Chapter 158: As long as I want to, I can score 40 points at any time
The next day, the Warriors flew to Los Angeles on a special plane, and they were going to challenge the Lakers on November 11.
Due to back-to-back fierce battles, the Warriors are not in very good condition. Zhang Yu announced a day off for the players to rest and resume training tomorrow.
In the early morning of the next day, at the beginning of the daylight, there were only a few people in the gym in the hotel where the Warriors were staying.
The most conspicuous of them was of course Butler. He was two meters tall and had dark skin. He only wore a sports vest on his upper body, revealing his muscular muscles, which was particularly eye-catching.
From the NCAA to the NBA, Butler has worked tirelessly for several years, and only then has he built a steel-like body, allowing him to compete with those stars on the court in his rookie season without losing much— — until he met James.
Butler will never forget the game between the Warriors and the Cavaliers. That was the first time he felt what it means to be powerless.
Before the game, Ron Adams helped him sum up James' offensive habits, and gave him a finely edited video, which included many typical offensive rounds of James, helping Butler familiarize himself with the characteristics of his game.
Butler knew that James was going to break through, and even knew which side and how James was going to break through, but it was useless. He couldn't bear James's bison-like brute force at all, and he was crushed every time. Delins' supplementary defense couldn't prevent James at all.
That was the first time Butler played against a real superstar. His proud defense was shattered, and he really realized the huge gap between himself and the superstar.
He knows that he lags behind James in all aspects of body, technology, and experience. Although he dare not expect to become a superstar like James, Butler cannot accept the foundation of his foothold in the NBA-defense. James crushed.
He set a goal for himself, which is to be able to limit James' offense one day, and he doesn't expect to be able to prevent James, as long as he can limit James' efficiency to below his average level, he will be satisfied.
For this goal, Butler has never slacked off for a day since that game, and he will not relax for exercise even after back-to-back.
And on the plane, Zhang Yu had made it clear that Butler would be given a difficult task.
Two days later, he was going to defend another superstar, the boss of the defending champion, No.1 in the league-Kobe Bryant!
This season's Lakers, carrying the prestige of winning the championship, showed the demeanor of a king at the beginning of the season, achieving a record of 11 wins and 3 losses, ranking first in the Western Conference.
After winning the championship, they did not rest on their laurels, but introduced Artest to further upgrade the lineup. Kobe is still the most poisonous and spicy black mamba. Gasol can be called the perfect second master. The outside world generally believes that defending The champion is the biggest favorite to compete for the title this season.
The other two favorites are last season's runner-up Celtics and the Cavaliers with the same lineup upgrade.
In other words, after playing the Lakers, the Warriors will achieve the achievement of facing the favorites of the three championships, and will be the only team in the league to achieve this achievement.
And Butler will also face three stars, James, Pierce and Kobe, two of whom are superstars.
This made Butler both excited and terrified. He knew that with his current strength, he would definitely be unable to parry Kobe.
Although Kobe does not have a perverted body like James, his skills have reached the peak. He is truly omnipotent on the offensive end, with a perfect combination of shooting and attacking.
Butler has long been prepared to be eaten alive by Kobe, but he is still excited that he can compete head-on with No. How about competing with Kobe at the Puth Center?
Thinking of this, the exhaustion from back to back seemed to dissipate. Butler lifted the dumbbells excitedly, and his mind was full of the scene of confronting Kobe two days later under the eyes of everyone.
boom!
Panting, Butler put the dumbbells on the ground, picked up the towel hanging on his chest, wiped the sweat from his forehead, and continued walking to the next facility.
There was a ruthless look in his eyes, and his expression was determined, as if he didn't feel the slightest fatigue.
Butler knows that he does not have the talent of James, the skills of Kobe, and the sharp shooting of Curry, but he has a will of steel that supports him on the road of basketball.
...
While Butler was working out in the morning, in a hotel bedroom, Curry opened his eyes under the influence of his biological clock.
He turned his head and saw that the other bed was neatly made up. If it weren't for the two folded T-shirts at the head of the bed, there would be no sign that someone had slept on it.
