I didn't want to fly away

Chapter 98 Christmas War, Do Something?

During the NBA regular season, the ratings are boosted by three programs.

One is the opening game at the beginning of the season, one is the All-Star Game at the end of the regular season, and the rest is the Christmas game.

Christmas in Western countries is equivalent to the Spring Festival in China.

The Christmas War is tantamount to the Spring Festival Gala.

It is precisely because of this that the Christmas game has become the ratings guarantee for the NBA regular season.

As early as the 40s, the NBA had a tradition of launching heavyweight games on Christmas Eve. This kind of business thinking seemed quite advanced at the time.

In the 90s when TV broadcasts were popular, watching the wonderful NBA live broadcast on Christmas Eve has become a tradition for fans in North America.

With the development of webcasting technology, fans all over the world are also paying close attention to the Christmas game.

Generations of gods, magicians, Jordan, O'Neal, Kobe, and now James, are the league's top players pushed by the league with the help of the Christmas game.

Now that the Clippers are fortunate to participate in the Christmas game, this is also an excellent thing for Lu Yi.

There is no doubt that Stern, the Jewish old man, is very shrewd.

Lu Yi was born at a time when Chinese players were not acclimatized to the NBA, and the population was thin and out of reach.

After hearing the news, Stern decisively made arrangements.

After this, Lu Yi not only logically became the No. [-] pick, but also recently became a household name in the United States as the head of the Clippers.

For Lu Yi, if he develops further, he will become a world-renowned top star and a superstar.

As far as the NBA is concerned, hundreds of millions of Chinese fans will continue to put their energy and money on the NBA because of Lu Yi.

The Chinese market will also continue to cultivate many fans who are keen to watch the NBA, and even spend money on jerseys, sneakers, and peripheral products.

In any case, Stern's current investment in Lu Yi is definitely very cost-effective.

As for Lu Yi's method against Stern, he had to shout: "Great!"

The Clippers had a poor record last season, and the first half of the regular season schedule was arranged according to last season's record.

Only in the second half of the schedule, suitable opponents will be arranged according to the record of the new season, so that the league can gain more ratings and obtain greater benefits.

In other words, the Clippers were not eligible to participate in tonight's Christmas game.

However, in the end the Clippers got involved and got a share of the Christmas game, which was naturally due to Stern's painstaking arrangement.

The Clippers' opponent tonight is the Suns.

Because tonight is the Christmas game, the Staples Center has the real King of Los Angeles sitting in the town, so the Clippers and Lu Yi need to go to other arenas to play.

Stern found a suitable opponent for the Clippers, the fourth Suns in the Western Conference.

It was a pity that the Suns did not make the playoffs last season, but it was mainly due to internal turmoil in the team and the impact of star injuries.

In the past few seasons, the Suns have always been a strong player in the Western Conference. Stern has been the NBA president for decades and still knows the ball.

Knowing that this season's Suns star returns from injury, the record will improve.

Therefore, it is understandable to use the name of the Suns to arrange the Clippers and the Suns in the Christmas game in advance.

However, what Stern didn't expect was that the Clippers would play so brutally this season.

Of course, who would have thought in advance that under the leadership of Lu Yi, the Clippers could soar from 14th in the West to 1st in the West, and have always been the leader of the league?

It is also because the Clippers' record is too good and convincing.

Now, this Christmas match that was originally arranged to win Lu Yi, a newcomer, has not become the least interesting match among the five Christmas matches this year.

There are five games in the Christmas War this year. In addition to the strong confrontation between the Clippers and the Suns, there is also the battle for the first and second places in the Eastern Conference, the Magic vs. the Celtics.

The third in the West played the sixth in the West, and the Nuggets played against the Trail Blazers.

The rest is the Cavaliers and the Lakers, the 23vs24 league repertoire.

Stern's praise is still limited, although he gave James a lot of whistles in the regular season, and even turned a blind eye to the eight-step dragon.

When it comes to key games like the Christmas game, he does not fall behind every year, and has repeatedly used Kobe to help James build momentum.

But the playoffs will not be hard-hitting, and he will directly help James walk to the finals.

Otherwise, James' career would definitely be more than Liu Ya.

Speaking of the last game of the Christmas game, it is the game between the Knicks, the king of the East, and the sixth Heat in the East.

There are a lot of people in New York, and they are the kind of people who are stupid and have a lot of money.

As the home team of New York fans, the Knicks, no matter how bad the record is, there will be people watching the Christmas game.

Not to mention the tickets at Madison Square Garden on the night of the Christmas game, which can even sell for the price of the Eastern Conference Finals and even the Finals.

In the regular season, the league's share is only 6%, although it's not as fierce as the 45% in the playoffs.

