At seven o'clock in the morning on December 25th, Liu Mang ran from his home to the stadium three kilometers away, and today's game is very important.

The Rockets have a big center this year, and Francis is in his prime, so the Rockets have become a team in the ranks of playoff contenders, temporarily ranked ninth in the West, which is a difficult opponent, and the Hawks need to ensure that the games in December and January, which are still easy game months, can be won as much as possible, and strive to increase the winning rate to more than 40% as much as possible before the start of the Devil's schedule in February.

So, as long as it's not a top team, the Eagles want to win as much as possible.

For the game against the Rockets, defensive tactical training against Yao Ming, a retro creature of the NBA, began at 9 o'clock in the morning.

Originally, although the Rockets were the ninth and tenth hovering teams in the West, they were not taken too seriously by the Hawks coaching staff, although the record was not good, but the Hawks as a whole beat the Bucks and Hornets in a row, and now they are still very confident in the strength of their team, but Liu Mang said after playing the Hornets that they should not take the Rockets too lightly, their big men are difficult to deal with.

Coach Kruger knows Liu Mang and knows that even if he is a player from his own country, he will never boast about their strength.

Through the video of the Rockets' previous games, Coach Kruger found that Yao Ming, the big guy, is really the same as Liu Mang said, his role on the court is very different from the previous supergiants, not just a two-meter-two big man with a basket block, he is not like the Sudanese big man Manut Bol, who is also a supergiant.

In fact, it's not that the taller you are, the more powerful you are at grabbing rebounds, often those super tall people, grabbing rebounds are very average, such as Big Z Ilgoskas, Manute Bol, rebounds are very average, because the height is too tall, the body is too large, even if the ability to move under the basket is average, and it is okay to rely on long blocks with your hands.

Even Big Z, who is not particularly good defensively, has had a season with an average of 2.5 blocks per game, not to mention Bol, who averaged an epic 5 blocks per game in his rookie season, but Bol's career-high rebounding season is only 6.

It's too high, it's not good to move, it's okay to stand on the basket and block it, but it's very general to get stuck and grab rebounds, and the defense breakthrough is not as effective as imagined, the data looks good, but the defensive effect is very different from the normal height of big centers like Mutombo and Ratliff.

Yao Ming has excellent shooting ability and good movement ability, which Coach Kruger saw when Yao Ming came to the Hawks last time he tried out, but the ability to card and rebound was not expected, although Yao Ming is also very tall, but he has the average movement ability of a big man of about two meters and one five, and the ability to rebound well and card teammates is also very strong.

If you look closely, Team Rocket is really hard to hear!

……

Christmas is a holiday for the fans, and some of the players can celebrate the holiday, but every year 150 basketball players and hundreds of coaching and medical staff can't take a break, and of course, counting the security guards, TV crews, etc., etc., etc.,

However, this is an honor for a player, such as Kobe, who has not missed the Christmas game since almost the rookie year, and James has not missed the Christmas game since the third season, and has been talked about by fans. The MVP rankings, the best defensive player rankings, how many times the top 10 rankings, etc., will become something to measure the quality of a star.

Liu Mang is very busy today, he went to the stadium at seven o'clock in the morning to train for a while, started the tactical drill and pre-game meeting at nine o'clock, and the tactical training ended at 11 o'clock, and the Nike people came, and carried out a group of photos of Liu Mang wearing new combat boots in the Eagles arena as a promotional photo, and Liu Mang's tactical training today is also wearing these shoes, adapt to the new shoes in advance, and in the next games of the season, Liu Mang will wear this sneaker, the home is red and white, and the away is dark blue and red.

Then at 12:30 p.m., the Eagles began their pre-game warm-up.

Unfortunately, the Eagles' game was the first Christmas game, and it started at 1:30 p.m., so today's tactical training and pre-game meeting will be so early.

At 1 o'clock, the players of both teams enter the field.

After many years, the Eagles are once again one of the protagonists of the Christmas game, the fans are excited, and the Eagles are finally on the right track, and the atmosphere of the home fans today is very good.

