Basketball's No. 1 Anti-Fan

Chapter 364 Shaq Jokic

It is early October, the training camps of various teams have ended one after another, and the league's media day also kicked off on this day.

The most watched team in the new season is naturally the Cavaliers.

When the Cavaliers' two consecutive championships became an accompli, no matter how incredible it seemed, people had to start discussing the possibility of the Cavaliers' dynasty.

Remember this is in Cleveland, if they can really do it, it will be the greatest thing in basketball history.

And Hansen will truly surpass Jordan and become the undisputed best in history.

"Yes, that is our only goal."

Han Sen also reconfirmed that goal at the press conference.

Although the situation in the team's training camp is somewhat not optimistic, that goal will not change.

In addition to Hansen's remarks, there were other things worth noting at this year's Cavaliers Media Day.

Jokic looks much stronger than last season, which makes him particularly eye-catching when taking the final photos.

Also attracting attention is Rose, who was previously traded to the Knicks and changed to wear No. 25, but will put on the No. 1 jersey again in the new season.

There is also Kuzma. This rookie selected by the Cavaliers at the end of the first round this year does not have a high status in the team, but his appearance is second only to the other rookie on the Cavaliers.

However, when the media day really ended, the most reported topic by the media was not the situation on the Cavaliers side, but a piece of news on the Pelicans side.

"I have confidence because I'm the best player in the world, it's as simple as that."

This was James' answer when he was interviewed by reporters on Media Day and was asked about his performance in the new season.

His remarks caused huge controversy as soon as they came out.

You have to know that since he was traded by the Heat, he has basically changed teams every year.

Especially now that Han Sen is one step away from being the best in history, are you sure you're not trying to force it?
However, a tweet posted by Kuzma later successfully answered everyone's questions.

"A king can live without his rings, but not without his lights."

After he reminded them, everyone finally reacted.

New Orleans is neither a big city nor the Pelicans are a traditional powerhouse. After James' decision, there were very few media reports about them this summer.

If we don't do something, we'll be forgotten.

As expected, the people who know James best are not his fans, but his haters.

After the media day, the preseason games will begin.

The problems the Cavaliers encountered in training camp were quickly reflected in the game.

Although Lu has pushed JR and TT hard in the training camp, their conditions are really worrying.

Especially JR, he was out of breath after running on the court for a short while, as if his kidneys were overdrawn. God knows how many women he has discussed life with this summer.

Throughout the preseason, his shooting percentage plummeted to just over 30%.

Although TT's situation is better, his positioning and assisting defense speed on the court have declined significantly, which also increases Jokic's defensive pressure in the interior.

This is not good news for the Cavaliers.

Of course, where there is bad news there is good news.

The good news is that Jokic's dominance in the interior has significantly improved.

In the game against the Pistons, he played against Drummond for only 25 minutes and scored 20+10, which was eye-catching.

And Rose's condition is also surprising. After putting on the No. 1 jersey again, his breakthroughs still look extremely sharp.

After the preseason was over, the league announced the first team strength list of the new season.

The Cavaliers ranked first on this list.

Although the preseason showed that the Cavaliers had some form problems, after so many seasons, no one can ignore Hansen's dominance.

Unless Hansen suffers an injury, the Cavaliers will be number one on the list.

The Celtics followed closely behind.

On paper, the Celtics are the strongest team in the new season, but no one knows whether Irving will continue to cause trouble.

The Warriors are third.

Cousins' preseason run-in with the Warriors went pretty well.

In other words, his abilities were underestimated by many people.

Cousins ​​started developing his three-point shot two years ago. Last season, his hit rate was 35.6% when he was with the Kings. After joining the Pelicans, this number increased to 37.5%.

And this is when he averages 5 three-pointers per game.

As an inside player, this is already a very good data.

Moreover, he is not the kind of player who relies heavily on low-post singles. His ability in high-post pick-and-roll and secondary transfer is good enough.

Even regarding the issue of movement speed that fans are most concerned about, Cousins ​​performed much better than others imagined.

In "history", Cousins ​​also joined the Warriors, but it is obvious that Cousins ​​before the serious injury and Cousins ​​after the serious injury are two completely different levels of players.

