basketball never sleeps

Chapter 29 Back to the starting point

Sura's body was still strong, and Daben had left his hand in the end. He only lay on the ground for more than ten seconds before standing up tremblingly on his own.

The referee didn't say anything after confirming that Sura could continue to play. He just blew the whistle to signal that the game would restart.

Big Ben's shot was very clean. Sura's behavior was purely seeking his own death and there is nothing to sympathize with.

Although Coach Stokes felt that there was something wrong with Sura's brain, it was not easy to replace him directly. The most important thing the Eagles needed to lose in this game was to score.

Sura at least still had some desire to score. That bastard Dio gave him 20 minutes and scored 2 points in the first half. Even the pastor of the church was not that kind.

Fortunately, Larry Brown also knows the ways of the world. After the team took a significant lead in scoring, he replaced the substitutes one by one and began to play tacit basketball.

After the game, seven of the Pistons' players scored in double figures. Mo Wen scored 15 points in the second half, and totaled 19 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists and 3 steals in the game.

However, considering that the Hawks have been brutally beaten recently, if the game against the Hawks had not produced explosive statistics, basically no one would care.

Just last week, Dayao was in front of this eagle and scored super statistics of 41+16. This was also the highest score in Dayao's career in his previous life. The domestic sports world was excited about this for a long time.

After this game, the Pistons ended February and their good time in the Eastern Conference.

After entering March, what awaits the Pistons is a wave of five consecutive visitors from the Western Conference.

Clippers, Jazz, Nuggets, SuperSonics, and finally the Lakers.

Fortunately, the first four teams are either unable to make the playoffs or are on the fringes of the playoffs, so the probability of overturning is low.

Only the Lakers, and only the Lakers, are qualified to be the main target of their trip to the Western Conference. This is the last meeting between the two teams before the playoffs or possible finals.

The first meeting between the Pistons and the Lakers this season was at the beginning of the season. The Lakers relied on four healthy superstars to give Larry Brown a hard time and failed to prevent the Lakers' offense.

It is already very difficult to defend O'Neal, so Malone can only leave it to other insiders. The veteran Campbell has rich experience, but he is physically crushed by Malone, who is older than him. Okur's body can barely defend Malone, but

His experience is much worse than Malone.

In the end, we could only rely on the outside players to devote their energy to help defend, and they were able to stop the Lakers' two inside superstars from attacking like crazy.

But the Lakers who have been let go are not vegetarians. Payton and Kobe averaged 50 points per game last season. It would be fine if they are not double-teamed. If they dare to help defend and leave them open, they will definitely have to do so.

receive punishment.

Fortunately, the four Lakers superstars are average in three-point shooting, and their offensive range is either in the mid-range or at the basket. Otherwise, if one of these four players had a reliable three-pointer, the Pistons would have been massacred in that game.

In the end, the Pistons 92:106 the Lakers, and there was no way to fight back throughout the game.

Now that Rasheed has been added, Larry Brown naturally wants to see how the entire Pistons can compete with the Big Four.

Although many people rely on their regular season performance to evaluate the Spurs, Timberwolves, and Kings in the Western Conference, they are also very strong.

But both the Pacers and the Pistons have always believed that if no major injuries occur, the only one who can finally break out of the Western Conference is the Lakers.

The playoffs test a team's stability and attack ability more than the regular season. It has always been a stage for superstars and big-hearted players.

Superstar players with 4 Finals experience, they couldn't imagine how the Lakers would lose.

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The Pistons' five consecutive visits this round start and end in Los Angeles. Compared to the Lakers, who are working hard on their way to the championship, the Los Angeles Clippers are just idle bastards.

Sterling, the owner of the Clippers, is a very pure businessman. After buying the Clippers, he paid a fine and moved to Los Angeles just to earn ticket money. Don't talk about team performance or team development and other messy things. He

, just want to make money!

Sterling rejected all non-essential investments. In order to save costs, the Clippers' total salary has always been on the edge of the poverty line (the team's total annual salary is less than the poverty line and must pay the difference to NBA officials). Naturally, the team also does not

What are the possible results?

For the Pistons, it was easy and comfortable to play against such a weak team, but it was not easy for Mo Wen, because his opponent was the "veteran" - Corey Maggette.

Maggette, like Ben, is a fitness guru in the league. He is so muscular that he was nicknamed the "Los Angeles Devil Muscle Man" by the ball.

