After playing an overtime game in a row, Raymond felt very tired, but at the same time he was also very happy. In this short five-minute overtime game, Raymond rediscovered the feeling he had when he was young.
Under the defense of the bearded MVP, Raymond made another pull-up jumper. After the ball was scored, the audience gave Raymond another round of applause. This undoubtedly hurt the heart of the bearded MVP ten thousand times. It was even worse than the whole audience booing him. Affected by this, the bearded MVP's next attack changed his technical moves, and the Clippers got the rebound.
"Whoosh!"
The ball was thrown directly into the frontcourt.
Raymond had already started, and after receiving the ball in the frontcourt, he made a tomahawk-style smash.
Raymond also participated in the dunk contest. His 360-degree turn dunk that year was an extremely classic scene in the history of the dunk contest. With his physical quality and personal ability, making this tomahawk-style chop is definitely a combination of violence and art.
The camera reporter on the sidelines quickly pressed the shutter to record every action of Raymond's dunk as much as possible, and the automatic camera arranged behind the basket also "clicked" dozens of times a second. Continuous shooting will never let you miss the slightest bit of excitement.
"Bang!" Raymond dunked the ball into the basket, and the entire backboard shook.
"Ouch!" The audience at the scene roared, igniting the entire arena.
This scene made the bearded MVP feel extremely depressed. It is well known that the atmosphere at the Rockets' home court is not strong. The fans at Toyota Center are always so stingy in cheering for the home team, even in key games of the playoffs. , visiting teams will not feel too much pressure from the audience.
It's fine if the fans don't want to put pressure on the visiting team, but cheering for their opponents is a bit unreasonable.
"Whose home court is this?" the bearded man complained with annoyance.
…
Raymond made a sudden comeback without warning in overtime, helping the Clippers defeat the Rockets.
For the Clippers, who had just suffered a five-game losing streak, defeating the Rockets, who ranked first in the Western Conference, was a shot in the arm. Both the players and the coaching staff regained their confidence overnight, and Clippers fans also have more expectations. .
In the next four games, the Clippers won three home games and one away game. Counting the previous away victory over the Rockets, the Clippers had a five-game winning streak.
The previous five-game losing streak caused the Clippers to fall to ninth in the Western Conference and fall out of the playoffs. Now a five-game winning streak has allowed the Clippers to rush to sixth in the Western Conference, and they are only one step away from fifth in the Western Conference. A victory or defeat in a game.
The sixth place in the Western Conference is actually not safe. Except for the bottom two teams in the Western Conference this season, the other 13 teams do not want to be bad. Several weak teams from last season have also begun to realize their talents and play well. Not a bad record. Under such a situation, let alone sixth in the Western Conference, even the first in the Western Conference would not dare to say that they are as stable as Mount Tai.
Raymond's strengthening of the Clippers is very obvious. Any team with one more superstar will have a significant improvement in overall strength. What's more, the Clippers do not have any tactical system in the first place. They play star ball. A star has many powers.
Raymond is the two-time NBA scoring champion, and his singles ability is unquestionable. This fits the Clippers' star ball style of play. As long as the ball is given to him, it doesn't matter what tactics are used. He has many ways to score. .
If you want to become the scoring leader in the NBA, you must meet two conditions. The first is that you need to be proficient in all scoring methods, because only by being proficient in all scoring methods can you score with the ball anywhere in the opponent's half, even if there is only one score. If you don't master the means, such as not being able to post up, or not being able to make a pull-up jump shot, it will be difficult to become the NBA's scoring leader, because missing one scoring method means missing one position to shoot.
It is also for this reason that after the 21st century, no big inside center will ever become the NBA's scoring champion. Because the continuous development of basketball has greatly improved the status of the three-pointer, and few big inside centers can shoot three-pointers. , without the three-pointer as a killer, it will naturally be difficult to win the scoring title.
In fact, since the NBA introduced the three-point shooting mechanism in 1979, only two centers have won the honor of scoring champion, and neither of them averaged more than 30 points per game. In contrast, there are many guards who have won the scoring title and averaged more than 32 points per game.
