Regarding the question of who is better, Wade or Leonard, there is actually no need to worry too much. Wade's peak period was undoubtedly during the 2006-10 season. After that, he was affected by knee injuries.
His explosive power has been continuously reduced, and his breakthrough ability has been seriously affected. Although he still has All-Star level strength, he has not reached the level of MVP.
But Leonard is different. The 18-21 season was the peak period of Leonard's career. Although Leonard's attendance rate has plummeted since 2021, at least at this stage he is absolutely healthy and at his best.
state.
Therefore, comparing Leonard during this period with Wade during his partnership with James, Leonard is definitely stronger.
There is no problem at all in letting Leonard serve as the team's main attacker at the beginning. Even if Butler is a very strong forward defender, there is no way to completely restrict a scorer of Leonard's level.
…
When the Lakers had the ball, James avoided Wang Feng to play, but when it was Wang Feng's turn, he wanted to watch James and play.
Although James still has defensive ability, it can only be regarded as the upper-middle level in the league, which is far behind Leonard. After all, at his age, it is very rare to be able to maintain the league's top level on the offensive end.
Holding the ball and standing at a 45-degree angle outside the right three-point line, Wang Feng stood in front of the Clippers' defensive leader Leonard.
But like James, Wang Feng also raised his hand to call for a pick-and-roll.
Unlike James, who is the inside center who comes out to pick and roll, the person on the Lakers' side who runs over to cover Wang Feng's pick and roll is small forward Ingram.
The somewhat thin Ingram's pick-and-roll quality is actually not very good, but it also hinders Leonard to some extent.
No one dares to underestimate the threat of the pick-and-roll called by Wang Feng. After all, he has a three-point shot that is as stable as Curry or even more stable, and his shooting speed is also astonishingly fast.
As long as Wang Feng is given a little opening, he will dare to strike directly!
Therefore, although Leonard was able to quickly bypass Ingram's defense, in order to avoid giving Wang Feng a chance, James, who was responsible for defending Ingram, still stepped forward.
On the other side, after the pick-and-roll, Ingram didn't look back and went straight towards the basket.
Although Leonard wanted to double-team Wang Feng with James, Wang Feng, who averaged 10+ assists per game in the regular season, would definitely send a beautiful alley-oop counterattack to Ingram, so he could only bite the bullet and keep up with Ingram.
Don't give Wang Feng a chance to pass the ball.
Just like this, a 1V1 duel situation between Wang Feng and James emerged.
"Don't you want to fight me alone? I'm here, come on over!"
Seeing the situation reach this point, James said simply.
He wanted to avoid a duel with Wang Feng, not because he was really afraid of Wang Feng, but because he believed that this would be more beneficial to winning the game.
The 36-year-old James has long passed the age of fighting and fighting. The accumulation of personal honors and the improvement of his historical status are what he values most now.
But after all, he is a legendary superstar who has ruled an era. Can Lian Po still survive at this age?
When James became completely serious, the feeling of oppression that should be engraved in his bones still existed.
Such James made Wang Feng couldn't help but cheer up.
This season, Wang Feng has surpassed James in the overall rating. His overall rating of 98 is the highest among all active players.
But even so, Wang Feng felt that something was still missing. Even though the Clippers easily swept and eliminated James in the first round last season, he still did not feel the joy of defeating the king of the old era.
Rather than saying that Wang Feng defeated James, it would be better to say that the Lakers defeated the Clippers. After all, Wang Feng had Butler, Ingram and other players beside him, while the Clippers at that time only had James.
But this time it's different.
James has the strongest helper in his career, and the overall strength of the two teams is evenly matched. Even though James this season is no longer at the level of Thanos James at his peak a few years ago, he is still one of the strongest players in the league.
Being able to defeat James head-on in this Western Conference finals also put an end to Wang Feng's obsession.
After finally traveling through time and obtaining the system, how could I not have a real competition with James, the strongest player of this era?
In the era of the Warriors, Wang Feng was just a soy sauce, at best the icing on the cake.
Last season, the Clippers' lineup was too poor to win.
This season is already the last chance, because the longer the time drags on, the worse James' competitive state will be.
"call--!"
Taking a deep breath, Wang Feng suddenly accelerated and started. The master badge was activated instantly in the first step, and he accelerated towards James' left side.
The experienced James had already made a judgment in advance and immediately moved his steps to stick to Wang Feng.
But Wang Feng's breakthrough speed was so fast that James was still half a beat too slow and fell behind.
Wang Feng took advantage of the situation to accelerate further, took two steps and jumped directly, slamming a powerful and heavy dunk towards the basket.
"boom--!"
The basket made an overwhelmed squeaking sound, demonstrating Wang Feng's powerful strength and unparalleled destructive power.
James followed closely behind Wang Feng, jumping at the same time as Wang Feng took off, trying to chase behind Wang Feng.
However, Wang Feng's take-off height was far beyond his expectation, and he failed to block the shot.
Looking at Wang Feng, James could only see what he looked like when he was young. At this moment, he suddenly realized that he was really old.
…
In the first few minutes of the game, the two teams fought hard.
Wang Feng continues to use his personal abilities to score devastating points, while on the other hand, the Clippers' main scorer is still Leonard.
Although Wang Feng took a few hits through pick-and-rolls, the experienced James still knew how to win the game more efficiently.
However, the gap in the strength of the starting lineup still puts the Clippers at a gradual disadvantage.
Compared to the Lakers, who can shoot from long range in all five positions and have a huge spatial advantage, the Clippers' center DeAndre Jordan is a big drag.
Jordan is essentially no different from Howard. He may have slightly faster steps than Howard, but that is among interior centers. Compared with the shorter centers in the small-ball tactical system, he is still an extremely slow blue-collar center type.
.
In this way, players who can only grab rebounds, protect the frame and pass the ball down to eat the pie are basically on the verge of being eliminated in the league. Unless they happen to have a suitable tactical system partner, it will be difficult to find a way out.
The Clippers are not a team that focuses on three-point shooting, but James, Leonard and even Lou Williams are all players who are good at attacking the frame. The presence of Jordan makes the inside extremely crowded, which is natural.
In disguise, it affected their ability to attack the frame with the ball.