Wang Chao has to admit a fact, that is, even if his ability value has reached the level of numerical monster in the real sense, the total system rating is 96, and the rating of 2K games is already 99+, but there is still no way to 1v5, and there must be at least one or two reliable teammates around him.

Of course, if the opponent is those teams at the bottom of the league or teams in the middle and lower reaches, Wang Chao can still turn the tide of the game by himself with his super personal ability.

But the current Cavaliers are clearly not among them.

The Big Five combination of James, Irving, Pierce, Gasol and Embiid, even if Pierce and Gasol are already in decline at the end of their careers, they still have a certain level, compared with the original historical Cavaliers Big Three, the strength is not a little bit stronger.

This is no longer an opponent that Wang Chao can solve with his personal ability alone.

Originally named after Jimmy. Butler, as long as he can share a little bit of Wang Chao's pressure on the offensive end, the Rockets are not incapable of fighting with the Cavaliers, but Butler, as a late-blooming star, has a certain strength under Wang Chao's training at this stage, but he still lacks stability and failed to help Wang Chao in the game.

As a result, the Rockets relied on Wang Chao's super individual scoring ability in the first quarter of the game to gain the upper hand for a short time, but as the Cavaliers carried out a full-court trap tactic against Wang Chao, they immediately took the initiative and won the next two quarters of the game, and finally won the focus battle.

Defeating the Rockets cheered and boosted the morale of Cavaliers fans.

The Rockets are the biggest favorites to win the championship and the defending champion team of two consecutive championships! It is also considered that there is an 80% chance of coming out of the West to reach the Finals, and for the Cavaliers, who are aiming to win the championship, it is of great significance to beat the Rockets.

It's just that in addition to joy, some people poured a scoop of cold water on their heads.

"Don't think you really beat the Rockets, this Rockets are a remnant team, Da Yao and Leonard are both absent, two important scoring points are missing, if they can all play, the Cavaliers may not have a chance to win at all!"

That's a big truth.

The Cavaliers were able to win the game, mainly relying on the bag clamp against Wang Chao.

Once the Rockets have multiple scoring points, it doesn't make much sense to trap Wang Chao, because Wang Chao, like James, has the ability to quickly find open teammates and pass the ball to the opponent when facing the pack.

In Wang Chao's view, if the Rockets want to win, they don't even need Leonard and Da Yao, as long as Butler's performance is more stable, and then the level of another rookie, Middleton, is also raised to the peak.

After all, for NBA players, it is not simply to polish their skills to play well on the court, they also need to be familiar with and adapt to the NBA's various tactical playstyles, the court environment, and learn to read and understand the game.

These are things that you can learn from one game at a time on the field.

Therefore, Wang Chao's sparring potion can only advance their strength progress speed by one to two seasons at most, but it can't directly make them reach the level of the peak of their careers, let alone let them even surpass their peak strength.

——

After the Christmas game, the Rockets won the Wizards, Heat and Bulls in the remaining games of December, ending the entire December campaign with a wave of three straight wins.

Due to the injury problems in December, the Rockets' record in December was much worse than in November, with a total of 14 games and a 10-4 record, all of which were against the league's biggest teams.

This brings the Rockets' overall record to 26-5, but even so, the Rockets are still the team with the highest winning percentage in the league, with a record at the top of the league, and the only one who can come close to the Rockets in terms of record is the Golden State Warriors' 25-6.

The Warriors, who should have a 67-15 record this season, have become stronger with Cousins, a strong player on the inside, and if there is no Rockets, the Warriors may have the possibility of hitting a 70-win record this season.

Of course, the existence of Cousins also has advantages and disadvantages for the Warriors, of course, the advantage is that the Warriors' long-standing problem of weak interior strength has been solved, but the disadvantage is that having a high-quality interior like Cousins also makes the Warriors unable to completely let go of the small-ball tactics of five small deaths, because Cousins also needs a lot of playing time and ball possession to play his real strength.

