James Harden has been proud of himself these days, since he arrived at the Clippers, Harden has not only become a starter as he wished, but also burst out to the level of the league's top stars, averaging 26 points and 6 assists per game, making Harden's status in the league instantly rise to the same level as Kobe Bryant and Wade, the league's top scoring guards.

Suddenly, he received so many honors and praises, which seemed to make Harden flutter all of a sudden, and when Harden was interviewed by reporters, he was asked a question about Wang Meng.

"Wang Meng is a very strong player, indeed, his scoring ability is very strong, and his ability to connect teams is also not weak, but I am confident to limit him in the game, yes, although he has been very popular recently, but he has weaknesses, I will limit him, I will tell him, the league is not only you a star, in fact, many teams have a star who is not weaker than Wang Meng."

Of course, Harden's interview will not escape Wang Meng's ears, because this group of reporters who are afraid that the world will not be chaotic immediately told Wang Meng after adding fuel to Harden's words and asked Wang Meng's opinion.

Although I know that this is just reporters fanning the flames, but after all, there is no wind and no waves, since Harden said so, what does Wang Meng have to say? "Let the game be the witness." Wang Meng said.

On November 27, Wang Meng and others came to the common home of the Clippers and Lakers, Staples Arena.

As the Lakers' veteran and the hero of the Lakers' second triple championship, Wang Meng and Gasol received very enthusiastic cheers from the surrounding audience as soon as they entered.

"Why do the fans applaud them?" Harden feels very incredible about this, as the Clippers' hottest player other than Griffin at the moment, Harden feels that even when he is on the court, the cheers of the audience are nothing more than that.

"You also know that a large part of the people who come to watch the Clippers game are Lakers fans, because the Clippers have a relatively cheap ticket price, so they come and see the Clippers game." "These two guys, one of them exploded at a critical moment to keep the Lakers' three-game winning streak, and the other guy was the backbone of the Lakers' three-year championship in a row, and they deserved the applause," Griffin said. ”

Harden nodded silently, this is something that only a long-established giant like the Lakers will have, Harden has only played in the Thunder before, as a team that has changed the name of the team and changed the location of the team, the Thunder does not have such an atmosphere.

At the start of the game, the substitutes on both sides withdrew from the pitch, leaving only the starters.

Hornets starters: point guard Wang Meng, point guard Allen, small forward Wallace, power forward Gasol, center Oden.

Clippers starters: point guard Mo Williams, point guard Harden, small forward Butler, power forward Griffin, center Jordan Jr.

The jump ball of both sides ended with Oden's victory, Jordan Jr.'s bounce is indeed the top among the center, he and Oden's jump ball is only counted as five or five points, maybe the next jump ball is Jordan Jr. wins.

When Wang Meng received the basketball, he immediately saw Harden standing in the opposite position with him.

Is this trying to prevent me? Wang Meng smiled coldly in his heart, although the two of them have also fought against each other in the Thunder, but most of the time, it is Westbrook who has confronted Wang Meng, and now Wang Meng also wants to see what Harden is capable of.

Harden is 1.96 meters tall, which was originally an advantage over Wang Meng, but since the Olympics, Wang Meng's height has reached 1.98 meters, and the advantage in height has become Wang Meng, which is only a two-centimeter advantage, which can basically be regarded as dispensable.

Wang Meng is not a player who relies on height to play, and when facing Harden, Wang Meng's first thought is to use speed to pass him.

Slowly dribbling close to Harden, Harden also sank down accordingly, his eyes fixed on Wang Meng.

Suddenly, Wang Meng accelerated to the left to break through, the speed was amazing, Harden was startled by Wang Meng's speed, and hurriedly chased after him. As soon as Harden moved at his feet, Wang Meng immediately disguised himself and rushed over at a faster speed from the opposite direction.

Harden was caught off guard, and as soon as his body forcibly stopped, Wang Meng had already wiped past Harden.

"So fast?!" Harden was taken aback, he didn't expect Wang Meng's speed to be so fast, in the playoffs last season, Wang Meng's breakthrough speed was far less threatening than it is now, this speed in Harden's opinion, is definitely much faster than Westbrook and others.

Last season, Wang Meng was able to achieve this speed in an instantaneous burst state, and this season, Wang Meng, who has learned the butterfly through the flower step, can reach Iverson's peak speed at the fastest speed when using the butterfly through the flower step, even if he does not turn on the instant burst. Iverson can dominate the NBA with a height of 1.83 meters, relying on his weird and changeable breakthroughs and extreme speed, which even the two fastest point guards in the league now, Rose and Westbrook, can't reach, as for Paul, his speed is more reflected in flexibility, rather than absolute speed.

