Woody and the Heat returned to Miami with a record of 3 wins and 1 loss.
Such a record at the beginning is definitely a surprise for the Heat, which was ranked 12th in the Eastern Conference before the start of the season.
But just 4 games doesn't mean much.
The media, who are often slapped in the face, are actually quite afraid of being slapped in the face.
They have written the article well. Wouldn't it be embarrassing if the Heat lose consecutive games?
It is better to observe two more games to see if the Heat will become the "dark horse" in the Eastern Conference this season. It is true that they cannot praise and praise them, but that is usually when there is no news to publish.
Yesterday there was a focus battle.
The first career match between LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony, the "peerless twins" of the 2003 class, started at the home court of the Cavaliers.
LeBron James has been having a very unhappy life lately.
They performed so well in the first game, but the team lost. The most frustrating thing is that they also lost to Woody and Carmelo Anthony in the way they faced the media after the game.
Especially Anthony, who seems to be quite honest, but he is full of bad ideas. If he didn't perform well, he just said he didn't perform well. What the hell is he saying that I don't care about the data?
He knew at that time that Carmelo Anthony had changed!
The "bad luck" didn't just disappear.
In the second game of the season, the Cavaliers challenged the Suns away from home.
LeBron James continued his strong performance, scoring 21 points, 12 rebounds, 8 assists and 1 steal, including 10 backcourt rebounds. With the first "double-double" in his career, the Cavaliers suffered a two-game losing streak with a 9-point gap. .
If we say that after this game, his team can still give him two announcements about his personal performance.
Then in the third game of the season, an away game against the Trail Blazers, the Cavaliers not only lost by 9 points, LeBron James himself made 3 of 12 shots, not to mention 25% from the field, and only scored 8 points.
However, he also got 4 rebounds and 6 assists.
But compared to teammate Big Z's 21 points and Ricky Davis's 16 points, 8 rebounds and 7 assists, his data is somewhat lagging behind.
On the other hand, Carmelo Anthony, except for the first game where his numbers were almost the same as those of the Spurs, in the other games, he scored 18 points and 9 rebounds against the Rockets; against the Sacramento Kings, he scored 23 points, 6 rebounds and 5 assists. The Golden Team also has a very good record of 2 wins and 1 loss!
It can be said that LeBron James is extremely embarrassed in every aspect.
Meeting under such circumstances, he is undoubtedly the more urgent person.
It's a pity that the Nuggets, who played away from home, won the game by 4 points, rewriting their record to 3-1. The Cavaliers, on the other hand, had lost four consecutive games in the beginning, and a win was hard to come by!
The coaching staff on both sides have very clear ideas about the arrangements for this game, which is not to make things easier for Carmelo Anthony and LeBron James.
Judging from the overall data, both sides have completed their tasks:
Carmelo Anthony only scored 14 points, 6 rebounds and 2 assists in the whole game, and his shooting percentage was only 35.3%!
LeBron James was even worse. He only hit 3 goals in 11 shots, with a shooting percentage of 27.3%. After the game, he did not dare to take any shots. He scored 7 points in the game, but he did have 11 rebounds, but among them 9 were backcourt rebounds.
When Barkley looked at this data, he was very confused: "Why does a No. 1 position have so many backcourt rebounds?"
The data was half-matched and the performance was about the same, but the Nuggets won, so Carmelo Anthony showed a "melon-like" smile after the game.
LeBron James faces growing doubts.
Especially since Woody has had double-doubles in every game so far, and the popularity continues to rise, some media who are not too concerned about the excitement have already issued a "soul torture" to the Cavaliers management: "Will you regret it? Instead of choosing Woody, I chose LeBron James!"
Jimmy Paxson was so frightened that he did not dare to appear in front of the media for two days.
But the day after the Nuggets defeated the Cavaliers, some media suddenly published an article saying, "The existence of Ricky Davis has hindered the growth of LeBron James!"
"LeBron James is a ball-handling player, but he cares too much about the existence of Ricky Davis, which prevents him from playing in his normal way. The Cavaliers management must make a decision whether to do it for LeBron." -James, send Ricky Davis away!”
And at this time, many of Ricky Davis' previous bad things were revealed. For example, in order to get a "triple double", he threw a similar news towards his own backboard.
After such a wave of public opinion, it was obvious that something was not right about the entire Cavaliers team. But in their fifth game of the new season, their opponent is the Indiana Pacers, the new overlord of the Eastern Conference with 4 wins and 0 losses so far!
