Basketball's No. 1 Anti-Fan

Chapter 39 The Curse of Cleveland

Time flies and a month has passed.

The Cavaliers' season training camp has basically ended.

Han Sen had a relatively comfortable life this month.

James and Varejao no longer bothered him, so he could devote himself to training.

He successfully increased his weight to 100 kg and has completely adapted to the new muscle memory.

Moreover, after gaining muscle, his explosive power also improved. Coupled with a high enough training intensity, he made some progress in his phantom step in a short period of time.

Although his talent is still far from Wade's, his breakthrough threat has improved greatly compared to his NCAA days.

At least during team training, defenders cannot completely ignore his breakthrough threat.

Of course, if you want to go further, in addition to persisting in high-intensity training, you still have to find a way to exchange talents through the black fan system.

In addition, he has done a great job integrating into the team.

This is partly due to excellent learning ability, that is, basketball IQ;

On the other hand, it is also related to the Cavaliers' tactical system.

The Cavaliers' main tactic is defense, or to be more precise, a defensive counterattack tactic.

This is the same as the summer league, with professional matches.

The ultimate result of all this was that he successfully squeezed into the Cavaliers' rotation as a rookie.

As for whether they can make further progress in the end, it depends on their performance in the next preseason.

……

Before the new season officially starts, the NBA officially announced the team strength list for the new season.

The defending champion Lakers ranked first on this list.

The Lakers easily won the finals last season. During the offseason, while maintaining their main lineup, they upgraded their small forward from Trevor Ariza to Ron Artest, and their overall strength increased instead of decreasing.

The Cavaliers ranked second on this list.

Among the strong teams in the Eastern Conference, the Pistons' Big Five have disbanded, the Hawks are a regular season team, and the only teams that can really threaten the Cavaliers are the Magic and the Celtics.

The Cavaliers' introduction of O'Neal can restrain Howard, and with the addition of three-point shooters such as Parker and Hansen, they already have an advantage against the Magic.

Although the Celtics brought in Rasheed Wallace, except for Pierce, all the core players of the team have passed their peak and were unable to stop the Cavaliers.

The official evaluation is that the Cavaliers have no rivals in the Eastern Conference this season, and their only opponent is the Lakers.

The Cavaliers' first preseason opponent is the Bobcats.

The Bobcats ranked tenth in the Eastern Conference last season and did not make the playoffs. Such an opponent is quite good for the Cavaliers who need to run in.

However, after arriving in Charlotte, Brown announced that James would not play in this game, and veteran Ilgauskas would also rest.

It was a waste of an opportunity to get used to each other. This arrangement was puzzling and Han Sen didn't quite understand it.

But this is good news for him.

After a month of training, what he felt most deeply on the court was James' extreme possessiveness of the ball.

As long as James is on the court, the ball is most likely in his hands.

Now that James is not playing, other players on the Cavaliers will have more opportunities.

On the night of the game, about 10,000 fans flocked to the Bobcats' home court, the Time Warner Center.

The Bobcats have joined the league in 2004 and have yet to make the playoffs. Their popularity in Charlotte is generally average, and since it is a preseason game and James is not playing, it is a surprise to have such a large number of viewers.

Han Sen deserves some credit for this.

During the pre-match warm-up, the photographer on the scene was shooting the camera at Han Sen, and he was greeted with a round of boos.

There's no way, the number 77 on his back is too eye-catching.

Especially since this Bobcats team is now labeled with Jordan, it is impossible for Hansen to be welcomed here.

Listening to the boos, Han Sen felt like it was heavenly music.

Then every boo is worth it from the haters!

Then he was greeted with even louder boos, because Han Sen's expression looked really mean.

Of course there is one exception, Bobcats head coach Larry Brown. Brown has a well-known label that he doesn't like to use rookies, and the contributor to this label comes from Darko Milicic.

But in fact, on that Pistons team, the rookies he used included but were not limited to Tayshaun Prince and Mehmet Okur, both of whom were entrusted with the important task of starting in their sophomore year.