But for the Knicks' Christmas game, the tickets alone cost 3000 to [-] million, and if you include the box and peripheral income, it is basically half a small goal.

Naturally, the league is happy to arrange a home game of the Christmas War with the Knicks and make a small profit of several million dollars.

However, the game between the Knicks and the Heat seems to be watched by some people, but there are definitely not as many people watching the other games.

The Christmas battle is different from usual, and there must be something interesting to watch during the Chinese New Year.

It's like watching the Spring Festival Gala for Chinese people. After a year of tiredness, they still have to watch educational programs. How tiring is that?

If you want to see it, you can watch it, a sketch that can make people smile.

However, the things that ordinary people like to hear and see are seen less and less, or even basically none, and it is not unreasonable that the final ratings are getting lower every year.

The same is true for the Christmas game. No one watched the hip-pull game. The more intense the game, the more suspenseful the game, only people watched it.

Except for the game between the Knicks and the Heat this Christmas, the other four games are strong dialogues.

Of course, relatively speaking, the game between the Nuggets and the Trail Blazers will be slightly less interesting.

In terms of fame and fan accumulation, the Clippers and the Suns will also suffer in this game.

However, some fans are not only pursuing the gimmick of 23vs24, some people like to watch fresh ones.

The Clippers are No. [-] in the West and are gaining momentum.

The sun held high for seven seconds to attack, and the offense was gorgeous.

As the saying goes, offense wins the box office, and defense wins the championship.

Two teams that are good at offense and fast break will attract the attention of neutral fans.

It is precisely because of this that tonight's Christmas game between the Clippers and the Suns, when the game started, the ratings were not the bottom of the five games.

On the contrary, it once rushed to the second position, second only to the game between the Cavaliers and the Lakers.

……

"Are you nervous?" Before the game started, Dunleavy didn't talk about any tactics, and handed the game over to the players.

Of course, winning is still very important, so Dunleavy needs to understand Lu Yi's state before the game starts.

It's true that Lu Yi is a big-time player. In his NBA regular season debut, he could play against Kobe at the Staples Center, and he played well.

However, if you are not afraid of [-], you are afraid of just in case.

Sometimes players want to perform too much, but the result is too much. It is also very common to play war criminals and lead the team to lose.

Lu Yi is a rookie, and he doesn't know how to deal with a lot of spotlights and can't play the desired effect.

Dunleavy is worried that the data and outcome of this game will affect Lu Yi's mentality of playing in the future and affect the record of the Clippers.

So he cared about Lu Yi in advance and helped Lu Yi better deal with the problems that may arise in the future.

Iverson, who was on the side, also looked at Lu Yi seriously when he heard Dunleavy asking Lu Yi.

Iverson is someone who has experienced it, but he made jokes because of his immaturity.

Hearing Dunleavy's question, Iverson worried that Lu Yi would also make a mistake.

Iverson thought that Lu Yi was very kind to him, so he thought that if Lu Yi really had a problem, he would definitely do his best to help Lu Yi.

However, Lu Yi behaved as before, and he didn't seem to take today's game seriously.

"It's just the Christmas game, not the finals, so there's nothing to be nervous about."

"We play normally, and there is no problem in winning the Suns."

"I just don't know if we can play at home in the Christmas game next year. To play the Lakers? To win against the King of Los Angeles, I think it's a good idea!"

Hearing that Lu Yi is studying the opponents in the Christmas game next year, Dunleavy and Iverson can only hold their foreheads.

When Louie Versailles got up, no one else had anything to do.

Wait, what Lu Yi said doesn't seem to be unreasonable.

If the Clippers continue to play like this, they will definitely have no problem entering the playoffs this year.

The league arranges for the Christmas game next year, and it may really cancel the 23vs24 plan and change it to the Los Angeles battle.

After all, no matter how delicious the dish is, you will get tired of eating it all the time.

Occasionally change the taste and come up with some new tricks, which can whet the appetite.

James is the No. [-] pick, and Lu Yi is also the No. [-] pick.

James is the son of the United States, but the NBA has grown bigger and stronger by exploring overseas markets in recent years.

Lu Yi's current momentum has a chance to become the son of the world.

At least, there's nothing wrong with being a son of Asia.

And there are at least more fans in Asia than in Africa.

After a few chats with hippie smiles, the Christmas battle finally started.

Kaman lost to Channing Frye, and the Suns got the ball first.

Nash held the ball across half court, played a pick-and-roll with Stoudemire directly in the top arc, and used Stoudemire to attract the defense and go directly to the basket.

