NBA: James wants to team up with me

Chapter 155 Wang Feng vs. Kobe, a jaw-dropping score battle

Wang Chong and Kobe Bryant coincidentally competed on the All-Star stage, and the meaning couldn't be more obvious. Their battlefield was not the All-Stars at all, but the remaining 30 or so games in the league.

The two stopped playing, and two other players were fulfilled, James in the East and Tracy McGrady in the West.

The host city of this All-Star Game was originally Houston, the city where the Rockets are located. As one of the most representative stars in Houston, although McGrady did not get as many votes as Dayao, another star on the same team, his playing style was even better. More suitable for the All-Star stage than Dayao.

A variety of elegant and unrestrained pull-up shots, fast and gorgeous ball-handling breakthrough dunks, making the Western Conference All-Stars become a stage for McGrady alone.

McGrady made 26 of 15 shots and scored 36 points in the game. This score has been regarded as a relatively high score in an All-Star game in the past dozen years.

Unfortunately, even so, McGrady failed to win the All-Star MVP trophy.

Because the final victory of the game was taken away by the Eastern Conference All-Stars, although there were cases where the losing team won the MVP, McGrady's performance was obviously far from worthy.

The winner of the All-Star MVP was James, who scored 29 points, 6 rebounds and 2 assists.

Kobe's paddling on the Western All-Star side gave McGrady a chance to perform. Similarly, Wang Chong's absence on the Eastern All-Star side allowed James to almost monopolize the ball.

Although slightly behind McGrady in terms of statistics, James is the winner after all. As the best player in the Eastern All-Stars, he deserves to win the All-Star MVP.

But James' joy at winning the All-Star MVP trophy was not that strong.

Because this is not the first All-Star MVP trophy among the 03 rookies, the gold content is naturally greatly reduced.

Last year, Wang Chong won the All-Star MVP trophy in the All-Star Game, becoming the first player among the 03 rookie class to win the All-Star MVP.

James' second All-Star MVP in 03 is just a little less interesting.

And this was only obtained after Wang Chong made it clear that he was not prepared to take the All-Star Game seriously. If Wang Chong was interested in this All-Star MVP, based on his relationship with Wade and O'Neal, the two Eastern Conference starters, it would be difficult for James to win. What advantage does it take in the distribution of ball rights?

But no matter what, James finally won the All-Star MVP. Although this award is the least valuable and least valuable of the three MVP awards, it is still an award that all superstars in the history of the league will definitely receive. It is one of the important indicators to measure the status of a star player.

Of course, the most valuable ones are the regular season MVP and finals FMVP, but James currently has no ability to get involved in these two awards.

Regular season MVP, James' personal data is pretty good. His current scoring average has increased to 30+, plus his all-round data of 7 rebounds and 6 assists. Looking at the league, there are only a few players who can compare with him on the data level, and that is Wang Chong. , Kobe and Nash and a few others.

However, the Cavaliers' record can only be considered average. They are currently slightly behind the Bulls and ranked fourth in the Eastern Conference. It is still unknown whether they can reach 50+ wins after the regular season.

Although there have been cases in the history of the league where players from teams with 40+ wins have won MVP, it is still too rare. The key is that there is another more successful and vivid case in the Eastern Conference than James, and that is to lead the Bulls to a better performance than James. Wang Chong, who has a better record with the Cavaliers.

Although the Bulls had a record of 47 wins and 35 losses in the regular season last season, they gave away almost half of their main players in order to acquire Wang Chong in the offseason, resulting in the team only using second-round pick Monta Elie in the new season. Si serves as the starting defender.

At that time, no one was optimistic about the Bulls' record. After all, their lineup was so bad that they couldn't find another All-Star-level player except Wang Chong.

But Wang Chong just relied on averaging 34+ points per game to help the Bulls win one game after another. Although the other starting players of the Bulls also performed well, Wang Chong's victory contribution value was obviously unmatched. within reach.

Therefore, in ESPN's MVP rankings, Wang Chong has long been ranked above James. Although most of the time he is still suppressed by Nash and ranked second, but for Wang Chong, who is the leader of a team for the first time, such a The results are truly commendable.

It's just that even Wang Chong can only be ranked second in the MVP rankings, not to mention James. His main competitor is not Wang Chong at all, but Kobe.

