I’m Really Playing Basketball

After playing a milestone game against the Boston Celtics at home, the Cleveland Cavaliers finally ended their easy home schedule during this period.

In these five consecutive home games, the Cavaliers have won a perfect five games in a row.

This result also allowed the Cleveland Cavaliers to regain the eighth position in the Eastern Conference.

Although the Cleveland Cavaliers are still eighth in the Eastern Conference, their record with the previous teams is already very close.

The Cavaliers' record is now 14 wins and 10 losses, while the previous record of the 76ers is 16 wins and 8 losses, which is very close. Even the sixth-ranked Hornets in the Eastern Conference boarded a multi-million plane to Indianapolis when Chen Xiao and the others boarded the plane. At that time, they lost to the Denver Nuggets in the West in an away game, and their record changed from 17 wins to 8 losses to 17 wins and 9 losses.

The Cavaliers seem to be within reach of seventh place in the Eastern Conference.

Originally, the Cavaliers' consecutive home schedule was intended to throw the Raptors away.

However, the Raptors did not get rid of it, but had the opportunity to touch the butt of the team in front. I have to say that this was an unexpected surprise.

However, after the consecutive home schedule ended, the next away game was not very friendly to the Cavaliers.

On December 17, 2003, the Cleveland Cavaliers visited Indianapolis to face the Pacers, the third-best team in the Eastern Conference.

The Pacers performed very well in the regular season this season after Van Gundy Jr. returned to coaching.

Obviously there is a lot of difference between the Nets and the Magic in terms of hard power, but in terms of record, the Pacers don't look inferior at all.

This team's performance this season is of course due to its defense.

The Pacers were originally a strong defensive team, but after Van Gundy came, the Pacers' defense became even stronger.

And more importantly, this walker is very powerful against knights.

Artest of the Pacers is an opponent that Chen Xiao is very unwilling to face.

Chen Xiao's current strength, height, and wingspan are definitely top-notch among outside players. Coupled with good speed, dribbling, and excellent shooting ability, Chen Xiao can basically play in his position. There is no way to defend.

When Chen Xiao is flanked, Chen Xiao can pass the ball. Without flanking, Chen Xiao is very aggressive in singles.

Many teams will feel uncomfortable when encountering Chen Xiao.

But the Pacers are different from other teams.

The Pacers have a player who can match up well with Chen Xiao.

Not to mention defensive, but definitely a match.

The strength, speed, and height can all match Chen Xiao, and his defensive skills have improved extremely well this season.

It's almost like a player who exists for defense.

No need to say more about who this player is, right?

Of course Artest.

Historically, Artest's defense this season was very Diaw, and he eventually became the Defensive Player of the Season.

Therefore, Chen Xiao is not the only one who has a headache when it comes to facing off against Artest.

Boss Ke, Boss Maizi, Boss Ka, Boss Ai, there is no one who does not have a headache.

On the night of the 17th, the Cleveland Cavaliers' five-game winning streak was ended by the Pacers at Conseco Arena.

In the end, the Cavaliers lost this fierce defensive battle 90-95 on the road.

In terms of performance in this game, the Cavaliers' performance was actually very good.

Facing the Pacers' defense in this game, Chen Xiao, James and the Cavaliers all shot over 50%.

This is very rare.

In this game, Chen Xiao faced Artest's defense and did not fight hard. He hit when he had the chance and passed the ball when he didn't. He played very restrained and reasonable at the same time.

So in this game, Chen Xiao made 11 of 16 shots and scored 27 points.

James, like Chen Xiao in this game, knows that he must not be angry when facing a team like the Pacers. If he can fight, he will fight. If he cannot, he will grind. If he wants to defeat his opponent in one breath, he will have to be defeated himself. James' offensive statistics in this game are also very beautiful.

10 of 16, 0 of 3 three-pointers, 7 of 8 free throws, and scored 27 points.

As the two leading players of the team, Chen Xiao and James efficiently scored 54 points in one game. It seems that they should be able to win.

But we still lost in the end, that was the reason for the loss.

Just look at these data and you will know.

In this game, the Cavaliers took 69 shots, 35 of 69, while the Pacers shot 37 of 81. The two teams shot 15 of 21 and 19 of 16 free throws. Under similar circumstances, why did the two teams take different shots? Missed 12 times?

Of course, it's because the Cavaliers had a higher turnover rate in this game. The Cavaliers committed 20 turnovers in this game.

