Chapter 172: Christmas Showdown
This season's Christmas game was particularly interesting, but the Bobcats didn't have a part. The Christmas game is symbolic for the league, and it is generally only the face of the league and the big teams in history to participate.
And the two sides of the game generally have a relationship, and some are even mortal enemies, and they have to fight when they meet.
This year, so many teams participated in the Christmas War, the Cavaliers and Pistons, James and Anthony have already been hyped CP, and they are also small forwards, and they are known as lifelong enemies in the future.
The Christmas battle between the Pistons and the Cavaliers was also hot, and the two young star players didn't talk nonsense, they scolded each other as soon as they came up, and in the end LBJ won the data, 36 points, 8 rebounds and 8 assists, but Melon won the game, and the data was not bad, 30 points, 9 rebounds and 3 assists.
If this development continues, Melon is likely to sit in the position of the leader of the Pistons, don't look at the Pistons There is no shortage of veterans. Billups and Big Ben are both seemingly vicious, but actually kind-hearted people, very easy to get along with, plus Melon proves that he is indeed the Pistons' most offensive firepower.
Even if Big Ben won four Defensive Player of the Year trophies, the Pistons' boss is still Chauncey Billups, because Billups is the only player who stepped up to score in crunch time. And now this person has been replaced by a melon, in fact, the melon can be said to have picked up a big bargain to the Pistons, the Pistons team has a strong defense, and the players cooperate tacitly and are united and orderly, so it can be said that there is a lack of an X factor that can stir up the situation.
As soon as Melon came, it was basically a gangster from Xinbai Pier who directly sat in the position of the leader of the Axe Gang. In addition, Larry Brown, that is, the great elder behind the Axe Gang, also likes Melon's eighteen martial arts, so Melon's top spot can be regarded as a seat.
There's also a pair of Christmas war gimmicks that are bigger, the Los Angeles Lakers vs. the Houston Rockets, a game that attracts hundreds of millions of viewers around the world. China alone is said to have contributed hundreds of millions.
Yao Shark Matchup, different from Yao Ming's youth last season, this season Yao Ming has grown into the only two super centers with 20+10 data with O'Neal. Yao Ming, known as the last dinosaur, is the traditional center of the NBA, and his matchup with O'Neal has been rendered as the battle of the century between China and the United States.
With the collapse of the Soviet Union and the tightening of Russia's economy, China, which was originally the younger brother of the Soviet Union, has stepped out from under the wings of the big brother and has become more and more vocal in the Asia-Pacific region. There are endless theories of Chinese threat, and many American people are watching the game in anticipation of seeing the scene of the American shark eating the Chinese shark.
But the game was probably a disappointment for those people, and when O'Neal went berserk at the 2001 Finals, Uncle Mu, the season's best defensive player, people couldn't even think of a figure who could restrain the sharks. Russell, no, he's too short, he's too thin, Chamberlain, it's a pity he's dead.
But in this Christmas battle, after the first Yao shark duel last season, people once again saw the shark's gray face. The last time they met, the shark was slapped with 3 big hats at the beginning, this time he obviously hasn't learned to be obedient, although the strong play under the basket can push Yao Ming back, but at the end of the shot, Yao Ming can still interfere with his height, and even block it.
The big shark also has a nemesis, that is, a shark that is taller than him.
But although the height restraint system exists, the big shark cannot be completely blocked, and the Rockets still lost this game. The Sharks also scored a big double-double of 33 points and 19 rebounds, but Yao Ming didn't perform badly with 25 points, 22 rebounds and 6 blocks. Three of them were blocks that faced O'Neal head-on.
O'Neill is the benchmark of the times, the United States is also the benchmark of this era, and Yao Ming from Shanghai, China is the challenger of this era, and China is also the challenger of this era.
As the first foreign champion, Yao Ming was pinned not only on the expectations of Chinese to challenge US hegemony, but also on the ambitions of countries around the world. That's right, everyone's expectation for Yao Ming is to rule the NBA and take over the throne of the old shark.
It is clear that the historical Yao Ming, although very good, is still far from this goal, and the current Yao Ming at least shows a little hope in this game, and people are surprised to find that this big Chinese man may really have the power to rule everything in his body.
As Yao Ming's highlights of O'Neal in the game spread on the Internet and TV, Yao Ming's fame became bigger and bigger, and he really became the representative of Asians in the NBA, and even the representative of international players in the NBA.
But all this is not destined to be smooth sailing, not long after the Yao Shark battle, the Rockets officially announced that Yao Ming sprained his right leg in training, the injury is serious, and he is expected to undergo surgery and be out for at least two months.
This is exactly what Hu Qingniu feared, and all this has really become a reality. What can Yao Ming rely on to limit O'Neal, of course, is to gain weight and gain weight, and Falgar, the training expert of the Rockets, strongly urged Yao Ming to gain weight. At present, Yao Ming has grown from 210 pounds to 260 pounds, and the pressure of a full 60 pounds has been added to Yao Ming's already fragile right leg.
Therefore, Yao Ming's injury in training should have been due to weight gain. But at present, in this world, it is obvious that only Hu Qingniu thinks so, and even Yao Ming himself thinks that this is just an unlucky, accidental injury during training.
Hu Qingniu had a phone call with Yao Ming after his injury, but Yao Ming was a Rocket player after all, and the Rocket team insisted that Yao Ming needed to gain weight to strengthen the confrontation, and Hu Qingniu had no way to interfere. As for Falgar, he even denied that Yao Ming's injury was due to weight gain.
But at least, Hu Qingniu, with his reputation in the field of sports medicine, got permission from Team Rocket to perform surgery on Yao Ming.
This time, Hu Qingniu didn't charge any 1 million treatment fees, and Yao Ming only took a rookie contract of a few million. The second is that part of this contract has to be handed over to the greedy basketball association. In fact, although Yao Ming is famous all over the world, his real life is relatively simple.
He couldn't afford a luxury car and drove an ordinary Volkswagen to the stadium every day. He also couldn't afford to buy a house in Houston and still lives in the apartment he found when he first arrived. Of course, Yao Ming will not be too long after such a bitter day, I heard that Nike is ready to snatch back Yao Ming's potential stock from Reebok, and the contract has been opened to more than 10 million a year.
In addition to Nike, Coca-Cola is also ready to negotiate an endorsement contract with Team Yao. Even Alexander, the owner of the Rockets, felt the commercial value of Yao Ming, the Rockets were originally just an ordinary NBA team, and Alexander was the poor among NBA owners.
But because of the Chinese market, the sales of the Rockets' merchandise increased at least fourfold throughout last year, and Alexander's pocket also bulged several times.