I'm Really Playing Basketball Chapter 314

After defeating the Spurs and receiving Popovich's full praise, the Cavaliers continued their road trip with a three-game winning streak after losing to the Raptors.

On December 13, 2004, the Cavaliers defeated the Grizzlies 112-106 in an away game, ending their Western away trip.

On December 15, 2004, the Cavaliers defeated the Pistons 99-91 as a guest in Detroit, ending all their road trips.

After ending this away game, the Cavaliers returned to home and defeated the Trail Blazers, Celtics and Timberwolves one after another.

In this game of the Trail Blazers, Chen Xiao once again met the little wolf king Dalius Miles he cultivated last season.

Miles has performed well with the Trail Blazers this season. As a small forward in the Trail Blazers, he averaged 14 points, 6 rebounds and 2 assists per game, plus 1.5 steals and 1.5 blocks.

In this game against the old club Cavaliers, Darius Miles was 9 of 15 and scored 21 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals and 2 blocks.

To be fair, the Blazers traded Darius Miles, which really wanted to train him as the core.

Darius Miles has been trained by Chen Xiao for a year. Although he doesn't talk about correcting evil and his temperament has changed drastically, his professional attitude is indeed much better. Coupled with his talent, Darius Miles has been in this season. The Blazers' performance is very good.

Well, better than Crawford's performance in the Knicks.

Crawford's performance in the Knicks...

In short, in a word, the Knicks are really a big dye pot.

Back to Cleveland this time, Darius Miles came back with gratitude and gratitude, so the two sides played very friendly in this game.

By the way, Chen Xiao and the knight also helped Darius Miles to fix Zach Randolph, who was vying with him for the boss.

In this game, Zach Randolph was committed by Chen Xiao with 5 of 12, 10 points, 7 rebounds and 6 fouls. When he was sent off, his mentality collapsed.

Although the younger brother has left, he is still so grateful and humble in front of the boss. This feeling is very good.

At least, this made Chen Xiao feel that he hadn't cultivated Darius Miles for a year in vain, and hadn't thrown so many experience cards on him.

In this game with the Celtics, there is not so much warmth, and it is right to cut it hard.

However, in this game Chen Xiao felt that his truth seemed to have less enmity against him.

"I think it's because of the dream six team of this year's Olympics."

Chen Xiao felt right about Xiao Zhan's guess.

And the game against the Timberwolves, this game is actually very warm.

Chen Xiao's idol, Kevin Garnett, is now in a dormant period, ready to'come back' at any time.

Before the game against the Cavaliers, the Timberwolves had a record of 15 wins and 8 losses, which is a lot worse than last season, but it is definitely not a collapse.

So adding idols in Timberwolves is very good.

As long as it does not collapse, there is still a chance.

Because as long as it survives this year, the Timberwolves will have the first-round pick, and the Timberwolves will end their major contracts except for Garnett and Szebiak.

The Timberwolves will be able to watch the moon soon.

Therefore, don't look at the Timberwolves this year as well as last season's results. Last season's playoffs led the team to the finals. The wolf king who was one step away from the title is now in a good mood.

"Chen, I think you still want to exercise your team privileges. I don't think your team's head coach Carlisle is a good head coach. As a team aspiring to a championship, he always does that. It's not the right way to change tactically and in the starting lineup."

After the game, Chen Xiao was silent to Garnett's reminder.

This season, apart from Chen Xiao and James, who are two immutable starters, the Cavaliers changed their starters in almost every game.

The Cavaliers have only played 25 games this season, and the Cavaliers have changed their starting lineup with 20 sets.

In the NBA, this is simply maddening.

Not only Garnett said so, many NBA experts said so.

Many experts say that the Cavaliers should be a stable starter, continuously improving the team's 90-point strength to 91, 92, 93, and up to 100 points, honing the team to perfection, just like the Magic and the Heat.

This is the right way.

But Rick Carlisle didn't think so.

Rick Carlisle is satisfied with the team's 90-point strength, no longer honing the lineup, but looking for changes, playing the so-called restraint.

Yes, as long as you find a restrained lineup, a 90-point team can indeed beat a 100-point team.

But how can this kind of needle in a haystack be so easy?

You will change, will others not change?

If others change slightly, 100 changes to 99, can they beat you too?

