先祝我所有的中国朋友们圣诞节快乐！我真不敢相信三分之一的赛季已经过去而我们又要开始庆祝圣诞节了。在NBA打球，时间概念一直是很奇怪的。每年到了这个时候，总会有各种各样会分散精力的事情，你要花时间去为家人和朋友准备圣诞礼物，和家人一起准备庆祝这些节日，所以这段时间总是会显得很忙。不过球迷和教练可不想听这些借口，我们必须继续保持在球场上打出高水平来。

    我告诉球队一个我在新秀年时听到的理论：在整个赛季中，有4个时段是最容易分心、精神力量最疲惫的时候，你不容易将全部注意力集中在篮球上。第一个阶段是赛季初始时，球队和队员们都处于一个充满新鲜感的亢奋时期，但如果不尽快进入正轨，是不容易集将状态调整成“作战”模式的。下一个阶段就是十二月节日接踵而至的时候了，虽然没什么大事儿发生，但是非常容易懈怠。然后就是全明星赛那个时候，大家非常难将注意力从全明星赛那里移开，而这时我们已经打了有差不多50场比赛了，你的身体将有5天左右的时间是远离篮球的。大家这个时候都在想着怎么度假，而不是篮球。最后一个容易懈怠的时期是全明星周末后，你的身体处于休息之后的恢复阶段，有时会发生难以将状态调整回正轨的事情。

    不过那些最优秀的球队都会在这四个阶段处理好如何集中精力的难题。而差一些的球队就处理得不那么好了。从这一点出发，我们的球队也应该尽量在自己的目标上多注意一些，正确处理这几个“危险”的阶段。

    今天在奥兰多我们会有一个艰难的夜晚，我要休息了！

    祝我的中国朋友们圣诞节快乐！

                                                                         再见！

                                                                         肖恩

Merry Christmas to all of my friends in China. I can't believe that one third of the season has been completed and we are getting ready to celebrate Christmas. It is always a strange time of year for us in the NBA. There is usually so many distractions around this time of year. You are busy buying presents for your family and friends, family usually joins you to help celebrate the holidays, and it is a busy, busy time of year. Unfortunately, our fans and coaches don't want to hear excuses of how we are distracted. We still must perform our jobs and perform them at a high level.

I told our team a theory that I was told when I was a rookie. There are 4 times in a season that a team is mentally soft and are not necessarily completely focused on basketball. The first time is at the start of the year. Teams and players are excited to play, but there is not the mental focus that will come once you settle into a routine. You are not 'battle tested' at this point of the season. The next time it is difficult to focus is during the holiday season in December. There is so much going on, it is easy to become distracted. Teams and players also have trouble focusing around the All-Star weekend. At this point of the year, we have played roughly 50 games, your body aches, and you are ready for 5 days off from basketball. It is easy to start focusing on your vacation or your plans instead of basketball. The last time that teams become soft is after the All-Star break. You have just had a great All-Star break, your body feels rested and rejuvenated, sometimes it is difficult to throw yourself back into the grind of the season.

The best teams handle these four periods with maturity and focus. The bad teams simply do not. To this point, our team has been focused on the task at hand. It will be interesting to see how we handle these 'danger' periods.

Have a tough game in Orlando tonight. I have to get my rest!

Merry Christmas to all my friends in China.

Talk to you soon

shane