On October 8, 2003, the NBA2003-2004 season officially kicked off, in addition to the opening game of the Pacers and the Lakers, there are two games played at the same time today, one is the Spurs vs. the Mavericks, and the other is the Heat vs. the Pistons. Needless to say, the two teams that met in the finals last season, the first matchup of the new season, coupled with the championship ring presentation ceremony broadcast live in the United States, is naturally the biggest focus of today's three games.

However, the league's arrangement for the opening game has also been criticized by the outside world, allowing the loser of the finals to witness the championship ring awarding ceremony of the winning side at the winner's home court, which is definitely a very cruel thing for the loser, and the most cruel thing is that the Lakers have been a foil to the Pacers for two consecutive years, so many media that are biased towards the Lakers have been calling on the league to adjust the opening game of the new season, and not to let this "miserable" thing continue to happen. But for the league, letting the losing side witness the winner's championship ring presentation ceremony can undoubtedly inspire their fighting spirit, and at the same time create antagonism between the two teams, the NBA league is now very much in need of giants like the Celtics and Lakers, so although David Stern said that he will change the principle of the opening game, but this season's schedule has been set, and it is absolutely impossible to change it, even if it is changed, it will not be until next season.

And the game between the Spurs and the Mavericks, as the two teams with the best records in the West last season, is naturally very eye-catching. And after the disintegration of the Lakers' Big Four, the current West, the Mavericks and the Spurs are undoubtedly the two strongest teams, and the matchup between these two teams is also considered to be a preview of the Western Conference finals this season, and it is also two of the "big four", a direct confrontation between Tim Duncan and Dirk Nowitzki, so this game between the Spurs and the Mavericks has received no less attention than the opening game between the Pacers and the Lakers.

Compared with the Mavericks who have risen strongly in the last two seasons, the Spurs can undoubtedly be an evergreen tree in the Western Conference, starting from Duncan joining the Spurs, to the eighth year of this season, the teams that have been crowned the "top three in the West", from the Spurs, Jazz, Trail Blazers, to the Spurs, Trail Blazers, Lakers, and then to the Spurs, Lakers, Suns, and last season's Spurs, Lakers, Mavericks, the other two have changed batch after batch, but only the Spurs, always standing on the stage, watching their opponents change one after another, with the downturn of the king, and the disintegration of the Lakers, I don't know which new member of the "Western Top Three" will usher in this season.

And the remaining game, the Heat played at home against the Pistons, with O'Neal joining the Heat, and the Pistons' continued reinforcement this summer, this season's Eastern Conference is no longer a solitary era for the Pacers, plus the Nets who have met the Pacers in the division finals for two consecutive seasons, and the Celtics who have made drastic reforms, this season's Eastern Conference will also officially enter the situation of dominance.

"Meng, congratulations!" Kobe Bryant on the sidelines looked at the Pacers' championship ring presentation ceremony, and hated itchy, after all, the Pacers' two championships were won by stepping on the Lakers, if it weren't for the damn Pacers, the Lakers might have won three consecutive championships now, but after starting to warm up, Kobe Bryant still showed a very generous attitude, not only walked to the Pacers' half court and hugged Meng Xu, but also sent blessings to Meng Xu, hatred to hatred, friendship to friendship, aside from the grievances between the Pacers and the Lakers, Meng Xu and Kobe Bryant really cherish each other, And the personal relationship between the two is also very good.

"Kobe, congratulations, congratulations on finally getting your wish and having your own team!" After Kobe Bryant sent his blessing to Meng Xu, Meng Xu also responded to Kobe Bryant's words, being able to become the most special one of the Lakers has always been Kobe's dream wish, after the Lakers sent O'Neal away this summer, Kobe Bryant finally got his wish, but I just don't know how far Kobe can finally lead the Lakers after losing O'Neal's partner and a group of excellent teammates, maybe one day, Kobe will miss the time when he and O'Neal fought side by side.

