NBA: James wants to team up with me

Which team is better, the San Antonio Spurs or the Miami Heat? Wang Chong is really hard to judge.

If it were the old version of the Big Three, then there would be no doubt about the result. In the original 13-14 season finals, the Heat were beaten 4:1 by the Spurs and the strength gap between the Heat and the opponent was quite large.

But with Howard as one of the Heat's Big Three, the situation has changed a bit. At least when playing against the Bulls, Howard played quite well, averaging close to 20+15 per game, which is better than Bosh, who averaged only 14+5 per game in the playoffs. It's more than a little bit stronger, and it also makes up for the Heat's weakest inside line.

But if I have to say one thing, Wang Chong would still think that the Spurs are stronger, because compared to the Heat, the Spurs have no obvious weaknesses. They will not completely lose their offensive rhythm just because James takes a rest, nor will they lose free throws because of the main players. It was so bad that he was targeted by shark-killing tactics.

Even though the Spurs no longer have superstars like James and Howard who can produce luxurious statistics, the overall strength of the team is the Spurs' trump card tactic.

But even so, Wang Chong doesn't think the Spurs are the opponent of the current Bulls. The current Bulls lineup is too strong, not to mention that they have fully grown up. They only need to fully release and show their abilities on the stage with Curry and Garfield. Sol is Jimmy Butler, who has been despised by the outside world before. After the baptism of the first few rounds of playoffs, his personal strength has also ushered in an explosive improvement.

According to Wang Chong's visual inspection, Butler's current level is no worse than that of his opponent, Kawhi Leonard.

After all, Leonard during this period has not fully grown up. Even after winning the Finals FMVP in the 13-14 season, Leonard's regular season averages in the subsequent 14-15 season were only 16.5 points, 7.2 rebounds and 2.5 assists.

Of course, Leonard's biggest honor in the 14-15 season was winning the DPOY of the Best Defensive Player. But in the same year, Butler averaged 20 points, 5.8 rebounds and 3.3 assists in the regular season, and was also selected to the All-Defensive Second Team. It may not be as good as Leonard in terms of defensive ability, but it's not much different.

Wang Chong feels that at least at this stage, Butler can definitely compete with Leonard.

Under such circumstances, it is unlikely that the Bulls will lose to the Spurs.

2014年6月5日，NBA2013-14赛季总决赛揭幕战在公牛队主场芝加哥联合中心展开。

From the starting lineups of the two teams, the gap in strength can be clearly seen.

Bulls starting lineup: Curry, Danny Green, Jimmy Butler, Wang Chong, Gasol.

Spurs starting lineup: Parker, Ginobili, Leonard, Duncan and Gobert.

Affected by the butterfly effect brought by Wang Chong, the Spurs' lineup has changed a lot. Danny Green, who was supposed to be the Spurs' starting shooting guard, went to the Bulls, and Gobert was selected by the Spurs by accident. , and was quickly discovered for his outstanding performance in protecting the basket, thus replacing Thiago Splitter as the Spurs' starting center.

But even if the lineup changes slightly, the intuitive comparison of the two teams' lineups is still very different.

Not to mention anything else, the Bulls have two first-team players in Wang Chong and Curry, plus Gasol in the third team, Jimmy Butler in the second defense, and the best sixth man Thomas Jr., the stars are bright.

On the other hand, for the Spurs, only Tony Parker was selected to the best third team. Leonard and Butler were also second-defense players, and no one else won any honors.

This is not the worst part. During the All-Star Weekend, only Parker was selected as an All-Star substitute for the Spurs. None of the Spurs, including Duncan, was selected for this All-Star. It is bleak enough to say, but this is a team where team basketball comes first. its own flaws.

At the beginning of the game, Gasol and Gobert jumped for the ball. The latter successfully won the ball with his height and wingspan advantages.

He is 2 meters tall and has an exaggerated wingspan of 16 meters. Even in the NBA, which has countless talents, such static talent is extremely rare. It is precisely because of this amazing static talent that Gobert can be so fast in the future. He survived the rhythmic small ball era as a traditional blue-collar center and won the Defensive Player of the Year three times (he just won his fourth DPOY not long ago).

Even though it is only Gobert's rookie season, the team he is on is different, and the starting point for a player like Gobert is completely different.

In the Spurs, Gobert was surrounded by teammates of Duncan's level in the first place. Coupled with the coaching of legendary coach Popovich, Gobert played much better than he did in his rookie season with the Jazz.

