NBA: James wants to team up with me

Chapter 202: O'Neal joins the Cavaliers after becoming ill and seeking treatment. Is it useful?

The first battle between the Bulls and the Lakers ended with the Bulls winning.

Kobe took the bait under Wang Chong's silent provocation. He took 30 crazy shots in the game and only hit 11 goals. Although he scored 30 points with free throws, his low offensive efficiency still could not support the Lakers' offensive rhythm.

When the Lakers met the Bulls, the advantage they were proud of inside was gone, as was the advantage of having Kobe Bryant, the league's top scorer in history, on the outside. The only advantage the team still had was Phil Jackson's past gains. The triangle offense that three consecutive championships depended on.

And in the second half of the game, after some adjustments, the Lakers' tactics began to work normally, and they still couldn't take advantage against the Bulls.

On the one hand, the Bulls' defense is indeed very strong. The triangle offense mainly relies on Gasol holding the ball in the high post for support, while the other two players find open shooting opportunities through off-ball movement and pick-and-roll screens.

But what Garnett is best at with the Bulls is defending pick-and-rolls. His extremely fast speed, coupled with his height and long arms, allow Garnett to keep up with players immediately after the pick-and-roll is misplaced.

In fact, in the original 07-08 season, when the Lakers faced off against the Celtics in the Finals, the Lakers' triangle tactics were very difficult. During the Finals, Kobe Bryant averaged only 25.7 points per game and shot 40% from the field, which was far lower than past average.

The same is true for Pau Gasol, who was suppressed by Garnett throughout the game, averaging only 14.7 points, 10 rebounds, 3.3 assists, and 2.2 turnovers per game.

Later in the 08-09 season, due to Garnett's accidental injury that ended the season, the Orlando Magic entered the finals. This gave the Lakers a chance to defeat the Magic in the finals and win the championship.

In the 09-10 season, although the Celtics reached the finals, Garnett was already 34 years old at this time and had experienced serious injuries. His competitive state was far different from two years ago, and the Lakers added The Celtics' main blue-collar center Perkins was injured by the Lakers. After one increase and one decrease, the Celtics lost in the tiebreaker. Lakers.

Since Garnett in the Celtics can successfully limit the Lakers' triangle offense, there is certainly no reason why he can't do it in the Bulls. What's more, the current head coach of the Bulls, Tom Thibodeau, was the original head coach of the Celtics in the 07-08 season. The Celtics are assistant coaches mainly responsible for defensive tactics.

The victory in this battle made Wang Chong feel confident, because in this season's finals, there is a high probability that his Bulls will face the Lakers in the Western Conference.

Since the Lakers are no match for the Bulls, Wang Chong can complete the system upgrade task after the end of this season, open a new system, and break through the shackles of the current ability value that is limited to Durant's growth limit of 97.

This is certainly worth looking forward to.

-

At the end of January, the final results of the three rounds of All-Star voting were announced.

Wang Chong became the NBA vote king for the third consecutive year with 244 million votes.

Garnett followed with 227 million votes.

The league's judgment was correct. After all, James still failed to compete with Garnett. In the end, he only received 210 million votes, ranking third in the Eastern Conference. Thanks to Stern's quick reaction, he immediately moved James to the guard position. , otherwise Lao Zhan might really be an All-Star substitute for one season at the peak of his career.

But even if he succeeds in being selected as the All-Star starter as the No. 1 defender in the Eastern Conference, it would be a great shame and humiliation for James. Obviously he has not decided yet, and some James fans have already jokingly called James LeBron James.

In order to become an All-Star starter, James moved from the forward position to the guard position in the All-Star voting. James can be regarded as the first person in the league in a sense.

The Eastern All-Star starters, according to the final voting results, are Wang Chong, Garnett, James, Wade and Howard.

The Western Conference All-Star starters are Kobe, Iverson, Anthony, Duncan and Dayao.

In this year's All-Star voting, the Western All-Stars were overall suppressed by the Eastern Conference.

Kobe Bryant, the top vote-getter in the Western Conference, received just over 200 million votes. Between Howard and Howard, who received the fourth-highest total votes in the Eastern Conference, the other four players received even fewer votes.

With the arrival of players such as O'Neal, Wang Chong, Garnett, and Ray Allen in the Eastern Conference and the rise of players from the 03 class such as James, Wade, and Bosh, the league's situation of strong west and weak east seems to have begun to change. loose.

