From today on is the king

Chapter 548 547. No heart will be hurt by pursuing dreams

The score came to 8 to 6, the Eagles led by two points, and the Eagles had the ball.

But the game has been played for 5 minutes!
The Nets started with a high-confrontational style of play. At the beginning of the game, the two sides were evenly matched, but after a few minutes in the first quarter, Ratliff, who was not very physically fit, couldn't hold it anymore.

In the first five games, Ratliff averaged 35 minutes per game. Since the Eagles had a nine-man rotation in the Eastern Conference Finals, coupled with the poor performance of the two rookies Boozer and Prince, it was more about the four starters except Prince and the seven-man rotation of Jason Terry and Jason Terry and Barnes. After more than 5 minutes of playing, he began to pant heavily.

The goal of the Nets from the very beginning of the game was very clear, the offensive end pressure rhythm, and then let Mutombo and Kenyon Martin pick and roll everywhere, leading the Eagles inside to switch around, consuming the physical energy of the Eagles inside.

Muhammad, the future evergreen, is also tired from playing. He averaged 41 minutes per game in this round of the series, and the Eagles are second only to Liu Mang's 44 minutes per game.

Liu Mang played an average of 44 minutes in this game, and it was because he played for a while in the fourth quarter of the first game, and basically did not rest in the other four games.

But Ratliff couldn't do it anymore. The Nets made a difficult shot for the third goal of the game. When the Eagles were attacking again, Liu Mang advanced the ball to the frontcourt. Just after passing the center line, Ratliff also just passed the center line, and Liu Mang obviously heard Ratliff's heavy panting!
Liu Mang finally understood that bad feeling!

The Nets just want to rely on the depth of their lineup to consume Ratliff!
Without Ratliff, the Eagles would have a huge hole in their interior defense!

And not just on the defensive end!
The Nets also found that Ratliff could not hold on any longer. Seeing Ratliff open his mouth to breathe, as a basketball player, Mutombo knew what Ratliff's panting performance meant, and called for tactics.

The rest of the Nets began to frantically block the outside line with air cuts and breakthroughs, giving Ratliff a very good position to receive the ball, and Mutombo single-handedly defended Ratliff.

Ratliff stood one step inside the three-second zone, carrying Mutombo on his shoulders, in a perfect position to hold high and hit high.

Liu Mang tried to break through Kidd but failed, and had to pick and roll Kenyon Martin and Kidd's defensive pressure. In the last attack, Liu Mang and Muhammad's pick and roll suffered a lot. Seeing Ratliff's perfect opportunity to play high and high, he immediately passed the ball.

Ratliff received the ball and knew that the team now needed him to score inside to open up the situation like in the previous game. Only when he had a scoring threat from this commanding height, could the outside line be opened up, just like the start of the previous game.

Mutombo also knows that he has reached a critical moment in his career. Whether he can stay in the NBA next season depends on whether he can seize this last opportunity and concentrate all his energy on predicting Ratliff's high-flying play.

Ratliff took a step in, but he couldn't hit it, and he didn't have many other offensive skills, so he chose to be more direct and throw sideways!
Mutombo judged Ratliff's intentions and slapped Ratliff's toss!
Defensive rebound by Richard Jefferson!
The Nets did not choose to counterattack, continued to press the rhythm, and slowly advanced.

Kidd holds the ball in the top arc, Mutombo runs out to pick and roll with Kidd, knowing that his old partner can't run anymore, Muhammad switches to defend Mutombo, and follows Mutombo to defend the pick and roll.

At this time, Kenyon Martin also ran out. Mutombo ran halfway through the pick-and-roll to the three-point line on the right sideline and gave Kittles a pick-and-roll. Kenyon-Martin came up to Kidd's pick-and-roll.

It was to pull Ratliff out to run, but Ratliff ran halfway, Kenyon Martin's pick-and-roll was retracted again, turned around and ran to the basket!

