"Old K, you're here again."
Head coach Paul Westphal said with a headache.
"It's okay, I'll get a few more baskets and won't have to deal with these things anymore." Wang Tiejun said with a grin while moving his hands.
"Brother, sooner or later we will become the public enemy of the entire league." Barkley said with a worried look on his face.
"It's okay. We are now the best team in the league. What are you afraid of? Don't worry, the championship this season will definitely be yours."
Wang Tiejun comforted.
"Work harder, bro."
Barkley patted Lao Wang on the shoulder and laughed.
Indeed, the Supersonics lost two games in a row recently. Although the Suns lost to the Bulls, their record still climbed to the first place in the Western Conference and the league, and their performance was very strong.
Even the basketball hoop had to be replaced, and the game was suspended for more than half an hour before it resumed.
2-2, Spurs attack.
"boom!"
In the low post on the left wing, David Robinson took advantage of the confrontation and gave Lao Wang a hard elbow.
He suffered humiliation from being kicked in the crotch and his basket was stolen. If the opponent was also a superstar, it would be fine, but the opponent was just a Chinese rookie, so he had to take revenge.
At this time, Kenny Smith faked a breakthrough and shot from the top of the arc, but missed the three-pointer. Wang Tiejun protected the rebound and the Suns attacked.
Barkley backed up on the right wing, arched his big butt, and suddenly turned around and broke through into the paint.
The Admiral quickly returned to the basket, and when Barkley jumped, he pushed the ball to the floor and the ball bounced behind Robinson.
"Oops!"
Robinson was startled, his back felt cold, and a wind started blowing from behind.
“Bang!”
The next moment, he was knocked to the ground under the basket by a huge force and fell flat on his face.
"boom!"
The basket roared, and a giant beast hung on the basket, looking down at David Robinson at his feet with fierce eyes, with murderous light in his eyes.
“Crack, crack…”
The reporters behind the baseline recorded this scene again. David Robinson, who was lying on his butt under the basket, was almost mad and stood up quickly.
“Wow…”
While running towards the front court, he was gasping for breath, suffering repeated humiliation and under tremendous pressure.
David Robinson came to the low post on the left wing, stepped out to receive the ball, and with a quick tentative step, Comrade Lao Wang stepped back, but the former suddenly stepped back to jump shot, and the latter instinctively paused and almost fell.
“Damn it!”
Comrade Lao Wang is a little depressed. These three super centers are nothing. They are just like the guards , three big perverts.
Oh, yes, we have to include that pervert O'Neal, the four perverts, just enough for one table.
“Swish!”
A splash appeared and two points were made.
"Wooden Stake, where's your defense?"
After scoring the goal, Robinson clenched his fists and started talking trash, which was rare for him, and it was obvious that he was really furious.
"Shame on you! A big center using his outside shooting skills to dodge another big center. You are so shameful! You don't have the dignity of being a big center at all."
Lao Wang had no choice but to condemn Robinson from this perspective.
"You're just a wooden stake. You're good for nothing but being chopped up and burned as firewood." Robinson spat again.
"It seems that I have to ride you once more before you feel comfortable, right?" Lao Wang said indignantly.
"asshole!"
The two of them sprayed each other as they came to the Suns' frontcourt.
Two rounds later, Robinson got the ball again.
When he was playing, he would back down Wang Tiejun, but today he faced the basket.
Because when he is facing away from the basket, he will be hit by Wang Tiejun and cannot stand, but he is better at facing the basket.
“Bang!”
While dribbling, Robinson took a big diagonal step and easily broke through Wang Tiejun, broke into the basket, and slammed the ball into Barkley's defense. With a bang, Sir Barkley's eyes were full of stars.
"Brother, are you okay?"
Looking at the dusty Barkley, Wang Tiejun said awkwardly, "This is the result of covering up for him."
Barkley said unhappily: "Old K, your defense and rim protection are rubbish."
"Isn't that a short time? I've only been playing for a month. When the playoffs come, just leave it to me. I'm sure I can take care of him."
Comrade Lao Wang patted his chest and said confidently.
"What if you can't handle him?" Barkley asked.
"Isn't there still next season? There's plenty of time. I'm only 19 years old. He will get old one day. Why are you in such a hurry?"
Lao Wang said casually.
