NBA Opening Draw To Twilight Shaquille O’Neal

"I said it earlier, the so-called championship contenders are actually not that scary!"

- ESPN's Max Kellerman

"What's behind the brilliance? How strong is the strength of the pioneers who searched for the sun?"

-- ESPN expert Kevin Pelton

"Even the Suns can lose. Is this our No. 1 team in the West?"

— Clippers owner Donald Sterling.

There is a saying that everyone pushes the wall. In the past week, the Blazers have 4 games and 3 losses, and only won 1 game, making the Blazers a laughing stock for many players, fans, and the media overnight.

No way, who made them stronger for more than half a month before, the rare 13-game winning streak in the history of the start has certainly made them get a lot of attention and heated discussion, but it is also inevitable that they will encounter the jealousy of other teams.

In yesterday's game against the Suns, the Blazers lost 14 points to their opponents by a score of 106:120. It is not an exaggeration to say that it was a one-sided game.

Now, after showing obvious decline, it is inevitable that some people will carry out the behavior of "beating the underdogs".

During the team training on December 3, the atmosphere of the entire Blazers team has shown a sluggish state, and the laughter and laughter of the past can no longer be seen during training.

Their recent encounters are naturally not to mention, falling from heaven to hell, but no one is really willing to take the initiative to accept this huge gap.

At this point, every Blazers team member is training hard with a determination to change.

With 14 wins and 3 losses, the pioneers who started with Tianhu have been confused for too long after winning streak, and only won one victory...

However, Wang Zelin is still thinking of competing for the regular season championship this season, and such setbacks still can't hit him.

And he has the same idea, in addition to his teammates, there are a large number of Portland Trail Blazers fans.

On the evening of the 3rd, the Blazers ushered in a back-to-back home game against the Dallas Mavericks, who are ranked ninth in the Western Conference. The current record is 9 wins and 8 losses.

The Mavericks players are not in good shape right now.

Just the day before yesterday, the Mavericks ushered in the challenge of the Eastern Powerhouse Eagles at home, leading by three quarters, and the biggest advantage was as high as 17 points. As a result, the Eagles launched a counterattack in the distal quarter, and tied the score with a wave of 20:8 offensive waves!

He was even hit by Horford with a quasi-lore shot 4.2 seconds before the scene, with a score of 88:87, and finally successfully killed the game.

In the end, the Hawks defeated the Mavericks in back-to-back away games with Horford's 17 points and 12 rebounds, ending the team's previous three-game losing streak.

So really speaking, the Mavericks players are also very troublesome now.

After entering the Rose Garden, the Mavericks saw the overwhelming words in the audience, "The Trail Blazers will win!", "Don't be discouraged, you are the best!", "Kill the Dallas people, and the glory of victory will belong to Portland", etc. A series of signs full of slogans...

Even if the world doesn't support the Blazers, at least there is a group of lovely fans who silently support them.

After entering the arena, Wang Zelin and his teammates couldn't help being moved after seeing the fans' warmhearted actions, and what's more, their eyes became wet.

They decided: for nothing else, even for the overwhelming cheers of the audience at the moment, they have to win this game and beat the Mavericks!

However, such a move completely annoyed the Mavericks owner Mark Cuban who came with the team to Portland to cheer for the team.

As we all know, Cuban's passion and frankness have led him to be called "the roar of the NBA owner world". He has repeatedly criticized the referee for the team, and even had a physical conflict with the referee in his early years.

However, because of this, he won the appreciation of all Mavericks fans.

Then, before the game started, Cuban, who was sitting in the VIP auditorium, said to the interview media: "The Portland Trail Blazers are a **** team made up of a bunch of shit, and I entered the arena. In an instant, I was almost stunned by the smell inside! I really don't know why the league would arrange such a team to become our opponent..."

Next, when Cuban was asked by the media, "How do you think about the outcome of this game?", he bluntly said that Dirk is the best big man in the league, and he has the absolute ability to destroy the Blazers' inside team. , and will lead the team to win this year's game.

Obviously, Cuban was angry with Shi Lezhi by the actions of the Portland fans, otherwise, even if his previous character was just how "loose", he would not publicly say such remarks that offended the Blazers to death.

