One Guard

Chapter 309: Birth of Zorro

After the end of the second game, both sides needed to transfer the battlefield. So in the middle, the NBA officially left the players with two days of rest. If the game has been played every other day, the pressure on the players is indeed too great.

The league also doesn't want players to be injured. A finals without stars is an incomplete finals. The best way to avoid star injuries is to reduce the intensity of the game.

Although there were two days of rest, Carlisle and the Mavericks set off for Dallas the next morning after the game. They don't want to delay any training time. The team arrives in Dallas at noon and will start training in the afternoon. As for the Miami Heat, who lost a home game, they also set off immediately after the Mavericks.

Due to the special format of the finals, the Mavericks will have three consecutive home games next! For the Heat, this is undoubtedly a huge blow. Originally, they wanted to fly to Dallas with a score of 2-0. Unexpectedly, Nowitzki and Yiyang staged a shocking reversal in the last game.

Three consecutive away games is not good news for any team. But Wade is not afraid. Five years ago, he won the championship and FMVP on the head of the Mavericks. With a stronger lineup and helpers this year, Wade has no reason to lose in the same place!

Both teams can't wait to continue to fight again, the Heat are desperate to get back a victory, and the Mavericks hope to give the Big Three a try at home.

Tiredness? Perhaps during the regular season, the players still feel somewhat tired. But the game has been played until now, and there are still the last two teams left. Apart from the yearning for the championship, people can't perceive anything else at all.

The Mavericks arrived at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport at 12:30 noon, and the players appeared in the locker room on time at 5:30 pm. When Carlisle pushed open the door of the locker room with two dark circles under his eyes, the players had already started changing their equipment.

In the last game, Nowitzki was in a very good state. But in today's shooting practice, Dirk's shooting percentage was not satisfactory.

People joked that Dirk didn't know how to shoot without that Bosh guy.

But soon, Nowitzki found the reason for his inaccurate shooting. The braces on his fingers made him very uncomfortable today.

"I still want to touch the ball with my left middle finger, so I don't want to have a thick bandage on the finger. Can we find something that protects the finger from the back of the hand so I can feel the ball!" After several missed shots in a row, Nowitzki found Carlisle and the team doctor and expressed his feelings.

The team doctor immediately came up with a solution and took out several finger protectors for Nowitzki to try.

After screening and trying again and again, Nowitzki finally replaced it with a hard splint fixed and protected from the side of the finger, exposing part of the finger and fingertip. In Nowitzki's view, the front of the finger should not be wrapped too tightly, so that he will not have any feeling for the ball.

Such a change of protective gear, the effect is immediate. After that, Nowitzki's field goal percentage soared in practice. This also made Yiyang realize that it turns out that such a small thing as protective gear has such a huge impact on players.

Thinking of this, Yi Yang couldn't help raising his eyebrows, should he change this Band-Aid?

In fact, without Yiyang thinking about it, the team doctor has already thought of this for Yiyang.

Yiyang's wound has just been stitched up, and it is deep and long. In the next game, if he is accidentally beaten and bleeds again, then Yiyang will have to go off the field to receive treatment again. This is undoubtedly a great disturbance to the progress of the Mavericks' game.

Halfway through training, when Carlisle announced a half-hour break. The Mavericks team doctor took an object onto the court and handed it to Yiyang. This thing is more attractive than Nowitzki's finger splint.

"This is..." Yiyang looked at the things in his hand, and then at the team doctor in short sleeves.

"As you can see, the mask!"

"Look, our rookie is about to become a superhero!" Naturally, Terry would not let go of this opportunity to boo, because the mask given to Yiyang by the team doctor is really special. Normally, the masks worn by NBA players are transparent, but what Yiyang is holding is a charcoal black mask!

"Try it, if it doesn't fit, I can adjust it for you."

Yiyang looked at the mask in his hand, and then at the expectant eyes of everyone. Gradually cover it to the face, and then the team doctor tightened the strap from behind.