Barkley was so angry that he kicked him and said with a smile: "You are only 19, I am 30 years old, of course I am anxious!"
Back on the offensive end, Barkley was no pushover either. He beat Sean Elliott and made a shot easily.
Next, Spurs shooting guard J.R. Reed missed a shot, and Barkley jumped high to grab the backcourt rebound, and it was the Suns' turn to attack again.
"Give it to me, give it to me."
Running to the low post on the left wing, Lao Wang couldn't wait to get the position and the ball.
Kevin Johnson passed the ball to Wang Tiejun, and as soon as he received it and was about to shoot, he realized something was wrong. David Robinson actually took a half step back and no longer defended him in that suffocating manner. He only put his left hand on his waist and raised his right hand high. What was he trying to do?
"This old guy definitely doesn't want to have a strong confrontation with me," he reacted immediately.
“Bang!”
He dribbled tentatively inside and stepped into the paint.
David Robinson suddenly approached him at this time, and his two long arms began to harass him, trying to steal his ball.
He quickly turned around to protect the ball, using his body and arms to block Robinson. Although the ball was not intercepted, his ball-handling skills were poor, only level 60. He took care of Robinson but not the ball. The ball slipped from his hands and was snatched away by Kenny Smith who rushed down.
After the offense and defense switched, the Spurs immediately launched an attack. David Robinson left Wang Tiejun several steps behind and broke into the basket for a successful dunk.
The Suns then called a timeout.
"My basic skills are too poor. I need to practice. I need to practice my basic skills well." Zhang Heli, who was sitting on the top of the mountain, shook his head.
However, considering that Wang Tiejun has not played basketball for nearly two years, it is inevitable that his basic skills will become rusty if he does not make progress.
At this time, Dream was watching the game in the hotel. When he saw Robinson's defense, his heart brightened.
In terms of defense, he is stronger. In terms of steals and blocks, he is better than Robinson. He is also stronger in confrontation ability. But in terms of defending the rookie K, Robinson seems to be better than him. Why is that?
He gained some insights from this defense.
Robinson defended smarter than him. He is indeed a top student in the NBA and a high-IQ criminal. Oh no, he is a high-IQ player with extraordinary basketball IQ.
In the last game, Robinson used a persistent defensive style, which completely disrupted K's rhythm. In this game, he seized the weakness of K's ball-control skills. His defense was too smart and he always managed to seize K's weaknesses.
Although he tried his best to avoid strong confrontation with Lao K in the first game, he did not find any major weaknesses of Lao K.
The second game was played even more stupidly, because not only did he fail to exploit Old K's weaknesses, but he also had more confrontations with Old K, which made him feel comfortable all over and he had to take another break.
If he also takes advantage of K's poor ball control, with his better agility than Robinson, he will definitely make K even more embarrassed.
Of course, if he hadn't seen how Robinson defended K just now, he wouldn't have noticed K's weakness in ball-handling, because K seldom dribbled the ball, just a few times when he backed up.
Moreover, K's arms are very long, and he dribbles very low to the ground. If you don't observe carefully, you won't be able to exploit this weakness of his at all. It can be seen that Robinson put a lot of thought into it.
" That guy Robinson must have studied Old K's technical characteristics carefully. He is really a top student. I am not as good as him!"
He decided to ask the coaching staff to get him some video footage of Old K's games immediately. He wanted to study it carefully and completely defeat that damned guy the next time they faced each other.
He was right in his guess. David Robinson started studying Wang Tiejun after seeing Wang Tiejun score 20+10 on him.
And Robinson achieved his goal. K scored 20+10 twice against Dream Team, but Robinson was able to make K foul out, which proved that he was stronger than Dream Team.
At the scene, on the Suns bench, head coach Paul Westphal was arranging tactics, and assistant coach Lewis was instructing Wang Tiejun on some details.
"Remember, K., when you back-up David Robinson, you must finish him off cleanly and quickly. Don't drag your feet, or he'll take advantage. Play at your own pace, don't be driven by his pace."
"I see."
Comrade Lao Wang also summarized the mistakes he made just now.
When Robinson took a half step to defend him, he had no chance to fight back, so his strongest technical ability was of no use. In this way, Robinson easily castrated his strongest ability.
