roccoschili Chapter 180 The last piece of the puzzle
Chapter 180 The last piece of the puzzle
Chapter 180 The Last Piece of the Puzzle
After the celebration, the awards ceremony followed.
Under the introduction of TNT host Ernie Johnson, NBA Commissioner David Stern made a grand appearance. He first announced that this All-Star game broke the record for watching basketball games in history, and thanked the audience for their participation.
The audience applauded him, and Stern thanked Mavericks owner Mark Cuban and Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, and then thanked the players for a wonderful performance, and finally announced the MVP.
With 41 points and 15 assists, plus a super long three-point lore, and multiple heads-up scenes, the audience cheered and shouted "Su Yang, Su Yang" in advance, and the entire Cowboys Stadium seemed to be a large-scale fan meeting scene.
Su Yang stepped forward to accept the trophy, raised it up symbolically and circled it as a gesture, cheers wave after wave.
Ernie Johnson initiated the interview, asking how it feels to win the MVP this time among a group of All-Star players.
Su Yang said modestly and sincerely that he was accepting the award on behalf of the players from the Eastern and Western teams.
Because without the help and trust of teammates in the West, without the high-level offense and defense of opponents in the East, it is impossible to play such a wonderful performance, and many players did not get the ball or playing time they deserved, and the credit belongs to all players.
Ernie Johnson asked two more routine questions. After Su Yang answered them one by one, he suggested that the next year's All-Star Game adopt a new system, abandon the traditional east and west grouping mode, and change to the captain selection mode, which can add more highlights.
The interview is over, and the All-Star Weekend is also declared over.
Su Yang, Gordon, Van Gundy and others rushed back to Los Angeles by chartered flight overnight.
AJ called to inform Su Yang that winning the All-Star MVP once again triggered a climax of pre-ordering signature shoes. Within an hour after that, the accumulated sales amounted to 500 million US dollars, catching up with Jordan's first championship.
Moreover, this time a large number of orders came from the North American region. It can almost be said that Su Yang, with his own strong and wonderful performance, completely eliminated many fans who were prejudiced against him. He played against Rondo, Wade and LeBron. The picture has been made into a GIF animation, which has been wildly circulated on social media such as Twitter and Facebook, and the topic has reached a new level.
The most important thing is that the fans believe that Su Yang has shown a new possibility of the basketball game. In the future, the insider may no longer win the world. The short guard also has the ability to dominate the game, and the sense of identity is stronger.
Su Yang edited Twitter to express his gratitude to the fans. When the chartered plane landed at Los Angeles International Airport, he was surprised to find that there were fans wearing jerseys to pick up the plane. They didn't seem to care that it was four o'clock in the morning, and they were quite fanatical.
After taking photos and chatting with the fans, he returned to the villa by car. Zheng Xiang told him on many basketball forums in China that because of one of his ultra-long shots, the server was directly paralyzed, and Su Mi and Gua Mi got into a large-scale quarrel.
Su Yang ignored it and slept happily until the afternoon, then rushed to Hollywood to record a variety show.
During the recording, the host played John Collins' comments and invited Su Yang to talk about the 'Super Point Guard Paradox'.
Su Yang made it clear that it's not a paradox, it's just that a point guard who "scores the most in the team and can end the game without restriction at critical moments" is currently very rare, but we can see a lot in the future, and the times are advancing.
NO.15 Early in the morning, the Clippers team gathered at the training base for joint training in advance.
Van Gundy proposed that Su Yang need to give up more possessions to be the main shooting guard, and change to Blake or Davis as the main point guard. First, to avoid Su Yang's delay of offense because of being double-teamed, and second, to enhance the team's sense of participation again. Distribute like a bull.
To achieve this, in addition to Su Yang changing to the main shooting guard, Gordon needs to be transformed into a sixth man.
Such a theory sounds pretty awesome, Gordon accepted Van Gundy's proposal on the spot, but Su Yang had some concerns.
Because if Ray Allen's traditional shooting style is adopted, it will be repeated with Raschel Butler and others. If the non-traditional shooting style is used, like Jordan or Kobe Bryant's small forward style, it is easy to seize Barnes and others. People playing time.
Su Yang said that he needs to think again to see if there is a more suitable solution.
When the joint practice was over, he sat down with Van Gundy and had a detailed chat. It turned out that Van Gundy was worried that in the Western Conference playoffs, the opponent would adopt the All-Star defensive strategy. He just practiced how to deal with it in advance to avoid difficult adjustments at that time.
In addition, Van Gundy also hopes to cultivate a big organizer, thereby enriching the team's tactical options, and then giving full play to Su Yang's advantages in off-ball running and super high three-point shooting. The inspiration is also from the All-Star Game.
Su Yang said that he can try, but there is no team in the West with such a strong perimeter defense ability. They are the peak Rondo, the peak Wade, and the super LeBron. Even if they reach the finals, they will not meet them for the time being.
On the evening of NO.16, they played at home against the Trail Blazers, their first opponent after the All-Star break.
During the opening speech, Su Yang appeared with the MVP trophy and shared the glory with the fans.
Due to Brandon Roy's injury and absence, the Blazers' offensive and defensive strength plummeted. The Clippers always maintained an overwhelming advantage. There was no suspense in the first half of the game. After the second half, Van Gundy arranged tactics around El Thornton.
Such an adjustment coincides with the trade deadline, and Van Gundy's purpose is very clear.
Thornton was not sad either. He patted his chest and said that he would definitely play well, and he was not impatient after playing.
The Clippers team executed seven tactics around Thornton in a row, with a total of four, which fully demonstrated Thornton's offensive ability. It can be regarded as providing a detailed instruction manual for potential trading targets and fully demonstrating what abilities Thornton possesses.
After the whole game, the Clippers easily won 109 to 97. Thornton scored 22 points and 8 rebounds.
That night, various trading rumors spread.
In the evening of NO.17, the Clippers faced the Atlanta Hawks back-to-back at home, and Thornton started directly.
Su Yang tried to focus on the traditional type of shooting guard, and created a lot of space for the team by running without the ball.
Because Joe Johnson ran after him, he was played around several times, and his mentality was greatly negatively affected.
But Su Yang played without the ball. Although Ye scored consecutively, his suppression was obviously not as strong as when he played with the ball.
However, he also feels much more relaxed. If he persists for the entire season, the probability of injury is extremely low.
In the end, the Clippers won 110-102. Su Yang made 16 of 11 shots and scored 32 points.
Thornton lived up to expectations, using air cuts to sneak up on the basket and score easy dunks many times.
After beating the Eagles, the Clippers got three days to rest. Su Yang took a private plane to San Francisco that night, then transferred to Stanford to attend the Spring Festival Gala with Lu Rulan and get to know all kinds of Chinese and overseas Chinese.
On the afternoon of NO.19, he received a call from Schwartz and learned that the Al Thornton deal had been completed.
He opened Twitter to check the details. It turned out that it was a three-way deal with the Cavaliers and Wizards. The Clippers sent El Thornton to get Drew Gooden and a future first-round pick from the Cavaliers.
ESPN gave a rating on this transaction, believing that the Clippers have completed the last piece of the puzzle to win the championship, not only solving the small forward congestion problem, but also making up for the shortcomings of the power forward's bench, while ensuring the flexibility of salary space and obtaining future assets.
The Cavaliers get Jamison, which can be regarded as a strong support for LeBron. If the Clippers finally meet the Cavaliers in the finals, then this trade is a trade that rewrites history, and the Wizards are supporting roles in the movies starring the two teams.
(End of this chapter)