It can be seen from the intensity of the noise how much Warriors fans like this shooting guard with a fierce playing style.
In the box, Shen Fei smiled and said to Larry Riley: "Look at this posture, as long as Monta is here, you won't have to worry about selling tickets."
Larry Riley smiled and shook his head, and said with pride: "His style of play really attracts fans. No one doesn't want to watch Monta play."
This is absolutely true.
Ellis has been playing for the team since the "Black Eight" Warriors team, and he is considered an old man in the team.
Over the past few years, he has continued to improve and has gradually become the most entertaining and explosive scoring guard in the league.
Among the Warriors, Ellis has the highest jersey sales. Compared with his sales, the sales of other players in the team are not at the same level.
From this you can see how popular he is!
"However, I feel like you two guards have some overlap in functionality."
"Monta and No. 30 rookie Steph are both defenders who are more offensive than defensive, and their height is not an advantage at the same position."
Shen Fei said thoughtfully.
The Asian youth have done a lot of homework in preparation for today's competition.
What he is concerned about is not the outcome of this game, but the most important reinforcement candidate for the Rockets in the future - Stephen Curry.
And if you want to get the "elementary student", you must go through Larry Riley.
After all, in the original time and space, Larry Riley defied all opinions and chose the latter between Ellis and Curry.
Shen Fei remembers that in 2012, on the eve of the Ellis trade, a survey was conducted in San Francisco (the city where the Warriors are located) - if only one of Ellis and Curry could stay, which one do you want to stay?
The results of the survey are astounding now - more than 70% of local fans chose Ellis!
Not only that, there are also many people in the Warriors' management who believe that the "glass" Curry cannot become the core of the team, and prefer to trade him to strengthen Ellis.
But in such a public opinion environment, Larry Riley still firmly chose to believe in Curry, and this is how he became "Kuritian"!
Now that there are still two years left before Ellis' transaction, Shen Fei wants to know whether Larry Riley's current attitude is as determined as it will be two years later.
"Young man, your vision is indeed as sharp as rumored. This problem has actually been bothering me for a while."
"Monta and Stephen are both very good young people, but they have many differences."
"Monta is confident and flamboyant, good at breakthroughs, and is a sharp sword on the court; Stephen is low-key and humble, but he is also very strong at heart and has the potential to become the best shooter in the league."
Larry Riley said slowly.
As he spoke, McGrady hit a pull-up three-pointer over Curry's head.
Then, Ellis broke through the basket again and succeeded in a difficult layup.
However, looking back, he was also physically eaten by Lowry.
"Although the playing style is different, the defense seems to be different."
"Such a back line can only fight attack with attack, and it is difficult to win the game by defense."
Shen Fei continued.
"Who says it's not..."
"Without defense, it is destined to be unable to go further. No team has ever won a championship just by relying on offense."
"However, both of them are still very young. Maybe they will wake up and make some achievements on the defensive end."
Larry Riley said with a smile.
Hearing this, Shen Fei couldn't help but admire this veteran manager.
With this kind of peaceful mentality, it’s no wonder he became the founder of a dynasty team.
Of course, what he said is not entirely correct.
Curry will indeed develop a certain level of defense in the future, at least it will no longer have anything to do with "defensive loopholes".
But Monta Ellis was not so lucky.
Whether he is in the Warriors or going to the Mavericks in the future, he needs the team to "hide" him on the defensive end.
Defensive deficiencies also destined Ellis to only shine in weak teams, or as the sixth man in strong teams.
There is always a natural barrier between him and becoming a true super giant.
While Shen Fei was talking to Larry Riley, the Rockets had gradually taken control of the game.
They were in full bloom, with all five starting players scoring goals.
On the other hand, with the Warriors, Ellis began to engage in personal heroism after feeling hot, choosing to use singles to solve problems many times.
And if he missed a shot or made a mistake, the Rockets' counterattack immediately punished him.
The score difference between the two teams also widened.
Warriors coach Keith Smart saw the situation was not good and quickly called a timeout.
After the timeout ended, both sides began to replace substitute players one after another.
For the Rockets, Ty Lawson, who had rested for a week, replaced Lowry, who returned with him today.
Jeremy Lin, who performed well during this period, also replaced Tracy McGrady as the shooting guard.
On the other hand, the Warriors left Curry to lead the team and let Ellis take a rest.
Shen Fei in the box smiled slightly.
The show is about to begin!
It turned out that Shen Fei called Mark Jackson yesterday morning and told him some details that needed to be paid attention to in the game against the Warriors.
............
"I studied the Warriors' rotation this season, and they will let Curry lead the team alone in the last few minutes of the first quarter."
"When the time comes, you let Lawson come on and face him."
"There is only one requirement. We must give full play to Lawson's offensive ability during this period. It is best to arrange some singles tactics to let him 'attack' Curry."
Although Mark Jackson didn't know why his manager suddenly assigned this task, he still agreed immediately.
After all, judging from the experience of cooperation in the past few months, whenever Shen Fei has a special mission, it indicates that strong support is about to join.
Mark Jackson didn't know what surprises the Asian youth would bring him. The only thing he could do was to unconditionally complete the tasks assigned by Shen Fei!
"I understand, manager, I will make arrangements."
"By the way, Brandon (Roy) has rested for such a long time. In the first game back, I will arrange 7-10 minutes of playing time. What do you think?"
Mark Jackson asked.
"Well, you can decide this yourself."
"But after a while, Brandon will have to be given sufficient tactical status after he recovers."
"With his age and strength, it is already a big sacrifice for him to deign to play as a substitute."
Shen Fei warned.
............
His eyes returned to the playing field.
At this time, the Rockets led the Warriors by 8 points, 25:17.
In order to reverse the situation, Curry, as the core of the transition period, decided to strengthen his personal offense!
He averaged 17.6 points per game in his debut season. Since this season, this number has risen to 18.5!
Although he has not yet reached the level of a top scorer, Curry's scoring ability has begun to show its prowess.
In the first round when the game restarted, he chose to attack with the ball.
Facing Jeremy Lin's defense, Curry dribbled behind his back to get half a step of space, and took advantage of the situation with the help of his teammates' cover to completely get rid of the defense.
After breaking into the penalty area, he met Tucker who was defending.
Tucker's defense was very aggressive, and he hit Curry's shoulder with his chest as soon as he faced him.
Such an action is already on the verge of a foul.
But Curry did not choose to commit a foul. Instead, he relied on his good core strength to maintain balance and accelerated to pass Tucker.
At this time, Birdman Anderson rushed out diagonally, took over Tucker's squad, and continued to encircle and suppress Curry.
The cute god suddenly braked and raised his left hand in a layup position.
The Birdman reacted immediately, leaping high and trying to block the shot.