NBA Opening Draw To Twilight Shaquille O’Neal

Latest website: The Trail Blazers' four-star lineup makes most fans feel that the new season will be bleak, but not all teams have given up.

The Knicks, Bulls, Warriors, and Mosaic all began to resist.

It’s not just them. As soon as Chris Paul, the last big fish in the free market, confirmed to join the Brooklyn Nets on October 1st, many media immediately started to build momentum. The significance of the rise of the Internet.

But whether it can rise or not may have to wait until the start of the new season to know.

On October 2nd, US time, after a long offseason, the NBA preseason officially started.

In the traditional concept, the preseason is the warm-up period before the start of the regular season. It is a time for the team to run in the lineup, practice tactics and the players to adjust their status. However, in the 2017 preseason, due to many blockbuster transactions in the offseason, practice games The importance has been upgraded, and it has also brought more things to watch for fans.

This is destined to be a different pre-season!

On the same day, ESPN, Sports Illustrated, and TNT, the three most authoritative media outlets, simultaneously began to publish player strength rankings and star strength rankings.

The player strength list counts all nearly 500 active players. The star strength list mainly ranks the top 30 players currently in service.

There are only 30 teams in the league, and being ranked among the top 30 in active service means that in the minds of the media and most fans, this player is worthy of the title of star.

Regarding the top player in the top 500 player list and the top 30 star list, the opinions of the three major authoritative media have once again reached consensus - Wang Zelin!

It has been four consecutive years. This may be the first time since Jordan in the 1990s that the three media outlets have uniformly ranked a certain player first.

Some fans commented on this. If Wang Zelin is not ranked first at this time, it will not be as simple as causing trouble, but it will damage his own reputation!

When asked about the fact that major media announced in advance that Wang Moupai topped both the player strength rankings and the star strength rankings, Wang Zelin replied:

"Isn't this normal?"

Look at this attitude, it's really not modest at all!

The media didn't know what to ask next... Fortunately, the media were used to Wang Zelin's habit of pretending from time to time.

Turning to the Blazers general manager's goals for the new season.

This is a conventional question, but Olshey gave an unconventional answer: "Is this our goal? As you can see, in the new season you will see the performance of the strongest team in history!"

This answer is not difficult to go into and continue to ask questions. On the contrary, there are a lot of topics that can be extended.

As we all know, whether among fan groups or media reporters, the discussion about the strongest team in NBA history has never stopped.

Some people think that the Celtics in ancient times were the strongest team in history.

The ancient period here specifically refers to the eight consecutive championships, but many fans will question that there were only 12 teams in the league at that time, and the competitiveness was far less competitive than when there were more than 20 or even 30 teams later.

But eight consecutive championships is unprecedented, and there are ancient mythical beasts such as Chamberlain, Pettit, and West as opponents, and the background board is also full of gold.

Others think it is the Bulls dynasty that won three consecutive championships twice.

Jordan smashed various personal records at the time, and the team also achieved the best record in history of 72 wins and 10 losses in the regular season in the 1995-96 season, and finally won the championship.

The opponents for the two three consecutive championships were the Lakers led by Magic Johnson and James Worthy, the Trail Blazers led by Drexler, the Suns led by Barkley and Kevin Johnson, Payton and Kemp. The leading Sonics and the Jazz led by Utah's two veterans.

6 finals, 35 games, never a tiebreaker with a 100% winning rate, who else?

Some people think they are the Lakers of the OK combination at the beginning of the century.

OK, the three consecutive championships brought the word "dominance" to the extreme. Except for the Kings and Trail Blazers, which brought them a little trouble, the other series were basically overwhelming.

But with Orsi's answer, the strongest team in history seems to have been concluded in his mouth, that is, the Portland Trail Blazers are the strongest team in history!

In other words, does this team really deserve the praise of being the best team in history?

At this time, the reporters thought of the five championship flags flying over the Rose Garden Arena and the miracles the Trail Blazers had performed against the league in the past 10 years...

Well, the Trail Blazers really deserve the title of "The Strongest in History"!

At least, the Trail Blazers are definitely qualified to compete with the super teams that have appeared in history.

A performance from the greatest team in history?

In this case, let them take a quick look!

…

…

Preseason is finally here!

On the night of the 2nd, the Trail Blazers sat at home and ushered in their first preseason game against the Warriors.

