Chapter One Hundred and Twenty Seven: Fighting with Confucianism(1/2)
On November 7, the regular seasons of the Los Angeles Lakers and the Utah Jazz will begin at 7:30 p.m. U.S. Mountain Time.
In order to arrive at the Energy Plan Arena in advance, the Lakers took a bus from Parker City to Salt Lake City after lunch.
The road was very smooth when I came, but there was a traffic jam on the way when I arrived.
Because on InterContinental Highway 80, there are many fans who drive to the stadium to watch the game.
This is one of the Utah Jazz's hospitality methods, allowing the away team to live far away, and spend their energy on the way to the stadium, and spend a little bit.
The other Lakers players are old-fashioned and have long been used to it, and Li Liangcai played away for the second time.
In the last game in Portland, I felt that in addition to the turbulent stadium, Portland fans were quite friendly.
On Halloween, I saw many fans wearing Lakers jerseys and Trail Blazers jerseys sitting together to watch the game.
I guess he is a good friend, one supports the Trail Blazers and the other supports the Lakers. He loves each other behind his back and openly scolds each other for being stupid.
This second away game came to Salt Lake City, the legendary home court of the Devil, Li Liang was not nervous at all.
He is very excited!
He couldn't wait to scold the fans on the sidelines.
When he was in Kentucky, he had no choice but to play, so he helped the team the biggest help in addition to cheering up, and to scold fans from other schools.
This is the case on the basketball court. Most of the fans off the court are humble and gentlemen, and college students with high quality.
Once I arrived at the basketball court, my adrenaline rose, and I was not soft-mouthed when I scolded me.
A basketball player must have strong psychological qualities when playing away games.
In the past, Li Liang was not good at football and had strong psychological qualities. The 10 Southeastern League schools in Kentucky, such as Auburn University, University of Tennessee, and University of Louisiana, have left traces of his battle.
Li Liang still pays attention to the Basic Law when scolding each other. He does not go down the three paths, but uses various tricks to swear and often fights with one against a hundred, which can be regarded as a scenic spot on the sidelines of Kentucky.
Salt Lake City is the territory of Mormons. Mormons in life are simple and simple, but when the Jazz is at home, they become devils. Crazy shouts and boos can shock any newcomer.
If your psychological quality is a little worse, I guess I won’t even figure out where the basket is.
The Lakers' bus drove an hour and a half before they arrived at the Energy Program Arena from the hotel, which took twice as much time than when they went there.
Unlike the arenas that often half empty at the opening, when the game was about to begin, the green chairs of the Energy Program Center were already full of spectators.
For Salt Lake citizens who have very few entertainment programs, watching Jazz games on site is one of the major events in daily life so that they will not be late.
What's more, tonight's opponent is the Five-Star Lakers, Kobe and Howard's popularity is indistinguishable in each city.
Even in Salt Lake City, there were still many fans wearing Lakers jerseys on the scene to watch the game, especially those wearing No. 24 Kobe's jerseys.
During the warm-up before the game, many fans came to find Kobe's autograph, and Kobe was satisfied one by one.
What Li Liang did not expect was that there were fans who were looking for his autograph. It was a beautiful blond girl with blue eyes in Salt Lake City, with a particularly sweet smile.
"I like China and Yao Ming." The little girl told Li Liang that she was a fan of Yao Ming in the past.
The tastes of fans are indeed different. In the past few years, the Rockets, Jazz, and Lakers have fought in the playoffs, but fans' love for players will surpass teams or even nationalities.
Li Liang was so happy that he sent his signature, haha, he also started to have fans.
As a result, as soon as the signature was signed, the little girl grimaced at Li Liang, then took out a display board from behind, and pasted Li Liang's signature on it.
When Li Liang saw it, I was darling, a handsome guy wearing a No. 28 jersey was drawn on the display board - needless to say, this must be me, Li Liang.
But this handsome guy bent down and kissed a sheep's butt!
Moreover, Kobe's avatar was also attached to the head of the sheep.
Now, the little girl puts the signature on the display board, which is a satirical act of Li Liang and Kobe.
"How does Kobe's butt feel?" the little girl asked Li Liang, her smile looked so naive.
Li Liang could only shake his head helplessly, spread his hands towards the little girl, and said, "It looks like rust!"
There is no way. After all, he is a little girl and has an angel face, so he can't spit out trash words at her.
This is the Jazz fans. Look at who they are. It’s obvious that the upper beam is not straight and the lower beam is crooked!
Li Liang knew that tonight's game must be a tough battle.
The game started on time at 7:30, and the Lakers, wearing purple jerseys, were still the starter of four-star Gabrak.
Li Liang was still sitting on the bench and holding his chin to watch the game. He no longer talked to Brown in this game, and it was necessary.
