NBA: James wants to team up with me

Chapter 77 Dayao: Unfortunately, he is not Chinese

Fans who are familiar with Dayao know that after his relatively young rookie season, Dayao rarely suffered a loss when he faced O'Neal.

In the 03-04 season, in the first round of the playoffs, the Lakers played against the Rockets. Although the Lakers easily defeated the Rockets with a score of 4:1 to advance, the duel between O'Neal and Dayao was indistinguishable.

In 5 games, O'Neal averaged 16.2 points and 11.2 rebounds per game and shot 51.5% from the field. Dayao averaged 15 points and 7.4 rebounds per game and shot 45.6% from the field.

From a statistical point of view, O'Neal is still slightly better than Yao, but in fact, Karl Malone performed well in this series, averaging 18 points and 10.4 rebounds per game, which caused a lot of damage to Yao who needs to protect the basket at the basket. Trouble.

Moreover, O'Neal, who was invincible in the playoffs in previous seasons, only averaged 16 points per game when facing Dayao, which in itself is enough to explain the problem.

It is said that O'Neal was already old in the 03-04 season, but why was O'Neal able to play when he faced Duncan of the Spurs in the second round, Garnett of the Timberwolves in the Western Conference Finals, and Ben Wallace of the Pistons in the Finals? What about scoring 20+10 points on average?

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The Christmas game between the Lakers and Rockets will be broadcast live on CCTV.

In the studio, the two commentators responsible for explaining this game were already in place. When the equipment was turned on, professional standard smiles appeared on their faces.

"Hello, viewers, welcome to the 2003-04 NBA regular season games. What we bring to you today is the game between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Houston Rockets. As we all know, December 12th is Christmas in the United States, and the NBA has always They all have the tradition of a Christmas war..."

Director Yu talked eloquently to the camera, educating the audience about the value of this Christmas battle.

At the same time, the audience in front of the TV also saw on the broadcast screen the players from both sides warming up on the court, as well as Wang Chong and Dayao who had no idea when they got together to talk and laugh.

"Oh, we see that Dayao is having a good chat with Wang Chong. I believe viewers who are familiar with the NBA already know who Wang Chong is, but I still want to introduce it to my new friends. Wang Chong is a Chinese-American who passed the 2003 He entered the league with the th pick in the first round of the draft, making him the highest drafted yellow player in NBA history except Dayao."

"Wang Chong is indeed worthy of his draft pick. He is really good. In his rookie season alone, he averaged 18 points and 6 rebounds per game. In Dayao's rookie season last year, he averaged 13.5 points per game. He scored 8.2 rebounds, but they have different positions and different playing styles, so they cannot be generalized."

"Today's Christmas war can be regarded as a Chinese derby in a sense..."

The Lakers' starting lineup remains unchanged forever, still Payton, Kobe, Wang Chong, Malone and O'Neal.

The Rockets' starting five are point guard Steve Francis, shooting guard Cuttino Mobley, small forward Jim Jackson, power forward Kevin Cato, and center Dayao.

In the jump ball stage, O'Neal finally faced his opponent who had no height advantage at all.

In the current league, there are really only a handful of centers who can surpass O'Neal's height of 2 meters, including Dayao who is 16 meters tall.

After the referee threw the basketball into the sky, Dayao used his height advantage to successfully win the jump ball.

Dayao is not only one of the few players in the league who is taller than O'Neal, he is also one of the limited or even the only inside players who can compete with O'Neal during this period.

This is really not a boast.

Although O'Neal has reached the end of his career at this period, Yao is the only center in the league who can play back and forth with O'Neal.

Of course, the premise is to exclude Duncan. Duncan mostly appears as a center for the Spurs, but his registered position and the position he has participated in various selections are PF power forward.

Before the game, the duel was the focus of media hype. O'Neal and Dayao naturally faced off directly from the beginning of the game.

<divclass="contentadv">First of all, Dayao shot a mid-range jumper. O'Neal didn't have the mobility to defend against it, so he could only watch Dayao, who had a soft touch, hit the shot.

However, when the ball changed, O'Neal was not to be outdone. He attacked from the inside and knocked away Dayao for a one-handed dunk.

During this period, Dayao Yao had begun to gain weight under the coaching of Jeff Van Gundy, who loved traditional heavy centers, and his weight reached about 140 kilograms. Although with his height, even at this weight, he still does not look very strong, but The confrontational ability has improved a lot, but it is obviously still not enough to face O'Neal. However, Yao's pace is not as slow as his future transformation into a heavy center. Coupled with the mid-range shooting range, he still has a fighting chance against O'Neal. Power.

While the two top insiders were competing at the basket, the Lakers and Rockets outside players were also competing.

The Lakers' outside ace is naturally Kobe.

The Rockets' outside core is Francis.

Facing Payton, who is known as the strongest defensive expert, Francis was not afraid at all. Under Dayao's pick-and-roll screen, he continued to attack the inside and score consecutive points.

But Kobe's side felt bad. He failed in three consecutive attempts to attack. He made 3 of 0 shots and failed to score a single point.

Seeing this situation, Phil Jackson decisively adjusted his tactics and shifted the focus of his attack to Wang Chong's side.

The current Lakers have such an advantage. Even when Kobe's state is ups and downs, there is Wang Chong, who is as stable as an old dog in the outside mid-range shooting. They use a set of tried and tested pick-and-roll tactics that no matter who the opponent is Stare.

The Rockets are no exception.

After Wang Chong set a pick-and-roll for Payton, he pulled him directly to the free throw line in the opposite direction. When Payton passed the ball back to Wang Chong, Francis, who was standing in front of Wang Chong, looked at 2 meters tall and raised his long Wang Chong, who was holding his arms, was speechless.

"Shh!"

Wang Chong, who almost hit a mid-range shot without defense, turned around and returned to defense, while Boss Fu couldn't help but ask Dayao on the side. "Are all the people there big?"

Dayao opened his mouth, not knowing how to answer.

Compared with the United States, the development of basketball in China is indeed quite backward. Except for tall big men with good static talents, few people can stand out and have the opportunity to land in the NBA.

Before Dayao, the two players from China who successfully landed in the NBA, Dazhi and Daba, were also inside players.

Wang Chong is actually an exception. Although he is 2 meters tall, he is a solid outside player. He is a very rare talent in China.

It's a pity... He is a Chinese-American, not a Chinese, and cannot participate in the Chinese national team. Otherwise, Dayao would definitely recommend Wang Chong to join the national team and participate in the 04 Athens Olympics.