How to deal with the coexistence of the Dead Five and Cousins is the biggest hurdle that the Warriors' coaching staff needs to overcome this season.

The Rockets finally ushered in good news in January, Leonard and Da Yao both returned, although due to the fear of injury problems between the two again, Wang Chao further reduced the playing time of the two, but even if the playing time is reduced, as long as they can play, they can make the Rockets' offensive firepower make a qualitative leap, and the combat effectiveness will rise sharply.

On January 9, the Rockets hosted the Warriors, and the third matchup between the two teams in the regular season was a complete one-sided slaughter.

Leonard, who had been resting for more than half a month, was in explosive form, scoring 29 points, 7 rebounds and 4 assists in the game, and scoring 56 points with Wang Chao, who had 27 points, 13 rebounds and 11 assists, completely crushing the Warriors' defense and avenging the Warriors' previous victory in the absence of Leonard and Da Yao.

Team Rocket's revenge isn't over yet.

On January 13, in the rematch between the Rockets and the Cavaliers, Embiid, who had already won the undefeated title on Twitter before the game, said in an interview that even if the Rockets had a full lineup this time, they would still win the game.

The Cavaliers are indeed qualified to say this, since December, the Cavaliers have gradually improved, the team's run-in tacit understanding is getting better and better, and the record has also risen, as of January 13, the Cavaliers' record has come to 25-13, and the record is getting closer and closer to the Atlanta Hawks, who are the first in the East.

Like the Warriors, the Cavaliers' lineup changed due to the butterfly effect is stronger than the original history, and although Embiid is a first-year rookie, his role in the team is no less than Kevin, who should have joined the Cavaliers through a trade. Lefou's current average of 14.7+8.4 per game is not much worse than Lefou's 16.4 points and 9.7 rebounds in his first season with the Cavaliers.

Gasol and Pierce, a 14+8 and a 13+4 data, have become important right-hand men around James, coupled with Irving's performance of averaging 20 points and 5 assists per game, the Cavaliers' combat effectiveness is naturally stronger.

It's just that in the face of the full Rockets, or playing away, Embiid's sentence is still a bit too big.

In fact, the main source of his words is his confidence in the interior of the Cavaliers.

The combination of him and Gasol can definitely suppress the inside line of the Rockets, Da Yao was very strong when he was young, but now in this competitive state, Embiid doesn't feel that he will lose to the other party at all.

Then, he was educated by Da Yao.

In this game, Da Yao's playing time is still controlled below 20 minutes, but as long as he is against Embiid, Da Yao can always easily beat Embiid by various means.

It's not surprising at all, the skinny camel is bigger than the horse, even if Da Yao is old, he is very soft on the ball style at the peak of the future, and the center who likes to float on the outside to shoot three-pointers is still very easy to play.

The Rockets kept the Cavaliers at bay from the start and maintained a double-digit lead throughout.

The Cavaliers' tactics of wrapping Wang Chao are not good, with Leonard and Butler taking turns to attack with the ball, the pressure on the Cavaliers' defense has increased sharply, and they have to give up wrapping Wang Chao to strengthen the defense of Leonard Butler, but in this way, only James is left to mark Wang Chao.

As a player with strong defensive ability in the forward position, James has no way to face Wang Chao at all, and he can't prevent it at all, and this kind of thing has long been no secret, since the rise of Wang Chao, it has always been the biggest mountain in front of James.

James, who led the team to the finals for the first time in 07, was defeated by Wang Chao's Suns team and missed the championship, and since then, whether it is Wang Chao in the Magic team or the Rockets, the two sides have had countless encounters, and most of them ended with Wang Chao laughing to the end, the only time James won was the Rockets Da Yao was reimbursed in the West finals injury season, and Wang Chao was alone in the 11-12 season.

At 121:106, the Rockets easily defeated the Cavaliers at home, avenging their previous one-shot revenge, and also successfully beating James and Embiid to self-defeat.

