When Wayne heard his teammates talking about Gund Stadium on the bus, he was confused.
Did I get on the right bus?
We are in Cleveland. Isn't the Cavaliers' home stadium the famous Quicken Loans Arena?
After making sure he had heard correctly, Wayne checked the information.
Only then did I realize that the Cavaliers' home stadium is not called Quicken Loans Center yet, but Gund Arena is its current name.
The team bus rolled down the streets of Cleveland, which honestly looked worse than the cornfields of Indianapolis.
Although it is the second largest city in Ohio and has many tall buildings, it just doesn’t have that local flavor.
The whole city exudes an air of decay.
The most common poster in this city is LeBron James' poster.
You can clearly feel how proud Cleveland people are of him.
After all, this city does have too many scars.
Although it is not a bustling metropolis, Cleveland has four professional teams: baseball, football, basketball and soccer.
But in the decades of professional sports history, Cleveland's professional sports have not achieved any outstanding results.
What's even more tragic is that most of the classic moments in sports history were born with Cleveland's team as the backdrop.
For example, Michael Jordan’s “The Shot”, which is on every list, was scored over the Cavaliers.
Well, thinking about it this way, it is not difficult to understand why James is so popular in K City.
His arrival brought hope to this tragic city.
All the resentment that had accumulated over decades was now directed at Mousse.
Whether this city can turn around depends on Mousse.
Of course, in addition to this, there is also something real that James brought to this city - knife music.
For example, today, when Wayne and his team's bus arrived at the entrance of Gund Stadium, the area was already crowded with people.
On game day, the parking spaces, restaurants, etc. around the stadium will all be full!
Without James, the Cavaliers' games would never have been so sensational.
"Here we are, let's have a big fight here tonight!" Gangtai stood up and swung his iron elbow.
Wayne felt heartbroken for the enemy Mousse for three seconds.
When entering Gund Gymnasium to warm up, Wayne still felt a little uncomfortable.
The floor pattern of the Cavaliers 1.0 era looks so retro...
When the Cavaliers players entered the court, Wayne just wanted to shout: "My youth is back!"
Many people said they wanted to see James when he was young. Today, he is here!
He has a youthful face and bright eyes.
Physically strong and with amazing talent.
How can you not pair this kind of mousse with a 1975 Zylgauskas?
Don’t ask about the landing price, because the mousse without decision is priceless.
From a handsome young man, I watched him grow into a thirty-year-old man with a white beard.
As a result, he turned from a gray beard into a handsome young man ...
Speaking of which, James is not as old as Wayne now...
Wayne really didn't know whether to say that Mousse was young or that he was old.
The seniority is all messed up!
Next to Wayne, Gangtai's eyes also changed when he looked at James.
The usually crazy Artest now had murderous intent in his eyes, as if he had turned into a wild beast.
Well, this hatred has begun to take root again.
Playing ball is like taking someone's life.
No wonder Auburn Hills was so excited that day.
After the warm-up, the Gund Stadium was already full of people.
But this time it was the Cavaliers' home court, so no one was waving a Batman mask sign.
Before the game started, James glanced at Wayne, then walked towards him very skillfully.
He knew that the eyes of the whole world were on them. If not now, when would he take the opportunity to show off?
Then, Wayne hugged James under the gaze of countless cameras and reporters .
Although the two said nothing, Mousse still acted very friendly.
There's nothing we can do about it, fans just love to watch this kind of scene.
Mousse is worthy of being a star coach, he has the fans under his thumb.
After the hug, Wayne felt a little cold on his back.
Turning around, he saw…Atai was looking at him with resentment.
"Just this once, and don't hug him when the game is over!"
"Okay, okay, you're the only one who's always causing trouble." Wayne replied unhappily. How much hatred has been implanted in you that you can't even get a hug?
You know what, Artest really looks a bit like Cousins ​​now.
When he was with the Kings, Isaiah Thomas wanted to high-five Paul after a game against the Clippers, but he was pulled away by Cousins, who hated Paul so much, and was not allowed to high-five Paul.
All fools in the world are generally stubborn.
After complaining about Artest, Wayne returned to the bench in his training suit. This was his first time sitting on the bench.
Last year, Wayne was a starter from the NCAA regular season to the summer league and preseason.
Now the role has suddenly changed.
In fact, this is also the reason why many university geniuses lose their minds.
Who wasn't a core player in college? But in the NBA, he has to be a substitute. Some are even worse off by being sent to guard the water dispenser.
Not everyone can adjust quickly to such a huge gap.
But Wayne was not worried, because as soon as he sat down, he saw the smile of NBA Jim Kelly.
“Always be prepared.”
"Okay, coach."
Well, based on Wayne's performance in the preseason, Wayne's playing time today should easily exceed 20 minutes.
If his performance continues to be that good, Wayne's playing time, which ranked third on the team last season, would have been Harrington's.
Although Wayne is not there, the Pacers' starting lineup is not weak at all.
Center Jeff Foster, power forward O'Neal, small forward Gang Tai, shooting guard Miller, point guard Anthony Johnson.
