Chapter 626 The American Mind

  No. 22, the game day of the Western Conference finals G3 game.

   On this day, Dayao's god-level performance last night won wide acclaim from the media.

In a small hotel in Portland, Zhang Lili flipped through some newspapers, and suddenly said with emotion: "Dayao's character is ten times more humble than Tie Jun's, and he has no violent behavior, no Tie Jun's domineering, and no scandals, a typical traditional Chinese* The image of Chinese people is not only in the United States, but even in China, the media seems to be more willing to support him. In terms of personal image, he is better than Tie Jun, and he can be called a role model for society. Looking at these American media, they hardly say anything bad about him of.

And Tiejun is violent, domineering, even rude, and sometimes unfriendly to the media, without humility. The American superstar has been unable to turn over for ten years, this is the original sin of the Iron Army!

  Especially now that he is in his thirties, his strength is still so strong, he will continue to rule the alliance, and he is not welcomed by the American media.

  Alas, the thinking of Americans is: it is your fault if you are too strong, if you are weaker, if you are not a threat to us, we will like you.

  Su Qun, do you think I’m right? "

   "Yes, yes, haha..."

  Su Qun laughed so hard that he couldn't speak.

  In this game, the Suns played away, and most of the players still played mediocre. The Blazers finally took advantage of the home court to win, and the Suns lost by 5 points.

   At the end of the game, Duncan, Randolph, and Payton were all so tired that they lay directly on the floor.

   Lao Wang was a little upset, and his performance today was not satisfactory. He only scored 24 points and his shooting percentage was only 55%. The main reason was that the home whistle was too far.

Duncan stared at him and deliberately made his foul. Several referees stared at him and fouled him prematurely. He made the first foul in the second minute of the first quarter. In the fifth minute, he was called an offensive foul because he knocked Duncan down in the offense. Then He just sat on the bench and only played 31 minutes intermittently.

  He didn't get any calls on the offensive end, and only made 6 free throws. Several times Duncan suspected of fouling him was not seen by the referee.

When he was not on the court, most of the Suns' defense collapsed directly, especially the inside defense was bad. Dove had a blast.

  Duncan scored 32 points and Randolph scored 21 points. The two teamed up to contribute 53 points and 24 rebounds.

  The outside line is better. After he leaves the court, Zhu Fangyu plays the third position. The defense is good. It can fill most of Marion's defensive energy, but it is not as good as when Marion played the third position.

   Back in the locker room, Lao Wang accepted the "comfort" from Dayao.

   One hour later, the post-match press conference was held.

   "Old K, are you worried about being equalized in the away game?" A reporter asked.

   "Even if it is equalized, it doesn't matter." Pharaoh said easily.

   "Why? I know you must care about winning or losing." The reporter asked.

   "Because our advantage is getting bigger and bigger."

  Old Wang explained again: "Did you see Duncan and the main players of the Trail Blazers lying on the floor at the end of the game?"

  After the reporters nodded, he continued: "They are working hard, even with the advantage of the home court, they can only win with a slight advantage, and we still have more strength, this is our advantage in the series.

  When our advantages accumulate more and more, no one can stop us from going to the finals, and the victory of the series will come naturally. "

   On the 23rd, Pharaoh, who did not perform well, was directly relegated to the floor by the media, while Duncan and Randolph, who performed well, were blown into the sky by the US media and became the Portland twin stars.

  In the evening, the Eastern Conference finals were played in a different place. Yao did not play the god-level performance of the previous game, but the Pistons played an iron barrel defense, defeated the Nets, and took the advantage with a big score of 2 to 1.

  24th, the match day of the Western Conference Finals G4 game.

  Last night, the teams of the two Chinese*men both lost, and the American media suddenly became overwhelmed. The Trail Blazers and Pistons were blown into super teams, and the major media raised their chances of winning the championship.

  ESPN updated the predictions of the four teams' championship probability. The Suns lowered it to 30%, the Trail Blazers 25%, the Pistons 25%, and the Nets 20%.

  This prediction is relatively sensible, and has been recognized by many fans, and many media have also reproduced it.

   While having breakfast, Pharaoh saw ESPN’s prediction probability of winning the championship, and he also felt a little bit of agreement. The three teams including the Trail Blazers had the same probability of winning the championship.

   After breakfast, while drinking coffee to digest the food, several media who stayed on site obtained the permission of the team management to come to interview.

   "Old K, what do you think of ESPN's championship prediction?" A reporter asked.

  Old Wang hesitated for a moment, and said: "It's okay, the Trail Blazers, Pistons, and Nets are all at the same level in strength. ESPN gave them the same chance of winning the championship."

