At half past seven o'clock in the evening of the 24th, the Oracle Arena, the home of the Warriors, was already full of people.

A series of pre-match ceremonies have already been completed, and the warm-up of the players has long been over. Now that the players from both the Warriors and Lakers have entered the stadium, the game is about to begin.

The big screen above the arena showed the starting list for tonight's game.

The home team's Warriors' starting five are: Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Harrison Barnes, Draymond Green, Andrew Bogut.

And the visiting Lakers' starting five are still the same: point guard Clarkson, scoring guard Yi Feng, small forward Kobe, big forward Randle, and center Hibbert.

The game was broadcast live across the United States, with ESPN in charge of the live signal.

The national live broadcast of NBA games in the United States has been handled by ESPN, ABC and ***. And the games that can stand out from the many regular seasons and be broadcast live across the United States must be a very gimmick and a focus of viewing.

Like tonight's game between the Lakers and the Warriors.

The Warriors are the defending champions and upstarts, while the Lakers are the league's veteran giants and boast superstars like Kobe. The collision between them, without thinking about it, will definitely receive great attention.

This season, the defending champions of the Warriors are the league with the most live games in the United States, with 25 games.

Although the Cavaliers lost in the Finals last season, they still have a big three - LeBron James, Kyrie Irving, Kevin Love, especially James, although he is old, but the peak is still there, having him in the Cavaliers is a box office guarantee, and the league has also arranged 25 live broadcasts for the Cavaliers in the United States.

Tied for third in the nation for live streaming games in the United States, the Thunder and Clippers, both teams have 24 live broadcasts in the United States, and the Thunder welcomed back a healthy Kevin Durant and Serge Ibaka for the new season, and they also renewed the contract of Ines Kanter this summer. And the Clippers' reinforcements this summer have also been fruitful, after retaining DeAndre Jordan, the Clippers also brought in Paul Pearce, Lance Stephenson and other giants, and signed the young D'Angelo Russell, and the hole of lack of depth was filled.

The Bulls are ranked fifth in the United States in live broadcasts, they have a total of 23 national live broadcasts, and after replacing Tom Thibodeau with Fred Hojberg as a coach change, the Bulls will speed up and increase their three-point shooting in the new season, and their game viewing should be greatly improved, not to mention that they are already a strong team in the East and are located in the big market Chicago.

The Spurs, who have completed an upgrade to their roster this summer, are sixth in 21 games, and they will be the favorites to win the championship this season with the addition of LaMarcus Aldridge and the signing of Kawhi Leonard, Danny Green, Manu Ginobili and Tim Duncan.

The Rockets and Lakers are tied for seventh place each with 19 games, and the Rockets brought in Ty Lawson this summer and re-signed Patrick Beverley and Corey Brewer, who have also improved their strength after filling the shortcomings of the No. 1 spot.

The Lakers have been able to broadcast more live games in the United States than many strong teams in the league, and the biggest reason is Kobe. With the addition of the supermarket in Los Angeles, the league will make such an arrangement. As for Yi Feng's appearance, the strength of the Lakers has been greatly improved, and even to the level of a strong team, which was not expected by league officials who arranged the schedule and live broadcast in advance.

In the new season, ESPN, ABC and *** have arranged a total of 286 live broadcasts in the United States, of which the above 8 teams accounted for 180 games, accounting for 63%, and the remaining 22 teams shared the remaining 37% of the games.

It is worth mentioning that there are 3 teams that will not be able to appear on the big screen of the national live broadcast this season, namely the Nuggets, the Pistons and the 76ers, the Nuggets gave up Lawson to enter the rebuilding mode, the Pistons entered a transition period after losing Greg Monroe, and the 76ers are completely fish belly, the new season will be a strong contender for the top picking, and it is reasonable that their games will not be broadcast live in the United States.

Not to mention the Nuggets, the Pistons this season are currently performing extremely strongly, especially Andre Drummond, who won the Eastern Conference Player of the Week in the first two weeks of the new season. Presumably, the bowels of the officials who have arranged the live broadcast in the United States are all repentant, and such a good topic means super high ratings! That's a green dollar bill!

As for the 76ers, they are no longer on the same level as other teams in the NBA. Recently, there have been many people who want to remove them from the league, because because of their existence, the overall strength of the NBA has been lowered. Such a team naturally does not get attention, even if it rots in the corner, no one knows.

It's said that the world is unpredictable, just like the officials in the league who arranged the national live broadcast games couldn't have imagined that the Pistons' Andre Drummond would be so violent, and he wouldn't have known in advance that tonight's game between the Lakers and the Warriors would be so watched.

But fortunately, he set this game to be broadcast live in the United States, otherwise it would be as simple as regretting the green intestines.

ESPN has put a lot of effort into making this live broadcast a good one.

Before the game, they warmed up for the game, did a special show, and also invited famous basketball figures Chris Mullin and Hubby Brown as guests.

And tonight, ESPN not only continued to line up the big girl Erin Andrews as a frontline reporter, but also sent in heavyweight commentators: Mark Jackson, Chris Webb and Tracy McGrady.

Jackson is a former head coach of the Warriors, who joined the Warriors in 2011 as head coach and coached for three seasons.

Over the past three seasons, Jackson has led the Warriors to a 121-109 record and made the playoffs twice. The Warriors advanced to the playoffs in their final regular-season game in 2013 — the first time since 1991.

In 2013-14, the Warriors played a total of 82 games and won 51 games, the first time the Warriors won 50 games in a season since 1993-94. However, this season, when the Warriors were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs, Jackson was fired by Warriors management.

For this game, or for all of the Warriors' games, Jackson was a good gimmick, which is why ESPN sent him to commentate.

