Center first

Chapter 469
Although the Miami Heat led by Spoelstra lost two consecutive games in January, the advantage accumulated in the early stage has not been completely wiped out, because the confrontation between those strong teams is also quite fierce. The team can't guarantee that they can win all the time. According to Pat Riley's words, "That is the battlefield that has become a mess. When you bring down others, you are also in danger of being killed by others." Dangerous situation.", the fact is indeed the case, although the Cavaliers won at home in Miami, but they fell to the hands of the Celtics on the road trip, O'Neal's injury became their The big men of the Celtics completely controlled the situation on the field. When facing a power forward of the same type like Garnett, Jamison's attack range advantage seemed to be weakened a lot. With his involvement and the rebounding of the big shark, it is difficult for Varejao alone to support the protection area of ​​the Cavaliers inside. It is not surprising that they lose.

However, the Cavaliers still have someone they can rely on, that is, they still have the invincible little emperor in the team. Although they lost this game, no one in the entire Celtics team can limit the performance of the little emperor , even Pierce can hardly stop the impact of the little emperor. In the eyes of many people, this guy has become the most irresistible attacker in this league. I am afraid that even Kobe is not as terrible as the impact of the little emperor in many cases. Maybe Kobe He has more scoring methods and is more mature, but in terms of impact alone, I am afraid that no one in this league can match it.

"When that Ilgauskas can return to the Cavaliers smoothly, those Bostonians may not be so relaxed. In their own home court, they are still playing so hard when the opponent does not have an orthodox center. It seems The legs and feet of those old guys are not as flexible as they were in 08, maybe this season the Eastern Conference will be played between us, the Cavaliers and the Magic.” Spoelstra watched the video of the game While carefully figuring out the offensive and defensive changes of the two teams on the field, he turned around and exchanged his opinions with Pat Riley.

"You don't need to tell me about this problem. You are the head coach of this team, so you are responsible for the game and training. I just sign you the people you need. I don't care about the rest, you know. Yes, I seldom overstep my authority to ask about team affairs now." Pat Riley would not be fooled by this Filipino, he knows what this guy wants to do, and this kind of tentative question and answer from time to time always happens in Two people, that's why the old fox told the Filipino with a completely let go attitude, don't worry about my existence, the team belongs to you, and the two guys who knew each other looked at each other and smiled , Why are they like two foxes, one big and one small in a mirror, alas, cunning.

The intensity of the NBA's competition in January simply exceeded everyone's imagination. Even David Stein did not expect that it would be due to the crazy reaction caused by a transfer transaction. Under the impact led by the Cavaliers, the entire NBA They all fell into madness, especially the fierce collision between the strong teams, which has surpassed the scope of the regular season. Even when the Celtics and the Cavaliers met head-to-head, they almost came back on the court. In a scuffle, Garnett and Jamison's physical pull almost ignited a battle. The NBA still gave its own punishment for such out-of-control behavior on the field, but it can be seen that the confrontation between those strong teams has been completely resolved. Reached a playoff intensity.
No team is willing to be left behind at this time. They are all desperately trying to get the number of victories, especially the battle for the top spot in their respective divisions, which has become more fierce and fierce. In many games, they have There was a real fire, and physical confrontation and conflicts continued to be staged. Those melancholy referees would give several technical fouls in almost every game, and the league disciplinary committee issued heavy fines one after another. However, those crazy fans They are very obsessed with this kind of game. In their view, this is the real NBA, not a group of pure performers on the court. They need such fierce confrontation to ignite their passion, and they also need to see these big players. The most violent side of the boys.

Although David Stein reiterated in public that he did not want to see any violent behavior on the field, he did not put any pressure on the referee committee in private meetings. In the eyes of this old guy, such a The game only needs to be careful to prevent the occurrence of violent incidents. As for the fierce confrontation in the game, there is no need to severely suppress it. Since those fans like to see this kind of game atmosphere, let them enjoy it to their heart's content. For this As far as the supreme ruler is concerned, as long as the team can sell tickets, as long as the cooperative TV station can increase the ratings, these are the topics he cares most about. As for whether the game is a show or a head-to-head match, he will not Make any concerns.

The biggest benefit brought by the frenzy in January to TNT and various fee-paying TV stations is that the entire ratings have risen in a straight line. This may be the first time in recent years that the NBA has set the highest ratings peak during the regular season, including those The arena that is often full because of the game is even more beneficial. Maybe this situation will make the old Jewish man think carefully about whether he should make too many changes to certain NBA defensive regulations. Maybe those who are used to it Fans of star shows are also beginning to pursue the most primitive wildness, especially when they see those crazy big men making their most ferocious roars on the court, their adrenaline secretion will follow these people Excited by the performances of the guys.

