Chapter 36: Thorton the Strong
After beating the Portland Trail Blazers at home, the Sacramento Kings have a 30-29 record, and the win gap between them and the New Orleans Hornets, who are currently eighth in the West, is still 1.5 games.
Coming to the Energy Solutions arena in Salt Lake City to face the Utah Jazz, Tyrek started again.
After the game against the Portland Trail Blazers, Coach Westfair still believes in Tyreek's strength, although he also sees Tyreek's injury concerns, but he believes that he should be able to recover with a little adjustment, after all, this level of injury is not a big injury for a professional player.
But Coach Westafal didn't know that Tyrek in front of him. Evans, ideologically a Chinese junior, is known as Terek. Evans has only lived for more than nine months and does not have a multi-year basketball career as Coach Westafal thought. The negative impact of this injury on Terrick is quite huge, after all, from Tyreco's heart, he has never experienced any injuries, and the most he has experienced is a broken skin and bruises.
Ten days ago, the Utah Jazz just completed a blockbuster trade that caused a sensation across the league, and the New Jersey Nets and the Utah Jazz reached an agreement in a lightning bolt. Harris, Derek. Faffords, two first-round picks and a $3 million cash deal to get Jazz point guard Delon. Williams. Despite significant personnel changes, the Utah Jazz are still a very strong team.
Al. Jefferson and Paul. Millsap's interior line is maturing day by day, and both are currently 26 years old, both of whom are extremely strong interior players. Al. Jefferson has averaged two seasons with the Minnesota Timberwolves averaging 20-10 per game, and he has been playing consistently with the Utah Jazz this season. Paul. Millsap has seen tremendous growth this season and has already shown the attitude of a star.
Andre in position three. Kirilenko is still very capable, and the new addition to the team, Devin. Harris with veteran Raga. Bale's backcourt on paper isn't bad either.
Facing the veteran who defended himself, Raga. Bell, Tyrek once again played extremely conservatively, Raga. As a member of the first defensive team in the 06-07 season and the second defensive team in the 07-08 season, although his defensive strength has declined with injuries and age, he is still a defensive giant. In particular, Tyrek's subconscious concerns about injuries made him afraid to fully release himself, which made Raga . Bale defended him more easily.
Bad passes, bad timing of shots, broken dribbles, Raga. Bell completely locked up Tyreck, and Tyreck's fugue performance on the field also made Coach Westafar on the sidelines shake his head again and again.
"The Sacramento Kings' star Terek. Evans is in a slump again in this game, and it is unknown why a minor injury has caused him to be so weak, but one thing I can say for sure is that he will not be able to do anything in this game...... "Former Jazz player Matt. Haprin made his point on the sidelines.
At the same time, another member of the Sacramento Kings team continued his strong form and played well, and that was Marcus. Thornton!
Due to Tyrek's sluggish performance, Coach Westphall replaced Tyrek with Thorton, and after Thorton came on the field, he was like a chicken blood, relying on his strong body like a cow and his recent hot touch, he entered a state of self-sacrifice.
Thorton does not run tactics at all after holding the ball in the front court, and attacks independently after controlling the ball, and does not look at the position of his teammates, which is an individual single. Face the German. Harris, Raja. Bale included Earl on the bench. Watson, Thorton relied on his body to force defenders, and no one in the Jazz backcourt could restrain him.
Even misplaced in the face of the tall flank defender Andre. Kirilenko, Thorton were not afraid at all. Thorton has the ability to break through, but he ends the offense more by choosing to shoot, relying on his fiery touch, shooting when he can't break through, and he shoots all in!
"I didn't expect this game Terek. Evans wilted, Marcus. Thorton, however, is still strong, and since Thorton joined the Sacramento Kings, the game has been on a hot streak, and it looks like this game is going to explode again......" Haprin lamented the courtside commentator.
Tyrek watched Thorton's performance on the field on the bench, and sighed in his heart that he wanted to do his best on the field, but he always subconsciously thought of injuries, he knew that there was no problem with his body, and this problem came from psychology!
At the same time, seeing Thorton's way of playing, Tyrek became more aware of the importance of one-handed shooting, which can make his offense more versatile. This is an all-round threat, and if your shooting can be stable, your strength will inevitably go to a higher level, and at the same time, it can also prolong your athletic life.
Of course, this will not happen overnight, but it must be done!
In the end, the Sacramento Kings won the game on the road. Thornton scored 30 points off the bench for the third straight game and scored 31 points on 11-of-17 shooting. Tyrek, on the other hand, only played 25 minutes, shooting 3-of-9 from the field and finishing with 10 points, 4 rebounds and 4 assists.
Although the team has won two consecutive victories after Tyrek's return, these two victories have little to do with Tyreco, Tyrek's plus/minus in both games is negative, and he only averages 9 points, 5 rebounds and 8.5 assists per game in both games, although he scored 17 assists in two games, but the mistakes in the two games are too many to bear to look at.
Marcus. After Thorton joined the Sacramento Kings, he played off the bench in all 5 games, and his performance was extremely good, averaging 26.2 points per game! It has become the offensive core of the team!
With these performances, Thorton managed to impress the Kings coaching staff. Although the coaching staff also knows the characteristics of Thorton's play, Thorton is a player who desperately needs the ball, and his style of play is quite selfish, and it is a completely core style of play. At the same time, the strong play of these games relies more on the hot hand, and there are many unreasonable shots that have been hit, which does not mean that Thorton can continue to be in such a state forever, nor can it fully explain Thorton's real strength.
Thorton has shortcomings, but this performance is enough to give the coaching staff a reason to give Thorton more opportunities, the coaching staff is willing to give Thorton a bigger stage, give Thorton a starting position, to see where Thorton's ceiling is, how much energy can burst out, and to see if Thorton's performance in these games is accidental or inevitable. The Kings are still working hard for the playoffs, and the team needs a strong explosion, and now it's up to Thornton to really take advantage of that opportunity!
At this time, the invisible pressure on Terrick will also increase......