Chapter 199 - Hey, isn't this Kobe? You haven't looked like this in a few days, huh?"

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However, in the following years, as James' popularity skyrocketed in the Eastern Conference, his position was shifted to forward. No one in the East's frontcourt could compete with him, even after Wang Chong arrived in the East. In the Western Conference, his popularity continued to grow. He had been suppressing James, but since the two starting forward spots were reserved for the All-Star Game, James had been the Eastern Conference All-Star starter for the past two years.

But this time, Garnett's arrival was a real threat.

This forced the league to come up with this clever method to make James transition back to being a defender.

This move demonstrated the importance the league placed on James, the future pillar, and also showcased its foresight.

After the first week, the results of the second round of voting were announced.

Wang Chong and Garnett continued to lead the voting rankings in the Eastern Conference, and even the entire league, with James trailing behind them. Although the vote count between James and Garnett was very close, he wasn't even one vote behind.

The All-Star voting in the East was a life-or-death battle, but there was plenty of confusion in the West, because Kobe, who had the most votes in the entire West, could only occupy fifth place on the list. Not only was he behind Wang Chong, Garnett, and James, but even Howard, who had suddenly emerged as a center, was slightly ahead of him.

As for Yao Ming, the most popular vote-getter in the Western Conference in recent years, his vote increase this year was rather average. He only ranked fourth among the stars in the Western Conference, behind Kobe, Anthony, and Duncan.

This was not because the enthusiasm of the Chinese fans had waned, but because the league had also considered it unfair that China, with its large population, was voting for other players in the All-Star voting, so they reduced the count of votes from China based on regional voting proportions.

Still, Yao Ming's vote count was still among the top four in the Western Conference, and the gap between him and the fifth place was almost double. That was more than enough to secure him a spot as a starter in the All-Star Game.

The NBA All-Star voting is divided into three rounds. Each round lasts a week. Considering statistics and other factors, the whole process spans about a month.

During this period, NBA games continued.

December 25 - Christmas Day Game

The Bulls hit the road to face off against their Eastern Conference rivals, the Cleveland Cavaliers.

The league went all out to ensure that the two teams could have a close battle on Christmas Day. The game was held at the Cavaliers' home court, trying to minimize the strength disparity between the two teams as much as possible.

But the strength difference between the two teams was hardly noticeable.

Even without the moderation of Luo Deng, James brought full firepower to the game, directly challenging Wang Chong. Wang Chong scored 41 points, grabbed 8 rebounds, and had 4 assists, while James posted a triple-double with 36 points, 10 rebounds, and 10 assists.

As usual, Wang Chong led the score, while James was better in every other aspect, so it could only be considered a tie.

But when he looked at his teammates, he was doomed.

In the face of the Cavaliers' weak interior line, Garnett dominated, scoring 21 points, grabbing 15 rebounds, and adding 5 assists, penetrating through the Cavaliers' defense.

Billups also contributed 18 points and 8 assists.

The interior defense system the Cavaliers built around Ben was utterly ineffective. In other words, Ben, whose jump and explosive power had drastically decreased due to age, no longer had the dominance of the four-time Defensive Player of the Year in the Detroit era.

Ray Allen felt good in this game, hitting 4 out of 7 three-pointers and scoring 24 points. But he was also the only player around James who could offer help.

The other Cavaliers players had low offensive efficiency under the Bulls' defensive system built around Garnett, making it very difficult for them to score.

As a result, the Bulls defeated the Cavaliers 104-88 in the Christmas Day game, with Wang Chong continuing to maintain his undefeated streak against James.

In the January schedule, the Bulls continued to maintain an ultra-high win rate of over 80%, with 13 wins and 3 losses in 16 games. Their record had distanced them from other teams in the league, and they were clearly incomparable.

From the Eastern side, on the surface, even if the regular season ended, it was difficult to find a team with more than 55 wins. On the Western side, only the Los Angeles Lakers, led by Kobe Bryant, had a slim chance of hitting a 60-win record in the regular season.

In recent years, several powerful teams in the Western Conference regular season, such as the Spurs, Mavericks, and Suns, had experienced varying degrees of decline this season, and their records only hovered around 68%.

