Blowing Green Away

Jokic and Green faced off for the tip-off at center court.

The Pelicans usually had Davis take the opening tip, but today they broke with tradition and sent Jokic instead.

For Green, beating Davis in a jump ball was basically unrealistic, so he had originally planned to give up on it.

But when he saw that it was Jokic, he could not stop a smile from appearing on his face.

In last season's Playoffs, aside from making a few threes, Jokic had been completely dominated by him on both ends of the floor.

Against this opponent, he was brimming with confidence.

There was a sizable height difference between them, but Green's 216-centimeter wingspan was not that far off Jokic's 221 centimeters, and he also had the edge in leaping speed.

More importantly, he had the same desire to crush Jokic that he had in last year's Playoffs.

The referee's whistle sounded, and he used his explosiveness to get up first.

But Jokic was faster than he had expected. Relying on his wingspan advantage, Jokic beat him by half a finger's length and tipped the ball back into the Pelicans' half.

The Pelicans gained the chance for the first offense!

The arena erupted in cheers.

"Even without Davis, we can still win the tip-off against you!"

Green let out a dismissive snort.

Jokic had just gotten lucky.

But luck would not play much of a role in a game of this level.

Holiday dribbled into the frontcourt, while Jokic handled the ball at the high post and organized the offense.

Like the Pelicans, the Warriors had seen almost no roster changes during the Offseason.

Their improvement was actually similar to the Pelicans'. After a full season of building chemistry, their Switch Defense and Infinite Cutting had become highly polished.

Now, against