Obviously, in the direct duel between the four major centers, Ewing lost again.
This is actually not surprising. Is Ewing strong? Of course he is. As a center player, Ewing's personal strength is definitely at a historical level.
However, there are three monster centers at the same time as him. Although Ewing and them are also known as the four major centers, and they are all No. 1 picks in the NBA, they are the absolute core and boss of their respective teams, but relatively
In comparison, Ewing is still slightly inferior.
Especially Olajuwon and O'Neal, one completely beats Ewing in terms of skills, and the other has a physical advantage.
If anyone looks up the matches between the four major centers in detail, they will find that no matter who among the three he faces, Ewing can't compare to him in terms of wins and personal data.
In this game, O'Neal scored 12 points less than his opponent despite taking exactly the same number of shots. This is a vivid example.
O'Neal made 9 of 15 free throws, and Ewing made 6 of 7 free throws.
…
Ewing and the Knicks lost, but Wang Feng did not lose.
In this game, he once again gave a good education to Hardaway, Jordan's successor.
Hardaway, who made 4 of 14 shots and had a shooting percentage of only 28.6%, only scored 13 points, 2 rebounds and 4 assists in the game, and also committed 5 turnovers.
It's just that the Magic came out of nowhere and Cheng Yaojin, the outside player Denis Scott, had a great touch. He scored 26 points, 5 rebounds and 9 assists on 9 of 18 shots, which became a key factor in the Magic's victory.
Wang Feng's main job in this game was to beat Hardaway, and he scored a symbolic 28 points and 10 rebounds.
He never fought for anything, nor did he question the team's tactical arrangements or the decision to distribute the ball at the last moment, because Wang Feng knew very well that there were people who were more anxious than him, and there was never a shortage of people in the world who liked to meddle in other people's affairs.
Sure enough, as the Knicks lost to the Magic, many sports media mercilessly publicly criticized Knicks head coach Riley's poor tactical command during the game.
"We can find that in the two games the Knicks lost, whether it was the loss to the Rockets or the loss to the Magic, Patrick lost against competitors at the same position and lost to Hakeem (
Olajuwon), lost to Shaq (O'Neal)."
"Why can't Riley use his brain more at this time? The Knicks now not only have Ewing as a star, Wang Feng's scoring ability is not inferior to Ewing at all, and his efficiency value and scoring explosiveness are even better."
"If in these two games, the ball was given to Wang Feng instead of Ewing at the last moment, it is very possible to win these two key games!"
The local media in New York unceremoniously criticized team coach Pat Riley for being unworthy of change and having outdated ideas, which successfully inspired a group of fans to think differently.
It's just that more fans have already become accustomed to this kind of thing.
When you win, everything is fine, but when you lose, the coach or a certain player is guilty.
The media always has to have something to report in order to attract the attention of the audience and readers.
Of course the team also understands this truth, so such criticism does not have a great impact on Riley's coaching.
…
This is how it should be.
But who let Wang Feng see similar reports?
Although he himself is not prepared to comment on this, there are many ways to add fuel to the fire.
Wang Feng, who has been in the league for a long time, knows this well.
On March 2, the Knicks played against the Chicago Bulls at home.
This is the Knicks' revenge game. They lost to the Bulls without Jordan on Christmas Day and Pippen scored 36 points, which once made the Knicks ridiculed.
Now that the Knicks are strong and strong, they naturally want to take revenge.
But no one expected that the competition would be so one-sided.
79:101, the Knicks defeated the Bulls by 22 points at home, easily slaughtering their opponents.
In this game, the Knicks had the upper hand from the beginning. The Bulls' main core, Scottie Pippen, made 8 of 24 shots in the entire game, with a shooting percentage of only 33.3%. He scored 19 points, 8 rebounds, and 4 assists, and made as many as 8 turnovers.
Second-rate!
This performance was completely different from the Christmas battle.
There is only one reason why Pippen performed so poorly, and that is Wang Feng.
Throughout the game, Wang Feng kept an eye on Pippen. His superb defensive ability made Pippen miserable on the offensive end.
Unlike Grant Hill, although Pippen is already a top star in the league, his scoring ability is not necessarily better than that of Hill, who is still a rookie. More importantly, he does not have the kind of Hill that even Wang Feng has trouble reacting to.
