As we enter December, the weather is getting colder, the Christmas holiday atmosphere is getting stronger and stronger, and the NBA games are getting more and more intense.

Although there are still more than 20 days to go before Christmas, major shopping malls are actively selling Christmas-related goods, Christmas trees and Christmas gift boxes are the most, and the NBA is preparing for Christmas wars.

This year's Christmas War still has the drama of the Warriors and the Lakers, both teams are the top teams in the league, one is a traditional Haoqiang, the other is a supernova, and they are also brothers in the same state.

This year's Christmas game is the home court of the Lakers, and the Lakers have always been notoriously high ticket prices, and the first high-priced ticket for the new season in Los Angeles appeared on January 18 when the Thunder played against the Lakers on the road, with an average ticket price of $287. And the Christmas game against the Lakers will undoubtedly be the most expensive ticket for the new season, with an average ticket price of a staggering $1,000.

As soon as the time entered December, the Christmas war was hyped, but Chamberlain didn't care very much, when he attended the presidential Medal of Freedom award dinner at the White House, he was interviewed by reporters and mentioned the Christmas war, and said casually: "It's just a game, I think the fans may not understand, but for me, it's just a game, although the opponent is the Lakers." On Christmas morning, I open the presents with the children and take pictures of them happy when they open them. Then I'll head to the Staples Center to get ready to start my work. ”

In December, the Heat was cold again, they beat the Mavericks in the first game of the month, and the result was a 95-106 defeat on the road, which even Miami fans couldn't sit still, "Miami Sports News" wrote in the headline: "The loss to the Mavericks is only 11-9, and the Heat's 72 wins are suspected of being a cold joke" After the Heat formed the Big Three, the media has been hyping that they will be comparable to the Bulls in the 1996-1997 season, hoping that they will reproduce the miracle of 72 wins in the season, but now it seems that 72 wins are just a joke.

People expect the Heat to be "red through half the sky", and the biggest reason is James and Wade, the two "igniters". However, the two men were tested by the competition like a blunt drill bits on wet wood - they simply did not catch the expected spark.

In fact, the combination of James and Wade is just a beautiful "look", and the similarity of the two styles of play but restricting each other has led many experts to even ruthlessly assert that "the Heat's lineup has zài strict zhòng flaws".

"We haven't formed a good chemistry yet, we are all players who are used to the ball, and we can only play our best if we keep the ball, but the team's firepower is obviously not going to increase", James also recognizes this.

In order to give the team more firepower, James has tried to sacrifice his personal numbers, but with little success.

This time to the Mavericks, James and Wade's "exclusion" was extremely obvious, and their offensive efficiency plummeted when they were on the court at the same time. The ideal powerful igniter has been reduced to a rather poor knockoff, and the Heat's "cups" this season are inevitable.

The so-called "fire borrows the wind", but in terms of "fanning the flames", Heat coach Spoelstra is obviously a little more tender.

The combination of Wade and James is not ideal, and Spoelstra certainly knows better than anyone else, but with his qualifications and ability, there seems to be nothing he can do about this chaotic scene.

During the trough of the Heat's poor record last season, Wade publicly questioned Spoelstra's coaching ability, which made the latter almost lose his job. After James joined the Heat, Spoelstra became even more out of control of the team, and there was even public opinion that he had become a puppet.

The Big Three are all heavyweights, so who is on the bench? Faced with this thorny problem, Spoelstra did not have the ability to solve it, and second, he did not have the courage to cut through the mess quickly.

Wade only questioned Shuai's coaching ability, and James showed this directly in the game.

In the third quarter of the game against the Mavericks, the Mavericks had a short time to extend their lead to 10 points, Spoelstra called a timeout, and the Heat's players walked off the court waiting for the coach's tactical set-up. James was no exception, but on the way back to the bench, he didn't give in to the oncoming Spoelstra, and his shoulder hit the opponent directly, and the latter's suit almost slipped off.

There was no verbal or eye contact between the two after the impact, but the meaning of such a scene was certainly different from that of jumping up and hitting a teammate after killing an opponent.

To add insult to injury, James was also hit by a rock: Bryan Wenderhorst, ESPN's reporter for James, said after the game that it wasn't the first time he had seen LeBron do it.

Now the Heat's problem is clear, and a big reason why their record has not improved is because the Heat have no one who can help except for the Big Three.

This was especially evident in the game against the Mavericks, with no one in double figures under the Heat, except for James, Wade and Bosh, and the Big Three accounted for 71% of the team's scores.

And even the Big Three, the current table is far from the peak self: James has a lot of worries and can't play to the fullest; Wade's low shooting percentage this season has been questioned; As for Bosh, his control of rebounds can almost be described as "lost......

However, as the saying goes, there is a saying that 'blessings and misfortunes are relied upon, and misfortunes and blessings are lurking', and after the Heat exposed these serious problems, the team's uniform team finally made a move, and in early December they officially signed with free agent Dampier and got the league's 'second center'.

In fact, as early as last month, there were rumors that the Heat were interested in Dampier, but then it was dissolved.

