During the preseason, after lunch on game days, Liu Xiu would always say to Travis Outlaw, ‘I’ll take an hour’s nap, call me when the time comes’, and then take a nap in the lounge.

Travis Outlaw never refused from the first time. Every time, he would play Zelda on Nintendo's original handheld console and wait by the sofa, waiting for the hour to wake up Liu Xiu.

It’s clear that Travis Outlaw was Liu Xiu’s bodyguard while he was sleeping.

But today Liu Xiu was hanging out in the arena after lunch.

It can be seen that it is because I am about to play the first game of my career, so I am overly excited!

People with bad relationships are really annoying to watch.

Randolph found Liu Xiu when Liu Xiu was wandering back to the training ground and said: "Jess, stop walking around. Don't you like to study your opponent's information? I have the game between us and the Pistons last season.

Video!”

"I've seen it all, and I don't think it has much effect. Their coaches have changed, and the players have also changed..."

"..."

Okay, Randolph didn't care anymore, he did what he had to do anyway.

Moreover, it’s normal to be a little excited about your career debut. It will be difficult to see Liu Xiu like this in the future.

However, something still made Liu Xiu stop walking on the road - an interview with a domestic TV station came.

Finally, the game was about to start in a few hours, and Liu Xiu became the protagonist of the court's attention.

Liu Xiu learned from Bill Duffy that at 10 o'clock this morning, the filming team of the Imperial Stage was still in Houston. Now they were running from Houston to Portland without taking a break. They set up the camera and started shooting.

During the interview, there was nothing wrong with the reporters' questions, and Liu Xiu was naturally gentle and polite.

After the interview, Bill Duffy saw Liu Xiu's rare expression without a trace of smile, and comforted him: "Jace, don't let this matter affect your mood. There are only so many reporters sent by the TV station to the United States. They have already been on the first step."

It's time..."

Liu Xiu finally stopped keeping a cold face and said with a smile: "I understand that each of them is working hard, and I didn't vent my unhappiness on the reporters, right? As long as the questions they ask are normal questions,

My answer will also be normal.

I know that the interview arrangements were decided by their leaders, so I can’t blame them.

I can understand why their leaders made such an arrangement. It is determined by attention and influence.

However, although I look at it all calmly, I still have negative emotions... Maybe I should thank the person who made this distinction.

I didn’t think I would care about this before, but now I know, I care, and I am more eager to succeed than before!”

In just a few dozen seconds, Bill Duffy saw a Liu Xiu he had never seen before.

Although he immediately changed back to his gentle smile and loose atmosphere, the sharpness of that moment left a deep impression on Bill Duffy!

…

…

After a few days of impetuosity, a few days of anticipation, and more than a year of preparation... Liu Xiu's first career battle is finally here!

At 5:40 pm on October 31, 2003, Liu Xiu stood in the tunnel of the home team at the Rose Garden Arena in Portland, extremely excited.

Everything outside the court doesn't matter when you're on the court.

Looking at the familiar Five Pistons——

After wandering around for many years, he finally found a foothold last season and finally found a foothold with the No. 1 overall pick in 1997 - Chauncey Billups.

The second most talented high school student in Pennsylvania in the 1990s, he came from a sports family and became a top scorer in his second year in the NBA. He was also teammates with Jordan - Richard Hamilton.

The most stable star in the history of the University of Kentucky, he became the team MVP three times in four years at the university, and led the team to the top 16 of the NCAA National Basketball Championship every year - Tayshaun Prince.

Possibly the strongest undrafted player, he only received a fully guaranteed contract in the fourth year of his career. Then he got out of hand and won the Defensive Player of the Year award for two consecutive years - Ben Wallace.

The fifth tiger...

Oh, the fifth tiger is in the deepest part of the home team's tunnel, and their Blazers' strongest player, Tianzun, hasn't gone to the opposite side yet.

Looking at those familiar faces, the blood in his body seemed to be boiling!

His NBA career will begin right away, immediately, right now!

Every time he stepped onto the court, Liu Xiu's fighting spirit was very high, but compared with now, it was far behind.

At this time, he truly understood how much he loved this sport and how much he wanted to succeed once it was possible!

The only pity is that the fans' emotions in the Rose Garden Arena were not that high.

But it doesn't matter, Liu Xiu now has a goal - to make the fans cheer for them! Go crazy for them!

Of course, this is not something we can do right away, but we have just set such a goal.

Just like now... after the visiting team players finished playing, the DJ's deep voice became high-pitched, trying to guide the enthusiasm of the fans, and it did have some effect. When the DJ called the players to enter, the spotlight shone on the entrance of the home team's players' tunnel.

