Chapter 106: UNLV Civil War
The Cavaliers won one win and one loss in the first two games, although Bennett was targeted everywhere, but he didn't play too badly, because the opponent's interior line in the first two games was weak, and after all, the body is the capital of Bennett's revolution, his body is much stronger than others, and he can also achieve an average of 20+10+10 per game with brute force in these two games.
But unfortunately, his 20+10+10 is not a triple-double, but 20 points, 10 rebounds and 10 fouls.
In the summer league, the number of individual fouls was increased to 10 in order to better gauge the player's ability, and Bennett's rampage left him with foul trouble while ravaging the opponent's weak interior line.
The Spurs brought to Vegas this time were mainly the No. 1, No. 2 and No. 5 positions, and there were only two people in the No. 3 and No. 4 positions. James and Malcolm. Thomas, the two have been in the league for two or three years, and their highest scoring seasons combined are less than 7 points and 7 rebounds. Hoggist couldn't help but worry deeply about the two of them.
Speaking of which, the Cavaliers also have an old acquaintance of Hougist, Carrick. Felix. Carrick was also drafted by the Cavaliers with the 33rd pick in the second round, avoiding the doom of becoming the king of Dahi Earth.
But Hoggist thinks the decision is as foolish as picking Bennett as the top pick, at least not rookie Seth. Curry is much more reliable than Carrick, after all, it's Stephen. Curry's younger brother has ancestral marksman genes. However, the Cavaliers made up for the mistake in time and invited Seth. Curry played for the Cavaliers in Summer League.
Although Hoggist thinks Seth is better than Carrick, he is not worried, although Seth is a reliable shooter, but his 6-foot-2" height makes it difficult for him to get an easy shot against the Spurs' guard group.
In the pre-game warm-up, Horgist hesitated for the sake of face and finally decided to go up to say hello to Bennett and Carrick.
The three of them stood together, which instantly aroused the interest of some local Vegas media who knew the inside story, and many cameras in the stands began to capture, and between Hougist, Bennett, and Carrick, the atmosphere was awkward and weird.
In the end, it was Haugist who spoke first: "Congratulations Carrick, I think Coach Odom will be proud of you!" ”
Carrick smiled awkwardly when he heard this, but he felt a little awkward in his heart, what do I have to be proud of as a second-round show? Do you really think I'm going to be reduced to the point where no one wants to go to Tahiti First Division?
Hoggist looked at Bennett again, and wanted to say something cruel, but after thinking about it, there are many people who disagree that he should be the champion, how old are you? Why should I come back to the well? In the end, Hougist still reminded with good words: "Some people are not strong enough, but by chance they are forcibly promoted to the position of champion, and they can't adapt to the same pressure, and finally their mentality collapses and they become passers-by. Brown? He's the best of the basketball gods! But what is his end, I hope you can learn the lesson. ”
"You think I'm the next Kwame. Brown? Bennett asked unhappily.
"No, I've been training with you for a year, and it's fate, I just hope you don't become the next Kwame. Brown and you. That's all you and I say, and then each is his master, and I'm not welcome. Hoggist said lightly.
Bennett looked at the Spurs players who were warming up at halftime, and said domineeringly: "I don't know if anyone in your team can stop me?" ”
Hoggist replied coldly, "But I don't know who in your formation can stop me?" ”
"You're arrogant when there aren't any big stars in the summer league, and if Irving is here, you won't be able to take care of yourself!" Bennett retorted.
"I'm just a high school student, and you're actually using Owen to press me? Do you want me to say that our team can be broken when Co is pregnant, and you can't take care of yourself? Hougist smiled helplessly with his hands outstretched.
The image of Hougist smiling wryly at Bennett was captured by a local reporter from Vegas' New Clarion for post-match coverage.
The game was dubbed the Vegas Civil War, and the Cavaliers' biggest name in the summer league, Bennett, was a regular at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, while Carrick, another player, and the Spurs' summer league main defender, Hougist, were both Las Vegas natives with many family and friends, so the game attracted a large local audience.
