Before the NBA games officially start every year, there will be nearly a month of preseason games.

For most teams, the preseason is more of an opportunity for the team to get used to each other and examine rotations.

Of course, it can also reflect the status of the team to a certain extent.

For example, the Lakers' senior F4 team in 2012 lost all eight preseason games and were eliminated in the first round.

For example, in 2021, the Lakers formed four "top 75 players in history", lost six games in a row in the preseason, and did not even make the playoffs.

So although preseason games are not counted in season statistics, they are also important.

And the Bulls' preseason this year is very special.

Most preseason games are held in the United States, but a small number are held overseas.

For example, the China Games that Chinese fans are familiar with are actually preseason games.

Of course with the implementation of Stern's global plan, this location has begun to spread all over the world.

This year's Bulls game will be held in London, England. This is the first time that the NBA has held an overseas game here.

The reason why they chose the Bulls is the same as why they chose the Rockets for the first China game.

Deng Yingqiao, as the name suggests, Deng is now a British.

What is more worth mentioning is that Deng was born in Sudan and later became a British citizen because of the war, but in fact he moved to the United States at the age of 14, so this is his first time returning to the UK after ten years.

Just ask people whether Stern is professional in operations!

The Bulls' opponent is the Utah Jazz.

Speaking of familiarity, Chinese fans are not too familiar with this Jazz team.

Of course, that familiarity is somewhat mixed with hatred.

From 2006 to 2008, the Rockets lost to the Jazz for two consecutive seasons, and once they were leading 2-0 but were defeated 3-4.

During this period, because of Yao Ming, the Rockets were the main team for the Chinese people. This experience is unforgettable.

So many people of this team, such as Deron, Boozer, Okur, Kirilenko, Ronnie Brewer, Korver, and even players like Fesenko, are familiar to the fans and still fresh in their memory.

However, the Jazz are not doing so well right now, because they have had this lineup for many years, and their best result is making it to the Western Conference Finals once.

If Xu Yong remembered correctly, they would disband the team in the next two years.

However, a lean camel is bigger than a horse. Before the Jazz were disbanded, they were a playoff-level team in the Western Conference, and their strength is definitely stronger than that of the Bulls.

And Rose will not play in this game.

Rose's ankle injury is recovering well, but for safety reasons, the Bulls will keep him out of the entire preseason.

Moreover, winning or losing in general pre-season games is not important, but in overseas competitions, people will still compete for wins or losses because they have to save face.

So this game is quite a challenge for the Bulls.

After arriving in London, head coach De Nagro was very considerate and gave the players half a day off so that they could fully enjoy the British style.

Deng took Ross and Xu Yong to a very mysterious place.

Construction site for the London Olympic Basketball Stadium.

The London Olympics will be held in four years, but the construction of the stadium has already begun at the end of this year.

Looking at the site in front of him where only excavators were working, Deng showed an excitement that Xu Yong had never seen before, and introduced it to them enthusiastically.

Although Xu Yong could fully understand that emotion.

At such a time, bringing teammates to such a place to collect dust, he did not think that Deng had lost his mind, but understood why Deng wanted to form the South Sudan men's basketball team after retiring.

Having lived in three different countries in just over twenty years, Deng was eager to have a sense of national belonging.

But at this moment, Xu Yong suddenly thought of a very serious question.

If he remembered correctly, the theme of the London Olympics was environmental protection, and Europeans' efforts in environmental protection were anti-human. It seems that this basketball stadium is not equipped with toilets?

…

That night, the game between the Bulls and the Jazz was held at the North Greenwich Stadium in London.

It was after entering this stadium that some of Xu Yong's long-lost memories were awakened again.

There are two venues for the London Olympic basketball games. One is the London Olympic Basketball Stadium, which is used for the group stage matches and there is indeed no toilet there.

But once they reach the knockout rounds, the competition moves to the North Greenwich Stadium.

This is a large hall that can accommodate more than 18,000 people, and it is equipped with a full range of restaurants and shops, making it a multi-functional hall.

Of course, there are hundreds of bathrooms.

So I still don’t understand the British way of thinking. Don’t people who didn’t make it to the knockout stage deserve to go to the toilet?

Suddenly, there is another strange reason for reaching the knockout stage of the Olympics.

By the time there was half an hour left before the game started, the stadium was already full.

This is the first time that an NBA-level game is held here, and the enthusiasm of the fans is very high.

Xu Yong also saw many people holding KT boards with Deng’s big head on them.

Everyone is talking about Brexit, but British basketball is actually not in the same dimension as European basketball.

If you see England in the quarter-finals of the European Championship, it must be because you rewarded yourself too much and your eyes are dazzled.