So, don't look at the Cavaliers' performance this season. After playing the Timberwolves 23 wins and 2 losses, first in the league.

But Carlisle was sprayed badly.

Many journalists, media, and experts feel that he has embarked on an evil path.

"I think Rick Carlisle can first run a lineup to 100 points, and then try other methods is the best. However, Carlisle is not like this. He always clicks to the end, tastes nothing, and is never on a starting lineup. Go deeper, it's very utilitarian."

"Yes, in the regular season, he can use the Cavaliers' lineup changes to constantly target and defeat opponents, but in the playoffs, when everyone is playing against, the Cavaliers' wide and lack of precision will make them pay the price unless they are in the playoffs. Kecarlis can always find a way to restrain his opponent."

"Rick is a good coach, but I don't think he is so good."

Of course, Chen Xiao and James also knew about such voices outside.

But Chen Xiao believed in Carlisle.

Not because of other things, Chen Xiao felt that Carlisle must be the strongest in the entire Cavaliers in terms of the ability to be a head coach.

You can deny Carlisle, deny him like those expert reporters do, but after denying, do you have a better way?

Chen Xiao did not, nor did James.

Then at this time, you need to trust your head coach.

Therefore, regardless of Carlisle facing the pressure of the entire league, in fact, he is as stable as a dog in the Cavaliers because of the support of Chen Xiao and James.

On December 22, 2004, after defeating the Timberwolves yesterday, the Cavaliers played back to back at home against the Nets, now fourth in the Eastern Conference.

Because the last time the Cavaliers defeated the Nets relied on Chen Xiao's magic, although the Cavaliers won the last game, Carlisle felt that his tactics still failed.

He failed to find a solution to the Nets' five-stroke lineup.

If you use an offensive player to fight offense, your opponent will seize the defensive loophole and collapse.

Defending with defensive players, everyone can attack. In a game like a meat grinder, the opponent can grind your offensive core to death. In the last game, Chen Xiao was almost grind to death.

In this game, Carlisle changed another way.

Center Chen Xiao, power forward Dior, small forward Penny Hardaway, shooting guard Barnes, point guard James.

In this game, Carlisle used the same five-forward lineup as the Nets.

All the starting players of the Cavaliers in this game are above 2 meters.

In this game, the Cavaliers' offense and defense were finally able to keep up with the Nets' rhythm.

And every position can be a point for the Nets.

Although the Nets defeated the Cavaliers 94 to 90 in this game, the Cavaliers coach Carlisle was very satisfied with his starting lineup.

The Cavaliers really lost this game.

But that wasn't because of a tactical failure. In this game, Chen Xiao made 7 of 26 shots, 25 points, 11 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 steals and 5 blocks. He made a rare shot.

This game was the first time that Chen Xiao swayed to the center position. Because Martin did not have such a strong offensive ability, Chen Xiao's defense at the center position was very good.

But offensive...

To be honest, Chen Xiao has no internal offensive methods, almost none of hooks, footsteps, and throws.

There is such a small space under the basket, especially the space of the center forward is smaller than that of the power forward. Chen Xiao's back-up under the basket is all in the crowd, and the defense is too big!

And if you pull it out, the Nets will be even happier. Chen Xiao is out, and the Nets' defenses are all extended, which is great.

In short, Chen Xiao swayed to the center position for the first time in this game. The defense was very good, and the offense was still lacking in rhythm.

However, for Carlisle, it doesn't matter if the game loses. Anyway, the Cavaliers are still No. 1 in the Eastern Conference.

The key is to find a way to deal with the Nets.

To play a five-forward team like the Nets, it really requires five forwards to fight poison with poison!

Of course, in addition to finding a problem with Chen Xiao's inside attack, Carlisle also found a problem.

That is, in the lineup of the five forwards, Hardaway can only play 20 minutes of high-level games. He is older and the game time exceeds this number, then his level will drop drastically.

Therefore, the Cavaliers also need a two or three swingman or a three or four swingman as a substitute.

But, where can I find this substitute?

After the game with the Nets ended, the Cavaliers once again held an internal meeting.

Chen Xiao, LeBron James, Paxon, Carlisle, and the Cavaliers' Big Four gathered together, and everyone was discussing how to get such a player.

