Pick Westbrook

Chapter 211 Call Me

11 month 1 day.

The Bucks, who won two consecutive victories, continued their away game.

Go to Oklahoma to challenge the Thunder.

Oklahoma City, on the streets of downtown.

All the fans gathered on both sides of the street excitedly, welcoming the arrival of the Bucks bus.

"Although they are Thunder fans, it doesn't prevent them from liking Iverson and O'Neal."

Tyronn Lue explained from the side.

A player like him who has been in the league for more than ten years can best understand the state of mind of these fans.

Before Iverson and O'Neal retired, these fans must have scolded them for the Thunder or Durant.

Even if it's not for anyone, they may be talking about Iverson's defensive problems or O'Neal's free throws.

But when Iverson and O'Neal officially announced that this season is a retirement season, these fans will immediately wake up.

It turns out that these two people have left a deep imprint in their youth.

So they will immediately transform into one of the two most loyal fans.

"That's the beauty of basketball."

"So don't look at how much fans all over the world scold Kobe, you will know when he is about to retire."

"The more people scold him, the more he loves others."

Li Lai said with great certainty.

Of course, Kobe is still in his prime. Although he is not young at 32 years old, it is still a few years before he falls from the altar and retires.

At this time, the fans on both sides of the street shouted, "Russell! You belonged to us!"

It was the sound that fell, and the fans on both sides of the street shouted.

"This double MVP player should have belonged to our Thunder team!"

"We lost a superstar."

Marshall was reminded of the trade between the Bucks and Thunder two years ago.

Yes, Westbrook should indeed belong to the Thunder.

It's just that the opposing general manager Sam Presti accepted a trade offer from the Bucks that was almost impossible to refuse.

Not to mention the Thunder in that trade negotiation, except for the Bulls holding the No. [-] pick, I am afraid that any team in the draft will choose to agree to the trade.

After all, Michael Reid + Bogut is the core trading chip for the +8 pick.

It's just that Michael Reid and Bogut helped the Thunder reach the playoffs in the first year and then made a round trip.

In the second year, because Bogut wanted to harm Gasol, he was unlucky and suffered a broken palm, torn cruciate ligament, ruptured Achilles tendon, and concussion at the same time.

"I heard that Bogut is still recovering from his injury in Melbourne, Australia, and it is expected that he will not return from injury for at least a year."

But everyone knows that Bogut, who has not played for two years, has suffered such a serious injury, it is considered a life to be alive, let alone play.

As for Michael Reid, he averaged 4 points, 1 assist and 1 rebound per game with the Thunder this season.

Because of the annual salary of up to 1900 million, it was difficult for the Thunder to send the opponent away, and the latter directly refused to buy him out.

"So during the off-season, the Thunder didn't have a lot of gains in the free market. At present, they have lost two games in a row."

"The condition is very poor."

"On the contrary, the player named Kevin Durant has shown the temperament of a superstar this season, averaging 28 points, 7 rebounds and 3 assists per game."

"Look at him playing now, just like Tracy McGrady when he was young, he really has no solution on the offensive end."

Tyronn Lue is quite envious of the Durant player.

If the opponent can join the Bucks, it will be almost seamless, and it can make up for the team's last lineup shortcoming.

The Bucks can almost directly declare the finale of the league.

Li Lai nodded and said, "It's a pity that Durant continues to stay with the Thunder."

Ford Center.

With the appearance of the Bucks players, the scene burst into applause even warmer than welcoming their home team.

Both Iverson and O'Neal accepted the cheers from all the fans on the scene at the same time.

Kenny Smith remembered the interesting scene that happened after the Bucks defeated the Wizards in the last game and said.

"Big mouth, you should have seen that O'Neal and Iverson exchanged jerseys after the last game."

"The scenes at the scene were really touching. Many fans wrote on their Twitter accounts after the game: I want to be one of them too."

"As a result, because of this sentence, do you know what happened?"

Barkley nodded, feeling extremely sour.

When he retired that year, he didn't have the same treatment as O'Neill, and it was annoying to think about it.

What's wrong?Sharks are worthy of a retirement tour, but am I not worthy of flying pigs?

Barkley said: "Of course I know, this matter has become the focus of heated discussions in the United States."

"It was originally a hot topic of "I want to be one of them" initiated by countless fans, but because this topic is too hot, it has attracted the attention of countless players in the league."

Before the start of the game, Thunder teenager Serge Ibaka wrote on social media @O'Neal: The most destructive center in NBA history, can you exchange jerseys with me?
Originally, Ibaka stopped paying attention to this matter after sending this message. After all, what is O'Neal's status in the NBA.

A historical star with 5 championship rings.

Look at Ibaka, a young player who has just joined the NBA for a few years, and even his fans on social media have not yet broken through 1.

So Ibaka originally thought, how could O'Neill care about him.

