After a 25-game winning streak, the SuperSonics have a period of rest, and their next game is at home against the Kings on the 20th.

Since buying out Ruben Patterson's contract, forward swingman Cory Magetti has been firmly in the No. 2 position, averaging 35 minutes per game.

The main substitute at the No. 2 position is Shamond Williams, and the main substitute at the No. 3 position is rookie Desmond Mason, both of whom are still available and belong to the main rotation lineup.

Whithitt is still looking for someone in the free market, hoping to find a swingman for the front, but at the moment there are enough people and there is no hurry.

On the 20th and 22nd, the SuperSonics defeated the Kings and the Wizards at home and away, winning 27 in a row, and then on the 23rd, they challenged the Kings back-to-back away, and were defeated and the winning streak was suspended.

The superSonics were in poor shape, and Zhou Quan scored 32 points in the third quarter, but only received 6 assists, and the team trailed by 20 points in the third quarter, and was pressed to the bench in the final quarter.

The Kings played a gorgeous and super-explosive Princeton offense, with six players scoring double-doubles and three scoring 20+, and the whole team scored 125 points throughout the game, including 14 of 30 three-pointers, with a shooting rate of 46.7%, completely breaking down the supersonic defense and winning by 27 points.

The winning streak was interrupted, and the nerves that had been tense since the beginning of the game were finally relaxed.

After an extra day in Sacramento, on the 25th, the team continued on the road, arriving in Dallas, where they were to play back-to-back games on the road.

As big as a dinner party, the two chatted for a long time.

After strengthening rebounding and defense, Nelson Sr. also increased his playing time, and now basically has a chance to play in every game, entered the rotation, can play about 17 minutes, averages 8.5 points, 3.7 rebounds, 0.8 assists, 0.4 steals, 0.9 blocks, 0.4 turnovers and 1.5 fouls per game, and shoots 42.3% from the field.

Zhou Quan asked about Dazhi's data and said: "Dazhi, your performance can't do Bradley."

He's better than you in rebounding and defensively, averaging 7 points, 7.4 rebounds and 2.8 blocks per game in 25 minutes, which is what the Mavericks want you to offer right now.

Offense is a little better than him, but your shooting is still not efficient enough, and the Mavericks are not bad for your offense, so my advice is that you continue to work on rebounding and defense. ”

Da Zhi nodded silently, it has been almost two months since he came to the NBA, and he finally realized the difficulty of playing here.

In the past, he watched Zhou Quan kill all sides in the NBA, and he also dreamed that he would play a world in the NBA, but now he doesn't have this dream.

Zhou Quan can't help too much, and the rest is up to him.

If he can't contribute more on the defensive end, he can only improve his efficiency on the offensive end, and improving his 42 percent shooting percentage by at least five percentage points should make Da Zhi's position more stable with the Mavericks.

He concluded: "Dazhi, although Nelson Sr. doesn't require you to play low post offense, but if you are a center, you should still increase the proportion of offense in the paint area.

You're only 15 percent off the basket, 21 percent on the last two points, and 36 percent on the paint, which is too little, and you're the center, at least the paint offense has to be above 40 percent, that's the bare minimum, so you're going to shoot a little bit higher.

I looked at your stats, and the shooting rate under the basket reached 66.7%, yes, the shooting rate of the last two points also reached 50%, which is not good, it is very good, higher than David Robinson and Ewing.

You know, among the four super centers, O'Neal's nearly two-point shooting rate is 42%, he is the highest, and you have a nearly two-point shooting rate of 50%, why don't you attack more in the paint area? ”

"They, is the nearly two-point shooting percentage so low?" He was a little surprised, his English was not good, and his reading and writing skills were even worse, and he didn't know much about it.

Zhou Quan nodded and said: "Your pace under the basket is very good, this is your advantage, pull outside to shoot, your pace advantage will not have a chance to play."

Don't be afraid of confrontation, you have to dare to go into the paint and attack, and if you do that, even if you don't have a chance with the Mavericks, there will be other teams who want you.

Nelson Sr.'s coaching style is different from other managers, he likes Nowitzki's style, and you're afraid you like his style, which allows you to escape the paint zone.

