One Guard

In the latest issue of the NBA Power Rankings, the Dallas Mavericks, who have recently won 9 consecutive victories, once again became the top of the list after experiencing twists and turns. The Sacramento Kings rank 29th among 30 teams. The reason why they are not at the bottom is entirely because Cousins' recent performance has allowed the team to win a few games. The Cleveland Cavaliers are still in the abyss of losing streak.

It seems that there is no suspense in the matchup between these two teams. One is a championship team and the other is a rebuilding team. In the NBA, the gap between these two teams is often very huge.

But at the press conference, Carlisle said the king is also a dangerous opponent. Once played against the Kings, the Mavericks narrowly won by only 2 points. The trouble they brought to the Mavericks is far greater than people imagined.

Carlisle said this in front of reporters, not to give the Kings face, but it is true. People thought that the Kings only had one Cousins, but in Carlisle's eyes, it was not that simple.

Tyreke Ace, last year's Rookie of the Year, is known as the LeBron James of guards. In his rookie season, he achieved a proud record of 20+5+5. Sacramento people undoubtedly regard Ace as the core of their team building and regard him as the next superstar.

Although this season, Ace's performance did not meet expectations, and the data even declined a bit in the first season. But this still can't stop Ace's excellence. This guy's breakthrough and defensive ability will become a major threat to the Mavericks in the game.

The strength of the inside-out combination of Ace and Cousins ​​far exceeds people's expectations. If the 2010 NBA draft is repeated, Carlisle dare not say that Yiyang will definitely become the No. 1 pick, but he is sure that Cousins ​​will never fall out of the top three.

Although Cousins ​​was born as a power forward, in this era when the inside line is withered, he is completely enough to play a forward. With a strong body, soft touch and excellent skills, this big guy is unmatched in the paint. In Carlisle's view, Cousins ​​is already very good in all aspects. The only weakness may be his biting temper. Take the spat between Cousins ​​and the Mavericks fans during this period, this is a typical immature performance.

On the bench, due to the appearance of Cousins, veteran forward Dalembert has become a strong point in the three-second zone of the Kings during the rotation time. The old Rockets player Carl Landry, who averaged 16.8 points per game this season, is even more of a big killer for their bench!

With such a lineup, it stands to reason that the record would not be so bad. If Sacramento's management is hard enough and actively reinforces, the Kings may have been out of the rebuilding phase.

It's just a pity that not all bosses love their careers like Cuban. Not all faults must be placed on the player's head.

After Carlisle's analysis, the Mavericks players also understand that this bottom-ranked team is not useless. So when preparing for the game, this group of players who won nine consecutive victories did not show the slightest slack.

On the training ground, Carlisle broke up and reorganized the starting players and substitute players to make the strength of the two sides closer, and then conduct confrontational training.

Now, Yiyang and Nowitzki are divided into two different teams. According to the tactical arrangement, after Peja made a pick-and-roll for Yiyang, Yiyang directly broke through and hit the basket.

Although Kidd is outstanding in defense, he has nothing to do with Yiyang's starting speed. And Nowitzki became the last barrier between Yiyang and the basket.

Originally, Carlisle hoped that Yiyang would attract the defense and pass the ball to Stojakovi, but Yiyang didn't do that because he ended the offense in a simpler way.

Halfway through the breakthrough, Yiyang suddenly picked up speed! He decided to attack the frame directly when he was about to pass the ball. Nowitzki struggled to move his legs and quickly moved sideways. However, the seemingly sluggish German was easily broken through by Yiyang. The latter succeeded in the basket easily, and Nowitzki had nothing to do about it.

"Stop, stop!" Seeing this scene,

Carlisle, who was standing on the sidelines, blew his whistle and suspended confrontational training.

Nowitzki thought he would be scolded, but Carlisle beckoned to everyone. "Let's all rest and rest."

Carlisle knew very well that Nowitzki's defensive action was so slow not because the guy didn't care, but because the German's physical strength had been very depleted.

During the period before the start of the All-Star Game, many older players will encounter physical bottlenecks. Prior to this, the Mavericks' nine-game winning streak in the high-density schedule has greatly increased the burden on the old guys of the Mavericks.

Except for Yiyang, you can call all the main players in this team "old guys".

