"This dunk is really unbelievable. Because of this challenge, we watched the replay eight hundred times. After the game, "Golden State LaVine" Curry began to comment on the team's dunk again. Perhaps starting today, every time Curry gives Wiggins a picture of a septum before a game, it will be a reserved track tonight.
That night, Wiggins smashed the thermos cup, chopped Doncic with a septum, and split people's imaginations - if Wiggins has a stronger personality, is it what he looks like tonight?
Wiggins dunks over Doncic.
This man, who was jokingly called "the master of point control", "goji berry master" and "thermos cup master" by fans, still could not resist the temptation of the finals after all, and decided to personally decide the victory or defeat of the game. After all, there have been 145 3-0 series in NBA history, and the leading side has successfully advanced.
There have been countless nights when people wanted him to be the leader, the next Jordan, Kobe or James, but that was perhaps not what Wiggins wanted most. Like on the night of the win, Wiggins said: "I enjoyed it, we had the opportunity to do something special here. ”
Wiggins rushed to the top of Weibo's hot search.
Is it doubtful to say that the battle is good?
After the second game, Wiggins' physical condition appeared.
It was about 2 minutes and 20 seconds left in the second quarter, and Wiggins rushed into the crowd with the ball and twisted his left foot when he landed. Even so, he continued to play 20 minutes in the second half.
Wiggins, who was aware of it, did not feel ankle soreness until he woke up the next day, so the Warriors immediately updated the team's injury: Wiggins G3 was doubtful.
A day later at G3, Wiggins changed his tone: "Today I feel much better, I don't think it will affect my traverse. ”
Not only does it not affect the traverse, it is simply alive, and even Doncic's dream tonight may be Wiggins' flashing figure.
With 6 minutes and 40 seconds left in the game, Wiggins received the ball from the outside, came up to block his legs like lead, was crossed by Wiggins in one step, and then he jumped high to face Doncic, and a tomahawk slam knocked Doncic to the ground, which also heralded the end of the West suspense.
"This ball is the best dunk of the year!" Claude lamented on Twitter, while Byron Davis said, "I'm going to hang this poster on the wall and pray for the victims." Even Doncic admitted, "That dunk really impressed me." ”
Before the dunk was completed, Wiggins scored exactly the 18 points he was most familiar with, and when the referee changed the offensive foul, Wiggins tied his personal playoff single-game scoring record of 20 points.
As if breaking the shackles, Wiggins, who was originally "one more point", set a career high with a light basket just 52 seconds later.
In the end, Wiggins' stats were fixed on 11-of-20 shooting, with 27 points, 11 rebounds and 3 assists — his highest points in the playoffs and his first 20+ double-double in a playoff game in his career.
It is clear that he is suspicious of fighting, but he was turned into "once he fights, he will beat the opponent to suspicion".
Defensive gates
In the superstar-sparkling playoffs, 27 points is not too luxurious a statistic. After all, Doncic, opposite Wiggins, scored 40 points this night, and teammate Poole, who played playoffs for the first time, has already accumulated 25+ playoff stats to 5 times.
But I have to admit that Wiggins is still the best player in the Warriors in this series. In the three games of the Western Conference finals, Wiggins' plus-minus was a game-high +66, while Doncic, who stood in front of him as the main defense, had a game-low plus-minus of -61.
Although on the offensive end, Wiggins is the fourth choice after the Warriors' "splash tea", but it is the most critical role in Cole's mouth, "Without a player like Wiggins, you can't win in the playoffs." ”
Wiggins defends Doncic.
In Doncic's 18-point 20-point and 7-turnaround Eastern Conference finals, people unanimously put pen and ink on Wiggins after the game, The Athletic listed Wiggins as the number one reason for the Warriors' victory, and ESPN positioned the title "Wiggins Blocks Doncic, Warriors Take the Lead."
Wiggins explained after the race: "94 feet, let him feel the pressure all the time, don't give him a chance to breathe." "94 feet is the length of the basketball court, and Wiggins is referring to himself putting pressure on Doncic all the time.
When pressed by a reporter if such a full-court defense was exhausting, Wiggins grinned and joked: "I think I'm still young, so I really don't get too tired." ”
Well, after all, Wiggins' thermos cup is soaked with goji berries.
Netizen classic P picture, Wiggins thermos cup in goji berries.
The 27-year-old Wiggins is still young compared to 30-year-old veterans like Curry, Klay and Green, but no one could have imagined that Wiggins would become a defensive figure for the Warriors.
