From today on is the king

Chapter 502 500. The Western Expedition is Over, Conquer the Son of Jealousy (Please subscribe, you deserve the chapter)

On the way to the destination of the last away game of Liulianke.

Liu Mang looked at the clouds one after another outside the window, it was really good...

How good it is to be a cloud, standing on the highest point, you don’t have to work hard, it will turn into rain at worst, and it will return to the sky in the end.

Liu Mang took out the new scouting report, read the new record report and the analysis of the league situation.

These are the jobs of scouts. Don’t think scouts are so easy. They only need to watch games at public expense, travel, and submit a few lists that they think have potential. Miscellaneous tasks like this are all their work.

The Eagles have six consecutive trips to the west, and have a record of 4 wins and 1 loss in the first five games. They successfully pulled down the eighth-ranked Magic in the Eastern Conference and climbed to eighth in the Eastern Conference.

29 wins and 24 losses, there is a gap with the top five Pistons, Nets, Pacers, Hornets, and 76ers, but not much behind the sixth and seventh Celtics and Bucks.

The Wizards have almost fallen behind, sixth to ninth in the East, and they are competing among the Celtics, Bucks, Eagles, and Magic.

As we approach the final two months, the approximate rankings of each team are obvious.

In the west, the Kings and Spurs are fiercely competing for the first place in the league, while the Mavericks and Timberwolves are trembling in the third and fourth.

The old Lakers and the soon-to-be prison Trail Blazers are fighting for the fifth place in the Western Conference.

The Jazz fell off the ranks of a possible 50-win team, but the seventh place in the Western Conference is still very stable.

The Rockets continued to compete with the Suns for the eighth spot. Because of Liu Mang's influence, Yao Ming had two clear choices for his future.

Although I am still a little confused about how to choose between the two paths, I still have a temporary goal. Now that I am still light, I rely on my mobility and shooting ability that do not match my height to attack. On the defensive end, I rely on my height advantage and lateral movement ability to guard the basket. First, I will give full play to my existing advantages and wait until I finish my rookie year.

The short-term goal is clear, so Yao Ming did not play a mountain-shaped regular season like the original rookie season.

Originally, Yao Ming’s rookie season had a sad start. After playing against the Lakers, he had a bright start. After the All-Star Weekend, his weaknesses were discovered, and he began to be targeted in the second half. He fell into the rookie wall. The Rockets’ record began to decline.

At that time, Yao Ming was very confused after the All-Star Weekend, and no one could give him too much body shape. Tang Shuai would train centers, but the main training was technology, not helping Yao Ming plan for the future.

Because there were giants like Yao Ming who were one size bigger than ordinary big centers, but at most they were balls like Ball who could only block shots. There had never been a young big center like Yao Ming with such height, mobility and touch.

Although Sabonis is also big and tall, his type is completely different. Sabonis is a defensive pass type, while Yao Ming has the talent of scoring dominance.

Therefore, Tang Shuai could only teach Yao Ming skills, and helped him find Olajuwon who had just retired to teach him his footwork.

As for Yao Ming's future plan, Tang Shuai didn't know how to do it. He waited until the later Van Gundy Jr. to formulate Yao Ming's future play style.

Things are different now. Liu Reck clearly pointed out two paths for Yao Ming. Although Yao Ming is still hesitating about the final choice, Liu Reck affirms that his current style of play that relies on touch, footsteps, and height is also feasible.

So now Yao Ming is not confused, and he quickly determined his style of play for the rest of the season. He really slowly regained his feeling and returned to the good performance of averaging 15 points and 8 rebounds in the middle of the season.

Originally, Yao Ming's season data was similar to Stoudemire's. Yao Ming drove low and went high, and Stoudemire drove high and went low. In the end, they struggled together at the end of the season. After their rookie year, the two averaged 13+8 per game together.

However, due to Liu Mang's intervention, Yao Ming took the lead to get out of the quagmire, and together with Francis and Mobley led the Rockets to defend the eighth place, beating the Suns by two wins.

As for the Eagles, who are eighth in the Eastern Conference, although the gap between the top eight in the Eastern Conference is not particularly large, it is just a bit big, but still not many people are optimistic about them entering the top five, and they themselves have no extravagance. The 2 games in February are just an appetizer.

