averaged 40 points, 11 rebounds and 6 assists per game, leading the team to quietly enter the top two in the East, officially becoming the first person in NBA history!
Text: Lao Kan Kanqiu
Editor|Lao Kan Kanqiu
The new NBA season has been going on for nearly two months, and the situation in the league is gradually becoming clearer. Teams in the East and West have performed differently. However, some strong teams have suffered injuries of varying degrees and have not played at a dominant level, including the defending champions Nuggets. Murray missed 10 games in a row due to a right hamstring injury, and the team led the team with a record of just 5 wins and 5 losses. The Lakers, who just won the midseason championship, also suffered a massive injury wave at the beginning of the season, and it was all up to James and thick eyebrows to prop up the team.
However, in the midst of the chaos, several dark horse teams have also emerged in the league. This season, the Timberwolves and Thunder have relied on their strong defensive capabilities to emerge and rank in the top two in the West. The reason why these two teams have been able to perform so well is closely related to the young players in the team. Edwards of the Timberwolves has grown rapidly and has become the core of the team. On the Thunder team, young players such as Alexander, Giddey and Dort are also gradually emerging. The rise of these young players has injected new vitality into the team and made the team perform better and better.
The same goes for the Magic, who have carved out a spot in the Eastern Conference Triwizard Tournament with their top-three defense. Over the past few seasons, the Magic have been at the bottom of the East. However, this season they have risen to prominence with their strong defensive prowess, with a record in the top three in the East. The Magic's young players such as Wagner, Suggs and Cole Anthony have grown rapidly and become the core of the team. The rise of these young players has not only improved the team's defensive strength, but also given the team more support on the offensive end. The emergence of these dark horse teams has also brought new changes to the pattern of the league.
Obviously, the foundation of the league is still defense. However, there is one team that has done the opposite this season, and that is the Bucks led by Antetokounmpo. Last season, they won the league's No. 1 record with their league-leading defense, but they were repeatedly humiliated by the Heat at key moments in the playoffs because of offensive power outages. This experience made the Bucks management think hard and decided to make a big change.
This offseason, the team fired head coach Budenholzer, which is undoubtedly a major adjustment to the team's defensive system. Subsequently, they traded Holiday and draft picks for Mr. Lillard, a key player, in order to upgrade the team's key ball ability. However, such a change has undoubtedly come at the cost of the team's defensive efficiency.
So far, the Bucks' defensive efficiency has slipped to 116.9, which is only the 24th from the bottom in the league (6th from the bottom). Indeed, the Bucks have always been known for their defense, and their defensive system reached its peak last season. However, the loss in the playoffs made them realize that defense alone is not enough, and offense is just as important. This big change in the offseason has undoubtedly brought new changes to the Bucks. They lost Holiday the core of their perimeter defense in exchange for the more offensive Lillard, and the Bucks have taken a step toward change.
It's clear that while they've been hit the defensive end, they've shown extreme efficiency on the offensive end. However, this sudden change of style made the players feel very uncomfortable, causing the team to stumble and never finish in the top three in the East, and they began to struggle to find a new balance between offense and defense. As the schedule progresses, the Bucks have begun to slowly get back on track, averaging 40 points, 11 rebounds and 6 assists in the past 5 games, leading the team to quietly enter the top two in the East and officially become the first person in NBA history!
Obviously, after the lineup experiment at the beginning of the season, Lillard is not a good leader, he is more suitable for an assassin role, a big heart player at critical moments, and Brother Alphabet is the soul of this Bucks team, his play determines the team's lower limit, just like the previous rematch against the Pacers, because of the last game with 54 points and 12 rebounds, he still lost to the Pacers and missed the midseason finals, becoming the first player in NBA history to score 50+ points and 10+ points in a single game with a 75% shooting rateThe shameful record of rebounding but losing, in the last game against the Pacers again, Brother Alphabet went straight away, slashing 64 points, 14 rebounds and 32 free throws, breaking a number of NBA records, showing the dominance of the king of the restricted area.
It is worth mentioning that Brother Alphabet has scored 30+ with a shooting rate of at least 65% in 5 consecutive games, surpassing O'Neal (4 games) and Abdul-Jabbar (4 games), ranking first in history, and officially becoming the first person in NBA history. Under the leadership of Brother Alphabet, the team has quietly entered the top two in the East.
In fact, his outstanding performances are not only reflected in the numbers, but also his leadership and desire to win have made him the soul of the team. His dominance was on full display in the game, and his presence has greatly improved the team's offensive and defensive ends, which is a big reason why they have been able to return to the top in the face of adversity. Overall, despite some setbacks for the Bucks at the start of the season, they have slowly started to get back on track under Antetokounmpo.