NBA: LeBron James wants to team up with me

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Howard missed both the All-NBA team and the All-Defensive team. What's the problem? Was he playing badly?

During the regular season, he averaged 18 points, 12 rebounds, and 2.4 blocks per game. Logically speaking, this performance is not bad. However, after joining the Lakers, the external expectations for Howard were too high, hoping that he could become a dominant center like O'Neal or Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

But those who understand Howard's technical characteristics know that he is essentially a super worker with explosive physical conditioning. His incredible physical condition makes him a superhuman on the court, especially on the defensive side. At the same time, with the help of his defense, he single-handedly supports the defensive system of the entire team.

However, on the offensive side, which is essential for superstars, Howard seriously lacks independent scoring ability. His points primarily come from catching the ball under the basket and scoring on second-chance opportunities. He lacks post moves or mid-range and long-distance shooting ability, and his free-throw shooting is poor. This makes him limited in the responsibilities he can take on the court.

With the Lakers, he became Kobe's right-hand man. Without the primary center position in the team, Howard's workman-like attributes became more and more prominent.

This is thanks to the fact that after joining the Lakers a year early, Howard did not suffer the severe injuries that he should have experienced with the Magic during the 2011-12 season, and his physical condition and explosive power did not significantly decrease.

On the other hand, whether it's the best team or the best defensive team, selection requires a horizontal comparison.

Howard's performance on the court is quite good, but the problem is that, compared to Duncan and Gasol, he has almost no advantage. Even if he is slightly ahead in rebounds, there is a significant gap between his individual records and those of the previous teams.

Howard belongs to the Los Angeles Lakers, who have the Big Three. They are the defending champions. He plays for a super team. As a result, they only achieved the fourth-best record in the Western Conference during the regular season. Are they competing with the Bulls, who hold the league's top record with Gasol and Gasol? Are they competing with Tim Duncan and the Spurs, the number-one team in the Western Conference?

Being selected for the All-NBA team for Kobe and Paul is already a great honor for the Lakers. The fact that Howard wasn't selected is the position that the Lakers' Big Three must take responsibility for, which is essentially equivalent to Bosh of the Heat next door.

Since the formation of the Heat's Big Three, Bosh has won nothing in terms of individual honors. Not only that, but every time the team loses, it is often he who is blamed and held accountable, commonly known as the scapegoat.

There's no way—whoever on the Big Three has the worst performance and the worst statistics deserves to take the blame. Who told you to join forces to form the Big Three but still can't compete for the top?

However, Howard is different from Bosh. Before forming the Heat's Big Three, Bosh only had a Second-Team All-NBA selection and several All-Star honors, and his overall honors were mediocre.

Howard, on the other hand, had been the rebounding leader, blocks leader, and Defensive Player of the Year for several years. It was said that he could potentially replace James himself, and his reputation was far greater than Bosh's.

How could Howard endure such a situation in just two seasons with the Lakers?

Although the playoffs were still ongoing, once the best lineup was announced, Howard immediately contacted his agent and made it clear that he would never renew his contract with the Lakers next season.

He truly regretted joining the Lakers. It's just that Kobe criticizes him every day. Now, he can't even earn personal honors. Even if they win the championship, what does it really mean? That would be Kobe's championship.

The Lakers received shots while lying down. Management worked hard to persuade them throughout the season, but they didn't expect them to collapse prematurely due to the outcome of a better selection.

But at that time, no one knew what had happened.

——The Bulls also gained a lot in the defensive selections, with a full five-man lineup for the first All-Defensive team: Chris Paul, Tony Allen, LeBron James, Wang Chong, and Gasol.

Second All-Defensive team: Rajon Rondo, Dwyane Wade, Paul George, Serge Ibaka, and Tim Duncan.

After Wang Chong and Curry were selected for the first-best team, Gasol was also selected for the best defensive team alongside Wang Chong. This perfectly demonstrated the Bulls' dominance this season and further proved that the Bulls' Big Three are indeed the real team. Well deserved.

Both Curry and Gasol have fully grown and can basically stand on their own. Even without Wang Chong, they still have strong players performing well.

