"Luke has resigned as head coach of the Lakers!" Duffy saw him wake up and spoke directly. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info

"What?!" Tang Shuai was also awakened, "The Lakers fired him?" Didn't Mitch say he wouldn't consider firing him? Even if it was before, it shouldn't be. ”

Wharton's coaching ability is still worthy of recognition, and Kupchak knows this, otherwise he would have been fired as early as February.

"No, it wasn't the Lakers who fired him, it was he who resigned as head coach." Duffy followed.

After listening to Duffy's words, Tang Shuai was stunned for a moment, and then understood.

Yes, Wharton's words before the trade deadline should have already surfaced his attitude and position, which seems to be an expected result.

"What about the team's head coach?" Tang Shuai then asked.

"The Lakers have not officially issued a statement, but according to my speculation, it should be that Shaw will lead the team to play a few games first, and then look for a new head coach." Duffy spoke.

Tang Shuai nodded, the Lakers' performance this season exceeded expectations, Bass Jr. and Kupchak could not give up so quickly, Shaw's resume as a head coach is really not very good, I believe that the team will have a new head coach soon.

"I've got to get up, there's still training today, so I'll go to the team and see how it's going first." Tang Shuai said and lifted the quilt and got up.

"yes, you still have a game tonight." Duffy reminded.

Tang Shuai nodded, tonight at home, the team still has to play against the Houston Rockets.

When I arrived at the stadium, compared with the usual noisy scene, the training hall was obviously much more deserted.

Clarkson, Ezeli, Barnes, Brewer, these traded players are packing up in the locker room, the Lakers originally only had 14 people, and the new players still have physical examinations, and the injured Gasol, there are only 9 people who went to the training gym today, and they can't make up the number of people who play against the game.

In fact, not to mention the players, the managers have just resigned, giving the impression that this is already a team that is falling apart.

"Lance, let's go see Corey." Tang Shuai saw that not only Wharton was not here, but Xiao was also not there, so he turned his head and said to Stephenson.

Stephenson nodded, and the two of them walked straight out of the arena and straight towards the locker room.

As soon as I arrived at the door, before I could go in, I heard a familiar voice.

Tang Shuai looked inside, and in addition to seeing Brewer, he also saw Wharton and Shaw, who were chatting with Barnes about something at this time.

No wonder I didn't see them, it turned out that I had come here to say goodbye to Barnes.

He couldn't help but grin, Wharton's departure might also be a good thing to say.

"Coach Luke, Coach Brian." Tang Shuai and Stephenson went in and greeted the two head coaches, and then went to chat with Brewer.

"When it comes to the Mavericks, perform well and expect you to perform better." After giving Barnes a final pat on the shoulder, Wharton glanced back at Tang Shuai, stopped talking, and finally left the locker room with Shaw.

"Thanks to the way you work every night, Luke doesn't even say hello when he leaves." Stephenson couldn't help but mumble when he saw Wharton leave.

"When people are upset, where do they care about so many details." Tang Shuai waved his hand at him, signaling him not to talk about this, then looked at Brewer and said, "Corey, we will miss you, do well in Dallas, maybe you are like Lance, we will be teammates again." ”

"I will, you don't have to comfort me, in fact, going to Dallas is also an opportunity, I'm 31 years old, and my next contract will probably be the last one of my career." Brewer is open, perhaps because he has been traded too many times, and he has become a little accustomed to it.

"Let's go, let's go out too." Stephenson followed.

Tang Shuai nodded, and then together with Stephenson, he sent Brewer to the door of the arena.

One by one, they hugged each other, and after seeing Brewer get in the car and leave, they turned back to the arena.

Xiao was already there, and the remaining seven members of the team were also standing in a row.

Seeing Tang Shuai and Stephenson coming in, he immediately motioned for them to line up.

He glanced at the queue and made sure everyone was there, then he continued: "I'm sure everyone should know what happened last night, we had players traded away and Luke chose to leave the team. ”

The team members looked at each other unconsciously, although they were talking to each other, but after the news was really confirmed, it was inevitable that there would be some reactions.

"Luke was going to say something to everyone before leaving, but he told me that he felt ashamed of everyone, so he chose to bury those words in his heart." Shaw continued.