Championship-contending teams do not provide a good training environment for rookies. You can't have both good results and train newcomers. The Warriors later became the most direct negative example of this.

Brown looked at Hansen now and found that he was still as handsome as he was during his tryout in Charlotte.

After all, it’s not that he doesn’t like to use rookies, he just doesn’t like to use players who are not good at defense.

There was also no opening ceremony for the preseason game. After both sides finished warming up, the starting players came on the field one after another.

Cavaliers: Mo Williams, Anthony Parker, Moon, Varejao, O'Neal
Bobcats: Raymond Felton, Gerald Henderson, Gerald Wallace, Boris Diaw, Tyson Chandler
Henderson started, but Hansen did not. According to the fans' standards, "Bread" Brown is less willing to use rookies than old Brown.

After the game started, the Bobcats unexpectedly took the upper hand.

Brown is also a defensive coach, and the defensive ability of this Bobcats team is not necessarily weaker than that of the Cavaliers.

Chandler is good at low-post confrontation, and Wallace and Dio, two swingmen, have fast help defense speed, so O'Neal will be double-teamed as soon as he receives the ball.

Of course, it is not only defense that causes this situation on the field, but also offense.

The Cavaliers' offensive space is too crowded!

The main problem here comes from Varejao.

Varejao's look easily reminds people of another big man in the league, Joakim Noah.

They are of similar height, equally good at defense and organization, and even have the same long hair. The only difference is that Varejao has no shooting ability.

This was not a problem when Ilgauskas was the starting center for the Cavaliers because he had a solid mid-range shot.

Ilgauskas goes to the free throw line, Varejao sets the pick-and-roll, and James can easily get to the basket.

But now paired with O'Neal, he looks stupid on the court, because both Dio and Wallace simply ignored him and went to double-team O'Neal.

Han Sen didn't understand again. He didn't understand why Varejao had no shooting ability at all, just like he didn't understand why James couldn't practice three-point shooting.

Is there a curse on Cleveland?

Well, it must be!
Of course, it's not just Varejao who's causing the Cavaliers' spacing problems, it's also Moon.

As James' substitute, his outside shooting performance is not much better than James.

Halfway through the game, the Bobcats were already leading the Cavaliers by 18 points, 10 to 8.

The score difference was not that big, but the mood of the Bobcats fans at the scene was extremely high.

Yes, the outcome of the preseason games is irrelevant, and James did not play, but the Cavaliers are officially ranked second. In comparison, the Bobcats are 20th.

Now the twenty are suppressing the second, how can it not make people feel good!
At this moment, Wallace directly intercepted the pass from Williams to O'Neal on the defensive end. The Bobcats made a fast break. Henderson received the pass from Wallace and performed a fast break dunk, which completely ignited the Time Warner Center.

At this moment, the first shot that appeared on the LED screen was not Henderson's dunk, but James biting his fingernails on the sidelines.

What is lens language?
I told the Cavaliers not to be too confident and not play with James. Now it's not a question of whether you can win, but whether you will be abused.

Brown felt a little embarrassed, and at this time Malone whispered to him.

Brown nodded, then turned and called Hansen.

Hansen took off his training suit and threw it to Cunningham, then quickly walked towards the technical desk.

Williams forced a breakthrough on the court and caused a foul, the game entered a dead ball, and a short whistle sounded on the sidelines.

Han Sen finally tucked his jersey into his pants and pointed at Moon on the field.

Moon ran over, high-fived him, and left the court.

The back of No. 77 appeared on the big LED screen again, and boos were heard again at the scene.

Han Sen simply waved his hands to signal for the booing to be louder.

Then, amid even louder boos, Han Sen looked up at the scoreboard.

20:10.

During the domestic interview on draft night, Zhang Weiping once asked him how he felt about joining the Cavaliers.

His answer now couldn't be more appropriate at this moment.

You guys really need me!
(End of this chapter)