NBA, Yao Ming is back!

Chapter 96: At 67, I think... my basic skills might not be as good as his.

It's a pity about this game.

It's difficult to shut Duncan down like Van Horn, McGrady, or Hamburger.

Duncan's greatest strength is...

A lower limit can be guaranteed under any circumstances.

This is also the benefit of having strong fundamental skills.

It might be difficult to become a god, but it's also not easy to become a complete failure.

It was his first time facing Yao Ming, and he was indeed not used to it. He had never encountered such a tall player before. In the ensuing melee, Yao Ming made 5 out of 10 shots.

Duncan is currently 3-for-9 from the field.

However, Duncan is now taking advantage of Yao Ming's more mature physique, as Yao Ming is not yet 17 years old and his body is still relatively thin and young.

In that case, for the first time, the Philadelphia 76ers' summer league did not feature Yao Ming dominating the boards.

Currently, both Duncan and Tim Duncan have 6 rebounds per game.

Duncan's coach, Hank Egan, never expected that the man he personally certified as a master of fundamentals would be the man the Spurs and the entire league were waiting for while tanking.

Duncan, whose peak was so-called a rookie.

actually……

I fought this guy to a draw.

That's it.

Outrageous!

After thinking about it, the old man's CPU almost couldn't keep up, but he quickly came up with a reason—

Duncan has probably never faced an opponent like this before. Players with strong fundamentals need to gain experience through repeated matchups, and they will become stronger the next time they face him.

This judgment is correct if you have carefully observed some of the data from rookie Duncan.

Even if they don't play well at the beginning, they will make adjustments immediately after a few games.

The most typical example is when facing Karl Malone.

This guy was a former MVP-caliber player.

Danzi's five crowns.

They were facing the Jazz, led by this guy.

It can be said that Malone was incredibly strong that year.

A true MVP-caliber player, the man who could take the MVP award from Jordan's head.

Just like that, after being suppressed in only two games, he quickly went from scoring single digits in a single game to... in the next two games when they met again...

He's already almost on par with Karl Malone.

In terms of data, they are almost not at a disadvantage.

Keep in mind that Malone was the most powerful forward in the league at the time, an MVP-caliber player.

He's still just a freshman.

I only suffered two hardships.

Then it evolved to a level where its stats were similar to Malone's.

It relies on the ability that the older comrades are thinking about now.

Duncan can seek ways to face you head-on through constant matchups, and develop the ability to match up against you.

In the playoffs, he and Malone were evenly matched.

If it weren't for Game 5, where he fouled out and paid a heavy price for his mistakes, he would have already possessed the ability to compete almost with MVP Malone back then.

Yao Ming's ability to put up a close fight against Duncan, who was already at his peak as a rookie, certainly involved an element of skill.

The reason he performed so well is threefold: first, he has experience dealing with Duncan; second, he has always been Duncan's nemesis, possessing a counter-attribute; and third, his physical condition, basic skills, and fundamental abilities are now no weaker than Duncan's.

Therefore, even if they are young.

Insufficient development.

Now he can deliver an ability that is almost on par with Duncan's.

Being able to use your own strengths to counter the opponent's strengths—isn't that also a form of reading the game?

Duncan ran into Yao Ming, who had previously played for Duncan.

You have to suffer some losses.

The match was fiercely contested, and both players maintained a similar shooting percentage throughout.

However, in this game, Yao Ming's teammates in Philadelphia were not up to par, and their shooting percentage was lower than that of the opposing team's fringe players.

This resulted in Yao Ming targeting Duncan in every way, meticulously calculating every move, yet the score difference remained very close.

The score is more than halfway through, 50-51.

It was almost a draw.

It has to be said, Duncan is truly remarkable. As the number one draft pick, when he couldn't get going himself, he was willing to play alongside various fringe players, setting screens and even delaying plays off-ball, all to ensure the smooth operation of the team's system.

That's outrageous.

If you asked someone else, they definitely wouldn't bother doing it.

Moreover, he is extremely capable of doing these tasks.

The positioning is of an extremely high standard.

Therefore, even after his athletic ability declined and he became a floor-based player, he could still thrive in the team, precisely because...

He can integrate into the system very well.

This will raise the overall standard of the system.

With him, both offense and defense become much smoother. This is why, although the statistics may not reflect it, Duncan was able to lead the Spurs to victory after victory.

The champion spanned from the 1990s to the second decade of the 21st century.

It spans nearly two decades.

This ability is truly...

tyrannical.

It's comparable to a certain number 23, whose record of having his head shaved spans twenty years.

Most people wouldn't encounter this.

……

awesome.

That's truly a solid foundation; going up against him is...

The bromance is palpable.

Unable to control myself.

This feeling is similar to facing players like Maddie Bird.

completely different.

While Yao Ming was silently affirming Duncan's abilities, he was unaware that Duncan was also constantly telling his coach, Hank Egan, how strong this Eastern player was.

"No, sir, he is really amazing."

"I have never seen anyone so amazing at the age of sixteen or seventeen."

"I even feel..."

Duncan didn't finish his sentence, but he knew exactly what he was going to say: he wanted to say what it would have been like if he had met him when he was sixteen or seventeen.

I really don't think I can win.

Including basic skills.

If they were both sixteen or seventeen, Duncan believed he might not have had as solid a foundation as Duncan.

In other words, this is the top draft pick.

If it weren't for my age advantage...

Even though they're all the same age, it's not necessarily true that one of them will gain an advantage.

Hank Egan immediately saw the problem and said, "You can't say that, Tim. Many players are very strong at sixteen or seventeen, but their development stagnates after that. Every player's ability to improve at each age is different. Ultimately, it depends on how much you can improve after you become an adult."

"Didn't you see enough of those so-called high school superstars in college who became more and more mediocre as they played?"

Upon hearing this, Duncan nodded silently.

He even gave the old comrade a grateful look.

It must be said that Hank Egan is quite capable; he immediately pulled Duncan out of his own misconceptions.

No wonder Duncan made a point of thanking him when he won his last championship.

A good coach is essential for these African American athletes.

That's true, you have to be a coach.

I'll have to be the godfather again.

"Think about it carefully. You need to use your brain more when playing basketball; it's not just about having good physical attributes. Especially in this game, if your opponent is in better form and you're not as good as them, you need to use your brain even more."

"Think about how you beat those guys in college. Weren't there plenty of guys with better physiques than you? Use your brain, Tim."

Ok.

With this in mind, Duncan began processing various data in his head.

Think about how you should face this super big guy from the East.

Yes, he has now positioned Yao Ming as a super big man.

Because he's tall.

It's impossible to describe him anymore.

There must be a specific term for it.

But what he didn't know was that Yao Ming was an experienced veteran, and his mind was much sharper.

He was also thinking about how to take down Duncan in one fell swoop.

Let him lie down right after tonight's game.

The kind that you can never get up again.