NBA: James wants to team up with me

While they have the advantage inside, the Bulls' outside firepower is not comparable to that of the Spurs.

Throughout the game, the Bulls shot a total of 35 three-pointers, hitting 16, with a shooting rate of 45.7%, and scored 48 points on only three-pointers.

As a starter, Curry's performance in his first game for the Bulls was astonishing. He made 15 of 7 shots in the game, 9 of 5 three-pointers, and scored 21 points and 4 assists including free throws.

As a first-year rookie entering the league, it is already very good to be able to perform like this against a team known for defense like the Spurs.

After the first game, many media praised Curry's performance on the court.

"Stephen Curry is a very talented player on the offensive end. His precise outside shooting gives him a natural advantage in scoring. Even if his physical fitness is poor and he lacks confrontation, he can still score on the court."

"Unlike the Bulls' starter James Jones last season, Curry can not only shoot fixed-point three-pointers, but also has a very good offensive ability with the ball. In this game, he cooperated with Wang Chong many times in pick-and-rolls, and his shooting after the pick-and-roll was quite good. Stable, the cooperation between the two should be a great weapon for the Bulls in the new season!"

These media praised Curry too early, because in the following games, Curry performed amazingly in every game.

10月30日，公牛客场挑战波士顿凯尔特人，库里三分7中3，得到18分5助攻。

On November 11st, the Bulls played against the Miami Heat in an away game. Facing Wade's defense, Curry finally got a lesson. He made 1 of 12 shots and only scored 4 points and 11 assists. However, the Heat's current strength is simply not comparable to the Bulls. The team competed, and although Wade suppressed Curry, the Bulls still won the game by a large score.

On November 11, the Bulls played against the Milwaukee Bucks at home. Curry faced fellow rookie Jennings. He made 3 of 18 shots and 10 of 8 three-pointers, scoring a career-high 5 points!
On November 11, the Bulls challenged the Charlotte Bobcats away. Curry made 5 of 17 shots and scored another 8 points.

Unconsciously, the Bulls won five consecutive victories to start the new season, and Curry started all five games without exception, averaging 19.6 points, 2.4 rebounds, and 3.6 assists per game, and shooting 46% from the field. , the three-point shooting percentage is 43%, and the data looks quite gorgeous.

The entire alliance was shocked.

Curry is actually so strong? It was a seamless transition from the moment he came up, and he directly became the Bulls' second offensive core.

What does it mean to average 20+ points per game in your rookie season?
At least so far, those who can do this in the league have all grown into the league's top stars without exception!

And don’t think that there are many players who can score 20+ points in their rookie season. Going back, there are Durant in 07, James and Anthony in 03, Elton Brand in 99, and Elton Brand in 97. Tim Duncan, Allen Iverson in 96.

As for Derrick Rose, the No. 08 pick in 16.8, if he had been selected by the Bulls, he would have averaged 4 points, 6.3 rebounds and 19 assists per game in his rookie season. However, if he was selected by the Knicks, his data would be even better in this top bad team. In the case of Rose, when he won the Rookie of the Year last season, he averaged 4+7+20 per game. Although he failed to reach 7+ points, considering that he averaged assists per game, his strength can be included in this. in a row.

But the problem is, whether it is James, Anthony, Durant or Rose, they are all the top three super rookies in the draft. When they enter the league, they will be the stars of tomorrow.

In comparison, Curry, the sixth pick in the first round, is obviously much inferior. In addition, the Bulls also have a player who is recognized as the strongest scorer in the league. It is really impressive that Curry can perform so efficiently in the Bulls. It’s incredible!
It turns out that the bull has found treasure again.

People used to think that the Bulls traded for Curry and paid Millsap + Jones + Sessions and a first-rounder as a bargaining chip. It was not worth it just to exchange for a rookie with the sixth pick in the first round.

But if this rookie with the sixth pick in the first round is a player who can stably contribute 20+ points per game and still has a lot of room for growth in the future, it will be completely different and it will be a big mistake.

