Chapter 510 The Best Team Announcement vs. Rockets
Wang Feng was a little bit surprised that the Rockets could defeat the Spurs and enter the second round. After all, the Rockets have been troubled this season. Many main players were injured in the regular season, including one of the core gliders, Drake.
Sler.
In his impression, although Drexler has returned in the playoffs, his condition has obviously declined significantly compared to before the injury. In the playoffs, he averaged only 16.6 points, 7.8 rebounds and 5 assists, and shot 41% from the field.
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You must know that when the Rockets won their second championship, Drexler averaged 20.5 points, 7 rebounds and 5.5 assists per game in the playoffs, and his shooting percentage was as high as 48%.
Drexler, whose level has declined, is no longer as brave as he once was, and has allowed the Rockets to return to the days when Olajuwon led the team with one core.
But it was this Rockets team that eliminated the Spurs.
For Wang Feng, this is a good thing.
Although Olajuwon is stronger than David Robinson, it is much easier for Wang Feng's Warriors to face the Rockets than the Spurs.
In the future, many people say that if Da Meng, who was at his peak, comes to the small ball era, he will be like a fish in water and win more personal honors and championships, because his playing style is very suitable for the fast-paced small ball tactics.
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But in fact, among the four major centers, the one who is most suitable for the small ball era is obviously David Robinson.
Both are big centers, Admiral and Dameng have flexible feet, and it is no problem to run all over the court.
But there are still differences in the playing styles of the two. Olajuwon's dreamy footsteps are gorgeous and efficient, but they can also be regarded as a type of positional warfare. The center needs to be positioned inside for one-on-one singles. In a sense,
It will still slow down the team's offensive rhythm.
David Robinson is different.
Although he is one of the four major centers, David Robinson's playing style is the least like a center.
In terms of footwork skills inside, Robinson is definitely the worst among the four major centers. Of course, this is only a comparison among the four major centers. Looking at the league, his inside footwork is definitely at the top level.
What David Robinson is really good at is breaking through the frame with the ball, probing jump shots, and fast break dunks.
If you ignore his position and height, you can say that David Robinson is a forward who is not good at shooting.
Such a player who is both offensive and defensive, has the size of a center, but is as fast as a defender, is definitely a bug in the small ball era.
Some clues of this can be seen in the Warriors' repeated losses to the Spurs during the regular season.
The Warriors team led by Wang Feng is currently playing a variant version of the small ball tactic. The offensive rhythm is very fast. In the rapid transition, Wang Feng relies on his personal ability to score by himself or pass the ball to assist open teammates to score.
In the 1990s when the overall offensive pace was slow, the Warriors combined with Wang Feng's super personal offensive ability and felt a little comfortable playing small ball tactics. This is also the reason why the team was able to win 60 games in the regular season.
But when they faced the Spurs, their offense was often blocked, or to put it more bluntly, David Robinson's mobility, which is comparable to that of a defender, made it impossible for the Warriors to pick up their fast break rhythm.
His defensive area is so large that many times the ball passed by Wang Feng to his teammates will be interfered by his defense and miss the basket. In the end, it can only evolve into Wang Feng himself facing the Spurs and being double-teamed.
Play alone or stop and wait for the players on both sides to get into position before launching a positional battle attack.
This is not a problem for the Rockets.
Olajuwon can bully David Robinson at will under the basket, but when facing the running Warriors, he will also appear a little powerless.
At his peak, Olajuwon was not much slower than David Robinson in terms of speed, and he was also extremely terrifying on the defensive end.
But now Da Meng is 34 years old, and his physical function and stamina have declined. Although his dream footsteps in attacking the basket are becoming more and more proficient, facing a team like the Warriors that mainly uses small ball tactics, he can still perform well.
The place is only on the offensive end.
Moreover, the Rockets also have Drexler who is not recovering well from injuries. In Wang Feng's opinion, it is easier to deal with than the Spurs.
Wang Feng is very grateful to the Rockets for helping them get rid of a strong opponent, but in the next game, he still has to do his best to eliminate his opponent and reach the Western Conference Finals!
…
With the end of the first round of the playoffs, the matchups for the second round of the conference semifinals have been determined. The two games in the Western Conference are SuperSonics vs. Jazz and Warriors vs. Rockets.
In the East, the Bulls vs. Knicks, Magic vs. Hawks.
Before the start of the second round of games, as usual, the league first announced the selection of the best team of the season.
