Finally, we can temporarily exclude LeBron James when we discuss "the first man in the world.". Last season's playoffs were out of the first round, and the offseason also needed Wei Shao to carry time for him in the regular season.
Both the Lakers and LeBron himself probably have to admit that he is really stepping off the throne as he is about to turn 37.
Now the world is alphabet brother and Durant's.
One just won the first championship +fmvp "double yolk egg", and there are two regular season MVP trophies in front of it. What's more frightening is that from the opening game, his free throw "charge" time has become shorter, and the long-distance shooting has been used more freely, indicating that the offseason has not stagnated because of winning the championship, and the alphabet brother is still improving.
The other just played an epic playoff, just one toe length away from the alphabet brother. Once again, in the Olympic Games, he saved the "Dream Team" that lost its basketball advantage in the world, and became the scoring king and gold medal king in team history. Considering the technical shortcomings of the alphabet brother and the "controversial kick" of Irving, more people tend to think that Durant is the first in the world today.
In the opener, the Bucks beat the Nets 127-104. But Alphabet Brother 32 points, 14 rebounds, 7 assists and 2 blocks, Durant also 32 points, 11 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 blocks.
Although the Bucks and Alphabet won big, Durant also lost and did not lose.
Their battle for the throne will accompany the Bucks and Nets for the title until the end of the season.
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" >, the almighty monster Vs scoring maniacs, this plot seems to have been seen somewhere</h1>
After Jordan retired in 1998, the giants immediately took over the league. From 1999-2006, Duncan and the Sharks won six championships in eight years.
But "giants don't sell shoes" is the iron law of the NBA league, and in terms of global influence and commercial value, these two insider legends cannot replace the god-like Michael Jordan.
What was even more frightening was the gradual resurgence of the "Predatory Gang" in the 1980s and 1990s, and the 2004 Auburn Hill Palace incident greatly damaged the NBA's public image. Although the 2005 Finals Spurs vs Pistons can be called a textbook "defensive battle", while making a lot of basketball fans addicted, it also scared away a large number of ordinary audiences with more spending power.
The League desperately needs a god with box office appeal like Jordan, or a legendary duel with explosive social effects like Big Bird vs Magician.
Fortunately, it soon appeared.
Bryant got rid of O'Neal's haze and finally made a big boss at the Lakers. After erasing the haze of the Eagle County incident and the 2004 Finals with two "god-killing" scoring seasons, he was back at the top of the league. With 81 points in a single game and two leading scorers, he led the team alone in the "Wild West" at that time to stand firmly in the playoff sequence.
Everything about him is like Jordan, fierce on the field, technically flawless, and even the hardships of leading the team alone. They are no different from Jordan before 1987, except that Kobe Bryant had three rings in his hand at that time, and he was the top two in history.
The gradual maturity of the 03 generation has also allowed them to quickly grasp the authority. Although Wade won the playoffs in the first year, the East Finals in the second year, and the championship +fmvp in the third year. But everyone knows that the leader of their generation was named LeBron James.
He led the team to the Finals in his first year of Rookie, the second year of the Second Year, the second and fourth year of the MVP Selection. Grow into the league's premier all-around striker.
One is the ultimate killer of insoluble bloodlust on the offensive end, and the other is an all-powerful monster that attacks and defends and fights everything.
Since about 2007, 24Vs23 has been a desperate fight that everyone is looking forward to.
Isn't it very similar to today's alphabet vs Durant?
What's even more interesting is that Bryant was born in 1978 and LeBron was born in 1984, and the two are six years apart.
Durant was born in 1988 and Alphabet Brother in 1994, also six years apart.
Another set of classic duels.
But we all know that compared to Adu and Alphabet, who have fought seven games in the Eastern Conference semifinals last year, Kobe Bryant and LeBron have never played off in the playoffs in their lives, when the two belong to the East and West, and what people are most looking forward to is that the two meet in the Finals.
Fate is meant to deliberately manipulate everyone.
Bryant reached the Finals for three consecutive years in 2008-10, but the opposite Magic and Celtics both did LeBron in advance of the "Cavaliers One".
In 2010, LeBron moved to Miami to begin eight years of rule in the East, reaching the Finals for eight consecutive years, but Kobe Bryant and the Lakers began to decline, and never went out of the West until the legendary retirement in 2016.
