NBA: James wants to team up with me

Chapter 182 Why provoke Wang Chong for nothing? Is AMVP gone?

Obviously, Kobe did it on purpose, and the reason is actually not difficult to guess.

This season was not going well for Kobe at all.

Although he averaged 32 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists per game, the Lakers' record in the Western Conference is unsatisfactory. They are currently hovering around the seventh or eighth place in the Western Conference, far away from the top half of the division.

Since O'Neal and Wang Chong left the Lakers, the Lakers' record has always been tepid. Although Kobe has steadily averaged 30+ points per game in the past two seasons, and even had a superb scoring performance of 81 points in a single game. But it was unable to help the team win more games, and it also left Los Angeles fans with no hope at all.

As the star of the Lakers, Kobe's ability to lead the team is naturally controversial, especially this season. Kobe also deliberately changed to wear the same No. 24 jersey as Wang Chong, once again causing a stir.

It is completely conceivable what kind of attitude Kobe has towards Wang Chong.

In fact, if possible, he would rather defeat Wang Chong head-on on the court to prove that he is a better and better player than Wang Chong.

However, due to their lack of strength, the two regular season matchups between the Lakers and the Bulls this season have ended. The Bulls completed a double kill against the Lakers at home and away. The disparity in strength between the two teams left Kobe unable to do anything.

Not surprisingly, after the All-Star Weekend, it will be impossible for Kobe to play against Wang Chong again at least this season, unless the Bulls and Lakers can both break through the playoffs and meet in the finals, which is basically impossible. Yes, the Bulls still have some opportunities. The Lakers are in the Western Conference, and there are top teams such as the Mavericks, Spurs, and Suns above them. It is almost impossible to break out of the Western Conference.

Therefore, Kobe may have realized that if he missed the opportunity on the All-Star stage, he would be completely stepped on by Wang Chong this season.

In fact, if last season is included, he was suppressed by Wang Chong for two consecutive seasons.

Kobe can no longer afford to lose. Even if it is an informal performance game like the All-Star Game, he is eager to defeat Wang Chong and prove his ability.

Wang Chong saw through Kobe's thoughts almost at a glance. This rhythm was very similar to when Karl Malone gave Kobe a pick-and-roll in the All-Star Game, and was responded to by saying, "Put away your damn pick-and-roll, I want to play with Jordan." Duel!"

But at that time, Kobe was just starting out and facing off against the long-established God of Basketball on the All-Star stage. He would be considered a formidable young man with commendable courage.

But now, Kobe can be regarded as the league's top star. He has four championships in hand and has been selected to the All-NBA Team many times. However, he still wants to regain his place on the All-Star stage, which seems to be a bit of a loss.

You have the ability to prove yourself in official games. What does it mean to show off your power in the All-Star Game?

It is a well-known hot knowledge that although Kobe has only one regular season MVP and only one Finals Finals MVP, he is the player with the least relevant honors among the top ten superstars in history.

But in terms of the All-Star AMVP honor, Kobe has won it four times in his career, and is the undisputed number one in history.

After the future superstar had an accident, the league even named the All-Star AMVP trophy the Kobe Bryant Cup in commemoration.
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Wang Chong narrowed his eyes slightly and looked at Kobe, who looked serious in front of him.

It is undeniable that the pace that Kobe has been led to this season is basically due to him, but can you blame him?

If Kobe can lead the team to perform well enough, win the regular season MVP, and lead the team to win the championship, no one will criticize Kobe for forcing Wang Chong away because of his success with the Bulls.

What, you are weak and reasonable?

He has no intention of spoiling Kobe at all.

Want to make your own highlights on the All-Star stage and prove that you are stronger? dream!

Wang Chong, who originally planned to compete in the All-Star Game, immediately changed his mind. He lowered his center of gravity and looked at Kobe as if he was staring at prey. He opened his hands and exposed his exaggerated wingspan, almost covering everything in front of Kobe. The breakthrough route is completely blocked and the visual impact is full.

In this scene, even the audience sitting in the auditorium watching the excitement can feel the suffocation coming from Wang Chong's defense.

This was just the first ball of the All-Star Game, so why did he immediately become more intense?

Kobe's movements also stagnated slightly.

Since Wang Chong left the Lakers, Kobe has rarely had direct one-on-one confrontations with Wang Chong on the court.

Therefore, his defensive ability against Wang Chong is still at the level of two years ago.

At that time, Wang Chong's overall ability score was not yet full, and his outside defensive ability was not as strong as it is now at 85. Of course it was different.

