I’m Really Playing Basketball

The AT\u0026T Center in San Antonio was packed tonight.

Last season, the Spurs led 2-0 in the Finals but lost four games in a row, ultimately losing the NBA championship.

After last season's tragic defeat, it did not damage the confidence of Spurs players and fans.

For Spurs fans, they have reached the finals at such a young age. Failure will not be the end, it will only be a starting point.

Therefore, when the players of the two teams ended their warm-up and the starting players stood on the court one by one, the Spurs fans on the sidelines gave them the warmest applause and cheers for their first game of the season.

The Spurs' starting players in this game are center Howard, power forward Luis Scola, small forward Bowen, shooting guard Ron Howard, and point guard Arenas.

Although Howard performed extremely poorly in last year's finals, he was pinned to the ground and rubbed by Yao Ming.

But those who criticized Howard were only "Spurs fans" and "neutral fans" on the Internet. The real Spurs fans at the scene did not criticize Howard, and even gave Howard great encouragement when Howard came out.

Howard didn't play well in the finals last season, but except for last season's finals, Howard performed very well throughout last season.

As a fan, you can't deny his hard work and talent for a season just because he had a bad series.

Howard is still one of the best young centers in the league.

Therefore, despite the fact that Howard was beaten by Yao Ming in the finals last season, the Spurs rejected all trade requests during the offseason.

Howard's position in the Spurs is very stable.

Therefore, compared with last season, the Spurs' starting lineup has not changed much.

After all, this is a starter set that has proven successful.

On the other side, the Bobcats will start this game with center Bynum, power forward Zach Randolph, small forward Granger, shooting guard Chen Xiao, and point guard Chris Paul.

Bynum has been promoted to the starting lineup, but other than that, the other positions have not changed much.

This season Jordan promised Chen Xiao that he would try not to appear in the inside position again this season.

Of course, a promise is a promise. When the team needs it, it is definitely impossible for Chen Xiao to watch the team lose without playing inside.

Jordan's promise can be seen as that during the regular season, the team will focus on cultivating the team's young insiders. Even if there is a problem, they will try to use the team's existing young insiders to solve it instead of just doing whatever happens. They all look for Chen Xiao.

Therefore, this season, Chen Xiao's nuclear weapon button will not be pressed frequently.

Because the Bobcats now have a group of good young people such as Granger and Xiaopao, the Bobcats' overall combat effectiveness has improved, and the Bobcats are more confident to let the young people of the team lead the young people, instead of pressing Chen Xiao's Nuclear button to compress the growth space of the team's young people.

Faced with the current situation of the NBA getting stronger and stronger, both Chen Xiao and Jordan know that the Bobcats cannot make it to the end by leaving everything to Chen Xiao like they did last season.

The Bobcats need to develop more useful young players this season.

The camera returned to the court. Looking at the Bobcats' lineup of two big and three small, Spurs coach Popovich frowned on the sidelines.

The Bobcats are a very difficult team for the Spurs to beat.

Bynum can match up with Howard, Randolph can match up with Scola, and with the three outsiders, the Bobcats can also match up with the Spurs.

The only real offensive strength for the Spurs is Arenas vs. Paul.

The other points are not very good.

And this is why he was so optimistic about the Bobcats last season.

Because these young people of the Bobcats really have considerable potential.

This season many people say that the Nuggets are strong after getting Iverson, and the Raptors are strong after getting O'Neal Jr., but Popovich has always felt that the strongest teams this season are the Magic and the Heat, and the teams closest to the Magic are The team with the Heat is not the Lakers, not the Suns, not the Raptors, or even the Spurs, but the Bobcats!

Regarding his judgment, Spurs assistant coach Don Newman next to him found it quite incredible.

Lynx?

The league's third favorite to win the title?

A higher pick than the Spurs?

Are you kidding me?

Of course, Popovich has always made a lot of amazing remarks about the Bobcats, so when Popovich talks about the Bobcats, many people feel that they can only half-listen and half-believe them, without taking them all seriously.

However, Don Newman feels that the Spurs' championship prospects this season are not very good, and this is true.

Because this season, Popovich is going to change his style in San Antonio.

This season, the Spurs are going to play offense.

Faced with Popovich's transformation, Don Newman feels that the team's future is indeed uncertain.

He's not sure Popovich can play offensive basketball.

Perhaps feeling Don Newman's worry, on the court, Howard successfully jumped the ball for the Spurs, and the Spurs won the first offensive opportunity of the game.

