NBA: I am the god of basketball

Chapter 161 The Battle for the Scoring King

As in previous years, after the end of the All-Star weekend, all teams in the league began to work hard for the final sprint stage of the playoffs, and rushed to strengthen the team as much as possible before the trade deadline.

The biggest move before the trade deadline is undoubtedly the Houston Rockets.

Their patience with McGrady has reached its limit.

On February 2th, the Rockets made a three-way deal with the Knicks and the Kings, sending McGrady, Joey Dorsey, and Carl Landry to get Kings star players Kevin Martin, Hilton Armstrong, and Jared Jeffries, Jordan Hill, swap rights to the 19 first-round pick (No. 2011 pick protection) and the Knicks' 2012 first-round pick.

In this wave of transactions, the Rockets can be said to have made a lot of money. Not only did they get rid of Tracy McGrady, who is no longer in his prime and carries the league's first high-paying contract, but also used him as a bargaining chip in exchange for a bunch of high-quality players. round of picks.

Although Kevin Martin is not as famous as Tracy McGrady, he is also an outside player who can consistently contribute 20+ points per game. With him partnered with Lewis and Brooks, plus Yao on the inside, the Rockets can still maintain their position in the West. Strong combat effectiveness.

As for McGrady, the Rockets' eventful years are the last highlight of his career.

Injuries and aging make McGrady like a tiger with his teeth pulled out, and he is not competitive on the field. After this season, McGrady can only choose to sign with the team with a low salary, and then he was traded to the Pistons.

In the next few years, McGrady moved to the Eagles, the Spurs and more teams, and finally went to the CBA to make money, and finally chose to retire quietly and officially left the league.

From the perspective of the future, this deal for the Rockets is really a bloody profit. Kevin Martin will become an important bargaining chip for the Rockets to trade James Harden in the future, and the first-round picks traded will also be a great deal for the Rockets in the future. The opening of the Taobao era created certain prerequisites.

However, if you look at it from the current point of view, the Rockets gave up McGrady. Even if they got several outstanding immediate combat players through trades and got draft picks, they will still inevitably withdraw from the ranks of the championship contenders.

At least in the eyes of many people, Dayao + Lewis + Kevin Martin are no longer considered the configuration of the Big Three. Regardless of the fact that Martin has averaged 20+ per game in the past few seasons, he has never been selected as an All-Star , and Kevin Martin is also a well-known glass man in the league. His attendance rate in the first two seasons was only over 60%.

No one thought he could carry the burden of the Rockets' offense going into the tight playoffs.

At present, the four most popular teams to win the NBA championship are still the Los Angeles Lakers in the West and the three Royals in the East, Magic, Cavaliers and Celtics.

The All-Star won the AMVP, which made Howard feel satisfied, and he played more proactively in the subsequent regular season.

On February 2th, the first game after the All-Star Weekend, Howard faced the Detroit Pistons and scored 17 points, 33 rebounds and 17 blocks in front of Ben Wallace. The score was an easy win.

随后紧跟着2月19日主场迎战达拉斯小牛，再砍29分16篮板5封盖，帮助魔术队105：95击溃小牛队。

The Mavericks, who just completed the deal and acquired Caron Butler and Brandon Haywood from the Wizards, are actually not weak, but the Magic's twin stars are completely unstoppable.

On February 2, the Magic played against the Cleveland Cavaliers at home.

霍华德22分16篮板4封盖，奥尼尔20分5篮板。

两队的外线核心，詹姆斯拿下33分5篮板6助攻，王超则有32分4篮板9助攻入账。

The inner and outer cores of the two sides can be regarded as evenly matched, but Vince Carter, the third giant of the Cavaliers, has pulled his hips in this game.

He made 9 of 4 shots and scored 11 points and 3 assists. Although his shooting percentage was good, as one of the highly anticipated Big Three, Carter's performance was obviously disappointing.

On the contrary, on the side of the Magic, the sixth man Jamal Crawford made a big splash as soon as he came on the court. In 34 minutes of playing, he made 13 of 8 shots, including 2 three-pointers, and scored 18 points, 4 rebounds and 5 assists. , Completely defeated the Cavaliers bench.

Now that the regular season has progressed, Magic fans have finally begun to think about the taste.

It seems that Crawford is really better than Carter!

As the Magic's sixth man off the bench, Crawford has averaged close to 18 points and 3 assists per game so far, which is the biggest firepower on the Magic's bench.

