By the 16th, the Clippers had returned to Los Angeles for a day of rest, a day of preparation training, and once again faced the SuperSonics.
Li Ao thought he would be very excited when he came to play in the Staples Center, but on this day...that was it.
The 11 championship flags flying above the stadium are so annoying to look at.
When he heard that the Lakers refused to trade the second pick with the Grizzlies, he didn't feel too much.
Now, I feel somewhat unhappy.
I am also very unhappy with the Grizzlies and Nets.
The first two can't compare to him at all, so why should they be ranked higher than him?
In a special environment and at a special time, Li Ao's mentality underwent subtle changes.
However, this unhappy mood did not last long. After the game started, he was beaten until he almost shut down.
A strong team is a strong team!
Even though the Sonics have already passed their peak stage due to the collapse of Vin Baker's strength, a skinny camel is bigger than a horse, and they are a stable playoff team.
The tactical system is perfect, the main players cooperate well, and the defensive discipline is strict...
Although Li Ao made 8 of 18 shots, including 1 of 1 three-pointers, and 3 of 3 free throws to score 20 points, 4 rebounds, 6 assists and 3 blocks, he was still unable to save the defeat.
91 to 104, the Clippers' preseason record became 1 win and 2 losses.
Watching Brent Barry, who played 31 minutes tonight and scored a game-high 22 points on 8 of 12 shots, 4 of 6 three-pointers, and 2 of 2 free throws, Li Ao felt sorry for Ste in his heart. Lin Shangxiang.
No, it's not just Sterling's fault. Baylor, who is suing the Clippers, is also full of resentment.
After Baylor was fired, he discovered that Sterling did not buy him full insurance and pension.
Baylor's workplace was the Los Angeles Clippers professional basketball club. Sterling went to a mental sanatorium and was still under federal investigation and protection, so Baylor sued the Clippers to court and demanded back payment.
Li Ao saw the news that Baylor had found a job as a general manager consultant with the Grizzlies and was planning to retire after the age of 70. Yingjiang's retirement age is 66. Baylor is already eligible for a pension, but if If you work until you are 70 and then retire, you can get an additional 32% of your pension.
Li Ao hopes that the team's legal affairs will last longer. These broken deals should make Baylor more anxious.
…
After losing two games in a row and unable to fight back, Gentry doesn't care about winning or losing.
They are already weak. The team that picked up the No. 3 pick has also changed most of its players and has 4 new recruits. It will be difficult for them to encounter the veterans of the Sonics unless the opponent is just playing around or is in a collective downturn. Can beat it.
But Payton said before the start of Game 2 that he wanted to let the prospect know how difficult the NBA game is. The Sonics played hard and performed very well most of the time, and the Clippers had little chance.
Gentry was more worried about whether being held down and beaten like this would affect Li Ao.
Facts have proved that it does have an impact.
In the afternoon of the next day, Li Ao took Da Q and four teammates including Piakowsky, Kenyon Dulin, and Odom to the Memorial Stadium to practice three-pointers.
In three games, the Clippers only made 12 three-pointers in total, ranking fourth in the league among all teams in the preseason.
Only the 76ers, Cavaliers, and Wizards scored fewer three-pointers than them.
Gentry is an interesting coach. He once served as an assistant coach to Larry Brown, but after leaving Larry Brown, he showed an extreme dislike for the iron-blooded defensive style. Instead, he highly praised Nelson's style. I believe that three-pointers have a future.
And at this stage, you can not pay so much attention to long-range shooting ability, but you have to have it. If you don't have it, it will be difficult to play well offensively, and you can only take the defensive line.
The Lakers, a team that focuses on mid-range and short-range scoring, ranked tenth in the league in three-pointers made last season.
Li Ao was very reasonable and took four teammates with three-point shooting potential to train. Gentry was happy to see this situation.
They don't have the capital to play hard-hitting defense, and they can't beat those strong teams in the late 1990s. They can only take the path of balanced development.
There is also the fact that his players, although they are active in team training, are really lazy in individual training.
Big Q worked so hard in the summer. He was taken along by people like Odom and McGinnis for only a few days, and no one was seen after the team training.
In other words, O'Neal Jr. and Maggette were not led astray.
But the meal must be eaten step by step and can only be changed bit by bit.
Fortunately, they have removed the rotten roots and have seen the hope of new life.
On the 19th and 21st, the Clippers faced challenges from the Suns and Mavericks at home.
Li Ao met many stars, including Kidd, Marion, Clifford Robinson, Gugliotta, Nowitzki, Finley, Nash... and Penny Hardaway in a suit.
