I’m Really Playing Basketball

After defeating the Spurs and receiving full praise from Popovich, the Cavaliers continued their road trip with three consecutive wins after losing to the Raptors.

On December 13, 2004, the Cavaliers defeated the Grizzlies 112-106 away from home, ending their road trip to the Western Conference.

On December 15, 2004, the Cavaliers visited Detroit and defeated the Pistons 99-91, ending the entire road trip.

After ending this away game, the Cavaliers returned home and defeated the Trail Blazers, Celtics and Timberwolves one after another.

In this game of the Trail Blazers, Chen Xiao once again met Darius Miles, the little wolf king he trained last season.

Myers performed very well in the Trail Blazers this season. As a small forward in the Trail Blazers, he averaged 14 points, 6 rebounds and 2 assists, plus 1.5 steals and 1.5 blocks per game.

In this game against his old team, the Cavaliers, Darius Miles made 9 of 15 shots and scored 21 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals and 2 blocks.

To be honest, when the Blazers traded for Darius Miles, they really wanted to develop him as their core.

Darius Myers has been trained by Chen Xiao's side for a year. Although he doesn't say he has changed his mind and his temperament has changed drastically, his professional attitude has indeed improved a lot. Coupled with his talent, Darius Myers has been in the The Blazers' performance was outstanding.

Well, better than what Crawford did with the Knicks.

Crawford's performance with the Knicks...

In short, in a word, the Knicks are really a big dye vat.

Returning to Cleveland this time, Darius Miles came back with thanks and gratitude, so the two sides played a very friendly game.

By the way, Chen Xiao and the Cavaliers also helped Darius Miles repair Zach Randolph, who was competing with him for the boss.

In this game, Zach Randolph was made 5 of 12 by Chen Xiao and others, with 10 points, 7 rebounds and 6 fouls. When he was sent off, his mentality collapsed.

Although the younger brother has left, he is still so grateful and humble in front of the boss. This feeling is very good.

At least, this makes Chen Xiao feel that he did not train Darius Miles for a year in vain, and did not throw so many experience cards into him in vain.

As for the game against the Celtics, there wasn't that much warmth, so it just needs to be cut down hard.

However, in this game, Chen Xiao felt that his truth seemed to have less hatred towards him.

"I think it's because of the Dream Six teams in this year's Olympics."

Chen Xiao felt that Xiao Zhan's guess was right.

As for the game against the Timberwolves, this game was actually very warm.

Chen Xiao’s idol Kevin Garnett is now in a dormant period and is ready to ‘come back’ at any time.

Before the game against the Cavaliers, the Timberwolves' record was 15 wins and 8 losses, which was much worse than last season, but it definitely cannot be said to be collapsed.

So adding idols to the Timberwolves is very good.

As long as it doesn't collapse, there is still a chance.

Because as long as this year is over, the Timberwolves will have their first-round pick, and the Timberwolves' other big contracts except Garnett and Szczerbiak will come to an end.

The Timberwolves will soon be able to hold on until the clouds clear and the moon shines.

So, don't look at this year's Timberwolves not as good as last season. Last season's playoffs led the team to the finals. The Wolf King is in a good mood now.

"Chen, I think you still want to exercise your team privileges. I don't think the head coach of your team, Carlisle, is a good head coach. As a team that aims at the championship, it is always like this. Changing tactics and starting lineup is not the right way.”

After the game, Chen Xiao fell silent in response to Garnett's reminder.

This season, except for Chen Xiao and James, who are the two unchangeable starters, the Cavaliers change their starters in almost every game.

The Cavaliers have only played 25 games this season, and the Cavaliers have already changed 20 starting lineups.

In the NBA, this is simply insane.

It's not just Garnett who says this, many NBA experts say this.

Many experts say that the Cavaliers should have a stable starter, continuously improve the team's 90-point strength to 91, 92, 93, and finally 100 points, and hone the team to perfection, just like the Magic and the Heat.

This is the right way.

But Rick Carlisle doesn't think so.

Rick Carlisle is satisfied with the team's 90-point strength and no longer refines the lineup. Instead, he is looking for changes and playing the so-called restraint.

Yes, a team with 90 points can indeed defeat a team with 100 points as long as they find a restrained lineup.

However, how can it be so easy to find a needle in a haystack?

You will change, but others won’t?

