The Fifth Point Guard

Putting the All-Star Game MVP trophy on the floor by the door, Shentong began to quickly take off his clothes one by one.

My heartbeat is as fast as any time on the court.

On the soft big bed not far away, Nina Dobrev was lying on her side.

She was wearing a soft and wide JK dress, the belt was not buckled, and it trailed long on the floor in front of the bed.

The white and tender legs were exposed from JK's short skirt, and they were dazzling under the dim light in the room.

Fluffy hair, clear eyes.

Shentong's eyes reflected Dubov's gentle smile.

She looked like a fallen spirit.

And now.

Shentong walked up to Dubov.

Strong humans are about to invade cute elves.

Dubov snorted and was picked up by Shentong.

Then, the room was filled with spring.

At noon the next day, Shentong and Dubov took a flight back to Cleveland.

When Dubov limped to the door of his house with the support of Shentong, Dubov turned back and gave Shentong a charming look, but his mouth pouted slightly.

Shentong smiled sheepishly and said, "I'm sorry, Nina. I don't know why yesterday, but I just felt that my energy was unlimited."

"snort."

Dubov turned around, opened the door and entered the house.

Shentong got into the sports car and remembered Sister Hua's words.

Although Dobrev looks like a 20-year-old college student, her real age is only 16!

Still in the developmental stage.

At this moment, Shentong felt a little regretful. He had known earlier that he shouldn't have been so focused on sprinting. He should have dribbled more, made a 40% discount, and used the hormones in his palms to stimulate Dubov's development.

After the All-Star Game, the schedule enters the sprint phase for each team as usual.

All teams that hope to reach the playoffs are trying their best.

After the All-Star Weekend, the Cleveland Cavaliers will visit the Western Conference for consecutive games.

Their first game was against the Utah Jazz.

This is their first time playing against the Jazz this season.

Here, they will meet their former partners.

Carlos Boozer.

Today's Utah Jazz have completely entered the rebuilding stage.

The Jazz, who had reached the playoffs for 19 consecutive years from 1983 to 2002, failed to extend their record last season.

The retirements of Stockton and Hornacek, Malone's departure, and Harpring's injury prevented the Jazz from making the playoffs for the first time in 20 years.

But in fact, their performance is still remarkable.

With 42 wins and 40 losses, a winning rate of over 50%, they did not enter the playoffs only because they were in a Western Conference with many strong opponents.

They used this performance to slap in the face the experts who predicted that they would be at the bottom of the league at the beginning of the season.

The most important point is that although the players are leaving one after another, Jerry Sloan, the veteran coach who has coached the Jazz for 16 years, is still here.

16 years, this period of time that witnessed Yang Guo and Xiao Longnu’s loyal love, also witnessed Sloan’s greatness.

He holds the record as the longest-serving coach in the four major American sports leagues.

In the 16 years he coached the Jazz, the team's winning rate reached an astonishing 62.7%. He is also the coach with the sixth highest winning rate in league history.

Sloan is a great coach. Many people think that Malone and Stockton made Sloan, but the fact is that Sloan's greatness does not require anyone to achieve it.

The Jazz in transition last season were proof of that.

According to the characteristics of the team, Sloan adopted a holistic basketball style of play last season, coupled with one or two strong points such as Kirilenko, which has made many teams unable to parry.

In the new season, Sloan has more talented players for him to choose from.

In the summer transfer market before the start of the season, the Jazz were definitely one of the biggest winners.

They first renewed the contracts of team players Jirisek and Arroyo, and then recruited Boozer, Okur and Collins, and their internal strength increased sharply.

Before the start of the season, the team spread good news again, Halprin returned from injury.

In the post-Malone and Stockton era, the team's starting five this season are Okur, Boozer, Kirilenko, Jilicek and Arroyo.

Okur, who came to the Utah Jazz from the Detroit Pistons, is the team's starting center. He is 2.11 meters tall and has a three-point shot.

In his two seasons with the Pistons, Okur's three-point shooting percentage exceeded 30%.

Although his untimely playing style seems a bit unusual, it is precisely because of his unconventional playing style that often makes big centers like Yao Ming and O'Neal miserable on the defensive end.

