Barkley has watched the video of Wang Feng's game. In his opinion, Wang Feng is just a little faster and has a good shooting percentage from beyond the three-point line. The kind of play that avoids physical confrontation as much as possible is good at confronting opponents.
Barkley, who scored, seems not worth mentioning.
Barkley does have crazy capital.
Last season, the Suns battled the Rockets in seven games in the Western Conference semifinals before finally losing. They were not much worse than the Knicks. In terms of personal honors, Barkley won the regular season MVP just two years ago.
Even more so, he has no reason to show weakness when facing the Knicks, whose record is not as good as the Suns, and his personality has never been the type to like showing weakness.
Otherwise, when he becomes a basketball commentator in the future, he won't be embarrassed one after another because of his big mouth.
…
With Barkley's preparation, the outside world is also looking forward to this powerful matchup.
The Knicks easily eliminated their two opponents before meeting the Suns, the Los Angeles Clippers and the Charlotte Hornets.
Not to mention the Clippers, although the Charlotte Hornets have the combination of Mourning Galari and Johnson, they can only be regarded as a second-rate team in the Eastern Conference. They are a team that is striving for a spot in the playoffs. It cannot be compared to the current situation.
The momentum of the Knicks has no impact.
The two crisp victories also brought the Knicks' winning streak to 17 games, and they are only one game away from tying the team's winning streak record, which is the highlight of the home game against the Phoenix Suns.
However, before this focus battle, there was an episode.
During the game against the Hornets, Oakley accidentally sprained his ankle while fighting for a rebound with Mourning under the basket. He originally thought it was just a slight sprain and would not be a problem. However, after a detailed examination after the game, the team doctor gave Oakley the necessary advice.
Report on one month of suspension and recuperation.
Oakley was dumbfounded when he heard the news, because he himself didn't feel any serious discomfort in his ankle.
But the team doctor's advice had to be adopted. After all, Oakley was already in his thirties and often had fierce confrontations with opponents' inside players. In order to ensure his health and career, he had no choice but to take a break to recuperate.
But as a result, Pat Riley had to worry about who would defend Barkley when playing against the Suns.
As a typical short post, Barkley is quite difficult to deal with. Facing post players who are taller than him, he can use his body to be more flexible and agile than a big center to score. Facing players who are faster than him,
He can also use his size and big butt to force himself to the basket.
In the past, when the Knicks met the Suns, it was Oakley who dealt with Barkley. No matter how fierce the confrontation between the two villains, it is not surprising.
But now, with Oakley out due to injury, the Knicks have no player who can match up with Barkley.
Then Riley remembered the scene where Wang Feng and Oakley were wrestling for rebounds under the basket when he first came to the team.
Although in recent games, Wang Feng's style of play has been more focused on outside shooters, the scene of a real confrontation with almost physical punches still remains fresh in Riley's memory.
"Wang Feng."
Before the game against the Suns, Riley found Wang Feng in the locker room.
"In this game, if I arrange for you to face off against Barkley, do you have the confidence to limit his performance?"
Wang Feng was slightly startled when he heard this, and then laughed.
"Of course, coach, I have long wanted to compete with this top striker in the league."
Wang Feng is quite satisfied to be able to come to this era. Although limited by the times, a lot of entertainment is missing, but being able to compete with many superstars of this era is also what Wang Feng wants.
Barkley was the first top superstar of this era that Wang Feng came into contact with.
Unlike Miller, whose career overall rating is only 88, this is a true superstar who has won the regular season MVP, 11 All-Star appearances and 11 All-NBA appearances in his career.
According to the evaluation given by 2K Games to Barkley at his peak, his overall ability rating should be 96!
This ability value can be said to be a very high evaluation. At the power forward position, looking at all the stars in history, only Duncan, Malone, and Antetokounmpo can surpass him. But can Garnett and Nowitzki?
Better than Barkley is up for debate.
Wang Feng is limited by the age of his career, and the only person he has ever played against is Antetokounmpo. Now that he has the opportunity to play against Barkley, who is still in his prime, he is naturally very happy.
