NBA: Start by torturing Jordan and add points to upgrade

In the fifth and sixth games of the series, Wells was entrusted with an important task by the team's head coach Larry Brown, who gave him unlimited firing rights!

In a desperate situation, Brown arranged a tactical idea that he rarely gave in his life: play it the way you want! As long as you can put the ball into the basket!
After receiving this promise, Wells stood up from the bench and made the entire Magic defense cry for help!
He used his huge weight, terrifying physical fitness and soft touch to rub every player on the Magic team.

In the fifth game of the series, Wells scored 29 points and 13 rebounds with a shooting percentage of 71%!

In the sixth game of the series, Wells scored 33 points and 11 rebounds with a shooting percentage of 65%!

After two consecutive explosive performances, the Pistons successfully dragged the game into a seventh game!

The seventh game was held at Orlando's home court. A large number of fans flocked into the stadium to express their support for the team. At the same time, the players were also on high alert and they were ready to deal with the Pistons.

However, when the starting players of both teams came on the court, Rivers was stunned.

Brown, who is known for his unwillingness to adapt and inability to adapt, actually adjusted the starting lineup. He replaced Hamilton with Wells!

He will attack the Magic team's basket and inside from the beginning of the game!

Rivers' plan was mostly unsuccessful because of this change in formation.

Then, this chicken soup-type coach fell into confusion and overwhelm.

What should I do? What can I do?
These questions filled Rivers' mind.

By the time he reacted, the Magic were already 10 points behind the Pistons!
Then Rivers quickly adjusted the tactics, letting Duncan play singles in the low post, letting Duncan go to the low post to fight one-on-one with Rashid!

How do you describe this choice?

Not very smart!

After all, although Rashid's statistics are just so-so and he has rarely been selected for the defensive lineup, anyone who has studied his games knows: Rashid's ability on the defensive end is definitely much stronger than his on-court statistics!
What he is best at is top defense and one-on-one in the low post!

In that finals battle with the Lakers F4, the Pistons relied on Rasheed's low-post hard-line defense and Big Ben's wandering around to assist in defense, which limited O'Neal's lethality to the ordinary 20+10 level.

Of course, Kobe played a big role that year by defending O'Neal.

But in the following year, the two Huas successfully defended against O'Neal, who was in his prime and ranked second in MVP that year. Although they lost in the finals, they also restricted Duncan badly.

In short, under the restriction of Wallace, Duncan's success rate in low-post singles was not high that night, and he failed to play with the dominance that Rivers hoped he would.

But even so, Rivers did not think of changing his tactics.

Then when the substitutes came on the court, Hamilton, who had been well-rested, put in another brilliant performance against the Magic's substitutes, who were not strong at all, and displayed his dribbling skills, which he usually didn't like to show off.

Throughout the first half, the Magic were suppressed by the Pistons!
Rivers was completely blown away by Larry Brown!
Moreover, he was exposed in the aspects of adaptability and on-the-spot performance, which are the aspects that Brown is most criticized for, the worst at, and the areas he is least good at.

Brown used his own shortcomings to defeat Rivers!

During the halftime break, Rivers took out his special chicken soup as usual and fed it to his players.

But unfortunately, after so many years, these people have been fighting under Rivers for so long that they have become immune to his chicken soup for the soul skills.

They won't buy it! Their bodies and souls have already developed antibodies from top to bottom and from the inside out!

Therefore, Rivers' chicken soup failed to help the team regain its feeling and reverse the decline in the second half.

They can rely on the singles and abilities of McGrady and Duncan to keep the score close, but how can they close the gap or even overtake it?
They are always just that one step away!

In the last 2 minutes of the fourth quarter, Rasheed and Billups cooperated in a high-post pick-and-roll. Rasheed retreated outside and Billups cut inside. Then Billups attracted the defense and passed the ball to Rasheed outside the 3-point line.

"Shh!"

This crisp sound not only widened the score gap to 10 points, but also basically ended the Magic's season. At the same time, it also allowed Rashid, who was called garbage, a cancer, a prison warden and a street bastard, to prove himself once again!

Rasheed Wallace is back in the public eye!

Duncan and McGrady were still able to score points in the next 2 minutes, but facing the extremely stable Pistons players and little time left, the 10-point gap seemed like an insurmountable chasm, and the Magic could never get over that hurdle!

"Buzz!"

As the buzzer sounded to end the game, the Magic lost again!
They were defeated again and again!

They lost in the first round again.

When they once again had an absolute advantage, they were shamefully eliminated!