After all, five years ago, Wiggins was the league's worst defensive player. The data site FIVETHIRTYEIGHT even referred to Wiggins as the "Least Defensive Player."
In ESPN's true defensive plus-minus data that year, Wiggins ranked 439th, while the league as a whole was 479...
As for his current defense, Green has this to say: "Wiggins has been incredible on both ends of the court, he's been doing little things that nobody really talks about. But as team-mates, we see it in our eyes and are very grateful and we need him to continue to do these things. ”
Hate iron is not steel
"He's a guy who has been criticized for being lazy, and we've all heard the criticism, but he's come through on the biggest stage." After the game, Green, who was devoted to the podcast, said of Wiggins.
It's a classic "prodigal son doesn't change gold" expression, with the subtext like, "Wiggins has finally struggled to catch up with expectations." ”
Everyone was expecting Wiggins to tell some "how I worked hard to make it," but when asked if he had changed his training style since he arrived with the Warriors, his response was: "No, it's basically the same." ”
Wiggins has always had only one, but what exactly made him different? One of the most widely circulated stories about Wiggins must be Garnett - in a 2019 interview, Garnett said to Wiggins, who was wearing a Timberwolf jersey: "Wiggins I have always been very dissatisfied with you, when can you be an All-Star?" ”
Wiggins possesses explosive fitness.
In Garnett's opinion, Wiggins squandered his talent, "Andrew is one of my favorite young players and the one that makes me angry the most. I never doubted his ability to become a superstar and dominate this league, but he always had no continuity. I wanted to light a fire behind him and keep him stable as a superstar, but he didn't seem interested in that. ”
"I think he loves basketball, but not as much as basketball. I realized later that maybe we had to learn to respect that. ”
The old wolf king's statement is also what most people think. After all, it is difficult for anyone to figure out why a person who does not dunk 720 degrees effortlessly would prefer to choose a layup even if no one defends a fast attack; Why is it that people who can clearly cut 15 points in the first quarter always freeze at around 17 points in the whole game.
In everyone's opinion, "Maple Leaf Jordan" should devour his opponent alive every time he plays, rather than squatting in the bottom corner and smoking after playing two.
After all, Wiggins is also the original basketball Internet celebrity, in 2009 there was a hot video on YouTube, titled "The Strongest 13-year-old in the country", in the video is Wiggins, this video is still on YouTube, and has received nearly 5 million views.
Since then, his world has been filled with expectations - "Maple Leaf Jordan", "James successor", "the most physically fit man in ten years"...
Wiggins saves from the sidelines.
The puzzle of dominance
No one wants to be a little person, but not everyone wants to be a leader.
Jay Triano, who coached Wiggins for the Canadian national team, described it this way: "He doesn't want to be different, he just wants to play the right way. ”
There's nothing wrong with wanting to play the right way, but that thought would also serve as a line in scouting reports: "We want him to be greater, but he probably prefers himself — a decent player who can play in the NBA for 12 to 15 years in the league." ”
In the Timberwolves, people expected him to be the king of the wolves, but Wiggins wanted to play the right basketball, and the Warriors just matched him.
Coming to the Warriors, he finally didn't have to be a wolf. The Warriors don't need Jordan, Kobe and James, they need exactly the kind of player Wiggins has always wanted to be: a player who can defend + have threes + improve his physical talent.
Playing with the Warriors, Wiggins found true joy.
As Cole said of Wiggins: "He's six feet eight inches tall, and he can defend everybody we can't guard." That's the first thing we need him to do, and he's definitely capable of doing it. ”
This brings to Wiggins' interview with ESPN: "I think I scored a lot of points when I was in Minnesota, but nobody cared." But now I'm here, I'm playing for the win, I'm working the pitch. I played the best defense I could. And I can still get 18, 19, 20 points. ”
As Warriors assistant Bruce Fraser described Wiggins, "As an individual, he's not the dominant player. But as a team puzzle, he's the kind of dominant puzzle. ”
And Wiggins enjoyed it, and on the night of the win, Wiggins said it was the happiest he had ever played basketball, "Playing for the Warriors allowed me to see a different side of the game, the culture, the people, the team. The main thing is to fight with the winners ... This is fantastic. ”
According to Bay Area reporter Karen Mills, she hadn't seen Wiggins laugh so often and cheerfully in a long time.
Wiggins may not be destined to become the Wolf King, but he has become a warrior.