In the game against the Cavaliers the day before yesterday, Carlisle found that in the fourth quarter, the efficiency of the players plummeted. If it weren't for the Cavaliers falling behind too much at the beginning, the Mavericks might be in danger of being overtaken.

Facts have proved that the sudden "poor state" is not accidental, but the accumulated fatigue, so that the Mavericks players have reached a critical point.

The Kings themselves are a troublesome opponent. Cousins, an extremely emotional guy, will definitely continue to be hot after the verbal war with the fans. If the Mavericks still have fitness issues...

Carlisle shook his head. It is not so easy to win any game in the NBA...

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At 7:30 p.m. on February 9, 2011, Sacramento, Sleepy Train Arena.

When Yiyang walked out of the player tunnel with a basketball in his arms to warm up, boos immediately hit the sky.

Today, the stands of the Sleeping Train Arena are all full. The wonderful performance of Cousins ​​​​in the last few games has made the attendance rate of this arena pick up again. So the boos from the fans can be described as huge. If it were an ordinary person facing such a big booing on the court, let alone the game, he might not even be able to walk steadily.

This is not because Yiyang has done anything to offend the Kings fans, but now, all Sacramento people hope that Cousins ​​can become the best rookie, and all Cousins' competitors are the enemies of the Kings fans .

Yiyang didn't pay attention to these voices, but cast on his own. After a while, the boos turned into cheers again.

Yiyang didn't need to look to know that it was that guy who had appeared.

"How's Sleepy Train Arena?" Peja Stojakovi might be the only Mavericks player the Sacramento fans don't hate. After he walked the field amid the cheers of the fans, he also greeted Yiyang.

"It's the same in any arena." Yiyang replied calmly. The atmosphere of the away game can't affect this cold All-Star rookie at all, so for him, as long as the basket is the same, it doesn't matter where he plays. .

"Haha, back then, this place was everyone's nightmare!" Stojakovi turned his head and looked at the familiar surroundings, Mike Bi, Divac, Weber, Adelman, and all Gorgeous victories every time...

But now, Peja can feel that the entire arena is filled with a depressive atmosphere. This team that I love so much has been sinking for too long.

Peja cut off his thoughts, now is not the time to be nostalgic. He and Yiyang shot left and right outside the three-point line and shot casually. But to the surprise of the fans, Yiyang's hit rate was even higher than that of Peja!

This is not because of how accurate Yiyang's shots are, but because Peja doesn't seem to feel very good today.

After the two shot for a while, there was a "bang bang" sound from the other side of the court as the basketball collided with the wooden floor. Yiyang and Peja turned their heads to look. In the other half, Cousins ​​and Ace had already started warming up.

Cousins ​​didn't shoot honestly. He grabbed the basketball with one hand and slammed it on the backboard.

When Cousins ​​stepped into the three-second zone, he slammed his right foot on the ground, and his whole body began to glide in the air. The moment he approached the basket, he caught the rebounding basketball with both hands.

"Boom!" A loud voice echoed in the field, and after pulling the basket with both hands, Cousins ​​fell from the air, turned around and stretched out his right index finger provocatively at Yiyang, and then hooked it.

"Hahahaha, this kid is interesting." Peja beside Yiyang laughed loudly, and the war among young people seemed to bring Peja back to the year of 1996 when there were so many talents. And the Croats are also looking forward to how Yiyang will respond.

Yiyang watched the opponent jump into the air, slam dunk, land on the ground, aggressively provoking him, and never moved a bit.

After watching the opponent's arrogant performance, he still left quietly, turned around and continued to shoot on his own.

"He must be scared!" Seeing that Yiyang didn't respond, Cousins ​​stood beside Ace braggingly.

"Beat them, DeMarcus!"

"Let the proud Dallasites see how good we are!"

"You are the best rookie, prove it to everyone!"

Cousins' warm-up performance did not ignite Yiyang, but ignited the fans in the stands. This group of guys have been suppressed for too long, and now, they finally have a breaking point.

"What's the matter, your opponent seems to be very strong!" Peja didn't know why he was so excited, maybe he, like the fans, was looking forward to Yiyang and Cousins' performance more and more.

"Dunk during warm-up, I can dunk him better." Yiyang gave Peja a smile, and the Croatian found that this kid had a bad smile.