If others change slightly, 100 becomes 99, can they beat you?

Therefore, despite the good results of the Cavaliers this season, they finished with 23 wins and 2 losses against the Timberwolves, ranking first in the league.

But Carlisle was sprayed badly.

Many reporters, media and experts feel that he has embarked on a wrong path.

"I think Rick Carlisle can run a lineup to 100 points first, and then try other ways is the best. However, Carlisle is not like this. He always clicks and tastes, never in a starting lineup Deep down, it’s very utilitarian.”

"That's right, in the regular season he can take advantage of the changes in the Cavaliers' lineup to constantly target and defeat his opponents, but in the playoffs, when everyone plays targeting, the Cavaliers' broadness and lack of precision will make them pay the price, unless the Cavaliers Kekarel can always find a way to restrain his opponent."

"Rick is a good coach, but I don't think he's that good."

Chen Xiao and James certainly knew about the sounds outside.

But, Chen Xiao believed in Carlisle.

Not because of anything else, Chen Xiao feels that Carlisle is definitely the strongest in the entire Cavaliers in terms of his ability as a head coach.

You can deny Carlisle, just like those expert reporters, but after denying him, do you have a better way?

Chen Xiao didn't, and neither did James.

Then at this time, you need to trust your head coach.

Therefore, regardless of the pressure Carlisle faces from the entire league, in fact he is as stable as a dog in the Cavaliers because of the support of Chen Xiao and James.

On December 22, 2004, after defeating the Timberwolves yesterday, the Cavaliers faced back-to-back games at home against the Nets, now fourth in the Eastern Conference.

Because the Cavaliers relied too much on Chen Xiao's magic to defeat the Nets in their last confrontation, so although the Cavaliers won the last game, Carlisle felt that his tactics still failed.

He failed to find a solution to the Nets' five-forward lineup.

If you use offensive players to attack, your opponent will seize the defensive loopholes and break them.

Use defensive players to defend, and everyone on the other side can attack. In a game like a meat grinder, your opponent can grind your offensive core to death. In the last game, Chen Xiao was almost beaten to death.

In this game, Carlisle changed his approach again.

Center Chen Xiao, power forward Diaw, small forward Penny Hardaway, shooting guard Barnes, and point guard James.

In this game, Carlisle used the same five-forward lineup as the Nets.

All the starting players of the Cavaliers in this game are all above 2 meters.

In this game, the Cavaliers' offense and defense were finally able to keep up with the pace of the Nets.

And every position can point to the Nets.

Although the Nets defeated the Cavaliers 94-90 in the end, Cavaliers head coach Carlisle was very satisfied with his starting lineup in this game.

The Cavaliers did lose this game.

But it wasn't because of a tactical failure. In this game, Chen Xiao made 7 of 26 shots, 25 points, 11 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 steals and 5 blocks.

This game is the first time that Chen Xiao has switched to the center position. Because Martin does not have such a strong offensive ability, Chen Xiao's defense in the center position is very good.

But attacking...

To be honest, Chen Xiao didn't have any inside offensive means, hooks, footsteps, throws, almost none of them.

There is such a small space under the basket, especially the space for the center forward is smaller than that of the power forward. Chen Xiao's laybacks under the basket are all in the crowd, and the help defense is too big!

And if it is pulled out, the Nets will be even happier. Chen Xiao is out, and the Nets' defense is all expanded, that would be great.

In short, it was the first time Chen Xiao swung to the center position in this game. The defense was excellent, but the offense still had no rhythm.

However, for Carlisle, it doesn't matter if he loses this game. Anyway, after losing the game, the Cavaliers are still number one in the Eastern Conference.

The key is to find a way to deal with the Nets.

Playing a five-point team like the Nets really needs to use five points to fight fire with fire!

Of course, in addition to finding Chen Xiao's inside attack problem, Carlisle also found a problem.

That is, in a five-forward lineup, Hardaway can only play 20 minutes of high-level games. He is older and if the game time exceeds this number, his level will drop significantly.

Therefore, the Cavaliers also need a second or third swingman or a third or fourth swingman as a substitute.

But where to find this substitute?

After the game against the Nets, the Cavaliers once again held an internal meeting.

Chen Xiao, James, Paxson, Carlisle, and the Big Four of the Cavaliers gathered together, and everyone was discussing how to get such a player.

