The Road to Stardom: Start as a Slam Dunk Master.

Chapter 334 Best Rookie Award

There are usually no surprises in these kind of control games in the last few games of the regular season, and the same is true this year.

The Kings gave up one game when they were playing the Spurs and did not try to fight hard. They seemed to want to wait and see the reaction of the SuperSonics, but the SuperSonics gave up a game to the Wizards immediately afterwards. Lin Dong only played 20 minutes and gave up the game tactically. In an instant, the king understood that it was impossible to steal the chicken, and he could only work hard to finish the rest of the game honestly, and then maintain the dignity of second place.

The only thing that's slightly surprising is that the Lakers actually lost two games. It's not a problem of strength, nor does it seem to be a problem of state. The OK combination takes turns to rest, and it feels like they want to jump to eighth on purpose.

After all, the OK group seems to have reconciled and has endless confidence at this time. They are already in seventh place anyway. It seems to be quite interesting to perform a black eight.

And judging from the situation of the Lakers against the Kings and Spurs this season, they have 2 wins and 2 losses against the Kings, but 3 wins and 1 loss against the Spurs. I feel that playing the latter is more cost-effective...

However, the Jazz behind them failed to live up to expectations. The Jazz really didn't want to meet the Spurs and tried their best to climb up, but their strength and mentality were not good, so they lost to the Celtics first, then the Bucks, and finally The Spurs, who didn't want to beat the Lakers after losing another game, used their strength to grab eighth place.

On April 4, with the end of the Charlotte Bobcats' game against the Cleveland Cavaliers, the 2-02 regular season finally came to an end.

The Cavaliers are first in the Eastern Conference, followed by the Pistons, Wizards, Nets, Pacers, 76ers, Celtics and Bucks.

There is still a big difference between the rankings in Lin Dong's memory in the 02-03 season. The main reason is that the rise of the Wizards and Cavaliers has squeezed out the positions of the Hornets and Magic.

Whether it is the return of the king of the OK combination, or Jordan VS Iverson, that is the hot topic in the league right now.

After all, there are still too few seats in the Key Arena, about 14,000 seats. Excluding some special tickets, special seats for reporters and media, etc., the actual tickets that can be sold are only about 12,000.

On Saturday, April 4, the SuperSonics will face the sixth-ranked Trail Blazers at home. The entire series will last about half a month, and the schedule is still relatively tight, with one game almost every other day.

The whole of Seattle is looking forward to this SuperSonics playoffs.

The playoff lineup and match time have also been announced on the day the regular season ends.

If it passes, the SuperSonics will still face the winner between the Lakers and Kings on April 4 at Key Arena at home.

And if it is expanded, it will at least be built to the size of a large arena with 2 people. In the future, each game can sell more tickets, and the extra share will be half of the original. It will be an absolute net profit, and with The SuperSonics are so popular now that as long as they make the momentum they deserve in this year's playoffs, even if they don't win the championship, they won't have to worry about not being able to sell tickets next year.

Pippen, who had high hopes from the Trail Blazers before, faced this SuperSonics without the majesty of the Big Three during the Bulls dynasty. Both ends of the offense and defense were beaten into pieces, and there was no hope at all, so that most of them now Ball commentators' predictions for this series are all 4:0, or 4:1 at most.

But this obviously does not affect Key Arena’s first-round playoff ticket sales.

The first Spurs, followed by the Kings, SuperSonics, Mavericks, Timberwolves, Trail Blazers, Lakers and Jazz.

In contrast, the focus of fans across the United States in the first round was on the Lakers versus the Kings and the Wizards versus the 76ers in the Eastern Conference.

So according to Bob, he hopes that Schultz will come back for a while to take charge of the overall situation, and take this opportunity to apply for special sports support funds from the Seattle government again to expand the Key Arena.

The West is consistent with previous forecasts.

The Trail Blazers originally had considerable advantages in the paint. Rasheed Wallace and Randolph could be considered the inside gates. Plus Pippen, when they played against the SuperSonics at the beginning of the season, they had the inside advantage. Obviously, he was one of the driving forces behind the Sonics' 1-6 record.

But this requires that the application and approval be completed before the end of the playoffs. First, it can make full use of the last offseason, and more importantly...

But as the Sonics' run and gun started, the Trail Blazers played against the Sonics three times since then, and lost all three times without any suspense.

Although the home team is playing against a weak team, although there is not much suspense, it is still very comfortable for the fans to watch and relieve their stress.

On the one hand, it is naturally due to the relatively slow speed of the Trail Blazers themselves. Neither Roaring Tianzun nor Randolph are agile insiders. The pure tonnage insiders are completely unable to keep up with the rhythm when facing this supersonic run and gun. , Supersonic's anti-reflection is accurate every time, it's like giving away points for free.
The defense couldn't keep up, and the offense couldn't beat it. Apart from relying on Rasheed and Randolph to force the basket, the Blazers seemed to have no other means to deal with the Sonics' rotating defense.

Regarding this series between the SuperSonics and the Trail Blazers, both Seattle fans and teams in the league have the same opinion - there is no need to play.

At present, the Sonics have become popular again in Seattle from the "gradual obsolescence" before. The Sonics prince Lin Dong has attracted a large number of young people to follow, and Payton, who has returned from injury, has brought back the popularity with a tough guy attitude. Many old fans have rekindled their passion for basketball and the past.

As for the Sonics, it's not that they don't care or that they're not popular. Their opponents are too weak to attract attention. After all, the real highlight is their collision with the Lakers in the second round.