Among them, Xiao Zhan scored 8 times alone, while Chen Xiao scored 5 times. The confrontation in this game was too fierce.

In addition, the Pacers grabbed 11 rebounds in this game, and O'Neal grabbed twice as many offensive rebounds as the Cavaliers.

In this game, the inside combination of Chandler and Darius Miles was somewhat miserably suppressed by the combination of O'Brien and Jeff Foster.

Let's not talk about Ou. Jeff Foster may not be familiar to everyone. This man is a really good rebounder, especially offensive rebounds. This season, his offensive rebounds are 6 times every 48 minutes.

Moreover, his excellent rebounding is not isolated, and he complements each other even more when he is with Xiao Ou.

After all, although Darius Miles is very talented, he is still too short to play power forward against some teams' interiors.

At least against the Pacers, his height was not enough, which made Chandler crazy in this game.

It can be said that what the Cavaliers lost in this game was turnovers and rebounds.

And these two things happen to be the two things that NBA coaches can't tolerate the most.

So after the game, the team's head coach Carlisle held a team meeting to focus on reviewing these two issues.

The result of the review is naturally...

no result.

If you want to talk about mistakes, this is the problem of James and Chen Xiao.

But the reason why James and Chen Xiao made a lot of mistakes in this game was because they were cautious in attacking.

An almost synonym for caution is hesitation. In addition, the Pacers' confrontation is very fierce. If you want to be efficient and reduce the turnover rate with this style of play, it is impossible.

As for rebounding, Darius Myers is indeed short. No matter how you review it, if it is short, it is still short.

Changing the height is too slow.

So even if you check the rebounds 10,000 times, you will still be suppressed by the Pacers' rebounds when you meet the Pacers, it just depends on how much.

In this game, the Pacers only grabbed 6 more rebounds, which is already very good.

In this way, the Cavaliers held a meeting in this game. The meeting collectively came to the conclusion that we did not play well and the problem was that the opponent was still too strong.

There is really no problem with this conclusion.

The Cavaliers lost to the Pacers in an away game, and what they lost was their strength.

It's not the strength of the upper-level stars, but the overall strength of the team.

In this game, Chen Xiao and Xiao Zhan scored 54 points together. Afterwards, Crawford made 3 of 13 shots and scored 9 points. Darius Miles scored 6 points on 3 of 9 shots. Chandler made 4 of 11 shots and scored 8 points. Points, these three people have already been calculated. In addition to the 77 points scored by the starter, the substitutes scored a total of 13 points in this game.

With Chen Xiao and James deliberately protecting their shooting percentage, the defensive intensity faced by their teammates is not that great, and they should need to be a little stronger.

But, it's still not enough.

There is no way, most of the Cavaliers' substitute players are rookies, so they have already worked very hard.

For the Pacers, the substitute players scored 33 points.

If we really want to find a reason for this game, in the end we can only say that Chen Xiao and James gave up too much shot power, which other Cavaliers players could not digest. The two should attack more in this game.

But, if you lose even if you attack too much, is it another conclusion?

This is the problem, because the overall strength is not enough, no matter what you do, it may be wrong.

On December 18, 2003, after beating the Pacers, the Cavaliers faced the 76ers back-to-back.

Compared with the Pacers who are more restrained from the Cavaliers' role players, the 76ers are a team that is more restrained from the Cavaliers' starting players.

The 76ers' Mutombo and Kenny Thomas' inside combination is one of the strongest defensive inside combinations in the Eastern Conference, and it is very restrained from the straight-forward breakthroughs of James and Chen Xiao.

Don't think that the 76ers only have these two insiders. In addition, there is Dem Porter. This kid can produce 8+8+2.5 blocks as a substitute this season, averaging 2.5 in less than 25 minutes per game. Blocking shots shows his ability to protect the frame.

At the same time, the 76ers' small forward Keith Van Horn is 2.08 meters tall. This is an old acquaintance of everyone, the one who replaced Chen Xiao.

The shooting guard of the 76ers this season is John Salmons. You may not be familiar with this. He is a second-year young player newly activated by the 76ers this season.

Historically, he was not reused until he came to the Kings, averaging close to 20 points per game. After that, he played for the Bulls and Bucks, averaging more than 15 points per game. He shot well, especially three-pointers, and was very active in defense. More importantly, he is 2.01 meters tall and a tall shooting guard.

After Chen Xiao came out, the tall and shooting shooting guards in the league have become very popular recently. Salmons became popular because of this trend caused by Chen Xiao. Originally, he had no chance and was crushed by Snow. .