   "Do you fully agree? Do you have any different opinions?" The disappointed reporter asked again expectantly.

  Old Wang smiled, and several reporters immediately became excited. They have been squatting on the old K all year round, and they are too familiar with the old K. When they saw this expression, they knew that there was a reversal.

Sure enough, Lao Wang then said: "The difference is almost the same, but the probability that ESPN gives them is a bit high, what 25% 20%, it is not necessary, I think the three of them together account for 1%, which is more accurate, you guys What do you think?"

   "Puff! Haha..."

   Several reporters and Lao Wang's teammates burst into laughter.

  Old Wang’s words were subsequently published on the websites of these media, and then widely disseminated.

   "Ben, old K said that the combined probability of the Pistons, Nets, and Trail Blazers is only 1%. What do you think of his prediction level?"

   Immediately, a reporter interviewed Ben Wallace who went out to throw garbage bags.

   "Old K said it? When did I say it, why don't I know?" Da Ben was a little confused, he didn't like playing online very much.

   "Yes, in the interview I just accepted, there were reports on the Internet." The reporter said.

  Big Ben thought for a while and said with a smile: "The game is a game, off the court is off the court, off the court he is the boss, he can say whatever he wants."

   "You have no objection?" The reporter asked in surprise.

"NO, although I only played with him for one year, he gave me the opportunity to enter the league. He taught me how to defend, he taught me how to rebound, and how to train strength. How I am a leader, I respect him. Except for the game, he is what he says, Charles Oakley is my big brother, and so is he." Big Ben said seriously.

   Some reporters also ran to Rasheed Wallace's door and interviewed him.

   "He said our three teams add up to only 1%? Haha..."

  After hearing what the reporter said, Rasheed Wallace couldn't help but burst out laughing.

   "Rashid, old K looks down on your team, aren't you angry?" The reporter asked in surprise.

"Why should I be angry? If the Pistons can't beat the Suns, then I'll join the Suns, haha... let alone, I'm going to call old K and ask him to reserve a spot for me." Rasheed Wallace laughed.

   "..."

  The reporter was dumbfounded. If he can’t beat you, he will join you. Can he still do this?

   Some reporters went to the hotel where the Nets were staying. It happened that the Nets had just had breakfast. After getting permission, they interviewed Kidd and Dayao at the dining table.

   "Jason, Yao, did you see the interview with Old K just now? It's online." The reporter asked.

   "See, he said that our three teams have only a 1% chance of winning the championship. Is this it?" Kidd asked with a smile.

   "Yes, aren't you angry?" The reporter asked.

  The two looked at each other, then shook their heads helplessly and laughed.

   Kidd said: "Why are we angry? Don't let him talk? No, if that happens, he will spray us to death. So, he can say whatever he wants."

  Dayao nodded and laughed.

   "What, only give us 1%? That **** old K is too arrogant, we must kill him this time!" Portland, when interviewed at the door of his house, Payton said angrily.

   "It adds up to 1%, three teams." The reporter reminded.

   "Three? Three add up to 1%?"

  Payton was stunned and couldn't believe it. After reacting, he immediately sprayed: "His mouth is a big water pipe, just spray water out, illogical, arrogant..."

  The reporter quickly retreated, his face was already sprayed.

   "Tim, can I do an interview?"

  A reporter came to Duncan's house, just happened to meet Duncan who was driving his wife to the gym, and hurried forward to interview.

   "How about a question, I'm in a hurry." Duncan said.

   "OK."

  The reporter hurriedly asked: "Old K just said that you Blazers and Nets..."

   "Add up to 1%?"

   Duncan was taken aback, smiled, shook his head and said, "Old K is just joking, don't take it seriously, I won't take it to heart."

   After he finished speaking, he rolled up the car window, stepped on the accelerator and left.

   "What a big heart! You really deserve to study psychology." Reporter Peyton nodded.

  In the evening, the G4 game of the Western Conference finals started.

  Suns: Wang Tiejun, Stoudemire, Marion, Joe Johnson, Nash

   Blazers: Duncan, Zach Randolph, Darius Mikes, Derek Anderson, Payton

   "Gentlemen, if the whistle is still aimed at us, we must deal with it calmly. Remember, the home whistle is part of the game."

  Before going on the field, Van Gundy gave a loud reminder, shouting loudly enough for the official recorder in the middle to hear clearly.

   Several officials glanced at Xiao Fan, pretending not to hear.

   "Victory!"

   Lao Wang roared with all his teammates.

   "Victory!"

   On the other end, the same is true for the Blazers under the leadership of Duncan.

"Snapped!"

   Jumping the ball, Pharaoh took the lead to push the ball away, and the Suns attacked.

