Time flashed to May 8th, and the Eagles finally boarded a plane to Philadelphia, and it was not easy to wait for the next opponent to come out!

This past week, the six teams that have already qualified have been waiting in a hurry.

The remaining two rounds of the series are played too slowly!

San Antonio, Kobe and O'Neal stayed together when they didn't play and didn't have the same goal, and the more they looked at each other, the more unpleasant they became, and they almost had a fight.

On the New Jersey side, Payton and Kidd are very harmonious, and they lamented that after five or six years, they played each other again in the playoffs, but they switched from the West to the East.

On May 5th, when the Trail Blazers and Mavericks, 76ers and Hornets all tied 3-3, it was finally determined that the decisive time for the two series would be May 7, and the two tie-breakers would start on May 7, and the next round of the winners of the two series would be determined to start on May 10.

The Lakers' series with the Spurs, Bucks and Nets will start on May 8 and May 9.

The Kings are okay, waiting at home, no pressure.

Only the Eagles waited the most anxiously, they didn't wait at home like the Kings, and they had to wait until the night of the 7th to know who the next round opponent was, at this time Liu Mang found that it didn't seem like a good thing to consider the next round of opponents, and it was too difficult to wait.

The Eagles have been waiting for a week in a hurry, and in addition to waiting for the next round of opponents, there are also things that the players are very concerned about.

The regular season MVP is out!

Duncan won the regular season MVP without any suspense, becoming the eighth player in NBA history to win the MVP for two consecutive years, of course, it can be won in a row, not the eighth time, like Abdul-Jabbar has won 6 regular season MVPs in 10 years. Duncan won the MVP, and there were no big surprises from the second half of the season, and the most popular thing was that Duncan wore a shirt, jeans and sneakers to the stage to accept the award during the press conference.

Because Liu Mang teased Duncan on his previous talk show, many fans saw that there is such a guy in the most disgusting team of the Spurs, Duncan's popularity has changed from the high popularity obtained simply because of his strength to the funny role of the Spurs.

Best Coach, Popovich stayed up for seven years, and finally got this award that many coaches can get in the first two years, but he didn't win much applause, and the vast majority of non-Spurs fans feel that Popovich is equal to the Spurs, Spurs is equal to the team he hates, and Popovich is equal to the team he hates, and he didn't even make the headlines.

Finally, on the night of May 7, the series between the Hornets and the 76ers decided the winner, and the 76ers defeated the Hornets in the tiebreaker to advance to the second round.

The Hawks' next opponent was determined to be the 76ers, and owner Price went to book a charter flight that night.

Liu Mang heard the boss Price say that the Hilton Hotel had been chartered, and when the time came to choose a room at random, he was surprised that this opponent who had not been determined in advance could actually charter the hotel.

Liu Mang quietly asked Mike Woodson, only to learn that Price had already booked the Four Seasons Hotel by the Sea in New Orleans and the Hilton International Hotel in Philadelphia, and booked all the rooms from the 8th to the 12th for 5 days.

It seems a bit wasteful, but Price's operation obviously makes the Eagles players a lot more excited.

The boss is generous, and the players are naturally the happiest.

For the players to quietly discuss how the previous stingy boss was so generous this year, Price was very aggrieved when he heard this.

In the past, the team lost money every year, and the head office had to post it upside down, and he couldn't be generous if he wanted to! I don't want to work! Aren't you rich now......

……

……

Compared to the series that had so many series in the first round that didn't seem to have any suspense at all, the suspense in the second series was much greater.

Lakers and Spurs, very popular series, although people are more optimistic about the Lakers, but the Spurs are also very strong this year, people are optimistic about the Lakers, mainly because of the previous years of head-to-head records.

Although the series between the Nets and the Bucks has not received much attention, the matchup between Payton and Kidd is still very interesting.

The Lakers' game against the Spurs kicked off the night the Hawks arrived in Philadelphia.

The Kings play the Mavericks, this series is very exciting, Webb and Nowitzki, the matchup between Webb and Nowitzki, the best four power forwards in the league, for the second year in a row, is still very eye-catching, no less than the matchup between O'Neal and Duncan.

At noon on the 8th, the Eagles arrived at the Hilton Hotel in Philadelphia.

When it came to the playoffs, after the Hawks came to Philadelphia, Liu Mang didn't receive a call or text message from Iverson, let alone ask out for a cup of tea like he did in the regular season.

Liu Mang is not surprised, this is Iverson, he may be willing to accept a change in his playing style, but that is already the limit, to make his personality change? That's not Iverson at all.

Liu Mang did not take the initiative to contact Iverson, and the greatest respect for the other party is to respect the other party's character.

It's not just that as a fellow NBA player, it's okay to dislike certain things, but it's fundamental to be respectful of other people's personalities and choices.

And Iverson's way of doing things in the playoffs also has an advantage, which is focus!

There was no pre-game and post-game greetings, and after coming to Philadelphia, Liu Mang found a park and began to practice, actively preparing for the second round of the series starting on the 10th......