Although he was secretly surprised, Kobe did not intend to back down. He knew very well that pulling up and shooting in front of Wang Chong was an act of seeking death, so he only had one option, to break through with the ball.

Although Wang Chong's wingspan is exaggerated, the league's new regulations, namely the no handcheck rule, greatly limit the defensive players' ability to defend the opponent's breakthrough. If Wang Chong blocks Kobe's breakthrough with his hand, it will A blocking foul was immediately called.

Therefore, Kobe will not be intimidated by Wang Chong's terrifying wingspan. After adjusting his steps slightly, he directly accelerates to break through from the right side.

Although Kobe's breakthrough speed among guards is not as good as Wade, Iverson, peak McGrady and even James, it is still at the top level. Wang Chong's height determines that his lateral speed will definitely not be able to keep up with the opponent.

But he was also mentally prepared. Even if Kobe broke through from his right side, he still followed closely beside the opponent. At the same time, he raised his hands to cover the entire sky above Kobe's head.

It was obvious that Kobe didn't intend to believe in the evil. After continuing to accelerate all the way to the basket, he immediately took off and tried to force a dunk.

Wang Chong followed Kobe and took off, aiming at the basketball in Kobe's hand to hit the top of the ball.

Kobe, who was always paying attention to Wang Chong's movements, raised the corners of his mouth slightly, and suddenly tightened his waist and abdomen. His powerful ability to stay in the air caused his whole body to pause in the air for a moment. Taking advantage of this moment of pause, Kobe took the basketball back and followed it. Pull the bottom of the basket to the other side, change hands and pull the lever for a layup.

Kobe's talent is definitely the best in the NBA, but it is slightly inferior to players such as James, Jordan, and Durant who have unique talents in history. Among them, staying in the air is his strongest ability, which can almost compete with Comparable to Jordan, who is known as the "Flying Man".

In the game, Kobe has relied on his super ability to stay in the air countless times to complete some difficult goals. The change of hands under the basket and the pull-up layup are classics.

The audience who saw this scene couldn't help but get excited and were ready to applaud and cheer after Kobe scored the goal.

but……

"Snapped"

The crisp sound of palms hitting the basketball sounded.

Kobe suddenly felt force in the air and lost control of his body. He fell to the ground in a panic. The basketball fell to the floor and was picked up by James who was a little confused on one side.

what happened?

Not only James, but also the players and even the audience were a little confused.

How come Kobe, who made such a beautiful pull-up move, was knocked to the ground the next moment?

Of course, some people saw clearly what happened. Wade's angle was just right, so he saw Wang Chong, after being deceived by Kobe's fake move, stretched out his left hand, his exaggerated wingspan directly across the basket, and hit him through the basket. A hat shot from Kobe.

Is this okay? A wingspan of 2 meters is really no joke! After James was stunned for a second, he finally reacted without hearing the referee's whistle. He took the ball and ran towards the frontcourt, and the Eastern Conference All-Stars counterattacked with a fast break.

The Western Conference All-Stars were stunned.

The starting five of the Eastern All-Stars are Arenas, Wade, James, Wang Chong and O'Neal. Except for O'Neal, the other four have top mobility in the league. At this moment, they ran towards the frontcourt almost at the same time. .

On the other hand, when the Western Conference All-Stars started, Kobe was still falling to the ground and couldn't get up. After McGrady suffered multiple injuries, he no longer had the explosive power he had at his peak and was slow to move. And it was still an All-Star game, so he didn't have any... The desire to catch up.

The remaining three players, Garnett, Duncan and Nowitzki, as inside players, are completely incomparable to outside players in mobility, including Garnett, whose speed is also much slower than Wang Chong.

The result was that the Eastern All-Stars played 4-on-0 in the frontcourt. James took the lead and rushed into the penalty area to score a tomahawk dunk, giving the Eastern Conference the lead.

James' violent dunk drew endless cheers and applause from the fans in the audience, but more cheers were given to Wang Chong, because this fast break opportunity was obtained by Wang Chong blocking Kobe's attack, and no one else Thinking about how difficult Kobe Bryant's hand-changing pull-up layup was actually blocked by Wang Chong, it turns out that static talent can't block the bonus on the defensive end!

At the same time, Wang Chong's shot-blocking ability is also surprising.

But in fact, Durant's shot blocking has always been underestimated.

