On the first day of the New Year, the Wizards will face a strong opponent at their home court, the New Orleans Hornets, who are currently ranked seventh in the Western Conference with 19 wins and 14 losses.
After dealing with fake CP3 for so long, Li Kaiming is finally going to meet the real CP3!
At 7:30 in the evening, after performing the necessary pre-match rituals, the starting lineups of both sides were announced on the big screen.
Washington Wizards: Point guard Kirk Hinrich, shooting guard Nick Young, small forward Sun Yue, power forward Li Kaiming, center Andre Blache.
New Orleans Hornets: Point guard Chris Paul, shooting guard Marco Belinelli, small forward Trevor Ariza, power forward David West, center Emeka Okafor.
Tonight's rotating announcers at the mcI Center are Steve Buchanz and Dave Johnson.
Buchanz looked at the lineups of both sides on the screen, and after introducing them to the audience, he focused on Johnson next to him.
"Dave, what do you think the Wizards need to do tonight if they want to win?"
As the home commentator of the Wizards, Dave Johnson naturally has a very deep understanding of his team. After looking at the notes he took, he pondered and replied, "I think the most important thing is to play your own style. Wizards This team is a team that always attacks the strong and defends the weak, and they must ensure that there are no problems with their offense!"
"So do you think the Wizards should focus mainly on perimeter offense?"
Johnson shook his head and said, "I don't know. The Wizards' outside firepower is very strong. In the first two games, they relied on three-point firepower to directly extinguish their opponents' counterattacks and then won the game. However, the three-point touch cannot be maintained all the time." , I’m not sure they’re going to have the same feel tonight as they did before.”
While the two commentators were chatting about tonight's game, the players on both sides of the field were already in place near the center circle, and the two centers who jumped the ball, Blatche and Okafor, were also standing in the circle.
The technical desk and on-site camera and broadcast equipment were all ready. With a whistle, the first game of the Wizards in 2011 kicked off!
Blatche and Okafor jumped the ball. Although Okafor is a very talented inside player, Blatche won the jump ball this time.
Okafor is only 208 tall, but his scouting report points out that he is explosive and proficient in various offensive methods.
But unfortunately, it was Okafor who had just entered the league. At this time, he was already suffering from injuries. As the second overall pick in 2004, he beat Chris Paul of the same team and the best sixth pick in the draft. Gordon became the second-highest pick in the 2004 draft, second only to Dwight Howard.
Okafor's performance in his rookie season even surprised the team. He averaged a double-double of 15.1 points and 10.9 rebounds per game, unexpectedly winning the Rookie of the Year award.
Unfortunately, the good times did not last long. Okafor had to gain weight in order to adapt to the NBA's confrontation, which made his lower limbs overwhelmed and eventually turned into a glass man.
His experience perfectly illustrates what it means to be at your peak when you debut, and then go downhill all the time. In the following few years, he never averaged 15+10 per game in his rookie season again.
After being traded to the Hornets by the Bobcats, Okafor seemed to have a second spring. Although he was unable to achieve the goals set for him, he still had no problem being a qualified starter.
The Wizards got the ball for the first offense and gave Hinrich the ball to dribble past half court.
Under Paul's pressing defense, Hinrich slowly moved to the frontcourt, and then asked Li Kaiming to come out to cover.
However, Paul was a thief, especially after David West told Paul that he had a cover, he went one step ahead and let Li Kaiming's cover go bankrupt.
However, Xinrich doesn't really need Li Kaiming's very strong cover. It would be better to have one, but it doesn't prevent him from using this space to kill inside!
Paul, who was blocked by Li Kaiming, was still half a step behind Hinrich. When Hinrich stuck Paul and moved inside, Li Kaiming also turned around and went down.
David West had a serious look on his face, shouting loudly to attract the attention of his teammates, while keeping up with Li Kaiming to prevent the latter from catching the ball and directly breaking through to the basket!
He had watched the video of this guy before the game. After receiving the ball inside the three-point line, there were no more than one player in the league who could prevent Li Kaiming's layup.
Under the basket, Brac also stood on the edge of the penalty area, ready to help his two teammates at any time.
When Hinrich reached the free throw line, he was almost surrounded by Hornets players, so he faked a shot to open up the space, and then hit the ball to Li Kaiming on the other side.
Li Kaiming didn't hesitate after catching the ball, put his hands together and headed towards the basket. His determination looked like he was carrying a pack of explosives to blow up the enemy's bunker!
David West immediately returned to his defensive position, and he was ready to use his good confrontation to force Li Kaiming away from the basket.
It's a pity that the ideal is very full and the reality is very skinny.
