NBA: James wants to team up with me

Chapter 164: He defeated the Pistons with 43 points in a single game. Are we really going to enter the Eastern Conference Finals?

Wang Chong made 8 of 5 shots in the first quarter, including 3 of 2 three-pointers and 4 of 4 free throws. He scored 16 points in a single quarter. He single-handedly forced the Pistons to use double-team tactics against him, causing the Pistons to The defensive capabilities of other Bulls players weakened, allowing the Bulls to lead by 5 points in the first quarter.

Of course, the more important problem is that the Pistons have no good way to defeat the Bulls on the offensive end.

It is said that defense can win championships, but it does not mean that offense is not important. It is very simple and easy to understand. Basketball games are the same as most sports competitions. The subjective factor that determines the outcome is who scores more points on both sides.

No matter how strong your defensive ability is, or even strong enough to give the opponent a clean sheet, if you score zero points at the end of the game, you still can't win the game.

This is also the reason why the Spurs and Pistons, two top defensive teams, faced off in last season's finals, and the Spurs were able to have the last laugh and win the championship trophy.

As a strong defensive team, the Spurs have the GDP trio of Duncan, Ginobili and Parker, and all three have performed well on the court.

On the other hand, the Pistons relied heavily on the two guards of Billups and Hamilton on the offensive end. The third scoring point in the finals was Rasheed Wallace, who averaged 10.9 points per game. It was natural that they lost the finals. .

Today's Pistons, compared to last year's Finals, the biggest change is the change of head coach.

There was no clue during the regular season, and the Pistons also entered the playoffs with the league's first record.

But when faced with some more targeted tactics in the playoffs, Flip Saunders' ability to adapt is obviously incomparable to Larry Brown's. After all, both of them know the Pistons team very well. Far from it.

The result was that in the 05-06 season, although the Pistons defeated the Cavaliers in the second round with difficulty in a tiebreaker to advance to the Eastern Conference finals, they faced the Heat's combination of Wade and O'Neal in the Eastern Conference finals, but were no match for them and were defeated 4:2.

Although Wang Chong is definitely not as good as Wade and O'Neal, the Bulls' defense is much better than the Heat.

During the regular season this season, the Bulls averaged 94 points per game. Although it was higher than the Spurs, which averaged 88 points per game, and the Pistons, which averaged 90 points per game, they were still within the top ten in the league. They are definitely considered a strong defensive team with great defensive and offensive capabilities. Ordinary pistons are of course no problem.

The game between the two teams continues.

Pistons fans are also looking forward to the Pistons regaining their momentum in the second quarter and launching a vigorous attack to overtake the 5-point lead.

But it backfired.

In the second quarter, the Pistons had an offensive drought. Billups made 4 of 1 shots, Rasheed Wallace made 4 of 1 shots, Prince made 3 of 0 shots, and Ben Wallace even made one shot. None. The entire Pistons team was only supported by Hamilton who made 4 of 3 shots. The team only scored 17 points in a single quarter, which was not as good as the first quarter.

But while the Pistons were attacking, the Bulls weren't doing much better.

In order to save physical energy, Wang Chong's number of shots was significantly reduced in the second quarter. He used his offensive power more often on the court to help his teammates attract defensive attention.

But the Pistons' problem also exists for the Bulls at this stage.

Except for Wang Chong, the Bulls did not have a second strong scoring point. Ellis, who played well in the first round, was easily handled by Billups even though he was very careful.

The two are completely different in terms of strength and game experience. Ellis was unable to take advantage of his speed on the court. Instead, Billups used his strength to suppress him.

As for Raja Bell and Luol Deng, neither of them are players who can attack with the ball. Bell is slightly better. If he catches the ball from the outside, he can shoot a three-pointer. Luol Deng is It's a bit miserable. His main scoring method on the offensive end is to cut into the penalty area and score without the ball.

However, the Pistons have Ben Wallace, a talisman inside the team, which directly makes Luol Deng useless on the offensive end.

The two teams played like rookies pecking each other in the second quarter. At 17:18, the Bulls won by 1 point. At halftime, the score between the two teams was 44:38. The Bulls' lead changed from 5 points in the first quarter to 6 points. , the gap is still not big.