Throughout his career, Durant has averaged around 1.1 steals and blocks per game, while James, who is known for his ability to block shots and is known for his ability to block shots, has only averaged 0.8 blocks per game in his career. It can be seen that Durant's defense is really not weak.

Just when Kobe got up from the floor, his face was already dark... Even though his skin color perfectly concealed it, no one could bear to be knocked over by Wang Chong on the all-star stage where everyone was watching. kind of humiliation.

"Quick! Give me the ball!"

Kobe couldn't wait to get to the bottom line and shouted at Duncan.

Duncan, a Buddhist, didn't care about Kobe and passed the ball to the opponent.

The All-Star Game has never been a stage for players like Duncan, who has a dull and low-key personality and doesn't like to show off. Besides, Kobe Bryant versus Wang Chong, how wasteful would it be to watch such excitement if it's not delicious?

Kobe made a comeback, and this time the players from both sides cooperated in selecting their opponents, allowing Wang Chong and Kobe to face off directly.

Although he was furious after suffering a big loss, Kobe was not completely carried away by his anger.

He knew that facing a player like Wang Chong who was full of static talents, he could never force himself.

Breaking through with the ball as before, using his speed to get away from Wang Chong, Kobe made an emergency stop and connected with a half-turn fadeaway jumper. The whole set of actions was done in one go. Wang Chong, who was fully mentally prepared, also With most of his body being shaken away, it was too late to block the shot.

It's just such a difficult shot that the hit rate cannot be guaranteed even if no one is guarding it.

Kobe's hand was obviously not particularly hot today, or Wang Chong's previous shot still had a big impact on him.

The basketball shot missed.

Garnett jumped high, grabbed the offensive rebound, and made a small floater to score the basketball.

2: 2.

Kobe's first two attacks failed.

It's the turn of the Eastern Conference All-Star offense.

It's not disrespectful to come back, and Wang Chong doesn't intend to keep getting beaten on the defensive end. He doesn't think his defense can really restrict Kobe for the whole game, so he also has to work hard on the offensive end.

The simple truth is that as long as he can score more points than Kobe, it means he is guarding Kobe.

Unlike when Kobe played against Wang Chong in isolation, he tried all kinds of fake moves to find space for his shot. When Wang Chong played against Kobe in isolation, he only needed a simple move, a pull-up jumper.

The huge gap in height and wingspan makes it difficult for Kobe to effectively interfere with Wang Chong even if he takes off with all his strength.

The mid-to-long-range shot twenty feet away from the basket was made steadily.

This feeling is just like when Wang Chong and Kobe played against each other for the first time.

At that time, Wang Chong's mid-range had not reached the exaggerated level of 99 full value now, and he did not have a bunch of high-level badges to continuously provide bonuses. But even so, Kobe could not prevent Wang Chong's mid-range shots at that time.

Times have changed, but the results have not changed, except that Wang Chong's mid-range shots have become more accurate and sharper.
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In the first few minutes of the first quarter, Kobe attacked with the ball several times, but his offensive efficiency was extremely low. He made 5 of 1 shots and only scored 2 points.

This resulted in the Western All-Stars being beaten 12:4 by the Eastern All-Stars and falling behind.

Western Conference All-Star coach D'Antoni did not let Kobe continue to attack with the ball. This is an All-Star game, not a Lakers game, and Kobe cannot be left to his own devices.

Taking advantage of a dead ball opportunity, he replaced the somewhat red-eyed Kobe and replaced him with his disciples Nash and Stoudemire, allowing the two to cooperate during the game.

The two All-Star players on the same team have a good degree of cooperation. They successfully cooperated in pick-and-rolls to attack the basket. Stoudemire ignited the atmosphere of the audience with his explosive dunk.

But the offensive rhythm of the Eastern Conference on the other side was not bad. Kobe left the game, but Wang Chong did not stop his scoring process.

Anyway, I have become serious, so I will just continue my efforts, strive to win this All-Star Game, and then get the All-Star AMVP. Kobe will score a high score later, and his fans will make excuses after winning the AMVP. .

Wang Chong remembers clearly that in the 07 All-Star Game, the winner of the All-Star AMVP was Kobe Bryant, who scored 31 points, 5 rebounds and 6 assists.

Originally, if Kobe didn't take the initiative to provoke him, it wouldn't matter if the opponent got this AMVP for some comfort. Wang Chong wouldn't care at all.

But now Kobe has taken the lead in stirring up trouble, and Wang Chong is not in the habit of quitting when things get good.

Now that you've offended me, what's the point?

(End of this chapter)