The situation has been largely similar in the East and West this season, with one team on the rise, one or two teams following suit, and the rest either starting to dream of a high pick in the 2002 draft or looking like they have nothing to do with winning and then losing the game. Interestingly, the leaders of the East and West are the two teams in last season's Finals, the 76ers and the Lakers, but since the 76ers don't need a long run-in time, they are one win ahead in terms of record.

The West is naturally followed by the Lakers by the Kings and the Spurs, and Szczerbiak's move to the Purple and Gold has had a big impact on another strong team, the Timberwolves, who can only stay in fifth place. The fourth-place Mavericks have assembled their troika of Nowitzki, Nash and Finley as Chang Wei has known in his previous life, and their strong offensive firepower has put the team in the top four unexpectedly, just two wins behind the third-placed Spurs.

The second team in the East has changed dramatically, with the Bucks, Knicks and Heat, who were still capable of competing with the 76ers last season, all falling out of the playoffs due to various problems, and being replaced by the Raptors, Celtics and Nets. If it was a previous life, Magic would have been added to this group of strong teams, but because of Chang Wei's intervention, Maddie postponed a year to participate in the draft, and now he is still working happily with Carter in the Raptors, so it is naturally difficult to switch to Orlando's arms.

With the NBA's growing influence around the world, the Christmas game has become an annual feast, and this year will certainly not disappoint fans. The league has deliberately arranged several key matches, and as the defending champions and current No. 1 in the regular season, the 76ers will naturally not be absent, and their opponents are now third in the East, the Raptors.

In fact, if this game is 76ers vs Celtics, maybe more fans will come to watch the game, after all, both teams are one of the oldest in the NBA, the Celtics were founded in the distant 1947 and became the founding team of the NBA in 1949. The 76ers are a bit older, originally known as the Syracuse Nations, founded in 1937 and joined the NBA in 1949 with the merger of the NBL and ABB, before changing their name to the Philadelphia 76ers in 1963.

Unfortunately, the Celtics had a poor record last season, with a 36-46 record and ninth place in the East, and no one could have imagined that they would be able to rush to second place in the East this season. You must know that each team's schedule is all scheduled before the start of the season, and there will definitely be no changes if there are no other surprises.

However, the 76ers vs Raptors is also a pinnacle matchup in the East, and the most important thing is that both sides are very watchable. Needless to say, the 76ers have shown strong scoring ability with two shots in the backcourt and one shot in the backcourt, and the Raptors have two of the most popular new stars in the league - Carter and Maddy, which are more gorgeous. Moreover, the 76ers dominated the two teams last season, and the young and vigorous Raptors must want revenge.

It is worth mentioning that in the offseason, in order to add some experience to the young boys, the Raptors brought in two highly decorated veterans, one is Olajuwon, a center who has led the Rockets to two consecutive championships, and the other is Mark Jackson, who has won the assist king, and they have indeed set an example for the young players in the team. But both veterans are relatively old, with Olajuwon 38 and Jackson 36 and averaging less than 25 minutes per game.

Relatively speaking, the 76ers have no such worries, although the rest of the team's main rotation except for one Mutombo is young or mesozoic, but there is a championship experience to build the foundation, and they are so old that they are definitely not much worse than those old ruffians. In this respect, this 76ers team is very similar to the peak Warriors that Chang Wei saw in his previous life, obviously the main lineup is very young, but it is quite experienced, and it has been a nightmare for other teams in the league for several seasons in a row.

But Brown didn't underestimate the Raptors either, as the cousins Carter and Maddy are well known, and although they haven't reached their maturity yet, given the chance, either of them can decide the outcome of the game, and Brown doesn't naively think that his team can easily beat this actually formidable opponent.

So this time Brown made some adjustments to the team's usual starting lineup, he replaced Reed with Snow, apparently hoping that Snow and Bale could work together to limit the play of Carter and Maddy, and as for the offense, they could only rely on Iverson and Lewis. In Brown's opinion, it's best to be able to guard against the opponent's arrowhead first and then think about the offense.

At the same time, Chang Wei also had to admire the courage of the old coach, in the bench lineup, he let Arenas play point guard, Reed played point guard, this backcourt combination is simply shocking, of course, this is only for Chang Wei. He wasn't sure if Arenas could take on the role of a point guard, and maybe Reed's firepower would be wasted at that time, but after putting Snow in the starting lineup, Reed would have to partner with Arenas on the bench, hoping they could get along......

Perhaps hoping to sell more tickets, the league put the game in Philadelphia, which made the Raptors feel like they were on top of the team. When the players on both sides came out, they were greeted with an overwhelming chorus of boos and curses, and in fact the 76ers have turned the league's No. 1 Center arena into a devil's home arena that no team can please here.

The noise of the home fans and the treatment of the national live broadcast put a lot of pressure on the Raptors players, but fortunately, the twin stars of Maddy and Carter are both tournament-type players, and the hotter the scene, the more excited they are, and they can play more powerfully. And the faces of the 76ers players are light, not to mention that this is their home court, even if it is an away game, what big scene are they afraid of after experiencing the finals tie-break? They only think about beating their opponents in the game.

Brown clapped his hands and said hoarsely, "Listen to me, boys!" This is the Christmas battle that is attracting the attention of the whole country, and it is also the pinnacle battle of the East, although the opponents are only in third place, their strength is undoubted, and I ask you to give 12% of your efforts, give full play to your strength, and let them plant a big heel on our turf! ”