Howard was very excited to be able to compete with his idol in the first game of the preseason. So Howard did his best from the opening stage, bent on proving his strength in front of his idols.

But it backfired, and the Clippers not only lost the game, but also lost so badly. In particular, Howard also lost several direct conversations with Lamar and lost a lot of face.

Although Lamar's words to Howard after the game all sounded sarcastic, only the last one was encouraging, but Howard still sounded encouraged. Sometimes the power of idols is really huge!

The Los Angeles Clippers and New York Knicks also kicked off the preseason, and the final training before the 2004-2005 NBA regular season officially began. Although there are many fewer big-name stars in the league, the wonderful performance of the rookies still makes the fans who have been waiting for half a year addicted.

The Knicks' training plan went very well, with a 5-3 record in preseason games starring rookies and bench players.

Van Gundy's biggest discovery in the game was Trevor, Ariza and Jamal Nelson, two rookies recommended by Lamar himself. Although these two rookies still have many flaws, their potential has been fully revealed. As for whether they can withstand the test of the long season, it will be necessary to wait for the upcoming regular season to verify.

Some teams are ready and waiting for the start of the new season to get a good result. Some teams are still running around and negotiating to make final additions to their roster before the regular season begins.

That's the case with the Houston Rockets, who suddenly announced a trade piece of news that shocked the league a week before the start of the regular season. Team boss Steve Francis was traded to the Orlando Magic in exchange for former league scoring champion McGrady.

No one cares what kind of changes will happen to Magic after Francis arrives at Magic, and people's eyes are attracted to Houston at this time.

What kind of impact will Maddie, a super outside scorer, have on the league when he combines with a small oriental giant with great potential? The OK group has just disintegrated, so will the Yao Mai group, which was born in Houston, be the best successor to OK? Will they also become another feared pair of partners in the league like the OK group?

Only Lamar knows best that what the so-called Yao Mai combination is about to bring to Houston is not glory and championship, but disappointment and pain. Until Lamar was reborn, the Yao Mai group disintegrated, Yao Ming and Maddie retired one after another, and they never led the team to win a championship ring, and the best time was just to break through the first round of the playoffs, and that became the swan song of the Yao Mai group.

The Knicks will face the Houston Rockets led by Yao Mai in Game 2 of the regular season of the new season.

In two meetings between the two teams last season, the Knicks doubled home and away to give the Houston Rockets no chance at all.

It's just that I don't know if the Rockets will change this format now after welcoming the former scoring champion McGrady.

As for the Knicks' first opponent in the new season, it is the Milwaukee Bucks, the league's famous fish belly in recent years. Whoever has a poor record of the Bucks in recent years, but their boss has no such awareness. Recently, he even openly provoked the Knicks in front of the media, as if he had become the second big-mouthed boss in the league.

"We're fine! The Bucks are going to surprise all their opponents this season! Defending champions? So what? No team in the NBA is undefeated, not even the Bulls of the year?"

Lamar doesn't care who his first opponent of the new season is, he just wants the regular season to start as soon as possible. He hasn't played for half a year, and his body is about to rust.

As the start of the regular season drew closer, Lamar's momentum became even stronger. The rest of the Knicks have also felt Lamar's change lately.

They found that Lamar would get quite excited during training, and sometimes even treat a training session as if it were a finals, and keep talking about it.

"Ten days left!"

"Nine days left!"

"Eight days left!"

In the Knicks' locker room, today's training is over. Because I will be playing in Milwaukee the day after tomorrow, the training schedule today is not very intense.

After more than a month of preparation, although the current situation of the Knicks cannot be compared with last season, it is finally reasonable.

Compared to last season, the Knicks have nearly a month less preparation time this season. There is no way around it, after all, players are human beings, and it is impossible for the team to ask players to give up their vacations every season.

With so many veterans gone and a month less time to prepare, the Knicks' current shortcomings are also obvious.

The cooperation between the players can only be said to be improvised, not tacit understanding at all, and it is much worse than last season's heart.