This time in the All-Star Game, for the Bulls, they were finally proud.

Not only were Wang Chong and Garnett selected as All-Star starters, but Billups was also successfully selected as an Eastern All-Star substitute by virtue of averaging 16+8 per game.

This means that the Bulls have three All-Stars selected. Compared with the situation two years ago when the Bulls only had one All-Star, Wang Chong, it is not too dreamy.

This also confirms the strength of the Bulls' lineup from another aspect. They are equivalent to the Celtics' replacement for the Big Three in the 07-08 season... No, considering that Wang Chong's personal ability far exceeds Pierce and Ray Allen. In this case, the Bulls' Big Three should be the luxurious upgraded plus version of the Celtics.

The powerful Bulls have only one goal this season, aiming for the championship!

In fact, in addition to Wang Chong, Garnett and Billups being selected for the All-Star Game, second-year Paul Millsap and first-year Marc Gasol also participated in the All-Star Rookie Challenge. James Jones also represented the Bulls in the All-Star Three-Point Contest.

Originally, James Jones participated in the three-point contest for the first time in 2011.

Jones, who has joined the Heat, won the three-point contest for the first time and won the three-point contest.

It's now four years earlier than originally planned, mainly because his exposure and popularity as a starter on the Bulls have increased significantly.

Jones serves as the Bulls' starting shooting guard. Strictly speaking, he is a pseudo-starter. He averages less than 30 minutes per game and is not a true starting force.

But his effect on the court is very good. Just like the original 07-08 season, Jones' three-point shooting percentage this season is quite high, reaching 44%, second only to the Suns' Nash and the Hornets' Peja S. Tojakovic.

And because of his status as a starter, Jones' production was much higher than in the original 07-08 season.

Although as a fixed-point shooter, Jones takes open shots in most cases, and his scoring and shooting percentage are relatively speculative, it is undeniable that he is indeed one of the best outside shooters in the league.

This has also directly led to the Bulls' three outside starters' three-point shooting percentages this season being all above 40%. Jones is 44%, Wang Chong is 41%, and Billups is 40%. This is the only one in the league. This is also the Bulls. One of the important reasons why the team can rank first in the league in defensive efficiency and also rank in the upper reaches of the league in offensive scoring.

The start time of the 2008 All-Star Weekend is similar to previous years, also in mid-February.

On February 2, after the Bulls' regular season games were completed, the players participating in the All-Star Weekend took a flight to New Orleans.

The host of the 2008 All-Star Game is the New Orleans Hornets.

<divclass="contentadv">Although the Bulls have almost the largest number of participants in this All-Star Game, the protagonists in the game are not the Bulls.

Let’s ignore the previous games for the time being. The most important All-Star game, although the Bulls had three people selected for the main game, two of whom were All-Star starters, none of them contributed much during the game, including Wang Chong. He only played a symbolic game for about 25 minutes, scored 18 points and 5 rebounds, and then went down to watch the excitement.

In the end, the Eastern Conference, led by two Cleveland stars, James with 27 points, 8 rebounds and 9 assists and a near triple-double, and Ray Allen with 28 points, defeated the Western All-Stars by a huge margin and won this All-Star Game.

James was also successfully elected as the All-Star MVP with a quasi-triple-double data. This is the second time that James has been elected as the All-Star MVP.

But this year's All-Star game was somewhat boring.

Wang Chong did not play seriously in the All-Star Game. He obviously planned to focus on the subsequent regular season. Garnett, who was with him, obviously had the same idea. Garnett only played in the Eastern Conference All-Star Game. In about 18 minutes, the scores and rebounds were in single digits.

In the original 07-08 season, although Garnett was selected as the top vote-getter, he directly missed the game due to injury, and Bosh took the starting position.

The situation is similar in the West. Kobe also suffered a finger injury. Although he started as an All-Star, he only played 2 minutes and then went off to rest. The final data was 0 points, 1 rebound and 0 assists.

Without the two top stars Kobe and Garnett, Wang Chong was still paddling in the game, so the game was naturally not very exciting. Many fans thought that James, the regular season MVP, was not a winner.

But in fact, the essence is that no one really takes the All-Star MVP seriously. Wang Chong and Kobe have exactly the same goals, and they are both championships.

After this somewhat unsatisfactory All-Star Weekend, the regular season has entered its final sprint period. The end of February, the entire month of March, and the nearly two-month schedule in early April will be the final period for the NBA playoffs.

