In the locker room before the game, players from both teams were making final preparations for the game.
As the defending champion and playing at home, the Trail Blazers are obviously more confident than the Cavaliers. Everyone is doing their own thing in an orderly manner, except...Nikola Jokic!
As the only rookie on the team this year, Jokic's mentality will become tense in the initial stage every time he steps to a higher level after the playoffs.
This is normal. Except for a few rookies who are debuting in six-god uniforms and holding full-level numbers, or some older rookies whose mentality is becoming more mature, Jokic's current mentality is actually that of most NBA rookies.
The only way to go.
What's more, in his rookie year, Jokic served as an important rotation member of the defending champion team and broke into the finals with the team that countless NBA superstars can only dream of throughout their careers!
To say I'm not nervous would be an absolute lie.
Fortunately, the Trail Blazers are a team with a great atmosphere, and they are also a young team. The encouragement of veterans and the encouragement of young players such as Wang Zelin quickly stabilized Jokic's mentality.
Jokic knows very well how important tonight's game is to his future career. If he can have some wonderful shots, it may directly help the development of his entire career.
Therefore, he is both nervous and excited now, but as a future MVP player, Jokic naturally has potential that ordinary players do not have, such as... desire!
A strong desire to win!
All the difficulties and obstacles will not make Jokic decadent, but will only make him become a strong man faster than his other self in the original time and space!
Wang Zelin, who was sitting opposite, saw that Jokic had regained his composure and confidence with the help of the team. He smiled and nodded, and even the corners of his mouth slightly raised inadvertently.
This is the mentality you should have if you want to become a strong person.
the other side.
Sitting in the visiting team's locker room at the Rose Garden Arena, everything in front of James was extremely familiar, as if it was his away game.
After all, he had also stayed in this place in the summer of June last year, but that journey did not leave him with any good memories, only failure and humiliation.
But tonight, he will get back what he lost with his own hands.
"Everyone, get ready. I need you to play the toughest attitude as soon as you go on the court. This is the Rose Garden Arena, which is the most difficult place in the league to conquer, so we must seize the opportunity as soon as we go on the court!"
Cavaliers coach David Blatt is doing pre-game mobilization, but the effect doesn't seem to be obvious.
"Bah bang bang!"
At this time, Tyronn Lue, the team's first assistant coach, stepped forward.
"When you came in just now, you should have seen the two championship flags hanging high above the Rose Garden Arena, right? Now please think carefully in your mind, if such flags can also be hung in our home court,
What a wonderful thing it would be!”
"The last time Cleveland won a sporting event was in 1964! Half a century has passed and this city needs to be reborn! Some things need some people to do. If you don't do it now, you will never do it again!"
"So, for Cleveland, go for it!
"
Tyronn Lue, who studied under Doc Rivers, used his later experience to explain what it means to be better than someone who is better than someone else. Even though he is still a little immature now, compared to Blatt just shouting slogans, players obviously like him more.
This set.
Especially for James, a son of Akron who was born and raised in Cleveland, Tyronn Lue's words were like a heavy hammer, instantly hitting his heart.
At this moment, he is like a top-notch supercar loaded with fuel. Just waiting for the starting gun to sound, he will sprint out with maximum horsepower!
After Coach Lu finished shouting, all the Cavaliers players walked out of the locker room angrily.
On the surface, he didn't do anything wrong, and everything he did was for the good of the team. But as the coach, Blatter blushed with embarrassment at this moment, and could only stay in place in embarrassment...
When the Cavaliers players came out to warm up, they found that the Trail Blazers had already taken shots on the court.
Take a deep breath in the autumn air of the Rose Garden. Nothing has changed here from last year. The smell of gunpowder in the air is still strong. Just a little spark will cause the entire arena to explode completely.
"Hello everyone, this is ESPN Sports TV. Today your old friends Kevin Harlan/Whoopi Brown will bring you the live broadcast of the Finals graduation."
As time went by, more and more fans poured into the ball. Two famous all-American commentators, Kevin Allen and the ever-strong Hubie Brown, were already at the commentator's desk. They were fortunate enough to be the finalists of the finals again.
combination.
"Hello everyone in front of the TV, this is the Chaotingtai Sports Channel, I am Zhang Weiping/Sun Zhengping, come on today, we will bring you the live commentary of the first game of the finals."
On the Chaotiantai side, the double team of Zhang Weiping and Sun Zhengping was sent.
From their acquaintance in 1975 to their first collaboration at the 1996 NBA All-Star Game in San Antonio, the duo made their first appearance on the screen and have been working together sincerely for more than ten years, accompanying the growth of generations of basketball fans.
When the sound sounds, there will always be some old fans who can't help but cry.
In addition to being moved, the two also contributed to the famous scene of "Batier made eight out of six shots, right", which was ridiculous.
…
"Beep!"
As soon as the whistle blew, Wang Zelin moved the ball back to half court, and the finals officially kicked off.
Lillard controlled the ball, and after Wang Zelin dropped to the low post, he lobbed the ball in.
As expected, the Trail Blazers opened the game by playing inside.
The Cavaliers did not adopt a double team, but let Cousins defend one alone to see the effect.
