Chapter 137: Swallow the pain by yourself and leave the glory to the country

For the Rockets, Scola scored 21 points and 8 rebounds, but his scoring was mainly concentrated in the second half. After Zhang Yu arranged for Butler to double-team him, it was difficult for him to score.

Ariza scored 24 points, but only made 25 of 9 shots, which was very inefficient.

Aaron Brooks is quite satisfactory, with 16 points and 7 assists. He can only add to the cake for the Rockets, and it is difficult to help the team.

Zhang Yu came to the technical stage and shook hands with Adelman, he smiled and said:

"Welcome back to Oracle Center."

Facing the familiar greetings in this round, Adelman did not perfunctory, but said seriously:

"Warriors are strong, I think you guys will shock the league."

After this game, he has already seen the gap between the Rockets and the Warriors.

Although the Rockets have more experience and are very resilient, it is impossible to enter the playoffs in the end.

In recent years, the West has been very wild, and the competition is fierce. The team that can make the playoffs must have at least one All-Star.

The Warriors are aggressive, and the players Zhang Yu found are all in line with the Warriors' tactical system. Coupled with Curry's explosive scoring ability, Adelman believes that they have a great chance to hit the playoffs.

"How is Yao Ming's situation?" Zhang Yu asked with concern.

Adelman shook his head and said softly:

"Very pessimistic. The doctor said that Yao's legs are under heavy load. He may...not be able to return to the NBA game."

Zhang Yu's complexion darkened, and he sighed imperceptibly.

Yao Ming is still the same as his previous life, he is about to retire.

Zhang Yu met Yao Ming through Su Qun's matchmaking before.

Although one of the two is in the NBA and the other is in the NCAA, they are both Chinese nationals who have made their debut in the American basketball world, and they often communicate.

Zhang Yu reminded Yao Ming to pay attention to load management and not to play too hard. Health is the most important thing.

But if Yao Ming takes a rest, then he is not Yao Ming.

Of course he agreed on the surface, thanking Zhang Yu for his concern, but in the game, he should fight or fight, and give everything to win.

Finally... In the Western Conference semifinals against the Lakers, Yao Ming fractured his left foot and was reimbursed for the season.

On May 5th, Huaxia fans will never forget this day, their Great Wall fell down.

Throughout his career, Yao Ming did everything for basketball and suffered as many as 15 injuries throughout his body.

His worst injury was a stress fracture due to fatigue.

He is not a glass man, he just works harder than others.

Because there is a huge country behind him, and he is needed to win glory for the country.

Zhang Yu didn't know what to say, nodded to Adelman, turned and returned to the bench.

Among the players celebrating the victory, Zhang Yu's gloomy expression was particularly conspicuous.

Curry noticed this first. He came to Zhang Yu's side, the smile on his face faded, and he said doubtfully:

"Boss, what's wrong with you? We won."

Zhang Yu forced a smile and patted Curry's arm:

"It's okay, you did a great job, not many people can score 33 points in the first game in the NBA."

"Boss, are you really okay?" Curry asked after carefully examining Zhang Yu's face.

Zhang Yu was silent, and after a while he said:

"My compatriot Yao Ming should retire. He can't play in the NBA anymore."

Curry was surprised:

"Didn't he have a broken left foot? It's not a serious injury, is it?"

Zhang Yu shook her head:

"He has suffered multiple stress fractures. Although he can still play, he is at high risk of being injured again. If he is injured again, it will affect his daily life in the future."

"Sorry, boss..."

"It's okay, let's go, we won the game, let's thank the fans who supported us...they are the best fans in the world!" Zhang Yu said softly.

He pulled Curry, called the Warriors players, came to the center of the field, and bowed to the four sides.

The fans hadn't left the field yet. Seeing this scene, they applauded and cheered with hoarse voices:

"Warrior! Warrior!"

After getting up, Zhang Yu saw the microphone in the DJ's hand and raised his right hand high. The audience realized that he was going to give a speech, and gradually became quiet.

Zhang Yu said loudly:

"Thank you for your support for the Warriors. In the past 15 years, the Warriors have only made the playoffs once. The best result was the second round, but you still stick to the team. Thank you. A true warrior!"

clap clap clap!

The applause sounded, Zhang Yu stopped for a while, and after the applause stopped, he said:

"Today's victory is just the beginning. I promise you that this season, the Warriors will make the playoffs. The past ten years did not belong to the Warriors, but the next ten years will be the Warriors' ten years!"

After his words fell, the huge Oracle Center unexpectedly fell into a brief silence, followed by warm applause and shouts.

"Go Warriors!"

"We're going to win!"

"Warriors Championship!"

Sitting here are the most fanatical Warriors fans. They don't care how shocking Zhang Yu's words sound, they only know that the Warriors won a big victory tonight, and they want to see the Warriors become the strongest in the league, and even... ...go for that O'Brien Cup!

Zhang Yu waved his hands around, and walked to the player tunnel with the players.