But this season, he has firmly occupied the team's starting position by virtue of being like Chen Xiao and being a native of Philadelphia.

And after being reused, Salmons is good at both ends of the offense and defense. Now he is nicknamed "Philly Little Beast" in the league. What a coincidence is that Salmons's number is also No. 7, and he and Chen Xiao are on the Nets. Same.

Two such tall wings are very beneficial in limiting the opponent's long-range shots.

Even if they do nothing and step on the three-point line with their hands raised, most shooters will get scared.

The 76ers are very good at blocking breakthroughs inside and blocking long-range shots from the outside. Do you think an average team would have to peel off their skin when playing against the 76ers?

Don't think that it's a fluke that the 76ers have been ranked among the top seven in the Eastern Conference this season. It's because their strength doesn't match their position.

In fact, the 76ers are ranked seventh in the Eastern Conference. It's not that their strength does not match their position, but that their position does not match their strength.

Iverson has had a difficult relationship with 76ers president Billy King this season.

Larry Brown has not left. The main conflict between Iverson and Larry Brown is the main conflict, and the conflict between Iverson and the management is the secondary conflict.

Larry Brown is gone, and there is no buffer zone in the middle. The contradiction between Iverson and the management has become highlighted.

In addition, Iverson has been suffering from intermittent minor injuries this season, so this season is obviously the time when the 76ers have the strongest overall strength in the past few seasons, but in the end they only ranked seventh in the Eastern Conference.

If Iverson can have the same form as in previous seasons, the 76ers will have a chance to break into the top five in the Eastern Conference.

Going back to the game between the Cavaliers and the 76ers, facing the 76ers this was almost a defense specially prepared for James.

Xiao Zhan played very bloody in this game. He made 4 of 15 in the game and only scored 10 points.

By the way, the defense adopted by the 76ers in this game was a zone defense!

Under the 76ers' zone defense, the statistics of the Cavaliers' players who have no shooting ability are simply appalling.

If Chen Xiao hadn't scored 14 of 24 in this game, 5 of 7 three-pointers, 3 of 3 free throws, and an extremely efficient 36 points, 4 blues and 5 assists, the Cavaliers would have collapsed in the first quarter of this game.

In the first quarter, even if Chen Xiao made 5 of 9 in a single quarter, 1 of 1 three-pointers, and scored 11 points, the Cavaliers were still 9 points behind 20-29.

Trailing by 9 points in the first quarter, how far behind will the Cavaliers be after the second quarter?

The 76ers moved Snow from the starting lineup to the bench. The 76ers' bench lineup, led by Snow, Aaron McGee, Demport and others, is one of the strongest in the NBA.

Really, thanks to Crawford's 10-of-21 shooting and 25 points, the game reached the fourth quarter and it was not garbage time after the third quarter.

Of course, the bravery of Chen Xiao and Crawford could not save the game. In the end, the Cavaliers lost another away game 88-94.

Well, this game is already the second game this season that the Cavaliers have lost to the 76ers.

So after the game, Chen Xiao's good friend Iverson, who scored a game-high 38 points on 14-of-30 shots, complained about Chen Xiao and said, "It would be great if Kidd was here for this game."

Good guy, Boss Ai hates the lack of sense of accomplishment in killing him and James.

Replace Crawford with Key. Only by completing three kills against Chen Xiao, Key and James in this game will you feel a sense of accomplishment.

Not to mention, if Crawford is replaced by Boss Ji in this game, Boss Ai may have a better time.

After all, Boss Ai is recognized as Boss Ji's nemesis.

Okay, your little defender Diaw is invincible, that's it!

However, a small guard like Boss Ai can really do whatever he wants in front of Boss Ji, Chen Xiao and Xiao Zhan!

It doesn't matter if you don't accept it.

The 'Arrogant God King' combination formed by Chen Xiao and James this season is very arrogant against the big guards in the league, but it is really a headache for lightweight guards like Ai Boss.

By the way, the God King combination is the name given to the combination of Chen Xiao and James in the United States.

When word spread to China, their combination was already the ‘god king’s arrogance’!

For Chen Xiao, a middle school student, this name sounds domineering.

A four-letter nickname is always more domineering than a two-letter nickname.

The king of gods is arrogant!

Listen to it, it’s not bad, haha.

Because of the recent conflict between the boss of the 76ers and the president, Chen Xiao always thought that Boss Ai was having a hard time with the 76ers.

