In the blink of an eye, it has come to the end of December, and the most important Christmas for the West is approaching, and the Christmas game is often the highlight of the NBA's annual regular season.

As a weak team last season, the Christmas game obviously has nothing to do with the Kings, and this year's Christmas War league has five games scheduled, namely the Bulls vs. Nets, Warriors vs. Clippers, Heat vs. Lakers, Thunder vs. Knicks, and Spurs vs. Rockets.

All 10 of these teams are the ones that will be in the spotlight before the start of the season, with the Nets forming a Big Five before the season and Rose returning for the new season on the Bulls' side, both of which were considered strong teams in the East before the start of the season. However, the Nets' performance this season has been far from expected, and with Rose injured again on the Bulls' side, such a game will not be too attractive.

The Warriors' game against the Clippers is more concerned, the two teams met in the playoffs last season, and the game was quite intense, and the matchup between Curry and Paul was also expected by many fans.

Heat vs. Lakers, because of Kobe Bryant's injury, although both teams are popular teams, but the appeal of this game has also plummeted.

The same is true for the Thunder vs. the Knicks, because of Anthony's injury, the matchup between Durant and Anthony does not exist, and the popularity is not much higher.

The matchup between the Spurs and the Rockets has made fans of both sides look forward to it, the Spurs are still in good shape this season, and the Rockets have increased their strength after Howard's arrival, and the two teams are very likely to have a tough battle.

Judging from the five matchups, although the league has arranged more games this season, the excitement has been greatly reduced due to the injury of the star, which may not be expected by the league management.

The Christmas game has nothing to do with the Kings, but the night before Christmas Eve, the Kings have one more game to play, and their opponent is the New Orleans Pelicans.

Changing their name from the Hornets to the Pelicans, New Orleans has improved this season, with a 12-13 record and a win rate of nearly 50 percent, but that record can only be low in the West.

In contrast, the 17-9 Kings have the advantage in terms of record and strength, however, there are no weak teams in the NBA, and the Kings are not strong enough to completely ignore the Pelicans.

At the New Orleans Arena, the starters of both teams had already walked to the court, and Li Tian could clearly feel a hostile look on the other side, almost without thinking that he knew that this look came from Eric Gordon.

Last season, it was in this stadium that Li Tian's block bleed Gordon's nose, and the two have been grudges ever since.

The Pelicans fans at the scene obviously didn't like Li Tian either, and when he came on the court just now, he also attracted boos from some fans at the scene.

For Li Tian, who has been competing in the NBA for the second season, such a scene can no longer affect him, he shook his arms and relaxed, Li Tian is ready to start the game.

DeMarcus Cousins and Anthony Davis were standing on the halfway line preparing for the jump ball at this time, and the Kings' starting lineup was unchanged from the previous game, while on the Pelicans' side, the center was Ryan Anderson, a big man with excellent three-point shooting ability, the power forward was Anthony Davis, small forward Al Farouk Aminu, scoring guard Eric Gordon, and point guard Jrue Holiday .

This summer, the Pelicans tried to poach Tyrek Evans, but the Kings matched the contract, but they then traded for point guard Holiday from the 76ers, which was a sort of reinforcement.

Davis helped the Pelicans win the jump ball, and the home team took the lead in attacking, and Eric Gordon was obviously very aggressive in this game, and Holiday only dribbled to the halfcourt, and he took the initiative to get the ball up.

Davis lifted the pick-and-roll, Gordon dribbled and rushed to the side, and before Li Tian could re-attach it, Gordon was already on a high jumper and hit a big two-pointer.

Gordon, who had completed the goal, raised his head at Li Tian and threw a defiant look.

Li Tian was not affected by this look, and after coming to half-time, he began to run actively, which is a more conventional tactical arrangement for the king, and at the beginning of the game, he will first help Li Tian find his touch.

In the half of the active running, Li Tian took advantage of his teammates' blocking and dismantling to shake off Gordon outside the three-point line on the right side and received a pass, although Gordon quickly pounced, Li Tian still chose to shoot.

"Bang!"

After the ball was shot, Li Tian felt that something was not right, and the fact was as he felt, the basketball smashed on the basket and bounced out.

After Davis grabbed the rebound, the Pelicans went on offense, and they were fast on the move, and Holiday dribbled to the front court and hit the basket directly.

Holiday missed a layup with Evans' interference, but Davis, who followed up, suddenly stepped in, jumped between Cousins and Thompson, and re-pressed the ball into the basket.

Davis' dunk quickly brought the scene into the atmosphere of the game, and the Pelicans fans began to cheer excitedly.