Kobe's current score is similar to Wang Chong, but the team's record is slightly worse than that of the Bulls. Considering the Lakers' rather luxurious lineup, such a record is definitely not a success. Kobe can only rely on his gorgeous personal performance. Data has occupied a place on the MVP list, and has even been at a disadvantage in the competition with James for a long time.

There's nothing we can do about it. This season, Kobe is the true single-core leader. Without O'Neal and without Wang Chong, the Lakers' record is very unsatisfactory. This also makes Kobe questionable. He can't score just by scoring. You have to stand up and lead the team to win.

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After the All-Star Game, the league schedule has entered the final sprint period. More than 3 games in March and April will be the last chance for each team in the league to compete for a playoff spot.

Normally, during this period, the intensity of the game will be significantly improved compared to the first half of the schedule. On the one hand, the desire to win is stronger, and on the other hand, many teams have already played against each other in the first half of the season. After getting familiar with it, more targeted tactics will be developed.

At the beginning of March, the Bulls and Cavaliers started their third game.

This time the game returned to the home court of the Bulls, and the Cavaliers were aggressive and obviously well prepared.

This time the Cavaliers changed the starting lineup, replacing Larry Hughes who was beaten by Laga Bell next time, and arranged two small guards to form the back line, while making Anderson Varejao the starting power forward.

As a blue-collar insider, Varejao's offensive ability is much worse than Gooden's, but his defensive ability, especially his awareness of assisting defense, is much better than Gooden's, and the nickname of Brazilian Movie King is not for nothing.

Varejao's diving has not yet become famous in the league at this time, and many players are unprepared, including Monta Ellis, who is not afraid of tigers as a newborn.

Ellis, who penetrated the Cavaliers in the first two games, still resolutely implemented his strategy of breaking through and attacking the basket with the ball in this game, but this time he encountered Varejao's defense.

Two consecutive breakthroughs with the ball and Varejao collided with each other, and he was called for an offensive foul, which directly blocked Ellis. In addition, the improved mobility brought by the Cavaliers' two small guards caused Ellis to This game was abnormal, with only 13 of 5 shots, and only 12 points, 3 assists, 4 turnovers and 3 fouls.

The Cavaliers, who finally succeeded in limiting Ellis' performance once, pursued the victory and even led the Bulls by more than double digits in the middle of the game, with revenge in sight.

But how could Wang Chong sit back and watch his team lose the game like this?

If his teammates don't perform well, he will do it himself.

Wang Chong began to fully take over the ball in the third quarter. He made 11 of 6 shots in a single quarter and 4 of 4 free throws. He scored 16 points alone, helping the Bulls catch up to within 5 points.

This is not over yet. In the final fourth quarter, Wang Chong continued to play efficiently and steadily, making 9 of 5 shots. The Bulls successfully tied the score with one minute left in the game.

The two teams returned to the same starting line and engaged in the most critical 1-minute offensive and defensive battle.

The Cavaliers had the ball. James forced a breakthrough with the ball and caused a foul. He made 2 of 1 free throws and the Cavaliers regained their 1-point lead.

<divclass="contentadv">In the next round of defense, James personally marked Wang Chong. At the same time, the Cavaliers players on the flanks were also waiting for opportunities, ready to double-team Wang Chong with James to form an encirclement. The defensive pressure was full.

But even so, Wang Chong still received a pass from his teammate, faced James' defense and forced a breakthrough to the free throw line to make a jump shot.

The extremely difficult mid-range shot was scored steadily. No matter how hard James defended, it was of no avail.

The Bulls went ahead by 1 point, but the Cavaliers still had a chance. With 20 seconds left in the game, the Cavaliers still had a chance to win.

When everyone thought that the Cavaliers would be executed by James for this last chance, a very surprising scene occurred.

Standing at the top of the three-point arc, James broke through with the ball to attract the defense, and then chose to pass the ball to his teammates on the outside.

Ronald Murray, who received the pass, missed the shot and the game ended.

The fans at the Bulls' home court didn't react for a moment.

Is this a win? Why does James pass the ball?

Yes, why does James pass the ball? This is also a problem that many of his fans will find difficult to understand in the future.

But this is James' style, you can't accept it.

Wang Chong also breathed a sigh of relief. If James forced his way into the penalty area to cause damage, with his offensive ability, even if he failed to score, he would probably be fouled. As long as the free throws were a little more stable, he could kill the game.

