unfinished glory

Chapter 48 The game before Christmas and the Christmas battle

After the Rockets, they came to the Cavaliers, and after the Cavaliers, they came to the Magic.

The champion in 2002 was exchanged for the champion in 2003, and then the champion in 2004. The three champions took turns against the champion in 1997.

The Spurs did not play well in this game. Although they did a good job in scoring, their defense was relatively lax.

虽然对方的主将史蒂夫·弗朗西斯19投只有5中，但是他还是依靠突破获得罚球，9罚9中得到20分。

"Old Cat" Cutino Mobley, like Francis, is one of the bargaining chips for the Rockets to trade McGrady. He scored 21 points in this game.

Coupled with the 18 points from Grant Hill, Li Chongxiao's senior, the Magic led the Spurs by 6 points by halfway through the fourth quarter.

But the old-fashioned Spurs had the last laugh. They strengthened their defense. In the last half of the game, they only allowed the Magic to score 5 points, while they scored 15 points. Finally, they won the game 94:90.

The performance of the No. 7 pick of the Magic team today was not good. Dwight Howard made 1 of 8 shots and only scored 7 points and 4 rebounds. He also lost 6 turnovers and 27 fouls. to the bench.

On the other side, the rookie of the Spurs, Li Chongxiao scored 10 points, 6 rebounds and 3 steals in this game.

After the game, the media inevitably had a comparison. The reporters frequently questioned Howard's quality, which stretched his face very long.

The headlines such as "Rookies vs. No. [-] pick lost to the last pick" and "Li Chongxiao beats Howard" are also in line with the trend.

At the same time, this made fans and reporters pay more attention to the deal about Li Chongxiao, wanting to see who this rookie will get and whether he can make it out.

Fortunately, before the game against the New Orleans Hornets, the deal was finally settled.

For the Raptors, no one can tell in the future. They want Li Chongxiao to see if there will be a McGrady next, but they can't hold too much hope.

So they rejected the Spurs' proposal of Malik Rose + Tony Masenberg + Li Chongxiao + future draft picks without hesitation, and turned around and agreed to the Nets' Alonzo Mourning + Aaron Williams S + Eric Williams + two future draft picks.

On the one hand, the Nets' chips are indeed better; on the other hand, how can the Spurs' draft picks be as valuable as the Nets'?

And the former "fifth center" Mourning signed here. If he can play, he can help cultivate Bosh. If he can't play, he can also negotiate a buyout to save salary.

With the ease of the end of the transaction message, the Spurs easily defeated the invading Warriors with a big difference of 30 points in back-to-back home games.

After resting for 4 days, on December 12, the Spurs went to Orlando to play against the Magic again.

The Spurs may not be used to resting for so many days. The rest is a bit big. The team's shooting percentage is not high. With a free throw, with a 1-point advantage, he made it through.

Howard was worse than on the field. He was eager to perform, and he only scored 9 points on 1 of 5 shots. He simply ignored the interview after the game and left directly.

On Li Chongxiao's side, no more, no less, he scored another 10 points and won this misplaced "rookie showdown" again, allowing the Spurs to see that they were worth the money.

The last game before Christmas is against the Timberwolves, a matchup between the two No. 21s.

In the game, Duncan and Garnett hurt each other on both ends of the offense and defense, and their performances were very average.

加内特16投4中，拿到15分10篮板和9助攻，但是有7个失误。上赛季的两个巨头，“狂人”拉特里尔·斯普雷威尔和“外星人”萨姆·卡塞尔都只得到4分。

The Timberwolves' highest score came from Wally Szczerbiak, who scored 22 points.

马刺这边邓肯23投8中，拿到19分10篮板。吉诺比利和帕克表现出色，分别拿到22分和19分。

With Li Chongxiao's 12 points and Bowen's 9 points, the Spurs beat the Timberwolves 102:82.

Last season, the Timberwolves, who also won the No. [-] in the Western Conference, did not have a satisfactory record without much change in the lineup. The reason is that the players did not put their minds on the court.

Sprewell, who has always been known for his focus on playing, said that "800 million is not enough to support his family", his whole state plummeted.

