Basketball boy, starting to shine from the slam dunk

"The Lakers actually lost."

"Yeah, and Zhuang Yu played so well but still lost. But seriously, the Pelicans played great too."

"It's just because of Holiday. If Holiday could play better... Now it seems that he is not worth 5 million for 1.4 years. 5 million for 8000 years is too high. How much is Rondo worth per year? Only 300 million. I thought the Pelicans lost a lot by letting Holiday go, but I didn't expect it to be a profit."

Many fans were disappointed with Holiday's performance in the previous few games. After today's game, some people have publicly mocked him.

Some fans even think that Holiday is not as good as Rondo.

At the same time, in the locker room.

A group of Lakers players sat together, and the atmosphere seemed a bit depressing. After all, they had just lost a game and their winning streak was ended, so naturally they were not in a good mood.

Holiday even lowered his head, not daring to look his teammates in the eye. He knew that he played really badly today and seriously hindered the team's performance.

The loss of today's game has a lot to do with him.

"Am I really that bad that I can't even compare to Rondo who is already in his 30s?"

"5 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists, how can such data be qualified to get 5 million in 1.4 years? It's not the fans' fault, it's just that I played too badly."

"Zhuang Yu should play the No. 1 position. He is much better than me. But what else can I do? Just defend? In the past, I was needed to defend the opponent's main guard in the Pelicans. Now Zhuang Yu's defense is better than mine. He is the best defensive player... Am I a little redundant?"

All kinds of thoughts popped up in Holiday's mind, making him doubt his life.

In fact, to be honest, Holiday is not a rookie who has just entered the league. He has played in the league for several years and has played for the 76ers and the Pelicans. He has quite a lot of experience and his mind should not be so fragile.

However, he signed a five-year, $5 million contract. Not only do the fans have high expectations of him, but he himself also has great expectations of himself. He is determined to perform better with the Lakers, prove his worth, and even return to the All-Star lineup.

But after joining the Lakers, he found that he was inferior to Zhuang Yu in every aspect, even though Zhuang Yu was generous and took the initiative to let him play the familiar No. 1 position.

But when he was on the court, Holiday instinctively felt a little restrained.

Sometimes he could have played by himself, but he wanted to give the ball to Zhuang Yu or Lopez, and he did not regard himself as the offensive commander of the team in organizing the offense. Next to Zhuang Yu, he felt that he was inferior to Zhuang Yu in everything and could only play an assist for Zhuang Yu.

As a result, Holiday's performance was a bit hesitant, both in personal offense and organization, so he struggled a bit.

Secondly, I came from a small city like the Pelicans to a big city like Los Angeles.

The Pelicans are not a big city team, and their poor record in recent years has resulted in a low level of attention and exposure.

After arriving in a big city like Los Angeles, there is more attention and exposure. The players' every word and action, and their performance on the court will be put under a magnifying glass, and the outside public opinion will be far more fierce than playing for a team like the Pelicans.

This has both advantages and disadvantages for a player.

If a player comes to a big city like Los Angeles to play basketball and plays well, he will naturally be successful and gain both fame and fortune.

But if he doesn't fight well, and is worse than before, then what awaits him is verbal criticism.

Holiday had never experienced this before, either with the 76ers or with the Pelicans, so he had self-doubt.

Zhuang Yu glanced at his teammates, then he suddenly stood up, clapped his hands and said, "Okay, it's just a loss of a game, there's no need to be like this."

Kuzma whispered: "But the winning streak is over."

Zhuang Yu smiled calmly: "It's only the 5-game winning streak that has ended. The regular season has just begun. We can still win 10 games in a row, or even more, right?"

"Correct."

"Zhuang Yu is right. We just lost a game. My defense was not good enough in this game, and Davis scored too many points. But next time when we play against the Pelicans, I will definitely not let him score so easily."

“I didn’t do well enough…”

For a moment, everyone responded.

Anderson was the first to reflect on himself, thinking that he did not defend Davis well, allowing Davis to score too many points, which led to the loss of the game.

Once one person took the lead, others followed suit and examined themselves.

This made Zhuang Yu speechless. He turned his head to look at Holiday and winked at his teammates, "Shut up! I want you to forget about this game and not let your morale drop just because you lost a game. I didn't ask you to do any review."

It's fine for Anderson to reflect on himself, but Korver, you are just a three-point shooter. You have already made three three-pointers. What else is there to reflect on?

Suddenly, everyone reacted and shut their mouths.

