Chapter 16 What kind of ball do you want to watch?

At eight o'clock, the game begins at Madison Square Garden.

The Green Team has Pierce and Anthony Walker, two All-Stars who average 20+ points per game. Last season, the Knicks did not make the playoffs, while the Green Team made it to the second round.

The Green Team's current record is 15 wins and 7 losses, ranking 5th in the Eastern Conference, while the Knicks have a record of 7 wins and 13 losses, ranking 10th in the Eastern Conference. The Green Team is much stronger.

In the seventh minute of the first quarter, the score was 16:10, the Knicks were trailing by 6 points at home, and called the second timeout.

As a starter, Harrington actually played the four position, facing Green Team forward Eric Williams.

他的表现是2投0中，得0分1篮板，其他数据全部是0，让对手在他的头上3投2中，得到了4分3篮板1抢断的数据。

Knicks fans have no loyalty. When the team performs poorly, they will immediately boo it, and the players who perform poorly will even be cursed at.

As the head coach, Don Cheney was under a lot of pressure. Like Layden, he was facing the situation of being fired because the boss didn't like him at all.

Looking at the bench, he now has two choices, Doriak or rookie He Zhongqiu.

One is a third-rate center with no real ability, and the other is a rookie with potential, but his combat effectiveness is not trustworthy. Perhaps he doesn’t even understand the rules and doesn’t know any tactics.

Who do you want to go?
The 125-kg Doriac has always been Harrington's first substitute. He has to play center against the 211-cm tall Tony Battie.

Batty was the fifth pick in the first round of the 98 draft. He is slightly stronger than Doriac, but only to a limited extent, and Doriac has the advantage of tonnage.

Thinking of this, he decided to go to Doriac.

Then the timeout ended and Doriak came on as a substitute.

Xia Song squatted beside the water dispenser and said to He Zhongqiu, "Don't be impatient. It's only the first quarter. Be patient."

He Zhongqiu scratched his bald head with his fingernails out of habit, and chuckled, "Brother Xia, the year before last, after I came out of school... after I got out of that, I waited for a job at the gate of Beijing Film Academy. The first job lasted for seven days, so don't doubt my patience."

"That's good."

Xia Song smiled and nodded. He felt that he seemed to have underestimated He Zhongqiu's character. Anyone who had crawled out from the bottom of society should not be underestimated.

After the first quarter, the Knicks were trailing by 26 points, 20:6.

After Doriak came on the court, he made 3 of 0 shots, had 1 turnover, and all other data were 0.

After the players left the court, He Zhongqiu and Williams distributed towels and water cups, then stood behind Don Cheney and listened to him explain the tactics for the second quarter.

"Offensive tactics proficiency +30."

"Defensive tactics proficiency +30."

My tactical ability was so poor that I had to improve quickly. Every time I came into contact with tactical knowledge, I improved.

Although Xia Song continued to translate and kept up with the pace of Tang Cheney's speech with his concise Chinese, He Zhongqiu knew that he had to learn English as soon as possible.

This is off the court. If he is on the court and cannot communicate with his teammates in time, Xia Song as a translator will be useless.

After Don Cheney arranged the tactics, he made some adjustments to the players.

Point guard Charlie Ward, shooting guard Alan Houston, small forward Shandon Anderson, power forward Weatherspoon, and the last position left is center.

Tang Cheney turned to He Zhongqiu and said, “He, you will play the center position after you come on the court. You are also the only person on the court who is over two meters tall, so your tasks are to attack, defend and rebound in the interior.”

"Mid-Autumn Festival, your chance has come, get ready to go on stage..."

"OK, OK."

The delighted Xia Song translated loudly in He Zhongqiu's ear, and the latter nodded repeatedly to Tang Cheney, and while speaking, he had already torn off his buttoned pants with his hands.

The rookie Williams next to him was full of envy. He was a genuine first-round pick, but why was he the one carrying the bag while this undrafted player was playing in the game?

