Jim Bass Ambition

Chapter 237 Anonymous Jim

"...Basically speaking, every time the series is extended, there will be an additional income of about tens of millions of dollars. For the league and the team, this is not a small amount. Therefore, there is an imbalance in some series. refs will 'help' the weaker side appropriately to prolong the series. If I were the owner of the Lakers, losing a game would not be unacceptable because the Lakers could go home and sell it again Tickets, this is the unspoken rule of the league. Many team managers acquiesce to this, because profit is the ultimate goal of businessmen. But like Jim Buss or Mark Cuban, fans are more important , It is understandable that a manager who puts victory in the first place finds it hard to bear when encountering similar incidents." The next day, the "Los Angeles Daily News" published a paragraph said to be an unnamed An interview with a league executive.

On the Lakers' official website, the highlights of Game [-] of the Western Conference Finals were posted early the next morning. In the highlights, the Lakers players encountered various violations, but the referees turned a blind eye. There is a high probability that Lakers players will be whistled for fouls. Duncan missed an offensive shot and was ready to return to defense, but although the referee's whistle was late, he would never be absent.

"We can see that there have been a lot of disputes and penalties in this game. The referee's penalty scale for both sides is not consistent. Combined with previous media reports, I think there are many things that I don't need to say. The Spurs are a formidable opponent. They We've played against each other in the playoffs for several years, and Tim Duncan once said: 'We will never be swept by the Lakers again.' He did it too, but after a few years, people Will not remember how good the Spurs were, but only the '5 tragedy' that happened to the Lakers. Not to mention our players, they were treated unfairly on the court, which even violated competitive sports The original intention, our hard work and sweat were doomed to be in vain at the beginning of the game, and the Spurs could have played a good game, but it was overshadowed in this disgraceful way. I feel sorry for both teams I hope that all the referees will remember your oath, respect and abide by all the rules of the game with true sportsmanship, and perform their duties fairly and selflessly." In the morning, the Lakers officially held a press conference, and Jim issued a statement on the matter view.

After the meeting, Jim and Kupchak returned to the office, waiting for the league's ticket.

"Actually, if you switch to the Clippers, judging by Donald Sterling's style of work, he would like to have a tiebreaker every round. So what I'm saying is basically the truth." Jim leaned easily on the chair , hands folded behind the head.

"The players are also more willing to play for the management that loves basketball, rather than playing for pure businessmen, who simply regard playing as a job. I don't deny that many players play for making money, but from the perspective of a person who has played before For me, we chose basketball, initially, because of our love for this sport." Kupchak was rarely emotional.

Of course, there will be many tickets, and the league quickly made a decision. Los Angeles Lakers vice president Jim Buss was fined $15 for verbal attacks on law enforcement referees.

Jim doesn't think that the league will definitely restrain itself in the next game, but a treacherous Phil Jackson, who has been in the league for many years, will definitely have his own plan.

"We've seen vegetable plots in the Boston Garden and locker rooms without cold water. Even if the Spurs put snakes in the visiting team's locker room, or thought about turning off the air conditioner in the arena, we wouldn't be afraid."

Two days after the 5 tragedy, Game 25 of the Western Conference Finals continued at the AT&T Center.

After the opening game, the Lakers handed the ball to Artest and asked him to fight against Turkoglu. Firstly, it was a surprise victory. Turkoglu is not known for his defense. Second, he wanted to test the referee's scale in this game. up.

However, Turkoglu obviously also got the instruction of the coaching staff, raised his hands high, without any additional actions, and let Artest grind all the way in and score a layup.

When it was the Spurs' turn to attack, Parker took advantage of Duncan's cover and opened the scoring for the Spurs with a mid-range jumper. Compared with the previous game, when he got the ball and shot inside, Parker seemed much calmer.

The Spurs played very restrained in order not to let the Lakers try out the referee's standards, and this played into the hands of the Lakers, focusing on Artest's point and continuously attacking the Spurs inside.

It's a pity that Artest's finishing ability is not stable. He had a few good opportunities but failed to convert into points. Halfway through the first quarter, the Lakers led 14 to 11.

Both sides made very few free throws. The Spurs only had 2 free throws, but the Lakers had 4. On the surface, the whistle was not as brutal as in the previous game. In fact, the referee did it a lot more concealed. On the surface, it encouraged confrontation. The standards are very loose, but the Spurs are mainly shooting, no one hits the basket, and there is relatively less confrontation when hitting the basket, so there are fewer unfavorable penalties.

Fortunately, the Lakers have more weapons. Kobe took the lead and continued his good form since the series. Recorded a difficult mid-range shot, and after stealing the Spurs pass, he assisted Garnett to complete a dunk. Within 1 minute, he played a wave of 6-0 alone, widening the point difference to 9 points, forcing Popovich to call a timeout.

However, Prince, who made a three-pointer in the series, found his sight in this game. After returning from a timeout, he first received a pass from Duncan from the left corner and hit a three-pointer, and then turned around to interfere with Kobe's mid-range shot. After that, Kuaixia hit a mid-range shot on the right side and scored 5 points in a row, helping the Spurs stabilize the situation.

After these few attacks and defenses, the two sides completely got rid of the tentative state at the beginning, and started the duel in a familiar way.

First, Garnett made a step-up hook, encountered a tough defense from Rasheed Wallace, and missed the basket; then when Duncan was about to turn around and force himself, Malone successfully cut the ball; With chicken blood, a pair of long arms waved in front of Kobe, so Fei Xia had to choose a more difficult shot; Parker's mid-range shot also showed a trend of enlightenment, and Duncan's pick-and-roll began to show its power.

Under the referee’s whistle-blowing scale that encourages confrontation, both sides’ scoring speed is very slow. The game is full of the sound of muscle collisions. It is difficult for the Lakers to pass and cut to find open space. Both Kobe and Garnett’s singles have been restricted to a certain extent. , The Spurs slowly caught up with the score.

Seeing that the offense was unfavorable, the Zen master replaced Billups in advance and replaced Wade.

(End of this chapter)