So I am the god of basketball?

After learning that the first game of the new season would be against the Philadelphia 76ers, the entire Lakers team became visibly more excited, and even trained more seriously than usual.

Meng Lang has already said that no one wants to face us next season.

David Stern arranged for them to play against the Philadelphia 76ers in their opening game, which was simply...

Bad taste!
But if that is the case, it is even more necessary to prove that at the start of the new season, there is indeed no opponent willing to face them!

Although Brian had just arrived, he could clearly feel the passionate atmosphere and his training attitude was also very enthusiastic. This was his shining point. Such a player could easily gain the trust of the head coach.

The same is true for Chuck Daly. Before the training camp was over, he replaced Fox as the Lakers' starting number three for the new season.

Of course, this is also to allow Fox to better be itself.

Fox is a player who can only play to his best with the ball in his hands. When he averaged 14 points, 5.6 rebounds, 4.6 assists and 1.4 steals per game for the Celtics, he was treated as the team's "second in command".

Last season, he was restricted by the starting position and was unable to play his role.

Compared to the starting position, he who can't get the ball may be able to play a better role on the stage of the best sixth man.

Fox didn't have much objection to the adjustment of its own positioning.

Rather than worrying about what to play on the court, his more urgent concern is to stay in Los Angeles.

Originally, he chose to retire because he was abandoned by the Lakers.

At this stage, he is more dedicated to his career off the court than on the court.

The team's sixth man often exists as an "x factor", which seems to be more in line with his positioning.

This is what Chuck Daly didn't say explicitly.

In the six preseason games, Chuck Daly gave all the opportunities to the rookies to perform. Tyronn Lue averaged 6 minutes of playing time per game, and "Streetball King" Alston also got nearly 33 minutes of playing time. The Lakers' "golden backcourt" lived up to expectations and led the Lakers to a record of 4 wins and 30 losses in the preseason.

After the preseason ended, the opening game they had been looking forward to finally arrived.

On the plane to Philadelphia, Kobe said to Meng Lang: "This time, I will definitely perform better than you!"

Meng Lang didn't understand what this guy meant for a moment.

What? Holding your buddies back in the finals gave you the confidence to play better?

Just when he was thinking about letting Brian play with him later, Kobe's next sentence came out: "What I mean is, you will find that you don't even need to take any action. I will deal with the opponent!"

After saying this, he cursed secretly in his heart:
damn it!
Because just after he finished the last sentence, a thought suddenly came to his mind:
Wasn't what I just said ambiguous?
What should I do if Meng Lang misunderstood?
Why the hell am I afraid that he will misunderstand me?
Even if I want to take over the position of the boss, is there anything wrong with that?

No, it's not...

That’s definitely not the reason why I explained it!

I was not born to be a younger brother.

It was definitely because I lagged behind in the finals that I felt embarrassed.

Yes, then let’s give him a championship first. Once he wins the championship, I will definitely not have this mentality anymore!

Philadelphia was bustling with activity, as they had also been looking forward to this day for a long time.

The whole street was bustling with people, and the atmosphere was not much different from that of the finals.

As they wait for the championship banner to be raised tonight, they have also prepared some interesting activities.

Is this what it feels like to witness the opponent who defeated you raise the championship flag?
Meng Lang did not choose to hide in the locker room when the flag was raised in Philadelphia. In his opinion, wasn't this another form of escape?

He was sitting on the Lakers bench and watching it all happen.

For him, these can inspire him to fight even harder.

David Stern was watching all this silently. He saw Meng Lang's expression and felt relieved.

This is exactly the significance of his arranging this opening game.

Jordan's retirement at the peak of his career is a pain that will never go away in his heart. If Jordan had not retired, what heights would he have reached?

This is very thought-provoking.

Therefore, he did not allow Meng Lang, who was 26 years old and had won four championship trophies and five Finals MVPs, to have any thoughts of not wanting to play. He knew that Meng Lang and Jordan were essentially the same. They hated losing. Arranging such a night would definitely inspire his strong fighting spirit on the court.

"Thank you, Lakers!"