But if you are confused by his muscles and think that he is just like me, a muscular man who only knows how to be tough, you are wrong. This guy likes to break into the paint and rely on his strong upper body strength to cause damage to the defender in the confrontation-drawing fouls.

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Apart from meeting him twice in the dungeon, the thing that impressed Mo Wen the most about this guy was that in his previous life, the Clippers' "Corporate" once scored 24 free throws in a single game against the Lakers. Hard.

Shengsheng used "1 point rain" to lead the team to win against Kobe Bryant who scored 50 points and 9 rebounds.

The Clippers did not surrender just because of the strong performance of the Pistons, especially Maggette, who showed a strong desire to attack when facing Mo Wen.

Clippers head coach Dunleavy had studied the Pistons' game videos before, and he observed Mo Wen's characteristics - good skills, poor talent. For the Clippers, who have a tank man like Maggette, Mo Wen is a good player.

ground breakthrough.

Maggette also thought that this game would be a good match for him at first. Playing against an Asian guy who doesn't look like he has much muscle, wouldn't it be easy to crush him?

But during the game, he discovered that this Asian was much more difficult to deal with than he thought. Maggette had the advantage in physical confrontation, but Mo Wen did not give him a chance for a head-on confrontation.

In the absence of physical contact, Mo Wen's judgment of his attack options was frighteningly accurate. However, in the presence of physical contact, Mo Wen retreated while making various small moves for him, making it difficult for him to concentrate on attacking.

There were several times when Maggette wanted to put aside his skills and directly use his physical advantage to crush him head-on, but neither sideways breakthrough nor back-hitting was very efficient. The two Wallaces inside the Pistons are not vegetarians either.

, let’s not talk about their defense, but those two faces that don’t look like good guys already made people panic when they pounced on them.

And his most proud ability to draw fouls seemed to have failed in front of Mo Wen.

In the dungeon, Mo Wen had experience playing against Maggette. He knew that this guy liked to seek confrontations and whistles during layups, so he was quite conservative when defending at the basket, either closing his eyes or blocking in advance.

Basket path, try to avoid the exchange of sweat on the arms of the two people.

This defensive strategy made it difficult for Maggette, who was used to playing under the whistle.

Maggette's number of successful shots increased a lot in this game, but his shooting percentage was not good. He only hit 7 goals in 20 shots.

He only made 5 free throws, 3 of which were made by Pistons' inside players, which is far below his average of 8.5 free throws per game this season.

In this game, Mo Wen focused his energy mainly on the defensive end, but his statistics were not that bad. In 32 minutes of playing time, he made 4 of 9 shots, 1 of 1 three-pointers, 2 of 3 free throws, and scored 12 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists, and 1 steal.

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Brand, the Clippers' core inside player, was forced to shoot from the outside, and his efficiency was not guaranteed. By the end of the third quarter, the Pistons had led by 16 points, and the starting lineup in the fourth quarter was immediately clocked out.

In the three games since starting, Mo Wen averaged 15.6 points, 5 rebounds, 4.3 assists, and 2 steals per game. From a statistical point of view, it has even exceeded Prince's previous performance in the starting lineup.

Just when the coaching staff was relieved because of Mo Wen's "barely qualified" performance, Hamilton suffered his third injury of the season on the third day at the Jazz's home court at the Delta Air Lines Center in Salt Lake City.

During a breakthrough in the third quarter, my face hit the defensive player's shoulder, and then - the bridge of my nose was bruised.

His first two injuries were also related to the bridge of his nose.

Hamilton wore his later iconic mask after his nose was injured twice before. It is not known whether it was due to the quality of the mask or the force of the collision that caused him to be injured again this time.

The good news is that the injury is not serious and he can recover within four or five days of rest. The bad news is that the Pistons have no one on the outside.

Mo Wen, who had just been appointed as the starter at No. 3, was going to start at No. 2 again. He felt that he was really at a loss for the contract he received in this round draft.

Hamilton's unexpected injury caused the Pistons to lose the game against the Jazz, but the Pistons did not give up in the next two games.

The Nuggets and SuperSonics are not strong teams, and they have the confidence to fight even if their lineups are unstable.

In contrast, the Nuggets also feel that they have a full advantage in the next game. Judging from the record, the Pistons are only 7 games ahead of the Nuggets. After more than 60 games have been played, the gap is 7 games.

Not that big.

