Can McGrady s partner O Neal really win three consecutive championships? The secret behind O Pang s personal certification!

O'Neal made an "explosive" remark on the podcast: "If it were McGrady and not Kobe, the Lakers could still win three consecutive championships!" As soon as this was said, Kobe fans were furious, while McGrady fans were proud. Let's talk about it today: Is this reliable?

Why does O'Neal support McGrady?

O'Neal said clearly in the show: "McDie was a tough guy back then, but he was always double-teamed, but Kobe was rarely targeted." Is this true? Of course there is! The scoring ability of the peak McGrady is unquestionable. The miracle of 35.13 seconds is still one of the greatest solo performances in the NBA. But the problem is that McGrady did not have an inside giant like O'Neal to attract defense in the Magic period. He often faced double-teams or even three-person double-teams. During the Lakers, Kobe's opponents did not dare to double-team the outside easily due to O'Neal's dominance in the inside, which gave Kobe more singles room.

O'Neal even revealed that Zen master Phil Jackson asked him to help defend McGrady, but he refused because he wanted to see how Kobe's single defense against McGrady was. What's the result? McGrady can still score high scores under Kobe's defense, which indirectly proves that McGrady's offensive firepower is indeed top-notch.

Can McGrady be perfectly adapted to O'Neal?

But the question is: Is McGrady's style really suitable for O'Neal? In addition to personal abilities, Kobe and O'Neal's success lies in their complementarity. Kobe's off-ball running, defensive resilience and killer instinct at critical moments are all relatively lacking in McGrady. McGrady prefers to play ball-likely, while O'Neal needs a partner who can score efficiently without the ball. In addition, Kobe's defensive intensity is far superior to McGrady, which is crucial in the high-intensity confrontation in the playoffs.

Of course, McGrady's passing vision and scoring explosiveness are beyond doubt. If he really partnered with O'Neal, his data might be more beautiful, but the difficulty of winning three consecutive championships still exists. After all, the success of the OK combination is not only due to the two, but also the key performance of Phil Jackson's triangular offensive system, Horry, Fisher and other role players. McGrady's potential injury risks are also a big problem. His peak period is relatively short. It is hard to say whether he can maintain a top-level state for a long time like Kobe.

Why did O'Neal say "Can you win six championships with Curry"?

What's more interesting is that O'Neal not only supported McGrady, but also put a bigger satellite: "If I partner with Curry, I can win six championships!" This sounds exaggerated, but it makes sense if you think about it carefully. Curry's historically-level outside projection ability and O'Neal's inside dominance are simply unsolvable combinations. Imagine that your opponent dares to double-team O'Neal? Curry made a three-pointer and killed himself; dared to expand the defense of Curry? O'Neal crushes you directly under the basket. This terrifying dominance of the combination of internal and external forces may indeed allow the NBA to enter the finale early.

Hypothesis is an assumption after all, but O'Neal's words are worth pondering

After all, basketball is a sport of five people, and history has no ifs. The combination of McGrady and O'Neal may win the championship, but no one can say whether it can replicate the glory of the OK dynasty. However, O'Neal's words at least proved one thing: McGrady's peak strength has been seriously underestimated!