One Guard

In the NBA world, every city and every team has their own iconic figure. When it comes to the Los Angeles Lakers, you will first think of Kobe Bryant. When it comes to the Miami Heat, Wade's name will definitely flash in your mind first. For Dallas and the Mavericks, Dirk Nowitzki is that unique existence.

Generally speaking, these iconic figures have considerable influence in the city. Kobe Bryant, even just suffering from the flu, may make fans throughout Los Angeles nervous. And Nowitzki's comeback today affects the hearts of all Mavericks fans.

The Memphis Grizzlies currently rank tenth in the Western Conference with a current record of 8 wins and 2 losses. In the second game after the start of the new season, the Mavericks and the Grizzlies played against each other. And that game was just a stepping stone for the Mavericks' first winning streak.

It stands to reason that there is no spark between the Mavericks at the forefront of the league and the unstable Grizzlies. There is an obvious gap in strength between the two teams. This is by no means a focus battle.

But when this game is given a different meaning, the situation is completely different.

The tickets for the competition had already been sold out, not to mention buying on the same day, even if you came two days in advance, there were no tickets. ?When the Mavericks officially announced that Nowitzki will come back on May 5th, all Mavericks fans have bought tickets and are looking forward to the German's comeback performance.

For Mavericks fans, it doesn't matter who their opponent is in this game. Just seeing Dirk come back, play well and win games will be worth it.

So when Reggie Miller and Kevin Harlan sat in the commentary booth, they were all stunned by the crowd of people in front of them. Otherwise, Dallas is a big market? A Dirk comeback battle can make the entire American Airlines Center Arena full of seats.

At the same time, in the team locker room, the players are ready for the game, waiting for Carlisle to tell them to warm up.

For this Grizzlies, what Carlisle has always emphasized is to be patient. The Grizzlies' defense is very tight, but no matter how tight the defense is, as long as they look patiently, they can find gaps. At the beginning, didn't the Mavericks win just once?

When Carlisle wrote and drew on the tactical board, Terry also elbowed the German next to him.

"How does it feel to be back on the field?"..

"Great Jeter! I can't wait to have a big fight!" Nowitzki showed a confident smile. After more than half a month away from the game, the "German Chariot" was ready to fire.

three minutes later,

When Nowitzki trotted out of the tunnel and began to warm up, the fans throughout the American Airlines Arena were boiling.

Before the game even started, the atmosphere on the scene had reached its first climax.

It seemed that people did not take the invading grizzly bear seriously. As if the outcome of the game has no suspense at all, people are to see how the Germans lead the Mavericks to victory.

It's understandable for Mavericks fans to think this way. Before the injury, Nowitzki was in a very good state. And recently, Yiyang's great progress on the court has made the fans of the Mavericks ecstatic.

Without Nowitzki, Yiyang can lead the team to defeat the three rivals of the Trail Blazers, Magic and Pacers. So what is a Memphis Grizzlies when those two guys are on the court at the same time?

But when the game started, the performance of the Mavericks surprised everyone.

"Dirk holds the ball on the left side of the basket. His three-threat pace is very skilled. Zach Randolph dare not act rashly. He has also got rid of Mike Conley and ran out of position, but we see that Dirk is not going to pass. The ball, maybe this guy is competing with himself! Shot! The German directly pulls up and shoots! Oops, it still misses, Dirk missed all three shots before, and the Grizzlies got another chance!"

Under Reggie Miller's sigh, the Mavericks' offense ended in failure again. Randolph's defense is in place, but Nowitzki's bad touch after returning from injury is the cause of the Mavericks' poor offense. Biggest reason.

After the Grizzlies counterattacked, Rudy Gay used his strong body to lean on Marion to force a breakthrough to complete the attack frame and successfully scored. Only six minutes into the first quarter, the Mavericks trailed the Grizzlies by a full seven.

"It seems that Dirk's state is very bad today. He just returned from injury and he seems to have not found the rhythm of the game. It is not surprising that he has just come back for the first game and met a team that is good at defense like the Grizzlies. , the Germans are indeed unlucky." Kevin Harlan shook his head, if Nowitzki's hand feeling cannot be restored after that, then the Mavericks fans' dreams may be shattered.

Sometimes, the player's state is like waiting for the bus. The more you want to wait for a certain bus, the more it will not come. And the more Nowitzki wants to get back his touch quickly, the worse his state will be!

The way for a star to regain his touch on the court is very simple, that is to shoot more! Two minutes later, Yiyang used Chandler's cover to get inside, and the Grizzlies' defense immediately shrank. After all, in the past 4 games, Yiyang averaged 24.5 points per game, which is not an ordinary statistic.

Seeing that he successfully attracted the defense of the Grizzlies, Yiyang repeated the same trick, using a pass from the back of the ball without looking at people, and sent the "cannonball" to the "German Cannon".

Nowitzki made an open three-pointer, and most of the Mavericks fans in the stands were ready to cheer.

