Chapter 268 The goal of breaking through the sky!
Wu Huang said in front of others that he didn't care about the winning streak, but of course he didn't think so. No one in the Knicks team wanted to lose at the critical moment when he had already completed 21 consecutive games. If he wanted to lose, he would lose earlier. Isn't that a scam?
Now every extra game the Knicks wins, their status in history is one point higher. As long as they defeat the Celtics and the Heat and surpass the Rockets' 22 consecutive wins, they set a record second only to the Lakers in ancient times. In the future, as long as all teams mention the topic of "winning streak", they have to mention them, and they have to mention who led this team to accomplish such a feat.
We should also consider that the Lakers' 33-game winning streak is too long. The records and data of that era actually shrank. Just like Chamberlain's 100 points in a single game, few people will think that Kobe's difficulty in getting 81 points will be lower than Chamberlain's 100 points in a single game. On the contrary, Kobe's difficulty in a single game of 81 points should be above Chamberlain's 100 points in a single game.
The same goes for the Knicks' winning streak record. As long as they surpass the Rockets and increase their winning streaks to above the court, their historical status will not be inferior to the Lakers' 33 consecutive wins.
However, they themselves know that although the schedule of this month has been easier, their opponents have improved several levels compared to November. Most of the opponents they have to face are teams qualified to compete for the championship. So don’t say whether they can persist to win a winning streak, the Celtics, which is about to face, won them a game at the beginning of the season.
The Knicks' current record is 22 wins and 3 losses. The reason why some experts are not optimistic about the Knicks' 22-game winning streak is because the game they lost happens to be the Celtics who will face soon and the Bulls who will face soon.
Many neutral fans also believe that the Knicks' long-term victory against weak teams has greatly overestimated them. In this 21-game winning streak, 60% of the Knicks' teams are the bottom-most teams in the league, 30% are ordinary teams hovering on the edge of the playoffs, and only 10% are teams that have entered the playoffs, and 20% of the teams are the top three in their respective divisions.
Let’s look at the three teams they lost. Without exception, except for the Trail Blazers, they are all the top three teams in the division. In other words, the Knicks’ winning rate against strong teams has not improved, but has also declined. This season, the Knicks have not won a real strong team.
This analysis is reasonable and well-founded. During the winning streak, the Knicks did not encounter a few strong teams in the top four in the eastern and western regions. They tweaked their fingers and only had four games in total. One of them was the Hornets and the Trail Blazers when they were in the top four. However, both teams were only in the top four in the West for a few days before being squeezed down.
So strictly speaking, the Knicks met the Celtics at the beginning of the season and the Bulls. These were the only two matches against truly strong teams. However, what embarrassingly was that the Knicks lost the game both times.
On December, the league announced the Player of the Week last week. Wu Huang won the award again with one triple-double and two 40+ times. This is his fifth time winning Player of the Week this season.
Wu Huang has been in the limelight recently. The Wizards defender John Wall, who was just taught by him not long ago, tweeted, "Hugo should be the best player in the league." Major American media also praised Wu Huang's performance in winning the best week for the fifth season.
This season, compared with the first players in the East and West, James and Kobe, as well as the new generation of Durant, Rose, Westbrook, and Wu Huang are considered to be more efficient and beautiful. Fox Sports' evaluation is: "Hugo's phenomenal performance at the start of the game makes MVP no longer suspense?"
After finishing his first 25 games, Wu Huang scored 30.7 points, 6.9 rebounds, 11 assists, 3.4 steals and 1.3 blocks during his first 25 games. His shooting percentage was 52.9%, his three-point shooting percentage was 43.6%, and his free throw shooting percentage was 90.6%.
Such data is indeed a phenomenon. Apart from James, no one has ever produced a balanced and terrifying data like Wu Huang in the past ten years. He is just a sophomore. When James was in the second grade, he averaged only 27+7+7 per game, and he is still slightly inferior in terms of personal performance and team record.
O'Neal, who has seen the most in the Knicks, once told the media: "The aura of the two of them is very similar. But if there is anyone in this league who can get close to or even surpass Michael, I think Hugo is the most promising. He is obviously a phenomenal figure in the world and a popular globally. You can see thousands of people coming to see him warm up before the game, or you can see hundreds of people staying outside the hotel where the visiting team is staying at 2 a.m., trying to get his signature. This is very similar to Michael Jordan's original phenomenon."
