basketball never sleeps

Chapter 261 Golden Double Guns Dream

As the season progresses and the All-Star Game approaches, the stratification between strong and weak teams becomes increasingly clear, and the stars of each team are entering their breakout phase.

On January 1, the Lakers played against the Wizards. This was originally a game between the 20th in the Eastern Conference and the 4th in the Western Conference, but in the pre-match predictions, everyone was generally more optimistic about the Lakers.

Because the Lakers, who are only ranked 6th in the Western Conference, still have a 2-game lead over the Wizards in terms of net win.

And in the competition among stars, Kobe is obviously the better one.

Paul's organizational ability is obviously stronger than Hughes, and Odom is more famous than Jamison as a power forward.

Considering Kobe's spiritual blessing to the team, Los Angeles fans are full of confidence in this game.

But when the game started, Arenas, who is also a training (self-abuse) fanatic, taught Kobe a lesson.

Arenas' training intensity is actually already one of the best in the league. I don't know if he was brainwashed by Grover's (Jordan's trainer) training thinking of surpassing and surpassing again. Arenas has recently increased the intensity further.

In the public's impression, high-intensity training will greatly wear out body parts and increase the risk of injury.

But in fact, planned, continuous and controlled high-intensity training can indeed keep the body at a good competitive level before getting injured.

Kobe was in very good form in this game, scoring 43 points, 7 rebounds and 5 assists. Paul also had a very impressive performance in limited opportunities, scoring 11 points and 15 assists with only 10 shots.

Plus Odom also scored 19 points tonight, and Sprewell scored 13 points.

The four of them scored 90 points in total, so it should not be difficult for the Lakers to win.

But the thing is, Arenas exploded, he scored 58 points by himself... and his shooting percentage was 60%.

One person offset the scores of Kobe and Paul.

The destructiveness brought by this super high score is not just the offset in points. To put it bluntly, Kobe and Paul were beaten by Arenas.

——Because my pain is greater than yours, naturally my strength is greater than yours!

The Wizards directly beat the Lakers by 16 points.

Having already been confirmed as a starter for the Eastern Conference All-Stars, Arenas did not seem very proud of his high-scoring performance. He simply sent text messages to all the contacts in his mobile phone address book.

Arenas now has some understanding of what Penny Hardaway's mentality was when he threatened to average 40 points per game next season after sending Dan away.

He feels that he is in pretty good shape, and it shouldn't be a problem for him to continue averaging 40 points in the next few games.

As for winning the game, it was a piece of cake.

But just when Arenas was feeling proud, two pairs of bloodshot eyes appeared behind him.

After being banned for more than a month, Iverson and Anthony were finally released one after another.

The situation they face can be said to be quite pessimistic.

In the 10 games that both of them were suspended, the Nuggets did not win a single game, and in the 5 games that Iverson returned, the Nuggets only won 2 games.

The Nuggets, who were originally ranked seventh in the Western Conference, fell directly to 12th after this wave.

The number of defeats has accumulated to 25.

If the Nuggets want to make the playoffs in today's brutal Western Conference, they have to lose at most 40 of their next 10 games.

Considering that their schedule in the second half is similar to that of the Supersonics, with many strong teams, the pressure on them is obvious.

Is Arenas' 58 points in a single game very strong? Melon said that the difference in points in a single game led by his team is...

bah bah bah!
In fact, Nuggets fans still have high expectations for Arenas and Iverson.

After all, before the trade, Melo and Iverson were ranked first and second in the scoring list.

Wouldn't it be powerful if the two best scorers in the league were put together on one team?

In fact, this is not the first time the Nuggets have done this. In the 1983 season, the Nuggets put the top two scorers on the same team - English and Vandeweghe.

At that time, the Nuggets also had Dan Issel, a top 20 center in NBA history, but the Nuggets' luck was not very good. They were drafted in the second round in the first year and in the first round in the second year. Their performance did not meet public expectations.

But that was all 20 years ago, and Nuggets fans believe that Melo and Iverson are definitely different from the previous two.

Arenas, who is in great form, has the exact opposite view of the Nuggets fans. At the time, English and Vandeweghe's shooting percentages were both over 50%, but how much were Melo and Iverson?

joke!

But soon after the game started, Arenas showed the same torture as Kobe on his face.

Only when they actually play against each other can you realize how difficult it is to defend a team with two scoring champions.

Everyone thought that there was no problem for the two scoring champions to adapt to each other by reducing their shots. On the contrary, the Wizards' defense was the first to fall into the dilemma of who to double-team.