In contrast, the New Orleans Hornets, led by Chris Paul, had shown great effectiveness in the new season. Although this Hornets team lacked defensive general Tyson Chandler, their team record kept improving, and they currently ranked second in the Western Conference, only surpassed by the Lakers in win record.

The Bulls and Lakers, the teams with the best records in the East and West, were set to face off for the first time on January 16.

The Bulls were at home, facing the challenge from the Lakers.

January 16, 2008

United Center, Chicago.

Bulls vs. Lakers.

The battle for the top spot in the Eastern and Western Conferences was definitely the focus of the league.

The Lakers' excellent record demonstrated that their decision to acquire Pau Gasol through a trade wave in the summer had been very correct.

As a star, Gasol might not stand out in the league, but his playing style made him the player who fit best with Phil Jackson's triangle offense. Additionally, the Lakers had big men like Odom and Bynum, contributing to their interior strength.

So far this season, the Lakers ranked first in the league in rebounds per game, and their 109 points per game also ranked among the best of the 30 teams in the league.

The Lakers' reputation as one of the top three big men in the league shocked the league, but when they faced the Bulls, people were surprised to find out who the true "top three" were.

Wang Chong, Garnett, and Marc Gasol all stood at 2.11 meters tall. On the Lakers' side, Pau Gasol and Bynum were 2.13 meters, only slightly taller, and Odom stood at 2.08 meters, the only player under the 2.11-meter mark.

As a result, in terms of average height, the Bulls were almost identical to the Lakers' three tallest big men, and there was no clear advantage.

In this game, to counter the Bulls, the Lakers directly started with sixth man Odom, replacing the starting forward Luke Walton.

Speaking of which, although the league had evolved under Wang Chong's influence, it seems that it still had some ability to correct itself, or you could say, it was the style, habits, and instincts of the management and coaches.

Luke Walton had originally been lost to the Lakers because of Wang Chong. Unexpectedly, after his rookie contract ended, he returned to the Lakers as a free agent and became the Lakers' starting forward for the new season.

Of course, thanks to Odom, his starting position was only a pseudo-starter, averaging just over 20 minutes per game, much less than Odom's 35 minutes per game.

The local Bulls fans looked at the players on both sides and felt a strong sense of pressure.

There were three players on each side standing around 2.11 meters tall. At the same time, the Bulls' starting shooting guard, James Jones, was 2.03 meters, while the Lakers' shooting guard, Kobe Bryant, was 1.98 meters.

The only shorter players on the court were the two point guards, Billups at 1.91 meters and Derek Fisher at 1.85 meters.

Clearly, this was a high-level showdown.

But that was only on the surface. Wang Chong knew very well that, although the three important interior players played a significant role during the Lakers' back-to-back championships, the true core of the team was Kobe. The pressure on the interior defense of other teams was increasing, but without a strong point from the outside to score, the interior alone wouldn't work.

However, to discredit Kobe, many people attributed the Lakers' back-to-back titles to their interior advantage, whether it was Gasol, who had a very high tactical status, or Odom and Bynum, who were mainly defensive big men and didn't possess a strong offensive game. They were more like functional interior players and couldn't win games with a dominant inside presence like O'Neal.

Kobe Bryant had the final say on this Lakers team, and he was undoubtedly the most important and decisive player.

If a team wanted to win, their overall team score must be higher than the opponent's.

Therefore, when facing the Lakers, competing with the opponent's interior wasn't the main theme; it was how to limit Kobe's scoring through defense.

Because in order to acquire Garnett, the Bulls had traded their best perimeter defender, Laga Bell, off

 the team. It was nearly impossible to limit Kobe in a one-on-one defense.

Additionally, even Bell, known as Kobe's stopper, could not completely contain Kobe.

The Suns had played against the Lakers three times in the playoffs. Except for the last time in the 2009-10 Western Conference Finals, when Bell left the team, Bell was the primary defender against Kobe in the other two series.

Although the Lakers lost to the Suns both times, Kobe averaged 27.9 points in one series and 32.8 points in the other, with a shooting percentage over 46%, much higher than his usual average. What kind of stopper against Kobe was Bell really?

Of course, Wang Chong didn't expect to defend Kobe one-on-one. He had a better way to deal with Kobe. He knew Kobe very well. In fact, Kobe was strong, but he really didn't care. When reckless, he would face five players at the same time. Kobe was the only one in the league who dared to act even when double-teamed.

