NBA opening draw to twilight Shaquille O'Neal

Chapter 560 Lost Another Member

There are many metaphysical things in the NBA, one of which is called the injury wave.

Injury wave, as the name suggests, is a series of injuries among players, as if the injuries are contagious.

It has been a month since the new season has been played, and many teams have more or less absent players due to sudden injuries.

The most serious situation is undoubtedly the Oklahoma City Thunder.

During the preseason, the Thunder had reported that Durant had fractured his right ankle bone and was expected to miss the first two months of the game.

As a result, in the Thunder's next game against the Clippers just after the opening game with the Trail Blazers, Westbrook accidentally injured his right hand and retired.

According to the Thunder's injury report after the game, Westbrook suffered a fractured right hand and rested for more than half a month, and did not return until the last game at the end of November.

On November 11, in the Thunder's away game against the New York Knicks, Westbrook scored 28 points, 32 rebounds and 7 assists in a quasi-triple-double.

However, this does not change the fact that the Thunder started 18 games and only had a record of 5 wins and 13 losses, ranking No.11 in the West.

Other teams, such as the Pacers, Bulls, and Knicks in the East, and the Suns, Pelicans, and Hornets in the West, have all won bids one after another in the near future.

The Trail Blazers should be regarded as the latest group of teams to be hit by injuries, but everything has limitations. After the game in November, they will inevitably encounter the first game in December.

Aldridge was unfortunate enough to be the first.

At this stage, everyone, including the Trail Blazers, is fearful of injuries.

It's just, according to Murphy's Law: Sometimes the more you fear something, the more it will happen.

12月4日，开拓者队在主场98:82轻松战胜少了保罗乔治率队的步行者队之后，接下来他们迎来了新赛季最漫长的一波5连客。

There is an old saying: You always have to pay back when you come out to hang out.

The league arranged for the Trail Blazers to start the game with ample and easy schedule, and now it's time to return it.

The opponents of the next 5 consecutive away games are very average except for the Bulls.

……

……

At 11 pm on November 7th, the Trail Blazers challenged the Knicks away to start the game.

The Knicks' record this season is extremely bad, and the new season has dived all the way to the bottom of the Eastern Conference.And Carmelo Anthony, who is the core of the team, may not be able to hold on anymore. Because he has been fighting with a left knee injury, in the past 21 games, Anthony has played 10 games one after another, and his attendance rate barely exceeds 5%.

Anthony will have to undergo surgery on his left knee to recover, according to sources.

Maybe it’s because of the Knicks’ poor record, or because they still have extravagant hopes for the playoffs. In the Knicks’ last game against the Charlotte Hornets, which is also the bottom team in the Eastern Conference, Anthony endured the pain of injuries and scored 22 points, 1 rebounds and 32 assists on 7 of 4 shots from the field. The result was still unsatisfactory.

102:103, the Knicks finally lost to the Hornets by one point in the away game.

After this battle, the Knicks' record officially came to 4 wins and 16 losses, and they almost grabbed the No.13 position in the Eastern Conference of the Charlotte Hornets.

Yes, Hornets coach Steve Clifford is expected to be scolded bloody by their management after the game.

Wouldn't it be nice to put it in a bad way?
Do you have to play heartbeat?
What lore are you playing?

Of course, at least judging from the reaction of the Hornets boss Jordan at the scene yesterday, Mr. Joe was still very excited after seeing Kemba Walker hit a key two-pointer to kill the opponent at the last moment.

I just don't know whether he is excited about the team's fifth victory in the new season, or whether he is excited about Kemba Walker's performance this season.

Judging from the current progress of the game, Kemba Walker has played 18 games for the Hornets, averaging 19 points, 5 assists, 3.2 rebounds and 1.2 steals per game.

If Kemba Walker can really be selected as an All-Star this year, it is estimated that Mr. Joe will be many times happier than he is now.

No way, the impression that Mr. Joe has a "unique" draft vision has been deeply ingrained in the fan base.

How he wished someone could come out and help him feel proud.

well, let's get back to business.

Anthony, who carried wildly but could not lead his team to victory, was in a bad mood when he was interviewed after the game.

