basketball kingdom

Chapter 512 Premonition
In the seventh game of the Warriors Thunder series that night, it was soul-stirring. In the last five seconds of overtime, Curry's ultra-long three-pointer near the center line became the most impressive picture in Xu Tian's mind.Even lying in bed resting, he kept thinking about that ball.

The Thunder is the fourth in the West, and it is normal to be eliminated by the Warriors who are the number one in the West, but most fans did not expect the process to be so tortuous.During the period, the Thunder even came very close to ending the series a few times, but it was a pity that they finally breathed a sigh of relief and regretted ending this magnificent season.

Durant's contract expires and he officially becomes a free agent, which is bound to trigger chasing and looting by various teams in the free market in the summer.This is something that is bound to happen, it just hasn't arrived yet.

Warriors owner Lacob went to the home team's locker room after the game to celebrate the hard-won series victory with the coaching staff and players.So far, only the Lakers and Spurs series remained in the semifinals.

Duncan had all sorts of chaotic thoughts in his head, he couldn't lie down and rest peacefully, put on his slippers softly, without disturbing his girlfriend Vanessa, came to the living room in the dark, and sat on the soft sofa.He had a vague premonition that tomorrow night's game would be the end of his career, but he didn't know why he had this premonition.

"Maybe the Lakers are too strong, we can't win." Duncan tried to answer himself in his heart.

The living room was still dark, and no one could give him the answer he wanted.

The past kept coming to Duncan, who was sitting quietly, like a tide.He carefully reviewed his career with peaks and troughs, and suddenly came to the answer that it was time to say goodbye.When this idea clearly appeared in his mind, all the restlessness and confusion disappeared, replaced by a calm.

Popovich also couldn't sleep. Duncan's abnormal early training in the morning made him feel a sense of loss.He also couldn't tell where this feeling came from, but it was real.

This kind of thought troubled him, so he had to get up from the bed, open a bottle of preserved red wine, pour half a glass, and wonder why this feeling appeared while tasting the wine.

Kobe didn't feel so sentimental, sitting on a chair in the room, watching the tapes of the previous games repeatedly, looking for places where each player could do better.This is something he can do, and he can help the team in this way when he is unable to play.

After all, Xu Tian was a young man, and after thinking about his thoughts for a while, he fell asleep peacefully to preserve his energy for tomorrow's game.

The next morning, the Lakers opened the training hall so that media reporters could interview them.

Kobe only needs to conduct simple shooting training, finish the training at the earliest, and come to the sidelines to accept reporters.

Brad Windhorst first started to ask: "Kobe, did you watch the tiebreaker between the Warriors and the Thunder last night? How do you feel about that game?"

Kobe said: "I watched that game, both sides contributed a wonderful performance, but I didn't feel anything, I can only congratulate the Warriors for entering the Western Conference Finals."

"If you can win the Spurs, you will go to Oakland to challenge the Warriors, have you thought about it?"

"No. Now our opponent is still the Spurs, until the official end of this round of the series, it will always be the case, so I didn't think too far, and focused on tonight's game."

Brad Turner of the "Los Angeles Times" also came to San Antonio, and then Windhorst asked: "Kobe, you have been in charge of the team's timeout and rotation recently. How do you feel about this position? Thinking about being the head coach of a team this summer?"

Kobe laughed and said: "I haven't thought about it yet, but in my conception, I should want to try something other than basketball. After all, I have given basketball for nearly 30 years, no? ?"

Brad Turner could only nod in agreement, and then asked: "What does this mean, you may stay away from basketball after you officially retire?"

"Basketball has become a part of my life, and I will definitely not stay away, but I will not ask about the affairs of the league anymore."

"why?"

"I haven't thought about this question yet. I'll answer you when I think of the answer."

Xu Tian ignored the reporters interviewing on the sidelines, walked into the weight room silently, and started the second group of strength training.

Most of the reporters had finished interviewing the coaching staff and players, sitting quietly on the sidelines, waiting for Xu Tian to interview him after training.This was the reason they were unwilling to interview Xu Tian, ​​but Xu Tian was so popular that they couldn't shirk this job.

The Spurs also made an exception and opened the training hall, and a large number of media reporters went to interview the Spurs players.

Duncan is the most prestigious superstar of the Spurs and naturally received the most attention.

The Spurs team reporter Jabari Young was the closest to the team. He first interviewed Duncan and asked him what he thought of tonight's game.

Duncan didn't have any expression on his face, and said: "The Lakers have strong strength, but we are not weak. We will play this game as the last game and strive to win this victory for San Antonio."

"Your defense against Xu has changed a few times, but he averaged 33.6 points, 9 rebounds and 7 assists per game in the first five games of the series. It seems that the defensive strategy has not worked. What do you think about this? Or is there anything else? Can it be improved?"

Duncan said, "You have to ask Popo about that."

Popovich was indeed asked this question by the reporter, and said with a smile: "Xu averaged 41.6 points, 8 rebounds and 9 assists in the three games against the Rockets, and his shooting percentage reached 75%, so I think The players defended well."

"With Xu's stats, it shouldn't be considered a good defense, right?" The reporter continued to ask ignorantly.

Popovich said with a smile: "Do you have any good way to defend Xu, provide it to me, and I can pay you salary."

How could the reporter know how to defend against Xu Tian, ​​who was so overwhelming in the playoffs, and finally stopped entangled in this topic, and instead asked his opinion on tonight's game.

Popovich still didn't answer seriously, and used a few colder jokes to deal with it.

Xu Tian finally finished training, the Lakers staff gave the order to allow interviews, and all the reporters sitting on the sidelines surrounded him.That kind of scene is very spectacular.

Each reporter asked the question they wanted to ask, and Xu Tian gave an official speech-style answer.The interview process lasted half an hour.

After Xu Tian finished the interview, he dragged his tired body out of the training hall, took a taxi and went back to the hotel for simple adjustments.

(End of this chapter)