Some media said that it was because Riley didn't like Dampier, but now the Heat is short of insiders, and Haslem's injury has made Miami people in urgent need of an inside giant, and Dampier has a chance to get on the top.

Earlier this month, Dampier agreed to join the Houston Rockets for $2.8 million a year, but that didn't happen. Now, the Heat will offer Dampier a $1.4 million one-year veteran base salary and have finally taken him.

"No rebounds, no rings", it can be seen that in the entire NBA league, those who have the inside line win the world, so the Heat senior management still attaches great importance to the inside players, and the combination of the Big Three lacks an inside line to support.

When it came to the Heat, Dampier was ambitious, saying, "I have a chance to be here and play with LeBron, Wade and Bosh and we have a chance to win a championship. ”

However, Dampier is not the 'second center' of the time in Dallas, and in his final 20 games last season, he started 12 times, averaging 3-4 points per game. 9 rebounds, never scored more than 9 points, and only scored 5 points twice.

In the summer, he was traded by the Mavericks to the Bobcats and cut by the Bobcats in September. A number of teams then wanted him, including the Houston Rockets, but Dampier gave up on playing in Houston because of the Rockets' poor record.

The Magic, another strong team in the East, are more struggling, they are walking on the road to the streets, and they are running wildly.

The NBA has been going on for more than a month, and a lot of statistics have been counted, Orlan Multimedia counted Howard's offensive distribution in the past month, and found that he only dunked 30 baskets in 16 games this month, 16 fewer than the same period last year, but the average points per game of Warcraft have increased from more than 18 points last season to more than 21 points.

Howard's offense has improved dramatically, averaging four mid-range jumpers per game, and he didn't make a single three-second shot at the same time last season. In addition, he made 29 hooks, 15 more than in the same period last season.

The "evolution" of Warcraft is not only due to the improvement of his confidence, but also helps him to further improve his self-confidence. Now he is no longer just an assassin waiting for an opportunity to dunk inside, but a giant with more comprehensive skills, stronger confidence, and a wider range of attacks. He needs more touches, more shots, more feeds from his teammates.

But his progress is not in sync with the Magic team.

Nelson is still the same Mickey Mouse who likes to shoot and control the ball in his own hands, and Lewis is still hiding on the baseline in the name of the No. 4 position, unable to play high and low with the Monster.

Warcraft can't stand the weakness of the team anymore, he has always liked to be spoofed with a hippie smile, but this season he has become a lot quieter, and he has issued an ultimatum to the team, asking the team to find him a suitable outside helper, otherwise he will leave Orlando!

And the assistant Howard found was Chris Paul!

It just so happened that the Warriors' first opponent in December was the New Orleans Hornets coached by Paul.

Before the start of the season, no one was taking the New Orleans Hornets as a dish – not only was the team poor, but they were on a downward spiral, with a 1-7 preseason record and the second-to-last in the league.

At the start of the season, it was thought that their three-game winning streak was nothing more than luck; Later, when the Hornets won six consecutive wins and tied with the Warriors, some people began to look at them with admiration; By the time the Hornets completed their eight-game winning streak, there were already NBA critics who were starting to analyze the "Hornets pattern."

The Hornets have undergone major surgery for the team this season, and general manager Ball, who has a conflict with the star Paul, has been fired, and former Spurs personnel director Demps has been hired to lead the team; The Scott era came to an end, and head coach Monty Williams, 37, was officially in charge.

Of course, the biggest operation is not yet complete - the minority shareholder Gary Jost is trying to buy the stake in the hands of owner Hinn, a small shareholder in the oil exploration business who has 10 times the assets of the latter, and if this acquisition is completed, the Hornets will get rid of the hat of "the poorest team in the league".

When a team is outstanding, people are always praising how good the players are, but it's easy to forget that the general manager and head coach behind the team are also working hard, shedding blood and tears.

First of all, the current head coach of the Hornets, Williams, has served as an assistant coach for the Spurs and the Trail Blazers, and has learned a good defensive skill, and after Williams came to the team, the defensive quality of the whole team has changed immediately, and the Hornets currently only allow opponents to score 90.7 points per game, which ranks second in the league.

General manager Demps to the Hornets is even more "counterpart", because New Orleans and San Antonio are small cities, and the clubs are also small clubs, and there is not much money.

For example, Green and Jason Smith in exchange for the 76ers, and Italian guard Belineri in exchange for the Raptors, these three players are all good. Green has 8 years of NBA experience, and he defended James very well against the Heat; Smith's number has doubled from last season, and he has been more stable than one game at a time; Belinelli went from the Raptors' fringe bench last season to the Hornets' starting point guard, shooting 50% from the field to 50 percent, whether it's mid-range shooting or three-point shooting.

Of course, fans can't ignore the players' own efforts, for example, Okafor, who was exchanged for last season, suddenly opened up this season, with a shooting rate of 69% and a lot of rebounds; For example, Chris Paul, the core driving force of the Hornets, has become omnipotent again after completely overcoming injuries and is now ranked first on the MVP trend list.

However, Paul is still a ticking time bomb for the Hornets, and he may be traded by the team this season if he does not want to renew his contract.