Curry knew that Butler went to morning practice again.
Since his sophomore year, he shared a room with Butler whenever he needed to stay in a hotel for an away game. After entering the NBA, he still shared a room with him, and he is very familiar with Butler's living habits.
Curry once tried to do morning exercises with him, but after a few times, he felt that this method was not suitable for him, so he stopped.
He didn't stay in bed, he just lay down for another 2 minutes, then got up to wash up, and went to the restaurant of the hotel to have breakfast.
After Curry went out, he happened to meet Zhang Yu who also pushed the door out, and said with a smile:
"Boss, good morning."
"Morning, Stephen, are you going to eat?" Zhang Yu nodded in response.
"Correct."
The two walked to the restaurant together, and Curry was still haunted by the trance after getting up. He didn't chat with Zhang Yu, and he was speechless all the way.
After arriving at the restaurant, the two chose the food, found an empty table and sat down.
Curry looked up and saw Butler walking in from the entrance of the restaurant, a little sweat still remaining on his forehead.
"Jimmy, here!"
Curry yelled, and Butler nodded to him after noticing it. After choosing the food, he came over and sat down.
"Boss, good morning." Butler greeted Zhang Yu, glanced casually, and found that Zhang Yu's expression was not right.
He took a closer look and saw that Zhang Yu's face was slightly sallow, his eyes were bloodshot, and he looked listless.
"Boss, you don't look well. Could it be that you are sick?" Butler asked with concern.
When he said this, Curry also noticed that something was wrong with Zhang Yu. He woke up from the trance after waking up, and looked at Zhang Yu with the same concern, showing a worried look on his face.
Zhang Yu waved his hand indifferently:
"It's okay, I just didn't sleep well last night, just catch up on sleep today."
Curry and Butler looked at each other, seeing deep helplessness in each other's eyes.
When the boss was coaching the Bulldogs before, he often did this. Sometimes he would take Coach Stevens with him. The two of them were in a good mood, and they would even stay up all night. It was useless to persuade them.
They could only pray for Silas in their hearts, and hope the boss didn't wake him up in the middle of the night to discuss tactics...
Zhang Yu ignored the small movements of the two of them. He slowly cut the fried egg in the bowl with a knife and fork, but did not put it in his mouth. He gradually cut the fried egg into many small pieces.
He suddenly raised his head, glanced at Butler with some hesitation, and then said as if he had made up his mind:
"Jimmy, if I put you in the face of Kobe's indiscriminate bombardment of the whole court, and there is no help defense, can you bear it?"
"Ah?" Butler looked at Zhang Yu in bewilderment when he heard the words, and with a shake of his left hand, the forked bacon fell back onto the plate.
...
At [-] o'clock in the morning, the whole Warriors team came to a training hall near the hotel. The players who had had a day's rest recovered and laughed and talked with each other, waiting for the upcoming training.
Zhang Yu stood at the front of the crowd, his expression improved a lot, but Silas beside him looked sallow.He yawned every ten seconds, his eyelids drooped heavily, as if he could fall asleep at any time.
He glanced at Zhang Yu, his eyes full of resentment.
Zhang Yu pulled him, a middle-aged man, watched the game video all night, discussed tactics until three o'clock in the morning, and Silas felt that he could fall asleep standing up today.
Zhang Yu clapped his hands, attracting everyone's attention, and said slowly:
"One day later, we will face the defending champion. This is destined to be a very difficult game, but we are not without chance. As long as we do this, we have a chance to beat the Lakers..."
...
After the training in the morning, the Warriors were interviewed. The reporter asked Zhang Yu what he thought of the game. Zhang Yu said:
"There is no doubt that we will win this game. I don't see the possibility of the Warriors losing."
His voice fell, and the scene fell into silence.
The reporters looked at each other, wondering if they had heard it wrong.
Listening to Coach Z's tone, it seems that the Lakers are not the number one in the Western Conference, and the Warriors are the defending champions. Who gave you the confidence and made you think that the Warriors are the one to win?
