Gentry was worried about Li Ao's physical strength and health after learning that Li Ao trained for two hours after lunch and then slept in the lounge for two hours.
But he couldn't say anything, for fear of affecting a rookie's enthusiasm.
In Gentry's view, even if Li Ao is highly talented and has a mature playing style, he is still only 19 years old after all.
19 years old, an age full of vigor and impetus, always moving forward and doing whatever comes to mind, but yet easily influenced by others.
Before he could think of how to word it, Gentry chose to resist the urge to persuade Li Ao.
James Worthy feels the same way.
Although he was paid, James Worthy would still worry about his employer - if Li Ao was injured because he did not stop Li Ao from training on match day, his reputation as a famous trainer would be ruined!
He is not someone like Tiangou who works for free, he relies on this to make a living.
Moreover, a rookie with such great talent was really injured because he worked too hard. As a senior in the basketball world, he didn't know how guilty he was.
But at 8 o'clock in the evening, after the game against the Wizards started, the two found that their worries seemed to be unnecessary.
Li Ao was as energetic as ever. He actively moved on the offensive end and worked hard on the defensive end to assist in timely defense. It was impossible to tell that he had practiced for two and a half hours in the afternoon.
The two of them suddenly remembered that Li Ao was like this when they were back to back. He didn't look tired at all... There was no one else with this talent in physical recovery!
19 years old, with good talent, top physical strength, strong physical recovery ability, and a higher effort level than most people... If a rookie like this doesn't succeed, who deserves to succeed?
In tonight's game, the Clippers played very easily.
The Wizards, one of the two teams that have taken the initiative to mess up this season, are competing with the Bulls for the last place in the league.
In order to make things worse, the owner of the Wizards made a cunning move - the radio station in the Eagle City hired Lionel Hamilton, an information recorder in charge of basketball news, as the head coach.
He has no professional basketball-related work experience and is only 37 years old. He is one of the youngest head coaches in the league. The Wizards even have players who are older than him. To say that he has any basketball-related experience... No. Does knowing 25 years as a Wizards fan count?
Under his leadership, the Wizards have gone from a strength of about 30 wins last season to the No. 1 pick.
In order to implement the bad performance, he asked Richard Hamilton, who averaged 18 points, 3 rebounds and 3 assists per game, to serve as the substitute for veteran Mickey Richmond, regardless of the friendship with the same surname.
Although the performance was very successful, it also made Richard Hamilton hate this team very much.
The last time the two teams met, Li Ao was suspended. The Clippers played purely defensively and made some random plays on the offensive end. They easily won 95-86. This time, the Clippers did better on both offense and defense.
Li Ao scored 21 points, 4 rebounds, 6 assists, 1 steal and 4 blocks, Odom had 12 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists, O'Neal Jr. had 30 points and 18 rebounds, Big Q had 9 points, Maggette had 13 points, Greg Anthony had 6 points and 7 assists... ...The Clippers slaughtered the Wizards 106-82 and won 5 consecutive victories!
5 consecutive wins, this is the Clippers' longest winning streak in 8 seasons since they last reached the playoffs in the 1992-93 season!
Relying on this 5-game winning streak, the Clippers' record improved to 16 wins and 12 losses, overtaking the Timberwolves, which suffered two consecutive losses with a record of 15 wins and 12 losses, and rushed to seventh place in the Western Conference!
Clippers players and fans enjoyed a day of happiness as a team in the playoffs. On the 28th, the Clippers came to Denver and challenged the Nuggets back-to-back at home and away. They lost 87-92 and their five-game winning streak was eliminated. end.
Li Ao scored 21 points, 8 rebounds, 4 assists, 1 steal and 3 blocks. After the game, he only received a consolation prize of 100 achievement points.
For a long time, every game was filled with hundreds of achievement points. He suddenly got 100. He was really not used to it.
After playing the Nuggets, the Clippers flew non-stop from the northwest to Dallas in the southwest the next day. After a night's rest, on December 30, the Clippers came to the American Airlines Center to challenge the Mavericks away from home.
The last game of three games in four days was a continuous away game, which was a huge test for the physical strength of the Clippers players.
Yesterday, when they played against the Nuggets and reached the final moment, the Clippers' physical problems began to show.
It rained all night, and Odom, the Clippers' second-leading scorer, first-leading rebounder, and first-leading assists player in the interior, who averaged 14.6 points, 9.3 rebounds, 7.9 assists, 1.3 steals and 1.3 blocks per game, was preparing for the game in the morning. , symptoms of knee pain appeared.
Gentry immediately sent him to the hospital for examination.
For Odom, whose style of play relies heavily on physical fitness, he can't afford to hurt his knees!
