Some people can perform well under a lot of pressure, while some people can perform abnormally if they are under too much pressure.
LeBron James doesn't know which one he belongs to, but tonight, the summer league team assigned to him by the Cavaliers management did not make him feel comfortable.
The problem of his rough breakthrough skills with the ball and lack of shooting skills was further amplified in this game.
The players in the summer league, except for the rookies, are all a group of "veterans" with several years of professional experience. Their talents are far inferior to LeBron James, but they know how to deal with rookies very well.
LeBron James was having a hard time playing under their "man of the left" rule.
Except for the first quarter, which took time for the opponent to adapt to his style of play, which allowed him to score 7 points in a single quarter, and also gave 3 assists and 3 rebounds, the Cavaliers played very dull in the remaining three quarters. .
At the end of the game, not to mention the Cavaliers' loss, LeBron James only had 13 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists, which was not as good as Wade, let alone Woody.
After the game, LeBron James said frustratedly: "The NBA court is longer than the high school league, and the competition is also more intense. I still need time to adapt to all this!"
They say, "Surrender loses half the money." He was still an 18-year-old kid, so reporters shouldn't be aggressive.
But who allowed Nike and LeBron James’ team to praise LeBron so much before?
The reporters didn't let him go at all.
One of the reporters continued to ask a sharp question: "Your high school teammate Woody just finished his first game in the summer league, and he performed very well. Do you think it is his adjustment ability that is better, or his original ability?" It’s even better!”
Both of these choices are "pits." No matter which one LeBron James chooses, he is admitting in disguise that he is not as good as Woody now.
He raised his head very maturely and avoided the cameras on the sidelines. A hint of irritation flashed in his eyes. Then he looked at the camera again and said seriously: "Our opponents are different opponents. Our opponents are different." Teammates are different teammates, so I don't think it's the same thing, I thought he played great, and I thought Dwyane Wade played great in that game."
The subtext of this statement is:
Give me Wade, don’t I C?
However, his performance today is destined to be trampled by Woody in the news the next day.
On the second day, many reporters began to brag about Woody crazily. Some of them thought that the Cleveland management should be very upset now; others thought that Woody's potential was greatly underestimated and his risks were overestimated; and still others It is believed that LeBron James is not ready to play in a higher level league and he should go to the NCAA for another experience.
Among these articles, many reporters originally wrote the articles to praise LeBron James.
As a result, LeBron James' terrible debut made these reporters immediately change their attitudes!
And this is what you need to bear to enter the NBA as a "proud one of heaven"!
The "No. 1 pick" in 2001 has become the biggest "parallel import No. 1 pick" at present. There are personal reasons for this, as well as Michael Jordan's reasons, but it cannot escape the reasons of this group of media.
Therefore, the endurance of the heart is really crucial for a high-ranking NBA rookie!
LeBron James didn't show his ability to withstand pressure on the court, but he was comforted by the team off the court, and he kept saying, "I am King, I am the No. 1 pick in 2003, and I am the best in this class." My rookie, Woody is also my loser!" He quickly adjusted.
Therefore, whether one is strong enough to withstand pressure and whether one is thick-skinned are two different things.
Just like a taciturn person, he is an introverted and obedient boy.
Nike has temporarily stopped praising LeBron James.
LeBron James's performance, especially after his opponent Woody's eye-catching performance...
They really can't blow it anymore!
Let’s take a two-day break...
If they don't blow it, someone else will.
Scottie Pippen appeared in the sidelines of this game. After the game, he said: "James' performance today was not very good, but he still showed his all-around side. I think it can be seen in him. A shadow of my youth, I believe he will get better!"
However, no one paid attention to him, whether it was LeBron James, the Cavaliers management, or Nike.
Cavaliers: Our "Chosen One" co-author is Pippen, right?
LeBron: You are the "second child", your whole family is the "second child", no matter how bad I am, I am still "Magic" Johnson!
Nike: I spend such a high contract to sign a high school student and then package him as "Pippen", right?
