NBA: Start by torturing Jordan and add points to upgrade

"Ah? You're asking me what I think about Game 7?" On the afternoon before Game 7 of the Western Conference Finals, Lin Tian was finally caught by reporters on his way to the Pacers training hall for training. They hurriedly began to ask Lin Tian what he thought about the opponent.

There is no way. The players of the two teams over there are almost dead on the field. Let alone interviews, we can’t even take photos now. How can we let them express their opinions?
Therefore, the reporters could only focus their attention on Lin Tian.

"I heard that they played four overtimes in the last game, and this series has already played nine overtimes. In the last game, six players played more than 9 minutes. Are these new NBA historical records?"

"Yes!" When the reporters saw that Lin Tian actually started to ask back, they immediately perked up!

This must be something useful! Write it down, write it all down!
"I don't think it's enough." Lin Tian stretched out his hand and shook his fingers quickly: "I think the intensity of the game is not enough, the playing time is not enough, and the number of overtimes is too small!"

"If you ask me, I hope they can break the single overtime record in NBA history, rather than being satisfied with the single overtime record in the playoffs. Nine overtimes in a single round of the series is not very stable and can be easily caught up by latecomers."

"As for the fact that six players played for more than 6 minutes, I don't think it sounds good either."

"If I were to express a hope and opinion about Game 7, I would hope that they would play seven overtimes and create a real first record in history! And it would be best if they could have 2-3 players playing for more than 70 minutes! As far as I know, no one in the NBA has played for more than 70 minutes in a single game!"

"The previous record seemed to be 69 minutes? This number is too inelegant! It affects the reputation and image of our alliance, and we must break it! We must break this number to more than 70 minutes! This is for the sake of the alliance! And in the context of our China, the number 8 is very auspicious!"

"Kobe is so popular in China because he wears No. 8, which makes him particularly popular. So I hope that in the next game, 8 players from both sides can play for more than 68 minutes! That will allow them to get a bonus from the mysterious power of the East! It will make their luck even better!"

“如此一来的话，这轮系列赛将会同时拥有单场7个加时赛、整轮系列赛16个加时、单名球员单场上场时间超过70分钟、同场比赛多名球员登场时间超过70或者最少65分钟等荣耀！”

"Then this round of the series will become the greatest, most tense, most memorable, most exciting, thrilling, and adrenaline-pumping series in the history of the NBA!"

"Great! And the greatest of all!"

"That's how I feel about this series, I hope they can become the greatest series in history!"

After Lin Tian finished speaking, he nodded, turned around and left, walked into the Pacers' training hall, leaving behind a group of reporters looking at each other in bewilderment.

A few people looked at each other, and then I didn't know who spoke first.

"I have never seen such a shameless person in my life!"

"Me too!"

"Me too!"

"That's it!"

"How shameless!"

"The greatest of all time? Otherwise, just give the trophy to the Pacers! If the game 7 really went to overtimes, the trophy could definitely be given to the Pacers."

"I think if we give them the trophy in advance, with Lin's character and face, he will definitely accept it without hesitation!"

"Yes, yes, that's it! It's absolutely true!"

A group of reporters from different newspapers nodded and happily reached a consensus.

Then everyone said goodbye and left without saying anything more.

Today's interview was not in vain. Not only did I truly witness Lin Tian's shamelessness, but I also gained a lot of things to write about.

Great harvest!

"Too few overtime games! Not enough playing time! Lin bluntly said this series is not exciting enough!"

"It could be the greatest series in history! Lin put forward several requirements and expectations for the seventh game!"

"Is this the regional finals he wanted to watch? If you've been caught in the rain, you'll break other people's umbrellas too!"

"After playing 48 minutes in four consecutive games in the first round, Lin is looking forward to the series between the Timberwolves and the Lakers!"

"Not enough! Not enough! We need to continue with overtime! Lin Tian is simply a devil!"

"Is there any evaluation that is more sincere and from the heart than this? The reporter believes that Lin's words are all from the heart!"

……

"Derrick, no, forget it. You've been playing for quite some time. Hey, Luke, come here, tear up this newspaper of mine and burn it somewhere." O'Neal slumped in front of his locker, holding a stack of newspapers and handed them to Walton.

You don't even need to read the headline, just look at the guy on the front page who's smiling as brightly and obscenely as Tian Boguang, and you'll know what's in the newspaper.

"And this one, I threw this away too." Kobe handed his newspaper to Walton as well.

Walton, the son of a famous player who just joined the team this year, scratched his head and looked at everyone else and said, "Does anyone else need me to throw?"

