Chapter 431 First in the league! Knights want to go to heaven?
If the Cavaliers, who have won three consecutive victories, have faced opponents that are not strong teams in the Eastern Conference and can be forgiven for winning, then on November 3, the Cavaliers faced the Milwaukee Bucks at home and won 122:115.
Many people who were waiting to see the excitement were surprised.
Cavaliers VS Bucks can be regarded as one of the focus showdowns in the Eastern Conference. Wang Feng is also the victim of Antetokounmpo. In recent years, Antetokounmpo has performed at a dominant level, but he has not won a regular season MVP. The reason is precisely because of his rise.
The time coincides with Wang Feng's, but his data is obviously not as good as Wang Feng's.
Even though Antetokounmpo had the best chance to be elected as the regular season MVP last season, he fell short in the end, losing to Wang Feng by an extremely narrow margin, allowing his opponent to complete an unprecedented four consecutive regular season MVP awards.
Wang Feng is the target that Antetokounmpo is chasing and surpassing. When Wang Feng was still with the Lakers, the gap in the lineups of the two teams made Antetokounmpo's victory over Wang Feng a complete luxury.
But things are different now. The Cavaliers' lineup is completely different from that of the Lakers, giving Antetokounmpo and his fans great expectations.
However, the first meeting between the two teams gave them a heads-up.
This Cavaliers team is not as weak as expected, and they even feel a little ruthless.
Accurate three-point long-range shooting ability, fast-paced offensive and defensive transition ability, although the overall defensive quality and frame-protecting rebounding ability are slightly weaker, but compared with the offensive power gained by sacrificing these things, it seems to be no big deal.
As the Cavaliers replaced Jarrett Allen on the bench, the team's ability to protect the rim immediately rose sharply, proving that the Cavaliers were not completely incompetent inside, but had made some sacrifices for the offensive end.
More importantly, Antetokounmpo Antetokounmpo failed again in his matchup with Wang Feng.
The two faced each other throughout the game. Facing Wang Feng's defense, Antetokounmpo ultimately failed with 5 of 15 shots, 14 points, 10 rebounds, 7 assists and 4 turnovers.
Also playing in the league for seven seasons, Antetokounmpo's strength has been continuously improved and strengthened, becoming stronger and stronger, but his previous weaknesses have never been perfected. His mid- and long-range shooting is extremely unstable, and his offense can only rely on breakthroughs and breakthroughs with the ball.
Inside attack at the basket.
If he were simply dueling under the basket, Wang Feng, who lacked the inside defensive badge, would not be able to guard against Antetokounmpo, but basketball has never been a one-on-one game. Whenever Antetokounmpo came to the basket, he had to face not only
Wang Feng and Jarrett Allen's supplementary defense.
Although Jarrett Allen, who is 2.08 meters tall, is slightly shorter than Antetokounmpo, his wingspan is not inferior to that of Antetokounmpo. Moreover, he is assisting Wang Feng in defense, not one-on-one with Antetokounmpo, so it is not difficult to restrict Antetokounmpo.
.
But when the scene was reversed and Antetokounmpo defended Wang Feng, the effect was not very good.
Antetokounmpo, who is tall and has long arms, can guard against Wang Feng's outside shots, but cannot guard against his ball-handling breakthroughs.
Wang Feng frequently used the first step master to forcefully open up the Bucks' defense, attracting opponents to help defend and double-team, and then passed the ball to his teammates who were open on the outside.
With the blessing of the two badges of the playmaker and ten cents, players in the open position have a ridiculously high shooting percentage!
Before the half is over, Wang Feng's assists have already reached double figures. How can the Bucks continue to fight?
The final result was that the Cavaliers defeated the Bucks. Wang Feng scored a huge triple-double with 31 points, 14 rebounds and 18 assists, while Antetokounmpo only had 14 points, 10 rebounds and 7 assists, and was suppressed in all aspects.
Judging from the scoring of other players of the two teams, it seems that the advantage of the Bucks' lineup is not obvious.
The highest scorer for the Bucks was Khris Middleton, who made 9 of 14 shots and scored 21 points and 8 rebounds.
George Hill scored 19 points, Pat Connaughton had 14 points, and Eric Blessed had 14 points. John Wall, one of the Big Three, was unable to play due to injury.