  The left wing is low, Wang Tiejun wants the ball.

   Nash pushed the ball to the front court, suddenly accelerated and pulled to the left wing.

   Immediately, he found that Peyton couldn't keep up with him, and his legs and feet were slow.

   "Whoosh!"

  The ball is passed.

"boom!"

  Old Wang received the ball, immediately began to dribble, and hit Duncan with his back.

  At the same time, Marion on the three-point line began to move towards the bottom corner, and Nash, who had just passed the ball, waited for the return pass at the original position of Marion.

  Duncan did not have a hard top, but took a half step back to defend, and defended and retreated. The defensive strategy was to put the old K into the basket and double-team the basket with Randolph.

   This is a defensive strategy that has no other choice, because Randolph's defense speed is not fast enough, and he can't withstand the old K's back attack, so he can only take the risk of letting the old K in.

  The first three games of the series had exhausted his stamina. He no longer had the physical stamina for the hard top, and even if he did, he wouldn't be able to withstand it.

  Old Wang originally planned to use strong confrontation to further consume Duncan, and at the same time test the referee's whistle today, but Duncan didn't hold up hard, and when his plan failed, he could only take advantage of the trend and enter the paint area.

  He had already caught Randolph's figure, and just before he jumped to his side, he suddenly joined the ball, then took off and hit a sideways hook.

  Duncan and Randolph took off to block the block at the same time, but they couldn't touch his shot height at all.

"brush!"

  Water splashes appeared, and the basketball was hollowed into the basket.

   "The two-point sideways hook, which is two meters away from the basket, should feel good today." Su Qun said expectantly.

   "According to the scale of the G3 battle whistle the day before yesterday, Tiejun should play like this, using more hooks close to the basket, reducing the number of direct attacks on the basket, so as to avoid being called an offensive foul by the referee." Zhang Reasonable said.

  Su Qun nodded and said: "The day before yesterday, I was called for two offensive fouls and three illegal shoulder violations. There are five times in total. At least four of them are debatable."

Zhang Lili smiled and said: "Illegal use of the shoulder, the referee can call a violation, or directly call an offensive foul based on the scale of the offense caused by the attacker to the defender. The referee controls the scale of the whistle. The K law is to specifically limit the iron army. The scale of whistleblowing and punishing him must be the strictest."

  At this time, Payton advanced to the frontcourt, Duncan suddenly took a step from the low position to the left waist, and the ball was passed down. When Lao Wang followed up with a step, Duncan had successfully received the ball.

   "Duncan and Payton cooperate quite tacitly!" Zhang Lili praised.

   This sentence has not been finished yet, Duncan's offense has been completed.

The next moment he received the ball, he turned around and slid to the bottom. At the same time, he handed the ball to his left hand. While dribbling with his left hand, his right hand used the momentum of turning around to block the position outside. Get into the paint, step up to the layup, and hit a goal.

  Old Wang glanced at Duncan, and felt that he had to strengthen his defense today, and he couldn't let this idiot play smoothly.

   "Beautiful! This attack is too fast!" Su Qun shouted.

   "There is no extra link." Zhang rationally nodded.

  When the two commented, the Suns' offense had already begun.

  Old Wang rushed to the basket to get the ball, and immediately retreated behind the bottom line, ready to make a quick shot.

  The other four people have already turned around and rushed down, like four sharp arrows, swept away to the front field. .

  Duncan immediately blocked in front of the bottom line, preventing Pharaoh from making a quick move.

   Dunleavy knew that Duncan's physical fitness was failing, so he arranged for him to stay behind, try to delay the old K's fast attack as much as possible, and try to prevent the old K from launching a fast attack directly.

But Old Wang is taller than Duncan, with an unobstructed view. He quickly moved two steps to the left, avoided Duncan, and then threw the ball with one hand. The ball flew towards the passing target like a shooting star, and it was thrown away before it crossed the center line. The old Payton step Nash.

  Nash caught the ball across the center line, and Payton desperately followed, but he felt very heavy on his feet.

When Nash crossed the top of the arc, he had already thrown Payton two steps away. He glanced left and right, observed the position of his teammates behind him, rushed into the paint area, did not layup, and pulled the ball to the left. One toss.

At this time, Stoudemire rushed down, and Randolph had dropped him three or four meters, completely unable to keep up with the fast break rhythm. He flew up, caught the ball with both hands in the air, and smashed it violently. With a bang, he completed an alley-oop .

  In the TNT commentary seat, Barkley smiled and said: "Randolph can't run anymore. Obviously, his energy has been exhausted."

