This Forward is Not Serious

"Nicola, congratulations."

Lin Ying sat next to Jokic. After Lu left, he smiled and congratulated Jokic.

This debut was not easy to come by, especially after being on the active list but never being able to play.

"It seems like I can't practice my three-point shot before I go on the court."

Jokic said seriously.

"Shet."

Lin Ying couldn't help but curse.

Then Jokic laughed first.

The first time in Versailles, I didn’t seem to have a good grasp of the scale.

"Work hard and try to get into the rotation as soon as possible."

Lin Ying said with a smile.

The current Jokic cannot be compared with the peak teacher Jokic in history, but it will definitely enrich the Nets' tactics.

After all, he is the only one with space inside the Nets. .

…

On the night of the game day, the attendance at Quicken Loans Arena was full, the fans were enthusiastic, and James' big-head KT board could be seen everywhere.

The most exciting thing about James' "coming home" is the Cavaliers' market.

In fact, before James left last time, he had already made Cleveland's market bigger.

This return was a direct explosion. Those who hated James before instantly turned from hatred to love, and they were passionate.

Before the game, the photographer took a shot of the auditorium on the sidelines. There was a fan wearing a jersey with a large piece of tear on the back, which caught the eye.jpg.

This should be the greatest respect expressed for James "coming home".

Because James left that year, some radical fans threw jerseys, cut jerseys, and even burned jerseys.

Those that are thrown away or burned cannot be retrieved, but those that are cut off can still be taken out and worn.

This shows that even these radical fans have forgiven James.

Now they are waiting for James to fulfill his words and bring a championship trophy to Cleveland.

If it does, it will also be the city's first championship trophy among the four major leagues, and it will also be a supreme honor.

During the warm-up before the game, a split shot of James and Lin Ying was shown.

This scene is also very interesting.

What was originally the New York Derby has now become a net-riding battle.

The team has changed, but what remains unchanged is the dialogue between the two.

Moreover, after James returned to the Cavaliers and switched to small forward, there will be more opportunities for the two to have direct conversations on the court.

After the warm-up, the opening ceremony began, and the starting lineups of the two teams were announced one after another.

The Nets take the field first as the away team.

Deron, Bradley, Johnson, Lin Ying, Chandler.

The Cavaliers came on stage as the home team.

Irving, Shumpert, James, Josh Smith, Love.

James was the last to appear, and the cheers when he appeared were explosive.

After the appearance ceremony, the coaches on both sides made the final arrangements and the starting players came on stage one after another.

It was at this time that a familiar scene came.

James walked to the technical stage, picked up the jar containing magnesium powder, opened it, poured a handful into his hand, and then threw it into the air in front of the camera and audience.

Quicken Loans Arena erupted instantly.

Although after James said, "I can't wait to resume that ceremony," fans quickly brought up what he said at the beginning would never throw magnesium powder again.

But for Cavaliers fans, James only does this ritual when he is in the Cavaliers, and this sense of exclusivity makes them excited.

After throwing the powder, James beat his chest and roared angrily, responding to the fans here who love him.

Maybe the reason he returned to the Cavaliers wasn't what he said, but he did allow himself to be involved in this emotion.

It doesn't matter if it's true or false, what's important is that you believe it.

Amid the cheers of the fans, Josh Smith took the lead and jumped high to return the ball to half court, giving the Cavaliers the opportunity to take the lead in attacking.

The Cavaliers' style of play is very similar to last season, but there are subtle differences.

For example, at the beginning of the game, after everyone else pulled away, Love directly caught the ball in the low post and hit Chandler from behind.

Historically, after Love arrived with the Cavaliers, because the team positioned him as a space power forward, he chose to lose weight. Because he was a short inside man, without weight, he lost his low-post singles ability.

But now the Cavaliers position him as a space center, and he has not lost weight. This low post singles has been retained and has become a new tactic for the Cavaliers.

Chandler was very powerful, but Love did not move after two attempts, and directly chose to turn to the free throw line for a hook shot.

An outside hook, the ball hit the board and bounced into the basket.

Although he is very big, he is very flexible in movement.

Looking back, Deron and Chandler's shots after the pick-and-roll hit the frame.

Love's movement speed is not fast, but Smith has already come to help defend, and then jumps up to interfere with Deron.

