"I told you before, the so-called contenders for the championship are actually not that scary!"
——ESPN reporter Mike Skellerman
"What's behind the glamor? How powerful are the pioneers searching for the sun?"
--ESPN expert Kevin Pelton
"If even the Suns can lose, is this our No. 1 team in the Western Conference?"
— Clippers owner Donald Sterling.
In the past week, the Trail Blazers lost 3 of 4 games and only won 1 game, making the Blazers the laughing stock of many players, fans, and media overnight.
There is no way, who has allowed them to be strong for more than half a month. The rare 13-game winning streak at the beginning has certainly made them get a lot of attention and hot discussion. At the same time, they will inevitably encounter the jealousy of other teams.
In yesterday's game against the Suns, the Trail Blazers lost to their opponents by 14 points, 106:120. It is not an exaggeration to say that it was a one-sided game.
Nowadays, after the obvious decline is revealed, it is inevitable that some people will "beat up the drowned dog".
During the team training on December 3, the atmosphere of the entire Trail Blazers team was already in a sluggish state, and the laughter and laughter of the past could no longer be seen during training.
Of course, their recent experiences cannot be described as falling from heaven to hell, but no one is really willing to accept this huge gap.
At this time, every Trail Blazers player is training hard with a determination to change.
With 14 wins and 3 losses, the Trail Blazers, who started Tianhu, were confused for too long after a winning streak and only won one victory...
However, Wang Zelin still wants to compete for the regular season championship this season, and such setbacks cannot defeat him.
In addition to his teammates, there are also a large number of Portland Trail Blazers fans who have the same idea as him.
On the night of the 3rd, the Trail Blazers had a back-to-back home game against the Dallas Mavericks, who were ranked ninth in the Western Conference. Their current record was 9 wins and 8 losses.
The Mavericks players are not in good shape right now either.
Just the day before yesterday, the Mavericks faced the challenge of the Eastern Conference powerhouse Hawks at home, leading for three quarters, with the largest advantage once as high as 17 points. However, the Eagles launched a counterattack in the final quarter and tied the score with a 20:8 offensive wave!
Even 4.2 seconds before the game, Horford hit a mid-range shot that was sure to kill the game. The score was 88:87, and the game was finally killed.
In the end, the Hawks defeated the Mavericks in back-to-back away games with Horford's 17 points and 12 rebounds, ending the team's three-game losing streak.
So really speaking, the Mavericks players are quite upset right now.
After entering the Rose Garden, the Mavericks players saw the overwhelming chants from the audience: "The Trail Blazers must win!", "Don't be discouraged, you are the best!", "Kill the Dallas people, victory and glory will definitely belong to Portland", etc. A series of signs filled with slogans...
Even if the whole world doesn't support the Trail Blazers, at least there is a group of lovely fans who are silently supporting them.
After entering the arena, Wang Zelin and his teammates couldn't help but be moved after seeing the fans' heartwarming actions, and some even had wet eyes.
They decided: For nothing else, even if it was for the overwhelming cheers from the audience at this moment, they would win this game and defeat the Mavericks!
However, such a move completely annoyed Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, who came to Portland with the team to cheer the team.
As we all know, Cuban's passion and straightforwardness have led him to be called the "Roaring God of NBA owners." He has criticized referees many times for the team, and even had physical conflicts with referees in his early years.
However, it is precisely because of this that he won the appreciation of all Mavericks fans.
Later, before the game started, Cuban, who was sitting in the VIP auditorium, told the media: "The Portland Trail Blazers are a shit team made up of shit. I entered the arena. In an instant, I almost fainted from the smell inside! I really don’t know why the league would arrange for such a team to become our opponent..."
Next, when Cuban was asked by the media, "How do you view the outcome of this game?" he bluntly said that Dirk is the best big man in the league, and he has the absolute ability to destroy the Trail Blazers' inside group. , and will lead the team to win this year's game.
Obviously, Cuban was offended by the actions of Portland fans. Otherwise, no matter how "unruly" his character was in the past, he would not publicly say such remarks that would offend the Blazers to death.
As soon as these words came out, it was tantamount to announcing that the Mavericks and Trail Blazers would become another sworn enemy team in the league...the kind that makes them jealous when they meet.