In recent years, the Magic team has experienced every possible way of reversal in sports history, including the black eight, the comeback after leading 3:1, and being repeatedly defeated by opponents despite having an absolute advantage.

Since forming the F00 combination that excited all of Orlando in the 01-4 season, the Magic have been able to dominate the regular season every year and have been called the team most likely to challenge the Pacers' dominance every year.

However, in the past three years, they have not even been able to enter the Eastern Conference Finals once, let alone defeat the Pacers to win the championship! They have never met the Pacers!
Every time, they claim to be the Pacers' biggest enemy, then fail prematurely and fall early.

Last year and this year, they were eliminated directly in the first round, once by the eighth and once by the sixth.

After this round of games, a very serious discussion began within the Magic team.

They have to consider changing the team's team-building strategy.

At the very least, if we continue fighting like this, it will definitely not work!
Within the Magic team, there are currently three options:

1. Get rid of Rivers.

2. Get the hell out of here with Rivers!

3. Let Rivers, this idiot, get out of here right now! FUXX!
Well, to put it simply, the Magic team quickly reached a consensus on these three options during this internal meeting.

Their only disagreement was whether or not to use swear words when asking Rivers to get out, and if so, how many swear words should be used.

Bringing too much seems disrespectful.

You didn't bring much, did you? But after you brought everything, you still don't want to have enough fun?
If I don’t take it, I can’t swallow this.

The team has invested so much, has so many top stars, and is still paying luxury tax, and this is the result you give us?
Being eliminated in the first round consecutively?

Damn it! The more I think about it, the angrier I get.

So, less than an hour after the end of the seventh game, the Magic didn't even let Rivers have a good sleep, and issued a statement late at night that the team decided to fire Rivers and wished him all the best in his future life!
The Magic are also destined to enter a new era.

As these first-round games came to an end one after another, the league also announced a number of awards for this year.

The Rookie of the Year award was won by Stoudemire with almost unanimous votes. This season, Stoudemire averaged 13 points and 8 rebounds per game, which is not amazing looking at the statistics.

But firstly, his playing style is so explosive and beautiful, and his various dunks make everyone's blood boil. Secondly, he is a high school student, and his future is definitely exciting. The third one is the most important.

This rookie class sucks.

How bad is it?

Ginobili, who averaged less than 8 points per game this season, ranked third in the best rookie rankings, behind only Stoudemire and Caron Butler.
In addition to these three, the other two in the top five are Gru Gooden and Nene Hilario.

The quality of this class of rookies was not high to begin with, and now the backbone Yao Ming is missing. The rest of the guys are just mediocre.

As for the best rookie team, the first team is Stoudemire, Nene, Butler, Gooden and Ginobili. The second team is not important. Anyway, no one knows these players.
In addition, the Most Improved Player award was undoubtedly given to O'Neal Jr. This season, O'Neal Jr. averaged 22 points, 11 rebounds and 2 blocks per game in the regular season, an absolute top inside level, especially his fierce style of play and toughness on the defensive end, which perfectly meets the needs and fantasies of Salt Lake City people.

As for O'Neal himself, after leaving the Lakers, his abilities were finally fully revealed and he could fully unleash his own brilliance instead of growing slowly under the wings of O'Neal and Kobe.

Now, the Jazz are just waiting for a top point guard to join the team so that they can restore the reputation of the team's former black and white duo!
The Best Sixth Man Award is the most fiercely contested and difficult to decide award. Bobby Jackson of the Kings and Michael Redd of the Bucks are evenly matched in terms of both statistics and performance.

Relatively speaking, the Kings had a better record, but Reed had a higher attendance rate. He played in 82 games, while Jackson only played in 56 games.

When the results were announced, perhaps because the trade after the All-Star Game pushed Reed into the starting position, many people no longer regarded him as a pure sixth man, so Bobby Jackson was ultimately elected the best sixth man of the year.

During the first round of the playoffs, the league announced these major awards. The following best team, best defensive team, best defensive player and the year-end award MVP will definitely not be awarded until the second round of the playoffs or even the conference finals!

It is worth mentioning that according to advance revelations by some reporters, various analyses and discussions, as well as the odds given by bookmakers in Las Vegas, this year's MVP candidates are very interesting!
There are not many people who have the best chance of winning the MVP award this year, and there are currently 6 people with the highest odds.

They are Lin Tian and Jordan from the Pacers, Kobe and O'Neal from the Lakers, and Duncan and McGrady from the Magic.

Well... six people, from three of the strongest teams in the league!