West's idea was very good, but he only forgot one possibility, that is, he didn't even give Li Kaiming a chance to fight!
After Li Kaiming caught the ball, with the help of those long legs, he only took one step to get in front of West. This move almost scared the soul out of West!
I wipe it! What kind of thing swished away like a big rat?
Okafor, who was responsible for protecting the basket, could see it clearly. Seeing that Li Kaiming had reached the basket, he was also ready to protect the basket.
bring it on! Rookie! Although I, Okafor, am a person who has suffered serious injuries, after all, I was the person who beat Howard to win the Rookie of the Year award. How can I let you be arrogant under this basket?
As soon as the thought in Okafor's mind appeared, Li Kaiming had already arrived at the reasonable collision zone with a strong wind!
Okafor's eyes were fixed on Li Kaiming's posture, ready to jump to block the latter's shot at any time.
Li Kaiming took the last step on the floor, then changed from holding the ball with both hands to grabbing the ball with one hand. His whole body rose into the air like a rocket!
Okafor obviously still did not expect the seriousness of the matter. He also kicked his feet on the ground, then his body rose up. He stretched out a hand and reached for Li Kaiming's right hand holding the ball.
Then what happened the next second made Okafor's face immediately become a little panicked!
Because after he reached his highest point, he was still one palm away from the ball in Li Kaiming's hand!
How can it be!
Okafor's eyes widened in disbelief, but what happened in the next second made his face look like he had seen a ghost, because Li Kaiming opposite him continued to rise!
The cameras at the scene accurately captured this scene. Li Kaiming rushed to the basket and jumped high. His entire forearm exceeded the basket. After colliding hard with Okafor, it seemed that Li Kaiming's hand was pressed. Like a switch, he swung the ball with his right arm vigorously, and then made a bloody and violent dunk, giving tonight's game a good start!
boom!
The fans at the mcI Center immediately started celebrating! No one expected that Li Kaiming would have such an exciting time with the first ball in the game!
boom!
Li Kaiming and Okafor collided in the air, making a dull sound of muscle collision, and then both returned to the ground under the influence of gravity.
After Li Kaiming landed, he took two steps back. He waved his arms to maintain his balance, but Okafor on the opposite side was not so relaxed. He had already suffered a physical disadvantage, and now he was still there to bear Li Kaiming's impact. The latter's Almost all the kinetic energy was absorbed by him, so he took a few steps back after landing. Fortunately, there was a basketball stand behind him, which prevented him from losing his balance and lying directly on the ground.
Li Kaiming's first ball gave Okafor, the former genius, a blow, which made the latter stop his contempt.
The Hornets served to Paul, who took the ball to the frontcourt and faced Hinrich's defense, and directly called Okafor inside to cover.
It has to be said that there is a reason why Paul was called the "God of Point Guards" in college. He is a standard traditional point guard. After Okafor picked and rolled, he and Paul walked inside together, and the Hornets unexpectedly Played exactly the same tactic as the Wizards.
However, the Hornets' goal was not as violent as Li Kaiming's, not to mention that Blatche, who had 213 points under the basket, was not a freeloader. In the end, Paul passed the ball to Okafor on the edge of the penalty area, and the latter faced Blatche's defensive throw. Hit!
Paul averaged 10.7 assists per game last season and was the league's assist leader for two consecutive seasons. He is indeed good at sorting out the team's offense.
But as commentator Johnson said, if the Wizards want to win, the most important thing is to play their own style. What is the Wizards' style? It's an unreasonable offense, a three-pointer like a rainstorm!
So in the next period of time, the Wizards replaced the big center after playing for a while, and then adopted a classic five-out lineup.
When Hornets head coach Monty Williams saw that the Wizards finally came up with their killer move, he immediately told the players to pay attention to the opponent's three-pointer.
One advantage of the Hornets being short inside is that they can not use their power forwards to defend Li Kaiming after the Wizards come up with a five-out lineup like other teams, thus leaving space for Lewis on the outside.
After the Wizards rotated, the Hornets directly asked Okafor to defend Li Kaiming, so there was no mismatch problem at all.
This idea is very good, but after it was implemented, it encountered a few small problems, that is, Monty did not seem to consider the situation where Okafor was beaten by Li Kaiming...
Li Kaiming was speechless. He met each of these coaches recently. Why are they all low-ranking men?
They seemed to rely on their own wishful thinking when formulating tactics, only considering the theoretical feasibility and not considering what to do if the situation was different from what they thought.
The previous head coach of the Pacers was brainless and fought against the Wizards. Tonight, Monty used Okafor to defend himself.
It seems it’s time for these humble men to recognize themselves!
