Chapter 278: A Journey to the East
The Eastern team is not weak, with the Cavaliers and Celtics respected, continuing the situation of previous years.
The difference is that with the departure of Wang tomorrow, the 76ers can no longer be at the top of the East, and their state is extremely unstable, and compared with the Celtics, Cavaliers and even the Magic, they are significantly weaker, which can be regarded as the second echelon.
A few years ago, Wang Mingming once led the 76ers team to overturn the river and the sea in the city's arena, setting off countless storms.
A few years later, things are wrong, and the fans always have grievances against the team, not the coach, so when Wang leads the Kings here again tomorrow, there is even some applause here.
"It's unpredictable, when I came here a few years ago, it was like I owed them millions of dollars, and now I'm getting amiable."
Wang Ming smiled and said to Casey on the side, Casey was also happy, "The fans are still the cutest." β
The two teams also did not feel tense and played more restrained.
In the end, the Kings lost the game 95-97 to the Celtics and lost the game without fighting spirit.
Wang Mingming felt that the players were playing very badly, except for the last moment, there was no aggression in the rest of the time, and they paddled well.
After Wang's game tomorrow, he held a meeting and trained to ring the alarm bell for the players.
The next day, the Kings flew to Cleveland to challenge the Cavaliers, who were the No. 1 team in the East.
The Quickloan Center is known as the home court of the Devils, and the Cavaliers have had a particularly high win rate at home since last season, and this season is no different.
The Cleveland Cavaliers, although they did not show the temperament of winning the championship, have always maintained the first place in the East.
But at the moment, when the Kings, a strong opponent in the West, comes to attack, the Cavaliers still have some players on the injury list, most of them inside, such as Shaquille O'Neal and Anderson Vallejo.
In addition, bench gangster Sebastian Telfer is also on the injury list.
Here in the Kings, Gortat and Afflalo are out due to injury, and there are basically no injuries, and the lineup inside and outside is still very strong.
The two teams met and encountered the highest level of attention, which was broadcast live across the United States.
LeBron said before the game that he wanted to win this game to further consolidate the Cavaliers' record of No. 1 in the East.
The Kings lost to the Celtics, and if they lose to the Cavaliers, it shows that the Kings are not capable of playing hard, so many people are waiting for the Kings to lose, and then jump out to criticize them.
Cavaliers coach Mike Brown fielded the starting lineup of Mo Williams, Anthony Parker, LeBron James, Antoine Jamison and J.J. Hickson.
This lineup, lacking height, lack of center, two interior lines, are all born forwards, especially Jamison, who is still the kind of striker who is not three, and even plays a little more time in the No. 3 position.
The Kings are decent and have a relatively sound roster, with Kidd, DeRozan, Artest, Bosh and Tyson Chandler forming five starters.
James took the initiative to come up and say hello and found his classmate from Class of '03, Chris Bosh.
"You seem to be having a good time playing in Sacramento?"
James hugged Bosh and said with a little confusion.
Bosh smiled awkwardly, remembering the agreement that several of them had said before, his face flushed slightly, "Actually, it's okay, but now, the team is on the rise, and we have been winning, this feeling is something I haven't experienced in Toronto before." β
"By summer, you're still there," James asked in a low voice.
"I really don't know, LeBron, I can't give you a clear answer right now, like you said, we are on the court, we will give it our all, for this season, for the dream in our hearts." Chris Bosh said affectionately that he and James have a general relationship, and the two communicate privately, still relying on Dwyan's bond.
"Okay, I understand." James nodded.
James knows that Bosh's mentality has changed now, and he understands Bosh's thoughts, after all, the Kings now have one of the best coaches in the league, and the team's record is stable in the top four in the West.
And before in the Raptors, he had never been treated like this.
The more Bosh is satisfied with his days with the Kings, the more James wants to beat the Kings to prove Bosh wrong, the coach is not the main thing, the players are the key.
So James is full of fighting spirit and full of energy.
At the beginning of the game, James was on fire, first completing a bulldozer-style breakthrough to cause Artest to foul, and then cutting to receive a pass from Williams, hitting the basket away from Tyson Chandler and hitting a board.
James' basket finishing ability is in the top five in the league, and the rebound after the impact is one of his great moves, and there is basically no way to defend.
