The end of the winning streak made the Wizards players and coaches sober up, especially Sanders. Before the game, he was still imagining that he could lead the team to the playoffs this season, even rank at the top of the division, and win the championship. The best coach, but the facts immediately poured cold water on his head.
In the NBA, nothing is certain, and no team is a so-called soft persimmon!
So from a certain perspective, the end of the winning streak is not a bad thing. After the Wizards' undefeated streak is destroyed, the entire team will be more down-to-earth, rather than like a nouveau riche who got rich overnight. Likewise, after winning a few games in a row, I put on airs and couldn't let go.
Losing just made the players and coaches realize the reality.
There are mixed opinions on the Internet about the Wizards' upset loss to the Bobcats. However, the vast majority of fans believe that the Wizards took advantage of the momentum at the beginning of the season and won 6 games in a row. After losing this game, The team's momentum will dissipate, and then the Wizards' true strength will be revealed.
The Curiosity's next opponent is the Chicago Bulls, who are tough enough to serve as a grindstone this time.
Li Kaiming didn't have time to go online to see what the fans thought of him, because after the game, everyone on the Wizards rushed to the airport non-stop and took the team's special plane to fly to Chicago. It was already one o'clock in the middle of the night when they arrived in Chicago. , after arriving at the team's station, Li Kaiming dove directly into bed.
On the afternoon of November 13th, America, Illinois, the Chicago Bulls home game at the United Center.
The Wizards had been here during the preseason, so Li Kaiming was relatively familiar with the United Center. When he took the team bus to the United Center, through the window, Li Kaiming could vaguely see the Jordan statue standing there at the entrance of the arena. Many fans are standing under the statue and taking photos with the statue using the front-facing cameras of their mobile phones.
The last time he came, Li Kaiming still remembered that Arenas was sitting next to him, looking at the statue of Jordan with envy and introducing him to him. Now times have changed, and the relationship between him and Arenas has completely broken down. The latter is currently sitting on the court. He was in the last row of the bus, far away from him, and he didn't look out the window. Instead, he wore a blindfold on his head, covering his eyes and resting with his head raised. He didn't know if he was sleeping.
After thinking about it for a while, he stopped thinking about it. It was Arenas' own choice that it has developed to this point. All he can do is give his best in the game and leave the rest to fate.
Today's game is a little later than the previous one, at 8 o'clock in the evening. The Wizards arrived at the United Center relatively early. Because of the loss in the last game, Sanders specially arranged for the team to come early in order to allow the players to Let's find the status as soon as possible.
The Bulls' Boozer still hasn't been cleared to play before the game, and it seems he will miss at least half the season.
Even without Boozer, the Bulls are not easy to mess with. No one on the Wizards, from coaches to players, thinks that if they win one game against the Bulls in the preseason, the game will be safe.
To win in the preseason, the Bulls replaced substitutes and water cooler players early after finding out that the score was wide, and did not let the starters play for too long. Instead, the Wizards' side, Li Kaiming's playing time and routine It's not much different from the competition.
The preseason is for training. Everyone knows that the Bulls did not show their true strength in the preseason.
During today's pre-game interview session, a white reporter with a beard asked Li Kaiming a question, "Li, in the last game you lost at home to the 12th-place Charlotte Bobcats in the Eastern Conference. Many football commentators and data experts believed that Your momentum has been lost. From this game on, what you have shown is your true strength. What do you think?"
Li Kaiming shrugged and said, "What other people think of me is their business. I can't control my mind and make others change their opinion of me."
"If you win this game, you can change these people's views." The bearded reporter replied.
Li Kaiming sneered, "Come on, man, I averaged 36 points per game before this, and only in the last game I scored less than 30. What's the result? These guys completely negated my previous excellence with a poor performance." Performance. What else can I say, but I don’t play to change some people’s opinions of me. There are many species in the world, and I don’t need everyone to like me!”
The bearded coach asked with a smile, "Why don't you answer my question? Is it because you don't feel confident in this game?"
"Of course I am confident, but the game has not started. Why should I swear to say who will lose and who will win in this game? Those guys on the opposite side are not vegetarians. I can disrespect anyone on the court, but off the court, I feel that speaking I still need to be smart. I really don’t need everyone to like me, but I don’t need everyone to hate me. Especially these guys, what good does it do to me if I offend them by not looking up and down? Just because I want to take advantage of my tongue?"
