Chapter 499: Wang Feng who is hanging
The defending champion was unilaterally beaten, this result was unexpected by many people, after all, everyone knows that when the Knicks and Wang Feng meet, they will never release water, and a number of Knicks players, including Ewing, must hope to prove their gold content by defeating Wang Feng.
But the result of the fact was that Wang Feng led a group of teammates from the Warriors who were not particularly strong to beat the Knicks.
Wang Feng once again cut the super triple-double data of 40+10+10 in this game, and he was completely unstoppable in the arena.
Although Ewing has a strong dominance on the inside, completely suppressing Garnett and Secali, and also has a 30+10 performance in the whole game, it is obviously more than a step behind Wang Feng.
The New York Knicks have clearly stepped back from the ranks of the favorites for the new season, their record so far in the regular season is only 5-3, the team has not been able to add new blood after losing Wang Feng, and Ewing and other veterans are also a year older, they may still be among the league's powerhouses, but want to defend the championship...... The odds are slim to none. ”
"On the contrary, the performance of the Warriors in the new season is eye-catching, it can be seen that this is a team built entirely around Wang Feng, and the offensive end is extremely dependent on Wang Feng's offensive ability, so far Wang Feng's round possession and efficiency value have ranked first in the league, and even far ahead of all other players in the league, including Jordan."
"It's not necessarily a good thing, because a team that relies too heavily on one player is very vulnerable to being targeted in the game, and if that player doesn't play properly, nine times out of ten they will lose the game."
"But for the current Warriors team, this style of play is very suitable, Wang Feng's presence has greatly improved the lower limit of the Warriors' strength, and can also help other players in the team to play their own strength more easily, although such a Warriors team can also not be included in the ranks of championship-level teams, but it is easy to enter the ranks of strong teams."
"It's a very desirable outcome for the Warriors to be among the best teams in the league in their first season after a rebuild."
……
The above is the evaluation of various media after the battle between the two teams.
Although the regular season has only just begun, most sports commentators have already admitted that the current Warriors are quite a league powerhouse.
Such comments undoubtedly made the Warriors management greatly relieved.
This summer's actions have put a lot of pressure on the management, and every decision they make is controversial, and if the team does not perform well in the new season, they will be the first to be pushed to the forefront.
Fortunately, Wang Feng did not live up to their expectations, and the reconstruction of the Warriors team was really done!
After beating the Knicks, the Warriors beat the Dallas Mavericks 121-108 at home two days later, bringing their record to 8-1.
Then they lost to the Orlando Magic on November 20, losing 101-108.
O'Neal showed his might in this game, slashing 44 points and 16 rebounds, and single-handedly crushing the Warriors.
At this stage, the Warriors have some prototypes of small-ball tactics, and the strength of the interior is really not strong enough, and they will suffer more when they encounter these league's top interior players.
There is no way, the Warriors do not have a super center, and playing fast-paced small-ball tactics can also maximize Wang Feng's strength, not that Wang Feng can only play small-ball tactics, with his current ability, even if he plays traditional positional warfare, it is also very strong, if he has a peak O'Neal by his side, it is possible to monopolize all championships in the next ten years.
But if that's really the case, it's actually quite boring, after all, there is a song that sings well, how lonely it is to be invincible.
……
The Knicks have a total of five games in the rest of the schedule in November, which are against the Heat, Celtics, 76ers, Raptors and Trail Blazers.
Several teams are not considered strong teams in the league, including picking up big bargains in the summer and getting All-Star guard Tim Tim at no great cost. Hardaway's Heat are only a team struggling on the brink of the playoffs in the league.
The Warriors didn't miss a single chance to play any of those games, winning all five of them and snapping a five-game winning streak.
With the Warriors' 112-98 home win over the Portland Trail Blazers on Nov. 29, the team's record improved to 13-2 and continued to lead the Western Conference standings.
Below the Warriors, the San Antonio Spurs are 11-4 and the Seattle SuperSonics are 10-5.
