Duan's crazy performances of 35+ points in two consecutive games in the Long Beach Summer League suddenly made him the subject of intense coverage by the media in the Los Angeles area.
Also under the vigorous publicity of the media, Duan quickly became a hot rising star in the NBA today, catching up with the No. 1 pick James and the No. 2 pick Anthony.
However, while Duan's fame has greatly increased, he has also quickly been taken seriously by coaches of other summer league teams.
On July 9, when the Los Angeles Lakers played against the Golden State Warriors, Duane was double-teamed from the beginning of the first quarter.
Under a lot of physical contact and confrontation, Duen's three-point shooting percentage dropped significantly. In the first half of the first quarter, he made 1 of 3 three-pointers and only scored 3 points and 1 rebound.
In order to get more scoring data, and also to ensure that there was enough energy left in the second half, Duan was forced to play without the ball.
However, the Warriors seemed to have the attitude that they could lose the game and Jordan must die, and they did not relax their defense against Duan at all.
The Warriors turned a blind eye to Pargo, who made 5 of 8 shots and 1 of 2 free throws in the first quarter, scoring 11 points.
However, Duan, who made 2 of 5 shots and 1 of 3 three-pointers, was able to score 5 points.
Fortunately, there are many rookies in the Warriors, and their defensive concentration cannot last a whole game.
Duan found some opportunities in the second half of the third quarter and hit two consecutive three-pointers. Then he squatted in the bottom corner and looked for opportunities to catch the ball in the low post. The three threats went straight to the basket.
Relying on 4 of 6 shots in the third quarter, 2 of 3 three-pointers, 2 of 2 free throws, and an outstanding performance of 12 points in a single quarter.
After playing the first three quarters, Duan's score has reached 21 points.
And because he didn't consume much energy in the first half, Duane, who felt good about himself, got more playing time in the fourth quarter from Rambis.
In the end, Dunn made 11 of 24 shots, 4 of 11 three-pointers, and 3 of 4 free throws. He scored 29 points, 7 rebounds, and 2 assists, successfully leading the Lakers to defeat the Warriors 104-100.
Although this game failed to continue the momentum of consecutive 35+ points, a rookie who has not played an NBA regular season can continue to perform outstanding performances of consecutive 25+ points when the defense is targeted. This shows how powerful Duan is. place.
After just playing these three games, the local media in Los Angeles have already begun to build momentum for Duen. The MVP of the Long Beach Summer League must be Duen.
At the same time, under the influence of the media, Dunn also began to compete remotely with James, who was participating in the Pepsi Summer League in Orlando.
However, James is a busy man. The Pepsi Summer League has begun, but James has been nowhere to be seen.
When James, who was belatedly arriving, suddenly appeared in Orlando, the local fans in Orlando were also very enthusiastic. Fifteen thousand people quickly poured into the TD Waterhouse Center just to watch James' debut performance up close.
However, James' first show performance was somewhat unexpected - mistakes in walking, passing errors, defensive misalignments, and many mistakes that rookies make, all appeared on James.
Perhaps it was because he had been busy with business activities before and his competitive state had not yet adjusted to the summer league level. In short, he only produced ordinary data of 14 points, 7 rebounds and 6 assists.
Compared with Duane, who dominated the West Coast in Long Beach and had an amazing debut with 37 points and 7 rebounds, James did not perform at the level expected of the No. 1 pick in the draft.
Perhaps it was also because of the heavy pressure from the media. After James played his second game in the Orlando Summer League, his data in all aspects was still unsatisfactory, so he left in a hurry, and no one knew where he was going.
After the Orlando Summer League ended in just one week, the Reebok Summer League also started in Boston.
Anthony, who is known as the peerless twin with James, did not disappoint the media. He scored 28 points, 8 rebounds and 2 assists in his first game.
After the game, the Los Angeles media said that Anthony's debut performance was still inferior to that of Duane.