…
Madison Square Garden was packed tonight, with nearly 20,000 players filling all the seats and cheers rising and falling.
For the first time, the Knicks distributed home T-shirts during the regular season, turning the entire stadium into a sea of white.
On the big screen at the top of the center of the stadium, a few simple big words were displayed.
"18 consecutive wins!"
The Knicks, who have won 17 consecutive games, will tie the best winning streak in team history as long as they win this game. They are fully worthy of such a grand occasion.
Directors Zhang and Su were once again shocked by the NBA's cards.
Experiencing this atmosphere in person is a completely different concept than watching it through video tapes before.
"When will China be able to host such a league?"
Director Zhang looked envious.
He has received news that China's professional league, referred to as League A, has begun preparations, and 12 teams will participate in the first season.
The competition system of League A is based on the football league to a certain extent. There is a promotion and relegation system. Every year, the two teams with the worst records will be relegated to League A and B, and then the two teams with the best records in League B will be promoted to League A.
League A.
Such a competition system can ensure that the teams in the league are sufficiently competitive, and it is also a test for the Basketball Association to explore the development of a basketball league.
Director Zhang doesn’t know when the domestic basketball league will grow to the level of the NBA, but at least it seems that it has a good start now.
…
The topic has gone too far, so let’s get back to the topic.
As the Knicks' starting players came on stage one after another to the cheers of the fans, the players from both teams began to warm up, and then the substitutes came off the court, leaving only the starting players on the court waiting for the jump ball to officially start the game.
Barkley easily found Wang Feng with the Knicks. After all, his unique yellow skin was a bit eye-catching in the NBA, which is dominated by blacks and whites.
"It's this kid..."
Buckley murmured in a low voice, "It doesn't look like much..."
Recently, Wang Feng's name has been constantly appearing on the front pages of various sports newspapers. Under the instruction of NBA President Stern, his exposure rate once exceeded that of all active stars in the league, making him look like a rising star.
And Wang Feng’s performance did indeed live up to expectations.
Wang Feng has appeared in 11 NBA regular season games. He started 9 games and came on as a substitute in 2 games. He averaged 30 minutes per game. His personal data has been stable at 28.8 points, 6.8 rebounds, 4.5 assists and 3.4 steals. His shooting percentage is as high as 58%, and he has three-pointers.
His shooting percentage is 44%, and his efficiency value leads the league. If it weren't for the fact that he played less games, his name has already appeared on the scoring list and ranks second in the league, second only to O'Neal who averaged 30+ per game!
Although he seemed dismissive when facing the media, Oakley was also quite interested in Wang Feng, who suddenly appeared and scored like he was chopping melons and vegetables.
The Knicks' starting five are point guard John Starks, shooting guard Derek Harper, small forward Wang Feng, power forward Charles Smith, and center Patrick Ewing.
As for the Suns' five starters, Wang Feng stared at them for a long time and found that he only knew Barkley...
That's right, during the peak years of Barkley's career, he was always led by a standard single-core team. Although there were also All-Star players on the team, most of them were players who only made it to the All-Star once and whose career statistics were quite average.
Last summer, the Suns finally signed a strong player, Danny Manning, the No. 1 pick in 1988. This 2.08-meter-tall post player was quite strong and could average contributions per game at his peak.
23.7 points and 7 rebounds.
The Suns originally hoped that Manning could become Barkley's right-hand man, and that was indeed the case at the beginning of the season.
Manning averaged 33 minutes per game, contributing 17.9 points to the team and shooting 54.7% from the field. However, the good times did not last long. Manning soon fell into injury trouble and was unable to appear in this game.
As for Kevin Johnson, the other All-Star guard on the team, his level is similar to Starks at most.
Barkley can lead such a team to achieve a super high winning rate in the more competitive Western Conference, and his ability to lead the team is indeed better than Ewing.
…
However, today's protagonists are not Ewing and Barkley, but Wang Feng and Barkley.
The centers of the two teams jumped the ball, and the 2.13-meter Ewing easily beat the Suns center, A.C. Green, who was only 2.06 meters tall.
Knicks offense.