Kidd threw the ball to Kenyon Martin, and Liu Mang hurriedly chased Kenyon Martin, but Ladu couldn't hold it!As soon as Ratliff ran to the free throw line, he turned back and pounced hard on Kenyon Martin, but he could only slap him weakly on Kenyon Martin's arm. Kenyon Martin scored two points with an air cut dunk and caused Ratliff to foul!
The Eagles call timeout here!

After playing for almost 6 minutes, only 8 points were scored. The Eagles coaching staff didn't particularly care about it. In Pat Riley's iron-blooded era in the 90s, the series averaged more than 70 points per game.

The main reason is that Ratliff can't run anymore!
Ratliff's deterrence at the basket is the key to the Eagles' ability to defend the Nets' offense to 10 of 3 at the beginning!
Not only Ratliff, Raheem's performance is also weak today, Muhammad's rebounding is not very good, Liu Mang is the most physically fit, and Prince has no other role except to follow Kittles to defend the shot.

The Eagles can only replace Ratliff in advance, replace Ratliff with Kevin Willis, maintain the height of the inside line, replace Prince with Barnes, strengthen the hardness of the defense, replace Raheem with Jason Terry, and strengthen the shooting. Raheem can't get in today.

After returning from the timeout, the situation didn’t improve much. Kevin Willis turned 41 in September this year. It’s okay to play for 10 minutes in the regular season. In the playoffs, he gave his teammates experience and held a 200 million contract to be a leader in the locker room.

But if he were to run back and forth with the young man, he was okay when he first went up, and he dunked Jason Collins, who replaced Mutombo, but he hit and hit, and even the tired Ratliff was not as good as Kenyon Martin directly dunked once.

When it comes to the offensive end, there is one less inside high containment point, and the Eagles' outside offense is extremely difficult, and it is not easy for Raheem to goug a few times.

After the first quarter, the Eagles were 15 to 20 and were overtaken by the Nets by 5 points.

This situation continued until the end of the first half. Regardless of whether the Nets were leading or not, they suppressed the rhythm desperately, and then grinded. Mutombo dealt with Ratliff today, and Jason Collins played other times.

In the second quarter, the Eagles had no choice but to grind their defense against the Nets. Kevin Wesley couldn't hold on after playing for a while, and Murtola was replaced, but Murtola's performance was terrible, just like a stake. He could defend low singles, but the Nets didn't attack low.

After halftime, the Eagles were 34 to 41, and the point difference was stretched to 7 points!
The biggest problem of the Eagles is exposed!
There is a big problem with the depth of the lineup!
I really want to say that the depth of the Eagles' lineup is actually very strong, but the key is that Prince and Boozer performed too badly. After the poor performances in the first few games, in this difficult series, the Eagles dare not give them too much almost, because they really played too badly.

Boozer didn't dare to defend at all when he was struggling to defend. Prince has always done a good job defending, but he is still a little thin and lacks experience. If the Nets replace Rodney Rogers, the Hawks can only let Liu Mang or Barnes defend.

Coach Kruger is scratching his head again, and it feels like the more he scratches, the bigger the sense of sight.

The depth of the Nets' lineup is really good. Except for the five starters, Harris, Rodney Rogers, Aaron Williams, Jason Collins, and Anthony Johnson are all high-quality role players.

After a 20-minute intermission, in the second half, the Eagles came up and played a 10-4 spurt, chasing the point difference to 1 point, but then the Eagles languished again.

When the official timeout of the third quarter was reached, the point difference was slowly opened by the Nets, 50 to 55, and the point difference was once again opened to 5 points.

Looking at the three frontcourts that were just halfway through the third quarter, Liu Mang approached Coach Kruger: "Coach, let Sharif, Nazr, and Theo rest, let's do it!"

Coach Kruger thinks this is also a way.

After the official timeout came back, the Eagles replaced Liu Mang, Jason Terry, Prince, Barnes, and Boozer with a small lineup.

Give it a try!
The point difference is only 5 points, the Eagles still want to have a wave, and want to win the series at home!Dragging to the seventh game is too bad for the Eagles.