After Howard's successful jump ball, Ron Howard, who was in possession of the ball, did not sit on the ground and fight the opponent like the Spurs last season, but quickly dribbled the ball into the frontcourt.

As the leader of the team, Howard has the right to play fast or slow on the court, so Chen Xiao and the Bobcats players did not see any problem with Ron Howard's fast break.

After all, there are two big men on his side, so pushing the speed is a normal choice for the opponent.

But soon, Chen Xiao discovered that things were not that simple.

Ron Howard, who dribbled the ball across the half court, didn't stick the ball, didn't have the luck he had before, and then Kaka's singles made a mid-range shot. After dribbling to the three-point line, Ron Howard immediately played against Scola After a cooperation, the ball is handed over without the ball.

And Scola, who played with Ron Howard one step at the top of the arc, also didn't dribble. After looking around twice, he didn't dribble and directly hit the ball. With Howard's cover, he ran without the ball. Arenas came out to catch the ball.

According to the general idea, when the tactics are played to such a degree, Arenas can attack. After all, Arenas has already obtained the opportunity to play Paul in a dislocated single with the help of screens and running positions.

Paul was guarding Bowen's position before.

But Arenas, who was very surprising, still didn't attack!

After shaking off the approaching Paul, facing Granger who rushed to help defend, Arenas quickly returned the ball to Bowen, who was completely open.

Bowen, squatting in the bottom corner, received a pass from Arenas, raised his hand and hit a three-pointer!

Bynum and Randolph, the two big insiders, can't help defend at all.

This is beyond the three-point line!

Even Duncan and Garnett wouldn't be able to help defend so quickly!

"This, this is the Spurs' offense?!"

"The whole team moves, three screens, three passes, this is the Spurs' offense?!"

When Bowen hit this completely open three-pointer, the audience in front of the TV was stunned.

They were as shocked as Barkley Kenny Smith on the television.

The Spurs' offense just now was so un-Spurs!

This can be seen from the silence of the Spurs fans at the scene.

Spurs fans did not expect that their team could play such an offense.

Therefore, their cheers seemed a bit delayed this time.

This offense of the Spurs is very un-Spurs, but it cannot be said that the Spurs have changed their style through one round of offense.

This kind of passing, running, and coordinated play made Chen Xiao feel bright.

Even if Popovich and the Spurs didn't intend to change their style, the Spurs' offense this time also showed everyone that Popovich was indeed working hard on offense, instead of giving all the offense to the players as before, Focus on defense.

It can be seen that Popovich is still capable of offensive training.

Last season, the Spurs, who had always played slowly, suddenly started to play faster this time.

But last season, the Bobcats, who had always played fast and were one of the strongest offensive teams in the NBA, slowed down in their first offense.

After Paul dribbled the ball across halftime, he looked at Bo Wen who was stuck on Chen Xiao like a dog skin plaster. After being hugged by Bo Wen and Chen Xiao raised his hands to signal Xiao Pao not to pass him, Xiao Pao faced Arena Sri Lanka's defense, after two dribbles changed directions, he immediately called Bynum to come out for a pick-and-roll.

Historically, the Hornets have been in the Hornets this season, leading Chandler and David West to play pick-and-rolls and are about to take off.

Cannon is a very good pick-and-roll point guard.

With the help of Bynum's pick-and-roll, Paul went straight to the basket after passing Arenas. At this time, the Spurs' defense had two choices. Either Howard and Arenas switched defenses. Howard came to help defend Paul. Arenas Stuck Bynum.

Either Howard continues to guard Bynum, Ron Howard moves back to block Paul, and the Spurs perimeter players rotate defense.

The first defensive option is prone to being hit by others for alley-oops.

Therefore, in the NBA, most defensive teams will choose the second option.

The defensive rotation on the outside is a great test of the defensive ability of the players, and all the Spurs' outside players have good defensive abilities.

Of course, no matter how strong your defensive ability is, there will always be opportunities when you switch defenses.

There is no way around this, so this will test the ability of the offensive team's organizer and whether they can find this gap.

The defensive rotation between Ron Howard and Arenas is a textbook defensive rotation.

There is no doubt that Xiaopao's pass is also textbook level.

Just one and a half steps away from Ron Howard's start towards him, before the second step was taken, Xiaopao's little hand shook, and the basketball flew towards Granger on the right three-point line.

