The Godfather of Basketball

Nearly half of the season, time came to 2013 in a blink of an eye.

The Thunder have won 24 of their 29 games, and currently rank first in the West with a record of 24 wins and 5 losses, and third in the league, second only to the Heat and Cavaliers in the East.

While each team is fighting for a place in the playoffs, the footsteps of the All-Stars in the new season are also quietly approaching.

The league announced the second round of All-Star voting.

It is worth mentioning that this year's All-Star canceled the center position and only divided the front and back courts, with 3 spots in the front court and 2 in the back court.

In the West, after James left, Durant became the well-deserved No. 1 striker. His current 920,000 votes are second only to Kobe's 970,000, and he is far ahead of the second Howard (610,000) among frontcourt players.

In the backcourt, apart from Kobe, Westbrook (540,000) and Harden (490,000) ranked second and third in the backcourt.

If nothing else, Durant and Westbrook have the chance to be selected as All-Star starters together for the first time.

It is worth mentioning that Jeremy Lin, who joined the Rockets, has performed well this season. So far, he has averaged 18.8 points and 5.6 assists per game, which has also won him 290,000 votes and is currently ranked fourth in the Western Conference backcourt.

James, who has returned to the East, has become the undisputed king of votes. His current 960,000 votes are only a little less than Kobe.

In addition to James, Anthony and Garnett ranked second and third in the frontcourt. The Knicks re-signed Billups. Anthony led the Knicks to rank third in the Eastern Conference. Still ranked fourth in the Eastern Conference.

In the backcourt, Paul of the Cavaliers and Wade of the Heat rank the top two.

This time the All-Star Game is held at the Toyota Center in Houston, and the fans are already looking forward to the Space City.

The All-Star game is approaching, and the competition in January is getting more intense.

After all, the more than 50 games before the All-Star Game have basically determined whether a team can make it to the playoffs.

However, compared to before, after the Thunder team entered January, the team's performance was obviously more stable than the previous two months.

They have revenged the Cavaliers and Spurs at home successively, ushering in a wave of 9 consecutive victories, breaking the team's winning streak record.

In this wave of winning streak, the performance of the team's four minors and three minors is perfect.

Durant averaged 26.6 points, 4.3 rebounds and 2.1 assists per game, and shot 52% from the field, showing his killer qualities.

Westbrook averaged 20.6 points, 5.5 rebounds and 5.8 assists per game. Although the data is a little less than last season, his 46.2% field goal percentage has reached a career high, and he even has a 36% three-point field goal percentage. A more efficient "turtle".

Of course, the most obvious improvement is James Harden. With the increase of playing time and shooting rights, he is the sixth man of the team. The best sixth man of the season is locked in advance.

Ibaka was the one with the most ups and downs among the four. The Thunder adjusted their starting lineup. He and Dior started the field together and served as the team's fifth position. Some suffer.

However, with the improvement of his shooting stability, the entire Thunder team is speeding up, and the style of play is becoming more and more team-based. It is only a matter of time before Ibaka's performance is stable.

For the Heat and Thunder, many fans are already looking forward to the scene where they meet in the finals.

Time flies, and it is the end of January in a blink of an eye.

At this time, the fourth round of All-Star voting came to a close, and the starting lineup was officially announced.

Eastern starters: Paul, Wade, James, Anthony, Garnett.

Western starters: Westbrook, Kobe, Durant, Griffin and Howard.

After the start, the league also quickly announced the bench lineup selected by the coach.

In the east, Bosh of the Heat was selected. In addition, Yao Ming, Paul George, Jrue Holiday, Chandler, Noah, and Deng (Rondo, who was absent due to injury) were all on the list.

In the west, Harden of the Thunder was also successfully selected. In addition, Parker, Randolph, David Lee, Duncan, Aldridge, and Irving are all listed.

The Thunder and the Heat also became the only teams in the league with three All-Stars selected at the same time.

This also met the expectations of the fans, two genuine All-Star teams.

After announcing the final lineup, the Thunder's morale became stronger.

They fought consecutive victories and expanded their victories to 15 games, continuing to refresh the record for the longest winning streak in team history.

After winning the Clippers that day, Tang Tian was chatting with Stevens about tactical issues when Wharton knocked on the door and came in.

"It's just right that you are all here." Wharton closed the door behind him after entering.

Both Tang Tian and Stevens looked at him curiously, and Wharton looked troubled.

Sure enough, Wharton sat down and said: "Reggie Jackson was late for training today, and he was a little absent-minded."

"Remind him." Tang Tian said.

Now that the Thunder have four young players and have introduced Tucker and Kidd, Jackson doesn't have many chances to play, and it is reasonable to be in a bad mood.

"He seems to be late for three consecutive days, I reminded him." Stevens followed up at this time.

three days in a row?

Tang Tian frowned slightly upon hearing this.

He doesn’t have much impression of Reggie Jackson. He only remembers that in his previous life, after Durant left, Jackson performed well. Later, he was traded to the Pistons and has always been the starting point guard. His talent is there, but it still needs time to polish it. .

"Brad, go back and talk to him." Tang Tian said to Stevens.

He has enough headaches to deal with the four young masters, and it is better to leave the others to Stevens.

In fact, as long as Jackson has a little vision, he should know that Kidd will probably retire next season, and it will be his turn to take the lead after another season of training.

Stevens nodded.

Stevens also has a way of dealing with player relations. After the chat, Jackson did not appear late for training again, but he was still a little absent-minded during training.

Because the team has been on a winning streak, Tang Tian didn't care about it anymore.

Time flies, and it is mid-February in a blink of an eye.

During this period of time, Harden was targeted by opponents on both ends of the offense and defense, and the Thunder's record also fluctuated.

Tang Tian tried to put Jackson in the rotation, but perhaps he hadn't focused on training recently, and he was a little at a loss on the court. Except for the occasional breakthrough to score a goal, there will be mistakes in organization and ball control.

"We need to find an experienced backup point guard. James handles the ball and organizes in the backup lineup, and he has to take care of scoring. This is too much pressure for him now." Stevens told Tang Tian suggested.

"Is there a suitable candidate?" Tang Tian knew that Stevens would take the initiative to mention this, so he must have a goal.

"Yes, Sean Livingston."