With his super fast first step breakthrough speed, his offense is more focused on shooting.
Coincidentally, what Wang Feng is best at defending is a shooting type of player.
The purple Hall of Fame defensive intimidation badge is really not just for looks.
While the offensive end was completely contained, Pippen also struggled with Wang Feng on the defensive end.
Pippen was one of the best perimeter defenders in the 1990s. He was selected as the best first defense 8 times in his career and 2 times as the second defense. Although he did not win the best defensive player like Jordan, his strength on the defensive end was consistent with the team.
Pippen's contribution is definitely not inferior to Jordan's.
But he still couldn't guard against Wang Feng.
At this stage, Wang Feng, who "attacks the strong and defends the weak", is already invincible offensively. Not to mention Pippen, even if Jordan comes, he can't stop him.
He has too many offensive methods. He can prevent me from shooting three-pointers, but he can't prevent me from breaking through with the ball. He can prevent me from breaking through with the ball, but he can't prevent me from using my strength to push forward. If he is in terms of strength, he is on par with me.
Yes, then I can teach you how to be a good person with my mid-range behind-the-back jump shot.
After the whole game, Wang Feng made 13 of 15 shots, 6 of 7 three-pointers, 4 of 4 free throws, and scored 36 points, 11 rebounds and 5 steals, which directly made Pippen doubt his life.
At the post-game press conference, faced with the jabs from reporters, Pippen said this.
"Wang Feng is really strong. Even when I faced Michael during team training, I didn't feel such an almost suffocating pressure because Michael's three-pointers were not that big of a threat. I just had to guard them carefully.
His breakthrough and mid-range shots are enough."
"But Wang Feng is different. When he holds the ball, I don't know how to deal with it at all. I'm not only afraid that he will shoot a three-pointer, but also worried that he will break through with the ball. I feel that no matter where I stand, I will give the opponent an opportunity. In fact,
Same thing."
"If we play against the Knicks next time, I will consider teaming up with my teammates to double-team Wang Feng and curb his scoring."
In the battle with the Bulls, Wang Feng's strong dominance on both ends of the offense and defense was clearly demonstrated. He scored 36 points in only 15 shots. His extremely efficient scoring efficiency also made Knicks fans begin to realize that Wang Feng seemed to be more powerful than Ewing.
A little easier to use.
Because of this game, Ewing once again took 27 shots, hit 11 goals, scored 23 points, 9 rebounds and 1 assist, and shot 40.7% from the field.
Obviously the center of the Bulls at this time is just a role player, just Will Perdo who has career averages of 5 points and 5 rebounds per game. However, Ewing took nearly twice as many shots as Wang Feng and scored a measly 23 points.
.
Similar scenes continued to appear in the following games.
On March 4, the Knicks defeated the Cleveland Cavaliers 98:83 in an away game. Wang Feng made 11 of 17 shots, 7 of 12 three-pointers, 4 of 5 free throws, and scored 33 points, 14 rebounds, and 4 assists.
Ewing made 9 of 20 shots and scored 20 points, 13 rebounds and 2 blocks.
On March 7, the Knicks defeated the Boston Celtics 115:110 at home. Wang Feng made 10 of 14 shots, 5 of 8 three-pointers, 3 of 3 free throws, and scored 28 points, 7 rebounds, and 4 steals.
Ewing made 10 of 22 shots, 5 of 7 free throws, and scored 25 points and 12 rebounds.
Although the Knicks keep winning, Wang Feng always scores more points with fewer shots than Ewing, and his contribution to the team's victory is significantly higher than that of the team's core boss Ewing.
This situation has made more and more New York fans realize the importance of Wang Feng in the team. At the same time, there are also more and more discussions about whether giving Wang Feng more ball rights will make the team stronger.
The more.
"Wang Feng is really strong! He obviously averages about the same number of shots per game as Starks, but he can maintain an average of 28+ points per game. Look at Ewing, who averages close to 20 shots per game and barely scores 25 points.
Isn’t the center’s scoring efficiency actually inferior to that of outside shooters?”
This kind of comparison is not only a purely statistical comparison, but also related to the enjoyment.
Wang Feng's playing style is elegant and gorgeous, whether he is shooting three-pointers as precise as guided missiles from the outside, or he is making lightning-fast breakthroughs and making blood-heating dunks.
