unfinished glory

Chapter 23 I want to put a buckle on Yao Ming's head

After playing the Knicks, the Spurs played three consecutive home games against the Phoenix Suns, Philadelphia 76ers and Seattle SuperSonics.

The Spurs lost Game [-] and then won two in a row.

Then, in the away game against the Dallas Mavericks on October 10, relying on Ginobili's layup with 25 seconds before the end, he made a thrilling pass.

In these three games, Li Chongxiao's playing time is relatively fixed, from the end of the first quarter to the beginning of the second quarter, from the end of the third quarter to the beginning of the fourth quarter, the standard substitute time.

He has defended Ray Allen, Jerry Stackhouse, Michael Finley and other famous stars, as well as powerful players such as Joe Johnson and Quentin Richardson, and of course Kyle Rookies like Korver and Andre Iguodala.

When he met a rookie, he did a good job on the defensive end. A pitcher like Korver was almost overwhelmed by him.

But when it comes to players who can shoot suddenly, like Quentin Richardson, they are not so easy to defend, and they will always be deceived by the opponent with experience.

The one that Li Chongxiao found most difficult to defend against was Ray Allen. In the two rounds of contact, a three-pointer after a run and a jumper after a breakthrough made Li Chongxiao feel as if his defense did not exist.

The other is Joe Johnson, who is tall, but handles the ball very well. He easily used the rhythm to sway Li Chongxiao and create shooting space.

However, after a few games, Li Chongxiao has also made great progress. When he finally faced Finley and Stackhouse, he was no longer like a headless chicken, without any rules.

October 10th will be a carnival day for the Chinese sports media. The San Antonio Spurs will challenge the Houston Rockets in an away game and the Texas Civil War.

For China Sports Media, this is the China Derby, with Li Chongxiao playing against Yao Ming.

The first China Derby was on March 2002, 3, when the Denver Nuggets played against the Dallas Mavericks at home. In the "Moving Great Wall" civil war, Battelle played against Wang Zhizhi.

This is also the only report of the China Derby before.Later, for some reason, news about Da Zhi was not reported in China.

Although the bus also stayed in the NBA for a short time, but failed to play against Yao Ming in the same arena.

In the two preseason games scheduled in China a few days ago, the Kings brought Liu Wei. Judging from the process and results, it was a real show.

But Li Chongxiao was different. He was a serious draft pick of the Spurs and had already signed a formal contract.

Looking at the past few games, Li Chongxiao's performance: averaged 19.4 minutes per game, 10.5 points, 4.2 rebounds and 2.2 assists.

Although this data, one is that the playing time of the team's main players has been compressed, and the other is that the defense in the preseason is average, which seems to be a lot of moisture.

But these players who are facing up are real NBA players. Being able to get this data shows that Li Chongxiao can be regarded as a qualified rotation lineup.

In the new season with the Spurs, at least the position of the drinking fountain is not to worry about.

The domestic media had been sucked in by China's two preseason games before, plus Yao Ming was the core of the team, and the MM combination in the new season was full of fantasies, so most of the domestic sports media focused on the Rockets.

Although there are some Chinese media on Li Chongxiao's side, they are still within the normal range.

But in today's away game, the outside of the training ground was almost surrounded by the media.Not only the Chinese media were very interested, but even some American media came to join in the fun, hoping to interview Li Chongxiao.

During training, Li Chongxiao specifically asked Bowen how to defend McGrady.

Bowen said that our previous defensive strategy was very simple, which was to let him play singles, which surprised Li Chongxiao.

Then Bowen explained that the Magic team that McGrady was in before was relatively average, so the Spurs' tactic was to let McGrady attack and strangle the connection between him and other players.

The end result of this is that McGrady takes away the data and the Spurs take away the game.

Li Chongxiao asked again, now that McGrady has joined the Rockets, is the strategy of releasing McGrady unworkable?

Bowen pointed to Popovich, this is the task of the coach, I am only responsible for defense.

Li Chongxiao was still not reconciled, and continued to ask Bao Wen:
"Bruce, defending McGrady one-on-one, how did you do it before? What good ideas do you have now?"

