The previous nine-game winning streak was only against the weak team, and since the Cavaliers, except for the Clippers at the bottom of the West, the 76ers, Trail Blazers, and Bucks are not weak, and they are in five or six positions in their respective divisions.

This record is enough to prove that supersonic running and bombing can play a strong team.

As a result, the blockade from the league's teams finally began slowly.

Throughout December, the SuperSonics will face four high-profile tough battles, the Lakers, Spurs, Mavericks and Pistons.

O'Neal, Duncan, and Nowitzki, whether they are placed now or in the future, are all recognized as NBA-historical inside, plus the three teams have quite good firepower, and they have all won the supersonic once at the beginning of the season, which is enough to verify the truth that it was once recognized that 'mastering the advantage of the interior line can restrain the running and bombing', whether it is suitable for the supersound.

The Pistons are the dark horses that came out of the East this year, except for losing one game each to the Wizards and Lakers at the beginning of the game, the other records have maintained a full victory, and just won the Cavaliers a few days ago, and the Cavaliers have been unhappy since they lost to the SuperSonics after breaking the gold, first losing to the Lakers and then losing to the Spurs, and then losing to the Pistons, and now ranks second in the East with 4 losses and 17 wins.

The Pistons have a record of 3 losses and 18 wins, beating the Cavaliers and Wizards, temporarily ranking first in the East.

The Pistons' defense and supersonic high-efficiency running and bombardment have formed two of the most unique landscapes in the East and West this year.

With Ben Wallace and Clifford Robinson, who was in the second defensive team last year, they are absolute defensive giants, coupled with the Pistons' consistent tough ball style, so that their average points per game in 21 games this year is only 84.3 points, while the SuperSonics have averaged 108 points per game this year, which is still based on the fact that the SuperSonics have averaged points in the previous consecutive losses, and the average score per game is 114 according to their turn, running and shooting, which is already the highest in the league this year and even in recent years.

The strongest spear against the strongest shield.

And the Pistons also have Hamilton, a guard who has just been traded for the Wizards, and Daco Mirisic, a high-profile rookie center selected by the fifth draft pick in this year's draft, has solved many problems on the offensive end of the Pistons, and it is not a fluke to be ranked first in the East now.

Several games are full of highlights, and they have also attracted a lot of attention from all sides of the league.

After all, these teams are all ambitious for this year's playoffs, and they are also the teams that are considered the most capable of sniping the SuperSonics in the league at the moment.

So all kinds of speculations before each game, comparing the detailed analysis of the players, tactics, states, etc. of both sides, made a lot of baskets, dragged the eyeballs, and determined that it would inevitably be a dragon fight, and it would be difficult for supersonic speed to get through, but I didn't expect the final result to be a big surprise.

On December 3, 123:116, the SuperSonics narrowly beat the Spurs.

On December 6, 112:101, the supersonic light took the Lakers.

On December 17, at 116:98, supersonic force captured the calf.

Lin Dong has maintained his double-double data of 30+ points and 10+ assists per game in all three games, as if his own data has been completely stabilized.

As for the three strong inside lines that were pinned on by all parties before the game, none of them played a decisive role in the game.

In addition to the fact that several teams have their own problems, such as O'Neal has been falling out with Kobe Bryant recently, the locker room is very discordant, and the two on the court are a bit fighting for the ball and not fully engaged in the game; For example, the Mavericks' Nowitzki seems to be in poor health, playing only 20 minutes before being replaced, etc.

What's more, it's the sudden rise of Sakuragi Hanamichi.

Scored 10+ rebounds in all three games, and most of them were frontcourt boards, although this performance plus single-digit points cannot be compared with the performance of the three major interior lines, but it also guarantees the supersonic secondary offense to a considerable extent, so as not to lose so badly on the inside.

Counting the games in between, after beating the Mavericks, the SuperSonics have accumulated 21 consecutive wins, surpassing the 20 consecutive wins of the Milwaukee Bucks in '71 and ranking second on the NBA's regular season winning streak list.

This made Seattle fans start to go completely crazy about it, shouting the slogan of hitting the first consecutive win in history and surpassing the 33-game winning streak of the invincible Lakers in the 71-72 season.

It's not just the madness from the fans, this long winning streak has also made SuperSonics' own players start to drift a little, and even Lin Dong has secretly risen a feeling that cross-era running and bombing is equal to invincibility.

Then came the No. 20 game against the Pistons.

Before the game, all parties have undoubtedly changed the previous statement of parity, and are more optimistic about the current supersonics, after all, this wave of winning streak is too terrifying, and the power of running and bombing has made the three favorite winning teams fail one after another, and even some good people have shouted "created a new era in the league".

Both the audience and the league are happy to watch as Supersonic continues to make history.

But the piston immediately slapped everyone in the face.

At 92:88, the Pistons narrowly beat the SuperSonics by 4 points, breaking the supersonics' second-ever winning streak.

The terrifying iron-blooded defense is really a hard lesson for the newcomers who are already a little carried away by the supersonics.

Lin Dong scored a game-high 42 points, but shot 5 of 23, the shooting rate was only 21.7%, and 31 of the 42 points he got came from free throws, and almost all of them were concentrated in the second half when Lin Dong wanted to turn the tide and save the team.

The Piston's strategy against Lin Dong is very simple, as long as you dare to throw, I will dare to pull, as long as you dare to break through me, I will dare to pull it directly, and hug you back!

31 of 34 free throws, how accurate is the free throw percentage? It's just not to let you score normally, it's to let the referee blow your fast-break rhythm to pieces, it's to give you intensity, make you afraid, and don't hold the consciousness that you can pour the ball into the basket without holding a person on your body, you don't want to score any points easily.

