Healthy basketball, starting from eating the old Lakers F4

The Bulls' team coordination problem seems to be easily solved in the new season. With the joint efforts of all the players, the Bulls have achieved a 7-game winning streak.

During this period, the main players basically clocked out after three quarters, while the substitutes steadily won the game.

However, not everything can go smoothly all the time. The development of things always moves forward in waves and spirals.

After a good start, the Bulls soon encountered some fluctuations - injuries, which prevented the team from continuing to go smoothly.

Perhaps Anthony cares too much about the team's performance and this season's championship, and then tries his best to defend well on the court and do what he can.

What happened? When you get old, you lose your strength! He accidentally strained his groin in the confrontation because he tried too hard to get a rebound.

Fortunately, the Bulls have no shortage of players who can play the power forward position. Take Siakam for example. He wants to take that position all the time and replace Anthony and play the entire season.

Now, Anthony had to step down and give up the starting position to the young people because of injury.

At the same time, the Bulls lost a main player, which undoubtedly allowed other substitute players to get more playing time.

Just when Siakam replaced Anthony as the Bulls' starting power forward and gradually demonstrated his personal abilities in the game, with his statistics soaring in all aspects, another veteran of the Bulls suffered an injury.

Fortunately, he is not an important role, but the backup center Howard.

If it was Howard in his prime, the team would definitely go crazy without such a superstar center.

But today, Howard is just an outdated star who has been wandering in the league for many years.

If he hadn't played for the Bulls, he might have been a punching bag in other teams.

I can only say that the way down the mountain is always difficult.

If a star player cannot show enough highlights in his peak performance and leave a good enough record in the league to win the respect of the world.

Then when their strength is not as good as during the weakened period, or even lower than the average level of the alliance, and they are bullied by the younger generations, they can't blame the world for being fickle and people for being no longer as they used to be.

Instead, we should think about whether it is time to retire while the going gets tough, whether it is time to leave the league and enjoy our retirement years.

Howard is at such a stage now. Although the Bulls welcome his joining, they only treat him as a veteran with a minimum salary.

Howard's arrival this season has provided some reinforcement.

But for the Bulls who have the GOAT, even though Howard once led the team to the finals, he is still a mediocre person who failed to lead the team to win the championship.

Now that he can no longer play, if he wants to come to the Bulls and win a championship ring, he should show the right attitude and strength.

In short, the Bulls do not respect Howard too much, and Howard's current status in the Bulls is relatively average.

Apart from anything else, Noah's position in the Bulls is similar to that of Howard, and both of them serve as substitutes for Jokic.

Of course, Howard is slightly stronger than Noah and can play a greater role in a small lineup.

But the problem is that Howard has been suffering from serious back injuries and was almost paralyzed at one point, making it impossible for him to play in the NBA.

Although it has been cured in the past, the root of the disease has remained and my back injury has been recurring.

Unfortunately, I started to experience back discomfort.

Perhaps it’s also because Chicago’s winters are cold and humid, back injuries are prone to recurring and are not easy to heal.

In short, Howard will be in doubt for a short period of time and will not be able to return to the game.

But to be honest, the lack of Howard is not a big problem for the Bulls.

Jokic is at his peak, so the absence of a substitute who averages seven or eight minutes of playing time per game doesn’t matter much at all.

Moreover, the playing time left by Howard can be shared by Lowe and Noah.

In the past two seasons, Lowe has gradually come into his own. At least his body has been trained and he has accumulated game experience. He still has some deterrent power on the defensive end.

As for Noah, as long as Howard doesn't suffer a relapse of his old illness, the Bulls shouldn't have any problems if they use Noah more.

In short, Howard could not play much of a role in the Bulls' rotation, and the fact that the Bulls have one less player on the bench will not affect the team's record.

However, Anthony and Howard have suffered injuries one after another, which is not a good sign for the Bulls who are aiming to win the championship.

Time flies and it is November 11nd. The Bulls have just won 22 consecutive games and their morale is high.

Originally, the Bulls wanted to go one step further and help the team achieve a higher winning streak.

However, they encountered a setback at this time and accidentally lost to the Bucks next door.

It can't be said that he lost Jingzhou due to carelessness, it's just that he was unlucky.

In the past two years, under the leadership of Antetokounmpo, the Bucks have grown steadily step by step, and now have the strength to compete in the Eastern Conference.

In the past month or so, the Bulls' winning streak was also achieved by hard work against various strong teams.

This season, the Bulls are the favorite to win the championship, and are also the most popular team, with the most live broadcasts across the United States and the most media discussion topics.

