At this time, Pierce's nicknames among the Flower Planter fan group are not Truth, Phoenix, or anything like that. That will come later. The current nickname is Bragging.
Daily bragging and big talk are Pierce's trademarks.
In the top 5 draft predictions, he fell to the 10th pick because he caused a lot of off-court troubles with his big mouth in college.
The Lakers did not use Eddie Jones to trade with the 76ers to select Pierce with the No. 8 pick, which also turned his love for the Lakers from love to hatred.
Pierce's offensive performance has soared this year, but he has been criticized by the media for a serious decline in defense, which is not as good as his rookie season.
When the media predicted the All-Star substitute list, they generally believed that no coach would select Pierce, a pure scorer without defense, and Stackhouse, who scored more, as a substitute.
Every word Li Ao said in the interview hit Pierce's pain points.
It also touched the fans’ excitement!
ESPN provoked both sides, and fans' attention was drawn to tonight's game between the Clippers and the Celtics.
ESPN struck while the iron was hot and announced that it would broadcast this game, which ignited fans' enthusiasm for watching the game. The hostile relationship between the two young talents Li Ao and Pierce was also officially established.
Under the spotlight, in the evening, the Clippers ushered in the challenge of the Celtics at Staples Center.
At 7:40, the Celtics entered the game first.
Pierce, the second boss, was the first to appear, and he was greeted with deafening boos.
"Paul Pierce, 23 years old, 201 cm, 104 kg, overall evaluation 89..."
Li Ao looked at the evaluation report and was quite surprised. Pierce was not yet at the top level.
But only a little.
When he responded to Pierce, he did his homework and grasped the pain points to respond. Every sentence he said was to "state the facts and make sense."
The system evaluation report does not consider 'how well the players focus on defense', but only looks at the performance on the court.
Pierce has played very well offensively this season, but he is also really poor on the defensive end. Every top scorer who plays against him has exploded. Among them, Carter has exploded the most. This season, Carter's shooting percentage is 45.8%, which is very high. High, among outside scorers averaging more than 25 points per game, he is second only to Kobe, who shot 46.6% from the field.
But when facing off against Pierce, Carter shot at an O'Neal-level shooting rate, averaging 10 of 17 shots per game in three games, with a shooting rate of 58%.
But even so, this is an opponent that Spider-Man cannot handle alone.
Of course, he has no intention of going one-on-one with Pierce and responding to the opponent's provocation. The best way he knows to respond is to win!
After the Clippers players finished entering, Pierce ran directly to the Clippers to find Li Ao and provoke: "Rookie, tonight I will let you know what a real All-Star is!"
Li Ao responded expressionlessly: "You were scored 40 points by Stackhouse."
"..."
Pierce was choked.
Li Ao then added: "He made 14 of 28 shots."
It’s not over, right?
Talking about his defense again, everyone is talking about his defense!
Isn't it just that a player with a 39% shooting rate scored 40 points with a 50% shooting rate?
As for the fact that it’s been two months and you’re still talking about it every day?
Pierce angrily said: "I'm going to score 40 points on your head tonight!"
"Oh?" Li Ao's eyes lit up and he asked, "What should you do if you can't do it? Run around naked butt outside the Staples Center?"
This... Pierce was stunned.
What kind of quarrel is this?
Never encountered it before!
Li Ao said disdainfully: "Are you scared?"
Pierce couldn't stand this excitement and shouted: "Anyway, I will score higher than you, a pitcher who can only rely on teammates to pass the ball!"
Li Ao took advantage of the victory and pursued it: "What if your score is not as high as mine? Are you running around naked butt outside the Staples Center?"
"Run naked, just run naked! Am I afraid of you?"
"Then it's settled! If you're a man, keep your word!"
"Anyone who doesn't keep his word is not a man!"
"Man enough!" Li Ao gave a thumbs up.
Pierce was a little proud at the moment, and his momentum overwhelmed the opponent.
He now has the arrogance to enter the enemy's formation alone and take down the opponent's general's head.
Eh?
Wait, something seems wrong? But he couldn't tell...
Looking at the back of Pierce leaving with pride, Li Ao couldn't help laughing.
He didn't have much confidence in scoring higher than Pierce. In his previous match against Kobe, he once prevented Kobe from making 9 of 24 shots. In the end, Kobe still scored 37 points.
As the team's key training target, he has unlimited firing rights, similar to Durant as a rookie.
But if you want to compete with these really top scorers, forget it.
But it would be interesting if Pierce played really poorly tonight and didn't score as many points as he did.
Just then, the mission comes!
"The host has started a competition between men...Mission: Pure Manly Trigger."
"Pure man:
Goal: The hosts need to score more than Paul Pierce tonight.
Reward: Pure Man (fixed level skill).
Pure man (*): When the host encounters a mild injury, it only consumes 100 achievement points and can recover quickly within 12 hours; if the host encounters a mild injury or above, the achievement points consumed are halved when using the treatment mode.
Note: The duration of treatment and the consumption of achievement points depend on the specific circumstances of the injury. "
…
Amid the fanatical cheers of the fans, the starting players of both teams came to the court.
Celtics: Randy Brown, Bryant Stick, Pierce, Anthony Walker, Tony Batty.
Clippers: Greg Anthony, Li Ao, Matt Halprin, Odom, O'Neal Jr.
The afro looks lonely, but he actually likes to watch the excitement. He is sitting on the sidelines wearing a suit and staring at Li Ao.
If you quarrel, just quarrel, why bring him up?
But he was the one who was praised, so forget it, let's just treat him as a gunman for once.
Watch the fun first!
At 8 o'clock in the evening, the referee blew the whistle and threw the ball into the air, and the game began.
O'Neal beat Tony Barty to win the jump ball, and the Clippers attacked first!
