203. Put on a new label
After the game against the 76ers, the Cavaliers had 7 games left until the All-Star holiday. Among them, the most eye-catching thing is undoubtedly the reconciliation between Miami and the Heat.
In the last fight, the two sides undoubtedly sparked a hot and unexpected spark, so whether from Cleveland, Miami or James fans around the world, they are very looking forward to the arrival of this day.
I like LeBron James and the Heat fans, and I look forward to this day becoming the craziest revenge performance of the Miami Heat. As the new giant team that has formed the most gorgeous lineup of the league this summer, the Miami Heat fans do not think that the last confrontation will be a reflection of the true strength of both sides.
Even though the Heat only lost a slight point in the end.
The Miami Heat and LeBron James all believed that the result of the competition between the two sides should be at least a very upward gap. The leading side will naturally be the Miami Heat.
Of course, although this game has attracted much attention, for the Cavaliers, they are more concerned about the next game after defeating the visiting Philadelphia 76ers.
It takes about two weeks to complete the 7-game battle. This is not only a test of physical strength, but also a test of the will of the Cavaliers players. Especially in the next game, Chris Carman's physical examination has some problems, so he will not be able to play the next back-to-back game where the Cavaliers are connected home and away.
Fortunately, veteran Rasu Butler has completed the physical examination and will be able to represent the team in the next game. Although Rasu Butler's playing time has been compressed this season, the data has been greatly reduced due to his reduction in playing time, his average of 11 points per game last season can still make people have some expectations for him.
Especially the team's head coach Byron Scott, the Cavaliers' rotation lineup has always been weak on the offensive end in recent games, which has caused the team's coach a headache. Now, Rassu Butler is undoubtedly a good new supporter to join. As long as he maintains 80% of his strength last season and his years of experience in the league, Scott will be very at ease with the rotation lineup.
There is a saying that is good. An old man in the family is like a treasure. As long as Rasu Butler can perform what Scott imagined, he will be able to keep Scott's heart hanging.
Recently, due to various reasons such as the Cavaliers' shortage of manpower and lack of strength in the lineup, Wu Dawei's average playing time has exceeded 38 minutes for a long time recently, and even reached 40 minutes in several games!
Such long playing time and his contribution to both offense and defense on the court undoubtedly made Wu Dawei very tired. You should know that many injuries start from fatigue.
This is the problem that Byron Scott is worried. If Wu Dawei hurts people, then this Cavaliers will undoubtedly become the Cavaliers team that the outside world is talking about at the beginning of the season.
The league's bottom deputy squad leader. A strong contender for the first round pick next year's first round...
As a coach who only took office on this team this summer, Byron Scott was under greater pressure than anyone else. Taking over a mess is not that easy, but he is lucky. Wu Dawei's appearance directly helped Scott get out of the predicament.
The Cavaliers recovered very quickly after James left, and even directly transitioned to a period of pain. They were still the top eight seed teams in the East. Scott knew a lot of this in his heart, thanks to Wu Dawei, a newly-resisted Cavaliers player this season.
With an average of 18.4 points, 10.8 rebounds and 4.4 assists per game, Wu Dawei is undoubtedly very outstanding. Most so-called star players are just like this. Moreover, Wu Dawei is only 2 points away from being able to enter the legendary 20+10 club.
That is a supreme honor. There are only two types of people who can achieve such a stat in this league. One is the rebounds and scores of inside players; the other is the scores and assists of the organization guards.
There are only a few players in the league who can reach such a height this season. Dwight Howard, the center of the Orlando Magic, is one, Blake Griffin, the Los Angeles Clippers, and Kevin Love of the Minnesota Timberwolves. It can be seen that almost all those who meet such a standard are inside players. If you want to score 20 points and rebound 10 points, you are one of the few in the league history.
The most famous one is undoubtedly Larry Bird, the former leader of the Celtics Army!
So Wu Dawei's strength this season is unquestionable. At least in the eyes of Byron Scott, he is already one of the top players in the league.
Because in addition to scoring, rebounding and blocking, Wu Dawei currently has 3.3 steals and 3.1 blocks per game! In both statistics, he ranked first in the league with unprecedented success!
Such a player with excellent offense and defense has no need to say much about the importance of the Cavaliers. So Scott is so confused about using Wu Dawei in recent games. On the one hand, he is afraid that Wu Dawei will turn the tables or directly open a few tens of gaps to win the game. On the other hand, he is worried that letting Wu Dawei play for too long will cause him to be injured due to fatigue.
This kind of thing has happened, and what makes Byron Scott the most frightened is Wu Dawei's race. The yellow race has produced a superstar before Wu Dawei. The Houston Rockets star center Yao Ming has been suffering from injuries since his career.
The injury caused by excessive fatigue, such as stress fractures, has been seen in Yao Ming. Therefore, Scott was afraid that using Wu Dawei in this way would also make this tragedy happen to his disciples.
But in order to maintain the hope of the playoffs, Scott had to do this. So now we can see that Rassu Butler will be able to represent the team in the next game. The help for the Cavaliers is not only his performance on the offensive end, but also his ability to give Wu Dawei more rest.
The Cavaliers' last seven opponents before the All-Star Game begins are: New Jersey Nets, New Orleans Hornets, Golden State Warriors, Phoenix Suns, Chicago Bulls, Milwaukee Bucks and last opponent Miami Heat.
