basketball god eye

Chapter 299 The Continuing Western Away Game

The Bulls ended their schedule in January, and their road trip to the West is not yet over. In the February game, they still have three games against the West, and one of them is back-to-back.

At the time of the mid-term trade, many teams in the league began to make moves, but there were no big fish in the transfer market, so this transfer period was still very quiet.

Except for a few substitutes that have not been decided on the All-Star side, there is basically no possibility of a reversal in the other starters, so whether they can have a good All-Star weekend depends on the performance of these few games.

On February 2, the Bulls, who had a two-day rest, came to Seattle to challenge the Sonics. The current record of the Sonics is 2-23. It is still a bit difficult to enter the playoffs.

So in this game, the entire Sonics team fought fiercely. They frantically attacked the Bulls inside, trying to open up space for outside shooters to shoot.

Artest still carried out Li Lei's instructions very well. He didn't care about anything else, so he went to strangle Rashad Lewis. McMillan called a lot of timeouts on the sidelines, unless it was a cover or something.So he defended very aggressively.

McMillan had no choice but to see the game getting bigger and bigger, so he could only replace Lewis with the skier. As a rookie, the skier was nearly half a season in training, and the Supersonic management found sadly that this guy was not as malleable as he had imagined.

But the draft is similar to scratching the lottery. You can say anything if you win the lottery.

Li Lei and Payton played against each other for the second time. Li Lei was already used to Payton's defense. Although the opponent's physical strength was better than his own, Li Lei was not afraid of confrontation. He scored 12 points and 8 assists in the half. Payton had 10 points and 4 assists. Li Lei threw 2 three-pointers, but Payton still had none.

The Bulls took the lead at halftime, and the situation didn't change much in the second half. Although Brent Barry worked hard, if Payton couldn't make the ball in the first place, then the probability of the ball being converted into an assist would be very low. However, Barry still relied on his father's inheritance of shooting genes, and threw three consecutive three-pointers to keep the Sonics alive. They didn't let the Bulls turn the game into garbage time in the third quarter.

Brent Barry and Rashad Lewis were the two choices. Li Lei asked Artest to choose the latter. Although Brent Barry is a dunker with superb physical fitness, he still has a big gap compared to Rick Barry. However, he is considered to be the better basketball talent among the brothers, and the others are even more unattractive.If Rick Barry is on the field, it is estimated that just using the urine pot to make free throws can make the Bulls collapse. The guy's ability to draw fouls cannot be underestimated in NBA history.

In the fourth quarter of the game, Payton was not going to end the game, but the Bulls still released Crawford to deal with him. In the last match, Crawford was bullied miserably against Payton, but Crawford still did not hesitate.

Facing Payton's biting defense, Crawford attacked several times in a row. The success rate was much lower than before, but he had achieved his goal. He played to consume Payton's energy.

Li Lei and the starters all came up. Brand came up and faced Wen Baker with a dunk. Brand had already scored 18 points in this game. He vented all his anger at being ravaged by Ma Long on Wen Baker. The carrier of this garbage contract has no room for resistance. Maybe he wants the game to end early so he can go home and continue drinking.

The Supersonics fans were very frustrated. They kept booing in the auditorium, but it was useless. With 2 minutes left in the fourth quarter, the difference between the two sides reached 18 points. The Supersonics chose to raise the white flag to surrender, and the Bulls won.

Payton scored 22 points and 8 assists, while Li Lei scored 27 points and 11 assists. The difference between the two figures was similar, but Payton had 5 more shots than Li Lei. Payton had 17 shots and Li Lei only had 12.If it wasn't for Payton's strong defense, maybe Li Lei's shots would still be less.

With the victory, the Bulls came to Portland overnight to challenge their next opponent.

The current situation of the Blazers is similar to that of the other two opponents in the Northwest Division, the Jazz and the Sonics. The current record is 24-21, which is completely out of proportion to their salary rankings. Their salary this season is 8400 million, second in the league, second only to the Knicks at 8500 million.

The Blazers' actions this season are still not small. They kicked out Mike Dunleavy, who coached the Blazers for four seasons and believed in "the closer to the basket, the higher the shooting percentage", and replaced him with Philadelphia star Maurice Cheeks. In addition to this, the Blazers also introduced Steve Kerr, Derek Anderson and Ruben Patterson during the offseason.

The introduction of these few people allowed the Blazers to send several lineups in five positions. However, Morris Cheeks does not have that ability. He is just a mediocre head coach. After all, players and head coaches are completely two concepts.

Li Lei and the whole team came to Portland Rose Garden very low-key. Although this place is small, because of Paul Allen's willingness to spend money, the team's facilities have always been top-notch in the league. Of course, their veterinarian is as famous as the sun's miracle doctor.

Because it was back-to-back, Li Lei did not train too much. This game was not very difficult for the Bulls. Although the Blazers had two sets of candidates for the five positions, none of them was a top superstar. From the All-Star votes, it can be seen that although their team has many players on the list, it is still too difficult to get a seat.

"Jason, I really want to leave Portland. I've had enough of this place." Before the game started, Randolph grabbed Richardson and complained. The two were teammates in college, but Randolph was in the Trail Blazers this season.

(End of this chapter)