Li Ao was stuck by Pierce when he reached the frontcourt.
Pierce, who is serious and dedicated in defense, is really good at defending Li Ao without the ball.
However, Li Ao just went around in a circle to waste time, and finally he came to the left side of the free throw line to open up space.
O'Neal Jr. went to the low post on the right side of the three-second zone to rely on Tony Barty to ask for the ball. The Clippers made the first attack and opened up for O'Neal to play singles.
After Li Ao stood still, Pierce still clung to him.
Li Ao resisted vigorously and started to talk: "Paul..."
"Don't call me by my name! I'm not that familiar with you!"
"Okay, Paul."
"..."
"You work so hard on defense, what should you do if you run out of energy on offense?"
As soon as Li Ao said this, Pierce fought harder.
Suddenly, Li Ao pulled away and turned around to retreat. Pierce almost jumped out.
Pierce turned around to see Odom and O'Neal high-fiving and then defending.
When he was arguing with Li Ao, he saw Odom still on the left sideline. In other words, Odom just bypassed Anthony Walker and rushed to the basket to receive a pass from O'Neal and score. In his position, he can Blocking Odom, Anthony Walker, who is chasing, can also make up for Li Ao.
But when he thought about it, he didn't care about it.
He's going to blow up Spider-Man!
Pierce came to the frontcourt and was stuck by Li Ao before he entered the three-point line.
Pierce avoided Li Ao and moved to the middle distance. Li Ao followed closely and continued to stick closely.
Pierce had to use brute force to hold Li Ao and reach out to Randy Brown for the ball.
However, the hand stretched out from Pierce's back was farther than the distance he stretched out!
Randy Brown didn't dare to pass the ball after picking it up!
Greg Anthony immediately pressed towards Randy Brown. Fortunately, Anthony Walker ran out to respond. Pierce asked for the ball this time, so he didn't make a mistake.
Anthony Walker singled out Odom. Under Odom's interference, he stepped back and hit a three-pointer!
Odom bared his teeth and shook his head. He worked very hard, and Mr. Football couldn't scold him.
This Fat Toutuo is so slutty! And he can really score goals!
Ranking first in the league with 2.8 three-pointers per game, this is not just a boast!
When the Clippers attacked, Li Ao led Pierce to move, and the running route was different from usual.
When Matt Halprin saw the area where Li Ao moved, his poker face showed a hint of surprise, but he immediately understood what the boss meant and started to move according to Li Ao's running route.
The two of them appreciated each other even more now.
In order to better partner with his teammate, who has a long two-point shooting accuracy and a sharp attack on the frame, Li Ao has been trying to memorize the opponent's running habits in the past few games. After the editor prepared the video, he put the horse Halprin's regular running routes are all memorized.
Matt Halprin did the same thing!
Tacit understanding is developed from every detail.
When Odom received the ball in the baseline, he saw an unfamiliar person in a familiar position, but he still passed it.
Matt Halprin made a two-pointer from the catch!
This assist is so comfortable to hold!
It's much easier than usual to pass the ball to Spider-Man!
It’s not that Matt Halprin’s running and shooting are better than Li Ao’s, but the Celtics’ focus on off-ball defense is on Li Ao’s side. Matt Halprin’s running and shooting are easier. It is naturally easier for Dom to hit the ball.
When the Celtics attacked, Pierce was stuck by Li Ao again. Although he had the advantage in strength, he did not have the advantage in explosiveness or starting speed. He stood in a good position. His short arms of 208 centimeters were compared with this big spider. Like a severed hand.
He wanted to turn around and cut in to catch the ball, but he saw the muscular guy in the corner on the same side who played rugby began to move in, and O'Neal Jr. under the basket also made a move to lift up...
Being targeted by the other party!
Pierce tried to run, but his running ability couldn't get rid of Li Ao, and Li Ao didn't care about his cut and handed the back to his frontcourt teammates... In the end, this offense turned into an Anthony Walker single.
Anthony Walker put on a breakthrough stance, Odom defended the breakthrough honestly, Anthony Walker suddenly collected the ball and stepped back to shoot a three-pointer, but Odom couldn't make the save... "Bang"... Iron!
The ball hit the front of the basket and bounced back. Odom, who turned around and grabbed the ball, doubted his life...
Upon seeing this, Pierce immediately turned around and faced Li Ao, following closely.
Since the other party was targeting him, he would in turn target Li Ao.
The two sides competed with each other on the defensive end for several rounds, but Pierce couldn't hold it anymore!
After a few rounds, he didn't have a good shooting opportunity. Even unless he dribbled directly from the backcourt to attack, it would be difficult to catch the ball. But he directly held the ball from the outside and played singles, but he didn't get any good results. Now he Although the offensive skills are very comprehensive, compared with the future offensive kaleidoscope, the technical intensity is still much lower, and he plays very impatiently. In the face of Li Ao's single defense interference, he was iron-clad in two singles with the ball.
It was the Clippers' turn to attack. Pierce had no control over the team's situation. He stuck to Li Ao and shouted in a low voice: "You guard me like this, do you have the strength to score?"
Such a familiar question, Li Ao responded: "It doesn't matter, as long as your score is lower than mine."
Pierce said angrily: "You think you can score higher than me in this way? I can't score, so don't even think about it!"
"Try it. How will you know if it works if you don't try it? And even if I lose, I won't lose anything. If I win, I can see you running naked outside the arena."
"hiss……"
Pierce gasped!
He finally understood what he felt was wrong before.
This time in the bet, only he had a penalty for losing, not the big spider!
Today’s 11,000 words, I finally got the guaranteed 10,000 words. After get off work, I went to eat hot pot and sing karaoke with my colleagues. More will be added tomorrow for monthly tickets over 2,200~
(End of chapter)
