Chapter 43: A show of force

The next game is on the 21st, away against the Pacers. We will leave on the 20th, and there will be two days without games in between.

During these two days, He Zhongqiu spent three or four hours every day studying tactics. He was so exhausted from studying that he had gone through the tactical manual several times over. He had memorized the outlines of dozens of basic tactics, and all that was left was practical practice.

At noon on the 20th, his offensive and defensive tactics were upgraded to level 38 and 41 respectively, and his rebound shooting was upgraded by another level, now to level 1.

In addition, when training with the team, I focused on learning low-post steps from the trainer for two days, and this skill was directly upgraded from level 39 to level 48.

The reason why he improved so quickly was that he had never been exposed to professional basketball footwork training before, let alone low-post footwork.

So with theoretical study and practical operation, I was able to improve my level by 9 levels in two days. Next, I have to train slowly to improve my level. If I train for an hour every day, I can easily reach a proficiency of several hundred levels.

In the afternoon, the Knicks' special plane arrived in Indianapolis, the capital of Indiana, where the Pacers are located.

Indiana is a major basketball city. This state takes basketball very seriously. The government and local people are very supportive. The city government has raised $300 million to build a new stadium, and the basketball market is very good.

Larry Bird coached the Pacers for three seasons, reaching the Eastern Conference Finals three times and the Finals once, and was first in the Eastern Conference in the 99/00 season.

After Larry Bird left in 00, the Smiling Assassin Isaiah Thomas became the head coach of the Pacers, and it has been the third season so far.

But the Assassin's coaching record is average. Although he made it to the playoffs in both seasons, he was eliminated in the first round each time. His regular season record was far worse than when Larry Bird was the coach. He was eighth in the Eastern Conference the season before last and seventh in the Eastern Conference the season before last. The difference is obvious.

But so far this season, the Pacers have a better record than in the previous two seasons. The Knicks lost to the Pacers at home. This was the second regular season game between the two teams, and there are two more games to go.

The Knicks are rich and are staying in a five-star hotel right in the city center, not far from the Pacers' home stadium.

This was also the first time that He Zhongqiu stayed in such a good hotel. After entering, it was really an eye-opener.

After settling in, Alan Houston and the madman went to hold a press conference. Since he was not yet eligible to attend, he dragged Philip around the hotel.

Wellington Philip rarely stays in such five-star hotels. Now that he is serving as the translator for He Zhongqiu, he can be considered enjoying the opportunity.

He is also very satisfied with his current job, but it is a bit busy. Except for sleeping, he has to spend the rest of his time taking care of He Zhongqiu.

He took He Zhongqiu to the indoor swimming pool to play for a while. Although it was the coldest time of the year, the swimming pool was as warm as spring.

He Zhongqiu's eyes were broadened again, and his gaze kept wandering to those bikini beauties with curvy figure. There are still not such open places in public in China, so he feasted his eyes.

"Well, it's Mid-Autumn Festival, you'd better buy a pair of sunglasses and wear them, so that no one will find out that you are peeping at beautiful women." Philip reminded.

"Why didn't you tell me earlier? Let's go buy it now."

……

No. 21, downtown, Conseco Arena.

This is a new arena that was built in 97 and put into use in 99. It integrates existing high-tech technologies, many of which are still in the trial stage. Its venue facilities are very advanced, even more advanced than Madison Square Garden.

Fans entering the stadium are not checked manually but automatically by the system, which increases the speed several times. This is also the third NBA arena to use an automatic ticket checking system.

Entering the stadium, there are many luxuriously decorated sporting goods stores, as well as various restaurants and restrooms everywhere.

This was He Zhongqiu's first time playing away games. He visited the venue like a tourist and broadened his horizons.

But after entering the visiting team's locker room, he found that the level had dropped a lot.

The locker room was small and simply decorated, not luxurious at all. Besides the toilet and bathroom, there was no physiotherapy room. There were only three massage beds in the locker room, and no other strength room or anything like that. And in the middle of winter, the air conditioner didn't even heat up.

"It's like this when playing away games." Philip said as if he was used to it.

"Really?" He was a little surprised. "When you return to New York, you can go to the visiting team's locker room at Madison Square Garden. It's not much better than here." Philip said.

"Well, this is different from our China. We treat guests by giving them good things and never neglecting them," he said.

"Zhongqiu, you have to remember that the visiting team is the opponent, not the guest. Some teams are even mortal enemies." Philip reminded.

"Who is our Knicks' mortal enemy?" he asked casually.

"Heat."

Philip said: "After this game, we will return to New York overnight and play the Heat back-to-back tomorrow."

After putting away his things, He Zhongqiu sat down and said as he changed his clothes, "Wellington, there is still more than an hour left, and it's time to learn tactics again.

This time you have to explain every tactic in detail, including how to move. The first two days were just a rough reading, but now you have to start a thorough reading. "

"OK."

Philip smiled and nodded. This was no problem for him. There were illustrations for each tactic in the manual, so he just had to follow the instructions.

At this time in the home team locker room, a group of Pacers players were chatting.

Backup power forward Al Harrington said: "Have you watched the news these days? The Knicks have brought in another yellow guy. I heard he has good physical fitness and is a dunker.

The media compared him to Rain Man, and he even broke the backboard when he dunked against the Green Team. The ESPN commentator gave him the nickname Wolverine.

"Oh, like Rain Man? Does he still want to be the ruler of the NBA?" Main point guard Jamal Tinsley laughed strangely.

Al Harrington laughed and said, "The media said his skills are still at an amateur level, he doesn't know any tactics, and he just runs around aimlessly on the court. The Knicks picked someone like this, thinking he's the next Ewing? Haha!"

"It would be embarrassing if he smashed our rebounds. Don't worry, I will block his shot." O'Neal, the main power forward and center, said seriously.

"The media also said that his bench press is almost as good as Ben Wallace's, he knows Chinese Kung Fu, can rip apart a closet with his bare hands, and blow up a wall with one punch. I wonder if it's true or not?" said main center Brad Miller.

Veteran Tim Hardaway said disdainfully: "Don't believe the media, that's just disgusting hype, the New York media has no bottom line.

In order to welcome him to the NBA and prevent him from smashing our backboards, I now suggest that you give him a warning. Chinese people are generally very weak, and those three Chinese people are like that. When faced with provocation, they never dare to fight back. "

"Damn Wolverine. Tim is right, give him a lesson."

The main small forward Ron Artest had a fierce look on his face and said viciously: "We must not let him break our backboard. If we want to stop him from dunking, we have to make him suffer a little. We have to be ruthless and let him know whose territory this is from the beginning."

"Ron is right. We must not let him smash our backboard."

Reggie Miller smiled with relief, nodded approvingly and said: "Even if Michael Jordan comes to our territory, he has to behave himself.

If a Chinese rookie behaves well, that's fine, but if he dares to act recklessly, if he is a dragon, he must be coiled, if he is a worm, he must be crushed, do you understand?"

Although he is old, he is very powerful in the Pacers and is the absolute leader in the locker room. In the Pacers' guest locker room, no one dares to disobey him.

"Understood." Everyone said in unison.

There is no need for any mobilization; the racial discrimination against the yellow race and the Chinese race in their bones has made these black and white people stick together.

"Morale can be used."

A cold smile appeared on Isaiah Thomas' face standing behind the door. His way of playing is to do whatever it takes, and the same is true of his coaching style.

(End of this chapter)