On the evening of the 11th, there was another game worth watching, that is, the Houston Mosaics challenged the Sacramento Kings away from home.
The highlight of this game is actually the Mosaic team.
Currently, the Mosaic team has a regular season record of 57 wins and 23 losses, ranking third in the Western Conference. Tonight is their penultimate game of the regular season.
It is worth mentioning that the previous best regular season record in the history of the Houston Mosaics was the 58-24 record in a single season led by Olajuwon as the core in the 1993-94 season.
As long as he wins this game tonight, Harden will be able to match Hakeem Olajuwon, the first player in Mosaic team history...at least in terms of leading the team, they can tie.
Therefore, this game is of great significance to Harden's mosaic career.
You don't have to think twice to know that he will definitely give his best tonight.
In fact, as early as 2015, Harden led the Mosaic team to create the second-best record in team history of 56 wins and 25 losses. At that time, many fans said that Harden would one day be able to break the team record created by Olajuwon. Best record in history.
But what everyone didn't expect was that this day came so quickly.
Tonight's opponent, the Kings, just faced the loss of the team's core point guard to Los Angeles during the All-Star Weekend. Now there is only one Andrew Wiggins left on the team who can take action.
Since Rondo left, Wiggins' usage rate has skyrocketed in the second half of the season. Not only has his playing time increased, but his number of shots has also increased significantly. Before the All-Star Game, he averaged 26.8 points per game. After the All-Star Game, his scoring average rose to 28.5 points per game after taking 5 more shots.
As the genius No. 1 pick in 2014, Wiggins has grown into a super scorer averaging nearly 30+ per game in his third year in the league. Wiggins' growth trajectory in this time and space is completely beyond Wang Zelin's inherent impression of him.
If I remember correctly, Wiggins’ performance with the Minnesota Timberwolves in the 2016-17 season averaged 23.6 points, 4 rebounds, 2.3 assists, 1 steal, and 0.4 blocks per game. Compared with the rookies in the same period, he was definitely the top one, but he was definitely It has not reached its current heights.
A third-year NBA player averages 28.5 points per game, almost close to 30 points. Even if you look at the entire league, he can be called a super scorer, not to mention he is still so young.
It can only be said that the environment will really change a person.
Precisely because Brother Zui is so ambitious, he now has the support of the league, and he looks like the first small forward on the perimeter of the new generation, the absolute leader of the new generation of supernovas.
Even though the Kings' record plummeted after the All-Star Game and they fell out of the Western Conference playoff contenders early, the Kings' games still attracted a lot of traffic and fan attention.
Tonight, their opponent is the Mosaic team, one of the top teams in the Western Conference. The league is also very generous and has arranged a live broadcast across the United States. The media even posted the title "one force can defeat two guns".
What's the meaning?
It is Wiggins who is about to single-handedly compete with the super scorer combination of Harden and Melo.
Will the young supernova defend the home court?
Or is it the Lantern Melon Group that teaches the young king how to be a good man?
Everything is unknown.
At 6:40 that night, the Kings’ home court at Arco Arena was a star-studded night.
On this memorable day, the Houston management specially invited Hakeem Olajuwon, the first player in team history, to come to watch the game, and some famous players in the series were also invited to watch the game.
Yao, who is the best blue shoe brother in China, couldn't resist the warm invitation from his home team. He took time out of his busy schedule and flew to Sacramento overnight.
With the arrival of Dayao, this game began to be widely circulated among the Chinese fans.
Although Wang Zelin's achievements in the NBA and international arena have surpassed Yao's and any previous Chinese men's basketball legend, this still cannot change Dayao's unshakable status among Chinese basketball fans. special meaning.
Yao Yao is here, and many domestic entertainment stars also come to join in the fun.
On the Kings side, Ajiali, the daughter of the Kings owner with an angelic face and a devilish figure, has undoubtedly become a bright pearl that shines at the Arco Arena tonight.
In addition to Ajiali, many Hollywood stars also appeared at the scene, some invited by the alliance and some who came spontaneously to support.
It can also be seen from this that the league really attaches great importance to this game and is very optimistic about Wiggins' prospects, which is why it praises him and the Kings so much.
All in all, the stage has been set, just waiting for the players from both sides to get into position.
At 7 o'clock that night, the war broke out as scheduled.
In this battle, Mosaic's three generals Eric Gordon, Nene and Ariza entered the rotation list, so theoretically, the Kings encountered an incomplete Mosaic team and had certain hope of defeating them.
