Chapter 496 A Sudden Change

In just half a month, by the end of December, the Sonics had won their 25th consecutive victory of the season, and they had no rivals.

Lin Dong's ability to control the court was so strong that even the most ordinary fans now had a feeling that "as long as the ball is in Lin Dong's hands, the opponent can give up defense."

The unstoppable offense, coupled with the increasing maturity of Chandler and Iguodala on the defensive end, and the fact that Sakuragi Hanamichi's defense has already reached a high level, made the Sonics' defense an ironclad solid.

The extremes of both offense and defense, even in the past two years, many teams have been involuntarily moving closer to the Sonics in terms of drafts, team formation, tactical choices, etc.

The entire league's three-point shooting ability has been greatly improved, and the shooting frequency is like an epoch-making change compared to the past. The requirements for all players are also moving away from the previous "partial functionality" to comprehensiveness.

Unlike the NBA that became weak overall because of the 3-pointer in later generations, the NBA of this era, although it has increased outside shooting and small ball style, has maintained the league's once iron-blooded defense because of the special times and the habits of a large number of older players.

In addition, the Sonics are too powerful, so the league must suppress them slightly even if it does not look at Nike's face, so the overall defense scale is even greater than a few years ago.

Actions such as pulling on the court are common, especially when targeting the Sonics, which are almost famous for the "no cylinder" call in the league.

Whether it is Lin Dong or Iguodala, or Chandler and Rukawa Kaede, as long as they dare to shoot 3 points from the outside, it is almost a foregone conclusion that they will be violated. Even if they don't hit their hands, physical confrontation and forced squeezing are endless.

This really caused a lot of trouble for the Sonics, and also made the Sonics usher in the first game they lost this season.

Since the last loss to the Supersonics, Kobe's rampage and his grabbing of the ball in the team have undoubtedly been a destruction to the Lakers themselves. Everyone's touch is not open, which not only wastes Yao Ming's firepower under the basket, but also wastes Nash's organizational ability. The whole team seems to be extremely unbalanced on both offense and defense.

After a full month of "chaos within the team", the Lakers' record has also dropped to third in the West. It has changed from the combination that was most favored by all parties to defeat the Supersonics before the season to the level that fans have been constantly criticized and believed that it can only go to the second round of the playoffs at most.

But it is in this context that the Lakers ushered in an extreme reversal.

On December 30, the Supersonics will face the Lakers at home.

The Supersonics have a complete lineup, starting with Lin Dong, Payton, Sakuragi, Chandler and Iguodala, and Rukawa Kaede is on the bench.

The Lakers have the same starting five as always, Kobe, Yao Ming, Nash, Odom and Doug Christie.

But Kobe Bryant's playing style suddenly changed... Kobe switched from the 2nd position to the 3rd position, and no longer demanded the ball, but devoted himself to the matchup with Lin Dong, which suddenly made the distribution of the ball rights reasonable.

With Yao Ming's offensive firepower, Kobe played the main role of receiving on the offensive end, which was completely different from letting him hold the ball himself, and also made it impossible for Lin Dong to completely lock him, which was equivalent to liberating the Lakers' offensive power.

On the defensive end, facing the characteristics of the Sonics' 3-pointers without whistles on the outside, the fierce pressing also made the Sonics' outside line miss frequently. In the first half, they made 3 of 15 shots. After Rukawa Kaede was replaced in the second half, they only made 5 of 13 shots.

The inside line adopted the way of Yao Ming and Odom's partnership. Yao Ming played against Sakuragi, and Odom ate Chandler. Under the two-on-two situation, the inside line of the Sonics could not take advantage at all. Even the rebounds that Sakuragi was best at, they lost a few overall.

A lot of opportunities were wasted on the outside, and the inside was at a disadvantage. Even if Lin Dong scored 67 points alone in the end, it was useless. 114:117, the Supersonics ended their 25-game winning streak by 3 points.

The Zen Master off the court was naturally surprised and happy, and the Lakers fans were cheering. They didn’t know why Kobe suddenly changed his nature today. Was it because of his obsession with the Supersonics? Or was it because only when playing against the Supersonics and facing Lin Dong could Kobe Bryant put down his face and self-esteem?

Most people guessed this way, but in fact, apart from Kobe himself, the only one who knew the reason for his choice was probably Lin Dong.

That guy listened to his own words...

At this level, you have to be yourself, instead of blindly imitating and targeting your opponent.

The crazy attack and grabbing of the ball in the past month was Kobe’s attempt to regain his offensive touch that he had lost for two years, and his offensive desire that he deliberately hid in the deepest part of his heart in order to target Lin Dong.

He must be himself first before he can seek to surpass himself, and only by surpassing himself first can he surpass Lin Dong.

This is the path chosen by Kobe Bryant. In addition to the state of the Sonics' outside line, he was also caught off guard by the sudden change of the Lakers, which does not explain too many problems. So whether Kobe's adjustment will work in the end depends on the playoffs.

Of course, this game also woke up many blind fans of the Sonics, woke up countless teams in the league that were afraid of the Sonics, and also woke up the Sonics themselves who were a little bit arrogant after winning streak.

If we really want to talk about the overall strength of a team on paper, Lin Dong thinks that the Sonics are stronger at the moment. After all, the positions are more evenly matched, the coordination is better, and they also have their own upper limit to further increase the average score.

But this does not mean that the Sonics are invincible.

With a certain degree of intervention from the league and referees, the Lakers have successfully blocked the Sonics' outside line. The Sonics' pitchers must adapt to this and adapt to outside shooting under such defensive intensity.