The crazy confrontation of the entire NBA lasted until the beginning of February before it entered a relatively calm period, but this is not because these teams began to feel tired. On the contrary, these guys' fighting spirit became more fierce, just because of the annual NBA All-Star Game It's about to start, and they always have a buffer period to prepare for the next game. No one likes to bring this kind of war atmosphere into such a joyous festival, so these big guys have chosen to be silent, even though the game is still fierce. Continue, but at least there is less gunpowder on the field. Although the strong arms and fierce elbows are still flying, but when the regular season battle chooses a temporary break, the other battlefield is full of smoke and fighting.

NBA All-Star ballots became a war for the first time, because when NBA officials began to pay attention to the online voting part, they felt unprecedented pressure for the first time, especially in the face of NBA fans voting in country Z The official website of the statistics, this unlucky website server has repeated a tragic fate since the day the voting started, that is, crash, crash, crash, too many views, too many visits. . .And so on, anyway, it can work normally for no more than half an hour every day. In addition to the complaints from the fans of country Z who tried to vote, another negative effect is that official websites in the United States have begun to accept this. foreign visitors.

However, it is obvious that the NBA officially underestimated the enthusiasm of fans from that ancient country. When the official website of the NBA was down for a week, they finally realized the seriousness of this problem. In order to ensure that the voting activities in their own country can continue normally, The NBA had to start restricting those foreign loggers, but this did not play any role in relieving them. Crazy loggers from various foreign proxy servers began to appear in large numbers, which forced NBA officials to be forced to shut down The method of voting online, but such actions have caused more dissatisfaction, not only dissatisfaction from abroad, even fans in the United States have begun to complain, because they are really unwilling to choose to use paper ballots.

David Stein never thought that the All-Star voting this time would be so ferocious. It's not like he hadn't predicted in advance that fans from country Z would log on to the website in large numbers, but after experiencing the all-star ballot campaign by this guy from YAO After the baptism of star voting, he thought that the NBA's organizational skills could handle it completely, but he obviously misunderstood the seriousness of this problem, especially when he saw that it took only half a month, that kid Lin Yi The number of votes was already in the position of the starting center in the Eastern Conference, and when he directly surpassed Howard, who was ranked No. The gap is indeed too big, which is unacceptable. You must know that the voting PK battle between Yao and O'Neill was not so crazy and hot. This time he finally saw what is called the ocean of people's war. The vast number of clicks and voting applications put the NBA's servers on the brink of fire all day long.

He never doubted Lin Yi's appeal in that country, but he never thought that this kid completely replaced Yao's appeal in that country just in his second year in the NBA, and maybe he could not completely replace Yao in that country. The boss status of that country, but it is clear that his strong impact has caused the birth of a new force. The All-Star vote may just be a reflection of his position in the NBA. Don't forget, this guy not only got From the vote of country Z, almost everyone in Miami City voted for this little guy. This is something that even YAO had never done before. Even if the big guy has played in Houston for so long, he can’t say that he Get the love of the whole city.

But that kid only took less than two years to make the whole city of Miami love him to the extreme. Even Wade, who is recognized as the king of Miami, is almost unable to catch up with his appeal. Lin Yi won the votes. The speed can almost make this kid announce his position as the starting center in the East half a month after the voting started. Unless there is a miracle or a system statistics error, the chances of Howard surpassing him are almost zero. Now David Stein The most troublesome thing is probably those paper ballots that are frantically raided from abroad. They are really fucking piled up, and this is not the end of the matter, this is just the beginning. No one can imagine that this will happen two months later It's not a fucking joke that the boy will get so many votes, or that the NBA headquarters in New York will be inundated with such international mail.

However, Lin Yi's ferocious rate of votes has surpassed too many current NBA star players. Of course, guys like Wade and Iverson will not have any opinions. They are also happy to see a vote champion in their team. And because of Lin Yi's presence in Miami, the vote rate of the two of them also exceeded the growth rate of previous years. In less than half a month, they had already obtained statistics that exceeded the previous figures.

But obviously there are always some people in the NBA who can't understand others' kindness, especially those guys who are hostile to the Miami Heat, such as the boring reporters in New York, and the solid supporters of the Little Emperor in Cleveland. The spearhead pointed at the Asian expansion plan of the league's top management, saying that such a vote has no meaning at all when it was originally set. As long as Lin Yi casually appeals on his country Z website, it is impossible for anyone in the current NBA to compare with him. Got a lot of votes, don't forget, now that YAO is recovering from injuries, the country's only spiritual sustenance is this kid.

