Legendary star

Chapter 402 The Lakers Driven into Desperation

"Bastard, bastard..." At 2002 o'clock in the evening on June 6, 13, after the battle between the Pacers and the Lakers at Tianwangshan, when the head coach of the Lakers, Phil Jackson, ended the post-game press conference, After walking into the team's locker room exhausted physically and mentally, he saw O'Neal, the leader of the Lakers, beating the locker angrily. Dare to look directly at O'Neill who is still in a state of rage.

Not only O'Neal, but even Phil Jackson doesn't understand how his team suddenly fell into desperation. After the first 3 games are over, the Lakers, who seem to have secured the championship, are next. After losing two games in a row, after losing today's Tianwangshan battle, the Lakers, who fell behind by a big score of 2 to 3, have already stood on the edge of a cliff.

The process of today's game is similar to that of the previous game. From the start of the game until the official timeout of the fourth quarter, the Lakers were always in the lead, but when Larry Bird was in the last few minutes of the game, When the tactics used in the fourth quarter of the previous game were used again, the Lakers collapsed. In less than 3 minutes, the Pacers hit 5 consecutive 3-pointers, completely extinguishing the Lakers' hope of winning .At this moment, the Lakers players couldn't help but feel a sense of frustration from the bottom of their hearts. After being reversed continuously, no matter how hard they tried, they couldn't hold on to the lead until the end and turned it into victory. , will indeed make people feel hopeless.

"Where is Kobe?" Looking around the locker room for a week, Phil Jackson asked Brian Shaw, who was closest to him, after he found that there was one person missing. The quality of Kobe's state is the key to the success of the Lakers, and whether the relationship between O'Neal and Kobe is harmonious determines whether the Lakers can continue to survive. With the team in such an unfavorable situation, Phil The last thing Jackson wanted was for the conflict between Kobe and O'Neal to become public.

"After the game, Kobe didn't go back to the locker room. He should have stayed on the court to practice." After hearing Phil Jackson's question, Brian Shaw finally raised his head. On Brian Shaw's face, Philip Jackson can see the frustration and shame very clearly. In this game, Brian Shaw replaced Rick Fox as the Lakers' starting small forward. After Kobe went to defend Reggie Miller, the heavy responsibility of defending Meng Xu was released. It was Brian Shaw and Robert Holly, but Brian Shaw, who defended Meng Xu, was blown away by Meng Xu in this game. He made 26 of 16 shots, 3 of 12 three-pointers, and 6 free throws. 11, 8 points, 46 rebounds and 14 assists. Brian Shaw was in front of Meng Xu in this game, as immature as a primary school student. In this game, Brian Shaw finally experienced the grievances and torture he suffered in the previous game. If the team can win, even if he is humiliated, it is worth it, but the Lakers lost this game. Therefore, his performance in this game will definitely be further magnified and become the target of everyone's criticism.

Just looking at Brian Shaw's face, Phil Jackson knew how much this game had hit him. He finally squeezed out Rick Fox and became the team's starter. Brian Shaw not only failed to prove and perform I, on the contrary, messed up. If Rick Fox was the one who took the blame for the Lakers' last loss, then Brian Shaw could only take the blame for this game. A veteran in a contract year, today's game is enough to ruin Brian Shaw's career with the Lakers. Brian Shaw knows in his heart that Phil Jackson will not continue to give himself a chance.

"Okay, Shaq, if you lose this game, you lose. Don't forget that we still have two home games. When we go back to Staples, we will still win." After forcing out a smile, Phil Jackson waved at the players in the locker room: "Hurry up and take a shower and change clothes, it's getting late, we have to return to Los Angeles tomorrow morning."

"Phil, I'm very angry now, and I really feel helpless." After most of the players in the locker room trotted into the bathroom, O'Neill sat down on his seat after venting his anger. Under the pressure of O'Neal's huge body, the seat visibly shook a few times.

"Shaq, I know your feelings very well, and I can understand your thoughts, and I also have great confidence in you. As long as you can continue to fight, then victory will always belong to us." Phil Jackson said Instead of directly responding to O'Neill's question, after filling a bowl of chicken soup, he stretched out his palm and held it with O'Neill. O'Neill is 30 years old this year, but his character is still somewhat childish. O'Neill It didn't become old-fashioned and lifeless with age.

