【Chapter 1069】 Keeping the Suspense (Asking for Subscription!)

On June 7, the Lakers and Cavaliers moved to Cleveland to start the third game of the Finals.

In the 60-year history of the NBA, no team has ever been able to turn the tables 3-0, and the Cavaliers know that a loss in Game 3 means that there is no hope for the entire series.

No one wants to play nearly 100 games and work hard for an entire season, only to lose the Finals, and it is better to go on vacation after the regular season.

After losing Game 2 of the Finals, the Cavaliers took a charter flight back to Cleveland overnight and spent several days training in a closed camp.

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On the plane from Los Angeles to Cleveland, Xiao Feng summoned Kupchak, Scott, Bryant and Mark for a meeting to discuss the strategy and tactics of Game 3.

The organizational structure of the Lakers is a little different from other teams, and Kobe, as a core player, also has the identity of the owner, which makes major events within the team often need to be approved by Xiao Feng.

In normal times, Xiao Feng rarely interferes in the team's daily operations, training and games, and only intervenes in the team's strategy under some special circumstances, which is actually the practice of Xiao Feng's management of the company.

In the Lakers, the team's daily operations, ticket sales, and corporate marketing are all handled by Kupchak, while the team's internal training and tactical arrangements for the game are presided over by Scott, and Xiao Feng is more like a normal core player.

Of course, because of the special identities of Xiao Feng and Kobe, they have more say in the team's tactics, and often when they are on the court, Scott rarely adjusts their tactics. Some people say that Scott has the mantle of a Zen master. usually keeps quiet on the sidelines, in fact, only Kobe and Xiao Feng know that he doesn't need to worry about everything on the court.

"This one, the Cavaliers are going to fight hard, and we're going to finish them and bring the game back to Los Angeles!" Xiao Feng directly said his decision.

With the Lakers' current overall strength and competitive state, Xiao Feng is not worried about capsizing in the gutter, after all, after two finals battles, he already has a real understanding of the strength of the Cavaliers.

Although the 'Cavaliers Big Three' has a great reputation, James is at the level of the NBA's top stars, and Love and Irving are also at the level of first-class stars, far from reaching the standards of the 'Big Three'. Other players are of average strength, and the reason why the Cavaliers have been able to reach the Finals for three consecutive years. It's because of the weaker strength of the Eastern team. If the Cavaliers are in the Western Conference, I am afraid that the ranking will still be below the Warriors and Spurs, so there is no need to worry.

On the other hand, the Lakers, in addition to the two superstars Xiao Feng and Kobe Bryant, the starting Mark and the United Arab Emirates are also first-class stars at the All-Star level, including Randle, Towns, Jeremy Lin and others are also powerful players. In the past two years, people have mostly only seen Xiao Feng and Kobe Bryant combining their swords and killing all sides. But little attention was paid to the Lakers' victory and the silent support of these powerful players.

According to the technical statistics within the Lakers, the bench lineup has never been at a disadvantage when it comes to opposing bench battles. That's a big reason why the Lakers were able to win easily.

Based on full confidence in the strength of the team, Xiao Feng does not think that the Cavaliers can cause too much trouble for the Lakers in the series, besides, when it is really critical, Xiao Feng will turn on the personal offensive mode and win the game by himself.

Right now. Xiao Feng considered that he could not win the third game, otherwise the score of 3:0 might collapse the Cavaliers, and the game would not return to Los Angeles.

According to the 2-2-1-1-1 format of the finals, Xiao Feng naturally hopes that the team can win the championship at Staples Arena and send Kobe Bryant off with the best gift.

Of course. This is not only Xiao Feng's personal will, but also the collective idea of Lakers fans and sponsors, Rao is the finals are so thrilling, Xiao Feng has to walk a tightrope.

"Wouldn't it be too dangerous to give up the third game?" Kupchak was a little worried, after all, the 2-1 score was a very delicate existence, and maybe the Cavaliers would have more hope and fighting spirit because of it.