Any player or team that plays against the Bulls wants to take advantage of the Bulls' popularity and get a piece of the pie.

So during the game, the Bulls' opponents also played very hard.

The Bulls took advantage of the fact that other teams had not yet gotten used to each other at the beginning and easily won seven games in a row, but they have found it increasingly difficult in recent games.

Under the influence of the tight schedule, the Bulls players have consumed a lot of physical strength and are now exhausted.

This time, the Bulls were lucky enough to be picked up by a strong Eastern Conference team like the Bucks. At any other time, the Bulls should have been able to win with difficulty based on their strength.

But failure always runs through life!

At this point in time, the Bulls losing a regular season game is really nothing.

There is no real invincible general in the NBA, nor is there an undefeated team with 82 regular season wins.

Normally, even for a historically strong team, it is normal to lose more than a dozen games in a season.

Given the Bulls' current losing frequency, they still have a chance to tie the team's record of 73 wins this season, or even hit 74 wins!

To be honest, before the regular season started, the Bulls players actually thought about this.

Considering that in a few years, the NBA regular season may be reformed and shortened to 58 games.

Then, the 82 regular season games will become history.

The Bulls' previous record of 73 wins will also become eternal.

If the Bulls can hit 73 or 74 wins before the regular season format is changed, it will undoubtedly make the Bulls even greater and make the Bulls' glorious history even more memorable.

At the same time, these record-breaking Bulls players will be remembered by future NBA fans with their great achievements such as 73 wins and 74 wins.

But to be part of something great, the players themselves must be strong enough.

After losing this game, Duan and others have realized that the next games will definitely become more and more difficult.

Although the penalty standards are not as good as in previous seasons, the double standards are disgusting.

However, the endless challenges from various strong teams are also very torturous.

The upcoming regular season will be a comprehensive contest of strength, endurance, and energy, and a marathon with no end in sight.

Time flies and it is December 12th, and the Christmas war is about to begin.

Prior to this, the Bulls had achieved a good record of 27 wins and 3 losses, which was considered the most perfect start in recent years.

Back to this year's Christmas game, the Bulls did not continue to sit in the United Center in Chicago, but went to Los Angeles to challenge the new lineup of the Clippers Big Three. Now Durant has completely taken over the magpie's nest and become the boss of the Clippers.

The original big brother Griffin and the second-in-command Paul have also been sent away and replaced by Davis and Irving.

In terms of configuration, the Clippers' Big Three lineup is already amazing, and only the Bulls in the entire league can be compared with them.

However, looking at the Clippers' other starters and main rotation players, none of them has an annual salary of more than 10 million.

In addition, the Clippers traded for Davis and Irving, which consumed too many draft picks. Now there are no rookies who can play well for the Big Three to enjoy the rookie bonus.

Although there are some veterans who want to cling to the Big Three and get a championship ring, they are the ones left over by the Bulls and do not have much strength.

Back to the Clippers themselves, Durant, Davis, and Irving are all very strong individually, but there are problems when they are combined together.

Both Durant and Irving need to concentrate the ball and set up their positions.

Although Davis is a defensive stalwart and a big player in the interior, the team cannot rely on him alone to support the defense. It is even more impossible for him to watch his teammates miss shots in his prime while he can only position himself in the interior to grab rebounds.

Davis, who needs the ball and needs stats, will not be too active in defense and rebounding when Durant and Irving don't give him the ball much.

Therefore, for the Clippers, the distribution of ball rights among the Big Three and who will be the tactical core when they play together are issues that need to be resolved urgently.

Although Clippers head coach Rivers has extensive coaching experience, he does not have much real knowledge and is unable to distribute the ball properly through tactics.

In the end, the only way is to adopt a fair approach, practice egalitarianism, have one person play for a period of time, and use singles tactics and equal distribution of ball possession to solve the problem.

Since the Big Three of the Clippers all wanted to win the championship to prove themselves, there was no trouble within the Clippers in the short term.

When playing against mediocre teams, the Clippers rely on the Big Three to go all out and their winning rate is still very good.

But what if we play against a strong team in the East and West that can compete for the championship? That depends on the state and the feel of the game.

So far this season, the Clippers have only a record of 21 wins and 10 losses, ranking third in the Western Conference, far behind the Bulls.

But no matter what, the Clippers have a Big Three configuration, are star-studded, and have attracted much attention from the media and fans.

Tonight's battle between the Clippers' Big Three and the Bulls' Big Three will undoubtedly be very interesting.