On the other hand, Carter has been unable to integrate into the team's tactical system in the Cavaliers, and his scoring average has dropped to 14.6 points per game.

You must know that Crawford's annual salary is only in the early tens of millions, while Carter's salary is 1680 million!There is Channing Frye + Ariza between them!

Speaking of Channing Frye and Ariza, these two players also gave the Magic a big surprise in the new season.

First of all, Frye, as the Magic's starting power forward, although his average playing time is not much, only about 27 minutes, but his excellent mid-range and long-range shooting allows him to do a lot even if he is only a spot-up shooter on the court. With a height of 2 meters, he shot 11% of his three-pointers during the regular season and averaged 44 points and 11.4 rebounds per game. Considering his annual salary of only 5.3 million yuan, he is simply a model of high quality and low price.

As for Ariza, because he mainly appeared on the court as a substitute player, he did not start 71 games in the regular season after joining the Rockets in history, averaging 14.9 points, 5.6 rebounds and 3.8 assists.

But the gold will shine. Ariza averaged about 25 minutes per game in the Magic. He averaged 9.5 points, 4.4 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 1.8 steals per game. Afflalo has become the strongest outside defender of the Magic.

Facts have proved that the Magic's three major signings in the summer offseason have all worked. With the same amount of money spent, the benefits are far better than getting a Vince Carter!
Many professional basketball commentators have criticized the management of the Magic team for this matter before, and then after the general manager of the Magic team dumped the blame on Wang Chao, they severely criticized Wang Chao for not interfering in the work of the team management team.

However, this voice has completely changed now, and people are not stingy with all kinds of praises for Wang Chao.

"As a player, Wang Chao not only has super personal ability, but also has a more vicious vision than coaches and scouts!"

"If Wang Chao retires in the future, he can definitely consider a team as the general manager. With his thinking and vision, he will definitely become a top general manager."

Under all kinds of compliments, the Magic's regular season is still going on in an orderly manner.

2月底外加3月一共17场比赛，魔术队取得15胜2负，总战绩也来到62胜12负！
As the first team to achieve 09 wins in the 10-60 season, the Magic won all without exception, whether they faced the top Western Conference teams such as the Lakers and Spurs, or the Nuggets and Eagles. .

The Magic, with a winning rate of 83.7%, has 8 games left. Judging from the current record of other teams in the league, even if the Magic only wins half of the 8 games, it is enough to enter the playoffs with the league's first record game.

And all members of the Magic team are obviously not satisfied with this.

Last season, they just broke the record in the history of the Magic team and created a new regular season win record for the Magic team with a record of 67 wins.

And now, the opportunity to break the record again and create a new record is at hand.

In the next eight games, the opponents are the Dallas Mavericks, San Antonio Spurs, Memphis Grizzlies, Washington Wizards, New York Knicks, Cleveland Cavaliers, Indiana Pacers and Philadelphia 8ers.

Among the more tricky ones, there are only three teams, the Mavericks, the Spurs, and the Cavaliers.

With the current excellent state of the Magic, it is not impossible to win all these 8 games with a little effort.

那样的话，魔术队的战绩将会达到70胜12负！仅次于96年公牛队的72胜10负，还要超过湖人队的69胜，可以高居历史第二！

When someone made this suggestion, everyone was moved, including Wang Chao.

As a time traveler, what is he most willing to do in the NBA now?Of course, he created legends in the league with his own hands!
Limited by the size of the lineup, it is impossible for the Magic to break the Bulls' 72 wins this season, but if they can get 70 wins, it is quite a good thing.

This kind of opportunity is rare, and Wang Chao can't guarantee whether there will be a 73-win Warriors team in the future due to the butterfly effect caused by him. Therefore, it is king to seize the opportunity and play an outstanding record as much as possible!
On April 4, the Magic team challenged the Dallas Mavericks in an away game, and all members went all out to beat the Mavericks 1:97, achieving 82 wins.

Immediately following April 4, back-to-back away games against the San Antonio Spurs, the Magic encountered a lot of trouble.

In this game, the Magic's outside shooters didn't feel good. At the same time, Howard was also manipulated by Duncan inside. At the end of the three quarters, the difference between the two teams was close to 15 points, and the situation was quite bad.

Fortunately, in the fourth quarter, Wang Chao stood up in time, first scored two consecutive three-pointers from outside the three-point line, and then cooperated with Howard in a pick-and-roll to rush into the basket to create damage, helping the team play a wave of 12:0, a strong lead The point difference was recovered to within 3 points.