Webb and Maddie are both newcomers to the commentary world, especially Maddie, who is commenting on an NBA game for the first time!

After Webb's stellar career, the final stop fell to the Warriors. He retired from the Warriors in 2008. He, a rookie in the commentary world, was sent to explain this game for such a special reason.

As for Maddie, being able to make his debut as a commentator in such a major competition is not only lucky, but also his popularity, especially in China. ESPN is taking into account the ratings problem to let the commentary on this game with Chinese playing.

Before the game officially started, the commentary booth started chatting first.

As a veteran of the commentary industry for many years, Mark Jackson was the first to speak, "Chris, Tracy, as is customary, let's predict the outcome of this game first, right?" ”

Chris Webber tried to pretend to be calm, "I'm a veteran, I'm experienced," and "I know it's a must-talk for the commentators before the game starts." Since Mark asked, I'll make a prediction first. I think the Warriors are going to win this game! ”

Then he looked at Maddie, who was a little restrained, "Tracy, what do you think?" ”

Then Webb smiled and said, "Tracy, are you nervous?" ”

It was Maddie's commentator debut, and he was certainly a little nervous. When you are nervous, you will naturally act cautiously and not say much, because if you say too much, you will lose.

Mark Jackson laughed on the side, "Chris, you don't have to pretend, with my vicissitudes of old eyes, I can see at a glance that your calm appearance is a restless heart!" ”

He did not hesitate to expose Weber's calm façade.

"Yo, I didn't expect Mark that you have a talent for poets, and you are saying this at a very high level!"

After a period of ridicule, Maddie gradually relaxed and began to enter the state of a narrator.

Weber, who was exposed, was not annoyed, but joked, "It's a pity, I've been studying acting recently, and I thought I'd almost learned acting, but I didn't expect to be seen through at once." It seems that I have to go back and read more copies of Stanislavsky's "The Self-cultivation of Actors". ”

Maddie pretended to be amazed, "I didn't expect that I am also a person with such a high level of knowledge!" ”

"Where, where, just a little dabbling!"

Although Mark Jackson said so, the smugness on his face had betrayed him.

It seems that Maddie is not only talented in basketball, but also talented after changing careers. In just a few minutes, he was able to talk and laugh with Mark Jackson.

Webber looked serious, "Let's get back to business, we're commenting on the game right now!" ”

Mark Jackson wasn't uncomfortable with such a quick change of subject, "Okay, so tell me why you think the Warriors can win, is it because you used to play here?" ”

"If that's the case, then I was the head coach of the Warriors."

Mark Jackson was smiling.

Webb was stunned for a second, "That's just one of the reasons. ”

Then he woke up from a dream, "Anyway, you haven't predicted who will lose or who will win?" ”

Maddie replied lightly: "Don't worry, you can say your opinion first, let me and Mark listen to it, and let the fans who watch this game listen to it." ”

Mark Jackson nodded, "That's right, since you've already started making predictions, you have to start and finish." You say that the Warriors are winning, so you have to explain the reason, right? Why did the Warriors win this game, but why couldn't the Lakers win? ”

Webb looked like he had lost to you, cleared his throat and said, "For the sake of you all being so ignorant, then I'll start teaching beginners!" It's good to have my ears pricked up! ”

"First of all, the first reason why I'm bullish on the Warriors is that the Warriors are all soldiers!"

"The place of modern basketball is getting more and more blurred, so now there are a lot of all-around players in the league who are just a brick and can move wherever they are needed. And many of the Warriors' players can play two or even three positions. ”

"In the main lineup, Stephen Curry can play the first and second positions, Klay Thompson can play the second and third positions, Harrison Barnes can swing in the third and fourth positions, and Draymond Green is even better, he can play from the third position to the fifth position!"

"And on the bench, Andre Iguodala can play from the second to the fourth, and even playmaking defenders! Brandon Rush can play in the second or third position, Marlys Speights can play four or five, Ian Clarke can swing on the back line, and Sean Livingston can also be a swingman at the back. ”

"Whether it's the main team or the bench, the Warriors are all-round warriors!"

"And according to the characteristics of these players, the Warriors have also developed a very unique tactical system, which also makes the position of each player more ambiguous, except for Andrew Bogut, Festus Azeli and Anderson Vallejo, who are definitely standing on the inside, all other players can be pulled out and shot."

"And then every player is a very well-rounded player, who can handle the ball on the offensive end, who can finish the offense, who can also cover his teammates; On the defensive end, they all have above-average individual defensive ability, and they are active in helping to defend. This makes the Warriors all soldiers, and everyone can play a role immediately, making it difficult for the opponent to defend, and the defense will not say that there are particularly big holes. ”

"The Warriors are all soldiers, coupled with their super tactical execution ability and good locker room atmosphere, it will allow them to win game after game!"

Mark Jackson said: "I agree with you very much. But you just said 'first'? Could it be that you have a more wonderful point of view? ”

Maddie laughed and said, "yes, I remember it very well, and that was just the first reason why he was bullish on the Warriors." I certainly can't say such a brilliant point of view, and a novice like me has to listen to his teachings obediently. ”

Weber was not without pride, "Since you know that I have a unique opinion, why don't you hurry up and listen to it?" ”

"My second reason is very simple, but it's not good news for some people."

Webb said, glancing at Mark Jackson.

Jackson said suspiciously: "What do you think I'm doing, continue to talk about your high opinions, we're listening!" ”

When Webb saw this, he bluntly said, "The second reason why I'm bullish on the Warriors is the coach." The comparison between the two coaches, in my opinion, is really very different. ”

"If I had to illustrate this gap with a figurative analogy, Steve Cole is like a knowledgeable professor and Byron Scott is just a recent college graduate!" (To be continued.) )