As the general manager of the team, Kupchak naturally hopes that the finals can be played in Staples Arena for one or two more games, after all, this means tens of millions or even hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue. According to the finals of previous years, the ticket revenue of a game is about 10 million US dollars, but if you add the factor of Kobe's retirement, the ticket price has skyrocketed by 5 times, which is really a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!

However, Kupchak still hopes that the team can win the championship without danger, after all, a championship trophy is far more important than $100 million for the team's long-term future.

"The Cavaliers fought hard, we had a physical advantage, and we won't have a problem in Game 4!" "To be able to hold a retirement game at Staples Arena and win a championship game is a huge temptation for Kobe Bryant.

Kobe Bryant also carefully analyzed the advantages and disadvantages between the Lakers and the Cavaliers, and felt that giving up a game was not the end of the world, and it could not be swept away, and the score of 4:1 was enough to win the championship.

It's just that Kobe Bryant and Xiao Feng will give up the fourth game after 3:0 before, and now it has been changed to the third game, which doesn't seem to have much impact.

"Let's take a look at the situation in the first half, if the opponent is desperate, we will give up, if the opponent has lost the fighting spirit, we will be better to operate!" Although Scott was commented by the outside media as 'picking up the championship', he still has some coaching ability on the spot, after all, he led the Nets and Kidd to the finals.

After some discussion, the four of them finally agreed with Xiao Feng's decision and prepared to give up a game in Cleveland, and finally leave the suspense of the finals in Los Angeles!

The other players on the same plane did not notice the actions of the team's top management, after all, although this kind of voluntary abandonment of the game is something that the NBA league is very looking forward to, it cannot be put on the table.

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Cleveland, the 45th largest city in the United States on the south shore of Lake Erie, has an urban population of less than 400,000, which is not at all a level compared to supercities such as Los Angeles and New York.

Although the Cavaliers have made consecutive Finals appearances over the years, that hasn't been the city's huge attraction to superstars. It's because the owner of the Cavaliers is unlucky and draws three champions in a row!

Although the Cavaliers are a powerhouse in the East and have superstars like James, they don't even get as much media attention and advertisers as they do with a team like the Knicks.

This is also an important reason for James's envy and hatred of Kobe, because Los Angeles is naturally a huge stage. Even if the Lakers have a bad record, Kobe's attention and advertising expenses will not change in any way.

Kobe Bryant's career has earned more than $400 million in advertising revenue, which is beyond the reach of most NBA players, which is certainly inseparable from Kobe's outstanding performance, but the bonus of Los Angeles is also essential.

In addition to having more income, super cities are also much more attractive to power stars than other cities, whether it is O'Neal and Malone at the beginning or Aldridge and Mark last year, etc., are all manifestations of this factor.

The reason why the Lakers have become one of the most successful teams in NBA history is inextricably linked to the 'City of Angels'. After all, players are also people, and big cities are more attractive!

Cleveland is too small, but now James has no way back, is it possible that he can abandon the Cavaliers again and switch to other teams? If that's the case, I'm afraid James's sponsors won't agree, after all, it's a great damage to his image!

Today's James, the only way out is to win a championship trophy with the Cavaliers. This is the only way to make a name for himself, he is still the most powerful warrior in the alliance!

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The Lakers arrived in Cleveland a day early. The players don't wander around at this special time, all of them are confined to the Hilton hotel, and occasionally go to the gym and swimming pool to get under the action.

In the NBA, nightclub culture is very popular, but it doesn't work with the Lakers, after all, Xiao Feng is a traditional Chinese man. I don't take my players to nightclubs. In addition, the team's personnel composition also makes the locker room quite harmonious, and the Lakers' players rarely break the negative news.

The three Chinese are all good men at home, and it is not easy to see the news of their clubbing, plus Kobe, Mark and others are all very strict with their wives. Downs and Randall are still rookies, and naturally they won't indulge in sex like some old oilers.

For the media reporters who follow the Lakers, the Lakers' performance on the court is wonderful enough, but it is even more dull off the court than the Spurs, maybe this is the influence of oriental culture on the team?

