The Strongest Bishop in the NBA

(There will be another chapter later)

Free throws are the key element that limits the upper limit of Jordan's personal ability. If he can't practice free throws well, he can't become the best player in the league.

The starting lineup failed to gain an advantage, and the Trail Blazers' disadvantage was even greater when the bench lineup came on the scene.

The Wizards have the most luxurious bench lineup in the league today, so strong that it is even as strong as the starting lineups of some weak teams in the league.

Although the Trail Blazers' bench lineup was not as bad as the Heat's, they were by no means bench gangsters. Jamison and Caron Butler just played casually and easily penetrated their opponents.

The score gap was widened to more than 20 points in just 5 minutes.

Even if Durant found a sense of rhythm and his scoring and shooting percentages rose rapidly, he was far behind the Wizards.

After three quarters, the score of the two teams was 89:67, and the Wizards led by 22 points!

In the fourth quarter, the Blazers launched a fierce counterattack under the leadership of Durant, but was easily suppressed by Curry with two consecutive three-pointers.

In the end, the score was fixed at 113:89, and the Wizards beat the Trail Blazers by 24 points at home.

Throughout the game, although Durant scored a game-high 36 points, he was unable to have any impact on the game at all.

...

This was a game without any suspense, and the result was as most people expected.

The Blazers are not the opponents of the Wizards. There is a big gap between the two teams in terms of tactical system, starting players, and substitute players.

Even in terms of experience, the Wizards, who have played in the Finals once, are more experienced than the Trail Blazers.

In the contest where both sides are young players as the main force, the Wizards are obviously better.

After the first game, some sports media made predictions about the probability of the final victory of the two sides in the finals. The possibility that the Blazers can finally eliminate the Wizards and win the cup is only 10%.

In addition to hating the Wizards and Wang Xiao, or fans who like the Trail Blazers, they also think that the Trail Blazers may comeback and win.

After the second game on June 14, the Blazers' winning percentage dropped by half again, to 5%.

In this game, the Blazers lost even more simply. From the start of the game 3 minutes later, the Blazers never took the lead again, and they were always behind until the whistle sounded for the whole game.

Durant once again scored a game-high 33 points, but compared to the first game, his performance in this game was slightly ugly.

Under Leonard's defense, Durant felt very bad in this game. He made 10 of 24 shots in the game, and his shooting percentage was only 41.6%, which was far lower than usual.

Leonard's strong defensive ability was once again displayed in front of everyone, making people realize that this first-year rookie has also become a strong player that cannot be underestimated like other lottery rookies selected by Wang Xiao!

At the same time, Thompson, another lottery rookie, also performed extremely stably in the two games, averaging 3 three-pointers per game and scoring 16 points, and his style of play did not occupy Curry and George at all. Almost all of the possessions of the others are catches and shots after running.

The outstanding performance of the two players once again confirmed Wang Xiao's ability to turn stones into gold, and further pushed the Blazers into the abyss.

On June 17, the finals came to the home of the Trail Blazers, the Rose Garden Arena in Portland.

However, returning to the home court still failed to help the Blazers win a victory.

In this game, Durant felt warmer. He made 14 of 22 shots on the offensive end and scored 39 points, completely blowing up Leonard.

But what he faced was two Splash Brothers who were in a convulsive state.

Curry made 8 of 15 three-pointers and Thompson made 5 of 11 three-pointers. The two scored 33 and 25 points respectively, and they scored 58 points together!

The Blazers' backcourt was beaten into pieces, unable to parry at all.

Durant felt isolated and helpless for the first time. Aldridge's 19 points were the most scored by his side, followed by Jordan's 16 points.

However, Jordan's 16 points came in exchange for 26 free throws.

12 of 26 free throws, 46% shooting, almost as high as Thompson's three-point shooting...

The big score between the two sides came to 3:0, and at this moment, no one questioned Wang Xiao's choice to let Jordan go last summer.

In the three-game series, Jordan was almost cut out of his psychological shadow by the Wizards.

Averaged more than 15 free throws per game, which seemed like a disaster for Jordan.

His contribution on the defensive end has been wiped out on the offensive end, and there is even a deficit.

In the fourth quarter of the third game, Trail Blazers coach McMillan didn't even play for a minute after he was pressed on the bench, and he was even more outspoken after the game.

"Free throws are a critical part of a basketball game. Stable free throws are crucial to winning a game. We need more precise free throw techniques, we need to shoot more balls that shouldn't be lost, and what key points are we getting? Score."

Although McMillan didn't mention his name, everyone knew that he was complaining about how bad Jordan's free throws were.

This kind of behavior is actually not very good, and it even seems a bit unbearable and lacking in grace.

But many people can understand that McMillan is facing the dilemma of being swept out for the first time in his career in the finals, and no one can take it calmly.

On Wang Xiao's side, it seemed much calmer.

At the press conference, many reporters questioned Wang Xiao's frequent use of shark-slashing tactics, which affected the enjoyment of the game.

Faced with such a question, Wang Xiao chuckled, and then raised three fingers at the reporter who asked the question.

3:0, this is Wang Xiao's answer.

Victory is everything, and history is written by the winners. After a few years, people will only remember that Wang Xiao led a group of rookies with an average age of 25 years old to win the NBA championship trophy, not what happened to Jordan in the series. How many free throws were made.

When asked by a reporter whether he would sweep the Blazers to win the championship, Wang Xiao said, "Although the idea of ​​returning to the Wizards to win the cup is a good idea, in order to avoid extra problems, we still try our best to win every game."

As soon as this remark came out, it showed that the Wizards will go all out in the fourth game and try to sweep the Trail Blazers.

Two days later, with the players still in the Rose Garden, the fourth game between the two teams started as scheduled.

Before the start of the game, the O'Brien Cup was sent to the arena, and the league staff even rehearsed the awarding process after winning the championship. It seemed that the Wizards swept the Trail Blazers was a certainty.

The fact seems to be the same.

In this game, McMillan, who had already suffered three losses, seemed to be frightened. As long as Jordan was fouled, he would be replaced to avoid the edge. The result of this was that the Wizards were not good at rebounding. It also has an advantage.