In order to protect the corners of Yiyang's eyebrows, the openings of the mask's eyes are not large, and the entire eyebrows are included.

Compared with ordinary basketball masks, Yiyang's is not too big. It only covers half of his forehead, and the lower part is only covered to the level of his nose, and his cheeks are not included. The reason for this design is to reduce the contact area between the face and the face, so that the player's entire face will not be covered by the mask after sweating, which will be very uncomfortable.

After putting it on, Yiyang raised his head. The teammates who originally wanted to see Yiyang's jokes all showed surprise.

"Wow, that's pretty cool, buddy!" Terry walked up to Yiyang and looked at it carefully. He originally thought that Yiyang's appearance after wearing the mask would be very funny, but unexpectedly, it fits unexpectedly.

"What does this mask look like? Zorro!" Nowitzki rubbed his chin, thinking about who Yiyang would look like after wearing the mask. Now, he has an answer.

"Hey, prepare me a mask like this too." Terry patted the team doctor's chest and joked.

"Come on Jett, you don't look like Zorro when you put on the mask, you look like Frankenstein."

"Hahahahahaha, that's right!"

Everyone booed, and the atmosphere on the training ground became a little more relaxed. Carlisle, who was off the court, also smiled slightly. Only when the players have such a mentality can the Mavericks win!

At the end of the half-hour break, Nowitzki got a handy protective gear. As for Yiyang, there is no need to worry about the wound on the corner of his eyebrow.

At first, Carlisle was worried that the small eye openings in the mask would affect Yiyang's shooting. But it turns out that the opening of the mask cannot weaken Yiyang's vision.

In the confrontational training, whether it is organizing the offense or shooting by himself, Yiyang has done a very good job. This mask gave Yiyang the best protection and also minimized interference.

Nowitzki was still impeccable throughout the training, and Yiyang's passing was still just right. After yesterday's shocking reversal, the morale and state of the players have remained very good.

Watching the performance of the players on the training ground, Carlisle even had a bold idea in his mind.

"Man, what do you think of their competitive status?" Carlisle turned to his assistant coach Stotts, and he asked knowingly.

"The lads are in great shape. Fortunately, Dirk and Yi's injuries didn't affect us too much," Stotts answered truthfully.

"Hey, I feel the same way, they're in great shape! So, I'm wondering, can we get rid of the Miamis in three games in Dallas!"

After listening to Carlisle, Stotts widened his eyes. It's not that this assistant coach has no confidence in his team, but that he wants to defeat the Heat's Big Three in three consecutive games, which sounds extremely crazy.

"You know what you're talking about, Rick!"

"Of course I do! Look, Dirk scored again! God, I don't even know what's going to stop him from scoring. Nobody can stop him but Dirk himself. Look at that, too. Kid has so much energy, even Wade can't do anything about him. Not to mention, we have Jeter, Sean, Jason, Peja... you know what man, sometimes, I even feel like Our lineup is not much worse than the Heat!"

If Carlisle said at the press conference that the Mavericks' lineup is not much worse than that of the Heat, the reporters would definitely laugh and call Carlisle a fool who was dazzled by a victory.

But on the training ground, watching the performance of the players, Stotts had to admit that Carlisle's self-confidence was not groundless!

"I'm afraid the Big Three won't agree to you so easily." Terry Stotts looked at the serious Carlisle and couldn't help smiling.

"I didn't expect them to agree, victory, we will grab it ourselves!"

The players who were training on the field did not hear the crazy plan in the head coach's mind.

But they may not know that the inspiration for the coach's crazy plan comes from their even crazier performance on the court.

Take the Miami Heat in three games? It seems that the Big Three's trip to Texas is destined to be insulated from the word happy.

Tap the screen to use advanced tools Tip: You can use left and right keyboard keys to browse between chapters.

You'll Also Like