The butterfly effect of Wang Feng's time travel has changed many things.

Harden will cross the Nets and join the 76ers in advance, which is also one of them.

The Nets, which already have the configuration of the Big Three, are also coveting Harden who wants to leave the team. However, the Nets are unwilling to give up any one of the Big Three and have no other valuable chips to exchange for Harden, so they have no choice but to give up and get Harden.

Harden's thoughts.

This also benefited the 76ers, and they became one of the strong competitors in the Eastern Conference.

Most fans generally believe that the three teams in the Eastern Conference that are most likely to enter the finals are the Nets, Bucks and 76ers. The other teams such as the Celtics, Heat, and Hawks have different strengths.

There is a huge difference in performance, and there is no way they can compete with these three teams.

In contrast, the situation in the west seems a lot more confusing.

Although the Jazz won the first place in the Western Conference, not many people think that the Jazz has the possibility of breaking out of the Western Conference. After all, the core players of the Jazz are Mitchell and Gobert. Neither of them is the league's top superstar.

Although the performance in the game was very good, in the playoffs, a high-intensity game that relies more on the performance of stars, not many people are optimistic about the Jazz.

The Los Angeles duo each have their own problems. The Lakers' Butler needs to wait until the Western Conference Finals before he can come back, while the Clippers are worse than last season because of Westbrook.

On the contrary, the Golden State Warriors, who once dominated the league, have become the strongest team in the Western Conference and are even more optimistic by the outside world.

Of course, if the Lakers can survive the first and second rounds and enter the Western Conference Finals under the leadership of Wang Feng, and wait until Butler is fully resurrected, the Lakers' chances will also be great.

Now, the Lakers will face a severe challenge in the first round.

The New Orleans Pelicans are not an easy team to deal with. They have the standard equipment of the Big Three. They have rich experience in the playoffs and can take charge of the entire team. Chris Paul is in his prime and has strong fighting ability.

Brother Anthony Davis, and Zion Williams who has performed quite well this season and is regarded as the future hope of the Pelicans and the league's rising star.

In the 4 games they met in the regular season, the two teams had 2 wins, 2 losses and a draw respectively. They looked evenly matched. This was definitely a tough battle.

From the perspective of the outside world, Wang Feng is not fighting alone in this game.

Although Jimmy Butler was unable to play due to injury, Ingram performed very well during the regular season, shouldering the second-in-command job that originally belonged to Butler, and doing a very good job.

Ingram played in 78 of the 82 games in the regular season, averaging 35 minutes per game, averaging 24.8 points, 6.2 rebounds and 4.7 assists, with a shooting percentage of 47.2%. At the same time, he relied on his height and arm length advantage on the defensive end.

There are also certain contributions.

You must know that even when Butler served as the first core of the Bulls, his highest scoring season was only 23.9 points. Although Butler's defense is much better than Ingram, as a zero-time top package, he has to bear the ball.

For Ingram, the team's second scoring point, his current performance is enough to satisfy the Lakers management.

Wang Feng's personal data this season has indeed exploded. He averaged 40+10+10 per game and 83 points in one way, which is shocking. However, without Ingram's stable scoring help, it would be difficult to achieve fourth place in the fiercely competitive Western Conference.

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In addition, Kuzma's performance this season is also remarkable. He averaged 16.7 points and 7.3 rebounds per game, which is the third scoring point in the Lakers. His luck is quite good. If Butler was not injured, the distribution of ball rights would be lower.

It is difficult for him to get such an opportunity.

Being able to produce such data in a contract year laid a solid foundation for him to renew his big contract during the summer offseason.

…

On April 15, 2021, the first round of the playoffs officially started.

The Lakers face off in their playoff opener at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.

The Pelicans came in force, and as soon as the game started, they habitually attacked the Lakers' weak inside line. Davis, the thick-browed brother, teamed up with Zion Williamson to tear the Lakers' inside defense into pieces.

But the Lakers were not to be outdone. Led by Wang Feng Ingram, they fired from the outside, and their offensive firepower was not weaker than that of the Pelicans.

The two teams were evenly matched in the first quarter, with the Lakers leading by 1 point at 33:32.

Wang Feng scored 16 points in a single quarter, the highest score for the Lakers.

For the Pelicans, Davis scored 14 points and Zion Williams scored 10 points.

The game was even in the first quarter, but in the second quarter, the Lakers made tactical adjustments. Lopez and Kuzma were replaced by Howard and Bol.

Needless to say, Howard's interior defensive ability is not limited to Bol. Bol, who is 2.18 meters tall, has been trained as a defensive blue-collar player in the Lakers for the past two years.

He's not very tough, but thanks to his height and arm length, his ability to protect the frame is quite good, at least much better than Kuzma's.