It's just like the combo of Master Chen Hegao, poking the eyes above and kicking the balls below, using underhand tactics but achieving an open strategy.

At the end of the game, Melo scored 34 points, Iverson scored 31 points, and Arenas' 28 points were definitely excellent, but the Wizards lost by a full 20 points.

Arenas' dream of playing against Jordan was shattered before even one game was played.

In the next three games, the golden duo of Iverson and Melo were like hungry demons, madly slaughtering every opponent they met.

Nuggets: vs. A (Anthony, Iverson)

Bull: I can’t bear that!

Nuggets: vs. A
Magic: No!
Nuggets: vs. A
Pacers: You played your cards really well!
However, temporary passion will eventually run out.

The golden duo, who had been playing crazy for four games, almost lost against the Pistons, and finally won the game with Iverson's buzzer beater.

Just when everyone thought that the two guns were going to return to normal human mode, the All-Star substitutes were announced -

Eastern Conference: Howard, Joe Johnson, O'Neal, Billups, Hamilton, Carter, Iguodala;
West: Stoudemire, Nowitzki, Marion, Nash, Ray Allen, McGrady, Milicic;
Because this year's game is held in Las Vegas, a gambling city with no NBA team, there is no need to consider taking care of the home fans.

In the public opinion, this year's vote and the subsequent substitute candidates are quite impressive.

But the only problem is that the Nuggets' two stars did not play.

In the original time and space, Stern put Anthony on the All-Star bench after Anthony got into a fight. It was not because Stern was so optimistic about Melo, but because Melo was the scoring champion at the time, and the All-Stars needed a scoring champion to endorse them.

But now the league's scoring leader is Mo Wen, so Stern doesn't need to worry about this issue.

So Anthony was directly ruled out. As for Iverson, his reputation in the coaching world needs no further explanation.

The reasoning is sound, but the players see the issue differently than the league.

There are five of the four major shooting guards, but only Iverson was absent.

03 Among the first 6 players of the group, only Anthony was not able to make it to the table.

They have clearly paid the price of suspension for their previous brawl, but now in the All-Star Game, the two of them averaging 30+ points per game can only be spectators. How is this logical?
So, the Golden Double Guns, which had just shown signs of cooling down, entered the Yan Shuangying mode again.

There is an evil doctor in Pokémon who once conducted a great study. He found that the most effective way to enhance the strength of Pokémon is to inspire their anger... Although the ending of the story is unsurprisingly that Ash defeated anger with "love", any discerning person can see that it is the protagonist's halo that can defeat objective laws.

"LeBron showed off his muscles and was not afraid of the golden twin guns - if Reed and I wanted, we could also help the team by scoring like crazy. You know, scoring is only part of the game. The Cavaliers have better defense, ball conduction and teamwork. Tonight I will prove to everyone what a strong team should look like."... January 1, "Cleveland Plain Dealer"

……

"LeBron said the Cavaliers' lineup needs to be strengthened - I think we need more strong blood to join us now, such as Webber, I believe he can still help us a lot in scoring." ... January 1, "Cleveland Plain Dealer"

……

"Popovich: Before the game I wish I had two Bowens, after the game I wish I had a double spray, these two are just fouling!"... "Holy City Express"

"Bosh couldn't hide his disappointment after losing by 40 points. Does the management still want to get involved with Oden?" ... Toronto Star

"Kobe is looking forward to playing against Iverson and Anthony, and he is going to score 50 points!" ... Los Angeles Times

From the Spurs and Suns to the Grizzlies and Raptors, the Nuggets won 10 consecutive games in an almost unmatched manner.

Although the Nuggets are still ranked only 9th in the Western Conference, the playing style they displayed made everyone look sideways.

Anyone with a discerning eye can see that the Nuggets now only have the continued explosive scoring of their two guns. The "Karen Mok" Andre Miller, who was originally in charge of organization, was used as a bargaining chip in exchange for Iverson. The Nuggets' most serious inside line has not been strengthened. Except for offensive scoring, the Nuggets are definitely weakened in other aspects.

But the problem is that basketball is a game where you win by scoring more points than the opponent.

The Nuggets' duo not only have ability and ambition, but more importantly, they also have physical strength!
The season is halfway through, and everyone's physical strength is not as strong as at the end of the season, but it is definitely not as strong as at the beginning of the season.

Iverson and Anthony were suspended for a long time, and their physical condition was poor.