"Five consecutive defeats" seem to be around the corner...
At the same time, Woody and the Miami Heat also faced the challenge of the Phoenix Suns.
Before the game, AmericanAirlines Arena was even more crowded.
Woody's answer to why he no longer wag his finger after blocking a shot has been sent back to Miami.
To be honest, there is no such thing as a "Top Ten People Who Moved Miami" selection. Otherwise, Woody would definitely have a spot this year.
Who can stand such a talkative rookie? Who can put it aside?
He treats us so special, of course we have to come to the scene to support him!
You, LeBron James, are the only ones who can sell tickets in Cleveland, right?
I heard that every venue is packed?
Then we must also improve Woody's cards!
This wave, this wave is called "running in both directions"!
The basketball atmosphere in Miami is not hot, but there are really many people here. If you really want to support them, let alone the 16,000 seats of the American Airlines Arena. Even if it doubles, they can still be occupied by him every minute. full!
When the Suns players came out, there were loud boos after waves.
These boos were all directed at Stoudemire and Marbury.
Before the game, a reporter asked Stoudemire: "What do you think of the performance of the Chinese rookies?"
Stoudemire said directly: "I think his performance has been exaggerated! His performance in the first four games should not have been so popular!"
When a reporter asked him, "Will you knock down Woody like Yao Ming?", Marbury said without any hesitation: "Of course, he'd better not give me such a chance, otherwise, he will Be the backdrop for this game!"
Marbury is just crazy, but Stoudemire is somewhat targeted.
Just like he was not convinced that Yao Ming became the "No. 1 pick" in 2002, what made Woody unhappy was that many media called him the "enhanced version of Amare Stoudemire". In fact, , long before the draft, he noticed Woody and the template given to him by the media. At that time, he held his breath and wanted to give Woody some color.
He has been counting this game on his fingers!
When Woody came on the stage, the whole venue was excited.
The big screen at the scene also kept flashing close-ups of him. In the picture, he looked more calm and calm than when he stood on the stage on the first day.
He noticed Stoudemire's eager gaze and Marbury's playful expression, but he did not show too much tit-for-tat performance.
It's not that he's a coward.
Instead, he glanced at the two dazzling tasks on the system panel, fearing that he might accidentally burst into laughter.
Just like Glenn Robinson before, he was trash-talking him.
He was really angry when he heard the trash talk at first, but once the task came, he stopped being angry immediately.
What kind of opponent is this?
Isn’t this the “stepping stone” on my road to success?
Send me achievement points!
How could such a "good brother" make Woody angry?
There are two tasks. The first task is to produce better statistics than Stoudemire and be rewarded with 5,000 achievement points.
High achievement points!
Of course, the task is indeed difficult...
Stoudemire has played 4 games this season, averaging 20.5 points, 9.5 rebounds, 1.5 assists, 1.5 steals and 1.5 blocks per game;
Woody finished 4 games with 17 points, 12.5 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 3.5 blocks;
Except for his scoring average, it is true that Woody's other statistics are better than Stoudemire, but the problem is...
Woody's weak link right now is his scoring!
It really depends on the team!
If the Heat's rhythm picks up, he can score smoothly, otherwise it will be difficult. In the first four games of the new season, he did not score more than 16 points in two games because the Heat's offense failed to get going.
Tonight, this will also be the key to whether Woody can complete the task!
There was another task from Marbury, which Woody simply ignored.
The task requires him to knock Marbury to his knees. With his "dribbling nature", it is impossible to knock him to his knees, but it is possible to knock him to his knees. So even though the success points are as high as 10,000, Woody can only pretend not to see it.
The big screen at the scene showed the starting lineups of both sides when the game was about to start:
“Heat team: No. 1 Wade, No. 2 Jones, No. 3 Woody, No. 4 Odom, No. 5 Grant;
Suns: No. 1 Marbury, No. 2 Joe Johnson, No. 3 Leandro Barbosa, No. 4 Marion, No. 5 Amare Stoudemire; "
The Suns have done a good job in team building in the past two years. In the summer of 2002, they traded for Joe Johnson and drafted Amare Stoudemire, who have become the backbone of the current team.
Stoudemire can average "20 plus 10" per game this season, and Joe Johnson is also very good, averaging 17 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists and 1.5 steals in 4 games this season.
