Chapter 165 Discussion on winning and losing in the finals

  At noon, Wang Tiejun held a birthday party at home, and his teammates and the management coaching staff came to the door with gifts.

   There were many people, not only Zhang Lili helped him, but he also invited a chef from a Chinese restaurant to help.

   In the evening, he and Zhang Lili watched the Eastern Finals.

   The Knicks lost two away games after winning their two-game winning streak and were tied by the Bulls. Now they have tasted the bad results. The New York media scolded the team up and down, which made the team's pressure explode.

   returned to the home court, 97:94, and lost the most crucial G5 battle, allowing the Bulls to get match point instead.

   Jordan and Pippen, the league's top perimeter combination, combined to score 57 points and get 21 rebounds.

  Jordan made 11 of 24 shots, 45.8% from the field, 7 of 9 penalties, and scored a triple-double of 29 points, 10 rebounds and 14 assists. His explosive performance shocked all the media.

As for the Knicks, Ewing made 12 of 23 shots, 52.2% from the field, 8 of 14 free throws, scored 33 points and 8 rebounds, and performed very well.

Before the game was over, Zhang Lili was singing an ode to the Bulls again, and said happily: "Look at the rebounds the Bulls have grabbed, they should have surpassed the Knicks by several, right? If the Knicks lose today, there is no other reason. , it's basketball."

  Wang Tiejun also nodded. Tonight, the Knicks were weak in rebounding.

   Obviously, the rebounding ability is stronger. In the first four games, the Knicks rebounded more. In the key G5 game, the Bulls got more rebounds. Isn't this courting death?

   After watching the game, the data comparison of the two teams also appeared on TV.

   Zhang Lili pointed at the TV and said, "48:37, my God, the Knicks grabbed 11 less rebounds?"

Wang Tiejun said with a smile: "Only lose by 3 points, the Knicks can get match point as long as they grab two more rebounds, not let the Bulls get match point. Look, Brother Zhang, I'm right, Knicks The combination of insiders is not good, and the critical moment is not reliable."

   Zhang Lili nodded and said: "Ewing has 8 rebounds, two less than Jordan. He is a super center. The rebounding is too disappointing tonight. Oakley has 6 points and 4 rebounds. This performance, alas!"

The performance of the Knicks was scolded by the New York media the next day.

Especially Ewing and Oakley, the strength of the two can be called the league's top inside team, but they only got 12 rebounds together. You must know that Jordan got 10 rebounds by a shooting guard. This performance made them suffer from New York media and Crazy abuse and accusations from New York fans.

   "Old K is right. We should trade inside. Ewing and Oakley are not good at all. They are unreliable at critical moments. They are rebounding rubbish. With them in the Knicks, we will never want to win the championship."

   The New York Sports Daily even publicly asked the Knicks management to make a deal.

   The attitude of the media and fans filled the Knicks with a tense atmosphere. Everyone was very uncomfortable, and the atmosphere was extremely depressed.

   After a day off, the two teams came to the Bulls' home.

   In the visiting team's locker room, Ewing and Oakley sat together and talked in a low voice.

   "Charles, this is our last chance, we can't let that kid hit us, grab a few more rebounds, please!" Ewing said.

  Oakley twitched and twitched his face, nodded and said, "Brother, leave it to me, I will designate double figures in rebounding."

   He really did it. In the G6 game, he grabbed 11 rebounds, but only scored 11 points, without a single steal or block, and did little on the defensive end.

  Ewing also grabbed 13 rebounds, made 12 of 18 shots, and made 66.7% of the shots, but only made 5 free throws and hit two. The damage to the penalty area was insufficient, and he scored 26 points.

The entire Knicks team worked hard together, grabbed 42 rebounds, 16 more than the Bulls, but blocked 4 less than the Bulls, and made 9 more turnovers, and made 1 of 8 three-pointers. In the case of the ball advantage, the Knicks were chased by the Bulls under the most terrifying home field advantage in the 1990s, 88:96, lost their last chance, and were eliminated by Jordan's Bulls for the fourth time in the past five seasons. The biggest sufferer of the bull.

  The Bulls made another victory, with a total score of 4 to 2, eliminated the Knicks and reached the finals.

   After watching the game, Zhang Lili sighed: "The Knicks performed well on the inside tonight, but the outside line was completely blown up. There were as many as 19 mistakes, so they grabbed so many rebounds and still lost the game."

  Wang Tiejun said: "Compared to the hit rate, it seems that the Knicks are a little higher."