The physical reserves are not very sufficient, after all, the time is pressing, and Van Gundy will inevitably increase the usual training volume in order to prepare for the new season and let the tacit understanding between the players form faster.

Although the intensity of today's training was not great, Lamar was still very hard, and he had to practice three-point shooting alone after the training was over.

"Does anyone know what's going on with Lamar lately?" Anderson asked his teammates as he moved his sore shoulders.

Birdman can be said to be extremely depressed today, Lamar seems to have a grudge against him, and he has several big hats on his head during training.

"I guess that guy definitely hasn't touched a woman for too long, and his hormones are seriously out of balance!" Also feeling depressed was Dampoter, who was tackled by Lamar many times in a row today, and was even scared as soon as he got the ball.

"Also, Vanessa's belly is so big now, it's not convenient to do that!" said Sean Battier, a sanctimonious guy, and the players around him laughed instantly.

"Lamar is such a strange person that he gave up a forest for a flower like Vanessa. I really don't know how to cherish it, that's simply a crime. ”

"I also think it's a pity, if it were Samuel, I guess it would have been **** a long time ago! To be honest, the Kardashian sisters' farts are really tempting, so it's a pity to give up like this. ”

"But hasn't Kim Kardashian been talking to reporters lately, hoping to clear up the misunderstanding with Lamar and start over? ”

"Not everyone can control such a woman, I still think Hillary Duff is better!"

"Chauncey, you have the best relationship with Lamar, have you noticed anything wrong with him lately?"

Billups thought for a moment and said, "There's nothing wrong with it, it's just that he's suddenly become very excited lately. Sometimes I look very anxious, as if I am worried about something. ”

"Alright!" Alonzo said to stop the boys' boring behavior, "this is not the time for you to gossip, none of you know what Lamar is thinking. If you still have extra energy, why not go out and practice shooting with Lamar. I believe that will be much better than you talking about other people's privacy here!"

There's really nothing wrong with Lamar, he's so excited right now because he can't wait. The sword had been sealed in its scabbard for a whole summer, and now it couldn't wait to taste the blood of its opponent.

While the Knicks were working together to rearmament, Van Gundy and the Knicks' uniform team received the unfortunate news that the Knicks' first backup for the new season was out of the season due to injury.

And Hilario's injury is still very puzzling - **cancer!

Although there was such an unfortunate experience at the beginning of the new season, time waits for no one.

On 1 November 2004, the fighting was rekindled.

In the opening game of the new season, the Detroit Pistons defeated the NBA newcomer Charlotte Bobcats 92-77!

The Pistons, who had just undergone a major personnel change, continued their defense-oriented style, scoring only 34 points in the half!

The team's core Rasheed Wallace contributed a double-double of 17 points, 11 rebounds and two assists in the first half alone. And throughout the second half, Roaring Tianzun almost sat on the bench, watching his teammates continue to slowly torture the NBA, the NBA newborn, with solid defense and iron-blooded combat style.

I don't know what those high-level leaders in the league think, generally speaking, for newcomers, some fish belly teams should be arranged to build their confidence, so that it is conducive to their growth.

Although the Pistons have undergone major changes in the offseason, the main cores of Rasheed Wallace and Hamilton are still there, plus the newly joined Kenyon Martin and Al Jefferson, although the overall strength has declined slightly, but it is still in the ranks of the strong team.

But David Stern, as if he didn't know all this, specially picked the most difficult piston in the league to give this newcomer a disadvantage.

In this way, the situation of the Bobcat's rout can be imagined. With no history and no style of their own, the Bobcats were powerless in front of the Pistons as if they had no choice but to be teased incessantly.

Rookie Okafor, the heart of the Bobcats, had a somewhat disappointing performance in this game, with no bright spots in the game other than a dunk and a mid-range shot in the opening stages. It soon disappeared under the combined attack of the opposing party, Rasheed Wallace and Kenyon Martin.

The focus of attention after the game was not on the Pistons, after all, there was really nothing to brag about to win such a game. All eyes were on Okafor on the losing side.