NBA: James wants to team up with me

Chapter 124 Christmas War, new system tasks and basket-protecting elites

After losing to the Suns at home, the Lakers' cumulative losses have reached 4 games, and the Spurs have overtaken them in the record list.

Not only that, in the subsequent games, the Lakers also lost to the Seattle SuperSonics and Memphis Grizzlies, and still lost two consecutive games.

Not even halfway through the December schedule, the Lakers have already lost 12 games, and the Lakers have only lost 4 games in the entire month of November.

But Wang Chong was not surprised by this.

The Lakers' current lineup does have a lot of problems, even though he and Kobe Bryant are on the outside, which can be called the strongest outfield duo in the league.

However, the Lakers' inside line is quite weak. Although Odom is gradually adapting to the Lakers' game rhythm, he has never performed satisfactorily enough. Instead, in the past two months since he came to the Lakers, what reporters have photographed the most is Odom. Photos of Dom in and out of various nightclubs and dance clubs.

When he entered the league in the draft, Odom was selected by the Los Angeles team, the Los Angeles Clippers, the hometown of the Lakers.

Odom, who played for the Clippers for four years, has long been accustomed to the life of luxury in the metropolis, and he felt a little disappointed after moving to the Heat.

It’s not that Miami is not good enough. As the second largest city in Florida, the South Coast is also highly developed. However, compared to the United States and even the world’s cultural and entertainment capital, the prosperity of Los Angeles is far from comparable to Miami.

As the saying goes, it is easy to go from frugality to luxury, but it is difficult to go from luxury to simplicity.

Odom, who returned to Los Angeles, has completely let himself go. He also has a super-large contract worth 6 million US dollars in 6300 years. How can he not enjoy life?

During his time with the Lakers, Odom has been named and criticized several times by the coaching staff because of his tardiness and negative training.

Wang Chong knows better than anyone what kind of thing Odom is. He squanders his talent on the court, resulting in the fact that he clearly has the talent to become a top star, but the highest personal honor in his career is just the Sixth Man of the Year.

After retiring, Odom completely let himself go. He drank too much, cheated, and smoked laundry detergent. He even nearly died from inhaling too much washing powder.

Another thing worth mentioning is the marriage between Odom and Khloe Kardashian. Khloe Kardashian dated Harden openly and intimately during their marriage, and later gave birth to a monkey to Tristan Thompson, which attracted many people. Everyone ridiculed Odom for being a coward and being cuckolded by the woman who couldn't control the Kardashian family.

But the truth is that Odom has given Khloe countless cuckolds, cheated on her many times during their marriage, and was even caught and raped in bed by Khloe.

Although Khloe Kardashian is not a good wife and mother, Odom is even worse than her.

It can only be said that for a player like Odom, it is more suitable for him to serve as the sixth man on the bench than to be the starter of a team. He plays about 30 minutes in a game and faces the opponent's substitute lineup during the substitute time. It would be nice not to take responsibility at critical moments.

It's just that when even Odom is unreliable, the Lakers' overall strength and current ultra-high winning rate naturally cannot match.

If the Lakers can maintain their winning rate in November until the end of the season, their record will go straight to 11 wins. That is something that no OK combination at their peak has been able to achieve. Looking at NBA history, only Jordan's Bulls dynasty can do so. A miracle.

Wang Chongke doesn’t think he can compare with O’Neal during the three consecutive championships of the OK team. Even if compared with Kobe, he is only better than Kobe in terms of offensive stability. In terms of defense and physical fitness, he is still not as good as the three consecutive championships. Kobe's height.

Therefore, in Wang Chong's judgment, the Lakers with a regular season record of more than 55 wins are considered qualified, and more than 60 wins are considered extraordinary performance. After all, in the 04-05 season, they were only as good as the eventual champion Spurs with 59 wins in the regular season.

On December 12, the Lakers faced the Washington Wizards at home and almost capsized in the gutter and suffered a three-game losing streak.

Although the Wizards still had a main player in Caron Butler with the Lakers during this period, Arenas took the lead and at the same time acquired Antawn Jamison from the Mavericks, plus the team's own Larry. Hughes can be considered a team with three core players.

Especially when general Arenas feels hot and his points soar, his offensive firepower is no worse than Kobe.

This game is a mutual battle.

阿里纳斯25投11中，全场砍下37分6篮板7助攻。

科比这边则是22投9中，尽管在出手和命中率方面略逊阿里纳斯，但却获得了22次罚球，轰下36分10篮板14助攻的大号三双。

The final score of the two teams was 118:116, and the Lakers narrowly defeated the Wizards by 2 points.

因为王崇19投11中得到31分，发挥全面压制了21投9中22分的贾米森。

Although the Wizards still have Larry Hughes who scored 20+ points, the Lakers' Odom and Caron Butler also performed well with 15+ points.