Especially when they think that their opponent in the next game is the Trail Blazers who are currently hard to find...

The only good thing is that Aldridge is injured.

However, Anthony and his teammates know that you have problems with this season from top to bottom, otherwise you wouldn't have played so badly.

Even if the Trail Blazers loses one Aldridge, the Knicks will probably not be able to do it.

Wang Zelin looked at Anthony's player ratings before the game. Due to injuries, he has already fallen below the superstar level, and now it is only 87.

He just remembered that even after undergoing knee surgery this season, Melon, who used to score like a bag on the offensive end, couldn't come back.

Melon, gradually turned into bitter melon!

Anthony is currently averaging 23 points, 6.5 rebounds, 3 assists and 1 steal per game, and is now barely ranked seventh in the scoring list.

The starting lineup sent by the Nuggets tonight is Jose Calderon, Imanman Shumpert, Quincy Ash, Carmelo Anthony, and Amare Stoudemire.

In the starting lineup sent by the Trail Blazers, except for the power forward that became Adams, the other 4 positions have not changed from before.

Facing the inside combination of Anthony and Stoudemire, the Trail Blazers have been accelerating their pace since the beginning of the game, maximizing their advantages, and avoiding the Knicks as much as possible.

Today, neither Anthony nor Stoudemire have lived up to the courage of the past, with injuries and injuries.

The key is that the defensive contribution of these two guys on the field is about equal to 0, which is a solid defense of [-] barrels.

Although on the offensive end, the Knicks barely grabbed the score with Anthony's excellent start, but after the first quarter, relying on Wang Zelin and Lillard to play the entire quarter, Vince Carter, Anthony Morrow, Yi Jianlian, and Jokic played in rotation one after another. The Trail Blazers and the Nuggets played a 33:27 and took a 6-point lead.

Seeing that Wang Zelinlin spared no effort in a single quarter with 11 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 blocks. The 11 points and [-] assists swept nearly half of the Blazers' offense in the first quarter. The two blocks were sent to Anthony who attacked twice in the low post without hesitation. Not only Anthony, but even the home fans on the court were stunned by Wang Zelin's desperate play.

Recently, due to the fear of injuries, a large number of players have tacitly reduced their playing time, and a small group of extreme teams are even facing tough opponents. However, the threat of fines from the league directly put the main players into rotation.

The Spurs said: Don't cue!

Obviously everyone has to stop playing. Why is Wang Zelin so crazy when he is playing away games? Will he really not be affected by physical strength?

Or it's a real head iron!
Anthony said he couldn't understand.

But when he saw the figure of No. 36 galloping across the court on both offensive and defensive ends, he could only smile wryly:
"This young man..."

In the second quarter, Wang Zelin and the lineup of Beverly, Connett Lee, Will Barton, and Yi Jianlian played.

The understaffed Knicks on the opposite side could only respond passively, first excluding the lineup of Tim Hardaway II, JR Smith, Anthony, Dalembert, and Jason Smith.

This lineup has two players over 2 meters high, the height of the inside line has been increased, and Anthony has returned to the most familiar third position. Logically speaking, he should have been released.

However, in fact, when Anthony has a poor outside feel and has to switch to a low-post offense, it is necessary to free up space inside.

In this way, the idea of ​​the Knicks sending two big men to strengthen the inside defense is completely empty.

And once Anthony starts the individual singles mode and loses touch with the team system, the rest of the Knicks can only become spectators. The longer they watch, the more they will feel cold.

At the end of the half, at 57:45, the Trail Blazers had led their opponents by 12 points.

However, they seem to be happy too early.

In the second half, they changed sides and fought again. Matthews fell down in the collision with Anthony when he was changing defenses. When he came down for an inspection, he strained his ligament.

Not long after entering December, the team injured two generals, which made the Blazers on the field a little nervous.

I heard it in the news before, xxx was injured a few days ago, and xxx broke a bone yesterday, now, did the damn injury come to them?
Injuries can only be avoided as much as possible.

But once it does come, you can only grit your teeth and accept it.

When Matthews was injured and left the field, Coach Terry's first reaction was to replace Wang Zelin and Lillard, who played the first half.

