The conversation between Wang Feng and Johnson was just an interlude. The Lakers' top management seems to be considering this matter carefully. After all, trading potential rookie players in the team as bargaining chips is a very risky matter. If you are not careful, it may be...
It's a waste of time, and there is neither a future nor a present.
The Lakers' regular season games are still going on in an orderly manner.
As the schedule enters December, the Lakers' situation has become slightly more difficult. Compared with their opponents in November, the opponents on the Lakers' schedule in December have suddenly become more difficult.
On December 2, the Lakers played against the Nuggets away from home, and it was another tough battle.
In the 2017-18 season, the Nuggets' ace insider Nikola Jokic has begun to show his talents. He is currently averaging 18.5 points, 10.7 rebounds and 6.1 assists per game. He is very difficult to deal with in the paint.
The two teams fought into overtime, and Wang Feng scored 4 points in a row at the last moment to finally seal the victory, winning the game 118:115.
In this game, Wang Feng scored 45 points, 11 rebounds and 4 steals, including consecutive points at the last moment, and once again acted as a key hero in determining the outcome.
But heroes can't perform on stage at any time.
On December 3, the Lakers hosted the Houston Rockets at home.
The overall strength of the Rockets, who got Paul this season, instantly rose to a new level, and their current record is even better than that of the Warriors!
This is a strong team that was able to fight the Warriors in seven bloody games in the Western Conference Finals of the playoffs, and even had a 3:2 lead. The Lakers were defeated and lost 118:95.
In this game, Wang Feng and Harden staged a high-scoring battle. Wang Feng scored 36 points, and Harden also scored 36 points. Although the scores were the same, the difference was still quite big.
Wang Feng made 13 of 22 shots and 6 of 9 three-pointers. His shooting percentage was astonishingly high.
Harden only made 7 of 19 shots, with a shooting percentage of less than 40%. However, he made 18 free throws and scored 16 points just from free throws!
Even Wang Feng, who basically only uses defensive shock on the defensive end and relies on eye defense to save energy, got two fouls.
The Rockets are just the beginning.
In the next schedule in December, the Lakers will meet the Rockets twice, the Warriors twice, the Cavaliers once, as well as the Trail Blazers, 76ers and other strong teams in the league.
"There are too many strong opponents. I'm afraid it will be difficult for the Lakers to maintain a winning rate of more than 50% this month. I just hope that the Lakers will not fall directly from the top eight positions in the Western Conference. As long as they can survive December
, then the schedule and opponents in January will become relatively easier."
…
On December 7, the Lakers played away against the Philadelphia 76ers. Wang Feng scored 28 points, but the 76ers Embiid scored 33 points, plus No. 1 pick Ben Simmons’ 12 points, 12 rebounds and 15 assists. The 76ers scored 107:
104 defeated the Lakers.
After swallowing two consecutive losses, the Lakers won two consecutive games against the Hornets and Knicks, which slightly stopped the bleeding, but then, on December 14, the Lakers went to Cleveland to challenge the Cavaliers away from home.
The defending champion Cavaliers in the new season are much weaker than last season, with Wang Feng and Irving leaving the team one after another.
The Cavaliers management worked hard in the summer to strengthen the team. They successively signed Wade, Rose, Korver, Calderon and other players to strengthen the team. In addition, last season's
With All-Star guard Isaiah Thomas, the Cavaliers' lineup in the new season looks quite luxurious at least on paper.
However, as a result, the players signed in the summer all proved to be failures in the dozens of games that started the regular season.
Isaiah Thomas' injury did not go well at all. He was injured again after playing only a dozen games. Before the injury, he averaged only 14.7 points and 4.5 assists per game, and his shooting percentage was only 36%.
Wade's competitive level has also declined significantly, averaging only 11.2 points, 3.9 rebounds and 3.5 assists per game, but this is also the Cavaliers' best performance among the summer signings.
The only two players the Cavaliers can rely on are James and Love.
But even so, the Cavaliers' dominance in the Eastern Conference remains unabated, or in other words, as long as James is not completely old, his team cannot lose its dominance.
The game between the Lakers and the Cavaliers fully verified this point.
In this game, Wang Feng directly faced off against James.
Wang Feng is so confident that he may even have the upper hand in a direct confrontation with James.
With a strength of 88, Wang Feng is no longer afraid of James in this field. His speed, agility, and jumping abilities are even comparable to James!
In this case, with multiple top defensive badges, Wang Feng can completely limit James' scoring efficiency on the defensive end.
On the offensive end, Wang Feng didn't think James could guard him.
Whether it is a quick breakthrough to attack the frame with the bonus of the first step master badge, or a step back three-point shot after the first step master, it is an efficient scoring weapon against James.
In fact, the situation at the beginning of the game went exactly as Wang Feng thought.
The Lakers won the duel, and then Wang Feng challenged James with the ball. The speed bonus brought by the master of the first step allowed Wang Feng to easily use his speed advantage to pass James and rush to the basket, and immediately took off and dunked to score.
After the ball was transferred, James attacked. He also started to break through with the ball from the outside, but was strictly guarded by Wang Feng. James wanted to use his strength to forcefully break through, but he was shocked to find that Wang Feng's strength was not much weaker than him after gaining weight.
Unable to get to the basket smoothly, James could only reluctantly take a shot. The shot missed the frame due to the interference of Wang Feng's defensive shock badge.
In the next few rounds, Wang Feng's scoring efficiency was obviously higher than that of James. Later, James began to have to use the back-up technique under the basket to score, because although Wang Feng's outside defense was strong, his inside defensive ability was a weakness.
His strength is not inferior to that of James, but the battle between inside players is not just about who is stronger.
However, this situation only lasted in the first quarter of the game.
When the game entered the second quarter, James began to gradually adapt to the new change of Wang Feng, and began to change his playing style and tactics.
The ball began to be handed over to Love more and more, and the latter continued to attack the Lakers' relatively weak penalty area and score frequently.
The deadlock began to be broken, and the Cavaliers regained the initiative in the game.
121:112, the Lakers still lost the game.
Wang Feng made 14 of 22 shots in the game and scored 42 points, 12 rebounds, 2 assists and 3 steals, but failed to help the team win the game.
For the Cavaliers, James had a triple-double of 25 points, 12 rebounds and 12 assists. He made 8 of 18 shots from the field. Although his 44% shooting rate was lower than average, the triple-double data made up for the shortcomings in another aspect.
With his help, Love scored 28 points and 11 rebounds on 9 of 15 shots in this game, with a shooting percentage of 60%.
Facts have proved that it is impossible to completely lock down James by defense, and this is because James had no intention of competing head-on with Wang Feng and changed his playing tactics.
If James concentrates on confronting Wang Feng in the paint and simply uses his inside moves to attack Wang Feng and consume Wang Feng's physical energy, his score may not necessarily be lower than Wang Feng's.
"Sure enough, if you want to compete head-on with James with your current strength...it's still a little bit off."