Basketball's most talented forward is on the left

A team has a cycle of strength. Even if it is a team that has won three consecutive championships, even if there are no changes in personnel, the strength of the team will be strong or weak in the past three years.

In Zuo Li's eyes, there is no doubt that the Western Conference is currently at a low point in strength. Although overall, they are still stronger than the Eastern Conference, the gap is no longer very obvious, especially when it comes to the top teams.

The sun is cold, Stoudemire left; the Nuggets are cold, Anthony is unable to work; the Hornets are cold, Paul's intention to leave is obvious, as for the Mavericks...the Mavericks are still underdog, no matter where they are ranked, others will definitely be in the playoffs.

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Here we mainly talk about two other former kings of the West.

The Lakers, who have been kings for three consecutive years, have not declined significantly this season. This may be due to their loss to the Knicks led by Zuo Li last year. The slack caused by two consecutive championships in history has not happened to this Lakers. On the contrary, from

From management to coaches to players, they have all expressed their desire to make a comeback this season and take revenge on the Knicks.

During the offseason, the media often publish photos and reports of Lakers players training hard. Players including Gasol and Odom also ended their vacations early and started special training with Kobe Bryant in Los Angeles.

But despite this, this season the Lakers still do not have the dominance of previous seasons. They are currently suppressed by the Spurs in the Western Conference and currently rank second in the Western Conference.

The reason is, of course, the disadvantages caused by the solidification of the Lakers' lineup. Their tactics have been studied by all major teams, which will inevitably have some impact.

Secondly, the aging of players is also a problem. Although Blake was introduced to make up for the aging problem of point guard Fisher, it is obvious that Jackson still trusts him more, but from a game perspective, he is more suitable as a substitute.

After all, he is the biggest loophole in the Lakers' defense today.

Injuries also affect the performance of the Lakers. Kobe just completed the finger ligament injury that has plagued him all season during the offseason, but the knee injury still caused Kobe's athletic ability to decline, although the impact was not too great in terms of scoring.

Big, after all, Kobe has the weapon of God.

The one most affected by injuries is Artest. His knees were also severely damaged. Although he was the one who shouted for revenge the most in the summer. After all, he lost the finals last season and the outside world ridiculed that it was a matter of replacing Ariza.

This made Artest very angry, and he made a lot of harsh words during the offseason.

But his knees are indeed no longer young. This season, he has suffered the most serious regression among the Lakers' starters. Knee problems have caused his lateral movement ability to almost disappear.

Combining these problems, plus the fact that Bynum, the little shark, continues his "progress, but not much" every year, the Lakers' current strength is far from being as high as the outside world imagines.

Of course, the Knicks still won't underestimate the Lakers, but they are not anxious about the game against the Lakers. After beating the Bulls, the Knicks will face the GDP Spurs!

This is another team that is currently overrated in Zuo Li's mind.

Although the Spurs may get angry when they say this, this season is indeed a turning point for the Spurs.

After many years, they can sit first in the Western Conference in the first half of the season. The only feeling for all Spurs fans around the world this season is: surprise!

When the Spurs' old age became the main theme in the media's mouth, when the Spurs failed to make the playoffs for three consecutive seasons, when the Spurs had to give up Bowen, Oberto and other old guys who followed Popovich to great success, all fans

I feel that the era that belonged to the Spurs and GDP has passed.

But unexpectedly, the Spurs, who made almost no reinforcements in the summer, gave everyone a big surprise this season.

The victory over the Pacers at the beginning was just a small test, and then they lost to the Hornets. A win and a loss at the beginning was not a great start for the Spurs, but the next loss would not come until 12 games later.

With a start of 13 wins and 1 loss, the Spurs turned out to be the team with the most consecutive wins in the league besides the Knicks.

What's even more surprising than the winning streak is that the Spurs have only failed to score 100 points in 3 games, and even scored 124 points in a huge game against the Houston Rockets at home.

After losing to the Mavericks, people thought that the Spurs were finally showing their aging side, because Duncan, their core player for so many years, had dropped to career-low numbers. However, the Spurs once again refreshed people's perceptions.

They defeated the Atlanta Hawks and Portland Trail Blazers at home; Ginobili's miraculous back-to-back double-wins. At the end of December, the Spurs defeated the Lakers and Mavericks successively, marking another ten-game winning streak full of gold!

At the beginning, the Spurs actually had the best start in team history with 23 wins and 2 losses. If the Knicks next door had not gone too far and won 25 consecutive games, then the Spurs would have become the undisputed number one in the league!

Even so, they still rank first in the Western Conference with a record of 28 wins and 4 losses.

Incredible!

Aren’t the Spurs getting old? Aren’t the Spurs dying?

Why are they still so capable of fighting? It’s simply unreal!

However, this is also why Zuo Li said that the Spurs are overvalued.

To answer the previous question, what allows the Spurs to remain so strong when Duncan's strength declines? There is only one answer: Manu Ginobili.

When the 2010-2011 season opened, no one could have imagined that Ginobili would become the team's starting shooting guard and continue to do so throughout the season!

This is the first time in Ginobili's career that he has become a starter for the Spurs, and it is also Ginobili's last season as a regular starter. On the court, he is no longer the ghostly demon knife, but more like a court artist. He withstood the

The dominoes that Duncan knocked over helped the Spurs once again win first place in the Western Conference after a few years. The average of 17.4 points, 3.7 rebounds and 4.9 assists per game is not luxurious, but it does make up for the Spurs' lack of the second position.

Yes, the Spurs have made changes since last season. Defense is no longer the main theme. As Zuo Li once introduced, Popovich has begun to transform the team into an offense-led team last season.

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However, it is not easy to switch from a defensive team to an offensive team. The biggest problem is that Duncan is old and his scoring ability has declined significantly. No one in the starting lineup can fill this gap. Jefferson's unsuitability has been written on his face.

On the outside, the Spurs still only have Parker as a stable scoring point for me, which is obviously not enough in the playoffs.

And this season, Manu stepped up!

In the original history, the Spurs ranked first in the league in offensive efficiency and three-point efficiency this season, and finally became the Western Conference champion with 61 wins.

This was accomplished despite suffering injuries in the second half of the season.

It shows how successful Popovich has been in transforming the Spurs.

However, it is a pity that the Spurs have overused Manu this season. Although it has brought solid results, it has also exposed shortcomings that the Spurs cannot make up for.