"All of them! Throw them all out!" Jackson, who had just walked into the locker room from outside, now had a frighteningly dark face. As for the reason for his ugly face, one could tell by just taking a look at the newspaper in his hand.

The same lustful smile as Lin Tian.

So brilliant!

Jackson was rightly outraged.

Damn it! I have been in the industry for more than ten years, and it has always been me, Phil Jackson, who tortures and teases the nerves and psychology of my opponents. I am the only one who stimulates others, so how can others stimulate me?

Today, that bastard Lin Tian launched an indiscriminate AOE attack directly on the Timberwolves and the Lakers.

I'm so angry!
What? Want to be better than your teacher?

Jackson felt that his special move was stolen by someone else. Not only that, but someone else used it better and more powerfully than him.

Irritability!

Quite annoying!
Jackson felt at this moment as if the safe containing all his savings and rings had been robbed.

The old man feels so uncomfortable!
But no matter how uncomfortable it was, what could he do?

Can he make the team give up the game, or can he make the Timberwolves give up the game?

At this point in the series, the strength of both sides is absolutely evenly matched, which is why there are so many overtime games.

Needless to say, the upcoming tiebreaker seven will be another evenly matched fight!

Who will gain the upper hand, whether there will be overtime, and how many overtimes will be played are all unknown.

Thinking of this, Jackson couldn't help but shiver.

A very bad premonition came to my mind.

Damn, there won’t really be 6-7 overtimes today, right? That bastard Lin can’t be that accurate, right?

Well...of course it's not that accurate.

Among Lin Tian’s props, there is no such thing as 100% certainty of catching a blade with bare hands or something like the law of cause and effect.

He's not that good, and he can't make the two teams 100% even or 100% go into overtime.

His words were truly from the bottom of his heart! They reflected his true inner thoughts.

He could only pray and hope that the two teams could really play for that long. Apart from that, there was nothing else he could do.

Therefore, this game did not go into overtime, and neither side was able to break any records such as playing 70 minutes in a single game or having double-digit overtime in a single series.

Pity.

But this seventh game proved another famous saying.

An unknown chess game!

The closer the game gets to being life-or-death, the more likely it is that both sides will play the game terribly due to caution, nervousness, anxiety, lack of physical strength, poor condition, etc.

Like this evening!

Kobe played for 47 minutes, made 23 of 6 shots and scored 19 points. O'Neal played for 45 minutes, made 21 of 8 shots and scored 22 points. Apart from these two players, no third player on the Lakers scored in double digits!

The situation on the Timberwolves side was similar. Iverson played the entire game, made 31 of 8 shots and only scored 24 points. Garnett played 46 minutes, made 18 of 6 shots and scored 15 points.

In their entire team, only these two players scored in double digits!

The four top players played extremely badly tonight due to various reasons such as defensive strength and physical barriers! Apart from these four, the performances of the other players were not much better.

斯泽比亚克3分球9投1中，费舍尔3分球7投0中，斯普雷维尔全场比赛14投2中只拿到6分，湖人的普林斯和基里连科俩人加起来10投2中只拿5分。

Bad! Everybody is bad! They are all terrible, they can't make shots, they all play like a big lump!
But even so, the suspense of this game continued until the very last moment. Regardless of whether the score was big or small, the stars on both sides really couldn't rest for even a minute, and they couldn't leave the court unless they got cramps.

69: 67!

With 3 minutes and 30 seconds left in the game, the Timberwolves were still leading by 2 points!
With 30 seconds left in the game, the score was still 69:67, and the Timberwolves were still leading by 2 points!
For a full 3 minutes, neither side could score a single point. This shows how tired both sides were!

They really can't fight anymore, they are really exhausted!

At this time, the person who stood up was Szczerbiak, who had made 3 of his first 8 three-point shots.

This guy received the ball on the wing, and Prince, who was defending him, was almost gasping for breath with his tongue sticking out. All he could do was to open his hands to interfere and jump as much as possible. He really didn't have the energy to do much else.

Considering that Szczerbiak made 8 of his first 0 shots and has only scored 2 points so far tonight, Prince's defense is not outrageous.

But sometimes, what is supposed to happen, will happen.

"Shh!"

Two seconds later, a crisp sound was heard and Szczerbiak made a 2-pointer, expanding the Timberwolves' lead to 3 points!
67: 72!

With 27 seconds left in the game, the Lakers have few chances left!
But more importantly, the Lakers really can't run or attack now.

Even a physical monster like Kobe was dribbling the ball to the front court very slowly at this moment. He really couldn't hold it anymore.

After coming to the frontcourt, Kobe just jumped up and threw a 3-pointer!
"Shh!"

Then, there was a crisp sound, but no one in Staples Center celebrated.