Pence is out for the season. He finally had his best year in three years last season, averaging 16.9 points, 5.8 rebounds and 5.3 assists per game. After last season, he injured his left knee and there is basically no possibility of returning this season.
Originally, Li Ao was looking forward to these two games and getting to know some stars. However, in the past two days, before the games, his pressure was extremely low. He half-squinted his eyes and looked like he would not let in strangers. He even squinted and took the initiative to come over to say hello and get to know Tanhua. Nowitzki, the new top star of Lang's Mavericks team, was so frightened that he left aggrievedly.
Li Ao and Olowokandi fought each other and carried each other away on the spot, but it made the news.
The teammates were also extremely scared, fearing that Li Ao would vent his frustration of losing on them.
But after getting on the court, Li Ao returned to normal, playing as he should, and getting along well with his teammates.
Then, both games were taught, losing to the Suns 83-94 and the Mavericks 95-106.
After losing, Li Ao took his teammates to practice extra.
But losing does not mean there is no progress!
When playing the Mavericks, you can see that the Clippers are playing better and better with Odom as the core inside and Li Ao supporting the transition.
Under Li Ao's leadership, the Clippers have become more proficient in tactical coordination.
After many games of experimentation, Gentry also knew which players were more suitable for the two, and began to adjust the playing time of the players, gradually adjusting to the rhythm of the regular season.
On the 23rd, the Clippers came to Houston and defeated the playoff-level Rockets 91-84.
O'Neal Jr. bullied Olajuwon tonight. He made 8 of 12 shots, plus 6 of 10 free throws, and scored 22 points and 11 rebounds.
Relying on O'Neal's advantage in the paint, Li Ao also scored 17 points, 5 rebounds, 7 assists, 1 steal and 4 blocks. Odom had 13 points, 9 rebounds and 6 assists.
On the defensive end, Li Ao and Maggette restricted Mobley and Francis very well, just forming a restraint.
The three of them finally felt proud.
…
After playing three consecutive games every other day, the Clippers players adapted to the rhythm of the regular season in advance.
The Clippers returned to Los Angeles on the morning of the 24th and held a team meeting after lunch to prepare for the final preseason game against the Lakers the day after tomorrow.
In the previous team meetings before each game, tactical adjustments were not significant.
But this time, there are a lot of adjustments.
From 1:00 noon to 3:00 p.m., there was a two-hour meeting, which was all about tactical adjustments.
Most of the players were dizzy after hearing it, but the coaching staff did not tell it to those players, but to a few players who were leading the tactics. Tomorrow's training will mainly be conducted for the team members who play a cooperative role.
Li Ao insisted and listened to the end. It was more of a tactical screening than a tactical adjustment.
In the training camp and the past 6 games, they have experimented with many tactical coordination methods. Some are suitable, some are not suitable, some have more players, and some have fewer players...
After this screening, there are still many tactical coordination methods left. Li Ao estimates that most of the tactical plays will still have to be arranged when the game is called timeout.
This is normal. As the season progresses, there will be fewer and fewer main tactics. From season preparation to the end of the season, the number of tactics will undergo changes from few to many and then from more to less.
However, the more Li Ao listened, the more he felt something was wrong. Most of the tactics selected had one thing in common - increasing the probability of him taking action!
In response, he said - Mr. Gentry, please continue your performance.
He also feels that his all-round mid-range shooting has more room to perform in the NBA than in the NCAA!
The area inside the NCAA three-point line is too small, smaller than that of FIBA.
The area inside the NBA's three-point line is wide enough!
In his first 6 games, he scored 14 points, 22 points, 20 points, 16 points, 21 points, and 17 points respectively. He averaged 18.3 points, 4.5 rebounds, 7.3 assists, 1.3 steals, and 3 blocks per game. He shot 49.1% from the field and 33.3 from the three-point range. %.
That is to say, his facial golden bell magic has not yet been perfected, otherwise he could just yell, "The team lost, but I didn't lose."
If conditions permit, he will naturally be happy to increase the number of shots he takes.
He finally understood that if they defeated a team that was on the fringe of the playoffs, that would be enough for them to be happy.
The direction of the coaching staff's tactical selection was clearly to create opportunities for him, but of course he was disrespectful.
The meeting ended at 3 p.m., and the teammates dispersed in a hurry, as if they were fleeing.
Seeing that it was still early, Li Ao went to a fast food restaurant to eat a hamburger. He chatted with the work-study clerk at the fast food restaurant for a while. After resting, he went to the Clippers training ground to train.