  Kenny Smith said: "Both Duncan and Payton are dead. Duncan simply stays behind. Randolph's return speed is also very slow. Payton can't catch up with Nash, and they can't run anymore."

Barkley nodded and said: "That is to say, the Suns have destroyed the physical reserves of the Blazers' two major insiders through a more abundant rotation lineup, through powerful fast-break tactics, and a very fast offensive and defensive transition rhythm. With the addition of veteran Payton inside, the rhythm of the game will now fully enter the rhythm of the Suns."

   Kenny Smith said with a smile: "Although the Blazers got Payton, the little flying mouse voluntarily left the team because he lost the main position. This also made the Blazers not really strengthened in the first position."

   Barkley said: "Payton is old, his defense has declined a lot, his physical fitness is not as good as that of Little Flying Squirrel, and his playoff status is not good.

   Little Flying Squirrel is actually in good shape this year, and the impact of injuries seems to be less. If he stays in the Blazers, the Blazers' lineup will be much better.

  But the main problem for the Blazers is that there are too many internal injuries, the remaining two substitutes are too weak, and there is not enough rotation, so Duncan and Randolph play too much. "

   With 6 minutes left in the first quarter, at 18:10, the Suns had led by 8 points and still had the ball in their hands. The Blazers called a second timeout in the first quarter.

Zhang rationally analyzed: "The Blazers did not have enough strength to participate in the defense. When the Suns played a fast break, Duncan and Randolph could not return to the defense in time, and Payton could not hold back Nash, so the Suns frequently played in the frontcourt. Formed a situation of playing more and playing less, 6 fast breaks when the offense and defense transitioned, and succeeded 5 times, which is why they were behind by 8 points in just half a quarter."

   "Director Zhang, the Suns should be fine today." Su Qun asked with a smile.

  Zhang rationally nodded and said: "It's not a problem with offensive and defensive tactics, nor is it a problem with the player's performance on the field. If these problems are, they can be solved by adjusting skills and tactics, and replacing players who are not in good condition.

  The problem of the Blazers cannot be adjusted. The physical fitness of the three main players can no longer persist. This is a foundation. If the foundation collapses, it will really fail. "

  Su Qun nodded and said, "You can't replace the three main players?"

Zhang Lili smiled: "Then you don't need to fight, just admit defeat. The suspension of the Blazers this time will definitely not solve the problem, because the economic base determines the superstructure, and it is also applicable to sports. Physical fitness is the foundation, physical fitness When it collapses, the team collapses."

   More than an hour later, the Suns successfully defeated the Trail Blazers and won the match point with a big score of 3 to 1.

Lao Wang probably used half of his strength on the offensive end today. Only after the fast break failed, he would play positional warfare. He didn't participate much in the fast break. He was only responsible for the quick attack. fast break.

After the game, Zhang Lili said: "Tie Jun's main energy today is on the defensive end and rebounding. The defensive end mainly defended Duncan, and the rebounds exploded. He scored 24 points, 21 rebounds, 7 assists, 3 steals, 8 blocks, 2 turnovers and 4 fouls. The data, shooting 64%, the state is very good."

Su Qun said: "Duncan felt okay at the beginning of the game, but when the old K devoted himself to defense, under strong confrontation, he immediately withered due to lack of physical fitness. He made 7 of 18 shots in the game, and his shooting percentage was only 38.9%. After taking four big blocks from old K, plus 3 of 6 free throws, he only got 17 points, 8 rebounds, 1 steal, 2 blocks, 3 turnovers and 3 fouls."

Zhang Lili went on to say: "Randolph's offense today is barely okay, but because of his lack of physical fitness, he didn't invest much in the defensive end. He made 9 of 23 shots and made a lot of shots, more than Duncan. He scored 20 points with free throws. 7 rebounds, 1 steal, 1 block, 4 turnovers and 2 fouls, with a shooting percentage of 39.1%.

  The Iron Army is still very fair, with 8 big caps, 4 to Duncan and 4 to Randolph, the distribution is very even, and there is no favoritism. "

  Su Qun laughed and said: "Let me tell you, Director Zhang, Randolph just checked his statistics today and stopped passing the ball as soon as he got the ball. He must know that he can't beat the Suns today."

   "Let's see through but not tell." Zhang Lili smiled cheerfully.

  The Suns won the Western Conference finals points and led 3-1. ESPN updated the probability prediction data on its official website overnight.

  The Suns were originally 30%, but directly increased to 54%. It can be seen that ESPN is extremely optimistic about the Suns winning the championship.

  The Blazers used to be 25%, which dropped directly to 1%. It can be seen that ESPN has basically determined that the Blazers can no longer come back when they are one to three behind.

  (end of this chapter)