bookbashuk Chapter 22 Two Consecutive Wins
Chapter 22 Two Consecutive Wins
At the post-match press conference, Du Xiaoshuai, dressed casually, smiled and enjoyed the media's flattering questions.
首秀36中22，三分12中6，罚球7中7，狂砍57分12板10助攻8盖帽3抢断！和季前赛首秀一样准四双，真实命中率79%，效率值恐怖！。
Each of these data points is phenomenal on its own, and when combined, they are so impressive that no amount of hype is too much.
His 57 points not only broke the record for the highest score in a Big Dipper debut, but also the record for the highest score in a season opener.
The near quadruple-double also covered Oscar Robertson's debut triple-double, and his 8 blocks tied the rookie debut record.
God of War!
To be honest, when a team wins, it's easy to feel the media's tolerance and understanding, and sometimes you might even feel they're being obsequious. This is actually related to the players' own mentality.
After winning, everything they say is right, and they are more relaxed. Black players, who often have small brains, tend to ramble on and on about self-evident nonsense.
For example, when a Fox Sports reporter cautiously asked, "Kevin, you had a great victory today. Could you summarize the key to winning this game?"
Originally, this was a question the reporter had reserved for Du Xiaoshuai to boast about.
Du Xiaoshuai is so rebellious.
"You know, when the opponent scores less than 120 points and we score more than 120 points, it's very difficult for us to lose. Our teammates did a great job on defense, and this is a team victory," Du Xiaoshuai said with a serious expression.
How difficult is it?
Are you serious?!
The reporters in the audience wanted to laugh but dared not. Putting aside basic math, is allowing 119 points in a game considered excellent defense? Last season, the Nuggets only averaged 106 points per game!
Many self-media outlets prefer Du Xiaoshuai's nonsensical replies. For serious news, people go to credible mainstream media. This kind of humorous and absurd Q&A is their secret to generating traffic.
The treatment on the Nuggets side wasn't so friendly; the Denver People's Daily was the first to launch an attack.
Anthony scored 32 points today, and Iverson scored 28 points, with the duo combining for 60 points. They certainly can't be blamed for the loss.
Local reporters directly attributed the loss to the coach's inaction in the crucial final quarter.
"Mr. George, our team traded wins and losses with the SuperSonics for most of the game, and we won the first three quarters. Why did we fall behind so quickly in the crucial moments of the last quarter?"
"Because the other team has a player named Kevin Durant." The experienced George Karl smoothly shifted the blame. Losing must be because the other team was too strong, so how could he say he was bad?
"This is a game-changing player who has changed the course of basketball, and he has only just entered the NBA. We haven't found a way to limit him yet." Karl began to defend himself and the team: "The kids played great tonight. We scored 119 points, while the SuperSonics, if you subtract Kevin's 57 points, you'll find that they only scored 70. With any other rookie, tonight's victory would have been ours."
Justified and convincing.
But the media were clearly not so easily convinced: "So, have you come up with any solutions for dealing with them yet?"
"Our coaching staff will focus on the SuperSonics. We will study their games against any team they play until we find a way to break them down," Karl said thoughtfully.
"So even if we have another match, you still don't have the confidence to beat them?"
"We will do our best to win the next match," George Karl said with a tense expression.
The rematch with the SuperSonics is at the end of November, which is a month away. Let the other teams in the league worry about it first.
That evening, Du Xiaoshuai flew with the team to Phoenix, where they would play the Suns the following day.
These back-to-back away games are a nightmare schedule. You can tell from the beginning of the season that the league doesn't pay much attention to the rebuilding SuperSonics. High-profile time periods like Christmas and Christmas Eve are perfectly avoided.
After sleeping in the hotel until the afternoon, the coaching staff didn't have time to arrange training and directly took the whole team to the Suns' home arena for warm-up.
By this time, Durant's incredible record had spread throughout the American sports world overnight, and the Suns players were no exception.
The fans on the sidelines weren't shouting about revenge much.
The little tyrant who originally wanted to give Du Xiaoshuai a taste of his own medicine actually put away his domineering aura that night, and even kindly picked up a ball for Du Xiaoshuai during warm-up.
This season is Stoudemire's peak, and with the Suns' medical team helping him recover, he will play all 82 games. Unfortunately, his teammates, who have been playing a run-and-gun style for three years, are also starting to show signs of aging and wear and tear. Nash's back injury, Barbosa's ankle injury, Raja Bell's calf injury, Hill's appendicitis... all have problems one after another.
This is the Suns' last chance to win a championship. If the team hadn't gambled on acquiring O'Neal in the middle of the season, they would have had a chance to advance further in the playoffs.
But it's just one step away; the Western Conference Finals are the best they can hope for.
Du Xiaoshuai's performance dipped somewhat in this game. Without his pink status card, his shooting touch was average at the start, making only one of his first three mid-range shots.
However, Durant's presence on the Suns' defense was extremely disruptive, making them extremely vulnerable.
After all, this team had a tough preseason game against Durant, and they didn't win!
Yesterday's Nuggets defeat and record-breaking performance proved that this rookie's impressive stats stemmed from his true ability and talent, rather than a fluke.
Du Xiaoshuai, who was heavily guarded, changed his playing style again, focusing on defense and attacking by directly penetrating the basket to establish position.
Coach P.J.'s strategy for this game is to focus on success rate.
This is also the style of play that the Suns are least afraid of but are most prone to backfiring on.
If the Supersonics fail to achieve their target, the Suns' fast break can easily wipe them out in one fell swoop.
However, if the Supersonics' success rate exceeds that of the Suns, and they can keep up with and limit the opponent's second-chance points, the Supersonics' rhythm will not be easily set up, and the Suns will have a high probability of losing.
