James' fear is not unreasonable. The Lakers burst out with extremely strong attack power under Zhou Mubai's connection. The original Lakers' attack method based on Kobe's super attack power is no longer the only choice.

Kobe feels that his importance is declining, but he feels that his current style of play is very easy and he doesn't need to make too many choices. Anyway, he can just attack directly when he gets the ball, and his efficiency is extremely high, and it is simply incomparable to his previous efficiency.

He played easily, his efficiency became higher, and his scoring was even higher than before, but Kobe was a little confused.

What he was confused about was that although he played very easily, had high efficiency and scored a lot, he was just lost because he was not the most handsome guy in the Lakers.

His touch is decreasing, his holding time is decreasing, and his hard bars are decreasing. The team often ends the battle in the third quarter. Is this a sign?

Of course, if you look at it from the team's perspective.

From the team's perspective, the Lakers' strength has been greatly improved due to Zhou Mubai's existence, and the significance of this to the Lakers' defending the title can be imagined.

But what about Kobe?

Although everything looked beautiful, Kobe smelled a familiar smell—the smell he had when he worked with O'Neal.

When O'Neal was in the Lakers, Kobe existed as a supporter. O'Neal was the team's well-deserved boss. Although Kobe was important, the most important thing was not him.

When people talk about the Lakers, they always mention O'Neal first, not him. In terms of tactical arrangements, O'Neal is the core. In the playoffs, O'Neal was the most troublesome presence of his opponents. In the finals, O'Neal always won the FMVP, and he was always put behind for discussion.

Of course, he and Zhou Mubai have not reached this point yet, but Zhou Mubai has actually taken the role of the team as the core. Although he is still scoring and playing a role in the team, everything looks beautiful, but the core is not himself!

Of course Kobe knew that he needed help to win the championship, so he had been forcing the team to find help for him in the past two years. When Gasol was sure to come to the Lakers, Kobe was so happy that he couldn't sleep all night. Gasol's arrival made it possible for him to win the championship again.

Zhou Mubai's emergence greatly increased the chances of the Lakers' successful defending title. Kobe should have been happy, but he began to feel lost.

Zhou Mubai didn't know this. He was dismembering the Cavaliers' defense like a cocoon, and O'Neal became Zhou Mubai's primary target of attack.

In this era, the tactics of playing small and big are not taken seriously, because three-pointers have not been paid enough attention to, so when playing small and big, they can mostly use pinch strikes to make up for this shortcoming, so O'Neal can still be active in the NBA arena.

But Zhou Mubai was too comprehensive, three-pointers, mid-range, ending at the basket, and a ghostly pass... Zhou Mubai entered the second half of the first quarter and began to call O'Neal.

Bynum helped Zhou Mubai pick-and-roll, O'Neal had two choices, either go up and delay or put it in.

Zhou Mubai is just doing the judgment question and judging O'Neal's choice.

O'Neal came up, and Bynum's lower back was a sharp knife, a sharp knife that stabbed the Knight's core.

If O'Neal didn't come up, Zhou Mubai used this space to directly attack three-pointers.

After Zhou Mubai made two three-pointers, O'Neal and Mo Williams had to give up Bynum and block Zhou Mubai with all their might, so Bynum got opportunities again and again.

After two minutes in the second half of the quarter, Mike Brown quickly replaced O'Neal because O'Neal had become the Cavaliers' biggest loophole.

Fortunately, Mike Brown's reaction was quite fast, so the score was not too wide. However, after the first quarter, the score between the two sides was 36:28, and the Lakers led by 8 points away.

Zhou Mubai's personal data is 17 points, 4 rebounds and 6 assists!

When Kobe saw Zhou Mubai's data statistics, he felt quite uncomfortable. Zhou Mubai has become the most important core of the Lakers, which can be seen from the data.

According to the player usage rate recently announced by espn, Zhou Mubai's player usage rate reached at least 30%, which is extremely high even in the league. His own usage rate in the 2005-06 season was 38.7%. At that time, he was the only one who supported the Lakers, and he had to do so.

Zhou Mubai's usage rate doesn't seem too outrageous, but Zhou Mubai is a rookie after all!

Compared to Kobe's complex mood, fans of the Quick Loan Center truly realized how great the Lakers rookies are.

This rookie is different from previous rookies. Previous rookies may have high talent, but their completion level is generally not too high. At least they cannot become the core of the dominant team.

In other words, even in his rookie season, he could not do as much as Zhou Mubai.

James' Cavaliers back then was a team that was too bad to be worse. As the No. 1 pick, it was natural for James to lead the team forward.

But the Lakers are the defending champion team. Rookies are generally reluctant to join such teams because the team's goal is to win the championship, so they will not think about cultivating rookies. The best place for rookies is to rebuild the team, because they can get the greatest training.

But Zhou Mubai is in such a team, from obscurity to famous leagues, and has not even used ten games.

In the first quarter, the Lakers rookie experienced the offense. When other teammates couldn't open it, he would immediately change the mode and transform from an assist to a terrifying top offensive player.

This is not a rookie at all, but a superstar who has entered its peak period!

"...I've heard of Zhou Mubai's name, but I didn't expect him to be so strong."

There was disbelief hidden in Mark Jackson's voice.

Mark Jackson is a legendary defender who has played for the New York Knicks, Indiana Pacers, Los Angeles Clippers, Denver Nuggets, Toronto Raptors, Utah Jazz and Houston Rockets.

Ranked fourth in the NBA total assists list, second only to John Stockton, Jason Kidd, and Steve Nash. This is a truly powerful point guard. Although his reputation is not as good as others, he is also a top point guard.

So he saw Zhou Mubai's incredibleness.

Zhou Mubai's strength is not only about sorting out the offense, it is a traditional point guard. Zhou Mubai has done a good job, and even a historically outstanding one.

Nowadays, the league's offensive guards are not popular. For example, Ross is often criticized for scoring too many points, which is the view of this era.
Chapter completed!