Chapter 152: NBA debut
October 2, U.S. time.
The NBA's long offseason has finally come to an end, and the team has officially started the preseason two days ago, and today, the Kings will face a strong opponent - the San Antonio Spurs at the Golden One Arena. The gimmick of a historical rookie against a historical powerhouse made the three major TV stations TNT, ESPN, AND ABC choose to broadcast this game without hesitation, and fans want to see Zhang Feng's performance against strong opponents.
In the TNT basketball studio, it was still the Barkley trio who were commentating on the game, and they were preparing to discuss the highlights of the game.
Kenny Smith was the first to speak: "Charles, do you want to make a bet today?" ”。
Barkley shook his head, "There's nothing to bet on, Tony Parker won't play, Kawaii Leonard won't play, not even Rudy Gay, the Kings will win, if they can't win, they won't have to play in the NBA."
Hearing Barkley say this, O'Neal smiled, "On behalf of the Kings, I thank you for your appreciation."
Kenny looked surprised, "Even if the two big players don't play, the Spurs start Aldridge, Pau Gasol, Danny Green, and there are players like Patti Mills and Manu Ginobili on the bench, how can you conclude that the Kings will win?" ”。
Barkley pouted and spread his hands, "Well, naturally, it's because I believe that Zhang Feng can blow up the Spurs guard line, except for Kawaii, no one in the Spurs team can prevent Zhang Feng's breakthrough, Zhang Feng will score, pass, and steal as he wants."
"Wow, I can't believe what you're saying," O'Neill said with a long mouth, incredible.
Barkley smiled faintly: "Wait to see a good show, tonight's Twitter hotspot, tomorrow's news headlines, will be related to Zhang Feng."
After Barkley finished speaking, the TNT director cut the live broadcast to the scene of the Golden One Arena.
--
The Golden No. 1 Arena was packed. The $535 million arena seemed to have finally ushered in its true owner, with several grandfather-level fans pulling up banners that read: "Zhang Feng, the real king"; There are also coolly dressed female fans holding up billboards, which read: "Anjiali, you make me envious"; Some children's fans are led by their parents to hold up a photo, most of which are Zhang Feng's facial expressions, and there are also some group photos of Kings players.
"Ladies and gentlemen, let's welcome the players of the Saramento Kings with the warmest shouts and applause!" The live DJ got the instructions and began to stir up the atmosphere, and the fans began to shout higher and higher.
Eighteen Kings players have changed into their jerseys for the new season and are standing in the tunnel waiting to play. Carter and other veterans were calmer, carefully checking their wristbands, sneakers, and gauze on their feet, while the rookies looked different, some restless, some excited, and more nervous. Zhang Feng has mixed tastes, and he has been waiting for this day for a long time.
Hearing the DJ's shout, the staff signaled to be ready to play, Zhang Feng beckoned, and 18 king players gathered around. Zhang Feng raised his right hand into a fist and placed his left hand on Bogdan's right shoulder, and the other players did the same, and when everyone was ready, Zhang Feng took the lead and shouted: "Ho are e?", "e are kings", and every time he shouted, the players waved their fists.
After reading a sentence, Zhang Feng asked loudly again, and all the players continued to answer in unison.
“ho are e?”,“e are kings”,“ho are e?”,“e are kings”。
Important things are said three times, important slogans must be shouted three times, this is Zhang Feng's latest design of the king's player appearance ceremony.
After shouting these three sentences, Zhang Feng took the lead and walked to the court.
"Let's welcome the first player to play, he is Zhang Zhang Zhang Zhang Zhang Feng!" DJs raise the volume and elongate names.
As the DJ pronounced out the name, the excitement of the fans reached the top for the first time, and the whole stadium was filled with screams and shouts, Zhang Feng's name kept appearing in the mouths of fans, and some fans even lost their voices.
"Oh my God, have you ever seen a crazier welcome than this?" Kenny looked at the big screen and shook his head.
O'Neal was very excited: "I'm afraid that only in the 98 finals, Jordan can compete with it."
"Your description is a bit exaggerated, players of the level of James and Kobe Bryant also have this treatment, but today is Zhang Feng's first NBA game, and it happens to be at home again" Barkley retorted.
"On behalf of the Kings, I take back my words of thanks," O'Neal stirred up.
"Stop arguing, let's take a look at the Kings' starting lineup" Kenny quickly called off the two.
After Kenny finished speaking, the King's starting list was played on the live TV screen:
starting point guard, Zhang Feng; starting shooting guard, Bogdan; starting small forward, Justin Jackson; starting power forward, Harry Giles; Starting center forward - Papaioannis.
Seeing the starting list, Barkley nodded, "It seems that Coach David has changed his tactics this season, and they will do their best to develop the rookie lineup, I think this is a good thing, Carter and others are on short contracts, and the future of the Kings needs these young people."
"In this matter, I think Charles's suggestion is correct, especially Zhang Feng, he needs a lot of ball control to hone his skills, so that he can adapt to the rhythm of the NBA game as soon as possible, even if there are many mistakes, the king can't give up with heartache."
Barkley didn't answer, just nodded silently in agreement with O'Neill, and Kenny took the opportunity to say:
"Then let's watch the game, here I want to say, Zhang Feng, welcome to the NBA!"
The warm-up of the two teams has been completed, the technical staff also signaled that everything is OK, and the referee signaled that the game has officially begun. Papayannis stepped up to the halfway line to battle Pau Gasol for the ball. Zhang Feng bent down and twisted his head at Justin not far away, Justin followed his gaze and found that Kawaii was sitting in the non-player area in a suit, and Justin immediately understood what Zhang Feng meant.
Since Kawaii is not there, Justin has nothing to worry about, Zhang Feng means to let him fight with all his might.
The referee blew the whistle and Papaul Gasol jumped almost at the same time. Unfortunately, Gasol managed to get the basketball into Aldridge's hands with his reach, and the Kings could only quickly step back and prepare to defend.
Tony Parker missed the game because of a quadriceps injury, and now the ball is held by Dejounte Mori, who is 196CM tall, which is a good height among point guards, but unfortunately he only weighs 77 kilograms, which is too thin, Zhang Feng saw his weight and had already figured out how to deal with him.
But Dejounte seemed to understand his disadvantage and did not choose to dominate the attack, and he passed the ball directly to Aldridge on the inside. Zhang Feng was instantly useless in defense, because Aldridge received the ball and started to play with his back straight to the single, and Giles could only struggle to support it.
Faced with such a scene, Zhang Feng had to sigh, and when he turned around, he found that Popovich smiled at him.