It's a good thing, a great thing.

Otherwise, if you really wait until the playoffs, the Western Conference Finals or even the finals to suddenly discover this, there will be no chance to adjust.

Of course, the league can't wait until then to suddenly adjust the penalty scale, which will be scolded like a dog.

This is a contest, a contest between the Sonics and all teams and even the league.

The league has already drawn the line, and the main purpose of this penalty scale is of course to make fans adapt to this, so as not to make trouble again in the playoffs, but it also gives the Sonics a chance to adapt.

We need to improve the team's ability to resist interference inside and outside the team...

The Lakers' victory over the Supersonics was a shot in the arm for all teams in the league, and it also caused a lot of heated discussion and excitement among fans across the United States. Although many "Lin haters" have turned from haters to fans, even Lin fans hope that the opponent will be stronger, otherwise it would not be so interesting to just watch the Supersonics abuse people and the one-sided game.

It can be predicted that the challenges that the Supersonics will face next will be so strong that all teams will follow suit.

At the same time, the Cavaliers who lost LeBron in the East continued their winning streak.

LeBron's departure did not seem to cause too many problems for this team. After all, the combination of O'Neal + Kidd + Wade is already at the level of the Olympic team.

Except for the loss to the Supersonics at the beginning of the season, the Cavaliers have been winning games in succession, and they won without suspense, and even won a game against the Lakers. Currently, the Cavaliers are 25 wins and 1 loss, ranking first in the league record list with the Supersonics, and the 25-game winning streak is still continuing. It has created the longest winning streak in the history of the Cavaliers and is likely to continue to expand this winning streak.

The team with the best chance of winning them in the league is the Supersonics, but according to the schedule, the two teams will not play until the end of January, which is more than a dozen games later.

At present, fans and even commentators from all sides are extremely optimistic that the Cavaliers can break the Supersonics' previous historical record of 34 consecutive wins, and even... they are almost forgetting about LeBron.

Until a piece of news appeared, LeBron was brought back to the public's attention.

First, on New Year's Day, January 1, Nike officially announced the news that Lin Dong had terminated his contract with Nike, which shocked the whole United States.

Before this news came out, everyone was waiting for Nike to offer Lin Dong a lifetime contract with the highest price ever for an athlete. Even many people were speculating with relish on how much this contract would be worth, predicting that at least he could get more than 1 billion at one time, and as for his lifetime value, it might be as high as 10 billion US dollars.

But who would have thought... the contract was terminated?

Was Lin Dong asking for too high a price? Was Nike unable to afford it?

While a large number of people were still dumbfounded and confused, several news stories dominated the screen.

——Nike's 3rd generation dragon shoes have been discontinued and banned from sale. The current official price has fallen below a new low and is being sold in large quantities.

——Nike's sky-high endorsement contract, 7 years and 1 billion US dollars, signed with Cavaliers superstar LeBron James!

Break up with Lin Dong, and then get together with LeBron?

You know, Nike gave up LeBron because of Lin Dong, and gave up the 7-year 90 million contract, but now it turned around and gave him 7 years and 1 billion...

American fans were overwhelmed by the big news one after another.

——Inspirational LeBron, hellish training in Japan, just to defeat Lin Dong!

——Olajuwon's Dream footwork teaching, Tim Graver's crazy strength teaching! Earl Lloyd's private training courses and nutrition packages, the secret to getting stronger! LeBron is undergoing a transformation!

Needless to say, Dream, all American fans know his name as a crazy devil trainer, and Tim Graver, some young fans don't know much, but veteran NBA fans have long heard of his name.

This guy was Michael Jordan's former exclusive physical trainer, and he is also the founder of the so-called "personal trainer", a master in physical training!

Earl Lloyd, the first black player and coach in the NBA, went to Japan after retirement and disappeared from the public eye for a while. It was not until Lin Dong rose that people knew that he had opened a basketball training school in Japan, and he became very popular because of it. In the past two years, he has been hyped as a leading figure in the training industry.

The training team behind him... It's so scary to pull it out. Coupled with the topic of LeBron's sudden disappearance and Nike's $1 billion signing at this time, the expectations of fans across the United States and even the world have been raised.

Giving up the regular season to go to training, with such a terrifying training team behind him, how strong can such a LeBron be when he returns?

Ordinary fans may not be able to predict, but they have a "beacon". Nike is willing to spend 7 years and 1 billion US dollars to sign LeBron, a guy who has not even completed his rookie contract. It is enough to show that Nike is optimistic about LeBron. Can Nike's vision be bad? From Jordan to Lin Dong, Nike has never made a wrong choice!

This makes the fans in the United States who still want to see Lin Dong lose finally have a good saying-even if you don't believe in LeBron, you have to believe in Nike's vision!

And following the popularity of LeBron's topic, on January 5, another news suddenly exploded like a bomb dropped on a calm lake.

——Lin Dong joined hands with Plank to continue the previous relationship with Under Armour and become the lifelong endorsement of Under Armour!

All those who know the inside story and those who don't know the inside story were all stunned.

What's the situation?

It's okay for Lin Dong to terminate the contract with Nike, but he turned around and got together with Under Armour?

That's Under Armour... It was delisted two years ago after it went public. Its annual market sales suddenly shrank from 500 million to just over 10 million, and it was on the verge of bankruptcy!

Such a small workshop actually "beat" Nike and signed the hottest basketball star on the planet today? !

Why? Because Plank is younger and better at licking than Phil Knight?

Oh my God, is this world too crazy, or is there something wrong with my eyes?

The newspaper is not wrong!