After a six-game losing streak, the Warriors were overtaken by the Rockets, Jazz, and Mavericks to temporarily rank ninth in the West.

The Mavericks won the game against the Jazz with a 23-17 record and led the Warriors by half, while the Jazz led by one at 24-17.

What broke the Warriors the most was that the Suns after the trade also caught up. As soon as O'Neal left, the whole team immediately picked up the speed and became vigorous, winning a wave of five consecutive wins, and Nash won the Western Conference Player of the Week, with a 22-16 record in three games. Considering that their away opponent is the Raptors on the 16th, a six-game winning streak is a certainty, and the Warriors will fall to tenth in the West by then.

The Warriors fell out of the playoffs at a slide-like pace. Obviously, even the old Nelson Warriors can't do without defensive players, and without Margetty and Jackson, they can't defend against any team's offense.

The "Xuanmi" said that no one was responsible for the Warriors veterans, and the defense of Randolph and Biedlings on the inside was too poor, while the "Xuanhei" were active, excitedly saying that Zhou Xuan was a data brush and was seriously overrated.

Zhou Xuan's data is good, and he is also slightly ahead of Paul in the assist list, but the data is not very convincing, and there is a feeling of being beaten back to the original shape. A week ago, experts who said that Nash was not as good as Zhou Xuan changed their words, saying that as long as Nash ran and bombed, he still had the strength of MVP, and Zhou Xuan was far behind.

Zhou Xuan read the news and really wanted to catch a few experts who turned their faces faster than turning books to ask, are you still called a mouth?

Blessings are incomparable, and disasters are not singular. On the 16th, a very discordant incident occurred.

Basketball California columnist Phil? Jones wrote an article to break the news that Monta, who has recovered from injury but was suspended? Ellis made a big deal in an interview, saying that the poor defense caused the Warriors to lose, especially the outside defense was too bad, and as long as he returned, he would definitely help the Warriors return to the playoffs.

As soon as this remark came out, it immediately caused an uproar, thinking that Ellis pointed the finger at Zhou Xuan and regarded himself as a savior.

There are very few players who dare to speak so outright. Most of the black players are also clichés, saying that the other party is strong when they lose, and saying that the whole team is good when they win. Kobe Bryant and LeBron will not be brave enough to be the "king of big talk" even when they are interviewed by magazines, and they have an excellent team of counselors around them. Those who dare to speak big are still young people who lack guidance around them. The constraints and precepts of the NBA have changed the habits that many black players bring from the bottom, but the nature of the country is easy to change, especially when they are young.

The media is worried about whether Ellis's character and Zhou Xuan can become good partners, and how will the ball be distributed at that time? If he starts with Zhou Xuan and is shorter, will the defense be worse? All of a sudden, the warriors became internal and external troubles.

Ellis's words made the coaching staff very depressed, but the old Nelson knew Ellis's character, and specially explained to Zhou Xuan, Randolph and others: "You don't have to worry about Monta, and don't alienate him because of this, and have a locker room conflict with him, this kid has a tendon in his brain, he hasn't come to training recently, and he is even more stupid at home, I think he actually has no malicious intentions, he just wants to play quickly." ”

"Coach, when will we meet, I think it's time to talk to him, he is really strong." Zhou Xuan asked. Without the strength, the team will not rush to sign Ellis to a six-year contract.

'If you want to talk to him, I can give you a call, Corey [Margety] has already met him when he has the break, you can call Stephen [Jackson], Corry, Zach together, you guys are the key to winning and you have to work together." Old Nelson said lightly.

He deliberately excluded Biedrins, and the media would definitely talk about it, and the other teams would know that they had a plan to send away the starting center, and they could sit on the ground before the trade deadline. Biedrins still has a high trade value, and many teams are currently lacking a center.

Zhou Xuan first contacted Jackson and Margety, and then called Ellis.

"Hello, Monta, I'm Zhou Xuan."

"Hello. You couldn't call me because I watched the news, did you? Man, what I mean is misinterpreted by the media...... I just want to help the team win. ”

"No, I wanted to treat you to dinner in the evening, so I called. You've been recovering from injuries and we've been playing away again lately and we've never had a chance to meet. I want to talk to you and see how we can work together better, and I'm sure we'll be back in the playoffs when you come back. Zhou Xuan smiled.

Elliston breathed a sigh of relief. Although he is introverted and speaks relatively straight, he has never had a conflict in the locker room, and he doesn't want to have a conflict with his teammates at this juncture, which will affect his image very much. Especially if he wants to have a good relationship with Zhou Xuan and offend the most popular Chinese, is there still a way to live? When he saw the news, he was worried that the Chinese fans would blacklist him, but unfortunately saying the words was like pouring water and couldn't be recovered.