As soon as these words came out, it was tantamount to announcing that the Mavericks and the Blazers would become another sworn enemy team in the league...the kind that made them jealous when they met.

Soon, the reporters rushed to convey this sentence to Wang Zelin. The latter listened to the whole process with a blank expression, and after a long time he slowly spit out: "Dirk can't win, I promise, they absolutely can't win!"

This sentence is very simple to understand. It has two meanings. One is that the old driver can't win against himself and Aldridge, and the other is that the Mavericks can't win the Blazers.

It's so visceral!

The scene that reporters liked the most was born, and they immediately used their communication devices to log on to their social accounts and began to write about them.

Speaking of which, Wang Zelin is also angry now. Because he lost three games this week, he still lost the Western Conference Player of the Week despite his 26.6 points, 12.6 rebounds, 3 assists and 3.3 blocks this week.

The first week of December was the best, and the east side was given to LeBron James. This week, James led the Heat with a record of 4 wins and 4 wins, and his personal data was also quite luxurious.

In these four games, James played 36 minutes, 15.8 shots for 9.5 shots, a shooting rate of 60.3%, 3.8 three-pointers, 1.8 shots, a shooting rate of 46.7%. He scored 29 points with high efficiency, 6 rebounds, 4.8 assists, 1.5 steals and 0.8 blocks, with an average of 2.8 turnovers per game.

For the title of the king of James "high-level data", everyone is not surprised for a while. But when people once again witnessed that James, as a perimeter player, was able to average 29 points per game with the shooting rate of high-quality inside players, they still sighed sincerely: This guy is a real pervert!

Possibly, that's why many fans framed James' real peak as the Heat's two-peat.

Just looking at the data, Heat Zhan's Cavaliers are not necessarily comparable to the young Zhan in the 1.0 period, but from the perspective of offensive efficiency and defensive efficiency, Heat Zhan's high efficiency is definitely second to none in his career.

On the western side, the best of the week was won by Kevin Durant, and it was also his first best of the week award this season.

In the last three games, Durant led the Thunder to three victories, averaging 36.7 minutes per game, 20.3 shots in exchange for 11.7 hits, and a shooting percentage of about 57.4%. The three-point shot is even more outrageous, 3 of 5.7 shots. , the hit rate exceeded 50%, reaching 52.9%.

32 points, 10.7 rebounds, 5.7 assists, 1 steal, 0.3 blocks, and 2 turnovers... This is Durant's average of the last three games.

Wang Zelin, who has the memory of later generations, is very clear that this season Durant will average a career-high 32 points, 7.4 rebounds and 5.6 assists, and finally win the regular season scoring title and regular season MVP this season. Jackpot.

The team is also quite good. At the end of the regular season, the Thunder won 60 wins and became the Western Conference regular season champion.

This means that this year, Wang Zelin and the Blazers will face the Thunder led by the MVP version of Durant.

Last season, Durant's comprehensive score has reached 95 points, a proper superstar level, this year Durant will only be stronger!

Thinking of this, Wang Zelin can't wait to meet the Thunder. He wants to see how strong the MVP-year Durant in the original history can be?

Guaranteed bottom has 96!

97...or 98?

After playing the Mavericks, the Blazers will meet the Thunder for the first time in the new season, which is really exciting!

...

At 19:00 in the evening, Wang Zelin and Nowitzki led their teams to meet in the player tunnel.

Nowitzki hesitated for a few moments, and finally chose to bite the bullet and walked in front of Wang Zelin: "Wang, what Mark said before the game...the words were not intentional. Recently, his eldest daughter fell ill. As a father, his The mood is inevitable…”

"Stop it!" Wang Zelin waved his hand to interrupt Nowitzki's words, and said coldly: "I don't care what the reasons are for him to say those words, but he is an adult after all, and an adult must be for his own words. Pay for what you do!"

"I have no other idea, I just want to hear an apology from Mark."

The guilt on Nowitzki's face deepened.

"Forget it, see you in the game!"

After that, Wang Zelin led the team to move forward.

"Ugh!"