As a result, O'Neal even commented on him under his topic: The Sharks can't wait to exchange jerseys with you, young center.

"So, will O'Neal and Ibaka swap jerseys later?"

Kenny Smith is still curious about the topic.

After all, exchanging jerseys, it seems that no player in the NBA has ever done this, and no star can enjoy such a high courtesy.

Barkley was silent for a while, thinking of the funny O'Neal who transformed shoes into phones, liked street dance and rap.

He said without hesitation: "O'Neal will definitely do it!"

on the field.

Bucks regular starting lineup.

Thunder starting lineup: point guard Daequan Cook, shooting guard Thabo Sefolosha, small forward Kevin Durant, power forward Jeff Green and center Serge Ibaka.

Game start.

Midfield jump ball.

Ibaka showed an extremely strong state as soon as he came up. After a fierce collision with Cousins ​​​​during the jump, he encountered a basketball in the air.

Durant jumped high and grabbed the ball.

The Thunder won the first wave of possession.

"It seems that Ibaka, a young player, wants to perform in front of O'Neal tonight."

"The ball was extremely tough."

At the CCTV commentary station, Su Qun said with some expectation.

Yu Jia also saw this and agreed and said: "Ibaka wants to tell O'Neal that changing the jersey with me will not insult your name as a big shark."

"So in this game, even if Ibaka breaks his legs, he will definitely play his strongest state."

Daequan Cook advances with the ball.

Ibaka took the initiative to come to the high pick-and-roll, and then immediately went down.

Because Daequan Cook is a shooter with three-point shooting ability, Cousins ​​chose to step up when defending the opponent's pick-and-roll.

This gave Ibaka a chance to hit the basket.

boom!
Dunks scored.

"Ibaka is a good player. Although he does not have solid technical ability on the offensive end, he has advantages in footwork and movement."

"He has the potential to be a top gatekeeper in the future."

It was just that Ibaka grabbed the ball forcefully, and now he completed a dunk in front of him, Cousins ​​was so angry that his mouth was almost crooked.

The Bucks attack.

Westbrook advanced with the ball to signal his teammates to run.

Before Curry had time to slip to the bottom line, Cousins ​​made a strong top position for Ibaka inside and asked for the ball.

"This guy's temper has come up again."

Tyronn Lu couldn't help reminding.

Li Lai nodded, but did not immediately signal to Cousins ​​that it was wrong to fight this way.

The Bucks have won the first two games, so the players in the team are inevitably a little bit confident. Terby is a stunned young man like Cousins.

Having been taken advantage of twice by Ibaka, he really wanted to take revenge immediately.

"But it's also time for Cousins ​​to know that playing the ball right is what's best for the team."

"Of course, it takes courage most to match players on the court. If Cousins ​​shrinks his neck at this time, then I will really look down on him."

"It's just that the way he chose to respond was not rational."

on the field.

Westbrook also hopes that Cousins ​​​​has the courage to respond hard.

So after seeing the opponent turning his back to ask for the ball, he passed the ball to the opponent without hesitation.

Cousins ​​singles Ibaka.

Push people, turn around, and eat by force.

boom!
When Cousins ​​turned around and hooked for a layup, he was directly slapped by Ibaka with a hot pot hat.

After blocking the shot, Ibaka was extremely excited, and he clenched his hands and jumped excitedly on the court.

Jeff Green picked up the rebound and the Thunder made a fast break.

Durant strode quickly to counterattack from the right side, and Westbrook and Curry desperately returned to defense.

But even if they caught up, the two were helpless in the face of Durant's one-handed dunk.

The Bucks started 0:4 behind.

next round.

Unconvinced, Cousins ​​came beyond the three-point line at the top of the arc and asked for the ball again.

Westbrook hesitated or passed the ball.

Cousins ​​​​is ready to use his best offensive method to single the opponent again.

Lowering the center of gravity, shaking the ball, after a continuous change, Cousins ​​dribbled the ball from his crotch and went straight to the basket.

But Ibaka's defensive awareness and footwork are so good, no matter how Cousins ​​shakes, he can always follow the opponent.

Cousins, who failed to get an easy layup, still stubbornly fought Ibaka to the basket.

In terms of brute force and strength, Ibaka is indeed weaker than Cousins.

It's just that this time it was an offense at the basket again, and Durant on the side shrank back to defend.

Cousins ​​​​did not choose to pass the ball out to let his teammates reorganize, but stubbornly resisted the defense and chose to make a layup.

boom!
This time it was Durant's hot pot hat.

The Thunder made another fast break, and Jeff Green made a solid layup.

Curry and Westbrook, desperately returning to defense, spread their hands helplessly at the same time.

"For two consecutive rounds, the opponent played a fast-break counterattack. This is a mistake that the Bucks would never make in the past."