To be fair, in this era, an excellent swingman at positions 3 or 4 or positions 2 and 3 is very valuable.

It is absolutely impossible for ordinary teams to trade.

Of course, it was Carlisle who raised this issue, and it needs to be the team's general manager Paxson to solve this problem.

"Jim, the Cavaliers lack such a player now, this is our last piece of the puzzle!"

Seeing Carlisle like this gave Paxson a headache too.

He has a lot of connections, including the Trail Blazers, Bulls and Nets.

Don't think about the Nets.

As for the Trail Blazers, the Trail Blazers are very grateful that he traded Miles for a first-round pick to them. If they can help, the Trail Blazers will definitely be willing to help.

But the point is, the Blazers have no such players except Miles.

Also, Bull, where his brother is.

Carlisle was envious of Ben Gordon.

But how could the Bulls trade Ben Gordon unless he killed his own brother?

In short, after Carlisle raised this question, Paxson had a headache.

Without this excellent swingman, if the Cavaliers fail this season, he will become the Cavaliers' sinner.

This kind of team-building thing is a headache for Paxson and Carlisle.

Chen Xiao and Xiao Zhan, on the other hand, were thinking about other things.

"Xiao Chen, Rick said, we only have one piece of the puzzle missing this season. Can we really reach the top of the NBA this season?!"

Xiao Zhan was very excited, very, very excited.

There's no better news for a man whose ambition is to make Cleveland great.

"Little Zhan, you should ask Rick this. All we can do is to get better. Even without the perfect puzzle that Rick mentioned, we need to get as close to this goal as possible."

After Chen Xiao finished speaking, Xiao Zhan nodded with bright eyes.

That's right!

Every team has their own perfect piece of the puzzle, but not every team really has it.

For him, Carlisle said that the Cavaliers are missing such a puzzle, which means that the Cavaliers are very close to the goal of his dream.

In this case, what reason does he have for not working harder?

Rick and Jim are working hard, and we need to work hard too!

Just like that, Xiao Zhan exploded!

Chen Xiao was envious when he saw Xiao Zhan's popularity.

Xiao Zhan is a truly talented person who can make progress as long as he works hard.

But Chen Xiao is different. His strength also requires hard work, but the way of hard work is different.

Just say that the coach said that he should learn the offensive skills of inside and center.

To be honest, the Cavaliers really don't have such players to teach him.

Raheem is also a shooter.

In fact, the Chinese team has such players, and Dayao is such a player.

However, everyone gets together in the summer mainly to play the national team game, and Dayao doesn’t have such a strong teaching talent as the experience card. If you want to teach teammates of the Chinese team, even if you study with Dayao, you don't have much time.

Therefore, it is best for the team to have such a player.

However, the season has already progressed to the present, and promotion is also a matter of summer. Fortunately, in the summer of 2005, there were no major competitions, so Chen Xiao could concentrate on studying.

"Well, even if I have to tie him up this summer, I will tie Dayao to my side!"

Miss Ye, Mr. Chen is offended!

After losing back-to-back games to the Nets on December 22, the Cavaliers entered the Christmas schedule.

This year’s Christmas Eve, Chen Xiao did not spend it alone.

As for who we spent time with and how we spent time, we will ignore it.

After Christmas Eve, the next day’s Christmas war began. This Christmas war had only two games in total.

One game is between the Suns and the Lakers.

OK's competition is always worth it to keep the league and David Stern on the fence.

The reason why David Stern and the league are so willing to speculate on this cold topic is of course because of this cold rice, which is indeed delicious!

In addition to this focus game in the Western Conference, there is also a Christmas game in the Eastern Conference, which is the game between the defending champion Magic and the Cavaliers.

The Magic and Cavaliers were opponents in last season's Eastern Conference Finals.

The two teams met again in this game. The lineups of the two teams were completely different from the lineups in the Eastern Conference Finals last season.

The Magic's starting lineup for this game is center Pachulia, power forward Duncan, small forward Tracy McGrady, shooting guard Ginobili, and point guard Parker.

The Cavaliers' starting lineup is Chandler, Raheem, James, Brent Barry, and Chen Xiao.

Well, the Cavaliers' starting lineup has changed again.

In last year's Eastern Conference Finals, Chen Xiao came up as a power forward and scored two games with 50+ points, almost defeating the Magic.

