Legendary star

Chapter 75 The Abnormal Meng Xu
"Greg, it seems that our worries are unnecessary." On February 2000, 2, after the All-Star Game, the Spurs started their road trip. The first opponent was the Cleveland Cavaliers. Although the current Cleveland Cavaliers have Shaw Encamp, the former All-Star player, and many giants such as Ramond Murray, Andre Miller and Wesley Persson, but the results have been tepid. Fighting hard for a place in the playoffs.

After the All-Star Game, all teams in the NBA will start to sprint for the final playoff rankings, and Popovich is also a little worried about the state of the team. The Spurs' leading players Tim Duncan and David Robinson They all participated in this year's All-Star Game, and the All-Star Syndrome has always plagued the league's powerful teams.

Another worry is Meng Xu. Meng Xu's 3-point ability is very strong, which is recognized by the Spurs and even the entire league. The ability of five 3-pointers is indeed shocking. While surprised by Meng Xu's 5-pointer ability, Popovich is also a little worried. After winning the 3-pointer contest and the MVP of the Rookie Challenge, Meng Xu is likely to Self-confidence swelled, and he made crazy shots in the following games, thus destroying the team's chemical reaction. Once this kind of thing happened, I would definitely send Meng Xu away without hesitation, but Meng Xu's current 3-point ability and Defensive ability is indispensable for the current Spurs, and Popovich is also very optimistic about Meng Xu's potential and future. Although it is unlikely to become a super giant like Tim Duncan, he is at least a star. players.

And judging from Meng Xu's performance in the All-Star Game, Meng Xu is a player who likes to show off. A player like this is often unwilling to be lonely, and he doesn't even want to be inferior to others.Because of this, after seeing the news that Meng Xu had won the MVP of the Rookie Challenge and the champion of the 3-point contest, Popovich tossed and turned that night and couldn't sleep all night. In the Cavaliers game, Meng Xu's performance completely dispelled Popovich's concerns. In today's game, Meng Xu almost put all his energy into the defensive end. Erson and small forward Ramond Murray were dying, and they only took 2 shots in the first half and scored 3 points.

"Meng took too few shots." Although he dispelled his worries, Popovich couldn't help frowning after seeing the technical statistics of the first half. David Robinson and Tim Duncan today The touch of the ball is not good, but Meng Xu, one of the team's important scoring points, only took two shots in the half game.

"Meng's desire to attack today is really not strong." In the first half, the main players of the Spurs were crazy. David Robinson was 8 for 3, Tim Duncan was 9 for 3, and Avery Johnson was 4 for 1. case.Meng Xu has no desire to attack. Although the team's overall defense is still excellent, the Spurs are 39 to 41 behind the Cavaliers by 2 points.

After the second half, the Spurs still felt cold. In the end, the Spurs also lost to the Cavaliers 82-91 away.

After losing to the Cavaliers, the Spurs lost to the Suns and Timberwolves one after another. For the first time this season, they suffered a 3-game losing streak. .

Tomorrow is the last team for the Spurs' road trip. In order to prevent the team from continuing their losing streak, Popovich also tried his best. After recovering training in the afternoon, Popovich put Meng Xu called to his room and wanted to talk to Meng Xu.During this 3-game losing streak, Meng Xu took only 10 shots in total and scored less than 5 points per game. You must know that in the 10 games before the All-Star Game, Meng Xu averaged 12 points per game. The main responsibility lies with Tim Duncan and David Robinson, but Meng Xu is also a factor that cannot be ignored.

"Meng, how are you feeling recently?" Popovich asked straight to the point as soon as Meng Xu sat on the sofa.

"Our team seems to be in trouble, and we can't find the feeling of the game at the beginning of the season." Meng Xu thought for a while and said.

"So what do you think is the reason?" Popovich asked, taking a sip of his coffee.

"Maybe it's because I was too relaxed during the All-Star holiday, and I haven't found the rhythm of the game yet." Originally, Meng Xu wanted to say that everyone felt bad, but after thinking about it, he changed the way of saying it. If David Robinson and Tim Duncan think they are suing, how can they stay in the Spurs.

"Meng, don't you think your shots are too few?" Popovich said and handed a technical statistics sheet to Meng Xu: "In the first 10 games before the All-Star, your average shots per game It was 9 times, averaging 12.6 points per game, but in these 3 games, you only took 3.3 shots, and your scoring dropped to 4.6 points."

"This..." Meng Xu looked at the technical statistics table, not knowing how to answer Popovich, should he tell him the damn system task?That definitely won't work. In order to complete this task, Meng Xu has devoted himself to defense in these few games, and he really doesn't have much energy to do things on the offensive end.

"Meng, I appreciate your attitude towards the game very much, but I still hope that you can make more contributions to the team. When Tim and David feel bad, you can stand up. With your ability, I believe you can do it." Popovich kept staring into Meng Xu's eyes, as if trying to see through Meng Xu's thoughts, the contrast between Meng Xu's front and back was so great that Popovich couldn't help but Some are unpredictable.

"I understand." Meng Xu nodded: "Coach, tomorrow's game against New York, I think..."

"No problem, you will have unlimited firepower tomorrow." Popovich interrupted Meng Xu. In his eyes, this kind of Meng Xu is a normal Meng Xu. Since defeating the New York Knicks in the Finals last year, Popovich has Povich formed a relationship with the New York media, and when the New York media slammed Popovich, it inevitably affected Meng Xu, a fish in the pond. , If there is no indication, it is not normal.

(End of this chapter)