Originally, the Bulls' lineup of the Big Three plus Gasol was enough to make teams all over the league feel desperate. Now they have Curry, who has good fighting ability and great potential for future development. How will other teams in the league play?
Of course, Curry is not invincible. After all, he is not the Curry of the future.

On November 11, in the Bulls' away game against the Nuggets, Curry performed poorly and only scored 7 points with a 33% shooting rate.

The Denver plateau climate has had a serious impact on Curry's competitive state, and some team coaches have already conducted targeted analysis and responses based on Curry's technical characteristics in previous games.

Players whose main offensive scoring method is mid-to-long-range will inevitably have poor performance stability. After all, the farther away from the basket, the lower the shooting percentage. This is a normal and consistent thinking.

Players like Wang Chong who are accurate and stable in mid- and long-range are really rare.

In addition to the shortcomings of poor performance stability, some teams have also discovered the shortcomings of Curry's poor defensive ability.

Curry's physical fitness is indeed of the wrong type in the league. His confrontation ability is weak, and his defensive skills and awareness are also mediocre. This shortcoming is not obvious when playing against weaker defenders in some teams. But when he faced the league's top defenders, this shortcoming was immediately magnified.

On November 11, the Bulls faced the challenge of the Utah Jazz at home.

In this game, Billups missed one game due to a relapse of an old injury and physical discomfort. The Bulls' starting lineup became Curry, Danny Green, Wang Chong, Garnett and Gasol.

As a point guard, Curry faced off against All-Star guard Deron Williams. Due to the huge disparity in tonnage, Deron beat Curry almost all the way on the offensive end, using his physical advantage to force his way into the penalty area to score.

At this stage, Deron is already the league's top defender. He averaged 19.4 points and 10.7 assists per game in the regular season last season. He is one of the few point guards in the league to average a double-double per game.

Deron was not the only one to perform well in this game. The entire Jazz team felt very hot, even if the Bulls' invincible forward defense could not support it.

The result was that the Bulls lost to the Jazz at home 102:107, ending their six-game winning streak and ushering in their first loss of the new season.

Bulls fans did not take this defeat to heart, because if Billups had not been injured, the outcome of the game was still uncertain.

Don't look at Deron's current luxurious per-game statistics, which Billups has never achieved, but even if Billups' defense can't guard Deron, it won't let the opponent demand it on the offensive end like it did with Curry. .

Unconsciously, the time has arrived in mid-November, and the Bulls, who have started with 11 wins and 6 loss, encountered the first challenger of the new season, the Cleveland Cavaliers. The Cavaliers have been actively operating throughout the offseason, hoping to introduce strong players through trades.

It's a pity that things went against their wishes. Throughout the summer, the Cavaliers did not gain anything, and the main lineup continued to be the same as before.

Starting point guard Mo Williams, shooting guard Ray Allen, small forward James, power forward JJ Hixon, and center O'Neal.

But there is no way, a clever woman cannot make a meal without rice.

The Cavaliers' salary space has been completely occupied by the Big Three of O'Neal, James and Ray Allen. Coupled with 800 million Mo Williams, the Cavaliers have no salary space to introduce strong reinforcements.

What's even more desperate is that, with the exception of James and Ray Allen, none of the other Cavaliers players have much trade value. If O'Neal wants to send him away, he will not only have to get a first-round pick, but he will also have to accept offers from other teams. A garbage contract must match the salary. In today's league, it is difficult to find a garbage contract with an annual salary of 2000 million. The vast majority of players who can get this contract are top players and high-quality stars in the league.

Mo Williams has some trade value, but the players who can be traded are not satisfactory.

It is impossible for the Cavaliers to trade James and Ray Allen, so after an offseason, the Cavaliers still have the same team for the new season.

At the home court of the Cleveland Cavaliers, Cavaliers fans desperately witnessed the first match between the Cavaliers and the Bulls in the new season. The result was no surprise. At the home court of the Cavaliers, the Bulls easily won the game, 112:97, and gained a big victory. win.