They...can't avoid it.
I really dislike it!
Adidas's promotional department can be said to be "celebrating the New Year" these two days.
But in the second game of the Summer League, Woody's performance also declined.
The Heat's opponent in the second game is the Detroit Pistons.
Before the start of the summer league, everyone was looking forward to this game because it was the first meeting between Woody and Milicic in the NBA.
But as a result, Milicic encountered a contract dispute with his home team.
The other party must pay liquidated damages before they are willing to let him go.
The problem is that NBA regulations stipulate that teams can only pay players a buyout fee of up to 500,000, and the rest needs to be paid out of their own pockets.
Milicic came to the NBA to escape the war and earn tens of millions of dollars per year. He was ambitious, but he didn't want to pay a high price, so he stayed in Europe with his team and slowly quarreled with his home team.
I don’t know if I can make it in time for the new season, but I definitely can’t make it in the summer league.
The Pistons have also become one of the few teams without newcomers in this summer league.
As for the Heat, Woody and Wade are both newcomers. Although Haslem has played in France for one year, his experience in one year is just that. And what kind of good league can there be in France, encounter a bunch of summer leagues? They were struggling.
In the end, they lost the summer league by 76 to 85, a difference of 9 points.
Woody's performance was much worse than in the previous game. He made only 6 of 14 shots and his shooting percentage was only 43.8%. With his "pie-eating" scoring style, this shooting percentage is definitely not enough.
The number of rebounds remained stable at 12, which was one less than the previous game.
But the number of assists was only 4, the number of steals was only 1, and the number of blocks was only 1, which was a big drop.
In addition, he also committed 6 fouls and made 3 turnovers.
most important……
This is the first time in his career that he has lost!
From the first public 5v5 game he played in the training camp to now, he has never lost in any official public game. In his last year of high school, St. Mary's High School won the final championship with a record of 28 wins and 0 losses. State championship trophy!
Looking at the bright red numbers, Woody felt a little dazzling.
It's not like he lost a little pearl just because he lost a summer league game.
But there was a lump in his chest, which made him very depressed.
turn out to be……
This is how it feels to lose!
"Man, this is mine, I didn't hit it well!"
Woody's performance was not good, and Wade's performance was even worse. He made 4 of 14 shots, not even 30% from the field. The speed of the opponent's "old guys" defense and support made him very uncomfortable and lost. In order to break through this sharp weapon, the problem of his shooting instability was exposed.
This is also a big reason why he and Woody were restricted tonight:
Neither of them has a stable mid-range to give the opponent enough space. Haslem's mid-range shooting ability alone is not enough to make opponents fearful.
Spoelstra came over and comforted the two people: "Don't take it to heart, everyone is here like this!"
Woody was just uncomfortable, but not under much pressure.
This is thanks to LeBron James. His second summer league game started earlier than Woody. They were over before Woody started. LeBron James continued to perform poorly, and the opponent's "iron barrel formation" "It makes him unable to exert all his strength at all.
After the game, exciting news came from the Cavaliers’ summer league team:
LeBron James is considering quitting the game.
After the news came out, Summer League officials were a little panicked.
Because the next game is the Heat vs. the Cavaliers, and they are looking forward to making a lot of money from this game!
If LeBron really retires at this time, then this game will lose a lot of highlights.
Woody also looks forward to LeBron James continuing to play in the Summer League.
After playing the game against the Pistons, he now knows clearly that compared to the "old guys" in the summer league, it is easier to deal with "peers".
Although they are more talented, they have not yet been realized. At the same time, everyone is inexperienced and belongs to the same starting line.
Woody also pointed at LeBron James and said "blood"!
It's not just him, Wade and Haslem are also looking forward to this day!
No offense, they respect LeBron as the "No. 1 pick", but so far in the summer league, judging from the current situation, he is indeed more like a "soft persimmon".
"Eric are you there?"
After the game against the Pistons, Spoelstra gave Woody and the others a day off.
