start with scouting

Chapter 465 Sudden Accident
After defeating the Spurs, the Kings team was very happy. They flew back to Sacramento overnight and took a day off to prepare for the Pacers.

Su Yang got half a day free and devoted an hour to soliciting votes for Cousins, tweeting the stars that Aite met when he was in the Lakers. As a result, most of those stars did not reply, and some directly refused and said bluntly: You are no longer the head coach of the Lakers .

The so-called friends are nothing more than acting on occasion.

Su Yang wasn't surprised, nor was he angry. Anyway, public soliciting votes is enough for Cousins ​​to see. The process is more important than the result.

On the 24th, the Kings faced the Pacers.

With the unhappiness of the last game, the kings were full of firepower, Marcus Thornton went berserk, made 12 of 9 shots in a single quarter, including 6 of 4 three-pointers, scored 22 points without free throws, and helped the kings 37 Leading by 26, Su Yang led the audience to cheer.

The two teams followed closely into the substitute match. Unexpectedly, after only 2 minutes of playing, Guy fell to the ground in pain and waved again and again. Seeing this, Su Yang hurriedly asked for a timeout, and looked at the playback on the big screen again, and found that Guy's left calf muscles Without confrontation and shaking, he guessed what was going on on the spot, and suddenly his brain was buzzing, worrying that Gay would be reimbursed for the season, and it would be even more difficult for the king to compete for the championship.

After thinking for a moment, Su Yang arranged for Brother Antetokounmpo to fight.

Fortunately, the Pacers did not take advantage of the opportunity, but it was a pity that Thornton was no longer in shape, and the Kings failed to continue to expand their lead.

With a 10-point lead at halftime, we returned to the locker room. Team doctor Tom Kaufman chatted with Su Yangmi: "Our preliminary judgment is that the left hamstring tendon is strained at the first level. The conservative strategy requires three weeks of rest. If the aggressive strategy, two weeks You can try to come back..."

"Treat with a conservative strategy..."

Su Yang didn't hesitate at all. Others Guy accepted the status of the most expensive substitute for the championship. It is impossible for him to urge Guy to take risks and come back early just for the sake of a few regular season records. moral behavior.

"It is recommended to consider implementing the load management system you used in Los Angeles before, or reduce the training time of the players. Gay is a little tired. He played six away games in the previous nine days, two of which were back-to-back, and only had one day off to play again..."

Between Kaufman's words, Su Yang was a little lost in thought.

The previous schedule was indeed intensive, but there was no organization of additional training in the middle, and load management was not implemented this season, mainly because the Kings are a group of young people. Even if Gay is only under 28 years old, he is not an old man like the Lakers who is always 32+. There is no need .

"Let's see and talk..."

Su Yang thought for a long time before making a decision, mainly because he was too busy, and had to consider the rotation in the second half and the schedule for the next three weeks.

The halftime break ended quickly, and the Kings team returned to the court for the third quarter. It was difficult to distinguish the high and low in the front, but entered the stage of substitute rotation. Because of the lack of Gay rotation changes, the Kings' firepower was difficult to maintain, and they were reduced by 5 by the Pacers. point gap.

The game started in a hurry in the fourth quarter, with only the 5-point advantage left, the Pacers tied in the blink of an eye and sent George ahead of schedule.

Su Yang responded passively and sent Cousins ​​and other main players at the same time. He thought that with 1 minute left in the game, Pacers player Lance Stephenson knocked over Cousins, who was sprinting at high speed, causing Cousins' right ankle to 90 degrees. Reverse at a high degree and lift directly off the court.

Su Yang was shocked for a moment to recover his thoughts, arranged for Thornton to execute a technical foul free throw, then arranged tactics to form an offense, and then started the penalty kick tactic to curb the possibility of the Pacers' three-pointer. Finally, he led the team to beat the Pacers 104-102 and won five consecutive victories. .

That kind of operation minimizes the loss of team momentum.

After finishing the press conference perfunctorily after the game, Su Yang returned to the locker room and saw the players and team doctor with sad faces.

There was no secret chat this time, and I chose to let Kaufman publicly explain Cousins' injury, intending to prepare for the next step.

