So I am the god of basketball?

Another point is that the other players on the Lakers are not incapable of attacking. They are just still young, and the teams they have played against recently all have the same approach:
Let Meng Lang attack and block the attacking state of others.

This makes it even more difficult for the other players on the Lakers.

But as long as we give them some time to grow, they will definitely be able to perform more and more stably.

Therefore, this Lakers team is still in the "present unfinished tense", and their form can become even higher.

But even now they can definitely deal with this Timberwolves team.

The Timberwolves' style of play this season is very simple. Through the organization and distribution of Kevin Garnett and Bob Hurley, everyone is involved in the offense and plays with firepower. On the defensive end, Kevin Garnett's assist defense helps to fill in the gaps.

But when they met the Lakers, they met their nemesis. From center to center, the Lakers players were able to match up with every position.

Including Ben Wallace who defended Kevin Garnett, he was not tall enough. But his mobility and strength could match Kevin Garnett. And Garnett was not a player who was good at strong play under the basket. His signature skill was "post-up singles", which was to stun the opponent with a faster frequency than the average inside player, which he was good at. Once an inside player could keep up with his mobility, his threat on the offensive end would be greatly reduced.

To put it bluntly, this is also where he has the biggest gap with Tim Duncan:

The offensive end lacks sufficient strong solution ability!
So he could only become a top second-in-command.

He later joined the Celtics, which is a good example.

In the end, the Lakers led from the beginning to the end, and always maintained a double-digit score difference. At the buzzer sound of the fourth quarter, the Lakers defeated the Timberwolves 109 to 94, a 15-point victory. The cheers from the audience were resounding, and the Los Angeles residents who attended tonight were reluctant to leave for a long time.

Because the Lakers haven't had such a resounding victory in a long time.

Especially after winning the championship last season, encountering such difficulties is really a discouraging thing.

Even before the start of the new season, many Los Angeles media have said that the Lakers will have a long way to go in the new season, and all Los Angeles people should be prepared. But when this moment comes, it is still a bit unbearable.

But Meng Lang saved them, scoring 65 points in the last game. Everyone's mental outlook was obviously different in this game.

Nothing happens randomly, everything has a traceable cause. The people of Los Angeles firmly believe that this is the follow-up effect of Meng Lang's "miracle performance" in the last game. That's why everyone is so ordinary in this game.

Especially Kobe, he should be the one who was most affected. Look how hard he tried on the court!

这场比赛最终他的数据也非常不错，9投5中，罚球3罚2中，拿到了12分，另外还有3个篮板3个助攻以及2次抢断。

In other words, there is no such thing as plus-minus value now, otherwise you would clearly see that Kobe's plus-minus value is as high as +29!

The Lakers won points almost every minute he was on the court today.

This is what Los Angeles fans expected to see from Kobe.

The next day, the media also praised Kobe.

After struggling for half a season, Kobe finally found his way to gain a tactical position in the current team, which is to start with defense.

The Lakers continued to use the same tactical system as they did against the Timberwolves in the remaining games of January. Everyone except Meng Lang started with defense, trying to defend every attack of the opponent and make up for the lack of experience of other young players in positional warfare through quick counterattacks.

At this time, another advantage of the Lakers' young players came into play;
They are young and can run!

Although Divac had a hard time keeping up with their counterattack speed, in fact, as long as the fast break was played, the Lakers could score quickly without him participating in the offense.

Meng Lang's defensive appeal is evident even in fast breaks.

In the end, they ended the rest of January with a three-game winning streak. Including the games against the Pacers and the Timberwolves, they had a record of 1 wins and 1 losses in the remaining games in January.

In the absence of Barkley, Meng Lang led the team alone to achieve such a record, which made all Los Angeles people satisfied.

The Lakers are back in third place in the Western Conference.

It is worth mentioning that although the Lakers' overall record in January was 9 wins and 6 losses, the "Player of the Month Award" in January still fell on Meng Lang's head because his data was too terrifying.

场均45.5分6.5篮板4.5助攻2抢断1.5盖帽。

Three games were scored more than 50 points.

There was also a game where the score reached 60 plus!
In addition, he scored more than 15 points in 12 of the 40 games.

Such a terrifying offensive firepower attracted the attention of the entire league. Many media thought of peak Jordan.

It would be hard for Jordan at his peak not to win the "Player of the Month Award".

The Los Angeles media even directly shouted: "If Dream needs a reason to win the regular season MVP, then I think his average points per game is the best reason!"

Including the average of 45.5 points per game in January, Meng Lang's average points per game this season has exceeded the terrifying 38 points and is almost reaching 40 points per game.

In the history of the NBA, apart from Meng Lang, only Chamberlain has played a season averaging 40 points per game. Of course, the "Basketball Emperor" is more abnormal, he has played a season averaging more than 40 points per game many times.

Michael Jordan's highest average score in a season was 37.1 points. Meng Lang's current average score has exceeded Jordan's peak season. - It can only be said that Jordan's defect of not shooting three-pointers was reflected at this time...

What's even more terrifying is that the person with the highest average score after Meng Lang, Michael Jordan, only averaged 28.6 points per game this season.

This means that Meng Lang scores about 10 points higher in every game.

This season is very similar to the season when Jordan averaged 37.1 points per game, because Wilkins, who ranked second at the time, only averaged about 29.1 points.

Although Jordan didn't win the regular season MVP that season, there was a reason for that. The Bulls were only ranked eighth in the Eastern Conference...the record was too bad.

