Chapter 684

"Rashid, that guy is the strongest opponent you said? The strongest forward you asked me to play more balls for you?" Liu Mang looked at the opposite power forward and his mouth twitched.

"..." Rasheed Wallace remained silent.

The Kings gave fans a lot of small surprises this year. With Webber absent for more than 50 games, they did not fall behind from the top teams, and they are still tenaciously ranked among the seven teams with the best regular season record in the league.

The records of the Eagles and Pacers are far ahead this season. The Eagles are 46 wins and 8 losses, and the Pacers are 41 wins and 14 losses. Judging from the current performance of these two teams, it is certain to win 60+ games things.

As for the remaining teams that have a chance to hit 60 wins, the Kings are still among them, behind the Timberwolves and the Lakers, and ahead of the Pistons, and their record has tied the Spurs' record of 37 wins and 17 losses, tied for fifth in the league!

The Kings have proved with practical actions that their best performance in the league in 2002 was not due to good luck, but bad luck. Apart from the referee factor, there was also the continuous encounter of their core power forward Chris Webber in the following two years. injury.

Although Iverson stole the limelight for Webber's comeback this time, it is "alleged" that Weber recovered perfectly after the operation, and his knee injury will not hinder his strength. He is 31 years old and has been selected for the first team and twice for the second team in the past three years. He is still at the peak in people's eyes, and many fans and expert media are looking forward to how powerful the Kings will be after his comeback.

For the Eagles, unlike Liu Mang and Iverson, the coaching staff and players of the Eagles don’t pay much attention to the 76ers that Iverson now owns. The 76ers' comeback this year can't stir up any troubles.

As for the Kings, they are only one game away from the second-place Lakers in the West, and only two games away from the Timberwolves, the No. Another possible Finals opponent.

It is now less than two years before the 2002 Western Conference Finals. No one will forget the amazingness that the Kings brought to people in the 2002 Western Conference Finals. Virtual Lakers.

The most important point is that Weber has a better helper inside. After Divac got old, they got Brad Miller with similar functions and longer range. How strong will Miller's partner be.

However, imagination is beautiful, reality is very skinny.

When Liu Mang forcibly added motivation to himself, and came to Arco Arena with the feeling that the whole world was against him, and came to the court after warming up, the Webb he saw... became a fat man!

Although it's not as exaggerated as Kemp or Vin Baker, compared to the "slim" figure of the most gorgeous power forward in history that Liu Mang saw two years ago, he is almost unrecognizable!

Weber has never shown his face in front of the fans in such "slightly" clothes, and he is wearing suits and leather shoes for interviews. When he took off his clothes and played in jersey and shorts, it was obvious that he was a lot bigger than before!

Liu Mang seemed to have seen a talented super power forward with his naked eyes. From the hard steel O'Neal's god-level power forward he saw two years ago, he has now become a fat man who has fallen behind the ranks of the best players.

"Ding... Chris Webber, ability evaluation 82, offense 89, defense 73, three-pointer 40, mid-range shooting 83, layup 89, passing 80, speed 75, strength 89..."

The decline is so serious! Except for the fact that the tonnage has increased, Weber is no longer as good as before in other respects!

Liu Mang felt that the five-year, 80 million contract extension that Webber signed with the Kings in 2002 was in his hand. The terms were cut...

And the main reason is undoubtedly injuries!

Minimally invasive surgery is terrible!

Minimally invasive surgery was only invented in 1987, and it has really started to enter people's lives since the new century. Therefore, at this stage, many people, even professional sports people, do not know how much this kind of surgery affects sports ability. Because not many people would choose to use this incompletely perfect surgical method, Weber is regarded as the pioneer of minimally invasive surgery in the NBA, and it is precisely because of this surgery that his explosive power and speed have seriously declined.

The future Stoudemire and Tracy McGrady, after minimally invasive surgery, slipped directly from top stars or even superstars to the point where they almost couldn't hit the ball.

Of course, if minimally invasive surgery is not performed, Weber’s injury may not heal. Like many superstars who collapsed after the age of 30, they will not be able to play in two years, or even have repeated injuries and reimbursements. ball.

So whether to do minimally invasive surgery or not is just the difference between miserable and worse.

After sighing Webb's sad fate, Liu Mang asked Rasheed Wallace who had been silent all this time: "Rashid, do you want to make more balls for you today?"

Although Liu Mang is alone, he also knows how to give his teammates opportunities to perform. Recently, because McGrady has not been so strong, Liu Mang has maintained an average score of 32 points per game, and has been steadily leading McGrady by more than two points. So I am happy to let my teammates perform more.

