As soon as I heard Kenny. Smith said this, and Barkley's head shook like a rattle.

The loss he suffered to Da Yao a few years ago is still extremely unforgettable, so much so that he doesn't want to gamble on any Chinese player at all.

In this regard, Kenny. Smith was disappointed.

"Okay, so can you predict where the Suns-Lakers series will end up next?"

"I think the Suns should be able to knock out the Lakers with a score of around 4:2 and enter the second round." Barkley said firmly: "Although they lack such an important core player as Amare, under the leadership of Steve, they are still among the strongest teams in the league, and they also unexpectedly got such an excellent three-point shooter as Wang Chao, which is stronger than the overall strength of the Lakers who can only rely on Kobe Bryant." ”

"4:2?" Smith nodded, "Similar to what I thought, I don't think this series will last seven games. ”

……

Two days later, on April 26, the second match between the two teams continued in Phoenix.

Different from the first game, Kobe Bryant in this game was full of firepower and extremely efficient, shooting 12 of 24 and 6 of 7 free throws to cut down 31 points, 10 rebounds and 5 assists. Bell was completely defeated.

In addition to Kobe, the Lakers' Odom also had 21 points, 7 rebounds and 5 assists.

But the game ended in victory for the Suns.

104:99。

The aggregate score became 2:0.

On the Suns' side, Nash scored a team-high 29 points, 7 rebounds and 9 assists, shooting 10-of-17 and 7-of-7 from the free-throw line, which perfectly illustrates how terrifying the offensive ability of the strongest point guard is.

Marion had a slight slump in the game after his efficient play in the last game, shooting 33.3 percent from the field on 5-of-15 shooting and scoring just 13 points.

Originally, the team's sluggish performance of the first scoring point in the regular season was quite detrimental to the Suns winning the game, but in this case, someone from the Suns stepped up and took over Marion's scoring work.

That is Wang Chao.

In the whole game, Wang Chao shot 8 of 15 and 4 of 7 three-pointers, scoring 20 points.

It's not surprising that Wang Chao scored 20 points, and his three-point accuracy is beyond the ordinary, and he can easily score 20+ points when he has a good opportunity.

But in this game, the Lakers continued to use the tactics of strictly guarding against Wang Chao's three-point shooting, and the Lakers' two forward players, Wharton and Vujasic, took turns to mark Wang Chao throughout the whole process, successfully reducing the number of Wang Chao's three-point shots.

Unexpectedly, when the three-point shot was strictly guarded, Wang Chao actually began to shoot at medium and long distances, and the shooting rate was unexpectedly high.

Not to mention the Lakers, even the Suns were quite surprised.

Wang Chao has been training hard in the middle distance for a long time, but he has not used it much on the field.

Even if the 88 open mid-range mid-range shots are not on par with the league's first-class mid-range shooters, at least against Wharton, a player like Vujacic who is even below the league average in defense is not a big problem.

In this way, Wang Chao became the biggest variable in the second game, and it also caused Kobe's efforts to be in vain.

Originally, Kobe Bryant should have led the Lakers to win 99-93, and won three consecutive games in the next two home games, taking the lead to win the match point 3-1 and forcing the Suns to a desperate situation.

Of course, the protagonist of the story behind it is completely the Suns, and the Suns in a desperate situation fought hard to win three games in a row, and finally defeated the Lakers 4:3 and eliminated the opponent to enter the second round.

But now Wang Chao has changed everything, the overall score has become 2:0, and by the time the Lakers return to their home court, they have half a foot on the edge of the cliff.

The appearance of Wang Chao has indeed further improved the strength of the Suns.

What Wang Chao didn't expect was that with the end of this game, the system actually appeared, and a new task was issued to him after a long absence.

"Ding—now start posting new missions."

"The goal is to become the team's leading scorer in the first-round series."

"Complete the quest to get a talented long-distance runner."

Listening to the sound of the system, Wang Chao's eyes lit up involuntarily.

Long-distance runner talent?

Just by looking at the name, you can guess that this thing is definitely a long-distance running related ability.

All the talents given by the system quest are the most useful skills for him at this stage.

If there is anything that can maximize Wang Chao's scoring ability at this stage, then physical fitness is undoubtedly the top priority.

Wang Chao's physical strength value is currently 80, which is not very high, but it is not particularly small, under normal circumstances, a game can be played for 30 minutes.

But once Wang Chao used a lot of off-ball running to actively look for vacant opportunities, his physical energy began to be greatly consumed.

The Suns are a fast-paced team, and the average length of the players running on the court is much longer than that of other players, and in this case, the physical consumption of Wang Chao who has to run without the ball can be imagined.

Due to physical constraints, even if he is a starter, it is basically difficult for Wang to reach 30 minutes out of the court.

Whatever the effect of this long-distance runner's talent, it will definitely improve his running ability, so that he can score more calmly and efficiently.

But......

"Becoming the team's leading scorer in the first-round series? Are you kidding? ”

That's a bit too difficult, isn't it?

Although the team's No. 1 scorer, Stoudemire, was unable to play for the season, which reduced the difficulty, but Marion and Nash are not vegetarians.

Marion was a little strained in the second game, only 13 points, and is currently averaging only 17.5 points per game in the two games, but Nash is currently averaging 24.5 points per game, which is much higher than Wang Chao's average of 19 points per game.

What's more, the first round of games is not over yet, and in the next games, Marion will inevitably find his form and quickly increase his average points per game, and Nash's scoring efficiency will not become too low, after all, the Lakers simply don't have an excellent defensive guard who can effectively limit Nash's play.

On the contrary, Wang Chao, who averaged 19 points per game in the first two games, will inevitably be guarded by the opponent when he goes to the Lakers' home court.

Wang Chao is not Nash and Marion, and his too single scoring ability makes him very easy to target.

"You have to figure out how to become the team's top scorer......"

The house leak happened to rain overnight, and when Wang Chao was racking his brains to think about what to do, he never expected that the Lakers' target had come.

On April 28, Game 3 of the first-round series, the field shifted from the Suns' home court to the Los Angeles Staples Center, the Lakers' home court.

Wang Chao was still the starter, but when the players of the two teams finished jumping the ball and fell into their respective positions, he was stunned to find that Kobe Bryant was standing in front of him.

In this game, Kobe Bryant has to defend himself?