Chapter Thirty-Eight: Starry Los Angeles
In the NBA, there was one team that was always hated by other teams at the time, and that was the Lord of the Rings Russell's Celtics, who won 11 championships in 13 seasons, including a horrific eight-game winning streak. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ļ½ļ½ļ½Uļ½Eć info The Celtics were frantic at the time, and there were All-Stars on the bench....
If you have to find a team comparable to it in the history of the NBA, it is undoubtedly the Los Angeles Lakers in the 03-04 period.
In the '03-04 season, the Lakers had four players on board that would make any team salivate.
"Big Shark" Shaquille O'Neal, the league's most dominant center at the time, destined to be inducted into the "Hall of Fame" player, is now a truly unsolvable proposition in the NBA!
"Peter Pan" Kobe Bryant, although shrouded in O'Neal's shadow, is still the closest person to Jordan in the post-Jordan era.
"Postman" Karl Malone, the league's greatest power forward before Duncan, his tough guy image is deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, and his combination of black and white with Stockton has made the Jazz captain a super team for more than a decade.
He was named to the All-Star Game 11 times (1988-1998), to the All-Star First Team 11 times (1988-89 to 1998-99), to the All-Defensive First Team three times (1996-97 to 1998-99), to be a regular season MVP twice (1996-97, 1998-99), and to be an All-Bright Game MVP (1989, 1993) twice, and he was second on the league's scoring list and sixth on the rebounding list.
Although he is a little old now, who can deny that he is still terrifying?
"The Gloves" Gary Payton, a two-time NBA All-NBA Team of the Year (1998, 2000), selected as the NBA's No. 1 Defensive Team of the Year for 8 consecutive seasons (1994-2001), voted the league's best defensive player in 1996, it is worth mentioning that this is the first guard player to win this honor since Jordan in the 1987-88 season, and the only player to win the best defensive player as PG, steal king, limiting Jordan to average the lowest points in his career in the Finals, and the famous nickname - "The Glove"! It's all a testament to how good his defense is, and it's a little bit of an exaggeration that friends can assume that Payton's defense is textbook for every point guard.
He has been named to the All-Star team for seven consecutive years, including two starts. Became the 88th player in NBA history to score more than 15,000 points and the 8th player in NBA history to score more than 15,000 points, more than 6,000 assists and more than 1,000 steals.
The Lakers, who are so starry, showed their strong fighting power at the beginning of the season, beating the Dallas Mavericks 109-93, the Golden State Warriors 87-72, the Milwaukee Bucks 113-107, and the Phoenix Suns 103-99.
Now, with the power of consecutive wins, the vigorous trip to San Antonio, whether it can avenge the elimination of the Spurs in the playoffs last year has become the focus of heated discussions across the league.
Before the start of the competition, major media outlets reported and predicted the final result. The Lakers players' remarks about this game have also appeared frequently in many magazines and newspapers.
On the Spurs' side, there was no escape from the media, and despite Popovich's pre-game gag order, the Spurs players' remarks were inevitable.
Because of his excellent performance against the Grizzlies, Chamberlain has also been harassed by the media recently. When asked what they thought of the game, Chamberlain, who had no experience in media struggle, couldn't stand their endless questioning and angrily shouted "We will win".
Forgive the poor boy!
"Say no to O'Neal, the Spurs rookie said he will win", "Spurs ignore F4, the victory must be ours", "The admiral retires, I will push up the Spurs' inside line".....
Temperance is a good thing, but the media generally don't need it!
The fight was indeed provoked by the powerful media, both inside the team and outside. Another round of public opinion warfare began, and the gunpowder atmosphere before the game intensified.
The time is getting closer and closer, and the coaches of both sides, who are also extremely concerned about this game, are coincidentally making the final tactical arrangements before the game.
NBA local time, November 6, 2003, at the SBC Center, less than an hour before the start of the game, fans had already entered early.
Based on the feud between the Lakers and the Spurs, the league also made a global live broadcast of this game. TNT's ace commentator - Kenyon Smith, well! Don't forget our "Space Flying Pig" Charles Barkley, who will be partnered with Smith as a commentator.
In the locker room at home, a bunch of stuffy jars make it feel like another world. Chamberlain was sitting there in a daze.
"Zhang, you have a genius mind, you should understand what you are going to do today, right?" said Popovich to Chamberlain alone in the morning.
What was he supposed to do? Chamberlain certainly understood. But O'Neill is really not comparable to the current Yao Ming, the more he understands the alliance, the more he understands O'Neal's terrible. He had thought he was mentally prepared for a long time, but at this time, his nervous heart kept telling him that he was afraid, afraid that this moment would come.
The game started when Chamberlain hadn't yet overcome himself!
The first to play in the boos of the audience was the Lakers, who had an incomparably dazzling lineup.
Lakers: Gary Payton, Kobe Bryant, Devon George, Karl Malone, Shaquille O'Neal.
Next is the home team Spurs, the gaffer used his most perfect technique to set off the extraordinary players on the field, and the cheers of the audience reached a climax with the arrival of the new king Duncan.
Spurs: Parker, Ginobili, Bowen, Duncan, Nesterovic.
The referee blew the whistle for the start of the game.....
Barkley and Smith on the commentator bench also began to brag and fart, and engaged in a heated verbal exchange.
Many people in China also turned on CCTV5 on time at this time.
The game is also being broadcast live in China, but not for Chamberlain.