The Godfather of Basketball

After the Nets, the Raptors and Rockets ranked seventh and eighth. These eight teams are also the teams they think are likely to win the final championship.

This year's prediction has also been recognized by most fans, and ESPN is finally reliable.

However, in this wave of predictions, the Wizards, which ranked fifth in the Eastern Conference last season, only ranked 20th among all teams, not even in the playoffs.

"They're weaker than they look, and they haven't been able to keep Paul Pierce this past summer."

The evaluation given by ESPN is quite simple.

Such evaluation and ranking also stimulated the Wizards somewhat.

"In order to attract traffic, they always make some so-called predictions. Look at the Warriors' prediction ranking last year. My predictions may be more accurate than theirs." The Wizards' leader Wall seemed very disdainful of ESPN's predictions.

Think about it, although they lost Pierce, they basically retained the lineup of last season. They also signed 3D player Jared Dudley as Pierce's replacement during the offseason, and also recruited former Spurs player Gary Neil.

They have no reason to be in this position.

In the same situation as them, the Knicks picked Porzingis (No. 2) and Jerian Grant (No. 19 in the first round) consecutively in the draft, and signed Robin Lowe in the free market. Pace, Afflalo, Derek Williams and other powerful players are only ranked fifth from the bottom on this list.

"They've never met us, so who cares." Anthony dismissed the ranking.

However, from the words of the two generals, you can still feel their dissatisfaction.

This is also a normal psychology. Although the NBA is a job for players, who likes to be underestimated even if it is a job?

ESPN's prediction list has ushered in a wave of saliva from fans, but the smoke of the debate has not subsided, and the bell for the new season has officially sounded.

The Nets have a game on the first day, and the opponent is the Wizards in the Eastern Conference semifinals last season.

The NBA has always liked to create topics and feuds. For example, the Warriors played the Thunder in their home opener, and the Nets did not escape this disaster.

For the players of the Nets, with a brand new lineup, they need to show momentum in the opener.

For the Wizards, they must avenge last season's playoffs, and the wave of predictions from ESPN just made them need to prove themselves with victory.

"Don't have a psychological burden, play according to the rhythm of training, we will win the game."

Tang Tian didn't say anything thrilling before the game. The current strength of the Wizards is mediocre, and he only needs the team to win smoothly.

Fans in New York couldn't be more excited.

The Nets quickly showed a rising trend after Tang Tian took over, which made them full of expectations.

They are all New York teams. Although the Knicks are older and more worthy of their expectations, but the bad "Ni" can't support the wall, they naturally transfer this support to the Nets in the same city.

In the first game of the season at the Barclays Center, the attendance rate exceeded 90%.

After experiencing last season's playoffs, the New York fans' "defeat" came a little quickly.

There were thunderous cheers at the scene, and the Nets players were also eager to try.

After waiting for a long rough period and a whole month of training, they can't wait for the game.

"Gentlemen and ladies, welcome to Brooklyn, New York, here is Barclays Center, let us welcome our players with the loudest cheers and screams..."

Under the introduction of the on-site host, with the end of the dynamic 3D projection, the members of the visiting team and the home team were introduced one after another.

For the Wizards, Wall and Bill are on the outside, Gortat and Nene are on the inside, and Otto Porter is the small forward. The latter played very well in the playoffs last season.

The Nets have a regular starting lineup, with Deron and Booker on the outside, Jimmy Butler and Yi Jianlian on the front line, and Jokic at the center.

Yi Jianlian beat Gortat by jumping and gave the home team the opportunity to take the lead in attacking.

With Jokic's support from outside the three-point line, the Nets still played their most familiar system basketball.

Running-in is actually a game. The more tactics you play, the more proficient you are, and the tacit understanding between teammates.

Booker and Deron came out of the screen continuously, and Yi Jianlian made a counter-run and cut to the basket. Jokic understood it and saw that the Wizards' defense did not keep up, so he threw the ball directly to the basket.

After Yi Jianlian saw it, he also took a step up, and the alley-oop ball was directly an alley-oop dunk.

"Boom!"

Accompanied by a muffled sound like a heavy hammer, the emotions of the audience suddenly exploded.

This Nets came up and gave the Wizards a strong dose of medicine!

Wall advanced to the frontcourt with the ball, and Bill and Porter came out around the pick-and-roll on both wings.

Porter catches the ball and wants to shoot, but Butler snakes his way through the pick-and-roll and gets close to him instantly, which is faster and more accurate than Joe Johnson last season.

Porter returned the ball to Wall, and the Wizards wasted half of the shot.

Wall himself greeted Gortat's pick-and-roll to the basket, and Jokic obviously closed in advance, giving way, a defensive method to prevent sudden shots.

Wall's shooting was unstable, and he didn't take a shot, but returned the ball to Gortat after hitting the basket.

At this time the offensive time is not enough, Gortat forced a shot against Deron at the free throw line.

"boom!"

After hitting the iron, Jokic easily took off the defensive rebound.

The cheers at the scene were even louder.

The addition of Butler has greatly improved the defensive ability of the Nets' flanks. Coupled with Jokic's progress, this defense looks not bad at all!

And before the cheers fell, Jokic, who took off the rebound, had already lifted the ball up. Seeing Deron rushing out, he made a quick pass directly.

The Serbian with amazing handwork made a pass directly in place, and Deron rushed to the frontcourt and scored a layup with a low hand.

4 to 0!

The opening situation is a bit one-sided!

The Wizards advanced to the frontcourt, and Bill singled Booker with the ball.

They lost Pierce in the summer, and Dudley and the starting Porter were both 3D players. At this time, the singles task can only be given to Bill.

Bill faced Booker, a recruit, and accelerated to the basket with a change of direction.

Booker is good in everything, but he is as short-handed as Griffin and has a small defensive area, so he was squeezed out this time.

Bill accelerated to the basket.

"Snapped!"

But just when he was about to make a shot, Butler quickly came over from the weak side to help defend, and took the ball away from his hand!

The steal came too fast and before he could react, Butler had already rushed to the frontcourt with the ball, glanced at Wall who was chasing behind him, and jumped up and pressed the ball into the basket with both hands.

"boom!"

It was another two-handed slam dunk, and Butler even hung on the basket and swung around!

6 to 0!

The scene shot was given to the head coach Whitman of the Wizards bench, who remained motionless.

slipped away.