After reading the scouting report, Liu Mang looked at the morning paper he took when he arrived at the airport in the morning. Of course, he turned to the sports section.

Sure enough, his 25 points in the first quarter made headlines yesterday.

Although he only scored 25 points in the whole game, the performance that was so powerful that he would crush Arenas to death, and the successful and perfect crushing performance, seems to be like the future James no matter how difficult it is to play against the Pacers, when he is playing against the Raptors, he will beat DeRozan's team to the point where he can't take care of himself.

When he abused Arenas, after the first quarter, Liu Mang scored 25 points. He originally thought that the Warriors would struggle by 20 points, and he would go up and play later. At least he scored more than ten points to break through 40 points. It was his seventh 40+ points. If he was lucky enough to get 50+ points, wouldn't he be happy?

Unexpectedly, the Warriors collapsed as soon as they said they collapsed. Liu Mang didn't even go up to continue playing. After halftime, it was almost 40 points, and after three quarters, it was almost 50 points.

Liu Mang felt that not getting 40 or 50 points was not the most important thing. He liked statistics very much, but he didn't go to the point of changing to a No. 0 jersey. The most important thing was that his team actually won the opponent by 55 points!
In fact, if you look at the two things separately, for example, if you score 25 points in a single quarter, or if your team just beat the opponent by 55 points, Liu Mang thinks there is nothing wrong with it. The first one proves that he is the strongest in the same class, and the second one proves that his team is strong enough.

However, when the two things were combined, especially when Liu Mang said that he would deal with Arenas before the game, many so-called expert media expressed their views that night-Liu Mang is narrow-minded, lacks sportsmanship, and wants to kill the basketball dreams of the Warriors players.

For this view, Liu Mang was quite ashamed at first, it was indeed he who made the first move, and then Jason Terry came up and beat the other party until he couldn't take care of himself.

But several morning newspapers in California have this tone, and Liu Mang read too much, and got bored.

Yes, I want to kill the basketball dream of the Warriors!
Arenas?jamison?Jason Richardson?

Go to your basketball dreams!I'll fuck you next time...it seems like you won't be teammates next season...then do it three times!

……

At 2003:2 pm on February 26, [-], the Eagles made their last leg of the Western Expedition.

Holy City, AT&T Center, Duncan stood in the Hawks' half court, looking at the Hawks' basket and wondering what he was thinking.

The Eagles players around didn't seem to see this person, and they practiced their shots on their own.

Originally, when Duncan came to the Eagles, Raheem would be very unhappy and push Duncan away, but this happened too many times, and he simply ignored it.

Seeing Liu Mang ignoring himself standing next to him and practicing mid-range shots, Duncan leaned in front of Liu Mang.

Liu Mang was taken aback, this guy can't be a quiet background, what is he doing next to the young master?
Liu Mang ignored Duncan, moved a step, and continued to practice mid-range shots.

CIC is a good thing!

In the last game against the Warriors, I experienced an Arenas star card and experienced the top mid-range shooting ability close to 90. Although I don’t know how amazing the god-level mid-range shooting ability of Jordan, Kobe, and Nowitzki is, Arenas’ ability value of 89 is already enough.

Every offensive method, regardless of high or low, low singles by O'Neal and Olajuwon; three-pointers by Curry and Durant;

After the three-pointer reached a small bottleneck of improvement, Liu Mang's development direction began to focus on mid-range and basket scoring.

Liu Mang's three-pointer is already very good. Even if he doesn't trigger the bench bandits, he is still the best three-pointer on a team. The next step will take time to settle, and he will be able to improve naturally. Now Liu Mang's most important thing to develop is mid-range shooting and basket scoring.

Now is the time for Liu Mang to put pressure on himself to improve his strength. In the playoffs, the Eagles may not have a home court advantage. This is very important in the playoffs.

Duncan leaned next to Liu Reck, Liu Reck didn't even look at him and continued to shoot, Duncan called quietly: "Ace..."

Liu Mang glanced at Duncan suspiciously, is there really something wrong?
Liu Mang thought that Duncan was just here to show off his cuteness, and this uncle likes to force his cuteness.

Liu Mang asked, "What's the matter, Tim? Is there something wrong?"

Duncan responded, "Ace, don't you..."