"Boogie is a second-degree sprain on the left ankle. It is conservatively estimated that he will need to rest for three weeks. If the optimistic is two weeks..."

After Kaufman finished speaking, the generals of the Kings looked slightly depressed. The Kings previously ranked third in the Western Conference, but fell to sixth after a wave of four-game losing streak. Now the two core players have been injured for three weeks. With the crazy competition in the Western Conference, The playoffs are going to be dangerous.

Cousins ​​rushed to say: "I can come back early, I'm just a little swollen, and the pain is not serious."

Gay went on to say: "If I am optimistic, I can come back early and take the initiative to reduce the intensity of confrontation, no problem..."

"Have a good rest..."

Between Kaufman's words, Su Yang had already checked the schedule, and he was determined to let Gay and Cousins ​​rest until after the All-Star break, which would be about four weeks of rest, and resume training and team training from the third week , which is the best solution.

Anyway, the whole league has a holiday during the All-Star week.

"This accident is our setback and our opportunity. Next, we will adjust our rotation and offensive and defensive strategies. Giannis, you have to be ready to play point guard. Covington and Gobert, you have to be ready. take on more responsibility…”

Su Yang's tone was firm, and he was obviously very confident about the second half of the season, and the plan was very good, and the kings felt a little relieved.

After leaving the arena and returning to the apartment, Su Yang was in a daze. The two main players were injured so suddenly that it was completely illogical.

There is no problem in reaching the playoffs, but as a young team, if the Kings are in the lower half and have no home court advantage, the tie-break game will be more difficult to play, and it may also lead to the Spurs, Thunder, and Lakers in the first round. The probability of promotion is low.

After a night of rest, Su Yang arrived at the training base at [-] o'clock in the morning and found that Antetokounmpo, Gobert, and Covington were already sweating profusely from training, and Thomas Jr. was also there. He chatted with the four of them and entered the office. Ki then knocked on the door to discuss.

"Marcus Thornton performed very well in the recent airport game, and this time the two main players were injured, it is the best time for us to make a trade. At present, several teams such as the Nets and the Lakers have asked about the price. If they operate properly, they can trade. To the first round..."

Thornton made two consecutive key shots against the Spurs, 22 points in a single quarter against the Pacers, and 42 points in the game. It sparked heated discussions on the Twitter social platform, making Thornton's defense seem less important, and it also caused many teams to use half-time. Look at ideas for the next season.

After Xin Ji analyzed it, Su Yang was silent for a long time after listening, then shook his head and said: "Those two teams have low round value at the time, there is no need to trade at this time when people need to be stable, we should focus more on this year's second-round picks Most importantly, there must be more…”

For Su Yang, the first-round pick in 14, unless it is a lottery pick, is of low value. There is MVP Jokic, the lowest pick in history, Jeremy Grant, the core of the future Pistons & LeBron's greedy man, Jordan Clarkson, the sixth man...

It may not be possible to choose all of them, but it’s okay to choose a few more. Anyway, only Clarkson and Dinwiddie have conflicting positions. The Kings will free up many positions in the off-season. picks.

Anyway, there is a steady stream, endless life!
"Then I will continue to operate the second-round pick..."

Hinkie got up and left the office, and commercial director Chris Granger knocked on the door and entered to discuss whether it is necessary to reduce the ticket price for the next three weeks, or to give ticket buyers more extra benefits, so as to avoid the injury of the main force and reduce the king's income. .

"No, we will give back to the audience with more exciting games sooner or later..." Su Yang quickly made a decision, it was only three weeks.

At ten o'clock in the morning, the king officially announced the injuries of Cousins ​​and Gay, received some blessings, and was underestimated by a lot.

The NBA officially announced the 14 All-Star starters at the same time. Cousins ​​lost to Love in the Western Conference frontcourt competition with a slight disadvantage of more than 800 votes. As for whether he can be selected as a substitute, he needs to wait until the 31st. expected.

O'Neal tweeted mockingly: "I have said long ago that center players are not suitable for attacking from the outside. That's what guards do. It has become very difficult for the Kings to make it to the playoffs, but we can finally see how Su Yang leads A real underdog team…”

(End of this chapter)