After hearing Arenas' words, the reporters quickly took notes for fear of missing a punctuation mark.
As another person involved, Li Kaiming, naturally could not escape the reporters' questioning.
"Lee, is the conflict between you and Gilbert because of your conflict over your status in the team?"
Li Kaiming always maintained a smiling expression when facing reporters, "I can tell you clearly, no. I will never deliberately pursue the so-called team status. Respect is played on the court, not I think whoever contributes more to the team should get more respect. This is as it should be. If the status of basketball is based on seniority, then the God of Basketball It shouldn’t be Michael Jordan, it should be Abdul-Jabbar, or Karl Malone.”
Li Kaiming's tit-for-tat remark was obviously a satire on Arenas. After the reporters at the scene heard this remark, their flashlights kept clicking!
The reporters who come to the scene tonight can make a lot of money!
Arenas at the other end of the table turned dark instantly after hearing what Li Kaiming said!
Tonight's MCI Center, the number of people coming to watch the game is no less than the last home debut, which shows that Arenas' popularity in Washington is not weak at all!
During the warm-up session, Li Kaiming still came to the auditorium to sign autographs and take photos with the fans. On the other side, Arenas, who was shooting a three-pointer during the warm-up, curled his lips in disdain when he saw this scene!
Just like a monkey who has never seen the world!
In the first half of the game, there were still the familiar pre-game links. When it came time to introduce the players, what no one expected was that the first player from the Wizards to appear was actually Li Kaiming!
Seeing the figure standing in the middle of the stadium waving to the audience, many people began to murmur in their hearts.
Could it be that the Wizards really chose Arenas?
As for Li Kaiming himself, he had an indifferent attitude towards being the first to appear.
After all, Arenas is currently the apparent boss of the team, and this is his first game of the season, so why not give him some face.
After all the other starters came on stage, it was finally Arenas' turn, and the DJ's voice was obviously louder!
"Let us welcome, All-Star, All-NBA player, Gilbert, Arenas!"
The entire MCI center immediately began to shout Arenas' name in unison!
With a high-spirited smile on his face, Arenas ran out of the tunnel, high-fived all the starting players except Li Kaiming, and then stood in the middle of the court.
On the big screen in the arena, the starting lineups of both sides of the game were also displayed on it.
Washington Wizards, point guard Gilbert Arenas, shooting guard Nick Young, forward Al Thornton, power forward Kaiming Li, center Andre Blatche.
Cleveland Cavaliers, point guard Mo Williams, shooting guard Anthony Parker, forward Jamari Mohn, power forward JJ Hickson, center Anderson Varejao.
When ready, the referee blew the whistle and threw the ball into the air.
Andre Brachi took the lead to take off and got the first offensive opportunity. The ball was caught by Li Kaiming.
Although he clashed with Arenas off the court, after arriving on the court, Li Kaiming was still used to playing according to the team's tactics, so he threw the ball directly to Arenas and ran to the frontcourt.
Even Arenas was stunned by this, because after discovering that the ball was grabbed by Li Kaiming, he still had a headache how to get the ball into his hands. Unexpectedly, it took no effort at all.
Arenas dribbled the ball to the frontcourt. Facing Mo Williams, who was half a length shorter than him, he made a big change and pulled it up from outside the three-point line and threw it!
Arenas is the craziest outside shooter in the NBA in this era. In addition to his famous three-pointers and turning around to celebrate, he is also very good at shooting various long-range three-pointers and difficult three-pointers.
This shot is also a reflection of his playing style. If he was healthy and faced an opponent shorter than him, he would have a high chance of scoring 40 points on the opponent. But today, Arenas is making a hasty comeback. This ball was obviously thrown too big, and the rebound was protected by Varejao and passed to Mo Williams.
Mo Williams plays very smartly. He will not force Arenas. Instead, he calls Varejao to come up and cover. Arenas has no way to squeeze through the screen, so he has to let Bratsch inside to delay. Mo Williams The Cavaliers scored the first point of the opening game with a hit from mid-range.
0 to 2!
Arenas continued to dribble past half court. This time he did not force a shot, but he also did not pass the ball to others. Instead, he hung up a Blach screen and went directly to the penalty area in one step.
Varejao was much slower than Arenas, so he could only use some means to cover Arenas's eyes with his hands. This kind of dirty trick was nothing to Arenas before, but now Arenas Si hasn't played for half a month, so his layup touch is naturally not as good as before. The ball hit the backboard, bounced to the other side, and was picked up by Cavaliers power forward JJ Hickson.
When the Cavaliers attacked, Mo Williams continued to call for inside coverage. After breaking through one step, he hit the ball directly into the hands of Varejao who was down the line. Varejao knew that his touch at the basket was average, so he directly combined the ball with him. The basket, because Brac was stuck in his position, was afraid of Varejao's acting skills and did not dare to defend, but the latter actually scored!
0 to 4!
The Wizards were beaten by the Cavaliers as soon as they came up, which was something no one expected.
It's a bit strange to see a general come back, but his strength is not as good as before.
But anyone who has watched the Wizards' previous games can find out why they are lagging behind now. Not to mention the defensive end, Li Kaiming, who previously averaged 30+ per game, couldn't even touch the ball after two rounds. It's weird that he can score!
Today's commentator also discovered this problem, "Gilbert has just returned to the game and he still needs to adapt for a while. Giving the ball to Li Kaiming now may be a better choice."
But Arenas on the court doesn't think so. The worse he feels, the more he wants to prove himself.
This time he came to the frontcourt with the ball, used the screen to take a step in, then suddenly hit the ball hard and followed up with a step back, and then hit a three-pointer against Mo Williams' defense!
Seeing that the home team finally scored, the fans in the MCI Center immediately started cheering.
Another commentator smiled and said to his companion, "You just told Gilbert that his touch was not good tonight, but he immediately hit a goal."
Arenas' commentator just smiled and replied, "It's not a question of whether to score or not. After three rounds now, the rest of the Wizards haven't even touched the ball. I think this is unhealthy." Tactics, contrary to the principles of team basketball."
The commentator who spoke for Arenas also nodded.
The game continued, and the Cavaliers' offense ended with JJ Hickson catching the ball and hitting the ball from mid-range. The rebound was picked up by Li Kaiming.
After the first three rounds, Li Kaiming has discovered that Arenas is completely crazy today.
He doesn't care at all whether the team can win, he just wants to get his hand back
In this case, he will never pass the ball to the latter.
So he started dribbling directly from the backcourt, ignoring Arenas' request to open his hand.
JJ Hickson is a traditional power forward. His speed cannot match Li Kaiming at all. He tried to steal and was directly passed by Li Kaiming.
When Li Kaiming's speed increased, almost no one on the court could stop him. In desperation, Varejao, who came over from the other side to defend, directly fouled Li Kaiming.
Li Kaiming stood on the sideline and took the basketball from the referee's hand.
The rest of the Wizards had already started running, and as expected, Arenas once again came to the three-point line and started asking for the ball.
But Li Kaiming gave the ball directly to Nick Young without hesitation!
After seeing this, the MCI Center was in an uproar.