Fortunately, James' performance is as stable as ever. I don't know whether he is too team-oriented or worried that he will take the blame if he fails to score, so he chose to dump the blame in advance.

No matter what, the Bulls won their third regular season meeting with the Cavaliers, with an absolute advantage of 3:0.

而整场比赛砍下44分10篮板3助攻的王崇，在数据上也并不比33分11篮板10助攻三双数据的詹姆斯逊色。

It was just Ellis' abnormal performance in the game that still sounded the alarm for the Bulls. No matter how smooth their previous schedule was, it was still an indisputable fact for a newly formed new army.

Insufficient running-in, less game experience, and lack of ability of rookie players to withstand pressure are all problems they have.

If the Bulls want to go further in the playoffs, they must overcome these problems as soon as possible.

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The victory of the Bulls and Cavaliers in the third round was just a small episode in the March schedule.

The Bulls have a total of 16 games this month. Among them, the only relatively strong opponents are the Pistons and Heat, but they also include many teams that are hovering on the edge of the playoffs in the East and West, such as the Jazz, SuperSonics, and the Eastern Conference in the West. Pacers, Wizards, Bucks and other teams.

Compared with the Detroit Pistons, who are far ahead in the Eastern Conference and have no pressure, these teams hovering on the edge of the playoffs are much more dangerous. In order to win a ticket to the playoffs, every game is for them. They are all very important and require all-out effort and even risking one's life.

Facing these teams, the pressure on the Bulls surged.

At the same time, another battlefield that belongs to Wang Chong alone is also extremely fierce, and that is the ranking of the league's scoring list.

During the All-Star weekend, Kobe had already felt the threat of Wang Chong, so he didn't even play well in the All-Star game. He just had to recharge his batteries and prepare for a huge scoring battle with Wang Chong.

Since the All-Star break, Wang Chong and Kobe have shown explosive scoring abilities in every game.

Kobe's crazy shots are likely to reproduce the crazy scoring state in January. Wang Chong refuses to show weakness at all, and the average number of shots per game has also increased. Although the large number of shots has caused a slight decline in the hit rate, he still has an astonishing efficiency value.

This offensive feast is a feast for the eyes of fans across the league.

Kobe Bryant scored 50+ points in a single game with his front foot, and Wang Chong immediately responded by scoring 40+ points in three consecutive games.

The competition between the two on the scoring list was unprecedentedly fierce, leaving Iverson, who was third on the scoring list, a bit dumbfounded.

Originally, Iverson actually wanted to compete for the scoring title this season. However, the 76ers were already destined to miss the championship. In this case, the accumulation of more honors can be regarded as a disguised success. .

Iverson, who already has four scoring trophies, if he can win another scoring title, will surpass George McCann, who also has four scoring titles, with five scoring titles, and will exclusively enjoy the reputation of being the third scoring title in history. Become second only to Jordan, the 10-time scoring champion, and Chamberlain, the 7-time scoring champion.

But Iverson almost set off sparks from the basket this season, and only averaged 33 points per game. This is the highest single-season scoring average of his career so far, but he is getting further and further away from Kobe and Wang Chong, because these two people The average points per game have exceeded 34.5 points, and are still rising, heading straight for 35 points.

It is too difficult for Iverson to surpass both of them at the same time.

Are these two guys going to heaven?

In fact, one of the parties involved, Kobe Bryant, is also shocked now. He really didn't expect that Wang Chong could still follow him closely after reaching this level. Is the opponent's scoring ability really that strong?

In terms of overall strength, Wang Chong is still slightly behind Kobe.

But in terms of offensive ability, he is not necessarily worse than Kobe. As I said before, Wang Chong's only shortcoming on the offensive end is his physical fitness.

This problem has been minimized by Wang Chong's very utilitarian style of play.

Wang Chong is now very cunning on the court. He will try his best to choose some offensive methods that consume less physical energy such as pick-and-roll shooting. At the same time, he leaves all the defensive work to Chandler. Although he has not yet reached Harden's eyes to defend. stage, but basically did not participate in defense.

By relying on some methods that hurt the team, Wang Chong still managed to compete with Kobe in the soaring scoring battle.

In addition, there is another very important reason, that is, the continuous motivation brought to him by the generous system rewards is also crucial.