Soul of the Golden State

Chapter 72 The Brand of the Times
Speaking of the head coach of the 76ers, Matt Guocas, why should he add a small letter in front of his name?Naturally, it was to distinguish him from his father.

His father, Matt Guocas Sr., was also a former NBA player, and they are the only player father and son who have both won NBA championships.

This record was not achieved until 19 years later by the second pair of father and son, that is, Barry and his son, who have a deep relationship with the Warriors, are father Warriors star Rick Barry and son Brent Barry.

The effect of the timeout was immediate. After returning to the court again, Carroll was no longer obsessed with challenging Malone, and finally integrated into the team's offense. Seeing such an obvious effect, it was obvious that he had been trained by the coach just now. .

It's just that this alone can't beat the Warriors.

The reason why the 76ers have won the No. [-] position in the Eastern Conference at this stage is not because they are already stronger than the Celtics, Bucks and other Eastern powerhouses, but because of multiple reasons such as the schedule, their own status and the status of their opponents. the result of.

At least in Li Weisi's view, the pressure brought by the 76ers is not as good as that of the previous Bucks. As for why it was before, it is naturally because the future Bucks will no longer have the peak Moncrief .

Therefore, although the 76ers' defensive strength is not bad at all, it has not affected Li Weisi's rhythm. Technical actions such as dribbling, shooting, and passing can be completed comfortably, which has led to Li Weisi being able to better control the overall situation. the pace of the game.

Once Li Weisi played normally, the entire Warriors' offense could be described as silky smooth, everything became orderly and smooth as water.

In the opening stage, although Carroll was at a disadvantage against Malone, and Dr. J Irving also felt bad, making 3 of 1 shots. The team completely widened the point difference.

Due to many injuries and absences of the 76ers, the 76ers were short of major generals in the formation. Therefore, Streit, who was originally a substitute, was forced to play shooting guard. You know, Strett is only 188cm tall.

However, this backup guard, who only averaged 9.9 points per game last season, made 6 of 5 shots in the first quarter of the game and scored 13 points, limiting the point difference to single digits.

Both sides replaced the substitutes one after another in the transition period. After Malone was replaced, Carroll, who had been waiting for a long time, finally broke out. First, he used his footsteps to make a layup, and then received the assist from Irving's breakthrough, and dunked successfully, bullying Duckworth. enough.

However, due to the tight rotation, the 76ers had to resort to an eight-man rotation, which resulted in having to extend the playing time of the starters. It seemed that there was no serious problem in the first half, but in the second half, the disadvantages began to appear.

The high-intensity combat exhausted the physical strength of the 76ers players very quickly. By the second half, the players on the field were already panting.

Especially Dr. J Irving, who is 36 years old this year, is no longer the first-generation flying man who could glide and dunk from the free throw line when he was young.

This year's Irving, although he can still score 17.2 points, 3.2 assists, and 4.5 rebounds in the first seven games, but no matter which data, it is already a new low in his career.

This trapeze is really old.

Therefore, after the start of the second half, the 76ers only persisted for half a quarter and then began to completely lose their defense. They could not attack and defend. In front of Li Weisi, the 76ers' penalty area was like the skirts of some unprofessional women, free to enter and exit.

Following Li Weisi's iconic three-pointer through Malone's pick-and-roll, at the end of the third quarter, the score had reached 103:85, and the point difference had widened to 18 points.

Only 2 minutes into the fourth quarter, the 76ers surrendered, because Guokas found that even if he was the main force on his side, facing the opposite substitute, he still couldn't chase points, and instead had a tendency to expand.

And Rodman finally got a chance to play in the fourth quarter. When he replaced Whitehead and stood on the court, his heart was full of excitement, because he had almost forgotten what the game was like.

Therefore, even though the game has entered garbage time, Rodman still goes all out. From the perspective of others, this guy is not playing at all, but playing with his life.

Not only was he running all over the court, but he was also very active in defense. It felt like he was everywhere, but the price was that he was fouled 6 times in only 4 minutes.

However, Rodman's performance still attracted the attention of the fans on the scene. Everyone suddenly discovered that this little-known rookie was full of appeal in playing, which made the fans cheer for Rodman loudly.

And Nelson on the sidelines also noticed this.

For a long time, Nelson never agreed with Frank's idea of ​​choosing Rodman. In his opinion, although this older rookie has explosive physical fitness, his basic skills are too poor to be a qualified immediate combat force.

But at this time, he found that this rookie has made rapid progress. Under the influence of Malone, this guy's defense is getting better and better, and he is very aggressive. Not only that, but his rebounding is also much better.

Rodman played 8 minutes in the whole game and scored 2 points and 4 rebounds. Although the data was still at the water cooler level, Nelson saw Rodman's potential. Maybe this guy can also be cultivated?
"Drip..."

As the referee blew the whistle for the end of the game, the score was fixed at 123:107. In this way, the strong collision of Mars and Earth that the fans expected did not happen. Instead, the Warriors beat the 76ers and continued. Maintain the momentum of No. [-] in the West.

The highest scorer for the Warriors was Mullin, who scored 27 points and hit 2 three-pointers. Malone scored 22 points and 13 rebounds to avenge his old team. Li Weisi scored 21 points and 15 assists, revitalizing the team.

As for the 76ers, the highest scorer in the game was Raider Saidal Streiter, who scored a game-high 29 points, and Carroll scored 18 points.

As for Dr. J, the game was in decline. He made 13 of 4 shots and scored 8 points. Fortunately, he sent out 8 assists and grabbed 6 rebounds.

After the game, the two sides did not have too many conflicts, but they seemed very friendly.

Don't look at Carroll's appearance of revenge before the game, but after the game, he hugged and greeted each other with Smith, Mullin and other veteran Warriors, and he completely lost his previous appearance.

And Malone also hugged and parted with his former teammates of the 76ers one by one. Although Malone had many conflicts with the 76ers management and liked to be alone on weekdays, his teammates showed respect for this old man.

In particular, the hug between Owen and Ma Long was recorded by the camera and transmitted to the TV screens of thousands of households.

The reason why the TV cameras care so much about Irving is because as early as before the start of the season, Irving announced that he would retire after the end of the season. The away games are packed.

As the earliest generation of popular kings in the NBA, it is difficult for fans of later generations to imagine the popularity of Dr. J at this time. Every game he played this season has attracted the attention of countless people.

This also made it extremely difficult to get tickets for each of his games. In addition, this is why Adam and others were so surprised that Marisa could get tickets.

Turning the last season of his career into a basketball game tour, Dr. J, Jordan's idol, can be said to be No.1.

And this pair of yellow and green legions who once defeated the peak, climbed to the top of the mountain, and the scene of embracing each other has also become an eternal classic imprinted in the long river of time.

(End of this chapter)