"Hey Wang, look, you scored two of the top five goals in all the games yesterday! It's so cool!"
Wang Zelin, who had not yet woken up from the big hotel bed, was woken up by Lillard who was staying in the same room.
"What are you doing! Haha ouch!
If you don’t want to catch up on your sleep, don’t disturb me! "
After playing for 34 minutes last night, Wang Zelin still had a bit of tiredness on his brow after waking up.
Fighting against a strong defensive team like the Grizzlies is a kind of torture, and it is also an away game. It is indeed very easy for people to be physically and mentally exhausted. It is inevitable to sleep more during the day.
"Okay, okay, it's my fault, okay?"
Lillard smiled and pushed the tablet over.
Wang Zelin took the tablet and flipped through it casually. The content of the sports section was just as he expected.
In the center of the plate is a picture, which shows his heroic posture when he personally leads the fast break. The title of the report is: "From Yao to Wang, the traditional skills of the Chinese center!"
What a traditional craft?
You are the only one with traditional craftsmanship...
Your whole family has traditional craftsmanship!
Wang Zelin's head was filled with black lines for a moment. He couldn't imagine how strange the Chinese fans on the other side of the ocean felt after seeing this report.
"Look, I'm on the headlines too!" Lillard came up and said excitedly.
"Okay, buddy, don't get excited. After washing up and changing clothes, let's go down and have breakfast. There will be more opportunities to make headlines in the future."
Seeing Lillard's excitement about making headlines, Wang Zelin didn't find it strange. Few young people can resist the temptation of flowers and applause.
As a rookie, Lillard already showed a youthful and mature temperament, but after all, his expression management was not as mature as he later was.
As a rookie, it is definitely a commendable thing to be headlined by the famous Los Angeles Times.
"You think I am you, the headlines will be on them."
"No, you're wrong about this," Wang Zelin turned around, "Usually others beg me to do it... I like to be passive!"
"roll!"
…
During the trip to Memphis, the Trail Blazers finally maintained the lead created in the third quarter until the end.
99:81, the score of the two teams is a bit lower than the average data per game, but the quality of the game they contributed is not low at all.
But.
This is for some senior fans who like to study the game in depth. What most fans prefer to see is always a hearty offensive confrontation rather than a rigid defensive battle.
Advocating offense seems to have become an increasingly clear theme in the NBA.
And time will tell them that blindly engaging in offense will surely lead to bitter consequences in the future.
Of course, this is a story for later and it is inconvenient to mention it now.
The Trail Blazers' No. 36 made 11 of 15 shots and scored the team's second-highest 24 points with a super-high shooting percentage, plus 14 rebounds, 5 blocks and 4 assists.
Against the background of such dazzling data, the six mistakes naturally do not seem so prominent.
"This is a tragedy. We were completely abused by our opponents, but what I want to say more is that this is also a lesson. It made me and my team members more aware of our own shortcomings. We will become better the next time we meet. powerful."
In an interview with a TNT reporter after the game, Grizzlies coach Hollins replied in an extremely serious manner.
The Grizzlies' best performer tonight was Zach Randolph, who made 8 of 13 shots and 4 of 4 free throws, scoring 20 points and 10 rebounds.
But success is also a black bear, failure is also a black bear.
Facing the Trail Blazers' double-teaming strategy, Zach Randolph's response was very fatal, committing a career-high 7 turnovers.
I have to mention it here.
In his career so far, Zach Randolph's most turnovers in a single game is 7 times, and such moments have appeared in 9 games in total. Last night's game against the Trail Blazers was the 10th.
So, should we say he is stable or stable...
Except for Zach Randolph, Marc Gasol contributed the team's second-highest 19 points and 10 rebounds, and Mike Conley scored 14 points. In addition, there was no fourth person to score in double figures.
In contrast, in addition to Wang Zelin's 24 points, Lillard contributed a team-high 25 points to the Trail Blazers, including 6 of 9 three-pointers. He defeated the Grizzlies' defense line on the offensive end.
Among the remaining players, Aldridge scored 14 points, Batum scored 11 points, and Matthews and Conletrie on the bench both scored 10 points.
Facing the Grizzlies, who are known for their defense, the Trail Blazers still managed to have 6 players score in double figures, and they were in the best shape of last night!
…
The next day.
"Get up in the morning and embrace the sun..."
Humming a magical tune, Wang Zelin came to the arena.
After beating the Grizzlies, the Trail Blazers players got two days of rest.
Take a look at the upcoming schedule...
There are still 10 games in total, although most of the opponents are playoff-level teams, such as the Knicks, Bucks, Bulls, Hawks, Nets in the East, Thunder, Warriors and Jazz in the West...
But the only ones that can really threaten the Trail Blazers are the Knicks and Thunder.
There are two back-to-back games. Overall, the March schedule is acceptable.
The Trail Blazers currently have 43 wins and 20 losses, ranking fourth in the Western Conference. They will play steadily in the remaining 19 games and strive to win at least 7 games to reach 50 wins. Then the playoffs should be safe.