A contest between spear and shield.
With Billups on the SuperSonics, their individual offense is truly reckless, a style of play that was forced out during their time with the Pistons.
The Pistons' starting five are a group of All-Star or near-All-Star defensive players with average scoring ability. As the team's ball-handling strategist, how can they break through without taking a few risky plays?
However, Chauncey's team has an extremely steady control of the offensive rhythm. Playing at a slow pace is his forte. Durant's presence is enough to be a high-end version of Rasheed Wallace from back then, and even Ben Wallace can take over some of his functions well - and then Larry's suffocating slow-paced system will come together!
No matter how fast you run or how far the wind blows, I'll slowly score one goal at a time.
Du Xiaoshuai played 43 minutes in the game and was very noticeable. He made 14 of 24 shots, including 1 of 3 three-pointers. He was fouled several times and only scored 36 points. However, he also grabbed 12 rebounds, 11 assists and 6 blocks, which was close to a quadruple-double.
And two consecutive triple-doubles!
With Durant drawing attention, his teammates' offense was unleashed. Billups scored 22 points and had 8 assists, Green had 12 points, 3 rebounds, and 2 assists, Thomas had 11 points, Collins scored 10 points on a layup, Joe Smith had 8 points, and James Posey had 8 points. The team steadily suppressed the Suns 114-107.
For the Suns, Stoudemire had 31 points and 9 rebounds, while Nash had 20 points and 13 assists.
In today's game, neither Xiao Ba Wang nor Marion caused any trouble, and Durant didn't talk trash either. What was annoying was Nash. He not only spat and licked his hands before free throws, but he also liked to pat people's shoulders, heads, and butts with his dirty hands.
Why are you filming my teammates?! Did you wash your hands?
Sometimes I really want to ask the referee for a technical foul!
The key to winning or losing this game was fouls. In the final quarter, the Suns were in foul trouble and could no longer effectively contain Durant, who scored 6 points in the low post and took the game away.
Normally, the Suns' run-and-gun offense is smooth and doesn't involve many fouls, which is the basis for D'Antoni's usual 7-8 man rotation. However, in order to limit Durant, the Suns' starters committed too many fouls in the first three quarters and became hesitant in the final moments, giving the SuperSonics an opportunity.
Two consecutive away wins!
Exhausted, Du Xiaoshuai returned to Seattle and ate his mom's overly sweet, stretchy pizza before heading back to his room to continue his fan value lottery.
The regular season garners far more attention than the Summer League and preseason, and fans have a higher level of acceptance of the game's data and results. As a result, Durant's red and black fan value, which broke the previous record, has increased exponentially in the past two days.
Black powder 800K+, red powder 1700K+.
This time I can do 100 consecutive pulls!
After a dazzling burst of light, more than twenty card slots appeared at the bottom of Du Xiaoshuai's panel, including both black and red cards.
Many new cards are very useful, such as the [Nightmare Card] which can affect a person's dreams, the [Sleep Aid Card] which helps people fall asleep quickly, the [Cheating Card] which increases the probability of infidelity, the [Cuckold Card] which causes mutual attraction, the [Diarrhea Card] which causes stomach upset, the [Hearing Impairment Card] which causes temporary tinnitus, the [Bad Luck Card] which brings a period of bad luck, the [Bark Card] which roughens the skin in a specific area, and the [Hunger Card] which speeds up the digestion of food...
Judging from the names and descriptions above, you can tell that these are all anti-fan cards.
The newly added pink cards are more numerous and useful: [Friendship Card] which increases favorability in one direction; [Defense Card] which increases skin defense; [Recovery Card] which heals some hidden injuries; [Weight Loss Card] which accelerates fat burning; [Large Card] and [Small Card] which slightly enlarge or shrink a designated area for a certain period; [Lust at First Sight Card] which makes someone fall in love at first sight; [Safety Card] which increases aircraft safety; [Happy Card] which inexplicably makes someone happy; [Stamina Card] which increases stamina and recovery; [Dust Removal Card] which cleanses the body in one go; [Danger Card] which warns of a major crisis; [Wealth Card] and [Romantic Encounter Card] which increase wealth or romantic luck for a period of time...
Most of these cards are white-grade, with a few being pink-grade, differing only in the duration of their use.
What surprised Du Xiaoshuai the most were the three purple-level cards.
The black powder stats yielded 2 [Purple-tier Succubus Tattoo Cards].
[Purple-tier Succubus Tattoo Card, Function: Marks the selected target as a tattoo sticker, forcibly establishing a bond between the user and the target, valid for 1 year]
The pink value draw yielded a [Purple-tier Acceleration Card *1]
[Purple-tier Speed-Up Card, Function: When the user focuses their attention and attacks the same target more than three times, each subsequent attack will grant a 2% speed-up effect for 5 seconds. This buff can stack up to 10 times and is valid for 1 year.]
This is an amazing passive ability! When dribbling on the court, the speed increases with each dribble. With Durant's physique, this increased speed makes him even more unstoppable on the court.
It means that the assist rate for teammates will decrease.
Of course, if there's no ball, you can also compete with people, hit them a few more times, and increase the speed—a super pile driver!
In any case, anything made in purple is guaranteed to be of high quality!
We need to accumulate more fan points!
After playing back-to-back games, the SuperSonics will have two days of rest before hosting the Cleveland Cavaliers on November 4th.
This is Kevin Durant's home opener of the regular season, and also his first matchup against LeBron James, which will be broadcast live across the United States by ESPN.
According to Du Xiaoshuai's deduction, ESPN chose to broadcast this game mainly because of LeBron James.
Anyway, after drawing the fan card and receiving a slight boost, Du Xiaoshuai was already incredibly eager!