Generally speaking, a young player must have experienced some exciting battles and performed amazingly, or won some honors, or defeated some opponents who initially thought he could not win, before he can accumulate enough

of confidence.

There are not many rookies like Jordan, Kobe, James, Iverson and others who have strong self-confidence from the beginning. Of course, it is also rare to have people like Liu Mang who are confident but not blind. The first four have strong confidence in their rookie seasons.

None of them are as relatively "stable" as Liu Mang.

Why is it relative?

For example, like now, Liu Mang wants to eat Hamilton alive.

an eye for an eye!

Liu Mang didn't care how innocent Hamilton was, he looked like he was going to eat Hamilton, and he broke through immediately when he saw Hamilton on defense!

Hamilton is that kind of player who doesn't have absolute confidence yet. He later gained strong confidence after winning the championship in 2004.

Does Hamilton have confidence now? Of course he does, but it is relative. As an ordinary person, he is still confident, but when he is facing off against an All-Star opponent, he has no confidence at all.

The reason is that when Hamilton was in high school, he met a guy who was a few months younger than himself and would wear the No. 8 jersey and play in the NBA in the future. They were both high school basketball stars in Pennsylvania, and they were the same person.

Born in.

The sophomore year of high school was a dark one for Hamilton.

After his freshman year of high school, Hamilton was regarded as the best high school basketball player in Pennsylvania. At that time, everyone thought that he would be able to play in the NBA after finishing high school.

However, in his sophomore year, a certain No. 32 who returned from Italy led Lower Merion High School to sweep across Pennsylvania, achieving a record of 26 wins and 2 losses, and won the Pennsylvania High School League championship, setting a new record for Wilt Chamberlain.

It has held the single-season scoring record for 40 years and stole all the limelight.

Especially in 1995, the future No. 8 who changed to No. 33 won the training with the No. 3 pick who had just been selected by the 76ers as a high school senior. He completely stole everyone's attention. Hamilton suddenly graduated from high school.

The most popular player has become a bit player that no one cares about.

It's not that Hamilton isn't good enough, it's that his opponent is a super genius.

Therefore, since then, Hamilton has kept a low profile, and the ups and downs of his life have been so exciting.

Hamilton's confidence was re-established only after defeating his biggest personal belief enemy, Kobe Bryant, in the finals. Now he really has no confidence.

Hamilton was startled when he saw the charging Liu Mang, and took a few steps back to prevent a breakthrough. Liu Mang stopped at the three-point line, pulled up and took a three-point shot!

Hamilton made another defensive mistake.

"It's different from what God said!" Hamilton rushed back in despair, but Liu Mang's three-pointer had already been thrown away.

The posture is still weird, but it’s accurate!

Hamilton was frustrated. When discussing with Jordan before the game how to guard against Liu Mang, Jordan said he should pay attention to Liu Mang's breakthrough steps.

This is a matter of experience and ability. Jordan used his experience from the last one-on-one training with Liu Mang. Jordan has a height advantage and speed disadvantage over Liu Mang, so Liu Mang is naturally more willing to use it.

Breaking through the basket relies on footwork to solve problems.

But Hamilton is different. The speed gap between Liu Mang and him is not very big. Hamilton's physical fitness is also incomparable with Jordan. Both Liu Mang have a strength advantage, so the best defense is to just stick to the defense and apply pressure.

.

But even when Hamilton was at his peak with the Pistons, he just didn't make mistakes. He seemed to have the physical talent to defend well, but his defense was mediocre.

That is to say, he has the body, he has the talent, but his defensive intelligence is not that good. He needs someone to wipe his butt, but he has just become the main force now. People tend to focus on offense for young outsiders.

Liu Mang's three-pointer made him already score 9 points. He made all three three-pointers in the opening game!

I feel a lot better today. Liu Mang thinks he can take one more shot. Chris Crawford, Raheem, and Alan Henderson are three such strong rushers at the basket, so they don’t have to worry about rebounds.

The aging Laettner and the young Haywood are no match for these three people.

Wizards offense.

Without Jordan, Christian Laettner, the former water cooler keeper of the Dream Team, became the core of the offense.