If you guard, you will lose your position under the basket and you will not be able to keep up with your steps.

Don't worry, he can really get in.

I think back then, the Rockets' insiders were tortured to death by this kind of outside play.

After coming to the Jazz from the Pistons, Okur averaged 12.9 points, 7.5 rebounds and 2.0 assists per game, an overall improvement in performance compared to last season.

He also secured the Jazz center position.

Jerry Sloan even developed a set of perimeter tactics specifically for him because of his three-point shooting.

The starting power forward is Carlos Boozer.

A tough guy who also played for the Cavaliers last season.

But for money, Boozer chose Utah.

More importantly, his rugged appearance is somewhat similar to Karl Malone.

However, with the Jazz, Boozer went through a period of adjustment.

As the core of the team, he got enough offensive shots, and his scoring increased from 15.5 points to 17.8 points, but his rebounds dropped by 2.4 points, and his defensive steals and blocks also declined.

Some Jazz players ridiculed him for slacking off after getting a big contract, but Boozer quickly responded to those fans who questioned him with a double-20 performance.

In short, Boozer does have more space in the Jazz, but he is still not forgiven by Cleveland fans.

After all, he just ran away without making a sound.

Having already reached a verbal agreement with the Cavaliers.

Kirilenko's performance on the defensive end this season is very impressive.

The average of 3.3 blocks per game is comparable to all the interior defensive players in the league.

He is also an outlier in the league.

Data like 5 5s was produced by him.

After signing a big contract in the offseason, Kirilenko also proved in the new season that his worth is worthy of the contract.

Averaging 15.6 points, 6.2 rebounds, 3.2 assists, 1.6 steals and 3.3 blocks per game, he can do almost anything.

It was this wonderful performance that forced Matt Halprin, who was returning from injury, to the bench.

The starting shooting guard is Gordon Jirisek.

This guy was severely humiliated by Shentong last season.

His goal in this game is simple.

I want revenge!

After Jirisek, there is another strong player on the bench, Raja Bell.

Although he is a substitute player, Bell has performed very well this season. With averages of 12.3 points, 3.2 rebounds, 1.4 assists and a 40.3% three-point shooting rate per game, Bell has begun to threaten Jirisek's starting position.

However, this kind of healthy competition is something that every team coach is happy to see.

At the point guard position, there is no tiger in the mountain, and the monkey dominates.

Carlos Arroyo, an undrafted player from Puerto Rico, is the starter for this team.

Arroyo, who experienced two teams in the first year of his career, finally found a sense of belonging in the Jazz.

In the Jazz's second season, Arroyo was promoted to the starting position by Sloan because no one was available.

Arroyo also responded to Sloan with amazing progress.

The average points scored per game increased by 10 points compared to the previous season!

The rebounds increased by 2 and the assists increased by 4.

However, Arroyo's characteristic is that his performance is unstable.

He's almost unstoppable when he's playing smoothly, and he can throw it casually from beyond the three-point line.

When things go wrong, he can't hit even if you give him an open shot.

This kind of nerve-wracking performance is actually not what a head coach like Sloan who advocates stability expects.

This season Sloan also fully exploited the potential of the team, allowing Keith Mike Leod, who came on a free transfer from the Timberwolves, to share the point guard time with Arroyo.

I have to say that Sloan has a vicious vision.

Mike Leod's points, rebounds, assists, and steals have improved from 2.7 points, 1.0 rebounds, 1.8 assists, and 0.5 steals last season to 7.8 points, 2.1 rebounds, 4.5 assists, and 1.2 steals.

With the results of last season as a reference, experts generally believe that the Jazz in the new season are fully capable of reaching the playoffs.

But as of today, the Jazz are only ranked tenth in the Western Conference, which is not in line with expectations at the beginning of the season.

However, Jazz fans do not want the team they support not to make the playoffs for two consecutive years, including the Jazz players.

After a good rest after the All-Star break, they will try to win every game in the second half of the season.

Sloan said in an interview: "If we want to reach the playoffs, there is no retreat. This is how we play in the Western Conference now. If we don't advance, we will retreat. So we must strive for every win, and we must strive for every win on the court." One goal. I know my boys can do it and I just need to help them as much as I can and we can beat anyone."

