"Larry, this referee is too dark." On June 2, 2002, just a few days after the Pacers defeated the Nets and reached the Finals, the Western Conference Finals Lakers and Kings also kicked off, just at the end of the fourth quarter of the game, the two sides were tied at 100, and when the winner was to be determined through overtime, Meng Xu, who was sitting in the Pacers' general manager's office watching the game, glanced at Larry Bird not far away, and said with an indignant face. In order to familiarize himself with his Finals opponents in advance, the sixth game of the Kings and Lakers series and today's tie-break battle, Meng Xu watched the whole process with Larry Bird, as for the performance of the Chinese King and the Lakers in these two games, it can only be described as dog blood, the referee has obviously become the master of these two games, and at the same time, when I think of what happened to the Pacers in the Eastern Conference Finals G3, Meng Xu hated it.

"Meng, you know, this is a business league, and the league and sponsors are pursuing the maximization of profits, and the Lakers are obviously much better than the Kings in the Finals. If our opponent in the final was the New Yorkers, we would have been no better off than the Kings. Larry Bird paused, took a puff on his cigar, tapped the ash on the ashtray, and continued: "That's why, too, I'm protesting to the Union, after all, we're not metropolises like New York and Los Angeles, like the King. ”

"Larry, it looks like our Finals opponent should be the Lakers, do you think the league will do the same in the Finals?" After listening to Larry Bird's words, Meng Xu did not let go of his heart, but asked with doubts. In the sixth game of the Western Conference finals, the king, who had already won the match point, had the advantage of the whole game, but in the fourth quarter, the referee on duty suddenly blew the king's foul, the king's two centers all 6 fouls graduated, and Webb, who replaced the center, also fouled continuously after playing, and the Lakers got as many as 27 free throws in a single quarter, and finally relied on the referee's excellent performance, the Lakers defeated the king and moved the score to a 3-3 draw. And this game is the same, in the King's home court, the King not only failed to enjoy the home whistle treatment, but was targeted and restricted by the referee everywhere, the King's main players due to the limit of the number of fouls, the playing time was greatly reduced, the main center Verratti Divac could only sit on the court, watching his teammates fight on the court, and in the fourth quarter played a few minutes Verratti Divac graduated, although the King in the game with 10 seconds left, tenaciously equalized the score, dragged the game into overtime, but according to the urine of these referees in this game, Meng Xu really has little confidence that the king can fight back against the Lakers.

"You can rest assured, the Finals will get a lot more attention, so the league will not continue to do this in the Finals, even if the whistle is biased, it will not be too obvious." Larry Bird looked at Meng Xu with a smile on his face, and at the same time waved his hand, signaling Meng Xu to relax, then picked up his cigar and continued: "After our protests in the Eastern Conference Finals, the league will definitely not continue to hack us in the Finals, and maybe it will give you some extra care." And the showdown between you and Kobe Bryant is obviously in the interests of the alliance, so you can relax. ”

"Hmm." After Larry Bird finished speaking, Meng Xu nodded at him and continued to watch the overtime that was about to start.

"The alliance doesn't give the king a chance at all! Don't look at it. Just two minutes after the start of overtime, Meng Xu threw the orange he had just opened in his hand directly onto the table, got up and was about to leave. In the overtime that has begun, as long as the king scores a goal, the referee will blow the king for a foul and send the Lakers' players to the free throw line, in more than two minutes of the game, the Lakers did not score a single sports goal, and only relied on free throws to lead the king, and the referee is also familiar with the Lakers' foul on the king, the game is played to this point, Meng Xu has no way to continue watching, especially when the broadcast camera just now shows Adelman, who is squatting on the sidelines, looking helpless and complaining, Meng Xu feels sad.

"Meng, misjudgments are also part of the basketball game, and what we can do is try to try not to let misjudgments happen to us." Seeing Meng Xu, who was full of anger, got up and was about to leave, Larry Bird directly turned off the TV, waved his hand at Meng Xu, and motioned for Meng Xu to sit down: "Now let's talk about the upcoming finals." ”

"Okay." Meng Xu stood in place, slowed down for a long time, and then calmed down, picked up the orange that had been thrown on the table by himself, and had been deformed, Meng Xu moved a few steps to the other end of the sofa, and sat next to Larry Bird.

"Whether we can win this series or not, the most important thing is your play, followed by Kobe's play." Larry Bird put the cigar in his hand on the ashtray, opened the drawer, and took out a piece of white paper that had been prepared in advance, on which were the words 5vs8 written.