Zhou Xuan booked the hotel, which is a famous restaurant in Auckland, the food tastes average, but there are private rooms, relatively quiet, suitable for chatting. There are a lot of guests here, the Warriors players are very famous in the local area, and Zhou Xuan knows the boss, so it is easy to book a seat. As soon as he heard that the five players had come to dinner and their families did not bring them, the boss knew that they had important things to discuss, and specially instructed the employees to serve the food quickly and not to disturb them.

Zhou Xuan arrived at the restaurant on time, Ellis and Margety arrived early, and they came together for the sake of formality.

"Hello, Zhou."

"Hi, nice to meet you."

The two shook hands.

Margeti said, "Let's go in and wait, Jackson will be a little late because of the child." ”

The three of them entered the private room, and after a while Randolph also came, and greeted Ellis, and Jackson was the last to arrive, and said with a wry smile: "The toes are fixed, and it is better not to drive, so find someone to drive me, and you will have to send me back in a while." ”

"Of course, it's a trifle." Margety and Jackson lived very closely.

"Zhou, your performance has been terrible recently, we have all fallen to tenth, did you come to kowtow today to admit your mistakes?" Jackson laughed. Of course, this is just a joke, the Warriors are not even as good as the Knicks in this lineup, and it is good to win a few games.

"It's been a terrible fight lately, Corey, when are you going to come back? Play the Wizards next, and then play the Thunder, just in time for you to adapt. Zhou Xuan sighed.

The Wizards were able to make the playoffs last season, but this season not only Arenas was injured, but Haywood, the big meat shield of the interior defense, was also reimbursed, and they definitely missed the playoffs this year, with a poor record of 8 wins and 32 losses. There was no one available on point guard, and Mike, who was cut by the Hornets, was signed on a ten-day contract? James. The Wizards are all supported by Jamison and Butler, but the offense is not too weak, and the Warriors' defense is really afraid of capsizing in the gutter.

Margeti said: "I'm out of trouble, I'll play when I get out." I shouldn't be absent after that. ”

"That's good."

After eating for a while, we chatted about the game for a while. "Monta is also available when I play against the Cavaliers on the 24th, this is the deadline to lift the ban, with the two of them not being able to lose again, I have to go back to the playoffs before I come back, and then we try to get a good place," Jackson said. Monta, what you said in the previous interview was too misleading, don't do that in the future. ”

"I'm sorry, is there any remedy for this?" Ellis shook his head.

Zhou Xuan smiled and said: "It's very simple, I agreed with Smart, when we are almost finished eating, there will be reporters waiting outside, and the five of us will appear together, show intimacy, and dispel the doubts of infighting." How do you feel? ”

Jackson snorted: "I just know that things are not so simple, you kid is very thoughtful." Monta, you need to communicate with him, although this kid is a newcomer, he is very thoughtful, and he can see what people are thinking. ”

Ellis smiled, he didn't believe in such a thing.

Zhou Xuan looked at him and said lightly: "I know that you don't believe it, in addition to eating today, it's just chatting, why don't you try?" ”

"How do you try?" Ellis was curious about the new teammate.

"I'll ask you a few words, and you don't have to answer."

Is it really so godly? Ellis laughed, "Come on then." ”

"Playoffs, shooting, ball control, height ......" Zhou Xuan said the fourth word, noticing that Ellis frowned, and after seeing this for a while, he was sure that Ellis was a straight gut and couldn't hide something in his heart. It immediately occurred to me what Ellis was worried about.

"You're worried about height. If you come back and start with me, we won't be able to guard against each other from the outside. ”

Ellis took a sip of water and asked, "Can you really guess what's going on in people's minds?" ”

Jackson knew that Zhou Xuan liked to play this, and said with a smile: "You start together, and defense is indeed a problem." Monta, are you really worried about this? ”

Ellis nodded, "yes." If you were to compare my partnership with Davis to what we are now, it's completely different. He has nine years of professional experience, has a deeper understanding of the game, and he is much stronger physically. It's a league full of tall guards, but we're all skinny, we can defend against breakouts, and if the opponent shoots from the outside, we're going to have a hard time defending it, and it's hard to win. ”

Zhou Xuan said lightly: "Your worries are reasonable, if you want to make up for it, unless others make a lot of rotation changes, then we will become the main offensive perimeter, and the defense is also based on the perimeter, and the opponent will fight to attack, I think the coach will find a balance, after Corey and Stephen come back, our defense will definitely go up a notch." ”

This balance point is to trade Biedrins in exchange for a blue-collar who is good at weak side defense and strong mobility. This Zhou Xuan won't go into too much detail.

Ellis sighed, and Zhou Xuan said again: "I also know that you are worried about one problem, that is, to play as a substitute, right?" ”

Ellis nodded. He has long thought about this problem, if the two can only go to one, it is difficult for him to compete with Zhou Xuan, Zhou Xuan is too popular, the number of all-star votes exceeds Paul, and he is Chinese, under this condition, the possibility of old Nelson letting Zhou Xuan be his substitute is zero.