The Pelicans are fourth.

The Pelicans also seem to be getting along pretty well in the preseason.

Davis' strength is still underestimated. Although this American son has not tasted the playoffs, his pure strength is well-deserved.

His excellent ability to roll makes the pick-and-roll between him and James look wonderful.

And more importantly, with Holiday and Davis, the two big gates inside and outside, combined with James' fast break ability, the Pelicans' defensive counterattacks are very successful.

The Rockets are fifth.

After the Rockets bought out Bosh, they used the freed-up salary space to sign Eric Gordon and Tucker, greatly improving the team's competitiveness.

This wave gives us a feeling of "one whale falls and all things come to life".

And this summer, they also signed a new head coach, Mike D'Antoni.

They showed very fierce offensive firepower in the preseason.

The Raptors, 76ers and Thunder ranked 6th to 8th.

It is worth mentioning that this is the first time in recent years that the number of Eastern teams in the top 8 teams in the power list is the same as that in the Western Conference.

The situation of the West being strong and the East being weak has turned into a evenly matched situation this season.

The Cavaliers' opening opponent is the Warriors.

As a continuation of last season's finals, although the Warriors' lineup has undergone significant changes, the matchup between the two teams is still very topical.

Especially when the Warriors arrived in Cleveland the day before the game, Green sprayed some extremely sarcastic trash talk in front of reporters.

"They said I was going to be traded, but I'm still here."

Green was the most embarrassed player in the finals last season. Now that he is back in Cleveland, he is also full of energy. On the opening day, the Quicken Loans Arena was packed with fans.

Before the game officially started, an award ceremony and flag-raising ceremony for the Cavaliers' championship rings were held on site.

Next to the 2015-2016 season, the championship banner for the 2016-2017 season was unveiled.

After the flag-raising ceremony, Han Sen took the microphone and said the simplest and most direct words:

"let's start!"

After the opening ceremony, the starting lineups of both sides were announced one after another.

Warriors: Curry, Thompson, Myers, Green, Cousins

Cavaliers: Hansen, Wade, Covington, TT, Jokic
JR's current condition, especially his shooting performance, is really bad. If he loses his spatial ability, the significance of him starting will become less significant.

Cousins ​​jumped for the ball for the Warriors and immediately showed his dominance in the low post.

He received the ball in the low post and backed up Jokic, then used his huge butt that made Harden drool to push Jokic away, then turned around and dunked under the basket for a score.

Although Jokic has gained muscle and weight, he is still at a disadvantage when facing a low-post muscle stick like Cousins.

In fact, Cousins ​​at this time is full of tendons, with a height of 2 meters and a wingspan of 08 meters. If you look at the back, he looks like a large Zach Randolph.

Although his title of "No. 1 center" is a bit like "when there is no tiger in the mountain, the monkey becomes king", he would not have the chance to hold that position without some strength.

Moreover, after retreating to the defensive end, Kerr also used targeted defense at the beginning of the game, focusing on defending Hansen and Jokic. As for others, he defended them if he could, and let them go if he couldn't.

As a result, the Cavaliers also performed very well. Covington and Wade missed shots from the outside, and TT even showed off his butter hands under the basket.

Five minutes into the game, the score was 6 to 12, and the Cavaliers played very passively from the start.

Malone also made personnel adjustments after calling a timeout, replacing TT with Korver and playing with a small lineup early.

And in the first round after returning, the Cavaliers used the Hansen Jokic pick-and-roll.

The Warriors' strategy was the same as before. They double-teamed Hansen first, then used Green's assisting defense to cover for Jokic, and then let Cousins ​​return to double-team Jokic.

In this way, Jokic can either pass the ball to an outside shooter or pass it to the power forward. If it is the latter, Green can use his restricted area sweeping ability to return to defense and interfere with the shot.

TT was forced to have butter hands like this before.

But this time, Han Sen's choice was different from before.

When facing a double team, he did not pass the ball immediately, but attacked Cousins' side.

Although Cousins' movement speed is better than expected, he is still at a great disadvantage when facing Hansen.

