NBA: James wants to team up with me

Chapter 159 Lao Zhan’s traditional performing arts, 7 versus 5 in the arena

Losing is not unacceptable to the Cavaliers. On the one hand, the Bulls have a better record than the Cavaliers. The Bulls have the absolute upper hand when the two teams meet in the regular season. The opening game is played at the opponent's home court, so even failure is inevitable. .

But what makes the Cavaliers feel very uncomfortable is that during this game, the Cavaliers were suppressed by the Bulls almost throughout the game, and there was no chance of a comeback at all.

更难受的是，作为和詹姆斯对标的顶级巨星，王崇在这场比赛的发挥只能算中规中矩，全场18投10中得到26分6篮板3助攻，跟32+11+11的詹姆斯相差甚远。

But this is not because the Cavaliers successfully defended Wang Chong, but because the Bulls did not need Wang Chong to exert force at all and could easily defeat their opponents.

Monta Ellis, who like James made his career playoff debut, performed well in the game, taking advantage of his speed to the maximum. He broke through and scored with the ball in various ways. He made 17 of 8 shots and 8 free throws. 6, scored 22 points and 5 assists.

拉加.贝尔三分线外7投3中，全场得到15分3抢断，洛尔.邓也有14分4篮板入账，加上11分14篮板的泰森.钱德勒，公牛首发五人全部得分上双。

反观骑士队这边，除了32分的詹姆斯外，也仅有15分10篮板的大Z以及10分7篮板的古登得分上双。

The overall performance gap between the two sides put the Cavaliers at a double-digit disadvantage throughout the entire process, and they were unable to narrow the point difference to within single digits from beginning to end. This also resulted in an average of 35.6 points per game during the regular season. Wang Chong scored only 26 points in the playoff opener.

With Wang Chong's ability, scoring 30+ points in a game is as easy as eating and drinking.

But that's not necessary.

Without the constraints of system tasks, Wang Chong does not have to get high scores. He knows very well that basketball is not a one-person game. If he alone performs well in a whole game, the team wants to win the game. It's not that easy.

Therefore, Wang Chong considered during the regular season that when entering the playoffs, especially the first round, he must give other players more opportunities to perform. The high-intensity games in the playoffs are the best occasion for training and growth, including Young players, including Monta Ellis and Luol Deng, will definitely grow up faster through the training in the playoffs and become powerful helpers around Wang Chong.

Ellis did not disappoint Wang Chong in the first game. He performed extremely well and was an important contributor to the Bulls' easy win.

They lost the first game with a total score of 0:1.

The pressure came to the Cavaliers, and Wang Chong, the regular season scoring champion, didn't even play seriously at all. The Cavaliers lost the game, which also embarrassed the entire Cavaliers team.

The only ones who can still speak harshly are the James group, James' die-hard fans.

"The Cavaliers obviously lost this game, but our James did not lose! It can be seen from the data that James was able to score a triple-double of 32+11+11 in his first playoff game. This performance is unparalleled in the league. How many people can do it?"

"Looking at Wang Chong again, without Kobe to help him attract firepower, his scoring ability in the playoffs immediately dropped sharply, only 26 points. Does high scoring in the regular season count as scoring ability? Playoff performance is an important basis for testing the gold content of a star. !”

"Even if the Bulls win the game, it's because the other players on the team are better than the Cavaliers. What's there to be proud of? If it were Wang Chong who led the Cavaliers, they probably wouldn't even make it to the playoffs!"

Put aside the facts and talk about what if.

But their rhetoric can only brainwash themselves.

After the regular season scoring battle between Wang Chong and Kobe, who would still question Wang Chong's scoring ability?

Regular season scoring? You should try to average 35+ points per game. This kind of scoring is not the top scorer in the league, even if you want to do it, it will be difficult.

And any fan who has watched the game can also see that Wang Chong did not go all out seriously during the game. Even if he held back his efforts, he could defeat James' Cavaliers.

And what they call the Bulls' overall lineup is stronger is not what they said at the beginning of the regular season.

Who thought the Cavaliers had a strong lineup at that time? The local Bulls media and fans almost cast doubt on the Bulls management. Apart from Wang Chong, is there any player on the team who has proven himself by performing at a high level?