It is worth mentioning that the Bucks have strengthened another general in the new season, and that is the Lakers' championship-winning starting center Brook Lopez.
Four years ago, Wang Feng asked the Lakers to keep Lopez on a four-year contract, preventing him from joining the Bucks. Within four years, Lopez made great contributions to the Lakers' four-year triple crown and succeeded.
Show off your own worth.
Lopez, who is now 33 years old, has successfully attracted many teams to compete for him after his contract expired.
In the end, the Bucks offered Lopez $52 million over four years and successfully acquired this big inside center with three-point shooting ability.
In this game against the Cavaliers, Lopez made 5 of 9 shots, 3 of 7 three-pointers, and scored 16 points and 5 rebounds, which is fully worthy of his tens of millions of annual salary.
This is also the reason why the Bucks still rank third in the strength list even though they are missing Wall, one of the Big Three, in the new season.
But the battle against the Cavaliers made many people seriously doubt the true strength of the Bucks.
"Wang Feng scoring 30 points and adding a triple-double is a routine operation. There is nothing surprising. How can the Bucks, who are good at defense, allow six members of the Cavaliers to score in double figures?"
On the Cavaliers side, apart from Wang Feng, the best performer was Kevin Love who scored 24 points. He felt pretty good today. Wang Feng used the function that comes with the purple Hall of Fame level playmaker badge - to see the potential shots of his teammates.
His ability to be efficient has been noticed in advance, so he spared no effort in feeding Love the ball.
Love, who is enjoying the second spring of his career, made 5 of 10 shots from beyond the three-point line, which is frighteningly accurate!
Not only that, Love also grabbed 13 rebounds, including 5 offensive rebounds.
The data of 24 points, 13 rebounds and 2 assists surprised Cavaliers fans.
Could it be said that Love has finally returned to his prime after suffering injuries in the past few seasons?
Love and Lopez, who were born in 1988, are the same age. At 34 years old, they should be at the end of their career peak.
But Love last season gave people the feeling that his career was over.
No one expected that Wang Feng's arrival would actually make Le Fu start to get angry!
After four regular season games, Love served as the team's starting center. Although his average playing time per game was not long, only about 28 minutes, he averaged 16 points and 8 rebounds per game, and his three-point shooting rate reached 41%.
Of course people don’t know that Love would have served as a substitute for the Cavaliers this season and performed brilliantly, maintaining his condition very well. Now that Wang Feng, a killer from beyond the three-point line, attracts defensive firepower, the pressure on the offensive end is greatly reduced.
What’s more, there is an organizational core to increase personal ability value. Under such circumstances, if you can’t perform at a certain level, it’s really unreasonable.
…
After four regular season games, the Eastern Conference's record presents an extremely strange situation.
The Cavaliers have won all 4 games and ranked first in the Eastern Conference, while the Nets, 76ers, Bucks and other powerful players all ranked second with a record of 3 wins and 1 loss, which is shocking.
"Is Wang Feng really that strong? Can he even lead a crappy bottom team like the Cavaliers?"
On November 5, the Cavaliers played an away game against the Boston Celtics and finally suffered their first defeat of the season, losing 113:119. They missed their first five consecutive victories and their record became 4 wins and 1 loss.
The Cavaliers' defeat made the powerful players in the Eastern Conference heave a sigh of relief. If a team with such a lineup always has pressure on them, it would really look like they are such a waste.
However, the victory of the Celtics was not due to their own outstanding physical strength, but because the Cavaliers tested the lineup. Facing the defensive-oriented Celtics, they put on the second starting lineup suggested by Wang Feng.
The second lineup with Jarrett Allen starting at point guard was much better defensively than the first lineup with Poole starting at point guard, but without a stable three-point long-range shooting point, even if Jarrett Allen could
The team's offensive end was still affected by the pick-and-roll cooperation with Wang Feng.
The second lineup is only suitable for facing teams with relatively strong inside strength, such as the Philadelphia 76ers with Embiid and the New Orleans Pelicans with Davis.
While every team in the Eastern Conference was secretly breathing a sigh of relief because of the Cavaliers' loss, the Cavaliers quietly started a winning streak in the following games.