In the end, Duncan was placed at the power forward position to suppress Chen Xiao, and the Magic finally reversed and eliminated the Cavaliers 4-3.

Therefore, in this game, the Magic did not use Duncan to play center as before.

Similarly, Carlisle did not let Chen Xiao play power forward in this game, but played point guard.

So far this season, the Magic's record is 21 wins and 4 losses, ranking second in the Eastern Conference.

The first place in the Eastern Conference is the Cavaliers with 23 wins and 3 losses.

The Cavaliers are first in the league and first in the Eastern Conference, while the Magic are second in the league and second in the Eastern Conference.

It can be said that the contest between the two teams in this game is the pinnacle contest in the NBA.

Logically speaking, the two teams played seven games in the Eastern Conference finals.

Logically speaking, the two teams are very familiar.

But in fact, the Cavaliers have changed a lot this season.

The Cavaliers' style of play has also changed a lot.

Therefore, the two teams are very unfamiliar with this game.

This can be seen from the beginning of this game when the two teams played very cautiously and even very tentatively.

Especially the Cavaliers' temptation to the Magic.

In this game, Carlisle was also not about winning or losing, but was testing his own tactics and players.

For example, in this game, he wants to try Raheem, Nowitzki of the Cavaliers, and Duncan will be a little hot.

In fact, when Raheem met Duncan, the historical record is very good.

In the 1997-98 season, the second-year Raheem met the rookie Duncan. After four games, Duncan won four games, but the two scores were inseparable. Duncan had one more score than Rahim in four games. Of course, Duncan must have a better hit rate. After all, Raheem is outside and Duncan is inside.

In the 1998-99 season, the two began to widen the gap. As we all know, Duncan not only scored, but this season, Rahim even lost to Duncan in scoring. However, in these three games, Rahim faced For Duncan, scoring 25, 27, and 12 is actually very good. Even in the 12-point game, Duncan on the opposite side only had 19 points.

And Raheem's shooting percentage in these three games is not bad.

In the 1999-00 season, he played against Duncan three times. Rahim scored 30, 24, and 23. His scores were still lower than Duncan's, but his scoring was still good. In these three games, Rahim also shot 50%, 66%, and 47%.

Everyone knows what level of player Duncan is. Don't think that Duncan has just entered the league in the past three years and is a rookie.

To be honest, it is not easy to face Duncan in the past three years, 10 times, averaging more than 20 points per game, and shooting percentage is not low, basically 20+ in every game.

You know, in the past three years, Duncan's partner next to him was David Robinson, a general.

For the Spurs in the past three years, it has been hell for the league's inside players.

It can be said that in the past three years, Raheem has played the strongest offensive performance among non-star players in the face of Duncan. It is not an exaggeration at all.

As the head coach of the Cavaliers, Carlisle needs to prepare this information.

When the Cavaliers acquired Raheem, Carlisle didn't study his numbers against Duncan at the time.

So when he studied ways to deal with other strong teams in the league and studied the record of Raheem and Duncan, he was suddenly pleasantly surprised.

Rahim, an insider who has never been valued by various teams because of his height and defense, his offense can withstand Duncan's test!

He averages 20 points per game. Even in front of Duncan, he can still average 20 points per game.

Even last season in 0304, when he was with the Hawks, he faced Duncan and scored 9 of 18, 11 of 12 free throws, and 29 points and 10 rebounds. On the opposite side, Duncan scored 11 of 22, 28 points, 9 rebounds, and 5 fouls. .

You see, Rahim was able to foul Duncan and almost knocked him down.

Rahim's defense is indeed not that good, but his offense is not so afraid of Duncan's defense.

This is what Carlyle has studied from the data.

But whether this is really the case needs his verification.

And this game between the Cavaliers and the Magic was when he was verified.

Originally, in the game between the Cavaliers and the Magic, audiences across the United States and the world watched the four super giants Chen Xiao, James, Duncan and Tracy McGrady compete against each other.

But in this game for the Cavaliers, Rahim became the main attacker, with Chen Xiao and James assisting.

This strange style of play stunned the world audience in front of the TV and the Cavaliers audience on the sidelines.

To be honest, even if this game was very cautious, Doc Reeves, who had been bolded by Chen Xiao for a long time, was stunned.

We set up defense against Chen Xiao in the same way before the game, but you beat Rahim in this game?