   "Less than two percentage points, almost, the difference is not that big."

   Zhang rationally analyzed: "Look at their shots, the Knicks have 16 more rebounds, but only one more shot than the Bulls.

   In the case of similar shots and similar shooting percentages, there is only one reason for the Knicks to lose, free throws. "

   "Free throws?" Pharaoh hurriedly stared at the TV, it was true.

   The Knicks made 17 of 25 free throws and made 68% of the shots. This is not low, at least a lot higher than his free throw rate.

   But the Bulls made 27 of 29 free throws, with a shooting rate of 93.1%. In this alone, the Bulls scored 10 more points than the Knicks.

Zhang Lili said: "Look at their true shooting percentage, which includes free throws. The Bulls are as high as 58%, while the Knicks are only 53.7%, so don't look at the Knicks' shooting percentage higher than one percentage point. But that didn't work, the true shooting percentage was more than 4 points lower, so I lost the game."

   "Free throws? What the hell, the Bulls won't come at me, right?" Pharaoh murmured.

Zhang Lili nodded and said: "The Bulls will be blasted by you and Barkley on the inside, who won't they cut you? Although your free throw shooting rate can barely reach 60%, but you look at the Knicks, 68% free throw shooting rate , really lost on the free throws."

   "Then what?" he asked quickly.

   Zhang Lili thought for a while and said: "You have to speed up your shots, don't let them have the opportunity to cut you. The most important thing is to increase the attack at the basket, so that they will cut you, but you also have a chance to score two plus one."

   He felt that this was not the way to go. He was not O'Neal. He didn't get up fast enough. As long as he really wanted to cut him, he would have a chance. The chance of hitting two plus one was very small.

  …

  The championship in 1993 is related to the establishment of the Bulls dynasty. Whether Jordan, who won the two consecutive championships, can establish a dynasty is very important to the positioning of his career in history, so he is particularly concerned by the media.

  Jordan's influence has completely gone beyond the basketball circle. His performance affects Nike's shares and affects Chicago's economy. Therefore, not only sports media have carried out various reports on this finals, but other media have also participated in the reports.

In the next few days, the major media began to analyze the situation of this year's finals, and analyzed the Bulls and the Suns from top to bottom, from coaches to players, from technical tactics to execution on the court, from offense to defense, from From the outside to the inside, from three-pointers to free throws, none of them are not within the scope of the media's analysis.

  Many retired or active stars of the league have been interviewed by the media and expressed their opinions.

  The New York Times published an interview with Bill Russell on the front page, Russell said: "From the analysis of the lineup, the Suns are stronger inside, the Bulls are stronger outside, and both teams have a chance to win.

   But from the analysis of the strength of the coaching staff, the Bulls are undoubtedly more dominant. One is the coach of the championship with two consecutive victories, and the other is the newly appointed rookie head coach. There is no comparison at all. They will play a decisive role in on-the-spot command.

   From the perspective of the player's execution on the field, the Bulls are undoubtedly stronger.

  The Bulls are already a championship team with two consecutive victories. The lineup for the two consecutive championships has not changed much and is very stable. They have rich experience in the finals, and they have rich experience and willpower to play against the wind.

   And the Suns only have Danny Ainge experience in the finals, other players, including Barkley, do not have any experience in the finals, they can only play downwind.

   Therefore, I am more optimistic about the Bulls. If the Suns want to win the championship, this lineup will have to hone for at least one season before they have a chance. Next season, I am optimistic that the Suns will win the championship next season. "

Russell's views represent the views of the vast majority of the media and fans. Although the Suns achieved the first record in the regular season and performed well in the playoffs, in the eyes of most people, the Bulls with Jordan are More powerful.

   And in this playoffs, the Bulls completed the sweep of the first round and the second round, and their performance was even brighter than the Suns.

   With the completion of the Eastern Conference and Western Conference finals, ESPN once again adjusted the Suns and Bulls' chances of winning the championship.

  The last time ESPN adjusted the Bulls' chance of winning the championship to 75%, and the Suns' has not changed, but this time, both teams made adjustments at the same time.

  The Bulls adjusted from 75% to 80%.

   And the Suns were adjusted from 38% to 20%.

  ESPN gave its own explanation for this adjustment: "The reason why the Bulls' chance of winning the championship again is because Jordan has reached the finals twice and won the championship twice, and they are used to winning the finals.

