After winning an away game, the Minnesota Timberwolves are finally in a better situation. At least, it seemed like they still had a chance to make a comeback, instead of being beaten 0-3 with basically no chance of a counterattack.
Zhao Feiyang's score of 44 points also made him a hot topic of discussion again.
Interestingly, at the same time, the NBA officially announced this season's regular season MVP. The person who won the regular season MVP is no stranger to fans. It is the Thunder's super core Russell Westbrook.
Although Kevin Durant's departure caused the Oklahoma City Thunder to lose hope of winning the championship and left Westbrook alone for a while, he still turned his grief and anger into strength and played the best performance of his career. season.
He averaged 31.6 points, 10.7 rebounds and 10.4 assists per game. Such triple-double data shocked the entire league.
More importantly, on this basis, Westbrook still successfully led the team into the Western Conference playoffs. Even though the outside world has always said that he is a "brush", his performance is indeed very good and he also helps the ball. The team won many games.
Westbrook deserves the award.
When he won the MVP trophy, many players in the league also sent him congratulatory messages, including of course Zhao Feiyang.
As one of the superstars in the league, Zhao Feiyang's friendship with Westbrook is not deep, but that does not mean that there is no friendship. The two are also figures in the circle, so it is normal to send a message of congratulations.
However, many Chinese fans soon started discussing this matter.
Because many people find that below Westbrook's ranking is James Harden, and the person behind James Harden is Zhao Feiyang.
As the second-placed player, James Harden averaged 29.1 points, 11.2 assists and 8.1 rebounds per game.
This data is also quite explosive, only a little bit worse than Westbrook's performance.
So what about Zhao Feiyang who is ranked behind him?
He averaged 28.9 points, 9.6 assists and 9.1 rebounds in the regular season.
In fact, it is not too far away from Harden's performance, it can even be said to be very close, especially in terms of rebounds, Zhao Feiyang's performance is even better than Harden.
Compared with Westbrook, who won the regular season MVP, Zhao Feiyang's data is completely visible. Even when looking at the statistics of some previous regular season MVPs, his data are actually higher.
The only difference between him and the first two is that the first two started playing at the beginning of the season, while he only returned to the NBA from the CBA in the middle. As a result, he has played less than two games. human.
Because of this relationship, even if his data exceeds Westbrook's, I'm afraid he may not be better than him in winning the MVP.
League officials will definitely take attendance into consideration when considering awarding the MVP trophy. After all, the MVP is the face of the league, and it is impossible to give it to a player who came back halfway, especially if this player is a non-native Asian player.
Although there are fewer games and other conditions, Zhao Feiyang's scoring data still aroused the imagination of many fans. At this point, Timberwolves fans and Chinese fans have become very excited.
"Zhao has played for several seasons! He has also played in China for so many years. As a veteran in the football world, he actually has quite a few honors. However, currently in the NBA, in addition to the championship and All-Star Game, Of those honors, he has yet to win a regular season MVP..."
"What is the saying? The No. 1 pick may be a parallel import, but the MVP is definitely not. I believe Zhao definitely has the ability to win the MVP, but now it seems that he needs to work harder...at least in terms of statistics. Work harder..."
"Zhao is so humble! He could have racked up more statistics when he was in the Timberwolves, but he never did that. Once he could rest, he would definitely save energy and sit on the bench... He should learn more from this guy Russell..."
"If I were Zhao, I would have to get more non-confrontational rebounds... Anyway, as long as I have the opportunity to take more shots, grab the rebounds and then take shots, I can definitely get double rebounds." Count..."
The fans were talking very enthusiastically. Zhao Feiyang also went online to read the comments from supporters during the break. It has to be said that after reading a series of comments, he suddenly felt a desire to compete in his heart. MVP idea.
"I've been playing in the NBA for so long, and it's really embarrassing to not even have an MVP..."
"That's it for this season. Next season we can compete..."
While feeling emotional, Zhao Feiyang also paid attention to the game between the Thunder and Rockets. Although Westbrook just won the MVP, the Thunder team he led did not achieve better results.
After the two sides came to the third game, the Thunder were directly beaten 3-0 by the Rockets.
In the series contest between the two sides, Harden's performance was indeed eye-catching, especially in terms of leading the team. Harden seems to be more helpful to his teammates than Westbrook.
