As March enters the middle of the year, the playoffs are not far away, and now the competition for MVP is unprecedentedly fierce.

Now the competition for MVP is Chamberlain and James, and even if others are as strong as Kobe, Wade, and Howard, they can only sigh.

Kobe Bryant sighed, looking at Chamberlain and James, who are now killing to the point of bayonets, he has to sigh that he is old. Fortunately, he pressed Paul to win an MVP last season, otherwise he might not have won any in his career.

If he can't win the MVP, if someone evaluates him in the future, he will definitely say that the guard is second in history, and even the MVP has no face to be the second in history? He shuddered at the thought of this.

James also knows that it will be more and more difficult for him to win the MVP in the future, and Chamberlain is only in his third season in the league, and as he grows in the future, if he can still grow, then the rest of the league will wait to see him lift the MVP trophy every year.

So, this season James has to compete anyway.

In this way, the alliance's fish belly is a tragedy, these two guys know the truth that persimmons are soft, and they will recuperate when they meet a strong team, and once they touch the fish belly, they will definitely break out!

Originally, James relied on his consecutive quasi-triple-doubles to rush to the first place on the MVP list, but then, after Chamberlain won 70+20, the boss position of the MVP list was given to him again.

After playing the Raptors, the Warriors returned to Oakland the next day, and after the previous away game, the day back could be rested, but now that the regular season has entered the final sprint, Nelson Sr. canceled the rest, and the players must continue to practice.

Fortunately, Nelson Sr. is not Riley's kind of training maniac, and on the day of the return trip, they usually conduct game video replays to study their own characteristics and those of their opponents, in addition, Nelson Sr. will occasionally add a meal to them for special training.

On March 17, after lunch, the Warriors players lazily returned to the gym, Iverson's eyes fluttered, and Marbury smiled: "AI, you must be looking for a place to take a nap, right?" ”

Iverson smiled dryly: "You know, man, the two of us are old and need to rest, if the rest is insufficient, then the state of the body can not be adjusted, and it is good to say that we can't play our strength, mainly because we are prone to injury." ”

Billups leaned in and said, "Then take me to sleep with you." ”

West happily discussed the Arenas gun case with Jackson, and not long ago the Colombian High Court announced the final sentence, Arenas avoided the previously speculated three-month prison sentence, and instead went to a labor camp for 30 days, suspended for two years, and 400 hours of community service, including community service in the basketball clinic.

"It's really nothing, the law in the United States is really good, it always helps the rich." Jackson pouted.

West quickly calculated his family wealth in his heart, and after calculating it, he couldn't figure out how much money he had, but in short, he was very rich, so he was in an unprecedentedly happy mood, and said: "Very good, I like American law." ”

The case's impact is expanding, not just between basketball and fans.

According to the report submitted to court, prosecutors said that Critenton had legitimate reasons to believe that Arenas' intimidation was genuine, and that prosecutors wanted Arenas to jail him for three months.

Prosecutors also pointed out that Arenas had repeatedly lied about why he had brought guns into the locker room in an attempt to cover up the truth, and argued that Arenas knew that bringing guns into the District of Columbia was illegal and was a violation of the law.

In the report, one lawyer also wrote: "If it were another person, who did not have so much fame and wealth, and who made the same mistake in Washington, would face very different treatment and would have been imprisoned." ”

However, Arenas' lawyer has been fighting for community service for him, and the lawyer believes that Arenas only made a mistake in a joke and did not harm others, and the gun was not even loaded, and Arenas's subsequent confession of guilt was very good, and he will become a community service to change himself.

Although Arenas narrowly escaped the law, the NBA dealt him a heavy blow and he was suspended for one season - not this season, but an entire season, which means he will not be able to play until Christmas next season.

Looking at the news analysis, Chamberlain laughed out loud and said: "Now the Wizards are unlucky, didn't the early stage of the case say that the Wizards plan to take the opportunity to get rid of Arenas' big contract?" I'm going to see how they get rid of this contract now. ”

According to the NBA's collective bargaining agreement, the Wizards cannot terminate Arenas' six-year, $111 million contract because of this ruling, so that the Wizards, who had been steadily hovering in the playoff area, went directly to the league's lottery zone.

Old Nelson crossed his waist and watched the group of people get together to talk and laugh, the old man was in a good mood, but seeing these birdmen wandering one by one, he immediately frowned, and said to Bowen beside him: "Bruce, let's make up for the children, their defense is very problematic, I think you need to open a small stove for them." ”

Bowen touched the stubble on his chin and smiled, "Okay, boys, let's all go get some rest, and we'll have a warm-up in ten minutes, and then we'll have the first defensive drill of the afternoon." ”

Barnes's face turned pale, and he exclaimed, "Is there a mistake?" My God, defensive training? Our bones are falling apart, and we're tired now! ”

Old Nelson smiled darkly and said, "You're tired? That's good, you don't have to play tomorrow's game, you don't have to play all the games that are left of the season. ”

Chamberlain, West and others immediately scrambled to express their positions, shouting: "We are not tired, we have to train defense!" ”

Barnes was embarrassed by the group, so he could only follow behind with his ass between his legs, and said in a twisted and pinched manner: "Uh, in fact, I was just joking, hehe, I'm not tired, let's train defense." ”

Every team in the NBA puts a lot of energy into training defense, and defensive training is more physically draining than offensive training.