He is different from others. Even if their strongest ability is sealed, their other abilities are still good. But since his strongest ability is sealed, he can only surrender.
So how do we solve this kind of defense of the opponent?
The timeout ends and the Suns attack.
"Brother, here's an assist."
Wang Tiejun came to the low post on the left wing, blocked Robinson with his left hand, raised his right hand high, and shouted towards the top of the arc.
“Whoosh!”
I don't expect assists, just don't make any more mistakes, Kevin Johnson passed the ball in angrily.
Comrade Lao Wang received the ball and Robinson immediately stepped back half a step.
"You'll be in trouble!"
Lao Wang said secretly, suddenly jumped sideways and threw a hook shot.
"Oops!"
Robinson was caught off guard and could only look up and defend with his eyes.
“Swish!”
It was an open shot with a good rhythm, and the ball fell into the basket very accurately.
This is Lao Wang’s method, using hook shots to force Robinson to defend closely, otherwise it would be impossible to defend against his hook shots, and Chamberlain couldn’t defend against his hook shots either.
To defend against his hook shot, you can only disrupt his rhythm through strong confrontation. This kind of half-step back defense is simply impossible.
No matter how tough Robinson's persistent defense is, it is better than a defense that gives him a half-step, because he must suppress his opponent through strong confrontation, otherwise he will lose his strongest weapon.
"here you go!"
Kevin Johnson, Barkley and others shouted happily.
The coaching staff on the sidelines also clapped and cheered for the ball.
In the next few rounds, Wang Tiejun did the same thing again. Although his hook shot missed, he forced Robinson to give up the non-close defense and instead intensify the confrontation, which activated Comrade Wang's strongest weapon.
However, Robinson then adopted the defensive strategy of Dream Team, which was to block the shot and prevent Wang Tiejun from getting into the basket. Even if he managed to get in, there was no time left for him to attack, forcing him to shoot from outside and reducing his efficiency.
This strategy is correct, Dream has demonstrated it, and Robinson made the right choice.
This is because Wang Tiejun's hook shot level is only 85, which is not even first-rate. Level 90 is considered first-rate. Now his hit rate is limited, and even if he performs well, he can only reach the passing standard.
However, the confrontation between him and Wang Tiejun became more intense. Every contact was a collision of muscles and sparks flew.
After the first quarter, the score was 24:31, and the Suns relied on 7 points in a single quarter.
After the first quarter, Wang Tiejun made 4 of 6 shots, 2 of the first 2 shots and 2 of the last 4 shots. It was not bad, but not excellent either. In addition, he made 0 of 2 free throws and scored 8 points, 3 rebounds, 1 turnover and 1 foul.
Robinson also played the entire first quarter without a single minute of rest. He made 6 of 9 shots, 2 of 3 free throws, and scored 14 points, 4 rebounds, and 1 foul. His performance was still better than Wang's.
However, in this game, Wang Tiejun's performance was better than in his first game with Robinson, and his performance was normal.
The two continued to compete in the next three quarters.
Wang Tiejun did not have the foul trouble from the previous game. He actively sought confrontation throughout the court, which eventually forced David Robinson and Dream Team to play around Wang Tiejun in the second half, just like O'Neal. They also tried to use harassing defense on the defensive end to avoid strong confrontation with him.
In a very intense game, Robinson's physical strength declined seriously in the second half and his efficiency began to decline.
In the end, the Suns won the game.
David Robinson played 42 minutes and took a lot of shots. He probably wanted to score 50 points, but he ultimately failed to do so.
He made 15 of 33 shots, with a hit rate of 45.4%, which is lower than the 50% hit rate this season. In addition, he made 7 of 10 free throws and scored 37 points, 15 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 blocks, 1 turnover and 3 fouls.
Wang Tiejun played for 43 minutes, made 9 of 19 shots, with a hit rate of 47.3%, which was only average in efficiency. In addition, he made 3 of 8 free throws and scored 21 points, 11 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 block, 2 turnovers and 4 fouls.
The statistics were very poor, but he finally completed the task and received a reward of 100 points, which brought his total points to 1,000 points, enough to redeem a synthetic card.
After the game, he lay directly on the court, sweating profusely.
"Old K, can you still move?" Danny Ainge came over and asked.
