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In early May 2010, the NBA announced the results of the All-NBA Team selection.This season's selection for the best team was not very different from the previous one, especially regarding the first team. The five players selected for the first team had not changed at all from last year. They are still Wade, Kobe, James, Wang Chong, and Dwight Howard.
There are some changes in the second All-NBA Team. The five selected players are Nash, Deron Williams, Durant, Anthony, and Dirk Nowitzki.
The five players on the third team are Brandon Roy, Joe Johnson, Amar'e Stoudemire, Tim Duncan, and Yao Ming.
From the results of the All-NBA Team selection, we can see how competitive the stars are this season.
Among the fifteen teams, only the Suns have two players selected to the All-NBA Team, Nash on the second team and Stoudemire on the third.
In addition, including the Bulls, who have the best record in the league, followed closely by the Magic, Cavaliers, and Lakers, who hold the top spot in the Western Conference, only one player has been selected to the All-NBA Team.
In fact, Stoudemire's selection to the third All-NBA Team is directly related to his impressive personal statistics.
Stoudemire, who averaged 23 points and 8.9 rebounds per game with a 55.7% shooting percentage, defeated many competitors, including Pau Gasol with 18+11 points and Paul Pierce with 19.4 points, 5 rebounds, and 4.5 assists. It's difficult to get this spot.
In comparison, the competition for the two best defensive teams is much less intense.
However, due to Garnett's season-ending injury, the All-NBA selection for the 09-10 season has changed significantly.
The five players selected for the first All-Defensive Team are Rajon Rondo, Kobe Bryant, James, Wang Chong, and Howard.
Four players from the first team are gathered on the first All-Defensive Team. Looking at the league, it's extremely rare that Wade lost to Kobe and Rondo in the defensive team selection this season. Otherwise, it would be a great story if all five players from the first team were gathered in the first All-Defensive Team.
Besides Wade, the five players on the second team include point guard Billups, forward Josh Smith, power forward Tim Duncan, and center Marc Gasol.
Here, the league-leading strength of the Bulls is finally reflected.
Counting Wang Chong on the first team, the Bulls have three players selected for the Defensive Team, which shows the Bulls' dominance in the league's selection process.
Not only that, with an average of 20+5 per game, Curry was also successfully selected for the first Rookie Team, and the competition with Tyreke Evans for the Rookie of the Year award remains fierce.
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The first playoff game between the Bulls and Celtics was the night the All-NBA selections were announced.
The United Center in Chicago was packed with seats, and countless Bulls fans had already entered the arena in advance.
The Bulls fans were not too worried about their team's opponent, the Boston Celtics, in this series.
After all, the Celtics are just an emerging team. Although Durant performed well and was selected for the All-NBA Team, there is still a significant gap between the Celtics and the Bulls in terms of overall strength. Among the team's key players, Durant cannot be compared to Wang Chong.
Basically, as long as the Bulls play normally and consistently, there will be no problem defeating the Celtics and advancing to the Eastern Conference Finals.
The Celtics' five starters are point guard Rajon Rondo, shooting guard Paul Pierce, forward Kevin Durant, power forward Paul Millsap, and center Al Jefferson.
Even with this starting lineup, it's clear how strong the Celtics are currently. It's no surprise that they defeated the not-weak Hawks and advanced to the second round.
Against the Celtics, the Bulls were quite disadvantaged in terms of height, especially in the backcourt. Curry had a slight height advantage when facing Rondo, but at shooting guard, Billups, who is 1.91 meters tall, had a bit of a challenge against Pierce.
Pierce, originally a small forward, stands 2.01 meters tall. The reason he now plays shooting guard is mainly to make room for Durant.
But his height stands out in the shooting guard position, just like Wang Chong and Durant do in the forward position.
With his height disadvantage, Billups struggled to deal with Pierce.
Not only in the shooting guard position, the Bulls also suffered in the forward position.
Durant stands over 2.10 meters tall, while Danny Green, the Bulls' starting forward, is only 1.98 meters. Even after training most of the season, Green hasn't reached the defensive level he would later have with the Spurs.