However, the greater the expectation, the greater the disappointment. The basketball spun around twice in the frame, but finally got out of the frame. Gasol held the defensive rebound firmly, which meant that the Mavericks' offense failed again.

"Damn it!" After the ball was missed, even Nowitzki cursed in a low voice. He was not blaming others, but dissatisfied with his performance today.

Fans are still waiting, waiting for Nowitzki's heroic return. At the end of the first quarter, the Mavericks had fallen behind 9-3. The fans did not give up, they still believed that the Germans could save the team.

In the second quarter of the game, Nowitzki continued to fall, making 0 of 2 three-pointers. If it wasn't for Yiyang's outstanding performance and the Grizzlies' offense suddenly dropped, the score might have been pulled apart again.

The fans are still waiting, there is still a whole half of the game.

In the third quarter, Nowitzki's shooting percentage became 50%, but this was because he only tried two shots in the third quarter. Obviously, Nowitzki didn't want to drag the team back. He knew that his state would not be restored today, so this guy simply handed over the offensive banner to Yiyang, and he reduced the number of shots.

Yiyang's performance was really good. His breakthroughs repeatedly crippled the Grizzlies' defense. It can be said that this No. 3 pick did not live up to the expectations of the Germans. But the rest of the Mavericks seemed to be infected by Nowitzki's poor state. Apart from Yiyang today, the Mavericks don't have a second stable scoring point that can stand out. The Mavericks, who usually blossom more than usual, don't look like the same team at all.

By the time the fourth quarter was halfway through, the fans no longer had any expectations. This game, where the ticket price was overpriced, ended with the fans leaving early in disappointment.

Because 4 minutes before the end of the game, garbage time has come. At this moment, only Yiyang scored in double figures on the Mavericks team, and the point difference was widened to 24 points by the Grizzlies.

"Oh, there are not many people left in the American Airlines Center arena, maybe even less than half. To be honest, Kevin, I didn't expect this game to end like this." Reggie Miller Looking at the empty stands in front of him, this was in stark contrast to the lively scene before the game.

"It is also the only player of the Mavericks who played normally in this game. Dirk's state is very worrying. I hope the German can recover quickly."

After that, Reggie Miller and Kevin Harlan began to chat about some other interesting things in the league, because there was nothing to talk about in this game that entered garbage time.

In the end, Yiyang scored the second-highest 22 points in the game after Randolph, but only 5 assists. Although Yiyang still sent out many wonderful passes, his teammates failed to score the ball. This is also the reason why Yiyang didn't get many assists today.

The Mavericks, who performed poorly, also lost the game that was supposed to win "on the script" with a humiliating score of 7 to 89 at home.

Only 7 points were scored in four quarters, which is very rare for an NBA-level team. After all, except for Yiyang, everyone on the Mavericks, including Nowitzki, has scored in single digits today.

Nowitzki scored only 7 points in his comeback campaign, and his shooting percentage was only 25%. There is no doubt that this is completely different from what Carlisle and the fans imagined.

Saying that the dark days are over and the bright light is coming? The gap between ideal and reality seems to be too big. It's even unbearably large.

At the press conference after the game, Nowitzki took all the responsibility for the loss on his own head, and behaved very low-key in front of the victor Grizzlies. ??

After five minutes of indiscriminate bombardment by reporters with a sullen face, the press conference finally came to an end. Just as Nowitzki was about to get up and leave, a reporter below suddenly stood up.

"What are the chances of the Mavericks winning against the Los Angeles Lakers in the next game?" This reporter's question can be asked in another way. "The next game against the Los Angeles Lakers, how many points will the Mavericks lose."

"We can only do our best." Nowitzki looked at the unfamiliar reporter and knew that the other party was deliberately finding fault. He ignored the flashing cameras and walked out of the media reception room.

Nowitzki was naturally upset. Looking at the reporter's malicious smile, he was very angry. With the whole world waiting for his comeback, Nowitzki has now become a joke around the world.

But if the Grizzlies lose so badly, then against the Los Angeles Lakers...

Dirk pushed open the door of the locker room, but happened to see Yiyang rushing out with a basketball in his arms.

"Why go?" Nowitzki asked.

"Shoot three-pointers." Yiyang replied calmly. Although Yiyang was not to blame for the loss in this game, his 0-for-3 shooting from beyond the three-point line made this account feel bitter.

Nowitzki froze for a second, then grabbed a basketball from the locker room and followed.

"The next game, I don't want to lose again." Walking to Yiyang, Nowitzki said to himself.

"I don't want to either, I hate failure." Yiyang frowned tightly, after losing he didn't blame anyone, but blamed himself for not performing perfectly.

Carlisle crossed his arms and looked at the backs of the two who were walking towards the training ground.

In the long regular season, the failure of some games happened to be able to sound the alarm for the players.

This game, maybe, the right time to lose?

Los Angeles Lakers? Carlisle sighed. The light, I am afraid it will not come so soon.

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