Coupled with the fact that the Pistons lost two more starters and downgraded both offense and defense, is the Nuggets' victory still not secure?

"Melon" even made wild claims in front of the media - they will definitely win this game.

However, the cheers at Denver's Pepsi Center only lasted for one quarter. After the two teams were tied in the first quarter, the remaining Pistons beat the Nuggets 35:16 in the second quarter.

After Mo Wen switched back to the No. 3 position to replace veteran Hamm to defend Anthony, the confident Anthony took 11 crazy shots in the second quarter and hit 2 goals to successfully defeat the Nuggets.

Of course, the Pistons' lead is not solely due to Anthony. After getting used to the Nuggets' rough offensive tactics, the Pistons turned up the intensity in the second quarter, with 4 blocks, 4 steals, and 7 offensive rebounds in a single quarter.

The Nuggets players were blinded. Billups' substitute, Mike James, who was only 1.88 meters tall, even blocked Nuggets power forward Nene (Hilario).

On the offensive end, Mo Wen also encountered a rare player that he could bully with strength. The Nuggets defender Wash Leonard was a pitcher-type player who weighed only 90 kilograms, which was 10 kilograms lighter than him.

The strength is also weaker than him.

This is simply the perfect backdrop.

Mo Wen demonstrated all the back-up, breakthrough, and even inside moves he had learned in the copy space on this unlucky guy.

Seeing Mo Wen's smooth use at the basket and his dreamy footsteps that continuously shook off Leonard and Nene (Hilario) who came to defend, the two insiders "Wallace" on the court covered their mouths in surprise. .

No, how can you, an outside player, practice our inside skills so well that we can slip away better than our inside players? Do you know that you will make us lose face if you do this!

After the ball, Nuggets head coach Budrick reacted and quickly removed Leonard and replaced him with Rodney White, who was more physically gifted, to defend Mo Wen.

As for why Anthony is not allowed to guard Mo Wen, Anthony has the arduous task of guarding Ham, who can "explode" by averaging 2 points per game. It is natural for Mo Wen, a little trash at the end of the pick, to leave it to his teammates.

After the halftime break, Anthony, who only scored 6 points in the first half, wanted to continue to play to save the team. The Nuggets head coach did not stop him. He just pointed to the scoreboard on the big screen above his head and told him to take it easy. Lead the team in a different way.

Looking at his "exploding" record of 2-for-16 shooting, Anthony followed the coach's advice, but in the third quarter, Anthony, who mainly focused on passing, decided to take a rest after half the game.

There was nothing he could do, the basket was smashed crooked by his teammates, and the Nuggets scored 7 points in 7 minutes. Anthony couldn't believe that the team in front of him was just a scrappy Pistons.

Until the end of the game, Anthony, who was sitting on the bench, was still resenting Milicic.

If it weren't for this guy, he should be the one to join such a strong team.

Anthony's target when he participated in the draft was the Pistons. After being selected by the Nuggets, Anthony complained that it would be better if the Pistons selected him.

After the game, Mo Wen, who scored a career-high 24 points, took the water handed by Hamilton on the bench.

Take one sip and feel refreshed.

"I originally thought you were going to steal the 'Little Prince's' job, but now it seems you are going to steal my job too?" Hamilton joked.

"That's not necessarily true. If something happens to Chauncey (Billups) one day, maybe I can steal his job." The corner of Mo Wen's mouth was slightly crooked, showing off his true character as the Dragon King.

"You bastard, I'm right next to you and you're still trying to usurp the throne? Believe it or not, I'll destroy you first." Billups laughed and scolded him before kicking him.

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A day later, the Sonics were easily defeated by the Pistons again.

Ray Allen deserves the title of Gentleman Ray. The Pistons gave up two starters, and he gave up on himself.

The day before yesterday, Ray Allen, who was fighting for the Lakers until the last minute, felt his thigh strain after the game.

It wasn't that he was injured to the point where he couldn't play, but with no hope of making the playoffs, Ray Allen simply rested to recuperate.

Mo Wen was a little nervous at first. The strongest shooting position outside of the "four major shooting guards" like Ray Allen was not something he could handle now, but he didn't expect that the problem would disappear.

The Pistons easily took away the victory from Seattle at 84:65. Mo Wen only played 28 minutes and easily managed 14 points, 3 rebounds and 2 assists.

Finally, the Pistons' journey to the West has returned to its original starting point.

(End of chapter)