Li Kaiming performed phenomenally against two competitors for two consecutive games, which made his popularity rise a lot in a short period of time!
After the game, Li Kaiming took a look at his Twitter account the next morning. After a period of full play, his total Twitter followers had reached 500,000.
You know, Twitter has not yet developed to the kind of influence that it will have in later generations. The total number of users is estimated to be only tens of millions, and there are also some similar social media that are seizing the market. From these, we can see that Li Kaiming is now His influence is no less than that of most All-Star players!
From this perspective, he may already be an All-Star!
Judging from the growth in the number of fans on social media, All-Star voting will definitely increase significantly. Li Kaiming believes that there is no problem in surpassing Garnett. It depends on whether he can surpass Stoudemire at the last moment.
After the game against the Knicks, the next day, January 25, the Wizards faced the Denver Nuggets at home. This Nuggets team led by "Melo" Carmelo Anthony and Chauncey Billups is currently Ranked 6th in the Western Conference with 25 wins and 18 losses, one game behind the Utah Jazz in front and the Portland Trail Blazers in the back.
If nothing else, this year's Nuggets should be able to enter the playoffs with a ranking in the bottom half of the Western Conference.
In fact, the current Nuggets team is only famous for Anthony, Billups and Kenyon Martin, and the others are all insignificant role players.
Ah, by the way, I forgot about a heavyweight, that is J.R. Smith, the amazing player who plays as the sixth man for the Nuggets and is known as "Highlights Jordan".
Of course, their starting center is also a little famous. He is a black and tough center from Brazil, but he has a name that Chinese fans can't help but laugh when they see it - Nene!
LOL! How come there are still people in this world called underwear?
Nene: Isn’t that weird? Some people call them gay!
Rudy Gay: Do I have a part in this?
The game between the two sides started soon, and the popularity of this game was not low. After all, there are several star-level players such as Li Kaiming, Billups and Anthony. What do most NBA viewers watch, aren't they the stars?
So as long as there are stars on the court, there will be a guarantee of attendance. This is why team owners are willing to give higher wages to All-Star players. Winning the championship is one aspect, but the bigger reason is that All-Star players can bring more benefits to the boss. More profits!
For these owners, owning a team is just an investment. How many of them really like the sport of basketball?
Only Jordan and Cuban, the owner of the Dallas Mavericks, are the only ones who are fully prepared, but even these two people must put profits first when running the team.
This is what a large number of fans don't understand. Why is the boss unwilling to spend a lot of money to introduce stars and then win the championship?
That’s because fans and owners have different ways of thinking. If you were replaced as an owner, and a team was making a steady profit, you would take risks and spend money to introduce a star player just for the sake of a player who may not yet be able to get it. Champion?
Most people still like to rest on their laurels steadily, and some dare to gamble big, but fans can only see those who succeed in gambling, and they are glamorous, but there are also a lot of failed gambles in history.
This game is a very typical example. Just these few people walking on the court, most fans will buy it and buy tickets to come and have a look at their favorite stars.
As for the sales of peripheral products driven by the stars, let alone that.
The game between the two sides started off as a confrontation, but it was a pity that Li Kaiming didn't have the slightest sense of participation in tonight's confrontation.
It is very possible that his touch was completely used up in the last game, and it was outrageous after the start of this game.
Fortunately, in the last game, his teammates retained a lot of strength, so they were able to have a 50-50 draw with the Nuggets.
A major focus of the game against the Nuggets is to limit Anthony's singles. Anthony is a standard wing scorer. His favorite move is to ask for the ball at the waist and then attack with a three-threat.
This set of operations can be said to be Anthony's three axes, but few in the league can defend against these three axes.
Especially the current starting small forward of the Wizards is Sun Yue. Compared with Anthony, Sun Yue can be said to be lagging behind in all aspects, especially in physical fitness. Although Anthony is not as strong and fast as James, he is Sun Yue couldn't resist even if he fully used his strength to eat it.
After the two sides finished the half, with Sun Yue's main defense, Anthony scored 18 points in the half.
As for Billups, as the MVP of the Finals, he has been selected to the All-NBA Team and the All-Defensive Team in the regular season. Although he has reached the later stage of his career, he averaged 19.5+5.6 points per game last season. According to the statistics, Kirk Hinrich is a very good point guard, but compared with Billups, the difference is clear.
In addition to offense, Hinrich was completely behind Billups on the defensive end. He was unable to limit Billups' breakthrough.
Hinrich is already a relatively reliable outside defender for the Wizards, but he is still at a disadvantage compared with the Nuggets. Under such circumstances, after halftime, the Wizards inevitably fell behind by 12 points.