The team's starting five have now lost two members. Next, Wang Zelin, Lillard, and Batum, no matter who is injured, the strength of the Trail Blazers will be severely affected.

If the next injured person is Wang Zelin, then the consequences can be imagined. The overall strength of the Blazers and Blazers will drop to a lower level.

Coach Terry found Lillard and Wang Zelin and discussed it, but he still couldn't hold them back.

"Coach, as long as we work harder and work harder, we can break the [-]-point difference. If we really need to rest, it is better for us to beat the opponent directly in the third quarter. This way, the game will not be dragged on for too long, and we can also get enough rest time in the fourth quarter."

"Yes, coach."

Coach Terry didn't quite accept Wang Wanglin and Lillard's suggestions. To be honest, he would rather lose this game than see anyone on the team get injured.

But this is the NBA after all, not the NCAA, and players are the core of a team.

What's more, after getting along for a few years, he understands Wang Zelin and Lillard's strong desire to compete and win. At this time, no matter how much he disagrees, neither of them will agree.

In the end, he gritted his teeth and sent a lineup of Lillard, Morrow, Batum, Jokic, and Wang Zelin.

Since he wants to give it a go, and wants to take it away in this calamity, he also chooses decisively.A lineup with the strongest offensive ability inside the Trail Blazers is excluded.

Knicks over there.

Anthony suddenly regretted it. If he had known that young people are so fierce, he should have accepted the team doctor's suggestion for knee surgery earlier.

Anyway, based on the current record, the team basically won't make it to the playoffs. Why do I have to pretend to be 13 for the sake of face and forcefully play with injuries...

Thinking of this, Anthony himself didn't even realize that his own desire to compete slowly dropped.

In the second half of the third quarter of the game, Wang Zelin completely turned on the desperate mode, scored 7 points and 10 rebounds in 3 minutes of a single quarter, and also sent 2 blocks.

Thanks to his outstanding performance, the Nuggets were quickly opened up by the Trail Blazers by a huge point difference, 75:54, and the point difference has exceeded 20 points.

The New York Knicks are not a strong team in the first place, so let's talk about strong team culture and game toughness.

In the past 4 seasons, one of them stopped in the first round of the playoffs for three consecutive years. In the 2013~2014 season that just passed, they didn’t even have a ticket to the playoffs. This year’s record fell all the way to the bottom of the East.

……

王泽林前三节狂飙34分16板5盖帽3助攻1抢断，帮助开拓者队一进入末节就建立了28分的优势，也给尼克斯队带来了无与伦比的巨大压力。

What's more terrible is that the first offense in the last quarter belonged to the Trail Blazers.

Lillard advanced with the ball in the backcourt, waited until the frontcourt, and called a pick-and-roll to Wang Zelin.

After the pick-and-roll, Wang Zelin was not in the high-position organization this time, but quickly cut down and went straight into the Knicks' abdomen.

At the same time, Lillard at the top of the arc did not make a three-shot after receiving the screen. He immediately smashed his hands and passed the ball to Wang Zelin with one hit.

"Snapped!"

Wang Zelin looked back to catch the ball, cut into the middle and sprinted at full speed, stepped into the paint area with one step, and jumped up with another step.

At this moment, the huge body was gliding in the air, stretching extremely.

boom! ! !
The next moment, the Knicks' basket was blown over.

The explosive smashing, the extremely violent conflict, the display of strength and ferocity instantly made people feel adrenaline rush and scalp tingling, which made the entire Madison Square Garden boil.

"MVP!"

"MVP!"

"MVP!"

Needless to say, fans of Madison Square Garden are really good at it.Whenever the home team plays badly, they really dare to boo, and once the visiting team plays hard, they really cheer.

At this moment, the Nuggets players on the court felt a little bit embarrassed. It was obviously their home game, but they played like an away game.

After this goal, the score on the field became 92:62, and the score difference between the two sides reached 30 points.

The Knicks coach immediately called a timeout. Not long after, when the game started again, the Knicks' lineup had all become substitutes.

Knicks, surrender!
(End of this chapter)