“Thank you, Lakers!”

"Thank you, Lakers!"

These shouts alone were not enough, and another one followed:

"Thank you, Kobe!"

"Thank you, Kobe!"

"Thank you, Kobe!"

Could there be a more humiliating moment than this?
Kobe was completely dumbfounded. He never expected that one day he would be humiliated like this by Philadelphia fans.

Really...

Deceiving too much!

He really wanted to stand up immediately and fight back fiercely.

But Meng Lang, who did not stand up, made him know clearly:
It's no use just talking. The real solution is to make them shut up with your performance!
So he just watched angrily, listened, and waited quietly for the game to begin.

The moment the referee blew the whistle, he couldn't wait to stand up and walk towards the court. He could clearly hear another round of ridicule from the sidelines.

But it does not matter……

They won’t be able to laugh anymore!
Since he can bring the legend of a genius high school student to this city, he can also become the nightmare of this group of people!

The competition officially began immediately.

The first attack belonged to the Philadelphia 76ers.

Allen Iverson holds the ball against Kobe.

In the regular season, Chuck Daly did not use Tyronn Lue, his "secret weapon", to deal with Allen Iverson.

Besides, if such a change is needed to beat the Philadelphia 76ers even in the regular season, then don't expect anything from this season.

Allen Iverson has clearly entered his peak period, and his breakthrough is extremely sharp.

But Ben Wallace has also evolved. His defensive speed has become faster, and he successfully blocked Allen Iverson before he entered the free throw line.

Allen Iverson's physical fitness has reached its peak, but his condition has obviously not recovered from the offseason.

The "training joke" was not spread just now because Larry Brown is not on this team. His training attitude will not change because of who the head coach is. Generally speaking, the efficiency of the "answer" depends on the condition of the day, especially in the early stage of the regular season.

This is also what makes him scary.

A genius like Odom did not participate in training and was only named "Best Sixth Man", while Allen Iverson became the regular season MVP.

Of course, this ball bounced out of the frame due to Ben Wallace's forced pull-up.

Tim Duncan secured the rebound, but when he was about to shoot, he found that the Lakers' formation in front of him was shrinking more terrifyingly than in the finals. He immediately threw the ball out. Bryant showed the value of his arrival and quickly returned to defend George on the wing.

Interrupt his idea of ​​shooting.

Allen Iverson got the ball again, but this time, his intention to break through and pass the ball was too obvious, allowing Meng Lang to steal the ball.

Philadelphia's defense was very fast, and Meng Lang did not insist on a fast break. He dribbled the ball slowly to the frontcourt and looked at the active Kobe before passing the ball.

I'm not optimistic that the proactive Kobe will be able to perform well.

In fact, he did not have a very positive evaluation of Kobe's enthusiasm on the court.

Because this is a real "double-edged sword".

Kobe is in great form and can be very aggressive, killing his opponents.

When Kobe is in a bad state, he can be so active that he can kill his teammates.

Meng Lang doubted Kobe's mental state after he excited the Philadelphia 76ers fans so much before the game.

Sure enough, this guy did not disappoint Kobe at all. He tried to attack as soon as he got the ball, Allen Iverson, but was blocked by Tim Duncan who was lying in ambush.

Fortunately, Meng Lang followed up and protected the rebound.

But he also positions himself very close to the basket.

Mutombo was completely in front of him.

Just when everyone thought that Meng Lang would dribble towards the outside, he suddenly stood up with a back-to-the-basket shot, then turned to the right, changing from "back to the basket" to "face to the basket".

During this process, he raised his hand to release the ball, tricking Mutombo into jumping up, then turned his feet and easily completed a one-handed slam dunk from the other side.

Mutombo, who jumped high, became his "background board".

The Philadelphia fans at the scene couldn't help but cheer when they saw this step under the basket.

The reporters on the sidelines immediately turned their cameras on Meng Lang.

No one expected that Meng Lang's first goal of the new season would be such a wonderful goal under the basket.

Listen, it's a goal under the basket.

And the goal was scored against Mutombo under the basket with a mismatch.

