From sparring to superstar

Chapter 209. 207. The power of defense for three seconds

"Is this the legendary fan meeting... What are you looking at me for, why don't you take a few more photos? Is your look envious of me? Impossible, I am definitely not envious..."

Big Q looked at Suan Suannian's boss, what did he say about him?What look did he give?He didn't!

He just came to ask why the boss didn't take a group photo together, and the teammates all went to take pictures.

But what he can be sure of is - the boss is envious.

At 7:[-] in the evening, the Clippers entered the court of the Arco Arena, and the cheers on the scene continued.

The Kings players also took photos with Jordan and the Clippers players one by one.

The first game of Jordan's comeback, although it was a preseason game, fell to the Kings, and the local tourist market became a hit.

According to local media reports, more than 5 tourists came to Sacramento yesterday, setting a record for the city's single-day tourist arrivals.

Tickets to a preseason game are priced exaggeratedly—the average price is $25.

The ticket price for the first row on the sidelines is as high as $500.

Both the average price and the highest price of a single ticket broke the historical records of the NBA preseason.

The supply is still in short supply. When Li Ao was surfing the Internet after the extra training at noon, he saw scalpers selling tickets on the forum. The ticket for the grandstand with a face price of 10 dollars was asking for 100 dollars. Scalpers buy tickets at the original price, that is 900% profit, just like picking up money.

He deliberately went to the fan forums of the next three away games against the opponents in the preseason. Although the scalper market is not as good as that of the Kings, it is also exaggerated.

This fan appeal can be said to be the only one among North American athletes, and it may even be difficult for anyone in the world sports to compare it.

The four top leagues in North America, NFL, MLB, and NHL are all predicted to shrink in the new season, and the revenue is predicted to drop by 10%-20%. The NBA was predicted to decline the most at the beginning. After all, compared with the other three major leagues, the NBA has the weakest foundation Before 1976, the basketball market in North America was not unified. At most, there were only 4 leagues known as "top basketball leagues". North American basketball leagues were regarded as synonymous with "dirty and messy".

It was not until 1979 that Magician and Bird, who changed the name of the NBA, ushered in. After Magic Bird's 8-year hegemony, the NBA really entered the ranks of the "top North American league".

However, the economic effect brought about by Jordan's announcement of his comeback has caused Forbes Sports to revise the NBA's new season revenue forecast, which is the same as last season.

No wonder David Stern came to join Ballmer in the background of Jordan's comeback special conference.

But if Jordan's comeback is to save the NBA... emmm... it can only be said that the blind cat just happened to meet a dead mouse.

Jordan must have gotten through with David Stern a long time ago, otherwise their Clippers team's new season opener shouldn't be that opponent...

The teammates went to the camera one by one, but Li Ao didn't go to join in the fun, and the star on the opposite side was not coming for him. His eyes became hot, and he went to the opposite side to shoot hot shots in the half court.

From the pre-match preparation stage to the opponent's half-court shooting, this feeling is very subtle.

No way, my own half was crowded with players and reporters.

Li Ao shot the basket for a while, and thought of one thing, he looked at Adelman, who was on the home team's bench beside the court...the opponent didn't even glance at Mike Bibby.

Does Adelman have the talent to discover potential stocks?Li Ao recalled the seven or eight years when Adelman coached the Rockets and Timberwolves in the original time and space.

Similar to Larry Brown, this one will only use mature players.

In the original time and space, after the Kings exchanged white chocolate for the White Devils in 01, Adelman also had a quarrel with Kings general manager Geoff Petrie.

Without Wally Walker and Geoff Petrie, two top general managers, it would be difficult for Adelman to have the opportunity to develop Princeton.

...

At 8 pm, the Jordan fan meeting finally ended and the game began.

Kings starters: White Chocolate, Doug Christie, Peja, Webber, Divac.

Clippers starting: Bibby, Li Ao, Jordan, Odom, O'Neal.

O'Neal beat Divac to win the jump ball and the Clippers went first.

Li Ao made a quick play to no avail, and White Chocolate and Doug Christie easily completed the interception.

The Clippers fell into a positional battle. Li Aogang was about to use Jordan's off-ball cover to get rid of Doug Christie and start running. The referee blew his whistle.

Li Ao looked around, and there wasn't even a confrontation, so why blow the whistle?

The head star of the Magic team sneaked here to watch the game. He was so happy to see the basketball god that he couldn't help laughing out loud. Was the referee found out?

