1 November 2003.

Moda Center Arena, City of Portland.

The Cavaliers take on the Trail Blazers on the road.

The Trail Blazers are a traditional powerhouse that has made the playoffs for 14 consecutive years, from 1990 to 2003.

In 2000, the Trail Blazers even reached the Western Conference Finals, and fought 7 games against the Lakers led by the OK group, and finally lost.

In the face of this traditional powerhouse, the Cavaliers did not have a good chance of winning, which also made Paul gray in his hair.

Because most likely, the Cavaliers will start with a three-game losing streak.

Truth be told, the schedule for this opening game did not favor the Cavaliers, coming up with a back-to-back, with two of the three games on the road.

And the three opponents are all strong teams in the West, and they can snatch the Western Conference playoff tickets.

But the media doesn't care about that, they only look at the results, if you lose three times in a row, then you are a weak team, and the coach is a failure.

Paul fielded the regular lineup: Ilgoskas, Boozer, James, Davis, McGinnis.

On the Trailblazers' side.

Power forward: "Big Black Bear" Zach Randolph, (206 cm, 118 kg), peak 23+10+2 presence.

Power Forward: "Roaring Celestial" Rashid Wallace, (211 cm, 104 kg), one of the future Pistons Five Tigers, representative of the all-round power forward.

Rashid can do everything, although he can't reach the top of everything, but there is nothing he can't do, from offense to defense.

Power forward: Dale Davis, (211 cm, 104 kg).

Small forward: Bunch Wells, (196 cm, 95 kg).

Defender: "Little flying squirrel" Damon Stoudemire, (178 cm, 78 kg).

Called the most headache guy by Jordan.

The flying squirrel rookie is at its peak, averaging 19 points, 4 rebounds, 9.3 assists and 1.4 steals per game to win the 1995 Rookie of the Year.

The best rookie may not be great, but if you look at the opponents competing with the flying squirrel for the best rookie, you can see how strong this guy is.

Kevin Garnett, Michael Finley, Joe Smith, Sabonis, Stark House...... All of them are All-Star caliber stars.

(How does Sabonis exist?) If it weren't for the fact that the four major centers in the NBA couldn't defeat the center of the former Soviet Union, if it weren't for the fact that he entered the NBA in his later years because of international relations, the era of the four centers would have become the era of the five centers. ）

It's a pity that the flying squirrel is not self-disciplined, gets involved in drugs, and ruins himself.

After only three years of good play, the flying squirrel's performance is getting worse and worse, and the data has shrunk significantly.

Today, the flying squirrel is over 30 years old, and with the injury he suffered last season, his form is even worse.

However, the skinny camel is bigger than the horse, and Jordan can be called the most headache player, where can he be underestimated.

......

That's right, the Trail Blazers are a fantastic lineup of 4 forwards and 1 point guard.

And although Bunch Wells is the height of a swingman, he is the weight of a power forward, and the technical characteristics of a power forward.

So to put it another way, you can think of the Trail Blazers' starting lineup as 4 power forwards plus 1 point guard.

Looking at this lineup, Ye Feng was speechless for a long time.

That is, this kind of deformed lineup will appear in the era of extreme emphasis on the inside line, and the era of small ball will never appear again.

Of course, there's also the reason that Rashid Wallace is fast-paced and doesn't suffer too much from defending small forwards.

Honk~

The competition has officially begun.

Fighting, Ye Feng suddenly found that this game had become a fierce battle between the two sides.

Knight's side.

Ilgoskas is paired with Boozer, the inside offense is already very strong, and the big Z who has been in the doldrums for two games has finally regained his feeling.

The two played the entire first quarter, shooting 6-of-8 and scoring 12 points.

However, the embarrassing thing is that under the encirclement and suppression of the Trail Blazers' four big forwards, the two of them grabbed a total of three rebounds.

And Davis and James are miserable, every time they break through and rush into the encirclement of a group of big men, they find that they can't distinguish between southeast and northwest, there are muscle blocks and big arms everywhere, and they can't even pass the ball.

