Perhaps it was because the league was too hyped up about the China game, or perhaps it was because the Cavaliers performed too well. In a preseason game, they achieved a 22-point victory.
Considering that the opponent is the Rockets, who won 50 games in the regular season last season and have steadily improved through minor repairs in the summer, the Cavaliers' victory is a bit scary.
Before the start of the season, there were still media in North America that badmouthed the new Cavaliers. There were two main arguments. One was that the Cavaliers lost Rashard Lewis.
Many expert reporters believe that Lewis' departure will have little impact on the Cavaliers, but there are also famous writers like Bill Simmons who express their opinions very strongly——
"Many people have expressed the same point of view, that is, Rashard Lewis is not important to the Cavaliers, but they have ignored a very important point. The Cavaliers played an amazing offense last season, relying on more than just
It's China Lin and LeBron James, but their unique one-star and three-shooter."
"But now, one star and three shots have become one star and two shots. Without a shooter, it will be difficult for them to reproduce the offense of last season. In other words, this Cleveland Cavaliers can no longer go back to the past.
"
The other is that certain problems and conflicts within the Cavaliers are already looming.
"The conflict between China Lin and the management, as well as the possible dispute between him and LeBron James for the status of the team, are all hidden dangers for the Cavaliers. Perhaps, Danny Ferry's summer trade resulted in a large number of trading exceptions.
Just preparing for possible trades in the middle of the season."
These are two questions raised by major North American media before this preseason game.
But now, after a big victory, the first problem is gone.
Zach Lowe boasted in his column: "Except for the mistakes he made when renewing Lin Yu's contract, Danny Ferry has done a great job in the summer. After it was determined that Rashad could not be retained...
In the case of Lewis, he used a sign-and-trade to acquire Darko Milicic."
"Everyone thought Milicic was just an addition, but now, Mike Brown told the second pick of the platinum generation of the draft that he is the replacement for Rashard Lewis."
"Although Milicic's positioning has been unclear in recent seasons, resulting in almost no progress, Milicic's few advantages have been fully utilized by Mike Brown. The first is the defensive end, supported by Darko Milicic.
The Cavaliers' mid-range defense was originally the task of LeBron James. Now, James is liberated, and this naturally feeds back to the offensive end..."
"Then there is the offensive end. One of Darko Milicic's selling points when he was drafted, the mid-range offense, was also reused by Mike Brown. Now, LeBron and Milicic, or China Lin and Milicic's mid-range
Pick-and-roll cooperation has become a regular offensive tactic of the Cleveland Cavaliers..."
"Overall, this season, the focus of the Cleveland Cavaliers has begun to shift toward defense. This is the change Mike Brown made after losing Rashard Lewis. Obviously, this forced change only started from this.
Looking at the China competition, it has been very successful.”
"Tracy McGrady is completely locked up, and the Princeton offense built by Rick Adelman is completely unable to break down the Cavaliers' defense. Maybe this season, we can see another version of the Cavaliers regain their footing."
On the road to the championship.”
Zach Lowe's analysis is very detailed, and it basically analyzes Mike Brown's tactical changes in a clear and logical manner.
But at the same time, Brian Windhorst expressed a counter-view. He believed that the changes made by Mike Brown and the Cavaliers may not be a successful change.
"Although the Cavaliers won the China game with a 22-point victory, everything seemed perfect, but in fact, some of Mike Brown's changes were playing with fire."
"We can clearly feel that LeBron's role in the offense is declining, and his role off the ball is increasing. This is not a good change. Perhaps Mike Brown has forgotten that this Cavaliers is LeBron.
The knight."
Windhorst's voice was drowned out by the majority of voices who were optimistic about the Cavaliers.
Lin Yu noticed this, and he judged clearly: "LeBron has also discovered that some of Mike Brown's changes may lower his status."
"So, now Brian Windhorst's column expresses LeBron's dissatisfaction in a very subtle way, but the problem is, Mike Brown has no choice."
Mike Brown has no choice. The Cavaliers' lineup is really too deformed and they can no longer return to the Cleveland Cavaliers of last season.
In order to maintain the strength of the offensive end, it is inevitable to reduce the presence of the breakout system. In fact, the Heat also made similar attempts later. With Wade on the court, the Heat will conduct more pass-cut cooperation.
But now, because Lin Yu did not break through, the Cavaliers chose to add more pick-and-roll cooperation.
In this regard, the Cavaliers are very similar to the later Big Three Heat. They are dual-core driven and both cores have to make sacrifices. But the problem is that LeBron James is always unwilling to make sacrifices.
In the Heat, he will be restrained because it is Dwyane Wade's House.
But in Cleveland, James's expression of unwillingness to sacrifice will be even stronger, because this is his own territory.
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After the Cavaliers won the China game, public opinion began to be overwhelmingly optimistic about them.
And they did not live up to these expectations. In the following preseason tour, the Cavaliers continued to win and continued to be strong.
Returning to Cleveland, they first defeated the Raptors at home, who had been trying to recruit players in the new season, but with little success.
In this game, Darko Milicic showed up again. Against Chris Bosh, Milicic's defense got a chance to shine.
In the following home and away games, they defeated the Knicks, who were getting worse and worse.
After another round of home and away games, they twice defeated the Wizards who were affected by injuries at the beginning of the season.
Finally, there were two battles with the Pistons. The Pistons introduced Ben Gordon and wanted to rejoin the competition among the top teams in the Eastern Conference in the new season.
But obviously, Ben Gordon, a historically well-known star player who started to become a star player after signing a big contract, cannot bring any benefit to the Pistons at all.
The presence of Lin Yu directly restrained Ben Gordon. In the two home and away games, the Cavaliers won both games.
In this way, the Cleveland Cavaliers achieved eight straight wins in eight preseason games!