The Spurs urgently called two timeouts but failed to restore the decline. The game entered the last minute, and the point difference between the two sides was still hovering around 1 points. It was Wang Chao who attracted the Spurs to double-team the ball. out, and Channing Frye hit a key 3-pointer to tie the score.

Howard interfered and missed Duncan's game-winning shot, and the two sides played overtime.

In the overtime period, the Spurs began to lose to the Magic. After all, the situation of the two teams is different. The age of Duncan and Ginobili in the GDP of the Spurs is not young, and Ginobili has always been limited by his physical fitness. One of the reasons for the upper limit.

In the overtime period, the Spurs' scoring became extremely unstable, while Wang Chao and Howard on the Magic's side continued to use pick-and-rolls to score aggressively.

In the end, after an overtime game, the Magic finally defeated the Spurs 116:112 and won the game.

After gnawing down the Mavericks and Spurs in consecutive back-to-back games, the only strong opponent in front of the Magic is the Cleveland Cavaliers.

But before that, the Magic have to deal with the Grizzlies, Wizards and Knicks.

These three teams are all the bottom weak teams that have been eliminated early and have no chance to participate in the playoffs. The Grizzlies are slightly better than the Wizards and Knicks. The regular season winning percentage can be maintained above 45%. It's not working at all, one is already rotten to the root, and the other is because of Arenas holding a gun, almost dismantling the entire team, making up his mind to overthrow and rebuild, and is ready to lose.

To defeat these three teams, the Magic did not spend any effort. Even the two core players, Wang Chao and Howard, were able to clock in and get off work early after three quarters to save energy and energy to prepare for the playoffs after the regular season.

The Magic, which won all three games, has won 67 games, which has already tied the best record in team history set last season. Every time they win a game after that, they add a new record in team history.

But the victories of these three games also had some minor problems.

The problem is not with the team, but with Wang Chao.

After more than 60 games in the regular season, the personal data of most players in the league has basically stabilized, and there will be no particularly large fluctuations. Wang Chao is no exception.

In the Spurs game, Wang Chao, who played an overtime game, scored 41 points in a single game, but it only increased his original scoring average of 31.6 points per game by 0.1 points to 31.7 points.

In the next three games, Wang Chao played only about 26 minutes because he clocked out of get off work in three quarters. He scored 24 points, 21 points and 20 points in the three games respectively.

This caused Wang Chao's scoring average to drop slightly to 31.3 points per game.

Originally, such a small change was understandable and had little impact.

But near the end of the season, Kevin Durant of the Oklahoma City Thunder began to score high scores frequently, including 48 points in one game and 44 points in one game. The high score began to improve continuously, and now it has reached 30.8 points, which is only one step away from catching up and overtaking Wang Chao to occupy the top scorer list!
The Thunder did not hide anything, the purpose is to help Durant compete for the scoring champion, almost the whole team is trying to make the ball for Durant to help him get high scores.

There is nothing wrong with their thinking like this.

Because the Thunder had already confirmed that they missed the playoffs not long ago, and no matter whether they win or lose the subsequent games, this result cannot be changed.

It is also a good choice to let the players in the team get some honors in the regular season without any chance.

This is also the butterfly effect brought about by Wang Chao.

Originally this season, the Thunder should have achieved a record of 50 wins and 32 losses in the regular season and entered the playoffs with the eighth place in the Western Conference. Even though they were educated by the Lakers in the first round, they were eliminated 4:2. It was the first trip to the playoffs in the Thunder's career, but they still made it to the playoffs.

But things are different now.

The Houston Rockets, which should have been ranked ninth in the Western Conference with 42 wins and are 8 games away from the Thunder, did not pull their hips this season as they did in their original history.

Dayao was not reimbursed for the season due to injury. Although he missed more than 30 games, he was still able to contribute 50 points and 18.9 rebounds to the team in more than 9.2 games played.

In addition, the Rockets still have Lewis, Brooks, Scola and other players, as well as Kevin Martin, who was traded for Tracy McGrady after the All-Star Weekend. The team lost more games in the regular season.

After all, both teams in the Western Conference, the Rockets and the Thunder met four times in the regular season, and the Thunder has absolutely no way to get Yao inside.

Failed to make the playoffs, but let the Thunder focus on helping Durant get the scoring champion.

Of course, Wang Chao is unwilling to give up the scoring champion. This season, he will try his best to become the MVP of the regular season.

目前他场均31.3分5.2篮板8.4助攻，而他评选常规赛MVP最大的竞争对手詹姆斯目前场均30.4分8.2篮板8.9助攻。

When the data of the two sides are extremely close, each has its own advantages and disadvantages.

