The day before the derby, Xu Yong drove Yao Ming to his home for dinner.

In the previous offseason, Yao Ming [banqueted] him, the so-called courtesy exchange, Yao Ming is now in Chicago, and he naturally has to do his landlord's friendship.

He also deliberately spent money to hire a Shanghainese chef in Chinatown and gave Yao Ming a luxurious meal.

"You're so daring." When Yao Ming entered the house rented by Xu Yong, his first reaction was surprise.

Although he has never been in Chicago, he has played in the NBA for so many years, and he has no idea how messy Chicago is.

This is the heart of Chicago, Xu Yong dares to rent this place, and it seems that he still lives very peacefully?

"I've been robbed, but it's not bad now, maybe it's because I'm okay with the ball?" Xu Yong said with a smile, he didn't mention the matter of Brother Ross.

Yao Ming smiled when he heard it, Xu Yong's character, but this can barely be explained.

"You're so polite, do you want me to do it tomorrow?" After looking at a large table of dishes, Yao Ming said with a smile.

In terms of pure strength, the Rockets are much better than the young Bulls.

"I haven't been able to get a chance before, and this is thanks to your help last time, the time when T-mac taught me to pull it out." Xu Yong opened his mouth to explain.

Yao Ming nodded when he heard this, but the smile on his face gradually disappeared.

Recently, there has been a lot of trouble between Maddie and the Rockets.

That's right, Maddie didn't listen to Xu Yong's suggestion at the beginning, and the "seven-minute viewing time" in history came as scheduled.

The matter itself is more complicated, very similar to the falling out between Leonard and the Spurs in history, which is essentially that the team's team doctor can't detect the player's fault, and the player finds a doctor for surgery without authorization, resulting in the player not being traded, and then the relationship breaks down.

The Rockets keyboard is also fine, giving Maddie seven minutes, which not only shows other teams that Maddie can still play, but also does not give Maddie time to find form, and also avoids the possibility of Maddy's injury, which can be described as exhaustive.

However, this also means that the countdown to Maddie's departure is over.

"Where might Maddie go?" Xu Yong asked directly, and after asking, he signaled that Yao Ming could move his chopsticks.

There was nothing to hide from the conversation between him and Yao Ming.

And he's curious, too.

Historically, Maddy was traded to the Knicks, a three-way trade, in exchange for the all-time 2009 No. 8 pick Jordan Hill, the main body of the trade Kevin Martin, and the tie contract for Jeffries, the 2011 Knicks' first-round pick swap, and the 2012 top-five first-round pick.

The Rockets also sent Landry, a third-year who averaged 16.1 points and 5.5 rebounds per game, to the Kings in this trade.

This shows that the emaciated camel is bigger than the horse, and the value of Maddie's trade is actually not low.

What made him curious was that it was basically impossible for Maddie to change like this now.

One is that his appearance changed the trade conference, the Knicks don't have Hill anymore, and the Rockets have Brooks and Lowry on the team, and they won't want Flynn.

The second is also more important, Yao Ming is still there.

At the beginning, Maddie was equivalent to changing Hill's "future", but now, the Rockets definitely want the present.

"I don't know, but it's probably Detroit." Yao Ming said as he ate the food.

The Pistons?

Xu Yong thought for a moment.

It's very likely!

In fact, as early as two years ago, the Pistons were interested in Maddy, and they proposed to exchange Billups and Springs' plan for Maddy, but Maddie could still play at that time, and the Rockets did not agree.

And in history, Maddie went to the Knicks to finish his contract, and the free agent also went to the Pistons.

Even the Pistons are now in desperate need of a deal to free up financial space, because after signing Ben Gordon with a five-year, $55 million contract in the summer, the team originally wanted Gordon and Hamilton to partner in the backcourt, but found that it didn't work at all, and the result was that Gordon was on the bench with a multimillion-dollar contract, and a trade was imminent.

I just don't know if the Pistons will trade Hamilton or Gordon, but no matter which one goes to the Rockets, it will be a reinforcement.

So if it does happen, it will be a good thing for Yao Ming, at least he can continue to chase the championship.

"The group for the World Cup came out yesterday." Perhaps because he didn't want to talk about Maddie anymore, Yao Ming then spoke again.

"With whom?" Xu Yong hadn't paid attention to the news yet.

And the information before his rebirth is useless, because at that time, the men's basketball Asian Championship lost to Iran, which opened the darkest chapter of the men's basketball team, but now they are champions, the division is different, and the grouping is definitely different.

"United States, Russia, Australia, Puerto Rico, Côte d'Ivoire."

"The Group of Death." Xu Yong used a very classic comment.

This grouping is much more difficult than the one he knew.

Especially in a group with the United States team, there is naturally one less place, and the overall strength of Russia and Australia is definitely stronger than them.

"Well, a fight counts as a game." Yao Ming nodded.