The moment Granger received the ball, it happened to be the most embarrassing moment for Ron Howard and Arenas.

Ron Howard's return has been slow, and Arenas has not arrived.

It wasn't until Granger completed his shot that Arenas reluctantly rushed over to seal it symbolically.

A swipe!

Granger's almost half-empty three-pointer was a solid hit!

3 to 3!

The Spurs fans who were crazy about the Spurs' offense just now were a little silent for a while when they saw the Bobcats' offense.

“Quite exciting!

This assist from Chris Paul is different from most of his assists last season! "

If it is said that most of Xiaopao's assists last season were brought by Chen Xiao.

So this time, it is definitely a performance of Xiaopao's personal organizational ability and personal ability.

Therefore, after Xiaopao successfully organized the team to play such a beautiful offense, Chen Xiao also happily high-fived Xiaopao to celebrate.

"Nice playmaking and passing."

"Thank you, Chen."

Chen Xiao looked appreciative.

Xiaopao looked grateful.

And Jordan on the sidelines was also applauding for Xiaopao.

This season's regular season, Bobcats will be the core of the playmaker.

Chen Xiao's personal ability and threat are too strong. When Chen Xiao cooperates with his teammates, the teammates will subconsciously hit the ball into Chen Xiao's hands.

This is a recognition of Chen Xiao's personal ability, and it is also a reliance on Chen Xiao.

Such dependence will hinder the team's tactical system of play.

Why is there a saying in history that Kobe and Adu singles hurt the team?

That's how it came about.

Even for the Warriors of 17 and 18 years in history, especially the Warriors of 18 years, Cole felt that all difficult shots should be given to Adu, and Curry and Buddha should not take those unreasonably difficult shots.

Kerr has said this more than once.

There is a player like Chen Xiao and Durant who can be used casually in one-on-one situations, no matter how reasonable the player is. Not only the players will become dependent, but also the head coach.

To be honest, before Adu came, Curry and Buddha played like this, and they could make all kinds of unreasonable shots.

Now you want us to hit all such balls in the hands of Adu. To be honest, this really hurts our self-esteem.

Although we lost the finals because we couldn't attack, you can't let us not attack.

Curry and Buddha are good people and didn't say anything.

But Green didn't want to.

That's why there was that round. Green made a blind move at the last moment and didn't pass to Durant. In the end, the team lost. Durant asked Green to argue why he didn't pass the ball to him, but Green retorted: "Before you come, We are the champions!"

This sentence is actually not only for himself, but also for Curry and Thompson.

Although your personal ability is the strongest, me, Curry and Thompson, we won the championship without you. We are qualified to handle the ball at will at any time. We can do whatever we want without you. of consent.

Of course, the Bobcats will not appear in the later plot of the Warriors.

But Chen Xiao and Qiao Dan still had this understanding.

After Chen Xiao's madness last season, the Bobcats need to be weaned.

Otherwise, Xiaopao and Granger would stop and eventually become role players beside Chen Xiao.

Just like the warriors in history, Cole meant that he hoped that Curry and Buddha would become role players beside Adu.

Curry and Thompson have reached their peak strength, even if they are role players, their strength will not decline, they are also very strong, the strongest role players.

But Xiaopao and the others are not that strong yet.

If Xiaopao, they would have stopped in this way.

That was Shan Mao and Chen Ling's loss.

In the end, Xiaopao and the others may eventually become role players around Chen Xiao.

However, that will happen after their strength is fully achieved.

Therefore, this season's regular season is a season where Chen Xiao cooperates with Jordan to give his teammates who are extremely dependent on him a break.

The cannon got off to a good start.

On the court, the Spurs continued to attack. When the Spurs attacked for the second time, the Spurs still did not play the singles of Arenas and Ron Howard last season. The first and second figures of the two teams were still cooperating with the team's tactics. , running around, passing around, trying to get open shooting opportunities for the team, Chen Xiao and everyone were determined.

"The Spurs are really attacking this season!"

At the same time, when the Bobcats attacked, Chen Xiao still didn't force the ball despite Bowen's desperate defense, and when he didn't touch the ball for two consecutive rounds, everyone was also sure.

"The Bobcats really don't want to rely on Wonder Boy anymore!"

The Spurs attack...

The Bobcats don't rely on Chen Xiao anymore...

"Today's sun comes out from the west!"

In this game between the Spurs and Bobcats, a lot of people were really shocked!