The night before Wenhao's playoff debut, he was so excited that he stayed awake. At three o'clock in the morning, he arrived at the Toyota Center training hall, the home of the Rockets, and he was about to start practicing.
When Wen Hao walked through the brightly lit streets and came to the Toyota Center training hall, the security personnel at the training hall were stunned for a moment when they saw Wen Hao, then understood and said with a smile: "Wen Hao, the game with the Suns is just...
If the fight is about to begin, you must take care of yourself."
"Yeah." Wen Hao replied and quickly walked towards the training hall.
Each arena has more than one training hall. Wen Hao walked towards the training hall No. 5, which he usually likes to use the most. But when he got to the door, a light came out through the crack in the door. Wen Hao was stunned.
It's so late, or so early, who is training here?
In doubt, he opened the door and saw a tall figure practicing his steps under the basket. In the empty arena, there was only the "squeak" sound of his sneakers rubbing against the floor, which sounded strange at this time.
Loud outside.
This person was none other than Dayao. When Dayao heard the sound of the door opening, he turned around and saw that it was Wen Hao. He laughed twice and said, "It turns out to be Wen Hao."
Wen Hao said with some surprise: "Dayao, I thought I was the first to come, but I didn't expect you to be earlier than me."
Dayao continued to do his footwork exercises and said, "I can't sleep. I came here at around 11 o'clock last night."
"Huh." Wen Hao exhaled in surprise: "It seems that we are all the same. The playoffs are coming and we are too excited to sleep. But I don't understand. This is my first time to participate in the playoffs. I am too excited to sleep.
This is understandable, but Dayao, you have participated in several playoffs before, are you still so excited?"
Dayao seemed to be reminded of his sad past, with a look of pain in his eyes, and said: "I have participated a few times before, but they were basically in the first round. Now this is my first playoff game after my comeback, I am excited.
It is inevitable. And as you know, I am already over thirty now. Like me
The sports career of such a tall center is generally shorter than that of players in other positions, which means that I will retire in a few years. If I don't win a championship in these few years, I will regret it for the rest of my life.
So when the playoffs come, of course I will be excited, but also a little nervous."
After listening to this, Wen Hao understood Dayao's thoughts. He thought for a moment, raised his head and said to Dayao: "Dayao, I can't say that I will definitely help you win the championship, but I can guarantee that I will do my best.
All the hard work helps you, and of course it also helps me win the championship."
"Well, I believe it." Dayao said, "Let our Chinese team shine brilliantly in the playoffs."
Wen Hao nodded and suddenly said nonsensically: "Dayao, you are like a poet."
"Uh..." Dayao didn't react for a moment.
When Wen Hao and Dayao trained until eight o'clock in the morning, other Rockets players also came. They all came one to two hours earlier than usual. It turned out that no one had slept well last night.
After training for two hours, McHale asked the players to only do some training to maintain their condition, and then dispersed to rest.
Wen Hao said goodbye to everyone, returned to his residence, turned on the phone, and saw a message from Yu Song: Wen Hao, "Sports Illustrated" wants you to shoot the cover, you can do it whenever you have time.
Wen Hao was pleasantly surprised when he saw this message. "Sports Illustrated" is the largest sports weekly in the United States, with more than 23 million readers every week and 8 million subscribers in the United States. And it can be listed on
The covers of "Sports Illustrated" are all sports figures or teams with absolute popularity and influence. In the American sports world, the popularity of a player is determined by whether he can be on the cover of Sports Illustrated and the number of times he has been on the cover of Sports Illustrated.
to measure.
To a certain extent, being on the cover of Sports Illustrated is an absolute recognition of a player. For example, Jordan has been on the cover 50 times, James has been on the cover once, and Yao Ming has been on the cover of Sports Illustrated three times.
.
Now "Sports Illustrated" asked me to shoot the cover, which shows that I have been recognized.
Thinking of this, Wen Hao replied with a text message: Wait until the first round of the playoffs is over. I won't be afraid of the cover curse.
(I will talk about the cover curse in detail later when I take the cover photo. If I write this now, these chapters will be a bit too long. Book lovers should want to read the playoff chapters as soon as possible.)
After sending the text message, Wen Hao turned off his phone, thinking about taking the cover photo, and his heart began to feel happy. If a player can be on the cover of "Sports Illustrated", then he agrees with those who can be on the cover of "Time".
It has been recognized by the world and has great influence. I will be satisfied if I can be in "Sports Illustrated" once in my life.
This made me feel happy, and the excitement for the playoffs was somewhat diluted. So Wen Hao fell asleep unknowingly.