Soon, the reporters rushed to convey this statement to Wang Zelin, who listened expressionlessly throughout the whole process. After a long time, he slowly said: "Dirk can't win, I guarantee, they will never win!"
This is very simple to understand. It has two meanings. One is that the veteran can't beat himself and Aldridge, and the other is that the Mavericks can't beat the Trail Blazers.
It’s so tasty!
Journalists love this scene the most. They immediately use their communication devices to log into their social accounts and start writing about it.
Speaking of which, Wang Zelin is also angry now. Because he lost three games this week, although he maintained luxurious statistics of 26.6 points, 12.6 rebounds, 3 assists and 3.3 blocks this week, he still lost the Western Conference Player of the Week.
In the first week of December, the Eastern Conference gave LeBron James. James led the Heat to a record of 4 wins in 4 games this week, and his personal statistics are also quite luxurious.
In these four games, James played 36 minutes, took 15.8 shots in exchange for 9.5 hits, and the field goal percentage was 60.3%. He took 3.8 three-pointers and made 1.8 hits, with a hit rate of 46.7%. With super high efficiency, he scored 29 points, 6 rebounds, 4.8 assists, 1.5 steals and 0.8 blocks, and averaged only 2.8 turnovers per game.
Everyone was not surprised for a while when James was called the "King of Advanced Statistics". But when people once again saw that James, as an outside player, was able to average 29 points per game with the shooting rate of a high-quality inside player, they still sincerely sighed: This guy is really a pervert!
Perhaps, this is why many fans define James' true peak period as the Heat's two consecutive championships.
Just looking at the data, Heat James' Cavaliers may not be as good as James James in the 1.0 period, but from the perspective of offensive efficiency, defensive efficiency, etc., Heat James' efficiency is definitely second to none in his career.
In the Western Conference, Kevin Durant won the Best of the Week award, and it was also his first Best of the Week award this season.
In the last three games, Durant led the Thunder to three wins, averaging 36.7 minutes per game, taking 20.3 shots in exchange for 11.7 hits, shooting about 57.4% from the field, and even more outrageous three-pointers, 3 of 5.7. , the hit rate exceeded 50%, reaching 52.9%.
32 points, 10.7 rebounds, 5.7 assists, 1 steal, 0.3 blocks, and 2 turnovers...this is Durant's average data in the last three games.
Wang Zelin, who has the memory of later generations, knows very well that Durant will average a career-high 32 points per game this season, along with 7.4 rebounds and 5.6 assists, and eventually win the regular season scoring champion and regular season MVP. Grand prize.
The team was also very good. At the end of the regular season, the Thunder won 60 games and became the Western Conference regular season champion.
This means that this year Wang Zelin and the Trail Blazers will face the Thunder led by the MVP version of Durant.
Last season, Durant's comprehensive rating reached 95 points, which is a proper superstar level. This year, Durant will only be stronger!
Thinking of this, Wang Zelin can't wait to meet the Thunder. He wants to see how strong Durant can be in the MVP year in the original history?
The guarantee is 96!
97... or 98?
After beating the Mavericks, the Trail Blazers will meet the Thunder for the first time in the new season. It's really exciting!
…
At 19:00 in the evening, Wang Zelin and Nowitzki led their respective teams to meet in the player tunnel.
Nowitzki hesitated for a while, and finally chose to walk up to Wang Zelin: "Wang, what Mark said before the game... was not intentional. His eldest daughter was sick recently. As a father, his The mood is inevitable…”
"Stop!" Wang Zelin waved his hand to interrupt Nowitzki's words, and said coldly: "I don't care why he said those words, but he is an adult after all, and adults must be responsible for what they say. You will pay for what you have done!”
"I have no other thoughts, I just want to hear Mark apologize to you."
The look of guilt on Nowitzki's face became even stronger.
"Forget it, see you in the competition!"
After speaking, Wang Zelin led the team and continued to move forward.
"well!"
At this point, Nowitzki knew that a tough battle was inevitable tonight. No, maybe every time they met the Trail Blazers in the future, the Mavericks players would not get good results.