The final result of this game was of course that the away Magic team won.

118 to 106, the Magic won 12 points away.

The Magic won easily.

Chen Xiao and James didn't even play in the fourth quarter, and the entire fourth quarter was garbage time.

At the highest point, the Cavaliers trailed by 20 points.

Many people saw the power of the Six-Star Magic in this game.

What many people also see is the mess Carlisle has coached this season.

With both Chen Xiao and James present, Rahim was allowed to take the main attack, but it was a shame that he was so good at playing.

As for Carlisle, who is at the center of the controversy, he is focused on Rahim's data in this game.

12 of 19 shots, 3 of 3 free throws, 27 points, 9 rebounds and 5 fouls. (Note 1)

The stats are great, especially the offensive stats.

"His offense is really not afraid of Duncan!"

The entire NBA knows that Nowitzki is not afraid of Duncan.

Henowitzki, that is truly a well-deserved reputation!

Carlisle was excited.

I, Rick Carlisle, also have my own Nowitzki!

What happens when I, Rick Carlisle, also have a Nowitzki? !

After losing so badly in the game, he still looked excited.

To be honest, what Carlisle didn't know at this time was that he was being sprayed stupidly by the second-rate celebrity in the TNT studio.

"Rick Carlisle felt he did a great job leading the Cavaliers last season, but he's lost this season!"

"No, he is not floating, he is crazy. He feels that last season was his credit. In fact, the credit for the Cavaliers last season was the Wonder Boy!"

However, Carlisle didn't care at all about this.

After confirming that Rahim's offense was not a useless offense for weak teams to increase statistics, Carlisle looked at Rahim differently.

Of course, at this time, after the game, Magic head coach Doc Reeves looked at Chen Xiao differently.

Sympathy, pity, but also joy.

What a strong player, but he encountered a pig-headed head coach like Rick Carlisle.

Pig head, hehe...

Thinking of the nickname he gave to Carlisle, Doc Reeves secretly felt happy that it was appropriate.

Rick Carlisle, a crazy pig head!

After losing this focus battle on Christmas Day, the Cavaliers won the remaining three games in December, the Hornets, Hawks and Rockets games.

The opponents in these three games were weaker than the Cavaliers, and these three teams were also ordinary teams with no characteristics.

There is actually nothing wrong with the Cavaliers winning these three teams, and there is nothing special about it.

Well, as it should be?

However, there are still bright spots for the Cavaliers in these three games.

That is, Rahim has started in these three games.

And in these three games, Rahim played a lot of roles in the team's offense.

Moreover, Rahim scored 20+ in these three games.

Seeing that Raheem started 4 times in a row, Chen Xiao and James fed him the ball, many Cavaliers players wondered if the team was going to trade Raheem.

Even Rahim himself feels so.

So he showed extra strength.

Since leaving the Hawks, he has not played the team's main offense.

Now that the team has asked him to focus on offense again, it is obvious that they don't really want to help him become the boss.

Let James and Chen Xiao be his little brothers?

He didn't even think about it.

Obviously this is the rhythm of trading him.

There have been rumors that the team is preparing to find a swingman at the second and third positions, or a swingman at the third and fourth positions. It is normal to trade him away.

Although he has never played for a strong team like the Cavaliers in his career, he was a little reluctant to leave the Cavaliers at their peak.

However, he was happy to leave Cleveland.

It's not that I'm disrespectful to Chen Xiao and James, it's just that I don't like Cleveland.

After these three games, the Cavaliers' December games are all over.

Throughout the 16 games in December, the Cavaliers have a very good record of 13 wins and 3 losses. So far, the Cavaliers have a very good record of 26 wins and 4 losses in 30 games, still ranking first in the league.

After the game in December, Rahim and the Cavaliers players set their sights on trading.

Raheem has performed so well in these four games, which shows that the deal is approaching.

Soon, Carlisle did find Raheem.

This made Rahim even more excited.

Coach, don't pity me, tell me harshly where you want to throw me!

"Julius, in the next game against the Mavericks, work hard and let the German show who is the real Nowitzki."

"..."

Not a deal? !

After Carlisle said this, Rahim was dumbfounded.

ps: Note 1: This data was obtained when Raheem played against Duncan in 2006. At that time, he had been reduced to a substitute in the Kings.

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