Duncan said, paused, and turned his head to look at the basket with a sad expression.

Liu Mang waited for Duncan to answer, but Duncan looked at the basket in the middle of his sentence. Liu Mang waited for a few seconds, took the ball and changed places speechlessly, and walked to the Spurs' half.

This facial paralysis is here to disturb the young master's training?Okay, you are the uncle, Uncle Deng, you are the MVP, if you can't offend the young master, you can't hide yourself.

After Duncan finished the sad form, he turned his head to look at "Liu Mang" and said, "Ace, you really can't see me..."

Before Duncan finished speaking, he found that Liu Mang was gone!
Looking around for a while, he saw Liu Mang, who was happily talking with Ginobili, a rookie from the Spurs this year.

Duncan seemed to hear his heartbroken voice, Ace, buddy, we haven't finished talking yet!
Also, when did my teammates become so enthusiastic?

Parker and Ginobili, two new-generation players who entered the NBA at the same time as Liu Mang, had a lively conversation with Liu Mang.

Duncan's heart is not only shattered, it has been crushed to slag!

When I was training in my own half, my teammates didn’t even give a ball. When the opponent players arrived in my own half, because of their good relationship, Liu Mang, as the leader of the younger generation, has a good personality and strong leadership skills.

How strong Arenas is, these two rookies at the same time and second-year players who are also players of the Western Conference team know very well. Arenas was beaten like that by Liu Mang, and they probably have psychological barriers. They don't want to be the next Arenas.

Moreover, there is also a Stephen Jackson in their own team who has a psychological shadow when he sees Liu Mang. Last year, Liu Mang abused Stephen Jackson so badly that Parker, who witnessed everything at that time, had a particularly deep memory.

As for the big dog, Popovich gave up after playing two games. In dnp, his career trajectory is almost the same. The rookie contract is the largest contract.

The Spurs traded Big Dog not for his strength, but for the expiring contract to get rid of Ferry and Kevin Wesley's contract. Ferry's 700 million a year is okay, mainly because Kevin Wesley's contract lasts for three years.

Since Ginobili is a second-round pick and only has a two-year rookie contract, Parker is about to grow up, and Stephen Jackson, the Spurs will have a lot of salary pressure in the future, so in order to avoid the luxury tax, it is a short-term pain to give the big dog 2000 million a year, and it will be easy in the future.

Helping to pick up a ball is not a big deal. The atmosphere of the Spurs has always been weird, and the fans of the Spurs are also very weird. Seeing Liu Mang, an opponent from his home team, practice shooting in the halftime, instead of booing, many people cheered after Liu Mang practiced a dexterous crotch dunk.

Duncan was so popular among the young people of his team, and the fans were also cheering, but no matter what he did, he was ignored by others. Duncan felt so sad and angry!

The Eagles players saw Liu Mang running to the opponent's side for training, and everyone had black lines all over their heads. What is this kid doing?
Then, when he saw Duncan standing in his own half, he immediately understood that it was the opponent from his home side to occupy the court, and Liu Mang also went to occupy their court... Wait, Raheem saw Duncan next to him, when did this guy come here?

"Hehehe, Duncan, go back to your side! This is our half court today!" Raheem saw Duncan and pushed Duncan out of the three-point line on his side...

……

Duncan at his peak should not be provoked casually.

Clay figurines are also three-point fire, not to mention Duncan is a stone man.

The Eagles played against the Spurs in the last game of consecutive away games. Duncan ran away when everyone unexpectedly said, "without warning."

Everyone didn't know why Duncan suddenly went berserk today. It was completely different from his usual calm and composed appearance, always in front of the mountains and landslides without changing his color.

The Eagles originally played five away games in a row, but they played five games in the previous seven days, especially just after playing back-to-back games in a row, and flew from the California-Utah metropolitan area to San Antonio, Texas, the extreme south of the United States. They are all next to Mexico, and the climate is completely different.

The main reason is that after getting a record of 4 wins and 1 loss in 7 days and 5 games, the Eagles are indeed tired and a little slack, and the Eagles did not report any expectations for this game.

First of all, there is a gap in strength, and then the Spurs are waiting for work. In February, the best-rated month, the Spurs played very few games. There were 10 games in the entire month, and none of them were broadcast live in the United States. The Eagles and 76ers did not give them a chance to broadcast live.

