Gilbert arena
To kill loneliness, Arena picked up a basketball.
When Arena was three years old, his mother sent him to live with her ex-husband Arena. As an actor's father, whenever he came home late at night after the performance, he often saw Arena Jr passing his lonely time on the court alone with a basketball. "What a good boy", he also felt sorry for his son's self-discipline and duty in remorse. When his father moved his family to Bukeban, the only friends in the small arena were basketball. But Arena Sr never imagined that basketball would make his son succeed in the future.
"Arena will be the first player in my coaching career who wants to enter the NBA." These are the words of Howard Levin, coach of Arena High School. Because he witnessed Arena slashing 46 points in a game in senior three and sending out 14 assists in one breath. I believe Levin will still be full of pride when he sees Alina in the cheers. But the key preparation period for Arena to become an NBA player is not in high school, but in the long years when the University of Arizona played NCAA.
It is the tradition of the University of Arizona to recruit excellent guards, which gives Arena, who is 193m tall, a good opportunity. In the first two seasons of college, he carefully studied every game of the team and analyzed the gains and losses of each game. The arena is making rapid progress. He averaged 15.8 points, 3.8 rebounds and 2.2 assists in 70 games, and became the sixth player in school history to reach 1005 points with105 points. He worships his brother mike bibby, who led the University of Arizona to win the only NCAA championship in its history in 1997. This also adds a lot of chips for Bibby's future NBA trip. And Arena wants to prove to others that I can be an NCAA champion.
So people NCAA saw that in the college season of 2000-200 1, Arena worked harder. In the 36 games he participated in, he played for 29 minutes and got 16.2 points and 3.6 rebounds, as well as 2.3 assists and 1.8 steals, becoming the top star of the team and leading the team.
However, the opponent in the NCAA final is Duke University, an old-fashioned powerhouse known as the "Blue Devils". In the final, although Arena led the team to do its best, she lost her temper because of the strength gap and failed to realize her desire to win the second championship for her alma mater. But at this time, Arena has strengthened his determination to enter the NBA, which has become another new expectation for him.
I believe that even today, some people will say that the 200 1 draft is the most boring one in history. History cannot be repeated, but the history that cannot be repeated will inevitably cause some irreparable regrets. The first draft has almost become a striker's world. Alina, who is only 1.93 meters tall, didn't hear her name called until the third turn of the second round. How excited and excited I am to hear my name in the draft, but at this time, Arena's heart is like a basin of ice water. "Most people think being selected in the draft is the most wonderful moment, but I'm not. I was really disappointed on the day of the draft, and I will never forget that day! I may be selected for the All-Star Team 10 times in the future, but I will often think about what happened that day, which is too far-reaching. " Arena knows that his ability is questioned and his NBA career must start from "0".
Who dares to ignore his light?
"We knew he had great potential, but we didn't expect him to make such rapid progress."
-Wizards coach eddie jordan.
In MC, Washington, huge colorful banners are hung in the arena, and the wizards' mascots are also wearing special T-shirts. They want to celebrate the selection of captain Arena to the All-Star Team. Arena on the court is also infected by this atmosphere. He wants to give a wonderful game to the fans here, even though his opponent is a powerful knight with James. On February 10, 2006, after knowing that he was selected for the All-Star Team, Arena took killing the Cavaliers at home as the best way to celebrate. In that game, he scored 32 points, 10 assists, 8 rebounds and a career-high 3 blocked shots, helping the Wizards beat the Cavaliers with 10 1: 89. This is the 23rd time that Arena has scored more than 30 points in a single game this season.
Being able to have such an achievement reminds him of the hardships along the way.
Some people say that it may be Arena's misfortune to be in such a bad team as Golden State Warriors as soon as you enter the league, but everything goes in different ways. It is precisely because the Warriors are a bad team that Arena can have more opportunities to show his strength. His two seasons in the Warriors were impressive, which laid a realistic foundation for him to sign the Wizards with huge contracts in the future. In the first season of the Warriors, Arena made 47 appearances and started 30 times, averaging 24.6 minutes per game, averaging 10.9 points, 2.8 rebounds and 3.7 assists. But in the second season, his data began to grow wildly, starting 82 games, playing time increased from 24.6 minutes to 35 minutes, scoring increased to 18.3 points, plus 6.3 rebounds and 4.7 assists 1.5 steals. The league gave Arena the "Best Progress Award" this season.