The purpose of the Lakers' move is to strengthen their defensive capabilities inside.

With Howard, Bol, and Wang Feng, the Lakers' defensive intensity at the basket instantly increased by several levels.

Of course, the price to pay for strengthening defense is the sacrifice of offense.

Kuzma is currently the team's third-leading scorer, and Lopez, who is good at long-range shooting, plays an important role in the Lakers' space and execution of most tactics.

The two men came off the court, which greatly reduced the Lakers' offensive threat.

Fortunately, the team does not need to worry about this, because the decrease in offensive lethality can be made up for by personal ability.

Wang Feng's scoring ability is currently the best in the league, and he can single-handedly break through the Pelicans' defense, which is not particularly strong.

After Howard guarded the basket, he successfully gave Zion two clear hot pot shots.

As the No. 1 pick, Howard was no less famous than Zion when he was in glory. After all, he was the top center who claimed to be able to replace James alone during his peak period. Even though his strength is not what it used to be, he was the best defensive player three times and twice.

As the world's shot-blocking champion, he is not a vegetarian on the defensive end. Especially when facing a short player like Zion who likes to rely on brute force, attack in a straight-forward manner, and mainly scores at the basket, this is a good opportunity for Howard to perform.

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One thing to say is that it is quite difficult for Howard to defend the interior players in the league who are flexible, have rich and varied offensive methods, and have comprehensive skills. For example, it is difficult for Howard to guard Davis, the thick-browed brother of the Pelicans.

, because he is too old and his steps are slow, he will be easily passed by the opponent.

But Zion is different.

As players who both play the forward position, the biggest difference between Zion and other forward players is his serious lack of outside shooting ability.

This season, Zion averaged 27 points per game and shot 61% from the field, but 80% of the points came from scoring at the basket, about 15% from free throws, and the remaining 5% from outside shots.

This kind of scoring distribution map is very strange. In the 80 games he played in the regular season this season, Zion took more than 1,100 shots at the basket and shot 63% from the field.

The last person to post such statistics was O'Neal of the Lakers.

Zion may have the strength and explosiveness of O'Neal on the forward line, but he does not have O'Neal's first-rate height and wingspan in the interior.

No matter how high the offensive efficiency at the basket is, the fatal flaw of height still exists, which has also caused Zion to become the player with the most blocks among players who average more than 20 points per game.

Unlike other short players, Zion seriously lacks outside shooting ability. Therefore, any team that plays against the Pelicans will not defend Zion on the outside. No matter how you hold the ball on the outside and charge through, you will always end up with it.

You want to get to the basket. In this case, we will fight with you under the basket.

Like Howard now, he just doesn't care how Zion wanders around on the outside, I just stay under the basket motionless, waiting for you to come over.

In this case, Zion has no choice but to choose.

First, hold the basketball and rush to the basket to compete with Howard to see who is tougher.

Second, pass the ball to others.

Naturally, Zion didn't care about the old Warcraft who was old and didn't have much strength left, so he was given two big hits.

Zion's offense is blocked, and Davis, the thick-browed brother, is also having a hard time.

Bol. Bol is just a rookie, and his defensive ability is far behind the top opponents that Big Eyebrow has faced in the past.

But precisely because Bol is a rookie and a newborn calf is not afraid of tigers, the defensive strategy assigned to Bol by Lakers head coach Walton is a sticky-style stalking, with his movements being as big as possible without causing a foul.

When he can't stop him, he can foul. Anyway, he is just rotating role players. It doesn't matter even if he is sent off for 6 fouls.

Many teams in the league have players like this who do the dirty work, and this is what they rely on to survive in the league.

Bol is a second-round pick. Being able to get a guaranteed contract in the league is already a rare thing. Naturally, he goes all out without reservation on the court.

Of course, Bol couldn't guard Davis, the big-browed brother, but his sticky defense also annoyed the big-browed brother, and his offensive efficiency was affected as a result.

The Pelicans' offense was affected by the Lakers' lineup changes in the second quarter, but the Lakers' offense remained as stable as ever.

After replacing two main offensive players, why can the Lakers maintain stable offensive efficiency? The reason is naturally Wang Feng.

Throughout the second quarter, Wang Feng played the entire game, and his offense was mostly based on singles with the ball and center forwards pulling out pick-and-roll screens.

Without Lopez's help to stretch the space, Wang Feng's shooting percentage has not been affected at all. Even when facing the defense of a top defensive player like Davis, he can still score the ball steadily.

Throughout the second quarter of the game, Wang Feng scored 21 points in a single quarter, leading the Lakers to score 37 points in a single quarter, while the Pelicans only scored 28 points in a single quarter.
Chapter completed!