   On the other hand, the Suns have no experience in the finals, which is a fatal weakness, and they may even collapse in the finals. "

Barkley was extremely angry. He took the initiative to find the media and fought back against ESPN, saying: "ESPN's attitude once again proved that they are amateurs, so they did not get the copyright of the finals once, because everyone knows that the finals will be played. It would be a huge disaster to hand over the copyright to them."

  ESPN was also annoyed by what Barkley said. Nick Loman, editor-in-chief of Basketball Channel, said in an interview with the media:

   "Okay, Sir Barkley is the most professional, if he is so professional, why hasn't he beat Jordan once in so many years?"

   In the battle between Barkley and ESPN, the official schedule for the finals was announced.

The   G1 battle will start on June 9th. The competition system is two-three-two, which will be played on the 9th, 11th, 13th, 16th, 18th, 20th, and 22nd.

   On June 4th, the Suns called up all the players and resumed training.

   That night, Wang Tiejun contacted the eldest sister and the second sister, and told CCTV that the news of the finals would be broadcast, and asked them to bring their parents to Sijiucheng in the past two days.

  Daya Erya was naturally very happy and hurriedly agreed.

On the 5th day, CCTV's front-line team arrived in the United States, led by Sun Zhenping, and a three-person filming team.

  6, they arrived in Phoenix from Los Angeles and rendezvoused with Zhang Heli.

   At half past five in the afternoon, Wang Tiejun finished his training and invited Sun Zhenping and the others to dinner at a western restaurant.

   After meeting and greeting one or two, everyone sat down to order food.

   Zhang Lili had communicated with Sun Zhenping first, and said to him, "Tie Jun, Mr. Sun wants to enter the Suns to film some team training and conduct interviews. Can you communicate with the management?"

   "This is no problem, didn't you say that the NBA has always wanted to develop our domestic market, the league and the team should not refuse? Teacher Sun, you can apply directly to the management." He said.

   "That's right, Mr. Sun, we'll go to the Suns headquarters tomorrow morning." Zhang Lili nodded and said to Sun Zhenping.

  Wang Tiejun said: "I will give you Mr. Colangelo's private number. You can contact him first. I will give him a call first. He is our boss and general manager."

   After dinner, Sun Zhenping and his group went to his home to take pictures again, and filmed some of his training at home.

   The next morning, the Suns held a tactical meeting.

  Assistant coach Lewis first introduced the situation and said: "From the perspective of this Eastern Conference Finals, facing the Knicks, who are also strong inside, the Bulls' offense is very obviously focused on Jordan and Pippen.

   In the six-game series of the Eastern Conference Finals, their shots accounted for 60%, 61%, 46%, 61%, 56%, and 60% of the team respectively.

   That is to say, they hit us, and it should be like this, otherwise their attack would not be possible at all when they were at an overall disadvantage in the interior. "

   Coach Westphal continued: "According to this situation, we must strengthen our defense on the perimeter to avoid being overwhelmed by our opponents.

   But the two of them will definitely strengthen the breakthrough and cause damage to our inside line, so the inside line must also be prepared to make up defenses.

   On the offensive end, the fifth position of the old K is very important, because this is our most dominant position. At this time, it is closest to the basket, and our offense needs to be strengthened. "

   After the tactical meeting, the team started training. When it was almost 12:00, Colangelo personally brought Sun Zhenping and Zhang Lili to the training hall.

  The Suns issued Zhang and Sun with the team's interview card, they can enter the team's training base for interviews at any time without barriers, and even enter the locker room. Of course, before entering the locker room, they need the permission of the players.

  From this day, a large number of media rushed to Phoenix from all over the United States to prepare to report the upcoming finals.

   This evening, the five sets of evening news from China and CCTV announced the news that the NBA Finals will be broadcast live in real time.

After the sports news, another talk show was arranged for Wang Tiejun, hosted by Mr. Song Shixiong and Su Qun, and it was very long, 25 minutes long. From China to the NBA, the process was very detailed, only omitting jail experience.

  This news has generally not caused much reaction.

   There are relatively few NBA fans in China, and the average sports fan doesn’t even know the NBA or the level of its strength in the basketball world, so they don’t care about the news of a Chinese entering the league to play.

   However, the reaction from the fans was not great, but it caused a shock in the industry.

   One of the best basketball players in China, such as Sun Jun, etc. Others do not know the strength of the NBA, but they do know and deeply understand the strength of the 1992 American Dream Team.

   They can't believe that a Chinese compatriot can enter the NBA and play in the finals with Jordan as the main center.

