Soul of the Golden State

Chapter 89 Before Dawn
Li Weisi finally vented his anger on the court. After just two days of rest, the Warriors ushered in a challenge from the Utah Jazz at home.

The Jazz this season are in a painful transition period.

The two greatest players in Utah history, Karl Malone and John Stockton, are already in the team, but they are still a little immature at this time, and Stockton can't even start.

And this player who firmly suppressed Stockton on the bench for three years, named Ricky Green, was selected by the Golden State Warriors with the 1977th overall pick in the 16 draft. Yes, it was the Warriors again. It has the taste of the Whampoa Military Academy.

The veteran was selected as an All-Star in 1984 and won the steals title that year. It seems to be okay, but compared with Stockton's future achievements, it still pales a lot.

Fortunately, although head coach Frank Layden trusts veteran Ricky Green more, he can't completely ignore Stockton's performance. Therefore, last season, the two have begun to share playing time equally. Green's average playing time is only 25.2 minutes per game, which is almost the same as Stockton's 23.6 minutes.

In addition, during the offseason, the Jazz traded his head star Adrian Dantley to the Pistons in exchange for Kelly Tripka and Kent Benson.

Don't look at Kelly Tripka who averaged 20 points, 3.3 assists and 4.3 rebounds per game last season, but even this cannot be compared with "Singles King" Adrian Dantley.

Anyone who can have this nickname is not an ordinary person, and Adrian Dantley is no exception.

2-time scoring champion, 6-time All-Star, 2-time All-NBA second team, in this era of small forwards, he can achieve such results, he is definitely a superstar.

It's just that such a super scorer with outstanding achievements was still traded away by the Jazz at a loss. The reason is not because of the competitive level, but because of Dantley's character.

This gentleman has a weird personality and a bad temper. Not only does he have a bad relationship with his teammates, but even the head coach can't get along with him.

With the end of last season, the relationship between Dantley and head coach Frank Layden deteriorated day by day. The Jazz management finally made a decision to trade Dantley. It can be said that character can really determine fate.

If Dantley's character determined his unsatisfactory career, then Li Weisi's character made his performance tonight.

Following Karl Malone's missed shot, Li Weisi immediately launched a fast break after catching the ball. He got rid of Stockton's defense with an acceleration, and didn't even give Stockton a chance to use his dragon claws.

Facing Tripka who had already returned to the penalty area, Li Weisi turned around and planned to bypass Tripka and break through him from the left.

Naturally, Tripka would not let Li Weisi act, and quickly moved laterally to the left to prevent Li Weisi's breakthrough, but the ball in Li Weisi's hand disappeared.

Immediately afterwards, Rodman appeared behind Li Weisi, leaped high, and smashed the basketball into the basket.

It turned out that when Li Weisi broke through, he pulled the ball behind him, and sent the ball to the chest of Rodman who was flying towards him as if he had eyes in the back of his head.

How could Rodman be polite, so he naturally chose to bomb the basket, allowing Tripka to be successfully elected as the background board.

Rodman, who fell to the floor, was extremely excited, swinging his arms up and down, and the fans in the audience followed Rodman's arm shaking, cheering one after another, which was quite spectacular.

Although in the game against the Celtics, Rodman was severely educated by Bird and was very embarrassed, but Nelson affirmed Rodman's strength and was willing to give Rodman Certain playing time.

Although there was not much time, Rodman tried his best, running constantly, chasing every ball.

Take the counterattack just now as an example. After taking off the rebound and handing the ball to Li Weisi, Rodman immediately ran from the backcourt to the frontcourt, which allowed him to follow Li Weisi closely. The first time he scored, he ran out with his two legs.

Who doesn't like a player who does his best on the court like this?

The cheers on the scene at this time are the best answer to this question.

Following Rodman's slam dunk, the score has reached 97:82, and the Warriors lead by 15 points. Jazz head coach Frank Layden hastily called a timeout. After all, there are still more than 9 points left before the end of the game. Zhong, the further widening of the point difference made him feel that it was becoming more and more difficult to win this game.

The head coach of Colonel Sanders, who looks like a fat version of KFC founder, Frank Layden, led the Jazz to the playoffs for the first time in 1984, and finally won the best NBA coach of the year And the NBA's best executive award, can be called a good coach.

It's a pity that the gap between a good coach and a great coach is often reflected in the subtleties.

"Next, play steadily, don't double-team West, Ricky, next time you play, you must stick to him."

The head coach's words made Stockton's face a little sad. Sure enough, at this critical moment, the coach believed in the old players more.

"Frank, that West has already scored 36 points in this game, do you still want to defend him alone?" At this time, an assistant coach in a suit and leather shoes with a meticulous expression stood up on the coach's bench, and asked Ray Deng reminded.

"Jerry, if you double-team him, then West won't be the only one scoring high points!" Coach Layden obviously disagreed with his assistant coach's opinion, so he continued immediately: "Okay, everyone cheer up, the game time is still up." Yes, we must never give up!"

Watching the Jazz players walk on the court, Stockton sat on the bench full of envy. At this time, the assistant coach named Jerry came to Stockton's side and patted him on the shoulder. .

"John, don't worry, I believe that you will become the starter soon."

Stockton turned his head and saw Jerry's unsmiling face, nodded, and smiled at him: "Thank you, Coach Sloan."

And Jerry Sloan ignored Stockton's thanks, keeping his eyes on the court, watching the Jazz being beaten by the Warriors, his fists clenched a little more.

Although he was very grateful to coach Raiden for his importance, but at this time, the ideological differences between him and Raiden gradually emerged. In his opinion, the reform of the team should be bigger and should be given to young people There are more opportunities for people, but the team's good record makes Leiden choose to be conservative.

However, he believes that no one can stop the tide, and the young talents in the team cannot be suppressed. However, he hopes that the darkness before dawn can be shortened a bit.

But how can all this be done?

Thinking of this, he couldn't help looking at Frank Layden, with something different in his eyes.

(End of this chapter)