Odom passed an X-ray test and confirmed that there was no problem with his bones. Gentry was relieved, but he still cautiously put Odom on the inactive list. When he returned to Los Angeles, he did a more detailed test to confirm the knee joint. Make plans based on the specific conditions of structure, muscle tissue, etc.
After making arrangements for Odom, Gentry began to have a headache.
This season, he wants to win every game!
First, it is to prove his ability to the new boss, otherwise he would not be so determined to play basketball that goes against his dreams. Although every time he wins, he enjoys the use of the professional skills he learned from Larry Brown. hapiness……
Also, there are mostly young players in the team!
He has been an assistant coach in college and NBA for 20 years, and has seen too many talents disappear due to various reasons.
Among them, teams that actively fail have the highest probability of losing talented players.
He can often see a team failing year after year and selecting one of the most talented players every year. Moreover, these talents have no talent after entering the NBA, and they also show strong abilities and talents... But in the end The result is that these teams are failing year after year. The geniuses have extremely poor playing habits and have less and less obsession with victory and honor...
In recent years, the team that has impressed him most in this regard is the Warriors.
Even if the Warriors have trained Jamison in recent years, who is strong and can score 25 points per game, he does not think this is a good player. A team with ambitions and dreams, even if it uses more mediocre players, Would choose such a star.
Here, although the new boss has no performance requirements for this season, he is not allowed to mess up.
Now that he has the conditions, he doesn't want his beloved players to develop bad habits. He hopes that all these players can play well and stay in the NBA for a few more years.
Therefore, even if he encounters the Mavericks with a huge disparity in strength, he is still trying to find a way to win.
Even if they can't win, they still have to cause trouble for the Mavericks and use this top team to train themselves.
The game plan he formulated to play the Mavericks, Odom is a very important part.
If you want to possibly beat the Mavericks, you must at least limit Nowitzki on the defensive end.
Odom is the best candidate for their Clippers team. He has the speed of a small forward, the size of a center, and the flexibility of a defender. He performs relatively well when defending seriously.
Injuries are also part of sports. As a head coach, all he can do is try his best to avoid them, but when injuries come, he cannot stop them.
But without Odom, they may not even have the ability to compete tonight... eh!
To limit Nowitzki, you don't necessarily have to be inside! They have a player with a bigger shot interference envelope than Odom...
…
At 7:58 pm, the Clippers and Mavericks started the game at the American Airlines Center in Dallas.
After being stared at for 58 minutes, Gentry finally breathed a sigh of relief.
At 7 o'clock, while the players were still warming up, he announced tonight's starting lineup, and then he was targeted by Spider-Man.
The Clippers' starting lineup tonight: McGinnis, Piakowsky, Maggette, Li Ao, O'Neal Jr.
Odom couldn't play and lacked passing points capable of scoring, so he went to McGinnis.
Big Q didn't match McGinnis's style of play, so he used the versatile spot-up shooter Piakowski.
Without Odom, he lacked inside impact, so he went to Maggette.
This is the starting lineup Gentry discussed with his assistants based on Odom's injury and Li Ao's defense against Nowitzki.
58 minutes! For the entire 58 minutes, Spider-Man stared at him from time to time while he was warming up.
He almost lost his attachment to the world and even wondered whether it would be better to buy a wheelchair or a cemetery.
On the court, Li Ao felt bad when he first heard that he was asked to guard against the Silver Horn King.
But when he came on the court, he became excited and guarded the thieves very hard... He was also better than Odom guarding Nowitzki in the previous two games against the Mavericks!
After the game, Nowitzki made only 4 of 12 shots, including only 1 of 4 three-pointers. He only scored 17 points with 8 of 8 free throws.
Nowitzki saw that his opponent had lost Odom, who had long hands and fast speed. He thought he could have a good time tonight, but instead he got a guy with longer hands, and his defensive attitude and ability were not what Odom could do. Than!
Also...this guy is so eloquent!
He was furious at one point and elbowed Li Ao, earning him a technical penalty.
At that time, after he elbowed him, he frightened himself out of his wits. The first thing he thought about was - which hospital has a better environment?
As a result, the opponent saw the technical foul and happily walked to the free throw line to score a point...
Facing Li Ao's single defense for the first time, Nowitzki suffered a big loss. The opponent's physical conditions and defensive methods were very restrained for a big outside shooter like him.
When he met for the first time in the preseason, he saw an overseas lottery pick like him and took the initiative to say hello. He was glared at and ran away in fright.
Afterwards, he heard about the 'one-on-seven incident' and was thankful that he did not provoke Li Ao.
But now, he has a new understanding of Li Ao.