In addition to being proficient in all scoring methods, another condition for becoming a scoring champion is that you must have an unsolvable scoring method. Looking at the previous scoring champions in the NBA, there must be a trick that opponents cannot prevent even if they want to. If there is no unique skill, it is easy to be targeted by the opponent's defensive players during the game. A player who can be defended does not deserve the title of "scoring king".
Raymond's unique skill is the pull-up jumper. In fact, almost every player knows the essence of his pull-up jumper. Even many non-professionals can explain it clearly, but no one can copy it.
Although the previous Clippers had the so-called "Big Three", they did not have an advantage against a mature tactical system.
After all, basketball is a sport for five people, which requires cooperation between players. A mature tactical system can bring five people together to achieve the effect that the sum of five "1"s is greater than "5".
Although the Clippers have "giants", they have no tactical system to speak of. They rely on the individual abilities of their stars. This style of play will inherently suffer when faced with a mature tactical system. History has proven many times that a great system can defeat great stars.
This is like fighting in ancient times. No matter how powerful the knights fight alone, they can't defeat the regular army of the government because the knights don't know how to cooperate. A knight can definitely defeat a soldier in a duel; ten knights may only be able to draw with ten soldiers; and when 100 knights meet 100 soldiers, the soldier will win nine out of ten times. Because soldiers do not fight alone, they know how to cooperate and form battle formations.
But cooperation has its limits. If the opponent's personal ability is too outstanding, then there is nothing that can be done no matter how good the cooperation is. For example, a battle formation composed of 100 soldiers can defeat 100 powerful heroes, but if 100 fierce Zhang Fei comes up, even if these 100 Zhang Fei fight alone without any cooperation, it will still be difficult to kill 100 soldiers. Just like chopping melons and vegetables.
This is what the Clippers are like. The previous Big Three would still suffer against some mature tactical systems, but when there is an additional NBA scoring champion Raymond, it is obviously beyond what most teams' tactical systems can handle. The Clippers have therefore entered the ranks of strong teams.
…
The Clippers' next opponent is the Sacramento Kings. The two teams are in the Pacific Division, so they will play against each other four times this season. The two teams have already played against each other not long ago. This is the second time the two teams have played against each other this season. encounter.
The Kings' record in recent years has been very poor, but they have also received relatively high draft picks. The team has accumulated a group of talented young players, but these young players want to realize their talents. Perhaps It was a few seasons later.
In addition to young people, the Kings also have several veterans who have been playing for many years. There are also former superstars among them, but they are all old now and can barely make it into the rotation.
A strong player in his prime will definitely join a playoff team, and who would go to the bad Kings
There is no suspense in this game. The King's talent is not enough to compete with the Clippers' superstar.
And in this game, the Clippers had another player come back, and that was Osef.
Clippers fans don't have much hope for Ossev, and other teams don't care much about Ossev's comeback, because of Ossev's self-destructive past, and even more because he was once a drug addict.
As long as an athlete is contaminated with drugs, he is basically a useless person. Especially in the NBA, the physical confrontation is so intense that a body damaged by drugs simply cannot withstand NBA games.
However, Dai Li had confidence in Ossef, or in other words, confidence in his training.
In this game, Ossef played 8 minutes and contributed 3 points, 2 rebounds, 1 assist, and 1 turnover. This data is quite satisfactory for a substitute player, neither bad nor bright.
Ossef also needs a process of adapting to the game. Although he has successfully detoxified, his body is not strong enough to support being in the team for a long time.
In the following games, Ousef's playing time gradually increased, from eight or nine minutes, to more than ten minutes, to about fifteen minutes, and finally to seventeen or eighteen minutes.
Playing 17 or 18 minutes in a game is already considered a main rotation player.
Osef's statistics have also been growing, but he has never had a very eye-catching performance. His scoring average has been maintained at around seven or eight points per game. He can always grab four or five rebounds in every game and serve two or three times. of assists. Generally speaking, he is a 7+4+2 player.
The rotation players average 17 or 18 minutes per game and can get 7+4+2 data, which should be regarded as passing.
Osef's help to the team is not just as simple as statistics. He is a player who can play from the first position to the fifth position. Such a versatile player can make up for any player on the team when serving as a substitute for the team. Lack of location.
There are 82 games in an NBA season, plus the playoffs. Such a high-intensity schedule causes teams to form a familiar rotation rhythm. For example, at what minutes into the first quarter, the main players will be replaced, and a certain rotation player will be replaced. Next up is a certain starter.
