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Defeating two strong rivals, the Cavaliers and the Lakers, has given the Bulls even more momentum in the regular season. It seems that no team in the league can threaten the Bulls' title defense.In mid-December, the All-Star voting began. In the first round of voting, Wang Chong undoubtedly led the league with the highest percentage of votes, followed closely by James, Howard, and Kobe.
For the Bulls, the second most votes went to Kevin Garnett, but unlike last season, Garnett's votes this season are significantly lower. This is mainly due to the decline in his personal stats this season.
But this is not a major difference, even Garnett at his best would have difficulty defeating the two competitors, Wang Chong and James, in the All-Star voting. With his fame and strength, despite the statistics, his performance is poor. However, the issue of being selected as an All-Star substitute is still not significant.
It is just that the situation of Billups, another member of the Bulls' Big Three, is a bit embarrassing.
In terms of data alone, Billups actually decreased a little less than Garnett, but the problem is that although Garnett's personal stats have decreased, his defensive wing has not weakened at all and he remains the pillar of the Bulls' absolute defense.
Although Billups' defense is also very good, it is not at the level of Garnett, a top defensive player who can improve the team's defensive level.
Last year, Billups was able to be selected as an All-Star substitute based on the team's record. However, with the rise of several players this year, the competition for All-Star spots is likely to become more and more fierce, which may hinder his ability to participate in the All-Star Game.
In fact, if Billups were still on the Nuggets in the 2009-10 season, he would still be eligible for the All-Star Game.
On the Nuggets, Billups was still able to contribute 19.5 points, 3 rebounds, and 5.6 assists in the regular season, helping Anthony and the Nuggets achieve 53 wins in the regular season.
But with the Bulls, despite his strength, he cannot fully utilize it. After all, the ball distribution rights are limited and he needs to make sacrifices for the team's victory.
But Billups didn't mind. He was always transparent about the All-Star Game and was always a contrast to others in the various All-Star Games he participated in throughout his career.
As for Curry and Gasol, they are still too young and not included in the All-Star discussion.
Therefore, in this year's All-Star Game, the Bulls are currently the most popular and strongest team. I'm afraid only Wang Chong and Garnett will be selected for the All-Star Game.
Just as Billups doesn't mind if he can make it to the All-Star Game, no one cares whether the Bulls or Chicago fans care about how many Bulls players are on the All-Star stage, as long as they win every game until they win the NBA championship. That really means nothing in comparison.
However, sometimes fate is so confusing that no one can predict it.
No one thought that the Bulls, who were so powerful and at the peak of their strength, would suddenly fall from the sky when their momentum reached its peak.
By the end of the December calendar, the Bulls had achieved a record of 14 wins and 1 loss in their 15 games of December. The team's overall record also reached 27 wins and 3 losses, with a win rate reaching an exaggerated 90%!
If this type of win rate can continue in the next few months, it is likely that the Bulls will once again break the best league record and set the best regular season record at a higher level.
However, in the first game of 2010, when the Bulls faced the Oklahoma City Thunder at home on January 2, an accident occurred.
It was then that the game entered the third quarter. The Bulls already had a double-digit lead and were sure of the win. After Westbrook of the Thunder broke through, he missed a mid-range jump shot, but as he jumped for the rebound, he landed awkwardly and collapsed to the floor with a pained expression.
Seeing this, Wang Chong suddenly felt something in his heart, and an unpleasant feeling arose.
"No way…"
Garnett rested on the floor for a long time before returning to the locker room with the support of his teammates, and he did not return to the game for the rest of the match.
The Bulls, who were completely focused on Garnett's injury, didn't even bother to finish the game. Fortunately, the Thunder were one of the weakest teams in the league. At the same time, they were missing two generals, Durant and Harden. Led by Sbrook, the Thunder were no match for the Bulls.
Blake Griffin, the top pick of the year, is a good immediate player. However, just like when he joined the Clippers, Griffin was injured during the season before officially landing in the NBA. He would have to wait until the next season to return fully.