According to the wild attitude of the top eight or even the top ten in the Western Conference this year, with less than 45 wins, there is no way to get a ticket for the playoffs.
In fact, the original history is so cruel.
The Lakers, ninth in the Western Conference, fought back in the last month and overcame the obstacles of the Jazz and Mosaic. At the end of the regular season, their record was raised to 45 wins and 37 losses, which was the same as Mosaic's record. However, the Lakers were slightly better in the competition between the two teams. , successfully ranked seventh.
Judging from the current situation, there is a high probability that the Trail Blazers will miss 60+ wins in the regular season. If they cannot win 60 games, how can they be ranked first in the Western Conference.
Now that the regular season is a foregone conclusion, the Blazers have to turn their attention to the not-so-distant playoffs.
Who will we play in the playoffs?
It has become the number one problem worth discussing for the Trail Blazers.
Since the 21st century, the NBA has had several classic cases of challenging opponents.
The most recent time was the 2011 season when the Grizzlies deliberately let the situation slip, losing the game and falling to the eighth-placed Spurs. The final result was as they wished, and they successfully completed the Black Eight feat.
It must have been fun enough at the time, but in the future...
The impact was like the Spurs generals beating the Grizzlies to death over and over again when they saw him.
If you choose to plan ahead, the fifth-ranked Grizzlies are very likely to become the Trail Blazers' opponent in the first round of the playoffs.
We all know how tough the Grizzlies are. Even if you are lucky enough to beat them, 90% of them may lose a layer of skin. In the second round, it is easy for the players to be exhausted.
Typical "Kill one thousand enemies, damage yourself eight hundred!"
With this in mind, it would be a wiser choice to try our best to catch up with the Clippers and move to third place in the Western Conference, and try to turn the opponent in the first round of the playoffs into the Denver Nuggets.
The Portland Trail Blazers and Denver Nuggets have met three times this season, with a record of 2:1, with the Trail Blazers slightly better.
Through the strength analysis of the system space, Wang Zelin knows very well that neither the Nuggets nor the Grizzlies have superstar players with ratings above 90.
Whichever is the lesser of two evils.
Instead of facing the Grizzlies, he would rather face the Nuggets, even if the latter has the home court advantage of the Devils.
As a player, he can think of this, and the coaching staff is probably the same. Terry Stotts and his coaching staff are probably also struggling with this matter at the moment.
Maybe it's time to have a team meeting.
…
Time passed quickly, and in a blink of an eye, another day passed.
On March 15th, the Trail Blazers faced a strong enemy at home, the New York Knicks.
The Knicks currently have 41 wins and 22 losses. They are the second team in the East besides the Heat to have more than 40 wins. But if they were placed in the West, they would be ranked 6th or 7th.
What's more, the Trail Blazers received good news before the war started. Knicks star Carmelo Anthony continued to miss due to injury, and inside defender Tyson Chandler also did not return.
Tonight, JR Smith will lead the "nerve knife" JR Smith and lead 5 old men over 35 years old to face the enemy.
No.
Kent Thomas is the oldest active player in the league.
Marcus Camby, Kenyon Martin, Jason Kidd... these are all veterans from many years ago.
The youngest and most powerful player on the team is Iman Shumpert, who was drafted by the Knicks last year. He is a swingman who averages only 9 points and 3 rebounds per game.
Facing the wolf-like and prepared Trail Blazers, the Denver Nuggets quickly lost their will to fight and had no desire to struggle at all.
Wang Zelin played very calmly against Kenyon Martin, the former big man in the Nets' trident combination. He scored 19 points, 10 rebounds and 3 blocks in 28 minutes. He didn't even use it in the fourth quarter, leading the team to blow the game in three quarters. .
The Trail Blazers finally defeated the Knicks 111-95 and won their third consecutive victory.
After the game, Wang Zelin said bluntly: There was no pressure at all in this game, so easy!
Not long after sending away the Knicks, on the 17th, the Trail Blazers faced the challenge of the Detroit Pistons at home.
No, this shouldn't be called a challenge, but a unilateral attempt to bully someone who can't figure it out.
Ranking 11th in the Eastern Conference with 14 wins and 49 losses, the Pistons' plan to mess things up is still not professional enough.
Look at the Magic. In the first year after sending away Howard, they decisively started to mess up and won the position of Eastern Conference leader with 9 wins and 52 losses.
Even the deputy squad leader Charlotte Bobcats' 11 wins and 50 losses are hard to come by.
In order to give the Pistons a helping hand... 108:75, the Trail Blazers won 4 consecutive victories with tears in their eyes.
After three consecutive home games, the Trail Blazers ushered in a wave of five consecutive away games.
On the 19th and 20th, the Trail Blazers' Eastern Expedition officially set off, easily winning the 76ers and Bucks, and their record became 46 wins and 20 losses.
em...wait.
That’s 46 wins!
This is third in the West!