When he woke up, it was already five o'clock in the afternoon. Although he had not slept all night and had only slept for five hours now, Wen Hao was in excellent spirits. Refreshing could best describe his state at this time. He turned over a page
Refrigerator, grab something to eat.
Although Wen Hao's current condition is logically enough to be equipped with a dedicated nutritionist, Wen Hao still likes to eat his own food. If when and what to eat have to be planned by someone, then
It’s too unpleasant.
After eating, Wen Hao walked to the Toyota Center. The game was scheduled to start at eight o'clock in the evening, and Wen Hao was not in a hurry.
Arriving at the training hall, all the Rockets players were already there. Everyone was practicing passing, dribbling, shooting or breakthrough according to their own circumstances. But Wen Hao was not practicing at this time, he was meditating.
That's right, it's meditation. This is a method he saw in a magazine. Before the competition, if you can enter meditation and let your mind enter an ethereal state, it will have a great impact on your mental state during the competition.
Positive effect.
McHale and several assistant coaches saw that Wen Hao was not practicing. Although they were confused, they did not come to interfere with Wen Hao. Having been head coaches for many years, they were no longer surprised by the various adjustments made to players before games.
Finally, at 7:30 in the evening, the players from both sides entered the stadium to warm up, and some spectators who came early had also entered the stadium.
In this game, Yu Song and Harper both bought tickets and entered the stadium to cheer for Wen Hao, while Elena and Annie also entered the stadium from different entrances.
In the "38th Block", although Carter Jr. could not go to the stadium to cheer for Wen Hao in person, he invited a group of friends to his home to watch the game. Carter's mother saw those who were invited by Carter
The child laughed happily. For a long time, little Carter was often bullied by others, and his personality became withdrawn. But since becoming friends with Wen Hao, little Carter's personality has become much more cheerful, and he has gradually become more and more friendly.
I have made a few friends, although not many, but it is finally much better than before.
All these changes in little Carter were brought about by Wen Hao, so deep inside the inner circle of little Carter's mother, she was very grateful to Wen Hao. However, she did not have the opportunity to express her gratitude to Wen Hao in person.
In Wen Hao's hometown, although it was spring and the green wheat seedlings were growing in the fields, the villagers needed to remove weeds, but a large number of villagers did not go to the fields. Because there was a scene from Wen Hao today.
Important match.
Since Wen Hao officially signed a contract with the Rockets, more and more villagers have been influenced by Wen's father and have begun to watch Wen Hao's games. Today's game is said to be a very important game, so the villagers have gathered
Wen Hao's house, which was less than twenty square meters, was so packed that there was no room for anyone to stand in it.
When Wen's father saw this, he put the TV set on a table in the courtyard. In this way, nearly a hundred people could stand in their courtyard.
At eight o'clock sharp in Houston, the game between the two sides finally started. McHale arranged the Rockets' starting lineup: center Yao, power forward Howard, small forward Parsons, shooting guard Harden, and point guard Beverley.
Because the playoffs focus on defense, McHale put Beverley, who is good at defense, into the starting lineup. However, Wen Hao and Jeremy Lin, who are better at offense, did not make the starting list.
The commentators of TNT were already busy at this time. The once legendary shooter Reggie Miller said: "In today's game, it seems that the Rockets have a good chance of winning. The Rockets are first in the Western Conference, and the Suns are just
Eighth. And regardless of ranking, just in terms of strength
, the Rockets also have an absolute advantage. The only weakness may be their No. 1 position. There is no shortage of attackers at the No. 1 position, but only Beverley is up to standard defensively. However, other points can make up for it.
The number position is insufficient, so I am optimistic about the Rockets in this game."
Another TNT commentator, Charles Barkley, said: "I am opposite to you, I am optimistic about the Suns."
(Note: I wrote before that these two people are from ESPN, which is a clerical error by the author. In fact, they are both commentators for TNT.)
Barkley has always been known as a loudmouth, and Miller was not surprised at all that he could say something like this.
Barkley continued: "The Suns' point guard Dragic is a very comprehensive point guard. He has good jumping, fast speed, and good personal defense. I think he can completely destroy the Rockets point guard. And the point guard
The guard is the engine of a team. If the engine is blown, how can we still win?"
Miller curled his lips and said: "You are a retired player of the Suns. Of course you say the Suns are good. Can you be more objective?"
"I'm already very objective." Barkley said with a smile.
While they were talking, the players from the Rockets and Suns had already arrived at the center circle, and they started jumping the ball.
Although Wen Hao could only sit on the bench and be a spectator, he was not in a hurry. He knew that the opportunity for him to perform would definitely come.
In his mind, he recalled that person from a few days ago, and that person's ever-changing and powerful attacks. (To be continued.)
