NBA: LeBron James wants to team up with me

Guys there is already content on patreon, if anyone wants to become a jonnin, hogake or God Shinobi.

patreon.com/Chuga320 (Have than 50 additional chapters)

—————————————————————————————————————————————

Despite being guarded by two players, Wang Chong still displayed an incredibly strong scoring ability. This was no longer a problem that could be solved by simply anticipating it in advance and organizing tactics. It was just an overwhelming personal skill.

Watching Wang Chong gallop across the court, Phil Jackson felt as if he were witnessing Jordan at the peak of his career.

Wang Chong and Jordan are two players with completely different styles, yet their dominance on the court is surprisingly similar.

In contrast, Kobe, who is often recognized for playing more like Jordan, compared himself to Wang Chong and judged the difference.

In recent years, during Kobe's peak seasons, he could still compete with Wang Chong in terms of scoring ability.

But we are now in 2010.

Although Kobe, at 31 years old, is still at the top of his competitive status, his athleticism has obviously decreased slightly compared to when he was in his mid-20s. Now, the frequency of Kobe's ball advances has decreased, and more than half of his scoring comes from jump shots and post attacks, much like Jordan.

However, his shooting percentage isn't at the level of Jordan's, and although his efficiency is often low, he still insists on taking forced shots.

During the two consecutive championships, Kobe's performance in the Finals wasn't stellar.

In the 2008-09 season, when the Lakers defeated the Magic to win the championship, Kobe averaged 32.4 points and 7.4 assists per game, but his field goal percentage of 43% was a bit low, nowhere near Gasol's 60% field goal percentage.

As for the 2009-10 season, when the Lakers faced the Celtics in the Finals, Kobe shot only 40% from the field and averaged 28.6 points per game.

Of course, you can't entirely blame Kobe for the low shooting percentage. The Celtics themselves are known for their defense. If they are deliberately attacked, it's inevitable that Kobe's efficiency would drop.

In fact, the performance of the top scorers from both teams during the Finals wasn't great. While Kobe shot just 40% from the field, the Celtics' two star wings, Pierce, shot 43.9%, which is only 43.9%. As for Ray Allen, he shot only 36.7% from the field and 29.3% from beyond the arc.

But there's something important to mention: Ray Allen was responsible for guarding Kobe during the Finals and successfully limited his performance. However, his poor performance had nothing to do with Kobe.

Throughout the series, Kobe was responsible for defending Celtics' point guard Rajon Rondo, who had the weakest perimeter offensive ability and was mainly focused on passing, organizing, and supporting. Ray Allen's poor performance can only be attributed to him. He wasn't good, and the overall defensive ability of the Lakers was excellent.

Now, back to the game.

Wang Chong's continuous and powerful scoring naturally inspired the unyielding spirit of the Black Mamba. Wang Chong can score in critical moments—so can I, Kobe!

Thus, when Wang Chong took control of the ball for the Bulls and kept attacking and scoring, Kobe did the same, actively calling for the ball to attack, trying to break through against Wang Chong.

But in terms of offensive efficiency, Kobe really can't compare to Wang Chong. Don't look at the fact that Billups, who is responsible for guarding him, can't stop him, but Wang Chong also has Garnett's original role. Kobe's fine if he shoots from the outside, but whenever he chooses to drive and attack the basket with the ball, he inevitably faces Wang Chong's defense and counterattack.

This situation is obvious, and everyone can see it, but Kobe himself doesn't believe in bad luck. He firmly believes that even if he misses this shot, he'll definitely make the next one.

The result of this mindset is that the Lakers are now down by double digits, and it's a bit late to chase the points.

In the second half of the last quarter, the Bulls played consistently. They simply defended the territory Wang Chong had established and won the game successfully.

108:102.

In the first game of the Finals, the Bulls won at home by a 6-point margin and got off to a good start.

After Wang Chong scored 18 points in the first three quarters, he suddenly exploded in the final quarter, scoring 16 points in a single quarter. He finished with 34 points, 11 rebounds, and 3 assists, and his field goal percentage was 58%.

Looking back at Kobe, although his 40 points in the game were higher than Wang Chong's, a large number of bad shooting decisions in the last quarter significantly reduced his shooting percentage, resulting in a total field goal percentage of only 41%.

The reason the Bulls won the game was, of course, Wang Chong's scoring in the critical moments, but additionally, the performance of other Bulls players, especially Curry and Gasol, was also very important.

