roccoschili Chapter 895 The New Season Begins
Chapter 895 The New Season Begins
Chapter 895 The New Season Begins
On November 10, the regular season of the NBA20-2017 season officially started.
On the evening of the 20th, the Ford Center Arena was naturally full of seats.
Even if the Thunder's opponent is a bad team like the Knicks for many years, the fans are still in high spirits, because today the team will award last year's championship ring.
When the championship banner printed with the words of the 2017 championship and the championship trophy slowly rose over the Ford Center arena, the atmosphere at the scene reached a climax.This is the honor of the team and the sustenance of the fans.
Although it has been 4 months since the Thunder team won the championship, just the hanging of the championship flag brought the fans back to the happiness of the day they won the championship.
Next came the awarding of the championship ring. It was the first time for Westbrook and others to get the ring, so they were naturally very excited.This is already Xie's 4th ring, but he is also very happy. On the road of chasing the strong, he never tires of it.
Not only is the champion member of the Thunder, McDermott also got a ring in the rival Knicks. He played for the Thunder last season.
For McDermott, that was the best possible outcome.You know, the NBA championship ring is not available to everyone.The top 50 in NBA history like Malone, Stockton, and Barkley haven't gotten a ring yet!
The Knicks are really a bad team. They rely on New York, the largest city in the United States. The boss and management have been operating blindly for these years. Now there are no superstars willing to go in the free agent market.
Fortunately, they selected Porzingis with the 2015th overall pick in the first round in 4, a European big man, and it can be regarded as playing out.
Platinum is very good. It can shoot and block shots. It is very suitable for this era, but it is a bit brittle and the attendance rate is not very high.
In this game, the Thunder team at home defeated their opponents in 3 quarters, and the entire last quarter was garbage time.
Anthony has been clamoring to leave the team before, but in the end he still failed to leave the Knicks.With his current age and playing habits, basically no strong team will trade young assets to get him.
The Thunder got off to a good start in their title defense by winning the season opener on ring-giving night.
On October 10, the Thunder were a guest in Salt Lake City, and they will play an away game against the Jazz the next night.
Salt Lake City is the capital of Utah, 1320 meters above sea level.The home of the Jazz is built here, which is the home of the devil in the NBA.
The day before the game against the Jazz, Xie Kai invited the whole team to dinner.
When talking about the plateau home game, Xie Kai asked with a smile: "Compared with China's plateau, which one do you think has a greater reaction?"
Pickle said with a smile: "After going to China, the plateau here is almost the same as the plain, and it doesn't feel too big."
Almost everyone feels this way. Those who have gone to China to participate in high-altitude training, no one has any reaction to the high-altitude here.
Xie Kai kept laughing. Indeed, compared with China's plateau, this place really pales in comparison.China has the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, known as the roof of the world, and Mount Everest, which is proud of the world in terms of overall altitude and extreme height. It is not comparable to the Utah Plateau.
The Jazz team was established in 1974 and joined the NBA. From 1983 to 2002, the regular season winning rate exceeded 50% every year, and they entered the playoffs for 19 consecutive years.But this team never won a championship.
In the NBA, it is much more difficult for a team in a small ball market to win a championship than it is in a big ball market.Therefore, competitive sports is not to say that it is completely fair. The attractiveness of teams in big cities in the free agent market is not comparable to that in small markets.
So Xie Kai is annoyed that when those people compare their historical status and number of champions, they don't talk about their environment at all.Winning 5 championships in Boston and Los Angeles is exactly the same as winning 5 championships in Cleveland or Charlotte. What about the difficulty?
The Jazz has always been a respectable team. They have not relied on the metropolis, and they have not been too bad. For so many years, they have always occupied a place in the West.
The Energy Solutions Arena, which can accommodate 19111 people, has an exceptionally high attendance rate today.Obviously, the arrival of the Thunder made the popularity here much higher than usual.
The Jazz don't have superstars, but the Thunder do.Some fans come to watch the game for the superstars.
This game will be broadcast live on Tencent.
The Thunder has become the most watched team in China since Xie Kai joined.It has surpassed both the Rockets and the Warriors. This is something this team has never done before.
The commentators for this game were Ke Fan and Yang Yi.
Ke Fan was wearing small glasses, chubby, and his voice was soft: "Mr. Yang, what do you think about the prospects of the Thunder this season?"
Yang Yi smiled and said: "How should I put it, stay healthy! If the Thunder can stay healthy throughout the season, I think they will still be the most difficult team to beat in this league. Both the Rockets and the Warriors are challengers."
Ke Fan said with a smile: "Netizens have been leaving messages on the public screen, just want to ask if you can win the MVP again this season, Xie Kai?"
Yang Yi said: "This is a lot to say. Why? The Thunder have Westbrook and Paul George, and they will share part of Xie Kai's possession. With less possession of the ball, his statistics cannot be improved. There are no outstanding statistics. , No matter how good the record is, it is difficult to impress the judges. The situation of Xie Kai this season is completely different from last season."
In this game, the starting lineup of the Jazz at home is: Center - Rudy Gobert, Power Forward - Derrick Favors, Small Forward - Joe Ingles, Shooting Guard - Dominic Novan Mitchell, point guard - Ricky Rubio.
The Thunder's starting lineup for the away game is: Center - Duck, Power Forward - Patterson, Small Forward - Pickle, Shooting Guard - Xie Kai, Point Guard - Westbrook.
The two teams met in the second round of the playoffs last season. In that round of the series, the Thunder swept their opponents 2:4, broke into the Western Conference Finals, and finally won the championship.
Although the Jazz lost a bit miserably, but they lost to the championship team of the season, so it can be regarded as an excusable loss.
The Jazz fans at the Energy Solutions Arena were booing the Thunder. The humiliation of last season's sweep has made them still unable to let go.
Ke Fan said: "The Jazz fans don't seem to welcome the Thunder very much!"
Yang Yi explained: "This is normal. You swept my home team in the playoffs last season. I have no reason to like you! Even if you are the champion!"
Ke Fan asked: "Mr. Yang, what do you think the Thunder put Patterson in the starting lineup instead of granting the starting lineup? What is the reason for the Thunder?"
Yang Yi said: "I think it may be a routine arrangement! Try to play like this for ten or twenty games first, and then adjust if Patterson is not suitable to partner with the starting players. Patterson's technical style It is relatively close to Ilyasova last season, able to open up space and not occupy the ball, and the starting lineup is actually not a big problem.”
(End of this chapter)