At half past seven in the evening, there was no one in the training ground of the American Airlines Center Arena. "Administrator" Cardinal still follows the old habit of helping the staff pick up the basketballs scattered all over the place one by one. Carlisle walked out of the office with his briefcase in his hand and greeted Cardinal.

Afterwards, the academy manager made a tour of the training ground and seemed to be looking for something.

"Looking for Yi?" Seeing Carlisle stop, Cardinal asked casually.

"Well, he didn't stay to practice today?"

"That kid, if he doesn't practice for a day, he'll die of pain! Well, today, this kid is in the strength training room. Cardinal gestured to a room on the side of the training ground separated by floor-to-ceiling windows. That room was the Mavericks' strength training room.

Carlisle looked in the direction of Cardinal's finger, and inside, the shirtless Yiyang was sweating and fiddling with various instruments.

"It's really rare that this guy is actually doing training without the ball." Carlisle watched with interest, Yiyang has been with the Mavericks for so long, but he rarely takes the initiative to go to the power room to practice. Ball training often occupies most of Yiyang's training time.

"When he heard that Westbrook scored 40 points in the last game, he was like crazy. That Ocheng Zero is a strong impact guard, so in order to effectively contain that guy, he has been soaking in the power room lately. Cardinal smiled and explained the cause and effect to Carlisle.

"Rome wasn't built in a day." Carlisle certainly knew that with the extra training in the past few days, Yiyang's physical confrontation ability could not be compared to Westbrook. "But...... It's better than doing nothing. The academic coach still smiled with satisfaction.

"Help me watch him, you can't practice too hard to train your strength, otherwise it may backfire! My wife is still waiting for me to come home for dinner, and in half an hour, let him go home and rest! Carlisle gestured to his watch, and Cardinal made an "OK" gesture.

"No problem, boss!"

※※※

Yiyang was still struggling to hold the dumbbells, sweat flowing down his muscle lines. Yiyang felt as if his whole body was now poured into metal, hard, but it didn't seem to be very flexible.

I lifted the dumbbell again, and a huge feeling of soreness in my arm slowly came. Yiyang did not hold his breath, but tried his best to breathe according to the rhythm.

At this moment, the glass door of the strength training room seemed to be pushed open by someone. A few seconds later, Cardinal's face appeared in Yiyang's field of vision.

"Look at you, wipe your sweat." Cardinal sat across from Yiyang and tossed him a towel.

"Thank you." Yiyang took the towel and wiped his already soaked body.

"You can't do that, boy. Before the game even starts, you're going to break your own body. ”

"But...... If you don't do this...... "Yiyang was still panting when he spoke, and he really practiced too hard today.

"Hey, let's go to the basketball court, let's go relax. You must feel very heavy all over your body right now. ”

After Cardinal finished speaking, Yiyang raised his head in surprise. This guy is completely right about how he feels right now.

"Let's go, I've had 11 years of my career. I can still teach you these things. The white forward, who had lost a few strands of hair, tilted his head and led Yiyang to the basketball court.

On the basketball court, Cardinal led Yiyang to do some exercises to relax his body. And, of course, there are a variety of yoga-like stretches.

"Stretching after strength training is very important, and you may be able to ignore this part in normal times. But if the training volume is too large, stretching is a must! Proper stretching can stretch the muscles, make the muscles more elastic, and not make the muscles stiff. How's it going, doesn't it feel like it's as heavy as it was now? ”

While Yiyang was training, Cardinal was instructing and explaining to Yiyang the purpose of doing so.

"Well, it's much better." Yiyang felt that the "iron" that had just been poured into his body seemed to be integrated into his blood.

Although the Mavericks' trainers will also guide Yiyang, under the leadership of an experienced player, Yiyang still feels a little different.

"Of course, muscle stretching, in addition to relieving stress on the muscles, will also prevent lactic acid buildup. Tomorrow, your muscles should be sore. So, in the future, listen to the trainers, I learned all these things from them. ”

Stretching, relaxing, resting, when Yiyang finished all the movements required by Cardinal, he felt that his body had become much lighter, and it seemed to be back to its usual state. This feeling is completely different from being in the power room just now.

"Brian, you know a lot." Yiyang admired Cardinal from the bottom of his heart, he didn't expect this guy who usually doesn't even play in garbage time to have such a lesson in training.

"When your career is as long as mine, you'll know more than I do." Cardinal smiled happily, the white striker always seemed so easy-going, always so optimistic.

"In the last game, Westbrook scored 40 points, how did you feel?" The two sat on the floor of the training ground to rest, and Cardinal also chatted with Yiyang.

"Westbrook's 40 points made it dawn on me that I wasn't the best young man in the league at all. After the win over the Lakers and Kobe Bryant, I started to get a little complacent. But the facts tell me that I am far from the best. So, I don't want to waste a second of my time improving myself. Only by constantly catching up will you not fall behind. ”

After listening to Yiyang, Cardinal nodded thoughtfully. Yiyang, this guy, always aims to be the best. And Cardinal himself, from high school to entering the league, he seems to have nothing to do with the best at all.

But that doesn't stop Cardinal from loving the profession of football, he may not be the best, and he may be destined to live out of the spotlight. But he's a real professional footballer. As long as the team needs it, as long as he can. Well, Cardinal will do everything he can!

Now, now that Carlisle has handed over Yiyang to himself. Then, you have to do this to the end.