Gasol scored 17 points and grabbed 12 rebounds in this game. During the game, he didn't fall behind either Bynum or his brother Gasol.

Not to mention Curry—he was the most surprising player of this game.

Throughout the game, Curry made 10 of 20 shots, 7 of 15 from three-point range, and 4 of 4 from the free-throw line. He scored 31 points, grabbed 4 rebounds, and dished out 5 assists. The Bulls were able to compete with the Lakers in the second and third quarters, and Curry's stellar performance played a vital role.

Nobody expected Curry to have such a strong performance in the first game of the Finals. The entire Lakers team didn't expect it, nor did Bulls fans.

"Damn, Curry is too strong. He reminds me of Wade during the 2005-06 Finals! And at that time, Wade was already in his third season, and Curry is just a rookie. This season, the Bulls really found a treasure!"

"The Lakers never dreamed that the Bulls could beat them without Garnett. If Kobe loses this Finals, he will never have the chance to defeat Wang Chong in the future."

"Isn't that nonsense? Kobe is already 31 years old, and he only has a few years left in his prime. Wang Chong is different. He still has at least ten years left in his prime. In fact, even comparing them now, they're not on the same level. Wang Chong already has three championships, three MVPs, and two FMVPs. Although Kobe has four championships, his personal honors only include one MVP."

After the first battle, the league's judgment on the outcome of the Finals began to waver.

Before the game, although they knew Wang Chong was very powerful, not many people truly felt that the Bulls, without Garnett, could compete with a full-strength Lakers team. After all, they were missing an MVP-level superstar!

Unexpectedly, in the absence of their general, the Bulls were able to suppress the Lakers in the game.

Klee, TNT's celebrity mouthpiece, openly stated after the game:

"If the Bulls can win the Finals and take home the O'Brien Trophy, Wang Chong will truly be qualified to challenge Jordan. After all, even Michael never won a championship without Champion Pippen. This is enough to demonstrate Wang Chong's strength and leadership ability!"

Some may question whether Curry's contribution to the Bulls' victory was as important as Wang Chong's. Why should all the credit go to Wang Chong?

This is a typical statement that only looks at the numbers without considering the game itself.

The reason Curry could put up big numbers is, of course, due to his outstanding individual skills, but the more important reason is that the Lakers' defensive arrangements for him weren't strong enough.

As long as Wang Chong is on the court, whether he participates in the offense or not, he will be the key defensive target of the Lakers.

In contrast, Curry is a rookie. While he performed well in the earlier rounds of the playoffs, defending Wang Chong is obviously more important than defending Curry.

This is the embodiment of deterrence.

To put it simply, Curry's standout performance has a lot to do with the fact that the Lakers don't take him seriously. He plays the so-called "easy" shots on the court, while Wang Chong is scoring under the constant attention of his opponents, all of which are difficult attack opportunities.

This argument was validated in the following second game.

On June 6, in the second game of the Finals, the Bulls faced the Lakers again at home.

In this game, the Bulls couldn't successfully defend their home court and were defeated by the Lakers 99-95, making the series score 1:1.

This was the rare occasion the Bulls had lost at home in the playoffs in recent years.

Wang Chong's performance in the game remained efficient and steady, scoring 42 points, grabbing 8 rebounds, and dishing out 5 assists, with his shooting percentage staying above 50%.

However, Curry, who had scored over 30 points in the first game, was heavily guarded by the Lakers in this game, and his performance was abnormally poor. He made only 4 of 15 shots, with a shooting percentage of just 26.6%.

The abnormal performance when facing pressure is already a traditional flaw for Curry. Not to mention that he's just a rookie with a severe lack of experience and skill. Even if Curry reaches the peak of his abilities in the future, this flaw will remain. Otherwise, it would have been impossible for him to not win a single FMVP in his first three championships.

The Cavaliers were able to use Dellavedova to defend Curry in the Finals. The issue was never how strong Dellavedova was defensively.

Curry's reputation would only be

truly justified when he led his team to win the championship in the 2021-22 season and won his first Finals FMVP.

It was the Warriors' championship that completely pushed Durant to the bottom, and Green's formula closed the circle.

No matter how much Durant contributed to the Warriors during his three years with them, he can't hide the fact that the team could still win the championship even without him.

On the other hand, Durant, after leaving the Warriors, formed two super teams with the Nets and the Suns in an attempt to win the championship, but failed multiple times. It's obvious which player is superior and which one is inferior.

The score was tied at 1:1, and the situation began to turn against the Bulls because the next game would be played at the Lakers' home court, the Staples Center in Los Angeles.