Coupled with Marbury, who averages 20 plus 8, and Marion, who averages 20 plus 9 plus 2.5, this team is definitely a bunch of elite players just looking at the data panel.
But so far, after 4 games, they have only won against the Cleveland Cavaliers and lost all other 3 games.
Head coach Frank Johnson said calmly: "It takes time to adjust the lineup. I can slowly feel that this team is getting better and better!"
But word coming out of Phoenix is that calls for his dismissal are getting louder.
To put it simply, this is a game that cannot be lost for Stoudemire, who has made harsh words, and it is also a game that cannot be lost for him.
From the beginning, Stoudemire's momentum was strong and he grabbed the first offensive right for the Suns.
Marbury held the ball for half the game, but before his teammates could get into position, he suddenly started to move towards the inside.
His nickname is "Lone Wolf", but in fact, Marbury's style of play is not unique. In fact, his style of play is more traditional at the one position. He is good at using his personal ball-handling breakthrough to find open opportunities for his teammates.
In the first eight seasons of his career, his season assists per game exceeded 7.6, and his career assists per game exceeded 8!
It's just that the assist-to-turnover ratio is not very good, and the average turnovers per game is around 3.5 all year round.
This may have something to do with his tendency to disrupt fights.
For example, right now, his teammates have not established their footing, but doesn't this mean that the opponent has not established a defensive position?
If we don’t attack now, we’ll wait until later!
Wade let his fake move go to one side, but Woody on the wing quickly made up for it. Marbury skillfully distributed the ball, but when Barbosa got the ball, Woody came back to him. .
The distance from the high post to the flank is not long, and with Woody's movement speed, the delayed return to defense can be completed in one go.
Barbosa is also a rookie this year, but his pick position is not comparable to that of "favorites" such as Woody and Wade. He was not selected until the 28th pick in the first round.
Known as the "Brazilian Lightning", he is famous for his speed.
But as soon as he started to break through, Woody's rapid lateral movement forced him to "brake".
At this time, the problem of his poor vision was also exposed.
Normally, at this time, he would have to look for his teammates, but because Woody was already entangled, he had no time to observe his teammates from the sidelines, so he chose to keep his head down and move forward.
But just as he accelerated his breakthrough again, Woody suddenly reached out quickly and slapped the ball from his hand face to face. Barbosa stumbled forward involuntarily, and Woody grabbed the ball that was left in place.
Successful steal!
The audience didn't react at first. When Woody dribbled the ball and the rest of the Heat team followed suit, they hurriedly cheered.
Barbossa remained where he was.
5-on-4 in the frontcourt.
Woody gave the ball to Odom early.
"PDD" held the ball in the center to provide support. He did not rush and made a beautiful "no-look pass", which went straight to Stan Van Gundy. Fortunately, Jones appeared in this direction in time, grabbed the ball, and attracted the attention of the flankers. After Joe Johnson came up, he pushed the ball with both hands and passed it to the basket. Woody, who stole the fast break opportunity, also became the end point of this round.
But when he raised his hand to dunk, Marion flew over from nowhere and raised his hand to block the shot.
"OMG!"
Urgent shouts came from the nearest auditorium.
This fan saw with his own eyes that Marion, who had just been guarding the three-point line, "teleported" and appeared in front of Woody.
This speed...
So fast!
Woody immediately changed his moves and pulled a lever in the air. When the ball hit the backboard, he quickly jumped up again after landing.
"Uh-huh!"
Successfully tipped the ball in and completed the goal.
Now it was Marion's turn to look surprised.
He turned slightly sideways and glanced at Xiaosi.
Amare's bullet speed was the fastest among those he had ever seen.
But just for Woody's move under the basket, he felt that Stoudemire was probably incomparable.
Stoudemire was also a little surprised when he saw Woody's operation under the basket.
This bullet speed...
Then he noticed the way Marion looked at him!
Hey, what's that look in your eyes?
He felt underestimated!
The issue is……
I haven't done anything!
Thanks to Woody's physical performance, the Heat started the game 2-0.
"Nice, man!" Jones high-fived Woody. He was praising Woody's steal. The training these days has gradually paid off.
Stealing is the same as blocking, but more depends on awareness.
Marbury chose to wait for his teammates to get into position this time.
Then he called Stoudemire's pick-and-roll.
Going down is Stoudemire's specialty.
Grant followed suit and stayed close, but he felt that he had just delayed Marbury, and when he turned around to look for Stoudemire, the guy had already returned to the basket.