Love blocked Chandler who was about to cut inside in the next second, and jumped up to protect the defensive rebound.

Then, he turned around and made a long throw, and the ball flew directly to the frontcourt.

Low post singles, turning hook shots, blocking positions to grab boards, and quick passes.

With this offense and defense, Love fully demonstrated his characteristics.

To sum it up in the words of fans, this is a "flexible fat guy"!

Irving had already rushed through the midfield. After receiving the ball, he quickly ran to the frontcourt and scored a fast break layup.

In the opening rounds, Lin Ying and James have not yet participated in offense and defense.

Then in this contest between deputies, the Cavaliers won!

Love continued to hold the ball in the low post, the Nets chose to flank, and Johnson shrank toward the basket.

Love reacted quickly and passed the ball to James immediately. James was defended by Deron and then passed the ball to Shumpert.

Shumpert acted decisively.

"Uh-huh!"

The three-point shooter made a move, and the score on the field was 0-7!

Similar to the previous opening game, the Nets encountered a "blow in the head" from their opponents at the beginning!

Jokic rubbed his hands while watching from the sidelines.

Although his mentality is still optimistic, he now wants to go up and give Lin Ying some support.

He knew that if others could not support Lin Ying, the game would become the same as the opening game, with Lin Ying 1V5.

As expected, Lin Ying chose to attack the Nets on his own.

He called Chandler to pick and roll and then shot a mid-range jumper.

Smith's help defense is excellent, but no matter how good the help defense is, it takes time.

The way he played was exactly the same as the way he used to fight Hibbert, but he couldn't get out of the opponent.

"Uh-huh!"

The basketball goes hollow into the net.

Lin Ying's breakthrough skills have improved again this season, but his shooting skills have not fallen behind either.

The Nets finally broke their scoring drought.

After scoring, Lin Ying also used his eyes to remind his teammates to focus on defense while retreating.

Love hit the low post again, but this time Chandler took the risk.

After all, Love is short, and Chandler's physical condition is here. After slowly adapting, he has figured out some defensive skills.

The risked ball was snatched by Lin Ying, who threw the ball to Bradley.

Bradley reacted quickly, turned around after catching the ball and started the fast break.

But the moment he took action.

"boom!"

James came in and staged a body-chasing nail-biter!

And after he blocked the shot, he grabbed the defensive rebound in the air.

Quicken Loans Arena has been filled with cheers from fans.

This is a memory that is engraved in their minds and cannot be erased!

James is still the same boy as before!

"Come on! Knights!"

The emotions of the fans at the scene have been ignited.

There is no need for DJ to lead, the fans spontaneously cheer in unison.

At this time, the Cavaliers' style of play changed.

Love squatted outside the three-point line at the top of the arc, and Irving and Shumpert squatted in the bottom corner on both sides.

This is how the Cavaliers played last season.

The difference is that Harden/Hawes has become James/Love.

James accelerated to break through the basket, and Johnson was completely unable to stop him.

At the same time, Smith was also creating opportunities for Irving on the weak side in the pick-and-roll while containing the defense.

After seeing this, Chandler chose to recover and protect the basket.

When James saw it, he decided to pass the ball to Love.

Love had an opportunity after receiving the ball, and his shot was decisive.

"Uh-huh!"

The basketball fell heavily into the net bag.

The Cavaliers' second three-pointer in the first quarter!

The Cavaliers are on the rise!

Karl had already stood up from the bench, and he looked back at the bench.

Jokic was also looking at Karl at this time. When the two looked at each other, the little fat man's eyes were full of desire.

But Karl quickly turned back.

Lin Ying continued to hold the ball in the frontcourt. This time Le Futi went to attack outside. Lin Ying accelerated past him and went to the basket.

Such a heavy insider really looks cumbersome when faced with a player like Lin Ying who is a top-notch sudden shot.

At this time, Josh Smith helped defend to the basket and jumped up to block the shot.

There was a physical confrontation between the two in the air, but after the confrontation, Lin Ying dodged sideways and wiped the board.

The referee blew the whistle, and the basketball fell steadily into the net bag after wiping the board.

2+1!

The scene was filled with excitement. The Nets were indeed not as strong as last season, but Lin Ying was still ridiculously strong!

After Smith landed, he shook his head helplessly.

If it had been anyone else, he would have been at least 80% sure of being able to defend the ball, and there was also a 50% chance of blocking the ball directly.

