So I am the god of basketball?

Chapter 147 Orlando doesn’t deserve a championship!

The "Orado Sentinel" soon caused a huge stir in Orlando. At the same time, on April 4, the Orlando Arena was also filled with a strange emotion. It is no longer the nostalgia and hope of the past. This strange emotion is filled with a lot of reluctance, but everyone knows that this reluctance to express is not that it will not happen, but will happen at some point. attack.

Meng Lang was used to it, he was a grudge-bearing person.

So he still hasn't forgotten the huge boos when he played for the Magic for the first time.

At that time, these people said that he was not worth that much second-round pick and the fourth pick in the first round!

But when he performed, these voices disappeared, especially after the Magic won two consecutive championships, the city seemed to have regarded him as a "son of the city." Fortunately, he didn't take it seriously.

Therefore, feeling this weird atmosphere at this moment, he couldn't say that he was disappointed.

White-eyed wolves are always underfed.

Fans in some cities will not miss what you have done for this city, they only look at what you can still do for this city.

Orlando is such a culture.

Pat Williams called Meng Lang as soon as the Orlando Sentinel published the article and told him not to take it to heart. Meng Lang's mood was very stable, and he breathed a sigh of relief.

The scene in Orlando was filled with cheers.

The New York Knicks regained their momentum and almost pushed the Orlando Magic into the "Fifth" position if Shaquille O'Neal had not returned. However, even if they end up in fifth place, the Knicks, who have no home court advantage, are still full of confidence in advancing to the next round.

They may not care much about the impact of early comeback on Meng Lang's injury, and they are not really speaking for Meng Lang, but...

Their opponent in the first round was none other than the New York Knicks, the Magic's old rival in the playoffs.

Even if the Magic meet the Bulls in the second round, they have to win the first round first.

In the first game of the series they lost to the New York Knicks, the Magic lost the game because their offense was restricted by the New York Knicks, but they had no good way to restrict the New York Knicks on the defensive end.

As the game started, the atmosphere gradually became more lively.

With the return of Shaquille O'Neal, the Magic's record has not returned to a stronger state. Many media have analyzed what Meng Lang has brought to this team, not only shooting and involvement, but also Meng Lang plays a very important role in a series of tasks such as coordination.

Jeff Van Gundy kept showing his hands to the referee "why why why". Everyone knows how bad it is when the core of the team gets a foul.

"We need meng!"

As long as you can't practice to death, practice to death!

This kind of training intensity can keep players in the best condition, and naturally they can play better games.

New York's record has dropped significantly this season, mainly due to the departure of Pat Riley.

This attitude also angered the entire Orlando, especially Shaquille O'Neal. He was holding back his energy to prove that even without Meng Lang, this Magic team is still extremely competitive, and this competitiveness is enough to destroy New York. The attacking enemy is the Knicks.

He paused for a moment, then said, "Dream is only 22 years old!"

Judging from the start of this season, the core person of the "New York Gangs" is not Patrick Ewing, but head coach Pat Riley. Of course, the reason why Riley makes this team strong is also very simple, that is, there is no Dying day and night*:

"We need meng!"

In addition to their superior record in the regular season, beating the Magic at home and away, another point is that Meng Lang has to continue to sit on the sidelines. The fastest time for him to come back is the Eastern Conference Finals.

"Orlando without Dream is definitely no match for the New York Knicks!"

At the end of the game, when Shaquille O'Neal and others bowed their heads and walked to the bench, familiar shouts rang out. Any such shouts in the past were so exciting.

Not only are these players confident, but the New York media and New York fans are also confident.

And this time, it sounds a bit coercive!

Without such training intensity, it is normal for New York players to have a decline in court dominance.

The New York Times said with obvious sarcasm: "In order to win, Orlando is prepared to ruin Dream's future!"

With him here, this Magic team can beat its opponents to death just by relying on offense. Once he is gone, the team's defensive problems will be exposed.