You can also take a break after running out of an open space, which is an active skill, and you just don't have to participate in the attack. But you can't defend, it's a passive skill, you don't know which opponent will suddenly launch a powerful attack, so you need to give your best every minute, whether in training or in games.

As the saying goes, sweat more and cry less, defensive training is more brutal than defense in real games, try to put maximum pressure on the offensive players' dribbling, passing and receiving, cause the opponent to make mistakes as much as possible, and strive to make fewer mistakes than the opponent, and can do all these points for a fierce game with a close score.

Chamberlain's favorite thing is defensive drills because he is physically good and his defensive awareness is super good, so this kind of training is often when he is in the limelight.

Gibson did what he liked, and at the beginning of the training, he asked Chamberlain, "Z, how can I put more pressure on the opponent?" I want to be able to reduce the shooting percentage of the opponent. ”

Chamberlain coughed and said very sternly: "It's not easy, brother, it's a big project to reduce the opponent's hit rate. But after a few seasons of pondering and summarizing, I now have a little bit of a lesson......"

Bowen smiled and motioned the players to listen carefully to Chamberlain's experience, except for the game, Bowen was a very good talker.

Chamberlain said: "There are two ways to reduce the opponent's shooting percentage, one is to prevent the opponent from receiving the ball in the area with a high shooting percentage; The second is to do your best to put pressure on the opponent and disrupt their shooting rhythm if they receive the ball in an area with a high shooting percentage. ”

The training hall fell silent, and Jackson was stunned and asked, "Finished?" ”

Chamberlain said firmly: "It's over." ”

Jackson was speechless for a moment, and shouted: "****, do you still need to say this?" What kind of bullshit experience is this! Who doesn't know that you can't let your opponent catch the ball in the area with the highest shooting percentage? ”

Barnes nodded and said, "That's it, I also know that after the opponent shoots, he should actively fight for rebounds to minimize the chance of the opponent's second rebound." ”

Chamberlain snapped his fingers, pointed at Barnes and said, "That's right, man, you're also a good experience, and we're going to sum it up, maybe we'll be able to publish a book in the future." ”

The players made a few jokes, and when the atmosphere was almost harmonious, Bowen applauded and said, "Alright, guys, let's get ready to train defensively." ”

After hiring Bowen as a defensive coach this season, the Warriors' defense has been further improved, no longer relying only on Chamberlain's super defensive ability, and others have begun to get involved and form a defensive system.

Bowen is not in good health, he is not fast, his strength is not strong, and his explosiveness is not great, but his defense is recognized as good, because he has his own defensive system, and the players can always do better on the defensive end when they are paired with him.

Before Chamberlain came, Davis and Ellis led the team to run hard, the offense was very strong, and the defense was so-so, relaxed and even boring.

In normal games, the Warriors' players lack concentration on the defensive end, resulting in a hole in the court, and the entire defense of the team causes confusion, and before Chamberlain arrived, the Warriors' defensive intensity was the worst in the entire league.

Bowen is a master of defensive training, and he likes to let his players discuss how to defend themselves, and once they come up with defensive tactics, they immediately experiment to strengthen their defensive awareness.

In addition, Bowen's defensive training focuses on mental training, and a corner of the training gym is set up as a boxing ring, and the players have to go to the punching bags before they start training.

Little Nelson looked at Chamberlain, West, Jackson and their party gritting their teeth and ravaging the sandbags, and said in horror: "If this kind of thing is leaked by the media, then we will be in trouble, and they will definitely say that we should change our name to the Golden State Boxers." ”

Old Nelson snorted and said, "What's this?" Wasn't the Heat team in the 90s the Boxers? I didn't see Pat Riley's old guy being scolded for anything. ”

Bowen has his players boxing, not to hone their fighting skills, but to build their confidence and morale. The NBA is known as the most competitive competition in the world, and basketball is the most physical contact of all ball sports, which is beyond the reach of football, and all good defensive players have the quality of tenacity and perseverance.

From the perspective of rules, physical contact is not allowed in basketball games, but in the fierce offensive and defensive confrontation, frequent physical contact between players is a significant feature of basketball games.

Some people are not good at hand-to-hand combat, such as the former potential superstar Milicic, the former Yi Jianlian, the current Bagnani, Nowitzki and Gasol, etc., no matter how they attack, their defense is criticized because they don't have the determination and will to fight to the death.

After the players practiced two 20-minute rounds of boxing, Bowen called the group to him and said: "Whether you dare to make physical contact in the game, whether you are good at physical contact, and whether you can treat physical contact correctly is an important reflection of the quality of the defensive will." Cardinal Auerbach once said that real defense is wrestling, so I need you to be very good at throwing out and defending. ”

"Remember, when you are facing a ball carrier, you have to dare to get close to the opponent, not afraid of elbows, not afraid of hips, not afraid of knees; When blocking the ball and breaking through the opponent, dare to face the opponent, show your body, and not be afraid of being bumped; When grabbing, hitting, and breaking the ball, he is fast and fierce, his body is fully extended, he dares to jump out, he dares to pounce and fall; When grabbing defensive rebounds, only in this way can you make the opponent fearful, and your defense is qualified! ”