He has successfully entered Brown's rotation with his performance. What he has to worry about now is that Brown sometimes forgets to replace him, and keeps using him and keeps feeling good, making Li Liang tired.
On the Jazz's side, starting center Al Jefferson, power forward Millsap, small forward Marvin Williams, and defenders Gordon Hayward and Mo Williams.
At the beginning of the game, both sides jumped the ball, and Howard did not skip Jefferson, which was rare.
Howard's jump and upper limb strength are generally unable to jump at the center's jump, not to mention that Jefferson is not as tall as Howard.
Although the first ball right at the opening game is irrelevant, it can be seen that Howard is not in his best condition today.
In the previous games, Howard's performance was not stable enough. It was very comfortable to open the Blazers, and he played the Mavericks and the Clippers.
Especially when playing against the Clippers, it seems a bit difficult to face Jordan and Griffin in the interior.
The injury still had a great impact on him. The decline in explosive power made many movements that could be easily completed in the past no longer so easy.
Sure enough, at the beginning of the game, the Jazz's tough style of playing put the Lakers in chaos.
The Jazz missed the attack first, the Lakers counterattacked and played the inside, but Howard's hook was blocked by Jefferson!
Then, the Jazz took the ball and counterattacked quickly. Without a miss, Millsap grabbed the frontcourt rebound, causing the Lakers to go out of bounds.
Then Ci Shiping fouled again and sent Millsap to the free throw line, making one of two free throws, 1:0.
Turning around, Kobe lobs Howard from the outside, but Howard failed to hold on to the position and was intercepted by Marvin Williams, who was caught in the back, making a mistake!
The Jazz launched a counterattack.
The sound of the Energy Program Arena reached its highest level in the first quarter.
However, the Jazz didn't feel good at the start, and Millsap missed the jump shot from the baseline.
The third ball, Gasol asked for the ball at a low post, and after receiving the ball, he passed the ball to the basket, and Howard had to dunk when receiving the ball.
As a result, he was slapped from behind by Millsap who came to defend himself!
What a miserable monster this is, Millsap, who is only 6 feet 7, has a height of just over two meters, has a wingspan, and has an average of 1 hat per game, and has an Olajuwon-style slap in the back of his head.
The ball did not go out of bounds and flew to Blake on the outside. Blake didn't dare to shoot, and wanted to pass it to Howard.
But after shouting "oh", Howard was spreading his hands and complaining to the referee, believing that the ball was fouled.
The referee ignored it, and the audience cheered wildly.
Blake could only rush in, but he couldn't go in. He passed it to Gasol on the outside and missed it.
With three balls in a row, the Lakers wanted to start from Howard's point and open it.
As a result, the three balls were either cut or covered.
The TV station's commentators were all surprised. Is this still the monster, or the number one center?
The Jazz have launched a counterattack, Mo Williams broke through with the ball and killed the basket with one dragon, and scored a back-range shot.
Blake's defense was useless, and Paul Gasol, who kept up, had no way to block Williams.
3:0, the score difference is not big, but the Jazz are starting, and the Lakers are in a bad shape at the beginning.
The one-and-a-half bus journey and the plateau home court will definitely have an impact on the elderly team.
"Mike, it's time to call a pause." Li Liang couldn't stand it on the bench and started to direct blindly again.
Brown ignored him. He was used to it and ignored him for people like Li Liang.
In the fourth round, the Lakers insisted on playing for Howard. When preparing for the team's game before the game, they were the arrangement to open the inside line at the beginning.
Kobe passed the ball to Howard. Howard received the ball with his back and turned to the basket. He rushed to the basket with three big strides and caused a defensive foul and went to the free throw line.
Finally, we are finally going to be one.
What a pity that the free throw is a free throw, and you miss the two free throws! You will be useless if you give you a chance!
The Jazz seized the opportunity to counterattack, Mo Williams passed the ball to the wing, and Hayward calmly passed the ball to Millsap who was passing the ball.
Howard and Gasol had problems in confrontation communication, and both of them came to guard against Millsap.
As a result, Millsap passed the ball to Jefferson on the other side, and Jefferson dunked with one hand!
The Lakers' defense has been a problem since Blake's first ring, and one step is wrong.
On the offensive end, Blake missed another three-pointer, giving the Jazz a chance to counterattack.
Li Liang was watching it, and Blake, a player, had no problem with his attitude and personality, but his ability was there, and he really couldn't stand it.
Kobe finally couldn't help but take action. He first cut Jefferson's ball from behind on the defensive end, and then passed it to Howard in the counterattack, and Howard made a powerful dunk.
It was a vent of anger.
But before the anger was so good, Mo Williams rushed into the basket again with one-stop!
Where are you, Blake? Where did you go? Let the people you match up with are going to get around like this?
To be continued...