Unexpectedly, when I saw Boss Ai this time, he looked very relaxed.

In fact, Boss Ai has had an easy time so far this season. What is rare this season is that his teammates have taken him along for once.

He used to drag his teammates forward.

The 76ers are strong this season and can drag him forward.

He feels very tired now, physically and mentally, and it's good to take a break.

These past few seasons have been too tiring, and I have suffered a lot of minor injuries. It’s time to take a break and rest.

Fortunately, Boss Ai is in very good shape this season. Otherwise, according to history, injuries caused by fatigue this season have exploded, and he would be lying down now.

With the strength of the 76ers this season, the playoffs are guaranteed.

As long as he makes the playoffs, Iverson will still be the top guy.

There are only two players in the current playoffs averaging 30+ per game. Do you think they are joking?

Who do you think is the other current player averaging 30+ per game in the playoffs?

By the way, the Cavaliers lost this game. James made 4 of 15 shots and only scored 10 points. Do you think James will take the blame in the United States for this game?

Sorry, after the game, Xiao Zhan still did not take the blame here in the United States. Although Xiao Zhan only had 10 points in this game, he got 12 rebounds and 12 assists.

Triple double, haha!

Let me ask you, if it were you, would you be willing to play next to Chen Xiao?

Not to mention being stared at by his mother's scary eyes when he came home at night, even if he was stared at by her eyes like this all day long, he could withstand it now.

Growth, growth, under the protection of Xiao Chen, slowly and obscenely.

"Looking forward to the saplings growing into towering trees, standing side by side between heaven and earth, and eventually achieving greatness!"

Xiao Zhan looked at Xiao Chen talking and laughing with his idol Iverson next to him, and his little eyes kept flashing.

After losing to the Pacers and 76ers on the road, two of the strongest teams in the Eastern Conference, the Cavaliers not only failed to take a step closer from the eighth position, but were overtaken by the Raptors and fell to the third place. Nine positions.

With the Cavaliers' ups and downs, many NBA experts are also curious about what level the Cavaliers will be in the Eastern Conference this season.

Judging from the content of these two games when the Cavaliers played the Pacers and the 76ers, many experts believe that this season in the Eastern Conference, the Cavaliers are inferior to the Nets, Magic, Heat, Pacers, 76ers, and Pistons. This is stable.

It's a 4-6 draw with the Hornets, and a 6-4 draw with the Raptors. The strength of the three teams should be in the fourth tier in the Eastern Conference.

Well, the game has been going on so far. Facing such a fiercely competitive Eastern Conference, many experts have divided the Eastern Conference teams into four gears based on the current performance of each team.

First gear: Nets.

Second gear: Magic, Heat

Third gear: Pacers, Pistons, 76ers

Fourth gear: Hornets, Cavaliers, Raptors.

Pot 5: Bucks, Celtics, Knicks

Sixth gear: other.

According to this classification, the Cavaliers' competitors for the playoffs this season are not the 76ers, but the Raptors and Hornets.

I have to say that these experts are sometimes very accurate. On the day the Cavaliers lost to the 76ers on the road, the Hornets lost to the Kings at home.

The Hornets also began to slowly fall from the top six positions in the Eastern Conference.

On December 20, 2003, the Cleveland Cavaliers continued to visit. This time they came to Chicago to face the Chicago Bulls, who currently have a record of 6 wins and 18 losses.

Because of the brotherly relationship between Bulls Vice President Paxson Jr. and Cavaliers General Manager Paxson Senior, there are many players on both teams who have played for both teams.

Such as Crawford and Chandler of the Cavaliers, Big Z of the Bulls, etc.

As a result, although the management of the two teams are as close as one family, they are all from the Bulls.

But the players from the two teams are actually not that close.

Especially for Crawford, he was very unhappy that the team sent him to the Cavaliers.

Although he is doing very well with the Cavaliers, with two big guys, Chen Xiao and James, around him, he has more opportunities on the offensive end.

But being driven from Chicago to Cleveland, and being driven from Shenzhen to Lianzhou, it’s you, and you’re not happy either.

So in this game, the game between the Cavaliers and the Bulls, when there was no suspense about the outcome, Chen XiaoJames was playing for Crawford throughout the game.

Why not make the ball for Chandler?

Because Chandler doesn't care.

He had neither love nor hatred for the bull.

Because he is a parallel import, Bulls fans don't like him, and he has no nostalgia for the Bulls.