What Wang Chong said before has come true. Looking at the Bulls with current eyes, everyone would be shocked to realize that the Bulls are truly a team with a very complete lineup structure, and this lineup can basically guarantee that for the next five years, they will be able to compete for championships within the next eight years, as long as, of course, there are no injuries.

This conclusion really makes people feel a bit desperate. After finally surviving the aging of Garnett and Billups, the three veterans of the Bulls, it was thought that the Bulls would sink for a while.

I never expected the Bulls to change their main lineup at lightning speed. Curry and Gasol connected perfectly. How can others play against this? How many championships do the Bulls plan to win during Wang Chong's prime?

On May 6, 2013, the second round of the playoffs began.

The Indiana Pacers came to Chicago to challenge the Bulls, the number one team in the league, on their home turf.

Before the official start of this series, the outside world was generally optimistic about the Bulls.

There was no way; the gap between the two teams in terms of star power and team strength was too large. The Pacers had played very well before, eliminating the Knicks with Rose and Anthony, but they could only be considered unlucky when they faced the Bulls.

Naturally, the Pacers were not willing to just sit and wait for death. They made a lot of preparations before the game and tried to fight to the death.

Once the game began, the Pacers showed great fighting power, fought fiercely, and made great plays during the game.

The Bulls, who had just played against the 76ers, were not used to the intensity of the Pacers' confrontation. Curry committed consecutive mistakes from outside, and the opponent took the initiative on the court.

However, Wang Chong's experience was too rich. After all, he had never missed the playoffs since the beginning of his career and had never been eliminated in the first round. He knew exactly what to do to calm his teammates from panic due to a bad start.

In fact, it was very simple: attack aggressively and use scoring to stabilize the morale of the team.

The Pacers were responsible for guarding Wang Chong, with David West on him. Although West, standing at 6'9", is a power forward, there is a significant height difference between him and Wang Chong.

His technical characteristics are somewhat similar to those of the Bulls' former player, Paul Millsap. Although he is shorter than most interior players, he has a stronger body, agile feet, and a fairly good mid-range shooting ability.

West's peak career years were undoubtedly the years he partnered with Paul in the New Orleans Hornets from 2008 to 2010. As an expert in pick-and-roll plays with Paul, West relied on his excellent mobility to create a good pick-and-roll effect, and his personal numbers could steadily reach around 20+8.

After joining the Pacers, West's personal stats dropped significantly, but he was still the main interior scorer for the Pacers, at least in terms of tactical importance, far exceeding that of center Roy Hibbert.

West's greatest career honor would come later when he joined the Warriors and won two championships. However, at that time, he was no longer qualified for the main role in the team and could only serve as a role player, contributing during certain moments.

The Pacers arranged for West to guard Wang Chong, which was an inevitable move.

Logically, the Pacers' strongest defender would be Paul George, who was selected for the second defensive team.

But on the one hand, George is shorter than West, and the defensively capable Wang Chong has a very low center of gravity. On the other hand, as the current perimeter core for the Pacers, George not only defends but also takes on the offensive responsibilities of the team.

If George were to face Wang Chong directly, once he couldn't guard him and struggled mentally, the Pacers would have no chance.

David West's strategy of guarding Wang Chong is consistent with the Pacers' overall defensive strategy against the Bulls. He wanted to use his physical advantages and strength to press Wang Chong and force him to misalign his offense or make mistakes.

However, this defensive strategy obviously didn't work.

Wang Chong's current confrontation ability is not weak. Although his strength of 70 does not give him a significant advantage in the paint, at least he won't be easily overwhelmed or stunned.

Moreover, while David West has good mobility, it is completely incomparable to Wang Chong's.

When Wang Chong launched an attack from the outside, West's defense seemed very weak.

Wang Chong launched a fierce ball attack and scored consecutively, helping the Bulls stabilize the situation after a poor start and tie the game before the end of the first quarter.

In the following quarters, the Bulls played steadily and didn't rush to achieve success. They only wanted a sufficient shooting percentage and didn't give the Pacers any chances to capitalize on mistakes.

Once the Bulls stabilized the situation, the strength gap between the two teams inevitably became apparent.