"Martial Saint" and Wayne will appear later as the backbone of the bench.
As for the Cavaliers, the 1.0 lineup reminded Wayne of the time when he waited to watch "Sports World" every night.
Point guard Jeff McGinnis, shooting guard "Flying Kick King" Ira Newbell, small forward LeBron James, power forward Drew Gooden, center "Big Z" Ilgauskas.
To be honest, the competitiveness of this lineup is indeed average.
Apart from young James, the strongest one is Big Z.
However, Big Z had already suffered a serious injury at this time, and at best he was only at the entry-level All-Star level.
If Wayne remembered correctly, the Cavaliers had never made it to the playoffs before the bespectacled guy next to him went to Cleveland to be a nanny.
The referee threw the ball up and the game began quickly. The much-anticipated opening game of the 04-05 season officially began.
Right from the start, Gangtai showed off his strong strength as last season's DPOY.
Facing the impact of young James, Artest managed to hold on!
In the end, James' forced layup ended in failure due to Artest's interference.
"Hiss!" Wayne took a breath of cold air. This is the man who can stand up to James!
During this period, Artest's defense was no joke.
As I said, anyone who can win the DPOY trophy as an outside player is not a good person.
After Artest's defense, O'Neal, who was third in the MVP rankings last season, also began to attack.
Facing Gooden in the mid-range, he used a beautiful hip-to-hip change to shake off his opponent, broke into the penalty area, and slammed in a powerful dunk before Big Z arrived.
That’s right, dribbling past his opponent while facing the basket.
Easily, the Pacers led 2-0.
Last season, the league's top opponent, a team on the fringe of the playoffs, thought they were joking with you.
"Damn, this is a bit strong." As a "veteran", Wayne knew that neither Artest nor O'Neal became superstars in the future.
Therefore, the intuitive impression is that they are still somewhat looked down upon.
But it must be said that their current strength is indeed very strong.
After the Cavaliers made the move, Ilgauskas' turnaround jump shot hit the rim and bounced out.
Although Big Z had the advantage of height, he was still a small bouncer after all. After Jeff Foster stretched out his arms, Big Z still felt very uncomfortable.
The Cavaliers missed again, and this time, Artest used his elbows to clear the way and rushed in to grab the rebound.
Wayne actually admired that ruthlessness.
After grabbing the rebound, Artest controlled the ball across half court, but instead of going for a mindless one-on-one, he passed the ball to Miller in the right corner.
Indeed, no matter how much Artest and his teammates disagree in the locker room, he still knows what is important on the court.
Miller shot as soon as he received the ball, and this historical three-point shooter added another three-pointer to his total number of three-pointers.
"Great shot! Reggie Miller also made a three-pointer. The Pacers played well at the beginning of the game." In the CCTV studio, teacher Sun Zhengping shouted with his signature "great shot".
"We said this shot was very smart. Everyone thought Artest was going to break through, but he passed the ball to the corner, and the Cavaliers had no time to react." Coach Zhang beside him also spoke.
Zhengping and Weiping will partner up to commentate on the game for the fans, so this game will definitely not be boring.
The Pacers overwhelmed the Cavaliers with a 5-0 lead at the start.
After rounding off, Wayne is ahead of James!
The Cavaliers wanted to break the scoring drought, but Big Z missed the shot again and was really frustrated by the active defense of Ford.
The Pacers now rely on muscle control to contain the opponent, and everyone who stands out is a tough defender.
The Pacers fought back, and Artest made a light jump shot from mid-range and scored first over James.
Artest averaged a career-high 18.3 points per game last season. Although his three-point shooting was a bit poor, his mid-range shots were still very accurate.
7 to 0, the Cavaliers were stopped just two minutes into the game.
Wayne was stunned. Is this the strength of the team that was number one in the Eastern Conference last season?
This game won’t be over in the first quarter, right?
That's so embarrassing.
Fortunately, James did not let the game end so abruptly.
After returning from the timeout, Mousse immediately started the "rush with a bomb" mode, continuously creating damage under the basket and narrowing the score with free throws.
Big Z also found his touch and scored two goals in a row in the low post.
Sure enough, the team with James is not that easy to beat.
The NBA is not like the NCAA, where a one-sided situation can easily occur.
Many times, the score gap between weak teams and strong teams is actually not that big.
Moreover, in a basketball game, there are only five people on the court, so the impact of a single individual on the game can sometimes really make up for the shortcomings of the team.
Especially someone like James.
After the opening score of 7-0, the game became tense.
Finally, six minutes into the first quarter, Big Z's free throw made the score 14 to 12, with the Pacers leading by only 2 points, and Gene Kelly called a timeout.
Now, he needs to temporarily replace O'Neal to take a rest. But on the Cavaliers side, James will definitely continue to play.
After all, his average playing time is around 40 minutes.
So Wayne's task is simple: "Go on the court, replace Jermaine, and continue to suppress the Cavaliers who have James!"
Wayne nodded, then quickly took off his training suit, revealing his No. 99.
The dream is really about to begin.