"If we do run into the Thunder, have you figured out how to deal with him?" Cardinal turned his head sideways and stared at Yiyang.

Yiyang didn't answer, although he and Westbrook were evenly matched in the regular season. However, when it comes to the playoffs, previous experience can only be used as a reference, and it does not represent anything. How to contain Westbrook, Yiyang really has no clue.

"Come on, I'll teach you." Cardinal stood up and hooked his finger at Yiyang.

Yiyang was stunned for a moment, but still stood up. After that, Cardinal took a basketball out of an iron frame and threw it to Yiyang.

"Come and attack, it should be easy for you to break through me." After Cardinal finished speaking, he opened his arms and crossed in front of Yiyang.

"Are you sure? Brian. Yiyang knows that Cardinal has a few pounds and taels, although Yiyang respects this veteran very much, but the fact is that Cardinal is impossible to defend himself.

"Come on, I'm old, but I'm not useless."

"That'...... I'm attacking. ”

After speaking, Yiyang controlled the ball and leaned towards the three-point line. Cardinal didn't panic when he saw Yiyang attacking. Although the No. 1 guard once scored 30 points on Kobe's head!

Yiyang sank his shoulders and suddenly stabbed to the right side of Cardinal! He believed that it would take only one step to get past Cardinal at his own speed!

In fact, Cardinal simply didn't have time to move sideways, and Yiyang easily overtook and headed for the basket.

However, Yiyang had just stepped into the three-second zone with one foot, and he felt like he was being entangled by Cardinal again. Cardinal didn't give up on defending and continued to defend desperately, even though his efforts didn't seem to be working.

Under the pressure of Cardinal, Yiyang still successfully completed the layup. This time the score was done easily, and he didn't know what Cardinal was trying to tell him.

"Come again!" However, Cardinal just flicked the ball back to Yiyang, and then he once again spread his arms in front of Yiyang.

Yiyang didn't speak, it's better to be respectful than to obey his fate. He confronted Cardinal again, and this time, Yiyang made a crossover with a great arc of direction, still passing Cardinal in one step.

But Cardinal still didn't give up, he bit Yiyang like a mad dog. Yiyang took three steps to make a layup, and Cardinal did not hesitate to grab Yiyang's pants. Although the ball still went in, Yiyang didn't seem to feel so easy.

"You've committed a foul."

"Fouls, sometimes it's a better defensive option, come again!" Cardinal doesn't talk nonsense, he is usually kind, but at the moment he looks like a strict teacher.

Repeatedly, Yiyang broke through Cardinal's defense and completed a layup. But Yiyang felt that he wanted to score, and it seemed that he was getting more and more difficult.

He scored again and again, but it did not knock Cardinal down. This old man with all his hair has lost his hair really doesn't have much hard power, but he can do a little bit and never give up!

After that, Cardinal's defensive moves became bigger and bigger, and Yiyang's physical energy was quickly depleted.

Finally, during a layup, Cardinal, who was frantically scrambling, cut off the basketball in Yiyang's hand with one hand. Yiyang just wanted to reach out to pick it up, but found Cardinal flying directly and pounced, pinning the basketball under him.

"I won!" Cardinal lay on the ground, gasping for air, but smiling.

Yiyang stayed where he was, it was just training, but Cardinal was desperate as if he were in an official match.

"If it weren't for training, you would have eaten a few of my elbows! If you're against Westbrook, you defend him like this! Let that guy never get rid of you, and let him live forever in the haze you created! He's stronger, and you're fighting harder than him! He wants to make an easy layup, and you flip him to the ground and tell him that you're not to be messed with! Come on, come again! ”

After that, Yiyang's physical energy was consumed more and more, but the Cardinal guy was still inseparable from Yiyang. Even if he is breached, he will not give up, but will do his best to chase back.

There were several times when Yiyang attacked the basket, and even Cardinal bravely made an offensive foul. Cardinal was hit again and again and fell again and again, but he did not complain, but quickly got up and threw the ball to Yiyang. "Come again!"

When Yiyang was bravely stopped by Cardinal again, and he ate another offensive foul, he seemed to understand something instantly. Yiyang stepped forward and reached out to pull Cardinal up.

Stalking at all costs? This is really a crazy way to defend!

"Come back, boy."

"Rest, Brian. And also...... Thank you. ”

"The physical condition is not as good as others, let's use hard work to make it up, understand?"

"I see, Brian."

After speaking, the sweaty two looked at each other and smiled.

※※※

At ten o'clock in the evening, Wen Xue finally heard the engine of Yiyang's Ford pickup truck echoing through the street. The mother hurried to the door to greet her son.

The pickup truck parked in the garage, but his son was not the only one who came out of the garage.

"Mrs. Yi, I'm sorry to disturb me so late!" Cardinal bowed to Wen Xue in a gentlemanly manner.

"Mom, this is my teammate Brian. Mr. Cardinal. Can you fry a few eggs for us? We're hungry. ”

Watching Yiyang bring his friend to his home, Wen Xue was indescribably happy in her heart. Since he came into contact with professional basketball, this kid is really different from before.

In the past, Yiyang was alone and had no friends. But now......

"Come in and sit down, Mr. Brian. Also, don't let people stand outside all the time! ”

"Hahahaha, you're so polite, ma'am!"

The yellowed light cast from the window onto the street, and the three of them gathered around the dining table, talking and laughing.

Yiyang and his mother's home seems to have not been so lively for a long time......