On this day, some media made predictions about this game.
Major television network media such as TNT and ESPN all unanimously believed that the Mosaic team would win the game.
Based on the current record rankings of the Western Conference teams, the Suns are third and Mosaic is second, but few media think that the Suns will win.
They all mentioned one position invariably, and that was position 5. They unanimously believed that Dameng would defeat Wang Tiejun in a duel, and would defeat him on both offense and defense.
The media in Phoenix and Arizona are biased towards the Suns, but their confidence comes from Barkley, not Wang Tiejun.
In the morning, Wang Tiejun practiced the content of the system function card for an hour, and then asked for leave at 10 o'clock to go out and walk around the fourth largest city in the United States.
His main place to visit is not other places, because there is no Chinatown in Phoenix, but he knows there is one here. Houston's Chinatown is one of the top ten Chinatowns in the United States, and he wants to buy something here.
Entering Bailey Avenue, which is part of Chinatown, you immediately enter the world of Asians. You can see monkeys and Korean sticks everywhere here, but most of them are Chinese, and there are signs with Chinese characters everywhere.
Along the way, he watched the excitement, and he became a part of the excitement. Because he was like a giant, passers-by paid attention and watched, and the rate of return was very high.
Feeling a little hungry, he ate a few pork buns from Fufu Cafe, but they didn't taste as good as Goubuli buns.
It is said that he has not eaten Goubuli steamed buns for more than three years. He used to eat them every time when he went to Tianjin to compete. Since he joined the provincial team, he has not had the chance to eat them. I don’t know if the taste has changed now. I miss him very much.
.
After walking around for a while, he heard a burst of pop music coming from not far away, but it was his favorite "Glory Days", and he immediately walked over.
The music was stored in a grocery store. As soon as he walked in, a Chinese man in his thirties was a little surprised when he saw him. He immediately stood up and greeted him in Hakka. Seeing that he didn't understand, he immediately changed to a less standard one.
He said in Mandarin: "Sir, is there anything you need?"
He looked at it, pointed to the music playing machine on the cashier counter and asked, "Boss, do you have Chinese and Cantonese CDs here?"
This is a Sony music CD player. He didn't recognize it before, but he recognized it when he came to the Suns. Most of his teammates had one, so he bought one too.
However, he doesn’t really like listening to English songs yet, and he can’t find Chinese CDs, so it has been of no use.
"Yes, I'll get it for you," the boss said repeatedly.
Then he took out a large stack of CDs, more than thirty of them, including the Four Heavenly Kings, Tan Zhang Zhenghe Series, Golden Disk Iron Box Collection Series, Hong Kong Songs, Princess Xian's 26 golden songs just released this year and Baoli
Golden 88’s best music series, mostly Cantonese songs.
He picked over and over again, and felt that it was not easy to visit Chinatown, so he just ordered them all, which was a generous act.
Back at the hotel, he shared the food and drinks with his teammates. He couldn't wait to take out the CD player and listen to his songs.
At two o'clock in the afternoon, after lunch, the Suns entered the Compaq Center, the home arena of the Mosaics.
This game is also the first time the Suns have played Mosaic this season, and there are three more games to come.
Given the strength of the two teams, they will either meet in the second round of the playoffs or meet in the Western Conference Finals, so the four regular season games are very important and are the key for each other to understand the strength of their opponents.
Both teams also want to win four more games in the regular season, which will give them a morale advantage and compete for home court advantage in the playoffs.
Head coach Paul Westphal arranged tactical training. The focus of tactics was of course on inside tactics. For a team that wants to play big, the inside must be the focus.
"Old K, your task on the offensive end is to use your strong position to consume Dameng's physical energy, coordinate the ball, pick and roll screens, grab the backcourt rebounds and then launch a fast break, grab the frontcourt rebounds and then play
Second attack."
"On the defensive end, your task is heavier. Don't let Dameng get whatever he wants under the basket. Remember, Dameng's pace is too flexible. You don't want to be shaken easily. Focus on stability, otherwise he will break your ankle.
It’s all possible.”
"You have the heaviest defensive task tonight, because Mosaic has three starters who are good at shooting three-pointers. The Jets' Kenny Smith's three-point shooting rate has reached 44% this season. Mad Max is the three-point king in the previous two seasons.
, he is best at shooting key shots, and Robert Horry's three-pointers are also very accurate, so we can't double-team Dameng, no one will come down to help defend him, and you can only defend him alone."
