Chapter 32: Regular Season Premiere,

The smoke of the 2007 preseason has not yet cleared, and the fire of the regular season has already been ignited. On the first day of November 2007, the Cleveland Cavaliers sat at their home stadium and welcomed the Texas Cowboys, the Dallas Mavericks.

The Dallas Mavericks had the best record in the league last season, starting with a four-game losing streak of 67-15 and the best record in league history. Nowitzki was also crowned the regular season MVP, becoming not only the first regular season MVP in the history of the Mavericks, but also the first regular season MVP among European and even international players. The Mavericks were in the limelight for a while.

But what no one expected was that the Dallas Mavericks, who had the first record in the West, entered the first round of the playoffs, faced the Golden State Warriors, who were eighth in the West and caught the last train of the playoffs at the last moment, actually lost 4:2, becoming another team that was cut down by the Black Eight Miracle in eight years after the Miami Heat.

The elder Nelson completed his revenge, the Golden State Warriors also created their own Black Eight Miracle, the media covering the game was even more smiling, and Byron Davis, the leader of the Golden State Warriors, was even more of a god, and his commercial value rose by an unknown amount. The only people who are depressed and hated are probably the Mavericks and their fans. Nowitzki's MVP also has a bit of sarcasm in it because of this.

As the only regular season MVP in history who won the MVP of the regular season but was black-eight, Nowitzki is remembered by many.

The Cavaliers have also been regular visitors to the playoffs in recent seasons, and the first game of the regular season between the two sides was such a big battle between Mars and Earth, which naturally attracted a lot of attention.

At the same time, this game is once again Zhang Kong's 'revenge battle'. After all, it was the Mavericks, not the Magic, who initially signed Zhang Kong.

Before the game began, Mavericks owner 'Big Mouth' Cuban once again stood up and made his bold statement: "Zhang Kong, who is he?" I don't regret giving him up, we have Nowitzki, we have Dampier, we're overcrowded, and unlike the Cavaliers, we don't need a rookie to strengthen the interior. ”

And the Mavericks' main center, the 'second' center in the West, the 'first center in the universe' and the 'strongest center on the ground' Dampier also stood up and expressed his opinion: "Every season, you always say some rookies, saying that they are the second Olajuwon, the second Abdul-Jabbar, the second Jordan, the second Russell, the second O'Neal or something. But look, now that they're gone, I was still called the second Chamberlain, and I'm going to teach him a good lesson today, and if he dares to mess around in the forbidden area, I'll let him know how good I'm at. ”

The rhetoric of Cuban and Dampier became the spice for the game, increasing the circulation of those newspapers while also pushing the game to the forefront.

And in the Cavaliers, Zhang Kong just shrugged his shoulders and didn't speak, the double kill magic didn't let him get any special feelings, and now he has no feeling for this so-called 'revenge battle', so he naturally doesn't bother to comment, as for Cuban and Dampier, he doesn't mind going to the game to let them know how powerful.

In the first game of the regular season, Mike Brown finally decided to correct Gibson after consulting with James and let him play as the starting point guard. Damon Jones naturally dropped off the bench.

Drew Gooden, who has been on the bench since the push incident in the training game, has requested a trade from the team, and after owning Drew Gooden, especially after watching Clear's superior performance in the preseason, Cavaliers general manager Danny Ferry also seems to feel that there is no point in keeping Drew Gooden, and has already moved the idea of a trade, wanting to make some additions at the small forward or shooting guard position in order to share the pressure on James.

LeBron James' average of 38 minutes per game last season was more out of frustration. The Cavaliers really don't have any reassuring bench players at the small forward position.

Drew Gooden is still worth trading, he can often get a double-double, he must be able to attract a lot of team attention in a league where excellent interior lines are increasingly scarce, and his three-year contract of 23 million is not long or large, and it doesn't take too much effort to trade.

However, in this way, the team's bench at the power forward position had to find another way, and the contract with Anderson Vallejo was delayed, which made Danny Ferry's hair gray a few times.

"Welcome to the Dallas Mavericks vs. Cleveland Cavaliers regular season opener brought to you by TNT, I'm the commentator Sir Charles, and I'm my old partner Kenny by my side." TNT once again opted for live broadcast, and the gold-medal commentator duo of Ross Barkley and Smith also appeared on the commentary bench again.

