Chapter 468: Brother Blacksmith Is Always So Confident
"Oh, Michael, have you heard that the five All-Star starters in the East will give up their starting positions to you!" O'Neal said exaggeratedly.
"Hahahaha, the young man sees that I can hardly walk anymore, I'm just being polite." Jordan was rarely humbled.
After Jordan came to Atlanta today, he felt refreshed. He saw Carter’s interview when he first arrived, and said that he would be the starter, and then Iverson, Tracy McGrady, and Liu Mang followed. , Jordan didn't seem to see it, but O'Neal said so, and he took it seriously.
If Ratliff knew what O'Neill said, he would definitely kill this fat man with a gulp of Gatorade. Who said I would let him start? You can't make it to the All-Star starter and you want to drag me down?
O'Neal talked and laughed happily with Jordan and Olajuwon in the auditorium. As several big men who have dominated the NBA in the past ten years, Duncan, the 99-year championship MVP, is missing.
As for Carter, Iverson, and McGrady on the side, in front of these three big shots, they are like followers...
Yes, O'Neal is going to rest again today. He has just played ten regular-season games in a row. O'Neal said that he is a little tired. It is time to rest for a few days, and let's talk about playing a full star.
Kobe looked at O'Neal's truce again, and was so angry that he said he would stop fighting if he didn't fight. No wonder the fat man didn't participate in the pre-match interview, which is such a showy thing!
Forget it, you can still win without the fat man! Kobe has absolute self-confidence, otherwise he wouldn't have gone three out of the Big Four in the summer of 2004, and Odom would still be yelling to win the championship.
...
On the side of the Hawks' bench, Liu Mang was also upset.
If O'Neal doesn't play, the Eagles' chances of winning will increase sharply. When Liu Mang draws daily tasks, the highest level is only 3, and he can score at least 20 points against Kobe's defense.
This year, the dominance of the OK combination has declined. It is a fact that O’Neal’s peak years have passed. Of course, he is still the league’s number one center, and he will be for several years to come. Among the league’s active centers, except for O’Neal, none can reach the top. At the star level, until Yao Ming became a big killer and Howard reached the peak.
In terms of function, Ben Wallace has the effect of a top star, but on the offensive end, a team with him basically means one less person to attack, except when grabbing offensive rebounds.
It's just that the Lakers are not a team with very good talent. Zen master himself said that he won five championships with the Lakers, and his talent is more than a little bit worse than that of the Bulls.
Except for the two core players who were the No. 1 player in the same position or even the No. 1 player in the league at the time, the talent of the others was surprisingly poor. He himself was very surprised that he was able to successfully defend the championship three times.
This can be seen from the fact that in 2004, O'Neal was traded to two quasi-All-Star players, Odom and Caron Butler. Except for OK, except for the Big Four and the little fish who left, the Lakers seem to be other people. It is basically equal to negative equity, it all depends on the core players to win, thank God if they don't hold back.
Just look at the starting lineup of the Lakers on the big screen. Fisher and Kobe have a good backcourt combination. Fisher is also called Xiaoyu. He defends desperately. Awesome, Kobe can't describe it.
Then, the Lakers' small forward, 34-year-old Rick Fox, power forward, Samaki Walker, who averaged 4 points and 5 rebounds per game this season, and center, Wang Zhizhi.
Except that Fisher is at the peak, with an ability value of 80 quasi-first-class level, Kobe is about to enter the peak period, his ability value has increased to 94, and he is about to enter the real super giant level. Light, is the number one player in the league, young is good, Iverson in the same class is 28, and Kobe is not yet 25.
In addition to these two quasi-first-class stars and quasi-super giants, the other three starters of the Lakers, Fox, has an ability value of 70, averages 7 points, 3 rebounds and 5 assists per game, and the average small forward is not bad at best, mainly due to his age. Yes, I can score points for Kobe and the inside line, and the single defense has fallen to negligible; Samaki Walker, with an ability value of 65, is not at the starting level, and many of Kobe's teammates may not even play the ball after leaving Kobe He deserves a higher level; Wang Zhizhi, 68, is not at the starting level. He can play at the level of a starter on a bad team. There are a lot more time and performance opportunities, and the data and performance are not bad. The average is 9 points, 5 rebounds and 1.8 assists per game.