"The Lakers are the defending champions, why do you have so much confidence in the Warriors?" A reporter immediately questioned.
Zhang Yu smiled and said:
"Just because the Warriors won the Cavaliers, it was still the Cavaliers under James' full firepower. Kobe is old. I don't think he has the strength of James. Since the Warriors can win the Cavaliers, they must be able to beat the Lakers."
"But Kobe has scored 3+ three times this season, and he is still No. 40 in the league!" A reporter from the local media in Los Angeles said loudly.
Zhang Yu was unmoved, and still smiled:
"Really? Let's wait and see if Kobe can score 40 points tomorrow night."
"Can I understand that you are provoking Kobe?"
"Provocation? I'm a coach. I don't need to play. I'm just explaining a fact." Zhang Yu answered calmly, then got up and left.
In the afternoon, a reporter asked Kobe Bryant's opinion on Zhang Yu's answer.
After listening to his question, Kobe asked back in surprise:
"Are you sure he said I can't get 40 points?"
After getting a positive answer from the reporter, Kobe smiled:
"I can score 40 whenever I want."
"So you're going to score 40 points in tomorrow's game?" a yellow-skinned female reporter asked in a vaguely provocative tone.
Kobe glanced at the strange reporter and asked:
"Excuse me, are you..."
"I'm a team reporter for the Warriors," Yan Shu said.
Kobe's smile subsided, revealing his unique sense of coldness and oppression:
"Tomorrow you will know the answer."
After speaking, he got up and left directly, just like Zhang Yu yesterday, but the reporters felt that he was very domineering.
A reporter has already thought of the title of this report - the King of Los Angeles declares war on the Warriors!
...
The next morning, Zhang Yu looked at the piles of newspapers in his hand and gradually smiled.
"King of Los Angeles declares war on Warriors as Kobe vows to defend Staples Center" – Los Angeles Times.
"No.1 in the league was questioned by the rookie head coach and made a strong response, saying that he would score 40 points to beat the opponent" - "USA Today"
"Kobe Bryant avoids answering questions, the Lakers may lose to the Warriors" - "ESPN"
The last report Zhang Yu saw on ESPN's official website was written by Yan Shu.
He put down the newspaper and cell phone, stretched his waist, and felt refreshed.
He went to bed early last night to make up for all his insomnia, and he was also preparing for tonight's game.
Silas finally got out of Zhang Yu's clutches and had a good night's sleep. Seeing that Zhang Yu had changed his previous anxiety, he looked relaxed and said:
"Ronan, are you sure your method is really effective? This aggressive method is too obvious, and Kobe is not as young and energetic as James, so he shouldn't be fooled, right?"
Zhang Yu smiled slightly:
"Kobe is not James. You have to do this to deal with him. He will definitely take the bait. You don't know Kobe. His character is too paranoid."
"But you're so straightforward, Phil Jackson must be able to see it." Silas said with some hesitation.
Zhang Yu shook her head:
"Don't worry about Phil Jackson. This is just a regular season. He won't interfere with Kobe. He will just sit quietly on the sidelines and watch Kobe score or strike."
Silas thought about it carefully, and it seemed that this was really the case. With Phil Jackson's character, he would never whisper in Kobe's ear:
"You have to play rationally, you have to pass the ball, you have to control the number of shots..."
He wished Kobe could play singles all over the court. The purpose of the triangle offense was to create opportunities for stars to play singles. Phil Jackson would only let Fisher dribble the ball to Kobe after half court, and then quietly watched Kobe perform.
He did it in Chicago 20 years ago, and he's still doing it in Los Angeles 20 years later.
Things change, things change, Jordan is replaced by Kobe, the Bulls are replaced by the Lakers, but he is still the champion coach.
Many people looked down on Phil Jackson, saying that all his championships were won by superstars, but they did not expect that there were so many coaches. Why did only Phil Jackson win so many championships by relying on superstars?
Zen master has his own advantages, and he is worthy of the title of a famous coach—Jordan, O'Neal, and Kobe praised him, and Anthony silently withdrew from the live broadcast room.