, when the two rookies Liu Xiu and Travis Outlaw appeared in the spotlight, there were cheers...but there were even more boos! Especially when Liu Xiu was shown a close-up on the big screen, the boos were obviously outweighed by the boos.

Cheers!

Although he is now in high spirits and has a strong desire, he can still judge the current situation very calmly. Now, he is still far away from making the fans crazy for them.

He also expected these boos. He had received so many boos from home fans in the preseason. During the regular season, all 20,630 seats in the Rose Garden Arena were full, and he would definitely receive more boos.

Not to mention anything else, after the preseason, those topics that were fired after the draft were fired again, which is bound to arouse fans' nostalgia for Bunchy Wells.

Although this talented star only has one year of contract to work hard, he is really strong when he works hard.

And Liu Xiu, in the eyes of Trail Blazers fans, is nothing but a good-looking face.

In the opening game, fans of Liu Xiu's good looks and a handful of fans of back-up skills had no sense of presence at all.

It's not that he doesn't care about this, but he has built up his mentality. When the boos come, he actually feels a little proud of "Look, I guessed it correctly?"

As a human being, there are always so many things that we cannot control. Most of them are things we don’t like, so we can only have some fun.

The two rookies Liu Xiu and Travis Outlaw ran out first, and the other seven non-starting players followed them and lined up in two rows.

After entering the stadium, Liu Xiu felt that the stadium was a little different from the previous preseason games.

It's not because there are more fans at the scene. Liu Xiu feels that the different places come from himself...

In the opening game, DJ introduced each substitute player one by one. It was not the kind of reading of names during the regular season, but introduction.

When Liu Xiu was introduced, there was another wave of boos.

Again and again and again...Liu Xiu has really quickly gotten used to booing.

I don’t know, in the opening game, the lights and the big screen were showing a lot of shots for the substitutes, but in China, during the live broadcast on the Imperial TV station, the commentator was passionately introducing his college resume, summer league and preseason.

Highlight moment.

It is true that Liu Xiu is not very popular in China, but domestic basketball people are full of expectations for him!

Before Liu Xiu, there were three Chinese players who had played in the NBA. Wang Zhizhi, Battelle, and Yao Ming were all insiders. Now there is finally an outside player!

Although the leaders do not pay much attention to Liu Xiu, who has a bad reputation, the commentators who travel around the United States all year round do not care about the 'reputation' that the domestic leadership team cares about so much for some unknown reason. They know very well that if Liu Xiu does not have these

Notoriety, I don’t know how difficult it is in American basketball.

The leadership team did not give Liu Xiu resources, so they used their limited resources to praise him!

Liu Xiu didn't know all this yet. At the scene, when the spotlight moved away from the non-starting players and the big-screen camera focused on the home team's tunnel, Liu Xiu squatted down in the darkness and touched the floor under his feet.

'It turns out that as a player, you are truly loyal...not to this team, not to the fans, not to the jersey...but to this stadium!'

After touching it, Liu Xiu stood up with a smile on his face, waiting for the entrance ceremony for the top five starters to end.

Xiu did not know that the scene of him squatting down just now was photographed. Although the light diffusely reflected from the players' tunnel was dim, his handsome face was clearly photographed by a female fan...Collection photo album,

I have already thought about how to write the label - Jace Liu, the 13th overall pick in the first round of 2003, touched the floor for the first time on the court.

…

After the players from both teams entered the stadium and the lights came on, the two teams were actively involved in the final preparations before the game without much communication.

Neither side looked like good guys. The commentator on the ESPN sports station that broadcast the game made fun of the opening game between the two teams as if it was a gang fight.

At 5:58, the starting lineups of the two teams came on the court.

Pistons starting lineup: Billups, Hamilton, Prince, Ben Wallace, Okur.

Trail Blazers starting lineup: Damon Stoudemire, Ruben Patterson, Travis Outlaw, Randolph, Rasheed Wallace.

Ben Wallace and Rasheed Wallace came to the center circle.

Players from both teams had no good intentions toward each other. When they faced each other on the court, a tense atmosphere immediately emerged.

Facing Ben Wallace, who was much shorter than himself, Tianzun did not dare to be careless and actively used the last time to make physical adjustments, trying his best to win the jump ball and make a good start.

If you want to win, Tianzun is serious!

At 6 o'clock in the evening, the unpopular regular season opener between the Trail Blazers and the Pistons at home was broadcast live on ESPN Sports in the United States and Chaoting Sports Station in China!

The referee blew the whistle to start the game and threw the ball into the air. Rasheed Wallace jumped up hard and narrowly beat Ben Wallace to win the jump ball. The Trail Blazers attacked first!

Liu Xiu sat on the sidelines, staring at the Pistons' defensive formation.

The first thing Kevin Plitcha looked after the game started was not the court, but Liu Xiu...
To be continued...