Chapter 658 [Group Wisdom, Opening Battle]
ESPN also launched a new player list this year to rank the strength of the league's players each season.
James ranks first, followed by Howard, Wade, Nowitzki, Durant, Paul, Yao Ming, Kobe...
As soon as this list came out, it immediately caused a stir among NBA fans, attracting countless people to complain.
It's only been a year since Howard was defeated by Yao Ming in the 2009 Finals, and he's ranked first again. Many people think this is because they don't want to admit that James and Wade, the two most capable stars in the NBA, have formed a team.
Yao Ming had 1 win and 6 losses in the preseason and was looked down upon by experts, but he was still ranked ahead of Kobe. Many people had the same reaction: Kobe was only eighth?
I have to say that ESPN is very good at playing. The attraction of sports is not only the victory or defeat, but also the topicality.
Who is stronger and who is weaker among players has been a topic throughout the entire history of sports. Every sport is competing, and no one can escape. When people watch Three Kingdoms, they like to talk about one Lu, two Zhao, and three Dian Wei. When watching Jin Yong’s martial arts, there are also martial arts rankings. As a media, it is correct and worth advocating to promote this discussion from a professional perspective without catering to or avoiding it.
ESPN did not choose this topic randomly, but invited 210 basketball experts to give scores from 1 to 10, and averaged the results to arrive at the final ranking. In other words, if ESPN wants to use this list to blackmail anyone, they must first convince these 210 people to have the same idea.
These 210 people include website editors, radio anchors, senior reporters, data experts, former players, former coaches, transition players with NBA management experience, etc., which is a group wisdom closer to the public opinion.
Being looked down upon repeatedly, Kobe chose to remain silent. Although Comey thought this was a lack of respect for the ranking, Kobe did not dare to say harsh words. He is even a little lucky, because it is better to be underestimated than overestimated, especially since he has discovered that it is difficult for the Lakers to achieve good results in the new season.
Those who are really under tremendous pressure are the Big Three of the Cavaliers, because they are so highly praised that the media is consciously praising them, including Facebook.
Lifting someone to a very high height, beyond their ability, and then suddenly falling down is probably one of the most despicable tricks in the world. Even if you can still survive physically, you will definitely feel disheartened mentally because there is no higher ground to start over.
As long as the Cavaliers don't win the championship this year, they will be a failure, and they will be drowned in the fans' saliva.
On October 26, the opening game of the new NBA season begins.
The Cavaliers VS Clippers were broadcast live across the United States and attracted far more attention than the opening game of the Spurs VS Mavericks.
People have seen the "Battle of Cows and Horses" a lot. Yang Rui led the rebuilt Clippers to fight against the Big Three. This was the first time in NBA history, and it was even more gimmicky.
The Clippers players came to the locker room early to chat, and the atmosphere was very lively. They all want to win and prove themselves in the first battle.
Yang Rui entered the locker room, clapped his hands, gathered the players together, and said loudly: "I want to tell you good news. The outside world predicts the game. Most people are optimistic that the Cavaliers will win. As long as we win today, it will be an upset and the weak will defeat the strong." , will get a higher evaluation. I can't think of how the Cavaliers can break the zone defense, so we will definitely win."
The players' mentality immediately relaxed. Yang Rui was particularly good at strategically despising the enemy and tactically paying attention to the enemy, thus enhancing the confidence of his team's players.
Yang Rui pulled over the tactical board in the locker room, drew a few times with a pen, and marked the players' identities with numbers. "The key to winning today is the 122 zone defense. The Cavaliers lack three-point shooters. All you have to do is guard the penalty area. Chris (Paul) moves on the outside and defends the point guard. It's not a big surprise. They will not let Wei Germany plays point guard..."
After talking about defense, Yang Rui drew up offensive tactics. "We focus on pick-and-rolls, and the key lies in misplaced singles and air cuts. DeAndre (Jordan) covers Chris in the middle, and Blake (Griffin) makes more runs, otherwise we will not be able to break the zone defense..."