Historically, Yao Ming's statistics exploded in the second half of the 05-06 season because he missed the first half of the season due to surgery, which caused a physical gap between him and other players. Generally, when the second half of the game came around, others would start to become sluggish, but Yao Ming could still run briskly.

And it must be said that the Nuggets have been clearly discriminating along the way.

For example, if there are two familiar players in the team, or players selected for this year's All-Star Game, they will explode fiercely, not only with good personal data, but also striving to create a devastating score difference.

So the Raptors were beaten by them by 40 points, the Rockets were beaten by them by 30 points, and a playoff team like the Nets still got 20 big blows.

Some media have discovered their pattern.

Then looking back, a very eye-catching target appeared - supersonic.

A team that has four great shooting guards and top students from the class of 03. The most important thing is that the Supersonics also had three All-Stars selected, which is very hateful!

What makes everyone even more happy is that the Supersonics seem to have had some problems recently.

……

The camera returns to the Supersonics. Just as Mo Wen expected, as the weak team's resources were exhausted, the Supersonics' progress began to become difficult.

Throughout January, the SuperSonics lost 1 of their 15 games, including one loss to the weak Kings.

Fortunately, all five losses occurred on the road, and the Sonics' home court is still intact.

Mo Wen's scoring data also dropped significantly. Except for a small outburst in defending the home court against the Spurs and scoring 44 points, his points dropped below 25 points in the rest of the games.

Although he has not given up the scoring title, the gap in his average points per game is now quite close to that of Arenas and Melo.

"Actually, I think it's okay for you to be a little selfish. Wasn't your previous style of play pretty good?" Steve Cady, the Sonics' team reporter asked Xiang Mo Wen after the training session.

"Everyone knows you have the ability. Don't talk about physical problems. I have a lot of photos in my hands. You obviously don't sweat as much as you did at the beginning of the season. In the game the day before yesterday, you didn't sweat in the first half, right?"

"Are you sure?" Mo Wen raised the corner of his mouth.

"Of course!"

"I'm sorry, you know too much." Mo Wen's voice sank, and he took out a "pistol" and put it next to Kaidi's head.

"Okay, but before you kill me, can you tell me why you have chosen to be lazy recently?" Even with the gun against his forehead, Katie still insisted on getting an answer.

"It's not that I choose to be lazy. Basketball is a team game. At the beginning of the season, we were not that familiar with each other, and we didn't have enough tacit understanding with each other. In order to buy enough time for everyone and help everyone build confidence, I chose the previous style of play."

Mo Wen glanced at his teammates who were practicing diligently on the court, and sat lazily like a spectator.

"Most of the balls have to go through my hands. My statistics look good with that style of play, and everyone may think there is nothing wrong with it. But in fact, when the team has run-in to a certain extent, if I insist on doing that, it will not only not help the team, but will affect the team's development."

"I can tell you the answers in the exercise book, but I can't take the test for you. Can I?"

"But the team doesn't seem to be getting better because of your change. The team has lost a lot of games recently. If you had taken over earlier, there were a few games that might not have been lost."

"Don't be such an amateur, Steve. Just look at the schedule and you'll know the problem isn't with the team. It's probably because we raised everyone's expectations too high at the beginning, so that the fans thought we wouldn't lose."

Mo Wen shook his head. He couldn't even guarantee that next year's record would be better than this year. For the sake of the Great Oden, there were too many teams that were tanking this year. Meeting a tanking team would not only allow for easy victory, but also save energy and boost confidence.

Mo Wen also plans to learn from Zhuge Weiqi in the next season, and give the players more rest if the results are similar.

It is too difficult to break the best record in history he created with the Heat. The benefits do not match the pressure. Unless the team is mature enough, he does not plan to challenge it so soon in the next two years.

Compared to false fame, Mo Wen hopes that the team will be healthy and complete, and occasionally take a holiday outside the schedule to spend time with family.

"Okay, there is another question that everyone is concerned about. What do you think of the game against the Nuggets the day after tomorrow?" Katie asked curiously.

"It's just a regular season game. Oh, we're at home, right? So it's a regular season game that we can't lose." Mo Wen's answer was very calm, as if he was talking about something insignificant.

"It seems like you don't care much. The Nuggets have won ten games in a row recently!" Kady reminded.

"What a coincidence, including the World Championships and the Olympics, I will soon have ten consecutive wins against Melo." Mo Wen chuckled and waved his hands.

Golden Double Guns, it’s time to wake up from this dream.

　I'm no longer destined to be a man, I decided to bring my talent back to the NBA
　　
　
(End of this chapter)