Everyone is reflecting on themselves like this, even Korver, who performed well, is reflecting on himself, so shouldn't Holiday commit suicide to apologize?

Everyone looked at Holiday awkwardly. Holiday stood up and said self-blamingly: "It's all my fault. I..."

"Do not."

Before he could finish, Zhuang Yu reached out and patted him on the shoulder, interrupting Holiday and saying, "If we lose, we lose. We can afford to lose. If we lose a game, we can just win a few more. There's no need to blame ourselves."

Zhuang Yu looked at everyone and said in a deep voice, "No one is allowed to say such things again. We are a team. We are brothers and comrades on the field. We cheer together when we win and we should bear the consequences together when we lose."

"it is good."

"Yes."

Everyone agreed.

Holiday opened his mouth but couldn't say anything for a while. He just felt warm in his heart and his nose was a little sour.

......

Doorway.

Coach Scott and Assistant Coach Madsen were standing at the door. Their hands were on the door, but they did not push it open to enter.

The two stood at the door and listened to the conversation inside.

Assistant Coach Madsen smiled and said, "It seems that there is no need for you to take action, coach."

Coach Scott was also very pleased and said with a smile: "Zhuang Yu is becoming more and more like a real team leader now."

Before Kobe retired, he was the leader in the locker room, and after Kobe retired, Zhuang Yu became the leader of the team.

Now he is not only a leader on the court, but also a leader in the locker room. Unknowingly, he has become the soul of this team.

This is a good thing for Coach Scott, as he can save himself a lot of worries. It is also a good thing for the Lakers. Only when Zhuang Yu truly grows up and becomes a qualified leader can he lead the team to win the championship.

Whether it was what Zhuang Yu said to him during the halftime break or what Zhuang Yu was doing in the locker room at this time, he felt gratified.

"Let's go."

Coach Scott opened the door and walked in.

......

After the game, the Lakers boarded a plane overnight to head to their next away game.

On the plane, Holiday took the initiative to sit next to Zhuang Yu.

When the plane took off, the players who had just played a game closed their eyes one after another. Holiday whispered to Zhuang Yu, "Thank you."

"Thank me for what?"

"Thank you for your words," Holiday said. "I'm lucky to be your teammate, Zhuang. How about I tell the coach that you should play the No. 1 position? I'll be your assistant, just like Victor Oladipo of the Thunder or Patrick Beverley of the Rockets."

Hearing this, Zhuang Yu was stunned.

He knew that Holiday was talking about Oladipo of the Thunder and Beverly of the Rockets last season. This season, Oladipo is no longer with the Thunder and Beverly has also left the Rockets.

Last season, Westbrook of the Thunder and Harden of the Rockets both played with the ball in their hands, taking on a lot of responsibilities, while Oladipo and Beverly beside them just played assists, did a good job of defense, took two shots when there was an opportunity, and didn't have much ball possession.

Seeing Zhuang Yu staring at him without saying anything, Holiday added: "I am not as good as you in scoring or organizing. I know you made a sacrifice by letting me play the No. 1 position. If you go back to the No. 1 position, you will do better than me. I..."

Zhuang Yu smiled.

This smile made Holiday feel a little overwhelmed, and he stopped talking halfway.

"Oladipo and Beverley are not worth 5 million for five years." Zhuang Yu said with a smile: "You are an All-Star player. You came to the Lakers to be the third core, not to be a blue-collar worker. Brother, you put too much pressure on yourself. Relax a little and play like you did in the Pelicans. You should still play your No. 1.4 position. I believe you can do well, even better than when you were in the Pelicans."

"From now on, all organizational tasks will be handed over to you. I will only focus on scoring. You will have more ball possession and can handle the ball more freely. Everything will be fine."

Hearing Zhuang Yu's words, Holiday was stunned.

Originally, he felt that he was inferior to Zhuang Yu in every aspect, so he took the initiative to express that he could be a blue-collar worker. However, Zhuang Yu not only did not let him do so, but also gave him more ball possession, greater authority, and tactical position.

"W...why?" Holiday asked.

"For the championship." Zhuang Yu's answer was straightforward, without any hesitation or concealment. He did this just for the championship.

He can make sacrifices for the championship. He doesn't care about gorgeous personal data or personal gains and losses. What he wants is that everyone on the team can play better and the team's overall strength can become stronger - because only in this way can they defeat powerful opponents and compete for the championship.

Finally, Zhuang Yu added: "Don't worry about what others say. When you hold the championship trophy, all the voices will turn into praise."