Chapter 719 Three consecutive wins at the beginning
Among the players on the Pelicans, Jimmy Butler is the one Wang Zelin cares about most.
Butler, who had just finished his rookie contract, was traded to the Pelicans and signed a new five-year contract worth 100 million yuan with the Pelicans management, becoming another billionaire contract player in the NBA.
Of course, in addition to signing a big contract, what makes Butler happy is that he has finally become the absolute boss of an NBA team.
In fact, since Butler gradually grew up last season and became an all-around small forward averaging about 20 5 3 1 per game, there have been frequent reports that Butler wants to steal the team's boss. Later, he even had conflicts with some players on the team.
A conflict arose.
However, the Bulls are Rose's team after all.
Even though Rose has been on and off in the past two or three seasons, this cannot diminish Chicago fans' love for this rose.
Until this summer, when it was reported that the Bulls were going to conduct a two-way trade with the Pelicans, Butler became the first main player to be put on the shelf.
After a brief moment of anger, Butler felt more relieved.
There is no place for me to stay here, I have my own place to stay!
It is with this idea in mind that Butler promoted the team's transactions and finally successfully changed the club. Now he has a big contract and tactical status.
Although he had just joined the Tihus and played only a few games, Butler found a long-lost sense of belonging.
From now on, he will fight for himself!
…
During the warm-up session before the game, Wang Zelin took the initiative to say hello to Butler. The two chatted for a few words and then separated.
Before leaving, Wang Zelin specifically checked Butler's player evaluation, which was a full 85, reaching All-Star level standards.
Since last season, Butler's strength has basically reached its peak, with 20 5 3 in the regular season and 22 5 4 in the playoffs. What's even more commendable is that Butler is a star with excellent offense and defense.
Perhaps Butler's talent is destined to prevent him from becoming the boss of the championship team, but if he just lives together with the Pelicans, he is strong enough, and at least he has the possibility of leading the team to the playoffs.
As for other Pelicans players, Eric Gordon was rated 83, Josh Smith was rated 81, Jrue Holiday was rated 79, and Perkins was rated 71...
I don’t know why, but the more he looks at this Pelicans team, the more Wang Zelin feels like he’s watching the Grizzlies.
After carefully looking at the abilities of the opponent's core players, he realized that in the Pelicans' current lineup, except for Perkins, who has very little defensive ability due to his age, whether it is Butler, Smith or Holler,
Di, his defense can definitely be called a defensive champion. Gordon's defense is also above the same level at the same position, which is enough to cover up the shortcomings of insufficient interior defense.
No wonder he feels like he's watching the Grizzlies.
Judging from the strength on paper, the Pelicans can try to adopt the route of iron-blooded defense. They have the potential to become another "dirty stick" in the Western Conference after the Grizzlies.
After the game started, the battle was even more intense than in the opening game. Gordon and Butler played very bravely in the face of strong opponents. They scored 31 points together in the first half. The former scored 14 points and the latter scored 17 points.
After halftime, the Pelicans trailed the Trail Blazers by only 6 points.
But in the third quarter, the Trail Blazers suddenly increased their defensive intensity. As the core leader, Wang Zelin took the lead in defense, and the Pelicans suddenly couldn't continue to score.
In this quarter, the Trail Blazers beat the Pelicans and directly opened the point difference to more than 20 points.
In the end, they also defeated the Pelicans easily and won two consecutive regular season victories.
With two consecutive wins, especially two big wins, the Trail Blazers once again played as invincible as they did at the start of last season.
The next day, the Trail Blazers continued to play at home against the Suns.
The Suns, like the Pelicans, did not make the playoffs last season, but the difference is that although the Pelicans let Davis go this summer, they also got good bargaining chips and still have the potential to hit the postseason.
The hope of racing.
But the Suns are relatively weak.
The biggest news for the Suns this summer is probably the signing of former DOPY and former championship main center "Boxing Champion" Tyson Chandler from the trade market with a four-year, 52 million-dollar contract.
After Chandler returned to the Mavericks last season, he made some progress and almost exclusively supported the Mavericks' interior defense. He played 75 times throughout the season and scored 10.3 points, 11.5 rebounds, 1.1 assists and 1.2 blocks, with a shooting percentage of 66.6%.
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However, at the end of the season, in the battle for the final spot in the playoffs, the Mavericks unfortunately lost to the Lakers. Wuyuan was in the playoffs last season, so all Mavericks fans were disappointed with the team's hard work throughout the year.
Maybe it's time for the Mavericks to rebuild!
When the reconstruction plan was determined, the old Chandler became the first to be abandoned.
The reason is very simple, because the Mavericks now have another young man with great potential, the former Trail Blazers player Adams. Between the choice of "Boxing King" and "Aquaman", the Mavericks management unexpectedly chose the latter.
By.
This is also the reason why the one-year Mavericks champion changed his team to another team in anger. In the end, based on the principle of the highest bidder, Chandler came to the Suns.
However, other than the introduction of Chandler, the Suns management currently has no eye-catching transactions.
Considering that the young guard selected by the Suns with the 13th overall pick in the first round this year has shown good potential both in the summer league and the preseason, if nothing else, the Suns will be in trouble this year.
year.
First battle in November.
The opponent was still the weak Suns in the Western Conference. The Trail Blazers used their excellent defense to completely suppress the Suns. This game was easier than the previous two games.
Devin Booker, who was originally highly anticipated by Phoenix fans, was completely lost tonight. His personal data dropped from 14 points, 3 rebounds and 1 steal in the last game to 2 points, 1 rebound and 1 assist today, which can be called a cliff-like decline.
"Wang, are we going a little too far? After all, I am still a child!"
Batum, who was responsible for guarding Devin Booker tonight, looked at Suns 1 who was already looking lost at the end of the game, and suddenly felt a little guilty in his heart.
"Really? I remember telling you that you had the most fun."
Wang Zelin glanced at Batum teasingly, and the latter smiled awkwardly, then turned and walked towards his new friend Barton.
In this game, the Trail Blazers had another high-scoring game. The Trail Blazers easily defeated the Suns and won very smoothly, starting with three consecutive victories.
Wang Zelin scored a game-high 32 points tonight, plus 14 rebounds, 5 assists, 3 blocks and 1 steal.
It’s another day to clock out of get off work in the third quarter!