Chapter 282: The Regular Season Begins
(There are only three shifts a day in the past few days, and the explosion is not moving, so let me rest for a while and then regroup the hero, the first shift.) )
Before the start of the regular season, the Lakers' roster was basically decided, at least temporarily.
This lineup, in the eyes of Lakers fans and outside media, is very ordinary, very, very ordinary.
There are a total of 15 people in the team, including 6 defenders. Rondo, Derek. Rose, Lang Zuo. Bauer, Seth. Curry, Jordan. Clarkson & Josh. Hart.
There are 6 forwards, namely Wang Feng and Brandon. Ingram, Kyle. Kuzma, Julius. Randall, Larry. Nance, Ruhr. Deng.
3 in the center, Brooke. López, Javier. McGee, Yin Weicha. Zubac.
With the roster full, the Lakers' two second-round picks in the draft were sent to the Development League.
Fans don't like this lineup, but Wang Feng is quite satisfied, as long as it plays normally, this lineup definitely has a certain competitiveness in the West, and when the team trades Butler into the team, it can become the favorite to win the championship.
And in the opening game of the regular season on October 18, the Lakers faced the Portland Trail Blazers away, and the Lakers sent a starting lineup like this.
Starting point guard: Lang Zuo. Ball, Scoring Guard Ingram, Small Forward Wang Feng, Power Forward Julius. Randle, center Brooke. Lopez.
The starting lineup was the same as last season, with several players signed by the Lakers in the summer sitting on the bench and not getting a start.
In this opening game, the Lakers narrowly won 124:123, the game was extremely intense, and when there were 2 minutes left before the end of the game, the Lakers were 5 points behind, but Wang Feng suddenly broke out strongly, cut 8 points in a row to catch up with the score, and hit a killer ball at the last moment, a thrilling victory over the Trail Blazers.
Wang Feng scored 18 points in the fourth quarter and scored 46 points and 13 rebounds in the whole game, continuing last season's super scoring ability and efficiency.
But despite the win, the Los Angeles media generally did not rate the victory of this game highly.
"Sure enough, it was another typical Wang Feng-style heroic victory, the Lakers did win the game, but in the face of the Trail Blazers, who had a lower regular season record than themselves last season, the game process was extremely difficult, and even won the game by luck in the end, how long can such a victory last?"
"The Lakers have signed a few players this summer, basically not getting much of a chance to play, in fact, even if they have more playing time, it doesn't make much difference, you can't expect Rondo, who is 33 years old, Rose who has been ruined by injury, and McGee, who has played less than 10 minutes with the Cavaliers, to help more on the court."
"Wang Feng needs to perform better if he wants to prove that he wants to attack LeBron's league status."
The media said this, but directly ignored the fact that the Clippers faced the Nuggets in the opening game and lost the game 107-98.
James scored 26 points, 12 rebounds and 6 assists in his debut on the new team, and was inferior to Wang Feng in both individual performance and the team.
But no one cares about this, they just need to stare at the game between Wang Feng and the Lakers, what can they do with so many comparisons?
Immediately, they had their chance.
On October 20, the Lakers hosted the Houston Rockets and lost the game 115-121.
Harden chipped in 36 points, 7 rebounds and 5 assists, and Paul had 28 points, 7 rebounds and 10 assists.
Although Wang Feng also had 35 points, 14 rebounds and 4 steals, he failed to lead the Lakers to win the game.
And there was also an episode in the course of the game, Rondo and Paul had a verbal altercation, and then there was a full martial arts, and the young and vigorous Ingram immediately went up to help punch, and all three were sent off, and Rondo was banned for 3 games and Ingram was banned for 4 games.
The Lakers lost and lost and were mercilessly ridiculed.
"Win or lose for the time being, when Rondo and Paul fought, the first person to rush to help was Ingram, not Wang Feng, the self-proclaimed team boss, isn't he the leader of the Lakers? Why didn't your little brother go up to help in the first place when he was bullied? ”
"The Lakers' regular season didn't start well, with only two games played, Ingram was suspended for four games, and without the biggest help around him and the veteran Rondo, who thought he was experienced, how many games can Wang Feng lead the Lakers to win in the next games?"
However, reality quickly slapped these people in the face.
On October 22, the third game of the regular season, the Lakers hosted the San Antonio Spurs.
Although DeRozan was not very happy to come to the new team, he was like a fish in water under the Spurs' tactical system, scoring 32 points, 8 rebounds and 14 assists, plus another star Aldridge's 37 points, the two combined for 69 points.
But the Spurs couldn't win the game.
Because of this game, Derek. Ross erupted.
In Rondo's absence, Rose became Ball's main substitute, and quickly showed great offensive efficiency when Ball was at the break, so that Ball was pressed to the bench for a long time in the second half, watching his substitute play.
In the end, Rose played 32 minutes, scoring 28 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 steals and 1 block on 11-of-21 shooting.
Wang Feng scored 40 points and 11 rebounds, plus Kuzma's 22 points and McGee's 16 points and 8 rebounds, winning the game 129-121!
Rose's outburst caught everyone by surprise, and no one expected that Rose, who had been reduced to almost no ball to play last season, would have such an efficient and outstanding performance.
The Lakers' management was even more pleasantly surprised.
The signing of Rose was strongly requested by Wang Feng, and they themselves were not interested in Rose, but for the sake of Wang Feng's face, they gave Rose a low-salary contract of 3 million for one year.
Unexpectedly, Rose actually played a little bit in the game.
In the previous preseason and the first two games of the regular season, Rose was the third substitute, and only when Ball and Rondo were off the court could he get a little playing time, and his performance was decent, and no one noticed him...... Only Wang Feng.
In Wang Feng's impression, Rose's outburst was at the end of October, especially in the Timberwolves' game against the Jazz on October 31, Rose made 31 crazy shots, hit 19 balls, scored 50 points, 4 rebounds and 6 assists, and led the Timberwolves to win the game.
After the game, Rose raised his head to the sky and roared, and the scene of tears of excitement touched countless people, and Wang Feng was also one of them.