There is no suspense. Wang Feng averaged 38.7 points, 11.2 rebounds and 10.8 assists per game. Coupled with the Warriors' jump from last season to second place in the Western Conference and their 60-win record in the regular season, Wang Feng successfully ranked among the best teams.
ranks.
Along with Wang Feng, Jordan, Hardaway, Malone and Robinson were selected to the first team.
Pippen, who was originally supposed to be selected to the first team this season, was directly pushed from the first team to the second team by Wang Feng. Also on the second team list with him were Olajuwon, Hill, Payton and Stockton.
As for the five players on the best third team, they are Mitch Richmond, Reggie Miller, Sean Kemp, Barkley and O'Neal.
O'Neal's situation is similar to that of Wang Feng last season. Although his average of 26.6 points and 11 rebounds per game is not worse than Robinson and Olajuwon in the first and second teams, the Magic also achieved 60 wins in terms of record, which is better than the Spurs and Rockets.
All are better.
However, O'Neal was also troubled by injuries this season. In the end, he only played 52 games in the regular season. Therefore, the selection of the best team was affected, and he could only be ranked in the third team.
The announcement of the best lineup every year will cause some controversy.
This time is no exception.
The SuperSonics, second in the league, have Payton on the second team and Kemp on the third team. Obviously, in terms of honor, they are not as good as the Bulls' first plus second team and the Magic's first plus third team.
What makes Warriors fans unhappy is that the above three 60-win teams have two players selected to the All-NBA team. When it is the turn of the Warriors, which also has 60 wins, why is Wang Feng the only one?
Apart from anything else, Garnett's average of 18.8 per game is also very good. Considering his contribution to the team's defensive end, he can be selected for the third team or something.
Of course, this kind of fan's personal opinions and wishes will not be taken seriously and are just a topic for conversation after dinner.
Although only one person from the Warriors was selected to the All-NBA Team, two were selected to the All-Defensive Team, namely Wang Feng, who was selected to the first team, and guard Blaylock, who was selected to the second team.
I have to admire Wang Feng's strength. On the offensive end, he only averaged 38.7 points and a triple-double per game. He also played an extremely important role on the defensive end.
The Warriors' small ball style of play is relatively similar to the future 73-win Warriors team.
Garnett is responsible for a job similar to Green's on the defensive end, guarding the inside and being responsible for assisting defense at any time. Although due to his physical limitations, he will suffer against some heavy inside players, but he is more mobile and flexible and has excellent assisting defense effects.
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Wang Feng and Blaylock are a bit like the Warriors' defensive core on the outside. One is Thompson and the other is Iguodala.
When encountering some teams with outstanding outside players, Wang Feng and Blaylock will respectively mark the opponent's outstanding outside players, and the effect is outstanding.
This defensive tactical arrangement has led to Wang Feng and Blaylock ranking second and third in the league's steal list. At the same time, Wang Feng averaged 2.5 steals and 1.2 blocks per game.
In addition to Wang Feng, those who were selected for the defensive first team are still old friends, Jordan, Rodman, Gary Payton and David Robinson.
In comparison, the players in the second defensive team are more role players. Except for Olajuwon and the unlucky Pippen who scored twice but was squeezed out of the defensive first team by Wang Feng, the remaining three players are Blaylock.
, Blaylock, Horace Grant and Bobby Fiers can only be regarded as the team's starting lineup, and they are not yet at the level of stars.
After all, compared to the All-Defensive Team, the Best Defensive Team is an award for blue-collar players. In many cases, it is not even included in the personal career honors of the stars.
In the same way, even the best defensive player DPOY is also a blue-collar award. It is good to have it, but it will not affect the star's historical status in the slightest if it does not have it.
The most typical case is Tim Duncan, the future legendary superstar of the Spurs. Duncan has never won the best defensive player in his entire career. However, when it comes to interior defensive players, Duncan will definitely be mentioned, and there will be no evaluation at all.
It will be lower than four-time Defensive Player of the Year Ben Wallace.
…
The season awards have been announced, and the real season awards will not be determined until the end of the second round and the start of the Eastern and Western Conference finals. Therefore, after a heated discussion, the fans returned their attention to the more intense competition that will follow.
In the playoffs.
The game between the Warriors and the Rockets was naturally not as popular as the 72-win invincible Bulls vs. the defending champion Knicks in the Eastern Conference, but it also attracted a lot of attention, the most of which wanted to see what the Warriors team led by Wang Feng's single core was like.
How far can the melon-eating masses go?
When Wang Feng first joined the Warriors last summer and was interviewed, he made it clear that he had only one goal in joining the Warriors, and that was to lead the team to win the championship.
