Chapter 571 Ending the losing streak, Neptune leaves
Amid the boos from the away fans, Lillard received the ball and advanced to the frontcourt. He saw that the opponent's defense was already in position.
Opposite Lillard is Jrue Holiday, a tough defensive guard whose shortcoming is that his shooting is not very stable. Although his offense is not very stable, the reason why he is recognized by so many teams is because of his shooting.
related to defensive ability.
It is worth mentioning that Jrue Holiday will also have a quite interesting name in the future: "Lillard's Nemesis!"
It's because in a series of playoffs in a certain year, under Holiday's iron-blooded defense, Lillard, who has entered the peak period of his career and has explosive scoring ability, made 25 of 71 shots in total in 4 games.
It's substandard.
That should be the worst series in Lillard's career. In addition to having something to do with his own injuries, another part of the reason is that he encountered a top defender like Holiday.
Of course, Lillard obviously doesn't know that the No. 11 in front of him will cause him an extremely embarrassing scene in the future.
At this time, he only had one thought in his heart, which was to play well tonight.
After testing the outside a few times and realizing that the defense of No. 11 on the opposite side was extremely solid and that it might be difficult for him to break through, he decisively called a pick-and-roll.
Upon seeing this, Jokic immediately moved to a high position to cover Lillard.
At this time, Lillard has by no means reached the peak of his playing career, but fortunately, the opposite pig Holiday has been affected by injuries in the past two seasons, and his competitive state has not yet recovered to that of the 2012 All-Star Game.
Qi Heng stepped out of the way and failed to follow him immediately.
"When there is a chance, what will Lillard choose? Oh, he shot directly from outside the three-point line. This is Lillard's first shot in this game, or is it a three-pointer? Can he score?
"
As soon as today's on-site commentator Brent Barry finished speaking, the Nets burst into white waves.
3:2.
Lillard happily showed three fingers, and then called on his teammates to quickly return to defense.
In front of the bench, Wang Zelin stood up excitedly and waved a towel for Lillard with excitement on his face.
At this time, an attentive reporter discovered that the hand Wang Zelin was waving the towel with was actually his injured left hand.
Could it be said that Wang Zelin's injury is not as serious as what is reported on the Internet?
But no matter what, the reporter has already recorded this scene, and at this moment has already thought about what to write after today's game.
He always felt that today's scene seemed to be foreshadowing something, maybe there was a breaking point waiting for him.
Return to the field.
The Pelicans attacked for the second time, and this time they still played the same game.
In this year's trade market, the Pelicans, Mosaic, and Wizards reached a three-way deal. From this deal, the Pelicans obtained Mosaic's center Omer Asik for the past two seasons.
In the past two seasons, due to the very similar technical style and the presence of Howard who surrounded him in all aspects, the Turkish center's tactical position in the team has been repeatedly weakened. Coupled with an accidental injury last year, he only played for half a season. He finally
Abandoned by Mosaic team management.
It just so happened that the Pelicans management was willing to take over at this time, and the two teams were satisfied with the deal.
Currently, Asik has played for the Pelicans in more than 20 games, averaging 7+9 per game, which is barely qualified for a weak team.
Of course, the biggest effect of his arrival is to better free up Anthony Davis, allowing the latter to shift more of his attention to offense.
After halftime, Pig Holiday passed the ball to Davis who wanted the ball in the mid-range for a single.
Davis faced Jokic in the mid-range and was full of confidence. The Pelicans fans shouted desperately. They wanted to see how their No. 1 pick would teach the Trail Blazers' rookies this year!
As the new hope of the United States in the domestic field, Davis, who was known as the "Son of the United States" before entering the league, is definitely a representative of extraordinary talent.
Of course, judging from the normal development rules, as the No. 1 pick, Davis's growth rate is completely worthy of the outside world's expectations. This is why the outside world now generally believes that if the 12th draft is rearranged, Davis will no longer be selected as the first round pick.
No. 1 selected...
It's entirely because this year they have produced a once-in-a-decade super rookie Wang Zelin who is comparable to guys like O'Neal and Duncan!
I can only blame him for being so unlucky!
In order to face the doubts from the media and fans, this summer, Davis strengthened his outside shooting, breakthrough dribbling and post-up skills in order to prove himself.
The Davis in front of him has improved so fast that he has surpassed the Davis in Wang Zelin's memory.