Therefore, the Thunder simply did not have the capacity to compete with the Bulls, even if Garnett was injured and the entire Bulls team was not interested in playing.
At 98-85, the Bulls easily won the game at home, but the victorious Bulls were not happy at all.
Garnett's injury was truly unexpected, and it seemed that the injury was not serious. If it were a serious injury that ended the season, it would be a devastating blow for the Bulls, even directly affecting their path to defend their three consecutive titles.
Wang Chong thought more.
Garnett's injury was a leg injury caused by an unstable landing after takeoff. It seemed that his right leg was very similar to the torn ACL he suffered during the 2008-09 season with the Celtics. Garnett had to sit out the 2008-09 season. As a result, the Celtics were eliminated by the Magic in the playoffs and lost the chance to defend their title.
Wang Chong originally thought that Garnett had escaped the fate of suffering a serious injury in the 2008-09 season, and at this stage, he was only responsible for defensive work on the court, so the workload was reduced and the likelihood of injury would also be much lower.
Unexpectedly, a year later, injuries returned.
"It can't really be that unlucky, can it?"
At that moment, Wang Chong still didn't believe it, but after the game, Garnett's MRI report came out, leaving him completely speechless.
Torn ligaments in the right knee.
Exactly the same injury as Garnett's with the Celtics.
A torn ligament is one of the most severe injuries in basketball. Recovery time varies depending on the situation. Players with minor injuries can return in less than a month, but if the injury is more severe or recovery is slower, it could take about six months.
Garnett is no longer young, and his physical recovery ability is far from what it was in his youth.
Therefore, when the injury was detected, the conservative recovery time given by the doctor was 6 months.
This means that Garnett will miss 6 full months of competition. If his recovery goes smoothly, he may still have a chance to make it to the finals, but there is a high probability that the season will end early and he will be reimbursed.
Once the news of Garnett's season-ending injury was announced, it was like a bolt of lightning from the sky, directly confusing the Bulls' fans.
Isn't this very unfortunate? A good player was suddenly injured, and the injured player was Garnett, the most important central player on the team's defensive side.
Although Garnett only averaged 14+9 per game this season, his tactical status on the Bulls is second only to Wang Chong and much higher than Curry, the team's second scorer. After all, Curry only provides supplementary scoring. Even if he is unavailable, others can fill in for him.
But Garnett is different. As the pillar of the Bulls' defense, the team's defensive system collapsed completely without Garnett.
The strength of the Bulls this season lies in their balance between offense and defense. Now that the important defense is missing and only the offense remains, do they still have a chance to compete for the championship?
Even though everyone recognizes Wang Chong's personal super ability, when facing several important teams from the East and the West, the Bulls really no longer have any advantage.
On January 4, the Bulls, who had lost Garnett, faced the Orlando Magic, one of their strongest rivals in the Eastern Conference.
With Garnett absent, the Bulls' lineup had to make certain adjustments.
With a severe shortage of players in the attacking zone, Wang Chong had no choice but to move from the small forward position to the power forward position. At the same time, Danny Green was temporarily assigned to the small forward position.
In reality, Green had not had many opportunities before this. Unlike Marcus Thornton, he is not an excellent immediate player. He still needs one or two seasons of training before he can reach the high-quality 3D level.
In the more than two months since Green joined the Bulls, the most important thing Wang Chong asked him to do was defend in practice games.
Wang Chong's original plan was to wait one or two seasons. When Billups matured, Curry would act as the starting point guard and Danny Green would be the starting shooting guard to improve the team's perimeter defense.
But now it seems that he has to catch up.
Green's first appearance was unsatisfactory.
Against the Turkish magician Hedo Turkoglu, Green was fooled by the experienced Turkoglu.
Of course, this confrontation was not the key to the game.
The most serious problem for the Bulls was the lack of interior defensive strength.