Therefore, Deng's symbolic significance to British basketball is very similar to that of Yao Ming to Chinese basketball.

Thinking back to the experience of Deng taking them to see the basketball stadium, Xu Yong had already made a decision in his heart.

There was no opening ceremony for the preseason game. After the warm-up, the starting lineups of the two teams were announced one after another.

Chicago Bulls: Hinrich, Xu Yong, Deng, Songaila, Noah;

Jazz: Deron, C.J. Miles, Ronnie Brewer, Boozer, Okur.

Rose of the Bulls will not play today, and Kirilenko of the Jazz has also been exempted from the game.

Amid the cheers of the fans, Okur pushed the ball back to half court, and the NBA UK game officially began.

The Jazz came up to attack Boozer, and the person defending him was Noah.

Boozer scored a jump shot after a back-to-the-basket play.

In his prime, Boozer had very fierce low-post offensive ability.

But this scene seemed a little special to Xu Yong, because according to history, Boozer should have joined the Bulls next year.

So this is a show of muscle by future teammates?

Looking back, Hinrich held the ball on the outside, and Xu Yong went along the baseline to receive the ball after following the pick-and-roll of Sangueira.

De Nagro is not a famous coach, and his coaching level is even relatively low. He has only coached the Bulls and Clippers in his career. As a result, these two teams took off after he was fired. This can somewhat explain the problem.

But one good thing about him is that he is willing to reuse young players.

Last year, Rose ranked second in shots per game, just one less than the former team leader Ben Gordon.

Then you saw that without Rose, rookie Xu Yong became the main attacking point.

After receiving the ball, Xu Yong saw that there was no mobile phone and quickly chose to break through the basket. However, the Jazz's reaction was much faster than those teams in the summer league, and he encountered help defense halfway through his breakthrough.

After seeing that the person who was helping defense was Brewer, he didn't even think about it and directly threw the ball to the 45-degree angle on the weak side.

When Deng received the ball, there was an open spot and the cheers from the crowd had already started in advance.

“Swish!”

Deng did not disappoint everyone and got off to a great start in his own "home court".

The cheers from the audience were deafening; they loved this opening style so much.

Deng pointed at Xu Yong while retreating.

In fact, judging from the offense and defense he and Xu Yong had in the training camp, Xu Yong was able to score the ball on his own with his ability.

Because although Brewer came over to assist in defense, he arrived in a hurry, and Xu Yong could get past him and attack the basket with a change of direction or a jump step.

But he finally chose to pass the ball to himself, and it is hard to say that there was no element of fulfillment in this.

Boozer attacked Noah again in the low post, and this time Arnold used all his strength to defend it.

Noah was only in the third grade at that time and still looked rather thin.

Noah also grabbed the rebound and dribbled the ball directly towards the goal, which is his playing style.

In the three-on-two situation in the frontcourt, Noah passed the ball to Deng, who encountered defense and passed it to Xu Yong. Xu Yong made a layup and attracted the defense in the air and then passed the ball back to Deng.

Deng easily scored two points with a layup.

If the ball just now was not obvious, then this ball is the black mole on the buttocks, clearly.

Xu Yong was intentionally setting the ball up for Deng.

Boozer then started to play pick-and-roll with Deron. After receiving the pass from Deron at the free throw line, he made an accurate mid-range parabola that went into the bag.

Boozer scored the Jazz's first four points.

If he didn't have some skills, how could he possibly give Yao Ming a headache?

But looking back, Deng also made a three-pointer from the top of the arc!

To be honest, Deng is not a player who is very good at shooting, but it is obvious that just like Yao Ming could make three-pointers last year, with the home court buff, the basket is like the sea!

“Bang!”

And in the next round, Xu Yong directly intercepted Deron's pass to Myers.

I don't know if it was because he underestimated his opponent or was tired from the long journey, or maybe because after arriving in England he experienced the red light district like the Banana Boat Brothers did in Australia, but Deron's condition at the beginning was very average.

After Xu Yong stole the ball, he quickly advanced to the frontcourt. After seeing Deng following up, he threw the ball directly over the basket.

Deng followed up and leaped, holding the ball with one hand...

“Bang!”

Direct alley-oop dunk!

The entire North Greenwich Stadium was on fire at this moment.

It wasn't just because of this dunk, but after Deng completed this dunk, he scored 9 points in a row at the start of the game!

Could there be a more perfect home show than this?

Jazz head coach Sloan reached out and called a timeout.

This time, after landing, Deng took the initiative to find Xu Yong and high-fived him.

Xu Yong just smiled slightly and won the trust of the big bosses in the team.