So I am the god of basketball?

However, this feeling of despair did not last long.

At the beginning of the second quarter, both teams took on substitute rotations. The Lakers were led by Kobe and Divac.

When Kobe was assisting Meng Lang in the first quarter, he performed very well.

Of course, the most important thing is that the right to take action is in Meng Lang's hands. He has no chance to make mistakes. But he led the team at the beginning of the second quarter. It can be seen that when he took a lot of shots, his stubborn side, or the Kobe in Meng Lang's impression, appeared on the court.

As long as there is a situation that he thinks he can play, Kobe will take action himself. The court has become "Kobe and his four rebounders." The Lakers have only one tactic, which is to give the ball to Kobe and let him play in isolation. .

Chuck Daly certainly didn't arrange it this way, but he didn't immediately stop Kobe's behavior.

In the new season, the Lakers, in addition to Meng Lang and Barkley, also need someone to step up and share the ball.

This position can be Jones or Kobe. It is up to them to choose who. This is Chuck Daly's coaching philosophy. He likes to let the players do their thing. That's what they can be.

In Chuck Daly's view, in addition to the physical talent of a star, there is another thing that is also very important to a star's success, and that is the character of the player himself. After staying in this league for such a long time, one thing he has noticed more and more is:
Whether a player can succeed or not really has a lot to do with his psychology.

Michael Jordan is a good example.

No one knows persistence and self-discipline better than him, so he was the most successful star in the first five years of the 90s.

Chuck Daly has seen too many players with outstanding physical fitness, and because of his own personality, he was unable to become a star that matched his physical condition.

Eddie Jones could very well be that player.

His physical fitness is very good and his basic skills are also very solid. But he was too polite. But the number of "superstars" who can be polite and defeat opponents in this league is really limited. Most of them are guys like Michael Jordan, who everyone knows is difficult to get along with.

Eddie Jones will be a big "auxiliary core" and Kobe's personality makes him more likely to become a higher-level player.

But from the perspective of team stability, Eddie Jones is more suitable to stay next to Meng Lang. But think about it again, if Meng Lang can't even suppress a young boy like Kobe so quickly, then there is only one possibility:

Kobe is a man who has a "big boss dream"!
Then there is no other way. Such a person is destined to be at his peak and will not be willing to be inferior to anyone.

Even Meng Lang might not be able to do it...

In short, we still have to wait and see what this matter will look like in the end. What Chuck Daly mainly does during this period is to observe, observe, and observe again... to witness who is more tenable between Jones and Kobe. The person you follow.

Speaking of which, this will also determine who of these two will stay with the Lakers longer in the future!

Because of salary issues, the Lakers are destined not to have a defense line composed of these two people for a long time.

This is a common problem in the highly anticipated "Youth Army".

The most classic example is the future "Three Thunder Young Masters", who were dismantled because of the team's salary space problem.

Kobe's "single fight" gave the veteran Jazz a chance to overtake, and they quickly made a package of defensive adjustments aimed at Kobe. Kobe lived up to expectations, and all of his next three shots ended in defeat.

At 9 minutes and 13 seconds of the second quarter, Chuck Daly looked at being chased to a 2-point deficit and put Meng Lang and Barkley back on the court.

Kobe looked ugly when he came off the field, but Meng Lang didn't tolerate him and asked directly: "How long will it take for you to realize your talent?"

Kobe didn't say this like fxxk.

Buckley said: "Are you too harsh on him?"

"Compared to his misbehavior on the court, I don't think what I said is exaggerating." Meng Lang replied.

Buckley agrees.

This is also the reason why Kobe did not dare to speak.

He couldn't find any reason to justify his "eating operation".

Just based on his performance on the court, it can be said that this summer was a waste of practice.

After Meng Lang came on the court, he took over the team's shot in the first round.

He proved with practical actions that after moving to the third position this season, his main style of play is constant offense.

Sloan finally made changes to his defense, putting Russell in front of him who mainly used to pester him last season.

To be honest, Russell did a pretty good job defending Meng Lang last season, especially in various top defenses. Meng Lang still found a way to defeat him through constant running. If it weren't for their top catching and shooting skills, the Lakers would have been in great trouble in the Western Conference Finals last season.

Russell also hopes to defend Meng Lang with the ball, rather than Meng Lang running without the ball. At this moment, seeing that Meng Lang had no intention of passing the ball, he secretly let out a sigh of relief. Meng Lang held the ball in his hand and pushed it towards him very directly with his back.

After tentatively exerting force, he felt Russell's stronger and stronger resistance, and suddenly turned forward. Russell, who had just regained his footing, reacted quickly and immediately moved sideways. Unfortunately, Meng Lang was very fast. Before he could completely get out of position, Meng Lang had already grabbed his position and rushed toward the basket.

"Bah!"

There is a confrontation between two people!
This is what Russell is good at. Last season, it was through confrontation that Russell caused trouble for Meng Lang. But as soon as they made contact in this round, Russell felt something was wrong:
This guy seems...

Harder!
"Bah!"

While rushing in, the two people had a second confrontation. Now Russell was sure that his feeling was correct. Meng Lang's body became harder and his strength increased to a higher level. He was pushed back during the confrontation.

Seizing this space, Meng Lang jumped to shoot one step inside the free throw line.

After a series of confrontations, his figure was still very stable and there were no problems with his movements. Unlike some "goats" who rush to the basket after a confrontation, they naturally become "eight-footed".

Stable shooting hand shape will definitely have an impact on the results of shooting.

The ball hit the frame.

"Shh!"

Just now, due to Kobe's "misbehavior", the Lakers' lead was reduced to only 2 points, and the atmosphere at the scene suddenly reached a freezing point. But Meng Lang's goal made the atmosphere at the scene boil again, like a pot of boiling water.