In the afternoon, the Eagles did not have a training plan, and some teammates, like Liu Mang, chose to find a place to train, and the rented arena could only be used tomorrow, some rested, and some went out for a walk, but they all returned to the hotel in the evening.

Liu Mang practiced for three minutes and mid-range shooting in the afternoon, and after returning to the hotel, he took a bath, ate some vegetables and high-protein white meat, and after doing this, it was just as the series between the Lakers and the Spurs began.

In this game, Liu Mang looks like a fairy fight!

Duncan had 28 points, 8 boards, 7 assists and 5 blocks, O'Neal had 20 points and 21 boards, and Kobe Bryant had 41 points, 7 assists and 2 rebounds.

In addition, there is another person who is the fourth best on the court, he is Ginobili, Ginobili entered the NBA's first season, the first playoffs, the first round played extremely badly, but as if by the lore Rockets opened the light, the Lakers started instead of Stephen Jackson, in Duncan's focus on defending O'Neal and focusing on scoring These two aspects missed a lot of rebounds, the demon knife twisted his flexible body, got 9 rebounds, and also scored 15 points and 5 assists, Plus a catch-and-shoot three-pointer with 7 seconds left and two points down!

However, when the three superstars on the field got such brutal data, the final score was 87-85, and Ginobili was stunted again! Three-point lore!

15 points, which is already the fourth highest score on the court, the Spurs are okay, there are three players with double figures, David Robinson pulled out to shoot and scored 14 points, Duncan 28 points, Ginobili 15 points, and there are three double-double scorers.

On the Lakers' side, except for O'Neal and Kobe Bryant, who scored double-doubles, 10 people played, except for the two in the OK combination, none of the others scored more than 5 points, and the highest was Fisher, who just scored 5 points.

After watching this game, Liu Mang couldn't help but sigh, the strength of the OK combination is still fine, but their lineup can't keep up, only rely on two people to play, it's okay to beat weaker opponents, and the strength is crushing, but when you play Duncan, it's difficult.

After watching the game between the Lakers and the Spurs, it was half past nine, Liu Mang went to watch his teammates play cards for a while, and then went back to his room to sleep, and there will be training tomorrow.

……

……

Early the next morning, Liu Mang and his teammates came to the rented basketball hall.

76ers fans are still quite friendly to the Hawks, mainly because Liu Mang and Iverson have a good relationship.

Although 76ers fans are now hostile to the Hawks, it is only because the two teams have become playoff opponents, and the hostility is also placed in the game, and there is nothing wrong with off-court.

When they arrived at the training hall, Coach Kruger called the players together for a meeting before the warm-up and talked about the key points of training.

If there is a home advantage, the opening will not be so simple and hasty, but there is no way, after deciding the next round of opponents, the preparation time is only two days, one day to fly, this thing is quite torturous, ordinary people occasionally sit once in a while is quite interesting, but when this becomes part of the job, even a charter flight will make people feel bored, if there was a meeting yesterday, it is really hard to say how many people can remember the tactics, especially this is a team dominated by blacks.

If you have home-court advantage, you can have an extra day, just like the Kings or the Hawks themselves did last season, and sit on the home court and do everything in order.

That's one aspect of home field advantage.

"Okay, everybody's ready, next up the series with the 76ers. We don't have any other goal, only one, which is to qualify! Coach Kruger set the goal of the series first, and when he saw everyone's expressions that he thought it was OK, he continued with satisfaction: "Although we are playing away from home, our goal is only to win and take home advantage back, and not just a home advantage...... We're going to win both games! ”

Coach Kruger stretched his voice and then uttered an amazing goal!

I also want to sweep the rhythm!

There was a flag at the beginning, and Coach Krueger didn't seem to know how to save character, he was still too young.

Although this is a goal that everyone has set in their hearts for a long time, the Eagles players still feel a lot of pressure when they say it!

The name Iverson is still very intimidating to most players in this era, in 2001, he won the Eastern Conference championship in the regular season without being favored all the way, reached the finals in two consecutive rounds of tie-breaks, and won a game against the Lakers, the strongest playoff team in history.

Liu Mang also felt the pressure, Iverson, this guy is really strong! And now because of his appearance, he has begun to change his style of play, and it has become more difficult to deal with.

But pressure is also motivation!

The Hawks players who have experienced last season's counterattack from the regular season to the Eastern Conference finals, plus they have just swept the first place in the East, are very confident in their own strength!

Seeing that the players were not only not frightened by such a goal, but the fighting spirit in their eyes became more and more vigorous, Coach Kruger was very satisfied, not to put pressure on these guys, where is the motivation?

"Next is the tactical arrangement, Mike, you set up the defense first, we are still defense-oriented......"

……

The day of preparation is short, and May 10th is here! Liu Mang got up early, this kind of series without home advantage, just like playing consecutive away games, more is the adjustment of skills, tactics and mentality, Liu Mang got up in the morning and read a book for a while, then pre-game interviews, team pre-game meetings, and at four o'clock in the afternoon, the Eagles came to the Wajovia Center for pre-game warm-up training.

Coming to this stadium that allowed Liu Mang to successfully return to the domestic market, Liu Mang can't wait to face off with Iverson in the playoffs!