"Shack is right. During my time in the league, he was the closest I have ever seen to Michael Jordan. Although many people say this and many people say that (close to Jordan), he is the answer in my heart." Ray Allen, the Knicks' opponent in the next game, also praised Emperor Wu before heading to New York.
In fact, Ray Allen and O'Neal are not the only players who agree that Wu Huang can be comparable to Jordan at the same time. Recently, Rodman, who has been running to North Korea, is a bit like a fool, and he is unexpectedly optimistic about Wu Huang. I wonder if this guy who is really stupid or pretends to be crazy is also interested in making a fortune in China.
But no matter what, Big Clock fought side by side with Jordan when he was a player, so he naturally had the deepest understanding of this superstar. Rodman made a shocking speech when he was a guest on espn radio recently. He said: "Obviously, Jordan is the most dazzling star in the history of human basketball. His influence spread all over the earth and is sought after everywhere he goes. Big Clock means that Wu Huang is now having such momentum.
Rodman said that James was expected to surpass Jordan to become the greatest player, but after he left the Cavaliers and chose to join the Heat and changed his jersey to No. 6, he no longer has this qualification. Rodman also said that Jordan is the greatest scorer in history, while Hugo is the most comprehensive player. He is even more comprehensive than James, because he may become the only player who averages 30 points and 10 assists per game after the Os, which is an unimaginable achievement in the current league, and his three-pointers are also the most accurate in the entire league.
Some media that have been unwilling to report Wu Huang so much after several big-name players bragged about Wu Huang, and some people have finally followed up. ESPN followed up with a report before the Knicks and Celtics.
It is so difficult to surpass Jordan. Jordan is the world's basketball god. He has become one of the greatest. Although he is also a human being, the meaning he is given far exceeds the meaning of a superstar. People even think that Jordan is equal to basketball. It is Jordan who has opened up the basketball dream of countless people, including those rising stars in the NBA. The greatness of gods is insurmountable, but there are still many people who try their best to catch up with Jordan. For a long time, Kobe, James, Carter, McGrady and Hill have been so close to Jordan.
Many people say that Kobe is the closest person to Jordan. After all, Kobe, who has now held five championship rings, is only one championship away from being defeated by Jordan. As long as the Lakers successfully defended their title this year and successfully won the second three-game winning streak, the time for Pan to compete with Jordan will officially come.
Kobe has always said that he would fight for the second three-game winning streak. Although he was always unwilling to compare with Jordan, he also repeatedly revealed his ambition to win the sixth championship. Perhaps only Kobe knew the significance of the sixth championship and the second three-game winning streak. But at least, Kobe has not done it yet. Without two three-game winning streaks and at least six championships as the basis, no one can truly compete with Jordan.
A few years ago, Carter was the most associated with the word Jordan. Carter turned the dunk into art. Since his intervention, dunks entered a revolution, and after the revolution, it seemed that he was the only one above the basket. But after a period of time, people slowly discovered that perhaps Carter could only represent dunks, not replace basketball itself. Once, Carter became the most controversial player among Jordan's successors. In fact, when Carter first became famous, he was very disgusted with him and Jordan endlessly. Jordan also accused Carter of lack of defensive enthusiasm in interviews with the media. The Flying Man also hinted that Carter was a product of the NBA star-making movement, and he should not have such a high status: "You can't create magicians or Larry Bird, they created themselves."
After that, McGrady, the talented McGrady was considered the closest player to Jordan, but because McGrady was unwilling to be Pippen and wanted to be Jordan, he left the Raptors and his cousin Carter. In the Magic and the Rockets, McGrady's amazing talent was also recognized, but he could not find Jordan's defensive ability and game resilience in him. McGrady has never been an excellent defender, and his training attitude and weak character were also questioned. Of course, injuries are one of the reasons for McGrady's death, but this is inseparable from his own personal factors.
Of course, earlier than Carter, there is another alternative in everyone's eyes, "I don't want to be Jordan, I don't want to be a big bird. After my career ends, I want people to know that I'm going on my career in my way!" This is a sentence Iverson said in an interview at his peak. Yes, Iverson finally ended his career in the NBA in a special way. Perhaps, it's not over yet, but Iverson has now disappeared from the NBA arena. Due to personality, injuries and team reasons, the former legend Iverson has become the past. Although Iverson has no championship to clarify himself, this is also destined to be recorded in history.