As for the power forward and center positions, the Bulls finally found some ground. The Celtics' interior height is quite average; Millsap is 2.03 meters tall, and Jefferson is not a tall interior player, but despite being shorter, both have advantages in terms of mobility compared to typical interior players.
Against the Celtics, if the Bulls simply assign matchups based on positions, they would certainly suffer significant losses.
Both head coach Thibodeau and Wang Chong knew this very well, so as soon as the game began, the Celtics found that the Bulls started to misalign their defense as soon as they appeared.
Danny Green didn't go to guard Durant; instead, he ran to defend the interior player Paul Millsap, who personally stood in front of Durant to guard him.
This wasn't really surprising.
Wang Chong, whose style is similar to Durant's, is the best player to defend Durant. Given that Durant averaged 30 points per game during the regular season this year, he is the only player in the league, besides Wang Chong, who averages more than 30 points per game during the regular season. The scorer is certainly going to be heavily defended by Wang Chong.
So, Danny Green went to the paint area to face Millsap. Although the height difference between them wasn't as large as between Durant and Wang Chong, as interior players, Millsap's bulk and strength are much greater than Durant's, and as a perimeter player, Green simply couldn't handle Millsap.
The Bulls certainly knew this, and making such an arrangement was also a gamble. First, they were betting that Millsap's offensive ability isn't that strong. Even if Green can't guard him, the opponent won't be the key to the game's outcome.
The second bet was that Gasol, who was protecting the rim, could help Green and share some of the pressure.
As a veteran of the Bulls, Millsap's performance hasn't qualitatively changed since joining the Celtics this season compared to his time with the Bulls.
Of course, this isn't due to a lack of personal ability from Millsap. In fact, his tactical role with the Celtics hasn't changed significantly compared to when he was with the Bulls.
With the Celtics, the number one offensive core is Durant. Under Durant, Pierce, Al Jefferson, and Millsap rank in order of team scorers. Among them, Millsap is in fourth place. Rondo is not a scorer, otherwise, he would have had fewer shots.
This has resulted in Millsap averaging 12 points and 7 rebounds per game this season, which is really no great improvement compared to when he was with the Bulls.
So even if he finds himself dislocated when facing Green on the court, the Celtics won't put all their resources into Millsap.
Moreover, even if Wang Chong personally defended him one-on-one, Durant wasn't entirely convinced. He didn't believe Wang Chong could limit his scoring. Not to mention, it was precisely because Wang Chong came to defend him that it stirred up his competitive spirit.
Originally, Durant wasn't quite convinced when he lost to Wang Chong in the race for the scoring title this season. He didn't think it was because his offensive skills weren't as good as Wang Chong's, so he couldn't compete with him. But since he was with the Celtics and didn't have the unlimited shooting rights he had with the Bulls, he came up short.
Therefore, in the playoffs, he finally had the chance to face Wang Chong and compare who had the better scoring ability. Durant also wanted to prove to the team and the entire league through his performance in the series that Durant is no weaker than Wang Chong!
The Bulls' tactical play worked.
At the beginning of the game, Gasol won the ball thanks to his height advantage, and the Bulls had the ball.
Curry quickly moved to midcourt with the ball and passed it to Wang Chong.
Wang Chong held the ball from the top of the three-point line, and in front of him stood Durant.
Just like the Bulls, the Celtics also opted to make slight adjustments on defense.
Just as the Bulls asked Wang Chong to guard Durant, the Celtics also felt that Durant, whose static talent is very close to Wang Chong's, was obviously the best choice to guard Wang Chong. Even if they couldn't fully defend him, they could still reduce his offensive efficiency slightly.
When playing against the Bulls, how to limit Wang Chong's scoring is always the biggest problem.
It's just that although Durant's growth ceiling is nearly the same as Wang Chong's, Wang Chong has now surpassed that ceiling through training modules, strengthening his skills in many aspects. The gap between Durant and Wang Chong has widened, especially in defense. On the other hand, Wang Chong, whose many defensive skills have been improved, is significantly better defensively than Durant.