"But tonight, against a Thunder team that's lost two straight, they've committed twice."

Barkley already knows the Bucks very well.

He believed that this scene was absolutely not acceptable to Bucks head coach Li Lai.

The Bucks have always been known for their smooth offense in the league. They started with a 0:6 scene. Even in the playoffs, they were not beaten like this.

CCTV commentary desk.

Su Qun said sincerely: "It's all because of Cousins."

"This rookie is still too easy to get ahead. The few waves of offensive play just now don't look like the Bucks."

"It's just Cousins ​​making a fool of himself, and he wants to respond to Ibaka."

"As a result, the response did not respond well, and the team got into a lot of trouble."

beep!beep!
Li Lai called a timeout.

All the players on the Bucks field saw that their coach looked very bad.

Tyronn Lu took the tactical board over, but Li Lai directly held the tactical board in the air.

"What tactics did you play just now, can anyone draw it for me?"

All the players chose to bow their heads in silence.

Li Lai continued: "Russell, you are the point guard on the court, can you tell me what tactics you guys played just now?"

Westbrook shook his head and said, "Coach, sorry, we didn't play tactics just now."

Li Lai said: "So you are going to play blindly on the court?"

Westbrook continued to apologize, saying: "Coach, this is all my fault."

Li Lai said affirmatively, "Of course it's your fault!"

"As the team's point guard, you didn't make the team's offense smoother, and you didn't command your teammates to move tactically."

"Being 0:6 behind in the start is caused by you!"

Although Li Lai spoke with a calm face the whole time, his speech was calm and unhurried, and he looked like he was talking and chatting normally.

But all felt the power in those words.

Cousins ​​saw that Westbrook had already been described as bad by Lee, and the other party never shifted the responsibility to anyone from the beginning to the end.

He finally couldn't help standing up and said: "Coach, Russell has been directing us to run just now, and Curry is already running."

"It was me who was stubborn for the ball. I didn't do off-ball pick-and-rolls on the baseline to open up space. This is my reason."

Li Lai smiled, very satisfied with Cousins' voluntary admission of mistakes.

But at this time, he still ignored Cousins ​​with a straight face, but continued to look at Westbrook and said.

"Russell, do you think I should trouble a rookie who's only played two games in the NBA?"

"You are the double MVP. You shouldn't play like this. Even if it's just a regular season, you should help the team work hard to win the game."

"That's what a Bucks leader should be."

Westbrook raised his head in shock when he heard the word leader, he knew exactly what Li Lai wanted to tell him.

So Westbrook nodded seriously and said: "Coach, I will work hard to be the leader of the Bucks."

Cousins ​​looked at Westbrook, who was still suffering from Li Lai's explosion alone. He was grumpy on the outside but actually kind-hearted on the inside, and he couldn't bear it any more.

At this time, he plucked up the courage to stand in front of Westbrook, chose to face Li Lai's explosive injury and said: "Coach, don't scold Russell, I said it was my fault and it's none of his business." .”

"If you want to scold you, just scold me."

Artest also stood up and said: "Coach, don't worry, we won't mess around like this again, you give us again."

"Ron!"

It was fine if Artest didn't stand up, but as soon as he stood up, he attracted all of Li Lai's firepower.

He turned his head and continued: "Ron, you are the current leader of the Bucks. What did you do on the court just now?"

"Obviously you found your teammates fighting, why didn't you remind them!"

Artest was very embarrassed. This was the third time he had seen Li Lai get so angry.

It's no wonder that the Bucks have encountered a series of troubles since the start of the off-season, and as long as they slack off a little, the team is likely to fall into a state of irreversibility.

Since ancient times, it has been easy to defend the country and difficult to defend the country. Look at last year's defending champion Lakers, and then the championship Celtics, and even further ahead, the Spurs, Heat, and Pistons
Which one of them didn't fall on the defending journey?

It has always been extremely difficult for NBA teams to win two consecutive championships, because all the teams in the league are staring at you.

Like the Lakers this season, the lineup is completely how to restrain the Bucks and how to reinforce it.

Including the now invincible Big Three of the Heat, they are also a team with a flexible lineup and a fierce offense.

And Rasheed Wallace, who was stolen by the Rockets with a high salary!
All teams want to beat the defending champions.

Cousins ​​saw that Artest was also being scolded by Li Lai. He mustered up his courage again and said, "Coach, I won't fight Ibaka anymore. Please don't scold them."

"It's all my fault."

Looking at Cousins ​​who was about to cry out of aggrievedness, Li Lai knew that the other party would only give in under such circumstances.

This short-tempered guy never bows his head because of himself, only because of others.

Li Lai finally looked at Cousins ​​at this moment and said, "Don't fight Ibaka? Why don't you fight? Why don't you fight!"

"When is it my player's turn to be taught by someone else?"

"Hit me hard!"

(End of this chapter)