Artest came up and received a foul, which caught Wang Tomorrow a little off guard.
Wang immediately made adjustments tomorrow, and after playing Artest for two minutes, he replaced Artest and replaced it with rookie small forward Omi Cosby.
At the same time, the players changed defenses, and the defensive James became DeMar DeRozan.
DeRozan was thrilled to see James, he seemed to have a natural desire to play against James, and defended very well in the first few minutes.
But over time, DeRozan also made some mistakes on the court.
James was full of firepower in the middle of the first quarter, leading the Cavaliers to play a wave of 11-2 small high-tide, overtaking the score in one fell swoop, and even pulling the score away.
At the end of the first quarter, the Cavaliers led the Kings by seven points, 31-24.
Although the Cavaliers were ahead, they did not open the score, Artest played in a misplaced position, which was equivalent to serving as a substitute for the team, and as soon as the second quarter came up, he held back for a long time, first grabbed the rebound in the front court under the basket and then succeeded in the second offense, and then broke through to the basket and hit the board into the frame.
In terms of playing style, Artest and James are also relatively similar.
It's just that LeBron James has a stronger impact, a stronger sense of the big picture, and a stronger finishing ability under the basket, while Artest focuses on defense.
Mike Brown made a difficulty, and as soon as James got off the court, the Cavaliers immediately had a tendency to collapse, and they were chased by the Kings one after another.
"The biggest problem with this Cavaliers team is that they rely too much on LeBron James, as if James doesn't play when they don't play."
Wang Mingming smiled and said to Michael Curry, and the assistant coach nodded, agreeing with Wang's comments.
"So LeBron has put up amazing numbers, and this season, he could be a VP, a pentathlon in the team, and the call is very high."
"He has slowly become a player with his own system, this kind of player, strong fighting ability, and has a great impact on the team, but the tactics are not shaping enough, almost the players decide the tactics, not the coach arranges the tactics, or the tactics determine the players."
Wang Mingming feels that the trend of Mike Brown becoming a daddy in the Cavaliers is getting more and more serious, and when he saw him two years ago, it didn't seem to be like this, but now he seems to only say "LeBron, what do you think?" β
James had a three-minute break in the second quarter.
Wang beckoned tomorrow and signaled Benno Yudri to advance at speed and not fight with the Cavaliers.
The Cavaliers were too miserable, with only 8 players in rotation, and the substitute "Big Z" Ilgauskas was very unsuitable for the opponent's running and bombing rhythm.
The Kings chased points one after another, and the attack wave became more and more fierce.
At halftime, the Kings outscored the Cavaliers by three points at 53-50.
Bosh played well in the third quarter, in which Bosh hit consecutive shots and grabbed two consecutive rebounds in the frontcourt, which boosted the team's morale.
Bosh seems to be thin, this frontcourt rebounding ability is extremely strong, the Cavaliers' two interior lines, if they really fight, they can't grab Chris Bosh.
Bosh scored 13 points in the first quarter to give the Kings an 80-72 lead over the Cavaliers.
James conserved his strength until the final quarter, and the Cavaliers once closed the score to within 3 points.
At the critical moment, Kidd hit a three-point shot to stabilize the morale of the Kings.
Artest and others' defensive intensity and hardness also came up, the referee didn't blow the home whistle much, James also played hard, and the Cavaliers breathed a sigh of relief and never caught up.
In the end, the Cavaliers lost the game 103-107 at home.
Wang commented after the game tomorrow, praising Bosh for his play in the third quarter.
'He's the leader of the team and he's been inspiring. It's very important that the team needs him to play like he did today and for the games to come. β
Wang Mingming's future games refer to the playoffs, in fact, not only Chris Bosh, like Kidd and Artest, also have to stand up at critical moments, and at this point, Kidd's performance at critical moments is better.
The final leg of the Kings' Eastern Conference road trip is to Indiana to challenge the Pacers.
Two days later, the Kings defeated the Pacers, who had entered a new era, 129-93, and Danny Granger, the core of the Pacers, was defended by Artest and scored only 13 points.
The Kings have come down on a road trip to the East, with a 3-1 record and a gratifying record.