Completely different from the demonized image in his mind!
Putting aside his prejudices, he thought back to the 'One vs. Seven Incident'. Regardless of the outcome of the final fight, it seemed that Spider-Man had nothing wrong during the game... No, this gossip is indeed very hateful to his opponents. He has always been cautious. Even the other German tanks couldn't stand it.
However, Nowitzki is quite envious of Spider-Man's outgoing character.
After he no longer had a dirty look, he found that the atmosphere of the opposing Clippers team was very good, and it didn't look like a team that had been bad for many years!
Nowitzki was thinking about this after the game because they won!
O'Neal Jr. bullied the thin bamboo pole again tonight, scoring 21 points and 15 rebounds against Sean Bradley. However, Bradley has deteriorated seriously in the past two years. This season, he only averages 7 points, 7 rebounds and 2.8 blocks per game. Performance, it is the norm for the Mavericks this season that he was blown away.
In the future, Cuban will be crazy about giving big contracts to blue-collar centers as if he has a brain twitch. This period has left a shadow.
Li Ao made 9 of 20 shots and scored 25 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals and 2 blocks. It was quite difficult. In the third quarter, he led the Clippers to a 32-point performance in a single quarter.
But the Mavericks backcourt collectively exploded!
Nowitzki was severely restricted in this regard. When he encountered Howard Isley guarded by McGinnis, Nash guarded by Piakowsky, and Finley guarded by Maggette, they all got excited. , all 3 people got 20+!
Four players from the Mavericks scored in double figures, giving the Clippers their second consecutive loss 105-97.
…
The Clippers ended 2000 with two consecutive losses.
At noon on the 31st, the Clippers returned to Los Angeles, and Gentry immediately took Odom to the hospital.
After a detailed examination, the doctor's diagnosis was that the muscles in the knee area were overly fatigued and had symptoms of overstretching.
Not only the knees, but also the calves and ankles suffer from muscle fatigue.
That is to say, the games are too dense, play too many minutes, and play too hard.
Odom has been focused most of the season, at least not distracted.
The sleepwalking situation has been greatly improved compared to last season, and the performance has naturally been greatly improved.
According to award predictions during the Christmas period, Odom was placed among the Most Improved Players, ranking higher than O'Neal.
Because there is a violent big spider next to him...
At the beginning, after playing a few games, Odom confirmed that Li Ao was not that difficult to get along with, but was the kind of person who could make jokes very well, and then he started to have habitual distractions again.
Then came 'one against seven'.
Odom, who is prone to overthinking, put himself into the Knicks' players who were beaten.
It hurts just thinking about it!
Therefore, he didn't dare to lose his mind when he saw Li Ao on the court, at least when he was on the court at the same time.
Although his performance has improved significantly, there are also hidden dangers of injuries. After all, he plays like a father and a mother, and this team still needs a father and mother to lead the team.
The doctor recommended that Odom rest for 2-3 weeks and receive physical therapy. Gentry accepted the suggestion and decided to let Odom rest. If Odom was allowed to continue playing, it was possible that he would get over it after a while, but there was also a possibility that something would happen. Stress injuries.
The probability of stress injuries is not high, but once they occur, it will take several months, and the gains outweigh the losses.
But Odom couldn't play, and Gentry understood more clearly how important Odom was to them.
In addition to being the team's first offensive organization point, Odom is also the best setter and reception point supported by Li Ao.
Odom gets 2-3 assists in each game thanks to Li Ao's support. In turn, Li Ao's transition support also relies heavily on Odom's setter.
On the defensive end, Odom's role is also higher than it seems. At least he is an all-round player who is comprehensive in both single defense and supplementary defense, and can switch defenses in various positions.
However, even if Odom can play, Gentry had an idea after last night's game and was ready to discuss it with the general manager.
Last night against the Mavericks, McGinnis played pretty well and scored 17 points, second only to the twin towers inside. He is capable.
But his style of play is similar to that of Francis. He is the 'leading the team by himself' type. He does not consider the problem of cooperating with the supporting players. He holds the ball and attacks to the end unless his teammates are open and he has no chance. Spread the word, otherwise it will be reckless.
There is a huge gap in ability compared with Francis. He may not be able to kill everyone even if he comes off the bench, let alone lead a team.
Gentry just did what he said. After chatting with Wally Walker for an afternoon, he confirmed the next arrangements... to increase the performance opportunities of two players. One is Li Ao. The offense is not easy to organize now, so take more shots.
The other one is McGinnis, whose playing style is the most suitable for getting good data among the substitutes!
The decision was made, but Gentry was beginning to feel distressed about the few hairs he had left...
(End of chapter)
