I used to be curious, but now I'm really fighting head-on.

Therefore, Liu Mang was even more curious and wanted to observe the king's heroic appearance up close...

Liu Mang almost sang: The king asked me to patrol the mountains...

But I thought it didn’t seem to be in the same episode, so I gave it up.

The Mavericks and the Hawks have almost no contact. First of all, there are no players in the same class. The two teams play against each other twice a year. It is impossible to say that they have established a friendship with each other. Therefore, the relationship is neither salty nor cold. Before the game, it was only Jason Terry and Terry.

Tim Hardaway said hello, Liu Mang, Wang Zhizhi, and Nash said hello.

Nash is currently developing in a wretched way. Although he is about to reach the third grade, he has no status in the team and ranks as a junior behind Finley and Nowitzki.

The most miserable one is the mistress. She may spend the most effort, be the most tired, and sweat the most, but she is the least lovable one. She has to take the blame when something goes wrong, and she has to have a good relationship with the boss. The boss is so old.

He's not even older than me, but he still loves his second child deeply.

The Mavericks and the Eagles probably have a harmonious relationship, with no conflicts and not much goodwill.

At this time, Liu Mang suddenly came to the Mavericks half court, holding a ball and pretending to shoot. He held it for a long time without making any move, just staring at Nowitzki.

Nowitzki is a European, German, with a calm personality and rigorous style.

Well, to be honest, European players are not much better able to integrate into the American environment than Chinese players. It’s just that the skin color of European players is similar to that of most people in the United States. In terms of strength, European players are generally better than Chinese players, so that’s why

It will give people the impression that European players can better integrate into the NBA, but in fact it is almost the same.

Nowitzki and Yao Ming's degree of integration into the NBA is not much different, it's just that Nowitzki is healthier and has played longer in his career.

Nowitzki was dumbfounded by Liu Mang's curious eyes. The key is that other members of the Mavericks team are also curious. What is this rookie who has been so popular recently doing here? He didn't go up to help Nowitzki.

Finally, Nowitzki couldn't bear it anymore!

With an elegant shake of his head, and his long hair sliding through a beautiful arc, Nowitzki asked Liu Mang: "Hi, hello, Ace, what's the matter with?"

In fact, Liu Mang had endured it for a long time and replied with a curious, surprising and somewhat excited reply: "Cascuti, do you dare to agree to my call?"

Qazxcdew, transliterated as Cascuti, the abbreviation of Silver-Horn-the-junior-demon-king, translated into Chinese, is the Silver Horn King...

This abbreviation was created by domestic basketball fans as an English word specially created for Nowitzki. It was also included in the ranks of official English words by a well-known English dictionary in a certain year.

"..." Nowitzki was a little confused.

"Cascuti?" Nowitzki felt like something was wrong, but the rookie in front of him didn't seem to have any ill intentions. "What does this mean? Ace, I don't understand..."

"Uh... Dirk, just agree to it next time I call you this way. This is your Chinese nickname. Wang also knows that your Chinese nickname is Silver-Horn-the-junior-demon-king, which is too long.

, so I shortened it." Liu Mang pointed at Wang Zhizhi.

"Nickname?" Nowitzki was suddenly very touched! As an overseas player, he also has a nickname!

Nowitzki didn't quite understand the silver horns on the front, why he had silver horns, but the KING, which means king, Nowitzki understood!

It turns out that although I am not very popular in the United States, and I can’t compete with those who play football in Germany, I have fans in China!

"Cascuti? That's cool. Ace, thank you for the nickname!" Nowitzki patted Liu Mang's shoulder in emotion.

At this time, Rahim came and took Liu Mang away. He spent a long time staying with the opponent's players in the away game. It's not a shame!

Liu Mang was still very resentful when he was taken away... Your Majesty, you haven't said yet whether you dare to agree...

…

…

This is a truly evenly matched game, just like the game between the Eagles and Timberwolves, the two teams are about the same strength.

The Mavericks, Timberwolves, and Hawks are classified as the second-tier teams in the league.

And in terms of record, the Hawks are ahead of the Mavericks and the Timberwolves, and second only to the Spurs and Kings, who have won 53 and 51 wins respectively.

So it's hard to say who will win and who will lose in this game. Both teams are concentrating on this game.

The Eagles continued to field their regular lineup, and with Ratliff back, the Eagles felt very stable.

Relatively speaking, although the Mavericks also have 45 wins, they have been surpassed by the SuperSonics. Even though they played very steadily in the early stage and once had a better record than the Lakers, they did not feel that stable.

This is the normal impression given by the Mavericks in recent years despite their good record. Mad scientists are too capable of causing trouble.

The Mavericks' lineup is Steve Nash, Adrian Griffin, Michael Finley, Dirk Nowitzki, and Reeve LaFrentz.

Ratliff beat LaFrentz on a jump ball. LaFrentz was so sad, but the same person knocked the ball away from his head at home... Why did you say it again?

