unfinished glory

Chapter 15 Summer League (1)

On July 2004, 7, the San Antonio Spurs played against the Charlotte Bobcats in Game 17 of the Summer League.

The Bobcats are newcomers to the NBA, so they pay more attention to the summer league.

In addition to being invited to participate in this year's Athens Olympics, the No. [-] pick Okafor did not come, the Bobcats are still a relatively competitive lineup among the summer league teams.

有很多从其他球队选过来的球员，还有一些打过好几年NBA的球员。比如梅尔文·依莱，2002年的首轮第12顺位；杰森·卡波诺，2003年第2轮第2顺位；普里莫兹·布雷泽克，2000年第1轮第27顺位等等。

The idea of ​​the Bobcats is to familiarize the players with each other, and at the same time, they want to see if there are any suitable players to supplement the team lineup.

Facing such an opponent, the Spurs were unable to cope and lost 61:74.

But the outside trio played well for 20 minutes: Brown scored 12 points, Udrih scored 8 points and 8 assists, and Li Chongxiao scored 10 points, including two three-pointers.

The other players together only scored 31 points, especially the performance of some outside players, which made Li Chongxiao feel more confident.

The second game is July 7, against the Portland Trail Blazers.

The lineup sent by the Blazers is not very bad, but the opposing head coach doesn't seem to have any intention of arranging troops, just letting the players play as they please.

In the first quarter of the game, the Spurs trio showed their prowess and jointly scored 34 points, leading the team to lead by 44 points 22:22.

The opponent's starting small forward, James Thomas, did not exist in the defense, just opening his hands and waiting for a fast break.

During the offense, he was focused on scoring points, and after being deflated in front of Li Chongxiao twice, he kept asking for pick-and-rolls or changing positions to play Udrih.

Facing him, Li Chongxiao actually made a breakthrough, and then easily made three three-pointers, scoring 11 points, plus two rebounds, a steal and a block.

Since the Chicago Bulls will be played tomorrow, Coach Budenholzer did not give the three of them playing time.

The other players of the Spurs scrambled to cash in, and they all rushed to the frame like chicken blood. In the end, the Spurs won the game with a big score of 112:79.

On July 7, the Spurs played against the Bulls.There are matches for three consecutive days, which is considered back-to-back.Fortunately, the coach has been prepared. The players don't spend much time in each game, and the intensity of this game is not as great as in the NBA.

The Bulls have Li Chongxiao's old teammates Luol Deng and Du Hong, as well as their old rival Ben Gordon.In this year's NCAA game, he put in a game-tying buzzer over Gordon's head, but Duke still lost in the end.

We greeted each other before the game and started the game after warming up.After all, this is not an official NBA game, what kind of entrance ceremony will be held.

The purpose of the summer league is mainly for the team to observe rookies and supplement the lineup, but also to give some free agents and undrafted a chance.

Devin Brown relied on such an opportunity to impress the Spurs and finally stayed.This is a good example, so many undrafted picks in the team look at Brown with respect.

Of course, they looked at Li Chongxiao with jealousy and contempt, but after two games, this emotion faded a bit.

Summer League tickets are cheap, as long as $10, which is a bonus for many viewers who cannot afford official NBA games.So before the game started, the arena was already full of spectators.

Unlike coach Budenholzer who likes to let Udri and Li Chongxiao play together, the head coach of the Bulls is used to splitting this year's rookies.

本·戈登在16号和18号的比赛中分别拿到21分和8分；罗尔·邓则是10分和17分。杜洪的待遇差一点，出场时间少，只拿到2分和3分。

The Bulls, like Devin Brown, are the old players who hold the lineup, small forwards Lyndon Johnson and Genilo Pargo, both of whom have not been drafted by the NBA.

林顿·约翰逊上赛季在公牛打了41场，首发20次，出场17.9分钟拿下4.2分4.5篮板。

Genilo Pargo played for the Lakers, Raptors and Bulls last season. In 13 games for the Bulls, he averaged 13.5 points per game.

At the beginning of the game, the Spurs lineup was Udri, Brown, Li Chongxiao, Harold Jamison and Noel Felix.

The Bulls' starters are Genilo Pargo, Ben Gordon, Lyndon Johnson, Tommy Smith and Mario Austin.

The Bulls successfully jumped the ball, and Genilo Pargo rushed forward after receiving the ball, straight into the hinterland of the Spurs.Udri reacted quickly and intercepted him outside the three-point line.

Pargo passed the ball to Johnson for the first down.Facing Li Chongxiao's defense, Johnson chose to play alone.

He forced a breakthrough, but Li Chongxiao moved quickly and kept him near the free throw line.All he could do was move the ball to Ben Gordon, who then missed a jumper and ended the play.

In the transition between offense and defense, the Spurs used Brown to cooperate with a simple pick-and-roll, and scored two points with an easy jumper.

In the next round of the Bulls, Johnson still chose to play Li Chongxiao singles. He was about to dribble past the opponent, but was almost intercepted.Had to pass back to Pargo to reorganize the offense and scored two points with Austin under the basket.

After that, both sides played at a relatively slow pace. Two minutes later, the two teams only completed three rounds of offense. The score was 2:6, and the Spurs took the lead. This is a bit like an NBA regular season.

In the fourth round of the Bulls' offense, Johnson had realized Li Chongxiao's defensive skills, no longer obsessed with singles, but gave up the offensive leadership to Gordon.

After Gordon attracted the defense in this round, he passed it to Pago, who got rid of Udri's defense, and completed a three-point shot to overtake the score.

The player Pargo is a point guard who is strong offensively and weak defensively, and is not good at passing.

Looking back, Udri broke through to attract double-teams, passed to Li Chongxiao in the bottom corner, and also hit a three-pointer.

In this way, you come and go, and the two sides take the lead alternately.After playing for a little over 5 minutes, the score was 14:13; just after halfway through the first quarter, the Bulls began to make substitutions, replacing Pargo and Johnson, and bringing up Duhon and Luol Deng.

Rookie to rookie.

Although Duhon's offense is mediocre, he is very stable in possession of the ball, his passing and organizational skills are not comparable to Pago's, and he also has a good defense.

This made Udry's opponent more uncomfortable. He reduced his offense and increased his passing.This allowed Li Chongxiao to get several good opportunities and hit two goals, a 45-degree three-pointer and an air cut layup.

On the defensive end, Li Chongxiao was more familiar with Luol Deng, and successfully defended against the opponent's three goals, allowing the opponent to score only 4 points on [-] of [-] shots.

After the first quarter, the coach let Li Chongxiao sit down to rest.

He watched his teammates play from the bench while learning towel-waving and water-handling skills that are essential off the bench.

(End of this chapter)