To be reasonable, in this era, a good swingman in the third or fourth position or the second and third position is very valuable.

It is absolutely impossible for a general team to trade.

Of course, it was Carlisle who raised this issue, and the team's general manager Paxson needed to solve this problem.

"Jim, the Cavaliers lack such a player right now. This is our last puzzle!"

Seeing Carlisle like this, Paxson also had a headache.

He has a lot of contacts. The Blazers, Bulls and Nets are all his contacts.

No need to think about the Nets.

On the Blazers side, the Blazers are very grateful that he traded Miles to them with a first-round pick. If they can help, the Blazers are definitely willing to help.

But the point is, the Blazers do not have such a player except Miles.

And there is, Bull, where his brother is.

Carlisle was greedy for Ben Gordon.

But unless he killed his brother, how could the Bulls trade Ben Gordon?

In short, after Carlisle raised this question, Parkson had a headache.

Without this excellent swingman, if the Cavaliers fail this season, he will become the rhythm of the Cavaliers sinner.

With this kind of team building, Paxson and Carlisle are having a headache.

And Chen Xiao and Xiao Zhan were thinking about other things.

"Xiao Chen, Rick said, this season we only have one jigsaw puzzle. We can really reach the top of the NBA this season?!"

Xiao Zhan was very excited, very, very excited.

For someone who is determined to make Cleveland great, there is no better news.

"Little Zhan, you should ask Rick about this. All we can do is to get better. Even without the perfect puzzle that Rick said, we need to be as close to this goal as possible."

After Chen Xiao finished speaking, Xiao Zhan nodded with bright eyes.

That's right!

Every team has its own perfect puzzle, but not every team really has it.

For him, Carlisle said that the Cavaliers are short of such a puzzle, so it shows that the Cavaliers are very close to the goal of his dream.

In this case, what reason does he have not to work harder?

Rick and Jim are working hard, we also need to work hard!

In this way, Xiao Zhan exploded!

Chen Xiao was envious of seeing Xiao Zhan's explosion.

Xiao Zhan is a truly talented person, as long as he works hard, he can make progress.

But Chen Xiao is different, his strength also requires hard work, but the way of hard work is different.

Just say that the coach said he wanted him to learn the offensive skills of the inside and center.

To be fair, the Cavaliers really don't have such a player to teach him.

Raheem is also a partial shot.

In fact, the Chinese team has such players, and Dayao is such a player.

However, everyone got together in the summer mainly to play the national team games. Dayao did not have the super teaching talent of experience card. The two of them spend so many days together in a summer, and they have to be distracted from the national team games. To teach the teammates of the Chinese team, even if you study with Yao, there is not much time.

So, the best thing is that the team has such a player.

However, the season has now gone on, and promotion is also a summer thing. Fortunately, in the summer of 2005, there were no major games, and Chen Xiao could focus on learning.

"Well, even if it's **** this summer, you have to tie Dayao to me!"

Miss Ye, Chen, you are offended!

After losing back to back to the Nets on December 22, the Cavaliers entered the Christmas schedule.

On Christmas Eve this year, Chen Xiao did not spend it alone.

As for who you spent with and how you spent it, just skip it.

After Christmas Eve, the second day of the Christmas War, this Christmas War, there were only two games in total.

One is a game between the Suns and the Lakers.

The OK contest is always so worthwhile to keep the league and David Stern fried rice.

The reason why David Stern and the Alliance are so happy to fry this cold dish is of course because of this cold meal, it is indeed fragrant!

In addition to this Western focus battle, there is also a Christmas battle on the Eastern side, which is the game between the defending champion Magic and the Cavaliers.

The Magic and Cavaliers were opponents in the Eastern Conference Finals last season.

In this game, the two teams met again, and the lineups of the two teams have been completely different from the lineups of last season's Eastern Conference Finals.

The Magic's starting lineup for this game is center Pachulia, power forward Duncan, small forward Tracy McGrady, shooting guard Ginobili, and point guard Parker.

The Cavaliers' starting lineup is Chandler, Raheem, James, Brent Barry, Chen Xiao.

Well, the Cavaliers' starting lineup has changed again.

In last year's Eastern Conference Finals, Chen Xiao came up to play the power forward and won two 50+ games, almost defeating the Magic.