It can only be said that the environment can really affect a person's growth.
After taking a few tentative steps in the middle distance, Davis suddenly accelerated his breakthrough and wanted to pass the fat white man in front of him in one step.
There were already people cheering outside the court, but things went counterproductive. As soon as Davis took a step forward, he was blocked by Jokic!
The weight loss during this period is not in vain. Fans who have watched the game should be able to find that in the past few games, Jokic's lateral speed has improved dramatically compared to the beginning of the game.
At this moment, Adams appeared under the basket at the right time and jumped up to block the shot.
"Snapped!"
After Adams sent a big shot, he immediately took off twice to grab the rebound, found Lillard immediately, then turned around and ran towards the opposite half.
Lillard received the ball, keenly noticed the loopholes in the opponent's formation, accelerated decisively, and launched a fast break.
He was in the middle, Connett Lee and Adams were on both sides, and the three arrows were shooting down at the same time.
If it is a truly strong team, it will naturally be difficult to give its opponent such a fast break opportunity... Unfortunately, the Pelicans are still far behind!
In the end, only Jrue Holiday returned to defense in time for the Pelicans, but trying to defend one against three is obviously unrealistic.
"Steven!"
Lillard shouted and threw the ball into the sky from outside.
Connett Lee and Adams knew it. The former could slow down and move closer to the right, blocking Jrue Holiday. The latter accelerated his sprint, entered the paint area after two steps, jumped up, and caught the pass...
This chapter is not over, please click on the next page to continue reading! "Bang!"
A rather violent two-hand smash.
"Steven! Steven!"
Wang Zelin was the first to stand up and cheer for his teammates. Those who didn't know better thought he was the cheerleader.
"Steven! Steven! Steven!"
Under his leadership, more than 2,000 Trail Blazers fans at the scene also shouted loudly.
To be honest, if you just ask Adams from a blue-collar perspective, Adams is definitely a very good center. Although he is not a star, he has a hard-working character, does not have a big mouth, does not complain, and does not care about statistics, as long as he can win.
A player who can do anything with the ball is perfect as a teammate.
And this is actually the case.
When Jokic was selected by the Trail Blazers with the title of "Wang Zelin Appointed" and then quickly replaced him as the first substitute center last season, Adams said it was false to say that he was not disappointed, but he never showed it.
I choose to practice hard every day after returning home, just to be reused by the team again.
As a rookie, Adams is both lucky and unlucky.
Fortunately, he was able to follow strong teammates when he first entered the league. The strong team went all the way and won the first championship of his career. Adams, who has experienced the culture of a strong team when he first debuted, will definitely aspire to be in the league even more in the future.
I will make unremitting efforts to achieve this goal.
Unfortunately, due to limited talent, Adams did not receive good training resources in such a championship-level team, and the team management did not have much patience to wait for Adams to grow.
Because they have Wang Zelin, that's enough.
If this is not enough, now that the Trail Blazers have another talent, Jokic who is obviously better than Adams, the team management has no reason to devote their only resources to developing Adams instead of Jokic.
Generally speaking, in this case, the only way for the player to prove his future is to be traded by the team and then try to get some immediate combat power.
After all, how can a team with real championship potential have so much time and energy to train a rookie...unless it is a rookie with strong immediate combat ability like O'Neal, Duncan and now Wang Zelin who has debuted and reached his peak.
Obviously, Adams cannot reach this level.
In fact, on the night when Wang Zelin was injured and left early in the last game, Adams was already put on the trade shelf by the team management.
Regarding the fact that he is very likely to be traded, Adams himself also received the news this morning.
At first, he must have felt anxious and panicked, but when he learned another piece of news: the head coach would most likely assign him to the center position tonight.
He was able to quickly correct his mentality and promised the coaching staff:
As long as he is on the team, he will do his best to play every next game.
Today's game is not only the first time Adams has played as a center since joining the Trail Blazers, it may also be the last time.
Therefore, he cherished every minute and every second on the court today...
Looking back, the Pelicans quickly launched a counterattack.
Davis continued to ask for the ball and beat Jokic in isolation. This time he was more cautious. After a few tests, Jokic passed him cleanly.
Seeing that the basket was temporarily unattended, Davis was heartbroken and strode in.
After a few steps, he jumped up with the ball in his hands. The fans on the sidelines were restless and finally saw the long-awaited scene.