"I defended McGrady before, mainly from two aspects." Bowen recalled the situation when he faced McGrady on the field in the past.

"First, I will try my best to let him attack personally, and not give him the opportunity to pass the ball and connect the team.

Then I will try to confront him and increase the difficulty of his offense. In the fourth quarter, keep him as far away from the basket as possible, give him more shooting opportunities, and reduce his breakthroughs. "

"But McGrady's attack?" Li Chongxiao asked hesitantly.

"Yes, McGrady's pull-up is very good, and we can't defend at all, but we don't have to be too afraid of him." Bowen saw Li Chongxiao's doubts, and then explained.

"You can't limit a player like McGrady. If he feels good, the basket is like the sea. But we can find a way to make him iron."

"We had a tough physical confrontation with him to consume his physical strength. You must know that Ganba is a physical activity, and McGrady is not a physical monster like Kobe and Allen Iverson. He can continue to fight with high intensity until the fourth The festival is over."

Li Chongxiao probably understood that McGrady's physical strength is good, but he can't compare with strong men like Iverson and Kobe.

The former maintains 40+ playing time all year round, while the latter is even more offensive and defensive, and has even been the team's assist leader for several seasons.

After McGrady came to the Magic, while increasing his offensiveness, he lost his defensive defense because he couldn't take care of his physical strength.

Comparing the representative works of these three quintiles, we can see some clues.

In G2001 of the 1 finals, in the last 3 minutes of overtime, under the intensity of the finals, Iverson still had the physical strength to score seven points in a row, scoring 48 points in the game, helping the team win.

Kobe created the famous "Rush to the Game" last season: every time Kobe went to court and rushed back to the court, after a simple warm-up, he went on the court with a big explosion.

On the night of 62 points, McGrady only made [-] of [-] shots in the last quarter, so he could only rely on free throws to increase his points.

"What if he explodes suddenly in the fourth quarter one night?" Li Chongxiao knew he had asked a stupid question as soon as he finished speaking.

"Then you pray that you don't stay on the court, so that you will become the background." Bowen shrugged.

"Thank you for your teaching, Bruce." Li Chongxiao sincerely thanked Bo Wen while thinking that the other party would most likely be in the background.

Then he decided to try again, and asked a question:
"So, how does Yao Ming defend?"

"How about we find an opportunity today to let you feel?" Popovich took the conversation, then clapped his hands, and said with a smile:

"Our rookie Daye decided to deal with his compatriots himself. After a while, you will create opportunities for him to perform."

Li Chongxiao showed no signs of stage fright, and patted his chest: "Leave it to me, Tim, remember to separate the rest of the Rockets, let me single out Yao Ming, and I will dunk one from him."

The training ground was immediately filled with a happy atmosphere, and Duncan's hand appeared on top of Li Chongxiao's head unknowingly.

After the training, Popovich called Li Chongxiao to him and said to him:

"You have a pre-match press conference later, but you can't talk too much, you know, boy?"

Seeing Li Chongxiao nodded, Popovich went on to say:

"Those media, they only want news, but what you want is victory. I don't care if they are Chinese reporters or not."

"Yeah." Li Chongxiao answered obediently, and Popovich let him go.

After the training, it was time for media interviews, and Li Chongxiao was surrounded by reporters.

Most of the reporters' questions were about his thoughts on his first match against Yao Ming.

Li Chongxiao replied that he is just a rookie in the NBA, while Yao Ming has been a veteran player for two years, and he will learn from him.

Then some reporters care about his usual life and training.

Li Chongxiao said that the weather in San Antonio is very good, and his teammates on the training ground are very concerned about him, especially the team leader Duncan, who often touches his head to show encouragement.

When asked about his experience of going abroad and what he would like to say to Huaxia fans, Li Chongxiao gave answers that met social expectations.

The last question, the reporter asked: "What is your goal for today's game?"

"The team won the game." Li Chongxiao thought for a while, and then said, "A dunk on Yao Ming's head!"

(End of this chapter)