The annual year-end war, although due to the epidemic situation, many star players regrettably missed the team, it is still wonderful and exciting, and the points of view continue to be seen. This article provides a brief review of the most important game days of the NBA's regular season.
Christmas, Day of Return
Because of the rampant new variant of Omicron, the NBA has recently been torn apart by the epidemic, and many teams are facing the embarrassing situation that more than half of the teams are isolated and can only rely on firefighters to support the scene.
But the NBA insisted on not wanting to stop, so they not only revised the signing rules, allowed the team to break through the number of people limit, and signed one person for each quarantine to top the vacancy, and even shortened the isolation time limit for asymptomatic infected people, from the previous 10 days to 6 days.
The NBA's move is ostensibly to alleviate the shortage of manpower caused by the blow of the epidemic on various teams, but some people believe that Xiao Hua is giving the green light to some superstars to ensure the quality of the year-end war.
In any case, in today's year-end battle field, there are indeed a number of players who were previously included in the health and safety agreement to lift the ban and return, which makes this "NBA Spring Festival Gala" lively a lot.
Among them, including James Harden and Giannis Antetokounmpo, two former MVP players, but also including clint Capela, RJ Barrett, Bobby Portis and other important starters of each team, as well as Malik Munch, Blake Griffin, Javin Carter and other regular rotation members.
In addition, the lone ranger's second boss, Porzingis, returned after two games out of the game due to a right-foot and toe injury, ensuring the team's combat effectiveness when several main players, including Luka Doncic, triggered a health and safety agreement.
Bucks guard Dante Di Vincenzo also made his season debut today. Di Vincenzo suffered a serious ankle injury in the playoffs last season and has been suspended since undergoing surgery in June. He had planned to make a comeback against the Pacers on December 16, but he didn't expect that the injury was "hit" by the virus again, which postponed the comeback date to today.
Because of the vacancies in the epidemic, some familiar faces that have not been seen for a long time have also returned to the NBA. Today the Lakers played the Nets at home, and Darren Collison made his debut after signing on the Fireline, which is his first NBA game since April 2019.
However, Collison's joining the Lakers is definitely not a good news for Thomas Jr., the ten-day contract is about to expire, it seems that the strongest 175 on the surface, it is difficult to play this season as a Lakers player.
The stars shine together, and the ending is very different
Alphabet Brother and Harden were quarantined for the new crown, but also got a rare opportunity to rest, both of them played at MVP level today and led their respective teams to win the game.
Alphabet Brother triggered the health and safety agreement on December 15, so he missed the past 5 games, and in the first game after his comeback today, he struck hard, shooting 13 of 23, with 36 points, 12 rebounds and 5 assists, leading the team to complete a big reversal.
In particular, it is worth mentioning that of the 36 points of the alphabet brother, 29 points came from the second half, and the game was played to the last moment, he recreated the classic scene of the Booker & Ayton connection under the first defense and two defenses of the finals, with a wonderful cover, locking the victory for the team, dominating the opponent at both ends of the attack and defense. So much so that after the game teammate Holliday joked: "I'm not sure if he really got the new crown."
After winning this game, the Bucks continue to rank behind the Nets and Bulls with 22 wins and 13 losses, but it is worth noting: when Alphabet Brother, Middleton and Holliday can play healthy this season, the Bucks' record is 14-2!
Harden also played a strong performance in the first game of return that has not been seen in a long time. Today at the Crypto.com Arena, Dengge scored 23 points, 6 rebounds and 6 assists in the first half, and finally contributed a large triple-double of 36 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists, while also sending 3 blocks to lead the Nets to win 122-115 away games, which is one of the best performances of the season.
Some people are proud, some people are frustrated, and the victory of one James means the defeat of another James.
In today's home loss to the Nets, the 37-year-old LeBron James also performed extremely well, contributing 39 points, 9 rebounds, 7 assists, 3 steals and 1 block, in the fourth quarter, he almost single-handedly led the team to complete a 20-point reversal, but in the end, because of poor support, he was also blocked by the opposing young center Clarkston.
In this game, during James' time on the court, the Lakers won by 11 points, he only rested for 8 minutes and 7 seconds, during which the team lost by 18 points, no wonder he left the game early again after the game. The Lakers, who have lost five consecutive games, seem to have really reached the time to make major changes.
James's depression is palpable, while his old rival Curry is in a good mood. Before today's Nets Lakers battle, the NBA all-time three-pointer king just broke the spell, scored 33 points, and led the Warriors to a 116-107 away win over the Suns to regain the league's first throne.
This is the ninth time curry has participated in the year-end war in his career, and the previous eight times, he averaged only 13.1 points per game, so this game is Curry's "battle for the right name". As a result, Curry only used half a game to break through the average scoring data of the year-end battlefield, and set a "new career high" before the third quarter was finished. Throughout the game, Curry scored 24 points on the floor and continued to consolidate his position as the league's number one in this statistic.
In addition to the above superstars, former All-Star point guard Kemba Walker also shined today - in the Knicks home game against the Hawks, Walker, who had previously fallen out of the regular rotation, contributed 10 points, 10 rebounds and 12 assists to lead the team to a 101-87 victory.
Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau praised Walker's performance in a post-game interview, saying he dominated the game and saying he showed a completely different aggressiveness after returning to the rotation. The data shows that in the past four games, Walker has averaged 26 points, 8.2 rebounds and 7 assists per game, and the Knicks have won 2 and lost 2. In the 10 games he was locked up in the little black room, the Knicks won 3 and lost 7....