"No, it's boring, Ace, come on, you see that Peja also wants to win." Rasheed Wallace shook his head, no longer had the strong idea of ​​wanting to score points with Weber.

Seeing that Rasheed Wallace seemed to have 'disdain' on his face, Liu Mang was a little surprised, and shouted at Tianzun... unexpectedly also learned to be arrogant! Who did these guys on their own team learn from? One is more shameless than the other!

...

Rasheed Wallace is not interested. Raheem has sacrificed a lot for the championship this year. He has no interest in collecting statistics in the regular season. He has given up a lot of things and is determined to fight for the team honor this season. , Jason Terry is the sixth man. It is the team's arrangement for him to come up and play the waves, and he has always played like that.

So, today Liu Mang started making waves again!

After the game started, Rasheed Wallace easily won the jump ball from Webb, who had gained more than 20 pounds, or about ten kilograms.

Brad Miller's jump ball is poor, and the Kings fans who were expecting Webber to come back and win the jump ball are now disappointed. Webber can't jump now!

After receiving the jump ball, Liu Mang advanced to the frontcourt. Facing Doug Christie, who was on the first team of the best defensive team last season, Liu Mang did not choose to fight recklessly. After advancing to the frontcourt, he saw Christie defending. Mang chose to play a pick-and-roll with Rasheed Wallace! Specifically for Weber on this one.

Rasheed Wallace ran up to help Liu Mang block Christie's defense, Weber moved very quickly for the first time, followed Rasheed Wallace's footsteps and came out to delay Liu Mang's pick-and-roll cut.

but!

After Liu Mang's pick-and-roll master level 5 is triggered, his speed exceeds 100! If it was Weber in the past, relying on strength and good mobility, he could still interfere with Liu Mang, but now Weber encountered Liu Mang's change of direction after the pick-and-roll, and tried to keep up with him, but almost fell down!

Liu Mang passed Weber with a change of direction, and Christie, who bypassed the pick-and-roll and came up to defend, saw only the picture of Liu Mang going inside and playing with Brad Miller with his footsteps. Brad Miller slammed the ball into the basket with his footsteps swaying in place!

The strongest first step is really easy to use. When encountering a center forward like Brad Miller who is soft and slow but still active in defense, Liu Mang has a giant who is 2.6 meters tall. that kind of opportunity!

On the defensive end, Liu Mang signaled the others to block his defenders and let Rasheed Wallace single-handedly defend against Weber.

This defensive method is a bit unfriendly, but the effect is obvious.

Letting the strongest player on the team have one-on-one singles without being disturbed by others is a very important type of NBA tactics. Although Webber is a little fatter, he is still the best in the hearts of the Kings players, but he just came back now , And he came back after he recovered from the injury. He didn't have much training time, and he needed the ball to find his status. Therefore, after he had the opportunity to play singles, the Kings players gave him the ball more.

It's just that Webber really can't beat Rasheed Wallace who is focused on defense!

Rasheed Wallace is the defensive champion who can lock Duncan and O'Neal together with Ben Wallace!

Even though Webber is not in good form, he is definitely better than Divac who was on the verge of retiring, but he always needs to find his form when he comes back. He was already in a bad state, and when he saw him, he went all out to defend. Wallace, after Liu Mang resorted to this "insidious" defensive strategy, Weber came up to face Rasheed Wallace's first attack, and he was slapped in the face.

Liu Mang had been prepared for a long time, rushed in and immediately counterattacked when he saw the ball, throwing away Christie who rushed over, and counterattacked with one sword!

"Ding... I am the pioneer..."

"Ding...fancy dunk trigger..."

Liu Mang rushed to the opponent's basket, but no one followed. Christie, a defensive lunatic, gave up. After Liu Mang threw him off, the surge in speed surprised him, and rushed to the opponent's basket. Liu Mang turned 180 degrees and dunked the ball with his back. Smash into the basket!

After being blocked, Weber of course wanted to fight back, but unfortunately, in the next few rounds, Weber only made 1 of 5 shots.

And when Liu Mang was helping the team to grab rebounds and pick-and-rolls, he counterattacked when he had the opportunity, and shot in various ways when he had no chance to land, or he saw Christie quickly go around the pick-and-roll after the pick-and-roll. After more than five minutes, the Eagles played a wave of 14 to 4. Except for Webber who scored one, Mike Bibby stopped giving the ball after Webber made only one of five consecutive shots. Lins fouled and got two free throws and scored two points. The Kings offense completely stagnated!

It was the Eagles attacking again, and Liu Mang hit it off. After catching Rasheed Wallace's pick-and-roll, when Weber pounced, Liu Mang made a strong three-pointer against Weber's defense!