Because the basketball did not touch the basket, it was the net that was moved when it passed under the basket.

An air ball!

Kobe's air ball also helped the Timberwolves defeat the Lakers.

In the remaining time, the Lakers, who were out of ammunition and food, were unwilling to give up, and they could only resort to foul tactics.

Iverson was sent to the free throw line, and after making 2 of 1 free throws, with 17 seconds left, the Timberwolves led by 6 points! Then the Lakers had another nearly desperate three-pointer from Fisher.

After this goal missed, the suspense of the game officially ended!

The Timberwolves won this close combat victory with a 6-point advantage and advanced to the next round on the road with a score of 4:3!

They made it to the finals for the first time in team history!
Of course, it is worth mentioning that this year is also the first time in their team history that they have reached the Western Conference semifinals and Western Conference Finals.

Well, this crappy team had never won even a single series before this year!

All of this has been saved up for this year, and the remaining suspense is whether they can win the finals!

Good news for the Timberwolves: The Finals start in Minnesota.

Bad news: After the Game 1, the Pacers left for Minnesota overnight to adapt to the venue and climate, but the Timberwolves were too tired to travel and had to stay in Los Angeles for another night. Good news: After arriving in Minnesota, they can rest for another day, for a total of 48 hours of rest.

The bad news: The Pacers have had a rest week.

Good news: After arriving in Minnesota, Lin Tian openly stated that this series was his favorite series in his life! Love it! The only pity is that the two sides did not play 20 overtimes.

The bad news: The Timberwolves didn't like this series at all, and they almost died of exhaustion on the court.

Good news: At the draft lottery before the finals, the Bobcats, who had officially passed all reviews and won the right to participate in the new NBA season, won the No. 1 pick.

Bad news: This has nothing to do with the Timberwolves!
It has something to do with Lin Tian.

Just after Jordan got the Bobcats' first No. 1 pick, this guy was so excited!
He felt that he had secured the victory! A perfect start, a perfect starting point, and amazing luck!

Anyway, Jordan felt that the goal he had set for this team before was to enter the playoffs in 3 years, reach the finals in 5 years and win the championship, which seemed a bit conservative! Entering the playoffs in 4 years and winning the championship in years seemed to be the most suitable for this new team!

The ambitious Jordan called Lin Tian as the first thing after getting the No. 1 pick.

"Lin, we got the No. 1 pick! No. 1 pick! How about it, would you consider coming to Charlotte to work with me this time?"

"Who have you decided to choose?" Lin Tian did not answer Jordan's question, but asked directly.

Although this year's rookie class is not as star-studded as the 03 class, it still has top talents and outstanding players!

With hindsight, there was Dwight Howard, a top star who was an MVP in his prime, and there were also stars who had made the All-Star team, such as Ben Gordon, Luol Deng, Andre Iguodala, Devin Harris, and Al Jefferson.

There are also very good players who are at the team's main level, such as Josh Smith, JR Smith, Jameer Nelson, Tony Allen, and Kevin Martin.

Of course, there are also players who failed to reach their talent ceiling for various reasons, which makes people feel infinitely sad: Shaun Livingston and Josh Childress.

However, judging from the pre-draft calls and predictions from various media, Howard and Emeka Okafor are the two most watched and most promising rookies in this year's draft.

Howard has monster-like physical fitness and very good body size, but the disadvantage is that this guy is a high school student, his techniques are very rough, and his mentality is not very mature.

As for Okafor, although his physical fitness and predicted ceiling are not as good as Howard's, he also has a perfect body and solid skills. His combat effectiveness far exceeds that of Howard. Many people believe that he can contribute 15+10 data as soon as he enters the league, and he will definitely have no problem becoming the top card of a team!
One has higher talent, the other has better combat effectiveness.

Logically speaking, considering the Bobcats were poor and had just been established, Jordan should have chosen Howard, who was more talented and had a better chance of becoming a star, to pursue his ceiling. After all, it was a new team, so the important thing was to wait for a few years and then find some players in the draft and free market to round out the roster!

But Jordan obviously didn't think so!
"Emeka Okafor! I've already made up my mind, no! I've already decided to pick him! This guy is an absolute genius! I think he may not be able to reach Hakeem's level, but he will definitely be able to reach Patrick's level!"

"High school students are too unstable! There are too many high school students in this league who claim to be extremely talented but end up being fakes. I won't consider them!"

Listening to Jordan's words, Lin Tian knew that this guy was still immersed in the failed experience of choosing Kwame Brown and couldn't get over it.

You old man, one high school student is not enough, you are denying all the high school students in the world!