Milestones and milestones are sad
Walker's outburst not only reversed the Knicks' recent decline, but also gave New York fans a holiday gift they hadn't seen in a long time — according to statistics, this is the seventh time the Knicks have participated in the year-end war in the past decade, and today's game is the only victory they have won during this period.
This game, for Walker personally, is also memorable — with this game, he became the seventh (and 10th) player in NBA history to win a triple-double in the year-end war, and he is also the first player in Knicks history to perform in this way.
Walker is also the second player in Knicks history to score 40+ in the previous game and then cut a triple-double, and the last player to do so was Cameron Anthony in April 2017.
Just after Walker played the 10th triple-double in the history of the year-end war, Harden and Westbrook continued to refresh the data to 12 times, including Westbrook, who had previously played a triple-double in the year-end war, and today he had 13 points, 12 rebounds and 11 assists.
It was also the 190th triple-double of Westbrook's career – continuing to set a new record, and the sixth triple-double of the season – to tie Murray and Jokic for first place in the league. However, he shot only 4 of 20 in the whole game, and the final 26 seconds of the key dunk was blocked by the basket, and the net loss of the opponent was 23 points, which was very embarrassing.
Because of Westbrook's sluggish performance, James was also forced to suffer "mileage sadness". This game is the 15th consecutive year that James has participated in the year-end war, surpassing Bryant and rising to the first place in history. In addition, he participated in the year-end war 16 times in his career, which is a historical record for being tied with Kobe Bryant for the first place.
In addition to a record number of appearances, James also surpassed Bryant to become the all-time scoring champion of the year-end war. Prior to that, his total score in the year-end battle was 383 points, and another 13 points would surpass Kobe's record of 395 points in the year-end wartime record. James ushered in this historic moment in the second quarter, eventually setting a record of 422 points!
James also overtook Durant to become the NBA's all-time three-pointer in year-end warfare. Prior to this game, he shared the record with Durant with 25 three-pointers, but he hit three more three-pointers in this game, enjoying the first place in history.
James would also have had the chance to surpass his friend Wade and enjoy the record number of wins in the year-end war — before that, both men had won the year-end war 10 times. Unfortunately, the Lakers suddenly collapsed during James' absence in the second half of the third quarter, and finally failed to fill the pit and swallowed a bitter defeat.
Also in the Game between the Nets and the Lakers, Patty Mills shot 8 of 13 from beyond the three-point line, hitting 8 three-pointers in a single game, brushing the historical record of the year-end war.
Curry scored 33 points today, setting a new record for his highest score at the year-end contest. In addition, with the five three-point shots shot today, Curry's regular season three-point shooting reached 2999 goals, and there was only one goal left to break the 3000 mark. That's his 156-game three-point shooting, one game short of his personal NBA record. Not surprisingly, he will set new records in the next two consecutive games against the Nuggets.
In addition, Alphabet Brother scored 29 points in the second half today, setting a record for halftime scoring by NBA players on the year-end battle stage in the past 25 years, and under his leadership, the Bucks achieved a reversal win in the first half-time deficit of 15 points in the last two seasons.
Donovan Mitchell scored a game-high 33 points in the Jazz's 120-116 win over the Mavericks, and he became the third player in Jazz history to score a 30+ in year-end games after Terry Forno (1979, 37 points) and Carl Malone (1988, 31 points).
Off-site also wonderful!
Trae Young made a big splash in Madison Square Garden in the playoffs last season, and has since made a big name for himself, so when the year-end battle schedule was set this year, the league specially arranged the Hawks' away game against the Knicks. Unfortunately, Yang did not qualify for today's game because of the triggering of the health and safety protocol, but even if he can't play, he is still one of the focus figures of this game.
By the last 3 minutes of the game, the Knicks had a huge lead of 20 points, the victory was in hand, the fans were full of pride, did not know who took the lead first, and began to shout in unison the famous slogan of last season's playoffs: "F**k Trae Young!" ”
The mood of New York fans is understandable, but this "revenge" is inevitably lost because the protagonist is not there. Interestingly, Young's teammate Bogdan Bogdanovic wore a christmas-made version of Trae Young's signature sneakers today, which in a way also brought his spirit to the game.
Yang also thanked his teammates for their kindness on social media, writing: "See you @Bogdan, although my people are not there, but the spirit is with you, my first year-end war!" ”
It's not just Trae Young, but Also Timberwolves guard Patrick Beverley. This season, the young Timberwolves have shown an upward trend, currently ranking ninth in the West with 15 wins and 17 losses, and Beverley also @NBA official on social media, saying: Arrange a year-end battle for the Timberwolves next year!
Former Cavaliers and Lakers player JR Smith also expressed his desire to "please fight" on social media, and he seems to see the hope of returning to the league under the blow of the epidemic, so he tweeted: "Since everyone is now giving those who want to play a 10-day contract, then in fact, I also have this idea, I also want to play, my number has not changed." ”
After seeing the Lakers suffer another loss, another Lakers veteran Michael Beasley also tweeted: "There is no disrespect, but you really need help." ”
Unconsciously, players like Beverly, JR, and Beasley have become veterans, while the younger generation is thriving. In today's Warriors-Suns game, Draymond Green brought his youngest son DJ to the game. During the pre-game warm-up, the DJ not only showed off his good dribbling skills, but even when the Warriors assistant coach explained the game plan for Green, he also leaned in front of the computer and listened carefully to the explanation.
It seems that this is also a good seedling that is willing to use his brain, and maybe in a few years, we can see him on the stage of the NBA's year-end war.