In fact, even without his presence, the Space Yi who was dawdling in the Nets had already surpassed Garnett and other giants in the waiting list in the number of votes. In their opinion, this is not a level comparison at all. Yes, this kind of voting also lost its original meaning. This is the result of those people criticizing David Stein for conniving foreign fans to vote for these people. Many people began to doubt the authenticity of Lin Yi's votes. People who are not used to Miami are here to confuse others' sights, and now they have seized an opportunity that looks like they can fight back.

This is not the first time that such accusations have appeared in the NBA world. Even when YAO began to be selected for the NBA All-Star Game, such criticisms have always existed. "Houston Chronicle" columnist Blimberly once wrote jokingly There is an article, "If you want to enter the Hall of Fame, all you need to do is practice, practice, practice; but if you just want to make a lot of votes in the All-Star voting, you have a shortcut: become the Rockets One." That's what Houstonians say, and it's not a simple assumption, it actually happened.

There was such a scene in the NBA All-Star game just a year ago, and YAO was undoubtedly elected as the starting center in the Western Conference in that All-Star voting. He had more than 70 more votes than "Shark" O'Neal Votes, this is the seventh consecutive year that YAO has become the starting center in the Western Conference. The American fans and the media who are used to such scenes are not impressed by this result. After all, YAO is also considered to be a very strong player in the NBA. An inside player, although he hasn't received too many honors, but as far as his performance on the court is concerned, no one has any opinions.

However, the following series of personnel selection lists are surprising. YAO's selection can be said to be more reasonable, but his impact on teammates in the All-Star voting is even more fierce. During most of the voting time, YAO's teammates McGrady has the second highest number of votes among western guards, only behind Kobe Bryant but much more than Chris Paul, but don't forget, how long has McGrady been out of the game due to injuries?
In the voting of the Western forwards, Yao's teammates Artest, Battier and Scola were all in the top 10. Battier himself once joked: "I came to the Rockets, I knew I would Bask in the glory of YAO. I will cut and save those voting results, and then tell my children in the future: 'Look what a good player your dad is! Just look at these votes!'", this is not the most outrageous thing.

The most criticized thing is that even Alston, who has always been rated as a second-rate point guard, ranked eighth in the voting of guards, ahead of Roy of the Trail Blazers and Billups of the Nuggets. Anyone who sees such a result will feel speechless, and can only lament that the fans from that ancient country are too fond of the house, so there are voices criticizing this unreasonable voting system on many occasions, and there are always people who use the votes of country Z to make a fuss Regardless of whether it is YAO or Lin Yi now, they have been directly pushed to the forefront of public opinion by such issues. Although it doesn't care about their affairs, no matter how many votes they get, they are only voluntary votes by their supporters, but this is given. Those who hate Lin Yi use the pretext of attacking.

However, Lin Yi has never let himself be involved in such language disputes. As for those voices of criticism, he can only selectively ignore them. The war of words between the media will always be their means of attracting the public, and Rogge does not. Stupid enough to let Lin Yi participate in it himself, the entanglement about Lin Yi's All-Star votes lasted until the night of February 2th. When Dallas welcomed these most popular big men in the NBA, everything about The intrusion of this kind of problem has finally come to an end. After all, no media is willing to continue such boring topics in such a basketball festival. They know that sometimes they can’t offend the public, although there are still people who criticize such things on various blogs and columns. Voting mode, but such voices have been gradually overshadowed by the joyful atmosphere of the All-Star Game. Those fans don’t have time to listen to nonsense from experts like you. All they have to do is to enjoy the two-day All-Star moment. After all It's a once-a-year basketball event that no one wants to miss.

However, the peak match that those fans were most looking forward to did not happen as scheduled. The little emperor James, who had vowed to participate in the slam dunk contest in last year's All-Star Game, once again found a reason to play, broke the appointment, and Lin Yi also gave up. According to his own words, it is enough to play once. There is no need to always let people see a big man over [-] meters showing his jumping ability on the court. In the gravitational game, he can't play the tricks of those little guys, and things like dunking are more suitable in the game.

Without the addition of Lin Yi and the little emperor to help out, this challenge to the peak of jumping ability naturally faded a lot of color, but Knight Robinson, Shannon Brown of the Lakers, Gerald Wallace of the Bobcats and the Raptors The lineup composed of DeRozan is also famous. Although the quality of the stars is a little worse, you will often see things that violate the law of gravity in this kind of game. Those flying pictures that stimulate people's eyes It is also the basis for the existence of the slam dunk contest. This time the All-Star Game will be no exception. The slam dunk will always show the beauty of strength and flexibility. Although it can come up with fewer and fewer tricks, no one will Give up watching such a game, because it will always be wonderful, and watching how human beings go beyond their own limits on the basketball court may be the most eye-catching aspect of the slam dunk contest.