Mainly to take care of Woody. American high school leagues don't arrange games every two days. This intensity was too high. If he arranged additional training, he was afraid that Woody would not be able to bear it.
But he didn't expect Woody to come knocking on his door early in the morning. When he opened the door, Woody went straight to the point: "Man, help me take a look at yesterday's game against the Pistons and see where I can improve!"
Spoelstra was slightly startled. He really didn't expect Woody to have such an idea.
Woody showed a helpless expression: "The standard of the NBA should be higher, right? I just have to play smarter!"
"Okay, you sit down first, I'll prepare a video playback for you!"
Spoelstra nodded in agreement. When he took the computer, he originally wanted to ask Woody if he wanted to call Wade over to make progress together.
But thinking about this guy's brain, he definitely can't keep up with Woody's rhythm, so let's break it one by one. At worst, he can help Woody solve the problem, and then go to Wade later to arrange special tutoring for him.
Wade sneezed violently in his sleep, waking himself up. He opened his eyes drowsily, smacked his mouth twice, and fell asleep again, still mumbling indistinctly. One sentence:
"Who, who is thinking of me!"
Woody's questions were more thoughtful and detailed than Spoelstra's. He found that Woody now has a good understanding of some of the Heat's common tactics.
This rate of progress is really fast!
That's fine, he can focus entirely on Wade and help him grow.
That afternoon, the day before the Heat played against the Cavaliers, LeBron James officially held a press conference and announced that he would miss all remaining games in the Orlando Summer League.
Because of his performance, reporters' questions about him became more and more sharp.
"Can we understand that you chose to avoid meeting Woody on the field?"
LeBron James hurriedly said: "Man, I'm not avoiding playing against anyone, but I found my shortcomings, so we have decided to participate in the next Charlotte Summer League, you know, it is bigger It’s bigger and I can play more games, so I hope to get more training opportunities!”
There's really nothing wrong with saying this.
Compared to the Orlando Summer League, which only has 6 teams participating, the Charlotte Summer League has more than a dozen teams, and there are indeed more games to play.
When the "three little ones" of the Heat learned the news, they felt a little regretful at the time.
However, LeBron James has retired, and the game between the Heat and the Cavaliers will continue.
Woody and Spoelstra studied the video for almost a morning yesterday. This game has improved a lot. At least the ability to seize opportunities at the basket is much better than before.
It may also be related to the fact that LeBron James suddenly announced his withdrawal, and the Cavaliers summer league team was not interested in playing.
In this game, he scored "20 plus 10" again.
During this game, Pat Riley also came to the sidelines and bought tickets with his own money.
He didn't come here for the duel between LeBron James and Woody, but...
On the 7th day after Woody left Miami, I missed him!
Therefore, the "Magic Fortune Teller" flew hundreds of miles away to Orlando.
After the game, reporters asked Woody a question: "Do you plan to participate in the Charlotte Summer League?"
Woody almost laughed out loud when he heard the news.
Good guy, "He runs away, he chases, he can't fly", right?
This scene, let alone talk about it, is really interesting and made Woody excited.
However, after the game, Pat Riley specifically visited Woody and Wade: "Guys, how are you? If you feel adapted, you don't have to play in the next few games." Got it!"
Just talking about the standard of confrontation in the summer league, it may be more fierce than the NBA regular season.
This is a place where "the jungle of the jungle" is truly a place where you risk your life for a contract.
Pat Riley was worried that if they were injured in a place like this, it would be too much of a loss.
He has already watched the videos of these three games. He is very satisfied with the performance of Woody and Wade in these three games. At the same time, he feels that Woody and Wade do not need to prove anything on such a stage.
Woody didn't insist. After these three games, July is about to bottom out. He still has the task of gaining weight, and he will definitely have to adapt to it. If you think about it this way, the time is really tight. It really doesn't matter. No need to waste time in summer league.
In this way, Woody and Wade ended their journey in the Orlando Summer League and returned to Miami early.
The third update today.
Brothers, today is another 12,000-word update, see you tomorrow.
(End of chapter)
