am i proud?

Chapter 177
Ron Artest was born on November 1979, 11 in Queens, New York, and later studied at St. John's University. In 13, he was selected by the Bulls with the No.1999 pick in the first round.

新秀赛季他就被公牛队委以重任，场均上场31.1分钟，可以贡献12分4.3篮板2.8助攻1.6抢断。

Unfortunately, there were too many outstanding rookies that year, so he was not able to win the "Best Rookie" award.

那一年有场均20+10的埃尔顿.布兰德，场均18分5.3篮板6.6助攻的史蒂夫.弗朗西斯，场均16.6分7.8篮板4.2助攻的拉马尔.奥多姆……和这些猛人比起来，球风偏防守的阿泰斯特当然是毫无机会。

In the 2000-2001 season, Artest averaged 2 steals per game, ranking seventh in the entire league. Since then, he has become one of the few perimeter defenders in the league.

In the 2003-2004 season, Artest won the "Best Defensive Player" award, which is also the highest personal honor he has won in his career...Of course, everyone knows the team honor. He assisted Kobe to win the NBA championship in the 2009-2010 season.

If Wang Dalin were to choose a player he was least willing to play against, Artest would definitely be on the list. His fierce and entangled defense would always give Wang Dalin a headache.

In the first quarter of the G1 game against the Pacers, Wang Dalin made only 5 goal in 1 shots, and even made only 2 free throws.

In a single quarter, he only scored 4 points, 2 rebounds and 2 assists, and his shooting percentage was only 20%. This is definitely an extremely rare abnormal performance for Wang Dalin.

During this period, among the perimeter defensive players Wang Dalin faced, only Artest could make him so miserable that it was extremely difficult to even draw a foul.

Don't think that Artest likes fouls because of his fierce appearance. In fact, he controls his own fouls very well when defending. In his peak seasons, his average fouls per game were basically less than 3 times.

Fortunately, Big Ben also did a good job of defending Jermaine O'Neal in the first quarter, allowing this excellent inside player who averaged 19+10 per game this season to only score 4 points and 2 rebounds in a single quarter, which "complemented the best" with Wang Dalin's poor performance.

The performance of the top two teams is sluggish, and the performance of the second and third heads is crucial.

The Pistons really can't tell who is the second master and who is the third master, because Ben, Billups and Hamilton have all performed very well this season.

Daben scored 2 points, 4 rebounds, 1 assist and 2 blocks in the first quarter. Although he had little performance on the offensive end, he successfully restrained the opponent's leader, Jr. O'Neal, and completed his task perfectly.

比卢普斯单节砍下8分1篮板3助攻，汉密尔顿则是贡献出了6分1篮板1助攻，幸好他俩表现正常，活塞队才能在第一节与步行者队战成平局。

On the Pacers side, O'Neal was limited by Big Ben, but they also had Reggie Miller and Brad Miller, especially Reggie Miller, a veteran who was about to turn 37 years old. His weird running position and three-pointers on catch really caused a lot of trouble for the Pistons.

During the intermission, the head coaches of the two teams began the second wave of deployment.

In the last two or three minutes of the first quarter, they had replaced some substitute players, such as Corris Williams, Ralph Alston, and Joan Barry on the Pistons side, Ron Moser, Jeff Foster, Kevin Ollie on the Pacers side, and so on.

At the beginning of the second quarter, players from both sides appeared on the field.

The Pacers sent Ron Moser, Jeff Foster, Kevin Ollie, Austin Crohill and Jamal Tinsley.

The Pistons sent Mickey Moore, Charles Barkley, Corris Williams, Ralph Alston and Joan Barry.

Returning to the stage of the playoffs after many days, Barkley, a 39-year-old veteran, taught young players a good lesson.

When some fans play games, they always look down on those veterans with low strength, thinking that they are useless in the game... Even when the computer automatically arranges the rotation lineup, it will only rank according to the ability value.

A game is a game, no matter how high the degree of fidelity is, they still cannot restore certain abilities of real players to the game, such as... court experience!
As soon as Barkley came on the court, he stole Foster, a white center with a soft style of play... This ball, he completely snatched it from the opponent's hands!
Foster was shocked and angry after being robbed, as if he couldn't believe all of this... Oh my God, did that old man grab the ball from my hand just now?
Well... Buckley, you're a very bad old man!