After two rounds of competition among the four smaller guys, Nate Robinson, the shortest, used his second dunk to win the final victory. The whole action is very elegant. After he landed, the whole arena was full of explosive shouts. Robinson himself was very proud after the successful dunk. He even grabbed the cheerleader's bouquet and kept waving it for himself. , without such powerful opponents as Lin Yi and Little Emperor, this little guy can finally win the slam dunk championship again.

However, the feast of the All-Star game is always the last confrontation between the All-Star players from the East and West, especially when guys like Lin Yi and Little Emperor are concentrated in one team, you can imagine how that would be. In such a scene, don’t forget that there are guys like Iverson in their lineup. Before the game started, not many people would be optimistic about the Western team without Kobe. The explosion like this is destined to be their stage, and the lead actor has become a new generation like Lin Yi. At least according to the reaction on the scene, the popularity of Lin Yi and the little emperor Compared with the feeling of not being inferior at all, the people who cheered for him often made the strongest voices erupt in the arena, but this year's All-Star Game is like last year, filled with a memorable farewell atmosphere .

Last year it was Shaquille O’Neal, and this year it was the curtain call of most of the players of the golden generation of 96. These once glorious NBA stars have gradually begun to withdraw from the NBA’s historical stage, and there are only a few guys left who can continue to run on the court. A few, Kobe and Nash may be the few outstanding ones, and Iverson has obviously begun to enter the countdown before retirement. No one will say that his performance this season is not good, and not many people continue I wonder if this guy can no longer play as before, but in a private chat, this rebellious guy told Lin Yi himself that when he won the championship, it was when he left, the NBA The arena no longer needs him.

The generation in 03 has already begun to carry the backbone of the league, but now they have to face the impact of the next wave of players very urgently. Lin Yi's rapid rise has already reminded these people that Jiangshan has Talents come out, this is no longer the era when they can cover the sky with one hand, even the little emperor has begun to realize this crisis, if he wants to establish his own era, then now he not only has to frantically grab honors to add luster to himself , more importantly, he needs to complete such a task before Lin Yi surpasses himself, otherwise, he will probably only become a figure recorded in NBA history, and sometimes beautiful statistics can only be a kind of honor The lack of the most pale cover, the little emperor himself understands this, so he needs the championship this time, he can even give up the opportunity to show his skills in the slam dunk contest like breaking his promise, this is not because he is afraid of competing with Lin Yi It's a high and low score, but this guy wants to put all his energy on the sprint in the final stage of the regular season. He hopes to take the final home court advantage into his own hands, especially when the final opponent is likely to be the Miami Heat. when.

Farewell will be the main theme of this night. As for the final result, it doesn't matter anymore. The two teams jointly pushed the score to a peak by relying on the defenseless offense. At the last moment, when Iverson stood in the center of the field and waved When bidding farewell to the surroundings with both hands, the fans finally gave the most sincere applause to the proudest guy. Lin Yi walked back to the locker room with the little man holding the All-Star MVP trophy. It is more dazzling than waving goodbye to AI. He scored 25 points, 11 assists and 5 steals, and saw himself off with an MVP trophy. This may be the best choice for Iverson at the moment when he said goodbye to the All-Stars. A victory without suspense, this night belongs only to him.

"Believe me, this will not be your last honor." Lin Yi whispered to Iverson when he put his arms around his shoulders. This is a kind of commitment and a responsibility. What Ferson said is also reminding himself that he will not let this season end with a very regrettable ending. The entire Miami Heat will not allow that to happen again. They need to win, crazy wins .

When the curtain falls on the All-Star game after three days of carnival, the entire league will once again fall into a state of madness. After February, it will be the most brutal sprint stage, and all teams will try to catch the last Opportunity, no one wants to fall behind at this time, and the same is true for the Miami Heat, especially when Wade began to return to training from injury, they knew better what they should do in the last two months.

"Let's not repeat the way of last year. The shitty honor of runner-up should not belong to us." Spoelstra wrote this very clearly on the blackboard in the locker room. Incentives, but a requirement, two months to grab the first position, and then the stage of the playoffs, when the Filipinos lectured to all the players, there was only one sentence, "No. [-] in the regular season. This is the only time I make a request to you, so I hope you can do it, NO, it seems that my words should be changed, not hope, but must."

The final champion will be everyone's only goal. . .Get ready to sprint. . .Let your own fire burn even more fiercely. . .

The playoffs will be the final battlefield. . .

(The World Cup has begun...)
(End of this chapter)