vertical and horizontal point guard

Chapter 5 Preseason

Chapter 5 Preseason
The house in Minnesota was found by Duffy through the agent team. The owner was a Chinese couple. When they learned that the renter was Li Shihao, who the Timberwolves placed high hopes on, the owner Fang Yan and his wife were even more overjoyed.

For the Fang Yan family living in the northern border of the United States, there is nothing more gratifying than meeting promising juniors in a foreign country!
After vacating three bedrooms and one living room, Fang Yan and his wife helped Li Shihao move his luggage into the house.

Fang Yan and his wife welcomed Li Shihao's stay very much. In their words, their son is studying in college in New York, and the house has been vacant for a long time.
Fang Yan and his wife live in the urban area of ​​Minnesota. After helping Li Shihao clean up the house, they informed the news.

This house is also rented by a girl who is an international student studying at the University of Minnesota.

When Fang Yan and his wife said this, they couldn't hide the meaning in their eyes. The general idea was that the girl is very beautiful, you young man, hurry up and seize the opportunity!
Li Shihao could only smile awkwardly and not think about it.Continue to concentrate on practicing your skills. As an athlete, it is very important to maintain your competitive state at all times!

As the days of the preseason approached one after another, Li Shihao also became much more busy. With the team's flight flying to various places to participate in the competition, he was very popular in this year's draft, and was regarded by many media as a big player who could be tapped. News one.

The summer league mostly trains rookies and is familiar with the rhythm of NBA games.The team did not have any hard requirements for Li Shihao's performance, but just told him to play according to his usual level.

在场均17。3分7。6助攻3。1抢断的数据下，明尼苏达的本地媒体还是克制住了自己的想法，静静等待季前赛的开始。

Minnesota's local media expressed great doubts about the Timberwolves' gamble-like draft this summer. They don't think that Li Shihao can play the performance that a core team should have, especially in the Western Conference where there are many powerful players.

You know, there is only one Yao Ming!
When the outside world is full of doubts about the Timberwolves this summer, Li Shihao silently prepares for his preseason debut.

He understands that he will use his performance on the court to tell those who look down on him that they are wrong! "

On October 2009, 10, the Timberwolves played against the Milwaukee Bucks in their first preseason game of the season.

As the rookie selected by the Timberwolves with the sixth overall pick this year, Li Shihao attended the pre-match press conference with head coach McHale. As a controversial rookie this summer, Li Shihao did not leak his words to reporters.

"I'm a reporter from the 'Los Angeles Times'. As a rookie drafted by the Timberwolves this summer, do you have the confidence to play at your level?"

"As a player, my responsibility is to play well in every game of mine and to show my due strength!"

"For the rookie Stephen Curry who was selected together with you this year, what do you think of him? He can be said to be very similar to your technical characteristics. Do you think you will be better than him after one season?"

"Stephen is a very good player. I have played against him in college. We are tied. We are both in the West this year. There will be many opportunities for me to play against him. Let's wait and see!"

The reporters who attended the press conference today were all carefully selected media by the Timberwolves. The questions they gave were relatively mild and did not embarrass Li Shihao too much.

McHale said in an interview: "Our summer league this year mainly focuses on training and inspecting young players. Rookies and newly signed players have the opportunity to show their abilities. With outstanding performance, the team will Change the short-term contract to a one-year guarantee contract."

Although the starting lineup of the Timberwolves this year is a bit useless, there are many potential stocks on the bench.

In the second half of last season, Al Jefferson, the mainstay of the team, was injured and missed all the games in the second half.

Kevin Love, who is on the team's bench, is an inside player in the 08 draft. After a year of hard work in the Western Conference, he has already shown his edge. With good offensive skills and steady rebounding skills, he is already No. 4 A rising star.

Coupled with Dakomirisic, who was traded in this year's draft, the Timberwolves' inside potential is quite good!
After some consideration, McHale decided to give Li Shihao a very generous playing time and decide the starting list for the new season based on his performance in the preseason.

In the heart of the old coach, apart from Li Shihao, there is really nothing worthy of attention among these players in the team. Kevin Love and Darko Mirisic have already experienced NBA games, as long as they are given proper playing time to cultivate their game experience. .

As the No. [-] pick chosen by them this summer, Li Shihao has high hopes for him.

The original team's plan was to sign Rubio from the Spanish League, but the latter's contract issues have been entangled with the parent team, and finally the Timberwolves gave up this plan.

Considering the sluggish local football market in Minnesota, the team chose Li Shihao as the core, hoping that he can play with style and make the football market boom again with the vast Chinese market behind him.

Today their opponent is the Milwaukee Bucks, who selected Brandon Jennings this summer.

This season, the Bucks hope that Jennings can form a connection with Australian center Bogut and lead the team back to the playoffs.

Many Chinese came to the arena today, and they should have made a special trip to support Li Shihao.Although there are relatively few Chinese in Minnesota, the support of Chinese overseas for compatriots has never been bad.

In this game, Li Shihao served as the team's starting point guard. He chose the No. 11 jersey, which has always been his lucky number since he was a child!

Bucks starting lineup: Point guard Brandon Jennings, shooting guard Michael Redd, small forward Mbah a Moute, power forward Warrick, center Bogut
Judging from the lineups of both sides, the Timberwolves have a relatively high chance of winning. After all, they are a team in the West, and they still have a lot of chances of winning compared to the weaker East.

The game will start soon, and the players of the two teams return to their own half, ready to jump the ball.

As a center, Al Jefferson's height of 2 meters is already stretched. The severe injury of the anterior cruciate ligament he suffered last season caused his jumping ability to be greatly reduced. The opening jump ball is not expected to be Bogut's opponent.

beep—

A whistle! ?
The referee threw the basketball into the sky and the game began.

Elkinson and Bogut bounced off the ground at the same time. Bogut easily pushed the ball into his own half with the advantage of one hand. The Bucks took the lead in organizing the attack at the beginning.

Li Shihao never played against Jennings in the college league. The latter went directly to Europe to play in the professional league after graduating from high school.

But before the game, Li Shihao carefully studied Jennings' technical characteristics. He is a fast pick-and-roll point guard. His main shortcoming is his unstable shooting. attack.

So Li Shihao restricted Jennings firmly at the beginning and did not give him a chance to break through easily.

It is the best defensive strategy for Jennings to prevent breakthroughs and not prevent shots.

Janis is a person with extremely strong self-esteem. He is full of confidence in everything he does. After being treated like this by Li Shihao, his head immediately became hot, and he opened his hand to shoot, and a three-pointer flew into the sky.

However, the result was unsatisfactory. With an extremely loud strike, the basketball bounced out of the hoop, and Jefferson easily took off the rebound.

The basketball was immediately passed to Li Shihao's hands, and the Timberwolves immediately attacked the opponent's position with lightning speed.

After a shake, Li Shihao tricked Jennings, who was chasing him, and easily made a mid-range shot. He hit a jumper and scored two points for the team.

(End of this chapter)