Basketball Legend: When Pride Still Matters-Chapter 1099 - 615 The Seal Loosened by Time_3
Chapter 1099: Chapter 615: The Seal Loosened by Time_3 Chapter 1099: Chapter 615: The Seal Loosened by Time_3 So, one must still train.
But, train as one might, what does that have to do with his so-called “poor lifestyle habits”? Sure, he likes fried food and carbonated drinks, a heavy consumer of sugar, but apart from these, he’s still a good player. Whether he eats these things or not doesn’t affect his training.
The season continues.
After losing to the Pelicans, the Clippers became much more wary against strong teams, and at the same time, Yu Fei began to change what Rivers called small goals.
Not losing to those teams that wouldn’t make the playoffs?
That goal was too easy.
A real challenging goal was to maintain a winning streak until the All-Star Weekend.
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To accomplish this, the Clippers needed to complete an incredible twenty-two game winning streak.
During this period, they would face many strong teams, including a second match against the Knicks, the season’s opening match against Miami Heat, and back-to-back games against the Western Conference’s second-ranked Warriors Team.
Maintaining a winning streak against these teams was immensely difficult.
Especially since more than half of the Clippers’ core members were young players.
Like Jokić, who was easily targeted, wasn’t Antetokounmpo in the same boat?
Thus, after a ten-game winning streak, the Warriors Team stepped up, true to their name as dragon-slaying warriors, handing the Clippers their fourth defeat of the season.
However, in the back-to-back second game, the glory of the Warriors was no more, and instead, the Clippers won by a staggering 33 points at home.
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Steve Kerr said, “The Clippers are like the earlier Miami Heat, even earlier SuperSonics, and the 1996 Bulls. It’s as if defeating them once is enough to make us proud.”
“If we want them to compete for the finals, we can’t afford to think that way.”
Kerr hoped to stay optimistic, but after the Clippers’ ten-game winning streak was broken, their performance became more outstanding.
Especially Yao Ming coming off the bench.
By now, he grew more fond of the staggering rotation strategy.
Drawing a max salary, sitting on the bench, stacking up stats, without responsibility or pressure. When the Clippers were doing well, others would praise him for his sacrificial spirit in giving up the starting position; if the Clippers lost, what did it have to do with him as a mere substitute?
After Jokić hit a rough patch in January, there was media speculation that Yao Ming should return to the starting lineup.
Now, even if Rivers wanted Yao Ming back in the starting lineup, Yao Ming himself was not willing.
For the 36-year-old veteran, staggered commuting was a blessing. He now believed this was the best strategy to help him play healthy until 2019.
However, Jokić didn’t lack a rebound performance in his slump.
At the end of January, during an away game against the Miami Heat, Jokić finally broke through the rookie wall. Facing the Eastern Conference’s second-ranked team, he scored 24 points, 13 rebounds, and 11 assists, earning the first triple-double of his career.
Yu Fei commented, “Many people think that it is still too early to start Nikola. I just want to say, you don’t know how outstanding this kid is.” Later, reporters approached Jokić to ask for his thoughts on obtaining his first NBA triple-double.
“I don’t have any special thoughts, the season is still very long.” Jokić said, “I will reward myself with a lavish late-night meal and then sleep. I think tomorrow will be better.” He repeated, “Because the season is long, tomorrow will be better.”
He is not Yu Fei, nor is he Antetokounmpo, one of those chosen for stardom accustomed to their own limelight; he’s not even Yao Ming, who reporters find a comfortable best interviewee. He is the Clippers’ oddball.
After enduring the frustrations of January, this oddball counterattacked against the Eastern Conference’s second-ranked, but unfortunately, such performance came too late to help him secure a chance to participate in the All-Star main event.
The next day, the League announced the 2016 Eastern and Western Conference All-Star rosters. Just like last season, four players from the Clippers were selected, still the same four: Yu Fei, Yao Ming, Thompson, and Antetokounmpo.