The ball has arrived!
Marbury's high throw was very comfortable. Just a little above the basket, Stoudemire dunked with both hands.
"Bang!"
With smooth alley-oop cooperation, the Suns tied the score at 2-2.
Stoudemire gave Woody a provocative look.
Odom has averaged 19 points per game in the past two games. His ability to break through with the ball, which does not belong to the fourth position, allows the Heat to open up space inside.
But in this game, he was a little invisible again.
In the face of "hackers", his breakthrough is a bit like "grandpa" crossing the road.
Fortunately, if there is no light in the east and light in the west, it will be fine if the fourth position can't move while holding the ball, and there is Wade at the first position!
Facing Marbury, who is "188" tall, Wade has the advantage of height and tonnage, which can fully utilize his explosiveness and strength.
"Bang!"
In a solid confrontation, Wade's speed was too fast, and Marbury couldn't avoid it. His center of gravity shook violently. Marbury watched helplessly as Wade completed a breakthrough from beside him.
At the free throw line, Stoudemire stepped in inside.
This resulted in Grant being completely left open under the basket.
Don't forget, Marion has been pulled out by Odom.
In order to block the shot, Stoudemire gave Grant an absolutely open position!
Even if Grant is just a blue-collar player with almost no scoring ability, he can still seize the scoring opportunity of dunking the ball.
"Bang!"
Marbury and Stoudemire looked at each other. Johnson looked at this and that, and for a moment he didn't know which one to blame!
The two sides can be regarded as finding the weak links of the opponent and how to score.
Between you and me, the first quarter ended quickly, with the score 29 to 27.
Relying on the initial lead, the Heat barely had a 2-point difference.
For the Suns, Stoudemire was their absolute "main force" in the first quarter, scoring 8 points and 3 rebounds!
After all, 5,000 achievement points is indeed a bit difficult.
Woody only scored 5 points after the first quarter. In addition, he had the same number of rebounds as Stoudemire, only 3, and also had 1 steal. In fact, Woody's presence on the defensive end is much stronger than that of Stoudemire. He locked down Barbosa, the showman of the same year, and also helped the inside and outside defense very well.
By the end of the first quarter, the Suns' shooting percentage against Woody was less than 45%, while the Suns' team's shooting percentage in the first quarter was over 50%!
Facing Woody's shot, the Suns' success rate dropped by a full 5%!
The Heat's scoring success rate against Stoudemire was as high as 60%, which was 10% higher than their average shooting rate in this game!
In order to block shots, Stoudemire kept leaking defenses, which actually contributed to the Heat's successful scoring again and again. Grant easily scored three times in the first quarter and scored 6 points in a single quarter.
Regarding his scoring ability of 6 points per game, I don’t know when the last time he scored 6 points in a single quarter was.
Unfortunately, these data cannot be reflected intuitively, so looking at these basic data alone, Stoudemire has a slight advantage.
Woody is not in a hurry. The Heat have not yet come up with their best "anti-counterattack tactics" in this game. When the teams on both offense and defense get into rhythm, Woody will have plenty of room to play.
Again, now he mainly relies on the team for scoring.
Stan Van Gundy gave Odom more patience and let him play 10 minutes in the first quarter.
Even though past facts have proven that Odom is prone to stretch his hips when facing those highly mobile fourth positions, and Marion is precisely the top "mobile fourth position", Van Gundy continues to use Odom Mu stayed on the field.
Not only did Odom play well in the first two games, but also because the Heat's starting lineup is gradually taking shape, with Wade at No. 1 and Jones at No. 2, the Heat's starting lineup lacks a player who can organize the offense. Odom's His presence is very crucial, and the starting position at No. 4 definitely belongs to him.
Letting him play more is also to break up the lineup and give the starters more understanding.
But then, when it was time to open up the score, the Heat wanted to win this game and relied on "anti-counterattack tactics" more than ever before. After all, the first quarter had proven that the opponent was a "big colander" and could not be defended at all. Can't resist their attack.
Now they only need to suppress the opponent's offensive and widen the point difference, which can be said to be a matter of minutes.
Wallace came on the court and received a round of applause from the fans.
His momentum reminded many Heat fans of the former "Heat Soul" Mourning.
They love players like this!
Pat Riley only used a substitute at the No. 2 position in exchange for such an awesome "all-round warrior", and they liked it even more!
