Chapter 1520 1519. Lian Mei Is About to Win the Championship (Asking for Monthly Votes)
On the night when the Hawks arrived in Los Angeles on the 23rd, the Lakers defeated the visiting Golden State Warriors 119-115 at home with difficulty, improving their record to 19 wins and 10 losses, temporarily returning to the third position in the Western Conference. However, Still overwhelmed by the 20-10 Nuggets.
The top spot in the Western Conference is still the Spurs. The Spurs have only lost 4 games so far, and their record of 26 wins and 4 losses is the best in the league.
In the physical therapy center of the Staples Center Arena, Kobe Bryant, Yao Ming, Gasol, Ariza, Wang Zhizhi, Odom... and others put their legs into the ice bucket. When they put them in, there was a lot of noise in the physical therapy center. The cry.
The Lakers were very tired when they played the Warriors today. Although they didn't go into overtime, the opponent was too good at running and scoring.
Apart from the top nine in the Western Conference, the only team with a winning rate of just over 50% is the Warriors. It is already very good to be able to maintain a winning rate of 50% in such a dangerous environment in the Western Conference.
It's just that the top nine in the Western Conference this season are too fierce. It's basically impossible for the Warriors to have a chance to last until the last game like they did last season and get a chance from the Mavericks to let them enter the playoffs.
"Um... Kobe, Ace sent me a text message this afternoon, saying that he has arrived in Los Angeles... Wow... um..." While Yao Ming was talking, the physical therapist put another ice pack on his knee, which made him As if thinking about something.
"That guy is lucky!" Kobe said angrily: "We, the Western Conference championship team, all need to fight for the playoff position. His team is number one in the Eastern Conference just by playing."
"That guy also said you have a good life..." Yao Ming did not say these words, fearing to shock the young mind of player No. 24.
Although Kobe said that, he attached great importance to the game the day after tomorrow.
He has been paying attention to the Hawks, who are playing in the top nine in the Western Conference this season...without a single defeat! Although there were relatively few games played, the Spurs, Suns, Jazz, and Mavericks were all defeated against the Hawks.
However, Kobe attaches great importance to it, but the coaching staff does not focus on the Eagles.
Now the Lakers coaching staff doesn't have the energy to take care of the Hawks, who will only play against them twice in the regular season.
Even if the top five teams in the Eastern Conference are added up, they will only play against each other 10 times in the regular season. The focus is still on the top ten opponents in the Western Conference. The Lakers will play against the other nine teams in the top ten in the Western Conference 33 times this season, which means that the regular season is close. Half of the games are against the top nine in the Western Conference.
Mainly because even the Warriors are so difficult to deal with! If it weren't for the wild record of the top nine in the Western Conference, the Warriors would have become a thorn in the hearts of playoff teams. Their eight-digit deficit last season was truly amazing.
For the Lakers, this season's Christmas game is completely different from the situation at the same time last season.
The only similarity for the Lakers is that it is difficult to shake the first place in the Western Conference. Last season it was the Mavericks, and this season it is the Spurs.
Last season, the Lakers ranked second in the Western Conference. Teams such as the Nuggets and Suns had just been formed. Deron of the Jazz had not yet entered his peak period and had not yet acquired Ray Allen. The Rockets' three young players were still young and Didn't get Artest...
Now the second to ninth place in the Western Conference is a complete melee. The Mavericks suffered a four-game losing streak at the end of last month. They fell to the ninth place in the Western Conference and were dormant for half a month. After winning their longest five-game winning streak of the season on the 21st, the Mavericks finally defeated the Blazers. The player squeezed to ninth and returned to the top eight.
If the teams ranked second to ninth in the Western Conference accidentally suffer a long losing streak and then fail to win consecutive games, they are likely to fail.
Even the Lakers!
What the Lakers coaching staff now has to consider is the regular season standings.
If it comes to the playoffs, the Lakers will definitely not be afraid. Playing a series is very different from the regular season where the opponent changes every game day. It is very difficult to lose in the regular season when the opponent has a fierce game and their own performance is average. Normal, but the best-of-seven series will expand the strength advantage to an extreme.
But the Lakers still have to consider the issue of home court advantage. After all, it is too rare for the Rockets to counterattack from the sixth place in the Western Conference in the second half of the playoffs to win the championship. The probability of that is not even 1%. arrive.
…
The two big guys of the Lakers were discussing the game the day after tomorrow. Liu Mang, along with Little Lolita, Wade, Rondo, Tracy McGrady and Yi Jianlian, watched the game between the Lakers and the Warriors together, feeling a little heavy.
The Lakers performed extremely well!
The record can well reflect the strength of a team, but if it is placed in such a dangerous environment in the Western Conference this season, it is already strong if it can be ranked in the top four for a long time at the beginning of the season.
The Warriors performed exceptionally well today. Monta Ellis scored 47 points, setting a new career high. The Warriors' running and gunning also took off today, but they were still defeated at the last moment by Kobe Bryant's three consecutive mid-range shots.
Kobe, who turned 29 in the summer three days before Liu Mang's birthday, is now at the peak of his technical and physical fitness, averaging 28.2 points, 5.6 rebounds and 6 assists per game, plus a career-high 47% shooting from the field. Rate is one of Liu Mang's main competitors who wants to win the MVP.
Liu Mang wants to be the MVP for three consecutive years. Compared with the data, Kobe's average of 28+5+6+1.9 per game is very wild, but Liu Mang has averaged 26.5 points, 5.9 rebounds, 9.8 assists, 1.4 steals and 2.3 blocks per game. The data is still Liu Mang's. A huge advantage in fighting.
