After a night, there was no time to prepare for the game. At 8 o'clock in the evening, the Trail Blazers started their back-to-back away games against the Washington Wizards.
Before this game, the Trail Blazers' record was 22 wins and 1 loss, which is still extremely exaggerated. The Wizards' current record is only 8 wins and 13 losses, frequently wandering back and forth between the 8th, 9th, and 10th places in the Eastern Conference.
If you don't open your eyes, no matter who you are, the Trail Blazers will basically win this game.
But the result was that the Trail Blazers lost in the first match of the season between a mid-tier Eastern Conference team and the current No. 1 team!
102:113, which is quite a loss. 102 points is also the Blazers' lowest score in a single game this season, lower than the 105:98 win against the Mavericks by 7 points on November 3.
Bill had 28 points, 3 rebounds and 4 assists, Wall had a near triple-double with 39 points, 7 rebounds and 13 assists, and Kelly Ober on the bench had 19 points, 9 rebounds, 1 assist and 3 steals.
For the Trail Blazers, Wang Zelin made 16 of 28 shots, including 3 of 8 three-pointers, plus 7 of 9 free throws. Although his scoring and efficiency were higher than Wall, he scored 42 points, but they lost the game!
The reasons for losing this game were similar to the previous loss to the Bulls. On the one hand, it was because of the ups and downs of other Blazers players, and on the other hand, it was because of the accuracy of the opponent.
The first reason is actually not difficult to understand. This is a common problem of many strong teams after their long winning streak is suddenly ended. In the following games, the player's state often goes up and down, which is confusing.
This is why many teams often experience several losing streaks once their long winning streak is ended.
The Blazers have not suffered a losing streak, which is something to be thankful for, and it also reflects Wang Zelin's strong ability to protect the bottom line.
In contrast, the second reason appears to be more critical.
The combination of Wall and Beal is seriously underestimated.
At least for now, this is how Wang Zelin feels.
In the original time and space, the 2016~17 season was the year when Wall's personal performance reached its peak. In his previous life, Wall not only showed his all-round skills in this season, averaging 23.1 points, 10.7 assists, 4.2 rebounds and 2 steals per game, but also his comprehensive offensive and defensive efficiency and game influence.
Career best.
In addition, Bradley Beal has also grown into an active quasi-first-class scorer averaging about 25 points per game this season, and the Wizards have completely turned into a true dual-core team.
But in my memory, the Wizards went through a period of adjustment in the first half of the season, and only caught up after the All-Star weekend.
This trend continued from the edge of the Eastern Conference playoffs to the end of the season. In the end, under the leadership of the two-gun combination, the Wizards achieved the best regular season record of 49 wins and 33 losses in team history, and advanced to the playoffs as the fourth seed in the Eastern Conference.
.
In the playoffs, they reached the semifinals and fought the Celtics, the runner-up in the Eastern Division, for seven games before losing.
That's why Wang Zelin said that the Wizards' double-gun backcourt is seriously underestimated at this stage.
Due to their mediocre record, the outside world has often commented that the Wizards are a bad combination. In the second half of the season, the Wizards will slap them in the face.
It was also during this season that John Wall was infinitely close to being the number one point guard in the Eastern Conference.
If it weren't for the emergence of Isaiah Thomas, it would not be an exaggeration to call Wall the first control player in the East.
It's a pity that there is no what if...
Point guards from other strong teams in the East.
Kyrie Irving?
In the Cavaliers, even Cousins may not be able to compete for the second place position.
Derrick Rose?
Although the youngest MVP in the past did not wither early due to a series of injuries, he was ultimately unable to resist the impact of injuries, and his strength declined rapidly. Now he has given up his position as the Bulls' star player to the younger and more powerful Anthony.
Davis.
Kyle Lowry?
A representative of the late bloomer, currently averaging 22 7 5 per game. However, the Raptors are alone in the north and are used to being ignored all year round. In addition, Lowry himself lacks star talent, so he is a typical example of strength greater than fame.
The rest, like Kemba Walker and Jeff Teague, are not as good as Rose, Irving, and Lowry. How can they compete for control of the East?