The most important thing is the fatigue of the Eagles!

This is why the Hawks are 29 wins and 24 losses, but they still have the risk of falling out of the top eight in the Eastern Conference.

Including Liu Mang, the kind of psychological fatigue can't stop it.

7 battles in 5 days!

Next back to Atlanta, there will be many consecutive games like this.

The most important thing is that no one expected that Duncan went crazy today, scoring 16 points in the first quarter, 14 points in the second quarter, and 30 points in the half!
Duncan is the core of the team. His performance drove the Spurs crazy. Duncan went crazy, and the others defended crazy.

After halftime, the Spurs led the Eagles by 39 points 30 to 9.

The score is so coquettish, so the Spurs.

The Eagles scored 39 points in a single quarter in the last game, but this time they only scored 30 points after halftime. Jason Terry and Raheem were both cornered by defense in the starting stage, and Liu Mang was followed by defense.

Liu Mang came up in the 4th minute of the first quarter, and then watched Duncan's offensive and defensive performance. The strength of the MVP and the best defensive player is combined. Although Duncan will never be the best defensive player in his life, Liu Mang really doesn't think Duncan's defense is worse than Ben Wallace and Ratliff, and even the kind of "steadiness" that Ratliff and Ben Wallace don't have.

Liu Mang played 19 minutes in the first half, only 9 of 2 shots, 9 points and 2 assists, all gone.

Raheem scored 5 points and 5 rebounds, nothing.

Jason - Terry was a wave of 12 points.

Then, except for Boozer who was damned out of the three-point line by Duncan and actually caused Duncan to foul and hit a 3+1, the rest of the Eagles didn't score a point in the first half!
In the third quarter, coach Kruger tried to struggle and sent a cavalry company to charge him. After all, the point difference was only 9 points, and the Spurs' offensive ability was not good. Parker and Ginobili were still in their infancy.

However, this was obviously a wrong move. When Boozer and Muhammad came on the field, Duncan vented his anger with a lewd smile as if facing a group of lambs... Yes, Duncan smiled after dunking between the two. The referee managed to hold back and did not give a technical foul.

It is true that the Spurs were counterattacked by the Eagles several times in the beginning. Liu Mang quickly increased the score to 20 points in the third quarter, but the point difference did not narrow because of this. When the Spurs attacked, they fell.

Then on the Spurs side, Popovich moved Duncan to the center and replaced him with a senior and a junior.

Now the Eagles can't fight back!Duncan is faster than Boozer and Muhammad!Before plantar fasciitis, Duncan's physical fitness was outstanding!
The point difference was widened, and Duncan scored 15 points in the third quarter, leading the Spurs to a score of 24 to 18 in the single quarter.

Except for Liu Mang's 13 points in a single quarter, the rest of the Eagles were all defended to death. The Eagles players were physically and mentally exhausted. Facing Popovich's single defense Liu Mang strangled the others, the others wanted to struggle, but they really couldn't move...

After three quarters, the Spurs extended the score to 63 to 48.

15 points difference!

With the stability of the Spurs' food abusers, this is basically equivalent to a point difference that cannot be overtaken. The thing that the Spurs are best at is that they can win steadily as long as they have a little advantage. As long as the team has no strength advantage, it is difficult to beat the opponent.

Trailing by 15 points in three quarters, Duncan scored 45 points in three quarters.

The Eagles had no choice but to succumb to Duncan's evil power.

Liu Mang scored 22 points in three quarters, and his scoring is still very good. His shooting percentage has also increased to 16 of 7, which is not bad, but there are only 3 assists, and there are not many scoring opportunities for his teammates.

After playing three quarters behind the Spurs by 15 points, Liu Mang had no choice but to wave the flag and surrender when he saw his teammates look half-dead.

The schedule really hurt the Eagles. It was inhumane to finish a six-game streak within 9 days!
The Eagles could only announce their surrender in the final quarter. In the end, the Eagles defeated the Spurs 70 to 79 in an away game, ending this Western Expedition.