Before that, the first step is the last trading day of the league before the trade deadline.

For championship teams such as the Bulls, Lakers, and Spurs, which have complete lineups, tacit cooperation, and good chemical reactions, they will try to avoid the team's large-scale transactions in the middle and late seasons of the season to destroy the existing good chemical reactions.

The original Lakers traded Gasol in February. Now because of the butterfly effect brought by Wang Chong, Gasol joined the Lakers during the offseason last summer. Naturally, the Lakers did not trade him. idea.

Even so, before the trade deadline, a big deal occurred in the league that caused a sensation in the league, and it was also a deal that Wang Chongdu did not expect at all.

The Miami Heat sent Shaquille O'Neal to Shaquille O'Neal and acquired Ben Wallace, Drew Gooden and a first-round pick from the Cleveland Cavaliers.

O'Neal officially joined Cleveland, and the Cavaliers' Big Three were upgraded.

The Heat exchanged Ben and Gooden for a first-rounder, and they are obviously ready to rebuild the team.

But there's nothing we can do about it.

The Heat's record this season is like diving from a high platform. They directly came to the bottom of the Eastern Conference, which surprised everyone.

One of the reasons for this situation is that Wade was troubled by injuries and his attendance rate was not high. At the same time, his personal performance also declined to 24 points, 4 rebounds and 7 assists.

On the other hand, it is the rapid aging of the Heat's main lineup to win the championship.

O'Neal's condition has declined significantly this season, averaging only 14 points and 8 rebounds per game, and he has also missed dozens of games due to old injuries. This not only caused O'Neal to lose his position as the starting center for the Eastern Conference All-Stars in the past few years, but he was even an All-Star substitute. Not selected.

But no matter what, a skinny camel is bigger than a horse after all. The Cavaliers are now in urgent need of medical treatment. With Ben having only 5 points and 7 rebounds this season, the transaction value has fallen to the bottom. This price is already earned in exchange for O'Neal.

They can only hope that after O'Neal came to the Cavaliers, after some recuperation, he can have a strong outbreak in the playoffs, especially when facing the Bulls, it is likely to have miraculous effects.

Everyone knows that what the Bulls are most afraid of right now is a heavy center with top offensive ability. Like Yao, Gasol can't stand it, and Garnett is a big center that can't be guarded.

The Cavaliers' deal made the situation in the Eastern Conference a bit confusing again, especially a few days after the deal, the Cavaliers faced the Bulls at home. O'Neal, who had just joined the Cavaliers, immediately made great contributions and returned to glory. He scored 27 points and 10 rebounds, helping the Cavaliers defeat the Bulls 107:102, breaking the Bulls' long-lasting winning streak against the Cavaliers.

Cavaliers fans were almost crying with excitement.

This was the Cavaliers' first victory against the Bulls after Wang Chong joined the Bulls. It was a historic breakthrough from 0 to 1.

This result made Wang Chong a little dumbfounded. He didn't expect that the Cavaliers' exchange for O'Neal actually worked.

But even so, he didn't care, because Wang Chong knew very well that O'Neal was really old at this time.

Maybe once in a while, you can perform at your peak in one or two games when you are in good form, but it is absolutely impossible to perform at the same high efficiency in two or more consecutive games.

Originally, in the 07-08 season, O'Neal was supposed to be traded away by the Suns for Shawn Marion.

Now running to the Cavaliers early is also caused by Wang Chong's butterfly effect.

The Suns did not hesitate to send away Marion in exchange for O'Neal. The main purpose was to use O'Neal to restrain the Spurs. However, the Suns lineup, which was originally a running and gunning team, had an old and slow O'Neal in the lineup, and he would not be able to play.

The Suns, who shot themselves in the foot, were eliminated by the Spurs in a 4:1 gentleman sweep in the first round.

O'Neal averaged only 15 points and 9 rebounds per game in these five games, shooting 44% from the field, completely lacking the sharpness of the past Sharks.

Although the Cavaliers are not a run-and-gun team like the Suns, and they are not extremely incompatible with O'Neal due to their playing style, this does not mean that O'Neal can perform better in the Cavaliers than in the Suns.

After all, the Suns still have Nash, who is proficient in passing, and Stoudemire in the post to provide support for him. After the Cavaliers sent away Big Z, Big Ben and Gooden in the post, there is basically no one available now, just one What can O'Neal do in his old age?