So I am the god of basketball?

Chapter 125 Jordan comes back to help Meng Lang win the regular season MVP

The Pacers were in danger.

But before the sixth game of the series, Larry Brown said very calmly: "Although the season will be over if we lose one more game, but similarly, as long as we win two more games, then the New York Knicks will be better this season." This is the end. We have already won two games against them and what we have to do now is to win against them two more times!"

"Listen guys, this is definitely not the end of the world. Since the Magic were able to win 0 games in a row and complete the comeback after falling behind 3-4 last season, nothing is impossible in this league!"

"Let's win at home first, and then take the game to New York!"

This is Larry Brown's pregame speech, and he mentioned last season's Magic team.

Coincidentally, on the other side of the Western Conference, there is a series between the Rockets and the Suns.

Just like last season, the Rockets were once again trailing 4-1 in the first four games of the series. Tomjanovich also used their finals game with the Magic as an example: "Being behind by a big score is not falling behind. , only if we think we are falling behind, then we are really falling behind!”

"Guys, listen, everything we have experienced tells us that as long as it is not until the last moment, then all leading is not leading, and all falling behind is naturally not falling behind!"

"As long as you don't give up, everything is possible. It's not just the Magic who have the heart to win a championship!"

In addition, Michael Jordan also mentioned the Magic when he was fiercely against the Bulls... From this, we can see what it was like for the Magic to complete the comeback in 0 consecutive games after falling behind 3-4 in the finals last season. It's heart-wrenching.

From the end of that series, whenever the situation falls behind, this game has become an example that will inevitably be mentioned!

No matter how difficult the situation is, it won't be more difficult than the Magic in that series!

And the power that burst out from this...

The Pacers successfully won the sixth game of the series, brought the game back to New York, and successfully dragged the series to the "tie-break". And this time, they dragged the game to the last minute, just like them. It was the same in Game 6 of the series. With Reggie Miller's mid-range "quasi-win", they came from 2-3 down, pulled back two games in a row, and advanced to the Eastern Conference Finals.

Join the Magic at the top of the Eastern Conference for the second consecutive year!

Even more exciting than them was the Rockets, who were trailing 1-3. Just like last season, they chased three games in a row and finally eliminated Barkley 3-4.

"Flying Pig" had a face full of pain.

No wonder, after leading 3-1 for two consecutive years and being reversed by the Rockets, this feeling is as uncomfortable as it is.

It was as if his body was frozen all of a sudden, and he watched helplessly as his opponent stabbed his body with one knife after another, unable to give him any counterattack.

So much so that when he learned that Jordan was swept by Meng Lang 0-4, Barkley had no intention of laughing at Jordan.

His encounters with the Rockets in the playoffs in the past two years, compared to Jordan's 0-4 sweep, I really can't say which thing is more funny!

There are 4 places in the Eastern and Western Conference finals, 3 of which have been decided just like this, and the last place is decided between the Spurs and the Lakers...

The winner is the San Antonio Spurs!

They eliminated the Lakers 4-2...

The main reason why the original Olajuwon became the first of the "four major centers" is this:

He took turns cleaning up the other three in the past two years.

And they are all on big stages like the Western Conference Finals and the Finals!

No matter how arrogant a person is, he may still be speechless.

After all, the real record is here...

What's interesting is that Olajuwon has thus labeled himself "the first of the four major centers". The giegies of some teams faced others three times in the finals, and were shut out once, and were "gentleman swept" once, but they still licked their faces and ranked themselves ahead of others.

For them, winning or losing on the highest stage seems to be irrelevant.

As long as they advance to more finals, regardless of how many times they win in total, their giegie can be considered to have conquered an era!

While the Eastern and Western Conference finals were about to begin, Michael Jordan made another big move.

In other words, Chicago made a big move for him.

Since Jordan wore No. 23 to play in the last game of the series, everyone is more curious. Will Jordan continue to wear No. 45 next season, or will he change back to his No. 23?

When a reporter interviewed Jordan on the phone, a reporter also asked him about the results of this question, but Jordan did not give a final answer.

The Chicago media published this issue in their newspapers:

"Do you think it's better for Jordan to wear No. 45 or No. 23?"

The question was asked by the Chicago media and quickly caused a stir throughout the league.

The day before the Eastern Conference Finals, when reporters interviewed Meng Lang, they also asked this question, because he once said rubbish like "No. 45 Jordan is not as good as No. 23 Jordan." So they want to know what jersey number Meng Lang thinks Jordan will wear next season.