How about you bully me, a little comrade?Does it fit?

Hey... don't run away, I was just careless and didn't dodge, just wait, I'll come and give you a chasing hat right away!
Foster's idea is quite good. He is 211cm tall, which is naturally much taller than Barkley's 198cm mixed with water. In addition, his wingspan is also quite good. If you are mentally unintentional, it is not difficult to give Barkley a big hat.

But what kind of person is Barkley?

He is an insider who has dominated the league since the 80s. If he is so easy to be plotted against, how can he be qualified to be named one of the "NBA 50 Superstars"?

Barkley had already seen Foster's action line out of the corner of his eye. He knew this trick just by looking at it, so he rushed to the basket and made a layup fake that sent Foster flying high behind him.

This scene is very similar to the scenes of the old man playing with the young guy in some domestic stadiums. Wang Dalin almost couldn't help laughing out loud after seeing it.

"Flying pigs in the air" can no longer fly, but "floor pigs" can still shine in the NBA playoffs!
The 22070 home fans in the "Palace of Auburn Hills" gave Barkley warm applause... I think that when Barkley fought Bill Laimbeer here, the audience wanted to throw popcorn and Coke cups on him!

I don't know if this is another version of "30 years in Hedong, 30 years in Hexi, don't bully the young and poor"?Hmm...it seems a bit out of place, right?

From late March to late April, Barkley lost some weight in nearly a month. He is now only 3 pounds (4 kilograms).

Although Barkley still failed to reduce his weight to Carlisle's ideal 110-112 kg, his current weight is no different from when he retired two years ago, and his state has recovered very well.

After completing a wonderful one defense and one offense, Barkley once again made great contributions on the defensive end... When Foster successfully shook Moore and went to the basket for a layup, it was Barkley who made up the defense in time. Under his interference, Foster missed a layup, and Barkley received another defensive rebound.

Barkley only played in 15 games this season, averaging less than 15 minutes per game, but he was able to grab an average of 5.2 rebounds per game in such a short period of time.

Wang Dalin remembers that Barkley once said in an interview with reporters: "If I don't care about anything like Dennis and just grab rebounds, I can win the rebounding champion every season!"

You can say that he is arrogant, you can say that he is arrogant, but... he was indeed qualified to say this back then!
Just 4 minutes before the second quarter, Barkley and Williams led the bench to play very well, successfully pulling the score to 36:28.

After this wave of 12:4 spurt, Pacers coach Isiah Thomas was forced to call a timeout. He not only redeployed offensive and defensive tactics, but also replaced all the starting players.

Carlisle also replaced the starters, but left Barkley on the court... The veteran did perform well today, and Carlisle is also going to let him play for a few more minutes.

Barkley and Daben partnered inside... Just looking at their heights, they look like a pair of backcourt combinations. This is probably the shortest inside combination in the playoffs in NBA history, right?

On the other hand, the two insiders on the Pacers team, Brad Miller is 213cm tall, and Jermaine O'Neal is also 211cm tall. In terms of height, they can completely blow up the inside combination of the Pistons, but... in fact, it was the Pacers who were blown out.

O'Neal saw that Ben was going to match up with Brad Miller. He was quite happy at first. After all, Ben's defense in the first quarter caused indelible trauma to his immature heart. Who knew that Barkley's defensive strength was no less than Ben's, and even worse.

In terms of athletic ability, of course Barkley can't compare with Daben, but his defensive experience and skills are not weak at all, and his physical strength is not inferior to Daben.

Jermaine O'Neal pushed his back several times, Barkley barely moved, but Jermaine O'Neal almost bounced out.

This scene is like the tug-of-war between "Little Cheetah" Zheng Kai and "Scale" Chen He at the seaside. To use an idiom to describe it is... "The gnat shakes the tree"!
Jermaine O'Neal still can't play inside, and the Pacers can only continue to rely on the veteran Reggie Miller on the offensive end.