Kobe watched this scene off the court and pursed his lips unconsciously. Compared with the gap in strength, he found that there was still a very big gap between himself and Meng Lang:
Meng Lang can fully utilize his abilities, and he seems to still have a period of adaptation.

This obvious gap made him feel frustrated.

Because it makes him feel like he's still treading water. With Meng Lang and Barkley back on the court, the Lakers regained the initiative and the point difference began to slowly widen.

Bill Walton watched Meng Lang keep scoring goals and had already scored 22 points at the end of the first half and said: "Obviously, Dream has found his new position in the new season."

From his perspective, it is obvious to distinguish the difference between Meng Lang tonight and Meng Lang last season.

Meng Lang was also a ball-handler last season, but after getting the ball, he would first observe the position of his teammates, then decide whether to pass the ball or play alone to attract double-teams, and then assist his teammates. Well... after all, Meng Lang is responsible for organizing passes.

Tonight, Meng Lang was much more pure after getting the ball. He seemed to only have eyes for the basket. Scoring is his primary goal on the court.

So we also got 22 points.

But compared with the 22 points he scored in the previous half, Meng Lang's offense tonight was almost all against the defense.

He used personal offense to force his opponents to change their defensive formations and rotations.

He tonight...

It's a pure small forward style!
In the second half, Meng Lang continued his personal offense and used various scoring methods to constantly challenge the Jazz's wing defense.

How a pure scorer helps a team win games. You can see it through what Meng Lang did on the court in this game.

The Jazz finally double-teamed him.

What's interesting is that at this time, Meng Lang suddenly became "scientific" and didn't take double-teaming at all. It seemed as if what he was facing was not a double-team from two people, but a big gap.

His scoring efficiency has declined somewhat, but the Lakers' "second offense" efficiency is very high.

Ben and Barkley completely dominated the rebounds in the penalty area. The two helped each other get in position and grab rebounds.

The Jazz's "three highs" led by Karl Malone were completely unable to stop their rebounding momentum.

In the end, at the Lakers' home court, the Lakers smoothly defeated the Jazz 100 to 89, an 11-point advantage, and got a "good start" to the new season.

Meng Lang scored 43 points at the end of the game. This should be his highest score in a single game in the first game of the new season in previous years.

In addition to 43 points, Meng Lang also got 7 rebounds and 5 assists.

His personal assists dropped significantly.

It's not surprising that in this game, Meng Lang would only choose to pass the ball when he was completely unable to take action. Under such circumstances, to get 5 assists, Meng Lang's passing choices are good, and his teammates are strong enough...

Ben grabbed 13 rebounds, and Barkley also got 12 rebounds. The two of them got 25 rebounds together, which is already the number of rebounds for the Jazz team.

Eddie Jones scored 16 points, 5 rebounds and 6 assists.

It is also the data panel of the "Little Almighty King".

Kobe's performance in this game was not satisfactory. 11 shots were not too few, but he only hit 2 goals and made 3 turnovers. In the end, in the first game of the second season of his career, Kobe's data was 5 points, 3 rebounds and 3 assists.

There is definitely a gap between this kind of data and the performance he originally expected to perform in the first game of the new season.

This state made even him feel sick.

Meng Lang was interviewed after the game. When talking about his playing style in this game, he said: "I hope everyone can adapt to me now. This is my playing style in the new season. The Lakers in the new season need me to focus on It’s about scoring, so I will focus more on scoring!”

"Then do you think you will be like Michael Jordan and win the 'scoring title' in the next few seasons?"

"This is a very interesting thing. I won't deliberately pursue it, but I think with my current team positioning, it should be a natural thing to do, so I won't go too many focus on!"

Meng Lang told the truth every day, making the reporters at the scene unable to help but want to complain.

However, this complaint is a habitual "denial first" because there are too many confident people in this league. And their self-confidence is still the kind of self-confidence that comes from nothing. Just like someone in the future saying that he is "the first person in history."

Therefore, when faced with these people, most reporters choose to deny it first.

But when they faced Meng Lang's "big talk" tonight, after they "denied" it, they found that what Meng Lang said was true.

Last season, he had stepped on Michael Jordan and won the "scoring king". This season, he focused on the scoring end. Who dares to say that he is not the most favorable competitor for the "scoring king"?
Later, a reporter asked Meng Lang to evaluate Kobe's performance tonight.

Meng Lang said: "Honestly, I'm not surprised by his performance. This is a process. In the new season, he needs to take on more responsibilities, which he has never taken on in the past. This is a strange thing. It takes time to become familiar from the unfamiliar. I believe he can do a good job. As for whether he can do a good job and how much time it takes to reach what we need him to be, this is what he needs to consider..."

These words quickly reached Kobe’s ears.

Kobe is very depressed.

But he was so depressed that he still couldn't say anything to refute, because there was nothing wrong with what Meng Lang said. These are indeed things he needs to prove.

However, the things that made him feel depressed continued.

The next day, the Bulls also ushered in their opener.

McGrady, a super rookie who has been watched by the outside world for a whole summer, ushered in the first game of his career.

The Bulls' first game is the "highlight" arranged by the league:
The Bulls challenged the Toronto Rams away from home.

Jordan's Pippen vs. "New Pippen."

This gimmick alone is enough to show how exciting this game is.

Before the game started, the media once again mentioned the question that has almost become a cliché:
Do you think Tracy can become the next "Pippen"?

Pippen faced the reporter's microphone and gave a short answer: "I don't know, but I believe that the next me will not appear so easily!"

As a recognized honest person in the league, Pippen said such a thing, which is equivalent to saying that he is very angry.

These words also made tonight's game even more interesting.

Meng Lang was also ready to stay in front of the TV, waiting for the game to start. (End of chapter)