Now the competition for East Control mainly revolves around Wall and Thomas Jr.
…
…
Losing against the Wizards for the first time in the new season, if you want to say how much of a blow it was to the Trail Blazers... it really didn't happen. You will always lose when you lose. No team in history has been able to win an entire regular season without defeat.
Unbeatable.
The first match of the season was even more difficult to control. Compared with the great importance the Wizards paid to their Trail Blazers, the Trail Blazers had more powerful enemies to guard against, making it impossible for them to focus entirely on the Wizards.
On the body.
It is no exaggeration to say that in the Trail Blazers' defense plan this season, the Wizards are not even included.
But after losing, the pressure on the team must have become greater.
Don't look at what many fans are joking about online now. The first match between the Wizards and Trail Blazers should not be viewed just as an ordinary regular season game. Instead, the Trail Blazers led by Wang Zelin will face the challenges of the Washington area.
Targeted poverty alleviation at a time.
To put it more seriously, Wang Zelin chose to let go in order to maintain the friendship between China and the United States, sacrificing his personal self to fulfill his greater self.
Emmm... Wang just wanted to say: Ah, yes, yes!
Of course, Wang Zelin is not a trolling netizen. He knows that the Wizards team is not as weak as it seems on the surface, so he naturally ignores the trolling comments on the Internet.
The Wizards managed to make it to the second round of the Eastern Conference in their previous life, and it was not an ordinary second round trip. In the end, they reached the tiebreaker and lost by 10 points.
After returning to the hotel, at his suggestion, the coaching staff paid more attention to the Wizards and held a post-game meeting in the hotel conference room to analyze tonight's game.
The first is Bradley Beal, one of the Wizards' two guns. This guy is improving every year.
In the 2014-15 season, although Bill only averaged 15 points per game, his 52.1% true shooting percentage and 3.7 win shares proved that his ability was at least above the current level at the same position.
Last season, Bill averaged 17 points per game, and his offensive efficiency continued to improve. His field goal percentage reached 44.9% and his true shooting percentage reached 54.7%.
He has improved again this season, with all statistics reaching career highs. His basic statistics averaged 23 points, 3.1 rebounds, 3.5 assists, 1.2 steals and 0.3 blocks per game.
Among them, the field goal percentage soared to 48.2%, the three-point shooting percentage remained above 40%, and he was called a sharpshooter. His true shooting percentage also exceeded a career high of 60.4%.
After analyzing Bill's data performance in the past three seasons, the coaching staff's unanimous view is:
The Wizards' No. 3 is greatly underestimated!
Just in terms of combat effectiveness among current players at the same position, Bill is enough to be discussed among the top ten shooting guards currently in service.
Then they analyzed Wall again and found that Wall also ushered in the best year of his career. First, with a career-high ball usage rate of 30.6%, he basically maintained an average of about 23 10 4 2 per game.
The data.
First in the league in steals, second in the league in assists, 12th in the league in shots per game, 17th in the league in hits per game, Changjun is 17th in the league in serving, 22nd in the league in scoring...
This season, Wall does have a ball-carrying, big-core style of play.
Although many people in the previous life have said that this style of play will be difficult to achieve in the playoffs, in the regular season, the ball-holding and core play can indeed greatly improve the team's lower limit.
Many times, as long as this "big core" is strong, the team can always achieve a good regular season record.
After this battle, the Trail Blazers' record became 22 wins and 2 losses, still leading the league.
The Wizards' record has improved, reaching 9 wins and 13 losses.
However, this game is of great significance to Wall.
Because under the background of the Trail Blazers, Wall, who played a highly valuable quasi-40 triple-double, once again became famous. Not only did his status in the league improve, but even the outside world's opinions about his "Eastern No. 1 Control"
becomes louder and louder.
Faintly, it almost overwhelms little Thomas.
After all, compared to Thomas, who has suddenly emerged this season, Wall, who was born as the No. 1 pick, has accumulated much more in the past few years than Thomas.
In the eyes of many fans, Wall slowly grew into the number one point guard in the Eastern Conference today step by step, and the emotions he poured into him were also different.
Otherwise, will the training system be so popular in the future?