But when it comes to Lin Ying, it becomes 2+1.

Well, after Lin Ying started attacking with the ball from the front, he had already entered the white-hot space.

His extra penalty was a solid hit.

This 2+1 is crucial.

The Cavaliers played the same way. Chandler didn't dare to return to defense this time. James passed Johnson directly and rushed into the paint and jumped into the air.

"Bang!"

An iconic one-handed tomahawk dunk!

The emotions of the fans at Quicken Loans Arena were completely ignited.

James was also very excited after dunking, and he roared continuously after crossing the baseline.

In New York, he was suppressed by Lin Ying for two seasons. Now in Cleveland, he is finally about to turn around!

Lin Ying continued to attack in the frontcourt. This time he attracted a three-man attack and then made a jump shot.

This ball was hit a little too high.

"Uh-huh!"

However, the key is that the ball can go in!

Lin Ying scored 7 points in a row!

7 to 12!

Just as Jokic expected, the scene in the opening game happened again.

Or, not quite.

Because the Cavaliers attacked in the next round, James' breakthrough attracted Lin Ying to help defend and distributed the ball to the weak side.

Over there, Irving took advantage of Smith's pick-and-roll to get a three-point opportunity.

"Uh-huh!"

The knife falls from the hand!

Irving may have a strange brain circuit, but his heart is big!

7 to 15!

The score difference is back to 8 points!

The difference from the opening game is that the Cavaliers are obviously more mature than the Warriors in the opening game after going through the first few games.

The Nets couldn't limit their offense.

Or to put it another way, Lin Ying's scoring cannot keep up with the Nets' points loss!

Karl directly reached out and called a timeout.

The Cavaliers' style of play has not changed much in nature, but the overall strength has become significantly stronger after the changes in players.

As long as you are caught at one point, you will be led to a breakthrough point.

The players came off the field one after another and waited for Karl to make tactical adjustments.

However, Karl was stunned for a while while holding the tactical board.

Just when McMillan next to him was about to remind him, he turned and shouted in the direction of Jokic.

"Nicholas."

Jokic was also stunned for a moment, thinking he heard wrongly.

He didn't react until Bradley slapped him with his hand.

"I am here."

Jokic replied.

"You're ready to go in and replace Chandler."

Carl's decision stunned many people.

Because this not only gives Jokic a chance to play, but also directly replaces Anderson's rotation position.

Only Lu and Lin Ying looked calmer.

Because the Nets' disadvantage in this period is still due to Love's outside control.

To say that Love is the plus version of Hawes is not just about fame.

Love averaged 26+10+4 per game with the Timberwolves last season, and his three-point shooting percentage was 37.5%, which is already very good in the paint.

And he not only has shooting percentage but also production. He can make 2.5 shots per night, ranking fifth in the league. The four players in front of him are all guards.

The Nets didn't dare to let go of such Love, but James' breakthrough made them dare not let it go.

It is difficult to defend against, and Karl chose to fight fire with fire.

Because after Lin Ying's breakthrough ability evolved, he became even more perverted than James.

Let Lin Ying score as easily as possible, which is the main purpose of Karl's timeout.

There wasn't much time for Jokic to digest, and Karl then arranged his play style after returning from the timeout.

By the way, he also replaced Claude.

Johnson can't guard James, and Crowder probably can't guard him either, but the wheel is also a way.

The timeout time on the sidelines is up, and the players on both sides reappear.

The Cavaliers made no adjustments, but the Nets replaced Chandler and Johnson, and replaced Crowder and... Pork Belly!

This substitution instantly caused a burst of laughter from the sidelines.

Jokic's current body shape is still too fat.

Love seemed smaller in front of him.

The last player to look so fat was Pittman, and before that it was Eddie Curry.

But no matter which one, he eventually faded out of the league due to his size.

Kidd was also stunned for a moment.

He knew Jokic, but because Jokic had not played before, he did not pay attention to the summer league and preseason work.

So at this time, he didn't know what Karl was doing, so he could only turn around and communicate with the assistant coach in charge for a while.

According to the assistant coach, Jokic is a player with a very good basketball intelligence, but other players have not yet reached the NBA level.

Kidd didn't think much about it after hearing this.

This substitution is a great opportunity for the Cavaliers to further widen the point difference.