NBA opening draw to twilight Shaquille O'Neal

Chapter 1113 Mosaic's First Victory in Five Years
Three games, all big victories!
The dominance that the Blazers have shown recently is chilling.

Many fans who originally expected the Warriors to surpass the Trail Blazers have now dispelled this terrible idea.

Beyond the Blazers?
Sorry, the Warriors took the lead!

Facing the Celtics, who have always been reasonably unthreatening in the East, the Warriors eventually lost the game, which disappointed Warriors fans.

Just two days later, the Blazers ushered in another big victory, which basically made them lose hope of overtaking the Blazers.

On the 24th, Wang Zelin and the Blazers went to Los Angeles to challenge the Los Angeles Lakers at the Staples Center. The Lakers are currently ranked sixth in the West, with a record of 48 wins and 24 losses in the regular season, and their strength is still quite strong.

Such a record in the East is enough to be among the top four.

Facing the first strong opponent in the second half of March, the Los Angeles Lakers, Wang Zelin led his team to defeat the opponent 3:125.

In this game, Wang Zelin didn't score many points, only 33 points, but the Blazers team had 7 players who scored in double figures, and the team's shooting percentage was as high as 55%.

Facing this aging Lakers team, Wang Zelin didn't even need to use his strength. He only needed to rely on the strength of the team to easily resolve the crisis.

28 points, 28 rebounds, and double 28+ data in a single game. Although not as good as the 33+30 in the previous game, it is equally terrifying in the eyes of others.

After the game, Wang Zelin found that Paul was extremely disappointed.

Perhaps, Sao Paulo has lost confidence in this team.

Thinking back to two years ago, he joined the Lakers with great ambitions in the same city, and completed the long-lost cooperation with Kobe, hoping to create a new world in the new team.

However, two years later, after he joined the Lakers to form the Big Three with Kobe and Gasol, he still couldn't break through the second round of the curse.

In a flash, Paul is almost 32, and he has entered the ranks of veterans. How many years does he have to squander?

Is the big city of Los Angeles really poisonous to him?
Do you really want to stay in Los Angeles and just end your career like this?
Paul couldn't hide his loneliness on his face, leaving a lonely figure for the fans.

Wang Zelin couldn't help curling his lips when he saw Ah Pao's bleak face and left the court.

I seem to have accelerated the progress of a star leaving the team.

The victory of this game allowed the Blazers to further widen the gap with the Warriors.

After bidding farewell to Los Angeles, the Trail Blazers returned to their home courts, and they all played at home for the rest of the market games in March.

After a night of rest, on the night of the 25th, the Trail Blazers defeated the Timberwolves at home.

The current situation of the Timberwolves is the same as the 75-man Knicks that the Trail Blazers defeated before. There are still more than a dozen games to end. The 2016-17 season is destined to be a bad season for these three teams.

After losing to the Trail Blazers, the Timberwolves' record has reached 25 wins and 50 losses, ranking second in the Western Conference...naturally the bottom.

The one that can beat the Timberwolves and rank first in the bottom of the Western Conference is naturally the Phoenix Suns.

So far, the Suns' record is only 22 wins and 53 losses, and they are crazy enough to play badly.

But on the night of March 2017, 3, the Suns suddenly became the focus of basketball fans all over the world.

Because the Suns' young sophomore Devin Booker made 44 of 21 shots in a single quarter, including 11 of 4 three-pointers and 26 of 24 free throws. He scored 68 points with a super high true shooting percentage of 70% in tonight's game against the Boston Celtics at the North Shore Garden!
So far, Devin Booker has become the second youngest Mr. 70 points in history after Wang Zelin.

Although Booker scored another 70 points in this game, there were some controversial scenes during the process, and there were still suspicions of scoring points. What's more terrible is that the Suns lost to the Celtics by 120:130 in the away game. Booker was not able to lead the team to win.

But in any case, since Nash left the team, the Suns have embarked on a road to failure. It has been almost 5 years in a flash, but they still have not been able to rebuild successfully.

For a fish belly that has been bad for five years, the team's second-year student Booker was able to score 5 points in the game against the Celtics, the number one team in the East, which is definitely a commendable thing.

After the game, the retired Sun star Steve Nash immediately tweeted his congratulations for Booker's 70 points.

Immediately afterwards, Nash's former teammates Stoudemire, Marion, Diaw and others also reposted this tweet.

Even Sun legend Charles Barkley praised Booker, who scored 70 points, on social media platforms.

Overnight, Booker became popular!

The Suns and Booker instantly became the darlings of the major media.

……

For the Trail Blazers, after defeating the Timberwolves, they defeated the menacing Denver running and jumping team at home.

The Nuggets of this world did not usher in the savior Nikola Jokic, although the Nuggets coach Mike Malone is an extremely talented head coach, but a good woman can't live without rice.

