1. James scored another 50 points
In last year's playoffs, LeBron scored that ultra-far three-pointer against Curry, blocking the latter's final sprint - 45 degrees on the right, Curry's fate point - that picture is unforgettable, and the people in the picture have brought those keywords into the new season. Still the final sprint, or the scoring king, or the three-pointer, the protagonist was replaced by LeBron.
In fact, regardless of effort or not, the Lakers are unlikely to change anything in the final wave of the schedule. The Lakers are determined to play the playoffs, and it is basically impossible to fall out of the play-off zone, because the team that is catching up behind is also seven meat and eight vegetarian. To tell the truth, the outside world will not pay much attention to teams in such a situation. If this team is the Lakers, the game is important. And because of James's existence, as an opponent, you better not take it lightly. The Warriors played small against James, and then James scored 56 points and hammered the paint. Kerr has been an opponent with James for so many years, will not be unaware, James has the ability to run over most of the defenders less than or equal to the size of the 4th position, nor will it be unaware, in the past, the Warriors small lineup can compete with James on the premise that the single defense resources are extremely excellent, and this is not the case recently.
But Cole probably didn't think that much:
"Will the Warriors lose to the Lakers? No way. ”
"James is still very strong, so what?"
"Wei Shao this fight, right?" OK。 ”
James, who averages 28.8 points per game, cooperates with the Lakers' team to stop the opponent in the confusion. People believe that James is still omnipotent, but now he can only "do something, do something." For example, Curry breaks through the pass, James on the swipe position, more willing to stare at the opposite player, rather than the common reach for the ball - this has a small probability of causing the opponent to make a mistake, there is a certain probability of forcing the opponent to close the ball, and there is also a certain probability of missing three points. Taken together, the ratio of returns to risks is not high, and a little physical strength will be lost. So, forget it, the big husband has something to do and something not to do.
It is not difficult to see the picture of James remaining calm with the passing ball carrier, and interestingly, James's steal rate is a new high since the 15-16 season, and if he intercepts it, he will basically succeed. His defensive impact stats aren't as bad as fans think. James has maintained excellent defensive small numbers over the years, while still maintaining extremely low foul numbers, which is rare, thanks to his shocking ability to weigh, which makes him one of the best decision-makers on the court, but also a big reason for his controversy.
For James's offensive and defensive choices, everyone has his reasons to praise and disparage, but no matter which faction, will admit that behind James's choices, relying on his rich arsenal. If it is not "omnipotent", it cannot be "do something, do something". At The All-Star Weekend, James closed the game with a back-up jumper to help Curry win the AMFP trophy. One shot is super far three points, one shot is a back jumper, this penalty is a gift, and the grievances are balanced.
Interestingly, in the two key moments with such a sense of picture, James did not use his label skills, but you can't pick out any discord - James used ultra-far or backwards to close the game, what is the problem? James will be so much that it is not surprising how he ends the game, even if it is, to go back to the basket.
The 50 points against the Wizards and the 56 points against the Warriors have both similarities and differences in posture. In both games, James hit 6 three-pointers, but unlike the basket that completely hammered the Warriors, James used more back-up jumpers against the Wizards, and between the three-point line and the paint, he shot 5-of-6, and Kuzma desperately sealed his face, unable to hold james' arc perfect enough. The 11-shot jumper completed the game, and Kuzma in front of him could only look up and sigh:
One, two, three, and four,
Five, six, seven, eight.
Nine Notes Ten Notes Eleven,
Fly into the basket and shoot all in.
While James can't always solve problems this way, you can't ignore his back-up jumper, and it's possible that he's been hitting that kind of ball all the time, in the playoffs in '18, in the playoffs in '20, on certain nights, and that arc happened repeatedly.
Of course, no one would encourage a player who hit 39 percent of the mid-range shots to keep shooting like this. Which skills are the foundation and which are special weapons, James can clearly distinguish. There are many ways for stars to delay aging, and Dream Chaser is shocked by James's self-discipline in maintaining his body, and what he should be more shocked and ashamed of is that he is as strong as James, and he also knows that he can't leave the three-point ball.
Optimizing the distribution of shots is certainly the reason why James maintains his standards and cannot be ignored, the 23% of mid-range shooting frequency this season is already the lowest in his career, and outside the three-point line, he has shot the most in his career, maintaining a 35.5% shooting rate, and also pulling back to 76.8% of the free throw shooting rate that has been languishing for many years, these changes have achieved this result - James is 37 years old (4th in the league, if you don't count Haslem and the singles Joe who was summoned to play for 2 minutes, second only to Iguodala), Averaging 37 minutes per game (3rd in the league), he can maintain a true shooting percentage of 61.9% and is competing for the top scorer with 29.7 points per game.
