One Guard

Sweeping the Warriors 4-0 to advance, this score was something that many people had never thought of. Although the Warriors are only ranked eighth in the Western Conference, their strength cannot be truly reflected by the ranking. Are the seventh-ranked Grizzlies and sixth-ranked Trail Blazers necessarily better than the Warriors? I'm afraid not necessarily.

The day after the series ended, the Warriors officially announced that they had waived Mark Jackson. Although the arrival of this coach has transformed the Warriors from a weak team into a strong playoff team, there is no doubt that the results in the first round of the playoffs still did not meet the management's expectations.

Coupled with Mark Jackson's behavior of voluntarily admitting defeat in front of the media, it even touched the bottom line of the management. As a coach, you can lose, but you can't admit defeat before the game is played. If even the head coach has given up, what other players will be willing to fight for you?

Watching the news of Mark Jackson's dismissal in the office, Carlisle couldn't help but shake his head. Although Jackson's performance in the playoffs was indeed very bad, he was still the one who put the Warriors on the right track.

Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green, these young people all shine under Mark Jackson. His "elevator door" tactics and system that emphasizes defense helped the Warriors escape the fate of being poor in the Western Conference.

But the league is so cruel. No matter how great your past achievements are, if the team abandons you, they will abandon you. This is the NBA, a business place where human touch is thin and victory trumps all else.

Putting down the newspaper, Carlisle rubbed his temples. He is very grateful that he is working for the most humane boss in the league. Otherwise, he might have been fired when the Mavericks were defeated by Tao Taishi in the Western Conference semifinals in 2012 as the defending champion.

After advancing to the second round of the playoffs, the pressure on Carlisle instantly eased a lot. Although Carlisle has been telling his players not to listen to the media's nonsense, he is actually a little worried. If the team really suffers another "black eight", it is estimated that Carlisle himself will apply for resignation without Cuban being fired.

Fortunately, nothing bad happened. Carlisle stretched and leaned back in his chair. The series between the Clippers and Rockets is still inextricable, and the winner may even be decided through a tiebreaker. This is undoubtedly a good thing for the Mavericks. At least these days, the Mavericks can live in peace and contentment.

At this moment, someone knocked on the door of Carlisle's office. At this time, the players are training, and all members of the coaching staff should also be at the training ground to provide guidance. So, apart from Cuban, the only person knocking on the door now may be Benjamin, the Mavericks' chief team doctor.

But Cuban has a business to discuss today and is not in Dallas. So even though the door hadn't opened yet, Carlisle already knew who was coming.

"Please come in." After Carlisle responded, the office door was pushed open. Sure enough, Benjamin walked into the head coach's office with a portfolio in his hand.

"The latest physical condition report of the players." Benjamin said, holding up the file bag and then placing it on Carlisle's messy desk. "If the table in my room was as messy as yours, I would be scolded by my wife."

"Fortunately, our working environment is a world without women." Carlisle joked, then opened the file and read it.

"The players' physical condition has been good recently, and there is no possibility of injuries. Of course, unless something unexpected happens. By the way, you should be very interested in the last page of the report." See Carlisle start reading the report, Benjamin He also explained for Carlisle.

After hearing this, Carlisle turned the report to the end. After looking at it for a few times, Carlisle raised his head, his eyes shining. "you sure?"

Benjamin nodded. "Sure."

Seeing him say this, Carlisle lowered his head and looked at the stack of paper in his hand again.

This is the latest report on Carter's recovery,

The team's medical team has closely followed Carter's body and will conduct a check-up every day to understand his physical recovery.

Carlyle's conclusions from this report are gratifying.

"We all agree that after more than four months of recovery, Vince has met the requirements to play and participate in training. If everything goes well, Vince should have no problem catching up with the finals."

"When you say everything is normal, do you mean Vince's body or our game." Carlisle looked up and smiled at Benjamin.

"Both. After all, if the team fails to reach the finals, even if Vince recovers and wants to play, he will have to wait until next season. But..." Benjamin grinned, remembering The total score of the first round was 4-0. "You won't let this happen, right?"

"I hope God will bless Vince and us." Carlisle handed the report back to Benjamin, feeling very happy. "Did you tell him about this?"

"Not yet, we have to be the first to tell you, and then you make the decision."

"What else can I do? Go tell Vince to come to training tomorrow, otherwise his old bones will be rusty."

Sometimes, good things really come one after another. First, the team won and advanced, and then Carter is about to make his comeback. I hope this smooth momentum can be maintained until the last moment.

After reading the report, the chief team doctor Benjamin will personally inform Carter, who is recuperating at home, that he is about to return to the training ground. Carlisle could even imagine how excited the guy with the gray beard would be later.

As for Carlisle, he must stay at the training ground and supervise the team's training. The next opponents, no matter who advances, the Clippers or the Rockets, are not easy to chew. Even if you win the game, you can't relax at all on the training ground.

