NBA: Top 3D talents to start

Chapter 320 Division semifinals, against the Rockets
Although Harden's performance was not good, the performance of other Rockets players was better than that of the Trail Blazers.

Lillard has only one CJ McCollum by his side, but the Rockets have Paul, Gordon, PJ Tucker, Capela and many other good players.

The two sides fought until the tiebreaker. In the end, the Rockets were slightly better, eliminated the Blazers and entered the playoffs, and joined the Lakers in the semifinals.

The other Western Conference matchup is the Golden State Warriors who eliminated the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Denver Nuggets who eliminated the Utah Jazz.

Although the Nuggets are strong under the leadership of Nikola Jokic, they obviously have no strong resistance against the Warriors.

As for the Lakers VS Rockets series, everyone is also more optimistic about the Lakers.

Wang Feng and Harden are old rivals. Whenever he meets Wang Feng, Harden's performance is basically not good. Although there are occasional exceptions, in most cases, Harden's shooting percentage will be restricted by Wang Feng to below 40%.

And compared to the depth of the lineup, the Lakers are obviously stronger than the Rockets.

Although the Rockets fought the Warriors in 7 games in last year's playoffs and almost overturned the Warriors, the major media forecasts before the game still believed that the Lakers could win the final game, and most of the media's score predictions It is 4:3, that is, it is believed that the two teams will fight seven games, and the final outcome will be determined in the tiebreaker.

In this regard, Wang Feng does not think so.

The Rockets are not strong this season, far from last year's level, including the level of Harden and Paul in the playoffs.

He doesn't want to go to Game [-] with such a Rockets team. If possible, he wants to set aside more time and energy to prepare for the Western Conference Finals against the Golden State Warriors.

The current playoffs are completely different from the playoffs in another time and space that Wang Feng is familiar with.

The Lakers turned out to make the Warriors, who should have been ranked first in the Western Conference, rank second in the Western Conference, and therefore missed the conference semifinals game against the Rockets.

Kevin Durant was injured in the game against the Rockets, and then truceed the entire Western Conference Finals. In the Finals, the Warriors were 1:3 behind and forced a comeback, and eventually they were reimbursed for the season with a torn ligament.

Now that the Warriors are facing the Nuggets in the Western Conference semifinals, it is hard to say whether Durant will be injured like in another time and space, it may or may not.

Wang Feng must be mentally prepared to face the full Warriors in the Western Conference Finals.

However, judging from the situation in the first round of the series, the Warriors are still plagued by injuries.

In the original 18-19 season, the Warriors suffered a total of 16 injuries throughout the playoffs, involving several key players including Curry, Durant, Thompson, Cousins, and Iguodala. In the end, at the end of the finals, Durant, Thompson, and Cousins ​​were all reimbursed for the season, and Curry, Iguodala, and Livingston also suffered from various minor injuries and illnesses.

This fully demonstrates that the Warriors' injury is not an accidental phenomenon, but a collective injury induced by the excessive physical consumption of the players caused by the high-intensity regular season and playoff journey in the past five years.

Why is it so difficult to create an NBA dynasty? Tracing back to the history of the league, apart from the Celtics who belonged to the earliest dimensionality reduction attacks, only Jordan's Bulls and Lakers OK combination can create a dynasty.

Long-term high-intensity games and huge psychological pressure are burdens for players.

The Warriors can't be called a complete dynasty with 4 championships in 3 years, and the consumption of players is so intense, let alone a real dynasty team?
From this point of view, the horror of James can also be glimpsed.

Regardless of James' winning percentage in the finals, he has entered the finals for eight consecutive years, played more minutes in the finals, encountered more defensive strength and fouls than anyone else, but in this case, James has never been serious. Injuries, attendance and state have been the same for more than ten years, such a perverted physical fitness is the only one in the league for so many years!
The topic is far away. All in all, the Warriors are likely to advance to the Western Conference Finals with a well-organized team. With potential injuries, Wang Feng does not think that the Lakers are powerless.

In order to beat the Warriors in the Western Conference Finals and win the championship, the game against the Rockets is best done quickly, and a few more days to rest and recharge!

……

On April 4, the first G28 game of the Western Division semifinals began.

The starting five of the Lakers are still Rondo, Butler, Ingram, Wang Feng and Lopez.

The starting five for the Rockets are Paul, Gordon, Harden, PJ Tucker, and Capela.

There is no difference between the lineups of the two sides and when they played against each other in the regular season, and even the tactics after the start of the game are also the same.

The Rockets' defensive tactics against Wang Feng are mainly based on PJ Tucker's entanglement throughout the entire process, supplemented by Capela's internal defense and double-teaming at any time, doing everything possible to consume Wang Feng's physical energy and reduce his shooting rate.

On the offensive end, Harden's offense with the ball is still the main focus, and it is still the form of Harden's misplaced singles with pick-and-roll cover.

This trick of the Rockets, the Lakers have already cracked it in the regular season before, that is, as long as Harden dares to call a pick-and-roll cover, the Lakers will double-team Harden and strategically empty Paul.

Paul's three-point shooting rate this season is not high. During the regular season, he averaged only 35.8% per game. In the playoffs, it dropped further. In the first round against the Trail Blazers, it was only 21.4%. It is not easy for the Rockets to beat the Trail Blazers. .

The Lakers, who used double-team tactics from the very beginning, successfully suppressed Harden to death. Although Paul's three-point shooting is not as bad as in the first round, his efficiency is definitely not good even when he is open. up high.

In contrast to Harden being double-teamed and completely restricted to death, on the other hand, when facing the Rockets' double-teaming tactics, Wang Feng was like a god coming down to earth.

PJ Tucker teamed up with Capela, and there was absolutely nothing they could do about Wang Feng.

Three-point long-range shots, mid-to-long-range emergency stop jumpers, forcibly breaking through and hitting the basket for violent dunks.

进攻宛如万花筒一般手段频出的王峰将两人耍得团团转，仅第一节就11投6中，三分球5中3拿下15分。

In the first quarter, the Lakers directly established a 28-point lead with 19:9, and in the second quarter, the advantage was further expanded.

30:24, the point difference at the end of halftime has reached 15 points.

In the third quarter, the Rockets finally opened fire from the perimeter, scoring 38 points in a single quarter, while the Lakers scored 29 points, and the point difference approached single digits.

But following the fourth quarter, Wang Feng started to close the net.

He made 7 of 5 shots, 2 of 2 three-pointers, 5 of 4 free throws, 16 points in a single quarter, and directly took the game away.

At 115:109, the Lakers won the first game and won a good start.

(End of this chapter)