At this time, the wizards of the East are rebuilding. At this time, they have been in the embarrassing situation that they have not won a round of playoffs since 1988 and have not entered the playoffs since 1997. "Air Jordan" has left sadly after a bitter battle in Washington. Boss Pauline pinned the hope of this reconstruction on two people, namely the new head coach Eddie Jordan and the Warriors' arena. In order to get Arena, the Wizards offered a huge contract-6 years and 64 million dollars. Since then, Washington has become a new starting point for Arena's career.
With the arrival of Arena and Larry Hughes, the Wizards have the best combination of guards in the East. When reporting to Washington, Arena said confidently, "I want to thank you for giving me this opportunity and believing in my ability. This year will be an unusual year, and I will prove it to you. We will enter the playoffs, I will do my best to help the team, and my team will also help me with all my strength. We will prove everything with facts. "
However, injuries delayed Arena's great plan. In the Wizards' first season, he missed 27 games due to injury, and Larry Hughes was often troubled by injuries, so the team's playoff was ruined. But last season, Arena, who came back from injury, didn't break her word again. He led the Wizards back to the playoffs with an average of 25.5 points and reached the Eastern Conference semifinals. Head coach eddie jordan entrusted him as the team leader. "I think he is going through those days when many superstars were young," eddie jordan recalled. "Yes, he was still studying and enriching himself, but later I clearly told him:' Captain, you are the captain! "'
This season, with Larry Hughes's departure, Arena shouldered more tasks and pressures, but he didn't flinch. His data continued to climb, averaging 2B.2 points per game, closely following Kobe Bryant, Allen Iverson and James, becoming the fourth scoring champion in the league. No one can ignore his light.
The scoring machine should become an engine.
"I admit that some mistakes can be avoided. Everyone wants to play high-level games. However, sometimes it always backfires. "
Gilbert arena
On February 8, 2006, in the match with the Warriors, Arena scored 45 points and set a personal record of 23 free throws, winning with 129: 124. But this is only one side of the story. The other side of the story is that in some cases, the personal data is remarkable, but the team as a whole is not good, so it is impossible to integrate the team well and better coordinate the personal combat power with the combat mode of the whole team. On June 5438+February 10, 2005, the Wizards played against the Bulls. Arena performed very well and scored 42 points and 7 assists. At the same time, the wizards made as many as 22 mistakes in the whole game, and the bullfight was defeated by the bulls. June 30, 2005 65438+February 30, 2005, Alina tied the career high of 44 points in the first three quarters, but suddenly lost her voice in the fourth quarter, with only 3 points. Wizards finally lost by 1 13: 128. In 20061October 3, 65438, the arena repeated this tragedy again. When he scored 44 points, the whole team was in a mess and finally lost to the Rockets. After the game, he said with emotion: "It is not so much that McGrady beat us as they beat us as a whole. Now everyone should understand that winning the game depends on the joint efforts of the whole team. " Of course, Arena must first see her own shortcomings. He can be a scoring machine, but he should be the engine of the team, which is the unshirkable responsibility of a defender.
It is another defect of Arena that it can't play a key role at the critical moment, and even it will be nervous and lose its normal state at the critical moment. The battle with the sun before Christmas last year was a "classic" in this regard. On February 23rd, 2005, 65438, the Wizards narrowly beat the Sun with112:11. Arena scored 4 1 minute, but he missed five free throws in the last 1 minute. If it weren't for the sun, he said to himself after the game, "If I had behaved better, my teammates and I would certainly not have played so hard."
Although Arena has excellent combat capability and extraordinary rising potential, and coach eddie jordan's offensive style also enables jamison, Butler and other main players to display their talents, when the Wizards score 99 points for their opponents on the field, it seems that the importance of overall attack and defense should be considered more, and Arena is undoubtedly the first link in the team's attack and defense chain. He shouldn't just be a scoring machine. How to improve efficiency and mobilize defensive teammates is Arena's next goal.