Legend of Tomorrow

On December 30, the Lakers easily defeated the underdog Rockets at home and won 27 games.

After Olajuwon left, the Rockets lost their core inside and relied on blue-collar Kevin Cato to start the game. Their offense focused on the backcourt.

Cuttino-Mobley averaged 42 minutes per game, scoring 22 points, 4 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 1.5 steals, shooting 44% from the field and 39.5% from the three-point range.

Steve Francis averaged 41 minutes per game, 21.5 points, 7 rebounds, 6.4 assists and 1.2 steals, shooting 41.7% from the field and 32.4% from the three-point range.

At first glance, these two people look very good, with good offensive firepower. In fact, they are just shooting to kill birds. The Rockets have basically no tactics. They started with 9 wins and 22 losses, and there is no hope of entering the playoffs.

Mobley averaged two three-pointers per game. He was very confident in catching and shooting, and his efficiency was pretty good.

Francis is completely unqualified as the core. Not only does he have poor shot selection and low shooting percentage, but he also averages 4 turnovers per game.

The Rockets' shooting percentage is even lower than this year's No. 7 pick Eddie Griffin, who shot 36.4% and only averaged 8.8 points on 9 shots per game. Compared with Richard Jeffer, who swapped teams with him. Sen, this is such a tragedy.

This time, the Western Conference Player of the Month goes to O'Neal. He averages 24 points and 10 rebounds per game and is the most stable on the Lakers.

Entering 2002, the Lakers' opponents in January were almost all underdogs, and they continued their winning streak. After defeating the Pacers on January 9, they reached an astonishing 32-game winning streak.

The opponent in Game 33 was the Timberwolves, and the media was immediately ready to announce that the Lakers had tied their historical winning streak.

Unexpectedly, the Lakers fell behind at the start and fell behind by 17 points at halftime. Guo Xu and Kobe became blacksmiths, the Lakers' role players performed abnormally, and after Timberwolves veteran Trill Brandon was absent, the team did well on both offense and defense.

Minnesota players want to win and play proactively. If an Alaskan dog doesn't show off its power, you think I'm a Husky!

Billups served as Brandon's substitute for a long time, and the edges on his body were worn away. He played much more steadily, organized the offense very well, and also hit 4 three-pointers himself.

It's a pity that Billups is a heavy defender and his pursuit speed is not fast enough. He still has weaknesses in dealing with Guo Xu. Guo Xu hit three three-pointers in the final quarter, including a three-pointer that tied the score at 11.3 seconds, dragging the game into overtime.

In overtime, Nesterovich committed 6 fouls and left the game.

O'Neal scored 4 points in a row, assisted Jim Jackson in a three-pointer, and established a 7-0 advantage.

In the end, the Lakers defeated the Timberwolves and tied the historical record with 33 consecutive victories.

The Lakers' 34th opponent is the Wizards.

The Wizards are an underdog, so it's normal that they can't beat the Lakers, but with Michael Jordan on their team, it's even more embarrassing.

This is Jordan's second comeback. When he announced that he would donate all of his first season's annual salary of US$1 million to the American people who were traumatized by September 11, it caused a huge sensation in the sports world and even the entire American society.

Moreover, Jordan did not choose the Bulls, but the Wizards, the team in Washington, the capital of the United States! This choice is called a political choice!

Unfortunately, it seems now that this was a wrong decision, which caused Jordan to step down from the altar and become a mortal.

Jordan's first retirement was willful because he was already overwhelmed; his first comeback was expected and saved the sluggish NBA.

That comeback not only did not make Jordan's popularity decline, but also pushed him to a new level. After all, he only started his second three consecutive championships at the age of 33. Such a miracle is difficult to replicate again.

And this time when Jordan came back, it was not for the championship, but for personal gain.

After Jordan retired in 1998, he had no shortage of money to spend. His salary reached 30 million in the last two years, and his sneakers also brought him huge income. However, Jordan was not satisfied and wanted to invest in the Bulls. However, the Bulls' management had conflicts with Jordan, so he had no choice but to choose the Wizards.

Before his comeback, Jordan was the general manager of the Wizards and owned 5%-10% of the team's shares. Washington fans also bought into it at first, thinking that they could see Jordan by buying tickets. However, after they realized that spending money could only It was different after seeing Jordan sitting in the top box smoking a cigar. In the 2000-01 season, the Wizards ranked last in the league in ticket sales.

The league stipulates that players cannot own shares of the team, so Jordan decided to follow the example of the Magic in 1996.

Johnson also made a brief comeback in the 1995-96 season. At that time, he made an agreement with Lakers owner Buss to sell his shares to Buss first. When he retired, he could buy back the shares from Buss at the original price.

So Jordan also reached a verbal agreement with Wizards owner Abel Pollin. After selling his shares, he would use his comeback to attract attendance, and then buy back the shares at the original price when he retired.

In Guo Xu's previous life, it turned out that Jordan's appeal was indeed strong, and the Wizards' ticket sales immediately increased after his comeback.

However, when Jordan retired again in 2003, owner Pauline regretted not returning the shares to Jordan, and broke out and directly drove Jordan away like the Bulls did back then, and no longer allowed him to participate in any Wizards management work.

Jordan was not so angry that he had a cerebral infarction or a heart attack, all thanks to his super physical fitness.

What's even worse is that Jordan is no longer the omnipotent god in the hearts of fans. People discovered that Jordan, who has always been deified, turned out to be tired with age, completely inconsistent with psychological expectations. Many fans don't even bother to vote for Jordan in the All-Star Game. He can still be a starter in the East this year, but when he becomes popular in the West, he can only be a substitute.

The Wizards' goal for the new season is just to hit the playoffs. Apart from Jordan and Hamilton, the Wizards have no stars that they can use. Their sixth man this season turned out to be Tyronn Lue, which shows the potential of this team.

Tyronn Lue's performance was beyond expectations, and the Wizards felt like they had found a treasure with their basic salary. He averaged 20.5 minutes per game, scoring 8 points and 3.5 assists.

But the Wizards' No. 1 pick Kwame Brown was so disappointing, averaging only 15 minutes per game and 5 points and 3.5 rebounds. He was just a blue-collar defensive player who was often scolded by Jordan.

After the game started, Guo Xu served as a substitute, and Fisher took the ball to the frontcourt and passed the ball. The biggest highlight was the matchup between Jordan and Kobe.

Both of them were very active in defense and kept getting close to each other, but the strength gap between the teammates on both sides was too big, so this was destined not to be a battle between dragons and tigers.

Kobe can't break through but can pass, and Jordan can't break through. There are too few options for passing.

O'Neal quickly became the protagonist on the court, singled out Jahidi White to score consecutive points.

Jahidi is a strange player, 206cm tall and 132kg in weight. He can resist O'Neal, but his height cannot prevent O'Neal from turning around and shooting.

The Lakers led by 10 points in a single quarter. In the second quarter, Guo Xu took the bench and extended the score 13 to 2. Tyronn Lue was guarded to death by him. On the offensive end, Guo Xu played a pick-and-roll, leaving Tyronn Lue and Haywood unable to do anything.

There is no suspense. The Lakers stepped on Jordan and set a new historical record-34 consecutive victories!

Kobe had a triple-double with 20 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists; O'Neal and Guo Xu scored 20+ each.

The Lakers have broken all the league's records in the past two seasons, and their playoff record is even less likely to be broken. At most, it will be tied, because they have won all of them.

After the game, the news media unanimously recognized that the Lakers have the strongest Big Three in NBA history and are the strongest team in history.