Chapter 474 The Lame Captain

Li Liang scored 25 points, 7 assists and 8 rebounds against the Lakers.

Of course, he also contributed 5 turnovers, a career high.

Holding the ball in the playmaker's position, you have to take a greater risk of mistakes.

After the game, Li Liang fell back to second place in the MVP rankings, surpassed by LeBron James.

It's not because Li Liang didn't play well, but because James' performance was too dazzling.

Since being defeated by the Lakers in the Finals last season, James has tried hard to further improve his personal abilities this season.

Because he was let go of the defense in one step in the finals, the offensive power declined greatly, so James spent the whole summer improving his three-point and shooting ability.

And despite Pat Riley's objections, he insisted on properly reducing his weight to improve his flexibility on the outside.

This led to a decline in James' ability to defend on the inside, but he played more easily on the outside.

This season, under the leadership of James, the Heat once again played an excellent regular season performance. The current record in the Eastern Conference is only one win behind the Pacers who have played chicken blood.

If the Pacers can't bite from behind, there is no guarantee that the record will be surpassed by the Heat who are working hard later.

After entering 14 years, James has successively played an excellent performance of 30 points + 10 assists + 5 rebounds in a single game.

He has won the first weekly best in the Eastern Conference in 2014.

Therefore, if Li Liang wants to catch up with James in the MVP battle, he must do more.

In fact, even Li Liang himself knows that it is very difficult for him to beat James in the MVP competition this season.

Just as last season's regular season MVP was given to Kobe, which included the aesthetic fatigue of the media and fans towards James, there is no aesthetic fatigue for James this season.

Not only is there no aesthetic fatigue, but it also feels a little owed.

Because James' performance and team record last season were well-deserved MVP level, the result was finally given to Kobe.

Then in the finals, James' Heat was beaten up by the Lakers again and lost the championship dramatically.

This is good, fans and public opinion began to sympathize with James.

The big devil who made a decision in 2010 began to become a lonely hero with a "sad" color.

It's really sad. When the Heat made it to the finals three times, they won a championship in the middle, and they were beaten violently twice.

And they were all unexpectedly lost to their opponents when they were favored by public opinion.

Now that James is playing so well, of course there will be extra points in the MVP selection.

Therefore, if Li Liang wants to get the MVP of the regular season, he must play a shocking and explosive performance, and then lead the Clippers to a record of 70 wins, then the MVP will definitely belong to Li Liang.

So far, he has not reached such a strength.

Li Liang still has this point of force. Anyway, he is very clear about the MVP point. As long as the media is allowed to choose, the subjective factor will definitely be great.

Maybe one day he will not want to give him the regular season MVP because he is Chinese.

Only championships and victories, as well as one's own abilities, are real.

After the game with the Lakers, the Clippers got 4 days of rest.

Players can relax and give themselves a little vacation.

Of course Li Liang didn't give himself a vacation, there were still a bunch of tasks lying in his system waiting for him to do.

After careful research and preparation, Li Liang is ready to start the second mission of the second volume of "City of Angels Book": the lame captain.

Li Liang has been staring at this task for a while, and has been watching the video to prepare.

[Mission, the lame captain, time: March 16, 1985, location: Los Angeles Memorial Stadium, USA, against: Los Angeles Lakers VS Los Angeles Clippers, mission requirements: replace Bill Wharton, help the Los Angeles Clippers at home Defeat the Lakers, task reward: skill 'Bill Walton's pass behind the head', task difficulty: star. 】

To be honest, Li Liang wasn't particularly attracted to this task.

The task reward is just a "passing the ball behind the head" skill. This kind of fancy passing skill is not very useful to Li Liang at present.

What's more, he already has [One Shot to the Soul]. As an outside organizer, one shot to the soul is obviously better than passing the ball behind his head.

Because Bill Walton is a center, his pass behind the head is used in the low post.

Therefore, Li Liang delayed this task for a long time and never did it.

Compared with this mediocre reward, the difficulty of the task is not small at all.

He wants to help the 1985 Clippers beat the 1985 Lakers, which is equivalent to helping the current 76ers beat the Heat.