The Nuggets have only a few people, not to mention Mike Malone, even Simavich, Jazz's Mr. Sloan, and Phil Jackson, the "GOAT" of the NBA head coaching world. Where can they take them?
This is the same as fighting landlords. Your hand is full of single cards, or you can’t make a straight in the morning, but your opponent has a lot of bombs in his hand. Even if the opponent and you show the cards, so what?
On March 3, it was another back-to-back battle.

The Blazers ushered in a focus battle tonight, sitting in the Rose Garden Arena against the Houston Mosaics.

Many people think that the Blazers will continue to win in a devastating way. After all, in the past 4 seasons, the Mosaic team has not won the Trail Blazers once.

Yes, you heard that right, not even once.

Even the local fans in Portland think that the Blazers must win again this time. Many people are too lazy to pay attention to the progress of the game and go to bed early to rest.

In their view, isn't the mosaic team easy to catch?

You don't need to think about it, but waking up tomorrow will definitely be another big victory.

However, what was unexpected was that this game was played very fiercely. The offensive efficiency of both sides was ridiculously high, contributing to an epic offensive battle for all the audience.

Let me state first that the Mosaic team's record this season is not bad. Before this battle, they had achieved a record of 50 wins and 24 losses, securing the fourth place in the Western Conference.

Recently, the Mosaic team just won a wave of four consecutive victories, but the last game was a bit unlucky. They met the Warriors who were in full swing, and finally the Mosaic team fell to the away Oracle Arena.

At 107:98, even though Durant was absent, the Splash Brothers still played well. The two scored 54 points together, helping the Warriors by 9 points and defeating the Mosaic team.

Speaking of it, the biggest reason for the Mosaic team's loss in this game is actually their own disappointment.

Because the star James Harden actually made 17 of 4 shots tonight, and his shooting percentage was so bad that it was only 23.5%; he made 9 of 2 three-pointers and his shooting percentage was 22.2%, which was also terrible.

可即便如此，作为版本之子的哈登靠着对于联盟规则的极致理解，依旧凭借着7中7的100%命中率罚球，拿到了17分12篮板8助攻的准三双。

But this kind of data can also deceive Excel fans who don't watch the game and only like to watch the data after the game. Anyone who has really watched the game knows that Harden's pot is set tonight.

上半场8中1，三分球5中0，靠着罚球才拿到7分；进入下半场状态依旧低迷，10投3中，以30%的命中率和2中2的罚球拿到10分。

Except for Harden, all the players of the Mosaic team are in very poor condition tonight, as if the basket in the Oracle Arena has covered them.

Eric Gordon, 12 of 5 in the game, shooting 41.7%, including 9 of 3 three-pointers, shooting 33.3%, 15 points including free throws.

特雷沃·阿里扎，全场12中4，命中率仅有33.3%，三分球9中2命中率仅为22.2%算上罚球拿到13分。

然后是13中4拿到8分的卡佩拉、12中5拿到15分的路易斯·威廉姆斯……

After the whole game, the Mosaic team made only 92% of 34 shots and 37 shots in a single game, including 37 of 12 three-pointers, 32.4% of the shots, and only 48% of the true shooting.

This kind of scoring performance is really a stretch for a three-point team that focuses on magic ball and advocates the concept of offense first.

With such a performance, it is reasonable for the Mosaic team to lose.

This makes many people firmly believe that Mosaic will definitely struggle more after meeting the Trail Blazers who are stronger than the Warriors tonight.

win?

nonexistent.

What people are most concerned about now is actually how many points the Mosaic team will lose to the Blazers.

Before the game, basically no one was optimistic that the Mosaic team could win.

Perhaps it is precisely because of the many unfavorable opinions from the outside world that the Mosaic team actually bottomed out tonight.

Especially the bearded star Harden, who entered the crazy scoring mode as soon as the game kicked off tonight.

单节8投8中，其中三分球4中4，加上2中2的罚球，以100%的命中率轰下22分，外加4次助攻。

May I ask, who would have thought that the bearded man who only scored 17 points in the last game would be so red-eyed from the start of this game?
Relying on Harden's brave performance, after a single quarter, the Mosaic team led the Blazers 39:28, a full 11 points.

"If I remember correctly, this should be the first time since Wang Zelin led the Blazers to the first quarter and the Mosaic team led by more than double-digit points."

The home commentator was also shocked by Harden's sky-defying performance, and was taken aback when he spoke.

There is one thing to say, the Blazers' performance in the first quarter is definitely not hip-pull, at least it is above the level of previous games.

After a single quarter, the Trail Blazers made 17 of 8 shots, including 11 of 5 three-pointers and 8 of 7 free throws. They scored 28 points with a considerable shooting percentage.

This kind of performance is definitely not bad.

But who let them meet Harden who entered the killing mode!
Entering the second quarter, Harden's offense has been restrained, and he only took 4 shots in a single quarter, but relying on the league's only penalty, he still scored 8 points and 3 assists in a single quarter.

For the Blazers, they took advantage of the opportunity to recover some points in the second quarter.