When you meet the Spurs, you really lose your temper!
Liu Mang is so angry!He looked at Duncan who had shown a lewd smile several times this year, and one day, he would kill this paralyzed man!
Can't do it now, let's wait until he gets old... wait until he gets old?
Depend on!
Liu Mang remembered, this facial paralysis seems to be the most efficient at the center position when he is 40 years old! The 37-year-old seems to be in the first team of the best team!

Depend on!
Don't let my young master be tortured by this future old man!
……

……

After the Western Expedition, the Eagles did not have time to enjoy the warm weather in the Southwest Division. After playing the Spurs, the Eagles flew back to Atlanta early the next morning.

I can only rest for one night when I return to Atlanta, and it will be another back-to-back immediately the next day.

Host the Magic and Knicks.

One is the Magic, which is eager to return to the top eight, and the other is the basketball holy land team that is endless with the Eagles.

Neither is an easy game.

With 29 wins and 25 losses, the record of the Eagles is almost the same as that of the Magic with 30 wins and 27 losses. According to the number of games played, one victory equals two losses, and the number of wins is the same.

It's just that the Eagles have a chance to be won more by the Magic than the Magic in the same number of games, so they still rank eighth in the Eastern Conference.

The Eagles played against the Magic once before in December last year. The Eagles were struggling in the quagmire, losing 12 to 89 to the Magic.

Counting the game that will start immediately, the Eagles will play three times against the Magic in the next month!
This can be regarded as the real eighth card battle in the Eastern Conference!
……

When the Hawks returned to Atlanta, the Magic had already arrived in Atlanta.

Originally, the Eagles had an obvious advantage in the lineup when they played against the Magic, but it is hard to say now. The Magic have played several home games in a row before, and Orlando is so close to Atlanta.

The Eagles were left alone by the opponent.

Back home, Liu Mang actually only had 9 days to go out this time, but it felt like he had been out for more than half a month, he was too tired.

Finally back home, Liu Mang wanted to seek the hug of little Lolita to soothe his tired soul.

but……

"Uncle, where is Dana's gift? What? Uncle actually forgot!"

"Uncle is too much! We agreed to bring a gift to Dinah!"

"Dinah won't listen! Dinah is angry!"

"Don't listen, don't listen..."

"..."

"..."

Liu Mang completely forgot about buying gifts for little Lolita. In the past, when he played away games, Liu Mang would bring some small gifts for every away game. This time, he was really tired after 9 days and 6 games. He was mentally exhausted, and Liu Mang completely forgot about it.

After coaxing for a long time, Dinah still looked like "Ben Luoli is very angry and wants to cry for uncle to see", Liu Mang couldn't do anything about it.

Liu Mang didn't expect that he originally went home to relax his nerves, but now he became more nervous, and he really couldn't bear to see little Lolita crying.

Seeing the helplessness on Liu Mang's face, the little devil in Dinah's heart laughed.

"Uncle," Dinah called.

"Yes!" Liu Mang quickly responded.

"Do you want Dinah to forgive uncle?" Dinah asked.

"Dinah, you can say whatever you want! Uncle is rich now!" Liu Mang decided to spend money to avoid disaster.

Little Lolita cried, first of all because of her distress, and then she might be domestically abused.

Although this really has nothing to do with blood or family relationship, the outside world thinks they are a family, and if it gets out, it will be as tragic as Kidd and Artest.

Hearing that Liu Mang agreed to everything, Dinah's eyes suddenly turned from dim and crying to sparkling.

Seeing the change in Dinah's expression, Liu Mang felt as if he had been tricked again!
Dinah got into Liu Mang's arms, grabbed the clothes on Liu Mang's chest and said, "Uncle, Uncle Xia is going back to China, right? Take Dinah and Mom back together, okay! Only take Teacher Aida, uncle is too bad!"

"..." Liu Mang finally understood, this little lolita acted for a long time, the original purpose was this!

Liu Mang just wanted to resolutely refuse, but the little Lolita immediately looked like she was about to cry again, and Liu Mang's heart softened all of a sudden...

Liu Mang is so desperate, the little loli really isn't a good person!

……

……

In general, when he returned home, Liu Mang's mood was much better, and the irritability caused by the tight schedule also dissipated a lot.

In the next 32 days, the Eagles played 18 games, 10 at home and 8 away.

A total of 5 back to back!

This kind of schedule is probably the first time in NBA history.

Who told David Stern that he couldn't wait to open up the Chinese market.

