NBA peak

Chapter 71 Cavaliers VS Raptors
Finally, after a short dance, the first preseason game of NBA 2016-2017 officially started.

The Cavaliers still maintain the starting lineup of last season, with Kyrie Irving and JR Smith at the back and LeBron James, Kevin Love and Tristan Thompson at the forward.

The Cavaliers, like the Raptors, are a traditional positional team.

The Cavaliers don't have a center in the traditional sense. In return, the Cavaliers' three-point firepower is a notch higher than that of the Raptors.

This is the biggest difference between the Cavaliers and the Raptors.

For DeRozan and Lowry, who prefer to score two points in mid-range shooting, the Cavaliers' offensive efficiency in [-] rounds is obviously higher than that of the Raptors, which is also a headache for the Raptors management.

It is unlikely that the Raptors want to change their style of play in a short period of time.

DeRozan is already a 28-year-old player, and Lowry is also over 30 years old. Their playing style has basically been determined, and it is difficult to develop three-point ability.

The Raptors management is very aware of this. If the Raptors want to get rid of James' rule in the East, the only way may be to trade the team's core DeRozan.

But how can it be so easy to trade core players?

The Raptors can only keep the current lineup in order to preserve their status as a strong team in the playoffs.

After the opening ceremony, players from both sides came to the field one after another.

James was last on the scene, grabbing a handful of chalk and rubbing it carefully on his hands.

Ge Feng on the bench saw this scene.

Once upon a time, the memory that James would sprinkle chalk before every game appeared in Ge Feng's mind.

At that time, James was known as the "little emperor". While possessing an invincible basketball talent, he also had an immature and expressive heart.

This habit has been maintained until James betrayed the Cavaliers and came to the Heat to win the championship together, but was defeated by the Spurs and the Mavericks one after another. James finally realized his problem-love to blame, love to escape.

Now James has completely evolved into a basketball emperor.

James returned to the Cavaliers and led the team to win the 2015-2016 NBA championship.

James now knows what the team needs most, which is to take responsibility and to move forward bravely.

James will not throw chalk into the sky for a show like before.

James, mature.

If Ge Feng does not go to the Cavaliers, James must be his strongest opponent at the beginning of his career, Ge Feng knows this well.

With a whistle, Valanciunas and Thompson jumped high.

Thompson grabs the ball and Irving drives it across the court.

The Raptors use zone defense, which is the most effective defense when the opponents are James and Irving.

Kyrie Irving is a well-known Uncle Drew in the basketball world.

After the baptism of the championship, no one in the league can limit Irving in the 1V1 defense.

Van Vleet, who started for the first time, is obviously not used to playing against the league's top point guards.

Irving made a few movements that seemed to be dribbling behind his back to pass the ball, but suddenly took a quick step, and completely threw Van Vleet behind him.

Irving's speed did not decrease after the start. When the help defense was about to be in place, a wonderful small jump passed between the two defenders and completed a layup.

The Cavaliers immediately erupted in cheers like a tsunami at home.

2:0, the Cavaliers took the lead and opened the door with a humiliating 1V3 layup.

Conversely, in the Raptors' offense, Van Fleet dribbled the ball across the half.

DeRozan came out to ask for the ball, and Van Vleet immediately passed it to DeRozan.

The team has an unspoken unspoken rule. The boss asks for the ball, and the players must give the ball to the boss as soon as possible.

Van Vleet's face was pale, and it was only then that he realized how difficult it was to start off the bench.

When a substitute player starts, he must not only have a direct dialogue with the strongest star of each team in the league, but also take care of the interests of the team's core players on the offensive end.

Like DeRozan's request for the ball just now, no matter what Van Vleet has in mind, he must hand the ball over to DeRozan.

There are many such examples in the league. Players may perform well on the bench, but once they start, they wither in an instant.

If VanVleet is destined to be a bench gangster, Nurse will not let him start again.

Therefore, Nas is quite concerned about Van Fleet's performance.

DeRozan got the ball, James took the overlord step and defended tightly.

Lowry ran fast, and DeRozan saw Lowry running out of the open space from the corner of his eye, and immediately threw the ball over.

Lowry received the ball, jumped up and shot before James could turn around.

2: 2.

Raptors pull back one...

Time passed, and after 5 minutes of fighting, the two sides drew 16.

Van Vleet performed quite well on the offensive end, but on the defensive end, it was a bit horrible.

This is the first time that Van Fleet has had a direct conversation with the league's top point guards.

Irving scored 5 points and 8 assist in 1 minutes of playing, completely blowing Van Vleet off the offensive end.

Seeing Nas's expression, Van Vleet panicked.

How long a role player like him can play depends on how well he performs in the game.

In the NBA, there are a lot of talented players, maybe just miss a shot, they will be pushed to the bench by the coach, and there will be no chance to play.

Van Vleet didn't get a phone call for a long time. He played 5 minutes and all the data were 0.

As a starter, this is very unqualified.

Van Vleet was afraid that Nas would lose confidence in him and replaced him.

The Cavaliers replaced James and Irving.

The Raptors also replaced DeRozan and Valanciunas.

This is the default training mode for the preseason.

Van Vleet was relieved to see that he was still on the court.

The Cavaliers sent new three-point shooters Korver and Channing Frye.

Once James and Irving are off the court, the Cavaliers' small-ball lineup will not be easy to play.

Cavaliers coach Tyronn Lue replaced a center, planning to use the regular lineup and play steadily.

For the opposite purpose, the Raptors replaced center Valanciunas and core DeRozan.

Nas wanted to boldly try a small ball lineup, so he sent two rookies Ge Feng and Siakam.

The NBA shot was given to Ge Feng.

China is one of the NBA's largest markets.

The NBA introduced four Chinese players this year, with the intention of bringing back the Chinese basketball market.

Ge Feng is the first Chinese player to appear in the NBA this year. The NBA naturally knows how to take care of the emotions of Chinese fans, so it specially gave Ge Feng a close-up.

Ge Feng smiled politely at the camera, which immediately caused many female fans in China to scream.

"Ahhh... Ge Feng is so handsome..."

"I think he is more handsome than Sun Yue and Jeremy Lin..."

Naturally, the preseason received less attention than the regular season and playoffs.

Those who can see Ge Feng's appearance now must be die-hard fans of the NBA, no doubt.

(End of this chapter)