Bill Walton listened to the shouts on the scene, his expression was not clear, and it took him a long time before he said: "Judging from the first game of the series, this team really needs a dream, but everyone knows something , Dream’s injury has just entered the recovery stage. At this time, as a fan, I hope these shouts are the nostalgia for Dream. This is a normal thing. When the team loses, we will always miss the ability to make this team The guy who makes the team better, instead of..."

Durham's headlines denounced Orlando fans: "We need meng not for you bitches to use to intimidate Dream!"

The team also experienced some chaotic moments. After Jeff Van Gundy, a direct disciple of Pat Riley, became the head coach of this team, the New York Knicks just got back on track.

"Gorilla" wake up!

"We need meng!"

He came up to attack with the ball and successfully caused Ewing's foul.

This opening goal is so valuable!

Meng Lang is back, and New York will have to answer again!

Even if they don't think that Meng Lang, who has returned early, can exert 100% of his strength, the Magic team with Meng Lang is really terrible.

This is the clamor of the New York Times, and it is also the common attitude of New York as a whole.

But this was also the loudest cheer ever heard in the Orlando Arena. After that, Ewing and the "New Yorkers" used active fighting to slowly balance the negative impact of Ewing getting a whistle in the first round. The team quickly established a lead and maintained this lead until the end. , 100 to 91, with a score difference of 9 points, the New York Knicks took the lead in winning the first victory of the series at the home court of the Magic. The home court advantage came to the Knicks.

The big screen at the scene kept showing close-ups of Meng Lang amidst the continuous shouting.

He did not say the word coercion.

As a representative player whose career has not reached its original heights due to injuries, Bill Walton naturally does not want Meng Lang, a promising newcomer at the "future league appearance level", to come back early due to injuries, leading to his early demise or failure to reach the level of success. original height.

If Meng Lang really returns, no matter which part of the offensive end he provides to New York, he can make this team a stronger team and activate all the offensive routines of this team. This is not what the New York Knicks want to see. Arrived.

His face was expressionless, no one knew what he was thinking.

It has to be the most familiar style to awaken the passion of these "old New Yorkers".

The "we need meng" scene at the Orlando Arena the next day also aroused a lot of discussion, or to use a more accurate word:

debate!

What Bill Walton didn't say, Durham said, joking, this is a legend of Durham, how can he come back early with hidden dangers because of you Orlando?

If there are serious consequences, such as repeated injuries, can Orlando bear the consequences?

The North Carolina newspaper also used the word "greedy" to describe the city of Orlando: "This is not the right way to treat the core of the team!"

Before the second game of the series, the media also asked Meng Lang what he was thinking when he heard the Orlando fans shout "we need meng". Meng Lang refused to answer this question.

The media changed the question: "Will you play in the second game of the series?"

This time Meng Lang's answer was crisp and clear: "No!"

In fact, Chuck Daly didn't ask him that question at all.

He knew very well what kind of situation Meng Lang was in now.

In fact, the media in Orlando are also very clear about this. They want the Magic management to update Meng Lang's injury status every hour. Whether he can play or not, the report is clearly written.

It's just that the Orlando Magic's dynasty is about to collapse, and they chose to ignore this report and want to grasp this last "life-saving straw."

In their opinion, injuries are just a matter of overcoming them!

Moreover, this was not just an injury. Meng Lang was injured in February, and now it is late April. The injury was enough to get through the most difficult moment, and the remaining slight pain can be completely ignored.

Therefore, when the fans who showed up at the Orlando Arena that night saw that Meng Lang's name was still missing from the starting list on the big screen, they could clearly hear a sigh. Obviously they didn't understand Meng Lang's choice and were disappointed.

Why not play?

Meng Lang heard the sighs, but his expression did not change at all, as if the sighs were not caused by him.

However, Meng Lang couldn't help but say something in his heart:

Sure enough, there is no surprise at all!

To say that he doesn't care at all, it can only be said that this is Meng Lang's psychological expectation. He wants to not care about such things.

Can……

When these people showed such faces because he refused to come back early, he was still a little disappointed in his heart.

After all, he has already won two championships for this city!