The Lakers, who forced the first place in the West, were even more nervous, and they didn't dare to lose in a row, and every game was as desperate as if they were fighting for a playoff spot.
It wasn't until the Kings returned to the West, losing to the Trail Blazers and other teams that the Lakers took a breather.
At this time, the time has crossed into April.
The Kings didn't have any new tactics to practice, and the players on the team worked pretty well and had a strong chemistry.
Chris Bosh has improved his form, averaging 245 points, 128 rebounds and 19 blocks per game in March and winning the Western Conference Player of the Month in March.
In the early stage of April, the team is like the final stage of taking the college entrance examination, and Wang will not talk about any new topics tomorrow, and will practice the previous tactics well until he is familiar with it.
In addition, Wang will focus on the recovery of injured players tomorrow.
Afflaro and Gortat were only minor injuries and returned to the squad at the beginning of April to start training together.
Injuries can sometimes be a key factor in determining how far a team goes, and Wang will pay more attention to injuries than tactics.
He's always trying to keep his players out of the way.
In order to further reduce the burden on the team's players, starting from the beginning of April, Wang will give the team's players a "rotational rest" tactic for various reasons tomorrow.
The "rotation" tactic has been around for a long time, but now Wang Tomorrow will carry it forward.
Previously, in the Philadelphia 76ers, because the team was dominated by young players, Wang Mingming had not done much in this regard, and now in the Kings team, Wang Mingming felt that the players were very tired, and it took great effort to stand out in the wolf-like Western Army.
So in many key games, such as the last game of the regular season between the Kings and the Lakers, Wang Tomorrow actually rested Kidd and Tyson Chandler in one go, and finally used Benno Udri as the starting point guard and Machin Gortat as the starting center.
The Kings declined in strength and lost the game, and the "National Lake War" that everyone watched was tied 2-2 in the regular season.
In April, Gal Gadot's "Wonder Woman" was released, which is the latest superhero launched by DC, following the popularity of Marvel's "Iron Man" and "The Incredible Hulk", two superhero films, such superhero films have attracted attention, and "Wonder Woman" can be described as a film launched by DC to compete with Marvel.
Gal Gadot's excellent performance made her gain a group of fans, and the name of "Goddess of War" became popular throughout Hollywood, and her popularity skyrocketed in an instant.
The media began to explore who Gal Gadot was and what he had acted in the past.
Only then did I know that Gal Gadot turned out to be the fiancΓ©e of NBA Kings head coach Wang Mingming. Wang Mingming is now worth more than 100 million yuan, and his popularity is increasing day by day, and Gal Gadot has embarked on the road of interpretation, not for money or profit, but purely for the dream of interpretation.
"Fast and Furious 4", which was released last year, was also pulled out again for discussion.
The box office of "Wonder Woman" is increasing day by day, looking at this trend, rushing towards the box office of one billion dollars, Gal Gadot is completely popular, faintly from a third- or fourth-tier star, to a second-tier, or even a first-tier ranks.
It's certainly a long way from a superstar, but it's a huge step forward.
And Marvel's "Iron Man 2" was not affected by "Wonder Woman", fans watched this kind of popcorn movie and exclaimed that it was far from enough, so that "Iron Man 2" released in May was even more expected.
On April 5, the NCAA Finals were held, and the NBA Conference took a one-day break to make way for the NCAA Finals.
As the cradle of the NBA, the NCAA has cultivated a large number of talents and sent them to the NBA every year. What's even more commendable is that the players who play in the NCAA have no contract, no sponsorship, no contract, are not corrupted by money, and have a scholarship at most if they play well, which can be described as a very pure college basketball.
There are two teams in this year's NCAA Finals, one is Duke University and the other is Butler University.
The two sides played a classic college game, and it was not decided until the last minute. Duke University won by two points, 61-59. After winning the championship in 2001, he won the NCAA championship again. It was also the fourth time in Duke's history that he won the title. Head coach Lao K has led the team to win four championships, and he doesn't know how many times he has turned down the head coach invitation of NBA teams, and is recognized as the top coach in American basketball.
Butler Collegiate core Gordon Hayward burst into tears after a failed step-back jumper, and the day after the game, Gordon Hayward announced that he would participate in the 2010 NBA draft, ending his college career.
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