And Cassel also had conflicts with the team management due to contract issues, and his performance on the court was relatively lazy.

After the two absolute main players quarreled for a while, the Timberwolves still got 15 wins and 9 losses. It was already Garnett who tried his best.

Team atmosphere, this is another knowledge point that Li Chongxiao has learned.

Before Christmas, the Spurs had a six-game winning streak and a record of 23 wins and 4 losses. With such a record, they are still not the first in the league.

In the new season, the reborn Sun team has a record of 23 wins and 3 losses, ranking first in the league.

The Christmas game has never had anything to do with the Spurs, and the Spurs players are happy to rest at home.

Every year, the league finds some gimmicks to pit two teams with a history.The two games scheduled for this year are the Heat's away game against the Los Angeles Lakers, and the Pistons' game against the Pacers.

Seeing the opponents in the next game, Li Chongxiao had to wonder whether the league staff who arranged the match schedule could predict the future.Or the Pistons and Pacers knew that they could play in the Christmas game, and they were so happy that they couldn't find the north, so they had to do something to attract the audience.

The biggest highlight of this game is the Palace of Auburn Hills incident, whether there will be a continuation at the Pacers' home Conseco Arena.

First, the Pacers made an arrangement. First, the seats next to the field were tied together, and then hundreds of security guards were deployed, distributed in every corner of the arena, watching the audience.

As for the Pistons, 10 security guards were arranged behind the Pistons bench, and a layer of tarpaulin was set up on the passage of the locker room to prevent fans from throwing things at the Pistons players.

The two teams on the field may also be afraid of being punished. Although the game was full of sparks, the whole process was uneventful, and no moths were made, which disappointed the melon-eaters.

On the other side, the battle in Los Angeles will be much more exciting. O'Neal returned to Los Angeles with a record of 21 wins and 7 losses, against Kobe's Lakers who had only 14 wins and 11 losses.

This game was full of highlights, and the ratings were so high that Stern was grinning from ear to ear in the office. Among them, Li Chongxiao also watched the live broadcast, contributing a meager amount to the league.

The game process was very tortuous, the scores in each quarter were very close, and the biggest difference in the whole game was only 8 points.

In the end, the Lakers, who maintained a slight lead throughout the game, were evened by the Heat at the last minute of regular time and gave the Heat two offensive opportunities.

But Wade failed to grasp, the lore failed, and the two sides came to overtime.

At the last moment of overtime, Kobe also failed in the lore. The Lakers fell short and lost the game by 2.

On the first offense at the beginning of the game, O'Neal gave Kobe a big cap, as if declaring to the Lakers that he should be the right person.

Kobe's response was in the fourth quarter. Continuous breakthroughs caused O'Neal's fifth and sixth fouls, sending the Sharks off the court for a rest, announcing that this is the era of the new king.

Then the other players of the two teams came out to grab the show. The Heat's Kristen Laettner and the Lakers' Lamar Odom both made two free throws and one iron at the end of the fourth quarter, and they evened the score alive. , into overtime.

Although the younger Wade had two consecutive irons at the end of regular time and failed to win the game, but in overtime, he scored 4 points, 1 assist and 1 steal, laughing at Kobe's senior two-for-three and one mistake, ruining the game.

The protagonists of the two teams are OK, O'Neal scored 24 points and 11 rebounds, but played six fouls; Kobe scored 42 points and 6 assists, but had 9 turnovers.

Wade's 29 points and 10 assists are O'Neill's complaint: Even without you, I can still find an excellent younger brother.

Kobe's 42 points, he was venting: without you getting in the way, I scored like a bag.

Li Chongxiao was very excited and melancholy watching in front of the screen.Since he was a child, he has been a lake honey.The OK combination and the Lakers dynasty at the turn of the century brought him a lot of joy.Some classic shots are still vivid in my mind.

The former OK combination Lao Yan split up, and now they are reunited as opponents, which made this Humi nostalgic and lamented for a while.

Li Chongxiao rubbed his chin, feeling a sigh: He remembered running in the sunset, it was his lost youth!
(End of this chapter)