This is also James's choice, choosing to optimize the technique little by little, and then unrealistically maintaining a high standard at an advanced age. You can not get cold, but have to admire. The difference between 40,000 points and 40,000 songs is that the latter one only needs to be cheeky, while the former one, at least to be recognized by the basket, has a clearer hard standard, after all, the ball is not a stinky foot, the ball is thrown, put in or buckled.
Chasing 40,000 points is not a long road, 50 minutes and 50 points, all the way to be questioned, all the way to break the doubt, after 19 years in the league, James can still make his game the center of the storm, which is an incredible thing. James ruled out the wrong answers and used the last reserves in the fuel tank with great care, which is no more correct choice for players of this age. And in the past 20 years of prudence and persistence, in addition to dreams, I can't think of any kind of utilitarianism that can make people so persistent. Dreams are not always bound to blood, in fact, when you experience it, you will find that blood is often only the beginning of the dream, and what can really help you go to the end is a cautious attitude, a correct decision, and a calm attitude to shield criticism.
This is where I admire James.
2. What the hell is going on with Wiggins
Of course, sometimes caution and persistence are presented in a different way. After removing the kernel, the shell supported by these keywords is also like a very healthy life.
In the past two years, I have learned to be obedient, and I know that the batch of players should pay attention to methods and avoid endless right and wrong. I found that only writing Durant was the easiest, and I could let go of myself and interweave ridicule and praise, outlining enough vivid pictures. Durant fans have been chased too many times, probably without a temper, in fact, this is better, at least it is easier to hear unprocessed, unpacked comments. Moreover, you will find that when a star's fans are packed up and lose their right to speak, the charm of the star is enhanced.
Conversely, the more people don't spray, the more they are often sprayed.
I can understand some emotions, especially for a player like Wiggins, who is highly talented and in a high position, and it is not too much to say "watch him grow up" but "watch him come all the way". For fans, the expectations injected in the process are too much, the branding is deep, and no one wants to admit that years of emotional investment is a mispayment.
In fact, like a person, a thing, often has the same process:
At the beginning, I felt that TA was good at everything;
Slowly, see the other side of ta, but do not want to admit it, and even fight with people to get red;;
Next, I have to admit that some of the doubting voices are true, and at this time face the choice to either stay or leave. People have a lot of things to choose, fortunately, like or dislike can be chosen;
If you stay, you will slowly accept the good and bad of ta and can look at it dialectically;
In the end, you will find that nothing is a big deal, once liking becomes a habit, then what it is like, what others say, you don't care.
You can taste it, and at what stage you are still at.
Now let me talk about Wiggins.
In fact, in the private of the ball critics, there is no controversy about Wiggins, everyone is very unanimous, and his level is certainly not worthy of the contract, even if he performed better before the All-Star. Lacob Jr. said before that Wiggins has exceeded the Warriors' expectations, which is the official characterization of the Warriors. To put these two points together, it is:
Wiggins was on a premium contract, and the Warriors knew that and still traded him, and he exceeded the Warriors' expectations.
It's like Wiggins making an All-Star start:
On the one hand, with the efforts of Warriors fans and Wiggins fans, with the background of continuous injuries in the Western Conference this year, Wiggins was cast as an All-Star starter. In the case that there is obviously a dream to choose from (the dream was not absent so much at that time), the Warriors fans chose Wiggins, since it is their own choice, it must be recognized;
Wiggins, on the other hand, is not at the level of a Western Conference All-Star, much less at the starting level. His performance is also in the case of a large number of injuries in the top west frontcourt, Nohka's last 1 or 2 places are selected, and it is impossible to enter the All-Star in normal years. I'm sure Warriors fans know that too.
That's the two sides of Wiggins, and if you're a Warriors fan, you have to know better than any other fan. From Warriors management to Warriors fans, either accepting the Wiggins premium or choosing Wiggins as an All-Star, the truth is that everyone has lowered the standard for evaluating Wiggins. Then, the mentality should also be better.
Someone might say it – but we recognize the Wiggins who was in better shape before! After the All-Star, Wiggins shot 30.8 percent from three-point range and 25 percent from the free throw line, which is outrageous.