"Uh……"

Li Ao saw the referee's three-second violation gesture, and immediately reacted.

O'Neal was on the bottom line on the right side of the three-second zone. He was about to cover with Jordan. Divac moved to the left sideline of the three-second zone ahead of time, leaving the area an arm's length away from O'Neal.

Jordan walked to the free throw line and executed a defensive three-second foul.

Li Ao felt so strict!

The referee blew his whistle before the offensive team officially launched an attack.

After Jordan hit a free throw, the Clippers continued to attack. Li Ao used Jordan to block Doug Christie from the wing, easily squeezed Peja, who was changing defense, and cut into the inside line. He received the ball and scored two dunks with one hand. point.

Divac dared to withdraw from O'Neal after Li Ao entered the three-second zone.

In an offensive and defensive transition, the Kings started the Princeton tactics around the twin towers.

Webber cuts to catch the ball, and Li Ao, who switches defenses in one-on-one singles, hits a layup with a pull bar.

O'Neal, like Divac, did not dare to make up defense easily.

They made a lot of preparations for the rule of defending for three seconds, but when they heard the first whistle on the court, they were still very confused. They could only follow their defenders closely so as not to accidentally eat the whistle.

After playing a few rounds, both teams were able to easily score in the paint. Gentry saw that this would not work!
This is a fart of tactical cooperation, and it is almost a slam dunk show for cutting into the fast striker.

He called a timeout and adjusted his style of play - ignoring the opportunity to attack the frame, and practiced the tactical cooperation with the goal of getting the opportunity of the COSCO shot.

On the defensive end, let O'Neal take the initiative to test how the referee implements the whistle of "defensive three seconds".

O'Neal complained: "What kind of broken rules is this? As a center, you can't just move around the basket?"

Li Ao responded: "Just complain, Jermaine, now is your chance, prove that you are different from others!

In order to limit Michael's scoring, the league introduced the "anti-isolation law", and everyone complained at the beginning.

But there will always be some people who take the initiative to adapt, adapt to the new regulations earlier than others, take the initiative, and finally win two championships. Do you know who it is? "

"Who?" O'Neal thought for a while: "Magic? The Lakers?"

Jordan was very proud when he heard Li Ao's words, forcing the NBA to introduce new regulations to limit his scoring. This is one of the things he is most proud of in his basketball career.

Unexpectedly, the Lakers came out of Jermaine O'Neal's mouth, and he agreed to be his fans?
Jordan snorted and said, "Bad Boys, Pistons!"

Why is the god of basketball angry again?Little O'Neill is not afraid.

He is not afraid of O'Neal and Duncan anymore, but is he afraid of an outside line?And he's a teammate!

He thinks Spider-Man is right, now is not the time to complain, he can adapt to the new regulations faster than others, and he can be one step ahead.

The goal of grabbing the position of the boss can also be one step closer!
...

After the game restarted, as Gentry expected, the opposite side also made the same adjustments.

Divac, like O'Neal, began to move actively, to see what kind of movement the referee would blow the whistle, and how to move is "compliant".

In the preseason, in order to allow the players of each team to adapt to the new rules as soon as possible, the league asked the referee to strictly sound the whistle.

Ever since, the referee whistled continuously, and in the first quarter, the two teams only defended three-second free throws, adding up to 13.

Divac, O'Neal, Webber, Odom, and Scott Pollard, Jaron Collins, Sean Lukes, Rafonso Ellis, Turkoglu, etc. People, quickly deepened their understanding of the new regulations.

It's just that the outside players suffered, the whistle came as they ran, and they were worried that the whistle would sound suddenly when they didn't come.

The Kings are okay, their core lineup is still those 8 people, White Chocolate, Doug Corytis, Bobby Jackson, Peja, Turkoglu, Webber, Divac, Scott Pollard.

Their preseason training is just to find the feeling of the game.

The Clippers, whose main lineup has changed a lot, have done a lot of actual running training.

Fortunately, there were Spider-Man, the god of basketball, and the captain who came off the bench to urge them. Although it felt tormenting, the Clippers players were patient and moved.

In this regard, Gentry expressed his satisfaction. In fact, he didn't need this game to see the players play out the tactics smoothly. The players only need to use their bodies to remember the running line.

There was no suspense about the result of the game. The Kings, who played an average of 8 minutes per player in the preseason, beat the Clippers 30 to 114 and won the victory.

Li Ao, who played the most minutes on the Clippers side, only played 33 minutes.