In the end, Duncan was placed at the power forward position to suppress Chen Xiao, and the Magic finally reversed and eliminated the Cavaliers 4-3.

Therefore, in this game, the Magic did not let Duncan play center as they did in the past.

Similarly, Carlisle did not let Chen Xiao play a power forward in this game, but instead played a point guard.

So far this season, the Magic's record is 21 wins and 4 losses, which ranks second in the Eastern Conference.

The number one in the East is the Cavaliers with 23 wins and 3 losses.

The Cavaliers are first in the league and the East, while the Magic are second in the league and second in the East.

It can be said that the contest between the two teams in this game is the pinnacle of the NBA.

It stands to reason that the two teams played seven games in the Eastern Conference Finals.

It stands to reason that the two teams are very familiar.

But in fact, the Cavaliers have changed a lot this season.

The Cavaliers' style of play has also changed a lot.

Therefore, the two teams in this game are very unfamiliar.

This can be seen from the fact that the two teams played very cautiously since the start of this game, and even very tentative.

Especially the Cavaliers' temptation on the Magic.

Carlisle was also not about winning or losing in this game, but about testing his own tactics and players.

For example, this game he wants to try to see Raheem, the Cavaliers' Nowitzki, meets Duncan, there will be a bit of fire.

In fact, Raheem met Duncan and his historical record is very good.

In the 97-98 season, Raheem met the rookie Duncan in the second grade. After four games, Duncan won four games, but the two scores are difficult to solve. Duncan has more than Raheem in four games. Points, of course, Duncan's shooting percentage is definitely better. After all, Raheem is outside and Duncan is inside.

In the 98-99 season, the two began to widen the gap. Everyone knows that Duncan is not only scoring, but this season, Raheem was even scoring by Duncan. However, in these three games, Raheem faced him. For Duncan, 25, 27, and 12 points are actually very good. Even in the 12-point game, Duncan on the opposite side only scored 19 points.

And Raheem's shooting percentage in these three games is not bad.

In the 1999-00 season, Raheem played against Duncan three times. Raheem was 30, 24, and 23, and his scoring was still lower than Duncan, but his scoring was still good. In these three games, Raheem also shot 50%, 66%, and 47%.

Everyone knows what level of player Duncan is. Don't think that Duncan has just entered the league in the past three years and is a rookie.

To be honest, being able to face Duncan in the past three years, played 10 times, averaged more than 20 points per game, and the shooting rate is not low. Basically, every game has 20+, which is not easy.

You know, for the past three years, Duncan's partner next to him is David Robinson, general.

The Spurs in the past three years have been **** for the insiders of the league.

It can be said that in the past three years, Raheem has played the strongest offensive performance of non-superstars inside against Duncan, which is not an exaggeration.

As the head coach of the Cavaliers, Carlisle needs to prepare these materials.

When the Cavaliers got Raheem, Carlisle did not study his data against Duncan.

So when he studied the methods of dealing with other strong teams in the league, and studied the record of Raheem and Duncan, he was suddenly surprised.

Raheem, an inside line that has never been valued by all teams because of his height and defense, his offense can withstand Duncan's test!

He averaged 20 points per game, even in front of Duncan.

Even in the 0304 season last season, when he was at the Hawks, he faced Duncan, 9 of 18, 11 of 12 free throws, 29 points and 10 rebounds, while the opposite Duncan was 11 of 22, 28 points, 9 rebounds and 5 fouls. .

See, Raheem can still foul Duncan and almost beat Duncan.

Raheem's defense is indeed not so good, but his offense is not so afraid of Duncan's defense.

This is what Carlisle learned from the data.

But whether it is really like this, he needs his verification.

And this game between the Cavaliers and the Magic was when he verified it.

Originally, in this game between Cavaliers and Magic, audiences from all over the United States and the world watched Chen Xiao, James, Duncan and Tracy McGrady.

However, in this game, the Cavaliers have become Raheem's main attack, assisted by Chen Xiao and James.

This peculiar style of play dazzled the world audience in front of the TV and the knight audience on the sidelines.

To be honest, even if he was cautious in this game, he was stunned by Chen Xiao's daring Dougreaves.

Before the game, we surrounded Chen Xiao and arranged the defense, but you played Raheem in this game?