In the second half of the game, the Pistons' offensive touch began to gradually pick up. Billups and Hamilton hit three-pointers from the outside one after another. The Pistons began to gradually catch up with the point difference. Halfway through the three quarters, the scores of the two teams were officially tied.

But the Pistons fans who saw their team tie the score were not too excited, because everyone knew very well that Wang Chong, the really difficult guy for the Bulls, had not yet started to exert his strength.

After scoring 16 points in the first quarter, Wang Chong kept playing hard in the rest of the game. Especially in the first half of the third quarter, during the 6 minutes of the game, Wang Chong spent more than half of the time resting off the court, obviously to conserve energy. , preparing to take away the Pistons in a wave in the second half of the game.

Therefore, it is not the key for the Pistons to catch up with the point difference now. The key is whether Wang Chong can prevent his offensive scoring after returning to the court!

Originally, Pistons fans felt that no matter how strong Wang Chong's scoring was, he would have to be limited in the face of the Pistons' iron-blooded defense, especially the Dinghai Shenzhen inside.

But now it seems that Wang Chong's offensive firepower has not diminished at all, and has even intensified.

Wang Chong, who scored 16 points in the first quarter and 6 points in the second quarter, already scored 22 points in the half. He has not exerted his strength in the second half. If we judge based on the offensive efficiency in the first half, he is afraid that he will score 40+ points in a single quarter again. .

Who can handle this?

They were right.

After the Pistons tied the score, the Bulls immediately called a timeout to adjust. After the timeout, Wang Chong reappeared and took charge of the first ball. He used the pick-and-roll of his teammates to rush into the penalty area for a layup, causing a defensive foul on Rasheed Wallace. , went to the free throw line and made 2 of 2 free throws.

Head coach Sanders, who was sitting on the Pistons bench, frowned and his heart gradually sank.

The thing I was most worried about actually happened.

In the next few rounds, the Bulls' offense was almost dominated by Wang Chong. Even if the Pistons repeated their old tricks and continued to use double teams to try to force Wang Chong to give up the offense and pass to his teammates, it no longer worked.

Durant's ability to break double teams is weak, but that is only relatively speaking, and it does not mean that he is helpless when faced with double teams.

If double-teaming alone could really limit Durant's scoring, he would not be able to win four scoring titles and become the strongest scorer in the new century.

<divclass="contentadv">Faced with the double-teaming of Prince and Rashid, Wang Chong's choice is the simplest and most direct pull-up jumper, which highlights the feel of fighting against you.

This is Kobe's special skill. Kobe, who is not afraid of anything, will often force shots against the defense of three or four people on the court. Although most of the time the shots end up in the iron, as long as he makes a shot, he can Let his fans brag for days.

"They're a bunch of losers. They can't guard the boss even if they are guarding him. Why are they playing basketball? Go to the factory and knock screws."

At this time, they will selectively ignore how many shots Kobe missed before hitting the shot, or that it is normal to miss when facing multiple defenders. Kobe's ability to make a few of those goals is the biggest contributor.

Although Wang Chong's current style of play is exactly the same as Kobe's, his shooting rate is much higher than that of Kobe. On the one hand, his height and wingspan advantage is too prominent on the court. As long as he plays high, he can defend even if he is double-teamed. There's no way to stop him from shooting, it just consumes more of his energy.

On the other hand, the purple Hall of Fame-level marksman badge is no joke. It can minimize the negative impact of Wang Chong's forced shot against the defense.

In the second half of the third quarter, Wang Chong faced double teams and forced shots in various ways. Although his shooting percentage was not comparable to that in the first quarter, it always remained stable above 45%. In the battle between the Pistons and Bulls, two strong defensive teams, In the game, if outside players can shoot more than 45% from the field, it is considered efficient scoring.

Therefore, when the third quarter ended, the Bulls re-established a 5-point lead. Wang Chong scored 8 points in the second half of the third quarter and 10 points in a single quarter. After three quarters, his personal score had risen to 30 points.

Allowing one player to score 30 points in three quarters has already proved in advance the failure of the Pistons' defensive tactics against Wang Chong.

But the third quarter of the game was actually just a warm-up activity for Wang Chong. The final fourth quarter of the game was when he really went all out.