At that time, many people ridiculed Wang Feng for overestimating his capabilities and trying to lead a team that was at the bottom of the league last season and traded All-Star guard Tim Hardaway for almost nothing to compete for the championship.
If it's not like sensationalizing to gain attention, then there's something really wrong with your brain.
But more than half a year has passed, and now the Warriors are the second-ranked team in the Western Conference during the regular season, and have successfully passed the first round and are on the stage of the conference semifinals.
Many people want to know whether Wang Feng can fulfill his promise. If he can really lead such a Warriors team to win the championship, he will undoubtedly surpass Jordan and become the strongest in the league. After all, even the leader Qiao didn't do it back then.
Able to win the championship in a single core, it was not until Pippen's arrival that he won the first championship trophy in his career and established a three-consecutive championship dynasty.
In fact, even if the Warriors are eliminated in the next game against the Rockets, no one will make fun of Wang Feng. After all, it is really scary to be able to lead such a rebuilt team to this point.
If Wang Feng is lucky enough to lead the Warriors to defeat the Rockets and reach the Western Conference Finals, I'm afraid all the sports media will praise Wang Feng to the sky.
As for the Warriors winning the Western Conference championship and meeting the Bulls in the Finals...even many Warriors fans dare not think about this possibility.
On May 4, the first game of the second round of the playoffs began. The Warriors sat at home to meet the challenge of the Rockets.
The Warriors' starting lineup remains the same, while the Rockets' starting lineup is Kenny Smith, Drexler, Chucky Brown, Robert Horry and Olajuwon.
On the bench, the Rockets also have Sam Cassel, who averaged 14.5 points, 3 rebounds and 4.6 assists per game during the regular season, and Mario Elie, who averaged 11 points, 3 rebounds and 3 assists per game. The overall strength looks pretty good.
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Even the Warriors' on-site commentators were worried about the team's eagerly awaited lineup, admitting frankly that this would be a difficult battle.
However, halfway through the commentary of the game, he was shocked to find that the game seemed...not as difficult as he imagined?
At 31:28 of the first quarter, the two teams played fairly back and forth, but at 29:16 of the second quarter, the style suddenly changed.
The half-time scores between the two teams were already 16 points apart, with the Rockets lagging behind.
In the third quarter of the game, at 28:25, the point difference further widened to 19 points.
By the fourth quarter of the game, the Warriors were on full fire, scoring another 30 points in a single quarter and totaling 118 points. On the other hand, the Rockets only scored 20 points in the fourth quarter and totaled 89 points, losing to the Warriors by 29 points.
point.
Such a huge point difference did not even occur to the fans at the Warriors' home court.
The Rockets, who won the championship in 1994 and successfully reached the Finals last season and were eventually defeated by the Knicks, were definitely one of the favorites to compete for the championship in the playoffs. How could they be slaughtered by the Warriors like a tortoise?
But the facts are right in front of us.
Wang Feng scored 27 points, 8 rebounds and 12 assists. The early arrival of garbage time once again affected his personal data.
Six members of the Warriors team scored in double figures, and their efficiency values were also impressive.
On the other hand, for the Rockets, the team's highest score came from Olajuwon's 18 points, 9 rebounds and 3 assists on 7 of 14 shots.
Then came Drexler's 15 points.
It's just that the latter's 15 points were not easy at all. Under Wang Feng's defense, Glider, whose state had been fluctuating due to his initial recovery from injuries, made 7 of 20 shots from the field and 1 of 5 three-pointers.
Not a single free throw.
The Rockets' overall offense is very poor. The Warriors' method of playing against the Rockets is to arrange for Garnett, who is highly mobile, to assist in double-teaming once Olajuwon wants the ball in the paint.
This is why Olajuwon took 14 shots in the entire game.
Dameng's skills are comprehensive, his personal ability is outstanding, and his footwork is unique in the league, and he can even suppress the other four major centers. However, he is not completely invincible. He also has weaknesses, that is, his ability to break double teams is weak.
Note that the weak double-team breaking ability here is only weaker than that of the four major centers.
After all, Olajuwon is not a heavy-weight center with strong confrontation. He cannot forcefully knock out players who are double-teaming him like O'Neal and score dunks. When the opponent has two players double-teaming him, the space conditions inside are not inferior.
Because of his dreamy footsteps, when Olajuwon encounters a double-team, he is more inclined to pass the ball to an open teammate outside than to attack the basket in a less efficient 1-on-2 manner.