The rest of the players, such as Kidd, Nowitzki, Peja and others, although they also performed well and the team's record was remarkable, but compared with these six people, they were indeed a little worse.

The OK combination of the Lakers continued their extremely strong performance this season. Kobe's average points per game this season exceeded O'Neal for the first time, becoming the team's scoring leader. He averaged 30.1 points, 6.9 rebounds, 5.9 assists and 2.2 steals per game this season, which is definitely the top performance in the NBA!
Kobe is definitely one of the top five players in the league now. Well, a player at the level of top five in the league!
In addition, O'Neal played only 67 games this season due to injuries, but he was still able to contribute 27.5 points, 11.1 rebounds and 2.4 blocks! As long as he is there, the Lakers have the most destructive center and behemoth under the basket in NBA history!

Kobe and O'Neal both have hopes of winning the MVP!
On the Magic side, McGrady also played the best performance of his career, averaging 30.5 points, 6.5 rebounds and 5.5 assists per game, and scoring 30 points for the first time in his career! If the Magic last season was Duncan's team, then this season, McGrady can definitely compete for the top spot!
As for Duncan, he maintained his usual stability. His average of 23 points, 13 rebounds and 3 blocks per game was the least eye-catching and the ugliest among the MVP candidates. However, his role in the basket and his all-around performance on both offense and defense made it impossible for anyone to exclude him from the MVP candidates.

Then, there are the two leaders of the Pacers who share the scoring title, Lin Tian and Jordan.

There is nothing much to say about these two. They have won more than half of the MVPs in the past 10 years. They are the strongest and second strongest players in the league in the past decade!
As for who is first and who is second between the two of them?
Anyway, both of them think they are number one!

And because this year's MVP candidates are almost all from the same team, there is really no situation this year where teammates split votes or teammates are too strong and have a negative impact on one's chance of winning the MVP.

After all, among the players who are slightly worse than these six, Kidd's statistics are disgusting, Nowitzki is always a little bit lacking, and although Garnett is versatile and stable, his team's record is far behind and his statistics are not explosive.

After analyzing all aspects, and considering that this year's regular season scoring title was shared by Lin Tian and Jordan, many people actually feel that this season's MVP might end up with a double yolk!

Lin Tian just didn’t believe it.

121 reporters vote, and each can cast five votes with completely different score weights, and can vote for anyone in the league.

With this kind of rule, God knows how many variations and completely different arrangements and combinations there can be.

Let me put it this way, with this voting system, if the MVP is evenly divided, the probability is definitely smaller than the probability of winning the lottery jackpot!
unless
Just like lottery, can it all be manipulated by humans?
hiss.
It's so scary, I can't think too deeply about it! It's too scary!
If Stern knew that Lin Tian was thinking this way, he might just have someone put a sack on Lin Tian's head, tie a piece of cement to his feet, and then sink it directly into the Atlantic Ocean.

Anyway, in this situation, double MVP? Anyway, Lin Tian thinks it is bullshit and a dream.

As for who will win the prize in the end? If you ask Lin Tian to vote, he will definitely vote for himself.

Lin Tian is very sure that he is the bad guy in the super chef exam in The Chef Boy who gave 1 point to the other party and 10 points to himself!

Hehe, don’t give your voting rights to me, Mr. Lin!

It is also worth mentioning that someone from China called Lin Tian these few days and informed him of the good news.

This year's Laureus Awards will be held in Monte Carlo, Morocco on May 5.

The Laureus Awards, as the largest annual event in the sports world, are actually still very young. This award was first presented in 2000.

But relying on its financial strength, proper publicity, and huge scale, this award has developed rapidly in just a few years and has become a comprehensive sports awards ceremony with great influence!
At the same time, this thing is also called the Oscar and Nobel Prize in the sports world. Winning the Laureus Award is definitely one of the highest levels of praise and honor an athlete can receive!

The above comments were all made by reporters.

But Lin Tian felt that these reporters who were exaggerating so harshly must be water armies.

If the Laureus Awards 20 years later are still worthy of this praise and status, then the current ones? Not nearly so!
For Lin Tian, ​​this is just a new small award.

This time, Hua Xia called Lin Tian to ask him if he had time to go.

Do you have time? Of course not!

Lin Tian said that not only did he not have time to receive the award, he didn't even plan to record a VCR or video.

There's no way he and Lawrence have a bad relationship.

At the same time, he also said that Lawrence was really insincere! Knowing that the NBA season ends in June, you insisted on holding the award ceremony in May, which means you don't take me, Mr. Lin, seriously!