Without O'Neal, only Kobe is left to lead the team. It seems that the Lakers' lineup is so miserable. Liu Mang didn't pay attention to it before, but now because the daily task level is so low, he curiously looked at the ability value of the Lakers' starting lineup. It's like a ghost. This lineup, even if it was one year younger last season, still lacks a substitute insider with excellent three-point ability. That is to say, except for O'Neal last year, the Lakers' lineup is like this. For three years, the Lakers lineup is almost full of these people, the OK combination...
Liu Mang thinks that O'Neill is really amazing! Give Kobe a three-in-a-row.
The pressure of the game is not too high, the opponent is difficult to deal with Kobe, just find a way to limit him.
What depressed Liu Mang was the matter of getting the All-Stars to start. He didn't expect that there would be so many people competing with him to start the game. It was worse than the Lakers winning three consecutive championships by relying on OK.
He always thought that Carter was forced to give up because of domestic public opinion.
But if you think about it carefully, Jordan is so proud of himself, if Carter makes him reluctant, he will accept it.
Carter, who has such a high emotional intelligence, is also nicknamed Flying Man. He must be the one who makes the starter the most active, and Jordan will accept it.
The old man is also an arrogant person.
But Liu Mang had no way to say early on that he would give Jordan the starting lineup. Before the All-Star bench lineup came out, although the coaches would not let Jordan lose the All-Star selection in theory, Jordan hadn't even made the All-Star, so he said in advance. To make it look like he forced the league to select Jordan into the All-Star.
Although this year's All-Star Weekend, Liu Mang didn't want to win the MVP or anything. Even if the starting ability value is a little lower, it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter if his performance is almost inaccurate, but...
"God's perfect curtain call: The host needs to help Michael Jordan win the MVP of the 2003 Atlanta All-Star Game. Task reward: Michael Jordan's 1984-1985 season star card. Failure penalty: None."
"Michael Jordan 1984-1985 version, ability value 91, offense 99, defense 80, three-pointer 56, mid-range shooting 80, layup 100, speed 93, strength 88, bounce 99..."
This is why Mao Liumang was so active in the pre-match interview and announced that he would start the game. Seeing that Jordan was a top star in his rookie year and his physical fitness was almost invincible as a guard in history, Liu Mang's first reaction was "Damn it." Thinking of having the opportunity to get this star card to feel the strength of God, the reaction was the second "fuck", and when he let the All-Stars start, there were actually three people rushing to give way, and Liu Mang was the third "fuck" I almost scolded it directly!
I can only go to Jordan in person, and have a good communication about who he accepts as the starter. Liu Mang thinks that if Jordan wants to accept, it is really possible to accept Carter's starter, because the nicknames of the two are Flying Man, Jordan There are also reasons to accept.
Liu Mang put aside these miscellaneous thoughts and devoted himself to the game. It is not easy to score 20 points against Kobe, he is a monster.
The future backup champion MVP Iguodala, who was still in his rookie year, once played against Kobe for the first time in his rookie year, saying that he defended Kobe. In that game, Kobe scored 17 points on 7 of 27 shots. The second time when Kobe played against the 76ers, he went directly to the 76ers locker room and said that he wanted to defend Iguodala and score at most 5 points, and he also wanted to score 50 points. The score should be at least Iguodala's. ten times.
Of course, few of the little blacksmith's bragging can be realized. Iguodala scored 6 points in that game, and Kobe only scored 48 points. Both of his bold words were not completed.
...
...
Soon, the game was about to start, and the two teams made their debut.
The Eagles continued to send Jason Terry, Prince, Raheem, Muhammad, Ratliff.
This game is not as influential as playing against the Rockets. Since the domestic is still during the Spring Festival, the ratings can only be said to be okay, and the regular season does not have as much attention as the All-Star Weekend. Mang first.
Lakers starting lineup: Fisher, Kobe, Fox, Walker, Wang Zhizhi.
The old fans who watched the NBA in front of the domestic TV burst into tears. Our country has three players who have played in the NBA as a starter!
After the start of the game, Ratliff beat Wang Zhizhi to win the jump ball, and the Eagles went first.
Jason Terry advanced up the court, and Kobe immediately stuck up to Jason Terry as soon as he got beyond the three-point line, giving a strong physical confrontation.
Liu Mang stared closely at Kobe's movements, wanting to see how Kobe's defense has improved from last year. Those small movements are hard to see from the TV screen.