Speaking of this, Nowitzki knows that a hard fight is inevitable tonight. No, it may be that the Mavericks players will not have good fruit to eat whenever they encounter the Blazers in the future.

Thinking that in the last few years of his career, he would be remembered by a young man with unlimited potential, and he felt more helpless: he knew that Cuban would say such ugly words to provoke his opponents before the game.

It wouldn't matter if I said that two years ago, because Nowitzki was not an old driver at that time. He was the famous King of Connaught in the league, and the Mavericks also had the fighting power to compete for the championship.

It's really different from the past, it's difficult for the Mavericks to enter the playoffs now!

Of course, the trouble is the trouble, Nowitzki is naturally impossible to have any negative emotions such as complaining and dissatisfaction with Cuban. Because he knew that Cuban's original intention was to benefit himself and the Mavericks, but the means were a bit indecent.

It seems that the friendship between owner Cuban and player Nowitzki can become a story in NBA history, not without reason.

There's no other way, the boss's troubles can only be paid by the players in the end.

When the Blazers players are all in, it's time for the Mavericks. I saw Nowitzki suddenly glanced at Vince Carter in the middle of the team, who nodded understandingly.

Nowitzki clapped his palms, and after seeing his teammates look at him: "Guys are all cheered up, today we are about to usher in a fierce battle, everyone must know how strong the opponent is, so I won't have more here. Said. Now what I'm going to say is, don't forget, we're only one spot away from a playoff spot, so I'm going to give it my all to play every game no matter who I'm facing next. But It's not enough to have just one person in the team, we need everyone to work together, please!"

After that, Nowitzki even made a move of "bending his waist 90 degrees", not to mention how the rookies who just joined the Mavericks were in the mood, even Carter, who was mentally prepared in advance, was moved.

"Dirk is right," Carter understood and took the lead in responding: "Boys, the NBA is a land of miracles. Since its establishment, there have been countless nights of defeating the weak and defeating the strong...how can such a night be? Without the Dallas Cowboys, I believe in Dirk, and even more believe that as long as everyone works together, the Portland Trail Blazers are not invincible."

"Haha! Look at him!"

Sean Marion's response was much more bold.

From Dirk Nowitzki to Carter to Sean Marion, through the constant cheering of the three old guys, many young players' timid thoughts about the Blazers have finally dissipated.

Seeing that the military heart is available, Nowitzki finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Don't look at how easy he is to beat the Blazers. In fact, he is very clear in his heart that there is a certain strength gap between the Mavericks and the Blazers. It is too difficult to defeat the opponent.

However, as long as the Mavericks are united, there is no hope of winning ... although this hope is too slim.

After all, it's not every night the Blazers have a slump in their players.

...

Both sides made their debut.

Mavericks, the starting five are Jose Calderon, Monta Ellis, Sean Marion, Dirk Nowitzki and Dalem Potter.

After seeing the Mavericks' starting lineup, Terry Stotts nodded unexpectedly.

In this game, Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle put center DeJuan Blair, who had performed well in the first two games, on the bench and replaced Dalem Potter as the starter.

There is no way, no matter how defiant DeJuan Blair's performance is~www.wuxiaspot.com~ how fierce the rebounding is, in the final analysis, he is just a short insider with a height of 2.01 meters.

Really wanting him to start against Wang Zelin is no different from delivering food, and it's also a bit too embarrassing.

No matter how Dalemport's recent performance is pulled off, he also has a height of 2.11 meters and a good weight of 118 kilograms. At least he is much stronger than DeJuan Blair in terms of resistance.

On the Blazers side, the starting 5 and what the media expected before the game remained unchanged, namely Lillard, Matthews, Batum, Aldridge and Wang Zelin.

"Wang, play another set of tactics tonight," Terry Stotts held a meeting before the game: "After you get the ball, don't hesitate, just go in and attack boldly. Your task tonight is only one, then It's just smashing the Mavericks' interior defense."

It seems that not only the players, but also the coaching staff and management were stimulated by Cuban's words before the game, and they actually chose to change the team's play style.

However, Terry Stotts' arrangements tonight must have been studied by the entire coaching staff.

The reason is very simple, the Mavericks are really bad enough inside, so there is nothing wrong with playing like this.