NBA: Start the water cooler and reach the Hall of Fame

On December 12, the Wizards ushered in their second game of the month, facing the Portland Trail Blazers at home.

Last season, the Trail Blazers, led by the team's top player Brandon Roy, achieved a record of 50 wins and 32 losses in the regular season and entered the playoffs as the sixth seed in the Western Conference.

But Roy, the genius known as the "successor of Kobe Bryant," can be said to have had a fateful life. Last season he had the best performance of his career, averaging 21.5 points, 4.4 rebounds and 4.7 assists per game.

When everyone thought that the league's next benchmark for shooting guards was about to take off, Huang Manbaloy suffered a knee injury in a regular season game and tore his meniscus.

Although Roy tried his best to come back in the playoffs, he still lost to the Suns 2-4 in the first round.

What's even worse is that Roy underwent another knee surgery in the offseason. This time, he no longer had the tissue called meniscus in his knee...

When fans were bragging that Wade lost a meniscus as soon as he entered the league, the player nicknamed "Yellow Mamba" had both menisci removed.

The Trail Blazers can reach the playoffs in the Western Conference with so many strong players. Apart from Roy, the strength of everyone else cannot be underestimated.

Another guard on the team, Andre Miller, is a tall point guard who is good at using his body to bully opposing small guards. He averaged 14 points, 3 rebounds and 5 assists per game last season.

The team's power forward LaMarcus Aldridge was the second overall pick in 2006. As a tall offensive insider, he is best at straight-arm mid-range shooting and various post-up singles. Last season, he averaged Got 17.9 points and 8 rebounds.

Team center Marcus Camby, the 2007 Defensive Player of the Year, is a tough monster under the basket and an excellent defender in the penalty area. He averaged 7 points, 12 rebounds, 1.3 steals and 2 blocks per game last season, which shows that he is Strong defensive ability.

The Blazers' lineup is facing off against the Wizards, which is now in full swing. No matter how you look at it, it's a strong showdown.

Wizards fans were also very considerate, and the MCI Center was almost full.

At 07:30 in the evening, the game started on time.

Tonight, Sanders changed the starting lineup again, letting Sun Yue replace Trevor Booker in the starting small forward!

I'm afraid no one could have expected that while Yi Jianlian was still playing as a substitute, Sun Yue entered the Wizards' starting lineup first!

The game started on time. Camby's physical fitness was very strong. He beat Blatche on the jump ball and the Trail Blazers qualified for the first attack of the game.

The ball was passed to Miller and passed half court. Roy used a reverse run behind a screen to get into the three-point line. After receiving Miller's pass, Roy took a shot directly!

Roy hit the ball from mid-range, and Li Kaiming collected the backcourt rebound to Hinrich.

Roy's first attack set the tone for his touch tonight.

After the Wizards reached the frontcourt, they handed the ball to Li Kaiming. The latter held the ball and singled out Aldridge. He used the change of rhythm to break through to the basket and missed Camby's blocked shot!

As a result, the game fell into an iron fight after such a start.

Li Kaiming's fatigue level is still 40, and he has not fully recovered to his best condition, so he basically stopped playing.

Especially at the beginning of the game, he didn't want to spend his energy at this stage, so he basically focused on driving his teammates in the later period. Unless he had to take action, he would play two alone.

As soon as Li Kaiming's firepower dropped, the Wizards' offense also fell into a state of constipation.

But after one game, the opposing Trail Blazers were tougher than the Wizards!

罗伊单节5投2中仅仅得到4分，而米勒则是4中0狂砍0分。

Only Aldridge was in good shape, scoring 7 points and 3 rebounds on 8-of-4 shooting in a single quarter.

Against the backdrop of the Blazers' extremely bad touch, the Wizards' offense actually didn't look so rubbish.

Hinrich still maintained the statistics of a traditional point guard, scoring 4 points and 3 assists in a single quarter.

Because Li Kaiming attracted Camby's attention, Blatche scored the highest score on the team in the first quarter, with 7 points and 3 rebounds.

Sun Yue was in average condition because of his first start, and only scored 2 points and 1 assist in half a quarter.

The fans at the MCI Center did not expect that what they thought was a strong conversation would turn into a pecking contest. Some fans were almost hypnotized by the sound of hammering...

In the second and third quarters, the two sides still maintained an inefficient offense. At halftime, the two sides were tied at 41. After the third quarter, the Trail Blazers led with a slight advantage of 62 to 59.

When the time reached the last 5 minutes of the fourth quarter, Li Kaiming, who had been silent for more than half of the game, suddenly broke out!

After the [Outside Offensive Badge] was activated, he caught the ball from the backcourt, carried it to the three-point line, and hit two consecutive three-pointers against Aldridge's defense, directly opening the score!

Of course, as the Blazers' best player in this game, Aldridge will not sit still.

He turned around and chose to challenge Li Kaiming one-on-one and hit a turn-over jumper!

It's a pity that three points are always one more than two points.

Facing Aldridge's response, Li Kaiming chose to ask for the ball from beyond the three-point line in singles in the third round.

After the first two rounds, Aldridge's attention has been completely attracted by Li Kaiming's three-pointer.

