basketball hero

Chapter 709 The Road to the Dynasty Opens

Before the start of the playoffs, Ying Xiong called all the members of the Raptors to visit his home and participate in the party he organized.He hopes that through this defense, he can increase the cohesion of his teammates, relax his mind, and play lightly.

Ying Xiong is actually very sensible. He knows how difficult it is to win the championship trophy for the third consecutive year and establish a dynasty belonging to the Raptors.No matter how optimistic the outside world is about the team, as a leader, he must not be complacent because of this, thinking that winning the championship is easy and a matter of course.

Only people who have never won a championship would naively think that the road to a championship is simple and easy.

On April 4, the home of the Raptors - the Air Canada Center Arena, is about to usher in the first round of the first round of this season's playoffs.The home team's opponent is another team from New York - the Brooklyn Nets.

Tickets for this game have already been sold out.In this league, the Raptors' home game tickets have always been scarce, and they are also "good things" in the hands of scalpers.

The game has not yet started, and the scene is already overcrowded.For the fans, it is already a very happy thing to be able to sit in the home team arena and watch the game at this time of the year.You know, of the 30 teams in the NBA, only 16 teams can enter the playoffs.Fans of the remaining 14 teams either sit in front of the TV and watch other teams' games, or go to other teams' home stadiums to watch games.

In this game, the starting lineup of the Raptors at home is: Center - Yonas Valanciunas, Power Forward - Amir Johnson, Small Forward - DeMar DeRozan, Shooting Guard - Ying Xiong, point guard - Jeremy Lin.

The starting lineup of the Nets in the away game is: center - Brook Lopez, power forward - Thaddeus Young, small forward - Bojan Bogdanovic, shooting guard - Joe Johnson, point guard - — Deron Williams.

If you look at the starting lineups of the two teams alone, it seems difficult to imagine that one team has a regular season record of 70 wins and the other has 38 wins.Judging by the reputation of the players, even if there is a gap between the starting lineups of the two teams, the gap is very small.

But the real situation is often different from the idealized situation.In fact, although both teams have 3 All-Stars in their starting lineups, the Raptors' 3 All-Stars are from this season, while the Nets' 3 All-Stars are former All-Stars.

Singles Joe is 34 years old, and his state has been declining year by year. This season, he averaged only 14.4 points per game. In comparison, the difference is unbelievable; Brook Lopez can be regarded as an All-Star center in his prime, but he doesn't seem to have the strength to compare the trend of this round of the series...

In addition to the starting lineup, the Raptors are much stronger in terms of bench depth between the two teams.Of course, the biggest gap between the two teams lies in the superstars!The playoffs are about competing for superstars, and the Nets, strictly speaking, have no superstars.But their opponent, the Raptors, owns the strongest player in the league.

——As long as this person is there, the possibility of the Raptors being upset by the black eight will be infinitely reduced.

The commentators for this game are Mike Breen and Mark Jackson.

"Mark, the playoffs have finally started, and we have to start working!" Mike Breen said with a smile.

"Speak as if you don't comment in the regular season!" Mark Jackson joked.

"Look at you, it's joking again." Mike Breen didn't care at all.

Brook Lopez and Valanciunas prepare for a jump ball near the middle circle and the game is about to begin.

"Mark, who will win the jump ball between Jonas and Brook?" Mike Breen asked.

"I guess Jonas will win!" Mark Jackson replied quickly and simply.

"Why did you answer so decisively?" Mike Brin asked with a smile.

"Because this is in Toronto! This is the home of the Raptors, shouldn't I praise the players of the home team?" Mark Jackson said with a smile towards Mike Brin.

"What kind of theory is this?" Mike Brin couldn't laugh or cry.

The suspense was revealed soon, and Mark Jackson guessed it right!

Jeremy Lin slowly dribbled the ball across half court, facing Deron Williams.For him, this team and this matchup have a story to tell.You must know that in the "Battle of PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds" before he was about to be waived, the opponent was the Nets, and his opponent was Deron Williams.

It was in that game that Jeremy Lin played an incredible performance that he started the "Linsanity Journey" that has impressed the world.

Four years have passed in a blink of an eye, and now he is facing the Nets again. He is no longer as young as before, but more calm and confident.

He played the main No. 1 position in a team that won the championship for two consecutive seasons, and his partner was the No.If you look at his performance this season alone, he is a better No. 1 position than the opposite Deron.Therefore, whether it was before or now, he is not afraid of the other party.

Jeremy Lin and Valanciunas broke through after the pick-and-roll, and then passed the ball to Ying Xiong on the left wing.

It is the white striker Bogdanovic who defends Yingxiong.

Bogdanovic is a solid white striker with a height of 203cm.His defense is fierce and tough, not as soft as the white striker that everyone sees in the traditional sense.

"Lionel asked Bojan to defend, will he suffer too much in terms of speed?" Mike Breen asked.

"Bojan's speed is not bad, not too slow in the striker line. But if Bojan is not allowed to defend, should Thaddeus or Joe be allowed to defend?" Mark Jackson asked rhetorically.

Ying Xiong broke through with the ball. After he lowered his center of gravity and accelerated, it was really difficult for the opponent to follow.But soon, the Nets' power forward Thaddeus Young's defense came over.

"Brooklyn doesn't seem to intend to let Bo Yang face it alone. No, Thaddeus' defense came very quickly!" Mike Breen explained.

Yingxiong gave the ball to DeRozan who was cutting from the right wing. The latter changed direction and passed Joe on the singles, facing Brook Lopez's frame under the basket, and made an excellent throw-but no!
"Let Thaddeus act as a sweeper, fill the position everywhere, and take advantage of his excellent movement speed; let the big center Brook stay in the penalty area to protect the frame, Lionel's arrangement is very good!" Mark Jackson praised.

Deron dribbled the ball and gave it to the singles Joe on the left wing.

It was not Ying Xiong who defended Joe in singles, but DeRozan.

(End of this chapter)