Therefore, the Cleveland Cavaliers came to challenge and became a big test for Sloan and the Jazz.

Before the game started, Basketball God Space refreshed a game task.

{

Main mission: Horses on Utah

Mission description: The angry knights came with grievances, and bursts of horse hooves trampled Utah, making the rebellious people regret it! I would rather betray the world than let the world betray me!

Mission requirements: Beat the Jazz by more than 15 points

Mainline reward: Stealing Badge (purple epic level)

Task status: waiting to be collected

}

I would rather betray the world than let the world betray me?

If this sentence had been said to Shentong when he was 10 years old, he would have been scornful.

Most people who have watched the Three Kingdoms have experienced this kind of mental journey.

When he was confused, he liked Liu Bei very much.

I felt that if I were to be a monarch, I would definitely be a wise monarch like Liu Bei.

But when you enter society and experience the severe beatings from society, you gradually realize the reality and your mentality will change.

At this time, due to different reasons, many people will change from liking Liu Bei to liking Cao Cao.

Only a hero like Cao Cao is worthy of his ambition.

Of course, there are also many people who started to change because their interests and hobbies were very similar to Cao Cao's when they became adults.

After receiving the task, Shentong felt that the task was actually quite difficult.

On the NBA stage, no team dares to say before the game that it will definitely beat its opponent by 15 points.

After all, the players here are all geniuses, and upset games often occur when outbreaks occur.

But for the main task, STO must fight hard.

After all, this is the first time STO has seen a "badge" type of reward.

Before the game started, both sides announced their starting lineups.

To the surprise of many people, Jerry Sloan put Raja Bell in the starting lineup and put Jirisek on the bench.

Part of Sloan's thinking can be seen from this substitution alone.

This substitution must be an adjustment made for Shentong. They want to use Bell with a tougher style to defend the powerful Shentong.

But it doesn't matter to the knight.

We are all accustomed to the defensive arrangements made by each team against STO.

What they have to do is very simple, just set their own rhythm.

The starting lineups for both sides are as follows:

Cavaliers: Big Z, Gooden, James, Shentong, Wagner.

Jazz: Okur, Boozer, Kirilenko, Bell, Arroyo.

Before the game started, the atmosphere was a bit awkward.

Players from both sides did not behave friendly towards each other.

There are many reasons for this.

For example, there are no star players on the Jazz who are close friends with STO and James.

For example, STO humiliated them here last season.

For example, Boozer's "sad words for Cleveland fans" before the game.

"I don't welcome them. It's here that I feel like home, and here I have room to fully develop. The moment I joined the Utah Jazz, Cleveland has nothing to do with me. If they want to come, I will There is only one thing to do, as a Jazz player, lead the team to defeat them!"

Obviously, these words hurt many people's hearts, and also disgusted the Cavaliers players who had left without saying a word to Boozer.

Carlos was chewing gum with his hands on his hips, standing with Gooden, his eyes fixed on the basketball that the referee was about to throw up, without even looking at Shentong or James.

As the ball was thrown high, Big Z and Okur stood on tiptoes to compete for the ball.

Although Big Z has almost no bounce, so does Okur.

In this case, Big Z's height and arm length play a certain advantage.

After passing the ball to Wagner, the Cavaliers took the lead.

The first attack of the game, no doubt about it.

After Shentong and James crossed and changed positions on the outside, Shentong came to the right side of the penalty area.

James stood next to the three-point line on the right, received Wagner's pass and then hit the ground to Shentong.

The one defending Shentong at this moment is Raja Bell, who Sloan has high hopes for.

With the left side of his body against Bell, he slapped the ball on the floor with his right hand a few times, then feinted with his left shoulder, then turned around with his right foot as the axis and took off.

Facing Bell's block, Shentong leaned back and threw the ball.

"Uh-huh."

The ball hit hollow.

Shentong couldn't help shaking his wrist.

Although there is no "vision" like the blue halo during the All-Star Game, his hand still feels hot.

For the Jazz, the first offense was handed over to Boozer.