As the time for the game continued to approach, the on-site DJ began to introduce the two pairs of players. The first player to appear was the Thunder player. The DJ's voice was a bit perfunctory.
When it was time for the Trail Blazers players to play, not only did the DJ's voice get louder, but the entire arena became excited.
As Barkley said before, the Trail Blazers' five-game winning streak this season has exceeded everyone's expectations, including Portland fans.
The team's best start in the past 20 years allowed them to finally see real hope for the team's rise.
When the owners of the last three sets of jerseys, No. 0, No. 36, and No. 12, appeared in the arena one after another, the atmosphere at the scene reached an unprecedented peak.
"I didn't expect that the atmosphere in the Rose Arena was quite good. It was a bit like the scene last year when we entered the finals for the first time."
Westbrook looked at the crazy fans around him in shock.
"Then let's act as the Heat Team today."
Durant, who is not good at words, likes to disguise himself on the court with a cold expression that avoids strangers. This is the inspiration he got from the movie "Terminator".
I have to say, Schwarzenegger's trick is really useful.
Thinking of this, an evil smile appeared on Durant's face, and he was instantly captured by reporters on the sidelines... Ugh, so wretched!
With a whistle, a battle has begun.
Although Ibaka is a well-known running and jumping expert, he still lost to Wang Zelin in the jumping ball.
Lillard took the ball to the frontcourt, and Westbrook defended him.
"Boy, let me see what qualifications you have to wear the No. 0 jersey!"
Although I don’t know why the relationship between Westbrook and Lillard was so bad later, at least now, Westbrook looks at the young man in front of him with a stern face and mature playing style, and his heart is full of expectations.
Obviously, Westbrook subconsciously regarded the young man wearing the same jersey number as himself as one of his many fans.
Lillard did not answer, nor did he fight with Westbrook. After taking two symbolic steps, he found that Wang Zelin began to lift up, and the corners of his mouth slightly curled back, bringing Westbrook closer to Wang Zelin.
Wang Zelin blocked Westbrook with a high pick-and-roll, and Lillard moved in.
Perkins quickly covered up the defense, but suddenly found that the ball in Lillard's hand was gone.
The ball had been transferred to Wang Zelin, who was near the free throw line. The latter slightly touched his toes and raised his hand to score a two-pointer.
"Uh-huh."
The mid-range shooting ability of 80% is as stable as a dog.
When Wang Zelin and Lillard high-fived, they didn't notice that Ade's mouth on the other side opened slightly, but then closed it, as if nothing happened.
But only the clenched fist silently hinted at the imbalance in his heart.
"Cool, Wang and Lillard's double pick-and-roll has become more and more tacit. If this continues, the Trail Blazers will have a new set of killer moves."
Kenny Smith appropriately expressed his opinion.
"Don't worry, with KD on the Thunder team, he is unsolvable."
Buckley knew what his old partner meant, but he ignored it and continued to sit firmly on the Diaoyutai.
The Thunder's offense has been tempered for several seasons and appears to be in perfect harmony.
After several rounds of ball rotation, Durant finally completed the finishing task.
After casually glancing at Batum in front of him, Durant pulled it up after a few tentative steps.
Although Batum desperately reached out to interfere, he could only barely reach Durant's arm.
This distance was enough to make all his previous efforts completely in vain.
"Uh-huh."
Two points tied the game at 2:2.
Batum faced off against Durant more than once, but every time they faced off, he felt deep despair.
This B is so fake!
When Durant is at his peak, he is out of position for everyone he hits. Except for his physical strength and his second brother, no one can guard him. When he completes the shooting action, whether he scores or not has nothing to do with the defensive player.
Look at his touch.
Obviously, Durant's touch was very good today.
In the first quarter, Durant made 4 of 5 shots near the free throw line, beating Batum, the Blazers' defensive leader.
Westbrook also went berserk. He forced Lillard to succeed many times and attacked the basket like he was carrying a bag of explosives. Under Wang Zelin's desperate defense, although his shooting rate was only 1 of 5, he also caused Wang Zelin's foul.
Only one minute into the second quarter, Westbrook used Ibaka's pick-and-roll to get inside and hit the basket directly.
Wang Zelin didn't think about it. He only thought about blocking Westbrook's dunk. He could clearly feel that he was in great shape tonight. Seven rebounds in a single quarter was the best proof. He firmly believed that he could block it.
However, Westbrook played very smartly. He fell directly into Wang Zelin's arms in the air, casually threw the basketball in his hand into the air, and fell to the ground.
Of course the referee blew the whistle.
This is already his second foul, the last time was also committed by Westbrook.
"Rookie, you are very brave, but bravery comes at a price."
After getting up from the ground, Westbrook said something similar to words of experience to Wang Zelin.
This man has a lot of backbone!
Westbrook quite likes Wang Zelin, who dares to challenge Howard as soon as he debuts. It's been a long time since there has been a rookie who is so daring.
Wang Zelin chewed his braces hard, feeling unwilling to do so. He had committed two fouls in such a short period of time and would definitely be taken away by the coach.
Sure enough, during the dead ball period, coach Terry removed Wang Zelin and replaced him with JJ Hickson.
Hickson patted Wang Zelin on the butt, but the latter lowered his head and returned to the bench without saying a word.
"Kid, what you have to do now is to watch the game carefully and see how Hickson defends. I will ask you after halftime. I hope you can give me a satisfactory answer."
Coach Terry stood next to Wang Zelin and patted the latter's shoulder. This time he did not explain much because he knew that there were some things that Wang Zelin needed to understand by himself and it was not appropriate for outsiders to say more.
He also believed that with Wang Zelin's talent, he should be able to understand that level of truth on his own. If outsiders talk too much, it would be interference.
Why would the coach say such a thing?
Wang Zelin just nodded without replying. He looked at everything on the court and began to think about whether there was something wrong with his defense just now.
"Wuhu, it seems that our young Chinese player has a little trouble. He has only scored 3 points, 7 rebounds and 2 fouls. This is far below his previous performance."
Seeing Wang Zelin being taken off the field, Barkley began to gloat.
He has not forgotten his previous bet.
Young people, sometimes being too positive is not a good thing, but I don’t know how long it will take you to understand this.
Kenny Smith did not refute and returned his attention to Wang Zelin on the Trail Blazers bench.