Not to be outdone, the New York media went tit-for-tat with the Los Angeles media. They said that the intensity of the defense they encountered in their debut was far different.
After all, Anthony was the second overall pick, and he won the NCAA championship and the semi-finals MOP. The defensive intensity Anthony encountered in his first game was basically the same as when Durn played the Warriors.
Facing double teams and strong defense, Duan's data also dropped a lot, and he did not perform better than Anthony's debut.
The two major media groups on the east and west coasts collided with each other and launched a series of heated discussions.
It stands to reason that James and Anthony should be compared together in this summer league.
Who knew that Du En would appear halfway through, and Anthony's younger brother at Syracuse University would become a super dark horse competing with Anthony on the same stage.
As for James, the No. 1 pick, perhaps he was too business-minded and too busy. He accidentally became too busy and became invisible.
Nike deliberately wanted to get James, but it only used Duan and James to hype together.
However, the two major media groups on the east and west coasts prefer players from their respective cities.
The eldest brother and the second child quarreled, and the third child could only turn into ashes and disappear without a trace.
…
Back on July 12, the Long Beach Summer League launched a unique Chinese Derby.
Du En and Wang Zhizhi were in the same frame for the first time, as opponents, appearing on the stage of the summer league.
Wang Zhizhi is relatively introverted and not as good at dancing as Yao Ming.
In fact, not long after the draft ended, Yao Ming took the initiative to call Du En and say hello.
After Duan expressed his intention to terminate the contract with Bill Duffy, perhaps Bill Duffy got involved with Yao Ming, and Yao Ming also came forward to call Duan.
Although it is useless, it also releases Yao Ming's own goodwill.
Yao Ming took the initiative to express that the termination of Du En's contract with Bill Duffy would not affect the friendship between Du En and him.
But Wang Zhizhi clearly knew that Du En was in Los Angeles and that he also played for the Clippers in Los Angeles, but there was no movement at all.
Naturally, Du En would not take the initiative to contact Wang Zhizhi out of respect for his senior.
Although, Du En will also be grateful to Wang Zhizhi for paving the way and opening up the road for Chinese players to the NBA for younger generations like Yao Ming and Du En.
"Dazhi, if you have any trouble in the future, you can contact me.
Alone in a foreign land, we are all foreigners, both Chinese and playing in the NBA.
If there's anything I can do to help, I'll definitely help. Don't be embarrassed to ask just because you think it's troublesome. "
Before the game started, Du En expressed some respect and goodwill to Wang Zhizhi.
After all, if we meet on the court, we can't just pretend we didn't see each other.
Of course, there is a big gap between Du En and Wang Zhizhi in terms of personality and age. Basically, they can't talk to each other. They can only be regarded as familiar strangers.
After Du En and Wang Zhizhi finished their polite exchanges, there was no follow-up.
Against a weak team like the Clippers, Duen said he still needs to put in a little more effort.
At the end of the game, Duan's scoring data exceeded 30 points again, and finally scored 33 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals and 2 blocks.
It is worth mentioning that one of the blocks came from the unlucky guy Wang Zhizhi.
After beating the Clippers, the Lakers, under the leadership of Duane, have won five consecutive games in the summer league, and there are only two games left between the SuperSonics and the Nuggets.
Neither the SuperSonics nor the Nuggets made it to the playoffs last season, and the Nuggets were a bad team competing for the No. 1 pick.
But this does not mean that their summer league team configuration is poor. On the contrary, the lottery team is the first team to prepare for the summer league and has the most sufficient staffing and preparation time.
Both teams have a large number of NBA rookies and basic-salary players joining them, so the summer league appears to be strong.
A winning streak in the summer league didn't mean much in the first place. Duen considered that improving the data would help him negotiate more money with Nike, so he chose the data instead of the game.
After the Long Beach Summer League officially ended, Duane, who had returned to Los Angeles to practice hard, also won the MVP of this year's Long Beach Summer League by averaging 32 points, 6.4 rebounds and 4.4 assists per game.
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