Woody moved to the fourth position and faced "Hacker" Sean Marion, one of the most physically fit fourth positions in the league!
The Heat's bench strength is much better than that of the Suns.
So when the starters from both sides returned to the court, the point difference had reached 6 points.
Caron Butler was in very good shape tonight. He scored five points in a row as soon as he started, and directly returned to the court for the Suns' starting lineup.
The first attack back belongs to the Suns.
Marbury faced Wade with the ball and called Stoudemire's pick-and-roll. Wade made a timely move in this round. And the pick-and-roll quality provided by Stoudemire is not very good. He has pick-and-roll potential, but his ability in this area has not yet been fully developed.
This is also the reason why the Suns management wants to change their head coach. They feel that Stoudemire has greater potential waiting to be tapped.
Marbury forced his way to the basket. Woody stood on the side of the "three-second zone" but did not come in to intercept. Instead, Marbury was stunned for a moment as he passed the ball and couldn't hit it himself.
Finally, he made a move and took a firm shot from the basket. The ball flew out of his hands, but before it reached the highest point, Woody, who was waiting on the side, rushed over and slapped the ball out of the baseline. , flew into the hands of the spectators on the sidelines, and the force was so strong that it shook the fan's hand until it hurt.
Domestic CCTV-5 broadcast this game today, and the domestic fans who saw this scene were extremely excited.
Last season, after Marbury knocked Yao Ming to the ground, the entire Suns bench burst into laughter, which caused a huge response in the country. A group of people, including Marbury, were directly added to the "blacklist" of domestic fans.
They have been waiting to see Marbury make a fool of himself in the hands of Chinese players for too long.
Now Woody has given them a bad breath!
The audience cheered instantly, and many fans stood up spontaneously, their expressions becoming more and more expectant...
Woody stretched out his hand, but did not make a wagging finger gesture. Instead, he scratched his head and made an expression toward Marbury, "I actually slapped your shot away so far." Marbury was stunned. The diaphragm deserves a heavy blow.
The atmosphere at the scene became more exciting. Although it was not the finger-wagging they expected, this celebration, coupled with the director's very sensible way of giving Marbury a close-up shot, still made them feel happy.
Marbury's desire to attack became strong, and he served again. He dribbled continuously, leaving Wade stunned in place, and then broke through with a skillful dribble under his hips, reaching the three-point line from Wade's side. Inside.
The legendary street ball player from Queens, New York, has a dribbling ability that is fully reflected in this one.
But in this league full of people, it's one thing to look beautiful, but it's another thing to shoot the ball.
Marbury was obviously frightened. As soon as he reached the free throw line this time, he threw a shot with no intention of going inside.
but……
Woody suddenly jumped in front of him in time.
Damn it!
Marbury was so frightened that his hand instinctively trembled, and he tried his best to move his fingers that were still attached to the ball, raising the arc of the ball, and almost finished the shot against Woody.
"Rebound!"
Woody kept his eyes on the ball and noticed the change in Marbury's hand shape. He felt that Marbury would definitely not be able to score with such a difficult shot, so he yelled and turned and ran towards the backboard.
When Grant heard his words, he instinctively sank down and stuck Stoudemire firmly behind him, making him unable to move.
After working with Woody for 4 games, Brandt is now very clear about his positioning under the basket:
Get that damn spot in place and let Woody do the rest!
But on the other side, Marion also rushed towards the backboard.
Averaged 9.5 rebounds per game in 4 games this season!
In the previous three seasons, the average rebounds per game was above 9.5.
This is "Hacker" Marion. He is only 2.01 meters tall, but he has excellent rebounding skills. Often relying on accurate predictions and excellent physical fitness, he performs a good show of "picking melons" on top of others!
Just look at the eager Stoudemire's reaction when he sees Marion rushing toward the backboard.
He immediately stopped being anxious and instead pulled away.
There seemed to be no doubt about Marion grabbing the rebound.
"Snapped!"
The sound of the ball was heard two seconds later, and as soon as the ball bounced off the backboard, it was intercepted by a big hand.
But it's not Marion, it's Woody!
With a more accurate prediction of his take-off, Woody grabbed the rebound first.
"start running!"
Before Marion could gain a foothold, the Heat launched a counterattack amidst Woody's shouts.
Suns head coach Johnson stood on the sidelines, watching the Heat's "quality monsters" easily complete the counterattack, and couldn't help but mutter:
"These animals!"
The second update is sent.
(End of chapter)