The smoothness of the schedule exceeded the expectations of the coaching staff. In the blink of an eye, the team has won a wave of 6 consecutive victories.
Something even more unexpected happened to them.
On the 22nd and 24th, the Trail Blazers visited Chicago and Atlanta respectively. After beating the Bulls and Hawks, they returned to the Western Conference with an 8-game winning streak.
Seeing that the team was about to exceed 50 wins, the Trail Blazers fans were overjoyed, and many media followed up with their blessings.
"The Trail Blazers celebrate their 8th consecutive victory!" and "The Heat's record-breaking 25th consecutive victory" were the headlines of the major media that day.
No one expected that the biggest scorer at the end of the season would be the Portland Trail Blazers.
The other 28 teams cried with joy when they found out. It had been a long time since someone finally stole the headlines from the Heat's Big Three.
Since February 4, 2013, the Heat defeated the underdog Bobcats, officially kicking off a mighty winning streak.
10 consecutive wins...it's a joke.
15 consecutive wins...sprinkle some water.
20 consecutive wins...some people can't sit still.
22 consecutive victories...the entire league and even the entire basketball world will explode.
Prior to this, the NBA had the longest history. The top two on the winning streak list were the 33-game winning streak set by the Lakers led by Baylor and Zhang 20,000 in the 1971-1972 season, and the Mosaic led by Yao and Mai in the 2007-08 season. A record 22 consecutive wins...
After the 22-game winning streak, every move of the Heat has attracted the attention of countless people, until the current 25-game winning streak.
No one expected before the season that after the championship season, the Heat would sublimate again and their dominance would be even better than in the first championship season.
But now, there is actually a team that can pull out its teeth and take away part of the headlines from the Heat, the headline bully, making other teams rush to celebrate.
However, right here in Portland, the Trail Blazers' coaching staff was anxious.
We can't keep winning like this!
…
Return to Portland on the 25th.
After lunch, Wang Zelin came to the team training hall.
Now, the situation in the west is getting clearer.
After Sinantonio's fierce start to the season, the Spurs gradually regained their strength after the All-Star Game. The GDP combination's successive rests caused the Spurs' record to drop from first to second in the Western Conference.
Unlike young teams, the Spurs, which have mostly veterans, have set their sights on the playoffs early and have prepared their players' physical fitness in advance for this purpose.
In the competition for rankings in the regular season, the Spurs said they had already had enough, and it was time to give it to the young people. As long as everyone shows some respect and gives up the final O'Brien Cup.
The right way means that the man has affection, and the concubine has intention!
After half a push from the Spurs, the Oklahoma City Thunder youth team launched a brave attack and completed the summit of the Western Conference throne on March 20.
With 50 wins and 17 losses, he became the second team in the league to win more than 50 games after the Miami Heat in the Eastern Conference.
The Thunder are different from the Trail Blazers. It is impossible for them to give up the boss throne. Unless the Wang Zhao team hurts one next, it will be difficult for the Trail Blazers to catch up with the opponent.
Therefore, it will be difficult for the Trail Blazers to grab the No. 1 spot in the Western Conference.
Then, the Spurs, with 49 wins and 18 losses, become the most likely target for the Trail Blazers to surpass.
More importantly, the Spurs' recent games have been somewhat intriguing.
Forget about losing to the Dallas Mavericks, 91:92, it can only be regarded as a hateful defeat.
But what does it mean to lose to the Timberwolves next?
Only G of the GDP combination played, and what was even more outrageous was that he only played 22 minutes. He made 2 of 10 shots and scored 7 points with a tearful 20% shooting rate.
Faced with such a poor performance by Demon Sword, Sima Wei, who had always been easily exposed, was in a cheerful mood, like Santa Claus.
In this game, not only Duncan and Tony Parker, but also the team's new core Leonard were reluctant to release. In the end, 107:83, the Spurs completed the achievement of providing warmth.
It was after this night that the No. 1 and No. 2 players in the West were castrated.
Now the Spurs are blatantly revealing a piece of information to the outside world...
Who still has dreams?
If you have any questions, speak up quickly.
If you dare to say it, I will give it to you!
In fact, the Spurs didn't say a word.
Even if you don’t tell me, I will give it to you.
No.
The Cavaliers played on the 23rd. This time it was Duncan and Kawhi's turn to lead the team, and there were even more demons fighting on the bench. As a result, they had to fight hard for four quarters before taking the game away by 4 points.
After the game, Simavici looked like a dead horse, as if the Cavaliers were the winners.
If it weren't for the Cavaliers' incompetence, I'm afraid the Spurs' current record would be the same as the third-placed Trail Blazers.
The Spurs' showmanship stunned all the fans, especially the Blazers management, and they instantly became wary.
Those old fritters are going to cause trouble!
Therefore, taking advantage of the short two-day rest day, the coaching staff hurriedly held a meeting.
After all, we want to be second in the Western Conference.
Or third in the West?
It's all in this meeting
…
