I'm teammates with Kobe

Chapter 75
The home of the Grizzlies is located in the FedEx Forum Arena, which is the largest public facility in the history of Memphis. It took 28 months and cost 2 million U.S. dollars to build. Currently, only one professional team, the Grizzlies, rents the arena .

Three hours before the start of the game, the Lakers all rushed to the visiting team's locker room in the arena.

I believe everyone knows the luxury of the locker room of the home team in the NBA arena, but the team owner will never spend money in the locker room of the visiting team.

Veteran players like Kobe have long been accustomed to these situations, but it was the first time for Chu Xiao to go to an away game, and he was directly stunned by the double standards in the locker room.

The FedEx Forum Arena is very luxuriously decorated, and the home team locker room inside is also spacious and bright, with a total of three large rooms.Entering through the main entrance, the first thing you see is the rest area, with a sofa and a coffee table in the middle, and a pile of fruits on the coffee table. There is a large-screen LCD TV hanging on the wall, where you can watch live games or videos.

Walking in from the rest area is the locker room of the home team. The three walls are the players' wardrobes. Everyone's wardrobe is also very spacious and divided into several layers. In addition to clothes, skin care products, audio equipment, etc. can also be placed.There is also a large LCD TV on the fourth wall, flanked by tactical demonstration boards and a side door from which the physiotherapist can be accessed.

Chu Xiao saw that the locker room of the home team was so luxurious, and the locker room of the visiting team must not be much worse. His heart was filled with anticipation, but when he opened the door, he was dumbfounded.

There is only one room inside, which is small and triangular in size, with mottled walls and no wardrobe. There is only one chair for each person, a few poles nailed against the wall, and a few hangers.In such an environment, the players crowded around the wall to find a place to hang their clothes, and then sat on the chairs to change their shoes.

This is not a dressing room, it is clearly an abandoned warehouse.

There is a small door on the other side of the room, and after entering, there is a shower room and toilet.Not to mention the toilet, it stinks and has not been cleaned for many days.Let's just talk about the shower room, some rusty faucets dripping water, and the shower water supply system seems to be normal.

But Thackeray stretched out his hand, "Wipe, there is no hot water?"

"This is beyond imagination!" he yelled as he ran to the corridor and shouted, "Why is there no hot water? It's too much! Can someone come and take a look."

As a result, no one responded after shouting for a long time.

"It's useless, get used to it." Jamison, who has partnered with him in the interior for two starting games, pulled him back into the room. For me, the visiting locker room is undoubtedly a dead corner that has been unable to change for many years, you can only adapt to it.”

Jamison adopted a consolation rule for Thackeray, "At least the facilities on each court are the same. It's just a few steps from the locker room to the court, as long as it doesn't affect the game, so think about positive energy. "

"Since that's the case, next time they visit Los Angeles, they must also turn off their hot water." Thackeray said angrily.

"It's all right, I'll leave it to you when the time comes." Jamison laughed when he heard this.

Chu Xiao originally wanted to complain a lot, but after hearing their conversation, he had no choice but to swallow it back.

Since there is no place for physical therapy in the locker room of the visiting team, Kobe had to skip the pre-match physical conditioning process, change his clothes in silence, and be the first to run out of the locker room to the court for warm-up training before the game.

When he passed by Chu Xiao, he did not forget to pat Chu Xiao on the shoulder and said, "The visiting team's locker room is not much better. In fact, this place is relatively good. If you go to the Kings, Nets And the visiting locker room of the Pistons to understand what a visiting nightmare is, and those three teams are like a storage room for advanced cleaning supplies. Really, you will know next time you go there.”

After Kobe finished speaking, he rushed out, Chu Xiao didn't say anything at the moment, bowed his head, quickly tied his shoelaces, and ran out behind the boss.

Whenever Kobe Bryant entered the game from the locker room to warm up, Tamm, the head of security for the Lakers, would always shout, "The Lakers are out!"

Kobe replied, "Clear the way!"

Tam has been working for the Lakers for 10 years, and he always has to say "the Lakers are out, clear the way" before the Lakers' away game. Kobe is too familiar with his rhythm, so he can answer the words.

As soon as Tamm shouted, all the security personnel on standby were immediately in place, and a passage about 2 meters wide was separated for the players to pass through.Kobe would sprint out, and the fans immediately cheered.

Over the years, the Lakers with Kobe have been the most popular team in the league. Before each game, there will always be hundreds or even thousands of people entering the game an hour and a half earlier, hoping to see Kobe warming up.

Even on the road.

Some home teams saw this and opened the arena ahead of time for fans to come in and watch. They knew that these fans bought tickets because of Kobe. Privileges, such as sharing the warm-up field with the home team, but on the other side of the field.

