Chapter 291: The team is in good shape
After the All-Star break, the Cavaliers' first opponent was the Wizards.
The Wizards got off to a good start, but they ran into problems during this time.
Beal's injury has seen them lose several games in a row, and their record has slipped down.
The season is long, there will be run-ins, injuries, ups and downs in form, and if the team doesn't handle it well, it won't be able to be a first-tier team.
Otto Porter, a sophomore who started in place of Beal, defended well, but couldn't help the team more on the offensive end for the time being.
The knight's side is in average condition, and it is estimated that he has been dating his girlfriend a lot.
Zhang Xiaotian, Irving, and James, the three players who came back from the All-Stars, are in good shape, all three are 20+, and lead the team to six double-doubles.
Their 20+ was all won in the first three quarters.
This was the first time for Zhang Xiaotian, but it didn't attract much attention.
After all, his Otto Porter is a duck on the shelf, so no one will find out about his strength when he becomes stronger.
On February 22, the Cavaliers played away against the Knicks, who had no hope of making the playoffs.
Anthony chose to have knee surgery after the All-Star break, and this season was reimbursed, probably because he was also dissatisfied with the team's record.
In the face of a fish belly that does not have any strong points, the knight should be a training soldier.
It was another three quarters to solve the battle, but Zhang Xiaotian didn't get 20+ in this game.
On February 24, the Cavaliers played away again, this time against the Pistons.
The Pistons have two interior lines that can be played, one offensive and one defensive, but the results just can't go up, and the speed of both of them is a little slow, and they are a little incompatible when they go together.
The Cavaliers' interior line can also be regarded as one offense and one defense, and they just don't care about Drummond and Monroe, but they just suffer from rebounding.
Moreover, the Pistons' configuration was also unreasonable, and there was no suitable shooter to cooperate with the two interior lines, and the Cavaliers defended in the third quarter and established an advantage to win the opponent.
Zhang Xiaotian's game is just average, he hasn't completely gotten used to it after the three-point improvement, and with the problem of ball ownership, I really can't see that his long-distance shooting has become better.
The fans are also a little regretful, some time ago, they were powerful, but they raised their appetites, and they didn't expect that he could only be regarded as the fourth person in the Cavaliers.
Some sunspots in the outside world couldn't help but jump out, saying that he had swelled after being an all-star, and he definitely didn't play seriously, Zhang Xiaotian just laughed.
Zhang Dajun had already gone back to San Antonio, and his friend was not used to following Zhang Xiaotian there.
Yang Feiyu also went back to the other side of the ocean, and the company would definitely want her to keep an eye on it after the New Year.
New products are also about to start designing, and this year, clothes and other products will be promoted by season, and sneakers will be released in the summer.
Earlier than expected, after going to the physical store, the product is a little thin if it is not updated.
So after the two of them discussed and consulted with professionals, they decided to speed up the pace a bit.
However, Zhang Xiaotian is still more sensible, and he will not launch multiple products like those big brands, which will force them to compete with those mature brands, and they will definitely encounter big difficulties.
Although I plan to have a few more products, I still focus on fan consumption.
He and Yang Feiyu also discussed that the physical store will not expand to other cities for the time being, and the current positioning of the free choice is a niche brand, which will not change for at least five years.
On February 26, the Cavaliers hosted the Warriors, who are No. 1 in the East, and received a lot of attention.
The last time the two teams met, Zhang Xiaotian was recovering from an injury, and the knights were also defeated.
There are actually no personnel changes for the Warriors this season, but the main lineup has changed.
Put David Lee and Iguodala, two players with an annual salary of 10 million, on the bench, and Warriors head coach Kerr is also very bold.
Coach Brad Stevens of the Celtics did the same when he accepted the team, and Kerr was bolder than him because the Warriors didn't have a bad record in the first place.
If you succeed, you are handsome, and if you don't succeed, you are a rookie, such as Fisher, who brought the Knicks into a fish belly, in fact, he did something similar.
This is competitive sports, and heroes have always been judged by winning or losing.
can sit on the throne of the first place in the East, and the Warriors can be described as both offensive and defensive.
Of the five people on the court, except for Curry, whose defense is mediocre because of his mediocre physical fitness, the defense of the other four is very good, which is better than that of the Cavaliers.
Offensively, it can only be said that the Splash Brothers are unreasonable.
When Zhang Xiaotian was still with the Spurs, Curry and Klay Thompson's three-point shooting was unreasonable, and no one thought at the time that they could be unreasonable all the time, because after the two of them exceeded the expectations of fans in that playoffs, they received a lot more targeted defense.
Now they just need to prove themselves in the playoffs to take their status one step further.
To be reasonable, it's not easy for the Cavaliers to play against them, and the Warriors' interior Draymond Green and Bogut are very good in defense, and there are people who top James, which is James' least favorite type of defense.
Because Draymond Green can also defend it, the Warriors are also very good at defending the outside, because Zhang Xiaotian's three-point shooting is more accurate, but he has a chance to impact the opponent's defense.
It's that James and Love's three-point instability is unstable, otherwise they really don't care about defense.
At the beginning of the game, Curry hit a three-pointer against Irving.
The difference between a three-point shooter and an All-Star is the degree of neglect of defense.
Before Curry, there wasn't an All-Star-caliber player who played three-pointers to the extent that Curry did.
All it takes is the slightest hesitation on the part of a defender, or a delay by a covering player, and the team can lose three points.
However, it is not easy for Curry to defend against Irving, Irving can basically explode with many excellent guards in the league, the defensive end is average, and no one cares about the offensive end.
When encountering the No. 1 position with strong offensive power, many times the Warriors will let Klay Thompson change the defense, and today will definitely not work, no matter what, Zhang Xiaotian is also an All-Star, and Curry's small body can't withstand it.
Irving and Curry don't care about each other's defense, but Irving's shooting percentage is slightly lower, and if he breaks through, it's really hard to face the Warriors' defense.
On the other hand, Barnes was a little unable to stand James, and Draymond Green was very active in coming over to help defend, but he was fouled, and against the Warriors, James also planned to have a good game.
Lefu was restrained, and Mozgov and Bogut were supposed to do rough work.
However, Zhang Xiaotian and Klay Thompson stared at each other very closely, and it was a little unusual that they didn't score much.
Obviously, the Warriors suffered more, because Zhang Xiaotian didn't score much in the first three quarters many times.
But even so, the Warriors scored 33 points in the first quarter, and the Cavaliers didn't let go of it with 32 points.
The Warriors are also a big threat to play David Lee in the rotation, but Smith is a little limited this time, and Livingston, who comes off the bench for the Warriors, is also a good defense.
Overall, it won't be easy for the Cavaliers to win the game.