James' advantage is that as a local star in the United States, he is born with an advantage in voting. After all, the selection rules for the regular season MVP are based on a joint vote of 100 reporters from the United States and Canada. As a Chinese player, Wang Chao is naturally at a disadvantage.

Of course, Wang Chao also has some advantages, that is, the record gap between the Magic and the Cavaliers.

目前常规赛还差3场比赛结束，骑士队战绩是57胜22负，骑士队需要赢下接下来3场比赛才能达成常规赛60胜。

This includes a game at home with the Magic.

If the Magic win this game, they will have a high probability of winning 70 games in the regular season, becoming the best team after the 96-win Bulls in 72.

And even if the Cavaliers can win and win the other two games, the record of the two sides will probably be 69 wins and 60 wins, and the Magic still have an absolute advantage. After all, 69 wins is also the second best regular season record in history. , It's just that the Magic and the Lakers share this honor.

The regular season MVP is originally to reward the most valuable players during the regular season, and the criteria for considering the team's record are also very important.

To sum up, in the regular season MVP competition, James has the advantage of nationality and popularity, while Wang Chao has the bonus of team record.

In this case, if Wang Chao can win the scoring champion, it will definitely be a bonus item.

Moreover, even if the scoring champion will not give extra points to the MVP selection in the regular season, Wang Chao has also thought about breaking Jordan's league record of ten scoring champions, so he will try his best to compete for the scoring champion every season.

"The competition for the scoring title is fierce. The Magic and the Thunder each have 3 games left. Wang Chao and Durant scored 31.3 points and 31.2 points respectively. The two are almost at the same starting line. The scoring in the last 3 games will be Directly determine the final ownership of this season's scoring champion!"

The interesting topic has also attracted the attention of a large number of fans.

Wang Chao and Durant are almost considered to be the two players with the strongest scoring ability in the league in the future, and the two have already started the competition for the scoring champion so early.

From the perspective of scoring ability alone, Wang Chao is obviously better than Durant. Not only does he have a mid-range shooting ability that is not inferior to Durant's, but Durant can't match the three-pointer. In terms of ability, Durant is not as good as Wang Chao, after all, he does not have the opponent's speed and explosive power comparable to a guard and the strength that is outstanding among forwards.

But Durant now has the support of the whole team after all. In order to help Durant win the scoring title, it doesn't matter if the Thunder lose the last three games. After all, even if they win, their record can't catch up with the Rockets. The team is doomed to miss the playoffs.

The Magic is different. For the 70 wins in the regular season, they can't lose any of the remaining 3 games!
On April 4th, the Magic team challenged the Cavaliers in an away game. This was the last tough battle of the Magic regular season. Both sides were unwilling to lose this game. very big.

The Cavaliers came up with a variety of targeted defenses against Wang Chao, and the Magic were not to be outdone. Ariza and Afflalo, two top outside defenders, took turns pestering James. Inside, Howard was waiting at the basket. .

This extremely fierce confrontation finally ended with the victory of the Magic.

詹姆斯砍下37分11篮板10助攻三双数据，而魔术队这边，王超则得到40分7篮板7助攻。

The Cavaliers' loss is still an old-fashioned problem. Except for James, there is no stable scoring point. The 81 regular season games have fully proved that O'Neal is no longer the big shark before, and Carter is not the half-man and half-god he used to be. From the player's point of view, they are justified, but the problem is that the salary of O'Neal and Carter is as high as 3680 million. With such an exaggerated salary, but only two functional role players, it is a bit unreasonable.

Wang Chao, who scored 40 points in the whole game, successfully increased his scoring average by 0.1 points to 31.4 points.

But Durant on the Thunder team was not to be outdone. He scored 89 points in the Thunder's 101:43 loss to the San Antonio Spurs, and his scoring average increased to 31.3 points per game.

In this game, the Thunder had no hope of a comeback when there were about 5 minutes left in the fourth quarter, but even though they were 15 points behind, Durant was never substituted, stayed on the court and took over all possession of the ball. Crazy shots, and finally scored 19 points in the fourth quarter, and then reached 43 points in the game.

There is no doubt that Durant is clearly scoring points. Although the league has not explicitly prohibited this behavior, many players from the weakest teams in the league will also play star-level data in similar ways, but at the last minute In the occasion of competing for the scoring champion, it is a little bit ugly to swipe like this.

(End of this chapter)