NBA: The second generation of the strongest star

Chapter 168 An Evenly Matched Rival OR The King of the 21st Century
Los Angeles Lakers postgame interview:
"Kobe, the Los Angeles Lakers started off with 1 win and 3 losses, do they still have any hope of competing for the championship?" A media from Los Angeles asked. After losing to the New York Knicks tonight, the Los Angeles Lakers' record came to 1 win and 3 losses , both ranked third from the bottom in the West.

In fact, not only the Los Angeles media, but even the fans of the Los Angeles Lakers are very worried about this.

Last season, the Los Angeles Lakers had 57 wins and 25 losses, ranking second in the Western Conference. This season, the Los Angeles Lakers' lineup is almost the same as last season. They only changed a head coach. Is the gap so big!
Kobe said calmly: "Don't worry everyone, we will adjust soon, and never underestimate the heart of a championship." Kobe said the classic NBA quotes.

"Never underestimate the heart of a championship", from Rudy Tomjanovich, the heroic coach of the Houston Rockets during the two consecutive championships.

After the end of the 1993 season, Jordan, who won the first three consecutive championships in his life, retired, and the league suddenly became powerful. The Utah Jazz led by Utah Shuangsha, and the Phoenix Suns led by Barkley were all eyeing the championship, but in the end the Houston Rockets came to the fore. Won the championship in the 94 season in one fell swoop, Olajuwon successively won the regular season mvp + championship + fmvp and other honors, achieving a personal honor grand slam.

But in the 95 season, the Houston Rockets' tactics and basic style of play had long been studied by their opponents. It was found that as long as the connection between Olajuwon and his teammates was cut off, the Houston Rockets would be in a very passive position.Coupled with the main players Maxwell and Horry suffering from injuries, the Houston Rockets had a record of only 5 wins and 9 losses at the beginning of the season. Even in the middle of the season, they only had 29 wins and 17 losses, ranking in the middle of the Western Conference.

Such a poor record is almost unforgivable for the defending champion. The then Rockets owner Alexander made a decisive attack and instructed the team to trade the 96-year-old "Glide" Drake from the Trail Blazers with the second leader Thorpe + the first round pick in 33. Drexler, but what the Houston Rockets never expected was that the joining of Drexler did not stop the decline of the Houston Rockets, but became worse than before, with a record of only 17 wins and 18 losses in the second half. The end of the season , The Houston Rockets ranked sixth in the Western Conference with a record of 47 wins and 35 losses.

At this time, almost no one believed that the Houston Rockets could achieve the title defense, including the entire Houston Rockets team; the first round against the Utah Jazz, the two sides played extremely stalemate, after a big 2-2 draw, entered the tiebreaker, when the playoffs There are only five games in the first round, with three wins in five games.

G5 was launched in Salt Lake City, a series of inescapable objective factors such as the climate of the Colorado Plateau and the restlessness of the Delta Center Arena all seemed to indicate that the Houston Rockets would not be able to retreat unscathed.Sure enough, in the last 5 minutes of the game, the Rockets were still 7 points behind the Jazz, and the promotion situation was in jeopardy. At this time, Drexler stepped forward and hit the basket to score one after another, helping the Houston Rockets beat the Utah Jazz 95-91 and entered the next round.

Thanks to the defeat of the Utah Jazz led by Utah Shuangsha, the confidence of all Houston Rockets players has greatly increased, and the probability of winning the championship has skyrocketed from 0 to 80%.

Facing the Phoenix Suns led by Barkley and Kevin Johnson in the second round, the Houston Rockets felt very difficult. They fell behind by a big score of 1:3, so they could hardly see the hope of advancing, but the Houston Rockets did not give up; G5, Kenny Smith came forward , made 11 of 5 three-pointers, scored 21 points, 7 rebounds and 7 assists, helping the Houston Rockets beat the Phoenix Suns in overtime; G7, at the last moment of the game, the Houston Rockets still trailed the Phoenix Suns by 112 to 114 by two points, and life and death were hanging by a thread On the occasion, Robert Horry assisted Mario Alley, who was ambushing in the bottom corner, to hit a three-pointer. The Houston Rockets beat the Phoenix Suns 115 to 114 to escape and advance to the Western Conference Finals.

Facing the San Antonio Spurs led by David Robinson in the Western Conference Finals, the confidence of all Houston Rockets players has further increased, and the probability of winning the championship has approached 80% from 100%, because the Houston Rockets have Olajuwon alone, which is enough to penetrate the entire interior defense of the San Antonio Spurs .Sure enough, throughout the series, Olajuwon showed his prowess. With a shooting percentage of 56%, he averaged 35.3 points, 12.5 rebounds, 5.0 assists and 4.2 blocks per game. The Houston Rockets successfully entered the finals.In the finals, facing the O'Dolan Magic led by Shaquille O'Neal and Penny Hardaway, the Houston Rockets won four consecutive games, swept their opponents to win the championship, and completed the defense.

In an interview with reporters, Rudy Tomjanovich said: "We have not been favored all the way. For those who don't believe in us, I have only one thing to say, never underestimate the heart of a championship." .”

At the same time, Kobe still believes that he can lead the Los Angeles Lakers to continue to hit his sixth championship, just like Olajuwon back then.

When the Los Angeles media heard Kobe's answer, their worries were a lot diluted. That's right, never underestimate the heart of a championship. Our Los Angeles Lakers have Kobe, Pau Gasol, Andrew Bynum and Key to Mr. Derek Fisher.

Then a New York media asked: "Kobe, how do you evaluate Andrew's performance? Compared with last season, do you think Andrew has become stronger?"

Hearing the question, Kobe smiled involuntarily: "This year is the 15th season of my career. In these 15 seasons, I have encountered many equal opponents, such as Tim Duncan, Iverson, McGrady, Ray Allen, Paul Pierce, Nash, Anthony Now I'm going to add one to this, and that's Andrew."

As soon as Kobe finished speaking, the media at the scene was full of noise. They didn't expect that Kobe would have such a high evaluation of Andrew.

Andrew "conquered" Kobe in just over one season and became his equal opponent.

Then the media told Andrew exactly what Kobe had just said.

After hearing this, Andrew showed a bright smile on his face and said: "If my father Michael Jordan is the king of the 21th century, then Kobe is the king of the [-]st century. I am very honored to be affirmed by him. I will continue to work hard. Try to meet him next time and continue to lead the team to defeat him."

As soon as Andrew finished speaking, the media at the scene was full of noise.

King of the 21st century! OMG!

This this this.
After the post-match interview, Kobe called Andrew an even-handed opponent, and Andrew called Kobe the king of the 21st century. The words of the two sparked heated discussions among fans.

The fans on both sides are very friendly, especially Kobe's fans, who frequently give Andrew a thumbs up, which is beautiful.

(End of this chapter)