The final result of this game, of course, was that the Magic team won the away game.

118 to 106, the Magic won 12 points away.

The Magic won easily.

Even Chen Xiao and James did not play in the fourth quarter, and the entire fourth quarter was garbage time.

At the top, the Cavaliers trailed by 20 points.

Many people in this game saw the power of the six-star magic.

What many people see is the mess of Carlisle coaching this season.

With both Chen Xiao and James present, Raheem was the main attacker, and he was so good at playing.

As the center of the controversy, Carlisle focused on Raheem's data in this game.

12 of 19 shots, 3 of 3 free throws, 27 points, 9 rebounds and 5 fouls. (Note 1)

This data is great, especially the offensive data.

"His offense is really not afraid of Duncan!"

The entire NBA knows that Nowitzki is not afraid of Duncan.

Heinowski, that is really a well-deserved reputation!

Carlisle was excited.

I, Rick Carlisle, also own Nowitzki that belongs to me!

What chemistry will happen when I, Rick Carlisle, also owns a Nowitzki? !

The loss of the game was so miserable, he was so excited.

To be fair, what Carlisle didn't know at this time was in TNT's studio. He had been stupefied by Pi's second-class celebrity.

"Rick Carlisle feels that he led the Cavaliers very well last season, and he's gone this season!"

"No, he is not floating, he is crazy, he thinks it was his credit last season, in fact, the Cavaliers' credit last season was the magic kid!"

It's just that Carlisle doesn't care at all about this.

After confirming that Raheem's offense was not a useless offense for weak teams, Carlisle looked at Raheem differently.

Of course, at this time, after the game, the magic head coach Dougreaves looked at Chen Xiao differently.

Sympathy, a pity, but also fortunate.

What a strong player, but I met a pig head coach like Rick Carlisle.

Pig head, ha ha...

Thinking of the nickname he took to Carlisle, Dougreaves secretly felt happy and appropriate in his heart.

Rick Carlisle, a crazy pig!

After losing the focus of the Christmas War, the Cavaliers won the remaining three games in December, the Hornets, Hawks and Rockets.

Compared with the Cavaliers, the opponents in these three games are weak, and these three teams are also ordinary teams with no characteristics.

The Cavaliers won the three teams without any problems, and nothing special.

Well, it should be?

However, the Cavaliers still have bright spots in these three games.

That's why Raheem started in all three games.

And in these three games, Raheem played a lot of roles in the team's offense.

Moreover, in these three games, Raheem got 20+.

Seeing Raheem made 4 consecutive starts at once, and asked Chen Xiao and James to feed him the ball, many Cavaliers doubted whether the team was going to trade Raheem.

Even Raheem himself felt so.

So the performance is extraordinarily hard.

Since leaving the Hawks, he has not played the team's main attack.

Now the team let him be the main attacker, obviously not really wanting to help him be the boss.

Let James and Chen Xiao be his younger brothers?

He didn't even think about it.

Obviously this is to trade his rhythm.

There have been rumors that the team is going to want a swingman in the 2nd and 3rd positions, or a swingman in the 3rd and 4th positions, and it is normal to trade him away.

Although he had never played in a strong team like the Cavaliers in his career, leaving the rosy Cavaliers made him feel a little bit reluctant.

However, he was very happy to leave Cleveland.

It's not that I'm disrespectful to Chen Xiao and James, it's simply that I don't like Cleveland.

After these three games, the Cavaliers' December games are all over.

Throughout the 16 games in December, the Cavaliers have 13 wins and 3 losses, and the record is very good. So far, the Cavaliers have 26 wins and 4 losses in 30 games. They are still ranked first in the league.

After the end of the December game, Raheem and the Cavaliers players set their sights on the deal.

Raheem performed so well in these four games~www.mtlnovel.com~ This shows that the transaction is approaching.

Soon, Carlisle did find Raheem.

This made Raheem even more excited.

Coach, don't pity me, tell me fiercely, where are you going to throw me!

"Julius, the next game against the Mavericks, come on, let the German see who is the real Nowitzki."

Not a deal? !

When Carlisle finished speaking, Raheem was stupid.

ps: Note 1: This data was obtained when Raheem played against Duncan in 2006. At that time, he had become a substitute for the Kings.