After Chu Xiao came out, he discovered that under the hoop used by Kobe, thousands of people had gathered to watch. There were enthusiastic fans watching and taking pictures, and some TV reporters were live broadcasting Kobe's warm-up. The home team's Grizzlies players were ignored up.

Kobe was not distracted by the cheers of the fans. He greeted Chu Xiao who appeared after him, and then went to the bench to tighten his shoelaces, his expression becoming more and more focused.

The Lakers have a total of 6 assistant coaches, and the chief assistant Brian Shaw is responsible for training the newcomers in the team, including Chu Xiao, Thackeray, Ebanks and others.During the warm-up, Xiao will lead everyone to practice dribbling with both hands, moving dribble, etc. After this session is over, they will practice their own. Chu Xiao usually chooses to continue practicing dribbling with both hands. The purpose of doing this is to stretch the body , and improve dribbling skills.

When he first started practicing, he kept dropping the ball and switching hands back and forth was not smooth, but as the number of practice sessions increased, it became smoother and smoother, which allowed him to have spare time to sneak a peek at what Kobe was doing.

Kobe trained with Handy, who made a basic warm-up plan for him. Handy has been the assistant coach of the Lakers since 2011. He has his own way of training players, so he is respected by everyone.

Kobe also practiced dynamic dribbling first, including a series of crotch hand changes and upper leg movements.He dribbled back and forth in front of the technical platforms on both sides, and even practiced the technique of dribbling and retreating.

After his body is fully heated, he will stand on the left side of the basket and practice left-handed shots, which are basically high-arc fadeaway jumpers.After making 10 shots, he went to the left side of the free throw line to practice catch and shoot, and Handy was responsible for picking up the ball for him.After scoring 10 goals, go to the right and continue shooting with the right hand, and so on.

Then, Handy will play the role of defender, Kobe walks out of the penalty area, and Handy waits at the basket, watching him jump and dribble to break through, then suddenly rushes to interfere, and Kobe scores the ball under his defense.Sometimes the confrontation between the two is quite fierce, and they often talk trash.

In Bryant’s words, “Talking trash during practice builds relationships and rapport.”

In the end, he practiced shooting three-pointers from the bottom corner, 45-degree angles on the left and right sides, and the top of the arc, scoring 10 goals in each position.

After practicing these, the whole warm-up training process is generally over.

As a newcomer, Chu Xiao does not have the right to enjoy one-on-one warm-up guidance, and can only practice the same package with everyone.When the body gets hot, it will stop, because you can't use too much force when warming up, so as not to run out of energy for the game.

While warming up, Chu Xiao also paid special attention to the "black and white bears" of the Grizzlies on the other side of the field. The most conspicuous one was Zach Randolph of the "big black bear". He was a black player. Born in Marion, Indiana, he was selected by the Trail Blazers with the 1981th pick in the first round of the 2001 NBA Draft, and was traded to the Grizzlies.

He has dark skin and a strong body. He is 2.06 meters tall but weighs 117.9 kilograms. He has a large tonnage and a low chassis. He is a big guy who is very good at using body collisions. In the paint area, like a bear pouncing on food, it looks very brutal.

If Randolph is a chunky but very powerful big black bear, then Gasol's younger brother, Marc Gasol, is a typical European great pyrenes.

Mark was selected by the Los Angeles Lakers with the 2007th overall pick in the second round of the 2 NBA Draft, and was immediately sent to the Grizzlies as a bargaining chip for his brother.

He is 2.16 meters tall, weighs 120 kilograms, and is physically strong. He once restricted Duncan, who was at the end of his peak, to death in the 2011 playoffs, and his defensive ability was terrifying.

Because he is Pau Gasol's younger brother, Chu Xiao also paid close attention to his facial features and figure.This guy is full of fat, with a big beard and long hair. At first glance, he thought he was an Argentine, but his facial features are typical Spanish men, but he has almost no similarities with his brother... Yes Yes, in one place, both brothers have long hair!
However, the elder brother has romantic curly waves, while the younger brother has sturdy dry curls.

This difference also reflects the difference in temperament between the two.

My brother is a gentle and refined gentleman with a soft style of play and a skilled player.The younger brother is not so delicate. On the offensive end, he has a long-range shooting ability. On the defensive end, he is closer to the scale point of the balance between muscle and technology. He is not afraid of confrontation and has a beautiful organizational ability. The capable Randolph, one black and one white, perfectly complemented each other. Coupled with defensive champions such as Conley and Tony Allen, he immediately became a headache for everyone in the league.

(End of this chapter)