() Every year, the league actually creates some gimmicks for certain NBA matchups.
For example, the Magician versus Big Bird in the 1980s. For example, the fateful battle between Jordan and the "Bad Boys" Pistons in the 1990s. Or for example, Yao Ming's confrontation with Shaquille O'Neal when he first entered the league.
This year, in fact, there are still many matchups that can attract attention in the league. Although O'Neal's return to Los Angeles after traveling eastward was placed on Christmas Day, we don't know the situation yet, but there is no doubt that it will create one of the ratings this year.
Crazy.
The reason why the league arranged the Bulls and Magic in the season opener is because these two teams have Jay Sean and Howard, rookies dueling, and these two rookies have been in the hot debate in the United States for the No. 1 pick in the previous draft.
, so it is very eye-catching.
All these games will make this league a lot of money.
But it seems that David Stern is not very satisfied.
Therefore, he single-handedly created the war of words between Chen Jie and O'Neal.
He hopes that he can play a final role before O'Neal expires. He wants to extract all the remaining value from O'Neal.
As for why he chose Chen Jie, Stern also had some ideas.
Firstly, outside players are more popular with fans than inside players. Secondly, Chen Jie is Chinese. Behind him, he will soon gather a huge market and influence no less than Yao Ming. Thirdly, Chen Jie is a Chinese.
He was a topical figure when he entered the league, attracting more attention than James and others last year.
After learning that Chen Jie was benched for contradicting the coach in his first year at the NCAA, Stern had a vague outline of a "conspiracy" in his mind.
In his opinion, Chen Jie from China is different from another Chinese player Yao Ming. His character is more exciting, he is more impulsive, not as steady as Yao Ming, and his way of playing is more exciting and more exciting.
Fans love it, and it all adds up to Stern having an overall plan.
He decided to build Chen Jie into the flagship of the alliance, at least, the alliance's flagship in the Asian market.
Obviously, he is much more suitable than Yao Ming.
Of course, Stern does not think this is a conspiracy, he just thinks it is a plan, a plan to develop the alliance. Moreover, it is a win-win plan, which is also good for Chen Jie.
Therefore, he boldly implemented this plan.
The reporter who praised Chen Jie and seduced Chen Jie into accidentally saying something that could make the media hype was arranged by Stern.
Afterwards, the media amplified O'Neal's words infinitely, and Stern acquiesced.
What he has to do is create the image of a rookie who has just entered the league, has a high ambition, and dares to challenge everything.
He knows that such an image will make many people interested in Chen Jie, and then follow him, like him or hate him, support him or oppose him. In that way, as long as there is controversy and eyeballs, then his plan will succeed.
Already.
And now, it seems, he has done it all.
The two people involved, Chen Jie and O'Neill, seemed to be kept in the dark.
At least, right now, they don't know that they are being plotted by the CEO.
When the game started, the ratings hit a new high since the start of the game, even catching up with last year's finals.
When the players from both sides greeted each other before the game, O'Neal just smiled at Chen Jie, as if he was afraid of having physical contact with him.
But to Chandler, Curry, Hinrich and Griffin, O'Neal gave them a warm hug.
This scene, in the eyes of the media, became material for hype.
In fact, Stern's plan was based on Chen Jie's high-spirited mentality when he first entered the league and O'Neal's arrogant mentality!
He knew that as long as the other party showed the slightest disrespect to him, O'Neal would ignore the media hype and not give that person a good face.
After all, this big live treasure has been in the league for more than ten years, and Stern knows his character well.
As for Chen Jie's character, Stern analyzed it entirely from the perspective of a few things he did in the NCAA and from the perspective of a young man. Now it seems that, if not completely correct, it is almost the same.
He is really a terrible person! Otherwise, he would not have led the professional league that was at the bottom of the United States when he took over to where it is today.
However, if Chen Jie and O'Neill knew about such a "conspiracy", they might not be as happy as he thought!
Not everyone likes to be calculated. Even this calculation is good for him.
After the game started, the Bulls still played a steady positional battle in the first six minutes.
Probably because he was stimulated by Chen Jie, O'Neal, who had been lazy in the previous games, was particularly active today and kept asking to play Chandler in singles.
Although his free throws have been criticized, O'Neal's hook shot and footwork around the basket can really be said to be the best among centers in the league now, even better than Yao Ming.
Even Olajuwon was full of praise for the softness of his hook.
He gave 100% of his attention, and it was really difficult for Chandler to guard him.
The game reached six minutes, and when the Bulls were about to start their first wave of shock, O'Neal had already scored ten points.
After every score, he would roar angrily and walk past Chen Jie intentionally or unintentionally, as if to demonstrate.
Although he is already in his thirties and has played in the league for more than ten years, O'Neal is really like a child sometimes.
He didn't even care that every move he made on the field would be captured by the camera.
In the first six minutes, Chen Jie never made a breakthrough.
He was not scared because of what O'Neal said before the game, but because of the Bulls' tactics in these games, Duhon Luol Deng would be replaced at about six minutes to start the attack, and he needed to conserve his energy.
Therefore, in the first six minutes, Chen Jie was still looking for touch and tried three long-range shots from the outside, but only hit one.
Curry was faced with O'Neal's oppressive defense today. The Sharks really worked hard today, maintaining a high degree of concentration on both the offensive and defensive ends. Shaq, who once informed the league that he was a loser, seems to be back again.
In this way, Wade, another superstar of the Heat, was basically reduced to the target. He kept feeding O'Neal the ball, and on the defensive end, he worked hard to restrict Chen Jie, his former NCAA opponent.
By the time Luol and Dunduhon came on the court, six minutes and 35 seconds had passed and the Heat were leading by six points, 18-12.
This gap is nothing to the Bulls who are about to start a shock wave!
Pat Riley (Note. In fact, the head coach of the Heat at this time in history was Van Gundy, but due to the chain reaction caused by the emergence of the protagonist, Van Gundy coached the Magic in advance, and Riley also returned to the Heat in advance.) Seeing Lu
Er Deng and Duhon came on the field, knowing that the Bulls were about to start an attack. They originally wanted to replace O'Neal, but unexpectedly, Shaq actually waved his hand, indicating that he would continue to play. There is no solution to the storm, now, let me see!