"Actually, it's good, because I don't have much to look forward to, as long as I reach the quarterfinals, isn't it a surprise?" Xu Yong said.

Yao Ming was stunned for a moment, and then smiled again.

The reason is naturally so, but if the group ranking is low, you have to play the top of the other group, and 16 into 8 is the most difficult.

However, Xu Yong's character, not to mention the top four, is already conservative.

……

The next night, the Chicago Union Center, the Chinese Derby, was all watched.

Not only was the attendance full, but also a considerable number of Chinese fans came.

On the media side, the number of TV stations broadcasting has also reached the level of "crowded".

Zhang Weiping and Yang Yi were assigned a position with a better perspective because they represented the central five, but they also came an hour in advance, for fear of being taken up by others.

And they also started the warm-up commentary early.

They will naturally mention Yao Yi Derby, because that game was too classic, Yao Ming had 28 points, 10 boards, 3 assists and 3 blocks, and Yi Jianlian had 19 points, 9 boards, 2 steals and 1 block.

But in fact, everyone who watched that game could see that both teams intended to let the two play more at that time.

Before the players entered, the scene gave the scene to Stern, who came to the audience as promised.

You don't have to guess to know that that will continue tonight.

However, Xu Yong is now averaging 19 points per game, so don't you expect to directly raise it by a few notches?

There was still half an hour before the start of the game, and the players of both sides entered one after another.

The scene gave Xu Yong and Yao Ming slitted shots for the first time, the two absolute protagonists tonight.

After the warm-up, the starting lineups of both sides were released one after another.

On the Bulls' side, there are five regular Tigers: Rose, Xu Yong, Deng, Gibson and Noah.

On the Rockets' side, Aaron Brooks, Battier, Artest, Scola, Yao Ming.

Yao Ming turned the ball back into the Rocket half, and the curtain of this Chinese derby, that is, the Yao Xu derby, officially began.

Maddie doesn't play, and the main point of attack for the Rockets is naturally Yao Ming.

This season, Yao Ming averaged 18.2 points, 10.2 rebounds and 4.2 assists per game, which was a new low in the past six seasons, but the number of assists was a career high.

On the one hand, this is because he appears at the free throw line more often after losing weight, and on the other hand, it is also Adelman's Princeton system, which itself will increase the number of times the center can handle the ball, and the assists will naturally go up.

At this time, Yao Ming was at the free throw line, and after Artest cut in to attract the defense, he raised his hand to make a mid-range shot.

"Huh!"

There is a shot.

Yao Ming's mid-range, which is a skill that Embiid will never learn in his life, stands out for being ridiculously accurate.

Noah's effect on defending Boozer was average, and he was a little useless when he encountered Yao Ming's high shot.

"Hey, this ball is played reasonably, and it reflects Da Yao's core position in the team." No, Zhang Weiping came to life at the beginning.

The Rockets took the lead, and when they turned around, Rose organized with the ball, and then gave the ball directly to Xu Yong.

What stands out is the harmony within the team.

This scene amused Stern in the stands.

What joke says that you have to choose one or the other, isn't it all happy?

Of course, the opportunity is given, and whether you can grasp it depends on Xu Yong himself.

As an opponent, and the Rockets are now also competing for a playoff standings, it is absolutely impossible to release water.

Even if it is Yao Ming, if he has the opportunity to cover Xu Yongna, he will never be soft.

And the person who defended Xu Yong was the defensive master Battier, who defended the second team last season.

Not to mention the sweeping assistant Artest.

Many people ignore that this is also the most challenging game since Xu Yong entered the NBA.

Xu Yong held the ball in one hand, first signaled Deng to the bottom corner of the weak side with his auxiliary hand, pulled Artest to the far end, and then opened up the distance between him and Battier with a crotch dribble, and then directly dribbled with his right hand and strode with his left foot to the right side.

How could Xu Yong not be familiar with Battier?

Inventor of blindfold defense, offensive foul maker, "people with high IQs win basketball games, and people with good physical fitness win track and field games".

Battier is characterized by defensive experience and skill, and his shortcomings are speed and lateral movement, so Xu Yong will not be too entangled with Battier in static offenses such as back play, what he wants is dynamic breakthroughs.

In other words, Battier is the best person to test the results of his training over the past month or so.

Battier is very experienced, and he did not leave the ground after keeping an eye on Xu Yong's movements, but turned his hips sideways and turned half to the right, which allowed him to adjust to the best defensive position with the lowest center of gravity.

But at the moment when he did this, Xu Yong's right foot was pulled back, and the whole person had a movement to turn to the left.

Battier was stunned for a moment, and then felt something "swish" out of front of his eyes.

The fans at the scene were also stunned.

Because just now, they couldn't tell for a while whether it was Xu Yong or Ross who was breaking through!

"Bang!"

Fortunately, after Xu Yong broke through to the inside and smashed the ball into the basket, and after swinging around the basket, they were clear.

Because of Rose, he never hung a basket.

(End of chapter)