His eyes dimmed slightly, but Meng Lang quickly regained his composure. In tonight's game, the Orlando Magic changed their usual style of play. With Meng Lang unable to play, the entire tactics completely revolved around Shaquille O'Neal. Let the "Shark" first form enough pressure on the inside, and then use Hardaway's breakthrough to make the New York Knicks' outside defense focus on one thing and not the other. It is equivalent to playing basketball with a star system and using the personal abilities of the stars to solve problems.

Needless to say, the effect was very good. The New York Knicks couldn't handle Hardaway on the outside, and they couldn't handle Shaq O'Neal on the inside. The Magic's inside and outside combined forces and scored 55 points, helping the team win the second game. At home, the big score came to 1-1.

After winning this game, the voices forcing Meng Lang to come back early became much quieter, but there were some new voices:

"Even without Meng Lang, the Orlando Magic still have a way to solve the problem!"

"We think Meng Lang is too important!"

"Even with the current lineup, the Magic can advance to the next round. Shaquille O'Neal and Anfernee Hardaway are underestimated!"

……

I have to admit, it has to be Orlando, there are really endless ways to do this. Even Meng Lang, the person involved, couldn't help but want to applaud them.

Hardaway seriously refuted these remarks: "Some media disrespect Dream too much. To be honest, everyone should understand the significance of Dream to the Magic, so stop mocking Dream. This is not only an insult to Dream." , and insulted this team, how did we win the championship!"

Shaquille O'Neal was a little happy. Of course, it was not the comments that ridiculed Meng Lang, but the voices that finally noticed his existence... Well, regarding Meng Lang's current situation, he actually wanted to say something secretly:

Boy, you have today too!

He didn't hate Meng Lang, but Meng Lang had been famous for such a long time, and it was finally time for him to watch the show.

Well, to put it bluntly, it’s just four words:

gloat!

The secret code the Magic found in the second game worked really well. In the third game of the series, they moved to the New York Knicks. The Magic also smoothly defeated the New York Knicks by 109 to 97 with 12 points.

"Star singles" is the most basic tactic, but it is also the most unsolvable tactic. Please refer to Barcelona's "Dream Team" for details. Is there really any too complicated tactic between them? ? Many times, it is actually the star's ability to make hard tackles.

Some coordinations only belong to these stars. If it were anyone else, they really wouldn't be able to achieve similar coordinations.

After losing one game first, they successfully got the match point, and the big stone that was weighing on the minds of everyone in the Magic team could finally fall to the ground. Next, it was the New York Knicks' turn to be nervous. At this time, a message was released from within the Magic team:

Meng Lang will also return in the next game.

As soon as the news came out, the New York media became restless. They ridiculed Orlando in various ways, such as "This city really doesn't respect players at all" and "Dream is really unlucky to be selected by Orlando." Husband Van Gundy also looked more nervous than usual when facing the media.

Only on the game day, after both sides gave out the activation list, did he realize that this was just a "smoke bomb" released by Orlando.

But this did disrupt the New York Knicks' deployment. What the outside world didn't know was that Jeff Van Gundy hesitated and chose to practice defensive tactics against Meng Lang the day before the game. Now this part of the strategy, as well as the time consumed, can be determined as:

All in vain!

The New York Knicks' state was disrupted tonight, and a large part of the reason was this.

In the end, relying on the smoke bomb of "Meng Lang may appear", the Magic defeated the New York Knicks 93-84 without any blood, advancing to the next round with a big score of 3-1.

Orlando fans applauded, but the only thing they regretted was:

Meng Lang still hasn't come back early!

Is this guy really so cruel that even if the Magic are eliminated, he is not willing to come back early for Orlando?

This city obviously gave him so many cheers!

Their emotions towards Meng Lang became more complicated.

Next they will face the Bulls. They hope that Meng Lang can show his spirit of sacrifice, stand up and fight the Bulls with the team.

In this case, even if they lose in the end, they will never blame Meng Lang!

Absolutely not!

Well, obviously they also know that without Meng Lang, the Magic will definitely not be able to beat the Bulls.

