Despite being in poor condition, Duan completely shattered the outside world's doubts about him with a great victory in a strong dialogue between the top three in the Western Conference.
Although there are still some comments that Du Enhu is pretending to be a tiger, and he can only play so well because he has the thigh of the Lakers F4.
However, Duane was able to help the Lakers reach first place in the Western Conference with Payton, Kobe, and Malone at the beginning of the season.
Now, together with Payton and O'Neal, we can return to the first place in the Western Conference, and use one victory after another to stabilize the first place in the Western Conference.
It's impossible to say that Duen was hugging Payton's thigh, right? Even the control variable method does not work like this.
You know, Payton's scoring average has slowly dropped from nearly 20 points per game at the beginning of the season to 17.2 points now.
However, due to the departure of Malone, Kobe and others, Duan's scoring data is still rising. It has now surpassed Kobe and reached 25.3 points.
However, due to O'Neal's return, Dunn is not the Lakers' scoring leader in terms of points per game alone.
Although O'Neal played less games, he averaged 26.8 points per game!
To a certain extent, Duane and O'Neal are mutually beneficial and win-win cooperation.
In the triangle offensive system, Duan tightly hugged O'Neal's thigh and played more easily. O'Neal also used Duan's breakthrough and passing to return to his peak, and his dominance at the basket became even more unrivaled.
In fact, Kobe can play like this, more efficiently and more easily. It's just that Kobe is unwilling to continue to be O'Neal's second child.
Nowadays, Du En wants to have status, data, fame and fortune, but in reality, he still needs to improve his data and win a championship ring first.
Closer to home, after defeating the Timberwolves, the Lakers started their road trip again.
This time it was the Eastern Conference and the Western Conference, a total of seven consecutive games for the Devils. It was not until the All-Star Weekend in Los Angeles that the Lakers were able to return to Los Angeles.
Usually four consecutive away games are very hard. Even All-Star players will decline if they play too many away games.
As for the seventh consecutive away game, there is little luck, and there may even be injuries due to fatigue.
It is worth mentioning that the Lakers' first away game was in ice and snow in Toronto, which clearly shows the hardship of seven consecutive away games.
Fortunately, the Lakers have O'Neal, and the Raptors don't have a big center.
Raptors starting center Antonio Davis was injured at the start of the season.
In tonight's game, the Raptors asked Bosh to top O'Neal, which is somewhat cruel.
Because he left Los Angeles and came to Toronto just after beating the Timberwolves, Dunn didn't have much energy to go head-to-head with Carter.
Just like in the past, play simple, pick and roll against small guards, get to the basket and hand the ball to O'Neal, run without the ball and miss a few three-pointers, squeeze out the energy to eat during the fast break, and then it's done. .
87 to 83, with O'Neal making 13 of 20 shots and 10 of 15 free throws. He scored 36 points, 14 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 blocks. The Lakers won their first victory in seven consecutive games with a 4-point advantage.
As the team's second scoring point, Duen also scored 21 points, 5 rebounds and 8 assists, and his performance was remarkable.
However, after defeating the Raptors, the Lakers then went to Indianapolis to challenge the Pacers, who are ranked first in the Eastern Conference, back to back.
This season, under the guidance of Carlisle, the Pacers' overall strength seems to have improved.
Although the Lakers had an easier time beating the Pacers at the Staples Center before, this time it was the Lakers' turn to play back-to-back away games, and the situation was completely reversed.
Without Kobe, the Lakers lack a lock on the perimeter.
Duane is going to guard Reggie Miller, who is going to guard Artest?
If Dunn goes to guard Artest, Reggie Miller will lift the coffin board again.
The Pacers' overall style of play is originally based on shooting, which is more outside-oriented.
Although O'Neal can continue to dominate the basket and do whatever he wants like he did against the Raptors before. But there is no way to help the Lakers strengthen their defense when the Pacers pull out from the inside to shoot.
87 to 94, even if O'Neal scored 32 points, the Lakers still couldn't win.
On the one hand, the Lakers failed to guard the Pacers, and on the other hand, both Payton and Duane's scoring efficiency dropped a lot due to their physical fitness and the Pacers' defensive intensity.
However, back-to-back losses to the No. 1 team in the Eastern Conference are not unacceptable. The Lakers are already missing two stars.
Besides, the Lakers have just lost one game in seven consecutive games, and they are still No. 1 in the Western Conference.
The Kings are still one win away from overthrowing the Lakers' No. 1 spot in the Western Conference.
O'Neal said: "You don't have to worry at all, Shaq will lead you to win."
Because soon, the Lakers ushered in a timely rain.
On February 4, the Lakers arrived at Cleveland's Gund Arena.
The current Cavaliers are undoubtedly a weak team in the Eastern Conference, with 19 wins and 29 losses, ranking tenth in the Eastern Conference.