Yang Rui arranged positional warfare in a targeted manner.
Ensure the speed of returning to defense. As long as the Cavaliers are not allowed to counterattack, their offense will be blocked. The key point in the first quarter is to solidly defend.
During the warm-up, Curry showed good touch and scored three consecutive points, but in order for the team to win better, he had to come off the bench. Yang Rui asked him to compete for the Sixth Man of the Year this season and practice defense hard. At least it cannot be a black hole.
The Cavaliers are also practicing three-pointers, but they are not very good. Now that Bosh has not increased his shooting range, he mainly focuses on mid-range shots. James' three-pointers hit the ground running. Although Miller is accurate, he will not start.
CCTV5 broadcast the game live. Zhang Lijia said: "Yang Rui is confident to turn the Clippers into a championship team. The Clippers have become very strong after Paul joined. Their record in the preseason is better than the Cavaliers. If they get a good start today, it will definitely be very exciting." Morale.”
Yu Jia laughed and said: "I guess the Cavaliers are under a lot of pressure. They can't afford to lose. They have been hyping up the whole summer. If they lose in the first game, the Big Three will become a joke."
Clippers starting lineup: Paul, Korver, Gay, Griffin, DeAndre Jordan.
Korver's performance in the preseason is worthy of a three-year, 15 million contract, and he has secured his starting position.
The 29-year-old Korver is 201cm tall and weighs 96 kilograms. He is at the peak of his career. Last season, his three-point shooting percentage was as high as 53.6%. He played under Jazz coach Sloan for three seasons and his defense has also improved a lot.
Korver's shooting is so good that the league's top stars are left behind by several blocks. In the preseason, he averaged 2.6 three-pointers per game and shot 47.2% from the field.
Cavaliers starting lineup: Chalmers, Wade, James, Bosh, Varejao.
Adelman arranges the lineup based on the state during training. Chalmers has mediocre physical fitness and similar advantages to Korver. He also does not mess around, has a steady playing style, and can shoot three-pointers.
To put it bluntly, this point guard has average organizational skills and cannot show off his talents. He dribbles the ball past half court and passes it to the star, and waits for the pass honestly on the outside.
Chalmers, who shot 36.2% from three-point range in the preseason, is the Cavaliers' most accurate starter. This is a tragedy.
DeAndre Jordan easily beat Varejao with a jump ball, and the game was on.
Paul received the ball and organized on the outside. When his teammates were able to pull away, Jordan stretched out from the three-point line to cover Paul, blocking Wade. Paul went to the right, attracting Bosh to switch defense.
As soon as he tested it, Paul could see that the Cavaliers were defending in a zone and did not let Chalmers face him, so that he would have an advantage in singles with the ball.
Paul found a gap and distributed the ball to the middle. Jordan took the ball and made an air cut. The Cavaliers' formation shrank quickly. James retreated and blocked the penalty area with Varejao.
If Jordan could support him, passing the ball to the left to Gay would be a good shooting opportunity, but he didn't see his teammates at all. After receiving the ball, he only saw the basket in his eyes. He jumped up and thought about Varejao across the road. Dunk.
Is Varejao capable of being dunked by ordinary people? When he was defending, he looked only 1.9 meters tall. He didn't even raise his arms. He half-turned around as if he wanted to hide, and his shoulders hit Jordan's crotch.
If this happens, Jordan will have to be TJ like many authors on the Qidian Chinese website. Fortunately, Jordan's jump was not so straight. The result of the wrong jump was that he lost his center of gravity in the air, dropped the basketball, and fell down.
Varejao also fell to the ground, much more gently, but from the referee's point of view, he was trying to avoid it and was knocked down by Jordan.
Since Varejao was standing a little in front of the reasonable collision zone, the referee blew the whistle and ruled that Jordan hit someone with the ball, and the ball went to the Cavaliers.
Jordan was uninjured and immediately got up to argue with the referee. Yang Rui covered his face with one hand on the sidelines. This rough guy was so speechless.