When the fans are enthusiastic, the players will be in a good mood and forget about the bad results for a while.

There is a very interesting performance in the pre-game activities, the management of the Eagles team does not know where to find a group of domestic acrobatic troupes to perform, Liu Mang is watching the performance of his compatriots with Yao Ming throwing plates, watching the little sister who performs acrobatics riding a unicycle with one foot, and there are already more than a dozen plates stacked on her head, and she is still throwing plates on her head with the other foot, Liu Mang and Yao Ming are very worried, such a big scene, more than 100 countries around the world are broadcasting this game live, worried that the little sister is too nervous and will make mistakes, Every time the little sister threw the plate, the two would cheer with the fans at the scene.

But the quintessence of the country, those who can come out to perform are all honed by at least ten years of training in the audience, and they are so stable that more than 20 plates are stacked high on their heads, and there is not a single mistake!

When the curtain call of the performance was held, Liu Mang and Yao Ming applauded loudly along with the scene.

Both of them were very excited, and they could see the performances they could only see on the streets of China when they were young, and they almost shouted "traditional Chinese culture" to the fans.

After watching the performance, when it came to the pre-game interview, Director Zhang came with a camera.

This time the opportunity to interview before the game, the Eagles press officer gave the Imperial Court Sports Channel, and other TV stations could only broadcast it with the video signal of the Imperial Court Television.

"Director Zhang, long time no see."

Liu Mang and Yao Ming greeted each other warmly when they saw their old acquaintances coming.

"Long time no see, Da Yao, Ace." Director Zhang greeted, "Haha, Ace, seeing that you are so happy now, I know that you are fine, and I believe from the beginning that you will not have a problem in the end." ”

To say that Liu Mang is most worried about in China in the past two months, in addition to loyal fans, it is this group of old-timers.

"Of course, no matter how difficult the situation is, our goal is ...... will insist on hitting for a playoff spot. Although there will be a bottom line for the system to release tasks, at least it will not make an absolutely impossible task out, but Liu Mang is still cautious.

"Ace, Da Yao, today is the Chinese derby, the first time you two play each other, how does it feel?" Director Zhang asked.

"It's still pretty special, and I want to try a dunk against the league's tallest big man in a game, and that should feel good." Liu Mang hugged his chest with Yao Ming's left hand, and touched the beard on his chin with his right hand that had not yet fully grown, making a careful look.

Yao Ming also made the same move, looked at Liu Mang and said: "I also think it's quite special, I want to try to see the strongest rookie in the history of the seal legend who can only be blocked." ”

Let's not talk about Coach Zhang, the domestic fans who are watching the live broadcast seem to have a very good relationship between the first inside and the first outside of the national team in the future, and they are very happy.

But...... Liu Mang, who was looking at Yao Ming, suddenly flashed a stunned expression, but thinking that it was a live interview in China, Liu Mang could only continue to laugh, broke his teeth and swallowed it in his stomach.

"Ding...... Temporary Mission: Buckle Giant ......"

At the end of the pre-game interview, Liu Mang sat on the bench with a worried face, watching the starting teammates perform their own pre-game ceremonies.

Raheem's chronic non-ferrous metal poisoning show, Jason Terry's drill basket show, Ratliff's ghostly howl, Muhammad's clothed David thinking, only Dean Grove's most honest touch magnesium powder.

Maybe it's because Liu Mang's superstar value is too small, and the system takes special care of it, and comes to tasks from time to time.

Just now, after Liu Mang couldn't help but say that the goal was the flag of the championship, he said that he wanted to try to block Yao Ming, and the task came.

"Slam the Little Giant: Slam Yao Ming in the game, Quest Reward Skill Card: Basket Finisher, Failure Punishment: Go to Six Nations Park Plaza in Atlanta to find at least ten Chinese aunts over the age of 40 and teach them square dance."

Liu Mang was speechless to the sky!

What a broken mouth of your own!