The Eagles attacked first, Dean Grove pushed the ball into the frontcourt, and the Mavericks' defense was already in position.

Liu Mang looked at the Mavericks' defensive position and was a little surprised!

Griffin is an excellent defensive engineer. He was an undrafted player in 1999. His talent in the draft that year was so good. Many undrafted players are still playing in the NBA. Griffin is one of them.

He is a shooting guard, but he can guard from point guard to power forward.

Moreover, Griffin's defense is very suitable for today's era. The style of play is extremely fierce, with crazy forwards and body contact. Jason Terry's small arms and legs are blocked and it is difficult to catch the ball!

Not only this, the Mavericks' defense is really targeted. Although LaFrentz is a bit softer, he is huge. As a two-meter-one-meter center, he does not have an absolute advantage in height, but he has excellent lateral movement ability and can attack opponents in the three-second zone.

He is a great shooting threat and has an extremely keen sense of blocking shots.

Maybe on a weak team like the Nuggets, players like this can't be seen as very powerful. After all, the opponent can rush in directly from the outside without interference. Even O'Neal, Ben Wallace, and Ratliff can only use fouls to stop the opponent.

.

But even then, LaFrentz has never blocked less than two shots since his rookie year, and his role is very prominent when he comes to a strong team.

LaFrentz guarded the basket alone, which was enough to cover Muhammad and Ratliff, two inside men who had no independent offensive ability. In terms of size alone, LaFrentz was bigger than Ratliff.

Nowitzki and Michael Finley formed an off-ball attack on Rahim. Seeing that Jason Terry couldn't catch the ball, Rahim came out to connect with Dean Grove, but there was Michael Fin in front of him.

Lee, there was Nowitzki on the reverse run, and Dean Grove couldn't pass the ball! Raheem cut inside and was blocked by Nowitzki on the left side of the free throw line.

Fortunately, although Dean Grove is average in strength, his playing style is very stable and he does not make a few blind passes. He saw that he was being defended by a weak white point guard. When his teammates could not catch the ball,

I made a choice, forcefully break out!

Nash worked very hard and defended very carefully, but some people are like this, such as Vujacic. Looking at the fierce defense, the opponent's shooting percentage soared by more than ten percentage points.

Nash is similar, Dean Grove's slow-motion change of direction, the active Nash pounces directly to the other side...

Dean Grove reached the three-point line and rushed straight into the three-second zone. Nash was the biggest hole in the Mavericks' defense. He was completely passed by. Finley couldn't even come back to cover the defense in time. Dean Grove

Breaking into the three-second zone and attracting LaFrentz's defense, Nowitzki quickly returned to the basket to cover the man who was about to be vacated. Finley also came over to block Dean Grotto with LaFrentz.

husband.

In terms of defensive awareness, although Nowitzki's defensive ability is poor, his awareness is very good. It can be seen from his average of 10 rebounds per game over the years. He may not be very effective defensively, but he is very motivated.

Dean Grove has been able to sit firmly in the NBA for many years. Although it is related to luck. The team he is on does not happen to have a better point guard, but he must have his advantages in being able to call the shots. For example, even if he suddenly reaches this

In terms of position, he still didn't force a foul or forced a shot. His advantage is that he is calm and not greedy for merit!

Dean Grove lobbed the ball to Rahim, who easily hit a close shot from the left side of the three-second zone!

Coach Kruger was very satisfied with Dean Grove's performance. What he wanted was Dean Grove's calmness, otherwise Emanuel would be stronger, better physically and technically better.

You are already here.

Looking at the opponent's point guard line, the three players are not very good at defense. The only point that Coach Kruger found that can stably target the opponent seems to be correct.

No matter how many tactical changes the Mavericks make or how perfect their defensive system is, Coach Kruger, who has experienced a very difficult period when Ratliff was injured, knows very well that it is the players who play the ball, and the flaws of the players are too great, no matter how the system is

Nothing good can make up for it.

The point guard's poor defense is the Mavericks' biggest flaw!

Coach Kruger looked at Liu Mang on the sidelines. The key point of this game lies in this kid.

And Liu Mang was also surprised by the Mavericks' defense. If Nash's defense wasn't so bad, the Mavericks' quick rotation defense just now was really good!

If only Nash had a better defensive awareness just now, after being passed by Dean Grove, when Finley went to defend Dean Grove, he quickly switched to Rahim, and Rahim's shot was absolutely perfect.

It won't be an open position. Even if his defensive effect is poor, he can still have some interference ability.

With just this one shot, Liu Mang understood why the Mavericks gave up on Nash. It wasn't that Nash wasn't good enough. Nash was definitely a super offensive genius, but the Mavericks already had Nowitzki, who had a good defensive attitude but poor results. Another one

Nash, no one can stand it!

Moreover, after Nash left the Mavericks, both the Mavericks and Nash's new team reached the pinnacle of team history, which was considered a win-win breakup.
Chapter completed!