"Ding... The King of Ganba triggers at level 5..."

Weber's height of 2.06 meters did put some pressure on Liu Mang, but the king of dry pull corrected Liu Mang's affected shot tilt. With the touch of Liu Mang's previous shots, Liu Mang was able to pick and roll against Weber. Yanshe hits a three-pointer in the defense!

17 to 4, it took less than six minutes to play, and the point difference was stretched to more than 10 points!

Adelman finally couldn't sit still and called a timeout!

Webber was targeted like this, and the opponent did not double-team Webber at all. This was beyond Adelman's expectation, because although Webber has gained weight, he has been a top power forward in the league in the past two years. He was once comparable to Duncan and Garnett. Both Nowitzki and Rasheed Wallace are a head higher, and they were also selected for a team in the 00-01 season.

Webber is still the best insider in the Kings team, there is no doubt about it, so after Webber came back, Adelman immediately changed his tactics back to the tactics of the previous seasons, but he did not expect the Eagles to play like this, and pulled Sid Wallace also guarded Webber!

Originally, in Adelman's opinion, even if Weber had declined more, the Eagles were unlikely to be able to defend against Weber inside, but he didn't expect that the original defensive sieve turned into a top defensive insider!

Rasheed Wallace's data is bleak, and the performance of the defensive end is often not reflected by the data. This is also the reason why Rasheed Wallace was not taken seriously before the Pistons won the championship. Adelman is now You know, the Eagles players and coaching staff often say that Rasheed Wallace is the most important signing, not to swell his face to make a fat man, but it is true!

Obviously, the current Kings are in an embarrassing situation. Without Webber, they are still a top team and still have a chance to compete for the third place in the league. But now that Webber is back, Adelman is bound to put Webber back in the core position. He is one of the top ten paid players in the league, but the strength of the team will definitely fluctuate greatly because of this!

The point is, Adelman also had to let Webber play more time to find the state! Good coaches are very sensitive, and Adelman clearly felt that the tacit understanding that the team had cultivated when Weber was not around might be wiped out because of this!

...

After returning from the timeout, the two teams began to rotate.

Stockton probably had to rest for several days because he played the whole game last game. Liu Mang played with a lineup of Jason Terry, Raheem, Boozer and Rasheed Wallace.

The Kings didn't make any substitutions, but just changed their style of play. Webber no longer had the opportunity to play singles all the time, and became a pick-and-roll organizer, using his mid-range shooting ability and roll-down ability to help Bibby organize the offense.

It's just that this style of play made Weber unhappy. He was lazy during the pick-and-roll, which was the same reason why Weber was traded in history. Every time he encountered this situation, he would be unhappy, and the worse he played, the worse he played.

Although the Kings offense started a lot better after Bibi took over the ball, Peja finally had a chance to catch the ball and shoot. He was already upset with Liu Mang, and wanted to fight back after seeing Liu Mang score 11 points in half a quarter. It's just that Weber has been robbing the ball all the time. I'm very upset but I can't help it.

The offense of the Kings has improved, and the offense of the Eagles is even sharper!

Still playing against Weber, Liu Mang is very sorry for Weber's fate. Although Weber is only 31 years old, it is obviously the twilight of his career when he returns from a serious injury, but as an opponent, Liu Mang will not be soft-hearted. The opponent has a weakness, so of course we must fight against this point! I am not a philanthropist, and there is no such thing as "respecting the old and loving the young" in the game. After experiencing Weber's loophole against the Kings a few minutes ago, Liu Mang specifically picked Weber's point to play.

Liu Mang scored 11 points in half a quarter. After the Kings' defensive pressure came towards him, Liu Mang came back from a timeout and started the pass mode. After more than six minutes, he only scored 3 points, one mid-range shot, and one foul hit. Free throws, but sent 3 assists in half a quarter, revitalizing the team's offense!

After the first quarter, the Eagles led 36 to 19 by 17 points!

The Kings played well in the next six minutes and scored 15 points, but they played poorly in the first half of the first quarter and only scored 4 points. The Eagles led by 17 points in a single quarter!

When Adelman used Webber as a player to open up the space, the Kings did play well, but after the Eagles took a 17-point lead, Liu Mang either passed the ball or scored by himself, and Webber was there. Webber played at this point and widened the point difference. Even if the Kings used Webber's rest time to play the state they should have this season and narrowed part of the point difference, but whenever Webber came up, both offensive and defensive ends became the Eagles. The black hole used, overall, the Eagles have always maintained a lead of more than ten points!