Throughout the fourth quarter, Wang Chong made 11 of 5 shots, 3 of 1 three-pointers, and 2 of 2 free throws. He once again scored 13 points. The Pistons could only watch, whether they were double-teaming Wang Chong with Prince. Rasheed Wallace, who is still waiting in the paint to step forward to help defend, has nothing to do against Wang Chong who scores like a melon and a vegetable.

In a slightly quiet arena at the Palace of Auburn Hills, Wang Chong's final statistics were fixed at 43 points, 8 rebounds and 3 assists.

The Bulls unexpectedly won their first victory in the second round of the playoffs with a score of 86:82, and it was also at the Pistons' Auburn Hills Palace, which has always been known as the devil's home court.

In this game, the score of both teams was actually not high, because the defensive intensity of both sides was very strong.

For the Pistons, four players scored in double figures. Hamilton and Billups both scored 20+ points. However, due to poor touch, Billups shot only 38% and sent out 5 assists. At the same time, there were 4 turnovers, and the performance was actually not good.

As for the other two players who scored in double figures, Rasheed Wallace and Prince scored only 11 and 10 points respectively.

Although the Bulls won the game, the actual situation was not as good as the Pistons.

Monta Ellis was controlled by Billups throughout the game, making only 13 of 4 shots and barely scoring 13 points on free throws.

Laga Bell and Luol Deng, two players who do not have the ability to attack independently, scored in single digits under the Pistons' extremely oppressive defense, but did not reach double figures.

倒是泰森.钱德勒在禁区内得到不少接球吃饼的机会，篮下7投6中，罚球4中3，得到15分10篮板的两双。

Although Ben Wallace is the league's top interior defensive player, he is not invincible. In this game, he put a lot of energy on Wang Chong, so that he had no time to worry about him who has almost no independent offensive ability. Chandler.

When Chandler catches the ball at the basket, it is often too late for him to come back to defend. After all, there is a huge height gap between the two. Chandler's height is really not what he wants to block shots. It can be blocked.

In addition to Wang Chong, the Bulls only have Ellis and Chandler. If Wang Chong hadn't scored 43 points in a single game, the Bulls would not have been able to win. In other words, the victory in this game was almost entirely attributed to Wang Chong. Won by oneself.

Of course, this statement is actually a bit arrogant. The other main players of the Bulls are not without their efforts on the court. Although the offensive end performed poorly, without their desperate efforts on the defensive end, they successfully brought the Pistons' offense down to the same level as them. level, let alone 43 points, even if Wang Chong scored 50+ points in the game, it would be difficult for him to lead his team to victory.

Therefore, at the press conference after the game, Wang Chong, who was the focus of reporters, behaved particularly low-key.

"The victory in this game is by no means due to me alone. Although I scored more points, the efforts of my teammates on the defensive end are more important to me, so the victory belongs to every player on the team, and I will too. Try to live up to the expectations of your teammates, continue to help the team win the series, and advance to the Eastern Conference Finals!"

Break into the Eastern Conference Finals.

This is one of the two promises Wang Chong made before the start of the new season.

The first promise was to lead the team to win 50+ games in the regular season. He has already achieved it and exceeded the task, leading the Bulls to the fourth best record in the league.

The second commitment is to lead the team to the Eastern Conference Finals in the playoffs.

Originally, everyone thought that there was a high probability that Wang Chong would not be able to fulfill this promise. After all, the Bulls were just a new team formed in the new season. The team only had one All-Star player in Wang Chong, and its strength was far from the traditional powerhouses in the East.

And even if Wang Chong is unable to fulfill his promise, it will not hinder his position in the hearts of Bulls fans. Even the major sports media, which have always been demanding, will not be harsh on Wang Chong, but will praise him greatly.

Because Wang Chong has led this under-promised Bulls team into the second round, facing the Pistons, the number one team in the Eastern Conference, there is nothing wrong with losing the series.

But now, the two sides have just finished the first game of the series, and the Pistons actually lost the game at their home court. Moreover, the Pistons, as one of the most defensive teams in the league, were actually scored 43 points by Wang Chong in a single game.

This can't help but make people think. Is it possible that the Pistons are really going to capsize in the gutter and be overturned by the Bulls' bunch of newborn calves?

If that's the case, wouldn't Wang Chong be too awesome?

This is just the first time in his career that he has played in the playoffs as the core leader of the team, and he actually made it directly to the Eastern Conference Finals. In time, wouldn't the championship be within reach?