Meng Lang deliberately scratched the back of his head and showed a "naive" smile: "Actually, in my heart, Jordan No. 23 is a legend. Even after Jordan changed his jersey, he gave me the same feeling as No. 45!"

Although No. 23 Jordan is awesome, he scored a high score of 69 points in a single playoff game, but don't forget that No. 4 Jordan also scored a high score of 45 points in the fourth game of his return to the court.

It has been almost 2 months since Jordan came back, and his current state is definitely better than that time. He scored 69 points at a critical moment and was in great shape. It is not a big surprise for Jordan. .

Well, for Meng Lang, he can accept whatever data Jordan produces.

Anyway...

The final victory still belongs to Orlando.

"If he cannot regain his former dominance on the court, then I suggest that he should not wear No. 23 again!" When he said this, Meng Lang stopped pretending to be naive and answered the question very seriously.

He is not afraid that Jordan will use his 69-point performance in a single game to refute his "dominance theory."

In this league, there should be no one who would regard the explosion of data as a manifestation of personal dominance, except for someone. ——When he said that if I didn’t go to Miami, I would still be me and my dominance would not change in any way, you can know that this guy will definitely regard the data explosion as a personal dominance label. But in this regard, his so-called upper limit of statistical dominance is not higher than that of Chamberlain and Jordan, and he still has to rely on years of service to accumulate it.

The so-called dominance has a certain relationship with data.

But it is not fully reflected in the data.

To put it more bluntly, Jordan's 24 points have a different impact on the game than LeBron's 24 points.

The reporter listened to his answer and thought to himself:

How can you let Jordan choose?

Isn't this just forcing Jordan to wear No. 23?

In addition to this question, reporters also asked a lot of questions about the Eastern Conference Finals, some of which were sharp. They hoped that Meng Lang would bring some stimulating topics to the game before the Eastern Conference Finals, just like what he said to Jordan. Those words.

Before the game against the Bulls, his trash talk had the intention of sweeping the Bulls. After the series, he really did this and delighted a large number of Orlando fans.

This time they also hope that Meng Lang can do the same thing.

What only disappoints them is:

Meng Lang didn't talk trash. He answered many questions with a brief "yes" or "no", or even just nodded or shook his head. Judging from his concentration, he has not yet answered the question of what size Jordan should wear next season. In fact, Meng Lang knew very well what these reporters wanted from him.

But the Pacers...

They were left hanging last season. Although the addition of Mark Jackson this season has made a qualitative improvement in the quality of the entire team's backcourt, overall, the Magic team that has been upgraded at the fourth position is not a walking team at all. The team can compete.

This can be seen from the five games the two teams met in the regular season. The Pacers, known as the league's defensive team that conceded the fewest points, allowed the Magic to average 5 points per game...

Even the best defense poses no threat to the Magic. In other aspects, what else is there to say?

Meng Lang was never interested in opponents like this who had no power to fight back, so it was impossible for him to say eye-catching rubbish.

In the end, he was really tired of being asked, and this sentence came out of his mouth: "I hope they can give us the intensity of the Eastern Conference finals!"

Fine……

This can be considered a piece of rubbish.

Reporters also felt Meng Lang's attitude towards the Pacers, which was also a good breakthrough.

They quickly informed everyone on the Pacers team of Meng Lang's attitude, and it really aroused the excitement of the crowd. Their words were much sharper when answering relevant questions. Even if it is one-sided, the smell of gunpowder is rising.

But the smell of gunpowder was rising, but when the game started, the Pacers were silent.

From the beginning, the Magic launched an 11-1 scoring surge, and the score completely lost all suspense.

To say that LeBron is the "King of Fools" in the statistics world, in the future 2023-2024 season, his media company starmanba announced this set of data: the shooting percentage of players opposite LeBron James is the lowest in the league. 40.7%.

Turns out there are still times required!

LeBron has been ranked first for at least 250 times. If this number increases, then he will no longer be No. immediately. If this number decreases, he will no longer be No. .

It can be said that it was fooled to the extreme.

The team led by Larry Brown has always been the team that "averages the fewest points per game."

But if you look closely at the style of the team he coaches, you can see that on the one hand, his team has strict defensive requirements, but on the other hand, it also has a lot to do with his request for the team to reduce the number of offensive rounds. The Pacers only averaged 76.2 shots per game, and their opponents only averaged 78.2 shots per game against the Pacers.

