The Pistons, the Nets, the Hornets, and the 76ers collectively expressed their disdain for the Celtics' useless bunch of guys.

Actually let the Eagles get the feeling back like that?

It's so useless!

Especially the Pistons, they originally saw that the Hawks had a feeling of being cold, even if they finally switched back to their previous style of play, it would definitely have a certain impact, such as Jason Terry, who originally got the ball, and Liu Mang, who lost the ball for a while and may not be adaptable, and the overall cooperation of the Hawks may be affected.

Originally, seeing that the Hawks had two more games to play in the last four games against the Celtics and the Pacers, two teams with strong defense, the Pistons were pleasantly surprised and felt that they could give the Hawks more stumbling blocks.

Who would have thought that the Celtics, who were so strong defensively, were beaten into a sieve by the Hawks, and the mood of the four teams that were going to play the playoffs with the Hawks could not be expressed in a single sentence?

The saddest thing is that the Pacers, a team that is about to play the Hawks and is in third place in the East but is overlooked, when the major media lined up the Hawks for possible playoff matchups, they completely ignored the Pacers, who were already firmly in third place in the East and won 48-31, and they did not even enter the shortlist of the Hawks' opponents.

On the contrary, the Milwaukee Bucks, who are ranked seventh in the East, were included in the list of possible grams, and on the night of the Celtics' loss to the Hawks, the Bucks won and climbed to sixth in the West.

In fact, in fact, the gap between sixth and third in the East is only 5 wins, not to the point of difference.

Looking at the media public opinion as if he has been eliminated, and Payton is going to the playoffs, it is really fierce, just won the Eastern Conference of the Month in March, and the Pacers feel the same malice as the Celtics, who feel targeted by the Hawks......

After the game between the Hawks and the Celtics, the style of the major media wallgrass was vividly displayed.

When the Hawks lost 1-3, the media were slamming Coach Kruger's wrong decision, telling him to stop quickly, finish this season first, and then rectify those moths next season, extremely unoptimistic about the improvement of the Eagles, and most media even said that because of this change, the Hawks' already successfully paved playoff road will be affected.

But after winning a game against the Celtics and showing the ability to seamlessly switch between the two ball-possession cores, the direction of public opinion changed abruptly.

"The New Generation of Famous Teachers"

Cardinal of the Eagles

"Another Phil Jackson"

《……》

《……》

Major media rushed to praise Coach Kruger, and it can be seen from the game that when Jason Terry organized with the ball, Liu Mang played significantly easier, and the two of them were unable to defend themselves after playing their own ball-holding characteristics.

This change has made the media praise Coach Kruger to the sky, and they are embarrassed to read the news in the newspapers and on the Internet.

Fortunately, there was a first-place battle between the Kings and the Spurs on the second day, which attracted the attention of the media in the afternoon, otherwise Coach Kruger would have been touted to float.

Although Coach Krueger knows that he can't be proud, he can't be fluttering, and although the Eagles have been praised by the media again, they have been blown up to the point that the playoffs have to go all the way down and down to do everything, but Coach Krueger knows that the road is very difficult, there is no home advantage, no matter who starts away from home, the team is still in the most disadvantageous situation, just after getting 41 wins, locking up the playoff spot.

But this did not prevent Coach Kruger from being happy, and he couldn't help but be happy when he saw Liu Mang, and laughed so much that Liu Mang was creepy......

……

……

The Hawks have three games left, while the Magic have only two games left, and the Magic are 38-42 and the Hawks are 41-38, and the playoffs are solid.

Boston is a great place, a famous academic city, the birthplace of the American Revolutionary War, a city with highly developed biomedical technology, and various orchestras and theaters, ranking eighth in the ranking of large cities in the United States, one place higher than Atlanta.

The Hawks didn't leave the next day after playing the Celtics, but had a day off in Boston.

The main thing is that the timing is awkward, the last three consecutive visitors, and there are two days of rest in the middle of the first two.

No. 12 played the Celtics, No. 13 and No. 14 rested, No. 15 played the Pacers, and then finally No. 17 and No. 18, there was a back-to-back game on the road and home against the Heat, and the regular season was about to end.