At this time, the team's training has entered the stage of special training. Each player's training items at this stage are different. Some may be practicing shooting, while others may be practicing layups during confrontations. As for Gobert, his training program is still unshakable defense.

At the beginning of the season, Carlisle and the coaching staff actually thought about asking Gobert to practice shooting. After all, if a center can both defend and open up space on the offensive end, it will undoubtedly fit in well with Yiyang's style of play.

But after half a season, the shooting coach of the Dallas Mavericks exclaimed that Gobert is simply the most "genius" player he has ever encountered. Because no matter how much you practice, that guy's shooting just doesn't improve!

Free throws are the only thing where Gobert has made progress in shooting. Even so, Gobert's free throw percentage was only 49.2%.

Even Gobert joked about himself when being interviewed by reporters: "I think I am a shooter because my free throw shooting percentage is already higher than many people's three-point shooting percentage."

The shooting training showed no results, and Carlisle had to give up temporarily. Since new skills cannot be developed, let's consolidate what Gobert already has.

Therefore, defensive training has become a required course for Gobert every day. With Dalembert, an experienced teacher, Gobert's improvement in defense is obvious.

Although Dalembert has always been a minor player in the league, his average of nearly 2 blocks per game is a terrifying achievement that cannot be ignored by anyone.

Dalembert first played for the Philadelphia 76ers after joining the NBA in 2001. His first NBA coach was Larry Brown, and his most familiar teammate was the then-hot Allen Iverson. But the person who helped Dalembert the most was the aging "Mountain of Africa" ​​Dikembe Mutombo in the 76ers team at the time.

At that time, Mutombo was Dalembert's mentor. The Haitian learned a lot from Uncle Mourinho, especially one-on-one defense, and of course, got a lot of elbows.

It can be said that it was Mutombo's guidance that allowed the originally mediocre Dalembert to survive in this league by relying on blue-collar work. And now Dalembert is like Mutombo back then, guiding the young Frenchman.

Under the supervision of the trainer, Dalembert played Gobert in a post-up with the ball. The Haitians were not polite to Gobert because it was training. Relaxing on the training ground was irresponsible for the game. This sentence was what Mutombo told him back then. Dalembert followed this principle throughout his career.

Therefore, Dalembert was not polite to Gobert. He suddenly turned around, secretly raising his elbow in the process. Of course, the experienced Dalembert knows the intensity. His elbow won't really hurt Gobert's health, but it will definitely make the Frenchman feel pain in his chest.

After being hit by an elbow, Gobert seemed to lose his strength. Dalembert seized the opportunity, took a big step forward and hung the frame with both hands! The rim made a loud noise, even attracting the attention of everyone else on the training ground.

"You're too weak! If it was DeAndre Jordan or Dwight Howard who just elbowed you, you can't expect them to be as gentle as me!" After the dunk, Dalembert yelled at Gobert. . This guy has really stepped into the role of a teacher.

"Damn it, don't be complacent, old man. If you do it again, I'm going to overthrow you this time!" Gobert responded without any sign of weakness. Everyone was used to the bickering between the two strong men on the basketball court.

The first time the two yelled at each other, it really shocked everyone. People thought these two guys were really at odds. But later, everyone discovered that these two guys yelled at each other almost every training session. But once the training was over, the relationship between the two became extremely good.

Dalembert knew very well that being tough on him on the training ground was to get him to be tough on others in the game. Gobert's rapid progress is closely related to Dalembert.

In a subsequent practice, Dalembert gave Gobert a big elbow. But this time, the Frenchman did not back down, but endured the pain and continued to press forward, and slapped the basketball out of Dalembert's hand!

During the confrontation with Gobert, Dalembert lost his center of gravity and fell to the ground in embarrassment. But the Haitians had excited smiles on their faces.

"That's right, boy, that's called defense! Basketball is a muscle-to-muscle sport, and you don't give up an inch. What does it look like when you are such a big man, but you want to hide and float out to shoot. A small man will see that you don't defend. , you don’t need to touch the inside line, you will collapse. So, you should be as tough as you were just now, good job, boy!"

"Tch, be careful with your old bones. If you get hurt, I can't be responsible." Gobert said coldly, but he still stretched out his hand to pull Dalembert who fell to the ground. got up.

Seeing that scene on the training ground, Carlisle couldn't help but smile. It is precisely because of these seemingly "burdensome" veterans on the team that the Mavericks will become better.

Think about how much Yiyang learned from the old guys in the past. Kidd, Terry, Peja and even Cardinal, without them, Yiyang would not be what it is now.

Dalembert's dedication and Carter, who is about to return, will continue to light up the Mavericks' path forward in the playoffs.

With the "backing" of these old guys, coupled with the vitality of young people. Regardless of whether the Mavericks' next opponent is the Rockets or the Clippers, Carlisle is full of confidence at this time.

Come quickly because we can't wait to advance to the next round!