"Hmm." After hearing Meng Xu's words, Kobe Bryant could also feel that Meng Xu didn't finish his words, although Meng Xu didn't say anything, but with Kobe's wisdom, how could he not guess what Meng Xu wanted to say, so Kobe Bryant nodded at Meng Xu and turned around after staring at Meng Xu for a few seconds. Although the contradiction with O'Neal has reached the point of irreconcilability, when the Lakers' owner Buss called Kobe and said that the Lakers would send O'Neal away to keep Kobe, Kobe's heart still swelled with a wave of melancholy and loss, after all, they are partners who have been fighting side by side for seven years, and the conflict between Kobe and O'Neal is also because of problems on the court, and the two do not have a deep hatred in private. But now Kobe Bryant has already forgotten that melancholy and loss, and replaced it with ambition, although O'Neal is gone, but the Lakers still have themselves, as long as they are still there, they will definitely be able to lead the Lakers back to the Finals and win the championship, and this first step is to start from defeating the Pacers.

Due to the loss of two starters in this summer, and several important rotation players, and because of salary problems, the Pacers' recruitment work in this summer was also very difficult, Rick Carlisle was busy for a summer, in addition to completing the signing of Jermaine O'Neal, that is, to sign a few veterans with a veteran base salary and coming to the Pacers to hug their thighs, 90-year-old champion pick Derrick Coleman, and No. 5 pick Kendall Gill, Mutombo's same star Kenny Anderson, and Steve Smith, the No. 5 pick of the year, Rick Carlisle signed four veterans who are over 36 years old in one go this summer, plus Mutombo, who is officially 37 years old, and Reggie Miller, 38 years old, the Pacers have become the oldest team in the entire league, and the New York Times jokingly called the Pacers an Indiana nursing home at the beginning of the season.

But this is also something that can't be helped, Jermaine O'Neal's salary this season is 13.5 million, Mutombo is 10.5 million, Meng Xu is 12.07 million, James Posey is 7 million, Reggie Miller is renewing his contract, in order not to treat Reggie Miller, who has played for the team for more than ten years, the owner of the Pacers gritted his teeth and gave Reggie Miller the 10 million that was originally planned to be given to Hamilton, just these few people have far exceeded the salary cap of 43.84 million this season, plus other players, Even though the Pacers signed four veterans for just $6 million, the Pacers still rank among the top three in the league in total wages this season.

Although the Pacers have been very successful under the coaching of Larry Bird, but after Rick Carlisle took over the Pacers, he still began to change the team according to his own ideas, and being able to coach the Pacers who won the championship for two consecutive years is definitely something that most coaches dream of, but this is not a huge pressure, in the past six seasons, the Pacers have reached the division finals 5 times, 3 times to the finals, and twice to lift the championship trophy, so no matter who Larry Bird's successor is, his record cannot be badWhether it is the team's management or the team's owner Simon Brothers, they all hope that the Pacers can achieve three consecutive championships this season and create their own dynasty, and Rick Carlisle also wants to prove himself in the Pacers and prove to the world that the Pistons fired him was a big mistake, so Rick Carlisle must not wait for death, rest on his laurels, only by changing and making the Pacers stronger, can he achieve the feat of defending the title this season.

Due to the lack of a qualified point guard, Rick Carlisle let Meng Xu play point guard again this season, after last season's playoffs, although Rick Carlisle's Pistons lost very completely, but through this round of the series, Rick Carlisle also knows very clearly how to use Meng Xu in order to make Meng Xu more threatening on the court, so before the start of the new season, Rick Carlisle tried his best to persuade Meng Xu to change to organizational guard, so that Meng Xu could concentrate on the team's offense.

At the same time, in order to let Meng Xu put more energy into the offensive end, Rick Carlisle also changed the defensive strategy of the Pacers, the Pacers' defensive strategy last season was man-to-man defense, and from time to time there was a burst of full-court pressing, and Meng Xu, as the core of the outside line, had to lead the defense and assist the defense, it can be said that Meng Xu's energy on the defensive end is no less than that on the offensive end, and the Pacers have James Posey and Tyshawn Prince two outside defenses, and then let Meng Xu take on the heavy responsibility of leading the defense, It is also a great waste of resources, so this phenomenon must change.

After Meng Xu changed to organizational guard, Rick Carlisle put James Posey as the starter, and let Posey take on the responsibility of leading the defense, and at the same time, Rick Carlisle also gave up the Pacers' original man-to-man defense and introduced 3-2 joint defense, which is a common defensive method in international basketball games, but in the rules of the NBA, joint defense will be recognized as illegal defense, so this very good and efficient defensive method has no soil for survival in the NBA. Even though the NBA league has lifted the restrictions on joint defense and off-ball packs in 2000, until now, few of the 29 teams in the NBA league will use joint defense in games, and man-to-man defense is still the current mainstream.