After playing the Celtics, the Hawks stayed in Boston, mainly because there was really no way to compare with Boston in that place in Indianapolis, and the next three games the Hawks were ready to play easily, mainly running tactics, and let more players who had fewer opportunities to play in the past few months, it doesn't matter if they win or not, even if they win all the remaining three games, it is only 44 wins, and the Celtics and Bucks can't lose all the remaining games, and even they can win them all, and the Hawks have little chance to climb to sixth, Seventh is the devil's ranking that all playoff teams in the East want to avoid, and the Hawks don't expect the Celtics and Bucks to lose the rest of their games, and if they do accidentally climb to sixth, the tragedy is that the Hawks themselves.

In the morning, the Eagles practiced for two hours in a rented Boston University arena, mainly to consolidate the style of play from yesterday's game, and in the afternoon they practiced individually, and those who want to go out and explore Boston, a historic city in the United States, can also go to visit.

Liu Mang chose to visit various universities in Boston with Rahim, who has an inexplicable yearning for learning and expects his son to be admitted to a prestigious university and become a scholar in the future.

In addition to Harvard and MIT, there are three universities that are also top universities, Boston University, a private university where the Eagles rent a stadium, Tufts University, one of the 25 New Ivy League universities, and Brandeis University, a top academic university with less than 5,000 students, known as the Jewish version of Harvard, known as the top five universities in the United States.

In addition, Boston has seven first-class academic universities, such as Northeastern University and the University of Massachusetts...... Three top-ranked financial management schools...... If you count various second- and third-rate universities, including Pheasant University, Boston, a city of just over 200 square kilometers, has more than 100 universities......

This is also the key reason why Boston is the most densely populated city in the United States after San Francisco, there are too many universities, universities are the best business clusters, and a school can drive a lot of economic income.

Liu Mang first went to Boston University with Rahim, and then went to Northeastern University, the closest to Boston University, with Rahim, not to mention, Liu Mang was very touched by the memories of his previous life and the memories of this life.

The experience of leaving college and entering society with dreams and finally being trampled to pieces by reality, as well as the emotion of graduating from college again, touched Liu Mang very much.

On April 19, Liu Mang's graduation ceremony was brought forward to April 19, the day the Hawks finished the regular season.

The normal graduation ceremony should have been in early May, but because Carter missed the training and pre-game preparation for the seven-game battle with the 76ers because of the graduation ceremony two years ago, Carter's performance in that game was abnormal, only 6 of 18 shots, the Raptors lost to the 76ers 87-88, and missed the opportunity to reach the Eastern Conference finals for the first time in team history. A degree certificate is a different thing, just a pre-graduation ceremony.

Of course, this ceremony is very important for many students, such as Carter, who promised his mother that he would definitely bring his mother to the graduation ceremony.

After all, an NBA star can be said to be the glory of the academy or even the entire school, NBA more than 400 players, are college students, and after entering the NBA, they still insist on taking enough credits to graduate, it is estimated that they can count on both hands, and at the same time they can enter the playoffs in the year of graduation, it is estimated that it is rare to meet once in ten years.

For example, Raheem, because his family is only close to the middle class and less than the middle class, but there are 5 younger brothers and sisters who are only 7 years old at most, he began to bear the pressure of life at home after his freshman year, and chose to enter the NBA early, and failed to become a master's student at the University of Detroit like his third brother, nor did he get a college diploma, which is a pity for him, so he put his expectations on his children.

Special things are treated specially, although Liu Mang did not get a degree certificate, but he has graduation qualifications, and when people from Georgia Tech contacted him, he knew that he was in this world and was about to graduate from college.

Looking at the youthful college students, Liu Mang and Rahim spent a sightseeing trip that was not interesting, but both of them thought it was very good.

……

A day later, the Hawks traveled to the home court of the Indiana Pacers to take on the Pacers on the road.

The Pacers lost to the Celtics in the previous day's game and went 48-32, completely losing hope of surpassing the 50-30 Pistons, and whether they played the Celtics or the Bucks, it was similar for them, and they didn't win much of these two teams in the regular season.