Go buckle!
It really wreaked havoc on the Trail Blazers' basket.
But no one noticed that there was a figure running towards the left corner quickly.
"ah!!!!"
Davis had already roared, and he clearly felt that the ball had already reached the basket, and he was just missing the last tremor.
"Snapped!"
With a sudden block, Adams dunked with all certainty, and the dunk flew away!
"this……"
Brent Barry wanted to speak, but found he couldn't make a sound.
He was so surprised!
Who is that handsome white guy No. 12 on the court? He has such athletic ability and a sense of blocking shots?
You know, the person he just blocked was Anthony Davis, who was once the most popular and the most popular player in the 12th draft!
Even now, even though Davis is now further and further away from Wang Zelin, who was in the same class, he is still one of the best big men currently in service.
In the eyes of many people, Davis is even the best fourth position in the new generation!
From this perspective, he and Wang Zelin can be compared together.
well, let's get back to business.
Return to the playing field.
Davis landed and looked behind him at Trail Blazers No. 12, who was blocking him. His first reaction was:
Damn it! Who is this guy?
At this moment, he was also shocked inside.
But the game waited for no one. Will Barton was in an excellent position and immediately touched the rebounded ball, then turned around and started a fast break.
As soon as he reached the center circle, Will Barton suddenly threw the ball to the right!
Jrue Holiday immediately looked over and his expression changed drastically, because on the right side of the 45-degree three-point line stood Lillard wearing Trail Blazers No. 0.
This is a three-point maniac who scored 177 three-pointers in his rookie year, breaking the previous record of 166 three-pointers in a rookie season held by Stephen Curry. Wouldn't it be great if this guy got an open shot?
…
"Whoosh!"
The clear sound of a hollow goal hitting the net came, and Jrue Holiday immediately stopped in his tracks.
At 8:2, the Pelicans were in crisis as soon as the game started.
Is it the pressure of defending the championship?
Even in the state of remnant formation...
Pelicans fans were originally looking forward to seeing the progress of their players and wanting to see the home team take advantage of the absence of Wang Zelin and others to steal a chicken. But what did they see?
On the offensive end, Damian Lillard hit consecutive three-pointers at the beginning!
A defensive end blocked two shots in the beginning... Oh, damn, they couldn't even remember the name of the No. 12 on the opposite side.
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! Of course, this is no longer important.
What's important is that they saw Anthony Davis play two singles in a row, both of which ended in tragic ways as his opponents beat him.
Please tell them how to play this game?
Are the Pelicans players on the court worthy of the votes in their hands?
So, here comes the classic part again:
I'll give you my money back!
The difference is that the poor North American people don't have as rich a vocabulary as we do in China, so they can only express their dissatisfaction with the home team's current performance by constantly booing.
Beep————!
Pelicans coach Monty Williams took the initiative to call a timeout.
"Hush! Hush! Hush..."
The fans on the sidelines were naturally more and more dissatisfied.
what is this?
If they take the initiative to admit that they can't beat the Trail Blazers in their broken formation?
The next moment, when the camera showed the Pelicans bench, it showed the young leader of the Pelicans, Anthony Davis...
Only then did people realize that Davis had buried his head in the towel. At this moment, the young and proud man was filled with confusion.
He even began to doubt his ability?
This is the mentality of the leader, let alone other role players.
…
"104:91, the Portland Trail Blazers finally defeated the Pelicans by 13 points in the away game. They proved with practical actions that even if it is back-to-back, even if they lose their star Wang Zelin and three other main players, they can still win.
Still one of the best teams in the West;
Defending champion, this is how it should be!
Failure is only short-lived, pain is also short-lived, and a bright future awaits them ahead!"
The buzzer that signaled the end of the game sounded throughout the New Orleans Arena, and Brent Barry quickly made the final commentary.
After the game, Wang Zelin raised his arms excitedly, rushed to the court, and hugged Adams.
In this game, Adams played 33 minutes and scored 12 points, 16 rebounds and 4 blocks. All three statistics set career highs, and his performance was quite impressive.
In the end, he overpowered Lillard, who scored 26 points and 9 assists, and was named the best player in the game.
Adams, who was named the best player of the match for the first time, turned red in the face.
However, the good times did not last long. Before everyone could be happy for too long, after the game, the Trail Blazers officially announced the news that Adams had been traded.