"I understand, I will do my job well." Lao Wang wiped the sweat from his forehead.
Damn you, single defense is a big dream, my single defense is only level 75, can you defend it without being shaken to death? He swore not to move around on the field tonight, otherwise be careful of your ankle being knocked down.
At seven o'clock in the evening, after dinner, the Suns entered the visiting team's locker room.
Resting, changing clothes, chatting, listening to music, and getting massages are the activities and pastimes of the players in the locker room.
Comrade Lao Wang first asked team doctor Andrew John to massage him. After massaging for a while, he said with some disgust: "Andrew, your technique is not very good. Do you want me to teach you how to massage?"
"What is massage?" Andrew John asked in surprise.
"Push the palace through acupoints, pinch the muscles and bones, an enhanced version of massage." Lao Wang said with a smile.
"You're great, old K."
Although he didn't quite understand what he was saying, Andrew John was still full of admiration.
"That's right, we Chinese are omnipotent. In fact, you can call me Superman, Superman Wang." Comrade Lao Wang said proudly.
"If you chop off 2010 on Da Meng's head tonight, I will call you Superman." Andrew John suddenly said with a smile.
"Ahem, Andrew, you are so bad at chatting. This is not a normal chat mode. I won't talk to you anymore." After Comrade Lao Wang said this, he got off the massage table and went to listen to his music again.
At this time, on the other side of the Pacific, sjz, it was time to go to work, the streets were crowded with people, and an army of bicycles rolled by at lightning speed.
There are many newsstands on the street. In addition to public phones and newspapers, they also sell phone cards, magazines, cigarettes, drinks, etc.
Many people buy a newspaper on their way to work.
"What are you doing?"
A middle-aged man picked up a copy of Yanzhao Evening News, the most influential newspaper in SJZ, at a newsstand. Before he could open it, he saw a huge missing person notice on the front page, which made him confused.
"Is this an important person? The advertisement is actually on the front page. How much does it cost?" He muttered and read the content out of curiosity.
Well, in the missing person advertisement, there is not only no photo, but also no name, age, etc. All I know is that she is a woman. Although there is a place and time of the incident, how can I find it?
"There's more to this. It's been published in major newspapers, and it's also on the front page of Yanzhao Metropolis Daily."
The old man at the newsstand looked at the middle-aged man's confused look, pointed to the other newspapers placed there, and said: "The young man saved someone but was sentenced to one year instead. This woman has no conscience. She ran away like that. That's not the case."
That’s what you did!”
The middle-aged man took a look and realized that it was true that the front page headline of Yanzhao Metropolis Daily, the most influential newspaper in Hebei Province, was also this missing person advertisement.
"If it's true, this was definitely not done by humans."
He was stunned for a moment: "This advertisement is not for us, it is for that woman. I am so disgusted by it. She didn't stand up back then, and she probably won't stand up now."
The old man at the newsstand laughed and said: "I guess this woman might not be from Hebei. We Hebei people won't be so unreasonable. We Hebei people are all heroes."
"Yeah, that's right." The middle-aged man said cheerfully.
Just like these two people, on this day, countless people in Hebei were discussing this missing person notice.
It's a pity that the phone number left by Zhang Lili was exploded, but no one could provide any useful clues. They were just boring people, curious people, and people with ulterior motives.
…
At 7:30, the first announcement was made.
Suns: Wang Tiejun, Barkley, Richard Dumars, Dan Mulley, Negre Knight
Mosaic: Olajuwon, Otis Thorpe, Horry, Vernon Maxwell, Kenny Smith,
"I'm in the starting lineup!"
When he heard his name, Richard Dumas got high instantly, as if he had inhaled something.
Cedric Ceballos, who lost his starting position, was a little frustrated. He still couldn't stabilize his starting position.
At this time, it was time for the substitute to come on, and Comrade Wang next to him patted Ceballos on the shoulder.
"Thank you, I'm fine."
A grateful smile appeared on Ceballos' honest face.
"fine?"
Lao Wang was startled, pointed to the other substitute teammates who got up and said: "You have something to do, you should go to the warm-up field."
"You don't need to rush me."
Ceballos was stunned, glared at Lao Wang angrily, stood up and followed him out.
"Ha ha……"
The rest of the people in the locker room burst into laughter.
"Let's go."
Kevin Johnson, who was injured and out of action, also went on the road trip. At this time, he said hello and walked out of the locker room first, followed by others.
At 7:40, the starting lineup begins.
In the player tunnel, the two teams are waiting to play.