"Welcome to the NBA regular season opener, the Milwaukee Bucks play against the Charlotte Hornets at home. I am Kenny Smith, the commentator for this game. Next to me are Charles Barkley and Shaquille O'Neal.

Today’s game will be explained by the three of us.”

"To be honest, this is my first time commentating on the opening game of a national live broadcast between two non-playoff teams." Barkley said straight to the point: "But I believe most viewers know very well why this game will become a national live broadcast.

.”

"It's to celebrate that the Charlotte team finally got back the name of the Hornets..." O'Neal said cheerfully.

In May 2014, the Charlotte Bobcats officially changed their name to the Charlotte Hornets, taking back the name abandoned by the New Orleans Pelicans.

Old fans of the NBA all know that the New Orleans Pelicans were formerly called the New Orleans Hornets. Chris Paul once rose to prominence on this team. But even earlier, the New Orleans Hornets played in Charlotte. At that time, the name

It was called the Charlotte Hornets. Later, the team moved to New Orleans, and Charlotte no longer had a team until the Charlotte Bobcats were established in 2004.

Nowadays, the Charlotte Bobcats have changed their name to the Hornets. On the one hand, they are returning to their roots. On the other hand, they are also thinking about using the nostalgic name of the Hornets to gain more market. After all, the popularity of the Bobcats has always been very low in the NBA.

Of course, O'Neal was just joking. Changing the team name will not attract the attention of the league and TNT TV station at all, and it is impossible to arrange a national live broadcast because of this.

The opening game of the NBA is quite important, and there are many highlights, such as Wizards VS Cavaliers, Trail Blazers VS Clippers, etc.

The Bucks versus the Hornets, in terms of team strength and star market, are definitely not enough to support the opening game being broadcast live across the United States.

The reason why it was broadcast live across the United States is actually very clear to many people, and it is just because of Wang Xiao.

Generally speaking, coaches are not very popular, and they cannot be compared with players.

But Wang Xiao is an anomaly.

All players from the two teams combined, no one is more popular than Wang Xiao. Even if the scope is expanded, I am afraid that only Michael Jordan, the owner of the Hornets, can crush Wang Xiao in terms of popularity.

While he is very popular, Wang Xiao is also quite controversial.

The Wizards have made it clear that they are willing to re-sign Wang Xiao with a high salary.

However, Wang Xiao refused to renew his contract with the Wizards and moved to a team that was at the bottom of the league last season, saying he wanted to increase the challenge.

Such behavior is simply a slap in the face of the other team's head coach.

When many coaches struggled to win a championship, Wang Xiao was tired of his invincible time with the Wizards, and instead went to a bottom team to start a new challenge.

This has made many people curious about what Wang Xiao can do with the Bucks.

The NBA is obviously a bastard, and so is TNT.

How could they not grasp such a topical situation?

As a result, two teams that were not very popular and had a poor record ushered in a national live broadcast in the opening game.

…

Wang Xiao stood on the sidelines and looked around at the players in front of him.

"Don't be nervous, just follow the tactics used in preseason and daily training."

In the preseason that ended not long ago, Wang Xiao used large-scale rotations as always, causing many people to wonder what the Bucks' starting lineup for the new season will be.

However, the team's players and assistant coaches can feel it through daily training.

Antetokounmpo. Antetokounmpo, the player who was placed in the C position when taking the makeup photos, received special attention from Wang Xiao.

In daily training, Wang Xiao has personally coached his playing style many times, and has arranged many sets of tactics using him as the offensive starter, and most of them focus on breaking through with the ball from the outside.

This puzzled the Bucks coaches.

Antetokounmpo did play point guard when he was a child. He was skilled in ball control and had strong breakthrough ability. However, as his height increased, his playing style gradually moved closer to the inside.

Last season, Antetokounmpo basically oscillated between the small forward and power forward positions, spending more time in the paint, which also goes well with his 2.11-meter height.

But under Wang Xiao, Antetokounmpo seems to be treated as a point guard. In the tactical design, he touches the ball more than the two guards Oladipo and Knight.

With the change in Antetokounmpo's playing style, in the preseason, Antetokounmpo, who continued to increase the number of breakthroughs and intensity, performed very well. In 6 preseason games, he averaged 23 points, 8 rebounds and 4 rebounds per game.

With his assist data, opponents seem completely defenseless against his outside breakthroughs.

But that was just a preseason game. The opponent was not serious, did not send out its main players, and did not arrange targeted defensive tactics.

Most people still believe that a player of Antetokounmpo's height is not suitable for a guard style of play.

Only Antetokounmpo knows that Wang Xiao wants him to become a point forward.

Previously, Wang Xiao had met with Antetokounmpo alone and told him clearly that he would be the core of the team and hoped that Antetokounmpo would become a point forward like LeBron James in the Bucks and carry the offense.

and some responsibility for organizing the team.

Antetokounmpo was shocked at the time, but he was surprised, but he simply said that he would go all out and not let Wang Xiao down.

He knows very well that this is an opportunity. If he seizes it, he may become a rising star in the league like Curry and George. After all, in front of him is the ace coach who is best at cultivating newcomers in the entire league!

Clenching his fists tightly, Antetokounmpo secretly said in his heart: "Look at it, coach, I won't let you down!"

…

The game starts with players from both sides taking the field to jump the ball.

The starting lineup of the Bucks is point guard Brandon Knight, shooting guard Victor Oladipo, small forward Khris Middleton, power forward Giannis Antetokounmpo, and center Niko.

La Jokic.

The Hornets starting lineup: point guard Kemba Walker, shooting guard Marvin Williams, small forward Michael Gilchrist, power forward Cody Zeller, center Al Jefferson.

From a lineup perspective, both sides are evenly matched, with the Hornets even slightly better because they still have Al Jefferson.

Although he has never been selected as an All-Star in his career, Al Jefferson is considered a star in the eyes of many fans. After all, he is an inside player who can steadily contribute 20+10 points.
Chapter completed!