There are 3 Western teams in 7 games, and two of the remaining four Eastern teams are now ranked first and second in the East. It can be said that these 7 games of the Cavaliers are not easy to play.
Especially after playing at home with the New Jersey Nets, they will fly to New Orleans that night to challenge the Hornets led by Chris Paul.
And what is depressing is that the Cavaliers' No. 1 position will become a place for complaints in these seven games. Because although the Cavaliers' senior executives have reached an intention with Chauncey Billups, who is currently at home, since Billups' clarification period has not yet reached a month, he cannot appear in the Cavaliers' lineup.
Since Billups was bought out by the New York Knicks in mid-January, it was not until the All-Star game that Billups could wear Cleveland's jersey to play in the league for the Cavaliers.
So in the next seven games, head coach Byron Scott still has to rely on existing players to play. Although he only lacks a core point guard, it is undoubtedly a huge problem.
Wu Dawei also understands the current team's predicament. The disadvantage of lacking a core point guard has been fully exposed in the last game against the 76ers.
Zhu Holiday is indeed a more talented player than Ramon Sessions, but if we talk about the current strength of the two, Zhu Holiday, who has not yet fully developed its potential, compared with Sessions, who has been in the league for several years, the strength of the two is actually equal in the current stage. However, in the last game, there was a clear gap in their control of the team.
This is undoubtedly a matter of time and tacit understanding for partners. Tacit understanding cannot be solved in one or two games, of course. If it is a point guard who is particularly mature and has strong strength, it would be a different matter.
Just like Billups.
Therefore, Wu Dawei will also have his own thoughts on the team's current difficulties. Because he understands very well that this team needs his own help, and he must also help the Cavaliers. Just because it is time to label this team as his own!
After having performed well for most of the season, he saved the team many times, and no one in the team could play the role of the right. Wu Dawei knew that in the eyes of the outside world, this Cavaliers should be considered his own team. But if he wanted to say this in a legitimate way, Wu Dawei still needs some opportunities.
These 7 games may be a difficult time for the Cavaliers, but for Wu Dawei, it may be the so-called opportunity he hopes for. It will allow this team to say goodbye to the past completely and enter a new era!
This idea undoubtedly made Wu Dawei excited because he was sitting on the bench in Miami a season ago. At that time, he was eager for only a few minutes of playing time and touching the ball after playing; but now, he actually has the opportunity to make a team his own exclusive!
Just like people always say now, the Lakers are Kobe Bryant!
But most of the time it is always much harder to think about it than to do it. Two days after the game against the Sixers, the Cavaliers welcomed the New Jersey Nets at home. A young team that is highly favored by the outside world can achieve success in the future.
Brooke Lopez, a center player with strong attack firepower, is an important reason why people think that New Jersey will have the opportunity to rise. In this era of scarcity of good inside lines, if Lopez can grow as planned, then the Nets will become one of the strong teams in the future!
On that night, Brooke Lopez, the only center forward who averaged 20 points per game this season, shone brightly against Vallejo's defense.
In the last game, Valejo played almost as much as Wu Dawei, and he was also a tired member. So facing Brooke Lopez was able to almost step on the three-point line to shoot attack range, as well as the use of various flexible steps and inside skills, Valejo completely lost.
It almost replicated the process of the previous game. From the beginning, the Cavaliers fell into a big lag. Unfortunately, this time's possession is different from the previous game. The Cavaliers were in poor form and fell behind by 20 points in the first half, which completely lost the suspense of the game in the second half.
Head coach Scott seemed to have no interest in winning the game after seeing such a bad first half. He didn't even make much resistance in the second half. Wu Dawei's playing time in the second half was only about 10 minutes.
This is the helplessness of experiencing back-to-back games, because if you fall behind the opponent by 20 points in the first half of the first game and you continue to invest a lot of troops to try to save them, then the result is likely to be a failure to make a comeback, and then the players are too tired in the next day's game.
So for tomorrow night's game, Scott decisively gave up the game.
102:88, after the Cavaliers lost the game against the Nets, the players just went back to the locker room to take a shower, took the team's bus to the airport, and then rushed to New Orleans overnight.
In this world, physical work is always the hardest and most tiring...
However, in the back-to-back contest with the Hornets, currently ranked eighth in the West, the Cavaliers lost again. Chris Paul went wild, and Ramon Sessions had no power to fight back at all.
105:87, the two consecutive losses were almost instantly behind back to back, and they got involved in the Cavaliers.
Both games ended with big losses, and such a failure was undoubtedly a disappointment, because it directly led to the Cavaliers' record becoming 25 wins and 25 losses, while the Knicks behind them had 25 wins and 26 losses. The victory between the two teams was once again narrowed to half the winning gap in just a few days.
However, these two games were not without gains, at least for Wu Dawei. After knowing that this was an opportunity for him, Wu Dawei did not play for too long in these two games due to the overall defeat.
It only took 60 minutes together in the two games, but Wu Dawei averaged 19.5 points, 8.5 rebounds, 2.5 blocks, 2 steals, and 6 assists per game!
It is not accidental that Wu Dawei scored a total of 12 assists in two games. Isn’t the best thing for organizing the defenders to help his teammates score? Therefore, Wu Dawei made some changes to his offensive method in these two games.
He asked for the ball at the point guard more and more actively, and then Wu Dawei, who was standing in the high position, began to observe his teammates' movements. Because he found that his previous application of prediction ability was really too constrained!
Chapter completed!