As the water cooler keeper of the Dream Team, Laettner is definitely not bad. As a standard senior who graduated in the 1980s and 1990s and entered the NBA at the age of 23, Laettner was able to score 18+93 in his rookie year, and

Duncan, Brand and others were in their prime when they entered the NBA.

Of course, except for a few players like this, they also age very quickly. By the time he was in his 30s, Laettner had gone from a first-class player who averaged 17 or 8 points, 78 rebounds and three assists per game to an average player who was in the top ten per game.

The 33-year-old Laettner can still compete with the Wizards, mainly due to his excellent support ability and singles skills.

Whitney advanced and gave the ball to Laettner.

Although Laettner is the offensive core of the Wizards' second team, he is not the scoring point. The first scoring point of the Wizards' second team is, of course, Hamilton.

However, Hamilton has gone from crazy and miserable to desperate!

Running and running, running and running, Hamilton has used more running than usual, more changes in running rhythm and circling. He feels tired, but every time he turns his head, the ghost of the rookie is still there.

The All-Star puts his face in front of his own every time he turns his head!

Leitner had no choice but to take a step into the three-second zone and shoot a jumper from close range... a narrow hit!

Playing high and high, this is an aspect that the Eagles can't defend now.

Leitner's height of two meters and one meter is indeed a great advantage.

To be honest, Laettner is in the shadow of the four major centers of the 1990s, as well as Chris Webber, Juwan Howard and others. If it were placed now, he would definitely be an outstanding technical tall man. In the future,

, it’s hard to say how strong he will be, but his playing style is not very strong, so he will probably be good in the small ball era.

It just seems very ordinary when compared with his contemporaries. Apart from being an All-Star substitute, he has gained nothing.

The Eagles have long been mentally prepared for being hit high in the paint. If Haywood can catch the ball in the paint, the Eagles' lineup can't do anything about it. Laettner's skills are so good, and he also poses a certain threat when playing on the ball.

But none of this can help the Wizards open up the score! These two people, even if they are given the ball and keep shooting, they can get 20 points. As long as they kill their outside scoring points, the Wizards only average two points per game.

The ones who scored in double figures were Jordan and Hamilton, and Tyronn Lue, who averaged 9.7 points per game. The rest of the rotation averaged six or seven points per game, which means they were basically split between Jordan and Laettner.

The cake-eating role.

It was the Eagles' offense again. Watching the Eagles fall into position after failing to counterattack, and looking at the rookie All-Star, Hamilton, who was staring fiercely at him dribbling the ball, he swallowed his saliva.

Still have to be on guard!

Although the degree of psychological despair spreads further, the offense cannot get rid of the defense, but the defense must be good! God said that defense wins the championship. This sentence must be right!

Liu Mang moved outside the three-point line and made another sudden move!

Just as Hamilton was about to retreat subconsciously, he suddenly stopped his steps. Sure enough, the No. 1 took back his breakthrough action and seemed to be about to shoot?

Just as Hamilton was about to pounce back, he saw the No. 1 body leaning forward to break through again...

Hamilton is going crazy!

Why don't you just give it a try!

You may not be able to stop me if you break through, okay?

Hamilton wanted to go crazy and blocked a three-pointer!

When Liu Mang blocked Hamilton's position outside the three-point line, he regretfully chose to break through. After reaching the three-point line, even though Hamilton was completely out of position, he did not choose a pull-up jump shot that he was not good at, but went straight for it.

Towards the basket.

The current Liu Mang is not the assist leader who got into the basket at the beginning of the season and foolishly forced a foul and then was seen through by the opponent.

Hamilton came up and double-teamed Liu Mang. Liu Mang looked at Alan Henderson and made a move to pass it to Alan Henderson. As expected, Hamilton and Haywood had no defensive understanding.

Pounced towards Alan Henderson.

But! This is a pass fake!

Liu Mang took the ball back and made an easy layup.

This action...

ESPN's camera, which was broadcasting the game, was focused on Jordan on the sidelines. Isn't this fake shot with one hand holding the ball one of his signature moves? This shameless rookie with an ugly and weird playing posture actually started to play.
Chapter completed!