After a day in Los Angeles, Li Liang flew back to Russia.

On the 22nd, the Thunder will host the Houston Rockets.

And within the Thunder, the debate over whether to hit the all-time best is still ongoing.

The Thunder's schedule is generally easy and then difficult, with weak opponents in the first half of the season.

After the All-Star break, the Thunder faced more and more strong opponents, and more and more away games.

Thankfully, the team's health is still very good and there are no major injuries.

However, there are also small problems, Westbrook's knee, Durant's right foot, and other players, more or less, large and small, there will be some injuries.

As the uniformed team, the biggest concern is that small injuries accumulate into major injuries and eventually affect the playoffs.

That's something that no one wants to see, because the playoffs are the ultimate pursuit of a season.

Donovan, Mike Brown, and Presti also sat together for a meeting after returning to the city.

Presti believes the team still has to be steady, with more than a month left in the regular season and they can only lose two games if they are to fight for the best record in history.

With only two losses in a month, the pressure is really huge.

"I don't think it's better to deliberately pursue it, just go with the flow, look at the state of the players, and play normally."

Donovan is a little more conservative and thinks it's best to rest his players in the final rounds.

Even, from now on, it is already possible to consider further reducing the playing time of the main players.

"At the beginning of the season, I lowered the playing time of Durant and Westbrook, and if necessary, I could reduce it further to 35 minutes or less, so that they would have more energy reserves in the playoffs."

Donovan is a college coach, and the college team plays a tournament-style single-to-one format, which requires a very high level of physical condition for the players.

Therefore, Donovan is very important to focus on the overall condition of the players in the playoffs, and he will definitely shorten the rotation and increase the playing time of the main players.

Donovan is a little worried right now about whether the players will have problems approaching the playoffs if they continue to play at a high intensity.

After all, this year's chances are indeed very good, the overall strength of the team is too strong, only the Warriors are opponents, and the Cavaliers can only be said to be half opponents.

Mike Brown is still different, and his ideas are never the same as normal head coaches - he is Li Liang's personal coach.

Of course, every time Brown gave an opinion, he felt that he was not protecting Li Liang, but that he was only happy if he had to send Li Liang to the fire to roast.

"Billy, let me ask you a question, how is the team's health right now?" Brown asked Donovan.

"There are no major injuries, but you know, there are always small problems, Kevin's right foot, Russell's knee, Adams' elbow, everyone in the main team is more or less problematic." As a manager, you have to be aware of the health of your players.

"You're missing someone, Bruce, what do you think of Bruce's health?" Mike Brown pushed his glasses and asked again.

Donovan groaned for a moment and looked at Presti, who shrugged, meaning what do you see me doing, I'm the general manager, and I don't know that much about health.

"To be honest, I don't know much about Bruce's physical condition, anyway... I don't think Bruce was hurt at all? ”

Indeed, from the beginning of entering the alliance to the present, Li Liang, a magical guy, has not been injured.

At most, eat a radish or something on your fingers, or some skin trauma.

Bones, soft tissues, especially the important joints such as knees, elbows, and ankles, Li Liang has always been very healthy.

In his four years in the league, he only missed two games due to a fight ban, and the rest was full attendance.

This is very similar to Westbrook, who was also an iron man back then, and his body has begun to fail in the past two years.

Mike Brown said: "That's right, Bruce is very fit, and I'm sure he's not giving his best for most of the games this season, and he's got a lot of fuel in the tank that can be pumped out and sold, and it's a waste not to let him play more!" And, you know, if he wins this season, he doesn't know where he's going next season. Don't use it sparingly. ”

If Li Liang heard Mike Brown's words, he would probably blow his dog head.

That's how you care about your proud disciple?

Lao Tzu took you to the south and the north to fight three feelings, and you "betrayed" me like this?

Of course, Mike Brown is not betraying Li Liang, but this season he feels that Li Liang is in the Thunder, and his strength has been limited.

His comprehensive ability has obviously improved, but there are not many opportunities to play it.

Mike Brown looks anxious!

But Li Liang didn't seem to be in a hurry at all, the Buddha was deadly.

The key is that he is usually very active and punctual when he comes to training, and he is not late or absent.

This makes Mike Brown even more anxious, it's not normal!

In the past, when he was late and absent, it was when Li Liang's strength improved the fastest.

Now that he is participating in training normally, this strength is only maintained, and there is no improvement.

Can this Mike Brown not be in a hurry?

And Donovan and Presti listened to Brown's words and felt that it made sense.

Especially Presti, he knows that if he wins the championship this season, he will definitely not be able to keep Li Liang next season.

Therefore, this season should squeeze out the value of Li Liang, whether it is the regular season or the playoffs, to maximize his role.

In the regular season, Li Liang's ability was used to hit the record of the best regular season record, and he was used to hit the championship in the playoffs.

The three of them looked at each other and thought that this idea was really good.

And Li Liang didn't know that he had been "betrayed." ”

……

On the evening of March 22, in the regular season, the Houston Rockets challenged the Thunder away.

This is the third meeting between the two sides this season, with the Thunder winning the first two times.

The Rockets are currently ranked fifth in the league, one win behind the Lakers, which is also the ranking that the Rockets are most familiar with.

Fourth, fifth, a ranking that is not high or low, the first round of the playoffs is the most intense and difficult to play.

Winning the delamination peeling, losing and being scolded deserved.

In the summer, the Rockets brought in Dwight Howard and brought in the slumping superpower center for a significant fee.

And this league is no longer the era of centers, and Howard has not lived up to the expectations of Houston fans.

Although his performance is still an All-Star level, he provides the Rockets with reliable basket protection and rebounding.

However, in the offense, he is quite lame, the low post attack is inefficient, and he likes to ask for the ball in the low post very much.

As long as Howard singles, the opponent's defense will be easy.

Just shoot a big center and watch it one-on-one, and the others don't have to do anything, just wait to grab the rebound.

Attacks? Going around the front? If it doesn't exist, you can fight it, and if you kill us, you win.

Howard didn't rely on his own strength to kill his opponent with offense when he was at his peak, and now he can't do it even more.

The game was played promptly at seven o'clock in the evening.

The Thunder wore a white short-sleeved jersey tonight, which is the new short-sleeved jersey that the league is currently pushing for.

However, the Thunder's jersey design has always been good, and this white short-sleeved jersey is too white to have any decorations.

Li Liang felt as if he was wearing a pair of thermal underwear and was on the game.

How can you wear it like this?

Coupled with Li Liang's ugly blue knee pads, elbow pads, and wrist pads, it was really ugly.

Fortunately, he didn't put on the hair loss prevention headband, otherwise this equipment would definitely be complained about.

The Thunder's starting lineup remains unchanged, with Collison coming on as the starting power forward.

The Rockets started with center Howard, power forward Motai Yunas, small forward Ariza, and guards James Harden and Beverley.

Li Liang sat on the bench as usual to start a game, and he is quite used to it now.

As the game was about to start, Mike Brown suddenly leaned over and said, "Bruce, do you still want another MVP?" ”

Li Liang had a question mark on his face, "Why do you ask that, Mike." ”

Li Liang felt that Mike Brown has become more and more strange recently, always asking some strange questions.

Mike Brown said: "I think you have a chance to get another MVP, as a substitute. This is unprecedented. ”

As soon as Mike Brown said this, Li Liang suddenly felt a little moved.

I don't think I've ever thought about it before.