So when Li Kaiming got the ball from the outside again, Aldridge immediately followed him. Even though he knew that he was easily passed by, he didn't want to let Li Kaiming shoot a three-pointer.

Faced with this kind of defense that chooses one of the two poisons, today's Li Kaiming will naturally not force a three-pointer, but will break through to the three-point line and make an emergency jump shot!

The Trail Blazers did not prepare any flanking strategy in the mid-range, and Li Kaiming's mid-range shot fell into the basket with a swoosh!

After the ball hit, Li Kaiming successfully widened the point difference to 30 points with 5 seconds left before the end of the game!

The Blazers quickly attacked from the bottom line and gave Roy an underhand layup.

The Wizards made no mistakes in subsequent foul tactics. At the end of the game, the Washington Wizards defeated the Portland Trail Blazers 88-81 at home.

李凯明全场仅仅出战了31分钟，16中8，三分球5中2，罚球5中4，得到22分11篮板9助攻1盖帽。

The rest of the Wizards also performed generally. Blatche was powerful in the first half, but his efficiency dropped by half in the second half. He scored 16 points, 12 rebounds and 1 block.

Nick Young, who has had a strained hip for several games, was able to stand up tonight, scoring 5 points and 2 rebounds on 18-of-4 three-pointers.

第一次首发的孙悦全场三分4中2，罚球2中1，得到7分1抢断1盖帽，数据中规中矩。

Because Li Kaiming didn't have much playing time tonight, Yi Jianlian also got a lot of opportunities to play. The latter's performance tonight was particularly impressive, coming off the bench and scoring 20 points and 13 rebounds in 7 minutes.

Li Kaiming's method of conserving energy was indeed effective. His fatigue level only increased by 5 points after the whole game. It only took one night's rest to reduce the fatigue level to below 40.

The reason why he chose this style of play in this game was because he saw that the opponent was not feeling well, which gave him a chance to paddle on the court.

It is very necessary to conserve energy, because after this game, the Wizards will bid farewell to the MCI Center and begin a journey to the West.

And it's not just three consecutive away games, it's three games in four days, including one back-to-back. The opponents in these three games are also quite strong. In order, they are the Phoenix Suns, Los Angeles Lakers and Sacramento Kings.

In this case, Li Kaiming had to choose to take a longer-term view and preserve his strength for three consecutive away games in the Western Conference.

After defeating the Trail Blazers, the Wizards team embarked on a road trip.

This is also the first time that Li Kaiming has played in another division. The first game was in Phoenix, Arizona.

Going from Washington to Phoenix, from the map, almost spans the entire territory of America from east to west, so the journey is long enough. Even if the NBA team has a special plane, the time spent on the road will be eight Many hours!

This was also the first time in Li Kaiming's life that he had been on a plane for such a long time. Even though the team plane had enough space, he felt that his whole body had become very stiff.

The reason for the Trail Blazers' time difference in the last game was found!

After arriving in Phoenix, Li Kaiming could feel as soon as he got off the plane that the temperature here was completely different from that in Washington.

Although Washington is not as cold as Toronto, in America, a city at a high latitude, there is already a hint of coolness in December.

But in Phoenix, Li Kaiming can clearly feel the heat wave!And it's not just heat, it's a dry heat that lacks moisture!

No wonder this place is called Sun City. I’m afraid the entire city was baked dry by the sun!

The day after arriving in Phoenix, that is, on the night of December 12th, the game between the Wizards and the Suns started on time!

The Suns lost Stoudemire and other key players during the offseason, and the team completely changed its appearance from the inside out. But surprisingly, the Suns' offense is still sharp. So far this season, the Suns' offense The efficiency still ranks fifth among the 30 teams in the league.

But similarly, the Suns, who have lost a large number of important players, have also suffered a serious decline on the defensive end. Their current defensive efficiency ranks fifth in the league, and they are the only team in the league with a top-five offense and a bottom-five defense.

As for the other team, it is naturally Li Kaiming's Wizards, but the Wizards are even more extreme than the Suns. They currently lead the league in scoring at 109.8 points per game and are second to last in the league in points conceded at 108 points per game.

To put it simply, the offense is full and the defense is also full, but the defensive pull is the hip pull.

What sparks can two teams with the same style collide with in this game?

At the end of the game, the Washington Wizards lost to the Phoenix Suns 108-125 on the road, losing the first of three consecutive games in the Western Conference.

李凯明全场出战38分钟，投篮21投10中，其中三分球5中1，罚球6中6，得到27分15篮板8助攻1盖帽的准三双数据。

The fatigue of the long journey was not completely eliminated after one night. Except for Li Kaiming himself, everyone else on the Wizards also performed poorly.

辛里奇12中4得到12分4篮板4助攻，布拉奇18分4篮板但是命中率只有百分之40。

The Chinese duo performed brilliantly. Sun Yue still started tonight and scored 8 points and 3 rebounds. Yi Jianlian scored a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds.

After the game, the Wizards did not stay in Felix for long. They set off that day for Los Angeles, the second largest city in the world and where stars are everywhere.

And this time their opponent is the defending champion Lakers!