The Bobcats played well in the preseason, with no defeat in six games, which really broke the glasses of many people. The winning streak has also boosted the confidence of the players, who can't wait to show off their skills in the regular season.

The league also seems to be interested in giving the new team a little preferential policy, arranging their opener against the Grizzlies, who had a mediocre record last season, and it was also on the home court of the Bobcats. But in Charlotte, the Bobcats still have a long way to go to win the support of local fans, and they sold only 60% of the tickets for the opener, which includes a lot of free tickets.

At 6:30 p.m., Jackson led the Bobcats into the arena, but the attendance made them blush, and there were plenty of empty seats in the audience, and there were basically no seats in the front row. Jackson whispered to Chang Wei: "I don't know what the boss thinks, I originally thought that there was a strong basketball atmosphere here, but obviously people are not interested in the NBA......

Chang Wei patted him on the shoulder and said with a smile: "Damon, don't be discouraged, remember that difficulties are only temporary, if the team plays better and better, the local fans will definitely support us, and then the basketball atmosphere will be very beneficial to us." ”

Jackson shrugged, he felt that Chang Wei seemed to have a point, but now it is better to play the game first, in case the Bobcats have a bad record this season, then it will be more difficult to lay a good foundation here in Charlotte.

Fortunately, the young people of the Bobcats were not afraid of the regular season, and they began to warm up with laughter. Looking at their attitude, Chang Wei secretly shook his head, such a mental outlook is going to suffer. The Grizzlies' record last season was average, but they had "Little Squirrel" Stoudemire, Mike Miller, Rudy Gay, and the core Gasol, and it was still very difficult for the Bobcats to win, and the starting lineup Grizzlies alone did not suffer, and they had more experience than the Bobcats.

After the warm-up, the Bobcats players came to the locker room one after another. Looking at everyone's serious preparation, Jackson said impassionedly: "You have done really well in the pre-season and in training camp, which shows that you have become a team. You're a Bobcat player, not a player from your previous team, and that's where you started! ”

"I know the regular season is very different from the games you've played before, but I have confidence in you. The opponent is not strong, and we have every chance to win the game. Remember to pass the ball more, create chances for your teammates, and Brandon you have to take on the responsibility of the leader of the team, you are the heart of the team, you must lead your teammates to play this game! ”

After giving everyone a chicken blood, the game started quickly, and Jackson asked Milicic to jump with Gasol. I have to say that Milicic's physicality is still very strong, Gasol is another floor flow, Milicic helped the team get the ball very easily, Roy flashed Stoudemire's interception and came to the front with the ball steadily.

Roy summoned Raheem to come up and make a cover and burst to the free-throw line with ease, but he couldn't go any deeper at this point, and Grizzlies power forward Varick was already pressing, while Gasol was watching from behind, ready to come up and wrap up. After Roy tricked Varick with a feint, he threw the ball directly to Ariza outside the three-point line on the weak side.

Ariza did do a lot of three-point training during training camp, but she wasn't quite comfortable with the rhythm of the regular season. When Roy passed the ball, he almost missed it, barely received the ball and then hurried to shoot, the basketball unsurprisingly slammed into the front of the basket, and Gasol easily picked up the rebound with his long arms.

Seeing his three-pointer smash out of the frame, Ariza waved his fist hatefully, very unhappy that he missed a three-pointer. But there is no way, now that the ball is in the hands of the Grizzlies, he can only contribute to the team on the defensive end.

After Stoudemire took the ball across the halfcourt, he gave the ball to Gasol who was standing in the high post as soon as possible, which is also the Grizzlies' consistent style, and it is enough to hand over the ball to the star of the house to deal with. Gay wanted to get stuck in a position to catch the ball single, but Gasol didn't care about him so much and just used Gay to attract Ariza's defense. After pressing his back to the free throw line, Gasol created an open cut layup for Miller with a very free backhead pass, and the Grizzlies scored their first point of the game.

Then Gasol fully incarnated as the team's high command tower, and under his conduction, the Grizzlies' offense seemed to be smooth, although there was only one reliable three-point shooter in Miller, but the Grizzlies' leading scorers frequently used mid-range shots to score. The Bobcats' players looked embarrassed, they didn't have any way to score other than Roy's ball-handling singles, and while Milicic had good footsteps under the basket, the Grizzlies had Gasol and Varick on the inside, and Milicic's back-to-back singles were almost useless.

Roy is indeed very powerful, but he is also only a rookie, and he is completely unable to compete with the Grizzlies team on his own. By the time the two sides switched to the bench, the Grizzlies had an 11-point lead, which made Roy feel ashamed. Originally, he thought that he could lead the team's attack, but he didn't expect that his passes could not be turned into assists, so he had to bite the bullet himself.

Jackson wanted to close the gap with the bench, but he didn't expect the Grizzlies' backup point guard to guard him in disgrace. Although it was only a short two or three minutes, Chang Wei looked at the little point guard opposite and drooled, it was Kyle Lowry, the starting point guard of the Rockets and Raptors in the future! If the Grizzlies hadn't put him on the roster, he would have added Lowry's name in the first place. In the face of the sturdy small steel cannon, the relatively thin Ellis can only have a ghost if he is not affected.

Ellis's performance made Jackson feel a headache, and Chang Wei was even more helpless, he didn't expect Ellis's confrontation to be so bad now, and even the fledgling Lowry could have such a huge impact on him. When the knife failed, the Bobcats' bench had to rely on Lee to score, but fortunately, his mid-range shooting percentage was not bad, and it didn't let the Bobcats fall too far behind the opponent.

Still, the Bobcats trailed by 12 points at 23-35 at the end of the first quarter, with Roy scoring 11 points alone, which was not good news for the Bobcats. Although Roy, as the core of the team, can control most of the shots, the others only scored a total of 12 points and it was dismal, which Jackson and Chang Wei did not know before.

"It seems that these guys are still too young and need to be trained well!" Looking at the scoreboard, Chang Wei said to himself silently.