The Wizards returned to serve in the third quarter. Li Kaiming, who had been playing hard for half the game, was ready to try his hand, so he asked for the ball from the outside and hit it himself.
The Nuggets' main defender against Li Kaiming was the violent Nets big man Kenyon Martin. As the No. 1 pick in 2000, Martin's physical fitness is naturally very strong, and he has also been selected to the All-Star. It can be said that his level is worthy of the No. 1 pick. Bit.
But the tragedy is that when Kenyon Martin, the No. 1 pick, meets those historical No. 1 picks, he will be beaten out of a representative new series.
For example, in the 2001-02 season, the Nets, led by Jason Kidd, Kenyon Martin and Richard Jefferson, entered the Finals as the Eastern Conference champions, and their opponent in the Finals was, oK The Lakers led by the combination!
And this is the real pinnacle shark!
Poor Kenyon Martin was not only swept by the Lakers, but also averaged 36.3 points, 12.3 rebounds and 3.8 assists per game by O'Neal. And this was O'Neal who was troubled by foot bone spurs this season...
This year was already miserable enough. The Nets and Kenyon Martin were also preparing to make a comeback in the second year. This time without O'Neal, the Lakers also stopped in the Western Conference playoffs, but this time Kenyon Martin encountered Another historic No. 1 pick, Tim Duncan!
Although the Nets held on longer this time and were not swept, Duncan at his peak averaged 24.2 points, 17 rebounds, 5.3 assists, 5.3 blocks and 1 steal in 6 games in the series against Kenyon Martin. After Young Martin became a stepping stone on O'Neal's road to three consecutive MVPs, the next year he became a brick on Duncan's path to becoming a god...
Therefore, Kenyon Martin is actually a bit indifferent to other No. 1 picks, especially Li Kaiming, who has great influence as soon as he enters the league.
Because generally speaking, only those historical stars will have a popularity as a rookie that other players cannot match in their peak years. Doesn’t this mean that Kenyon Martin will be beaten by this little bastard Li Kaiming tonight? A meal?
So Kenyon Martin's defense was particularly serious tonight, and what made him feel reassured was that Li Kaiming's performance in the first half was not very good. Under his defense, he only scored 9 points at the end of the half, and he did not score in double figures. How can this be called a historical rookie?
Kenyon Martin immediately looked down on Li Kaiming. It seems that Kenyon's defense is not something that anyone can penetrate. As a tester of a historical star, at present, the level of the kid opposite is still far away. !
So in the first round of the second half, when Li Kaiming wanted the ball for a single, Kenyon Martin was a little disdainful!
"You brat, go home and drink milk! You're still far away!"
Martin was talking trash while approaching Li Kaiming and trying to steal.
But it's okay not to talk trash. As long as he jumps in front of Li Kaiming, he will definitely teach such people a lesson!
So the moment Martin came over, Li Kaiming suddenly dropped the ball and moved laterally, and then opened the distance between him and Martin. Martin's defense was very aggressive, because after half-time defense, he felt that Li Kaiming was not able to face his defense at all. Dare to break through inside.
However, the next moment, the expression on Martin's face changed, because after he followed up "aggressively", Li Kaiming suddenly turned around to avoid his shot, and then strode directly to dribble towards the basket!
Martin yelled to alert his teammates and turned around to follow.
But after Li Kaiming's speed increased, how could someone like Kenyon Martin keep up? Nene inside also stood under the basket, ready to protect the basket.
Nene's frame protection level is still very good, so he is also very confident in himself, thinking that Li Kaiming will definitely pass the ball.
As a result, after Li Kaiming reached the basket, he directly faced Nene's defense and went for a layup. Nene wanted to block Li Kaiming's shot, but the latter blocked it with his ball protector, then wiped the board with one hand and successfully scored!
After scoring the goal, Li Kaiming turned to look at the gloomy Kenyon Martin, and then said with a smile, "I hope you can repeat what you just said after the game tonight!"
Martin looked at Li Kaiming's leaving figure and slowly narrowed his eyes. Boy, what can this goal mean?
He was still dissatisfied. Who was Kenyon Martin? Do you want to step on anyone's head and shit?
The Nuggets attacked Anthony and missed a single shot. After reaching the frontcourt, Li Kaiming asked for the ball again. Hinrich hesitated and passed it.
Martin saw this and posted it again. This time he wanted to steal the rookie and show him what the NBA's top defense is!
Li Kaiming: Are you worthy of top defense?
Faced with this mindless personal defense, Li Kaiming took a step forward and passed Martin, then rushed to the basket and made a one-handed dunk!
Martin: No, the sleeping blood in the body has awakened, and another top pick is about to break out tonight!