But the game is always changing rapidly, and it is impossible for everything to go according to the originally set script. Unplanned fouls and sudden injuries will always disrupt the coach's pre-set substitution rhythm.
Whenever encountering these situations, the team has a snake oil substitute who can do any job after coming on the field, and the coach's brain cells will be saved by tens of thousands. There is such a thing as mindless substituting. If the dog could talk, it would be enough to replace the dog with the dog.
…
The schedule in December is very intensive, and the nerves of each team are beginning to be tense. This situation will continue until the All-Star weekend, when players will relax a little.
In early January, the Clippers will go through four consecutive road trips. Four consecutive away games are very tiring for the players, but in terms of the overall schedule, it is a good thing. It is much better to play several away games at once than to travel between home and away games continuously.
Imagine finishing the game in Los Angeles today, flying to New York tomorrow, returning to Los Angeles the day after tomorrow, going to Boston the day after tomorrow, and then returning to Los Angeles, traveling back and forth from the east and west coasts of the United States, even if it is a specially chartered flight with spacious first-class seats chairs, and the noise of airplane engines alone can make people feel sleepy.
In comparison, if you can stay in Los Angeles all the time, you can go home every day, eat, sleep and play Doudou, even if there are a few back-to-back games, it will be much more comfortable than running around and working hard.
Therefore, many teams would rather play a few more away games in one go to avoid more traveling. And consecutive away games are not a terrible thing. Some teams will take the opportunity of consecutive away games to let the main players take a break. Anyway, there are 82 games in a season and they don’t care about the outcome of these two away games. Compared with the main players health is more important.
The Clippers' first opponent on their road trip is the Cavaliers.
There is no bad blood between the two teams, the Clippers and the Cavaliers, but not the players. Osef, who has only returned for a few games, has some grudges with the Cavaliers' starting center.
At that time, Ossef was cuckolded by his wife, and the man was the Cavaliers center. Before Ossef and he divorced, his ex-wife was already pregnant with the other person's child. Later, after Ossef divorced, his ex-wife also married the other person.
More importantly, Osef's ex-wife also said in an interview with the media that Osef was far worse than the Cavaliers center in terms of doing shameful things.
It’s just a green patch on the head, but he is also said to be impotent. This kind of thing is something that no man can tolerate!
It is also for this reason that in the days of self-degradation, Osef always continued to engage in promiscuity, and even used a large number of drugs that were more effective than the little blue pill in order to prove that there was no problem with his functions.
If Ousef had not returned to the game, maybe things would have ended like this, and Ousef would have continued to degenerate, and maybe one day he would have died on a woman’s belly, or he might have died due to drug overdose and rescue efforts failed; And his ex-wife will live a happy life without shame with the Cavaliers center.
But now that Osef is back and has to go to Cleveland to play a game with the Cavaliers, he must face the ex-wife who cheated on him and claimed that he was impotent; he must also go to the court and have sex with that ex-wife. "One-hole brother-in-law" competes.
Perhaps on the court, the two men will not only compete in skills, but also in fists.
The so-called enemies are extremely jealous when they meet. The hatred of killing a father and seizing a wife is also applied to the American people. Two big black men over two meters tall do not look like they come from a scholarly family. A gentleman who takes action.
…
On the bus heading to the Cavaliers' home court, Cassel approached Dai Li.
"Do you think they will fight?" Assistant Cassel asked in a low voice.
"I don't know." Dai Li shook his head.
"Otherwise, don't let Ossef play in this game!" Cassel suggested.
"Do you think that's possible? He is a professional player. The team pays him a salary and he has to play." Li Dai replied.
"I'm worried that they can't just play ball." Cassell also knew that his suggestion was unreliable. He hesitated and then asked: "What should we do if they really start fighting?"
Dai Li pondered for a few seconds: "Then it depends on who can win!"
"Uh..." Cassell didn't expect this kind of answer to come out of Dai Li's mouth.
"What if Ossef wins?" Cassel asked patiently.
"If our players win, that's the best!" Dai Li replied.
"What if Ossef loses?" Cassel continued to ask.
"Then ask him if he wants to help!" Li Dai looked like he was just watching the fun and not taking it too seriously.