There was a lot of cheering on the sidelines, and since it was also the home of the UNLV Raiders, Bennett and Carrick had far more supporters than Hougist. Every time Bennett warms up and dunks, it will attract bursts of cheers, Bennett is very proud, constantly waving his hand to the audience, raising his hand to make the audience dry, and every wave of the audience, Bennett will return with a gorgeous dunk. Hoggist, on the other hand, is just practicing left-handed shooting in earnest, and although his shooting percentage is still dismal, it has risen to nearly 30%.
"Don't you always shoot with your right hand when you play? Why do you always like to practice your left hand before a game? You're not a left-hander, are you? Jeffers asked.
"Isn't my attack twice as big with my left hand? And most people can't guard against left-handed generals, and there are more opportunities to practice with their left hand. It's just that it's easy for the left hand to practice the right hand, and it's really hard for the right hand to practice the left hand, and I've been practicing for a full school year, and the hit rate is still so poor. Hoggist adjusted his breathing rate, took aim at the basket, and steadily threw a three-pointer with his left hand, but the ball still deflected off the basket. Hougist shook his head in disappointment, picked up a basketball and continued to practice.
"I seem to understand now that you're better than me!" Jeffers seemed inspired and focused on practice.
Before the game, Coach Sifar was making the final instructions, "The strongest point of the opponent is Bennett, as a big forward, although he is not tall, he is very athletic, and he is equipped with a bunch of shooters on the periphery, this is LeBron's style of play in the Cavaliers, they are treating Bennett as James's successor, and Bennett's offense needs space on the inside, and they don't even match the big center." Our defense has to defend the other four guys, cut off Bennett's connection with them, and force Bennett to attack on his own, even if he can score 30 or 40 points alone, but it is futile for the others not to score. On the offensive side, Hoggist still dominates the ball, mainly with high blocking and air cutting, and everyone pays attention to the running position. Hoggist, you've played Bennett a lot of times, do you have any tips to share with us? ”
Hougist thought about it, usually when he led the bench lineup to deal with Bennett, he directly interfered with Bennett's receiving and shooting by helping to defend the pinch, because the outside line of the main lineup of the Raiders was too poor, so for Bennett's ball, he let him pass and even deliberately forced him to pass to the outside to shoot iron. There are a lot of NBA-level shooters in the opponent's lineup right now, and it would be suicide to let him break through the ball. This time, he attacked and didn't let him pass, and Hougist really didn't have much experience, so I don't know what the effect of playing like this would be. However, in terms of offense, Hogist has a lot of experience, although Bennett is very athletic, but the speed is still not the same as Hogist, Hoggist likes to tease Bennett after blocking and changing defenses, or breaking, or emergency stop jump shots, Hoggist can always use various feints to turn Bennett around.
Hoggist shook his head and told everyone about the usual strategy of defending Bennett, and then taught everyone the skills of playing Bennett, and when he talked about his own dunk Bennett, his eyebrows flew and he spat out. Coach Siafer nodded, "You have a good defensive strategy against that Hammers-type perimeter, but you just said you can play with Bennett physically?" ”
Everyone listened to Coach Sifol's words, looked back at Bennett, who was as strong as a cow on the other side, and then carefully looked at Haugist, who was still thinner than Joseph, and all showed an expression of "you must be joking".
Hougist looked at Bennett, who had risen like a balloon after the NCAA ended, and shook his head helplessly, "When I played in the NCAA half a year ago, Bennett was at least two laps thinner than now!" At that time, my physical confrontation was only a little worse than him, after the start of Crazy March, UNLV did not enter the top 68, and the Raiders took a holiday, and since then I have been practicing my core strength, and now I am definitely much stronger than Bennett half a year ago, but who would have known that Bennett could gain 50 pounds in 3 months! He used to be James's stature, and now he has become shorter O'Neal! ”
"You're not kidding, are you? How could he go up that much in the offseason? Is he deliberately gaining weight or is he eating uncontrollably? "Malcolm, who will be playing against Bennett later. Thomas asked, surprised. Although he has two years of NBA experience, Thomas is very weak in the face of Bennett, who is stronger than him, and he always feels that Bennett can see God with an elbow!
