NBA: James wants to team up with me

Chapter 56 The preseason begins, and we finally face James

After a long offseason, it's October and the 10-2003 NBA season that fans have been waiting for is finally here.

Before the regular season officially arrives at the end of October, according to past practice, the league must first hold preseason games. On the one hand, it gives the team time to adjust and adapt to the rhythm of the game. On the other hand, although the preseason games are not included in the regular season, record, but they can make money by selling tickets, making money for the league and the owners of each team.

On October 10, the Lakers will usher in the first game of the preseason, a showdown with the Golden State Warriors.

The venue of the game is neither Los Angeles nor Oakland, where the Warriors are home, but a third-party venue, Honolulu, the capital of Hawaii, USA.

"Passionate Hawaii! I'm going to be hot!"

Stepping off the plane and feeling the sea breeze blowing on his face, O'Neill was in a good mood.

Lakers players stepped off the plane one after another. Wang Chong did not walk at the back like most first-year rookies, carrying everyone's backpacks, but followed O'Neal in a swaggering manner, carrying nothing but Besides his own backpack, there was only O'Neal's bag.

Rookie players will be bullied by veterans when they first enter the league. This is already an unwritten rule of the league.

Even the chosen one, LeBron James, helped Ricky Davis when he first joined the Cavaliers.

Of course, this man was quickly traded away from the Cavaliers, and his phrase "I thought James was here to help me" has become a classic.

Of course Wang Chong is not special, but because of his harmonious relationship with O'Neal, the latter had the idea of ​​using Wang Chong to suppress Kobe's status in the team, so he took care of Wang Chong everywhere. Wang Chong's status in the team was very high, and basically no one else Dare to provoke, even Malone and Gary Payton, two veterans, would not take the initiative to provoke Wang Chong for O'Neal's sake.

This feeling of being protected by a big brother is quite good.

It is worth mentioning that Kobe did not travel with the team during the preseason game with the Warriors. At this moment, he is probably still on his way to Eagle County.

To be precise, throughout the next year, Kobe will frequently travel to Eagle County to cooperate with the local police in their investigations. This will be a long and protracted battle, and the impact on Kobe will be quite serious.

But because of this, without Kobe, Wang Chong got many opportunities to take action.

In this battle with the Warriors, Wang Chong made 17 of 9 shots and 6 of 5 free throws. He scored a game-high 24 points and 6 rebounds, helping the Lakers win the game.

Of course, because it was the preseason, O'Neal, Malone and Payton all only started and played a little part, playing less than 20 minutes.

The only ones actually playing the game, besides Wang Chong, are the Lakers' role players, including Devin George and Rick Fox, who are competing with Wang Chong in the new season.

But there is no doubt that among all the players, Wang Chong, whose overall ability score has reached 83, is definitely one who stands out from the crowd.

24+6 in the first preseason game, which made many people who badmouthed Wang Chong before the game have to temporarily shut their mouths.

At the end of the summer league, Wang Chong's reputation became polarized due to his superior personal data and his unilateral defeat of the opponent when facing Anthony.

A large number of die-hard Lakers fans believe that Wang Chong is extremely talented and has the potential to inherit the fine tradition of Kobe Bryant's No. 13 rookie.

But at the same time, there are also a group of people who still look down on Wang Chong's performance. Some of them may come from James and Anthony fans. They feel the threat that Wang Chong, a little-known guy before the draft, poses to their own star, and instinctively think Want to belittle Wang Chong.

Of course, there are also many people who simply don't like Wang Chong, maybe because of Wang Chong's Chinese identity, or maybe because of other reasons.

Anyway, Wang Chong hasn't landed in the NBA yet. He just performed well in the summer league, which proves nothing at all.What they roughly mean is that when Wang Chong can really prove himself on the NBA court, then he will be considered truly capable.

Then there was the matter of Wang Chong scoring 26 points in his preseason debut.

Although there is a gap between the intensity of the preseason and the regular season, after all, the participants are all serious NBA players, which is completely different from the summer league.

And in the preseason, although the main stars of each team will not play seriously, and at most they will just go through the motions, the substitute rotation players will play hard, and everyone hopes to pass Highlight performance in the preseason to gain more playing opportunities and time during the regular season.

Therefore, the intensity of the preseason games is actually not low, and the intensity of confrontation is even worse than that of the regular season. The difference is only the difference in the players' own strength.

Wang Chong can score 26 points in the preseason, which means that he also has the ability to score more than 20 points in the regular season.

Although this is only the first preseason game, it is enough to shut up some sunspots.
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The Lakers stayed in Hawaii for three days, because they had a second game with the Warriors here. After the two games, the Lakers went home to rest for two days, and then set off to Phoenix to play against the Suns.

Until the fourth preseason game, the Lakers were finally able to return to their home stadium, Staples Center, to face off against each other.

Their opponent in the fourth game was the Cleveland Cavaliers led by the newly promoted No. [-] pick LeBron James.

In terms of team strength, the Lakers who were in last year's conference semifinals are not at the same level as the Cavaliers, who are at the bottom of the league.

In terms of team lineup, the Lakers, who have an unprecedented super F4 lineup, also crushed the Cavaliers.

No matter how you look at it, the Cavaliers don't have the ability to compete with the Lakers, even in preseason games where neither side will seriously compete.

The only highlight in this preseason game is the showdown between James, the No. 03 pick in 13, and Wang Chong, the No. [-] pick.

There are quite a few people in the league who are interested in this matchup.

On one side is LeBron James, the strongest rookie in the 03 class, who is known as the chosen one and will definitely dominate the league in the future.

On the other side, there is Wang Chong, who has twice defeated Carmelo Anthony, who is almost as famous as James, and has outstanding static talent and great potential.

The two of them happen to be both small forwards. What kind of sparks can erupt when they collide with each other?

Wang Chong has naturally been looking forward to this for a long time.

After playing against Anthony, he very much hopes to have a chance with James. If he can step on James, his main position in the Lakers will be more stable.

As for James' thoughts, Wang Chong is not sure.

But before the game, a reporter stopped James for a brief interview.

When asked who he was most looking forward to playing against in this game, James blurted out without thinking.

"Of course Kobe Bryant."

(End of this chapter)