Of course, the Pacers are still very confident in themselves, and they take all the unfavorable comments as motivation, not surpassing the Pistons, and their goal is to lead the Nets by only one game!

So before today's game, the Pacers made a lot of plans, such as how to deal with Ratliff's under-the-basket defense, how to deal with Rahim's low-post singles and baseline jumpers, and how to choke off the duo of Liu Mang and Jason Terry......

But when it came time to announce the starting lists of the two teams before the game, the Pacers found that it was not the case at all!

The starting lineup of Liu Mang, Jason Terry, Prince, Boozer, and Murtola, and Raheem, Ratliff, and Mohammed were directly suspended, completely breaking the Pacers' expectations.

The Pacers completely overestimated the importance of this game to the Hawks, and felt that the Hawks would work hard to win a few more games and win the last few games.

It's also the end of the season, like Mentola, who may finish this season, it will be difficult to stay with the Hawks next season, and there may be no chance to play in the playoffs, Kevin Willis is much easier to use, and after trading to get Kevin Willis, Metola will have little playing time, so in the end, the airport let Metola also play to prove that he can play in the NBA, and the Hawks can't care where he will go next season, but in order to reflect the human touch of the team, after determining the playoff rankings, the Hawks gave them more opportunities to perform.

After the game began, the Eagles were thinking more about how to score and win, but trying to get Liu Mang and Jason Terry to create opportunities for big center Murtola.

This is simulating the way of playing in the presence of Ratliff, although Ratliff basically has no skills at all on the offensive end, but such a tall height, such a big block, in the weak east of the inner line, is still very threatening, standing there is a threat, if you can score a few, the other party will not dare to let him go easily.

In addition to Medola, there are also Cool Brother Newbell, one of the Chargers of the short lineup who has reduced his playing time a lot since Boozer, and Chris Crawford, who has had a sharp reduction in playing time after having Prince, all of whom have been given long playing time.

In addition to reflecting the human touch of the team, let them adapt to the team's changed style of play, which is also one of the reasons, they have been playing the old style of play for two seasons, they are very familiar, and they can integrate into it when they come up, but the new style of play is not necessarily.

Adapt more, and if you encounter a foul crisis in the playoffs or need a surprise rescue, you won't be unable to integrate into the team.

……

However, the process of this game is always unexpected, the Pacers see that the strongest players and defensive pillars of the Hawks are suspended, and the players who are congested can start to wait for the playoffs so moisturized, and they inevitably despise the Hawks a lot.

But after the start of the game, Boozer brought a threat to O'Neal Jr. beyond O'Neal Jr.'s imagination, a rookie's cut-in, pick-and-roll awareness, and mid-range shooting surprised O'Neal Jr., which was much stronger than when he was twenty-one or twelve, especially Boozer's cutting consciousness after blocking and dismantling, as well as Xiao Lu's low-post footsteps, all surprised O'Neal Jr.

As one of the best defensive power forwards in the East, O'Neal Jr. is not as irritable as Ratliffe, but in the past three years since he started the game, he has averaged 2.8, 2.3, and 2.4 blocks per game.

But I didn't expect the Eagles, a rookie on the bench, to have a new threat to the Eagles' interior offense after they had the tactical position of the main force.

The Pacers couldn't defend the interior at first, and after Boozer attracted the defense, Mentola got a lot of opportunities to play high and high, scoring six points in a row, and after the Pacers took care of the interior defense, the Hawks' outside cut and three-point shooting made the careless Pacers plant a big heel.

Prince and the rotation Chris Crawford actively hit the basket with an empty cut, Liu Mang and Jason Terry shot and passed quite well after blocking and dismantling, Artest followed Prince and Chris Crawford to run dizzy, he wanted to guard against Raheem! He wants the intense body of the bang......

At first, the Hawks tried all kinds of offensive methods, and they felt quite good, hitting the Pacers by surprise, opening the game with a 22-9, which scared the fans of the Pacers and Indianapolis.

This Eagles are too strong! With three fewer starters, it's still so strong!