But after the game started, the obvious gap in the overall strength of the two teams became apparent.
The Mosaic team started with a hot outside touch. Anderson hit all of his first four three-pointers. The Mosaic team quickly established a double-digit advantage, including Harden's buzzer-beating three-pointer before the end of the first quarter.
After the first quarter, the Mosaics led the Kings 42:27.
Among them, the Mosaic team made 9 of 15 three-pointers in a single quarter, tying the team's season single-quarter record with 9 three-pointers.
In the second quarter, the two teams' offenses were in full swing, and the offense and defense transitioned very quickly. Wiggins showed his style as a quasi-super scorer. First, he completed a explosive dunk, causing the opponent to foul and score 2+1, and then continued to score points through continuous breakthroughs. , helping the team narrow the score.
Perhaps due to his partnership with Rondo for a period of time, Wiggins' organizational skills have improved rapidly. After Rondo left the team to join the Clippers, he took on all the important responsibilities on the offensive end of the team, not only his own Score, but also help teammates score together.
In addition, individual defense and outside assist defense on the defensive end must also be taken into consideration.
After playing with the Kings, Wiggins now really feels like James in the 1.0 Cavaliers period... he is both a father and a mother on the court.
Compared with previous ridicules such as the Wolfberry Mamba and the Healthy Mamba, the current Wiggins is fully worthy of the James template that the media predicted for him during the draft, and he deserves to be called the favored man of heaven.
There is no doubt about Wiggins' talent, which is of an absolute historical level. Perhaps his organizational talent is not as good as James', but his other talents are no less than James's. With the guidance of the famous teacher Rondo, his organizational ability has now reached the same position in active service. The position players are in the middle and upper reaches, which may be insufficient when leading a strong playoff team, but he is in the Kings after all, and he is still barely enough to lead the Kings' teammates.
At the end of the first half, thanks to Wiggins' outstanding performance of 24 points, 8 rebounds and 6 assists, the score reached 65.:78. The Kings trailed the Mosaics by 13 points, barely holding on to the point difference.
You know, the Mosaic team this season is an out-and-out offensive team. They scored at least 70 points in the half 10 times in the regular season, and 70+ points in the half only happened once last season.
Facing such an ultimate magic ball team, it is not easy for Wiggins to lead a single-core team to this level.
The only flaw is probably the irritating five turnovers in the half. Assists and turnovers were almost the same.
But young people always have to pay tuition fees for growth, which is understandable.
In front of the two sides who were 24+8+6 at halftime, Cricket made 5 mistakes, which is completely worth mentioning.
Back in the second half, the Kings scored 6 points in a row at the beginning of the third quarter, bringing the score to single digits.
Just as the Kings fans in Arco Arena were cheering, "Melo" Anthony suddenly stood up and scored two consecutive three-pointers to directly stop the Kings.
In his previous life, the 2016-17 season was Anthony's last year with the New York Knicks. At that time, he was able to average 22.4 points, 5.9 rebounds, and 2.9 assists at the All-Star level. Melon has not turned into a poisonous melon and is still sweet. .
This is why when he joined the Thunder in his first season, the outside world called him, Paul George, and Russell Westbrook the Thunder's Big Three.
During this period, Melo's scoring ability did not need to be questioned by the outside world. Even after joining Mosaic, he was still an offensive kaleidoscope.
Perhaps considering that he is getting older and further away from his championship dream, joining Mosaic and teaming up with Harden may be the last window of his career to win the championship. The once proud Melo not only settled the differences with his former coach D'Antoni, but also in order to be positive After being integrated into the magic ball system that D'Antoni carefully built for the Mosaic team, he actually... took the initiative to choose to lose weight and transform.
Yes, you heard it right. After Anthony joined Mosaic at the age of 33, he decided to lose weight and undergo a transformation after careful consideration.
For Anthony, this actually serves multiple purposes.
First of all, Anthony's weight is an absolute heavyweight among players at the third position, and he is more than enough to even play at the fourth position. Losing weight can enhance his mobility and defense switching ability on the court, and can also extend his career age.
Then there's the transformation into a three-point shooter.
To put it simply, the magic ball system is to greatly reduce the mid-range in addition to efficiency. Shooting, three-pointers and finishing at the basket are the team's main offensive options, and then pursue the ultimate offense.
With Harden as the core, if you want to cooperate with him to play the magic ball well, perimeter players must have one hand and three-point ability.
The three-point ability fits well with the current NBA offensive trend. Anthony can complete the transformation several seasons earlier than in his previous life, which will also allow this once traditional offensive kaleidoscope to better transition quickly to the new version.