Compared with the "23Vs24" that has never been achieved, at least Alphabet and Adu will encounter four regular season games a year, and the playoff showdowns are also very likely to be played out in the next few years.
<h1 class = "pgc-h-arrow-right" > two, alphabet brother vs Durant, from catch-up to duel</h1>
In 2013, when Alphabet Brother was selected by the Bucks with the 15th pick in the first round, Durant had three scoring champions in hand and was about to start his MVP season.
The league at that time was the world of front-line monsters like him and James, and everyone wanted to have a talented, all-knowing and all-powerful genius. So the Spurs would trade George Hill for Leonard against them, and the Bucks would take down the 19-year-old Greek boy who weighed only 170 pounds at the end of the lotto.
Alphabet brother only had 6.8 points and 4.4 rebounds in his first year, and played 23 starts in that rebuilding Bucks. Durant showed for the first time the ability to hold the ball in the absence of Westbrook, averaging 32.0 points, 7.4 rebounds and 5.5 assists per game, winning the first MVP of his career.
The following year Alphabet waited for Jason Kidd, the legendary point guard who saw the potential in the young Greek boy. He became the absolute starter, and Kidd let him try to play as a defender, forward or even center, forging his all-round ability. He scored in double figures that year (12.7 points)
Durant suffered the first major injury of his career and was reimbursed in advance.
By the 2015-16 season, the alphabet has been identified by the Bucks as the absolute core of the future, averaging 16.9 points, 7.7 rebounds and 4.3 assists per game, and although the Bucks are still missing the playoffs with 33 wins and 49 losses, everyone knows that this golden scale from Greece is not a pool.
Durant and Westbrook blew up the Spurs who got Aldridge in that year, almost eliminating the Warriors who won 73. In the offseason he made a decision to rewrite the course of the league's history, joining the Warriors who had just eliminated him to form an armada.
So in the summer of 2016, Durant was bombarded and criticized by public opinion like James six years ago. The young alphabet, like Durant six years ago, enjoyed more attention and praise, both on the pitch and in word of mouth.
Sure enough, in the 2016-17 season, Alphabet Brother averaged 22.9 points, 8.9 rebounds and 5.4 assists per game, the first All-Star, the first best team, and even the fastest improving player, and he became the new darling of the league.
Durant easily won his first championship with the Warriors, he won the FMVP and even shot a winning three-pointer in front of his old rival LeBron.
In the 2017-18 season, Alphabet was already a top forward averaging 26.9 points and 10.0 rebounds per game, but Kidd, who cultivated him, hung up the title, and he lost seven games to the Celtics in the first round of the playoffs, experiencing the bitterness of the team's big boss failure for the first time.
While Durant has completed the championship +fmvp for the second consecutive time, people have begun to debate whether he has taken over the authority of the "first man in the league".
In the 2018-19 season, Alphabet welcomed two important partners. The new coach Budenholzer has tailored a one-star system for him, with the whole team centered on him on both offensive and defensive ends. He also waited for the elite "3D center" Big Lopez, whose basket could help alphabets move better on the defensive end, and his three-pointers opened up the ultimate space for alphabets.
So the Greek giant beast roared in the mountains, and the league's first and regular season mvp came at hand. Although the playoffs lost to the Raptors, who later won the championship, everyone knows that the league has a superstar born.
Durant, on the other hand, fell to the finish line of the three consecutive championships, leaving the Warriors to join the Nets, starting an 18-month suspension and a new journey.
The regular season of the 2019-20 season was the "solo dance" of The Alphabet Brother, not only leading the Bucks to the first place in the regular season, but also averaging 29.5 points, 13.6 rebounds and 5.6 assists per game, which not only broke the single-season efficiency record held by Chamberlain (31.8), but also won the mvp and the best defensive player.
But in the playoffs in Bubbles, he was unexpectedly beaten by the Heat, and doubts about him began to rise. His fierce playing style and rough technique have led more and more people to believe that his achievements are the product of the times, not the invincibility of the individual. Especially in the case of James' return to the throne once again, taking over the championship +fmvp.
Last season was the first time Alphabet Brother and Durant had played on the same battlefield. Alphabet is surrounded by the Predators, who have been the first in the regular season for two consecutive years and joined by Holliday, while Durant is surrounded by Harden and Irving, two top helpers.