But you have to keep in mind that you're out there doing high batteries, and unless your shooting percentage increases by a few percentage points, you're going to be abandoned by the Mavericks sooner or later, and you have no future. ”

Da Zhi gritted his teeth and nodded, "Brother, I listen to you." ”

Zhou Quan nodded and said: "After entering the paint area, don't be afraid of eating elbows, others elbow you, you also elbow others, don't cause trouble when you eat and live, but you can't be afraid of things."

Remember, if you add two or three paint attacks a game, the stats will be a lot better than they are now. ”

The two talked about the national team from the NBA, and said: "Brother, will you participate in next year's National Games?" ”

Zhou Quan was stunned, the National Games?

At the time of the National Games in '93, Nanhu Province did not contact him, because the provincial basketball team had been canceled at that time.

However, in '97, the province rebuilt the basketball team and contacted his father, hoping that he could participate in the National Games held in October of that year.

But he didn't agree, he completed a three-peat, retired from the NBA, and was preparing for a boxing championship, so he didn't have time at all.

"The province has not contacted me, and if I do, I will not participate. Big, you want to participate in the National Games? He asked.

Da Zhi shook his head and said: "My military status is no longer there, I have played in the National Games on behalf of Jiefangjun before, but now I am not qualified, they have not contacted me." ”

Speaking of this, he said with some doubts: "The city has not contacted me, in fact, I can still represent the capital to participate in the National Games." ”

"What, you want to play in the National Games?" Zhou Quan asked.

"No, brother, I'm just a little confused." Da Zhi said with a smile.

In fact, he was not confused, but a little lost, because he went from the capital to Bayi, he offended the Beijing team badly, and now Bart is representing the capital to play the National Games, so naturally he will not look for him.

Thinking of Bart, he said again: "By the way, brother, has Bart contacted you, some NBA teams have contacted him in the past two years." ”

"Nope."

Zhou Quan smiled and shook his head.

Because he supported Da Yao to play the main starting force last time, the relationship between him and Bart deteriorated, and Bart definitely won't contact him.

On the night of the 26th, Zhou Quan scored 45 points, 8 rebounds, 15 assists, 8 steals and 3 blocks, and the supersonic defeated the Mavericks without a losing streak.

On the 27th, SuperSonics lost again, losing back-to-back away games to Mosaic.

No. 30, beating the Hornets at home, ending all the 2000 schedule.

With 29 wins and 2 losses, he has the best record in the league.

In 2001, on January 1, the league announced the best of the month and MVP rankings for the previous month, and Zhou Quan won the monthly award for the 13th time and continued to sit first in the MVP rankings.

On this day, the league also announced that the '01 All-Star voting began.

New York, NBA headquarters, Stern took care of some things and began to think about the gains and losses of one thing.

Last year, the NBA opened Internet voting, which was very efficient, and the voting was directly doubled, and now he has an idea to open Internet voting in China and China, so that Zhou Quan will definitely get more votes and further enhance the influence of the NBA.

However, there are pros and cons, Zhou Quan's votes are far higher than other All-Stars, if the China and China regions are opened, the gap is too big, I am afraid that it will cause dissatisfaction among other players, so he has been hesitating about this matter.

Looking at the current supersonic record, the possibility of defending the title this season is not small, if you win the championship again, it will be five crowns, will it form aesthetic fatigue?

However, the superSonics' luck is really good, picking up Ben Wallace, the performance of the undrafted is very stable, and has become the core of the superSonics' interior defense, with the strength to compete for DPOY, Zhou Quan has his help, defend the title, and then the second dynasty is not without a chance.

Thinking of this, his feelings were very complicated.

The greater the achievement and the greater the influence of Tekken, the better it is for the league.

If two triple crowns are played, the Iron Fist King may even become the first person in history to look up to Goat.

But sadly, Tekken is not American.

……

On the evening of the 1st, Zhou Quan's family went to Chinatown for dinner.

Over the years, Chinatown has expanded several streets, the community has grown several times, and the number of Chinese has exceeded 150,000.

Walking into Chinatown, it is like returning to China, and there are square-shaped signboards everywhere, both simplified and traditional.

Yuelai Restaurant is a Lu restaurant opened by a third-generation Chinese, and Zhou Quan and his family are here for dinner tonight, and they have already set a table.

After they arrived, the boss personally came forward to receive them, and the attitude was called a warm one.

Entering the private room facing the street on the second floor, I served good tea, ordered food, and the boss served some snacks before leaving.