From November 8th to November 17th, the Cavaliers have five games, three away games and two home games, against the Washington Wizards, New York Knicks, Miami Heat, Oklahoma City Thunder and Portland Trail Blazers.
In the five games, the Cavaliers accepted all orders and won five consecutive victories. The regular season record directly reached 9 wins and 1 loss! The record is far ahead, not only in the Eastern Conference, but also in the entire league. It is the undisputed top spot.
The entire league is dumbfounded, what the hell is this? Is it possible that the Cavaliers are still preparing to compete for the first place in the regular season record?
After 10 games, Wang Feng's average data began to stabilize at a triple-double of 34.8 points, 13.2 rebounds and 13.4 assists per game.
It's slightly inferior compared to last season, but it still ranks first in the league.
What is surprising is that the Cavaliers have many players who are not favored by people.
Kevin Love, who is enjoying the second spring of his career, averaged 17.2 points and 8.8 rebounds per game, shooting 45% from the field and 40% from the three-point range.
Jordan Poole has continued his stable performance from last season, currently averaging 14 points, 2.7 rebounds and 3.8 assists per game, and shooting 38% from three-point range.
Desmond Bane, who was traded from the Grizzlies, averaged 15 points and 3.1 rebounds per game and shot 44% from three-point range.
Seth Curry, the main scorer on the bench, averaged 11 points per game and shot 48.5% from three-point range. He frequently cooperated with Wang Feng in pick-and-rolls, running and cutting into the basket to receive Wang Feng's passes and dunks. He was very successful.
Jarrett Allen currently averages 12 points, 8.5 rebounds and 1.6 blocks per game.
In addition to the above six players who scored in double figures, one of the Cavaliers' starting forwards, Otto Porter Jr., defensive lineman Gary Payton II and three-point shooters Malik Monk and Max.
Struth also had impressive performances.
Several players recruited by the Cavaliers throughout the summer all performed brilliantly, severely slapping many basketball commentators in the face who swore that the Cavaliers' lineup was rubbish.
What makes Wang Fenghei even more uncomfortable is that as a result, their favorite excuse before can no longer be used.
Whether Wang Feng won the championship with the Warriors, Cavaliers or Lakers before, some people always said that Wang Feng only won the championship because of his strong team lineup.
The Warriors have Curry, the Cavaliers have James, and the Lakers have Butler and Ingram.
But with this current Cavaliers team, they don’t have any use for this excuse. It can’t be said that Wang Feng embraced Love, who currently averages 17+8 per game, right? Or that Wang Feng embraced the thighs of many role players on the Cavaliers?
From the perspective of any fan, the reason why the Cavaliers players can have such an outstanding performance is all due to Wang Feng. Without Wang Feng, he could attract firepower to the maximum extent on the offensive end, passing and assisting to connect the whole team.
, other players of the Cavaliers got the opportunity to score easily.
Wang Feng's ability to lead the team has been confirmed again after the Lakers won three championships and four regular season MVPs in four years. He is definitely the only one in the league!
What makes the Chinese fans slightly disappointed is that Zhou Qi did not get much playing time in these ten games. Only when the game completely loses suspense and has entered garbage time can he get a little playing time.
It doesn't seem to be any different from when he was with the Rockets.
But this is the reality. Zhou Qi did not cheat after all, and it is impossible to show the ability to gain a foothold in the NBA all at once.
Being able to stay in the NBA and receive the NBA's most advanced scientific training to continue to grow is already a very good result for Zhou Qi.
…
Unknowingly, the entire month of November passed by in the blink of an eye.
The difficulty of the Cavaliers' games began to gradually increase in the second half of November. The team began to encounter strong opponents such as the Philadelphia 76ers and the New Orleans Pelicans. At the same time, because the average age of the team was younger and the team did not cooperate with each other tacitly, they lost some games.
A game against a weak team that should have been won.
As of November 30, the Cleveland Cavaliers had played 20 regular season games and achieved a record of 16 wins and 4 losses, with a winning rate of 80%. Although they lost several games, their winning rate still ranked first in the league.
Last season, every strong team in the league had some problems to one degree or another.
The Nets are missing Jarrett Allen, the pillar of interior defense, and their interior defensive capabilities have declined.
