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In life, unsatisfactory things are nine times out of ten.
The further back the 2002-2003 season, the more Yao Ming and Francis can feel the truth of this sentence.
The first blow they suffered, Coach TomJanovich's health was seriously troubled——— in March 2003, Tang Shuai was diagnosed with bladder cancer.
Tom Janovich and Yao Ming
At this point, the team was about to embark on a 9-day road trip and he had to leave the team to be replaced by chief assistant coach Larry Smith.
It is conceivable how the Rockets spent those 9 days in a state of incapacitation. I can't say how much the coach's absence affected us, but I can be sure that we were all thinking about him. "
Francis made no secret of this, they rushed back to Houston in a state of chaos, and when they saw the coach again, it was already the scene of the team's press conference for him.
The team and Tang Shuai himself explained the condition together. "I didn't dare look him in the face," said Francis, "it's so tough, he doesn't look like him in the hospital bed anymore."
The coach has always been a very emotional person, watching him slowly tell you what is wrong with himself, you can see that he is really suffering from illness. "
He had tried to regain his whip when the team returned home, but his poor physical condition eventually put the idea to rest.
For the young Rockets, it was an extremely heavy blow . In the first 10 games of TomJanovic's absence, they only played a 3-7 record, and the most direct consequence of not being able to bite in the season finale was that the Rockets were eliminated from the playoffs.
With great hope, they ended the 2002-2003 season with 43 wins and 39 losses. It wasn't a bad result, and if placed in the East, they would also be firmly in the playoffs in 7th place, only to lose to the Suns by a 1-win margin in the fiercely competitive West.
The Rockets vs. Suns clashed
Yao Ming's rookie season ended like this, his arrival injected enough new vitality into the Rockets, the team won 15 more games than the previous season, they are the team with the most improvement in the league, but just a little bit, their season ended early.
Bidding farewell to the season in a wave of three consecutive wins, only Yao Ming and his teammates can understand it themselves. "Now that the season is over, I can finally have some quiet time away from basketball. After beating the Nuggets in the final game, Yao Ming once said, "To end the season with a victory, I think my mood in the offseason can be better, and I don't have to fall into the sadness of the old days." But by measuring the whole season, I think I should have been able to do a little better, I haven't improved much in terms of technology, just have a better feeling for the NBA. "
The holidays began, but the rocket's troubles were endless. The next person to get into trouble was the team's starting big forward Eddie Griffin.
To this day, looking back at Yao Ming's entire basketball career, Eddie Griffin is still theoretically the most suitable partner for Yao Ming, they are similar in age, complementary abilities, Griffin has a three-point range, can open up space for Yao Ming, and has excellent interior defense ability, caps to split heads and cover faces, freshman season can get 17.8 points, 10.8 rebounds and 4.4 blocks per game. He took this report card with him to the NBA draft.
The Rockets were impressed by such amazing abilities from the beginning, but there were constant warnings to Carol Dawson that the child was extremely emotionally unstable and could become a time bomb at any time, but Dawson was willing to gamble for such a genius.
The Rockets traded three draft picks from the Nets for the 2001 first round No. 7 pick to select Eddie Griffin. But less than two years later, the bomb was detonated.
Rockets Eddie Griffin
Coach Tom Janovich's illness was one of the triggers for the bomb detonation, as no one was bothering to educate Eddie Griffin anymore.
As soon as he took a holiday, he began to be accompanied by alcohol, and he was drowsy and drunk and dreaming of death.
He used to get drunk and drive and told the police officers who arrested him, "I'll buy you a car, buy anything, anything but Bentley, and I'll buy it for you tomorrow." Humvees, cruisers, anything. "
The unmoved police officer looked at him coldly, and Griffin shouted; "I can't go to jail!"
No NBA team can stand such a player, and Rockets general manager Carol Dawson can only break his wrist even if he has a heart of love.
At the start of another season, he announced a suspension for Griffin, he needed to go through training and could travel with the team, but the Rockets would not give him any more appearances before Griffin reflected. The respected Coach TomJanovic has left the team completely for treatment, and the new coach, known for his strict rule, can never accept that there is an alcoholic in his team.
Until the end of his life, Eddie Griffin was unable to escape the control of alcohol, squandering opportunities again and again, and finally died in a car accident in April 2007. The crash took place on the outskirts of Houston.
Eddie Griffin car accident
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This article is excerpted from the >> of the rocket legend << by Yin Hai, if there is any offense, please contact me to deal with, thank you!