This forced Green, who was originally supposed to help defend Jokic, to help defend Hansen, while Cousins ​​had to chase Jokic.

But Cousins ​​exposed his basketball IQ at this time, and he didn't realize he had to chase Jokic.

As soon as Han Sen raised his hand, Jokic took the ball and rushed to the basket for an easy two-pointer.

Green turned around and communicated with Cousins, but Cousins ​​frowned subconsciously.

Looking back, Cousins' offensive strategy in the low post did not continue to work.

Jokic couldn't defend Cousins, and Malone's strategy was to help defend at the four position. TT didn't have time to help defend before, but Covington was much faster than TT.

Although Covington is not as strong as TT, this kind of help defense is inherently a disruption to the ball.

As a result, Cousins ​​made a dribbling error and gave the ball to the Cavaliers for free.

In fact, he had a chance to pass the ball to Green.

It’s not that he can’t see that Cousins ​​is an all-around center and his passing ability is not bad, but he just doesn’t want to.

Obviously, he was unhappy that Green was picking on him just because of a defensive mistake.

There are many "no-brained" and "unhappy" players in the NBA. For example, when Hansen was on the Grizzlies, they had "no-brained" Gay and "unhappy" Randolph.

But if we talk about someone who possesses both of these characteristics at the same time, Cousins ​​is really a special case.

Looking back, Hansen and Jokic used the same trick again. This time, Green did not come to help Hansen, but Thompson on the weak side went in to assist in defense.

No matter who the Warriors substitute, they will just defend Hansen and Jokic.

Hansen didn't hesitate. He looked in the direction of Wade and passed the ball without looking at him, and passed the ball to Jokic who was already in the penalty area.

Jokic received the ball and confronted Green under him, knocking him out of his defensive position, and then he easily got another two points.

This round had a much greater impact on the Warriors than the previous round.

Especially Green, who had an incredible look on his face.

When Jokic bumped into him just now, he felt like he couldn't stand at all.

But this is actually very normal. After all, how can Green, who weighs 104 kilograms, hold up Jokic, who weighs 120 kilograms?
Grover's plan for Jokic was originally aimed at Green. If it doesn't work when he meets the real target, he will destroy his reputation as the founder of training.

Cousins' low-post offense was not going well, and the Warriors quickly adjusted their offensive strategy.

Green held the ball and directed traffic at the top of the arc.

Just when the Splash Brothers were running with the pick-and-roll, Green passed the ball to Cousins ​​who was running after the pick-and-roll. Cousins ​​took the ball and rolled over Covington to put the ball into the basket.

After Cousins ​​scored, Green took the initiative to high-five him and patted his buttocks.

Cousins' frown also relaxed at once.

Green can't handle a player like James, but it's very easy for him to handle a player like Cousins.

And in the next round, when Jokic set up a pick-and-roll again, Green simply let Cousins ​​retreat to the basket and then he moved out to make up the difference.

Then when the pick-and-roll happened, he went directly in front of Jokic to prevent Jokic from receiving the ball, forcing Hansen to go one on two.

He used this tactic repeatedly against Jokic in last season's finals.

What he didn't expect was that Hansen did not choose to force an attack, but after gaining some distance from the ball, he directly passed the ball behind Jokic.

After realizing that he couldn't jump to steal the ball at this passing angle, Green made a quick move, but he soon felt the difference between Jokic and last season again.

He can't push...

Jokic is now like a small hill in front of him.

Jokic used his long arms to catch Hansen's pass, then took a step directly to the basket.

After seeing Cousins ​​ignore Covington in the corner and jump directly on him, he held his breath and jumped up when he was about to make a layup...

"Oh!"

He slammed the ball into the basket through Cousins ​​with both hands.

After completing the dunk, Jokic hung on the basket for a while, and his weight pulled the basket down a few inches.

Perhaps it was the boost in confidence brought about by the increased confrontation, or perhaps it was an emotional release for working overtime for the entire summer, after landing, he folded his arms and roared towards the sidelines.

At this time, O'Neal in the commentary booth made an exaggerated funny expression with his eyes wide open after seeing this scene.

This little fat boy is beginning to have the same demeanor as he did in his youth!
(End of this chapter)