In fact, before the Trail Blazers won 70 games, Wang Zelin publicly stated his position in front of the media more than once. This season, he hopes to try to hit the 1996 Bulls' record of 72 regular season wins.
However, not many people paid attention to it at the time.
In the eyes of most people, 72 wins in the regular season can only be a myth that can be seen from a distance but cannot be blasphemed. After all, last season the Trail Blazers set the second-best regular season record in history with 70 wins and 12 losses!
But even the Trail Blazers, who were as strong as last season, failed to shake the Bulls' record in the end.
It can be seen that 72 wins in the regular season is worthy of being one of the most difficult records to break in NBA history. It is enough to tie Chamberlain's 100 points and "Big O" Robertson's single-season triple-double average.
Before winning 70 games, the outside world responded with too many doubts and ridicules about Wang Zelin's "wishful thinking", saying that he was just daydreaming.
However, when the Trail Blazers again won 70 games in the regular season five games earlier than last season, the team's official website immediately expressed support for their star player. This time, the fans were speechless.
Unless the Trail Blazers lose 4 of the next 5 games, no one can stop the birth of a new NBA record.
Everyone knows that it is extremely rare for the Trail Blazers to lose 4 games in a single month like they did in March. It is an even smaller probability event among small probabilities, and the possibility of repeating it is approximately zero.
The five opponents behind the Trail Blazers are the Thunder, Timberwolves, Nuggets, Hawks and Spurs. In other words, the Thunder and Spurs have the possibility to intercept the Trail Blazers and break the record. The other three teams can only give away food.
Considering that this season, a new miracle is about to be born, and countless previous sunspots will disappear in an instant, living up to their previous arrogance.
If I can’t afford to offend him, I can’t even afford to hide!
…
…
Two days later, April 8, Oklahoma, Chesapeake Energy Arena.
It is another game that is broadcast live across the United States. The popularity tonight is not inferior to the previous match between the Trail Blazers and the Warriors, and it is even better to some extent.
On the one hand, it’s because the Thunder, with its explosive combination, is a top team that is not necessarily inferior to the Trail Blazers and Warriors; on the other hand, a large portion of the audience wants to see what the Thunder can do tonight.
Will it stop the Trail Blazers from hitting the record?
After winning 70 games, the worst thing is that in every game, the Trail Blazers may create new history.
Nowadays, there are countless fans who hope to be witnesses of the birth of this glorious history, which has led to the popularity of tonight's game skyrocketing. The ticket price alone has set a record in the history of the Energy Arena during the regular season.
According to rumors, the ticket price for the auditorium near the front row has even been raised to five figures, and it’s still Mijinyo!
At 8 o'clock in the evening, the game officially started.
The Thunder have Russell Westbrook, Andre Roberson, Kevin Durant, Serge Ibaka and new player Robin Lowe who was introduced in a deal with the Knicks during the regular season.
Pace is what many fans call Ronaldinho.
In the trade market last summer, Lopez Jr. reached a signing agreement with the New York Knicks. The contract lasted for four years and was worth 5,400 million yuan.
The reason why the Knicks chose to introduce him is naturally to increase the team's bargaining chips for the playoffs in the Eastern Conference by strengthening the inside line.
Unexpectedly, conflicts broke out frequently between the Knicks' biggest star Carmelo Anthony and the team's coaching staff this season, and they even experienced a coaching change in the mid-term, resulting in a slump in their record.
Before the All-Star Weekend, the Knicks had only won more than a dozen games and were almost destined to miss the playoffs. This completely angered Knicks owner Dolan, who had been the enemy of the team for several years.
I remember that in the 1213 season, the Knicks were still able to advance to the second round of the Eastern Conference. However, last season, even though the team spent money on signings every year and maintained the core structure, they still missed the playoffs.
Such performance naturally aroused Dolan's dissatisfaction.
Ever since, the Knicks have begun to openly mess around again. In order to make a difference in the 2016 draft next year, which is known as the big year of the draft, they directly gave up on Lopez, who performed well after joining the Knicks.
Ci, let the Thunder easily acquire this high-quality center with a first-round pick and a few rotation players to strengthen the team's interior.
Emmm, how should I put it? The Thunder undoubtedly made a profit from this deal, and it can even be said to be a huge profit.
As for the Knicks, the evaluation of them remains the same forever - they are stupid and have a lot of money!
But there's nothing they can do about it. After all, they live in New York. Even if they fail every year, it still doesn't prevent them from becoming the most profitable team in the league... It's embarrassing!
Okay, back to the topic.
Lopez Jr. is 2.13 meters tall, weighs 122 kilograms, and has a standard center build.
In addition, his technical characteristics are more in line with the needs of the Thunder. He can finish at the basket, occasionally can shoot a few mid-range shots, and his offensive rebounding ability is better than defensive rebounding.
These characteristics all go well with the Thunder's explosive combination.
I just don’t know why, but after Lopez came to the Thunder, his average rebounds per game dropped from 7.8 per game in the first half of the season with the Knicks to 6.5.
On the other hand, Westbrook's rebounding has increased from 7.1 rebounds per game in the first half of the season to 7.8 rebounds per game.
At the beginning of the game, Wang Zelin won the jump ball and the Blazers attacked.
Others pulled away, including Lillard, while Wang Zelin ran directly to the basket.
The Thunder did not double-team Wang Zelin in advance, and power forward Ibaka did not dare to leave Aldridge open and followed him out.
In this way, only Ronaldinho will be deployed to defend Wang Zelin in the basket.
The matchup between Wang Zelin and Lopez Jr., or the 10 kilogram difference in weight, allowed him to easily hold him back with his superior absolute strength.
When he saw Lillard at the top of the arc, he passed the ball directly without any hesitation.
First, he slowly pushed Westbrook with a breakthrough, then passed the ball over the top and directly connected to the basket from outside the three-point line.
Seeing the ball coming, Wang Zelin immediately turned sideways, held up little Lopez with one arm, and instantly picked him up.
Little Lopez instinctively clamped Wang Zelin's main arm, but it was useless. He still couldn't prevent the latter from getting up. Instead, he was pressed so that he could not take off to block the shot.
Wang Zelin forcibly jumped one and a half feet, looked directly at the basket, grabbed the ball with his right hand and, amidst the exclamations of countless people, grabbed the ball with one hand, and then slammed it towards the basket.
"boom!"
There was an alley-oop at the start, and the rim trembled.
"Beep~"
At the same time, the whistle sounded.
Lopez Jr. committed a defensive foul and Wang Zelin had to add a free throw.
"Shet!"
The fans around the Energy Arena were immediately dissatisfied and began to ring out familiar greetings.
"Whoosh!"
Unfortunately, it cannot affect Wang Zelin's extra penalty shot.