After returning to the locker room, he simply cleaned up. Curry went to take a shower and changed clothes, and then went to the press conference with Zhang Yu.

After the two sat down, the reporter asked Curry:

"Tonight is your first regular season game after entering the NBA. You scored a double-double with 33 points and 10 assists. This is even better than Iverson. Do you have anything to say?"

"Iverson is a great player, and I will follow in his footsteps..." Curry has been trained by the team's press officer and speaks impeccably.

"How do you rate the rival Rockets?"

Curry said without hesitation:

"They are a strong opponent. Although we won the game, the process was very difficult..."

The more the reporters listened, the more boring they became. Young people nowadays are too insincere. Why don't you read the script directly?

The reporters quickly discovered that it was useless to interview Curry. This is an "old fritter" who grew up in the NBA arena since he was a child, and there is no way to get something out of his mouth.

Whenever this happens, the reporters feel very puzzled—this baby-face with a face full of humility off the field is really a marksman with every shot on the field, and he also likes to celebrate with very arrogant actions after scoring a goal ?

They pointed their finger at Zhang Yu:

"Coach Z, congratulations to the Warriors for winning the game tonight. After the game, you gave a speech to the fans and said that the goal of the Warriors this season is to enter the playoffs. Are you serious?"

"Of course." Zhang Yu nodded.

"But the Warriors have only played in the playoffs once in the last 15 years..."

"Sorry, that was the previous Warriors team. The current Warriors team is a brand new team. We will make the playoffs." Zhang Yu interrupted.

"But you traded away three powerful players and left behind all young players. Why do you have so much confidence in the team?"

"Because we won, that's the reason." Zhang Yu said.

Because of Yao Ming's matter, he was in a bad mood and didn't want to entangle with reporters.

After saying this, Zhang Yu got up and left the field, and Curry followed behind him.

"Did you see, those reporters look down on us at all." Zhang Yu said lightly.

Curry nodded heavily. He had long seen the essence of reporters—they prefer to see failures rather than victories, especially those who are topical.

Touting the winners cannot bring enthusiasm, controversy and confrontation are the passwords of traffic.

Zhang Yu said slowly:

"Everyone is waiting for us to fail. Think about it, the 26-year-old head coach of Huaxia, a talented shooter from a famous family, if the Warriors have a bad record, the media will slam us on the ground, and then let countless people want to vent their emotions. People yelled heartily—you know, a lot of people lost their jobs during the financial crisis, and there were a lot of black people watching football in the slums, and they couldn't see people like us succeeding."

Curry was taken aback, he had never considered it from this angle:

"Boss, we're just playing well...is there something wrong with that?"

"For some people, if you have a good life, that's wrong. The Warriors are born villains." Zhang Yu said in a low voice.

"Then won't we be scolded for everything we do?" Curry's voice was raised slightly.

"No, people have the psychology of admiration, even more than the recognition of positions. As long as we win, we will be praised, and no one will blame the winner." Zhang Yu said softly.

"You must win, otherwise all efforts will be in vain, people will not remember your sacrifice, they will only remember the winner's smile." He paused and said in a deep voice.

Zhang Yu was not inexplicably sad, he remembered what happened to Yao Ming in his previous life after he retired.

Yao Ming did his best for the national team and the Rockets, but after retiring, he was scolded by many Chinese fans. Many people even thought that his ability to enter the NBA was purely due to his status as a Chinese, and his strength was simply not enough.

Otherwise, why did Yao Ming only use the second team twice and the third team three times in his career?

Didn't you say that Yao Ming is the number one center forward in the league?

At this time, if you tell him that Yao Ming is fighting for the country, they will say - how could someone be so stupid?

They couldn't see Yao Ming's exhaustion, they couldn't see Yao Ming's loyalty, they only saw Yao Ming's failure.

If Yao Ming refused to play for the national team, he would not suffer from stress fractures due to fatigue and his career would be greatly extended.

If he accepts Kobe's invitation and goes to the Lakers after the contract ends, the internal and external dual-core formed by him and Kobe will become the strongest duo in the league, and the championship will be easily captured.

But he didn't, he chose to play for the country, and he chose to return the Rockets' No. [-] pick.

Many people say that Yao Ming is stupid. He could have a brilliant and dazzling career, but he chose to move forward with heavy burdens, swallowed the pain himself, and left the glory to the country.

But this is the reason why Yao Ming is great. If he chooses another path, he will be No.1 in Asian basketball, but he will not be No.1 in Chinese basketball.

He gave his all for Huaxia basketball.

What has already happened will happen again in the future.

Zhang Yu looked at Curry and remembered all the sacrifices he made for the Warriors in his previous life.

Because of Durant's arrival, he sacrificed the ball, gave up player options, and sacrificed his peak period in order to train rookies...

This is very similar to Yao Ming, except that Yao Ming is for the country, while he is for the team.

In this life, he will never let this kind of thing happen again!