The reason why Anthony went downhill quickly after leaving the Knicks in his previous life, to the point where he could no longer play, was mainly because his technical characteristics were decoupled from the small ball era where three-pointers were the main focus.
Anthony's offensive characteristics are almost all designed for one-on-one challenges. In the small ball era, except for a few players who can have specific one-on-one challenges, all other players must serve three-pointers and defense.
After Anthony left the Knicks, he neither had a stable three-pointer, nor was he a famous defensive end. He didn't touch either side. No wonder he almost couldn't hit the ball.
If he can complete the transformation in advance and develop a stable three-pointer, his career lifespan will be greatly extended.
No need to doubt that a historical super scorer like Anthony will not be able to practice three-pointers?
In the future, some people will say that when Jordan reaches the small ball era, his playing style will be at best an enhanced version of DeRozan?
Ignoring the background of NBA play in different eras and simply making cross-era comparisons is an extremely absurd hooliganism in itself.
If Gang Leader Qiao really grew up in the small ball era, with his talent and touch, it would be impossible for him not to be able to practice three-pointers.
Even mid-range shots, which are theoretically more difficult, can be practiced to an unprecedented level. Among them, the field goal percentage is more than 50%, which is the only one in history among outside players. There is no reason why people can't practice three-pointers. .
Therefore, it is not unacceptable for Anthony to develop three-pointers after joining Mosaic.
His shooting talent is already outstanding. In the past, it was just due to the needs of the version, and more importantly, he was in the mid-range.
As we all know, if a player wants to see whether he has shooting talent, he often looks at free throws.
Carmelo Anthony is a player with a career free throw percentage of over 80%. There is no doubt about his shooting talent.
What's more, Anthony's shooting percentage in his previous career was not so bad that it was unsightly. Except for three of the first four years of his rookie contract, his shooting percentage fell below 30%. In the remaining years, his three-point shooting percentage basically remained above 30%.
After the 2007-08 season, the year with the lowest shooting rate was 31.6%, and the highest year was 42.4%. That was the 10-11 season. He averaged 4.6 three-pointers per game and hit 2 goals.
Judging from a large sample of career data, he can practice three-pointers.
The key is that while Melo is shooting 39.6% of his three-pointers this season, he has not lost the mid-range shots that he was once proud of.
CIC was once a weapon of God, and it was also a magical skill that was refined after being tempered on the big stage of the playoffs. It is also the best cost-effective choice for superstars to save their face as they age. With such a special skill, Melon will naturally not give up easily.
In the third quarter of the game against the Kings, Anthony felt explosive and showed textbook shooting skills.
No, to be precise, it should be the art of shooting.
After scoring two consecutive three-pointers, after a timeout, the Kings had just launched an 8:2 attack wave, hoping to equalize the score in one fell swoop.
At the critical moment, after noticing that his teammates were struggling with three-point shooting, it was Anthony who stepped forward again.
But the difference from before was that this time he chose to fire from the mid-range. He hit two consecutive mid-range jumpers on both sides of the free throw line, pouring cold water on the young boys of the Kings.
Pay special attention to the fact that including the first two three-pointers, Anthony has scored 10 points in the third quarter, and all the points were scored on the head of Kings star Wiggins.
Facing the veteran Anthony, all the defensive skills Wiggins learned from his big brother Rondo were all useless at this moment, and he was inevitably a little frustrated.
But this cannot be blamed on Wiggins. Basketball is essentially a scoring game. Now Anthony has obviously improved his shooting skills. Let alone Wiggins, even if Leonard comes, it may not work.
Relying on Anthony's magical performance of scoring 18 points in the third quarter, this high-profile battle finally turned into a one-sided game for the Mosaic team.
After three quarters, the point difference between the two sides had been widened to 24 points. Anthony clocked out three quarters early, and his personal score was fixed at 33 points.
Harden also clocked out of get off work in the third quarter, but he still sent out a game-high 11 assists and scored a double-double of 28 points and 11 assists.
Relying on the outstanding performance of the lighting combination, the Mosaic team finally beat the Mosaic King 138:121 and achieved their 58th win in the regular season.
So far, under the leadership of the two men, the Mosaic team has successfully tracked down the best regular season record in team history created by Olajuwon from 1993 to 1990.
At the press conference after the game, the ambitious lighting team stated that the next game is the last stop of the regular season, and the Mosaic team will target Portland!
(End of chapter)