Without the advantage of playing at home, the Bulls could suffer two consecutive defeats if they aren't careful, and the series score would jump directly to 1:3!

If the Bulls want to avoid this almost inevitable defeat, they must win at least one game on the road.

On June 8, the official G3 of the Finals began.

The Lakers came back with great momentum on their home court. Although Kobe Bryant scored 29 points on 29 shots, with extremely low efficiency, unexpectedly, Kidd hit 4 of 5 threes and Artest made 3 of 6 field goals. With the contributions from the Lakers' experts, Gasol and Odom, the Lakers managed to claim their first home win, rewriting the series score to 2:1, becoming the first playoff team in the league in three years to lead the Bulls by a small margin.

Chicago fans were despondent.

Although it was only the third game of the Finals, for the Bulls, the situation already seemed irreversible. If they lost the fourth game and the series score went to 1:3, the Lakers' chance of winning would soar to more than 90%!

All the pressure now fell on Wang Chong. As the star of the Bulls and currently recognized as the strongest player, when the team was in crisis, Wang Chong naturally had the ability to step up, change the course, and shoulder the responsibility.

Wang Chong did not disappoint the fans who had great hopes for him.

On June 10, 2010, G4 of the Finals.

In this do-or-die game for the Bulls, Wang Chong made 18 of 28 shots, 8 of 14 three-pointers, and 10 of 12 free throws. He scored 54 points, grabbed 14 rebounds, and dished out 6 assists, shooting a remarkable 64% from the field. His 57% three-point shooting completely crushed the Lakers.

His powerful offensive ability and explosive scoring power shocked the entire league.

"This is the true power of Wang Chong, full of firepower!"

"With 54 points in a single game, Wang Chong became the fourth player in NBA history to score over 50 points in the Finals. His 54 points in a single game were surpassed only by Elgin Baylor's 61 points and Michael Jordan's 55 points per game, making him the third highest scorer in Finals history!"

"Seeing the team on the brink of despair, Wang Chong stepped forward! In fact, he is the strongest scorer in active service. As long as Wang Chong can maintain such a hot streak, it's hard to say who will win the Finals!"

No matter what happens, winning the crucial fourth game would give the Bulls a chance to breathe. The next battle, the G5 Tianwangshan of the Finals, will return to the Bulls' home court.

Additionally, there's good news: after nearly five months of continuous rest, Garnett has returned to good condition. If both teams can push the series to a Game 7, Garnett will be in top form by June and will officially return for the decider on the 17th.

Once Garnett returns, it will be disastrous for the Lakers, no matter what state he was in before his injury.

Because no matter how weak Garnett may be, he is still far stronger than Danny Green and Tim Thomas.

Without Garnett, the Lakers and Bulls are at a deadlock. When Garnett returns, how will the Lakers continue to compete?

While this news excited the Bulls, it completely drove the Lakers crazy.

They must win the next two games and beat the Bulls 4:2 before Garnett returns, denying them any opportunity.

But how could Wang Chong allow the Lakers to fulfill their wish?

June 13, the Tianwangshan battle in the Finals.

This was a nearly suffocating game. From the moment the game started, the entire stadium was filled with a strong sense of pressure.

Throughout the game, the defensive intensity from both teams was at its peak, and they executed major moves.

In the first two minutes, neither team scored in open play, and all the points came from free throws.

It was like a fierce tug-of-war between both sides, each doing their best. Whoever could score first would gain the advantage.

The first to make this move was the Bulls, or rather, Wang Chong.

The Bulls attacked, Wang Chong stood at the top of the arc with the ball, and the tenacious Artest was still guarding him.

This was simply different from previous games. At this moment, Artest had started to show a little hesitation. It wasn't that his temperament had calmed down, but because his defense had been too fierce in the previous minutes, and he had already committed two fouls.

These two fouls weren't unfair. He left two clearly visible blood marks on Wang Chong's arm, and Wang Chong couldn't help but curse after being hit.

Even with a durability rating of 96 and high injury resistance, the pain was still excruciating.

"Damn it, if you commit another foul, it depends on whether the referee punishes you or not!"

Wang Chong was also excited at this moment. After holding the ball, he faced Artest directly and forced an advance.

End of this chapter

Note: Hi if you really like NBA novels, you can support me either in this pg with stones, reviews etc, or in patreon since the niche of sports and specially NBA is very small is Webnovel since people prefer to read Naruto, Pokemon, comics etc.