-

After narrowly defeating the Wizards to end their losing streak, Lakers head coach Phil Jackson was not at ease and was even slightly worried.

The problems exposed by the Lakers in the past few games are still relatively obvious, especially the problems inside are very serious.

For the Lakers, who have been accustomed to having the league's top center like O'Neal in the past, the lack of a powerful and heavy center inside is still quite uncomfortable.

Especially as time goes by and the annual traditional Christmas show is coming, Phil Jackson's worries become more intense.

The league knows the traffic code. For the Christmas Day game on December 12, the official game arranged for the Lakers was to face the Miami Heat at home.

Shark returns to Staples in the new season and is bound to want revenge on the Lakers who abandoned him.

Phil Jackson doesn't pay much attention to games that are a gimmick like the Christmas game, and losing one or two games is not unacceptable. However, if the Lakers cannot solve the problem of internal weaknesses, they will not be able to go very far in the playoffs.

During this time, he has been thinking about this matter.

It is not very feasible to obtain a strong center through trade reinforcements, so in that case, how about simply giving up the traditional center?

Phil Jackson is not the kind of rigid and dogmatic head coach. Although in the triangle tactics he is good at, a big player who can pass the ball in the high post is very important, but in the absence of a strong center, he can also lead the team. The team wins.

The most typical example is the Bulls during the latter three consecutive championships.

The Bulls during the Jordan Pippen era had no top-level post players in the league, not even first-rate or even second-rate post players.

Their starting center is Luke Longley, who averages 9+5 per game, and the power forward is Dennis Rodman, who has almost no offensive ability except rebounding and defense.

At that time, the Bulls relied on Jordan and Pippen on the offensive end.

You must know that at that time, the league was in the era of the four major centers. In addition to the well-known four major centers, there were also a number of powerful inside players including Webb, Barkley, Kemp, etc. It was definitely a league dominated by the inside.

So Phil knows exactly how the team is going to play without a strong center.

The day after the game against the Wizards, Phil Jackson called Wang Chong into his office to talk.

"Wang, I plan to let you try to switch to the power forward position in the next period of time. Do you have any ideas?"

Phil Jackson showed his intention directly without any politeness.

Wang Chong was stunned when he heard this. He thought Phil Jackson had called him here specifically for some big deal.

After thinking about it for a moment, Wang Chong roughly understood what Phil Jackson wanted to do.

Small ball tactics will be a tactical style that almost all teams must imitate and learn in the future.

But at this time in 2004, except for the rebellious Suns and Warriors, no team would follow suit, because no one thought that this tactical play without a strong and heavy center could win.

But Wang Chong understands Phil Jackson's difficulties.

A good wife can't make a meal without rice. No matter how good a head coach Phil Jackson is, he can't win without good players.

<divclass="contentadv">Coincidentally, the Lakers' current lineup can actually play small ball tactics.

All I can say is that gold should shine.

Wang Chong originally thought that Caron Butler would not be able to play because of him, due to lack of sufficient playing time and ball rights.

But I didn't expect that even on the bench, Butler still performed well. Currently, as the main substitute player of the Lakers, he averages 12.2 points and 4.2 rebounds per game. His performance in the team is second only to Kobe, Wang Chong and Odom. , even above the other two main starters, point guard Atkins and center Chris Mihm.

With such an outstanding performance, it would be a bit of a waste to put him on the bench. Caron Butler's position can be maximized and he is still a starter.

Obviously Phil Jackson wants to give Caron Butler the starting position.

Since Butler wants to start, he can only appear at the small forward position. Wang Chong will naturally be deferred to the power forward position, and Odom will be the guest center.

Yes, this is the lineup the Lakers used when they played against the Suns before, a standard small-ball tactical lineup.

Not wanting a center forward is definitely a pretty bold tactical adjustment in this era.

But Phil Jackson obviously thought it over carefully.

Giving up the inside line in exchange for the ultimate offensive firepower from the outside line.

Needless to say, Kobe and Wang Chong naturally need not say much. When Atkins came to the Lakers, he could only serve as a substitute for Fisher. However, as the schedule progressed, with his excellent mobility and quite accurate three-point long-range shooting ability, Atkins could only serve as a substitute for Fisher. Atkins successfully stole the starting job from Fisher.

Coupled with Odom and Caron Butler, let alone going further, at least when facing the Heat next time, as long as the cooperation is tacit enough, the advantages of this lineup can be fully utilized to the extreme.

Because O'Neal has gained weight since joining the Heat.

Obviously, O'Neal, who didn't like training much when he was with the Lakers, let himself go even more when he came to the Heat, and his body management was out of control.