Facing Durant's defense, Wang Chong didn't even need too many complicated fake moves. He simply accelerated with the ball, led Durant a step inside the free-throw line, then stopped to take a jumper.
Although Durant immediately raised his hand to interfere, and his palm successfully disrupted Wang Chong's shooting aim, but—"Oops!"
Wang Chong still firmly shot the basketball into the basket.
In the mid-range shooting area, where Wang Chong excels, unless the shot is blocked directly, it's just an interference to the line of sight, which has minimal impact on Wang Chong's shots.
This is not only due to Wang Chong's 99 mid-range shooting ability but also the multiple high-level badges Wang Chong currently possesses.
A master of mid-range shooting, a hot-zone hunter, and most importantly, the anti-interference effect of Wang Chong's purple Hall-of-Fame shooter badge, which allows Wang Chong to continue scoring efficiently even when facing defenses.
2:0, Wang Chong took the lead for the Bulls right from the start.
Celtics attack.
After receiving a shot to the face from Wang Chong and scoring 2 points, Durant immediately eagerly called for the ball on the offensive side, wanting to return the favor.
Rondo, holding the ball, looked at Wang Chong in front of Durant and felt a bit indecisive.
Although Durant is confident, he's not too optimistic about this matchup.
Wang Chong has been selected for the Defensive Team consecutively and his defensive momentum this season is no less than Howard's. Currently, fans from both sides are discussing online who should receive the DPOY this season.
Although Howard has the advantage in defensive efficiency and other aspects, among all defensive players, Wang Chong is indeed the one closest to Howard, so it's no surprise that he's included in the discussion.
Durant's offense has really impressed people this season, averaging more than 30 points per game, which also shows he is capable of dealing with most of the league's defensive players, but in the playoffs, against serious defenders like Wang Chong, will Durant still be effective?
But after struggling for a while, Rondo still decided to pass the ball to Durant.
He knows very well that if the Celtics want to defeat the Bulls, Durant's strength is indispensable. Only Durant among them has the ability and opportunity to compete with Wang Chong.
Holding the ball at the top of the arc, Durant lowered his center of gravity and looked at Wang Chong.
Only then did he feel the difficulty Wang Chong faced.
Wang Chong's defensive position is very unique and more advanced than normal. This position does not favor defensive ball advances, but it has excellent defensive effects on players who focus mainly on shooting.
At least Durant in front of him would never dare to stop and casually shoot at this moment, because there is a high probability that Wang Chong will directly block the shot.
Therefore, Durant can only try to break through with the ball.
Durant's ball-handling ability is not weak. In fact, in the early stages of his career, his shooting ability was not as strong as it became later. Breaking through with the ball to attack the rim and create free throws were some of his main ways of scoring.
After lowering his center of gravity and hitting the floor to change hands, Durant accelerated his drive and ran toward the basket.
But Wang Chong immediately followed when they made contact, and the defensive badge on Wang Chong's awareness space wall was instantly activated.
Death Coil: allows defenders to make quicker defensive movements, increase lateral movement speed, and improve defensive pressure and capabilities during physical confrontations.
Wang Chong's badge has reached the gold level, only surpassed by the Purple Hall-of-Fame badge, and its additional effects are quite remarkable.
Durant was caught off guard, and Wang Chong's tight defense forced him to struggle and nearly lose the ball. In a hurry, he had to stop and protect the ball with both hands, thus avoiding the risk of being intercepted by Wang Chong.
But as a result, his attack was blocked and couldn't continue.
Naturally, Durant was unwilling to be stopped by Wang Chong like this, so after being forced to stop, he decided to stop and force a shot.
Durant's movements were very fast, but Wang Chong's prediction was faster, and he almost took off at the same time as Durant.
Wang Chong's jump ability is 77, exactly the same as Durant's peak.
At this moment, Durant is different from Wang Chong. When his body is not at its peak condition, his rebounding is slightly lower than Wang Chong's.
"Crack!"
Before Durant could shoot, Wang Chong slapped it away!
End of this chapter
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