If the Cavaliers were a Western Conference team, they would now be the first team to prepare for the 2004-05 season.
It's also because the Cavaliers are an Eastern Conference team, which makes them very entangled as to whether they should fail or continue to compete for a playoff spot.
"Dunn, congratulations, you are the first rookie in our class to become an All-Star!"
During the warm-up session before the game, James took the initiative to come to Du En to compliment him.
There was no need to guess at all, Du En already knew James' intention by thinking with his toes.
It can only be said that James is ogling a blind man.
The biggest problem between Du En and James is that they repel the same sex!
Duan's current style of play cannot be said to be exactly the same as that of James, but it is similar.
No matter what the situation is, it is impossible for Duan to team up with James.
Of course, without reaching out to hit the smiling man, Du En still had a fussy exchange with James and said some words of encouragement to James...
As a side note, the results of the fourth round of All-Star voting have been announced. With 1.82 million votes, Duan became the Western Conference All-Star voting leader.
In the Western Conference All-Star votes, right behind Duane is Garnett with 1.8 million votes.
In response to this phenomenon, the boss and the second child fought, and the third child disappeared.
Duane had a lively fight with Garnett, which attracted the attention of fans across the United States.
Duncan, who is low-key, fell out of the top two spots on the Western Conference All-Star forward list.
Duncan, at his peak, had just won his second regular season MVP, championship, and FMVP. He was in his prime, but ended up being reduced to an All-Star substitute.
All I can say is that he is exactly the same as O'Neal last year!
Seeing this situation again, although North American fans don't know the real reason why Dunn can become the Western All-Star vote king, they can think of it-the mysterious power from the East.
However, there are not as many doubts about Du En as there were about Yao Ming last year.
On the one hand, the data is indeed excellent, and on the other hand, the record is also quite excellent.
In conversations between stars again and again, Duan often has the last laugh.
For example, tonight, Duan relied on his understanding of James to personally defend James, resulting in James only scoring 16 points in the game.
Although Duan himself only scored 21 points, O'Neal once again scored 35 points, leading the Lakers to 109-97, easily winning with a huge advantage of 12 points.
After stabilizing their No. 1 record in the Western Conference, the Lakers continued to head east and arrived in Philadelphia on the east coast in the blink of an eye.
The 76ers are slightly better than the Cavaliers, with 20 wins and 29 losses.
After Larry Brown left the 76ers, the 76ers' defense was gone. Even with the addition of Big Dog Robinson, the 76ers' problems cannot be solved by offense alone.
In general, unless Iverson and Big Dog are both open, the 76ers will leak on the outside, inside, and everywhere, and they will not be able to win the ball at all.
By the way, compared to the Cavaliers, Duan still prefers to play the 76ers.
As for the 76ers' outside line, Duan shouldn't be too comfortable playing.
Iverson's real height is less than 1.8 meters, Eric Snow's real height is less than 1.9 meters, and Big Dog's real height is more than 2 meters, but they are offensive kaleidoscopes and defensive ones.
In just three quarters of the game, Duan made 12 of 18 shots, 3 of 5 three-pointers, 5 of 6 free throws, and scored 32 points, 4 rebounds, and 6 assists.
If it weren't for O'Neal's equally fierce performance, he scored 29 points in three quarters, directly defeating the 76ers.
Maybe tonight, Duan can have another wonderful performance of 40+ points.
After beating the 76ers, the Lakers continued their journey, bringing their talent to the South Coast.
On February 8, O'Neal returned to his hometown and came to the Magic's home court - TD Waterhouse Center.
One thing to say is that McGrady is very strong this season, but the Magic's record is very bad.
After half a season, McGrady topped the scoring list, but the Magic only had 13 wins and 39 losses.
McGrady really doesn't have any decent helpers around him, but if the team's record is so bad, the boss of the team will definitely take the blame.
Returning to the Magic's home court, O'Neal had one purpose: to dig out the Magic management's eyes, clean them, and put them back in again.
98 to 90, relying on O'Neal's dominant performance of 34 points and 12 rebounds, the Lakers once again reaped the dividends of the Eastern Conference.
Next, is the last game for the Lakers to take advantage of the Eastern Conference-the Miami Heat.
It's time for Du En to meet his good brother Wade again!
It is worth mentioning that next is another Chinese derby.
Because as early as November last year, Wang Zhizhi was fired by the Clippers.
It was through his strength that he passed the Heat's trial training, and Wang Zhizhi regained the opportunity to play in the NBA.
This season, Wang Zhizhi did not play much playing time with the Heat, and did not even appear in many games.
However, the NBA is not about killing and killing, but about human relationships.
Du En believes that Riley will give Chinese fans a face, and he will also give Du En a face.