Some people still boast about this, thinking it's the Mamba mentality and never admitting defeat.

Players like this should be paired with teammates who have the Mamba mentality every day when they play. They don't play as a team and don't support. They often develop and force a one-on-five situation to beat them, and still complain about their teammates. Dish, CBA, let's see if they can handle it.

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The game was about to start. Garnett and Odom jumped the ball at center court, and Garnett won.

The Bulls attacked. Billups held the ball at half court and passed it to Wang Chong immediately.

Odom had just positioned himself in front of Wang Chong. The next moment, Wang Chong accelerated, broke past Odom on the right side, and drove to the paint.

Garnett and Gasol pushed all the Lakers' interior players out, and the paint area was left wide open. Although Gasol, who had more nimble feet, tried to help defend the paint, he was still a step too slow. Wang Chong walked to the rim and slammed it home.

Originally, this was just an offensive score, nothing more.

But on the way back to defense, Wang Chong passed Kobe and gave him a meaningful smile.

Kobe was stunned and didn't take it seriously.

But in the following possessions, Wang Chong kept scoring for the Bulls. In just half a quarter, Wang Chong had already scored 11 points, and the Bulls were suppressing the Lakers unilaterally.

Kobe Bryant's team was not in a rush to attack at first. They let Gasol use his ball-handling skills to help his teammates attack and score.

But seeing Wang Chong keep scoring, Kobe gradually started losing patience and began increasing his shooting attempts.

At the start of this season, Kobe had been a little worried. Although his team was in first place in the Western Conference and the Lakers finally had a championship appearance after acquiring Gasol, in terms of personal competition, Kobe had fallen behind.

In the almost 40 regular season games played so far, Kobe's averages had remained steady at 28 points, 5.2 rebounds, and 5.6 assists, with a shooting percentage of 46%, absolutely stellar superstar statistics.

However, compared to the over 30 points from the last two seasons, 28 points still seemed slightly lower. This had led to fiercer competition for the scoring title this season between Wang Chong, who averaged 31 points per game, and James, who averaged 30 points.

Though, due to the excellent record of the Lakers, no one would say that Kobe's performance had been poor.

But Kobe himself still felt a bit uncomfortable, especially since he had lost to Wang Chong in the scoring race in the last two seasons and still didn't have personal honors.

On the other hand, Wang Chong had not only won two scoring titles because of his own performance, but also became the youngest regular season MVP in NBA history last season. Even so far this season, Wang Chong still led the MVP rankings.

If this continued, Kobe wouldn't have anything to gain by the end of this season.

It would be fine if such sacrifices could lead to a final championship, but what if the Lakers didn't win the title in the playoffs? Kobe couldn't even imagine the consequences.

And the slightly mocking look and smile from Wang Chong just now hurt Kobe deeply.

That expression seemed to be saying something.

"Hey, isn't this Kobe Bryant? Haven't you been acting like this for a few days?"

Kobe was a man with a strong sense of pride, so competitive that he was almost paranoid. He couldn't stand even Wang Chong's silent ridicule.

In the next few rounds, the game turned into a scoring contest between Wang Chong and Kobe.

Wang Chong hit a mid-range jumper, and Kobe immediately responded with a turnaround jumper.

Wang Chong nailed a three-pointer from outside, and Kobe made a strong layup under the basket to score 2+1.

At that moment, Kobe was at the peak of his skills and talent. His personal ability was unmatched, and his ability to attack tough situations was stronger than James, who had faced Wang Chong not long ago.

But what Wang Chong wanted was this effect.

As the game progressed, Lakers head coach Phil Jackson became a bit uneasy because the Bulls gradually started tightening their defense. Every time Kobe attacked with the ball, at least two players flanked him at the same time, sometimes even three attacking him.

Kobe's offensive efficiency plummeted when double-teamed, but by that time, Kobe was at his peak. So, whether you double-team me or not, even if five guys are on me, I can still make that damn ball go in the basket. Long live the Mamba mentality!

As a result, by the end of the first half, the score between the two teams was 58-45, with the Bulls leading by 13 points at home.

End of this chapter

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