Considering the friendship between the two, Lin Tian hesitated for a moment and then said: "But Michael, think about Kobe, McGrady, Garnett, O'Neal, and James who just entered the league! They are all high school students! They are all successful!"

"There are many unsuccessful ones! For example, Tyson Chandler." Jordan's tone was a little more impatient: "Anyway, I won't choose a high school student! And we shouldn't talk about this now, come to Charlotte!"

"Beep beep..."

Of course Lin Tian could hear the perfunctory tone from Jordan, so he stopped talking nonsense with the old guy and hung up the phone directly.

Good words can't persuade the damn ghost, the damn doll Jill is facing upwards.

Too lazy to talk nonsense to him.

It’s what this crappy team deserves for not being able to win a single series in 20 years.

After hanging up the call with Jordan, Lin Tian also changed his clothes.

The Pacers have another training session today!

In other words, they got a total of 9 days of vacation after the Eastern Conference Finals!

Except for the first four days when the team did not arrange any training and let them rest and indulge themselves, the Pacers' training intensity was maxed out in the remaining days!

Carlisle has regained the training intensity that he had not had during the entire playoffs in the past few days.

As for the reason?

In a competition of this level, the more rest you get, the better.

There are countless playoffs in history where teams were too relaxed and took too long to rest, and then were defeated by their opponents who were at full strength at the start, resulting in the loss of a good situation!
Carlisle knew that in terms of absolute strength, the Pacers were definitely inferior to the Timberwolves. Their only advantage was actually one, Lin Tian.

Therefore, if we can't take advantage of the fact that the Timberwolves are trying their best in the Western Conference Finals and now everyone is like a coward, and do our best to attack them, then when they recover, it will be hard to say who will win!

Therefore, Carlisle led the team in training while giving the players tactical analysis lessons. At the same time, he prohibited the players from going out for fun after resuming training.

So, even though the Pacers advanced to the finals a long time ago, they were photographed by many paparazzi when they went out to have fun and indulge themselves.

But in fact, these people did not get carried away at all, nor did they let go completely.

They have a very good sense of scale!
Or to put it more directly: the Pacers are at their peak!
Among all their players who can play, each one is in better shape than the other!

Everyone is full of confidence!
Physical strength, energy, condition, preparation for the competition and everyone's determination are at their peak!
The Pacers are ready for everything!
As for the Timberwolves on the other side...

Head coach Saunders didn't even give them much of a lesson on the Pacers' tactical analysis.

After the bloody battle in the Western Conference Finals, this group of people were really exhausted and felt weak all over!

After the divisional finals, they rested as much as possible. The entire team did not conduct even one practice. At most, they shot together during tactical analysis to find their touch, and that was it.

Saunders' only hope is that the team can recover as much strength as possible, and then fight the Pacers to the death in this final round of the series!

But Sanders is also clear about one thing.

That is, the consumption or overdraft of the Lakers in that series was too serious.

Two days of rest would not allow his players to recover enough physical strength to cope with a finals-level series.

Whether it is Iverson or Garnett, their physical strength is not at the bottom, but overdrawn! Severe overdrawn!

Even Sanders, the head coach, actually has other thoughts in his mind.

Give up the first game of the finals and let the players rest more.

If we give up this game, then including tonight, the team will start to rest after the finals and continue to rest until the second game of the series!
That is equivalent to all the players on the team resting for almost 5 days. Even if they cannot fully recover their physical strength, at least they can recover % to %. There will be absolutely no problem for them to compete with the Pacers!
In particular, Sanders is absolutely confident in the strength of the Timberwolves!
The team has an advantage in 5 of 4 points. The only reason the team is at a disadvantage in the starting lineup is that Cassell is not as good as Lin Tian.

Given this comparison of strength, if Lin Tian was not so strong and incredible, Sanders would never have to consider holding a finals match and then fighting hard with his opponent.

While Sanders was hesitating whether to give up a game or let the Pacers take the first goal, an emergency meeting was also being held in the Pacers' locker room.

However, there were only three people participating in this meeting: Lin Tian, ​​Bird and Carlisle!
As for the rest of the team, they have already gone inside the Target Center to warm up.

"What I mean is, don't try too hard!" Lin Tian waited for everyone to leave, closed the door of the locker room, looked at Carlisle and Bird and said, "There's no need to beat the Timberwolves right away, and there's no need to let the score lead them too much."

"Fishing?" Bird's reaction was obviously faster than Carlisle's. "Don't pull hard, they will break free and run away. Don't be impatient. Be patient. Let the fish feel that they can run away, let the fish feel that freedom is right in front of them."

"Then, we find the right opportunity to catch the exhausted fish and turn them into our dinner."