Wall of the Bucks will miss most of the regular season due to injury, and the Big Three have degenerated into the Big Two. Although there is reinforcement from Brook Lopez, the overall strength is still weaker than last season.
The Clippers are even worse. This summer, the team tried to trade Westbrook away from the team, but no team was willing to take over Westbrook, who has become a negative asset, without a first-round pick.
In the end, after a summer of going around in circles, the Clippers had no choice but to bite the bullet and keep Westbrook, hoping that Westbrook can make adjustments in the new season and regain some of the strength he had at his peak.
Not to mention the Los Angeles Lakers, Wang Feng's departure is definitely a heavy blow to this team that has just created a dynasty. Although the team has exchanged two emerging players, Sexton and Garland, and also
There are plenty of future draft picks to look forward to.
But now, most people don’t think that the combination of Butler + Ingram + Kuzma + Garland and Sexton is very competitive in the Western Conference. It is naturally impossible to rely on a deep lineup to ensure a playoff spot.
Problem, but it may be difficult to continue to achieve the same outstanding results in the playoffs.
The Golden State Warriors may be one of the few teams among the Eastern and Western powers whose overall strength has not declined significantly. However, due to Wang Feng, the Warriors' current lineup is also very different from that of another time and space, without Jordan Poole and
Andrew Wiggins is a two-man general. Although Thompson was a blessing in disguise and did not suffer a major injury that affected his career, the Big Three combination of the Splash Brothers and Green can only be regarded as a powerful team.
The rest of the teams, such as the Philadelphia 76ers, Boston Celtics, Utah Jazz and other teams, although their lineups have not changed significantly from last season, their strength has not improved significantly.
The rather chaotic season form is also one of the reasons why the Cavaliers were able to secure the top spot in the league in the first month of the season.
At the end of November, Wang Feng averaged 35.2 points, 14.1 rebounds, 13.5 assists, 2.2 steals and 1.1 blocks per game. He was undoubtedly elected as the Eastern Conference Player of the Month in November and was far ahead of other players on the MVP list.
This situation made many media couldn't help but sigh, Wang Feng's era has really arrived!
And while the entire alliance was overwhelmingly praising Wang Feng, different voices sounded.
"Wang Feng is not as exaggerated as you say. He is very powerful. However, the Cavaliers' good record is due to many factors. The Cavaliers have faced very few strong teams in the past. In the regular season, they have been in a third consecutive season.
The schedule has not even passed yet, so relying on a relatively smooth schedule to achieve a good record does not mean anything."
"If the Cavaliers meet my team, it will definitely not be easy to win. The probability of losing will be greater because we are stronger!"
The person who said this to the media was Kyrie Irving, one of the Big Three of the Brooklyn Nets and known as the No. 1 point guard.
Obviously, Ou Shenxian is causing trouble again.
Since the mask incident did not occur in this time and space, Ou Shenxian did not make any weird decisions that resulted in his being unable to play, but he still caused a lot of troubles in the past two years. After all, it was due to his personality.
Flat Earth said that since Martin Luther King, who missed the regular season games for no reason due to personal reasons, he has not failed to perform these operations that normal people cannot do.
Thanks to the toughness of the other two giants of the Nets, Durant and George worked together to stabilize the Nets' record. And although Irving has a weird mind, he still has skills on the court. Otherwise, the Nets management would have been unable to bear it.
Owen kicked him out.
As for why Irving publicly belittled Wang Feng and the Cavaliers in front of the media, it was naturally because of his personal grudge with Wang Feng.
I have to admit that Wang Feng has made countless enemies in the past few years in the league. Many players are unhappy with Wang Feng. After all, he has taken away too many honors, including Irving.
At that time, Irving was the second-in-command of the Cavaliers and the second person under James. However, with the arrival of Wang Feng, everything changed. Wang Feng not only took away the ball rights that originally belonged to him, but also joined forces with James in the finals.
Use your strength to defeat the five-star warriors.
Nowadays, whenever people mention the Cavaliers' 2017 championship, they will say it was the work of James and Wang Feng, completely ignoring Irving's contribution.
In this time and space, Irving did not perform the classic scene of facing Curry and making a three-pointer at the last minute.
Whenever I see comments like this, Irving feels very unhappy.