Zhou Quan looked at the street and said: "It's much more lively here than when I was just now, the vast majority of Chinese Americans who moved to Seattle, the proportion of domestic immigrants coming is relatively small, and there are probably some people who are smuggled over, but it shouldn't be much." ”

"There shouldn't be many real immigrants in the country, and most of them are smuggled." Zeng Li said.

Zhou Ye said: "I heard from my second brother that many people have sold their houses in China, and immigrants can only wash dishes, can't find any good jobs, and their lives are not as good as in China, I don't know if there are such people here." ”

Zhou Quan said with a smile: "Middle-class immigration to the United States is to grab job opportunities for Americans, unless you have skills that Americans lack, you can't compete with Americans."

Many immigrants have a misconception that they are elite at home and will be elite in the United States, but they are really wrong.

You are an elite in China, and you are not necessarily an elite in the United States, so it is very possible to come to the United States if you can't get it, and it is very likely that a university professor will wash dishes and live in a basement. ”

……

Heading into January, the schedule continues to deepen.

Ben Wallace has become an indispensable inside gate for the SuperSonics, especially after Rashad Lewis became the starting main power forward, his presence is even more important.

Lewis' defense is still an issue, and once the opponent bursts through him, Big Ben becomes a defensive barrier on the inside, and he is more important than before Lewis didn't start the line-up.

However, Lewis's performance on the offensive end has become more and more consistent, averaging 35 minutes per game, 15 points, 7 rebounds, 1.6 assists and 1.2 steals, shooting 50.5% from the field, 45.4% from three-point range, and shooting a high percentage of open shots.

His shots are mainly open positions, and he is also the person with the strongest ability to use Zhou Quan to create empty positions, and Zhou Quan averages about 3 assists per game from him.

After Corimagetti became the main starter, he averaged 26 minutes per game, contributed 13 points and 3.5 rebounds per game, and shot 47% from the field.

In the supersonic team, Zhou Quan, Lewis, Cory Magetti and other three scored double-doubles, and there were six others who scored more than 5+.

The team's overall shooting percentage was 48.1 percent, the highest in the league. The second is the Jazz with 47.1%. The third is Spurs, with 46.1%.

The SuperSonics also led the league in assists with 26.8. Second is the Jazz with 25.7 times.

In terms of points per game, the SuperSonics scored 102.5 points, first in the league. Second is the Kings with 101.7 points.

In terms of points conceded, the SuperSonics are 89.5 points, third in the league, and only the Knicks, Heat, and Spurs have conceded fewer points than the SuperSonics.

The importance of Zhou Quan's power can be seen from these statistics, providing the team with efficient scoring and defense, as well as assists.

After playing the January schedule, the SuperSonics have a 44-4 record and 15-2 in January, still the best performing team in the league.

On January 29, the four-week All-Star voting ended.

Zhou Quan once again won the vote king, last year was 6.61 million votes, this year got 6.87 million votes, although the increase is not large, but it means that his popularity has not fallen.

The second most voted winner was Vince Carter, with 1.8 million votes. Third was O'Neal's 1.54 million votes, fourth was Iverson's 1.5 million votes, and fifth was Kobe's 1.43 million.

"The top five All-Stars with the most votes received a total of 13.12 million votes, and the Iron Fist King received more votes than the four combined." New york times.

"Tekken's All-Star vote makes American professional sports history again." The Seattle Times.

On the same day, the league announced the All-Star starters and bench rosters for '01.

Eastern Conference All-Star starters: Anthony Davis, Anthony Mason Jr., Maddy, Vince Carter, Iverson

Eastern Conference All-Star Subs: Ray Allen, Marbury, Glen Robinson, Sprewell, Mutombo, Alan Houston, Payton

Western All-Star starters: Duncan, Garnett, Chris Webber, Kobe, Zhou Quan

Western Conference All-Star Subs: Kidd, Finley, David Robinson, Divac, Rasheed Wallace, Ben Wallace, Karl Malone, Antonio McDyes.

Among them, the starting center in the east was Mourning, and the starting center in the west was O'Neal, both of whom were on leave due to injury.

Zhou Quan also wants to take a leave of absence, and now he has little interest in the All-Star, but it is estimated that Stern will not allow it, and it is better to be a mascot than to take a leave of absence.

The All-Star is on February 9-12, and the main event is on the 11th, and the venue is Washington.

The SuperSonics lost to the Trail Blazers on the road before the All-Star break, with a 47-5 record.

(End of chapter)