NBA: The man who passed the ball to Yao Ming

However, what surprised Rockets players such as Van Gundy, Dawson and Zhang Jinshui was that the public media was so dissatisfied with the Rockets, and their doubts began from the post-match press conference.

At the press conference, the reporter asked Van Gundy a very pointed question:

"The Rockets and the Spurs are the only three undefeated teams in the league. Moreover, the matchup between the two teams is directly related to the number one position in the Western Conference. Why would the Rockets give up such an important game? "

"Is it because the entire Rockets team is still very afraid of the Spurs, and has already felt from the bottom of their hearts that even if they try their best, there is no chance of winning?"

"Is it possible that the record of seven consecutive victories in the opening season still cannot increase the Rockets' self-confidence? If so, is the Rockets tantamount to acquiescing that they are just a pseudo-strong team?"

In the past ten years of coaching, Van Gundy has rarely encountered such a big media backlash, and he was devastated.

They can only repeat to the media with aggrieved faces that the Rockets' recent schedule is too hard. In order to ensure the health of the players and maintain a good competitive state, they have to make such a bad move and give up some games.

When asked if the Rockets will still play poorly in the next game, Van Gundy solemnly promised that he will play with all his strength in the next game.

However, the media reporters at the press conference still didn't buy it, and kept raising their hands, accusing the Rockets of showing weakness when confronted with strength, which is really against the spirit of competitive sports.

In the end, under the interference of the NBA on-site team, many reporters who still wanted to question Van Gundy were suppressed-the post-game press conference was terminated early.

The scene of Van Gundy leaving the press conference in embarrassment became the headlines of many media the next day.

Zhang Jinshui followed the post-match press conference on TV. To some extent, he can understand the public media's displeasure with the Rockets.

After all, before this game, the battle for the top spot in the Western Conference between the Rockets and the Spurs was the most watched game in the NBA. Many media reporters flocked to report this game and spent a lot of preparation work.

In the end, the Rockets had a truce with all their main players, and the audience scattered away, which was tantamount to indirectly wasting all their hard work.

In the final analysis, the league official schedule for the Rockets is too tough, and the most ironic thing is that it was the NBA team who defended Van Gundy at the press conference yesterday. He sang all the red faces and bad faces.

The next day, the newspapers and TVs were full of reports about the Rockets avoiding the Spurs, and the content was extremely questionable and mocking.

Some media even started to make a fuss about the game between the Rockets and the Pistons, claiming that if the Rockets still lose to the Pistons at home after avoiding the Spurs, it will become the biggest joke so far this season.

This kind of remarks is simply heartbreaking.

It is conceivable that if the all-out Rockets lose to the Pistons again in tonight's game, they will become even more unbearable in public opinion.

At 6 p.m. local time in Houston, Zi Chunlin drove Zhang Jinshui and Zhao Miner into the parking lot of the Toyota Center.

"Jin Shui, don't stress, come on!" After stopping the car, Zi Chunlin said to Zhang Jinshui while turning off the engine.

"Don't worry, sister Chunlin, there is no pressure at all."

Zhang Jinshui responded with a smile, and walked down from the co-pilot carrying the equipment bag.

Zhao Min'er also got out of the back seat, shook her fist at Zhang Jinshui, and said, "Zhang Jinshui, come on, blow up the piston! I'll be waiting to congratulate you after the game."

"Okay, thank you for your good words." Zhang Jinshui gave Zhao Min'er a thumbs up, and then walked to the locker room with his training bag on his back.

At this time, there are still 7 minutes before the official start of the game at 50 o'clock, and the few Rockets players such as Alston and Luther Head are already in the locker room.

The atmosphere in the room was a bit dignified. Zhang Jinshui greeted everyone, then patted Luther Hyde on the shoulder, and bumped fists with Alston, and said with a smile: "Two big brothers, the game between you and the Spurs yesterday They played really well.”

Lutherhead shook his head helplessly, and said, "That's it, the game has been suspenseful from the very beginning, the statistics are okay, but it's not interesting."