Looking back at Ewing, every time he attacks, he catches the ball in the paint, and then either fights with the opponent in the paint, or makes an ugly rabbit jump shot.
Who has a better playing style between the two, anyone with eyes can tell the difference.
This is why the rules of basketball in the future are constantly changing in the direction of perimeter play and fast pace.
What Stern hopes to create is a highly entertaining business league. To this end, he can constantly modify the NBA's game rules.
So now, the more Stern watches Wang Feng's playing, the more he likes it. Wang Feng's playing style simply touches his soul, even better than Jordan!
Because of this, when Wang Feng is on the court, the whistle seems to sound more frequently than usual. If there is a foul against him with a slightly larger movement, the referee will immediately blow the whistle without hesitation, for fear that these movements will be barbaric.
The player was injured by Wang Feng, causing the league to lose this treasure.
Wang Feng, who has been protected by Stern's father, has extremely high resistance and endurance, which naturally allows him to get twice the result with half the effort, allowing him to go further and further on the road of scoring more points with fewer shots.
This naturally puts great pressure on Knicks head coach Pat Riley.
The distribution of Wang Feng's ball rights and shot rights is Riley's arrangement. He hopes to renew his contract with Wang Feng more smoothly this summer through this method.
But now, not only are the criticisms from the outside world getting louder, but even the league official Stern has hinted overtly and covertly to the Knicks to increase Wang Feng's playing time and ball rights.
Riley actually understood at this time that it was basically impossible for the Knicks to keep Wang Feng this summer, unless they did not renew Ewing's contract, or they could persuade Ewing to give up the maximum salary contract, but this was more
Impossible.
After some careful consideration, Riley decided to compromise.
Since the goal cannot be achieved, there is no practical significance in continuing to suppress Wang Feng's playing time and number of shots. On the contrary, it will make Wang Feng even more dissatisfied with the team.
If we can use Wang Feng's power to win this year's championship, it will be a sure-fire deal.
Ever since, in the following games, Wang Feng's playing time began to gradually increase, and his average number of shots per game gradually became the same as Ewing's.
As a result, the Knicks once again won a wave of consecutive victories with an even more unrivaled momentum.
A 108:81 victory over the Atlanta Hawks on March 10.
Defeated the Seattle SuperSonics 96:84 on March 11.
Defeated the Nuggets 94:74 on March 14.
In three games, Wang Feng averaged 35 minutes per game, took 20 shots, and scored 34.2 points, 10.6 rebounds, and 7.2 assists. He shot 64% from the field and 47% from the three-point range. His efficiency was frighteningly high.
No one in the league thought that when Wang Feng's playing time and ball rights increased, he would become so strong! Even the number of assists began to rise linearly!
Judging purely from the performance on the field, Wang Feng's dominance is almost unmatched in the current league. Even O'Neal, who is in the spotlight this season and averages 29+11+3 per game, is still inferior.
There is no suspense, Wang Feng directly beat out O'Neal, Olajuwon, David Robinson and other competitors to be elected as this week's player of the week.
In 1995, the league's Best of the Week and Best of the Month had not been divided into the East and West. Only one player could be selected each week, and the competitiveness and gold content were even higher.
Being elected as the Player of the Week and producing extremely luxurious statistics, Wang Feng's reputation in the league skyrocketed like a rocket, becoming one of the top outside players in the league.
You must know that in the two years since Jordan retired, the league has completely become a world dominated by inside players.
Last season, the top three scoring players were David Robinson, Shaquille O'Neal and Hajime Olajuwon.
This season, the players currently leading the scoring list are O'Neal, Olajuwon, Robinson, Karl Malone and Ewing.
Wang Feng's emergence is like a light for outside players. Although he cannot appear on the score list due to insufficient appearances, Wang Feng has averaged close to 30+ points per game in the past two months since he appeared in the NBA in early January.
The 8+5 data is definitely the best among outside players.
Originally, the popularity brought by Wang Feng's super performance should last for a long time.
However, another major event diverted the entire alliance's attention away from the sudden rise of Wang Feng.
Wang Feng had already been mentally prepared for this incident, which was the return of the basketball god Jordan.
On March 18, 1995, Jordan issued a statement through his agency, officially announcing his return to the NBA and uttering that classic phrase.
"I'm back!"
As soon as this news was announced, the whole world went crazy!