The Mamba spirit is the most precious wealth in the NBA league, and Kobe's disciples are the best inheritors. Irving, DeRozan, George, Westbrook, Trae Young, and Mitchell, these stars all regard Kobe as basketball mentors and life idols; when they play basketball, you can always capture some of Kobe's shadows, perhaps a certain technical action, or a certain struggle scene. Speaking of Kobe's disciples, how can we not mention Tatum and Booker? Both of them are disciples selected by Kobe, and they are both selected for the Best Team of the Year this season. Time flies, and Kobe has been away for three years. The 24-year-old Tatum and the 25-year-old Booker are about to reach their peak, and they have also achieved certain achievements. So, who has a higher ceiling, Booker or Tatum?
In just 5 seasons, Tatum won both fame and fortune, and was a winner in life. During the rookie season, Tatum touched the floor of the Eastern Conference Finals with the team; he has never missed the playoffs in his career and has had two Eastern Conference Finals. According to statistics, Tatum has more experience in the playoffs than everyone else in the top ten picks in the same class. In this process, Tatum was selected into the All-Star lineup three times, twice as many as the Best Team of the Year, and signed a five-year, max salary contract of $163 million. If Tatum has anything wrong with it, it is that the Double Tanhua combination touched the floor of the East Finals continuously but could not break through the east. Many people began to feel discouraged, and some even thought that the Double Tanhua could not coexist and shouted to break up the Double Tanhua. After entering 2022, the Celtics overcome all obstacles and Tatum finally broke through the ceiling of the Eastern Conference Final.
Fighting against the Nets led by Durant Irving in the first round, Tatum led the team to sweep the opponent 4-0, and the Celtics are also the only team to complete the sweep this season. In the Eastern Conference semi-finals, facing the Bucks led by Antetokounmpo, after losing the battle of Tianwangshan, Tatum scored 46 points in G6 to equalize the score and dragged the series into the tiebreak. In the end, the Celtics took advantage of the victory and chased the Bucks with a 28-point victory, and advanced to the Eastern Conference Finals 4-3. In the Eastern Conference Finals, facing the Eastern Conference overlord Heat, the two sides decided to win and lose through the tiebreak battle. The Celtics defeated the Heat 4-3 and advanced to the finals. In the tiebreak battle, Tatum wore Kobe's No. 24 elbow guard. He admitted after the game: Everyone knows how important Kobe is to me. This is the most important game in my career. I want to commemorate him in this way and share the moment of success with him.
consecutively eliminated the Nets, Bucks and Heat. Tatum avenged the first three years of revenge in the playoffs, which was thrilling but magnificent. Kobe's disciples did have two tricks. And what about Booker? His performance on the playoff stage this year is really a bit unsatisfactory. Booker entered the league two years earlier than Tatum. He only touched the playoff floor last season and touched the Finals floor all the way, and the scenery was unlimited. This season, the Suns made a comeback, aiming at the championship. They achieved the best record in the league with 64 wins and 18 losses in the regular season, and the best record in the team history. In this process, Booker averaged 26.8 points + 5 rebounds + 4.8 assists + 1.1 steals per game, and many people spoke out for the candidate who missed the MVP. The Suns and Booker were prejudice throughout the league. Monty once comforted his beloved disciples like this, the general idea was: MVP was selected, and it was harmless if we couldn't get it. We can go to the championship!
Unfortunately, the Suns' dream of winning was shattered early, and Booker also felt like he was giving up. In the first round of the Pelicans, Booker missed three games due to injury, and the Suns passed the game with Paul's super god performance. In the Western Conference semi-finals, the Suns were forced to go to Tianwangshan with a 2-0 lead, and lost two consecutive games when Tianwangshan defeated the Mavericks with a 30-point victory, and were eliminated in shame. The Suns lost two match points in a row, Paul was exhausted, and Booker lay down. In the Western Conference semi-finals G6, Booker made only 6 of 17 shots, scoring 19 points; in the Western Conference semi-finals, Booker made only 3 of 14 shots, scoring 11 points.Booker is the Suns' number one scorer, but he chose to lie down when the Suns were in desperate situation. Booker has to use several times the playoff victory to repair the loss of reputation of being turned around in this tiebreak!
State the playoffs, Tatum averaged 27 points + 6.7 rebounds + 5.9 assists per game. He is the fourth under 25-year-old player in NBA history to reach the Finals with averaging 25+5+5 data per game in the playoffs, comparable to Kobe, Wade and James; as a comparison, Booker played 10 games this year, averaging 23.3 points + 4.8 rebounds + 4.4 assists per game. There is no doubt that Kobe's disciples are not parallel players. I don't deny that Booker and Tatum are both the top scorers among the new generation of stars, but one thing is certain that Booker has been widened by Tatum: Booker has strong offense and weak defense, has a more single style of play, is keen on jump shots, and is more comfortable to play with a tailwind; Tatum has balanced offense and defense, and has both attack and projection abilities, showing Mamba's true nature under adversity.
Book and Tatum are still very young. Booker has touched the finals floor last season, and Tatum is about to start his first finals journey in his career. I don't know which of them can win the NBA championship first, but one thing is certain, Booker should really learn from Tatum. If Booker played with Mamba's belief in the Western Conference semi-finals like Tatum in the Eastern Conference tiebreak, the Suns would not have lost so embarrassingly! For Booker, losing a round of the series in such a way may not be a good thing. He needs to recognize himself and cheer up to live up to his reputation as Kobe's disciples. For Tatum, advancing to the finals is only the first step in completing the challenge issued by Kobe, and he still has to continue fighting with Mamba's belief! If he is lucky enough to hold the O'Brien Cup, I believe he will shout out that sentence: Kobe, this is for you! fans, what do you think about this? Let me leave me a comment and discuss it.