That's right. Moreover, many of the defenses of Wiggins fans do not make sense:
First, defense is not Wiggins' shield. It's true that Wiggins is one of the Warriors' heaviest players to take on the role of a matchmaker, but many teams have players with similar positioning. As the number one leading defense choice, Wiggins' level is far from the optimal grade, the simplest comparison, look at the same team of little Payton to know how big the gap is, the latter is still so small. Wiggins did not mention the qualification of "wiping his ass", he has a lot of blocks, most of which come from single defense. Because the Warriors' small lineup is more swinging, Wiggins may have a little more baskets than the average guard, but it is far from the level of "relying on mouth brothers to make up everywhere". Wiggins also didn't have a lot of centering, he spent 75% of the season playing small forwards, most of the rest of the time playing big forwards, for his height forward, his positioning is far from misplaced;
Second, Thompson's return is not an excuse for Wiggins' offense. It's true that Thompson's direct impact on Wiggins was to take a lot of the shots, resulting in a reduction in Wiggins' possession of the round. The problem is that Wiggins should not have played too much offense, his ball holding efficiency is low, playing the ball will shoot too many long two points, more shooting points, empty cutting baskets and catching low positions and eating small misalignment is the correct use. In fact, Wiggins, who was 5-of-22 from mid-range after the All-Star break, 6-of-16 from the non-basket paint zone, plus a 30.8 percent three-point shooting percentage and a 25 percent free-throw shooting percentage, collapsed across the board and is no longer explainable by technical and tactical implications. If a player is only inefficient because of positioning adjustments to this extent, then he is not an NBA-level player.
One might ask again – what then? How do I adjust? Should Wiggins scold?
You have to look at it this way — in this season where everyone is not sure, Wiggins all-Star first three-point shooting rate of 41.4%, is it too lucky? Isn't it too unreal that his highest-scoring December, he shot 52.7 percent from three-point range? Isn't it unrealistic for a player with such a low shooting arc, a career projection, and not even a good free throw, to keep his three-point shooting rate of more than 40% this season?
Wiggins had a wave of pulling crotches, almost predestined. If you think he can always maintain the standard, you have unrealistic illusions about him. In any player, it is normal to have ups and downs, and the higher the peak, the lower the trough. Wiggins just burst the previous bubble, and after the state landed hard, it would take a while to get back to normal. As for whether the playoff status falls at the peak or the trough, for players at this level, sometimes it's a matter of luck, barnes, wiggins.
So, is it possible for the Warriors to stay with Wiggins in the future?
Again, I'll talk about it after the season. But objectively speaking, this hope is getting lower and lower, from the perspective of salary structure, the replacement of new and old must sacrifice some players, the older generation has feelings, young people have a future, Wiggins does not have. It's not to blame the Warriors — why did Wiggins have nothing? If he does play at a matching salary level, things will change, and from The two years Wiggins has been with the Warriors, two things are certain:
Wiggins's ability to hold the ball was limited to the big and small near the basket, and the occasional outburst could not be sustained. It's not a matter of mentality, it's a technical flaw, and there has been no significant improvement for many years, and no one will give an eighth-grade player unlimited opportunities;
Wiggins also can't be transformed by warriors. The surprising part of him is that the fixed-point projection has improved a lot, which is worth affirming, but the bottom line is empty of consciousness, the ability to handle the ball is limited, and for the forward, playing in the Warriors is a necessary skill.
The best way to use Wiggins is 3D, with limited misalignment penalties. Give him the ball to let go, occasionally burst a game or two, more often, a large number of inefficient long two points will reduce his value. It is regrettable that Kerr failed to limit Wiggins' long two-point frequency, but considering the salary of the player, it is impossible not to give the main offensive role, coupled with Wiggins's limited vision and breakthrough ability, many rounds of unchanged two-point growth will also become mistakes. Throw it and vote.
So:
Wiggins fans should not go out and compare themselves with two young small forwards in the league, so that they can recruit him less. And don't feel like he's being delayed. What delayed Wiggins was his own technical bottleneck, which was certainly not caused by the Warriors, and for the eighth-grade players, it was basically a foregone conclusion;
Warriors fans should not be harsh on Wiggins. One thing is right, Wiggins has done a lot of things, compared to pure 3D tool people, he has to play some main attacks, and the attendance is excellent, saying "conscientious" is no problem. It's just that his "conscientiousness" is also because of the limitation of ability, the Warriors can not give him the treatment of real stars, find someone to help him take over the strong point, let him let go, this is not the Warriors look down on him, but he did not prove that it is worth letting the Warriors do this.
Judging by Wiggins' overall performance this season, he is below the salary value, but above the Warriors' standard for him, as a Warriors fan, I think Wiggins is doing a good job, it doesn't matter if he has a downturn, I hope he adjusts his form, and if possible, hopes that the future can go further, and don't let those who have been supporting him just be forced to accept reality, but to cash in on that initial expectation.