They played seven games in the Eastern Conference semifinals, with the Nets winning the first two and the Bucks pulling back a city at home with extreme confrontational intensity and fierce defense. In the fourth game, The Alphabet Gona had become a kick from "Rashomon" and sent Owen away, and the Bucks pulled it 2:2.
In the fifth game, Durant, who led the team alone, played an epic game, with 49 points, 17 rebounds and 10 assists.
But in game six, the Bucks pulled back another city at home, and The Alphabet returned a 30-point 17 board.
In the seventh game, the two sides killed in the dark, and Durant, who was supporting himself, could have killed the Bucks by three points before the final game, but he had to go into overtime because of his long big foot stepping on the line. In the end, although they scored 48 points, 9 boards and 6 assists, the Nets were still inferior to the more physical and more eager to win bucks.
Durant's 35.4 points, 10.6 rebounds and 5.4 assists became the most shining player in the series.
But the 27-year-old also had 31.9 points, 12.9 rebounds and 3.9 assists.
It's only the first round, and their battle has only just begun.
<h1 class = "pgc-h-arrow-right" > three, Bucks vs Nets, gritty iron army vs talent division</h1>
In the offseason, the Bucks after winning the championship walked steadily. They renewed their contract with the first substitute in the interior line, Portis, for 9.5 million in two years, and although they lost two important rotations of P.J. Tucker and Forbes, the supplementary Grayson Allen and Ojelet were also defensive fighters, and they also picked up the former high-quality 3D Rodney Hood with a basic salary.
And their iron strike force last season, Divicenzo, is also coming back.
The Nets, on the other hand, are almost greedily absorbing all the veterans who are eager to win the championship, with the return of Ade, Millsap, James Johnson, Mills, and other famous warships joining, and their only loss is Jeff Green, who defected to the Nuggets.
If it were not for the "vaccine storm" that Irving suddenly killed, the Nets' talent and thickness were not at all the same level as the other 29 opponents.
But in the opener, they lost 104-127 to the Bucks by 23 points.
Although the Nets did not have Irving, the Bucks also lacked DiVichenzo and Portis, and even Holliday, one of the legs of the playoffs, only played half-time before retiring due to injury.
Throughout the game, the Nets didn't come up with an attitude of eagerness to win. They lost 10 rebounds and rebounded in a staggering 13-5. Relying on a fierce defense and aggressive scrambling, the Bucks have won 21 more shooting opportunities than the Nets (105:84).
Especially alphabet brother, the Nets in order to limit him to start Clarkston and Griffin two long men, even if sacrificing space on the court, they are determined to kill this Greek monster.
But alphabet scored 9 points and 7 rebounds in the opening half, the Bucks threw seven three-pointers in the first quarter, if it were not for Mills on the Nets bench to single-handedly return seven three-pointers, I am afraid that this year's opener would have become garbage time in the first half.
The whole game was 32 points, 14 rebounds and 7 assists, and the plus-minus was the highest +25 in the game. Neither the Nets' regular lineup nor the "Death Five" can limit his excitement. Not only did he improve the free throws, but he even showed a dry three-pointer in front of Durant.
As long as he is on the court, the Bucks can steadily suppress the Nets on both ends of the offensive and defensive ends.
Durant also returned 32 points, 11 rebounds and 4 assists on 13-of-25 shooting, but in this game he had no other helper besides Mills, who was 7-of-7 from three-point range, Harden's 20 points, 8 boards and 8 assists could only be considered decent, while the Nets' benches contributed only a pitiful 4 points except Mills, while the opposite bench score was 45 points!
In the first game of the season, the Nets lost to their biggest opponent of the year, but after all, they need more time to run in with the introduction of multiple veterans and the withdrawal of Irving.
The young Bucks, on the other hand, use the Nets as the best whetstone.
After winning the championship in 2015, the young Warriors started the 24-game winning streak in the 15-16 season, and the regular season took the passing system to the extreme, and finally 73 wins and 9 losses, Curry unanimously voted MVP, creating history.
This year, the Bucks not only did not relax in the slightest after winning the championship, but showed a more urgent desire to defend the title. Even though he has already held 2 mvps and 1 championship +fmvp, he still corrects his shortcomings in the offseason and continues to improve.
That's what they really fear.
Durant vs Alphabet Brother, the drama has just begun.