The Nets' toughness is not only Wang Chao and Durant's strength, but also the other role players on the team in the new season are also playing very well, including Jokic and Booker.

In the third season of Jokic's career, in fact, his personal ability has been very prominent, in the original time and space, Jokic, who ushered in the third season of his career at 17-18, can contribute an average of 18.5 points, 10.7 rebounds and 6.1 assists per game, becoming the absolute core and backbone of the Nuggets.

In the Nets, Jokic, who has grown up, is limited by the ball and his average data per game is not outstanding, but even so, the average of 14.4 points, 9.4 rebounds and 4.2 assists per game still makes Jokic get great evaluation and praise from the outside world, after all, he is just a little-known second-round pick, and it is surprising to be able to play such statistics during his rookie contract.

As for the German . Booker, as a high-pick rookie in the lottery area, had high hopes at the beginning, and this season was originally planned to be positioned as the team's second scoring point according to Wang Chao's plan, and his ball possession was also affected by the arrival of Durant. At present, he averages 16.1 points per game, which is less than 2 points higher than last season, but the average score per game is not high, Booker's shooting rate this season has made great progress, in the case of Wang Chao and Durant, the two offensive cores of the opponent to the greatest extent, Booker has a large number of open shooting opportunities, the shooting rate has reached 47%, and the three-point shooting rate is also more than 40%.

As for the other players, whether it was Bogdanovic in the start, Harrell, Powell and Brogdon on the bench, they all showed impressive performances in their limited playing time.

In mid-December, the first round of All-Star voting began, and the results of the first round of voting were announced at the end of December.

Although fans had a rough idea of what the vote would look like, it was surprising how unbalanced the East and West votes were.

In the first round of voting, Wang Chao once again beat James to become the vote king without any suspense, and James ranked second by a slight margin, but the difference in the number of votes between the two is really not particularly large, because after all, James just won the championship for the Cleveland Cavaliers last season, fulfilled his promise, and also led the team to regain the gold medal on the Olympic stage, recasting the glory of the dream team of the United States.

Of course, another important reason for the close number of votes between the two is that the NBA league has reduced the proportion of votes from Asia.

Da Yao was able to win the All-Star vote that year and was elected as an All-Star starter for many consecutive seasons, which was inseparable from the strong support of Chinese fans.

If the league had counted the votes collected in Asia exactly at a ratio of 1:1, James would not have even been able to see Wang Chao's taillights.

Under Wang Chao James, the third place in the first round of voting is Wang Chao's teammate Kevin . Durant.

Durant has a high popularity in the league itself, and now he is partnered with Wang Chao, and has also won the support of some fans from China, although the number of votes is not as good as Wang Chao and James, but it can also be firmly in third place.

It's just that in this way, the top three in the first round of the All-Star voting are all Eastern stars, so that the Western stars can't raise their heads at all, starting from the fourth place, it is Russell, who is currently averaging a triple-double per game in the West. Westbrook and the Warriors' Stephen. Curry.

In addition to Wang Chao and Durant, Jokic and Booker are also on the list, especially Jokic, as one of the few high-quality interior centers in the league at this stage, his vote rate is not low, but because the vote is divided into the forward position, his votes are not dominant in the East.

This can't be helped, even if Wang Chao is an All-Star who is drafted as a guard, but the number of stars in the Eastern front is still too much, and the two monsters of James and Durant have occupied two starting spots.

In addition, the Bucks' brother Antetokounmpo has also begun to take on the shadow of the Greek monster, his kind of wide open, perfect display of physical talent is very visually impactful, and the personal data is also quite good, so far in the regular season can contribute 23.2 points, 9.1 rebounds and 5.4 assists per game, the offensive end is not solved at the same time, the defensive efficiency is also very high, and he is also a player who integrates offense and defense.

With a visually striking style of play, Brother Alphabet has gained a large number of fans this season, and is currently second only to James and Durant in the Eastern Conference Forward vote.

Antetokounmpo underneath the alphabet brother, and the Knicks' Cameron. Anthony, Paul of the Pacers. George and Joel of the Cavaliers. Embiid, Jokic's vote rate can only rank seventh among Eastern Conference forwards, and it may be enough to be in the starting lineup, but as long as he can continue to play at his current level, it is still possible to be selected as an All-Star as a substitute.

Last season, the Nets were the team with the best record in the East, and only two were selected as All-Stars, which looked a little stumbling. ——

For the rest of December, the Nets continued to maintain a high winning rate, even though Durant rested three more games during the period, but under the leadership of Wang Chao, the Nets won all three games.

For the Nets, the real test during the regular season came from two games at the end of December.

On December 28, the Nets will first host the Golden State Warriors at home, and then fly to Cleveland to challenge the Cavaliers on December 30.

Good guys, in three days, the Nets will directly harden the other two major aircraft carrier teams in the league, and this is also the first matchup between the Nets and these two opponents in the new season, which naturally attracts the attention of many parties.

