NBA: James wants to team up with me

Chapter 101 The second round of 40 kings, the fault tolerance rate brought by Wang Chong!

In fact, the quotations from Nike and Adidas are already very high, but Wang Chong still wants to wait until he wins the championship before considering this matter. Maybe after winning the championship, his worth will rise further.

After all, he knows very well that the Lakers will probably need him to turn the tide during the Finals.

Besides, now that he has the team's salary, he has no shortage of money to spend, and it's not a problem to endure it for a few more months.

In the first game against the Kings, the Lakers defeated their opponents 104:98 and won their first victory.

Different from the first round, the King's strength is worthy of being called an opponent.

Point guard Mike Bibby scored 33 points, and six members of the Kings team scored in double figures, fully demonstrating the gorgeous offensive style of Princeton's system.

But even so, the Lakers still had the last laugh.

O'Neal's performance in this game proved what is called the dominance of a top center.

全场25投15中，罚球17中10，狂砍40分18篮板2封盖，将国王队克里斯.韦伯与布拉德.米勒两人联手搭档的内线压得完全抬不起头。

Kobe performed poorly in this game, making only 21 of 6 shots and scoring only 30 points with a shooting rate of less than 16%.

But thanks to O'Neal's explosive personal performance, the Lakers still narrowly won the game.

Wang Chong performed as usual in this game, making 13 of 7 shots and 4 of 4 free throws. He scored 19 points and 5 rebounds, ranking second on the team in scoring.

As for Malone and Payton both showing off their hips, it doesn't matter whether their shooting percentage is comparable to that of Kobe.

The Lakers were able to win even when the three F4 players were not performing well, which surprised Lakers fans.

O'Neal's explosive performance in returning to the top is certainly powerful, but Wang Chong's stable scoring is also an important reliance on ensuring the Lakers' victory.

In the past, for the Lakers, when one person in the OK combination performed poorly, winning would become extremely difficult, but now with Wang Chong as a stable backing player, the fault tolerance rate is ridiculously high.

And when Kobe Bryant's hand recovered in the G2 game of the series two days later and he scored 17 points on 8-of-24 shooting, the Lakers defeated the Kings as if they were overwhelming, and the latter had no resistance.

After the two series, the score between the two teams reached 2:0, and the Kings were at an absolute disadvantage.

On May 5, in the third game of the series, the game returned to the home court of the Kings. The Kings, who had a favorable home location, still failed to win a victory.

O'Neal scored 28 points, Kobe Bryant scored 31 points and Wang Chong scored 22 points.

The three of them combined to score 81 points.

No matter how strong the Kings' offense is, they can't match such fierce firepower.

The fans in Sacramento watched in despair as their team lost the third game, trailing 0:3, and basically sentenced to death in advance.

In the history of the NBA, there has never been a team that can come back from behind 0:3, and the Kings are no exception, not to mention that they are facing the OK combination of three consecutive championship dynasties.

In the fourth game of the series, the Kings, who had already had one foot on the cliff, showed the momentum of a last-ditch fight. The offensive end was full of firepower, scoring 61 points in the half, holding a lead of more than 15 points.

However, even so, the Lakers still completed a 15-point reversal in the second half, and finally defeated the Kings by two points with a score of 117:115, completing the sweep of the Kings and successfully entering the Western Conference Finals.

This was the second time the Kings were swept by the Lakers in the playoffs. The last time was in the 00-01 season. Unexpectedly, four years later, the same plot would happen again.But what is different from the last time is that this time the Lakers are not a one-man show by the OK combination.

00-01赛季时期的湖人，OK组合可谓所向披靡无人可挡，四场比赛横扫国王，科比场均35分9篮板4助攻，奥尼尔场均33分17篮板3.3封盖。

These two alone averaged exaggerated statistics of 68 points, 26 rebounds, 7 assists and 4 blocks per game. Which team can withstand this?

The OK combination four years later obviously no longer has the explosive scoring ability at that time, or the presence of Wang Chong has caused the number of shots taken by the two to be reduced accordingly, which was shared among the rising stars.

科比场均26分6篮板5助攻，奥尼尔24分14.5篮板4.3封盖。

Although Wang Chong failed to reach the level of 20+ points per game during the regular season, he averaged 19.4 points per game in these four games and shot 55% from the field.

At this point in the game, not many Lakers fans still remember the F4 combination that was so impressive at the beginning of the season.

Since entering the playoffs, Payton and Malone have become invisible. Malone is slightly better, and occasionally has bright performances, even if it is short-lived, at least it is there.

Payton was completely finished. The Lakers easily swept their opponents in both rounds, but his shooting percentage couldn't even reach 35%, averaging only 6 points and 4 assists per game.

The poor performance was beyond everyone's expectations.

Since entering the playoffs, Payton has completely failed to recover. No one knows why. Even the pick-and-roll cooperation with Wang Chong is not as efficient as in the regular season.

On the other hand, Malone's poor performance is normal due to his own injuries and age.

Lakers head coach Phil Jackson was extremely lucky at this time.

Fortunately, the Lakers traded for Wang Chong in the draft, and fortunately Wang Chong showed his strong personal ability.

Otherwise, the Lakers' playoffs will be quite dangerous based on the performance of Malone and Payton.

The Super F4 that shocked the entire league at the beginning of the season was actually the OK combination dragging two veterans who no longer had much strength to play the game. It might be okay to face the opponents in the first two rounds, but when it comes to the Western Conference Finals and even the Finals, it is really It will be fatal!
In the game against the Kings, Jackson, who noticed that Marlon Payton and Payton were in poor condition, decisively reduced their playing time and shooting rights, focusing a large amount of ball rights on the OK combination and Wang Chong, and the effect was remarkable.

"In this case, even if we only rely on the iron triangle of O'Neal, Kobe and Wang Chong, they will still be the only super team in this league and can win the championship!"

Phil Jackson lowered his head slightly, his lenses flashing with light.

"As long as there are no problems within the team..."

As the head coach who is known as the best at coaching superstars, Phil Jackson has indeed partnered with many top players in history during his career, including Jordan Pippen and O'Neal Kobe.

He knows very well that for these superstars, the biggest opponent is often not on the other team, especially when the team leader has gradually been unable to suppress the second player, who has a strong desire to usurp the throne.

Entering the playoffs, Phil Jackson could clearly feel Kobe's increasing desire to attack.

Whether in the first round or the second round, Kobe took the most shots and scored the most points on the Lakers team.

I hope this situation will not become serious in the following games.

At this time, Phil Jackson still didn’t know where he was going.Kobe will show his fangs only after entering the finals.

(End of this chapter)