NBA Opening Draw To Twilight Shaquille O’Neal

That night, the game started.

The game started at 8 o'clock in the evening, and the Trail Blazers arrived at the arena at 6 o'clock.

At this time, the arena was brightly lit, and the outside was already crowded with people.

Before the game, regarding the second-round series between the Trail Blazers and the Mosaics, all major authoritative media have sent their own expert teams to give their own predictions.

Even ESPN, which has never liked Wang Zelin very much, has a predicted winning rate of 77% for the Trail Blazers, and only 23% for the Mosaic team.

Such a prediction result is also thanks to the ESPN expert team considering that the Mosaic team won their first victory against the Trail Blazers in the regular season, and they have given them a bit of sympathy.

In that game, Harden played the strongest regular-season performance of his career. Not only did he score a career-high 56 points efficiently, but he also successfully broke the five-year "one-stop" rule from the 2012-13 season. The curse of defeating Wang Zelin has successfully proved himself.

Therefore, this also makes Space City fans have a glimmer of expectation for the Mosaic team and Harden.

Several other authoritative media are not so face-saving. Their expert team has not even considered whether the Trail Blazers can advance smoothly. On the program, what they predict is how much the Mosaic team can bring to the Trail Blazers. resistance?

In their view, Portland's opponents in the West are the Golden State Warriors, and the results of the smart series with the Mosaic team are destined to remain unchanged.

The difference is whether it is a 4-0 sweep directly, or a 4-1 gentleman sweep?

The predictions of the rest of the media are similar. In short, no one is optimistic about the Mosaic team.

Dayao, who specially took the time to come to the Rose Garden Arena to watch the game in person, said in an interview with the media: "To be honest, I am a famous star of the Mosaic team. Of course I hope that the Mosaic team can go further. But to be honest, the Trail Blazers The strength is much stronger than the Mosaic team, the Trail Blazers have too much advantage inside, and the rest of the positions are also very comprehensive and have almost no weaknesses."

Trail Blazers star Bill Walton accepted an interview. He said: "This year the Trail Blazers have a great chance of defending the title, very great, because we have the best insiders and the strongest players in the league!"

In the away locker room, Harden watched many celebrities on the TV not optimistic about his team, and his face was so dark that he was about to drip water.

"guys!"

The team coach D'Antoni stood up suddenly. After the players' eyes came over, he said loudly: "In this series tonight, everyone is not optimistic about us, but this is not important. The important thing is that we have to believe in ourselves , We’re going to blow up the Blazers, we’re going to blow up the New Dynasty! We’re going to surprise everyone!”

By the end, his voice could almost be heard roaring outside the locker room.

"It's D'Antoni's voice, is the Mosaic team infighting?"

"Could it be that before the battle, the conflict between D'Antoni and Melon broke out again?"

The reporters waiting outside became heated one after another, such as mosaic team CEO Harry and general manager Mo Gou asked for interviews.

Although the two of them didn't know what happened inside, they didn't need to think about it, how could these uncrowned kings break in at such a time.

Don't be afraid of ten thousand, just in case.

the other side.

Home team locker room.

The atmosphere on the Trail Blazers side is much calmer than next door.

Wang Zelin and his teammates are already players who have won three consecutive championships. They have long been used to strong winds and waves, and they have a stable mentality.

With the deepening of the playoffs, the opponents will become stronger and stronger. At this time, you must have a good mentality in order to fully display your own strength in the game.

Therefore, the mentality of the core players is stable, and the team members also sink down and prepare for the game.

Before the start of the game in the evening, the two sides accepted media interviews.

When Wang Zelin was interviewed by the reporter, the reporter asked him about the prediction of this round of the series.

Wang Zelin waved his hand with a relaxed expression on his face, but he very much agrees with such a prediction.

"There is no doubt that we will prove who is the true master of the league. Portland's legend and glory continue."

However, Harden was full of dissatisfaction with this: "This will be a real battle, and we will do our best. No one can decide the championship until the last moment."

Another core Anthony is not very interested in this: "I don't like to predict the results before the game. No one can predict what the trend of this series will be. So, please focus on tonight's game, I I promise you won't be disappointed."

Both sides hold their own opinions, but their attitude towards the game is the same, that is—be sure to go all out!

Immediately, the two sides made the first announcement.

Visiting team Houston Mosaics: Harden, Gordon, Anthony, Capela, Nurkic.

The Mosaic team also sits on the bench with Ariza, Anderson, Nene, and other high-quality substitutes.

Home team Portland Trail Blazers: Lillard, Lillard, Button, Batum, Jokic, Wang Zelin.

Aldridge continued to sit on the bench and played as a sixth man. After all, he missed the entire regular season, and he did not express any objection to this.

With Adelaide, an all-star insider in his prime, plus Beverly, Connett Lee, Carter, Harrell, Yi Jianlian and others, the Blazers' bench is obviously more luxurious, even looking at the league. Hard to find opponents.

At 7:58 p.m., the referee signaled the starting players of both sides to enter the field, and Wang Zelin took off his training uniform and jumped twice.

He looked around, and the Rose Garden Arena had been dyed a sea of ​​red by fans in uniform.

On the Mosaic team, although the insiders Capela and Nurkic do not have the ability to shoot in the long-range range, they are both very good at playing pick-and-rolls. Cooperating with Harden, they play sneakily with one-handed pick-and-rolls.

Both Gordon and Anthony at positions 2 and 3 have long-range shooting capabilities.

Especially Anthony, after he joined the Mosaic team, he began to transform several seasons earlier than the original time and space, greatly reducing inefficient long two-pointers and switching to more efficient three-pointers. UU reading www.uukanshu.com

During the regular season of this season, he shot the third-highest 5% three-point shooting rate in his career, and almost broke 40%. The overall shooting rate came to 48%, and his offensive efficiency was the best in the past 10 years.

Of course, this lineup is not the strongest lineup of the Mosaic team in terms of the ability to expand. When the team needs it, Capela will play at the 5th position, Anthony can reach the 4th position, and the 3rd position will be played by Ariza. In charge, there are Harden and Gordon in the backcourt.

This lineup is the strongest offensive system in the Houston Mosaic team system led by D'Antoni.

Perhaps because tonight is the first game, D'Antoni did not send out the strongest offensive system as soon as he came up, but first used the regular starting lineup to explore the depth of the defending champion.

As for the Trail Blazers, they unceremoniously brought up the starting five.

They have nothing to hide, and there is no need to save their strength for the next game.

As the media predicted, the potential opponents of the Blazers' four consecutive championships did not include the Mosaic team, and the opponent was only a stepping stone on their way to defending the title.