The two combined for 3 of 8 shots, which was very inefficient.

The Trailblazers are on their side.

With 4 power forwards on the field, it goes without saying that the attitude of valuing the interior line is not much to say.

Dale Davis was a coolie blue-collar worker, but Randolph and Rashid Wallace were invincible.

Randolph is hand-to-hand combat, and Wallace is a variety of mid-to-long-range shots to open up the distance, and the two work together more perfectly than the Cavaliers' interior combination.

Everyone found out that basketball was always hovering in the paint zone, and all shots were made from inside the three-point line, not a single three-point shot, which was something that would only happen in that era.

After one quarter, the two sides fought to a 23-all draw.

Ye Feng played in the last few minutes, but the instructions he got were to give the ball inside, so he didn't even make a shot.

The second quarter begins.

Big Z and Boozer all went to rest, and the offensive firepower of the Cavaliers' interior line was all extinguished at once.

And the Trail Blazers are actually three tall interior players, forwards, and forwards.

The Trail Blazers have 10 main rotation players, 5 are over 210 centimeters, 6 interior players, 1 center + 5 power forwards + 2 small forwards + 2 guards, and there are only two guards, which is also strange.

But this odd formation really limited the Cavaliers.

Throughout the second quarter, except for Ye Feng, who had an absolute height advantage against the flying squirrel and scored 3 three-pointers, everyone else was blown up.

The interior line was heavily encircled, and the breakthrough of James and Davis was like falling into the mud, and they couldn't get out if they went in.

In the first quarter of the game, at 31:16, the Trail Blazers directly opened a 15-point difference.

In the second half, Paul resumed the strategy of the first quarter again, letting the rested Big Z and Boozer take the lead, and the Cavaliers finally recovered a little score.

But the interior players are too tall, and the problem of physical strength is inevitable, not to mention facing the encirclement and suppression of a group of interior players of the Trailblazers.

Big Z and Boozer played until the fourth quarter and couldn't move at all.

As a result, in the fourth quarter of the game, the Cavaliers were broken again.

Except for Ye Feng who shot 3 three-pointers in front of the flying squirrel again, none of the others behaved normally.

In the end, 98-108, the Cavaliers ushered in a three-game losing streak.

Ilgoskas scored a game-high 21 points, but he only grabbed 4 rebounds, completely sorry for his height of 221 centimeters.

Davis had 16 points, 8 rebounds and 7 assists, a quasi-triple-double, but the shooting rate was just over 40%, and the offensive efficiency was not high.

Boozer had 15 points and 9 rebounds, and his performance was acceptable.

James had 8 points, 4 rebounds and 6 assists, shooting 3 of 12 from the field, with only a 25% shooting rate, which was miserable and the worst performance so far in the game.

In this game, James' shooting problem was very obvious, and in the case of unfavorable breakthroughs, James's shooting percentage was unbearable.

Ye Feng performed very well, facing the old flying squirrel who was only 178 centimeters, Ye Feng shot 6 of 6 in the whole game, all three-point shots, and cut 18 points, 2 rebounds, 3 assists and 1 block.

It's a pity that Ye Feng's performance didn't bring victory to the Cavaliers.

(This has something to do with Paul's strategy of playing inside.)

If you insist on letting Ye Feng fight the little flying squirrel, it may have a miraculous effect.

Of course, in this era of interior supremacy and defense wins, it is impossible for Ye Feng to get this kind of treatment as a draft and backup guard, and Paul, a conservative coach, is not so bold. ）

On the Trail Blazers' side, Randolph had 21 points, 13 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 steals, and was the undoubted MVP of the game.

Woods 15 points, Flying Squirrel 14, Wallace 14 points, Wells 11 points, Patterson 10 points......

6 people scored double-doubles and won easily and happily.

After the game, Paul's face was gloomy and he didn't say a word at the press conference.

0-3 is fine, and then look at the next schedule of the Cavaliers, the Nuggets and Pacers are two consecutive away teams and two strong teams......

This schedule is really unfriendly to the Knights.