"Kobe Bryant's desire to attack today is very strong!" At the beginning of the game, Kobe Bryant showed a strong desire to attack, the Lakers' 5 offenses after the opening were all completed by Kobe, after O'Neal and Phil Jackson left, the Lakers became Kobe Bryant's one-man team, the new head coach Frank Humberland, is also completely around Kobe Bryant's tactics, to be precise, it is the superstar tactics that make Kobe keep playing alone, this tactic is the simplest, and it is also the most suitable for the current Lakers, although this tactic requires continuous single-play with the ball, but the same, After the continuous singles attracted the opponent's bag, it was also necessary to pass the ball to the teammates who appeared vacant, but Kobe Bryant obviously does not have this consciousness now, whether the Pacers are wrapped or not, several people are packed, Kobe Bryant is a defender who has been holding back for several years, and after the start of the new season, he will definitely go crazy for a while.

"Kobe, if you play like this, you will never be able to win me!" In the first quarter of the game, Reggie Miller and James Posey took turns to play, and they couldn't prevent Kobe, no matter who they faced, or even the double bag, they couldn't stop Kobe, and whether they scored or not depended on Kobe's luck, although under the key care of the Pacers, Kobe's shooting rate was not high, but near the end of the first quarter, Kobe still shot 6 of 13, 1 of 3 3-pointers, 2 of 3 free throws, and scored 15 points in a single quarter, but the Lakers were 22-31, 9 points behind the Pacers, Because in the entire first quarter, when basketball was in Kobe's hands most of the time, Kobe only had one assist, so in the last round of offense, in the face of Kobe, who changed his defense, Meng Xu also shook his head at Kobe, looking at Meng Xu's expression, the purpose of saying this to Kobe was not a provocation, but more like persuasion.

"I'm not going to lose to you!" Originally, before the start of this game, Kobe Bryant was looking forward to a confrontation with Meng Xu, because now no one restrains himself in the back, but as the game progressed, Kobe found that Meng Xu had no desire to score today, but instead played assists, Meng Xu, who was the scoring champion for two consecutive times, only shot once in the first quarter, and lost the shot, Meng Xu couldn't score 1 point in a single quarter, and it was news to say how much.

"Perhaps!" Looking at Kobe's persistent eyes, Meng Xu didn't persuade him anymore, Kobe's style of play is now completely finalized, no matter how much outsiders persuade him, it is impossible for Kobe to make any changes, so let him go, when he gets rid of his stubbornness and feels that there is something wrong with his playing style, then he will naturally make changes.

In the end, in this much-anticipated opener, the Lakers lost to the Pacers 85-103 by 18 points, and Kobe Bryant scored a game-high 48 points, as for Meng Xu, in today's game, Meng Xu only shot 13 times, 7 of 13 shots, 7 of 9 free throws and got 24 points, 10 rebounds, 16 assists, in the first game of the new season, Meng Xu cut down a triple-double data, correspondingly, driven by Meng Xu, the Pacers scored a double-double for the whole team, and defeated the Lakers very easily.

"It's really hard to complete this task!" After hearing the system prompt after the end of the game, Meng Xu also breathed a sigh of relief, compared with the two promotion tasks of killing and domineering, the advanced task of Wang Dao is much more difficult, first of all, in terms of ability value, physical talent, offensive attributes, and defensive attributes, all three attributes must exceed 90, and at the same time, there must be an attribute over 95, and the comprehensive strength evaluation must reach 94, which can also be seen that compared with killing and domineering, Wang Dao is also more in pursuit of comprehensiveness of strength, whether it is offensive or defensive, can not have obvious shortcomings.

And the requirements of this advanced task also make Meng Xu look big, the condition for completing the task is to require the host to have a positive or negative value of more than 20 in ten consecutive games, or a total of 50 games in a single season, followed by in these games, the offensive efficiency value cannot be lower than 100, the defensive efficiency value cannot exceed 100, and the offensive efficiency value must be more than 10 higher than the defensive efficiency value to complete the task.

In the face of such completion conditions, Meng Xu naturally has to play more cautiously, as long as he is on the court, he can't have the slightest slackness, as for the choice of shooting timing, he can't do whatever he wants, under this kind of constraint, just one game, Meng Xu already feels very pinched, compared to now, Meng Xu still likes the previous way of playing as he wants.