Alston also smiled wryly, and said: "Besides, we tried our best to play yesterday, but in the end we will be sprayed by the media. Why don't these disgusting media refuse to put themselves in our Rockets' shoes? ?

Come on, play two back-to-backs in a week, five games, and there is also a back-to-back away game at home. There may not be a team that will encounter this kind of cheating schedule throughout the season, right? "

"Yes, what a grievance!" Lutherhead also said with emotion.

"The reality is already like this, don't think so much, and work hard to play the game against the Pistons." Zhang Jinshui tried to comfort the two.

"Hey, what else can we do besides playing this game well. If we lose, maybe those disgusting media will laugh at us." Alston said with a sigh while changing his clothes.

As time passed, Uncle Mu, Uncle Huo, Yao Mai and others walked into the locker room one after another.

After the backbone of these teams came in, the locker room finally gradually regained some vitality.

Especially Uncle Mu, who shouted loudly with a broken voice: "Brothers, cheer up, this criticism is nothing.

Let me tell you an inspirational story. When I was traded to the 76ers, our record was very poor. Every day, negative reports about our 76ers flooded like sea water. At that time, all our teammates felt great pressure .

Later, Iverson called all our members together and encouraged us to never care what the media said, to be ourselves bravely, to eat, to drink, to train, to compete.

Our whole team got together and really did that, and as a result, our record got worse. "

What he said, coupled with Mutombo's mischievous expression, made everyone laugh.

"But! But!" Uncle Mu emphasized twice, and continued: "Next, we will continue to respond to Iverson's call. We should eat, drink, train, and compete. Put it in your eyes.

Later, when we made it to the finals, those reporters who scolded us the hardest immediately turned into those who praised us every day.

Therefore, those media reporters are like dogs, their reports are barking dogs, so don't pay attention to them. "

While talking, Van Gundy and old Hughes pushed the door together and walked in. Seeing that the atmosphere in the locker room was not bad, he said with relief: "It seems that you have not been affected by the outside world, that's good, don't pay attention to those negative things." We just need to be ourselves, we should eat and drink, we should train and we should play, and we should play and compete.”

The last sentence immediately made the soldiers of the Rockets go crazy with laughter, and Alston even crawled to the ground clutching his stomach,

Van Gundy looked at these psychopaths in a daze, and said, "It's a good thing not to be influenced by the outside world, but you don't have to make yourself so crazy, right?"

Immediately afterwards, Van Gundy coughed and said: "Everyone be quiet, and now we will announce today's starting lineup!"

The players who were still laughing left and became quiet.

"Center, Yao Ming."

"Power forward, Howard."

"Small forward, McGrady."

"Shooting guard, Anderson."

"Point guard, Zhang Jinshui."

After the announcement, Van Gundy looked at the Rockets players present with scorching eyes, and said loudly: "Everyone, today's game will be very difficult. As long as you are not disturbed by the outside world, you can focus on this game. Regardless of whether the final result is a loss or a win, you are all winners of this game."

After some speeches, all the rocket soldiers couldn't help but sit up straight.

"The coach is right." Yao Ming, who had changed into a red jersey, stood up, raised one hand high, and said loudly: "Brothers, there is no need to be influenced by the media's public opinion, let us focus all our attention on Put it on this game. We worked hard to win this game, not to deal with the media, but to be worthy of our heart as professional players trying to win."

"Yes!" McGrady also stood up, raised his hands high, put them together with Yao Ming, and said, "Let those media go to hell, let us take down the Pistons, not for anything else, just to be worthy of our hard work The will to win."

By this time, the atmosphere in the locker room had completely changed from the initial low to the turbulent. Zhang Jinshui was so excited that he stood up with everyone, raised one hand, surrounded Yao Ming and McGrady in the center, and shouted: "For the sake of winning, beat the Pistons."

Immediately afterwards, under the leadership of Yao Ming and McGrady, Zhang Jinshui and a group of Rockets players rushed out of the locker room together and ran up the player tunnel.

