At the beginning of the second quarter, the Warriors sent out a half-main and half-substitute lineup. The Trail Blazers' coach Terry waved his hand and went straight up and down.
Wang Zelin did not play, and the substitutes were Garnett, Yi Jianlian, rookie Jokic and Aquaman Adams.
On the outside, he partners with Beverly, Connett Lee, Carter, Morrow and others.
Jokic, a rookie, showed quite good potential when he came out, and his immediate combat ability on the court faintly overwhelmed the second-year Adams and Yi Jianlian.
Jokic, who looks chubby, has the same technical style as many seniors from Europe. He has flexible feet under the basket, and he has good ball control, good vision, and good passing.
In the current limited playing time, the offensive skills at the basket displayed by Yue Ji are very good, and there are no obvious offensive blind spots.
en, except for defense.
However, for a first-year rookie, being able to deliver 2 points, 1 rebound and 1 assist in just 6 minutes of playing time is enough to win applause from the fans on the sidelines.
With Wang Zelin in front of him, Trail Blazers fans know very well that Wang Zelin will definitely be the absolute core of the Trail Blazers in the next 5 to 10 years. Therefore, the Trail Blazers' requirements for the substitute inside players are not high, as long as Wang Zelin performs normally when he is resting and does not hold back.
Therefore, when he saw the plump white moon shoes, using his nimble steps to dodge the Warriors substitute power forward Marlis Speights, and then score a layup, Coach Terry couldn't help but secretly marveled, turned his head and said to Wang Zelin:
"Wang, how did you discover Nikola Jokic? Based on this guy's performance from the beginning of the preseason to now, he definitely deserves a first-round pick."
In the preseason, Jokic averaged 24 minutes per game in 5 games and scored 11+7+2+1. This has already made many team management who missed Jokic feel a trace of regret.
certainly.
At that time, they could still make excuses and say:
It's just the preseason. When the regular season comes, Jokic's data will definitely shrink, and he won't be able to deliver as well as he did in the preseason.
However.
After the Trail Blazers won their first two consecutive victories, attention turned to Jokic. After all, as the only rookie of the defending champion team in the new season, the outside world paid more attention to him than other rookies in the same class, although not as much as Andrew Wiggins, Jabari Parker, and Joel Embiid are the top three picks, but Aaron Gordon, Dante Exum, Marcus Marte, Julius Randle and others behind them are not. Favorably.
During the Trail Blazers' first two consecutive victories, as an important substitute at the center position, Jokic averaged 18 minutes per game and also had 8 points, 4 rebounds and 1 assist.
The data has indeed declined, after all, there is less playing time, but his efficiency is there.
Until then, the management and fans of other teams were inevitably sour.
Who can tell them that such a high-quality white insider will actually fall to the second round, or the 36th pick.
Since the Trail Blazers with Wang Zelin as the core successfully won the 2013~2014 NBA championship last season, the "center craze" has inevitably arisen again in the league.
This is just like the later days of small ball.
After people witnessed the emergence of the Warriors and personally shattered the old argument that "jumper teams cannot win championships", countless teams began to imitate the Warriors' playing style in the following seasons.
The most obvious thing is the percentage of three-pointers shot across the league.
Because every team that can win the championship, no matter for whatever reason, has the last laugh after all. That means that they have been the best team in the league over the past year.
Learning from the strong is never a bad thing.
Therefore, speaking more broadly, after Wang Zelin led the team to win the championship, the direct result is that in this year's trading market, the trading market for insider players is much better than in previous seasons.
This is the impact of winning the championship!
Not only does it affect yourself, it also affects your opponents.
In fact, not only Coach Terry, but also Wang Zelin himself was a little surprised that Jokic was still able to maintain quite good on-court efficiency after the regular season.
Speaking of which, compared with college students like Wiggins and Jabari Parker who have come out of the NCAA and still need time to adapt to the NBA, Jokic is different from them.
Jokic, who plays in the European Basketball League, is like other European players who are playing or have played in the NBA. Most of them did not go to college, but chose to enter the professional league early.
This type of player has a characteristic. They will adapt to the NBA significantly faster than NBA players.
Back on the field.
The current score is 41:40. The Warriors bench, led by Iguodala, started a crazy counterattack and successfully chased the point difference to one point.
Trail Blazers ball possession.
If this goal is scored, the score will be opened again by the Trail Blazers; and if there is no robbery, then the Warriors are very likely to take the lead in the next round.
As a result, the Blazers coaching staff is likely to replace the main players.
After all, Wang Zelin and Aldridge also took a break.
"King, get ready to play."
Coach Terry said.
"No," Wang Zelin waved his hand. At this time, Beverley passed the ball to the inside. He pointed in the direction of Jokic and said: "Nikola played very well. How about taking a look at this ball first?" , if he fails to score, it won’t be too late for me to score again.”
"That's fine."
After thinking for a moment, Coach Terry nodded in agreement.
On the field.
Beverley gave the ball in, and Jokic directly provided support at the free throw line.
It seemed that he was not going to do this alone.
At this time, Connet Lee got rid of Shaun Livingston's defense and cut into the penalty area. Jokic raised the ball over his head and flicked it back as if he had eyes in the back of his head.
The ball went straight into the hands of Connett Lee, who jumped up and directly hit the basket with two hands!
This ball is really good at feeding!
"Alas!!!"
The fans at the scene whistled immediately.
"I love this kid!"
On the bench, Old Carter couldn't help shouting.
Coach Terry's frown slowly relaxed at this time.
Jokic's performance on this goal can be said to be quite popular, and it also made him sit on the Diaoyutai more calmly.
A defending champion should act like a defending champion.
Warriors offensive possession.
The Warriors cooperated in the frontcourt, and Shaun Livingston made a tactical single in the mid-range and also scored.
The score difference between the two teams remained unchanged at one point.
The Trail Blazers attacked the frontcourt, and Jokic fell to the free throw line to continue to provide support.
tnt live broadcast.
Weber suddenly couldn't help but laugh: "Reggie, I seem to understand the reason why Wang would tap this guy lightly."
Miller came over and said, "Oh? How do you say that?"
"You didn't realize," Weber pointed with a big hand, pointing the camera in the direction of Jokic, "this guy's high-position support ability is very similar to that guy Wang!"
Miller looked at Jokic carefully and said, "Listen to what you said, Nikola Jokic's style is a bit similar to Wang's."
"It's not like they are too close in age and have different skin colors. I suspect they are father and son." Weber had a wicked smile on his face.
"Haha! Your imagination is really..."
Miller shook his head helplessly and was about to continue.
"oh!!!"
Suddenly, exclamations came from the scene.
Weber and Miller quickly stopped talking and returned their attention to the game.
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