The Godfather of Basketball

On January 30, the Nets played against the Grizzlies at home.

This is a bitter battle for the team. The Grizzlies and Bears toppled the Nets' fragile interior, while the Nets relied on outside firepower to stalemate it.

Falling behind several times and approaching several times, amidst the cheers of the fans at the scene, this team showed unprecedented resilience.

Joe Johnson still didn't get a chance to play. He sat quietly at the end of the bench, watching the game with his mouth in his hand.

The only difference from the past few months is that there is some fighting desire in his eyes.

At the last moment of the game, the Nets were behind by 7 points, relying on quick help defenses to continuously hit counterattacks, and once narrowed the score to 3 points, but the weak inside line still made them fall short. With Deron's strict defense Hitting iron in the middle distance, the team lost 89 to 91.

At the end of the game, the fans at the scene gave the home team an encouraging applause.

Although they lost the game, the hard work of the players won their respect.

Tang Tian also called the team members together, raised his hands and clenched his fists, and the team members raised their hands one after another.

"The Nets!"

"come on!"

The shouts of the players made the fans love this team even more.

But at this moment, several fans noticed Joe Johnson, who was standing outside the circle and only raised his hand symbolically.

The ace they were looking forward to, the cold-blooded killer nicknamed "Single Joe", if he was there for the last goal just now, there is a high probability that the game will be dragged into overtime. Unfortunately, now he can't even enter the rotation.

Joe Johnson felt the gaze and turned to see the fans in the front row.

The few fans saw him turn his head, smiled awkwardly at him, and then left the field in a hurry.

Joe Johnson turned his head and looked around again at this time.

When he was here just now, how many fans cheered for him holding up the KT board with his name on it, expecting him to bring the championship to this team, but now, except for those few fans, I am afraid that most of them He has been forgotten.

After completing the final cheering ceremony, Tang Tian led the team members to the locker room.

He walks at the end of the line and takes a look at the end of the bench, where he will likely sit all season.

"Come on! Joe!"

When he walked into the player tunnel, someone suddenly yelled at him from above.

He looked up, and then saw the few fans who had looked at him before.

Instead of leaving, they ran to the passage.

Seeing him look over, the fans let out a scream, and then made cheering gestures to him.

He froze, smiled and waved to them. Before entering the tunnel, he took off his own training uniform and threw it to them.

After walking into the passage, he took a long breath, and finally a smile appeared on the corner of his mouth.

After the game against the Grizzlies, the Nets are still at home in the next game, and they will play back-to-back against the Lakers, who are currently ranked sixth in the Western Conference.

After a fairly sweet schedule before, the next game will not be so easy.

Tang Tian only arranged a basic training in the afternoon. The last game was too intense, so the players need to recover their strength.

During the training, Tang Tian discovered that Joe Johnson was a little different from before.

Whether it is shooting training or confrontation training, he is obviously more active than before.

When it came to the full-court confrontation, his continuous tough defense gave Bogdan Bogdanovic a headache, and a few backs on the offensive end also made people feel that he was in good condition.

"Let Joe replace Taylor Johnson on the activation list for the next game." Tang Tian turned to Frank and said.

In fact, a choice does not have to be said face-to-face. Johnson's positive state already shows that he has made a choice.

Putting him on the active list is also an affirmation of his positive side.

That night, the Barclays Center was crowded with people, and the team was in good condition. In addition, they were facing the Lakers led by Yao Ming and Kobe Bryant. The attendance rate was close to 90%, which was the highest this month.

Although Kobe and Yao Ming played on and off for the Lakers this season, rookie LaVine performed very well, and the team is still in the playoffs.

Both Yao Ming and Kobe Bryant played in this game. It can be seen that coach Byron Scott is determined to win this game.

During the pre-match training, Yao Ming and Tang Tian chatted for a while in the midfield.

Since Tang Tian returned to coach, this was the first face-to-face communication between the two.

The two masters and apprentices have worked together for 5 years on the two teams, including the national team, which is relatively rare in the NBA.

When they were almost done chatting, the scene quickly entered the opening ceremony, and the starters of the two teams were introduced one after another.

On the Lakers side, rookies Jordan Clarkson and Kobe Bryant are on the perimeter, Wesley Johnson and Carlos Boozer are on the front line, and Yao Ming is the center.

For the Nets, Deron Williams and Bogdan Bogdanovic are on the outside, Bojan Bogdanovic and Yi Jianlian are on the front line, and Lopez is the center.

The game started immediately, and the starters of both sides came on stage one after another. Yao Ming and Yi Jianlian jumped the ball. When the two walked to the midfield, they chatted a few words and smiled at each other.

At this time, a large number of Chinese fans gathered in front of the TV.

With the increase of Yao Ming's injuries, such a Chinese derby is rare, and fans will naturally not miss it.

"beep!"

With the referee's whistle, Yi Jianlian turned the ball back to the Nets' half, and the home team got the chance to attack first.

With Lopez's support in the high post, Bogdan Bogdanovic made an air cut and flew to the layup, but was blocked by Yao Ming's return defense.

Although he is often injured when he is old, he is a 4-consecutive MVP player after all. Bogdan's challenge ended in failure.

Deron missed a three-pointer from outside and Yao Ming received a defensive rebound.

When the ball came to the frontcourt, Kobe sat in a low position and played Bogdan directly. He tricked his opponent with a fake move of turning and leaning back, and turned around to kill the basket and scored a layup with a low hand.

The Lakers started with full momentum.

Yi Jianlian attacked Boozer with the ball in the frontcourt, and his breakthrough layup shot caused the latter's thug foul.

After two free throws from the free throw line, the Nets also started to score.

But turning around, Kobe was still sitting and hitting Bogdan. This time he feinted continuously, and directly caused Bogdan's thug foul when he shot.

Kobe Bryant's scoring efficiency was not high this season due to an Achilles tendon injury, but facing a first-year rookie like Bogdan, he used his experience to the extreme, and he was accurate.

Against the noise all over the sky, he made two free throws again, and Kobe scored the first four points of the Lakers.

Some fans cheered at the scene. Although he is an opponent, Kobe has never lacked fans in the league, even though he is now 36 years old.