This……

Even for those top "big centers", it wouldn't be easy to face Mutombo, right?

Could it be that……

Will Meng Lang play the No. 5 position in the new season?

This is a possibility that no one had expected.

But judging from this goal, this possibility may not be impossible!

And if that is really the case, then Meng Lang is really "fighting from one to five".

Just one ball caused such a commotion. This was Meng Lang.

When Mutombo was playing against him, he felt a familiar smell, and then a familiar figure floated out of his mind.

No way……

Wouldn’t “dream” become “big dream”?

But this rather dreamy step does have a flavor that no one else has.

Meng Lang quickly proved that the opening singles goal against Mutombo was not accidental. Facing Tim Duncan, he also used his footwork to dodge and move under the basket, creating an opening and successfully putting the ball into the basket.

He scored two consecutive singles under the basket.

The first two offenses of the new season were shown directly to Kobe, not to mention the fans of other teams.

no……

Why has he made progress again!
Kobe couldn't understand it, he thought he had made the greatest progress in the summer.

But after the new season started, it became so difficult to even deal with Brian.

He thought that Meng Lang was already 26 years old and had already entered his peak period. No matter how strong he was, his statistics would only be a little better, but his playing style would no longer surprise people.

As a result, he secretly practiced this kind of footwork.

This is really...

"Don't look at it, Kobe, you can't learn it!" Meng Lang noticed the change in Kobe's expression and made a teasing remark.

Every time he teased Kobe, he was always right. Kobe turned his head away awkwardly and looked away. At least at this moment, he felt that the fans in Philadelphia were cuter than Meng Lang.

The head coach of the Philadelphia 76ers asked the twin towers on the sidelines.

The two men said that it was not a big problem. They just didn't expect Meng Lang to play tricks on them like this. They were not prepared, so they got screwed. When they face him again later, they will definitely not fall into his trap easily.

They didn't think there was much of a problem. After all, Meng Lang's height was there. As long as they didn't jump, Meng Lang wouldn't be able to shake them off so easily and turn them into a background board!
There wasn't much of a problem with what they were thinking, but Meng Lang wouldn't specifically call out their names and back-up them under the basket. Instead, he would pick and hit them in a very erratic manner.

Sometimes they were not ready and Meng Lang could not play. Sometimes they were ready and Meng Lang showed signs of dribbling towards the outside, but he would suddenly turn his head and catch them off guard with his footwork.

"I didn't expect Dream to have studied his footwork so thoroughly this summer!" Bill Walton sighed as he watched Meng Lang's outstanding footwork in the first quarter.

If this continues, I'm afraid that the title of "the most versatile in history" will belong to Meng Lang.

Because in the current alliance, no one can say that he is more comprehensive than Meng Lang.

Be it the various techniques on the offensive end or his various abilities, it seems that he has no weaknesses at all.

What’s even more exaggerated is that…

He is only 26 years old!
At the end of the first quarter, Philadelphia was 26 points behind the Lakers at 33 to 7.

The Lakers didn't even have a tactic to create space, and just relied on Meng Lang's footwork to play one-on-one and scored 10 points under the basket.

No matter whether it was Tim Duncan or Mutombo who was out of position to defend Meng Lang, it would be a difficult task.

In the past, they only needed to consider following Meng Lang out, but now they need to consider whether Meng Lang will suddenly turn around and attack them.

It takes time to adapt to offensive methods that are difficult to defend against.

After all, no one has ever met such a person.

The Lakers successfully took the lead when both the "twin towers" of the Philadelphia 76ers were on the court, which was a rare situation in last season's finals.

When it came to the substitute rotation stage, Kobe continued to stay on the court, and he and Fox continued to work hard as a "double gun", successfully widening the score gap.

Philadelphia fans who were still excited before the game could not move their bodies to the exciting music during the halftime break. If the "Ring Presentation Night" ended in failure, it would not be such a wonderful night for them.

This is definitely a blow to them.

"Dream, who everyone knows very well, became the X factor in the first quarter tonight!" (End of this chapter)