When passing by the arena gate area, Li Ao saw an explosive head.
Li Ao shouted: "Kobe?"
Kobe, who was walking to the rented training ground with his head lowered, stopped, looked up at the source of the sound, was stunned for a moment, and said, "Good afternoon, Leo."
Next...good afternoon?
What kind of way is this for greeting a distinguished gentleman from Milan?
Li Ao shook his head slightly and asked, "Why are you here?"
When the polite time was over, Kobe said firmly: "Is this opened in your home? You can come and I can't?"
"..." Li Ao was silent for a moment and said to the security guard on the side: "Brother, get him out."
Kobe: O_o?
After hearing this, the security guard hesitated for a moment, then took firm steps towards Kobe.
Kobe: o_O? ? ?
I paid to rent the training ground! I'm a customer!
Seeing Kobe's eyes wide open and resisting in disbelief, Li Ao didn't expect that the security guy was really so obedient, so he quickly stopped him and said, "Brother, don't, don't, don't, I'm joking with him."
The security guard also quickly stopped, breathed a sigh of relief, and left a message, "Leo, if you have anything to do, just tell me." Then he quickly disappeared from the sight of Li Ao and Kobe. Li Ao didn't even know where to find this little brother to give him instructions. work.
Kobe's disbelieving eyes turned into angry eyes, staring at Li Ao.
Li Ao saw this and comforted him: "I'm just kidding you, why do you take it seriously? You're too stingy."
Kobe's body trembled and he took a deep breath. He laughed so hard that he rolled his eyes to the sky.
Ignoring this guy, Kobe turned around and continued walking towards the training ground he rented.
Li Ao decisively chose to keep up with the opponent.
No wonder Brother Asan likes to play with snakes, it's so fun.
Kobe asked angrily: "Why are you following me?"
"I want to know what you are doing here. If you don't tell me, I can only go and see it myself."
"I'm going to train and tell you, okay?"
"It's training. What a coincidence. I'm going to train too. Let's go together."
"???Who said I want to train with you!"
"I invite you to train with me, okay?"
Invite him to train together?
Kobe hasn't heard such a request in a long time.
He said no more and led Li Ao forward.
This time it was Li Ao's turn to be depressed.
This afro doesn't follow the rules!
Shouldn't you refuse angrily?
After a few minutes, Li Ao finally understood the other party's sinister intentions.
"Kobe..."
"Call me Bryant, we're not that close!"
"Okay, Kobe, I understand, Kobe, I will definitely do it, Kobe, are you satisfied, Kobe?"
"..." Forget it, Kobe felt tired and asked, "What do you want to say?"
"By the way, I forgot to complain when you made trouble. If you want to find a partner, just say so! You also said you want to train one-on-one with me, and I'm not very good at playing."
Who is making a fuss!
Also, you’re not very good at playing ball?
Kobe roared: "You are much better than I was when I was 19 years old. You said you can't play? You average 18 points and 7 assists per game, but you can't play?"
"It's just the preseason, that doesn't count."
"Is there a big difference between your playing style in the preseason and the regular season? No, I think you might play better in the regular season than in the preseason."
"I like to hear this. Please praise me a few more times."
"..."
"Look at that look in your eyes. I'll just be your sparring partner. Look at how petty you are. You'll get angry if someone guesses your little thoughts."
Kobe stopped talking. He was going to be so angry that he shut himself down. He started to move his body on his own.
Upon seeing this, Li Ao also started to prepare for warm-ups. Since he came to be a sparring partner, he must seize this opportunity.
He has little confidence in guarding against the 22-year-old Kobe. If my memory is correct, the little blacksmith during the second championship has already ranked among the top five in the regular season scoring list... but exercise is also excellent.
At this moment, Li Ao received the training mode prompt!
"Excellent sparring partner:
Sparring partner: Kobe Bryant.
Level judgment: 5 stars (full).
Sparring content: one-on-one defense.
Sparring rewards: 10 achievement points will be awarded for every mid-range shot and three-pointer defended by Kobe Bryant, and 20 achievement points will be awarded for every layup defended by Kobe Bryant.
Because the host is a training partner for 5-star players, he has the opportunity to gain additional technical insights. After judgment, the direction of the insights is: mid-range shooting details. "
…
…
Xiaofeng is on the star list. Ranked by monthly tickets. The top 50 have additional recommendations. Friends, there are also monthly tickets to support~ Every 200 monthly tickets will add an additional chapter~
(End of chapter)