Li Kaiming spoke very fast when he said these words, and he finished them in one breath. The reporter who asked the question was speechless by him and wanted to continue asking, but Li Kaiming directly answered another reporter's question.
The bearded reporter was a little angry and was going to make up some bad things about Li Kaiming when he went back to write the article.
After the pre-match interview, Li Kaiming returned to the stadium. Players from both sides had already started the pre-match warm-up session here. When passing by the player tunnel, Li Kaiming signed his names for several children as usual. This move made many fans His favorability increased greatly.
There are many stars who don't take the fans seriously once they become famous. I wonder if signing autographs and taking photos will save them a piece of meat.
Of course, there are still a handful of such stars. Ninety percent of NbA players know in their hearts that fans are their bread and butter. Only by pleasing the fans can they live a comfortable life. In addition, NbA officials have a relatively good attitude towards fans. Organize stars to participate in community activities to bring the stars closer to the fans.
After signing his name, Li Kaiming was about to return to the Wizards' half. Unexpectedly, as soon as he turned around, he ran into senior senior Derrick Rose walking over.
Rose obviously came to find him. He stared at Li Kaiming with a pair of bright eyes and raised the corners of his mouth slightly. "Okay, boy, there are so many fans now. You even have your fans at the Bulls home court!"
While he was talking, the fans next to Li Kaiming saw the stars of their home team approaching. They crowded over and handed the various signature carriers in their hands to Rose. The number of fans was more than double that of Li Kaiming's meeting before.
Li Kaiming stood nearby, watching Rose sign autographs for the fans, and joked with a smile, "My popularity is still far behind yours as a senior. I have to keep working hard!"
Rose felt very comfortable when he heard Li Kaiming's humble words, but he said, "It would be great if you could be as low-key on the scoreboard as you are in real life! Do you have time after tonight's game? It's not easy for you." Come to Chicago and have a meal together?”
Li Kaiming laughed, nodded and said, "The next game will be in three days, no problem."
The two agreed to contact each other by phone after the game, and then each returned to their own half to start warming up.
This game is broadcast live in America, because Chicago is a city after all, and it is the home team of the basketball god Jordan, so the basketball atmosphere in Chicago is very good, and the fans here also support the Bulls very much. High, the attendance rate of basically every game can exceed 80%. In addition, the Bulls also frequently give away tickets to the families of shooting victims. Combined with the number of gun crimes in Chicago, which ranks among the top three in the United States, the Bulls have formed a A perfect closed loop.
The game has not yet started, but the attention on the Internet to this game has increased a lot, because many basketball analysts have said before that this game will reflect the true strength of the Wizards.
In fact, it is very normal for these analysts to think this way. There are always some teams that are in great form at the beginning of the season. No matter who is on the opposite side, they can take a piece of meat. This gives fans the illusion that the team is rising. On the contrary, They are some teams with strong lineups, but their record may not be good.
But as the season progresses, the previous teams gradually disappear from the top of the record list, and teams with good lineups gradually emerge. By the end of the season, they can always be found at the end of the record list.
It was promised that the team would rise, but unexpectedly, it would rise in reverse, and it would move forward in the fight for the No. 1 pick.
Therefore, the vast majority of fans want to see if the Washington Wizards can still show their previous state when they encounter a truly strong team after their winning streak was interrupted by the Bobcats.
Therefore, in the eyes of most fans, this game has become a game to identify whether the Wizards can get rid of their reputation as a bad team.
If you open any online forum, you will find a large number of fans discussing this game and the value of the Wizards' previous winning streak.
"If you want me to say, you can see it in the last game. The reason why the Wizards can play so well is because of Li Kaiming's superb performance before. In the last game, Li Kaiming's level dropped and the team lost immediately. In this way A team that relies entirely on the performance of one player has no system that can guarantee stable winning, so fundamentally speaking, the Wizards are a bad team, but they were lucky enough to draft Li Kaiming this season..."
"I basically agree with you, but there is one thing I want to point out. You said that Li Kaiming did not perform well in the last game. Is it possible that his performance in the last game was his normal level? Those 6 games were just like you said, his super performance allowed the Wizards to achieve a record that was not theirs..."
"No matter what you say, Li Kaiming is currently the league's scoring leader. This is a fact you cannot deny."
"Brother, isn't it a little early to celebrate the scoring champion with champagne in just 6 games..."
Similar discussions can be seen on every basketball-related website, so the game has not even started yet, and the attention on America is already full!
