Chapter 40 Death (Subscription Request)

The game against the Nuggets is on December 12rd, and the 23th is Christmas Day this year.

The Mavericks are honored to have a Christmas game with the Kings on this day. It is an honor because it is a recognition of their strength.

But it's also unfortunate. After all, it's quite uncomfortable not being able to stay comfortably at home with my family during such an important holiday.

The Mavericks played this game away from home, and the players were not very happy. After all, it was already evening when they flew back from the game, and it was hard to say whether they could make it in time for dinner.

But Zheng Yang didn't care. After all, he didn't have any special feelings about Christmas.

It's okay if it's later!

Today's game is not easy to play. The opponent is the Kings, who have been ranked in the top two in the regular season for two consecutive seasons. During the offseason, they also introduced All-Star center Brad Miller. It can be said that the overall strength has improved compared to last season.

In this game, Nelson transformed into Thibodeau and started to fuck the main players.

Nowitzki played for 47 minutes, Zheng Yang played the entire game, and the other starters also played more than 35 minutes. As for the bench, except for Da Chou who played for 30 minutes, no other player played for more than five minutes.

This game is really a dead end.

Is old Nelson a psychopath who is deliberately trying to make trouble for everyone?

Of course not. He also wanted everyone to rest more, but there was no way. The Kings had a deeper bench and the team's chemistry was better.

The Mavericks' current starting lineup still does not have good chemistry, and the substitutes immediately lose points as soon as they come on the court and are simply unable to play.

Therefore, old Nelson could only let the starters stay on the court and rely on the four All-Stars and Zheng Yang's own personal abilities to keep the score close.

The final result did not disappoint the Mavericks players' efforts today, as they defeated the Kings with a score of 111:105.

Win the Christmas War!
The team leader Nowitzki was still tough in the tough battle, scoring 35 points and 15 rebounds, turning into a cold-blooded scoring machine.

Fat Monk also provided considerable firepower support, with 22 points and 12 rebounds.

Zheng Yang also scored 18 points and 15 rebounds, as well as 4 blocks and 2 steals.

His defensive ability has been steadily improving during this period, his defensive awareness is getting better and better, and he has a good grasp of the timing of steals and blocks.

These three guys almost monopolized all the team's rebounds, and the others combined had less than 10 rebounds.

Nash also performed well in this game, scoring 9 points on 5 of 14 shots and 11 assists.

Only Finley kept missing shots today, making 15 of 3 shots and only having 10 points and 4 rebounds.

In this starting lineup, Finley really had a hard time playing. Ask him to score, the team already has enough scoring points.

Ask him to defend, but his defense is average and he can't grab many rebounds.

Let him organize, he has more turnovers than assists.

It's totally useless!

On the way back, old Nelson sat alone at the front of the plane, frowning and thinking hard.

Although he won the game today, he was not happy at all.

Because today's victory can be said to be a loss of 1,000 to the enemy and 10,000 to our own!
一场比赛48分钟，5个位置合起来240分钟，这240分钟居然让6个人承担。

It's okay to play one or two games, but if it's a series with 7 games and 4 wins, how many games can these players last?

Even if they can make it through one round, there are still three rounds left to win the championship. Can they make it through every round?
It's totally unrealistic!
So changes must be made now, what changes should be made?
That is to change the team's starting lineup!
First of all, Nowitzki must not be moved, he is the core of the team. Nash can't be moved either, the offense still depends on him to organize.

Zheng Yang also has to be kept. There are not many players who can defend in the starting lineup. If he goes down again, there will be no point in playing.

As for Finley and Walker, it seems that they can both be replaced.

In fact, according to Nelson's team-building ideas, it would be best to replace Walker with an All-Star center, so that Nowitzki can be freed from the center position and return to his more familiar power forward position.

The team's rim protection ability can also be improved.

As for Finley, just replace him with a player who can defend. As for the offensive end, it doesn't matter at all.

If we can have a starting lineup like this that is both offensive and defensive, there's no need to worry about winning the championship!

Thinking of this, old Nelson couldn't help but grin.

Of course, now is not the time to daydream. There is no All-Star center waiting for him on the market. Even if there is, the Mavericks have no assets to trade unless they trade Walker Finley.

He should return to reality and use whatever he has!

After Zheng Yang and the other two were confirmed, they moved Big Chou to the starting lineup, and then saw who between Walker and Finley was more suitable for this starting lineup, and whoever stayed would stay.

The rest will lead the substitutes, so that the depth of the bench can be deeper, and there is no need to always focus on the main players.

As for what effect will be achieved by then, we will know after playing a few games.

Thinking of this, old Nelson stopped thinking about the team's starting lineup and turned to think of another thing.

That’s next offseason.

To be honest, old Nelson knows that the Mavericks' chances of winning the championship this season are slim. After all, the lineup is inherently flawed. No matter how well the players perform, the chances of winning the championship are still slim.

He was wondering what the team would do this offseason, or more precisely, what the team owner Mark Cuban would do.

As the general manager and head coach of the team, Nelson Sr. has a very high prestige in the team, so he was able to trade Zheng Yang based on his own opinion.

Although it turned out to be the right choice, they selected a talented rookie who had both immediate combat effectiveness and potential.

But Cuban could not accept Nelson's control over the team. As the team owner, he needed to have complete control over his team.

So since the new season, Cuban has been making personnel changes and cultivating confidants in order to increase his voice in the team and weaken the influence of Nelson Sr. on the team.

Faced with Cuban's aggressiveness, Nelson Sr. had no intention of fighting for power, so he kept giving in.

He just hopes that Cuban can give Nash a good contract in the offseason and let him coach for another two years.

He believed that he could lead them to win the championship.

After returning to Dallas, no one lingered. After all, today was Christmas, and most of these players had already started families, so they all hurried back to reunite with their families.

Zheng Yang stayed and continued to practice for a while before driving home.

　Some domestic plots will appear next. Actually, I originally planned to write them, but I found that some readers like to read them and some readers don’t like to read them, so I have always omitted them before.

　　But it would be irrational not to write anything. My current plan is to play in the 08 Olympics at home and not participate in other competitions.

　　I also usually write about the reactions of domestic fans or hosts when they see the protagonists playing.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)