Although the Pacers resisted desperately, they only lasted two quarters. Shortly after the start of the fourth quarter, when Wang Chong took over the ball and launched another fierce attack, the Pacers finally couldn't hold on any longer and began to fall behind by a larger margin. They ultimately lost the game.

94-89.

The Bulls almost faltered but won the game at home.

In this game, the Bulls clearly got into the Pacers' rhythm. If Wang Chong hadn't stepped up to control the pace from the very beginning, it would have been hard to predict the outcome, but this is the meaning and value of superstar presence.

The Bulls won Game 1, but it was obviously much easier to win Game 2 two days later.

After a poor performance in Game 1, Curry, who shot 5 of 14 from the field, hit rock bottom in Game 2. He made 7 three-pointers in the game and scored 31 points in one game, scoring 34 points overall to score 65 points and help the Bulls defeat the Pacers again 107-95.

The Bulls' two home games ended with a comfortable 2-0 advantage.

On May 10, Game 3 of the series arrived in Indianapolis, the home of the Pacers. As in the opening game, the Pacers showed great strength and once led by more than double digits for two quarters.

But in the third quarter, when the Bulls began to counterattack, the Pacers still couldn't withstand the Bulls' fierce counterattack and were outscored 36-22 in one quarter to lose the lead.

At 99-92, the Bulls won another victory on the Pacers' home court, leading 3-0 and taking the match point.

Although it was the same as the 76ers in the first round, after three games the score was still 3-0, but any fan who watched the game could notice the difference.

Although the Pacers lost 3-0, in each game they fought back and forth with the Bulls, at least in a way that they could defend. On the other hand, the Bulls' first-round opponents, the Philadelphia 76ers, really couldn't defend. They had no strength and were unilaterally beaten by the Bulls.

On May 13, in the fourth game of the series, the Bulls still couldn't win 4 games straight and finished the game 4-0.

Perhaps knowing that there was no hope for a comeback and without any psychological baggage or pressure, the Pacers played exceptionally well in this game. The five starters performed flawlessly. Even in the first three games, they were consistently beaten by small adjustments, and direct confrontations suppressed Roy Hibbert, who averaged only 9 points and 7 rebounds per game, and he also posted a double-double with 17 points and 11 rebounds in this game.

114-110, the Pacers finally recovered a victory at home, and the score reached 3-1.

Not being swept by the Bulls was already a good result for the Pacers.

Two days later, in Game 5 of the series, the match returned to Chicago, but the miracle didn't happen.

The Bulls maintained their lead throughout the game, defeating the Pacers cleanly 4-1 and successfully advanced to the Eastern Conference Finals.

What surprised everyone a little was that the Bulls weren't the first team to decide the winner in the second round.

In the West, the Spurs were upset, sweeping the defending champions Los Angeles Lakers 4-0, becoming the first team to advance to the conference finals.

The Lakers were eliminated from the game, which was truly shocking. Even Wang Chong didn't expect it at all.

He also thought that the Lakers were at least the Big Three of Kobe + Paul + Howard. Even without cooperation, their individual skills alone should have been enough to win one or two games.

But not being selected for the All-NBA and All-Defensive teams hurt Howard much more than Wang Chong had imagined.

In the first two games, the Spurs won two straight games at home, leading 2-0.

After the Lakers returned to their home court, they planned to catch up, but Game 3 started unfavorably again, and the Spurs once again had the advantage.

Then, during halftime, Kobe and Howard had a major confrontation directly on the bench. Kobe ignored the opinions of his teammates and fans and stood up directly, pointing his finger at Howard's nose with a sinister expression.

At that moment, Howard was no longer the adult who would be easily humiliated by society in the future and could tolerate a young Davis spraying his nose. At this moment, the young and energetic Howard didn't accept any tricks from Kobe. He stepped forward to retaliate, and the two nearly came to blows.

There are various opinions about what caused the direct conflict between the two on the court, but in reality, it no longer matters.

When the contradiction intensifies completely and occurs in such an important situation like the playoffs, there is basically no room for maneuver.

End of this chapter

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