In such cheers, the Pelicans' players looked full of fighting spirit, they were very active on the defensive end, Li Tian's continuous runs did not get a chance to directly receive the ball, and Cousins's interior attack was also stopped by the double bag.

This time, the Kings stepped back faster, and Holiday had to hold down the tempo after possession to the half, and the ball was once again in Gordon's hands.

Bending down to stop in front of Gordon, Li Tian stared at the other party tightly, of course he could feel that Gordon's desire to attack today was very strong.

After dribbling from beyond the three-point line and trying to find space to break through from Li Tian's defense, Gordon motioned for his teammates to step forward again, and this time, it was no longer Davis who called for the pick-and-roll, but Ryan Anderson, who was closer.

Li Tian had already taken precautions against the opponent's blocking, and as soon as Anderson stood on the side, Li Tian immediately bypassed behind the opponent and stopped in front of Gordon again.

Gordon, who got a step to start the space, chose to force a breakthrough at this time, although Li Tian had already stuck to Gordon's side, but Cousins, who was originally standing in the high position, still subconsciously followed the basket to move his steps.

Although Gordon also wanted to score, he also had some confidence in the forced offense in Li Tian's defense, but he was afraid of Cousins' block behind him, so he gave up the forced basket and passed the ball to Anderson outside the three-point line instead.

Anderson took the ball and shot directly outside the three-point line, at this time Cousins was no longer able to defend it, Anderson calmly shot outside the three-point line and hit the shot.

0:7, after Anderson's goal was scored, the difference between the two teams came directly to 7 points, seeing this scene, Adelman on the sidelines frowned slightly, but he did not call a timeout, the king still had the ball, and he was waiting for the result of this round of attack.

It was still Li Tian who was running, but the Pelicans did a very good job of defense, and after receiving the ball outside the three-point line, Li Tian was re-attached by Gordon.

There was no forced attack, Li Tian passed the ball back to Evans, who stepped forward to answer.

After receiving the ball, Evans made a sharp stop and changed direction, Evans found a trace of breakthrough space from Holiday defense, Holiday was not slow to react, and moved quickly to stick to it, and then Evans changed direction again and returned to the right side, this time, Holiday was not able to keep up.

Evans' breakaway drew the attention of the Pelicans' defense, and Gordon on this side immediately moved his foot slightly inside in an attempt to delay Evans' forward rush.

Seizing this momentary opportunity, Li Tian ran quickly and rushed to the outside of the three-point line in the direction of the right sideline.

Evans' pass came at the right time, received the ball, and faced Gordon, who had come forward again, and Li Tian shot again.

"Don't go in again?" Watching the basketball turn around on the basket and fall out, Li Tianxia subconsciously looked at his right hand, today's shooting feeling is very bad.

After seeing another loss in his team's attack, Adelman stood up on the sidelines, ready to call a timeout depending on the situation on the field.

"Tick!" The referee blew the whistle quickly, and Anthony Davis' offense resulted in a foul by Jason Thompson, and after Davis hit the first free throw, Adelman did not hesitate to call a timeout.

Finding that Li Tian's hand was not good, Adelman adjusted his offensive tactics during the timeout, Cousins began to pull to the high post, and the outside players increased the air cut and impact under the basket, and in the first round after the timeout, Evans rushed to the basket to complete the layup, and finally let the King's score break zero.

Adelman's play worked well in the first two or three rounds, as the Pelicans forced the defense to shrink and give the Kings a shot from the outside.

However, Li Tian is not the only one who has a bad shooting outside the outside of today's Kings, except for Li Tiangang's two missed shots from outside the three-point line, Iguodala and Evans, including McClymer and Terry, who were later replaced, all tried to shoot three-pointers, but they all hit the iron one after another.

0-of-6 shooting, in the first quarter of the game, the Kings hit none of their shots from beyond the three-point line, including two big open spots. In fact, it's not just outside the three-point line, the shooting touch of all the Kings players seems to stay in Sacramento, and the entire mid-range shooting Kings are doing very badly.

The Kings' scoring relied more on attacking the basket and making free throws, while they had to deal with the Pelicans' completely shrunken interior defense.

In such a sluggish situation for the whole team, the scoring efficiency of the Kings can be imagined. 16 points, after the first quarter of the game, the Kings only scored 16 points.

On the other hand, the Pelicans, on the other side, combined inside and outside, and played defensive counterattacks, Davis and Gordon scored 19 points in the first quarter, while the Pelicans scored 33 points in the first quarter.

A 17-point difference, after the first quarter, the difference was so large that neither Kings fans nor Pelicans fans expected before the game.

(PS: These two chapters are foreshadowed, prepare for the climactic plot, and the update will break out next week!) ）