Chapter 724: The Desperate West

At the beginning of the new season, the Seattle SuperSonics had a record of 3 wins and 2 losses in the first five games, which is just the eighth place in the Western Conference.

"Cherish the current ranking of the Seattle SuperSonics. Maybe this is the last time that the Seattle SuperSonics will be ranked in the top eight in the Western Conference this season!"

After the Seattle SuperSonics lost to the Boston Celtics at home, Barkley's commentary became the focus of almost all media reports.

In five games against three weak teams, the game was extremely difficult, and facing two strong teams, it was almost a complete defeat.

And from the content of the games shown by the SuperSonics in these five games, the other players of the Seattle SuperSonics really went all out in these five games.

Yes, needless to say, in the five games at the beginning of the new season, each game scored at least 30 points, and the hit rate of each game was all above 80%.

This is a very terrifying efficiency!

Although Yes took more than 20 shots except for the first game against the Warriors, he only took about 10 shots in the other four games. It can be said that such a number of shots is pitiful for Yes, but who made Yes indulge in the memory of playing with Durant last season?

If he can't get out of the memory of playing with Durant, his playing style will always be like this.

Even if Yes did not attack with all his strength in the game, his scoring and scoring efficiency are still the best in the entire league. After five games, Yes is now the No. 1 player in the league's scoring list, and the No. 1 player in hit rate, and he is also the fifth in the league's rebounding list and the third in the assists list!

It can be said that Yes's performance in the first five games of this season is his strongest performance in the memory of playing with Durant.

And what about others?

Milicic's offensive performance this season is also quite good.

People who watched the five games of the Seattle Supersonics can clearly feel that Milicic has made significant progress on the offensive end this season compared to last season, with a preference for defense and rebounding.

Milicic has changed from mainly defending last season to a balanced offense and defense this season, with an average of 18+8. Although his rebounds have decreased, his points have increased. Moreover, his rebounds have decreased, but he has not stopped defending. It is just that he has changed from collecting backcourt rebounds to blocking positions in terms of protecting rebounds.

The Seattle Supersonics have two guards who are very good at rebounding, and the inside positioning can better protect rebounds.

So don’t look at Milicic’s rebounding data. The number of rebounds for the entire team has increased, and it is still ranked first in the league.

The Seattle Supersonics’ number of rebounds ranked first this season is not only related to Milicic, but also to Millsap.

Millsap’s performance this season has also been better than last season.

Millsap’s improvement this season is not reflected in the offensive end, but in confrontation.

Milicic’s improvement is that his offense is more outstanding, and his various offensive means have become more outstanding.

And Millsap, simply has a stronger ability to confront.

Millsap's mid-range shooting percentage has declined, but his offensive efficiency under the basket is higher than Milicic.

When defending, his positioning ability is even stronger than Milicic.

It can be said that Millsap's performance this season has also exceeded that of last season.

In addition to Rondo, who got four triple-doubles in the first five games of this season, the performance of the other four players in the Seattle Supersonics' starting lineup this season has improved compared to last season.

Especially Rondo, after Rondo played the first playoff triple-double in NBA history last season, after five games this season, his current average data is 11.2 points, 11 rebounds and 12.2 assists.

It is not known whether Rondo can average a triple-double in the regular season this season, but so far, Rondo is the only player in the league who still maintains an average triple-double!

When your team has five starting players, there is a scoring champion, a point guard who averages a triple-double, and two inside players who are excellent in both offense and defense, these four people seem to have gone all out, but in the end you can't even easily win against the weakest team in the league.

Then you need to think carefully about the performance of other players.

"Ibaka's performance in the first five games of this season can exhaust all the efforts of the four starters of the Seattle Supersonics this season."

Ibaka's average number of shots per game in the first five games is now ranked first in the entire league, higher than the number of shots of the Pistons' star player Iverson. So far, he has averaged 26 shots per game, only 6 hits per game, and his shooting percentage is 23%, not even 25%!

"Using Durant's number of shots to hit Rondo's hit rate, after seeing Ibaka, I think coconut fans all over the world will miss Durant last season and Rondo the season before last."

Ibaka dragged down the Seattle Supersonics' starting lineup with his performance.

After James Harden played as the sixth man in the Seattle Supersonics, he also dragged down the Seattle Supersonics' bench lineup.

James Harden has a lot of bad problems on the offensive end. After all, he is a rookie. His style of play is not simple enough. He sticks to the ball, has poor shooting choices, is not efficient, etc., and his defense is also quite bad. However, compared with Ibaka, James Harden is not that bad. After all, he can make opponents get four free throws per game in the substitute lineup, which is really surprising.

In short, for the Seattle Supersonics, many people have seen that the other players of this team have really tried their best, but because of Ibaka and Harden, the hard power of the entire team is like this now.

Compared with last season, it has really declined very, very seriously.

"Unless Yes can perform better than last season, the Seattle SuperSonics can only impact the playoffs by giving up Ibaka and Harden!"

"Even if it is Yes, I don't believe he can keep filling Ibaka's hole. Yes has a strong scoring ability, but he has almost faced double-teaming this season, and the opponent's attack on Ibaka is almost equivalent to hitting the air. One is hitting the air, and the other is double-teaming. This is very unfair to Yes."

"The desperate thing is that we all know Yes's character. He will never give up his teammates. Since his high school days, this has been his consistent basketball style. Even if he sinks with his teammates, he will not choose to jump ship as smartly as some people."

"Maybe, this season we can see Yes's shipwreck accident during the Garfield Five Tigers period again."

Now the public opinion around the world is very pessimistic about the situation of the Seattle SuperSonics.

This is not only the reason of the SuperSonics themselves, but also the changes in the entire Western Conference this season.

The Western Conference this season has changed very, very greatly.