Not only did they know that, the media in Orlando who said "Orlando can overcome all difficulties without Meng Lang" also changed their attitudes and once again used public opinion to force Meng Lang to make an early comeback.

Amidst this pressure, the entire Magic team arrived in Chicago.

After the Bulls swept their opponents 3-0 early, they returned to Chicago and waited for the Magic to come. So the Magic only have one day to adjust. Of course, with the current combat effectiveness of this team, even if they are given a few more days to adjust, the result will not change.

第一场比赛，公牛队以99比88，11分拿下了胜利；第二场比赛公牛队又打出了15分的分差，大比分来到了2-0.

The Magic, who were won cleanly, returned to Orlando to prepare for the next home game.

The media once again released Meng Lang's latest injury recovery status.

At the same time, they also gave a report from what they called "doctors in the industry": "Meng Lang's injury has fully recovered and he is fully able to play. Now he is still unwilling to come back. It is very likely that he is pretending to be injured to avoid playing!"

This news can be described as "one stone stirs up a thousand waves." Suddenly, the entire Orlando media was not calm. All kinds of reports mocking Meng Lang poured out, as if there was a "storm against Meng Lang." And the result of these reports is...

That night at the Orlando Arena, when Meng Lang came on the stage, there were huge boos. These boos even stunned Shaquille O'Neal, who always wanted to watch the excitement. Even he didn't expect that Orlando people would hate him so much. Kind of level!

No, not that much!

He also patted Meng Lang on the shoulder to confirm Meng Lang's mood: "Are you OK?"

Meng Lang smiled easily, as if he didn't take the boos seriously.

honestly……

Shaquille O'Neal has always been convinced by Meng Lang, but since he met Meng Lang until now, there has never been a moment where he has been more convinced than he is now.

He can still be so calm in the face of the boos from the home fans. This is really...

He is simply not human!

Does this guy have a heart?

I think should not be?

Just the boos at home, Shaquille O'Neal felt like even a heart of steel couldn't bear it!

But Meng Lang's current indifferent expression made him unable to understand.

What he didn't know was that Meng Lang had already been prepared to be booed.

Later, after Vince Carter left Toronto, there would be overwhelming boos every time he returned to the home court. The scene was comparable to LeBron's first time coming home. But compared to LeBron, Vince Carter didn't do anything too harmful. A large part of the reason was that a bunch of media added fuel to the fire, which directly caused the emotions of Toronto fans to be ignited and turned into a deadly feud.

The situation that Meng Lang encountered now cannot be said to be exactly the same, it can only be said to be the same.

So when the Orlando media ridiculed him overwhelmingly, he was prepared to be booed.

It's just that he is mentally prepared, but others are not.

Hardaway was so excited that he started to fight with the fans who booed the most fiercely on the sidelines.

Meng Lang sat calmly on the bench, waiting for the game to start. During this period, his eyes met with Jordan's opposite, who showed a tangled expression. Meng Lang replied with a nonchalant expression:

That's how it feels for you Orlando fans.

When you pick up the bowl and chopsticks to eat, you curse your mother when you put down the bowl and chopsticks!

Returning to the home court did not give the Orlando Magic an opening advantage, or in other words, the opening advantage they had originally was gone now. The violent boos at the scene completely disrupted the atmosphere of the entire Magic team.

The Bulls dominated the opening, and then won the game steadily, 101 to 85. The 16-point difference showed how easily the Bulls won tonight and how out of shape the Magic were.

It's just that it's not the Magic players who bear the responsibility for the loss, but Meng Lang, a player who has no choice to come back early...

This made Chuck Daly very angry. After the game, he did not discuss any topics about the game. He directly rebuked the behavior of Magic fans: "Anyone who has a little bit of gratitude should not treat this city like this. Tonight, I saw Orlando’s cold-bloodedness!”

Hardaway also said to the media camera: "The media in this city did the most wrong thing, and the fans in this city also made the wrong choice. This is not the way to treat Dream, absolutely not!"

