A 16-game winning streak is not uncommon in the league, at least it's easier than a three-game winning streak, and there are quite a few teams in the league to reach it.

But the problem is that the Wizards' 16-game winning streak was only achieved in October and November, when the regular season began.

Normally, this time period is still a time for teams to find form, run in the lineup, and practice tactics.

But the Wizards have already left the other teams far away with a unique momentum, and the defending champions are in amazing shape!

As a result, the eyes of countless fans in the league are focused on the Wizards, they want to know when the Wizards' winning streak will end, whether they have a chance to hit the 27-game winning streak set by the Heat last season, or even the 33-game winning streak that the Lakers have held for more than 40 years?

With such curiosity, the time officially entered December.

The Wizards have a total of 11 games in December, which is a little less than in other months because of Christmas, and the schedule is relatively relaxed.

Wang Xiao began to rotate and rest several starting main players in a purposeful manner as in previous seasons.

The first game in December was at home against the Magic, and in the face of the league's current bottom-ranked team, Wang Xiao decisively chose to let Curry rest in the rotation.

Without Curry, the Wizards still won the game comfortably, extending their winning streak to 17 games.

Subsequently, whenever he encounters a weak team at home, Wang Xiao will arrange for players to take turns to rest, George, Leonard, Thompson and others are not bad, and they have all been given rest time.

In order to pursue the record this season, Wang Xiao did not exaggerate the large-scale rotation as in previous seasons, but the necessary rotation relaxation is still needed, and he knows too well the risk of fatigue in the game.

This season, the Wizards not only want to break the Bulls' 72-win record in the regular season, but also win the championship in the playoffs and complete the three-game winning streak.

Therefore, while ensuring the record, Wang Xiao still has to consider the arrangement of the players' rest.

As a result, the Wizards were unable to maintain a winning streak in December.

In a game where George was rested, Curry and others did not feel good, while the opponent felt hot on the side, and everyone looked like an All-Star player.

Losing this game, the Wizards' winning streak was frozen at 23 in a row.

Failing to break the Heat's record of 27 consecutive wins last season, and failing to break the all-time first-ever winning streak of 33 consecutive wins, the Wizards, from the players to the fans, felt a little disappointed.

That said, the Wizards' accomplishments so far are enough to excite Wizards fans.

The Wizards lost just two games throughout the December season, and finally continued to lead the league with a 25-2 record.

"Washington Wizards! Unbeatable! ”

At the end of December, the All-Star voting began, with the Wizards' starting four on the list, Curry leading the Eastern Conference guard poll as always, and George surpassing Cameron for the first time at the forward position. Anthony, although only by a very narrow margin, is very likely to be overtaken in the subsequent vote, but it is also the first time that he is ranked second in the Eastern Forward.

As for the first place in the Eastern Forward, there is no suspense, it is still LeBron. James.

Thompson and Leonard also received very high votes, both in the top 10 of their respective positions, or even close to the top five.

Although this ranking cannot be selected as an All-Star starter, as long as the current state is maintained, it is very likely to be called an All-Star substitute.

If these two also become All-Stars, the Wizards will have four players who can be selected as All-Stars at the same time.

The last team to make four All-Stars was the Celtics, when the Big Three plus Rondo were selected, but at that time the Big Three were all past the peak of their careers, relying on the popularity accumulated over the years, and their own coach was an Eastern All-Star coach.

The oldest of the four players on the Wizards team is only 25 years old, and they are all prime players in their prime!

……

As December passed, 2014 officially arrived.

In the first game of the new year, the Wizards faced a strong opponent and were on the back foot.

Portland.

The Trail Blazers didn't have any special reinforcements this summer, and the roster continued from last season.

But Durant's strength is even more terrifying.

Durant, who is also 25 years old, is even about five months younger than Curry, who was born in March.

Without the help of Wang Xiao's plug-in, his progress is no slower than that of the Wizards, or even faster!

Over the course of a summer, he developed new offensive skills that made it very difficult for Leonard to defend.

On the other hand, Aldridge's hand in this game was also quite good, George couldn't prevent it at all, and it didn't help to change to Green later, the two were limited by their height, and they couldn't limit Aldridge, who was good at medium and long distance shooting.

In the end, Wang Xiao had to let Gobert switch to Aldridge, which slightly curbed his offense, but in this way, when Aldridge pulled out of the perimeter, Gobert had to follow out, and the Wizards had fewer big men on the inside who could help defend and supplement.

Fortunately, little Jordan is still the same little Jordan.

Seeing that the situation was wrong, Wang Xiao decisively sacrificed the shark slashing tactic again, and gradually cooled the hands of Durant and Aldridge through endless free throws.

Jordan Jr.'s free throw shooting percentage in this game was not bad, at least more than 50%, but it was not much, and for the Wizards, this shooting percentage was completely acceptable.

Relying on the shark slashing tactic, the team gradually narrowed the difference, and then relied on Curry's two consecutive three-pointers to turn things around, and finally won by a narrow margin of 1 point.

After the game, some media bluntly said that the Trail Blazers must think about the position of center.

Jordan Jr.'s contributions to the Trail Blazers on the defensive end are obvious to all, but at the same time, the drag he has created on the offensive end cannot be ignored.

If they don't practice free throws all the time, the Trail Blazers will never have any chance to win no matter how many Finals they play against the Wizards.

It didn't take long for the Trail Blazers to be revealed to be trying to trade Jordan Jr., of course, whether this news is true or not is only known to the Trail Blazers management.

In Wang Xiao's view, even if Jordan Jr. can practice free throws, or the Trail Blazers trade Jordan Jr. for a blue-collar center with better free throws, there is actually not much difference.

Because the playoffs have seven games to play, Durant and Aldridge can't break out every game.

Durant, in particular, is against Leonard.

This is the first matchup between the two in half a year, and as the number of encounters increases, Leonard will gradually adapt to Durant's pace of progress and find better ways to limit Durant.