He waved his hands and panted, "Take a break, let me catch my breath, I'm so tired."
Ainge squatted beside him, glanced at Barkley who was being interviewed, thought for a moment and said, "Charles has high expectations for this season, but K, there are some problems with your playing style. This won't work."
"What, what's the problem?" Lao Wang asked, still panting.
Ainge said: "Look, it's only the end of January, and you've only played for a month. Now your physical fitness can still hold on, but there are still three months of regular seasons to go, and the schedule is not even halfway through. There are more intense playoffs to come. Can your physical fitness hold on?"
Lao Wang said helplessly: "What can I do? This is my way of fighting, hard fight."
Nodding and patting Lao Wang on the shoulder, Angie stood up and walked towards the bench.
After the game, two commentators gave a post-match summary on the ABC TV station's live broadcast booth.
Gomez said: "This game proved one thing. Although K's defense is rubbish, it is better than super centers like Dream and Robinson. They can't suppress his low-post back-to-the-basket play. He once again scored 20+10 against a super center."
Ellandon went on to say: “So there’s only one way to defend his low-post back-to-the-basket attack: double-team him.”
"Yes, but this is the choice of other teams. I believe that super centers like Dream and Robinson should disdain such a choice, otherwise they will lose face." Gomez said with a smile.
"I think there's another guy who can stop K from scoring in one-on-one defense," Ellandon said at this time.
"Who is it?" Gomez looked very interested.
"Shaquille O'Neal," Ellandon laughed.
"big shark?"
Gomez was not too surprised, because now the media almost recognized that O'Neal would become the fourth super center. After thinking for a while, he said, "Morton, I think I have to agree with you."
"Of course. You have to know that O'Neal is heavier than K. He has stronger explosive power and strength than K. And his athleticism is even better than K. The last time he faced K., he only allowed K. to get three points. This is proof of that." Ellandon said with a smile.
Gomez smiled and said: "Well, the Magic will visit Phoenix soon, the specific date is February 19, let's look forward to that game.
By the way, I have to say in advance that the game will also be broadcast live across the United States by our ABC TV station, so please tune in to watch it."
Danny Ainge returned to the bench and talked with the coaching staff about Wang Tiejun's physical fitness problems. He is now at the end of his career and is also aspiring to enter the coaching and team management industry in the future, so he has a lot of things to consider.
Head coach Paul Westphal nodded and said: "I have been thinking about this issue. For now, his playing time must be guaranteed, 40 minutes per game, because he needs more opportunities to hone his skills and more game experience.
After the All-Stars, I will limit his average time to 35 minutes per game, hoping that he can get over the rookie wall."
Assistant coach Lewis said: "He has taken too many shots in the past few games, even more than Charles, which has increased his physical energy consumption."
Paul Westphal said with a smile: "Several of our main players, Barkley, Kevin Johnson, and Dan Maalley, are all good scorers. Except for Barkley who took a little more shots, the others took about 10 to 13 shots.
According to K's playing style, physical energy consumption must be controlled well, and his average shots per game must be limited to around 10 to 13 times in the future. Otherwise, he will definitely not be able to hold on until the playoffs and his physical strength will collapse.
However, let the main among themselves. We don’t need to worry about it for now. Old K is in a stage where his strength is rapidly improving, so there is no problem with him making more moves.”
Several people laughed. The Suns are very united now, especially the main players have a good relationship with each other, so there is no problem of competing for shots. Although K has taken too many shots in recent games, he still needs players from the outside to be willing to pass the ball to him.
At this time, Barkley's interview was over, and he went over to pull Lao Wang up from the floor, and everyone went back to the locker room together.
"Old K, you need to pay more attention to your physical reserve. Don't let yourself be forced to sit on the bench and watch us play in the playoffs."
Dan Marley teased.
"That can't be possible."
Lao Wang immediately shook his head.
But in fact, he knew that his physical fitness was indeed a big problem.
His playing style is too tough, with strong confrontation and many shots. As a center, his physical energy consumption should be multiples of David Robinson.
To put it bluntly, the fact that he can last the entire game now is because he is overdrawing his physical reserves. If he continues like this, he won't be able to hold on for much longer.
After returning to the locker room and sitting for a while, he took a shower and then followed Barkley and others to attend the post-match press conference.