Although it was a preseason game, the Rose Garden Basketball Arena, which can accommodate more than 20,000 fans, was packed.

And the fans couldn’t hide the excitement on their faces!

Not only can you witness the debut of the strongest Trail Blazers, but because it is a preseason game, tickets are much cheaper than the regular season.

Being able to grab tickets is exciting enough for most fans.

You know, even if you are a Trail Blazers season ticket holder, preseason tickets are not included.

Therefore, every spectator who can come to cheer for Wang Zelin and the others tonight is the most enthusiastic fan of the Trail Blazers.

From the moment the Trail Blazers players entered the arena, every fan seemed to be burning with flames, shouting and applauding crazily.

After the opposing Golden State Warriors players entered the stadium, they couldn't help but sigh with emotion when they saw such enthusiastic local fans.

Not to mention anything else, just their first preseason show can trigger such a commotion. The Trail Blazers are undoubtedly unmatched in the league in terms of popularity!

"Don't be influenced by the other side, let's fight ours."

Warriors coach Kerr summoned his players to his side and began to make pre-game tactical arrangements.

The Warriors completed Curry's contract extension during the offseason. The five-year, $200 million contract is a big burden for them, but they have no choice.

At the same time, in order to maintain the competitiveness of the championship, Iguodala and Livingston signed with the Warriors one after another, coupled with the addition of free agent Tiezha, the Warriors' overall strength must have declined compared to last season's Big Four. Yes, but it is definitely not as severe as the decline reported by some unscrupulous media.

Ariza's style of play is quite suitable for the Warriors, but the difference is that he doesn't have Durant's hard-hitting ability.

But as long as the Splash Brothers are still there, it’s impossible to lose the soul of the Golden State Warriors. They are still the same Warriors team, and they get excited when they beat the Trail Blazers!

The game is about to start, and players from both teams enter the field to warm up.

At this moment, the fans' screams and cheers could no longer be stopped from the scene.

Because the Blazers' starting five tonight's lineup has been announced on the LED screen: Lillard, Connett Lee, Harrell, Jokic, and Wang Zelin.

What's more important is that the starting five are all wearing training uniforms!

This means that there is a high probability that the main players will play in this game!

In the preseason, the core players of many teams played little or even had no plans to play at all, so they were still very worried before the game.

But now it seems that the Trail Blazers coaching staff understands what the fans think.

There was no corresponding appearance ceremony arranged in the preseason. After the warm-up, the starting players of the two teams appeared one after another.

For the Warriors, the starting five are Curry, Thompson, Ariza, Green, and Pachulia.

On the Trail Blazers side, as Wang Zelin and Lillard entered the starting lineup, the scene was filled with deafening cheers.

Appeared, the Trail Blazers, recognized as the strongest player in the league this season, have entered the starting lineup for the new season!

"It's coming, it's coming! The defending champion is coming!"

"Lillard, Jokic and Wang have all entered the starting lineup, only Ade is missing."

"Man, this is just the first game. There is no need to go all out. At least it can give the opponent some game experience!"

…

A preseason game hasn't even started yet, and the fans on the hotline are already going crazy.

Not only in North America, but also on the hotlines of Chinese and other overseas TV broadcasts, fans exploded one after another.

With such exaggerated attention, it seems that this game is not a preseason game, but more like a preview of the Western Conference Finals of the new season!

"Beep!"

As the referee blew the whistle, the centers of both teams jumped the ball.

Wang Zelin easily moved the ball back to the Trail Blazers half, Harrell got the ball and handed it to Lillard, and the game officially started!

Lillard took the ball to the frontcourt and directly called for Jokic to pick and roll towards the basket.

The Warriors didn't double-team either. Lillard accelerated to the basket and faced Green's throw.

Green stretched out his ape arms and blocked the sky, but Lillard's timing of the ball was perfect, and the parabola was so high that the ball could pass over his fingertips.

"Uh-huh!"

The basketball hollow falls into the pocket.

Lillard opened the scoring for the Trail Blazers, and there were cheers again.

In the first half of the first quarter, the Trail Blazers mainly played a newly constructed starting lineup, but the result was... so-so. The score was 14:18 in the first half of the quarter. The Trail Blazers were 4 points behind and entered the official timeout.