However, after the Pacers adapted and adjusted their defense, they realized that it was just like that, just a little more tricks, less Raheem, a defensive containment point, Artest didn't care about Chris Crawford, but actively assisted in defense, the Hawks' offense began to be dumb, and at the end of the half, the Hawks were not only overtaken, but also trailed by 7 points, 51-58 to end the half.

In the second half, Jason Terry did things again, and when he went up to play with the bench, he was alone, scoring 14 points in a row, beating the Pacers 14-8, and almost overtook the score.

The Pacers also wanted to come up on the bench to practice, but the Hawks were playing so fiercely, with a posture to win, and Pacers head coach Isaiah Thomas, who was still fighting for a playoff ranking and wanted a home-court advantage in the second round, had to change his starter.

Yes, after Artest came to defend Jason Terry, in that rough confrontation, Jason Terry decisively conceded, passed the ball, played tactics, and fell behind by 8 points at 76-84 after the third quarter.

At the end of the quarter, Coach Kruger put Liu Mang up and ran tactics, Liu Mang did not have the leisure of Jason Terry to brush up a wave of scoring, and planned to run for a few minutes to play tactics and give the rest of the time to Dean Grove, but the Pacers did not believe that the Hawks would admit defeat so easily, and continued to replace the main force, in case Liu Mang would score points if he disagreed.

And then...... Liu Mang really ran a few rounds of tactics and was replaced......

Isaiah Thomas is going crazy, he can't figure out what the Eagles are thinking!

The Pacers players are also about to be tortured by Isaiah Thomas, and when people are close to the point difference, the head coach is scared like that......

In the end, the Hawks lost to the Pacers 99-108, and the Hawks players were not much disappointed, and Metola, who scored 17+5, set a new season high and was quite happy.

Murtola doesn't know if this is the last time he scored a double-double in his career, he was a second-round pick selected by the Hawks in 2000, because he is a big center, his value is much higher than that of a guard like Liu Mang, and he signed a 2+1 base salary contract, but he averaged 4 points and 3 boards per game in his rookie year, 4 points and 2 boards per game in his sophomore year, and only 4 points and 3 boards per game this year, whether there is a team next season is not necessarily, before his career high was only 14 points, and he had a double-double, 12 points and 12 boards, Before he may have left the NBA, he set a new personal scoring high, which is also a good memory for Mertora.

Chris Crawford is not quite the same as Newbell, they have good strength, especially Newbell, change teams, return to the familiar small forward position, maybe he can still play as a starter, and he still has a contract with the Hawks, but the Hawks are now strong, they have fewer opportunities to perform, and the Hawks need more experienced veterans, because of the addition of Prince and Boozer, the strength is there, and there is a lack of experience and veteran experience.

All three are likely to leave the Eagles next season, and the more we get to the end of the season, the more the players know about that, because they are becoming more and more marginalized.

But leaving is not necessarily a bad thing, the Hawks' lineup does not give them a chance to perform, continue to stay, if there is no good chance of performance next season, maybe their amazing impression of other teams in the 01-02 season will be slowly erased, and after the one-year contract is completed, it may be more difficult to find a job.

Chris Crawford and Nwell will almost certainly be traded away due to salary considerations and summer reinforcements, as Boozer will definitely have more playing time in his sophomore year, and two players who also play in the forward position of the small lineup will definitely leave.

However, the Hawks management is still quite humane now, mainly because they are afraid that Liu Mang has a deep affection for his old teammates, and if he sells at will, it may affect Liu Mang's contract renewal, so they notified their agents in advance and asked them to tell the players to play the rest of the games well, play well, and send them to the team they want to go to as much as possible after the season and before the draft.

Because I didn't expect to get any good returns, the main thing was to free up salary space and positions, and show the team's humanity as much as possible, so that Liu Mang, a Chinese player who attaches great importance to human feelings, will be more satisfied with the team, at least they will not be disappointed in the team because of this matter, and they are willing to spend a little more effort to do these things.

In addition, Dean Grove and Emmanuor, whose contracts are expiring soon and are basically losing their NBA capabilities, are not far from leaving the team, and they really have no ability to establish themselves in the NBA.