Schultz's applications have been rejected several times before. This is because the public is not very interested in the Sonics and opposes the use of tax dollars for the Sonics. Therefore, taking advantage of the team's current popularity in Seattle, if there is a public referendum, Bob I believe that most people will support the funding from the Ministry of Finance, but if you don’t win the championship in the playoffs, it is not necessarily safe to wait until then to apply and let the people vote to decide...

It's a pity that Bob's suggestion was not adopted by Schulz. The troubles in Longguo made him sink deeper and deeper. When the team had an emergency, they might not be able to contact him immediately. The management of the team, etc. All other matters were almost completely left to Bob alone, let alone the matter of coming back to preside over the application for expansion of the arena.

It was said that he couldn't get away. Anyway, he delegated all powers and let Bob apply by himself. Bob has become a dog.

MD, it makes me feel like I am the team owner... Besides, authority is the same thing. The playoffs are coming soon. There are so many things in the team that are busy every day. He feels that it is too busy to split himself in half. There's no time to argue with the Seattle government, it's just a grind.

But it was related to the development of the team and had to be done. In the end, Yang Dong came to help.

A few days before the start of the game against the Trail Blazers, Yang Dong and Fuyao lost their second appeal again, and were ordered by the Federal Court not to appeal again within six months.

Fuyao's Ministry of Justice is naturally preparing materials for the third appeal, and is determined to fight the American Chamber of Commerce to the end. But for Yang Dong, she no longer needs to be busy with the lawsuit for the time being.

There was no need for her to go there in person to collect various appeal materials. In addition, because she was involved in a lawsuit and was suppressed by the American Chamber of Commerce, many old customers in the factory had abandoned her, resulting in a sharp drop in orders. Now Although the factory is still running, most of the orders come from the partner Fuyao, which is considered to be processing on behalf of others.

There is no need to fight the lawsuit for the time being, and the sales business that was once very busy does not need to be run for the time being. Yang Dong is also completely free, and simply plans to accompany his son throughout the whole process to see what the NBA playoffs are about, and to relax. , the past six months have really made her physically and mentally exhausted.

But there is no way, this person is used to being busy, and she can't take time off...

On the day they arrived, Bob and Payton came out to dinner. During the dinner chat, they accidentally mentioned the application for the arena to Lin Dong. They complained about Schultz and talked about the trouble of the application process and Seattle's financial situation. The young director of the department, who was from the University of Pennsylvania, was very difficult to deal with.

Yang Dongzheng is bored. Now that I hear it, isn't it a coincidence that her little personal assistant is a top student at the University of Pennsylvania, and based on age, she should be in the same class as the young manager of the Ministry of Finance whom Bob and the others mentioned. , and they both majored in operations management, so they might know each other.

So she called the Texas side and asked, and Alyssa immediately agreed to come and help, saying that it should be her senior brother. She asked the alumni circle how she could get online, including the team's request for the new arena. We can also help them with declaration work and so on.

Bob was overjoyed. It was not that he couldn't find anyone to do this kind of declaration, but that he couldn't find anyone who could reassure him to do it. And he had heard of Yang Dong's name for a long time. A woman who dares to file a lawsuit with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is also the mother of the star of her own team. Does this make you feel uneasy? What's more, they don't want any reward, it's just free help.

So I entrusted it with all the thanks, and asked the team management to fully cooperate with it regarding any materials and expenses needed.

Fortunately, although Schulz almost wiped out the team's books last month, when the playoffs started, the tickets for G1 and G2 have been sold out, and the ticket prices have soared. The average price has reached 400 per ticket. There are still more than eight million US dollars on the books, which is enough for operations.

………………

In addition, there are still many things worthy of attention in the past few days before the start of the game.

It is mainly the official voting competition for several major awards.

Best Rookie.

For the Sonics or the United States, there is almost no suspense about this award.

Even though there are a bunch of super rookies such as Wade, Anthony, Bosh and others competing for the award, they will undoubtedly be overshadowed by Lin Dong's data.

In his rookie season, he scored 37.8 points. He is the scoring leader this season, even surpassing Jordan's regular season high of 37.1, ranking third in NBA history, second only to the two records of ancient Chamberlain.

And if the rookie season is also taken into account... even the once awesome Zhang Erwan only scored 37.5 points in his rookie season.

Lin Dong's record is already the first in NBA history.

This must be the undoubtedly best rookie and first team. The only suspense for the Sonics is to see if Sakuragi Hanamichi can squeeze into the second or third team of the best rookie.

And with Lin Dong's terrifying record, the regular season MVP has become full of suspense.

Lin Dong is undoubtedly the nominee, but his competitors are no longer first-year rookies like Wade, but Tim Duncan, Kobe Bryant, and Garnett.

Originally, both O'Neal and McGrady were competitive, but the former missed too many games this season. Although the latter ranked second in the scoring list with an average of 33.4 points per game, the team did not even make the playoffs, so naturally it was basically the same. Lost the qualification to compete.

Judging from the current trend of official voting, the support rates of the four people are roughly the same, but the specific results will not be announced until around the 20th.

So the team performed their duties. A small team brought over by Alice from my mother's side began to help apply for the expansion of the arena. The team trained as usual, and Payton went to Yangping every day. Acupuncture and moxibustion are indispensable, and everything seems in order.

Soon, on April 4th, the first round of the playoffs officially started...

(End of this chapter)