Westbrook's performance in the first two games was not as good as Harden's, and his personal data was basically suppressed by Harden, so the team lost.
In the third game, Westbrook also broke out completely. He took crazy shots throughout the game and continued to break through to the Rockets' basket. In short, he tried his best to push his personal score to 51 points. .
Logically speaking, such explosive scoring data is already very impressive, but what people never expected is that even though Westbrook had scored 51 points in this game, the Thunder still lost to the Rockets in the end.
The score between the two sides was 111 to 115.
The Thunder only lost by 4 points.
Harden only scored 35 points, which seems to be a bit behind Westbrook. But the highest score among Westbrook's teammates besides himself was only 12 points, while on Harden's side, Eric Gordon and Lou Williams scored 43 points together.
Patrick Beverley also scored 15 points.
The Rockets are obviously better than the Thunder in terms of overall performance.
Because of such a huge contrast, after the game, Westbrook's MVP was not recognized by more people. Instead, some media who questioned him took the opportunity to question him wildly.
"Russell is just a brush! Yes, he can score 51 points, but so what? His team will still lose!"
"Not to mention compared with James Harden, I think he can't even compare with Zhao. Zhao scored 44 points, which is not very impressive, but he helped the team successfully counterattack the opponent... From this point of view Said, Zhao's ability shown in the team is obviously stronger..."
"Of course 51 points is great! But if there are only personal data, then other players can do it too! This is nothing special! Personal honors should not be ranked first above the team, this is the playoffs..."
Westbrook originally didn't say anything, but after hearing the comments from many media, he, who had never responded very much, became angry and started complaining directly on his personal social media.
"Shut up you bastards!"
"When I didn't score, I said I wasn't capable enough and couldn't control the game. When I scored, you guys jumped out and said I was over-scoring... Damn it! I don't want to hear your nonsense there! Shut up. Talk! Don't affect my game..."
When there was a lot of noise about the MVP, the fourth game of the series for the Timberwolves started again.
This time LaVine, Adrian and others made a full comeback. However, after experiencing warnings and punishments from the team, LaVine and others were not placed in the starting lineup, but came on as substitutes.
Just like the start of the third game, the Timberwolves continued to score points based on Zhao Feiyang's personal ability. Zhao Feiyang also had no other worries at all. He increased his singles and also increased the number of personal shots. Under his leadership, the Timberwolves also led the Grizzlies after the first quarter.
In the second quarter, the Grizzlies continued to send their main lineup on the field, but LaVine and others came up as substitutes. They originally hoped to make a contribution, but this time it can be said that they were full of firepower. After coming on the court, they guarded the opponent desperately.
The sudden change disrupted the Grizzlies' rhythm and put Coach Thibodeau into panic.
Their defensive ability is indeed very strong, no one can deny this.
But both sides have already reached the fourth game, and have tested each other's status, and have adapted to the intensity of both offense and defense. Therefore, in this case, the Grizzlies, who are only good at defense but not offense, are at a disadvantage.
Although the Timberwolves' defense is worse than theirs, the Timberwolves have too many scorers. Take LaVine's bench lineup as an example. Both he and Adrian have certain scoring abilities.
This allowed them, who performed better on the offensive end, to continue to lead the opponent at halftime.
Beep.
After the first half, both sides entered the locker room to rest.
The outstanding performance in the first two quarters made the Timberwolves very happy, and even Zhao Feiyang couldn't help but relax.
But LaVine, Adrian and others are still very cautious. If they make a mistake, they can use this game to fight for forgiveness from the fans, so they don't dare to be careless even if the team is ahead.
The second half soon arrived.
The Timberwolves continued with their previous lineup. In the first half of the third quarter, Zhao Feiyang served as the scoring point, with Rose assisting from the side. In the second half, it was LaVine who held the ball and attacked, using coordinated tactics with Adrian and others inside to suppress the Grizzlies' bench.
The most gratifying thing is Wiggins.
After sleepwalking for several games, the man who was nicknamed "drinking wolfberry from a thermos cup" finally produced a wonderful performance.
Faced with JaMychal Green's marking, he directly scored 16 points in a single quarter and defeated the opponent.
Because of this, even before the last three minutes of the game, there was no suspense about the situation on the field. The two sides tied 114 to 100, with the Timberwolves leading by a full 14 points.
Five of the team's main players scored in double figures, and Zhao Feiyang also scored a team-high 30 points.