"It seems that Bennett's offseason life has always been unrestrained and uninhibited, but he can always reduce his body fat back to less than 10% within one month of the start of the season." Hoggist recalled.
"Don't worry, you don't have to play to defend Bennett today, just try to let him pass the ball, if he attacks, you just reach out and interfere."
Hearing Coach Sifol's arrangement, Thomas breathed a sigh of relief.
The Cavaliers made targeted adjustments to the Spurs' starting lineup today, and in order to deal with Haugist, they specially sent a 3-and-D tall guard, 6-foot-7 inch Russian Sergei. Karashev. The other defender is 6'6" tall Alonzo. Key, and Seth. Curry didn't appear in the starting lineup.
In order to improve their mobility, the Spurs cut off Bennett and other teammates, and the defensive line sent Joseph to partner Haugist, who returned from injury, while Dedmon started in place of Baines at center.
The opening jumper, who is 7 feet tall and is always energetic on the court, Dwayne is always on the court. Dedmon had almost no trouble in Henry. Simms headed the ball back into his own half.
Haugist received the ball and dribbled to the frontcourt, where Sergei and others began to defend aggressively just after halftime. The fierce appearance of Sergei's fighting people and the oppression of his height startled Haugist and hurriedly passed the ball to Joseph.
Joseph catches the ball and faces Alonzo. Kee, remembering the experience of Haugist, asked Thomas to come up and cover for him. Thomas, who was a little afraid of Bennett, did not cover very well, and Joseph broke into the interior and was met by Alonzo. Ji and Bennett's double bag clip.
Joseph's ability to play the ball is not bad, and he can also divide the ball in time when he is about to lose the ball, and give it to Thomas, who is happy, seeing that Bennett is outside the paint area, and Simms is stuck behind by Dedmon under the basket, this is a great opportunity for him to take the lead and receive the award!
Thomas let his guard down in excitement and grabbed the ball with one hand, ready to glide and slam the slam. However, after he passed Bennett, Bennett began to chase with all his might, and when Thomas jumped in the air, Bennett had already slapped his horse from behind, forced to overtake and jumped high, and easily stretched out his hand and even capped the ball to the ground. In the first round, there was such a vigorous bloody hat, and the UNLV fans at the scene were directly emotional, and many people stood up from their seats and sent enthusiastic cheers and whistles.
The floor ball was taken by Alonzo. Kei picked it up and quickly advanced to the front, while Joseph desperately retreated. Bennett also followed up quickly to prepare for Alonzo. Base 2 to 1, rushing Bennett from the rhinoceros that ran back then to the elephant that is now galloping, feeling that he can crush everything in his path into powder. This first attack will be a blood cap, and turning around and being beaten into a fast attack will seriously affect morale. So Hoggist decided to take the risk, he retreated from the flank, and he was already diagonally in front of Bennett, he deliberately slowed down and moved towards Bennett's running route, and Alonzo. In order to take away the defenders and empty the Spurs' paint area, Kei deliberately pushed forward from the right side of the court. Bennett strode down the middle and raced towards the Spurs' basket and was overjoyed to see Hoggist running in front of him.
Bennett recalled the picture of Hoggist sacrificing four fingers to block his dunk, and was confident that even if there were two Hoggist, he would not want to block his powerful dunk.
It was such a momentary distraction that Bennett felt that he had hit something, and before he could carefully distinguish it, he heard the referee's continuous and rapid whistle.
Bennett stopped and looked at the referee blankly, did the linesman raise the flag? Am I offside? I'm not on a football pitch again, what are you kidding, what the hell is going on?
Bennett looked around, and many viewers covered their mouths and looked at themselves in surprise, as if they were looking at a person in a traffic hit-and-run. The bottom line seems to be upside down, who is it? It seems to be Haugist! How could he be lying there? A thought crossed Bennett's mind, could it be...... Was he the one I just knocked out?