Even the highest-paid Tyson Chandler's best performance in his career was only 8 points and 9.7 rebounds per game.

Although the Cavaliers' lineup is also very bad, in addition to James, they at least have an All-Star backup center in Big Z, and they have introduced a quasi-All-Star player who averaged 22 points, 6 rebounds and 4.7 assists last season. Larry Hughes.

These two people alone are infinitely better than the Bulls.

It is true that Larry Hughes could not perform as well as he should in the Cavaliers due to injuries, but there are also factors that cannot adapt to James' point forward style of play.

After all, as a defender, Larry Hughes definitely needs the ball in his hands in order to exert his strongest strength.

Even when he was paired with the super point guard general Arenas in the Wizards, his distribution of ball rights was not as poor as in the Cavaliers. Can he really blame himself for his poor performance? ——

On April 4, the second game of the first-round series was still at the Bulls' home court.

这场比赛詹姆斯继续得到30+6+6的漂亮数据，可是尽管拿到30+6+6，但他在比赛中却有高达10次失误，而且24中10让詹姆斯的投篮命中率也不过刚刚超过41%，效率值跟首场比赛简直天差地别。

Not only that, the performance of other Cavaliers players was also unsatisfactory. Under Bell's careful care, Larry Hughes only made 16 of 5 shots and only had 16 points, 4 rebounds and 2 assists. This was already the second highest score on the Cavaliers team. separated.

Big Z was also beaten in the matchup with Tyson Chandler, making only 13 of 3 shots.

This directly led to the Cavaliers only scoring 77 points in the game, while the Bulls Wang Chong scored 28 points, Ellis 20 points, and Luol Deng 21 points. The team scored 94 points, beating the Cavaliers by 17 points, another victory. A hearty victory.

After two games, the Bulls directly beat the Cavaliers 2:0, and the leading points in both games exceeded double digits. It can be seen that the disparity in strength between the two teams is completely clear, and the Bulls can basically be confirmed in the first round. Winning result.

It's just that the Cavaliers are not willing to admit defeat at this time. James still said in the post-game press conference that the abnormal performance in this game was due to the inability to adapt to the rhythm of the playoffs. The next game returned to the Cavaliers' home court in Cleveland. He will definitely perform well and win the game.

Indeed, the home court advantage is very important in the playoffs, and in many cases can even directly determine the outcome of the entire series.

But the problem is, even if the Cavaliers successfully win both games at their home court, so what? Aren't we still going to play at the Bulls' home court next? The Bulls, who have a higher record, will always have a home court advantage when facing the Cavaliers. What's more, even at their own home court, the Cavaliers can't say they can definitely beat the Bulls.

April 4, Game 28 of the first-round series.

At the Quicken Loans Center in Cleveland, as soon as the game started, the Cavaliers immediately showed a strong desire to attack. James, in particular, frequently relied on his teammates to attack the frame with the ball in pick-and-rolls. In only about three minutes of the game, the Cavaliers forced the Bulls to Center Tyson Chandler suffered two defensive fouls and had to leave the game early to avoid the edge.

<divclass="contentadv">Without Chandler guarding the basket, the Bulls' defensive system also showed flaws. The Cavaliers made great efforts and scored 32 points in a single quarter, leading by 32 points at 26:6 in the first quarter.

This is the third game in the current series, and the Cavaliers have taken the lead in a single quarter for the first time.

而詹姆斯个人单节10投6中，罚球6中4，得到16分2篮板2助攻，是骑士队首节比赛能够领先的最大功臣。

Taking advantage of the lead, the Cavaliers worked hard to pursue the victory in the second quarter, scoring another 27 points in a single quarter. At the end of the half, the Cavaliers successfully expanded the point difference to double digits of 10 points.

At halftime, the Cavaliers' home fans breathed a sigh of relief and their tension eased.

Looking at the trend of today's game, the Cavaliers should be able to win this game.

In this case, as long as the Cavaliers continue to maintain their home court advantage and win the next fourth game, the total score will be rewritten to a 2:2 tie. By then, the Cavaliers will have a great chance of winning the series. Cavaliers players The excitement was also high in the locker room.

However, Wang Chong always remained extremely calm.