The whole league did not expect that the Warriors could lead the record in the West, and the Bulls, who are only 14-2 in the league, are even better, and even the Bulls only have the advantage because they played one more game than the Warriors, and both teams only lost 2 games in November.
Under the proud record, it is Wang Feng's gorgeous personal data that is almost exaggerated.
In all 15 games in November, Wang Feng started all the games, averaging 41 minutes per game, and could score 37.4 points, 10.8 rebounds and 11.2 assists.
He ranks first in the league in scoring and is second only to Jazz guard Stockton, who averages 11.6 assists per game.
Super big's average triple-double per game made Wang Feng elected the best player of the month in November without any suspense.
In the '90s, the league didn't distinguish between East and West Player of the Month, and there was only one player who could be named Player of the Month every month, and that was the best of all teams in the league.
Wang Feng successfully defeated Jordan, Carl. Ma Long, Olajuwon and other competitors were voted Player of the Month for November.
This also made many people in the league shout that Wang Feng was just like that, and those who just relied on the Knicks' strong lineup last season kept their mouths shut.
Whether it is the team's record or individual performance, Wang Feng is impeccable.
Even Jordan of the Bulls could only praise in an interview.
"We may be witnessing the greatest individual performance in the history of the league, Wang Feng is different from me, he can not only score, but also seems to be omnipotent on the court, can pass the ball to assist teammates, can defend and grab rebounds, at least I don't see Wang Feng on the court any technical shortcomings."
There is no doubt that Wang Feng during this period of time has become the focus of attention in the whole league, and the hottest top superstar.
The Knicks may have a chance to keep Wang Feng, even if Wang Feng is not young, he may not be able to maintain his peak for long, but at least with the combat effectiveness he has shown at this stage, with the current lineup of the Knicks, he can definitely defend the championship and even follow Jordan's example of the Bulls to win the triple championship dynasty!
But they missed Wang Feng, on the one hand, because of the lack of attention to Wang Feng, and on the other hand, in order to retain Ewing, the iconic figure of the New York Knicks, they completely blocked the team's salary space at once, leaving no chance.
……
Wang Feng and his Warriors, who are in the limelight, began to have some ups and downs in their performance after the schedule entered December.
On December 2, the Warriors defeated the Indiana Pacers 116-113 at home, Wang Feng once again taught Reggie Miller a lesson, the former made 7 of 11 three-pointers, and scored a triple-double of 34 points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists, while the latter made 2 of 9 three-pointers, although he also had a good performance of 26 points and 4 rebounds, but obviously there is no comparison between the two.
The Warriors, who have won six in a row, then lost Game 2 against the Magic on Dec. 6, 109-107.
The reason why the Warriors lost was because of O'Neal, again.
The team has no choice but to use shark slashing tactics to bet on the opponent's hand.
Since the Magic is an Eastern team, and the Warriors are from the West, unless the two teams can meet in the Finals, they can only meet twice a season.
Two consecutive losses to the Magic also made the whole league aware of the Warriors' shortcomings, and the interior line was seriously lacking in combat effectiveness.
Starting center Ronnie. Sekari's strength is mediocre, as for the power forward Garnett, although he is talented, he is too young after all, and his weight and confrontation ability are very lacking on the inside, although his super mobility and defensive ability have reached the league's first-class level in this 1 month, which is enough to cope with most situations, but the single defense ability is still slightly insufficient, and it is easy to be targeted.
On December 8, the Warriors played an overtime game with the Pistons at home, and finally relied on Wang Feng's key scorer badge to score 12 points in overtime, and finally won the game 121-114 against the Pistons.
But the next day, the Warriors lost again on the road.
This time the Warriors lost to the Utah Jazz.
Cal. Malone taught Garnett a good lesson on the inside, shooting 19 of 28 from the field, 13 of 16 from the free throw line, slashing 51 points and 14 rebounds from the field, completely blowing up Garnett and winning the game.