As soon as Wang Feng started to take action, he found that Buckley was heading straight towards him.
The on-site commentator also discovered this scene.
"As soon as the game started, Charles immediately came to Wang Feng! Obviously he wanted to defend Wang Feng personally in this game!"
How is Barkley's defense?
It can only be said that Barkley's rebounding ability is very strong, especially offensive rebounds. It is completely unbelievable that this is an inside player who is only 1.98 meters tall.
However, the limitation of height cannot always be concealed. When Barkley faces off against many inside players, his height will suffer. Even if he has the strength to be as strong as any inside player, he can only be helplessly scored by the opponent in isolation.
Throughout his career, Barkley has won 11 All-NBA teams, 5 of which were All-NBA teams, but he has never been on the All-Defensive team, which shows that his defense is really not that good.
But even so, when he really gets serious, there really aren't many people in the entire Suns team who are better defensively than him.
"Boy, I heard that you are quite powerful. Can you show me how good you are?"
Buckley looked at Wang Feng and said provocatively.
"Hurrah."
Wang Feng nodded, and then directly reached out to ask for the ball.
When the fans in the stands saw this scene, they immediately became excited.
"Wang Feng wanted to take the initiative to challenge Barkley in a singles match, but he didn't expect it to be so explosive right out of the gate!"
Starks, who was in possession of the ball, saw this and couldn't help but look at Ewing.
Although Wang Feng's scoring has far surpassed Ewing's recently, the Knicks' boss is still Ewing, not Wang Feng. The first ball is usually left to Ewing.
Ewing didn't mind Wang Feng's transgression. He also wanted to know how Wang Feng would perform when facing a star of Barkley's level. After all, this would directly determine whether the Knicks could win the championship this season.
Starks passed the ball to Wang Feng, then ran to the corner of the three-point line, watching the excitement with peace of mind.
Wang Feng stands at a 45-degree angle to the right of the three-point line. This is also his most accustomed position. It is within the effective range of the hot zone hunter badge. Whether it is a pull-up three-pointer or a breakthrough with the ball, he can maximize his power.
.
Seeing Wang Feng assume a triple threat posture, Barkley also lowered his center of gravity. He knew that Wang Feng's first step with the ball was very fast, so he was fully prepared.
But even so, when Wang Feng started up, Barkley was still surprised by his speed.
Wang Feng, whose speed and agility were as high as 94, had the blessing of the First Step Master Badge, and his breakthrough speed was really fast.
The moment Wang Feng passed by Barkley, he finally reacted and turned sideways to catch up with Wang Feng, but with his speed, how could he possibly catch up?
In the blink of an eye, the gap between the two of them was widened.
Wang Feng rushed straight to the basket at extremely fast speed, and started with the familiar tomahawk dunk, which instantly detonated the audience.
The Knicks' home fans stood up one after another and cheered loudly for Wang Feng's crisp dunk.
This goal was dunked in front of Barkley, which is of even greater significance.
"Good guy..."
Buckley, who was following Wang Feng, couldn't help but smacked his lips.
Watching from the video and actually experiencing it in person are completely different concepts. Now he finally realized how powerful Wang Feng's breakthrough speed was.
"It seems a little slower than Grant (Hill), but almost as good as Michael (Jordan). No wonder he is so popular recently. His ability to break through with the ball alone is enough to make him the league's top scorer.
Already."
"However, this is not the reason for the arrogant boy! Although I don't like that guy Miller, but you, a newcomer who has just arrived, dare to comment like that on a star player who has made a name for himself in the league, which puts the faces of us people in shame.
where?"
Barkley smiled, turned and ran toward the Knicks' backcourt.
The Suns served from the baseline, and guard Danny Ainge dribbled the ball across half court and immediately looked for Barkley's position, and Barkley had already gone straight to the Knicks' inside post.
But at this moment, he was shocked to find that Wang Feng was actually standing next to him.
"...You want to guard against me?"
Buckley looked at Wang Feng and asked in surprise.
"Of course." Wang Feng answered matter-of-factly. "You were able to defend me just now, but why didn't you allow me to defend you?"