As the staff on both sides lifted the thick curtains at the entrance of the players' tunnel, the somewhat dull hustle and bustle of the Toyota Center immediately became three-dimensional.

When the figures of Yao Ming, McGrady and Zhang Jinshui appeared at the entrance of the passage, the cheers of the Toyota Center immediately rang out like a mountain roar and a tsunami.

Zhang Jinshui looked up and saw that the entire Toyota Center was already full of Rockets fans.

They seemed to have made an appointment in advance, and they all wore red Rockets jerseys. As far as Zhang Jinshui could see, it was a sea of ​​red.

The naughty and lively Rocket Bear, holding a big flag back and forth around the Rockets players, looked intently, only to find that there was a line of big characters written on the Rockets flag held by Rocket Bear today: "A healthy team can win the championship! "

In the shouts of enthusiastic fans, Zhang Jinshui can also clearly distinguish some voices:

"Rocket soldiers, you have worked hard recently!"

"Rest when you should. Your health is the most important thing."

"Brothers, don't be under pressure. It doesn't matter if you lose this game. The regular season is still long."

Zhang Jinshui looked at the source of the shouts, and found that the fans in the stands were holding many cards of support.

"Rest is for a better game."

"Without health, there is no championship!"

"Don't care what the media says! We will always support you! We will always be with you!"

......

What he heard in his ears and what he saw in his eyes made Zhang Jinshui's already surging heart even more excited.

The Rockets fans at the Toyota Center are so cute that it makes people feel moved, and it actually made him have an urge to die for their confidantes.

This game, even if it is not for the system mission, he must win it to the death, just to repay the support of the fans for their Rockets.

He kept waving to the fans in the stands, and after the on-site staff lifted the basketball up, he began a series of warm-up actions such as stretching, dribbling, and shooting.

Tonight, he was very focused on warming up. He didn't have time to look up for Zi Chunlin sitting on the sidelines until the assistant referee stepped forward to let Luther Head and other substitute players who were feeding him the ball off the field.

The ticket Dawson gave to Zi Chunlin today is next to the bench, which should be the best seat in the audience.

As Zhang Jinshui played better and better, the old boy Dawson arranged for Zi Chunlin more and more advanced seats.

After greeting Zi Chunlin, Zhang Jinshui went to the media area to look for Zhao Min'er, only to find that the media area was completely full today, and the number of media reporters who came to the scene should be less than the number of reporters who attended the Rockets' home game against the Heat last time. Thirty percent more.

Fortunately, Zhao Miner, who insisted on appearing in front of the camera with a plaid shirt and black-rimmed glasses, was not hard to find at all, and Zhang Jinshui quickly locked her position.

After saying hello with a smile, Zhang Jinshui turned his gaze to the opposite half.

Five familiar figures wearing blue and purple Pistons jerseys appeared in Zhang Jinshui's vision.

Big Ben Wallace, Rasheed Wallace, Prince, Hamilton and Lupus.

In the last life, Zhang Jinshui was too impressed with the Pistons' starting five.

In that life, in 03-04, he watched the Finals series between the Lakers and the Pistons without stopping, and briefly supported the Lakers.

But these five members of the Pistons, relying on iron-blooded defense and strong will, insisted on pressing the luxurious Lakers in place and rubbing them in place so that they could not resist.

Even to a certain extent, it was the five of them who broke the league's most dominant ok duo to pieces.

But today, when the Rockets were pushed to the forefront by the outside media and desperately needed a victory, when Zhang Jinshui had to win this game, it was possible to activate the one-time consumable store he had dreamed of.

Standing in front of them, it happened to be this iron-blooded army that made the entire NBA team fearful.

Tonight's game is destined to be a fierce battle.

The fighting spirit in Zhang Jinshui's chest was already surging to the extreme. He clapped his hands and roared involuntarily: "We must win!"

At 6:59, players on both sides took their positions on the court.

With the referee throwing the ball high into the air, the Rockets vs. Pistons, the battle that has attracted the attention of the entire NBA, has finally begun.