In the NBA world, a team's upper limit is destined to be controlled by its stars. Only truly powerful stars can lead a team to break through all previous upper limits.

Compared with other strong teams in the league, the Hawks are better than average, but they are also worse than average.

The biggest difference between them and the Spurs is that the Spurs have Leonard, a star who can raise the ceiling, while the Hawks...

New arrival Dwight Howard?

The old and strong Paul Millsap?

Or Jeff Teague and Kyle Korver?

Sorry, although these guys are all excellent, it is difficult for their abilities to support them as players who can raise the ceiling of the team in the playoffs, which makes the Hawks never regarded as one of the championship contenders this season.

However, this is such a team that can only be considered a playoff level, but it played a perfect game.

Wang Zelin's performance was naturally impeccable as always. Howard tried his best, but was still beaten by Wang Zelin in various ways.

Howard, who is still at the tail end of his peak in 2012, is not in Wang Zelin's hands, let alone Howard, who is now wandering to the Hawks?

But fortunately, this year's All-Star trip seems to have sublimated Howard's mentality. The happy Monster of the past is gone forever, and now only Master Huo who works conscientiously on the court is left.

Therefore, even if Howard was beaten by Wang Zelin in one-on-one defense, protecting the basket, grabbing rebounds, etc., his mentality was not discouraged at all. He would use his body when he should, and he would still interfere when he should.

The key is that this time against Wang Zelin, he did an excellent job in fouling and making mistakes, and he no longer had the irritability he had in previous matches.

Seeing Howard being so solid on the defensive end, Eagles coach Mike Budenholzer was quite pleased, and then decided... to beat Howard hard tonight.

Throughout the game, Howard was like a piece of candy that couldn't be shaken off, always clinging to Wang Zelin. Even the Eagles' on-site commentator couldn't help but ridicule the two as conjoined twins.

Under Howard's entanglement, Wang Zelin was very uncomfortable playing tonight. The offensive end was as unsolvable as ever, but even on the defensive end, his attention could not help but tilt to Howard, always thinking about hitting Howard hard.

several.

And this plays into the hands of Hawks coach Budenholzer.

If Howard and Wang Zelin pair up, the Hawks won't make much money at all.

So, the rest of the Hawks stole the show from beyond the arc tonight.

In this game, the Hawks shot 47.5% from three-point range, which is undoubtedly far above their average.

You know, the Hawks' shooting percentage this season is only 45.1%, and the three-point shooting percentage is only 34.1%.

Overall, they are not a team that relies on three-pointers to win. Eagles coach Budenholzer still emphasizes offensive and defensive transitions and positional offense.

However, their three-point shooting percentage tonight was actually two percentage points higher than the overall shooting percentage in previous games, and it was 12 percentage points higher than the three-point shooting percentage in previous games.

For a team like the Hawks, which is not a three-point team, this kind of improvement can be called a dream level.

Therefore, even Budenholzer himself was surprised to be able to defeat the defending champion Trail Blazers in this way.

Eagles legend Dominic Wilkins, who was in charge of the commentary tonight, couldn't help but smile and said: "If the Eagles can achieve such a shooting percentage every night in the future, they will already be No. 1 in the Eastern Conference. I have to say.

Luck was on the Eagles' side tonight."

At 120:141, the Trail Blazers ended their first leg of the Eastern Conference with a 21-point defeat.

This should be the first time this season that the Trail Blazers have lost to a team by more than 20 points. The team's morale has been severely damaged, and the players' faces are full of disappointment.

Until March, the Trail Blazers began to linger, as if they were under some kind of evil curse.

In less than half a month, the Trail Blazers lost three games, and the next two games were losing streaks...

Since the beginning of the season, the Trail Blazers have never suffered two consecutive defeats, and it once became the most proud talking point for countless Trail Blazers fans.

But after today, their conversation was gone.

After the game, the news that the Trail Blazers had suffered two consecutive defeats spread, instantly causing a sensation in the entire basketball circle.

At the same time, Wang Zelin, who scored a super double-double with 48 points and 22 rebounds tonight, also once again mentioned the title of team leader.
Chapter completed!