Because of the second bet between Barkley and Kenny Smith, the two pushed Zhang Kong to the forefront while also putting themselves in the restricted area. If there is no accident, the combination of Barkley and Smith will have many commentators on the Cavaliers games this season, although Smith has protested several times, but for the sake of ratings, the director doesn't care whether Smith is naked or dead, well, all for the ratings.

"Hi Kenny, how's it going, how are you doing, are you ready to run naked?" Before the game started, the bored Charles directly teased his partner: "I think you should start preparing, for the sake of your image, I suggest that you better spend a little more time on fitness, otherwise your body full of fat will definitely make the audience unappetizing." ”

"Well, the regular season has only just begun, and the Rookie of the Year won't be released until after the end of the season."

"Oh, but Zhang Kong has already won the preseason rookie of the year, and 80 percent of all the people in history who have won the preseason rookie of the year have become the best rookie of the year."

"Isn't there still twenty percent?"

"It's all because of injuries. Kenny, you don't think Zhang Kong will suffer a major injury and be out for the season. Hi, the Portlanders have lost an Oden this year, do you think the Clevelands will lose their super-rookie too? ”

"Only God knows." Kenny Smith secretly prayed in his heart early on for Zhang Kong's injury, because if Zhang Kong was not injured, with the strength and form he showed in the preseason, winning the rookie of the season can be said to be a sure thing.

While Barkley and Kenny Smith were engaged in a verbal exchange, the game had already begun.

When jumping the ball, as always, Zhang Kong easily grabbed the basketball first, and as soon as he used his five fingers, he pushed the basketball towards several halves.

Ilgoskas took advantage of his height to get the basketball and then passed to Gibson. As soon as Gibson saw that there was no fast-break opportunity, he honestly advanced to the three-point line, and then handed the basketball to the LeBron James organization.

Zhang Kong plunged into the inside line and became entangled with Nowitzki. A few strong physical contacts immediately made Nowitzki's face change. He's the kind of skilled interior player he is good at, and like Bagyani, he is the kind of interior player that Zhang Kong hates to deal with, because if you want to defend them, you have to stay away from the basket, and once you get away from the basket, the emptiness of the box will immediately become a stage for the breakers to show themselves.

The inside line that can empty the opponent's interior defense is always so powerful. So Zhang Kong made up his mind to consume Nowitzki's physical strength as soon as possible, and used strong physical contact to prevent his hand from heating up.

So for the first time, after Zhang Kong got stuck in Nowitzki, he directly reached out for the ball.

After the Cavaliers' organizers set James as the core from the beginning, it was LeBron James who organized the team's offense, and the ball was always firmly in James' hands. As a result, the Cavaliers' playmaker, most of the time, is similar to a fixed-point pitcher, except for a figure who carries the ball to the frontcourt.

James was watching from the three-point line with the ball, and when he saw Zhang Kong asking for the ball, he passed the ball with a slight hesitation. He didn't find much of a chance just now, and the Mavericks were very tightly defensive.

Holding the ball with his back against Nowitzki, feeling Nowitzki's defense that had little pressure on him, Zhang Kong secretly sneered, he felt that he had at least a hundred ways to put the basketball in the basket. However, in order to consume Nowitzki's physical strength as much as possible so that he would not cause trouble for himself in the next game, sure enough, it is still necessary to choose the most direct one.

Zhang Kong dribbled the ball, and then his body slammed backwards!

Touch!

The sound of the collision between the bodies was so violent that the audience near the basket could hear it clearly through the loudspeakers on the basket.

At the moment of the collision, Nowitzki only felt a huge force hitting his body, as if he had been hit by a truck, Novitsky's face turned white, and his body involuntarily retreated backwards. Before he could stand firmly, Zhang Kong's strong and powerful back hit him again.

Then, everyone's eyes widened to look at the incredible scene, Zhang Kong turned his back like this, stumbled all the way into the inside line with Nowitzki, and then in front of Nowitzki, who lost his center of gravity, he turned around and completely knocked Nowitzki away, and the two big hands tightly hugged the basketball behind his back, and then rounded his arms and smashed towards the basket!

Rumble!

Through the amplification of the loudspeaker, the sound of bombardment of the basket was like an explosion throughout the basketball court. At this time, Nowitzki, who was hit again, stumbled off the court, plunged into the press box, and it took him a long time to get up.