Thinking about being cared about by a young man with unlimited potential in the last few years of his career, he felt even more helpless: Who knew Cuban would say such ugly things before the game to provoke his opponents.
It wouldn't matter if I said this two years ago, because Nowitzki was not a veteran at that time. He was the famous King Nowitzki in the league, and the Mavericks were still able to compete for the championship.
It's really different from the past. It's hard for the Mavericks to make the playoffs now!
Of course, to be upset is to be upset, and Nowitzki is naturally unlikely to have any negative emotions such as complaints or dissatisfaction with Cuban. Because he knew that Cuban's original intention was to benefit himself and the Mavericks, but his methods were a bit indecent.
It seems that there is a reason why the friendship between boss Cuban and player Nowitzki has become a good story in NBA history.
There is no other way, the players will ultimately have to pay for whatever the boss causes trouble.
When all the Trail Blazers players arrive, they will head to the Mavericks. Nowitzki suddenly glanced at Vince Carter in the middle of the team, who nodded understandingly.
Nowitzki clapped his hands and saw his teammates looking at him: "Guys, cheer up. Today we are about to face a fierce battle. Everyone knows how strong the opponent is. I won't say more here. Having said that. What I want to say now is, don’t forget, we are only one ranking away from the playoffs, so no matter what opponent we face next, I will go all out to play every game well. But It’s not enough to have just one person on the team, everyone needs to work together, please!”
After saying that, Nowitzki even made a move of "bending 90 degrees". Not to mention the mood of the rookies who had just joined the Mavericks, even Carter, who was mentally prepared in advance, was moved.
"Dirk is right," Carter understood and was the first to respond: "Boys, the NBA is a land of miracles. Since its establishment, there have been countless nights where the weak defeated the strong and the weak defeated the strong... How can such a night happen? Without the Dallas Cowboys, I believe in Dirk, and I believe that as long as everyone works together, the Portland Trail Blazers are not invincible."
"Haha! Damn it!"
Shawn Marion's response was much more bold.
From Dirk Nowitzki to Carter to Shawn Marion, through the continuous cheering of the three old guys, many young players' timid thoughts about facing the Trail Blazers before they started fighting finally dissipated.
Seeing that the military morale was available, Nowitzki finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Don't look at his words about how easy it is to beat the Trail Blazers. In fact, he knows very well that there is a certain strength gap between the Mavericks and the Trail Blazers. It is too difficult to defeat their opponents.
However, as long as the Mavericks work together, there is still hope of winning... although this hope is too slim.
After all, it's not every night that the Trail Blazers have players in a downturn.
…
Both sides made their debut.
For the Mavericks, the starting five are Jose Calderon, Monta Ellis, Shawn Marion, Dirk Nowitzki and Dalembert.
After seeing the Mavericks' starting lineup, Terry Stotts nodded as expected.
In this game, Mavericks head coach Rick Carlisle put center DeJuan Blair, who performed well in the first two games, on the bench and replaced Dalembert as the starter.
There is no way, no matter how incredible DeJuan Blair's performance is, no matter how ferocious he grabs rebounds, in the final analysis, he is just a short inside man of 2.01 meters.
If he really wants to be the starter against Wang Zelin, it's no different from delivering food, and it's also a bit too difficult to deal with.
No matter how good Dalembert's recent performance is, he still has a height of 2.11 meters and a good weight of 118 kilograms. At least he is much better than DeJuan Blair in terms of resistance to people.
For the Trail Blazers, the starting five and what the media expected before the game remain unchanged, namely Lillard, Matthews, Batum, Aldridge and Wang Zelin.
"Wang, we will use a different tactic tonight," Terry Stotts held a meeting before the game: "Don't hesitate after you get the ball, just attack it boldly and confidently. You have only one task tonight, then Just blowing up the Mavericks interior defense."
It seems that not only the players, but also the coaching staff and management were stimulated by Cuban's words before the game, and actually chose to change the team's style of play.
However, Terry Stotts' arrangement tonight must have been studied by the entire coaching staff.
The reason is simple. The Mavericks' inside line is really bad, so there's nothing wrong with playing like this.
Originally, this tactical system was the Blazers' main tactic last season. After reviewing it tonight, the players all said it was fine.
