The time has arrived on November 9th, the game day between the Trail Blazers and Nuggets has arrived.
After a night of preparation time, at 7 o'clock in the evening, the Trail Blazers ushered in the first back-to-back game of the new season at home.
However, even in back-to-back games, the Blazers played no differently than usual.
Because most of the core players in the team are young people, and young people are famous for their endurance. Basically, they play back-to-back games, so they will not be greatly affected, and they are playing at home.
What's more, tonight's opponent, the Denver Nuggets, is a team that has clearly entered a rebuilding period.
At the end of the night, the game between the Trail Blazers and the Nuggets ended with a score of 114:92. The Trail Blazers defeated the Nuggets with a 22-point victory at home.
In this game, Wang Zelin only played a total of 26 minutes. He made 8 of 13 shots, 4 of 4 free throws, and scored 20 points, 10 rebounds, 2 assists, and 1 block. His scoring was still efficient and his performance was still good.
Having said that, the Trail Blazers were able to win the game easily while Wang Zhelin played three quarters of basketball. I have to say that this is an excellent momentum to win the championship, a pretty good momentum.
After playing back-to-back games at home, the Trail Blazers will move elsewhere in the upcoming schedule.
But even if they play away from home, they play the same as at home, there is no difference.
The team won the championship last season and Wang Zelin reaped numerous honors. At the same time, the Trail Blazers also accumulated a certain number of fans in many away games. No matter which away game they go to, there will be a lot of knowledgeable fans to support them.
Especially when it comes to some bad teams, for example, their opponents on Singles Day on November 11th played the Hornets.
When playing away games like this, the noise they receive is sometimes louder than that of the home team, and even some fans will switch sides and cheer on the spot.
After halftime, the Trail Blazers led the Hornets by a full 21 points, 63:41.
As expected, it will be another three-quarter check-in game.
During the halftime break, the huge score difference made the entire Hornets locker room extremely quiet.
They know that the Trail Blazers are very strong, and they also know that there is a big gap between themselves and their opponents...
However, this gap is too big!
When the game actually started, the cruelty of reality made all the Hornets players feel a little incredible.
Yes, the Trail Blazers are indeed the defending champion team, but at the same time they are also a team headed by a group of young people, and many of their rookie contracts have not yet expired!
As a result, they have a powerful strength that is proud of the alliance, which is really incredible.
Soon, the third quarter began.
Coach Terry sent out the entire main lineup as soon as he came up, and his intention was quite obvious:
Harvest the field!
From the beginning, the Trail Blazers played wonderful tactical cooperation throughout the game, with more than 6 times in the world. In the end, Adridge made a solid mid-range shot from the free throw line.
Then there was a mercury-like offensive wave, which caused a burst of excited cheers from the fans at the scene.
At the end of this quarter, the Trail Blazers scored 39 points in a single quarter, almost breaking the historical regular season scoring record for the best single quarter.
The score on the court also became 102:55!
If this continues, the May 8 tragedy will reappear.
Although the Hornets team in front of me is not the same Hornets team that Paul led back then, the players of the Charlotte Hornets don't want to be abused so badly!
Fortunately, in the fourth quarter, Wang Zelin and others did not intend to repeat the 58 tragedy... After all, it was just a regular season game, not a playoff game, and its gold content and influence were not as great as the latter.
Therefore, Coach Terry did not play Wang Zelin this time, and did not even play a main player. He directly replaced Jokic, Beverley, Will Barton and others in advance.
It’s time for training!
…
120:89, after a busy quarter, the Hornets chased the nearly 50-point difference to just over 30 points, but this did not prevent the Trail Blazers from having the last laugh!
“Well done!”
After the game, Coach Terry stood up and hugged the players excitedly.
After winning the Hornets, the Trail Blazers' winning streak has reached 8 consecutive victories. The most important thing is that they are now first in the Western Conference! They are also first in the league!
Among the 30 teams in the league at this stage, strong teams such as the Oklahoma City Thunder, San Antonio Spurs, and Los Angeles Clippers in the West, the Cleveland Cavaliers, Atlanta Hawks, and Chicago Bulls in the East have played nearly ten games.
After that, I more or less lost one or two games.
Only the Portland Trail Blazers have not lost a game so far!
What is defending champion? (tactical fallback)
This is the defending champion!
And judging from the current trend, the Trail Blazers are very likely to become the first team in the league to win 10 consecutive games.
Wang Zelin and the Trail Blazers he led did not live up to the high expectations that so many people only had with them before the new season started.
In contrast, if you want to choose the most disappointing team at present, the Indiana Pacers in the Eastern Conference must be the first!
The Pacers have currently played 7 games, 1 less than the Trail Blazers. However, in the previous 7 games, except for the opening game where they defeated the 75ers and got a good start, the next 6 games will be without exception.
All lost!
In fact, in August this year, Pacers head coach Paul George accidentally suffered a severe fracture of his right calf and was basically determined to miss all games in the following 2014~2015 season. Both the local fans of Indiana and the major media were already prepared.
The Pacers' psychological preparation for a decline in record.
Of course, their psychological preparation also has a bottom line, which is to guarantee the Eastern Conference playoffs. After all, the Pacers ranked first in the division last season and ranked fourth in the league.
Even with the loss of Paul George, the outside world's expectations for the Pacers in the new season have never fallen out of the playoff ranks.
However, the entire Pacers team disappointed them.
Especially the Indiana fans, they couldn't help but start complaining after the team knelt down three times in a row. From the management to the players and coaching staff, no one escaped.
Even some extreme fans, even Paul George, who was recovering from injury, did not let go.
However, what they didn't expect was that the louder the noise, the more the Pacers would dare to lose.
Successfully rendered them speechless!
After being speechless, there were even louder voices of anger and complaints.
Of course, these have nothing to do with Wang Zelin and the Trail Blazers.
After the game, Wang Zelin attended the team's press conference with Lillard and Aldridge.
The three Portland young men’s daily compliment session.
"I love Wang so much. He is the best big man in the league. He is truly impeccable on the court, and this is why we have been able to win consecutively until now."
"Haha, LaMarcus should make a few fewer mid-range shots in this game, otherwise the upgrade of his arsenal will be revealed too early, which will not be a good blow to us."
"One thing to say, Damien's offense is not only more stable, but his defense is also getting better and better. Look at his three steals, it almost makes me wet, hahaha!"
"..."
Throughout the interview session, the three young masters were talking and laughing, setting the atmosphere of the press conference very well.
Coach Terry was also laughing non-stop. It was the greatest luck in his life to be able to coach the Trail Blazers in such a good atmosphere.