To him, the bull was just a passer-by.

But Crawford is different. The current Little Mamba and the former Little Jordan are really popular with fans in Chicago.

Bulls fans can understand, but cannot accept, sending Crawford away in exchange for Antonio Davis.

Therefore, facing the performance of Chen Xiao and James, coupled with the cheers of Bulls fans, Crawford himself was very confident. In this game, he played the best game in his career in front of the Bulls' vice president Paxson Jr. representative battle.

In the game, he made 16 of 27 shots, 5 of 7 three-pointers, and 5 of 5 free throws. He scored 42 points and also had 4 rebounds, 6 assists, 4 steals, and 2 blocks.

Miraculously, this data is exactly the same as the data Crawford historically played when facing the Wizards on December 27, 2003.

Historically, Crawford played the Wizards to avenge Jordan, but now he plays the Bulls to avenge himself.

It has to be said that the third boss of the Cavaliers is really a sweetheart.

Of course, in this game, Crawford fucked the Bulls for the entire game, and the Bulls also grabbed Crawford and fucked the Bulls for the entire game.

So despite Crawford's fierce performance in this game, looking at the score, 110 to 96, the Cavaliers actually didn't win that much.

In this battle of revenge for Crawford, Chen Xiao made 8 of 18 shots and scored 22 points, 5 rebounds and 8 assists.

After defeating the Chicago Bulls in an away game, the Cavaliers ended all the games on this road trip. In three away games, the Cavaliers had 1 win and 2 losses, and their record was not very good.

Therefore, this also dropped the Cavaliers from eighth to ninth.

However, the better news for the Cavaliers is that the Hornets, who were previously sixth in the Eastern Conference, fell.

On December 23, 2003, the Cavaliers' last game before Christmas, the Cavaliers will face the Hornets at home.

So far between the two teams, the Cavaliers have 15 wins and 12 losses, ranking ninth in the Eastern Conference.

The Hornets have 18 wins and 10 losses, ranking seventh in the Eastern Conference.

If the Cavaliers can defeat the Hornets in this game, they can drag the Hornets into the battle for eighth in the Eastern Conference.

The Cavaliers want to drag the Hornets into the tiebreaker, but the Hornets certainly don't want to enter the tiebreaker.

thus……

On the night of December 23, at the Gund Arena in Cleveland, the Cavaliers and Hornets staged a very cruel and bloody battle that hurt each other.

Both teams' shooting percentages in this game were less than 40%.

The Hornets' leading point guard Baron Davis made 9 of 27 shots, including 1 of 11 three-pointers. He scored an inefficient 27 points and had 7 turnovers and 4 steals.

On the opposite side, James, the head guard of the Cavaliers, shot 7 of 22 in the game and scored 22 points in an equally inefficient manner. He also made 5 turnovers and 6 steals.

From the matchup data between James and Baron Davis, we can see how intense this game is.

After the first three quarters of this game, the score was 70 to 66, with the Cavaliers trailing by 4 points at home.

Seeing that this game was about to be lost, in the fourth quarter Chen Xiao made 5 of 9 in a single quarter, 2 of 5 three-pointers, and 6 of 6 free throws. He scored 18 points in a single quarter, coupled with Baron Davis' 11 in a single quarter. 1's undercover performance.

The Cavaliers actually went on a 31-15 run in the fourth quarter, and eventually led by 16 points, winning 97-85.

It has to be said that the Hornets' current offense still relies too much on Baron Davis.

Although Baron Davis won the duel with James in the first three quarters, he was almost exhausted by James.

Then in the fourth quarter, he has to face off against Chen Xiao.

The result is...

There's nothing that can be done about it. Compared with last season, David Wesley's condition has declined a bit this season.

David Wesley's three-point shooting percentage last season was 43%, but this season he only shot 33%, a drop of 10 percentage points.

The teammates around him suddenly changed from Reggie Miller last season to Kidd. Who can withstand this?

In the end, Baron Davis could only fight James in the first three quarters and Chen Xiao in the fourth quarter.

He's actually done a pretty good job.

"For the big guards in the league, the Cavaliers are simply hellish!"

In front of the TV, Kobe's eyes widened after watching the entire game between the Cavaliers and the Hornets.

Because he is a big defender.

Because the Cavaliers' next opponent is them.

The first Christmas game, Lakers VS Cavaliers.

Kobe VS Xiao Zhan.

Xiaozhan, can you continue to be arrogant?

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