The referee on duty tonight was Benny Adams, who was wearing uniform No. 47. Adams called the players from both sides to gather in the center circle, and then put the whistle in his mouth.
Jump ball, Andre Blatch vs. Spencer Hawes.
Benny Adams blew the whistle and then threw the basketball into the air. Blatche and Hawes took off almost at the same time. However, after all, Hawes was 2.16 meters tall and had a longer wingspan than Blatche, so in the end it was Hoy. Sri Lanka was even better, and the 76ers won a chance to attack.
John Wall took the ball from his teammate, and the fans at the MCI Center burst into loud boos!
This is the home court of the Wizards. The speeches made by 76ers head coach Collins and all the players at the pre-game press conference angered Wizards fans. As the person involved, John Wall naturally became the target of Wizards fans. .
However, Wall was also very competitive and steadily passed the ball across the frontcourt. Hinrich, who was defending Wall, was under a lot of pressure. Although he also wanted to teach Wall a lesson as a veteran, he was not good enough. After all, I have physical talents at the No. 1 pick level, especially speed, which was among the best in the entire 10th draft.
Hinrich is a type of person who relies on his brain to play, so he wisely chose to let Wall go, giving the latter space to shoot, but not allowing him to break through.
Wall also saw the tricks. After finding out that Hinrich let him go, he immediately called Hawes to pick and roll.
Hawes was so tall that he got stuck next to Hinrich, who only felt that half of his field of vision was blocked.
Wall used the screen to successfully break through the Wizards' first line of defense.
Since Hinrich was positioned far back, Wall was only one position ahead of the former, and in front of him was Brac who was squatting inside.
Wall made a prompt decision, increased his speed and entered the penalty area in one step. Although Bracci was waiting for the opportunity, Wall's breakthrough also had changes in it. He was rushed in without paying attention.
Wall is such a player. Even if you know that he has great breakthroughs, you can't prevent his breakthroughs most of the time.
Seeing that Wall was about to score the first point of the game despite the boos from the audience, Li Kaiming suddenly came out from halfway and stretched out his hand to block the ball in Wall's hand!
Wall's expression also changed, and he had to twist his body in the air to avoid Li Kaiming's block.
The block was avoided, but Wall's layup was successfully destroyed by Li Kaiming. The basketball hit the backboard, flew over the basket, and was collected by Brac who arrived in time.
The fans in the MCI Center let out a sigh of relief!
This time, if Wall were to score one as soon as he came up, it would be a big blow to the Wizards' morale.
When the Wizards attacked, Hinrich dribbled the ball outside the three-point line. Li Kaiming received the ball at 45 degrees. Facing the defender Elton Brand, he made a fake move to shoot a three-pointer.
But what he didn't expect was that Brand didn't take it seriously. The latter didn't even take a step forward to defend his three-pointer!
Yo! You look down on me, right?
Li Kaiming's heart suddenly changed, and the fake move he made halfway suddenly became real, and he took action lightly on the spot!
Brand realized that Li Kaiming was actually serious, and then he reacted and reached out to rush over, but it was too late.
Uh-huh!
There was a crisp sound of brushing the net, the basketball hit the net hollowly, and Li Kaiming scored the first point of the game!
3 to 0!
The audience at the MCI Center immediately cheered. Li Kaiming came up and used a defense to frustrate John Wall's offense. Then he opened up the team with another three-pointer and created a leading situation.
More and more Wizards fans have regarded Li Kaiming as the core of the team.
The 76ers attack, Wall holds the ball, and his passing and control are also very good. Under normal circumstances, he will not choose to force himself.
This time he didn't call for a screen, but took advantage of his strong speed. When he dribbled to two steps away from the three-point line, he suddenly burst out of speed and caught Hinrich off guard.
Hinrich was passed again, but he gritted his teeth and followed Wall without giving up defense. Li Kaiming still shrank into the penalty area to help Hinrich wipe his butt.
Wall broke through to the free throw line and passed the ball to Brand's unguarded Zheng Zheng in the mid-range.
But Wall still underestimated Li Kaiming's speed of returning to defense. Near this narrow penalty area, Li Kaiming could return to the defensive position in one step with his long legs, giving Brand no chance to throw an open three-pointer at all.
But Brand is not a vegetarian. Since he can't shoot open shots, I will solve the problem alone.
Elton Brand was selected with the No. 1 pick by the Los Angeles Clippers in 1999, so his nickname is also the Captain.
He is 2.06cm tall and plays the power forward position, but his height of 2.06cm has not become a disadvantage. In his rookie season, he averaged 20+10 points per game without almost shooting three-pointers. So powerful.
Brand is the short and stocky rebounder among the four great wizards in the wild. He does not shoot three-pointers and likes to play in the back. He is strong and stable at the bottom of the court and has explosive rebounding ability.
So in Brand's view, it doesn't matter if he can't make an open shot. As for the No. 1 pick, just hit him!
So after Li Kaiming returned to defense, Brand first protected the ball and observed the situation. After finding that no one was double-teaming, he started dribbling the ball and pushing inside.
What kind of insiders had he not seen when he entered Lianmei? How can I be afraid of you, a new member of Lianmei Shengguadanzi?
But when Brand pushed Li Kaiming, his expression immediately changed!
Grip grass, so hard?
It's not that he can't push it up, but it's much more difficult than he thought!
Generally speaking, the most obvious characteristic of players who enter the NBA through the NCAA draft is that they cannot adapt to confrontation. Therefore, in the first year after entering the league, for many players, in addition to gaining experience, the most important thing is to gain muscle to adapt to confrontation.
That's why Brand confidently chose to play Li Kaiming in singles. With his strength, no one in the entire NBA No. 4 position dared to boast that he was stronger than him.
But after the first intimate contact, Brand realized something was wrong with this rookie!
The young boy is so strong!
However, Li Kaiming was actually not feeling well at this time. Facing Brand, who was one of the strongest power forwards in the league, his 80-point strength attribute was a bit unsatisfactory.
It caught Brand off guard at first, but after Brand got used to it, he couldn't stand it anymore.
But in fact, Brand on the opposite side was very surprised. This new No. 1 pick was not only strong, but also had very good sustainability. Normally, the inside would run out of energy after carrying him for a few times, but he hit the ball four or five times, and it didn't happen yet. Find the right opportunity to strike.
Li Kaiming's long arms were always covering him. At this time, Brand's height disadvantage was highlighted.
In desperation, he had no choice but to suddenly use his strength to open up a little space, then use his left foot as a pivot and turn around to throw with one hand!
Li Kaiming endured the pain in his chest and raised his arms to cover Brand's sight.
Under the guidance of muscle memory, the basketball successfully reached the top of the basket, but with significantly greater force, it bounced on the basket and then fell to the other side.
Blatche collected the rebound steadily.
Li Kaiming defended another 76 Rao attack!
Next to the Wizards bench, Sanders clenched his fist hard!
pretty!
When he saw that Brand was going to fight Li Kaiming alone, he was worried about the latter. He didn't expect that this guy who was eating for Brand would be embarrassed when he met Li Kaiming!
The probability of winning tonight has increased again!
Brand was also very surprised. He turned over and threw with the back of his hand, and he hit every target during training. It was also one of his signature moves. Unexpectedly, he was guarded by a rookie!
This rookie has something.
Everyone praised Li Kaiming's strength in their hearts, but only Li Kaiming himself knew what he had to do to defend against Brand's attack.
The aching ribs were the answer.