Today, Wang Zelin's weight has reached 135 kilograms, making him the heaviest center in the league. The second ranked center is Cousins who weighs 129 kilograms.
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! In the offseason of the past two seasons, Cousins, who has been gaining weight, has slowed down his reaction speed, but his confrontation has actually increased.
It can be considered a sacrifice.
Wang Zelin pushed twice, but for a moment he didn't push Cousins. Although he only used 80% of his strength, it was amazing enough.
This gave the Cavaliers a big surprise.
However, Wang Zelin is not a purely powerful center. Underneath his wild appearance, he also possesses the most abundant inside skills in the league, taking advantage of the situation and turning around and making an outside hook.
Cousins could only look at the ball and sigh.
"Whoosh!"
The sky hook hit, and Wang Zelin showed his soft touch and sent the ball steadily into the basket.
2:0!
The Trail Blazers come out on top!
Although they were not able to perform a brutal cut-and-dunk performance at the beginning like usual, as long as they saw the ball fall into Wang Zhilin's hands smoothly, all Trail Blazers fans would feel inexplicably at ease.
And this is exactly the value of MVP.
In the Cavaliers' offense, Irving advanced to the frontcourt with the ball.
At this moment, Terry Stotts, who was on the bench for the Trail Blazers, suddenly stood up.
Because there was a very surprising scene on the court. On the Cavaliers side, Irving actually chose to cooperate with James as soon as he came up, instead of making a few random moves for seven or eight seconds before releasing the ball as usual.
In fact, regardless of whether Irving plays the 1st position and James plays the 3rd position, Irving's average assist rate is only 24% per game, which is far less than James' 38.6%.
Coach Terry turned his attention and looked up towards the Trail Blazers basket. A line of No. 23 jerseys with dark blue jerseys, yellow arm guards and white boots suddenly appeared in the sky.
Who? LeBron James!
I saw James jumping high, catching the pass almost flatly, and then poured the ball into the basket with one hand.
"boom!"
There was a loud thunder on the ground.
2:2, the two sides tied.
In the Trail Blazers' offense, Wang Zelin and Lillard played a pick-and-roll. After the pick-and-roll, Lillard faced Cousins' throw.
The ball was not scored, but Cousins had no time to shrink the basket. After Wang Zelin grabbed the offensive rebound under the basket, he dunked on the second attack.
4:0!
The scene was shaken by cheers, and Zhang Manyuan even stood up and applauded Wang Zelin's performance.
The Trail Blazers' opening offense was perfect.
On the Lakers bench, Blatt frowned slightly.
Judging from the defense of the opponent's two offensive teams, Cousins was too slow to keep up with Wang Zelin, and he couldn't guard Lillard after being misplaced.
Even though Lillard didn't score, he dared to take action when facing Cousins, and he did find an opportunity. The fact that he didn't score can be attributed to his poor touch, but it's impossible for him to miss the ball.
Fortunately, James was in excellent condition today. He quickly transitioned from offense to defense and advanced on the fast break. When faced with Aldridge's defense, he still successfully tied the ball.
4:4, the two sides tied again.
After scoring a goal, James bent his right arm and kept tapping the strong biceps of his right arm with his left hand. This is one of his common celebration moves.
Oh, Old Man Zhan is in a very excited state today!
Wang Zelin looked at James who was retreating, slightly surprised.
As for his title, why did he change from Brother Zhan to Old Man Zhan?
The reason is simple, because during the introduction today, he remembered that James, who was born at the end of 1984, has turned 30 this season.
It is no longer a joke to call him a thirty-year-old man from now on.
With the ball in the backcourt, the Blazers continued to attack.
The pick-and-roll continued, but this time it was from the outside. After Irving was misplaced, he failed to keep up with Batum. Batum received the ball and made a decisive long shot.
"Clang!"
It's a bit regretful, it's a three-pointer.
Damn it! Where did that big black rat come from?
In the short corner area on the right, Wang Zelin turned his head and was about to rush for the rebound, but found a figure suddenly emerged from the basket, leaped high, grabbed the rebound over the heads of two 2-meter-1 long men, and quickly launched a fast break after landing.
Lao Zhan, why is it you again?
He is already thirty and he can still dance so well.
Seeing that No. 23, who was wearing a dark blue away jersey, had started sprinting, Wang Zelin knew that he could not catch up with the ball, so he simply stopped where he was and couldn't help but complain in his heart.
"boom!"
A few seconds later, there was a scream from the Trail Blazers basket, and James succeeded in a fast-break dunk.
6:4, the Cavaliers took the lead.
Above the arena, his tomahawk dunk was replayed over and over again on the large LED screen.
Although they are enemies tonight, I have to say that James' actual dunk is indeed the best in the league!
Wang Zelin admires James from the bottom of his heart. He is indeed a rookie who has "no progress" since his debut. Nine points of ridicule, very great!
But then again, when I saw James not blushing and out of breath when he retreated after scoring on a fast break...
Mr. Wang: "I want to report the referee, that guy was on drugs today!"
He is obviously so big, but why can he run so fast? And jump so high?