What's more, although he didn't win the regular season MVP, he ranked second on the regular season MVP list with 22.6% of the votes, which is also a hot candidate.

If it weren't for the Bulls' poor record, he would have a high chance of being elected.

The Lakers' record this season is not as good as last season, but they are still ranked third in the Western Conference, very close to the first and second places in the Western Conference, and the gap is not so big that it is out of reach.

With Barkley absent for such a long time, this record is really enough to offset the doubts about the record.

Of course, this is the Lakers' ranking from the perspective of the Los Angeles media.

As for other media, they are much more objective: "The third place in the Western Conference is still lacking in persuasiveness, because from the perspective of the league's ranking, the Lakers are only ranked sixth. If Dream did not win the regular season MVP last season, then we don't need to discuss these issues, but the problem now is that Dream won the regular season MVP last season. In this case, he needs to give a stronger performance. The Lakers have encountered a lot of troubles this season, but these are not excuses. We are not selecting the Most Improved Player Award or the All-NBA First Team. We are selecting only one regular season MVP each season. He must be the best, especially for winning the regular season MVP again!"

"Charles will definitely return, so if the Lakers can't get into the top three in the league in the final team rankings, to be honest, it's not convincing enough for him to win the regular season MVP!"

"Because he has a former regular season MVP as his assistant. This lineup is enough to make up for the problem of too many young players in the Lakers' main lineup this season!"

"and……"

"In fact, if it weren't for his impressive statistics, our requirement for him to win the regular season MVP should have been to have the best record in the league!"

The media also asked Meng Lang about his opinion on this matter. Meng Lang's answer was also very rational: "The season is still very long, and compared to the regular season MVP, I actually hope that we can complete the defense. There is not much time left for Charles. If a player like him can only win one championship trophy in his entire career, it would be a pity. He chose to believe in me, so I should give him an explanation!"

Barkley's original return date was the end of January, but he did not return on time because when he tried to resume training after resting for a period of time, inflammation and fluid accumulation were found in his knee.

These circumstances delayed Barkley's return.

These circumstances also mean that the end of Barkley's career is near.

When Barkley heard these words, he was so moved that he burst into tears. The first thing he did when he saw Meng Lang was to give him a big hug. However, before he could hug him, Meng Lang pushed him away.

His face was filled with disgust.

At the same time, this season's All-Star starting lineup was officially released, and two Lakers players were selected, namely Barkley and Meng Lang.

However, Barkley announced in advance as soon as the news came out: "I will not participate in this All-Star Weekend. I am already an old man and I need rest. This is what I need most!"

"Charles, you should know that this may be the last time you enter the All-Star Weekend in your career. Are you sure you want to give up like this?" the reporter asked.

Barkley still didn't hesitate: "Of course!"

What he didn't say was that, rather than leaving his last presence at the All-Star Weekend, he would rather announce the news on the stage of the Finals, holding the championship trophy... But saying this at this time would definitely put a huge pressure on other Lakers players, especially Meng Lang, so he didn't talk nonsense in front of the media. He could only say that Meng Lang's words really touched him. He also began to imagine Meng Lang's situation.

But after thinking about it, he decided to have a frank talk with Meng Lang: "My friend, I feel more and more that this will be the last season of my professional career, my old friend..."

He touched his knee: "It reminds me that I can leave now!"

In fact, after winning the championship, Barkley had no regrets as his career had already come to an end.

The reason why he insisted on playing for another season was not only to fulfill his contract, but more importantly, he wanted to win another championship.

"I'll bet everything on this season, but man, I only want you to know this for now..."

Meng Lang nodded and kept this matter in mind.

Originally, he thought this season was a season where he could fail, not from his personal competitive perspective, but from the perspective of the team's growth. From a personal competitive perspective, Meng Lang hated every season when he didn't lift the championship trophy, but the fact is that no one can always win the championship. Failure is the only way to win the championship.

But now, he has an additional responsibility to win the championship this season.

The good news is that the Lakers have successfully figured out a competitive lineup during Barkley's rest period.

It's just that Barkley may have to change his role after his return. At the beginning of this season, his playing style was more blue-collar. But in the current Lakers, what is more lacking is offensive players.

In other words, Barkley must show his offensive power. As for defense and protection under the basket, Ben Wallace and Divac did a good job.

Ben Wallace averaged 10.6 rebounds per game during this period, and Divac also had 8.6 rebounds. In addition, the Lakers' outside players are all capable of grabbing rebounds, so even if Barkley does not focus on the rebounding end, the Lakers can actually hold on.

On the contrary, it seems that no one can replace his offensive ability.

Of course, all this has to wait until Barkley recovers. Now the Lakers without Barkley continue their regular season journey.

Some not-so-good news for Los Angeles:

The All-Star reserve roster has been released, and no one from the Lakers was selected as a substitute.

This season, Eddie Jones's statistics have declined a lot after he switched to the point guard position, and Kobe has not grown as expected. Their statistics are indeed not enough to compete with the Western Conference backcourt.

The Los Angeles media announced painfully: "This season's Lakers will have a star-less All-Star Weekend."

Fortunately, they have the biggest "star among stars". After defeating Michael Jordan in the finals last year, Meng Lang officially became the face of the league and his popularity soared again. In this era when voting has not yet begun, he received 276 million votes.

From this we can see what kind of popularity Meng Lang has now! (End of this chapter)