At the same time, their treatment of Meng Lang also aroused dissatisfaction from the outside world. Michael Jordan bluntly said: "If I win two championships for my city, and they ask me to return to the court regardless of the consequences after I am injured, I will definitely choose to leave, there is no doubt about it, because...respect is a prerequisite for a player to choose to be bound to a city!"

Barkley also said: "Orlando doesn't deserve these players!"

The Los Angeles Times even more nakedly ridiculed: "This is the face of the 'upstarts'. They have no background and just happen to have such a good enough team. However, such a team will also suffer from their arrogance, slowness and Disappear slowly!"

A reporter asked in a very "untimely" manner: "Dream, will you renew your contract with the Magic this summer?"

Meng Lang looked at him and suddenly said "heh" and said nothing more.

The silence speaks!

However, the day after the game, Meng Lang took the initiative to chat with his attending doctor, and then when he saw Chuck Daly for the first time in the afternoon, he said to him:

"Chuck, put me on the activation list!"

"Don't worry, you...what?"

Chuck Daly's eyes were obviously stunned, and he obviously suspected that he heard wrongly. Meng Lang looked at him with certainty: "Chuck, you heard me right, I'm ready to play!"

"But your injury..." Chuck Daly knew very well that a broken finger was not a serious injury, but it did require time to recover. It would definitely not be possible to fully recover without more than 4 months.

But now, it only takes 3 months to fully calculate...

"If you care about that so-called industry report, don't worry, no one will believe this kind of thing. They are deliberately trying to force you to play. You are only 22 years old. Dream, recover from your injuries and we will come back next year!"

He tried to comfort Meng Lang. He could understand some of the emotions that might exist in Meng Lang's heart at this moment. These emotions affected Meng Lang's judgment, so he hoped that Meng Lang could look at his current situation more rationally.

Meng Lang showed a reassuring smile, and then said: "Don't worry, Chuck, I know what's going on!"

Seeing that Meng Lang was so sure, he didn't insist. He put Meng Lang on the activation list: "It doesn't matter whether he comes out or not!"

This means that if Meng Lang wants to change his mind, he only needs to tell him.

With teammates who stand up for him and a head coach who puts himself in his shoes, the composition of this team is pretty good. It’s just that the media and fans in this city are not qualified to have such a team!

Early the next morning, the news that Meng Lang was on the activation list was released in advance.

When Phil Jackson heard the news, he smiled slightly, haha ​​~ another "smoke bomb"!

That's right, given the current situation, we can only do some off-board moves like this!

He quite understands why Chuck Daly did this. If it were him, he would do the same...

"Zen Master" thought so, so he didn't adjust his tactics on both offense and defense at all.

So when he saw that Meng Lang's name was indeed on the Magic's activated list, he was dumbfounded.

No, it must be a "smoke bomb"!

How is it possible to come back at this time?

Just being on the "activated list" doesn't mean he will definitely play!

Phil Jackson comforted himself, mainly because he practiced all day yesterday. Regarding the defense of the "Mongolian Bulls", if he makes adjustments now, then the whole day of training yesterday will be completely in vain. The most important thing is that after three games, how can he arrange tactics specifically for Meng Lang's comeback?

There is no such link at all!

Now he can only bet that Chuck Daley's "gun" is out of bullets.

Also surprised were the Orlando media and fans. They really didn't expect Meng Lang to actually choose to come back early in the last game.

He still loves this city...

Some Orlando fans found it touching.

There are also a large number of fans who feel that Meng Lang's comeback is of no use:

"Why didn't you choose to come back earlier?"

Some media in Orlando believed that they had won: "Some players are just too confident and too egotistical. Now he should realize his problem!"

Meng Lang heard the long-awaited cheers, and of course there were still many fans booing at him. You don't need to guess, they must be the Orlando fans who think it's too late for Meng Lang to come back.

Meng Lang remained expressionless, but before going on stage, he looked at his hand that had just entered the recovery stage and said secretly: "Thank you for your hard work, old man, but I need to prove something, so I can only take the risk once!"