Without Garnett to contain him, Howard directly overwhelmed Gasol in the game, scoring 28 points and grabbing 19 rebounds, leading the Magic to defeat the Bulls 117-109 to win the game.
In the first game without Garnett, the Bulls suffered a disastrous loss.
"The unfortunate king, the Bulls should have had a chance to win three consecutive championships. Their strength is definitely no less than that of the Lakers during their four consecutive championships, but injuries ruined their chance to create a dynasty."
"Time is also destiny. It seems that God doesn't want Wang Chong's road to success to be so simple. Both Michael Jordan and Shaquille O'Neal went through a long period of inactivity in the league before achieving success. However, compared to Wang Chong, success came too quickly and easily."
"Garnett is out for the season. The happiest people are undoubtedly the Los Angeles Lakers. Kobe finally has a chance to win his first championship as the central leader! He has waited too long for this day. Without the Bulls, strong rivals, whether the Magic or the Cavaliers in the East, it's hard for the Lakers to be opponents."
On January 5, in back-to-back games, the Bulls faced the Boston Celtics on the road.
The Celtics, who had been very easy to defeat before, this time gave the Bulls a tough battle. They relied on Wang Chong's three-pointer in the final moments to reverse the situation and narrowly defeated the Celtics 110-109, by just one point.
Although the game was won, the process was quite difficult.
Two days later, at the Bulls' home court in Chicago, the Bulls suffered their second defeat in January.
They lost to the Phoenix Suns from the Western Conference.
The Suns' key player, Stoudemire, was in full swing in this game, scoring 42 points. He and Wang Chong were in the same game throughout the entire game. This was still a side effect of Garnett's absence. With Garnett protecting Stoudemire, it wouldn't have been hard to defeat the Suns.
In just a few games in January, the Bulls have already lost 2 games, and their record has significantly dropped.
Although everyone knows that the Bulls' strength will inevitably decrease without a top superstar, it is obvious that the impact of Garnett's season-ending injury on the Bulls is not as simple as a decrease in the Bulls' combat effectiveness on the field. The players' mentality has also been obviously affected, and they no longer have the same indomitable momentum on the court.
The advantage brought by their previous record will allow the Bulls to remain first in the Eastern Conference and even first in the league for a long time, but if they maintain this state, it will only be a matter of time before they fall from the top spot in the league or even the Eastern Conference.
Bulls' head coach, Tom Thibodeau, was worried about this and tried his best to reverse the decline.
But Wang Chong wasn't in a hurry.
Garnett's season-ending injury depressed him a lot, but not to the point of despair.
On the contrary, at this moment, Wang Chong was very glad that he chose to strengthen his defensive ability last summer, rather than other aspects.
I really don't know if this is a coincidence.
In the first few games, he only expected to see the overall situation of the league.
There really was no need to worry about this. The regular season had not yet reached the halfway point, and the next schedule was still very long.
After Garnett's absence, Wang Chong no longer expected the team to continue breaking the best record in history. As long as they could maintain the best record in the league, that was enough.
This is not difficult for the Bulls, even without Garnett.
Because in the original 2009-10 season, there was only one team with more than 60 wins in the league, the Cleveland Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference.
Compared with the previous two seasons, when there were several teams with more than 60 wins, the competitiveness was obviously much lower. In addition, the Bulls still have a record of 29 wins and 5 losses so far, with a win rate of up to 85. % Wang Chong As long as the Bulls' record can stabilize at around 80%, they will have the best record in the league.
As for the playoffs, Wang Chong in the East does not believe that any team is the Bulls' opponent.
In fact, the Magic are a little more complicated thanks to Howard, but definitely not unbeatable. Howard is essentially a super blue-collar player who lacks independent offensive capabilities. As long as he can cut into the Magic's offensive firepower from the outside, no. As powerful as Howard is, a single trey can't stand on its own.
However, when they faced the Los Angeles Lakers in the Finals, without Garnett, the Lakers' three best inside players had an absolute advantage in the penalty box, so they had to figure out a solution.
End of this chapter
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