No! Don't give it face!

The reason for not going was not only the schedule conflict, but the more important reason was that Lin Tian had received an invitation from Lawrence in 01, saying that he and the Chinese men's basketball team were nominated for the Athlete of the Year and the Best Sports Team of the Year.

That time was of course because Lin Tian not only won the NBA championship and the MVP annual Grand Slam, but also led the Chinese team to defeat the Dream Team for the first time in history and won the Sydney Olympic Games championship!
This is definitely an event of great influence in the history of basketball!
Anyway, Lin Tian felt that since there was no World Cup that year, there should be a high probability that he and the Chinese team would win an award, at least they could win one, right?
But unfortunately, that year, neither the best athlete nor the best sports team were awarded to Lin Tian or the Huaxia team.

The best athlete of the year was given to Tiger Woods, and the best team of the year was given to the French football team that won the European Cup.

Although the French team is the first football team in history to win the World Cup and the European Cup consecutively, Lin Tian is not convinced anyway.

You calculated your results in 98 only this time. Aren't you shameless?
In the end, China did not gain nothing. Yao Ming won the Rookie of the Year award, which was considered a consolation prize.

But Lin Tian was obviously very unhappy with this consolation prize.

What about sending beggars away?

So this time, Lin Tian rejected all the invitations without even thinking about it.

No matter whether it is the face of the Chinese Basketball Association or Lawrence, I won’t give it!
It's your fault that you left me with nothing last time. This time, I won't even let you record the VCR.

Then, to Lin Tian’s surprise, less than two days after he rejected the Basketball Association, just as he was about to start the first game of the second round of the playoffs, Yu Weili from the track and field department also called him.

"Give us some face, Xiaolin. Lawrence is very sincere this time. They said they will definitely give us some big prizes. They hope you can at least record a VCR or something to make them feel good."

"That means the Best Male Athlete award was given to me, right?"

"If not you, who else can I give it to? Look at what you did last year. You dominated the 100-meter race, won the NBA and World Championships, and also won three consecutive NBA titles and two consecutive World Championships titles."

"Just based on your achievement, you deserve two awards!"

"I know that you must be upset that they stood you up last time and didn't give you the award. Didn't we not have enough influence back then? This time, our influence is enough! They are the ones who started begging us to participate!"

"That won't work either. I've received the award, but where are my brothers?"

"The basketball team should have a hard time." Yu Weili said without further ado: "There is a World Cup this year. I think the award should go to Brazil."

"I don't care who they give it to. If they don't give it to me, then they are not giving me face. If they don't give me face, then I won't cooperate with their promotion!"

At this point, Lin Tian suddenly understood.

It seems that the Laureus Awards were awarded because of his influence and fame!
In the past two years, it was the Chinese side that hoped that they would give the award to add to their resumes, but now, it is Lawrence's turn to beg the Chinese team to receive the award?
Lin Tian instinctively felt that there must be other benefits, so he directly rejected Yu Weili and said to the old man: "If they are sincere, let them come to talk to me themselves. My phone number is not a secret. What's the point of always asking someone to pass on the message?"

As soon as Lin Tian said this, Yu Weili, who knew Lin Tian very well, immediately understood what Lin Tian meant.

This matter can be discussed, but it requires extra money!
It's fine as long as we can talk. Yu Weili is just passing on a message anyway. His mission is accomplished if they can talk. Yu Weili breathed a sigh of relief and started calling the people who asked him for help to tell them the details.

As for Lin Tian, ​​he didn't have to wait long.

He waited for only four days, and after beating the Celtics twice in a row at the team's home court, he arrived in Boston with a 4:2 lead and was preparing for the away game when his phone suddenly rang. It was an unfamiliar number.

"Hello, Lin, I'm Rupert." A very deep voice with a distinct European accent came over.

"Rupert? There's no need for that. It's just a Laureus Award. The old man called me personally?" Because he had been thinking about the Laureus Award these days, Lin Tian immediately thought of who this Rupert was.

The so-called Laureus Award is actually the result of cooperation between two super large groups.

Daimler Group and Richemont Group.

There is no need to say much about Daimler, it’s Mercedes-Benz!
As for Richemont Group.

They are the world's second largest luxury goods sales company, with dozens of top luxury brands under their umbrella, covering categories such as watches, luggage, fashion, perfume, firearms, etc. The most famous top brands such as Vacheron Constantin, Jaeger-LeCoultre, A. Lange & Söhne, Cartier, IWC, Piaget, etc. are all their products.