The world thought that the strongest teams in the Western Conference this season were the Lakers and the Grizzlies.

But after five games, the Spurs and Mavericks ranked first in the Western Conference!

The Lakers and the Grizzlies were both blocked by the bottom teams in the Western Conference last season.

This season, the Clippers, Timberwolves, and Trail Blazers, the bottom teams in the Western Conference, performed very well. In addition, the Mavericks regained their strength after acquiring Afflalo. This season, the Western Conference may not have the oligarch team of last season, but the strength of each team is quite close.

If we say that in the Western Conference last season, from a very early stage, there were only 8 or 9 teams competing for the playoffs.

But this season, the number of teams competing for the playoffs may be as high as 12 or even 13!

There are indeed 12 teams in the Western Conference with a winning rate of more than 50%.

Of course, the season has just begun and it is still very early, but the sudden rise of the Spurs and Mavericks is definitely not an accident. It is not that the Spurs and Mavericks will return to their normal level as time goes by.

Because the Spurs and Mavericks are indeed changing this season.

The Spurs used to be a defensive team, and Popovich was also a team that focused entirely on defense.

But this season, the Spurs changed their previous defensive style and actually played offense and run-and-gun.

Moreover, the Spurs' offense and run-and-gun are different from other offenses and run-and-gun. The Spurs' run-and-gun pays great attention to the speed of passing and transferring the ball, and it doesn't look awkward at all.

The Spurs are focusing on offense this season, and their defense has not fallen behind, which is terrifying!

As for the Mavericks...

The biggest change for the Mavericks this season is the guard Afflalo, who was considered to be first-class in everything during the draft, without any shortcomings but also without top-notch qualities. He is his peak player. He has proved to the world in just five games that he is an All-Star player!

And he is an All-Star player who has reached the All-Star level in all aspects!

Afflalo is different from Durant, an All-Star player with a partial discipline.

Durant's offense may be a superstar, but defense... that's hard to say.

And what about Afflalo?

His offense is an All-Star, his defense is an All-Star, his physical talent is an All-Star, and his organizational ability is also at the All-Star level!

This is a player who has not wasted any of his talents and has developed all his potential to the extreme!

"Youth is about running and chasing your own limits!"

This habit of Afflalo and Westbrook, the master and apprentice, always wearing strange clothes when facing interviews has now become a hot topic in the entire NBA.

"If your talent is not as good as Yes, and your efforts are not as good as Yes, you are not qualified to chase him!"

In the past, Afflalo liked to keep saying that he was Yes's competitor, and others were dismissive.

How could his potential become Yes's competitor!

But now...

For such a player, it seems that there is no problem to say that his future is at most an All-Star.

But, is such a player really just an All-Star player?

Because there is no shortcoming, he can play his All-Star strength against any player. Such a player is sometimes more dangerous than many so-called superstars in the league!

It can be said that among the six rookies this year, the most outstanding ones are Rose of the Bulls, Beasley of the Warriors, and Afflalo of the Mavericks.

This season's Western Conference, due to the sudden rise of the Mavericks and Spurs, plus the Lakers, Grizzlies, Nuggets, Rockets, and Suns, the five teams are as strong as ever. These seven teams are even the top of the Seattle SuperSonics. This season, they are just on par with them. It is impossible for the current SuperSonics to compete with these teams.

The eight spots in the Western Conference playoffs are now seven less.

Now if the Seattle SuperSonics want to enter the playoffs, they can only compete with the Timberwolves, Trail Blazers, Clippers, and Thunder.

This year's Timberwolves are very strong. Al Jefferson, Yi Jianlian, Ilyasova and Gay are continuing to grow this season. In addition, the team has added the very powerful Mayo. This team looks like It was already on the verge of taking off.

So even the Lakers were accidentally bitten by the Timberwolves this season.

And what about the Trail Blazers?

The leading player of the Trail Blazers, Adeldridge, has scored 20 points in all five games this season and has been stably averaging 20+ points per game. Mike Conley, Webster, and Gortat are also growing.

Last season, the Trail Blazers were a young team with excellent centers, power forwards, small forwards and point guards. This season, the Trail Blazers selected Eric Gordon with the 14th overall pick. The performance in five games is simply amazing!

Although not as good as Rose, Beasley and Afflalo in the first echelon, it is definitely not worse than Westbrook, Mayo and Love in the second echelon.

The rookie scored 20+ points in three of his first five games, and his efficiency was quite astonishing.

It is precisely because the Timberwolves and Trail Blazers have no shortcomings that many people think these two teams are more likely to become the eighth team in the Western Conference to enter the playoffs.

The Clippers led by Nick Young and Westbrook are also very strong, but unstable. When they are strong, they can blow up the sky, but sometimes they seem to be able to blow themselves up.

The Thunder, led by Chris Paul and David West, have lost Chandler's competitiveness, but the team's strength still cannot be underestimated.

It can be said that in the entire West, only the Jazz and the King are still weak.

The other thirteen teams' season goals are all to make the playoffs.

And these teams whose goals are the playoffs really have the ability to make the playoffs.

This is crazy!

Because the Sonics are currently in a difficult situation, media across the United States are analyzing the situation in the Western Conference this season. The beginning of the season is like analyzing the situation in the entire Western Conference like a sprint season.

For all the tension in the national media, the Sonics are very relaxed.

And Ye Si has been looking for a team to complete the 100-point mission.

After playing five games, three were teams that would not let him be humiliated even if he died, and two were teams where he could not score 100 points even if he scored 96 points.

November 7, 2008, Key Arena, Seattle.

"Yes, I didn't expect the situation to change so quickly!"

Looking at the excited Guy.

Mayo looked at Guy with hatred.

Ye Si's eyes lit up...