In addition to the Christmas game, the league also likes to create some gimmicks in the opening game, such as last season's championship and overall runner-up. This time, the 76ers also got the same treatment, and their opening game against the Lakers, who played seven games against them in the Finals last year, and this time the 76ers went to Los Angeles to play away from home.

Before the start of the season, the Lakers finally convinced the Timberwolves, and they paid a number of players, including Foster and Tyronn Lue, to get shooter Szczebiak from the Timberwolves. At the same time, in order to make up for the rotation hole after the departure of Tyronn Lue on the guard line, the Zen master once again made a move to take down the aging All-Star point guard "The Rock" Richmond.

Richmond isn't a particularly big threat to the 76ers, as the six-time All-Star and future Hall of Famer is entering the end of his career. Although he averaged 16.2 points and three assists per game with the Wizards last season, he has struggled to keep up with the pace of his younger players and has nothing to fear in games.

Szczebiak is the existence that Brown feels tricky now, although the third-year shooter only averaged 14 points per game last year and only shot 33.8% from three-point range, but now after joining the Lakers, with O'Neal inside to attract defense and Kobe Bryant to pull space, Szzambiak will definitely be able to get more shots. For such a player who eats off shooting, as long as he is given enough space, his three-point shooting percentage will definitely have a huge improvement.

It's not hard to limit Szzzerbiak on the defensive end, and the European shooter's worst thing is physical, and just disrupting his shooting rhythm can make him much less threatening. However, Bale needs to keep an eye on the more threatening Kobe, so the task of defending Szczebiak will have to fall to Reed, which will be a big test for him.

When Brown told Reed about this, Reed gritted his teeth and stomped his foot, and said in a deep voice: "No problem, I believe I can get him, isn't it just a soft egg from Europe?" I'll tell him what it means to be tough! ”

Brown is very pleased with Reed's assurance, in his opinion, whether the player can limit the opponent on the defensive end is mainly a matter of attitude, and a person like Reed is obviously the right attitude, even if he can't defend Szzebiak at that time, the old coach will not blame him too much. But in fact, Brown also thinks that Szczebiak is nothing great, as long as he can destroy his center of gravity, his shooting percentage will definitely not be guaranteed, so won't it directly abolish a scoring point on the outside of the Lakers?

But it wasn't until the game started that Brown realized that the problem was really not easy to solve. Now Reed is an important scoring point for the 76ers from the outside, and Szczebiak is a player with a very good basketball IQ, and although his off-ball running is not yet at the top level of the league, it is enough to stun Reid. Reed, on the defensive end, consumed too much energy to contribute on the offensive end, and he only scored 3 points on 1-of-6 shooting in the first quarter, which was rare before.

Reed was dumbfounded, and the rest of the 76ers were caught off guard, and before they knew it, they had begun to rely on the sophomore guard a little on the offensive end. Originally, Reed's role on the offensive end was to help Iverson pull out space and then use his super three-point firepower to increase the team's points, but now he is a little weak on the defensive end, let alone the offense. It was because of his sluggish performance on the offensive end that the 76ers trailed by 12 points at 25-37 at the end of the first quarter.

The Lakers' side scored the most points, and he didn't feel uncomfortable at all, hitting three three-pointers in a single quarter to score 11 points, Kobe Bryant and O'Neal each scored 8 points, and the Lakers' new trio combined to score 27 points, which is already more than the entire 76ers team scored. Under their leadership, the other Lakers players were also unrelenting, and only then scored nearly 40 points in a single quarter, and the result of trailing by 12 points was completely unexpected by Brown before the game.

Szczebiak's joining has made the "OK combination" more powerful, they no longer need to cut points desperately on the court, O'Neal occupies the inside line, Kobe Bryant breaks through the ball, Szzambiak waits for an opportunity to shoot, such a trio is obviously incomparable, it can be seen that the Zen master's vision when recruiting is indeed quite sharp, who would have thought that this third-year shooter could become Kobe Bryant and O'Neal's right-hand man? But the Zen master just dared to trade, and he put him in the starting line in the opening game!

Out of an abundance of caution, Brown played the full 12 minutes of the first quarter with the starting five, but the Lakers were physically and mentally exhausted, especially after trailing by 12 points. So Brown had to start the second quarter with an all-bench lineup, which he had used many times in practice, but it was the first time he appeared in a competitive game.

Before going on the court, Brown patted Arenas on the shoulder and said solemnly: "Gilbert, it's up to you whether you can narrow the score before the starters come on the field, you are the most practical scorer in our bench lineup, this time I will give you unlimited firing rights, as long as you feel that you can hit the shot, then be brave and shoot!" You have to trust your teammates to give you support. ”

Arenas nodded, didn't speak, and turned to walk towards the court. Chang Wei keenly saw that this guy's fists were clenched tightly, of course, not because of nervousness, but because of excitement, after all, this was Arenas' first time playing in the NBA. It's not like he hasn't played for the team in Summer League, but the intensity of that game is obviously not comparable to the regular season, and even though he averaged nearly 25 points per game in Summer League, that's not a bragging record.

The Lakers didn't dare to remove all the starters like Brown, mainly because the Lakers' bench lineup was similar to the 76ers' bench last season, and there was no scorer who could score points like crazy. Despite bringing in Richmond, the Zen master didn't trust his athleticism, so he continued to put Kobe Bryant on the court and let him lead the team's offense.

Looking at the figures of Arenas and Kobe, Chang Wei couldn't help but smile slightly, now the status of these two players looks very different, Kobe Bryant has a championship ring in hand, and he is a potential rookie that the Lakers focus on cultivating, and Arenas is just this year's No. 30 rookie, a bench player of the 76ers. But Chang Wei knows that Arenas will eventually grow into a powerful existence like Kobe, although his peak period is far shorter than Kobe, but when he is at his most dazzling, even Kobe Bryant does not dare to pick up his edge, maybe when Arenas grows to that height, Kobe will revisit this game, right?