In this half of the quarter, Wang Zelin mainly focused on defense and secondary offense at the basket. He basically did not play with the ball. He made 3 of 4 shots, including 1 of 1 three-pointers, plus 2 of 2 free throws, scoring a team-high 9 points. !

In the second half of the first quarter, Coach Terry switched the lineup, and the five players on the field became Lillard, Connett Lee, Johnson, Aldridge and Wang Zelin.

The Warriors replaced Pachulia and Green, brought in McGee and Rooney, and partnered with the Splash Brothers and Ariza.

After the timeout, the Trail Blazers attacked. Aldridge went to the low post and wanted to try a low single. When he was flanked by Rooney and Ariza, he made a mistake in touching the ball and was intercepted by Curry.

The Warriors counterattacked, Johnson was a little slow in returning to defense, and Wang Zelin defended one and two in the whole game. In the end, Curry assisted Ariza who followed up, and the latter scored a chasing three-pointer.

21:14!

Why did the team fall behind even though we were playing hard?

If we play for a while longer, we will probably fall behind by double digits!

The fans at the scene were a little confused. Logically speaking, the Trail Blazers are the team with the stronger lineup on paper. Why are they being led by the opponent on the court now?

In the next two consecutive rounds, Aldridge's singles ended in a blackout. The Warriors continued to push defensive counterattacks, and the Kuaishou opened the point difference to double digits.

After the first quarter, the training battle planned by Coach Terry turned into a one-sided shooting training for the Warriors.

I thought that the team's shortcomings would be revealed through the entire preseason, but I didn't expect that all the flaws would be revealed in just the opening game against the Warriors.

What are the drawbacks?

In other words, the Trail Blazers' current lack of perimeter defenders is clearly exposed under the Warriors' pass-and-cut system.

It is simply unrealistic to expect Lillard to guard Curry.

Connet Lee is old, and Harrell is too slow. Neither of them can shoulder the responsibility of leading the defender, so Wang Zelin can only be forced to expand outside to help his teammates fill defensive holes.

But as a result, the protection of rebounds will naturally decrease, eventually causing the Warriors to engage in defensive counterattacks many times in the first quarter.

This kind of defense obviously does not conform to Coach Terry's understanding of a championship-level defensive system.

Although it is only a preseason game, he still hopes to get a good start tonight in front of the home fans!

But in such a short period of time, where can he find a qualified outside defender?

Next to him, Vanderpool saw the head coach scratching his head frantically. He quickly came over to ask what happened?

After learning about the coach's troubles, he suddenly smiled, then pointed to the bench and said, "Well, isn't there an excellent perimeter defender there?"

Coach Terry followed the gesture and looked at Wang Zelin: "You mean...let Wang play small forward?"

"That's right."

Vanderpool nodded vigorously.

"But…"

"During the Western Conference Finals and Finals last season, didn't Wang play small forward? And his effect as a small forward was awesome!"

“…”

After Vanderpool mentioned this, Coach Terry finally recalled the famous scenes of Wang Zelin's various blocking and killing after Wang Zelin switched to small forward in the Western Conference Finals and Finals a few months ago.

"It seems...it's not impossible!"

Coach Terry admitted that his heart was shaken at this moment.

In the team's training matches in the past two weeks, he tried various starting combinations but always felt that they were not perfect, but he only missed the starting set that Van der Poel just mentioned.

"That was the killer move that the Trail Blazers relied on to make a comeback when they were in dire straits last season. How could I have forgotten it?"

Coach Terry couldn't help but cursed himself in his heart.

In the past, no one would have dared to imagine a 2.16-meter player playing small forward, but after the Western Conference Finals last season, his basketball knowledge has long been subverted.

In other words, players like Wang Zelin have long surpassed people's understanding of basketball concepts. UU Reading www.uukａnshu.com

Just do it!

The next moment, Wang Zelin suddenly felt that his vision went dark, and something was blocking his sight.

He looked up and was almost startled: "Fuck! Coach, why are you here?"

"Well..." Coach Terry hesitated for a moment, then with a firm gaze, he said in a tentative tone: "Wang, how about you play small forward next...?"

“…”

Wang Zelin was instantly possessed by Nick Young, with a black question mark on his face.

“…”×n

The expressions of the teammates around him were also very similar, and everyone seemed to be talking.

Coach, are you okay?

(End of chapter)

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