Durant faces Durant, Davis faces Jokic, and Irving faces Curry.

If we predict the outcome of tonight's Christmas game based on Tian Ji's horse racing strategy, the Clippers still have a chance to win the game, after all, their star player has a 2-1 advantage in the matchup.

As for other role players, there is basically no need to consider this factor.

In high-intensity games, the outcome is often determined by the quality of the players.

Rather than what someone often says, the role players didn't stand out.

Although tonight's game is only a regular season game, considering the specific occasion of the Christmas game and the star lineup of both sides, the final game intensity will certainly not be weaker than the playoffs.

This is indeed the case. After the game officially started, the atmosphere was full of gunpowder from the first attack.

Irving immediately took the ball and played against Curry, seemingly trying to dampen Curry's enthusiasm.

Since Leonard was in a state of fatigue and rest during the regular season, it is no exaggeration to say that Curry is the best player in the league.

Irving also wanted to prove that he was the best point guard in the league. This time he played against Curry right from the start, which undoubtedly proved his determination.

However, Irving's playing style is more about breakthroughs than shooting.

Even though Irving's shooting percentage is not bad, his output has not increased.

This time was no exception. Irving tried to shake Curry with a silky crossover step, but Curry remained unmoved.

Finally, as the offensive time was drastically reduced, Irving had to take another step, cut his head and rushed into the crowd, then passed through the crowd and attacked the basket with the ball.

Irving's style of play is very cool, but his finishing methods are actually a bit simple.

Every time Irving can get out of the crowd with his superb combination of man and ball, as well as historical-level ball-handling ability, but to ultimately end it, he still has to jump and layup.

When Irving jumped into the air, the only thing he could do was pull the lever to avoid the defensive players.

But if there is a defensive player under the basket at this time, or a defensive player is chasing after Irving from behind, then no matter how hard Irving pulls the lever, he will not be able to avoid it.

Snapped--

Duane, who had been ready for battle, suddenly appeared and gave Owen a big pot.

By the time Irving got up from the ground, Curry had already stabilized the ball and rushed towards the frontcourt.

At the same time, Murray and Siakam were also making fast breaks.

However, the Clippers seemed to be more concerned about the Bulls players making transitions, and no one chose to keep a close eye on Curry who was holding the ball, as if defending Curry should be Irving's job alone.

"No one is defending me?"

Curry also found it a little difficult to understand, but he finally took a three-pointer from one step outside the three-point line.

There was no need for a microwave. With just a swish, Curry came on and demonstrated the strength that the league's No. 1 player should have.

However, Durant responded quickly, and under Durant's defense, he made an extremely strong mid-range shot.

Durant knew that he couldn't handle Durant by defending him alone, so he didn't care too much.

Anyway, we have come this far over the years and have beaten Durant so many times, so tonight's game doesn't matter.

In short, he played dead first, and then got up when Durant could no longer play in the fourth quarter.

In this way, Durant held back in the first three quarters and just watched Curry teach Irving a lesson while Jokic beat up Davis.

It cannot be said that they were completely defeated. At most, during the matchup, Curry and Jokic both had the advantage in scoring.

As for the defensive end, Davis is good at defense, but there is no way to stop Jokic due to the height difference, nor can he limit Jokic's scoring, so they can only rely on scoring to explode.

However, his physical talent that usually allows him to bully others was greatly reduced in his scoring ability when facing a monster like Jokic.

Judging from the overall matchup effect, Jokic is definitely better than Davis.

As for the group of Curry and Irving, Irving's mind is now full of thoughts on how to defeat Curry. He did put some pressure on Curry on the defensive end, but Curry was able to handle it on his own.

That's it, three sets of star players facing off, and the Bulls had the upper hand in two of them.

The Clippers' matchup advantage based solely on Durant is obviously not enough to win the game.

Durant became anxious for a moment, and then he consumed a lot of physical energy.

When Durant noticed that Durant started to miss shots frequently, he knew that Durant couldn't hold on.

Then, the counterattack began and Dunn stepped up to win the game.

Thanks to Duane's 13 points in the fourth quarter, the Bulls quickly widened the gap and secured the victory.

After winning the Christmas game, the Bulls continued their winning streak.

The momentum slowed slightly until early January, when the first round of All-Star voting results were announced.

As we enter 2020, the NBA has entered a new era.

As a remnant of the old era, Duane failed to continue to dominate the All-Star voting throne.

However, Curry eventually took over the title of the most popular player. (End of this chapter)