The situation became stalemate like that. When there were more than 5 minutes left in the fourth quarter, Mike Bibby scored 9 points in a row and once narrowed the point difference to 8 points, which scared the Eagles. Liu Mang scored 8 points in a row, broke through 40 points, and once again opened the point difference to more than 10 points, killing the Kings' counterattack momentum.

In the end, Liu Mang made 14 of 29 shots and scored 40 points, 6 rebounds and 10 assists. This is the third time this season that he has at least 40+10. 112 to 98, beat the Kings away and won 7 consecutive victories without any risk!

The entire Kings team performed very well. After all, they are tied for fifth in the league with the Spurs. The Kings were already strong, but Webber's comeback obviously affected their chemistry.

Webber, who only made 3 of 13 shots and scored 8 points and 6 rebounds, not only had a poor offensive performance, but he was once the rebounding leader, but his defensive rebounds declined the most. There is no doubt that Weber's performance in this game was very disappointing. .

In particular, his current body shape makes people seem to see the curtain call of an era. Obviously, the era of the talented Kings team has not yet begun, and the curtain call will come...

...

...

To say how miserable Weber is, it's not just that he played poorly in his comeback debut, the key is that his poor performance didn't make the headlines!

Iverson, who came back on the same day as him, played a surprising performance against the Pistons with the third record in the Eastern Conference and the current 36 wins and 19 losses in his comeback debut!

Before the game between the 76ers and the Pistons, people saw the poor state of Webber's absence for most of the season, and they didn't have much hope for Iverson's comeback debut.

But the more unexpected the unexpected, the more surprising it is!

Facing the Pistons, Iverson's shooting performance of 6 of 22 was really bad, but he also got 14 assists! In addition, he also grabbed an offensive rebound at the critical moment of the fourth quarter, which was the seventh double-double in his career. At the same time, Ben Wallace fouled and made two free throws, establishing a 4-point lead at the critical moment. The audience scored a triple-double of 23 points, 10 rebounds and 14 assists. The last time he got a triple-double was already a thing of the last century!

Relying on Iverson's critical moments, the 76ers made a big upset and defeated the Pistons 99 to 96!

After winning the game, Iverson asked the reporter to tell Liu Mang during an interview: "Let Ace wash his ass and wait for his buddies to kick him! If that bastard doesn't get beaten up, he won't know who is the boss!"

...

Iverson's desire to defeat Liu Mang is very strong now.

In addition to wanting to "revenge" Liu Mang's previous curse, there is also the matter of scoring champion.

Iverson's highest scoring average before winning the scoring title was 31.4 points, while Liu Mang has now averaged 32.6 points per game, which is higher than McGrady's average of 32.1 points per game last season, and Liu Mang's scoring title this year is becoming more and more stable , McGrady's scoring average has been stuck in the 30s. Before the game between the Eagles and the 76ers, McGrady averaged 30.3 points per game.

As the season progressed, it became more and more difficult for McGrady to overtake Liu Mang. Now every time McGrady wants to improve by one point, he has to score 6 points more than the average in a single game. If he wants to surpass Liu Mang, he must In the remaining 20-plus games, he averaged at least 35 points per game.

In the past more than ten years, only two people have achieved this kind of performance. One is Jordan in the 86-87 season. He scored 35+ points 11 times in a row, 40+ points in nine consecutive games, and all games after the All-Star Weekend. Averaged 38 points per game.

The second is Kobe last season, who performed 13 consecutive 35+ games. In February, he had 9 consecutive 40+ games and averaged 40+ per game in a single month. The monthly average is 35+ per game.

Except for these two, in modern basketball, no one has completed the difficult task of McGrady trying to catch up with Liu Mang's scoring average.

Moreover, Liu Reck's scoring momentum is also very fierce now. McGrady tried to catch up with soaring points, but Liu Reck would not just watch.

Therefore, basically Liu Mang can determine the scoring champion with more than 20 games left.

Of course, there may also be the situation that O'Neal and David Robinson competed for the scoring title. McGrady first stabilizes the current average scoring gap and does not let himself be pulled too far. In the last two or three games, he made crazy shots. Soaring points, and McGrady's scoring ability is obviously stronger than David Robinson. It is not impossible to force a few consecutive games to score 50 or 60 points.

This is also the media's prediction for McGrady and Liu Mang competing for the scoring title.

But Iverson is also a super scorer and knows how difficult it is to get 60+. It is very difficult for McGrady to accomplish such a miracle, so he is even more upset now!

Back then, the younger brother had to surpass his own scoring average to become the scoring champion!

It is tolerable or unbearable!

...

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