But Reggie Miller also met his opponent in the second quarter... To deal with him, a scorer who runs and shoots all over the court, he must always follow him. It happens that the Pistons have a long-distance running champion in the league-Richard Hamilton!

The two men's playing styles are very similar, so Reggie Miller's seemingly erratic movement has no secret in Hamilton's eyes, and he has been firmly entangled with him.

Artest tried to attack a few times, but under Wang Dalin's defense, what tricks can he play?
He is indeed one of the few perimeter defenders in the league at present, but his level on the offensive end is very average.

Wang Dalin's outside touch finally warmed up. When he hit the first three-pointer of the game, Artest found that he could no longer hold Wang Dalin.

Artest's defense is indeed very good, but his height is far from Wang Dalin's. As long as Wang Dalin's touch is online, he wants to limit this super scorer who ranks second in the scoring list... There is no doubt that it is too difficult!
When the Lakers played against the Thunder in later generations, the Lakers also asked Artest to mark Durant all the way, but the effect was not good.

One is because Artest's state has indeed declined at that time, and the other is because Durant's height and shooting ability are almost unique in the league.

To put it bluntly-even Artest in the 2003-2004 season, it is almost impossible to limit the peak Durant!

So... Wang Dalin, who had been silent for a whole quarter, finally broke out in the second quarter. He scored 6 goals in 4 shots, and two of them were pull-up jumpers from beyond the three-point line.

At the end of the first half, the Pistons led the Pacers by 55 points 42:13... In fact, from this moment on, the Pacers have lost hope of turning defeat into victory.

In the third quarter, Hamilton broke out again. He ran away three times and directly got rid of Reggie Miller who was following him. After receiving the ball, he made a very accurate mid-range shot.

Reggie Miller's eyes were full of helplessness. The veteran had tried his best, but he was increasingly unable to keep up with Hamilton's footsteps.

I think back then he threw away the defenders time and time again, and then shot after catching the ball... Those murderous three-pointers are just like Hamilton's one-hit mid-range shots!

In the third quarter, the Pistons scored 36 points in a single quarter. In this quarter, all the players on the Pistons scored, and even Big Ben completed two dunks under the basket under the feeding of his teammates.

In the first half of the fourth quarter, Jermaine O'Neal finally regained some form. After he scored 8 points from inside and outside, he once led the Pacers to close the point difference to single digits, but Billups, Wang Dalin and Hamilton made a three-pointer and opened the point difference to 18 points.

Just like the Spurs easily defeated the Sonics tonight, the Pistons also easily won the G1 game. In the second half of the fourth quarter, the "Smiling Assassin" had no choice but to replace all the main players, and the game officially entered garbage time.

The Pacers' bench players still played hard in garbage time, maybe not to turn the tide, but to try their best to perform on the stage of the playoffs.

It's a pity that the Pistons' substitute players are obviously stronger, such as Williams and Barkley. They even led the team to a 13:5 spurt in the past few minutes of garbage time. The two also successfully raised their personal scores in this game to double digits.

最终的比分是111:88，活塞队五人得分上双，其中王大林以26分9篮板8助攻1盖帽1抢断荣膺本场比赛的MVP。

If it wasn't for the early arrival of garbage time, Wang Dalin is very hopeful to score his first triple-double in the playoffs... Sometimes it is not a strong opponent that prevents you from hitting good numbers, but strong teammates are also fine!

On April 4, after a day of rest, the G22 game between the Pistons and the Pacers started again at the "Palace of Auburn Hills" arena.

This game is even less suspenseful than the G1 game, and even the entire fourth quarter has become garbage time.

Wang Dalin, Big Ben, Hamilton, and Billups all "punched out" after only three quarters.

其中王大林拿下19分6篮板4助攻，比卢普斯得到13分3篮板6助攻，汉密尔顿贡献出12分4篮板1助攻，大本0分10篮板2助攻3盖帽……嗯，这个数据果然很大本！

这个时期NBA的季后赛首轮还是5场3胜制，主客场安排是2-2-1，所以双方的G3战将移师印第安纳波利斯市的“康塞科球馆”。

On the morning of April 4, all members of the Pistons flew to Indianapolis, and in the afternoon they conducted adaptive training at the "Conseco Arena". The first half of the training session was open to the media.