And the Eagles are really competitive. They have played really well in the past two months, with a record of 24 wins and 7 losses, and they have all advanced to the top eight in the division.

The Eagles have played four games live in China, and the ratings are all skyrocketing, breaking the domestic ratings record for the NBA regular season in a row.

After a night's rest, the Eagles started a new journey, which is the journey of 32 games in the last 18 days.

The first to usher in is the incoming Orlando Magic.

Now that the two teams are direct competitors, there is a feeling that it's either you or me, so Liu Mang and McGrady didn't ask each other to have a meal together before the game to catch up. In the next three games, both of them are the biggest opponents of each other, and they don't want to affect the game because of their personal relationship.

Unlike the Hawks, who came from behind, the Magic drove highs and lows this year.

In the first 30 games, before Grant Hill was reimbursed, the Magic once ranked among the top three in the Eastern Conference. McGrady was the leading scorer at the beginning of this year. With Hill, who was rare and healthy, the two teamed up for [-] games. The feeling of Jordan + Pippen is indeed there, but McGrady, who originally wanted to be Pippen, became Jordan's role, and Hill, who was Jordan by McGrady, became Pippen's role.

But the good times didn't last long. When Hill played 20 games, he suffered another injury attack. After 10 games, he was forced to undergo surgery and was reimbursed for the season again.

And this time, not only was he reimbursed for this season, but also a bacterial infection occurred during the operation, and he had a high fever of 40 degrees for three consecutive days. Fortunately, he was out of danger and saved his life. However, the doctor predicts that Hill will need to be treated in the hospital in the next year, which means he will be reimbursed directly for two consecutive seasons!

As a result, the Magic's record fell from third to fourth in the Eastern Conference. Then the Hornets bucked the trend and took the No. [-] spot in the Southeast Division. The Magic fell directly from fourth to eighth, and then were overtaken by the Eagles.

At this time, the management of the Magic team also "triggered" McGrady. In order to get Yugoslavia's leading shooting guard Gordon Kirisek, who stunned the Dream Team last summer, he sent out Mike Miller, McGrady's teammate with the best relationship with the Magic, in exchange for this older rookie who was selected by the Mavericks in 99 and only entered the NBA this year.

In terms of strength, Kirisek and Mike Miller are similar, but Mike Miller is only 23 years old, and Kirisek is 26 years old. The key is that McGrady doesn’t have many friends. The Magic team has the best relationship with Mike Miller.

The main thing is that Mike Miller is a catch-and-shooter, and Kirisek needs to attack with the ball.

For a series of tricks by the Magic management, Ben Wallace was traded for Grant Hill in the summer of 2000, Duncan’s wife was not given a chance to take a charter flight, and a young best rookie pitcher was traded for an older rookie...

Of course, the idea of ​​replacing Grant Hill with Ben Wallace was a loss. McGrady knew that he was a bit of an afterthought. At that time, Grant Hill played 74 games last season and was full-time last season. In the previous four seasons, he played more than 80 games in three seasons.

Some people think that McGrady and Grant Hill are incompatible. McGrady is the spokesperson for unlucky ghosts.

McGrady can no longer trust the Magic's management.

But the more this is the case, the more McGrady wants to make it to the playoffs!
Only in this way can you prove your worth, and you will be paid more attention to other teams!

This year, McGrady really came into people's sight, was selected as the All-Star starter, the first team favorite of the best team, and the top five regulars in the MVP ranking...

No matter what happens to the Magic's management, McGrady's goal now is to make it to the playoffs!Show your worth!
Especially the three games against the Eagles, McGrady paid special attention to. It is likely that these three games against the Eagles are the key battles for the two teams to finally enter the top eight!
At six o'clock in the evening, Liu Mang was warming up in the locker room, and the game started at seven o'clock.

Like McGrady, Liu Mang also attaches great importance to the next three games, it is best to win them all!
Not only Liu Mang and McGrady know how crucial these three games are, but also the Eagles coaching staff and players. They are all warming up carefully, watching video clips and thinking about how to play magic.
Just as Liu Mang was repeatedly watching the pitifully sparse video highlights of the Magic's new lineup, a system notification came.

"Ding... The long-term mission is released: Conquer the Son of Jealousy."

(End of this chapter)