The problem for Liu Mang is that he has been MVP twice in a row, so he needs more advantages.
Then beating your direct competitors is important!
Just like in the original time and space, Kobe and Paul were evenly matched at the end of this season, and the MVP was basically determined to be produced between the two.
But Kobe beat Paul at the end of the regular season. Kobe scored 29 points, 10 rebounds and 8 assists with 9 of 17 shots. Paul was defended by Kobe that night and scored 4 of 13 shots, and did not make a single three-pointer. If it were not for free throws, Paul would have difficulty scoring in double digits, and the Lakers defeated the Hornets. Therefore, Kobe led Paul by a large margin in the first vote for MVP. It seems that the two had similar scores in the final MVP voting, but the first vote gap was large.
This proves how important direct matchups between MVP competitors are.
After thinking for a while, Liu Mang put these things aside. He was not afraid of the Lakers in the game. He asked Yi Jianlian, who was about to drive back to the apartment, "Lianmei, will you participate in the draft next year?"
"No, I will return to China in May to participate in the national team training, and I don't have enough time." Yi Jianlian replied.
Liu Mang looked at Yi Jianlian, and it seemed that Yi Jianlian had no complaints about the national team's early training camp delaying his draft. He thought that Yi Jianlian might have planned not to participate in the draft in 2008 from the beginning, just as he said before, he wanted to play in college for four years before entering the NBA.
Moreover, for Yi Jianlian who grew up in the system, the Blue Association's letting him come to the United States to play in the college league was already a "pardon outside the law". The Olympics next summer is the most grand Olympics ever held in his country. If the Blue Association wants Yi Jianlian to return to China within a month after playing in the NCAA, he must return to China.
Liu Mang, Yao Ming, Wang Zhizhi, and Sun Yue had no choice. The regular season would end at the end of April, and all four of them might play in the playoffs.
However, Liu Mang was very curious about Yi Jianlian's college life: "How did you play in the game? It seems that you have won 10 games in a row since the beginning of the season this year?"
"Boss Ace, you didn't expect it, we are too strong this year, we will definitely win the championship..." Yi Jianlian was excited when he thought of his teammates, and began to talk about his excellent teammates.
The back line is composed of Darren Collison and Russell Westbrook, the small forward is Luke Mbah a Moute, and the inside is composed of Kevin Love and Yi Jianlian...
The front line defense composed of Westbrook and Mbah a Moute is simply invincible in college. Both of them are the favorites for the best defensive player in the Pacific Ten Conference. They have locked the first defensive team in the United States just one month after the season. Collison is also a favorite for the best defensive team in the United States. The inside is a meaty shooting power forward and a top-level mobile inside swingman with shooting ability...
The sixth man is Jrue Holiday, who will be a first-team defensive player in the NBA in the future...
This lineup is so amazing that Liu Mang thinks Yi Jianlian has the possibility of touching the NCAA basketball championship trophy.
After chatting with Yi Jianlian for a while, Liu Mang and Yi Jianlian's few brief contacts each year ended. Liu Mang and his three teammates went back to the hotel together. They had to get up early tomorrow to prepare for the game the day after tomorrow.
...
As for the killer move, it is natural to save it for a more critical time.
When the Hawks came to the Toyota Center Training Hall in Los Angeles for tactical training on the 24th, they only reviewed some minor problems in the "civilian five-man team tactics" in the game against the Heat the day before yesterday, but there were not many problems. After all, the Heat were too weak, and the civilian five-man team completely crushed the opponent when they were fierce.
The main thing was to conduct tactical drills against the Lakers' inside combination tactics. With Wade, who is much stronger than Finley and Mason, on the bench, the tactics had to change a little.
Of course, the core is still the inside line. O'Neal will be suspended for four games, and the tasks of others will be heavier. Yao Ming + Gasol + Odom + Wang Zhizhi + Radmanovic, who are at their peak... This luxurious inside line combination is no worse than the luxurious outside line combination of the Hawks.
The influence of the inside line in the game is obviously stronger than the outside line. The Hawks, who have temporarily lost O'Neal, will have greater pressure on the inside line.
However, compared with last season, the gap in the inside line has been much smaller.
Although they trained in the same training hall, Liu Mang, Yao Ming and Wang Zhizhi did not meet on that day. The three national team leaders met on the morning of Christmas Day, the 25th, when Yao Ming and Wang Zhizhi came to the hotel where the Hawks were staying to give Christmas gifts to Liu Mang's two children and little Lolita.
And there was not much time to chat. After asking about the recent situation, Liu Mang took Yao Ming's car to the kindergarten... No, it was to the Staples Center. The two teams had a game at 8:30 tonight, and they couldn't be idle during the day. There was too little preparation time before the game. Both teams had to conduct post-team research on their opponents in the last minute before the game.
It's true that the Lakers can't take care of the Hawks for the time being, but they won't waste the last preparation time before the game. They have to work hard to win every game to ensure that they don't fall into the bottom half of the playoffs in the wild West.
The Hawks have one more day of rest time, and of course they want to beat the Lakers even more.
Compared with the number of losses of the Spurs, the first team in the Western Conference, the Hawks only lost two more games with 22 wins and 6 losses. The Spurs have to play two more games, which means that the Hawks are three wins behind.
Liu Mang wants to win three consecutive MVPs, and the team naturally wants Liu Mang to win three consecutive MVPs. The difference of three wins is not big, but it is not small. Now that Wade is in such a good state after his comeback, the Hawks' goal has changed from not caring about the regular season results at the beginning of the season.
Help Liu Mang win the MVP! Fight for the regular season championship!