It s hard to support alone! Harden was dragged down and his letters were used up! The truth hurts my heart!

For NBA players, there are basically two states, either playing well or playing poorly.

But looking at the details, there is a more embarrassing situation. Players play well, but they can only lose the game. This lone warrior mode may be the best adjective for Harden and Antetokounmpo at the moment.

When the two-week record table of the new season is spread out, the entire league is in chaos. James has relapsed from an old injury. Tatum and Haliburton have been seriously injured and reimbursed. Fox and Jaywe have taken turns to enter the injured list. Even if the records of these remaining teams are not necessarily excellent, at least they are playing more tenaciously.

Only the Clippers, who made major signings during the offseason, are a piece of cake.

The Clippers during the offseason are really worth looking forward to. They have successively won Bill, Paul, Los Angeles, and Collins. The lineup is luxurious enough on paper; but once it entered reality, they lost 7 games in the first 10 games of the new season. Los Angeles' defense has become a decoration, and Bill and Paul also played quite embarrassingly. As for Collins, he seems to have the ability, but he can only be pushed to the bench by Tyronn Lue and eat dust.

The worst thing is Leonard. The team is facing a crisis. The big brother fell down due to injury again. A familiar injury and a familiar return date are unknown. Only Harden is left, organizing and dragging the team forward, but it is really not worth being optimistic about how long this 36-year-old guard can last after a serious injury.

What’s embarrassing is that Powell, who was sent away by the Clippers in the offseason, broke out immediately after joining the Heat in the new season. He averaged 24.5 points per game and directly became the team’s scoring champion. He scored 141 points in the first 6 games of the new season, breaking James’ team history record in one fell swoop.

Compared with the helpless Harden of the Clippers, Giannis Antetokounmpo of the Bucks on the other side is not very good either.

Looking at the team's current regular season record, fifth in the Eastern Conference with 7 wins and 4 losses, this ranking looks pretty good, but the hidden dangers behind the results can no longer be concealed.

Looking back at the Bucks' offseason, they first snatched Turner to strengthen the inside line, and then renewed Portis, Porter Jr., Prince, Trent Jr. and others at high-quality prices. On paper, this lineup seems to be strong enough to strengthen, but from the perspective of the lineup configuration, it really feels like it is a bit broken.

The Bucks were desperate enough to keep Antetokounmpo. After retaining his second brother Thanasis, they signed fifth brother Alex in an attempt to rely on family basketball to tie Antetokounmpo; but in the NBA, relying solely on brotherhood to win is obviously an unworkable route.

After losing to the Rockets in the last game, Antetokounmpo gave a meaningful answer in the post-game interview:

"The Rockets are a very big team, and they have many excellent offensive rebounders."

On the surface, this is praising the Rockets, but it is inevitable that there is some connotation of his own team. The implication is obvious, I need those tough and hard-working helpers, but such people are on other people's teams.

Compared with interviews, it is more realistic to spread out star data.

So far this season, Antetokounmpo has averaged 33.4 points, 11.9 rebounds, 6.2 assists and 1.3 blocks per game, with a shooting percentage of 62.9%. Even the previously criticized outside three-pointers have improved to a high-quality level of 50%. From the perspective of data accumulation, in the first nine games of the new season, Antetokounmpo completed 300 points + 100 rebounds + 50 assists, setting the fastest record in NBA history.

Especially the personal PER value, which is as high as 37.8 so far this season, is scary enough. By comparison, Jokic led the Nuggets to the league's best offensive efficiency, with a PER of 35.4; Alexander, the Thunder's leader, led the team to 10 wins and 1 loss, with a PER of only 31.3; Doncic, who started the Lakers' runaway season, had a PER of 31.8.

It is no exaggeration to say that Antetokounmpo's personal performance has completely reached the top level of the league. But the problem also arises. No matter how strong Antetokounmpo is, he is only one person after all.

Referring to high-end data, when Antetokounmpo is on the court, the Bucks have a net efficiency value of +8.0 per 100 possessions, ranking among the top six in the league; but when he is not on the court, this data plummets to -8.3, falling to fifth in the bottom in the league.

It is no exaggeration to say that with or without Antetokounmpo, the Bucks are completely different teams.

Judging from the team's lineup, the data on paper seems to be very good, with 7 players on the team scoring in double figures per game. However, upon closer analysis, it turns out that it is not up to standard. Except for Antetokounmpo, the team's highest scorer is Rollins, who averaged 16.5 points per game. He was the No. 44 pick in the second round in 2022. In the past few years, there was basically no such person.

As for the subsequent players such as Portis, Prince, Trent Jr., etc., they basically fluctuate around 10 points. It is basically impossible to expect them to carry the offensive banner after Antetokounmpo.

Obviously, for other playoff teams, most of the second-choice positions are star players; but for the Bucks, they can't even find a stable helper who can help Antetokounmpo score.

Faced with this broken team, Antetokounmpo has long been suspicious. On this season's media day, the boss even said directly in front of the camera:

"I'm not sure our current lineup has a chance to compete for the championship."

This sentence is almost an explicit statement to the management. As early as the offseason, Antetokounmpo's team had already been in contact with the Knicks, but in the end the deal was aborted because the Bucks were unwilling to let go.

The Bucks' top management may have thought that they could wait for a miracle by delaying, but don't forget that Antetokounmpo has already reached the 30-year-old mark, and his personal performance is still at its peak, but time never waits for anyone. If the Bucks don't act, it will only continue to depreciate the chips in the end, and instead put the team into an even more embarrassing situation..

In the final analysis, basketball is still a team sport. No matter how strong a lone hero is, he cannot hold back a group of people. Harden is struggling to support the aging Clippers, while Antetokounmpo is working hard with the Bucks, but he doesn't even have a stable helper.

Although it seems stable now, when these superstars personally express their "want to leave", the top management may regret it.