He saw very clearly that the reason why the Cavaliers were able to dominate the Bulls in the first half was mainly due to two factors.

First, James' ball-handling attack put tremendous pressure on the Bulls' defense. Tyson Chandler was troubled by fouls and did not dare to make major defensive moves in the subsequent games. However, James scored 16 points in the first quarter. , scored another 12 points in the second quarter, and his personal score reached 28 points at halftime.

As for the second reason, it is actually slightly related to the first point.

During the Cavaliers game, Wang Chong clearly felt the change in the referee's whistle.

James's free throws were a bit too easy. There were many actions that could be called or not. Without exception, the referee gave James a whistle and sent him to the free throw line. This was also the reason why Chandler committed two fouls early. main reason.

It had just been half a game, and James had already made 10 free throws. Although he only scored 6 points on free throws due to his poor free throw shooting rate, it still caused great trouble to the Bulls' defense, causing players to dare not There are big defensive moves.

Wang Chong, who discovered this problem, was not surprised at all.

In James' games, this is so normal that it has even become a traditional performance in the future, commonly known as live 7-on-5.

Wang Chong understood what league president Stern meant.

The rise of both he and James clearly allowed Stern to see the shadow of the second black and white duo era.

The era ruled by the basketball god Jordan was certainly the most glorious period in the league, but it is undeniable that the period when Magic Johnson and Bird competed was the important period that truly brought the NBA back to life on the verge of collapse, and The suspense of two strong players competing for supremacy and not knowing who is the final winner is completely different from the suspense of Jordan dominating the world, and the championship is like picking something out of a bag without any suspense.

In fact, the league has already begun to build momentum for the 03 duo this season, using the media to report and compare Wang Chong and James many times. However, in the second half of the season, the scoring battle between Wang Chong and Kobe was too dazzling. It directly overshadowed James's limelight.

Now that the two are directly facing off in the playoffs, Stern certainly hopes that the match between the two will turn into a classic duel where the situation is tense and difficult to distinguish.

But the strength of James' Cavaliers is obviously far behind Wang Chong's Bulls. They lost miserably in the first two games and did not even need Wang Chong's full strength.

If the Cavaliers were swept out by the Bulls 4-0 in the first round, how could there be a peak battle between the 03 duo?

Therefore, 7 versus 5 is natural.

Since James can't win by himself, let the referee help a little, so that the two teams can tie at 2:2 and have the possibility of a battle of kings or even a tiebreaker.

"...It's early enough to recognize your godfather."

Wang Chong really didn't expect it.

But thinking about it carefully, it seems that there is really nothing wrong with it.

It's a coincidence that if it weren't for Wang Chong, the Cavaliers' opponent in this series would have been the Washington Wizards, and in the third game of the series, James won the game with a walking kill in front of the Wizards. , leading the Wizards 2:1.

This buzzer beater later became one of James' most controversial buzzer beaters.

However, the Bulls are not the Wizards, and Wang Chong is not Arenas. He will not give James a chance to win the game, nor will he sit back and wait for death just because he is 10 points behind at halftime.

In the first half of the game, Wang Chong continued the semi-soy sauce style of play from the previous two games, giving other teammates some opportunities to perform, and he did not take many shots.

But now that the Bulls are in a bad situation, it's naturally his turn to step up and turn the tide!

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"Welcome everyone to continue watching the live broadcast of the Bulls vs. Cavaliers game in the first round of the 2005-06 NBA playoffs brought to you by CCTV Sports Channel."

"Back from the halftime break, the situation was already precarious for the Bulls. Not only were they 10 points behind, but the team's main center had three fouls and was in trouble. I wonder if the Bulls discussed it in the locker room during the halftime break. The solution to the current predicament is, will Wang Chong step forward to save the team?"

In the CCTV studio, Director Yu and Director Zhang, familiar to the audience, were analyzing the game.

Director Zhang said: "Wang Chong will definitely start to score in the second half of the game. Although Wang Chong scored lower than James in the previous two games, that is because the Bulls established a score advantage early and there is no need for Wang Chong to continue. It’s just scoring, and now the team is in a disadvantageous situation, he will definitely help the team regain the point difference through his scoring.”

"During the regular season, this is what Wang Chong is best at doing on the court, turning things around with his offensive ability."