Gobert played 78 games for the Spurs this season, including 55 starts. He averaged 24 minutes per game and contributed 4.4 points and 7.8 rebounds. He almost perfectly took over Split's original job and did more than the latter. After all, with Gobert's height and wingspan, even if he stays under the basket and does nothing, just raising his hands high can cause considerable defensive pressure on the opponent.

Of course, facing Gobert, Gasol was not afraid at all.

Gobert is taller than him, but the higher the better in the internal confrontation. At least at this stage, Gobert is as thin as a bamboo pole. From Gasol's point of view, he is not worth mentioning at all. As a rare player in the league now, Gobert is taller than him. One of the heavy centers, Gasol is confident that he can suppress this first-year rookie who is also from Europe with his advantages in tonnage and strength in the interior.

Moreover, the confrontation between Gasol and Gobert was not originally the focus of this game.

At the beginning of the game, both teams quickly got into position. The Spurs attacked, with Tony Parker taking the lead. He accelerated with the ball and passed Curry straight to the basket. Before he could enter the penalty area, Wang Chong's huge body had already Get in front of him first.

"Sure enough!" As the Spurs' biggest enemy on their way to the championship, they carefully watch, study and analyze Bulls game tapes almost every day, so Parker is very aware of Wang Chong's super mobility and defensive capabilities.

Seeing Wang Chong step forward to cover the defense, Parker immediately threw the basketball in one direction without thinking.

In the direction of the basketball flying, Duncan appeared just right. After receiving the ball, he immediately shot. This position was exactly 45 degrees facing the basket. It was the shooting position that Duncan was most familiar with and best at. The basketball lightly hit the backboard. on the ball, then rebounded and fell into the basket.

Duncan appeared in a blind spot in Parker's field of vision. Such cooperation was possible because, firstly, the two had already had a tacit understanding since they had been partners for more than ten years. Secondly, they had indeed carefully studied and analyzed Wang Chong, so they had also studied and analyzed Wang Chong beforehand. Such a set of tactics has been arranged.

The Spurs took the lead and scored two points, but the Bulls did not panic at all. Gasol served from the baseline, Curry dribbled the ball across half court, and the Bulls players took their positions.

Wang Chong stood outside the three-point line on the right, with Duncan standing in front of him.

It's not a good idea to let Duncan guard Wang Chong. Maybe Duncan at his peak could still slightly limit Wang Chong's scoring ability, but now he is 37 years old and his athletic ability has deteriorated significantly. He can still rely on his height, wingspan and strength at the basket. His weight can achieve a good rim protection effect, but if he starts guarding Wang Chong from the outside, he will definitely not be able to keep up with his speed.

But the Spurs have no choice. Apart from Duncan, Leonard is the one who is suitable to face Wang Chong. However, Leonard and Wang Chong have a huge height gap after all. When the two teams played against each other during the regular season, the Spurs tried to If Leonard was asked to defend Wang Chong, the result would be mediocre.

In fact, even if Leonard is at his peak, it will be difficult to limit the opponent's scoring when encountering Wang Chong's weakened version of Durant.

In the years when Leonard was strongest in the future, the league would always pass the ball. Leonard's strong defense would be difficult to break through even if his offense was as strong as Durant's. It is believed that Leonard is the only one in the league today who can guard Duran. Special outside player.

But this statement is obviously a typical impression flow, because the fact is that Durant's performance against Leonard was still strong, which included the 2015-16 season when Leonard had fully grown up. Leonard, who has been DPOY for two consecutive years and is known as the strongest outside player, has averaged 21.2 points, 6.8 rebounds and 2.6 assists per game in the regular season. He has also been selected for the first team and first defense. There is no doubt about his strength.

But when the Spurs and Thunder met in the playoffs, Leonard and Durant collided head-on. The result was that the Thunder defeated the Spurs 4:2. Although Durant had Westbrook by his side, Leonard also had Westbrook by his side, averaging 26.8 points per game in the series. Aldridge has 8.5 rebounds. Moreover, although Westbrook averages 25+6+10 per game, his shooting percentage is only 37.6%, and he also averages 4.5 turnovers per game. It is difficult to define his contribution. How many.

In the direct matchup between Durant and Leonard, Durant averaged 28.5 points, 6.7 rebounds and 4 assists per game, with a shooting percentage of 50%. His three-point shooting percentage was a bit low, only 29.6%.

