Chapter 500: The Battle of Focus, Against the Bulls
In the All-Star vote, only Wang Feng was at the top of the entire Warriors team, and the rest of the players were all outside the top ten.
This is not surprising.
It's been two months since the regular season, 29 games, and the players' stats have also tended to stabilize.
On the Warriors' side, Wang Feng averaged 37.9 points per game and took the lead, much higher than Jordan, who ranked second and averaged 33.2 points per game.
But the rest of the Warriors didn't score as well.
The second-highest scoring on the team was actually first-year rookie Kevin. Garnett, since the start of the regular season, Garnett has averaged 17.8 points and 8.8 rebounds per game for the team.
The reason why Garnett's average points per game is so high is not that his strength has really grown to an All-Star level, but mainly because he frequently cooperates with Wang Feng on the court, using Wang Feng's super offensive deterrence and his excellent mobility among interior players, after blocking and dismantling, he cuts down to the basket to receive Wang Feng's pass and eats cake to score.
The two have been practicing together together for a few months in the offseason, and the cooperation can be described as quite tacit, and it really has a little bit of Harden and Capela of the Rockets.
In addition to Garnett, the rest of the Warriors' starting main players, point guard Muki. Blayrock averaged 15.2 points and 4.2 assists per game, a significant decline from last season's 17.2 points, 4.1 rebounds and 5.9 assists.
But he can't be blamed, Blaylock is a point guard and needs to have the ball in his hands to show his strength.
After coming to the Warriors, Wang Feng's presence forced his style of play to switch from having the ball to not having the ball, and most of the time lurking in the bottom corner waiting for the pass to shoot three points.
As a result, his scoring ability has naturally declined, but with the blessing of Wang Feng's ten cents and the two badges of the organization's core, Blayrock's efficiency value has skyrocketed, and his shooting percentage can reach 47%, far exceeding the career average of 41%.
And Blayrock's three-point shooting rate has also increased to 39.4% this season, which is only one step away from breaking the 40% mark.
Without much energy on the offensive end, Blayrock also has more energy to put his ability into defense, and the already excellent defense has become better, and the Warriors' outside defense built together with Wang Feng can be described as solid.
Former Warriors All-Star Chris Brown. Mullin is currently averaging 14.1 points per game.
Two seasons ago, Mullin was a super scorer who averaged 25.9 points, 5 rebounds and 3.6 points per game, but unfortunately the impact of injuries caused the offensive player to plummet.
From '92-93 to '94-95, Mullin played just 133 games in three seasons, averaging 44 games per season and barely half attended.
Before the start of the season, the Warriors management had planned to make Mullin a substitute, after all, he was a little difficult to adapt to the fierce competition for the starting spot, both in terms of health and strength.
But Wang Feng's arrival changed all that.
Mullin's personal ability has declined significantly, but his strength is still there, especially his long-range projection ability, which has always been online.
In Wang Feng's memory, in the last few seasons of Mullin's career, the three-point shooting rate was stable at more than 40%, and the average number of shots per game was not small.
This point is quite important to Wang Feng.
His favorite is the kind of good spot shooter who can stand outside the three-point line and wait for him to pass the ball and shoot a three-pointer at any time.
Facts have also proved that Mullin clearly fits this requirement perfectly, and with his shooting ability, he can be perfectly played under the one-star system.
So far in the regular season, Mullin has averaged just 14.1 points per game, but he has shot a career-high 55.3 percent from the field, shooting 44 percent from three-point range and averaging 2.4 three-pointers per game.
……
Of the five players who started the Warriors, the most ordinary performance was starting center Ronnie. Sekari, he was not a particularly well-known interior player, although he also averaged 17+11.8 double-doubles per game at his peak, but in the era of top interior players, he was just one of a few mediocre interior players.
This season, the Warriors mainly focus on Wang Feng's small-ball tactics, and even adjust the lineup at certain moments, so that Garnett temporarily plays the center position, Wang Feng plays power forward, and Mullin plays small forward to speed up, so Caselli only plays about 28 minutes per game this season, averaging 11.2 points and 8.4 rebounds per game.
The Warriors are averaging nearly 109 points per game so far in the regular season, the highest in the league, much higher than the Bulls, who averaged 105 points per game, and the SuperSonics, who averaged 104.5 points per game.
The five starters including Wang Feng alone scored as many as 96 points per game, and the substitute players scored a few points casually, and the average score per game was easily over 100.
The Warriors' bench lineup is actually not strong, and there is no particularly good sixth man in the lineup.
The one who has played the most minutes off the bench is small forward Jeromy, who signed in free agency this summer for a base salary of $260,000. Corsi.
The 34-year-old veteran also had a good time when he was young, and at his peak he averaged 19.2 points, 8.3 rebounds and 3.1 assists per game in the season with the Trail Blazers, but now his strength has degraded to the point where he can only serve as a bench player.
Colsi has no three-point shooting ability, and most of his scoring is to impact the basket and shoot under the basket, and his physical fitness is not bad, and his defensive awareness is outstanding, so when the Warriors replace center Secali to speed up the lineup, he will play in the small forward and shooting guard position, so he also got nearly 20 minutes of playing time, averaging 6.7 points and 4.8 rebounds per game.
That's it for all of the Warriors' key players so far in the regular season.
To be reasonable, to lead the West with such a lineup record, the Warriors management never dreamed.
Originally, this season was just a process of rebuilding and adjustment for them, but they didn't expect to stand in such a high position all of a sudden.
The team's outstanding performance in terms of record has also made the Warriors management start to get moving.
General manager Bob reached out to head coach Adelman and team leader Wang Feng to ask if the team needed to make further trades to make the team more competitive for the more intense games in the playoffs.
In this regard, before Adelman could give any suggestions, Wang Feng was the first to refuse.