Sakuragi Hanamichi had 6 points and 2 rebounds, all 6 points were obtained through free throws, 6 of 10 free throws, and the 60% shooting rate was acceptable to Sakuragi, but only 2 rebounds in the whole game broke the illusion that many Japanese fans thought that Sakuragi could already wrestle with the league's top insiders.

In the face of Duncan, O'Neill, and Nowitzki, Sakuragi still has a chance to perform, but in the face of Big Ben, there is really a feeling that he can't struggle.

It's not that Big Ben is stronger than them, but the style is different and the attitude is different.

After all, before the start of the game, all parties were singing about the Pistons, which also aroused the anger of the Pistons.

Big Ben undoubtedly put a lot more energy into the defense under the basket than the three centers, to put it bluntly, Big Ben is serious, and the physical strength on Sakuragi is also something he has not felt at all in the game before, so that Sakuragi walked a little limp when he left the court at the end.

SuperSonics young people complained a lot about this, thinking that the Pistons were playing dirty, but Payton was quite happy.

For the atmosphere that began to relax a little after the previous wave of 21 consecutive wins, Payton is all in his eyes, he is not interested in the winning streak or anything, if these boys are so careless, and finally fail to win the championship, they will win more than ten games in a row, breaking the Lakers' historical record is also in vain, and it will become a joke of 'fierce as a tiger in the regular season and weak as a mouse in the playoffs'.

Then he would have preferred this defeat to come earlier.

"Dirty? Is this dirty? Payton smiled and summed up the frustrated young people in the locker room: "Where is this?" It's just a normal playoff defensive intensity, and when you get to the playoffs, you'll all meet teams like this! ”

"Boss, even if it's preachy, this is too exaggerated, right? Isn't it said that this Pistons are the best defensive team in the league this year? How can every team be like them......"

"That's because the Pistons' regular season defensive intensity is equal to the intensity of other people's playoffs, and the Pistons' playoff ......" Payton responded with a smile: "That's hell!" Is it hard to understand? It's dirty, and only then will you know what it means to be really dirty! Don't underestimate the NBA, rookies! ”

After some preaching, the newcomers were stunned, and Peyton turned his head to look at the thoughtful Lin Dong triumphantly: "Hey, Lin, what do you think?" ”

Peyton feels that rookie is a title that belongs to newcomers, but this by no means includes Lin Dong.

Lin Dong was pondering the process of the game, 5 of 23 shots, it was not that his shooting percentage was not good, but that 17 of them were forcibly dragged down by the Pistons.

The confrontation of physical strength is still too weak...... This made the piston dare to reach out to him, because he knew that reaching out would definitely be able to pull him down, and dragging Lin Dong down would be equivalent to breaking the rhythm of the supersonic fast attack.

But if his strength is stronger, he can still score the ball even when he is being dragged and make all kinds of 2+1s, then does the Pistons still dare to do this?

Lin Dong seems to understand a little bit of how Jordan in his rookie season felt when he faced the Pistons led by Chuck Daley.

This is just a team with characteristics, and it is not the Dacheng Pistons that have gathered the double Wallace, and they can already make the supersonic speed that they thought invincible so uncomfortable.

But it's also a good thing, if it goes on like this, wait until the playoffs, when you meet strong teams such as the Lakers, Spurs, and Mavericks who really start to work hard, then you will wake up and be vigilant, I'm afraid it's already too late.

Listening to Peyton's question at this time brought Lin Dong's thoughts back to reality.

He put away the knee pads on his legs and let out a long breath: "How else can I feel?" Practice, add a few more sets of strength training from tomorrow...... Tsk, it's time for Stephen to remake his training plan! ”

The Pistons proved that their tight defense had an impact on the superSonics' offensive system, and it can be regarded as a reference for teams in the league, which made many teams feel much more at ease.

And after this one, the next regular season journey of the Supersonic finally became normal.

On the supersonic side, the scoring ability of running and bombing is still the same, making it difficult for other teams that are still in the regular season state stage to deal with, after all, it is just the regular season, it is not that the teams do not want to achieve a better regular season result, but in this long, extremely tight season, let alone desperate, 100% play is also prohibited, because it is easy to get injured.

Everyone tacitly plays a good job, and the defensive end is only about seven or eight percent of the level, like the supersonic team in the previous 21 consecutive wins, most of a seasoned team will not deliberately choose that for a record, which is actually very advantageous for the supersonic who choose to run and bomb.

Lin Dong began to put more energy into daily physical training, and under Stephen's training plan, he reasonably gained muscle and weight.

After all, if you understand it quickly, you will understand that you don't have to be overly obsessed with pursuing the regular season record, especially before you have become a real king and have not the level that is enough to control the NBA.

It's better to put those thoughts on preparing for the super confrontation in the playoffs as soon as possible, Lin Dong feels that this is his best choice at the moment.

Play two or three games, more or less to relax, since then the team has maintained about 3 wins and 1 loss, about 75% of the winning rate ratio, lost to the strong team and lost to the weak team, look at the play, but the SuperSonics in the West ranking continues to rise slowly, by the end of January, has risen to the second in the West, second only to the Spurs, who are now playing more and more stable.

In December, January, and February, the team's record was stable, Lin Dong's special training effect was good, he gained 3 kilograms, and Sakuragi had also reached a height of 205 cm, but he felt that the speed of his height seemed to have begun to slow down.

This guy is now focused on getting used to at least the same intensity of scramble he had against the Pistons last time before the playoffs.

However, compared with the team's record and the harmony and stability of the locker room, in the past three months, there have been more things closely related to the team and Lin Dong off the field.

(End of chapter)