Super Role Player

The Christmas game is the highlight of the NBA every year besides the All-Star Weekend.

Although many players complain about having to play games on Christmas Day, it has to be said that the Christmas games, which have been popular since the David Stern era, have given a large number of players the opportunity to perform in front of audiences across the United States and even the world. .

As the defending champions, the 76ers are naturally in the lineup for the Christmas game. The 76ers' opponent in the Christmas game is not a strong team, and of course it is not too weak. Their opponent in the Christmas game is the Chicago Bulls. As the 1990s, The ruler of the era, in the 21st century, the Bulls have been carrying out their endless reconstruction around bad words until the emergence of Derrick Rose.

But Derrick Rose was seriously injured in the past two years, and the rose withered before it bloomed. Seeing that the Bulls were facing serious core injuries and a lineup collapse, at this time, Tom Thibodeau used his defense to help the Bulls stabilize their results. Jimmy Butler The growth has allowed the Bulls to find the core of the next generation.

This season, Jimmy Butler has made great progress. He has transformed from a role player who averaged 13 points per game last season to a star forward and swingman who averaged 20 points per game.

Jimmy Butler's growth trajectory is very similar to Anxi's. He even entered the league in the 2011 draft. In his first year with the Bulls, he was a substitute on the bench and did not get many playing opportunities at all.

In the second year, he gradually showed his talent on the defensive end and began to establish himself in the rotation of defensive-minded head coach Tom Thibodeau.

Then, in the third year, as Derrick Rose continued to be seriously injured, Jimmy Butler also got more opportunities. He became the team's starter and played better and better. Finally, at the beginning of his fourth year, he grew into An All-Star.

The Bulls' record is not bad. Derrick Rose is back again this season. Although he played very badly in the first few games and always made trouble, as the season progresses, Derrick Rose has become able to hold his own and start to win at critical moments. Help the team secure victory.

At other times, with Jimmy Butler's presence, the team always plays smoothly.

Before the Christmas game, the Bulls had a record of 19 wins and 9 losses, ranking fifth in the Eastern Conference, behind only the 76ers, Hawks, Raptors and Wizards.

Obviously, this is also a not weak opponent.

For the 76ers, due to the injuries of Pau Gasol and McAway, as well as Anxi's suspension, the 76ers have had 1 win and 5 losses in the last 6 games, and only won one game against the Magic. Their record has also dropped from 20 before Anxi's suspension. Winning 3 losses, it became 21 wins and 8 losses, and the ranking also dropped rapidly. It was actually surpassed by the Raptors with 22 wins and 7 losses and the Hawks with 21 wins and 7 losses, becoming third in the Eastern Conference.

The situation in the east was in complete chaos;

The 76ers, the favorites to win the championship at the beginning of the season, lost consecutive games due to core suspensions and injuries, and their rankings fell. Fortunately, when the core players come back, their record will naturally increase.

On the other side, the Cavaliers, who were also the favorites to win the championship, performed a bit bleakly. The trade requested by LeBron James never came. After losing to the 76ers, the Cavaliers once again entered an unstable state, losing sometimes. Winning games broke out from time to time, and the game reached the Christmas Day game. The Cavaliers only achieved a record of 17 wins and 10 losses, even ranking behind the Bulls and ranking sixth in the Eastern Conference.

The Cavaliers naturally participated in the Christmas game. Their opponents happened to be the Warriors who had a fierce conflict with Anxi. The Warriors' home court. In this game, LeBron James shouted a must-win slogan before the game. They were going to use a Christmas game. The victory of the war swept away the previous decline.

The Warriors did not perform very well after the brawl. Although their core players were all there, the players they lost were all important defensive players of the team, including Andrew Bogut and Draymond Green in the paint, as well as Once Andre Iguodala on the perimeter was absent, the Warriors' defense collapsed.

In the next five games, they lost 3 of them and won only 2. The final record became 23 wins and 6 losses, but the record still ranked first in the league.

In addition to the 76ers and Bulls, and the Warriors and Cavaliers, there are three matchups on Christmas Day. Among them, New York and Los Angeles will definitely have Christmas Day games. This season, New York and Los Angeles each have two teams. Therefore, these two teams The teams have also been selected as opponents for the Christmas Day battle, the Lakers vs. Clippers, and the Nets vs. Knicks.

The remaining set of matchups is between the Spurs and the Heat. When Anxi was still with the Spurs and LeBron James was still with the Heat, these two teams were opponents in the finals for two consecutive years. After a year, the league arranged for them again. A Christmas Day game was played at home in Miami.

The Cavaliers' focus on the Warriors is whether LeBron James can lead the team back to glory, and whether the Warriors, the number one dark horse this season, can continue their dark horse nature.

The Lakers' highlights against the Clippers, Nets and Knicks are all intra-city derbies. Compared with the fiery derby wars of football, basketball's intra-city derbies are not very popular. However, under Adam Silver, he also began to consciously cultivate them. This kind of rivalry and popularity in the same city.

The Spurs and Heat are naturally a bit like historical rivals in football. The Spurs defeated the Heat's Big Three for two consecutive years. If this hatred is in the football world, it will obviously continue.

The last set of matchups is between the 76ers and the Bulls.

The league has a headache. After Derrick Rose was seriously injured, his popularity is not as good as before. Jimmy Butler is only a small role and has no popularity at all. Looking for something interesting from the Bulls, obviously you can't find it.

But when looking back at the 76ers, the league staff and media reporters immediately started crying. Pau Gasol and McAway were injured and will continue to miss the game. Anxi has not returned from suspension, and even Jae Crowder has not finished his game yet. Suspended, do they want to watch Nerlens Noel single out Jimmy Butler in the national Christmas game?

Doesn’t the alliance care about it?

Soon, the league provided the answer.

Anxi missed the Christmas battle? of course not! The Alliance was not willing to see this scene happen. After Anxi completed a community service and expressed his apology through actions, the Alliance officially announced: Due to Anxi's good attitude of admitting his mistakes and his positive performance in recent times, the Alliance will consider Anxi's decision as appropriate. The number of suspended games has been reduced to 6 games!

At the same time, the number of suspended games for Draymond Green, Jae Crowder and others has also been reduced to a certain extent. Draymond Green's 12-game suspension has been reduced to 8 games, and Jae Crowder will return directly in the next game. .

In this way, 10 days after the Oracle brawl that occurred on December 15, all other players except Draymond Green will be released from suspension and come back.

Just like that, before the Christmas war, Anxi announced his comeback. He was like a hungry tiger escaping from the cage and was about to finish feeding on the bull!