"General manager, the squad and chemistry are so good at the moment that I don't think we need to make any trades."
Wang Feng's attitude was very resolute.
He's really not going to make any more roster changes this season.
The Warriors have no salary space, and there are no outstanding players on the free market, so they can only be strengthened through trades, and the only players with high trade value in the team are Wang Feng, Garnett and a few others.
The Warriors have a lot of draft picks, and when they traded the No. 3 pick for Garnett, they got a second-round pick for the 76ers next season.
Trade Tim. Hardaway received two first-round picks from the Heat and the Hornets.
Added together, the Warriors have three first-rounders and two second-rounders next season, making them a full five draft picks.
In the view of Bob, the general manager of the team, there is no need for the Warriors to hold so many draft picks, there is already a Garnett in the team's starting force, and if a few more rookies are selected, the team has no energy and resources to cultivate, so it is better to use it as a bargaining chip in exchange for some outstanding players to optimize the overall strength of the team.
But Wang Feng doesn't see it that way.
This is a '96 pick!
'96 is recognized as a big year for the draft, the golden generation!
Iverson, Kobe, Nash, Ray. Allen, Wallace, O'Neill Jr.
In Wang Feng's view, this year's draft picks must be as many as possible, and the more hoarded the better.
At Wang Feng's insistence, the idea of the general manager to bring in reinforcements was temporarily shelved, anyway, the team has been winning all the time, and there is no hurry.
Heading into January, the Warriors lost four games to a 11-3 record, losing four games against the SuperSonics, the Jazz and the league-bottom Memphis Grizzlies.
Despite losing three games, the Warriors still have a stable 79% win rate, 34-9 still maintain a slight lead in the West, and the Seattle SuperSonics in second place are 32-11, two wins behind the Warriors.
January's Player of the Month is finally no longer Wang Feng.
Jordan averaged 32.5 points, 7.1 rebounds and 3.6 assists per game and was successfully selected as the best player of the month in January.
In fact, if you want to talk about data, Wang Feng, whose average data per game is stable at 38+10+11, is obviously better than Jordan, but the Bulls' record is really exaggerated.
Throughout the 14 games in January, the Bulls had a 14-0 winning record and no defeat.
The Bulls' record of 39-3 so far has left the rest of the league, including the Warriors and the SuperSonics, far behind.
The entire league is in awe of this Bulls team.
"Michael's second season of return has finally shown its fangs to the whole league, and the Bulls are unbeatable this season, and there seems to be no team in the league that can compete with it! It seems that Jordan is eyeing this year's championship! ”
The strength of the Bulls triumvirate composed of Jordan, Pippen, and Rodman is indeed terrifying.
But that's why it's fun to challenge.
The Warriors will meet the Bulls soon, and Wang Feng is extremely looking forward to it.
On Feb. 2, the Warriors defeated the Raptors 114-111.
On Feb. 4, the Warriors defeated the Nets 96-92 at home.
On Feb. 5, the Warriors defeated the Los Angeles Clippers 124-116 on the road.
Three games, three crisp wins.
After winning all of them, the Warriors finally welcomed their strongest rival of the season, the Chicago Bulls.
On Feb. 7, the Warriors take on the Chicago Bulls on their home court.
There is no doubt that this is a battle that will be the focus of attention across the league.
The Bulls and Warriors have the first record in the East and West respectively, and Jordan and Wang Feng also had a grudge last season, it was Wang Feng's Knicks who eliminated Jordan's Bulls last season, and Wang Feng's playoff performance comprehensively overwhelmed Jordan.
Even in the regular season this season, Wang Feng's average performance per game has been stable compared to Jordan.
In Wang Feng's memory, Jordan during the 72-win Bulls period should have averaged more than 30 points per game in the regular season.
But now Jordan is averaging 34.2 points per game.
It can be clearly seen that Jordan wants to compete with Wang Feng for the scoring title, and his average points per game have been steadily improving during this time, from 30 points per game at the beginning to 33 points and then to 34.2 points now.
The average of 34+ points per game is already the third highest score of Jordan's career, which is still due to the shortening of the league's three-point line, Jordan's number of shots outside the three-point line has increased significantly, and the three-point shooting rate has remained stable at more than 40%.
No matter how reluctant Jordan is, he has to admit that Wang Feng's scoring ability and explosiveness are indeed above him, especially the three-point shooting ring, Wang Feng, who can shoot nearly 6 three-pointers per game, can score as many as 18 points in this item alone, and he really can't catch up.
In terms of personal data, Jordan is even more eager to win the game and defeat Wang Feng directly on the court.
On the other hand, the Bulls, who have been soaring before, have suffered a waterloo recently, and after entering February, the Bulls lost to the Denver Nuggets and Phoenix Suns in consecutive games in the previous games, suffering two consecutive defeats, and if they lose the game with the Warriors, it will be three consecutive defeats, tying the previous three months of losing in just one week.
The Bulls don't want that to happen as a team, as they are now halfway through the regular season and are hoping to finish the season with the best regular season record in history with 70 wins or more.
And the Warriors sitting at home also don't want to lose this game, especially Wang Feng.
He came here to ruin the Bulls' dynasty, and beating the Bulls was his only purpose, and he didn't want to lose to each other or Jordan in the regular season or a possible future meeting in the Finals.
Before the game even started, the atmosphere between the two teams had already begun to be tense.
"That's Wang Feng, Michael, don't worry, I won't get a point for you to defend him in today's game!"
On the Bulls' side, Danny. Rodman looked at Wang Feng, who was warming up on the other side, and smiled at Jordan.
This is the first time that Rodman has officially played against Wang Feng in the arena.
Although he met the Knicks in the regular season with the Spurs last season, the two teams were in the east and west, and they only played each other twice in the entire regular season.