The confrontation between Wang Chong and James has long been a common topic. Although the topic is a bit cliché, the viewing rate is completely full.

王崇砍下37分8篮板3助攻，詹姆斯则得到33分11篮板10助攻三双数据。

This is James. Even if the team loses completely, he can always be as good as the opponent's top stars in terms of personal data. Fans who don't watch the game may think that James single-handedly defeats the opponent when the team is passive. Drive the team forward, even if you lose, it will be an honor.

But if you have watched it and often watch the game, you will find that when the team is in a backward stage, James' timing of attacking and scoring is always strange. It seems that he has been helping the team attack and score, but for the ball It doesn't seem to be of much help to the team's pursuit of points.

This is the magic of off-peak travel.

This game is no exception. When the team is a few points behind and the defenses of both sides are at full strength, James mostly breaks through and passes to his teammates to score points. As the team's point difference widens, the Bulls' defense The strategy changed, and James began to frequently break through with the ball and hit the basket, performing various explosive dunks. Those who didn't know it thought the Cavaliers were in the lead at this time.

It is worth mentioning that in this game, Curry finally recovered after being sluggish in the previous two games. He scored 23 points and 5 assists. Several key three-pointers were also key points to help the Bulls gain the lead.

For the Cavaliers, Ray Allen was not to be outdone and scored 21 points. Another member of the Big Three, Shaq O'Neal, could not hear the sound throughout the game.

In the 09-10 season, O'Neal is really old.

His rapidly declining physical fitness prevented him from staying on the court for a long time, and even when he was at his strongest when he first came on the court, his offensive ability at the basket was not enough to serve as the team's main offensive point.

The Bulls don't need to arrange other players to help defend. Gasol alone can completely prevent O'Neal.

In fact, in the original 09-10 season, O'Neal played 53 games in the regular season, and his playing time has plummeted to 23.4 minutes. He averaged only 12 points and 6.7 rebounds per game. He has completely withdrawn from the ranks of top centers.

O'Neal's era is over.

A few days after the start of this season and after two games, O'Neal himself was already aware of this problem.

When facing reporters a few days ago, O'Neal announced in advance that after the end of this season, regardless of the result, he will officially retire and leave the NBA stage.

This is very different from the original history. The original O'Neal should have announced his retirement after playing for the Celtics for another season in the 10-11 season.

But in this time and space, O'Neal did not choose this way, but announced his retirement in advance.

Wang Chong speculates that this may be related to O'Neal's achievements now being greater than before.

Because of Wang Chong, O'Neal won four consecutive championships with the Lakers. This was the first four consecutive championship dynasty after the NBA merger. The quality of the dynasty alone was greater than either of Jordan's two dynasties.

Although everyone knows that if Jordan had not retired for two years in between, it is very likely that the Bulls would have won eight consecutive championships, but it may be just a possibility. It is meaningless to rely on speculation about things that have not happened. However, the Lakers' four consecutive championships are Really what really happened.

O'Neal's current personal resume includes five championships, four FMVP trophies, and one MVP trophy. These honors have allowed him to remain in the top ten in history, and even rank higher among centers. It is also second only to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and King of the Ring Bill Russell, and significantly higher than Chamberlain and Olajuwon, who once stepped on him to win the championship among the four major centers.

This achievement is enough for O'Neal to be called the most dominant center in NBA history. He has no regrets in his career. When he retires, he naturally wants to be glorious and dignified.

After the game against the Bulls, O'Neal was asked such a question by reporters at the post-game press conference.

"Shaq, your five championships are the most in the league so far. Who do you think can catch up to or even surpass you after you?"

Hearing this question, the local reporter in Cleveland suddenly had a bad look on his face.

The person who can ask such a question is definitely not a reporter who supports the Cavaliers. Isn't this a slap in the face?
Who else has the best chance of catching up with O'Neal's number of championships? Of course it's Bulls star Wang Chong, who just beat the Cavaliers on the court! (End of chapter)