If anyone is Jordan's earliest successor, Grant Hill, who entered the NBA as a Tanhua in the 1994 draft, was Jordan's first successor. At that time, Hill was able to be competent in any position on the basketball court except center. His passionate style of play determined that he was also a player playing on the basket. Hill, who was humble and gentleman on the court, quickly became popular. When Jordan retired for the first time in 1993, Hill was called Jordan's successor by the media, and even Jordan himself agreed with this statement. But God did not favor this gentleman on the court. After a few years of glory, God took back the halo of Hill and restored Hill to an ordinary player. Hill began to be injured continuously, surgery, recuperate, come back continuously, and then come back, but he could no longer find the feeling he used to be.
In the 2003 generation, Jordan first likes Cameron Anthony, not the James who carried the same number as him. In the first two seasons, Cameron was not as popular as James and Wade, but Jordan was always optimistic about Anthony. Many times, Anthony would receive calls from Jordan, and the old man would encourage or criticize Anthony. On March 19, 2004, because the game entered garbage time early, Anthony refused to play, and he was scolded by the "Flying Man" on the phone.
In fact, Wade should be the one who looks the most like Jordan, but when he first debuted, no one could have thought that he could be as radiant as James and Anthony. But he was the first player in the 2003 generation to taste the taste of championship. Even Michael Jordan had to be jealous of this. As the No. 5 rookie in 2003, Wade was not qualified to be Jordan's successor, and people didn't even believe that he would be more promising than Milicic, a black man in Seychelles. But Wade's extraordinary thing is that he has been in more than two seasons.
He buried his head in honing his ball skills, and finally proved how big the mistakes those who underestimate themselves made. In terms of technical movements, Wade and Jordan have very similarities. Weird breakthroughs, agile change of direction and incredible goal-scoring methods have made him famous as the Flash, and his breakthrough pace is even called "Missing Step". Like Jordan, Wade's long shot is not a strong point. However, as the game deepens, Wade has paid more and more attention to crafting his shots.
But no matter how people compare and discuss whether Hugo will become a successor to Jordan. Jordan, who has long since retired, is continuing to enjoy golf and be invincible.
On December 15, while people were discussing whether Wu Huang was Jordan's successor, the person involved responded at the pre-match press conference of the Knicks vs. Celtics.
"Stop kidding. Anyone who is complacent with the 'Jordan successor' will not end up in the end. Who will be willing to become the successor of others if you can truly compete for the top ten players in history and the players who really make history? Anyway, I will never admit this name. Now my goal is to become the top 5 in history in the minds of most people and the top 10 choices for everyone after retirement."
Emperor Wu's words are no less than a bombshell. Usually when he is so arrogant and high-profile, he has basically had sex with the little singer just now, so he immediately added: "Actually, I want to move the ranking of this target further, but I am afraid that you will be proud of me and say I don't know the world, so I am a little humble."
Emperor Wu was really humble because he originally wanted to say, "After retiring, he became the top 3 in history and the top 5 choices for everyone." If you look at it like this, he really doesn't know whether Jordan can rank among the top 3 in NBA history. Many people may have some opinions. His goal is a bit like breaking through the sky.
The second time in the season against the Celtics, D'Antoni's tactics will definitely make people speechless when he speaks them out. The Knicks coach proposed the super simple five-point winning factor like a pseudo-fan. Wu Huang tried his best to get more points than his opponent while defending Rondo; Iguodala defended Pierce, so that the closer the opponent's score was to him, the better; Tony Allen defended Ray Allen, and made every effort to reduce the opponent's score; Sir Jr. played against Garnett, and tried his best to get more points than his opponent; bench players must surpass their opponents in terms of scoring.
This winning strategy seems to be the favorite thing for junior pseudo-fans to do, but sometimes the game really doesn't need to be that complicated. The Knicks can basically win this game as long as they do three points, because they still have the advantage of being a good place, which is their home court.
With such a clear goal, and thinking that after winning this game, you will win the same 22 consecutive wins as the Rockets, the Knicks players are all excited before the game, and their desire for the game is unprecedentedly high. Before appearing, in the locker room, many players even shouted loudly from time to time, constantly clapping each other and touching their teammates' chests. They can't wait to play.
Wu Huang has been very conflicted recently. The Knicks have been winning streaks. He has no chance to attack D'Antoni. Moreover, the beard is very competent most of the time. In addition to being paranoid about offense and ignoring defense, and not responding quickly enough and not having enough routines when facing strong teams, his ability to play against mid-swimming and bottom teams is indeed very extraordinary, so it is too difficult to drive him away during the regular season.