Although there are still some deficiencies in on-the-spot command, Phil Jackson is definitely a master in terms of players' psychological ability mediation. Now the only people in the league who can compete with him are Popovich of the Spurs and Pat Riley of the Heat. Well, even Larry Bird is inferior to him. Therefore, Phil Jackson is very clear about the personalities of his players.Although the Lakers lost two games in a row, the two lost games had nothing to do with O'Neal. O'Neal's performance in these two games was good enough, with 33 points and 19 rebounds in one game, and 34 points and 17 rebounds in one game. Rebounds, O'Neal alone blasted the Pacers' entire inside line, but at the same time O'Neal blasted the Pacers' inside line, the Lakers' outside line was blown up by the Pacers. Although Kobe is strong, he can only defend one person after all. If you defended against Meng Xu, you missed Reggie Miller, and if you defended against Reggie Miller, you missed Meng Xu. At the same time, due to the consumption of too much energy on the defensive end, Kobe's offensive efficiency in these two games was significantly lower than the regular season. , even the playoffs.

Compared with the locker room of the Lakers, the locker room of the home team in the Bankers Life Arena is a different scene at the moment. James Posey, Jamal Tinsley and Bobby Simmons, I don’t know where I got a few bottles of champagne , spitting wildly at the other players in the locker room, especially Meng Xu, who became the target of their fire, and was soaked from head to toe.

"The feeling of winning is really great!" At this time, all the Pacers players have fallen into a frenzy. They reversed and won two consecutive games, especially winning the battle of Tianwangshan and winning the match point of the finals. Great confidence has been built for them. After the baptism of the finals, no matter what kind of adversity they face in the future, they may not be at a loss like when the team had no hope of winning in the previous games. up.

"Championship, we are finally going to win the championship!" Although the series is not over yet, in the eyes of the Pacers players, the Pacers who have already won the match point are only one step away from the championship. After passing this step, the Pacers will win the first NBA championship trophy in team history, and many of them will also realize their dream of a championship.

"Reggie, what's wrong with you? Why do you look weird?" While the carnival in the locker room was still going on, Meng Xu was so excited that he took off his jersey and threw it out casually, but the corner of Meng Xu's eyes Out of the corner of his eye, he caught sight of Reggie Miller sitting at the door. Reggie Miller put his arms on a chair in front of him and rested his chin. He just quietly watched them fight, but he didn't join in. In this carnival.Randomly pulling a towel from the locker door beside him, Meng Xu wiped the champagne on his body, then walked directly beside Reggie Miller, pulled a chair and sat on it.

"I'm still wondering if all this is real." After seeing Meng Xu approaching, Reggie Miller sat up straight with a serious expression on his face. The smile seemed to be laughing at himself, but also seemed to be thanking.After struggling for 15 seasons, it is finally time to realize his dream, but now Reggie Miller is like most people, when the dream is about to come true, he is worried about gains and losses. For a moment, Reggie Miller was no longer the cold-blooded killer, nor the key man, but a real ordinary person.

"Reggie, don't worry, we will definitely bring Indiana a championship!" Perhaps infected by Reggie Miller's smile, Meng Xu put down the towel in his hand, and spoke to Reggie Miller in a very serious and serious tone. Le made a promise.

"Boss, what are you guys doing hiding there?" Just as Reggie Miller moved his mouth and was about to say something, a big gust of champagne sprayed over, Jamal Tinsley and Bobby Simon Si rushed over immediately, pulling Meng Xu and Reggie Miller into the middle of the locker room.

　Thank you Tianguomei for your reward, thank you.

　　Thank you Emperor Dongyu for your reward, thank you.

　　Thank you SD Sha for the monthly pass, thank you.

　　Thank you for the two monthly tickets of Yuedi 1111, thank you.

　　Appreciate the monthly pass for the cheese caterpillar, thank you.

　　Thank you for the two monthly tickets to the bookworm boulder, thank you.

　　Thanks to book friend 1944773727 for the two monthly tickets, thank you.

　　Thanks for the monthly pass of Fundmental, thank you.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)