Wang Feng's performance in this game is actually not inferior to Ma Long, and he also has 47 points, 11 rebounds and 4 assists, but he still averages triple-doubles so far, and he only got 4 assists in this game, which actually explains the problem.
The scheming Jazz head coach Jerry. Sloan made a targeted defense against Wang Feng in this game, although he did not use tactics such as bag clipping, but let the team members cut off Wang Feng's passing route with other teammates throughout the whole process, simply put, Wang Feng You can attack by yourself, but don't think about passing and assisting.
And even if Wang Feng attacks with the ball, he mostly breaks through with the ball, and the defensive strategy of the opposing striker against him is to prevent throwing but not to break through.
Once Wang Feng bursts into the basket with the ball, he faces Karl. Malone's fierce defense.
After losing to the Jazz, the Warriors lost again a few days later in a 101-108 loss against the Seattle SuperSonics.
The game was again lost on the inside, supersonic center Sean. Camp finished with 32 points, 16 rebounds and seven assists.
With less than half of December's schedule, the Warriors have already lost more games than they did in the entire month of November.
On the other side, the Bulls continue to soar, still losing only 2 games so far, and they are not in the same dimension as the rest of the league.
Of course, despite losing consecutive games, the Warriors' record is still something that most teams in the league need to look up to, and no one dares to laugh at them because of their losses.
And in the next few games, the Warriors faced weak teams such as the Grizzlies, Bucks, and Bullets, and they all won by a big score and stabilized their record.
In the second half of December, the Warriors lost only one game away to the Atlanta Hawks, and ended up with a 10-4 record throughout December, which is a bit inferior to November, but still has a very high winning percentage.
The overall record of 23-6 allows the Warriors to continue to lead in the West.
The Seattle SuperSonics are 20-8 and the San Antonio Spurs are 2-8.
Then, Wang Feng relied on the average of 38+10+11 per game that continued in December to win the best player of the month in December.
Winning the Player of the Month is not so simple, especially now is not divided into the period of the best player of the East and West, before Wang Feng, the most recent player of the month has to go back to the 90-91 season, Michael. Jordan was named Back-to-Back Player of the Month in March and April '91, respectively.
At that time, Jordan averaged 30.5 points, 5.8 rebounds and 5.5 assists per game in March, leading the team to a 13-4 record, and then increased his average to 35 points, 5.3 rebounds and 4.8 assists per game in April, leading the team to 8-3.
Compared with the data when Qiao Gang won the Player of the Month for a second consecutive year, Wang Feng's average of 38 points per game + triple-double data is much more luxurious, and the record he led the team to achieve is also proud of the league, and it is undisputed that he has been elected Player of the Month for two consecutive months.
It is worth mentioning that when the time entered mid-December, the league opened its annual All-Star voting session.
At the end of December, the results of the first round of voting were announced.
Relying on his explosive individual performance and team record, as well as his super high popularity in the Asian American circle in San Francisco, Wang Feng's vote rate topped the list of Western forwards, and even firmly suppressed Drexler and Barkley, who are also Western forwards.
Of course, Wang Feng's votes are only at the top of the forward position.
Although the personal data is extremely exaggerated, Wang Feng is not the king of votes.
The highest vote in the first round was Pistons forward Grant. Hill, whose vote share even overshadowed Jordan's.
This is the second season of Hill's career, in fact, his performance can only be regarded as good, averaging 20 points, 9.8 rebounds and 6.9 assists per game, excellent of course very good, but being able to suppress Jordan is obviously not simply because of strength.
The all-star voting itself is not based on the strength of the real strength, but on the popularity of the players.
Just like Wang Feng, despite his strong performance this season, the All-Star vote is still not as good as Hill and Jordan and others, because as a Chinese player, he naturally has a disadvantage in the United States vote, especially in the 90s, when racial discrimination was still quite serious, his votes can ensure that he is selected as an All-Star starter, and don't expect too much.