Leonard had 23.2 points, 7.3 rebounds and 3.7 assists, with a shooting percentage of 48.6%.

In terms of pure data comparison, Durant clearly has the upper hand, but what we want to discuss now is whether Leonard can guard Durant, so we need to make a horizontal comparison.

Still in the 15-16 season, the Thunder faced the Dallas Mavericks in the first round. Durant averaged 26 points per game, had a poor touch, and shot only 36.8% from the field.

In the Western Conference Finals, the Thunder were reversed by the Warriors with an absolute advantage of 3:1. In the 7 games of the Western Conference Finals, Durant averaged 30 points, 8 rebounds, and 2.9 assists per game. His scoring ratio was even higher than that of the Spurs. It was 1.5 points higher, but the shooting percentage was 42.3%, which was much lower.

Throughout the three rounds of the playoffs, Durant was the most efficient, and his best performance was actually when he played against the Spurs.

Of course, it is unreasonable to use only one round of playoffs to measure defensive quality, but Leonard and Durant did not actually play against each other that many times due to injuries, and the reference value is also not high.

All in all, it boils down to one sentence: Even at his peak, Leonard couldn't say he could prevent Durant. At most, he could only limit Durant's offensive efficiency and prevent the opponent from scoring unscrupulously on the offensive end.

This was true when facing Durant. How could he be able to defend against Durant's plus version Wang Chong?
At least the Spurs don't have the courage to let Leonard defend Wang Chong alone, unless they don't want to win this game.

But as mentioned before, it is not a wise move to let the slow-footed Duncan guard Wang Chong. It is just a helpless move. After all, who else can they let guard?
Gobert's static talent is more abnormal than Wang Chong's, but his speed is not much better than Duncan's, and the result is no different from Duncan's defense. In addition, Gobert is still a first-year rookie, so naturally it is even more impossible for him to guard Wang Chong.

After receiving the pass from Curry, Wang Chong faced Duncan's defense with the ball. He didn't even bother to use any fancy moves and just put the ball forward. His whole body accelerated in an instant and accelerated to break through from Duncan's left side.

Duncan's reaction was timely, but his lateral movement speed was too slow, so he could only watch Wang Chong rush past him. Inside, Gobert wanted to step forward to cover up the defense, but before he could get close to Wang Chong, Wang Chong had already He stopped in a hurry and took a signature mid-range jump shot.

"Shh-!"

The crisp sound of the net being brushed into the basket was heard, proving that Wang Chong's shooting touch was excellent.

Spurs coach Popovich frowned on the sidelines.

Sure enough, in the game against the Bulls, the most critical issue is Wang Chong. If you can't guard against Wang Chong, no matter how good the team's tactics are and how well they cooperate, it will be difficult to win.

The game continued, and the Spurs continued to focus on the offensive tactics of the two defenders Tony Parker and Ginobili.

Because currently the Spurs only have advantages in the offensive end of these two positions on the field.

Curry's weak defense is nothing new. Although Danny Green's defense is very good, it is really difficult to guard against players like Ginobili who have a "monster" style of play.

Popovich originally had a certain degree of confidence in Leonard's matchup at the small forward position, believing that Leonard would definitely suppress the dark and ugly boy of the Bulls.

But the result was beyond his expectation. The two had been facing each other for some time, but Leonard was unable to suppress the opponent. He was even entangled by the opponent, unable to help his teammates in other positions, let alone Support Duncan and help defend Wang Chong.

This shocked Popovich. That guy named Jimmy Butler, who was in the same class as Leonard but with a much lower draft pick, had actually reached this level?
Originally, Popovich thought that Butler could be selected as the best second defense like Leonard, not because he was strong enough but because of the dividends brought by the Bulls' defensive system. Now it seems that is not the case at all. The opponent really He is a very capable player at the forward position!
But as a result, Duncan, who did not have the support of Leonard, had an even more difficult time on the court. He was almost beaten by Wang Chong's various offensive scores. Moreover, Wang Chong obviously attached great importance to the Spurs. In the first half, The game lasted 24 minutes without a break. In only half of the game, he scored 27 points, 4 rebounds and 2 assists, showing off his offensive firepower.

Under Wang Chong's 27-point halftime offensive, the Bulls entered the second half with a 64-point lead over the Spurs 52:12. (End of chapter)