With three points at the start, Nash begged for a maximum salary to renew his contract

Chapter 306 Showdown between aircraft carriers, Nets vs. Warriors
The strength of the Nets is actually not only Wang Chao and Durant are strong, but other role players of the team in the new season also performed very well, led by Jokic and Booker.

In the third season of Jokic's career, his personal ability has actually been very prominent. In the original time and space, Jokic, who ushered in the third season of his career in 17-18, can contribute 18.5 points, 10.7 rebounds and 6.1 assists per game. Data has become the absolute core and backbone of the Nuggets.

In the Nets, Jokic, who has grown in ability, is limited by the possession of the ball, and his average data per game is not outstanding, but even so, the data of 14.4 points, 9.4 rebounds and 4.2 assists per game still allows Jokic to get great support from the outside world. Evaluation and praise, after all, he is only a little-known second-round pick, and it is surprising enough to be able to play such data during the rookie contract.

As for Devin Booker, as a high-ranked rookie in the lottery, he had high hopes from the beginning. According to Wang Chao's plan this season, he was to be positioned as the team's second scoring point. With Te's arrival, his possession of the ball has also been affected. He currently averages 16.1 points per game, which is only less than 2 points higher than last season. However, great progress has been made. With Wang Chao and Durant's two offensive cores greatly pulling the opponent's defensive center of gravity, Booker has a large number of open shots, shooting 47% from the field and 40-point shooting. There are also more than [-]%.

As for other players, whether it is the starting Bogdanovic, or Harrell, Powell and Brogdon on the bench, they all showed impressive performances in limited playing time.

In mid-December, the first round of voting for the All-Stars began, and the results of the first round of voting were announced at the end of December.

Although the fans probably have an expectation of the voting situation, the serious imbalance between the east and the west is still surprising.

In the first round of voting, Wang Chao once again overwhelmed James to become the top voter without any suspense. James came in second with a slight gap. Winning the championship, fulfilling his promise, and leading the team to regain the gold medal on the Olympic stage, recasting the glory of the American dream team, these two things made James' popularity soar, even if he stood behind him Wang Chao of the entire Hua Kingdom is not far behind.

Of course, another important reason for the close number of votes between the two is that the NBA league has reduced the proportion of votes from Asia. Compared with the number of people and the enthusiasm of the vote, the two countries of the United States are not enough for the Chinese country.

Back then, Dayao was able to win the All-Star votes and was selected as the All-Star starter for several consecutive seasons, which is inseparable from the strong support of Huaguo fans.

If the league counted the votes collected in Asia at a ratio of 1:1, James would not even be able to see Wang Chao's taillights.

Under Wang Chao and James, the No.3 in the first round of voting is Wang Chao's teammate Kevin Durant.

Durant is very popular in the league itself. Now that he is partnering with Wang Chao, he has also won the support of some Chinese fans. Although the number of votes is not as good as Wang Chao and James, he can still rank third.

It's just that, the top three in the first round of the All-Star voting are all Eastern stars, overwhelming the Western stars. Starting from the No.4 position, Russell is currently averaging a triple-double in the West. Bill Westbrook and Warriors' Stephen Curry.

In addition to Wang Chao and Durant, the Nets, Jokic and Booker are also on the list, especially Jokic, as a rare high-quality inside center in the league at this stage, his vote rate is not low, Just because the vote is divided among the forward positions, his votes are not dominant in the East.

There is no way, even if Wang Chao is an All-Star candidate as a guard, there are still too many stars in the Eastern Conference. James and Durant have already occupied two starting places.

In addition, Antetokounmpo, the Antetokounmpo of the Bucks, has also begun to take on the shadow of a Greek monster. His style of play, which perfectly shows his physical talent, is very visually impactful, and his personal data is also quite good. So far in the regular season, he has averaged 23.2 points, 9.1 rebounds and 5.4 assists per game. While the offensive end is unsolvable, the defensive efficiency is also very high. He is also a player with both offense and defense.

With a strong visual impact style of play, Antetokounmpo has gained a large number of fans this season, and is currently second only to James and Durant in the voting of Eastern forwards.

Under Antetokounmpo, there are Carmelo Anthony of the Knicks, Paul George of the Pacers and Joel Embiid of the Cavaliers. Jokic's vote rate can only rank among the Eastern Conference forwards. In the seventh, I am afraid that it is difficult to enter the starting lineup, but as long as he can continue to play at his current level, it is still possible to be selected as an All-Star as a substitute.

Last season, the Nets, as the team with the best record in the Eastern Conference, only had two All-Stars selected, which seemed a bit embarrassing. As a team tied with the Cavaliers and Warriors for the new season's three major aircraft carriers, no matter what, there must be at least three All-Stars Is it worth seeing? ——
For the remaining games in December, the Nets continued to maintain a high winning percentage, even though Durant took another three games off during the period, but under the leadership of Wang Chao, the Nets won all three games.

For the Nets, the real test during the regular season comes from the two games at the end of December.