Wang Meng, who passed Harden, did not choose to impact the basket and dunk, he is not in the state of sudden increase in muscle strength in an instant, in this case, Wang Meng has a lot of choices. After passing Harden, Wang Meng immediately stopped jumping and pulled the basketball out when his body rose to the highest point.

The soft touch made Wang Meng immediately know that this ball was there.

"Huh!" The facts were exactly the same as Wang Meng expected, the basketball was hollow into the net, accompanied by a helpless little Jordan who was standing under the basket and ready to make up for the defense.

"How could it be ?!! so quickly" Harden was dumbfounded, just when Wang Meng jumped and shot, Harden just stopped, ready to turn around and chase Wang Meng, it can be said that with a ball, Harden was completely blown up by Wang Meng.

The Clippers attack, although Mo Williams is the starting point guard, but in fact, the Clippers really control the ball, and it is Harden, the scoring guard, who really handles the ball.

Harden is now averaging 26 points and 6 assists per game, which is not so easy to obtain, and it requires a lot of time on the ball to do so.

Harden defends Wang Meng on the defensive end, but on the offensive end, it is Tony Allen, the Hornets' defensive expert, who defends Harden.

Under Tony Allen's very difficult defense, Harden's mid-range shot was interfered with and missed.

Griffin waited for an opportunity to grab the frontcourt rebound and dunk, but Gasol didn't give him this opportunity at all, and went straight to the middle of Griffin and the basket.

The rebound was successfully taken off by Oden and handed to Wang Meng.

"Here we go again!" Harden's heart tightened slightly, he sank his body and mind, and put all his attention on Wang Meng, "This time I won't let you break through!" "Thinking about what he said before the game, Harden didn't want to be laughed at by everyone after this game.

It's just that whether Wang Meng can break through or not is not up to Harden. Just like when Allen Iverson was at his peak, there was almost no one to do, how could Wang Meng, who had Allen's strongest moves, be blocked by Harden?

Using continuous disguise again, Wang Meng directly stunned Harden, and then hit another shot from mid-range.

In the face of Wang Meng, Harden did not have a very effective defensive method at all, and could only be passively broken through by Wang Meng.

When Wang Meng hit his sixth goal of the game under Harden's iron face, Wang Meng said lightly in Harden's ear: "What do you say can prevent me?" Didn't you say you had discovered my weakness? If I don't use it quickly, I'm going to get twenty points! ”

Harden's face turned black, even though it was black itself.

"What weakness do I go to?" Harden rolled his eyes, what he said to the reporters before was just a bit of a fluttering casual thing he bragged about, how did he know what weaknesses Wang Meng had.

"No way! It can only be called a bag clip! Harden said secretly in his heart, "Although this is a bit embarrassing, it is at least better than being cut by Wang Meng by 20 points in the first quarter." ”

Now that the first quarter has only passed less than half of the time, Wang Meng on the Hornets side has almost all the shots, and the efficiency of playing Harden alone is terrifying, and the shooting rate is 80%.

In the next ball, Wang Meng dribbled over half the court and wanted to continue to single Harden, but when he just broke through, he suddenly found that Butler, as a small forward, didn't know when he came to his side, and Harden surrounded himself when he just moved.

"Bag clips?" Wang Meng sneered in his heart, I couldn't imagine that Harden couldn't stand it so soon, and I wanted to play for a while.

Thinking like this, Wang Meng did not pause in his movements, and while his body moved, Wang Meng threw the basketball in his hand hard, and the basketball passed between Harden and Butler at a very fast speed, and was caught by Wallace, who was already empty.

Wallace, who received the basketball, did not pause and jumped directly, but probably because he had not made a shot since the beginning of the game, Wallace's hand seemed to be a little cold, and the open shot did not hit.

Jordan Jr. overpowered Oden and took the rebound into his arms.

Harden and Butler both looked at each other, and both saw a hint of palpitation in each other's eyes. Although the ball did not hit, but Butler did not dare to wrap Wang Meng without scruples, Wang Meng is different from most players, as a point guard, he not only has the top scoring skills, but also the passing skills are not weak, double packing, it is impossible to restrict Wang Meng from passing the ball to the vacant personnel.

You can guarantee that someone won't hit a three-point shot, but can you guarantee that the opponent won't be able to shoot a three-point shot? It's impossible. The Clippers are not the Spurs, nor are they the Bulls, and they don't have a defensive system that can properly fill up the defensive players in the pack. In fact, the Clippers have always been only a weak team, even if they have the champion Griffin, and Griffin has played 20+10 All-Star data in two seasons, and this season has introduced Harden, who can be counted as the third scoring guard in the league, it can't change this, the Clippers are a weak team.

(To be continued)