บท 71: Wang Chong and James Compete, Anthony Has Fallen Behind
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"The strongest rookie of the 2003 class is born? At the press conference after the game, Mavericks leader Dirk Nowitzki admitted that they had no way to deal with Wang Chong during the game. The opponent was like himself but three centimeters shorter, with improved speed and dribbling skills."
"James or Anthony, the two most outstanding players in the class of 2003? No, Wang Chong is the only one who is qualified to compete with James!"
The day after Wang Chong's stellar debut, major sports media outlets buzzed with discussions about his performance.
Thirty-three points, seven rebounds, and two assists in a single game, with a shooting percentage of 63%.
Such a performance would be worthy of a headline even if it was an All-Star player. Let alone Wang Chong, a rookie who had just entered the NBA. On October 29, the day before Wang Chong's debut, the Cavaliers had already played their first game. Though the team lost to the Sacramento Kings 92:106, James' debut performance wasn't bad, with 25 points, 6 rebounds, and 9 assists, and his shooting percentage was also over 60%.
25+6+9 vs. 33+7+2.
Judging from the stats, Wang Chong's debut was on par with James.
But James is the No. 1 pick in the 2003 draft, known as "The Chosen One," and is considered by many in the media to be a super rookie who will dominate the league in the future.
Wang Chong was just a first-round pick, No. 13. Before the NCAA finals, he was a relatively unknown figure.
As a result, in his NBA debut, Wang Chong managed to keep pace with James. Even in the preseason earlier, Wang Chong scored 40 points against James! People who didn't know better might think Wang Chong was the No. 1 pick in the 2003 draft.
Of course, many of James' fans were extremely dissatisfied with the media's comparison of Wang Chong with James.
"What the hell? Who is Wang Chong? How can he be compared with my James? He just relied on the overall strength of the Lakers. Without O'Neal to attract the defense's attention and without top point guard Gary Payton to pass the ball to him, how could he score so many points?"
"Our James is different. The Cavaliers don't have a lineup as luxurious as the Lakers. It all depends on James' hard work. He fought against the entire Kings team alone and still got 25+6+9 stats. It's an honor to lose!"
"Wang Chong, don't get ahead of yourself. This is just the first game. There are 82 games in the regular season. Let's see if you can score 33 points every game."
At the same time, the bet between Barkley and Smith had also become a hot topic.
Who will perform better in the first week of the regular season, Wang Chong or James?
Although Wang Chong scored 33 points in his debut, more people were optimistic about James.
After all, one game could not prove anything, especially when the Lakers' opponent was the Mavericks, a team known for strong offense but weak defense.
Offensively, the Mavericks are one of the strongest teams in the league, but their defense is really poor, so it is not surprising that Wang Chong scored 33 points.
But subsequent games would not be so simple. Opponents' defense would improve, and some teams would make targeted defensive arrangements based on Wang Chong's technical characteristics.
More importantly, Kobe's return to the team would also affect Wang Chong's ball possession.
With these unfavorable factors, how could Wang Chong compete with James?
With this in mind, the date turned to November 1st.
The Lakers' second regular season game was an away game against the Phoenix Suns.
In the 2003-04 season, the Suns had not yet welcomed their true point guard savior, Steve Nash. Although the team had several good players like Stephon Marbury, Amar'e Stoudemire, Joe Johnson, and Shawn Marion, and the lineup on paper didn't look bad, the team's overall strength was not impressive.
In Wang Chong's memory, the Suns' record this season was near the bottom of the league, ranking only second from the bottom in the Western Conference. Although this had something to do with Marbury being traded away in the middle of the season and Stoudemire only playing 53 games due to injury, this could not be the only reason for the team's poor record.
This game was no exception.
Marbury, known as the "Lone Wolf," played his usual style. He took 24 shots throughout the game—the most in the game—made 11 field goals, scored 26 points, and had a shooting percentage of 45.8%, which was not low.
However, the Suns were basically playing in isolation. Apart from simple passing and cutting, they relied on players' individual abilities to attack.
The result was that the Lakers beat the Suns 109:96 on the road, achieving two consecutive victories.
This game was also Kobe's first of the new season. Kobe, who missed the opening game due to personal reasons, was visibly off his game in the second one. He seemed inattentive on the court, like a sleepwalker, scoring only 15 points, 6 rebounds, and 4 assists on 4-of-12 shooting.
After a poor performance in the previous game, O'Neal successfully regained his form in this one, delivering a powerful performance against the Suns' unknown supporting center, Jake Voskuhl.
He finished with 24 points, 12 rebounds, and 4 blocks. The 24 points were also the highest for the Lakers.
As for Wang Chong, he was indeed affected by Kobe's return in this game, and his shot attempts were reduced. He only got 12 shots.
However, although this number of shots sounds limited, it is actually not small. After all, the Lakers have too many big-name players. In this game, O'Neal took 19 shots, Payton 15, Kobe and Wang Chong each had 12 shots, and Malone only had 10.
Wang Chong made 7 of his 12 shots, plus 4 of 4 free throws, and finally scored 18 points.
This score is not low, but it is obviously inferior to his explosive 33-point performance in the first game.
However, in James' second game, his performance was slightly worse than his debut, with only 21 points. Additionally, he made 8 assists and 8 turnovers throughout the game, and the Cavaliers suffered two consecutive losses.
After two games, Wang Chong averaged 25.5 points, 6 rebounds, and 2 assists, while James averaged 23 points, 7 rebounds, and 8 assists.
Wang Chong has the advantage in scoring, shooting percentage, and team record.
In terms of rebounds and assists, James is better. It is difficult to determine who is stronger between the two, but one thing is certain: these two are the best performers among the 2003 rookies, at least so far.
Another player who should have been in the conversation is the third overall pick, Carmelo Anthony, whose stats after two games were 15 points and 5.5 rebounds. Although this was related to the fact that the Nuggets faced the Spurs, the league's strongest defensive team, in the opening game and Anthony was targeted by Spurs' defensive expert Bruce Bowen, scoring only 12 points on 3-of-10 shooting, fans who just wanted to enjoy the spectacle didn't care about that.
No matter what the objective factors are, your stats are not good, at least not in these two games.
Only one game remains in the first week of the new season, and this game will directly determine the outcome of the bet between Barkley and Kenny Smith.
End of this chapter
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