Kaman's footsteps are slow, Nash has the ability to fight big, but Iverson's footsteps are not slow, he followed Nash to the basket, and did not give Nash a chance to make a shot.

In this situation, Nash had to pass the ball out. Grant Hill, who was 45 degrees on the right, received the pass and raised his hand to shoot a three-pointer.

Seeing this, Thornton immediately pounced on him, not wanting Hill to make a false shot, took the opportunity to get inside the three-point line, and then made an emergency stop to make a mid-range shot.

I didn't want Iverson to jump out from the basket again, Hill was somewhat disturbed, and this time he made a mid-range shot.

But under the basket, Stoudemire grabbed an offensive rebound with one grab and two, and then swayed twice under the basket, pushing the ball hard and dunking the ball in.

The first goal of the Christmas game was scored strongly by Stoudemire.

The Suns fans at home are also in full swing, shouting everywhere.

However, before the Sun fans were happy for too long, Iverson began to accelerate in the backcourt, and Nash quickly went up to intercept Iverson.

But Nash is not much younger than Iverson.

Originally, Nash did not rely on physical fitness and defense to win, and he also encountered the problem of declining state with age.

Iverson passed Nash in just one step.

The Suns' overall defense is not very good, and they rely on offense to win.

When Iverson passed Nash, the other Suns players tried to make up the defense, but Iverson easily passed by and went straight to the basket and dunked.

In the Christmas game, Iverson's long-lost enthusiasm also ignited.

As soon as he came up, he was wearing a butterfly step, plus a violent dunk with a long gun.

Seeing this, Lu Yi was very encouraged. As the Suns failed to make a fast break in the next round, Camby protected the defensive rebound, and Lu Yi immediately turned his head and went on a fast break.

As a team that is good at transition, the Suns have done a good job in preventing hostile fast breaks.

Hill and Jason Richardson came back to block Lewy, but Iverson also made a fast break from the other side.

Nash's speed is not slow, but chasing Iverson is a bit difficult.

Iverson received a pass from Camby and hit the basket again.

Hill and Richardson had no choice but to surround Iverson with the basket, and Iverson also chose to play one against two.

At his peak, Iverson dared to rush to the basket and try to attack against five people, but not now.

What's more, the Clippers Iverson is no longer the Iverson it used to be.

After knowing Lu Yi's ability, Iverson has recognized his own auxiliary status.

Iverson hopes to use the pass to drive the team and help the team.

Soon, Lu Yi received a pass from Iverson, so he immediately stopped, took a step back, adjusted a little, and made a three-pointer before Hill and Richardson made a save.

brush--

Wide open shots, Lu Yi's full three-point attributes, easily made the ball.

Iverson just stepped forward and clapped hands with Lu Yi to celebrate. He didn't want to go too far without talking about martial arts and directly attacked.

Hill passes the ball to Nash who has run back to midfield.

At this time, a three-on-three situation appeared in the frontcourt.

Although it was three against three, the ball was in Nash's hands.

In the Suns frontcourt, Nash can also play pick-and-roll with Stoudemire.

There are only three defensive players in an area that should have been five-on-five. At this time, I have to ask, how big is the offensive space of the Suns?

Like the sea!
Nash can answer directly.

With the help of the pick and roll with Stoudemire, Nash went to the basket and called Kaman.

Camby and Thornton couldn't help Kaman, and finally Nash helped the Suns recover two points.

Fortunately, Lu Yi just scored a three-pointer. Nash scored this time, but only two points. The Clippers are still ahead by one point!

And Kaman is also very smart, just now you didn't talk about martial arts to play fast break, and then a pick-and-roll directly penetrated me, and then I won't talk about martial arts for a while.

Kaman slipped out of the baseline and grabbed the baseline ball.

In a moment, the ball fell directly into the hands of Lu Yi, who was close to the midfielder.

Lu Yi didn't hesitate to receive the ball, he dribbled two steps forward, and was still a big step away from the three-point line, so he made an emergency stop and shot a three-pointer.

"Oops! Do you dare to vote?"

"It's broken! Isn't Lu Yi too courageous?"

Hill and Richardson had to take care of Iverson and the basket, and they didn't consider that Lu Yi would be so bold to shoot a three-pointer with a step outside the three-point line.

This time, he basically didn't defend against Lu Yi. Seeing Lu Yi make a move, he naturally guessed that something was wrong.

brush--

"Damn it, Lu Yi really dares to vote, he can really get in!"

"Fake, Lu Yi really showed off! Another three-pointer!"

"This kid, you want to make trouble in the Christmas game! You won't break the three-point record today, will you?"

Lu Yicai made two three-pointers, and most of the Suns fans couldn't help but jumped up from their seats.

(End of this chapter)