's new look.

This year, after O'Neal, the traditional center withered.Although he did not enter the best team, but from an offensive point of view, Yao Ming was already the best center last season except O'Neal.

Now Yao Ming has grown again, and his new contract ends in 2008 as a player option, which is worthy of early investment by many teams.

In China, this game created an astonishing ratings, higher than a certain game in the finals of last season.

The enthusiasm that the fans had accumulated for a whole summer was released in this game.After the preseason hors d'oeuvres, this matchup was a feast.

The Huaxia players of the two teams not only performed well, but also created new personal scoring highs.

Yao Ming's highest score of 2004 points against the Eagles in February 2 was refreshed to 41 points, and judging from the last moments of the game, Yao Ming's physical problems have also been alleviated to a certain extent. If he continues to play, he may win to 45 points.

It was only through a complete offseason, with surgery in between, that such a big improvement was possible. This made some extreme media and fans start to reflect on their attitude towards Yao Ming not participating in the Asian Championships.

Since Yao Ming can sweep Asia without going out, why not give him more room to continue to grow?

For Li Chongxiao, the previous highest score was 26 points against the Supersonics.In this game, he scored 32 points.

Fans who often watch his games are also delighted to find that he has made great progress, and now he can not fall behind against McGrady, and even wins.

A post on a certain forum was pinned to the top, which analyzed Li Chongxiao's various progress after entering the league in detail, and after adding today's performance, he lamented his great potential.

Immediately afterwards, some people expected that with the growth of the two superstars, by the 2008 Olympic Games, the Chinese team would have great achievements.

Many media began to call him "McGrady", thinking that within three years, he would be able to enter the scope of the MVP discussion.

In fact, Popovich doesn't think so. Although he has removed the idea that Li Chongxiao is Bowen's successor, he still has no intention of unleashing the player's potential prematurely regarding Li Chongxiao's positioning.

He felt that even if Li Chongxiao wanted to take over, it would be after the Duncan era came to an end.This process will last about four to five years.

And coming from the old era of basketball, he naturally prefers inside players.There is an idea that he didn't say, and he thought it was too dreamy: If the Rockets are willing to trade Yao Ming; Li Chongxiao + anyone other than Duncan, he will agree immediately.

Li Chongxiao, who had been sold several times by the coach in his heart, was still happily discussing the championship ring with his teammates.

Even the old driver, Duncan, and the older driver, Huo Li, were beaming. No one could have too much honor.

(End of this chapter)