Zhiba NBA

Chapter 148 (140 Seven) The Dark Hand
Cuban has lost a hurry.

他接手小牛时还是2000年，当时小牛是一支40胜球队还进不了季后赛。而库班的第一个完整赛季就提高了13个胜场，上一次小牛取得53胜还是遥远的1988年。

57 wins in the second year, 60 wins in the third year, tied with the Spurs for the first record in the Western Conference!
Since then, Cuban has become somewhat self-inflated. He mistakenly believed that as long as he really loves basketball and is willing to spend money, the team will quickly win the championship.But basketball has its rules. It is impossible not to be willing to pay money, but it may not be possible to be willing to pay money.

The 03-04 season gave Cuban a heavy slap in the face, 52 wins, and lost to the old rival Kings in the first round.Cuban finally began to understand: Oh, it turns out that random signings to get a group of high-paid players is not enough.There must be rules and concepts to operate.Then he made a decision that he regretted for half his life, letting go of the old player Nash to build a championship team around Nowitzki.As a result, the Mavericks did improve to 58 wins, but the Suns who got Nash became a 62-win team and the league leader.

Cuban was very unhappy, but anyway, the unhappiness of the regular season can pass.He can barely comfort himself by saying that the playoffs will see the truth.But now in the playoffs, the Mavericks have lost 2 games at home, and the Mavericks will go to Toyota Center to play 2 away games.This situation can no longer be described as dangerous, it is simply too tragic.

Cuban finally couldn't hold back his unhappiness. He said in an interview with the media: The Rockets were taken care of by the referees, and the Rockets inside players had a large number of moving screen fouls and did not get the whistle they deserved.

As usual, public criticism of the referee is subject to a fine.But this time Stern turned a blind eye and let Cuban go a yard.

The reason is simple, interests are relevant.The two series of the Spurs and Suns were clearly not interesting at all; the Kings just sold Webber, and the Sonics were a dark horse, and the two teams lacked star power;
But now?The Rockets lead 2-0 in the away game. If this round of the series loses suspense early, where will the ratings come from?Stern secretly made up his mind to make him stumble, increase the suspense and increase the ratings.

Tim Donaghy was one of the four referees for the third game of the Fire Bull War on April 4. On this day, he stayed at the hotel arranged by the league as usual. Like before every game, several on-duty referees planned to meet with league officials in a private room of the hotel.Usually league officials would talk nonsense about routine matters such as fair law enforcement in this kind of private meeting, but today the battle seems to be a bit bigger.Stern's right-hand man, league vice president Stu Jackson, personally came to the private room, making Donaghy feel invisible pressure.

Soon, Scott Foster, Jesse Casey and Bernie Foyer (three referees and a backup referee) all came to this temporary conference room.Stu Jackson cleared his throat and said, "During this time, the league has been somewhat dissatisfied with the call-offs in this series. Because the Rockets had a lot of illegal screens in the previous two games and were not given the correct call-offs, there was some controversy during the game."

There is no need to listen to the rest of the nonsense anymore. The four old fritters understand that the league wants the Mavericks to win.

***
Although they did something secretly, the alliance's intervention is also limited. They won't tell the Mavericks "you are going to win today", right?So Nowitzki and others are still quite nervous. If they lose this game, they will fall behind 0-3, and there is really no hope.

In this case, the Mavericks still showed their full strength, and Dampier came up to jump the ball and beat Yao Ming again.

"This toss is too low!" Yao Ming was furious. He couldn't understand how the referee made such tosses that were not good for him again and again.As soon as Yao Ming stretched out his arms, the ball began to fall.

Referee Foster, who was in charge of the jump ball, glared at Yao Ming. If Yao Ming dared to talk too much, he would get a technical foul.

The Mavericks did not dare to relax at all. Taking advantage of Yao Ming's slow position, Howard broke through and passed the ball to Nowitzki, who opened the game with a jumper.

The first attack of the Rockets was handed over to Billups, who missed his mid-range shot.The whistle blew, and Chauncey thought it was Terry's defensive foul, so he wanted to go to the free throw happily.As a result, seeing the referee's gesture, he blew Bosh's rebounding foul!

Terry holds the ball and makes a wonderful pass to Howard who makes an empty cut and makes a layup, 4:0.

Yao Ming played hard, but after Dampier was pushed away, he got a big hat from Terry who made up for it!Yao Ming wanted to scold his mother, but Dampier kept pulling his jersey from below. Otherwise, how could he be blocked by Terry, who is only 188cm tall?Fortunately, Billups grabbed the missed ball, and he took advantage of the confusion to give McGrady a jumper.

Terry didn't hold back. He dribbled the ball to meet Billups with a jumper three-pointer and scored 7:2.

Donaghy was secretly pleasantly surprised that the Mavericks players are in full swing today.If the fight continues like this, it is estimated that the referee does not need to help the Mavericks to solve the battle by himself.After all, the role of the black whistle is also limited, and it depends on the players themselves whether they can win the game.Donaghy is also a person with a little conscience, and he doesn't want to go too far.

Of course, a team with both toughness and strength like the Rockets will never disarm easily.McGrady's precise wide-range transfer ball found Jefferson in the right corner from the left wing at 45 degrees.Jefferson was about to shoot a three-pointer when he took off, Howard rushed forward impatiently, fouled and made three free throws!
Jefferson made two of three free throws and narrowed the point difference to 3 points.

Nowitzki and Dampier made an internal pass, and Dampier forced a dunk under the basket.Yao Ming had nothing to do about it.

Terry suddenly stepped forward for a tough double-team, forcing McGrady to make a mistake.After stealing the ball, Terry went straight to the basket, was blocked by Billups and gave it to Finley on the outside, who made a three-pointer, 12:4!

Yao Ming helped McGrady make the wall. At this time, Donaghy clearly remembered the league's instructions and decisively called a covering foul.The penalty drew boos from the Houston home crowd.

Dampier pretended to single Yao Ming and gave the ball to Nowitzki at the free throw line. The king held high and hit a jumper.The point difference widened to 10 points!

"Damn it!" The rocket soldier felt a little bit bound, and always felt that he couldn't use his strength.

Bosh also responded to the Mavericks with a ball. He faked a jumper and made a pass to Yao Ming for a dunk under the basket.

But Nowitzki immediately fouled Bosh with a breakthrough layup and made 2 of 2 free throws.Tang Shuai made a decisive decision and replaced Bosh, who was the second foul, to protect him.

As soon as Wang Zhizhi came on the court, the pressure on Yao Ming's defensive end became even greater.Big Zhi is much worse than Bosh in assisting defense and protecting the rim. Yao Ming must sit at the rim and be ready to fill in holes for his inside partner at any time.Sure enough, Van Horn, who had just come off the bench, broke through Big Zhi's defense. Yao Ming rushed to make up for it, and Casey decisively blew his whistle, a foul!

Van Horn made two free throws.Yao Ming also took a break because of the two fouls.

What the referees didn't expect was that Yao Ming's fate inspired the fighting spirit of McGrady and Billups.Others, you and me, continue to succeed in singles, killing the Mavericks.After the first quarter, McGrady scored 8+3+3, and Billups also scored 9+2+3. With the efforts of the two outside cores, the Rockets chased the score to 34:27.

　Tim Donaghy admitted in his post-prison autobiography that the ball was one of his rigged games.Therefore, some of the content in this chapter comes from Donaghy’s confession. As for the authenticity of what he said, please judge for yourself.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)