Their annual sales are absolutely astronomical!
Countless people are crazy about their products, and countless people have saved money for several years just to own a watch or other decoration of theirs.

This is a behemoth that can influence global fashion trends!

The leader of this group is Anton Rupert.

In addition, this old man loves playing golf the most. He claims that his life is all about playing golf except making money. Lin Tian thinks this is probably the important reason why Tiger Woods won the Best Athlete Award in the previous two Laureus Awards.

It’s totally customized and full of inside information!

The rich man got a prize for himself to chase his idol!

No wonder he didn’t win the awards in previous years. As an old South African, he must prefer football to basketball.

but
Is he so proud now? For a prize, for face, the old man called to invite him personally?
If I were to invite you myself.
When adding money, you can add less and get a discount!

"I don't think I'm the Rupert you're talking about." The voice on the other end of the phone was slightly stunned: "Mr. Lin, you should be talking about my grandfather. I'm Tom Rupert, and I'm in charge of this year's Lawrence Awards."

"I am a very direct person, Mr. Lin. We want to quickly expand the influence of the Laureus Awards. We hope to make it a global, world-class award that is truly influential and appealing, and has great value."

“We need people from all walks of life in the sports industry to help us and support us, and you are the sports star we are most optimistic about in the near future! We think you have the opportunity to become a world-class sports star like Pele, Ronaldo, Maradona or Michael Jordan!”

"So, this time we really hope that you can attend our awards ceremony in Monaco. As for the conditions, you can mention them and we will try our best to meet them."

"You are very direct!" Lin Tian said, "What a coincidence. I am also a very direct person without any scheming. I really don't understand business and negotiation, but I know the NBA schedule very well."

"Your awards ceremony was in early May, and at that time, our Eastern Conference semifinals were still going on, so I obviously didn't have time to go."

"We have studied your schedule. If you can defeat your opponent as soon as possible and your opponents are evenly matched, then you will be able to get about a week of rest time. Including the three days for the round trip and the ceremony, you can still rest for four days!"

"I asked an actuary to calculate it. The Nets and Pistons, as well as the Mavericks and SuperSonics, are both likely to play to a Game 7, so you should be able to spare some free time in a week!"

"Mr. Lin, we are really sincere and we know what you want. We have many luxury goods and we need to find an athlete with a healthy image and super high popularity as our spokesperson. Can we talk?"

"I'm not interested in money at all! I'm not interested in those business cooperations either! Otherwise, I would have been covered in endorsements! I'm sorry, your so-called sincerity and determination can't impress me or convince me. I'm still not going this time."

"Mr. Lin! Mr. Lin! Please listen to our terms! We can give the annual best sports team award to you and your national team. Brazil won the World Cup last year! Wouldn't it be great to get a trophy from them?"

"That's the Brazilian football team! The most popular sports team in the world! Barely one of them."

"I'm sorry, I'm not interested in money or fame." Lin Tian continued to refuse: "Besides, I always feel that this award should have been ours two years ago. Returning what we owe to me is not a reward or a benefit, but something you should do."

"Okay, Mr. Rupert, I'm very busy and I don't have time. I still have to train! I want to win the championship this year. Other than that, money, endorsements, exposure, and awards are meaningless to me!"

“So, if you really need anything, you can contact my agent instead of me, and maybe we can work together next year.”

"I have no interest in these at all!"

After emphasizing it again, Lin Tian hung up the phone.

Of course, if someone familiar with Lin Tian heard what Lin Tian just said on the phone, he would definitely give a comment without hesitation: Nonsense! Full of lies! Not even one word is true!

Well, except for the sentence "I want to win the championship", the rest is almost all bullshit!
And if someone who knows Lin Tian better, such as Pelinka, a guy with a heart as dirty as an ink bottle, heard what Lin Tian just said, he could summarize what Lin Tian wanted to express.

Add more money! More money!

Thinking of Pelinka, Lin Tian immediately made a phone call. He had to be honest with Pelinka.

Only with effective communication can you gain more benefits!
Otherwise, if Pelinka comes up and says you have to pay more, will they still give you the bottom price?

You have to act embarrassed, painful, and torn, as if you want money but your boss doesn't want to make any, in order to get more benefits!
After listening to what Lin Tian said, Pelinka gave two reactions.

"You really are a genius at conspiracy!"

as well as:

"You are such a shameless bastard! You have created such a persona for yourself, don't you have nightmares? Thinking of all the lies you have told, aren't you afraid of going to hell?" (End of this chapter)