The reason why Embiid is autistic is that he didn't expect that he would face a veteran in his thirties and be unilaterally blown up without resistance, and the reason for James's autism is that he has a hunch that as long as the Rockets no longer have serious injuries in the next games, I am afraid that he will experience the pain of being defeated by Wang Chao again in the finals.

It's not a good taste at all.

In mid-January, the league announced the final results of the All-Star vote.

Wang Chao was elected the All-Star vote king without any suspense, and he has suppressed James to become the All-Star vote king for several consecutive years, and James and Curry can only be second and third.

With the announcement of the All-Star voting results, the starting list of the main game has also been officially released.

The starting five Tigers of the Eastern All-Stars, from high to low, are James, Anthony. Davis, John. Wall, Dwayne. Wade and Cameron. Anthony.

The starting five in the West are Wang Chao, Curry, Durant, Leonard, and Da Yao.

Although he missed most of the games in December due to injury, Da Yao and Leonard, who have the support of Chinese fans, still received more votes in the forward position than Mark. Gasol, Blake. Griffin and other players were successfully selected as All-Star starters.

In fact, the vote rate of the two is not as good as Kobe Bryant and Harden in the guard position, but who made the All-Star vote only divided into two positions: guard and forward after the league reform, and there are only two places for guards and three places for forwards?

Wang Chao and Curry firmly occupied the two spots of guards, suppressing Kobe and Harden to the death, and the result was that although the two received more votes than Da Yao and Leonard, they still missed the All-Star start.

Wang Chao, Da Yao, and Leonard were selected as All-Star starters, and three people from the same team were selected as All-Star starters or the previous Miami Heat.

And with Jimmy, who ranks sixth in the Western Conference guard in terms of votes. Butler was named to the All-Star bench and four players were named to the All-Star team in one season, the last of which was the Celtics Big Three plus Rajan. The Green Army of Rondo.

Interestingly, the Rockets are not the only team that has four players named to the All-Star list this year.

The Atlanta Hawks in the East also have four All-Star selections this season. Horford, Jeff. Teague, Paul. Millsap and Kyle. Korver.

The difference is that three of the four All-Stars on the Rockets' side are All-Star starters, and the Hawks are all All-Star substitutes, and the gap in coffee positions and quality is obvious.

For the Rockets management, the four of them were not only unhappy, but even more worried.

Leonard and Butler's All-Star selection means that the price of contract extensions this summer has risen, and almost 100% of them need a maximum salary to complete the contract extension.

If both of them have the highest salary, it adds up to $33 million, and it is the starting salary in 2015, and it will continue to rise every season after that, and by the fourth year, everyone is 23 million, adding up to 46 million!

If you count the new contract renewed by Wang Chao's maximum salary......

The general manager of the Rockets felt a little difficult to breathe.

Sure enough, winning is not so easy to pursue, and if you want to maintain enough strength for a championship team, you must pay a high salary to retain strong players at the price.

Aside from the fact that Wang Chao selected high-quality players at the cost of a low pick in the draft, any dynasty team in the league would have to pay a big price to be able to win consistently.

There's nothing to mention about All-Star Weekend, just skip it.

Wang Chao is not interested in performing on the all-star stage at all, and he will go off the court after a symbolic play of soy sauce for dozens of minutes, while Da Yao is completely showing his face, starting a few minutes before being replaced, and watching the whole game off the court, as for Leonard, although it is the first time in his career to appear on this stage as an all-star starter, he has a strong desire to perform, but his qualifications are too small, and he can't catch the ball on the court at all.

In the end, it was Russell, a Thunder guard who came off the bench but successfully scored 41 points with basketball alone. Westbrook.

As a point guard, Westbrook only had one assist in the whole game with 28 crazy shots and 41 points on 28 shots, and almost as long as he got the ball, no other teammates would want to touch it again.

When Westbrook lifted the All-Star MVP trophy with a smile on his face, the smiles of the other teammates around him were relatively stiff, and they only symbolically congratulated each other, and they were all scolding wildly.

"This ratio is really too TM unique."

(End of chapter)