After Bird said this, Carlisle reacted quickly.

"You mean to keep the Timberwolves' main players hanging, make them think they can win this game, give them hope, and prevent them from resting?"

"That's right! I know Sanders very well! He offers players shady contracts. A guy who can do such a sneaky thing will definitely surrender immediately when he sees the situation is not good so that the main players can have a rest."

"This guy is so insidious! So shameless! He has absolutely no bottom line!"

Lin Tian looked at the two leaders of the team with full confidence and continued: "In terms of real strength, we are definitely not as good as the Timberwolves. Their lineup is too balanced, and they have a very complete and excellent system on both offense and defense."

"If it's a head-on, real fight, a fair duel, I'll be honest, our chance of winning is less than 40% at most."

"But now, the people of Los Angeles have helped us a lot! The game was played to the full seventh, with 9 overtimes and 4 overtimes in a single game. The Timberwolves are now at most a bunch of little Teddy bears, the kind that are completely exhausted! What we have to do is to make the game full of suspense and make this game full of hope!"

"Let Sanders be reluctant to give up this game, and be reluctant to give up the possible victory!"

"That's what he would do. Although this guy is insidious, shameless, and loves to take advantage of small opportunities, he is not someone who can accomplish big things!"

At this point, Lin Tian paused and gave a summary: "He looks fierce but is timid, is good at making plans without decision, cherishes his body when doing big things, and forgets his life when he sees small profits! This guy is just that kind of person!"

"So, if he can see hope in the game, he will never give up! He will let his players continue to fight hard and completely overdraw their energy!"

Bird stroked his chin and continued, "In this way, they will lose the first game after being completely overdrawn. In the second game of the series, let alone a small Husky team, even if Sanders is very brave, he won't dare to let them go!"

"After two consecutive home defeats, going on the road to redeem oneself, this sounds ridiculous. If it was Phil Jackson, he might have the guts to do it, but Sanders? No need to think about it, this guy can't possibly have the guts to do this!"

"So Sanders could only continue to fight hard at home with tears in his eyes, making the team's overdraft situation even worse!"

"Then, in Indiana, it didn't matter what he wanted to do!"

"They are bound to lose this series!"

Seeing Bird's thorough analysis, Lin Tian clapped his hands excitedly and said, "Yes, that's it!"

Carlisle raised the question at this time: "There is nothing wrong with your thinking and strategy, but the problem is, if our players knew this, they would know that we were deliberately letting the game go."

"If they knew this, what if we let the game go too far tonight and couldn't control it, leading to our loss?"

“So, there are only three of us here now!” Lin Tian said with a smile: “Only the three of us need to know about this matter, the others don’t need to know!”

"As for how to let the Timberwolves keep hope, leave it to me. Have you forgotten that I'm an Oscar winner?"

"Oscar?" Carlisle was stunned for a moment. It was obvious that he couldn't remember this at all.

“First, your award was for Best Action Choreography, which has nothing to do with your performance tonight; second, your award was for the MTV Television Awards, which has nothing to do with the Oscars!” Bird rolled his eyes and directly exposed Lin Tian.

"Not an Oscar?" Lin Tian scratched his head, indicating that he couldn't remember, but they were all awards, almost the same, almost the same!
"Anyway, don't worry about my acting skills. Not only will I keep the Timberwolves hopeful and able to catch up, but I will also make their main players extremely confident!"

"Let me put it this way, for today's game, I will make it so that even if Sanders realizes what is happening and wants Garnett and Iverson to rest, they won't want to! They won't give up the chance tonight!"

"I promise to do my best in the performance."

Bird nodded quickly when he heard this, then looked at Carlisle and said, "Rick, what do you think? Or, do you have any other questions?"

Carlisle bit his lip and thought for a while. After thinking it over carefully, he was sure that there was no problem. Then he nodded and said, "Then let us take good care of the gift that the people of Los Angeles have given us!"

The plan goes through!
After reaching an agreement, the three foxes, old, middle and young, all laughed out loud like villains.

The three of them reached an agreement, pushed open the door of the locker room, and walked towards the stadium side by side.

Although the first game of the series has not started yet, these three guys have already started dreaming about the championship!

They have the entire series planned out.

Next, let’s see whether Sanders will take the bait!
What if he doesn't take the bait?
Of course Lin Tian was prepared!

As soon as he walked into the stadium, his plan had already begun to be implemented!

The main feature is a two-pronged approach, taking both the front and back paths at the same time, grasping both with both hands, and not letting go of any point!

Not taking the bait?
If you, Sanders, don't take the bait, how can those people under you not take the bait? (End of this chapter)