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In the third game of the finals, the number of international media reporters who came to Cleveland to cover the event plummeted to 200, and more reporters stayed in Los Angeles, which shows that Cleveland is not very attractive to journalists.

While the Lakers haven't announced that they're bringing the Finals back to Los Angeles, it's a well-known secret that sponsors' various decorating activities at Staples Arena are not over.

Whether it's for Kobe Bryant's respect, financial considerations, or attention, getting the Finals back to Los Angeles is the best option, so these savvy reporters aren't all going to rush to Cleveland.

When James got the number of international media reporters who applied for interviews, he was also cold in his heart, no matter how hard he tried, he would not let Cleveland become an international metropolis!

This also made James's fighting spirit burn, and he vowed to teach the Lakers a lesson at home, so that they could understand that the script would not play out the way they wanted!

At 8 p.m. local time on June 77 in Cleveland, Game 3 of the NBA2016-17 Finals officially began, with the Cavaliers hosting the Lakers.

At the beginning, James, Irving, and Love all fought fiercely, after all, if they lost this game again, the blow to the team's morale would undoubtedly be huge. No one wants to climb out of the 0:3 pit, if it's 1:2, the next game still has to be played!

In the face of the Cavaliers' ferocious play, Kobe and Xiao Feng consciously avoided the edge, and did not shoot much, but more to use the inside line such as UAE and Mark to entangle with the Cavaliers.

Although he has decided to give up this game, Xiao Feng is reluctant to make it too obvious, after all, this will affect the image of the team and his teammates, and it is best to be difficult to solve, and finally decide the winner.

Kobe Bryant understood Xiao Feng's intentions very thoroughly, and he struggled quite hard in the face of James's attack, and the scores of the two teams also rose alternately!

The battle between the two teams undoubtedly made the crowd even happier, after all, the one-sided game was undoubtedly a disaster for neutral fans.

The game lasted until the last five minutes of the fourth quarter, and the Lakers still had a slight lead of 3 points, which also made the scramble on the court more intense, and the Lakers' Mark and Towns had already left the court with six fouls.

Losing the Optimus Pillar on the inside, the Lakers' disadvantage was gradually revealed, although Kobe Bryant and Xiao Feng's accuracy on the outside was still not bad, but the Cavaliers still overtook the score!

In the end, the Cavaliers defeated the Lakers 112-108 at home, bringing the score of the Finals to 1:2, which still gave the Cavaliers more expectations for the future.

James played an astonishing 45 minutes, almost non-stop, and scored 30 points, 15 rebounds and 12 assists in an all-around performance to lead the team to victory. On the Lakers side, Xiao Feng's triple-double and Kobe's 32 points are not bad, but the performance of other players is a little worse, only Jeremy Lin and the United Arab Emirates scored double-doubles, Mark and Towns were plagued by fouls and struggled!

The Lakers' defeat made the media more prepared, because Kobe Bryant's retirement game will not be played at least in Cleveland, and perhaps the script has been arranged a long time ago!

The team's victory made Cleveland a sea of joy, but the Cavaliers fans were only happy for two days, because on the night of the 9th, the Lakers defeated the Cavaliers again and got the match point!

Although a score of 1:3 is not as desperate as 0:3, only 8 teams in the history of the NBA have achieved a comeback in the playoffs, and none of them have been in the Finals!

In terms of probability, it is very unlikely that the Cavaliers will turn the tables around, and it is more reasonable that the next game will be played in Los Angeles, and the Lakers must be hoping to pay tribute to the retirement of the legendary superstar Kobe Bryant in a perfect way, right?

When Kobe Bryant scored 42 points of his game in the fourth quarter of the fourth game and stretched the score to 12 points, the 20,000 Cavaliers fans at the scene were silent and involuntarily stood up and applauded Kobe.

Perhaps, putting aside the factor of the home team's loss, these fans are fortunate to be the spectators who witnessed Kobe's final magical performance, which is actually a kind of happiness!

In the future, the NBA will never see a controversial but admirable paranoid like Kobe, even in the eyes of Clevelands, his own James is really incomparable to Kobe in terms of personal charm!

This is the real legend!(To be continued.) )

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