Their opponents of today's Celtics are no worse than themselves. They have won 19 and lost 5, and have won 6 consecutive games. Today, one of the two teams must stop their winning streak.
The good news for the Knicks is that Perkins will continue to be absent. The top inside engineer who was seriously injured in the playoffs last season made a few games back at the beginning of the season, but his injury recurred and he has missed more than a dozen games. The Celtics lacked this barrier under the basket, which is good news for Sir S's offense. Rivers can only use Garnett and "big baby" Davis to partner with. The Knicks have an advantage in the height and talent of the inside.
Emperor Wu is also confident of completing his mission. Rondo has grown into a top point guard around the Big Three. In a sense, he is a more important star than the Big Three. Today's media calls the current NBA the point guard era, and Rondo is the representative of the NBA's speed point guard, good at breaking through, but his shooting is a flaw.
"Yahoo Sports" earlier divided the current point guards into several categories, among which Rondo, Ross, Westbrook, Billups and Wall are representatives of breakthrough speed point guards, Wu Huang and Nash are representatives of shooting point guards, and Paul, Deron and Kidd are representatives of support point guards.
In fact, such reports still have the meaning of black Wu Huang. He not only can shoot, but Wu Huang's breakthrough ability has been significantly improved this season. In terms of breakthrough ability, he is no less than Ross and Westbrook, but his shooting skills are incomparable to these breakthrough point guards.
Rondo played his own characteristics in today's game. This guy is a big-scale player. He can exert 120% of his energy in such a focus battle. Emperor Wu found that it was difficult for him to stop this guy's breakthrough, but if he went too far, he could even shoot a few goals.
However, Emperor Wu still completed the task assigned by the coach. Even if Rondo performed well on the offensive end, he was still much worse than he had to compete with Emperor Wu to score. Emperor Wu could still suppress this opponent on the offensive end.
Sir S also completed his own task. He has been very good at bullying Duncan and Garnett in the past two seasons, which is why the media has a high opinion of him. The Knicks can at least ensure that they have the advantage in the inside when they play against the Celtics, which is very important for the final result.
However, the forward teammates Igdala and Tony Allen did not complete their tasks. After Ray Allen was blocked by Tony Allen last time, he went back to summarize a lot of lessons. Today he was even more erratic in running positions, and he consciously changed some of his running habits, and even strengthened his few ball-holding breakthroughs after coming to the Celtics. These made Tony Allen less guarded and did not complete his defensive tasks well.
Igudara caught up with Pierce's explosives. For such All-Star players, it is difficult to ask the defense to do more once they catch up with their explosives.
The Knicks only completed half of the last winning condition, because there was a former New York player Nate Robinson on the opposite side. Little Potato has been playing the sixth man role with the Celtics this year, and can contribute offensive firepower beyond fans' expectations when playing. His performance is one of the key factors for the Celtics to stick to the top four in the East.
Gallinari became the key to maintaining a draw in the fifth victory condition. The Italian, who acted as the sixth man today, also exerted his offensive firepower. He helped the Knicks' substitute lineup form a balance between his opponents, and the substitutes of both sides were almost the same. In this regard, the two teams tied.
Two wins, two losses and one draw, what should I do at this time?
All fools know that of course, they look at which side wins more and loses less.
Emperor Wu didn't win much in the matchup. Rondo performed very well today. The former scored 7 rebounds and 10 assists, while the latter scored 16 points, 8 rebounds and 14 assists. In fact, it is hard to say that Emperor Wu defeated Rondo. After all, he won four of them in assists, which should be considered to be a fair match.
Tony Allen lost not much. He only let Ray Allen score 16 points, which is basically the average data of Ray Allen this season. Although Tony Allen did not successfully limit his opponent, he did not let Ray Allen play beyond his level.
Iguodala lost a bit today, and he allowed Pierce to score 28 points, 10 rebounds and 4 assists, which far exceeded the average average of "Truth" that averaged 19 points this season.
The final decision was Stoudemire. The Knicks' signings played a decisive role today. Sir only allowed Garnett to score 20 points, 10 rebounds and 3 assists, but he scored 39 points, 11 rebounds and 2 assists, almost twice the score of his opponent, which laid the foundation for the Knicks' final victory.
Chapter completed!