On December 28, the Nets took the lead in welcoming the Golden State Warriors at home.

At this time, the Warriors' regular season record has reached 27-5, second in the league, and the record is second only to the Nets.

Letting go of starting small forward Harrison this summer. Barnes, but did not let the Warriors' combat effectiveness be affected too much, although a little incompatible, but Cousins has been playing better and better in the Warriors, and the current average of 22 points and 10 rebounds per game is also the second scoring point in the team, second only to Curry, who averages 27.5 points and 6.8 assists per game, and slightly higher than Thompson with 21.4 points.

Three players in the team scored 20+, which fully demonstrated the Warriors' super offensive ability, and it is precisely because of this that the Warriors can continue to be invincible in the regular season.

This battle has been hyped by the media for several weeks and is seen as a preview of the Finals, as it is widely believed that the Cavaliers in the East are likely not to be the Nets' opponents, who will definitely make it to the Finals and play the Warriors in the West.

As East and West teams, the two teams only had two chances to meet in the regular season, and the outcome of each game was crucial.

That night, the Barclays Center in Brooklyn was packed, and Nets fans all came to the home court to cheer their flags on.

In today's game, the Nets played with full force, starting lineup Wang Chao, Booker, Bogdanovic, Durant and Jokic.

The Warriors, for their part, also dared not slack off, sending out a starting five of Curry, Thompson, Iguodala, Green and Cousins.

After the team did not have a starting small forward, Iguodala on the bench was "forced" to play in the starting position, but after all, Iguodala is currently only 32 years old, and his physical condition is still very good, and his average of playing more than 30 minutes per game is more than enough, so he will naturally become the starting forward of the Warriors in the new season.

The jumping ball is a duel between two lumps of pork belly.

Whether it is Jokic or the Warriors' center Cousins, they are all interior players with a lot of tonnage and a lot of fat, and the bounce is not good.

However, Cousins still relied on the natural physical advantage of the black man to slightly outscore Jokic and turn the ball to his side.

Curry dribbled across half court, made tactical gestures for his teammates to pull away, and then hoisted the ball to Cousins, who was stuck inside.

The Warriors and the Nets collide, the most advantageous position is obviously the position of the interior center, after all, Cousins is a super center who can contribute an average of 20+10 per game, even if Jokic has performed well recently and has a great upward trend, but it is still a little worse than Cousins.

Indeed, on the outside, the combination of Curry + Thompson + Iguodala of the Warriors must not be comparable to Wang Chao + Durant + Booker, as for Green, there is no way to count on it, so before the start of this game, the Warriors have already thought of a countermeasure in advance, that is, to focus on the interior line, and rely on Cousins' offensive ability on the inside to gain the upper hand in the game.

With his back to Jokic, Cousins tried to push it up, and the resistance was much stronger than expected.

This is also normal, Cousins weighs 122 kilograms, which is already a heavy center in the current league, and although Jokic strictly controls his weight under the supervision of Wang Chao, he does not have the appearance of eating fat balls in the future, but his weight is also maintained at about 125 kilograms, which is even 3 kilograms heavier than Cousins.

However, Cousins himself is not a brute force player, and a nimble half-turn inside cut to the basket and a small hook layup successfully scored for the Warriors.

Wang Chao's eyebrows raised slightly.

As soon as you came up, you didn't talk about martial arts like this? Then don't blame me.

Since the Warriors are looking to attack Cousins as a breakthrough, Wang Chao will not be polite to the other party, and pass the ball directly to Durant after dribbling over half court.

One-on-one heads-up to see which side is more efficient offensively.

Durant's opponent is Drummond. Green, the Warriors' most defensive player.

In the past, he was mainly responsible for marking Wang Chao on the court, but in this game he had to defend Durant.

No way, Durant, who is registered to be 2.06 meters tall, is comparable to Cousins in real height, and when the team took makeup photos at the Rio Olympics, it can be clearly seen that Durant is almost the same height as the inside player Cousins, Davis, and others, and has an advantage in terms of arm span.

Although Green is only 2.01 meters tall, there is a big gap with Durant, but he is also the only player in the Thunder team who can defend the opponent, so he can't let Iguodala or Thompson defend Durant, right?

In terms of offensive threat, Durant is not much worse than Wang Chao, and he is definitely a threat that cannot be let go.

Therefore, the Warriors' arrangement is to let Iguodala defend Wang Chao, Green defend Durant, and then Thompson will assist the two at any time.

But the problem is that Booker has shot as much as 40% from beyond the three-point line this season, and he is also a player who can't be easily shortened, so when the Nets are also like the Warriors, they can only watch Durant single out Green when all players are open to one-on-one heads-up.

In Wang Chao's view, this can be regarded as a grievance situation.