Back from the timeout, it was clear that the Eagles were desperate and would definitely switch to a smaller lineup. The Nets sent Jason Kidd, Harris, Richard Jefferson, Aaron Williams, and Kenyon Martin's defensive counterattack team.

The Eagles attacked, and Liu Mang pushed forward. Although he said "look at our young people", but with the dismal performance of Boozer and Prince, Liu Mang could only compete with Jason Terry on the offensive end.

Liu Mang beckoned Boozer to pick and roll, Xiao Shuangsha's combination played too little in this round of the series, mainly because Boozer's mid-range shot was too strong!

Just like now, Liu Mang and Boozer pick and roll, Kenyon Martin and Kidd attack Liu Mang directly, Liu Mang gives the ball to Boozer, but Boozer just can't make the shot!

The Nets counterattacked. Aaron Williams grabbed the rebound and threw it to Kidd. Kidd rushed to the frontcourt with the ball.
It's really dead!

Liu Mang could only make a gesture with Jason Terry, and the two of them were about to start wrestling!
In the next moment, the Eagles' offense was either Liu Mang rushing to the inside with a dynamite bag, struggling to get points by drawing fouls, or Jason Terry's breakthrough jumper was a gamble.

At the end of the third quarter, the Eagles still lost to the Nets' determined and steady play, trailing 59 to 66 by 7 points.

In the fourth quarter, Liu Mang saw that there was still a 7-point difference, not hopeless!Never give up!

Liu Mang tried to create a miracle by himself, and used Reggie Miller's star card, the pinnacle star card!
After the final quarter of the game, Liu Mang scored two three-pointers in a row relying on his 90-point three-point ability, narrowing the point difference to one point.

The Nets' defensive strategy changed immediately. The main defense was Liu Mang, and Liu Mang attacked everywhere.

Except for Jason Terry, no one in the Eagles could make a goal. The Nets relied on the fast defense of 10-man rotation to try to suppress Liu Mang's explosion.

Cutting off the connection between Liu Mang and Jason Terry, Liu Mang either double-teamed the shot, or passed it to a few teammates who played extremely poorly.

Although Liu Mang scored 17 points in a single quarter with Reggie Miller's star card in the final quarter, led the Eagles to 24 points in the final quarter, and overwhelmed the Nets who only scored 20 points in the final quarter. However, in the sixth game of the series, the Hawks lost at home under the strategy of the Nets slavishly defending and consuming the Eagles' physical energy.

83 to 86. In the end, the Eagles lost to the Nets by 3 points at home and were dragged into the tiebreaker.

……

……

A day later, the tiebreaker between the Eagles and the Nets started at the Nets' home court.

Yesterday, the series between the Mavericks and the Spurs ended. The Spurs beat the Mavericks 97 to 79 in an away game and advanced to the finals 4 to 2.

Duncan's dominance may be second only to the peak O'Neal among players since the new century. It's too buggy.

After the Eagles regretted losing to the Nets the night before, they made a long journey to New Jersey yesterday morning. After a night's rest, they dragged their exhausted bodies and minds to the Gross Athletic Center today to play a tiebreaker with the Nets.

As the so-called defeat is like a mountain, Liu Mang wants to fight again, because he is not afraid of physical exertion. He scored 38 points in the last game, but the Eagles only scored 83 points.

This time the Eagles came to the home court of the Nets. Under the oppression of the Nets' deep lineup, the Eagles really felt what it means to be defeated!
Liu Wei had no choice but to play the game for a few minutes. After being scored 8-2 by the opponent, Liu Wei chose to come by himself, only to shoot!

Passing teammates can't make shots, and teammates can't play in singles. The key is that even Jason Terry, who came off the bench, withered today.

The Nets' defense has also changed. Kidd or Richard Jefferson defends Liu Mang's singles and defends others.

Liu Mang's scoring continued to rise, but the score was slowly opened by the Nets...