The Pistons players seemed very relaxed, and Wang Dalin and the others even had a unique "HORSE" shooting contest.

This kind of shooting competition should actually be called a "HORSE shooting competition". The specific rule is that the No.1 player chooses a point to shoot. If it succeeds, the next player must shoot at the same position with the same posture, and must complete the action within 24 seconds. Of course... dunks are not allowed.

If the latter is not hit, you will get a letter "H", and so on.

When a player gets the five letters "HORSE", he is out.

If the first player misses, the second player chooses where and how to make the shot.

The Pistons have a lot of players with strong shooting ability, this kind of game is what they are best at, and all players have successfully advanced to the second round.

Barkley, who was the first to shoot in the second round, made a hook shot close to the three-point line, and the ball actually went in... Although everyone knew he was tricked into it, he just made it.

After scoring the goal, Barkley was triumphant, and even ran to the media reporters to take a good look at the shots.

The ball was really difficult. Billups missed the second shot without accident, and Hamilton missed the third shot. Robinson, Williams, Wang Dalin... all missed.

In the end, Barkley relied on the advantages established in this round to win the victory. He won the team brothers and also won a total of 6 US dollars in bets.

The NBA stipulates that teams entering the playoffs can only have 12 available players. Players who are not selected for the big list usually will not go with the team to away games.

The 12 Pistons entering the playoffs this year are Wang Dalin, Da Ben, Billups, Hamilton, Robinson, Barkley, Williams, Moore, Barry, Alston, Jones and Gates.

In this "HORSE Shooting Contest", each of them took out 5000 US dollars as a bet, and the final winner could win all 6 US dollars... Of course, the person who won the bet must invite everyone to the nightclub HAPPY after the first round of the playoffs.

Nightclub... Barkley said that he has never been to a nightclub since he lost weight, and he really misses it!

This kind of private betting within the team must be tacit to everyone, and it is impossible to reveal a little wind in front of reporters.

After training in the afternoon, the Pistons took the lead in holding a pre-match press conference.

The questions from local Indiana media reporters were quite sharp. A reporter asked Wang Dalin, "Darling-Wang, the Pistons are leading 2-0 now. Do you think you will be able to end this round of the series tomorrow night?"

This problem seems to be nothing on the surface, but in fact it is a hidden trap.

If you say "yes, that's what I think," the media will write you as a megalomaniac.

If you answer "No, I think it will be very difficult for us to beat the Pacers", the media will write articles saying that you, the leader of the team, lack confidence and courage.

Faced with this dilemma, Wang Dalin's answer was simple, direct and full of domineering: "Wow! Do you think so too? I thought I was the only one who thought so!"

Carlisle almost couldn't hold back his laughter... Only at this time, he would see Wang Dalin's "childlike" side, and most of the time he would even regard him as an old football ruffian who has been in the league for many years.

Wang Dalin's performance this season can be called "phenomenal". His outstanding performance made many people ignore his age. Many times, people will suddenly remember Wang Dalin's various outstanding performances... He is only 20 years old!
yes!He is only 20 years old!
Who was the last player in the league to reach this height at the age of 20?

Is it "magician"?

On the morning of April 4, the league announced several awards for the regular season of this season, namely "Most Improved Player", "Best Coach" and "Best Defensive Player".

The "Best Coach" award was awarded to Carlisle. He brought the Pistons from 32 wins and 50 losses last season to 58 wins and 24 losses this season, a full improvement of 26 wins.

Therefore, Carlisle is definitely well deserved to win the "Best Coach" award.

The winner of the "Best Defensive Player" award is Daben. This season's rebounding and blocking champion is also well-deserved. It can be said... With him and without him, the Pistons are completely two grades on the defensive end.

The members of the NBA's "First Team of the Year" this season are Shaq O'Neal, Tim Duncan, Wang Dalin, Kobe Bryant and Jason Kidd.

The members of the "Best Team Second Team" are Kevin Garnett, Chris Webber, Tracy McGrady, Allen Iverson and Gary Payton.

The members of the "Best Team Three" are Dirk Nowitzki, Jermaine O'Neill, Ben Wallace, Paul Pierce and Steve Nash.