On December 12, the Nets will first face the Golden State Warriors at home, and then fly to Cleveland to challenge the Cavaliers on December 28.

Good guy, in three days, the Nets will directly confront the other two major aircraft carrier teams in the league, and this is also the first matchup between the Nets and these two opponents in the new season, which naturally attracts the attention of many parties.

On December 12, the Nets took the lead in welcoming the Golden State Warriors challenge at home.

At this time, the Warriors have a regular season record of 27 wins and 5 losses, second in the league, second only to the Nets.

Letting go of the starting small forward Harrison Barnes this summer did not greatly affect the combat effectiveness of the Warriors. The average of 22 points and 10 rebounds is also the team's second scoring point, second only to Curry, who averaged 27.5 points and 6.8 assists per game, and slightly higher than Thompson, who averaged 21.4 points.

Three players in the team scored 3+ points, fully demonstrating the super offensive ability of the Warriors, and because of this, the Warriors can continue to be invincible in the regular season.

This battle of focus has been hyped up by the media a few weeks ago, and it is regarded as a preview of the finals, because it is generally believed that the Cavaliers in the East are probably not the opponents of the Nets, and the latter will definitely break into it. The finals, and the finals battle with the Warriors who stood out in the West.

As eastern and western teams, the two teams have only 2 chances to play against each other in the regular season, and the outcome of each game is quite critical.

That night, the Barclays Center arena in Brooklyn was packed, and all Nets fans came to the home court to cheer for their team.

In today's game, all members of the Nets played, starting lineup Wang Chao, Booker, Bogdanovic, Durant and Jokic.

The Warriors also did not dare to neglect, sending Curry, Thompson, Iguodala, Green and Cousins' starting five tiger combination.

After the team lost its starting small forward, Iguodala on the bench was "forced" to play in the starting position, but after all, Iguodala is only 32 years old and in good physical condition, averaging just over 30 minutes per game More than enough, he will naturally become the Warriors' starting forward in the new season.

The jump ball link is a duel between two lumps of pork belly.

Whether it's Jokic or the Warriors' center Cousins, they all belong to the kind of inside players who are not small in size and have a lot of fat, and their jumping is not good.

However, Cousins ​​still relied on the natural physical advantages of the blacks to slightly beat Jokic and turn the ball to his side.

Curry dribbled the ball across half court, made a tactical gesture to let his teammates pull away, and then lobbed the ball to Cousins, who was stuck inside.

When the Warriors and the Nets confront each other, the most advantageous position is obviously the position of the inside center. After all, Cousins ​​​​is a super center who can contribute 20+10 per game. Sins is still a little worse than that.

Indeed, in terms of perimeter, the combination of Curry + Thompson + Iguodala of the Warriors is definitely not comparable to Wang Chao + Durant + Booker. As for Green, there is no way to count on it, so at the beginning of this game Earlier, the Warriors had already thought of countermeasures in advance, which was to focus on the inside and rely on Cousins' ability to attack the inside to gain the upper hand in the game.

With his back against Jokic, Cousins ​​tried to resist, and the resistance was much stronger than expected.

This is also normal. Cousins ​​weighs 122 kilograms, and he is already considered a heavy center in the current league insiders. Although Jokic strictly controls his weight under the supervision of Wang Chao, he is not as fat as he will be in the future. Looks, but the weight is also maintained at about 125 kilograms, which is even 3 kilograms heavier than Cousins. Cousins, who is not good at strength himself, wants to use his strength to back Jokic, so it is not so easy.

However, Cousins ​​himself is not a brute force player. He made a flexible half-turn and cut in to the basket with a small hook layup and successfully scored for the Warriors.

Wang Chao raised his eyebrows slightly.

So you don't talk about Wude from the beginning?Then don't blame me.

Since the Warriors are sure to attack Cousins ​​as a breakthrough point, Wang Chao will not be polite to the opponent, and will pass the ball directly to Durant after half court.

Play one-on-one and see which side has the higher offensive efficiency.

Durant's opponent is Draymond Green, the Warriors' strongest defensive player.

In the past, he was mainly responsible for marking Wang Chao on the field, but in this game he had to defend Durant.

No way, Durant, who is registered at 2 meters tall, has the same real height as Cousins. During the Rio Olympics, the team took makeup photos and it can be clearly seen that Durant and the inside players Cousins, thick eyebrow brother Davis and others are almost the same height when standing together, and they have an advantage in wingspan.

Although Green is only 2 meters tall, there is a big gap with Durant, but he is currently the only player on the Thunder who can defend the opponent. Can't let Iguodala or Thompson defend Durant?
In terms of offensive threat, Durant is no worse than Wang Chao at all, and he is definitely a threat that cannot be let go.

Therefore, the Warriors' arrangement is to let Iguodala defend Wang Chao, Green defend Durant, and then Thompson assists the two at any time.

But the problem is that Booker's shooting percentage from outside the three-point line is as high as 40% this season, and he is also a player who cannot be easily emptied. I can only watch Durant single out Green.

In Wang Chao's view, this is a game of grievances.