Jordan is the player with the most exclusive tactics for the Clippers, and Li Ao is the player who appears the most times in various tactics. To be precise, all the tactics of the Clippers have his role in them.

After the game, Li Ao saw a total of 31 defensive three-second violations by the two teams and a total of 49 free throws by the two teams. He felt a toothache.

But after returning to the hotel and reading the news online, he felt much more at ease.

Everyone is the same!
In today's 7 preseason games, any strong team gave at least a dozen free throws to their opponents due to their defense in three seconds. The neighbor next door who played at home had a player who gave the opponent 11 free throws alone. The media analyzed that he was protesting the new rules to the league.

On the contrary, some weak teams eat very little whistle.

Especially the Bulls and the Warriors, the two negative squad leaders, the former only had 5 defenses for three seconds, and the latter had only 3 times. Both teams beat their opponents.

Li Ao feels that the two teams have the greatest possibility of winning the preseason.

You won't find a team that cares less about the new rules than these two.

However, there is also a team that surprised him-the Grizzlies.

Among the teams predicted by the media to compete for the No. 10 pick, only the Grizzlies have more than 24 defensive three-second violations, and they have reached [-] times.

It can be seen that Gasol, a center who has played in Europe since he was a child, is not used to the rule of "defense for three seconds".

Li Ao feels that this year's insiders are really difficult!
In the future, when insiders enter the NBA, even in high school, college, and other leagues, they will not defend for three seconds. In the NBA, they also need to adapt to new defensive methods, but at least they have the defensive videos of their predecessors as a reference.

This year's insiders, seeing darkness in front of them, without any precedents for reference, can only adapt with a dull head.

When Li Ao read the tactical manual before, he saw that the coaching staff had already made preparations, and several insiders in the team were also actively adjusting their defense for the new rules. He thought it was not a big problem.

As a result, after the first game, even he, the outside line, got a defense for three seconds after switching defenses, and even he felt that his eyes were dark...

After the egg pain time was over, he began to try to recall the defensive style of the outstanding inside defensive players in the future, think about the characteristics of several inside teammates, and write them down in a small notebook to see if he can provide some help to his teammates.

As a result, I wrote more and more, and as I wrote, I lost sleep...

...

The Clippers left Sacramento the next morning and flew to Oakland.

After the plane took off smoothly, Gentry was going to catch up on sleep, and last night he worked overtime and held meetings until after 3 o'clock.

At this time Li Ao came to him, and also yawned and handed him a small notebook.

"what is this?"

"I had insomnia last night, and I thought about the game by the way. This may help us adapt to the defensive three seconds faster."

Li Ao responded, and went back to his seat to put on a blindfold to catch up on sleep. Gentry had no choice but to give up if he wanted to ask.

He opened the small notebook and looked at it. At first glance, what is it?

It's a mess. In the last paragraph, I wrote about what O'Neal should pay attention to when moving inside, and how to move boldly. The next paragraph mentioned flanking.

In the next paragraph, what is this again, the bottom line of the point guard shrinks?Continuing to the next paragraph, the defense in the middle is cut off... what and what is this.

Eh, no!

Gentry looked back, the 4th end and the 1st segment were connected!
These two paragraphs are combined, and they are also connected with the second paragraph. The flank flanks, the center cuts the pass in the middle, and when the missed role player cuts in, how does the center move to avoid defending for three seconds...

In the back, the more Gentry looked, the more surprised he was!

Doug Collins on the side saw Gentry suddenly not sleepy, flipping through a small notebook, watching Liu Bei in public?

Curiously, he moved to the head coach and asked, "What are you looking at?"

Gentry was concentrating, but he didn't notice someone coming next to him, and was startled.

After recovering, he handed the small notebook to Doug Collins: "Leo had insomnia last night, just thinking about how to help his teammates adapt to the new rules."

Doug Collins was already curious. Although it was a pity that it was not Liu Bei, he immediately opened the small book to read.

At first, his reaction was the same as Gentry's, messy, what the hell?

But after watching a few more paragraphs, call my God!

……

……

Xiaofeng is not feeling well these days, and the update time is unstable, sorry.

Fortunately, the addition of changes owed last month has been completed. Xiaofeng will not add changes today. The regular update will be guaranteed in one chapter at night, and there will be two changes on weekends. Take a good rest and resume adding changes next week. There are currently 1200 monthly tickets for this month. Yes, accumulated 6 chapters plus updates.

(End of this chapter)