Even though O'Neal's dominance at the basket is still there, his physical fitness and mobility are continuing to decline.

Phil Jackson obviously wants to use the mobility of the small-ball lineup to wear down O'Neal, so as to defeat the Heat and prevent the Lakers' weak inside line from being completely destroyed by O'Neal.

Playing power forward...?

In fact, Wang Chong himself is not willing to go inside. He is at the small forward position, and he has the advantage of absolute height and wingspan against most forward players in the league. However, if he is at the power forward position, this advantage is not particularly obvious. .

Among power forwards, there are many players who are taller than 2 meters and are taller and stronger than Wang Chong.

But this was also for the victory of the Lakers. More importantly, when Phil Jackson told him this plan, Wang Chong heard the long-lost prompt from the system in his ears.

"Ding - a random mission is triggered!"

"Mission goal: Help the Lakers defeat the Heat in the Christmas game and prevent O'Neal from succeeding in revenge."

"Task reward: Badge Basket Protector Elite, badge level: Silver."

Wang Chong: "..."

When he saw that the system had released a new task for a long time, he was really excited. Since the Olympics, the system had not seen any movement for more than three months, and now it finally released a new task.

I just didn’t expect that the rewards for this mission were a bit hard to describe.

The Basket Protector Elite Badge improves the player's frontal blocking ability and judgment, while unlocking the ability to catch shots.

This is a standard defensive badge for interior players. What the hell is this? Could it be that the system also wants him to play inside?

Based on Wang Chong's current technical characteristics, this badge is actually not suitable for him. With a blocking ability value of 66 and an inside defense of 74, how much can Wang Chong be expected to do in the penalty area defense? Even if you get this silver-level basket-protecting elite badge, it will be difficult to truly exert the effect of the badge.

But again, don't waste it. The more badges, the better. Wang Chong is eager to collect all the badges and become an invincible all-round warrior on the field.

Therefore, when he heard the system mission, Wang Chong nodded immediately without hesitation and said: "Okay coach, I will listen to your arrangements. As long as I can win, I can play whatever you want me to do."

Seeing Wang Chong obeying the arrangement, Phil Jackson nodded with satisfaction, a smile on his face.

This is what a good player should look like, unlike some people who have no sense of teamwork and act impulsively based on personal preferences. They feel cold and insist on taking a shot. Sometimes they are so reckless that they even refuse the coach's command and refuse to get off the field.

-

Phil Jackson acted quickly. After consulting Wang Chong, he immediately adjusted the lineup in daily training, tested the effect of Butler's small forward Wang Chong's lineup, and played against Wang Chong at home on December 12. Officially used in New Orleans Hornets games.

Although the Lakers finally defeated the Hornets 101:89 in this game, the game process was slightly chaotic. Without the full-court cooperation of the Suns, a run-and-gun team that only attacks but does not defend, the Lakers, who were trying out a small-ball lineup for the first time, were in a hurry and cooperated. Not smooth.

As soon as the team's offensive rhythm quickened, Kobe turned around and forgot to cooperate with his teammates. He took 26 crazy shots throughout the game but only hit 9 goals, shooting 34.6% and scoring 29 points.

Caron Butler was also a little nervous in the starting lineup, scoring 8 points on 3-of-13 shooting.

Odom, who was replaced at the center position, did not fluctuate much compared to the previous game. He scored 10 points and 13 rebounds. Although he was grabbed 17 rebounds by the opposing Hornets center P.J. Brown, including 6 defensive rebounds. But as a power forward, he is remarkable.

The best performer in this game was Wang Chong, who was rotated to the power forward position.

In this game, he faced Chris Anderson, known as the "Birdman".

Anderson is a well-known shot-blocking expert. With his keen sense of smell and explosive jumping power, he can often contribute bloody blocks on the court.

But Anderson's blocking didn't work well for Wang Chong.

Originally, Wang Chong's shot was difficult to block, and Anderson's desire to block the shot was too strong. As a result, as long as Wang Chong raised his hand to shoot, he would jump up and try to block the shot without hesitation.

This allows Wang Chong to easily deceive the opponent with a fake move to make him jump and then break through and hit the basket to score.

Being too fond of bouncing is the reason why Anderson can only survive in the league as a role player.

Anderson is very good at blocking shots, but he is definitely not an excellent defensive player.

Under Anderson's defense, Wang Chong made 18 of 11 shots, including 9 of 5 three-pointers and 6 of 6 free throws. He scored a game-high 33 points and led the Lakers to win the game.

The test of the small ball lineup was a little stumbling, but that was all, time did not allow them to continue to adjust.

Three days after defeating the Hornets, Christmas arrived.

In the Christmas Day game, the Lakers faced the challenge of the Miami Heat at home, and the Sharks returned to the Staples Center.