"It looks like this Chinese center is going to play." Barkley said in the TNT live studio.

"Harrington and Doriak's performance is too bad. If this young man performs a little better, he will have a lot of opportunities in the Knicks." Kenny Smith said. "It should be said that it is because Harrington and others are too bad that the Knicks signed this rookie center." Barkley said.

"Ryden needs results urgently, otherwise he will probably be fired," said Kenny Smith.

"Haha..." Barkley laughed.

"Crack, click, click!"

When two Chinese reporters, Zhou Biao and Lin Cheng, saw that He Zhongqiu was about to go on stage, they were so happy that they quickly pressed the shutter of their cameras.

Madison Square Garden, the second quarter begins.

On December 2002, 12, just at the beginning of the second quarter, He Zhongqiu made his first appearance in his first professional game, his first NBA game, and his basketball career officially began.

Seeing He Zhongqiu taking off his training suit, Barkley said: "His bones are still very strong, but he looks very lean, similar to Garnett's body shape, or even leaner than Garnett.

Oh, is his tonnage really 115 kilograms? I don't even think he weighs 100 kilograms, at most 100 kilograms.

And can he really bench press 200 kilograms? I doubt it, and I even doubt that he can dunk the backboard at all. "

Kenny Smith did not take up the topic and introduced: "The Green Team's second quarter lineup is Tony Delk and Shammond Williams at the back line, Antoine Walker and Eric Williams at the forward line, and Vin Baker at the center."

Barkley smiled playfully and said, "So this Chinese rookie's opponent is Vin Baker, who may weigh 500 pounds. I'm looking forward to seeing how he performs."

On the court, the game started, the Knicks attacked, and the Green Team played man-to-man defense.

He Zhongqiu ran from the high position to the basket, followed by Wen Baker, a fat man who definitely weighed more than 200 kilograms. The difference between the fat and thin was very obvious.

Below the free throw line, Wen Baker tried to hold back He Zhongqiu and prevent him from entering the basket.

He Zhongqiu circled to the left and ran to the low post on the left wing. Wen Baker was too fat and couldn't keep up with the rhythm. He was half a beat slow. He changed direction at the left waist position and successfully entered the basket.

"The offensive tactical positioning is correct, offensive tactical proficiency +3." A system prompt immediately appeared at the corner of his eye.

Power forwards Eric Williams and Witherspoon on both sides were also active near the restricted area. Witherspoon's mid-range shooting ability was not good and he couldn't pull out.

On the back line, Charlie Ward passed the ball to Alan Houston outside the left three-point line. Houston saw that there was no space to break through, and saw He Zhongqiu enter the basket, so he immediately threw the ball towards the basket.

When the ball flew near the basket, the four inside players of both teams had already squeezed under the basket.

"Low-post confrontation proficiency +3."

"Passing and receiving proficiency +3."

He Zhongqiu used his right elbow to hold down the fat man Wen Baker, and easily held down Eric Williams, who weighed only 100 kilograms, with his left hand. Then, as the ball was falling, he jumped up and grabbed the ball with both hands.

"This Chinese guy has great strength!"

Wen Baker was surprised that despite his huge weight, he was blocked by the opponent. He failed to get the best position and could not interfere with his opponent's receiving the ball.

"He jumped so high! The media reported that he jumped higher than O'Neal, with a vertical jump of 88 centimeters. Now it seems that he is at least not worse than O'Neal." Barkley said in surprise.

"It's really high," agreed Kenny Smith.

"it is good."

Seeing He Zhongqiu grab the ball, Don Cheney on the sidelines nodded happily.

He Zhongqiu landed on the ground, holding the ball high with both hands. The basketball was severely deformed by his ten iron-hooked fingers.

"Oh, God, look at the ball!" Barkley screamed in surprise.

"Stop it, aren't we watching a game? What other game do you want to watch? There's only basketball here." Kenny Smith laughed strangely.

"Hehehe..." Barkley didn't explain and just kept laughing strangely.

(End of this chapter)