Chapter 42: The City of the Damned

Portland is located in the state of Oregon in the United States, Portland is also known as the "City of Roses", with a mild climate, abundant sunshine and beautiful scenery, Portland is one of the largest cities in the United States and an important economic center of the United States.

In addition to the "City of Roses", it also has another nickname "The City of Tears", but for the NBA, it is best known as the "City of the Damned".

The Portland Trail Blazers seem to have been tainted with a curse, Bill Wharton, Sam Bowway, Greg Oden, and Portland were all very bullish characters before they got involved, but they all hung up in Portland, and even Brandon Roy was like this.

In addition to these, there is also the magic of Jermaine O'Neal, who quickly became an All-Star after leaving Portland, although this is a bit far-fetched, but the reputation of the "Cursed City" is growing.

Of course, the Trail Blazers in the "City of the Damned" had a good time this year, and after a few seasons of ups and downs, the young Trail Blazers took the youth by storm last season and made it to the playoffs, and the 2009-10 season was their harvest season.

The Trail Blazers' rapid rise in just a few years is inseparable from Mike Milan, who has been encouraging and developing young players, making a large number of young players such as Roy and Aldridge stand out.

In the 2008-09 season, McMillan led the Trail Blazers to the playoffs after a six-year hiatus, and he became the favorite to be the best coach last season.

The advantage of the Trail Blazers is youth and unity, they do not have a super scorer, Roy is also considered the top superstar, and there is no player who can compete for the scoring crown, but Roy, Aldridge, Fernandez, Oden and other young people have good scoring ability, the arrival of Andre Miller in the new season will greatly liberate the leader Roy, Aldridge and Oden will also get more comfortable passes, and the team's attack power should be greatly improved compared to last season.

The Grizzlies' first few games against teams that weren't the top teams in the league, but they started with four games on the road, which made the players not very comfortable.

The same Western team, the Grizzlies and the Trail Blazers seem to have swapped places, in the Gasol period the Grizzlies entered the playoffs in a row, although they never won, they were all swept, but they were never ignored, and the Trail Blazers were the "Jailers".

Now, the Grizzlies have been reduced to a belly after sending away Gasol, but the Trail Blazers have gradually risen to become a team to be reckoned with.

"Look at our big bear, cursed just after arriving in the City of the Damned!"

After getting acquainted with Li Feng, as soon as he got off the plane, Sam Yang pointed to the faint marks on Li Feng's chest and quipped.

"Is this a curse? I also want to try this curse every day, which chick the hell! ”

This kind of topic is naturally indispensable to Randolph, and he has no dissatisfaction with ridiculing Portland, a place where he has been in the NBA for a long time.

Li Feng touched the mark on his chest and didn't speak, just a fine light flashed from the corner of his eye.

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At 19:30 in the afternoon, the game kicked off with the shouts of more than 20,000 spectators in the Rose Garden Arena.

There are a lot of highlights in this game, summarized by the media, such as Randolph's performance in the face of his old master, the battle between Guy and Roy, the rookie in 06, and the duel between Li Feng and Oden, two "parallel goods".

However, Li Feng, who performed well in the opening game, continued to serve as a substitute, as did Allen Iverson.

The Grizzlies' lineup remains the same, with center Marc Gasol, power forward Zach Randolph, small forward Rudy Gay, scoring guard OJ Mayo, point guard Mike Conley, while the Trail Blazers also maintain the pre-game prediction lineup, center Greg Oden, power forward LaMarcus Aldridge, small forward Nicholas Batum, scoring guard Brandon Roy, and point guard Andre Miller. …,

After the opening, the focus was on the outside line, Roy and Guy fought on the outside, and the two sides were not lively. However, until this time, neither Roy nor Guy could really grasp the rhythm and direction of the game, and the score of the two sides had been alternately led eleven times just after the halfway point of the first quarter.

The Trail Blazers fans in the stadium were thrilled by the image, but Grizzlies head coach Hollins frowned, knowing that if the game was allowed to continue in this way, the Grizzlies would taste their first loss of the season.

The Grizzlies are missing a leader on their roster, a man who can give players the confidence to hand him basketball in crunch time.

If the score can be pulled apart, it will be nothing, but once the two sides are deadlocked until the very end of the game, then it will definitely be fatal.

Guy used to be such a person, but he focused on fighting Roy, and since the start of the game, perhaps affected by off-court rumors, Guy is not in good shape.

The outside line can't open the situation, and the inside line of the two sides is also a scuffle. The interior line, which consists of black big man Oden and Aldridge, is a perfect fit for the Grizzlies. Oden defended well, while Aldridge had a hand-to-hand range, while the Grizzlies' Randolph was all-round and Marc Gasol was both offensive and defensive.

Li Feng sat in the middle of the bench, compared with the first time in the NBA, Li Feng is not worried about whether he can play, what he thinks about after he plays, what he brings to the team, and of course, what he brings for himself.

Marc Gasol consumed his most physical strength in the confrontation with Oden, although Oden was plagued by injuries, but his body was undoubtedly BT, Marc Gasol's fatigue was undoubted, Hollins naturally would not turn a blind eye, and with a wave of his hand, Li Feng went into battle.

"Forward, your job is to grab the rebound for me, if our backcourt rebound is out of control, hum...... You're ready to put on the bench! ”

patted Li Feng on the back, and by the way, left this obviously threatening sentence.

A typical stick with radish, but this set does work, at least Li Feng has one more reason to have to work hard.

After high-fives with Marc Gasol, Li Feng stepped onto this familiar court again.

While the Grizzlies are still using a man-to-man defense, there has been a slight improvement in the way Randolph and Li Feng work together.

Because Aldridge has a wide range of attacks, and even he has a three-point shot, Randolph and Li Feng chose to switch positions in defense, and the more flexible and strong Li Feng dealt with Aldridge, while Randolph relied on his height and weight to see Oden, who was not strong in attack, to death, and the balance between the two teams' interior lines was broken.

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PS: Do you have a ticket?