……

……

76 to 90, the Eagles were eliminated by the Nets in the tiebreaker. Liu Mang scored 35 points on 15 of 41 shots, but he couldn't stop his team from being defeated.

From [-] to [-] to [-] to [-], it seems that there has been progress. Although the Eagles fans who came to the away game with the team and occupied nearly one-third of the auditorium have been cheering for the Eagles, and when Liu Mang walked to the locker room after the game, the fans on both sides gave words of comfort, but Liu Mang was still very disappointed.

When interviewing Liu Mang, the reporters from Chaoting TV always spoke words of consolation. Unlike the news about a certain wave, tiger, or penguin who often has black players of one kind or another, the news of Chaoting TV is actually the friendliest, especially the older generation of basketball players. Whether it is Yao Ming, Yi Jianlian, or even Sun Yue and Zhou Qi, they are very friendly and have great expectations and care.

But Liu Mang was a bit at a loss, Kidd is too strong, Kidd is only 30 years old, right?

Liu Mang remembers that in the 03-04 season, the Pistons had five tigers, and the Nets and the Pistons played tie-breaks!
The Nets' reinforcement this year is better than the original due to the fact that the Eastern Conference has the Eagles as a strong enemy. Even if the Nets lose to the Spurs this year, will they have more reinforcements next season due to the dual pressure of the Spurs and the Eagles?

Liu Mang didn't know how it felt for James to be blocked by the Celtics and Magic in the finals for three consecutive years, but it couldn't be worse than himself, right?
Liu Mang quietly left the locker room after hearing the roar of cheers that spread to the locker room from the other side of the court.

……

……

Liu Mang wanted to find a place to take a walk and relax, but when he arrived at the dedicated parking lot for Nets employees, he realized that this was not his home court and he had no car to park here.

Liu Mang looked blankly at this strange venue, thinking in his heart, if his own home field advantage, would it be much better?
Liu Mang walked around the parking lot and saw Michael Jordan who was about to leave with the bodyguards behind him.

"Ace, are you okay?" Jordan came up to comfort him.

Seeing Jordan, Liu Mang couldn't help but have a question to ask: "Teacher, can we win the Nets once?"

Jordan was not dissatisfied with the question of whether the bull's head was right or wrong, he felt Liu Mang's bewilderment... and his desire to win.

42 points, 18 points, 27 points, 28 points, 19 points, 38 points, 41 points, sophomore Liu Mang averaged 30.4 points, 3.3 rebounds and 3.7 assists in the Eastern Conference finals. Jordan was surprised by his performance!He thought he couldn't do so well at Liu Mang's age.

In Jordan's view, it was a miracle that the Hawks were able to lead the Nets 3-2 for a time. He once thought that Liu Mang was going to create a miracle, but he still failed in the end.

A group of young lads, most of whom are playing in the playoffs for the second time, can push the Nets, a stronger finals team than last season, to the tiebreaker. Although Jordan regrets that the Hawks failed to create the miracle of the Knicks' black eight to the finals, he has already recognized the performance of the Hawks.

This is also the opinion of most Eagles fans and most of the media. The Eagles already have a promising future, but this year is unlucky. Two rookies entrusted with important tasks in the regular season did not perform well, forcing the Eagles to create scoring opportunities for defensive center Ratliff in Game [-].

Qiao Dan looked at the bewildered Liu Mang. As someone who had experienced it, he knew Liu Mang's thoughts.

It took him seven years to win the championship, and he was the best shooting guard when he entered the NBA. After seven years, he went from a daughter-in-law to a mother-in-law and won his first championship. He has suffered much more than Liu Mang.

From the perspective of Jordan, who has similar experience, the Nets are like the Pistons standing in front of Liu Mang.

Just step over the net and it's time for the Eagles to really take off.

But this year, obviously unfortunately, the Hawks came close, coming off by three points in Game 3.

Jordan patted Liu Mang on the shoulder: "Ace, your time is coming, very soon."