If Li Liang can throw three-pointers wildly, he still has a chance, but this time he will replace Wharton, whether he can throw three-pointers is still a question.

The last time I met Wharton was in the first volume of the "City of Angels Book". In the broom star of the red jellyfish, Li Liang turned into Kermit Washington and assisted Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in fighting against Wharton and the Blazers.

8 years have passed, Jabbar is old and bald, but still very strong, this year the Lakers are the championship team.

Wharton, who is younger than Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, has lost his former glory due to repeated injuries.

Because of the conflict with the Blazers, he left Portland and came to his hometown of San Diego to join the Clippers.

The Clippers thought they had a new captain, but they didn't expect that the captain's legs were lame and he couldn't command the ship to sail.

He spent most of his time with injuries, and this season is his last with the Clippers.

At this time, Walton is no longer the all-round MVP he once was, but has become a member of the team's bench. He can only play more than 20 minutes per game, scoring more than ten points and a few rebounds.

Of course, a year later, he will usher in the final glory of his career in Boston.

But in 1985, the old captain was at the bottom of his life. His supposedly more brilliant basketball career was completely ruined by injuries.

He fell down again and again, and stood up again and again. Every time he stood up, there would be an extra scar on his body, and each scar would reduce his strength by a bit.

Wonderful passing, smooth hook, smart command, strong defense, all these are away from him.

Like many giants, he has a weird personality. He has a stutter. When he was young, he was keen to participate in political activities. He liked hippies and rock music. He was stubborn and difficult to get along with.

When he was a superstar, all of this was acceptable. When he was destroyed by injuries, his reputation was also destroyed.

In Portland, he had a fierce fight with the team, and the original city hero suffered tremendous public opinion pressure.

So he chose to go home, back to San Diego, hoping to start again in his hometown, in the familiar California.

But he failed. In 4 years, he played 169 games for the Clippers, and his attendance rate was only 50%.

The data is declining year by year, and the Clippers have not even made it to the playoffs in any of the four years.

That's not what Clippers fans want to see when they give him a warm welcome.

It wasn't Wharton's original intention to come to his hometown. It can only be said that the sky failed to fulfill people's wishes.

The game in the mission has come to March 1985, the final stage of the regular season, the last game of the season between the Clippers and the Lakers.

Throughout the season, the Clippers and the Lakers have played against each other without winning a game.

Not to mention winning, there were not even close games, and every game was beaten up by brothers in the same city.

This was the first year the Clippers left San Diego and came to Los Angeles. Sterling moved the team to Angel City on the advice of his friend Bass.

They have a bigger market and a bigger arena, but Los Angeles has long been the territory of the Lakers.

From 1984 to 1985, the Clippers have always lived in the shadow of the great Lakers, and have never been able to get out.

Li Liang will play as Bill Walton this time. In the last game between the Clippers and the Lakers in 1985, he will teach the Lakers a lesson and give the Clippers some glory.

Before the start of the game, Li Liang carefully studied the statistics and lineup of the game.

Needless to say in history, the Clippers lost to the Lakers without much suspense.

Walton came on as a backup center, played only 20 minutes, scored 8 points and 7 rebounds, and did not play a key role.

The Lakers' best performance was Magic Johnson, who scored 25 points and 15 assists.

Since 1985, he began to become the real core of the Lakers, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar gradually handed over the scepter of power.

Li Liang thought that after he replaced Wharton, his mid-range and long-range shooting should be able to play a sufficient role.

But in terms of interior defense, can he support the Clippers' already broken defense?

After weighing again and again, Li Liang thought of a prop, [Kodinger's Box]!

Anyway, there are 4 days of rest time, use this box once a day, try your luck, and see if you can transfer to a data suitable for inside defense.

So, on the third day, Li Liang luckily transferred his 81 points [outside defense ability] to the basic inside defense ability.

[Defensive rebound] has increased to 71 points, and [Block] has become 58 points, which is really the most suitable ability value for a center forward.

With this set of defensive capabilities, Li Liang is confident that he can help the Clippers win the Lakers in this game.

Let Walton, the lame old captain, leave a little bright spot in his short and unfortunate Clippers career.