For comparison, this season the Rockets averaged 80.6 shots per game, while their opponents averaged 86.1 shots per game!

Just the decrease in the number of rounds can help the Pacers lose two or three points per game...

In fact, this has basically nothing to do with the quality of defense. You just need to control the rhythm of the game and try to waste time.

Do you think the average points lost per game achieved in this way is convincing?

In this game, Chuck Daly initially focused on the inside, successfully allowing Larry Brown to choose to shrink the basket. Then he quickly adjusted the entire offensive focus, with Meng Lang as the main attacker, making personal shot selections or passes from the wing. Ball assist.

The Pacers' defense against Meng Lang mainly relies on Reggie Miller's personal entanglement and the help of others to help defend. This will inevitably cause the Pacers to miss people on the defensive end.

No matter how high the defensive quality of a team is, if it frequently "tear down the east wall and mend the west wall", there will definitely be leaks. This is inevitable.

In addition, the Pacers' inside line is tightly guarded against Shaquille O'Neal. Positions 4 and 5 have always maintained a dichotomy. Once Shaq gets the ball, they will immediately double-team. ——Shaquille O'Neal's position under the "triangle tactic" is so restraining.

So much so that the entire defensive formation of the Pacers, expanding outward and contracting, was severely fragmented.

Meng Lang kept roaming in the mid-range, catching the ball, shooting or passing, and successfully scored 32 points and 8 assists in the first game of the Eastern Conference Finals.

You must know that throughout the semifinals, Meng Lang never scored more than 30 points...

It can be said that in this game, Meng Lang broke down the Pacers' defense by himself.

In the first game of the Eastern Conference Finals, the Magic won 114-94 by 20 points.

A reporter from the Magic team said: "Sure enough, Dream was not wrong. The Pacers really cannot give the Magic the feeling of the Eastern Conference Finals!"

Is the process of this game really different from when we played the Celtics in the first round?

Anyway, he didn't feel it at all.

And this was not just the first game, but the second game as well. The Magic easily won by 17 points.

It can be seen from the course of the game that the Pacers are determined to destroy the field, because...

Before this game, the league officially announced the regular season MVP award for this season. This is the last regular season award of the season, but it caused little discussion. In other words, before March 3, there was still a lot of discussion, but after Meng Lang scored 24 points on Jordan's head, there was nothing worth discussing about this award.

Therefore, the New York media believed that "Michael came back just to help Meng Lang win the regular season MVP." It really amused everyone, so when it comes to talking about this, no media can do it better than the New York media.

Of course, except for the entertainment and gossip media from XG, they are not only harmful, but also poisonous, and they are the kind of poison that has no lower limit...

David Stern personally came to present the regular season MVP trophy to Meng Lang.

A historic moment was born again. 21-year-old Meng Lang became the youngest regular season MVP in NBA history!

The Orlando Arena burst into cheers. In their eyes, the future of the Magic is even brighter!

The Pacers people sitting on the bench were naturally filled with hatred and wanted to step forward immediately and smash the place to pieces.

Reggie Miller was in really good shape in this game, and he threw two three-pointers right from the start.

However, Chuck Daly carefully studied the game between the Pacers and the New York Knicks, and it is very clear that this team must have Reggie Miller and Schmitz to work at the same time on the offensive end in order to achieve an offensive momentum. If any one of them is used, it will be useless.

So starting from the last game, Chuck Daly killed Schmitz on the inside. As for Reggie Miller on the outside, if you want to take action, feel free to take action as many times as you like.

He didn't believe that Reggie Miller could kill them.

The way he restrained Schmitz was the same as the Pacers restraining Shaquille O'Neal. As soon as he got the ball, he would immediately double-team him.

The Pacers lost the last game very painfully. One of the important reasons was that Schmitz was restricted and Reggie Miller's touch was not good. In the end, they won by 20 points, thanks to "garbage time" , otherwise, just go for the score difference of more than 25 points.

Reggie Miller did his best in this game, scoring 33 points, but Meng Lang also scored 28 points. Coupled with the performance of Hardaway and Grant, the Pacers lost again.

Falling behind 0-2 with a big score, losing by an average of 18.5 points per game!

Some series may seem like they are not over yet, but in fact the pit has been laid and the only thing left is to dig up the dirt.

(End of this chapter)