After finishing speaking, Jordan's old-fashioned demeanor came again, and he left after speaking. Liu Mang looked at Qiao Dan's back, feeling very sad in his heart, you consider yourself a master anyway, let's chat for a while!Your apprentice wants to find someone to chat with!

……

……

Liu Mang was walking on the outskirts of the small town of Sutherford, in the middle of the night, with the police behind him, afraid that Liu Mang would go out alone and hurt himself or others.

After Jordan asked a question, the other party pretended to leave. Liu Mang left the home court of the Nets, then took the car of an uncle of the police and came to the suburbs outside the town.

The small town of Sutherford is said to be a small town, but it is actually similar to a small county town in China.

It had just rained heavily, and the sky was exceptionally cleaner than usual.

After the game, Liu Mang received text messages from many people, and both Jordan and Wilkins came to comfort him in person.

At this moment, Liu Mang seemed to have a different understanding of basketball.

It's not just about making money from it in the first place, and it's not just for glory.

Before he knew it, Liu Mang seemed to regard basketball as a kind of pursuit!
Liu Mang thought of 2016, an ordinary regular season that became unusual because of Kobe’s retirement. Kobe took 50 shots and scored 60 points in the game, that kind of reluctance to basketball and the decision to leave basketball.

Thinking of the 2018 Eastern Conference finals, he has already won four regular season MVPs, three championships and one back-to-back MVP. He has established the status of the strongest star in an era after 2010. He still suffered a leg injury at the end of the sixth game of the Eastern Conference Finals when he fell behind 2-3.

This is not just for honor. Kobe is no longer just paranoid, and James is no longer just trying to establish his own image. This kind of heart has become very pure, and basketball has become a pure pursuit!

I saw the rare stars in the sky in New Jersey, the starlight scattered in the fields, and the crops that still grow tenaciously no matter how bad the environment in New Jersey is, even if the sky is full of smog.

Liu Mang thought of a sentence in a book he had read that impressed him deeply: Without a heart, you will be hurt by pursuing your dreams. When you really desire something, the whole universe will come to help.

Become stronger!I want to become stronger!

In addition to yourself, your teammates must also become stronger!
Except for Kidd and Kenyon Martin, the Nets have a group of role players who can play so well. This lineup actually reached the Finals for two consecutive years, which made Liu Mang understand the importance of the team better.

Liu Mang silently made an oath in his heart: "Next time, I will never lose again!"

"Sorry, I asked you to come here with me, let's go back, I've wasted your time." Liu Mang walked up to the police who had been carefully looking around.

"Oh, it's okay, it's our honor, you should be fine now, God bless, I'm your fan, I don't want you to be upset just because you lost once."

"Really? You're my fan, you're not from New Jersey?"

"I'm from New Jersey, but I'm not a Nets fan. The Nets have never been our home team. They all dream of going back to New York."

"The Nets are really poor. New Yorkers don't want them, and you don't want them."

"Ace, you are Chinese, you may not know that New Jersey is a state jointly managed by four metropolitan areas, and our Jersey City belongs to the Philadelphia metropolitan area."

"Your circle is really messed up. It's better for us in Atlanta. Do you want to come to our Atlanta to be a policeman?"

"...Let's go back. Of course, before you leave New Jersey, you have to go to the court to pay a fine of 200 yuan. You violated the night control regulations, and you have 100 yuan in police attendance fees."

"NO, you drove me out, it's your business!"

"Our gun laws haven't been enforced yet, I'm here to protect you!"

"That's your problem! You know? Sometimes being a good person doesn't pay off!"

"..."

"..."

On the way back to the hotel while Liu Mang was joking with the police uncle, the system in Liu Mang's mind came up with a sentence...

"Ding... The host has passed the rookie period, and the system is being upgraded..."

　The long rookie period is over, and it's time for the little hooligan to become the big hooligan.

　　Two chapters will be updated at 11:03 pm and [-]:[-] pm, the crazy summer of [-] is coming.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)