"Kobe? Are you going to let me defend him? There's nothing wrong with that. After listening to Larry Bird's words, Meng Xu first nodded, and then made a promise to Larry Bird. The Lakers have two superstars, O'Neal and Kobe, so they can only make targeted defensive arrangements for one of them, with O'Neal's lethality and dominance under the basket, it is completely impossible for the Pacers to limit him, so they can only make a fuss about Kobe, as long as Kobe Bryant plays abnormally, or can limit Kobe, then the Pacers' hope of winning this series is greatly increased.

"No, I'm going to let Reggie and James defend Kobe Bryant in this series, and what you're going to do is unleash all your energy on the offensive end." After Meng Xu made a guarantee, Larry Bird immediately shook his head.

"I still don't understand." According to Kobe's performance in the playoffs, the current Reggie Miller has no way to prevent Kobe, James Posey may have the ability to limit Kobe, but if Posey plays, he or Reggie Miller will definitely have someone to go to the bench, so that the Pacers' offensive firepower will be greatly affected, no matter how you look at it, it will be worth the loss, so Meng Xu still thinks that it is the best choice to play against Kobe Bryant by himself, as for physical strength or something, Meng Xu will not think about it at all now, and when the finals are over, There is time to rest.

"Meng, it doesn't matter who defends Kobe, what matters is our interior line, whether it is Jermaine or Lorenzen, they can't deal with that big guy, and only Kobe can guard him." After seeing Meng Xu's expression, Larry Bird showed a mysterious smile, and then picked up the cigar again and took a puff gently.

"Only Kobe Bryant can guard against O'Neal?" After repeating what Larry Bird had just said, Meng Xu tore off a piece of orange and put it in his mouth, and then began to turn his brain, wanting to know what the meaning of Larry Bird's words was.

"Whether it's the current Lakers, or the Spurs last season, or even the former Bulls, when a team has two superstars, then one person has to make sacrifices for the team to run smoothly, and you must be very aware of that." Larry Bird patted Meng Xu on the shoulder as he spoke, and after Meng Xu nodded affirmatively, he continued: "In the past, due to insufficient strength, Kobe Bryant has always been the one who was sacrificed, and because of O'Neal's strong dominance, Kobe Bryant had to surrender to O'Neal's command, but judging from the performance of the two this season, O'Neal has obviously been unable to suppress Kobe, so this is a good opportunity for us." ”

"Well, I see." After hearing Larry Bird's words, Meng Xu also knew Larry Bird's intentions and strategies, since last season, Kobe Bryant's number of shots has obviously exceeded O'Neal's, and it is from last season that Kobe has averaged more than 30 points per game for two consecutive seasons, through last season and Iverson, this season and Iverson and his own scoring champion competition, Kobe has quietly become the strongest of the "four scoring guards", This season, he averaged 31.4 points, 6.7 rebounds, and 5.6 assists per game, which can only be described as perfect. After this season's MVP selection, some media were upset with Kobe, claiming that if he wasn't on the same team as O'Neal, this year's regular season MVP would probably be Kobe's. And since last season, O'Neal's data has declined, The average score per game this season has even fallen to 25.9 points, which is already the lowest point after the rookie season, although Meng Xu knows that this is because O'Neal played dead in the regular season, and his ability value is still the highest in the league 98, but in the eyes of the media, this is the proof of O'Neal's decline, one is at the peak, like the sky, and the other has begun to go downhill, which is better, at a glance, with Kobe's character, it is a miracle that he can calm down at this time and be a little brother to O'Neal.

"In the Lakers' two home courts, we can win one of the best, it doesn't matter if you can't win it, in these two games, you have to be unreserved on the offensive end, to score points with Kobe, to stimulate his scoring**, once Kobe releases this monster in his heart, it will be difficult to lock it up。。。。。。" After Meng Xu made his intentions clear, Larry Bird began to smoke a cigar while talking eloquently, telling Meng Xu all his plans.

"Well, the king lost in the end." After talking to Larry Bird, Meng Xu, who was a little unrelenting, turned on the TV again, the king unexpectedly lost the game, in overtime, the Lakers got as many as 8 free throws, and the king did not have one, relying on free throws The Lakers eliminated the king.

"After this year's series, this king is going to sink." Looking at the TV, after the game, the Kings who were still standing on the sidelines and unwilling to leave, Larry Bird let out a sigh, from the leading player Chris Webber to the role player Scott Pollard, they all had a disheartened expression on their faces, such a team, there is no way to get out of this kind of blow.