He did some tentative moves yesterday, so Meng Lang now knows exactly what moves he can do and which moves must be forbidden.

Although this is not enough to prevent his injury from worsening, Meng Lang must take some risks in order to say something openly.

The game officially started. Before the game started, Jordan glanced at Meng Lang's hand: "You actually chose to come back early?"

He didn't quite understand.

Meng Lang said: "This is probably the rare moment when I envy you!"

Chicagoans support Jordan in all his decisions.

But Meng Lang has been booing all the way from the moment he was selected. This is the biggest difference between him and Jordan, and it is also what he envies most about Jordan.

Who thinks about proving themselves every day?

Who wouldn’t want to be a “city darling” from the get-go?

"beep!"

The game started at the whistle. Even though Meng Lang hadn't played for two and a half months, he could quickly get into shape as soon as he came on the court. At the same time, the familiar Magic team was also activated. Meng Lang's support helped Grant take off.

2-0!

The cheers at the scene reached their climax during this goal.

The commentator on the scene also shouted: "The familiar Magic Team!"

It can be seen that the Bulls did lack the offensive routine to deal with the "Meng Lang" Magic team. In addition, Pippen and Jordan were not in good condition at the beginning of tonight. In the end, relying on Meng Lang, the Magic team defeated 109 to 102, 7 The points difference held the second home game and avoided being swept.

The moment the final whistle sounded, Meng Lang let out a heavy breath.

This damn game is finally over.

He glanced at his obviously swollen little finger - even though he had been avoiding using this hand, the intensity of the playoffs was here, and he could not avoid using this hand to exert force.

But thankfully, he didn't feel any worse.

ended……

He raised his hand and glanced at the score, his eyes showing satisfaction.

"We need meng!"

"We need meng!"

"We need meng!"

The scene resounded with cheers for Meng Lang again. In fact, this is the most correct way to open "we need meng".

The commentator on the scene said with emotion: "The Orlando media and Orlando people so eagerly hope that Meng Lang will come back. This victory is the answer!"

He replaced "forced" with the word "eager to hope", and the whole atmosphere suddenly became warmer.

Meng Lang didn't perform very well in this game, making 17 of 7 shots from the field, but his role on the court cannot be reflected in just one shooting percentage. Let me just say one thing:

When Meng Lang is on the court, one of the Bulls' Pippen or Jordan must stand up to defend Meng Lang. This greatly weakened the Bulls' defensive assets.

In addition, the Magic's offense has become significantly smoother, which was also brought about by Meng Lang.

After the game, Meng Lang attended the press conference. He could see that the reporters wearing Orlando media badges were very happy, with smiles on their faces as if they were celebrating the New Year. In fact, they are really looking forward to another "let 3 chase 4", even if the opponent is Jordan, as long as Meng Lang is there, they believe that everything is possible!

Just Meng Lang's first words at the beginning made their smiles freeze on their faces: "This is the only game I played with an injury. I will still wear a suit in the next game!"

His words were not loud, but they were very penetrating. The entire venue fell silent after he finished speaking.

Meng Lang showed his red and swollen little finger: "First of all, I want to prove that my injury has not fully recovered. My palms can't be used flexibly now. I believe you all see this!"

"Then what I want to prove is..."

"There is nothing wrong with what the Orlando media and fans think. With me here, this Magic team can beat the Bulls. This is the second thing I want to prove!"

"They knew that, so they forced me to play even though I wasn't fully recovered from my injury!"

"They want me to take a risk and put my career on the line for this city!"

"I just want to ask..."

"Why?"

"With the constant ridicule from the media? Or with the crazy boos from the home fans, or with all kinds of disparaging voices?"

"I love Orlando, and I'm afraid it will end! But I love it, who the hell loves me!"

"Listen, since you bitches chose this championship between the championship in front of you and the championships in the future. Then my choice is..."

"You can't even get one!"

"I can definitely insist on fighting through injuries, but I never do anything meaningless!"

"Orlando..."

"Not worthy of any championship!"

(End of this chapter)