After the first half, the score between the two sides came to 67:60, and the Blazers were only 7 points behind.

Unexpectedly, after the halftime break, the two sides changed places to fight again, and Harden immediately entered the killing mode again.

He made 9 of 8 shots in a single quarter, 2 of 2 three-pointers, and 7 of 6 free throws. Under the bombardment, he once again achieved 20 points in a single quarter.

24分2篮板6助攻1抢断2失误1犯规……哈登今晚简直神了！
At the same time, under the connection of Harden, other players of the Mosaic team also exploded one after another. The team scored 48 points in a single quarter, successfully discovering the team history record.

So, after the first three quarters, many spectators who hadn't watched the game turned on their mobile phones and TVs, thinking that the Trail Blazers must be another three-quarter check-in and off-duty game tonight, and everyone lost their eyes on the scoreboard, and then completely fixed on the scoreboard.

At 111:92, at first they thought the Blazers were the leading side, but as they took a closer look, they found that the Blazers were actually the trailing side.

Moreover, they are 19 points behind the Mosaic team!
"Is today April Fool's Day?"

This thought popped into the minds of all Blazers fans.

Immediately afterwards, Harden's game data from the first three quarters appeared on the big screen, with 22 points in the first quarter, 8 points in the second quarter, and 24 points in the third quarter...

After three quarters, Harden scored an unbelievable 54 points, which not only set a new record for scoring in a single game in the regular season of his career, but also broke the Houston Mosaic team's scoring record in the first three quarters of the regular season.

So far, not only Lillard, Jokic, and Batum are numb, but even Wang Zelin himself is a little numb.

In fact, he knows better than anyone else how great the scoring ability of the bearded man in his peak period was during the regular season, but when he really became an opponent with him, he was still deeply shocked by the opponent's strength.

Wang Zelin did not break out tonight, and his state was quite satisfactory. After three quarters, he scored a double-double of 25 points and 18 rebounds, plus 3 assists, 3 blocks and 1 steal.

不出意外的话，这场比赛打完之后，王泽林的数据应该会定格为35+20+4+4+2这样子。

But that is a general situation. Now it is a special situation. If the Blazers still want to win, Wang Zelin has to stand up.

During the timeout between quarters, Coach Terry adjusted his defensive strategy and decided to double-team Harden throughout the final quarter, so that the guy must not be allowed to score easily.

If this makes Harden score a 60+ or ​​even 70+ tonight, then the Blazers will be really ashamed and thrown to grandma's house.

Entering the final quarter, the Blazers' new strategy quickly took effect. Under the key care of Barton and Batum, plus a Wang Zelin who frantically attacked outside from time to time, Harden instantly misfired.

In the first 8 minutes, he made 3 of 0 shots and failed to score a point. Even his best penalty-making power failed to take advantage of the Blazers.

Until the 9th minute, when the Trail Blazers chased the point difference to only 5 points, Harden had an idea, took out a long-lost mid-range jumper from the arsenal, and under Button's close defense, he forced the ball in.

At 125:118, the Mosaic team expanded the point difference again.

Harden's middle distance is very critical, as if it has affected a certain mechanism, forming a chain reaction in the Mosaic team.

The first is Bobby Brown, the undrafted pick on the bench. After the Mosaic team's starting atmosphere was full and he left the field, he became a surprise player as soon as he came on the field.

In the past, Bobby Brown, who averaged 1.2 three-pointers per game and only hit 0.6 goals, hit the catch and shoot one after another at critical moments. In less than 3 minutes, he made 4 of 3 shots, including two priceless three-pointers.

Who would have expected that a small person would suddenly go berserk at such a time?
Bobby Brown's wave of operations disrupted the Blazers' game rhythm, and also made Coach Terry's defensive strategy in the last quarter completely integrated into a joke.

The reason why the Blazers dared to double-team Harden crazily was to bet that the other outside shooters of the Mosaic team could not bear the heavy responsibility.

Unexpectedly, a surprise soldier appeared on the Mosaic team, causing the Blazers to be in chaos in an instant.

In the last 27 seconds, the score on the court was 137:126, and the Blazers were still 11 points behind the Mosaic team.

In this case, unless McGrady reappears at all times, it is basically equivalent to the death sentence for the Blazers pronounced in advance.

However, the reason why McGrady's moments are widely circulated so far is still talked about by countless fans, precisely because of its legendary color and irreproducibility.

If McGrady's moments are really so easy to be reproduced, it would not be called a miracle.

In the end, Coach Terry gave up his illusions and called a timeout to replace the main players ahead of time, which is considered to have saved the last dignity.

Soon, as the final whistle sounded, the score between the two sides was finally fixed at 137:126, and Mosaic beat the Blazers by 11 points in the away game.

This is the first time Kaimosaic has defeated the Trail Blazers in the past five years. It is not easy. It has been a few years, and they can be regarded as eating dumplings once.

(End of this chapter)