The members of the "First Team of the Best Defensive Team" are Tim Duncan, Kevin Garnett, Jason Kidd, Gary Payton and Ben Wallace; the members of the "Second Team of the Best Defensive Team" are Bruce Bowen, Kobe Bryant, Doug Christie, Dikembe Mutombo and Ron Artest.

The first-team All-Rookie team consisted of Sean Battier, Pau Gasol, Andre Kirilenko, Tony Parker and Jason Richardson; the second-team All-Rookie team included Eddie Griffin, Richard Jefferson, Jamal Tinsley, Joe Johnson and Vladimir Radmanovich.

Wang Dalin was elected "Most Improved Player" with high votes, and the people who competed with him for this award included teammates Billups, Pacers' O'Neal and Mavericks' Steve Nash.

If there is no Wang Dalin, with the performance of these people this season, no matter who gets this award, it is not surprising.

比如小奥尼尔，他上赛季场均只有12.9分9.8篮板1.2助攻，本赛季却达到了19分10.5篮板1.6助攻，确实进步挺大的。

还有比卢普斯这位原森林狼队的替补控卫，他上赛季场均只有9.3分2.1篮板3.4助攻，本赛季却一跃成为联盟里的一流控卫，场均可以轰出14.6分3.9篮板6.8助攻。

Their progress is indeed quite large, but compared with Wang Dalin, they are far behind.

上赛季王大林场均只有13.4分6.8篮板5.3助攻0.8盖帽0.6抢断，本赛季他的场均数据已经高达28.4分8.6篮板6.1助攻1.2盖帽0.9抢断，而且投篮命中率也有相当幅度的提升。

Compared with Wang Dalin's improvement rate, it is just like the arrogant words of Senior Brother Duan Shui Liu... "Everyone here is happy (garbage) color (garbage)!"

After receiving this award, Wang Dalin was not happy at all, because he knew that he would definitely not win the MVP of the regular season.

Fortunately, being selected for the "best team first team" still made him feel better.

Wang Dalin was selected for a team and naturally completed a "single-season milestone", and the system immediately rewarded him with two qualifications for drawing A-level star skills.

After some drawing, he drew two star skills "Reaper double change" and "Super six double change".

"Reaper's double change: NBA superstar Kevin Durant's continuum front change dribble movement, the movement range is large, and the deception is high. It can be connected with an emergency stop jump shot or a step breakthrough. Players with a height of 208cm and above can get a 5% bonus."

"Super six-double change direction: NBA super sixth man Jamal Crawford's continuous crotch and back change dribble movements. The movement is sudden and highly deceptive. It can be connected with emergency stop jumpers or one-handed throws. Players under 203cm in height can get a 5% bonus for using the effect."

These two dribbling skills are very practical, especially the "Reaper's double change" is really suitable for Wang Dalin, isn't he just over 208cm tall?
On the evening of April 4, the G26 game between the Pistons and the Pacers officially started.

In the game, Wang Dalin showed off his two new breakthrough skills. Artest, a member of the second team of the "Best Defensive Team" this season, was caught off guard and was completely wiped out by him.

Billups, who was not selected for any lineup this season, also took a deep breath and played very actively in this game, blasting the opponent's starting point guard Jamal Tinsley into a scumbag.

Of course, the Pacers are by no means a soft persimmon. After returning home, they certainly don't want to stop this season, so they played very hard.

O'Neal, who had been sluggish in the first two games, finally felt elated. In this game, his mid-range shots were very accurate, and he also beat the opponent Robinson at the basket... If Carlisle hadn't replaced Barkley in time, it is estimated that O'Neal would really lead the Pacers to start.

汉密尔顿和雷吉.米勒两人基本上形成了互爆之势，其中汉密尔顿全场拿下16分3篮板2助攻，米勒则砍下了18分5篮板1助攻。

王大林砍下31分10篮板10助攻2盖帽1抢断，终于打出了自己季后赛的首个三双。

In the end, the Pistons defeated the Pacers 108:99, swept directly 3:0, and became the first team to advance to the second round of the playoffs this season...

(End of this chapter)