Although in this time and space, there is no classic Green formula, but with Durant's cautious character, even if he crosses time and space, crossing the timeline, being able to beat Green in the game will make him feel inexplicably happy.

Holding the ball in the face of Green's defense, Durant raised his hand to try to shoot, and immediately adjusted his ball to break through after noticing that Green's center of gravity moved forward, and rushed to the free throw line in two steps to shoot a stop-and-go jump shot, more than 2.11 meters tall and 2.21 meters of arm span, plus Durant's own particularly high shooting point, so that Green had no way to form an effective defense.

"Shh——!h

Shoot the basket and brush the net into the basket.

For a while, Green just wanted to curse.

This TM is too funny! Wang Chao alone is already difficult to guard against, and now there is another Durant, how can people play?

Durant's offensive firepower is not much worse than Wang Chao, but he lacks explosiveness, and he can't deal with it as calmly as Wang Chao when facing a double bag.

But the question is, can they wrap Durant? The answer, of course, is no! What is the difference between wrapping his teammates in front of Wang Chao and sending the basket to Wang Chao to shoot and score for the opponent?

The Warriors, who were destined to be unable to limit the Nets' scoring on the defensive end, could only hope to rely on the offense to win the game.

However, in the first quarter alone, in the scoring competition between Cousins and Durant, the Warriors lost very completely.

Cousins is indeed a very strong interior lineman, who averaged 28+11 per game at his peak, and his scoring ability is one of the best among interior centers.

But one thing that can't be ignored is that Cousins is shooting just 46.1% from the field in his career.

If you're an outside player, a 46 percent shooting percentage is not bad, but sadly, Cousins is an inside center, a big center.

As a center, a shooting rate of less than 50% is considered inefficient, not to mention that compared with most star centers who average 20+ points per game, Cousins is considered to play softly with the power forward position, and likes to float on the outside to shoot German tank Dirk. Nowitzki also shot 47 percent from the field in his career.

Can you imagine that Cousins, a guy who looks big and round, can't even beat Nowitzki in shooting percentage?

There are three most criticized shortcomings in Cousins' career.

The first is a personality problem, although he is not a bad guy like Green, but his temper is also relatively hot, and he often does some irrational things out of anger, and he has eaten a lot of technical offenses.

The second is the problem of defensive attitude, limited by the slow pace of footwork, Cousins' defense is not very good, and the defensive attitude is not positive enough, he prefers offense to defense, even if he comes to the Warriors and is taught by a top coach like Kerr, Cousins' defense can only be described as mediocre.

This is obviously not in line with the league's long-standing positioning of super center players, the so-called super center is to achieve the integration of offense and defense, both with the ball and offense, but also under the basket to protect the basket.

Even O'Neal has been named to the All-Defensive Second Team three times in his career, and has averaged 3.5 blocks per game on the defensive end in a single season.

The third is the issue of offensive efficiency, as a center player, the shooting rate is less than 50%, which is unbelievable when you think about it, but it also proves the instability of Cousins on the offensive end from another aspect.

With a weight of 122 kilograms, Cousins doesn't attack the basket very often, and his offense is dominated by shots and hooks, which is also the reason for his low shooting percentage.

Having said so much, it's not that Cousins isn't good, as a center who has steadily contributed 20+10 data for many consecutive seasons, Cousins' strength is absolutely outstanding, but it is definitely not possible to build a team around him as the core of the team, and Cousins has never made the playoffs in seven seasons with the Kings in the original time and space is the best proof.

And now, the battle between Cousins and Durant has been completely defeated and completely suppressed by Durant.

In the first quarter of the game, Durant shot 8 of 14, 1 of 3 three-pointers, 2 of 2 free throws, and scored 19 points in a single quarter, which directly numbled Green who defended him.

On the other hand, Cousins' first few rounds of single-handedness against Jokic worked pretty well, but as Jokic gradually adapted to his offensive routine, Cousins' offense was a little less effective.

Jokic in the 16-17 season is really not a vegetarian, and definitely belongs to players who are underestimated by the league because of their statistical performance.

With extremely close weight, height, and reach, Jokic defends Cousins very well, often getting stuck in position, forcing opponents to shoot from mid-to-long range.

Cousins has the ability to shoot from three-point range, but it is limited to shooting in the open space, facing Jokic's defense, also with a large number of shots, Durant is 8 of 14, and Cousins is only 4 of 11.

There was a huge gap in the scores between the two main attackers, and the scores of the two teams in the first quarter of the game also widened the gap.

The Nets scored 36 points in a single quarter, and the Warriors only scored 28 points, and the 8-point difference is not big, but the problem is that Wang Chao on the Nets' side has not started to exert force at all.

found that Cousins didn't seem to be very good, Warriors head coach Steve Brown. Kerr chose to change the lineup, replacing Cousins with Sean. Livingston debuts, and the revised Death Five makes an appearance.

With no advantage in positional battles, the Warriors are ready to start picking up!

(End of chapter)