Tang Shuai nodded, remembering the look at Walton before leaving, leaving the team by voluntarily resigning, and there was really nothing to say to the rest of the people.

"The new teammates haven't completed their medical exams yet, and they'll not be coming to the team tomorrow to report, so tonight's game, we're only nine players, and ......," Xiao said, looking at Tang Shuai and Stephenson, "We only have four outside teams left. ”

Tang Shuai turned his head and looked, Stephenson, Anthony Brown, Batum, plus himself, there are indeed only 4 people, 4 people play 3 positions, or the whole court, no wonder Xiao will deliberately emphasize that this is really a big test.

"We're playing Houston in the evening, and we're playing a fast-paced team and we don't have enough rotation, so the first and most important thing we're going to do tonight is to slow down the tempo." Shaw then began to talk about the evening game, and although he was not very good at commanding on the spot, he seemed to be doing a good job in the overall situation.

"In the morning we focus on basic training and in the afternoon I will find the defenders to come and play training games with us, and all we have to do is reduce the tempo." Shaw then announced his training plan for today.

There are 9 players left who can't play the whole game, and it seems that it is okay to find the defender team to make up the number, but the training effect is definitely not as good as the intra-team confrontation, and Xiao is also helpless.

Although the NBDL players are capable, they are still a lot weaker than the NBA players, and it is obvious when they are in full court, especially the tacit understanding formed between the Lakers players, which did not have much effect as expected.

However, after the game, the defenders pulled the Lakers players to sign autographs and take pictures, which became the most happening.

Shaw didn't stop him, just shook his head helplessly, it seemed that his first Lakers head coach game this season was destined to be a battle of mourning.

On the evening of February 20, US time, on the first day after the trade deadline, the Lakers sat at home and welcomed the challenge of the Housetton Rockets.

The Lakers' bench is particularly spacious tonight, and although it hasn't reached the scene where Thackeray was lying on the bench alone, it still feels weird to have five positions vacated.

Xiao had called the players early on to arrange their tactics, and it could be seen from his reaction to repeating tactics that he was at a loss and a little nervous about playing this game as the acting head coach.

On the Rockets' side, D'Antoni sat firmly in the coach's seat with Erlang's legs crossed, watching the Rockets players warm up on the court, and compared with Shaw, it was indescribably relaxed.

Unlike the Lakers, the Rockets maintained a good competitive form in January and February, with a 29-11 record before the All-Star break, which ranked fourth in the West.

D'Antoni coached the Lakers for 2 seasons in 2012~14, and he is obviously familiar with the Staples Center, but at the same time hateful.

He coached the new "F4" with the Lakers, but it ended dismally, and in the season Howard left, he led the team to just 27 wins.

No one could have predicted that the Lakers would be able to play a season of just 17 wins, and the 27 wins at that time was already an unprecedented miserable situation, and D'Antoni became the scapegoat, and was swept away by Kupchak, so he was unhappy in his heart.

Now, he is the head coach of the Rockets again after a few years in Taoguang, and he has led the team to the best record in recent years, so to speak, it can be said that he is completely a victor back in Los Angeles, facing the Lakers who only play with only nine players, as he said in his pre-game interview: "We will win this game, although I have been in this city for 2 years, but unfortunately, now I am on the opposite side of the city", it is to be expected, He's going to make the Lakers guys uncomfortable tonight.

With the last three minutes to go before the start of the game, the starting lineups of both sides were shown on the big LED screen on the scene.

On the Lakers' side, Bynum became the team's starting five, Noel took the No. 4 position, Batum at small forward, and Tang Shuai and Stephenson's partner in the backcourt.

From this arrangement, Xiao's helplessness can be seen, perhaps in the game, he has to push Landry to the No. 3 position for a while.

On the Rockets' side, Beverley and Gordon are the starting backcourt, Harden is at the small forward position, and Ryan Anderson and Capela are on the inside.

The Rockets had a very good record before the All-Star break, but they also made a big deal before the trade deadline, they traded Ariza + Sam Decker, traded the Kings' starting small forward, and Rudy Gay, a star player who was selected by the Rockets with the 8th pick, to upgrade the team's small forward position.

Somewhat similar to the situation of the Lakers, although Rudy Gay was on the scene today, because he had not yet passed the team's physical examination, he could only sit on the sidelines in a suit for this game. (To be continued.) )