   Apart from this batch of players, the Hebei provincial team is also the most shocking. I can't believe that a young man they fired can actually get into the NBA, and he has reached the final step.

   Provincial team leader Song Ming watched this show and sighed in his heart: "If I knew this earlier, I wouldn't have fired him in the first place, but stayed. Now we might be the champion."

  Although going to prison is a disgraceful experience, and you will be criticized if you stay, but there is really no rule that says you can't let such a person stay on the team.

   It’s just that he was not the one who decided to fire Wang Tiejun at that time. It was a collective decision, so regretting it now is useless.

   No. 8, Sijiucheng, Da Ya Er Ya sat in a car driving around the city.

My brother asked them to find a high-end hotel with a big TV in the room. If the TV is too small, parents may not be able to see it clearly. Don’t be afraid to spend money. They are also obedient. , and even hotels with TVs in their rooms are rare.

  No, they heard about a Sino-foreign joint venture hotel called International Hotel and ran over.

The two have stayed in Sijiucheng for the past few months. They have learned a lot and become more courageous. They entered the hotel and came to the front desk. When asked, the room is equipped with a large TV, but this hotel only entertains foreign guests, and is a national special A hotel used to generate foreign exchange.

   Now the national economy has not developed, there is a serious shortage of foreign exchange, and tourism is the best industry to create foreign exchange.

  The big girl Erya was very disappointed. Erya was the most courageous and said to the staff in dissatisfaction: "Comrade, why don't we let the Chinese live in our Chinese place? It's not that we don't give money."

   "Comrade, I just said that this is a hotel where the state creates foreign exchange. Don't you understand? If you want foreign money, you can stay there too."

  The staff are impatient and authentic.

   "Foreign money? We have it."

  Erya took out a purse, took out a stack of US dollar bills, showed it to the staff, and asked, "This is US dollars, American money, my brother brought it to us, do you accept it?"

  The staff was stunned and blurted out: "Fake, right?"

  Da Ya hurriedly waved her hand and said, "No, it's true, my brother works in the United States, he gave it to us, you can check."

The staff took it from Erya and saw that it was really dollars, and there were quite a few, all of them were a hundred dollars, a total of 800 dollars. After careful inspection, they were all true. The woman said, "So your brother is an overseas Chinese?"

   "Can you live now?" Erya asked.

   "Yes, of course." The staff said repeatedly.

   "We want two single rooms, one of which must have a large TV, at least 19 inches." Erya said.

   "That's a deluxe suite, not a normal standard room." The staff said busy.

   "Yes, yes, we want a deluxe room and a standard room." Da Ya hurriedly said.

   "How many days do you want to book?" The staff hurriedly went through the formalities.

   "From tomorrow, at least ten days." Erya said.

   "Comrade, is this enough money?" Da Ya asked carefully.

   The staff did the math, shook his head and said, "It's only enough for five days."

   "So expensive?"

   Da Ya and Er Ya looked at each other and were very reluctant. Eight hundred dollars was several thousand dollars. Is this killing them as foreigners?

   But there is nothing I can do about what my brother explained, Erya had to say: "Six days first, we will bring enough money when we come tomorrow, and there will be no shortage of you."

"and also?"

   As soon as the staff stayed, their hearts immediately opened, and they wanted to exchange a little dollar from these two girls.

   "Not much, only a little." Daya quickly explained.

  Wang Tiejun sent another 50,000 US dollars to his family last month. This sum of money was not converted into RMB, and he is still lying in the bank, but he is not afraid of running out of money.

   But she was also afraid that others would ask them to exchange dollars, because even the staff of the bank where the money was deposited wanted to exchange dollars from them.

   The room was booked, and the second daughter hurriedly rented a van to drive to her hometown.

   On the 8th, at 2 p.m., the Bulls arrived in Phoenix and held a press conference at the hotel.

   Zhang Lili took Sun Zhenping and the others to the hotel to attend the press conference.

   Hundreds of media attended the press conference, and a large number of cameras were erected in the front row, crowding the hall.

   "Director Zhang, do you think the Suns have hope of winning the finals?"

   Crowded in the crowd, Sun Zhenping was already sweating profusely, and he was inexplicably nervous and asked in a low voice.

   "There is hope. They played two games in the regular season, with one win and one loss. But the Bulls should have more hope. They have more experience in the finals, which is the biggest weakness of the Suns." Zhang Lili also whispered.

   At this time, the host announced the start of the conference.

   Entered the question and answer session, and the host started to flop.

   (end of this chapter)