Although in this time and space, there is no classic Green formula handed down from generation to generation, but with Durant's narrow-minded personality, even if he crosses time and space and crosses the timeline, being able to beat Green in a game will make him feel inexplicably happy.

Facing Green's defense with the ball, Durant raised his hand to test the shot. After realizing that Green's center of gravity moved forward, he immediately adjusted the ball to break through. He rushed to the free throw line in two steps and made an emergency stop jumper. The wingspan, coupled with Durant's own particularly high shooting point, made it impossible for Green to form an effective defense.

"Shh-!"

The shot brushes the net and enters the basket.

For a moment, Green just wanted to curse.

This TM is too playful!Wang Chao alone is already hard enough to guard against, but now that Durant is added, how can people play with this?
Durant's offensive firepower is not much worse than Wang Chao's, but his explosive power is lacking, and he can't deal with it calmly like Wang Chao when facing double teams.

But the question is can they double-team Durant?The answer is of course no!What is the difference between double-teaming his teammates in front of Wang Chao and sending the basket to Wang Chao for the opponent to score?
The Warriors, who are destined to be unable to limit the Nets' scoring on the defensive end, can only hope to win the game by relying on confrontation.

However, in the first quarter alone, in the scoring competition between Cousins ​​and Durant, the Warriors lost very thoroughly.

Cousins ​​is indeed a very strong insider. At his peak, he averaged 28+11 per game, and his scoring ability is one of the best among inside centers.

But one thing that cannot be ignored is that Cousins' career shooting percentage is only 46.1%.

If it is an outside player, a 46% shooting rate is not bad, but unfortunately, Cousins ​​​​is an inside center and a big center.

As a center, generally speaking, if the shooting percentage is less than 50%, it is considered inefficient. Let alone compared with most star centers who average 20+ points per game, Cousins ​​is considered to be softer than the power forward position. The German chariot Dirk Nowitzki, who is shooting from the outside, also has a career shooting percentage of 47%.

Can you imagine that Cousins, a guy who looks big and round, can't even match Nowitzki in shooting percentage?

There are three most criticized shortcomings in Cousins' career.

The first is the personality problem. Although he is not a bad guy like Green, he has a relatively hot temper. He often does some irrational things because of his anger, and he gets technical offenders a lot.

The second is the problem of defensive attitude. Due to the slow pace of footsteps, Cousins' defense is not very good, and his defensive attitude is not active enough. He prefers offense to defense. Even if he came to the Warriors, Cole Without the teachings of a top coach, Cousins' defense can only be described as mediocre.

This is obviously not in line with the league's long-term positioning of super center players. The so-called super center is to achieve both offense and defense, which can not only attack with the ball, but also guard the basket and protect the basket.

Even O'Neal has been selected to the All-Defensive Second Team 3 times in his career, and he has averaged 3.5 blocks per game on the defensive end in a single season.

The third is the issue of offensive efficiency. As a center player, his shooting percentage is less than 50%. It is incredible to think about it, but it also proves from another aspect that Cousins' offensive instability.

With a weight of 122 kilograms, Cousins ​​doesn't attack the basket many times. His offense is mostly shooting and hooking, which is also the reason for his low shooting rate.

Having said so much, it’s not that Cousins ​​is not good. As a center who has contributed 20+10 data steadily for many consecutive seasons, Cousins’ strength is absolutely outstanding, but I want to build around him as the core of the team. It is definitely not possible to build a team. The original space-time Cousins ​​has never made the playoffs in the Kings for seven seasons is the best proof.

But now, Cousins ​​and Durant's soaring points battle has been completely defeated and completely suppressed by Durant.

In the first quarter of the game, Durant made 14 of 8 shots, 3 of 1 three-pointers, 2 of 2 free throws, and scored 19 points in a single quarter, directly numbing Green who was defending him.

On the other hand, Cousins, the effect of singles against Jokic in the first few rounds was not bad, but as Jokic gradually adapted to his offensive routines, Cousins' offense was a bit difficult to use.

In the 16-17 season, Jokic was really not a vegetarian. He was definitely a player who was underestimated by the league because of his statistical performance.

When the conditions of weight, height, and wingspan are very close, Jokic defends Cousins ​​​​very well, often getting stuck in the position, forcing the opponent to only shoot in the middle and long distances.

Cousins ​​is capable of long-range three-pointers, but he is limited to shooting from open positions. Facing Jokic's defense and also focusing on a large number of mid-range shots, Durant is 14 of 8 and Cousins ​​is 11. Only hit 4.

There is a huge gap in the scores of the two main attackers, and the scores of the two teams in the first quarter also widen the gap.

The Nets scored 36 points in a single quarter, while the Warriors only had 28 points. The difference of 8 points is not too big.

Finding that Cousins ​​didn't seem to be very easy to use, Warriors head coach Steve Kerr chose to change his lineup, replacing Cousins, and Sean Livingston appeared on the stage instead, and the modified Death Five debuted.

When the positional battle is not dominant, the Warriors are ready to start speeding up!

(End of this chapter)