The team's long-term plan can't be improvised, the playoffs haven't started yet, the Hawks are already planning for the trade period before the draft, and the Hawks are almost certain to have a first-round pick with the 14th pick, and in 2003, the big year of the draft, this pick is worth a lot of money.

Choose talent? The Eagles are not very happy, the talent is already about to explode, and they will have to trade and trade again in a few years, otherwise the salaries of the six core players Liu Mang, Jason Terry, Raheem, Boozer, Prince, and Ratliff will blow up! What the Eagles want is to strengthen their combat strength immediately, and strive to win a championship before the salary explodes, otherwise who to trade, Liu Mang can't make sense here.

After playing the Pacers, the Hawks players came to the pre-chartered restaurant and gathered together, with players who had a good relationship with the Pacers, and some of the Pacers' players were called.

Rahim called little O'Neal, Muhammad and Al Harrington were friends of the same year, and when Liu Mang saw Muhammad and Al Harrington coming together, he felt that it was probably because of Muhammad's good temper that he could be friends with someone with such an arrogant personality as Al Harrington.

After the regular season, in order to prepare for the playoffs, the coaching staff will definitely not give them time to get together, maybe there will be a direct playoff curfew, so take advantage of this time to get together, the playoffs are not easy to say, in case of a playoff loss, there may be no heart to get together.

Liu Mang also went, Liu Mang and Jason Terry made an appointment with Artest and Tinsley together, Liu Mang didn't drink, the Eagles were the away team after all, the whole team had collective activities, and many local police officers walked around outside the restaurant, for fear that this group of rich uncles would cause trouble or have some accidents, and then their director would only take the blame and resign, so many policemen were nearby, Liu Mang, who was regarded as a "model" by the alliance and promoted the "image spokesperson" who did not drink and did not go to nightclubs, naturally did not drink secretly.

Liu Mang also knew the next outcome of these teammates, a little sentimental, but also knew the team's arrangements for them, such as Emmanuol and Moron Willy have a good relationship, and may stay in the team to become a trainer, after all, they are professional athletes, and it is not bad to be a sparring partner or something, the salary is much less, but at least they will not retire and go bankrupt, Liu Mang feels a lot better about this, Emmanuol is Liu Mang's first friend in the team, although he has no sense of financial management, Six years of career combined with a salary of more than 2 million after tax is how much to spend, and when you are poor, you follow Raheem or Jason Terry to rub the girl, but aside from the money aspect, he is indeed a good friend.

Watching Dean Grove drink up and talk about his dream of becoming a painter in the future, listening to Emmanuol talk about one day snatching the position of vice president that Moron Willie just took over from Uncle Callahan and then being intimidated by Moron Willie to make him responsible for picking up the ball every day, watching Murtora decide to go back to college to finish college and then go to the gym to open a small ideal, Liu Mang drank a glass of milk from 2003, and felt in his heart that this is probably life!

"Ace, are you upset?"

An iron man who can be compared to Boozer in terms of appearance and style evaluation at this stage came to Liu Mang and asked.

"No, Ron, I'm happy for them, it's a good thing to have their own plans for the future, isn't it?" Liu Mang said with a smile.

"That's right, compared to a lot of players, they're lucky to have a boss like you." Artest felt that he was worried, he saw Liu Mang's melancholy expression, and thought that Liu Mang was sad because his teammates were leaving.

Artest seems to be grinning, but his heart is very soft, otherwise he would not become a famous charity participant in the future, and the big grin is only because he grew up in that chaotic place in Queens, where he can only be tough, or he will become food for others.

"No, no, no, I'm not the boss, Sharif is the boss." Liu Mang hurriedly refused the title.

Some of his teammates call him Little-boss in private, and he can accept it, but in front of outsiders, he doesn't want to wipe Rahim's face, Rahim is the boss of the team, the symbol of the team, although Rahim may not mind because of this, but Liu Mang can't be ignorant.

Artest smiled and didn't speak, replaced milk with wine, had a drink with Liu Mang, and then returned to the ranks that had advanced from drinking and bragging to gambling......