Chapter 210: Eternal Problems
"0:2 behind, the rocket is facing the biggest crisis!" The Houston Times.
"Two home-court advantages are handed over, and the Spurs have half a foot in the Western Conference finals!" San Antonio Labor Newspaper.
"Ginger is still old and spicy, because of someone's incompetence, the Rockets' playoff journey will be drawn with a rest symbol again!" ESPN official website.
Falling behind 2:0 and losing both home games is something that everyone thinks about before the game, so many articles that sing the praises of the Rockets were published in major newspapers faster than light after the dust settled on the game.
These are all scripts that they wrote before or during the game, and if the Rockets suddenly turn the tables, they have to tear up the manuscript and write a new copy, so in this regard, the Rockets players are still very considerate of the hard work of their media staff.
The loss of this game did not have much impact on Totoro, and the criticism of his immaturity was said as early as after the end of the first quarter, and most people in this game already had a premonition of failure, as the so-called mourning is greater than death, as long as there is preparation in advance, the fans are not so unacceptable to the team's failure.
On the contrary, the loss of this game is still a little good for Totoro personally, because those fans have once again seen what the Rockets with and without Totoro are like, and he once again shows his importance, and a rookie can take the team to the Western Conference semifinals in the first season, which is already a high achievement in itself.
It's just that no one guessed that Totoro was not satisfied, this year's Rocket's lineup is unprecedentedly strong, and it can be said that it is the most reasonable structure in the history of the Rockets, when the number of players is even more than when the Rockets won the championship in 94, this year he is obviously going for the championship.
Even if you can't win the championship, Totoro also wants to go to the Finals to see the scene, although the Rockets have become strong through trading this year, but 1/3 of the players are about to expire next year's contract, including a brother These quasi-All-Stars or Lowry These potential new stars, it is basically impossible for the Rockets to sign these players at market prices, their contracts are not limited, once the contract expires next year, any team can make any offer to them, and then rob them openly.
In order to reserve Totoro's maximum salary after two years, the Rockets will definitely not give these players a big contract in the next two years, and once other teams tempt them with a big contract, these people are likely to leave.
And Totoro doesn't want to lose these powerful helpers, so what can he do? Once the money is not satisfied, the only way Totoro can think of is to attract them with honor and championships.
They have to make it to the Finals this year, and no matter how bad they are, they have to reach the Western Conference Finals, so that these players can see that they have a great hope of staying with the Rockets to win the championship, so that the players who don't have championship rings in Lowry may sacrifice their money for honor, which is the only way he can think of now.
And the most critical game is to go to the first game of the Spurs' home court, the Spurs needless to say, they will definitely try their best to win, because in this way, not only do they hold three match points, but also have a psychological advantage, there are teams in history after losing two games in a row to pull four games in a row, 05 Heat and Mavericks Finals is such a magical series, but throughout the NBA's 100-year history, there has never been a team that can turn the tables around 0:3 behind, this is too difficult, Besides, people with strength will not be beaten 0:3 at all.
The game immediately after the Rockets is the pinnacle battle between the Cavaliers and the Magic, the Cavaliers have already folded at home for a while, and this time they don't want to lose anyway, especially since James has already boasted to the media after losing the first game, and if he loses in the second game, his face will be a little dull.
And the league doesn't want James's Cavaliers to be out, in today's league, the players with the most fans in the world and the most appealing are James and Kobe, they happen to be one in the east and one in the west, the NBA is a place that always needs a theme, the theme of the yellow-green war has been used last year, David Stern really wants to stage a legacy battle between No. 23 vs. No. 24 in the finals, I believe that the NBA's ratings will explode at that time.
But last year, the Cavaliers were spoiled by a group of old men, and this year the Monster was obstructed in front of the Cavaliers with magic, and David Stern saw that one of his "godsons" was not going well, and this game used his killer weapon and sent James's Knights Guards to enforce the game.
Howard was fouled in the third quarter before the first quarter arrived, no one can know the frustration of the monster, he pushed others to the point that he hit people with the ball, and others pushed him down to him blocking the foul, every time he had physical contact with the opponent on the defensive end, the whistle would inevitably sound, and the angry monster would pick up his fist and smash it in the referee's face.
In order to achieve their goals, the league has already lost its B face, and the Magic are also 15 points behind in one breath under the league's targeting, seeing that the Magic is just after the first quarter of the game is about to be cold, and the Mr. Rashad Lewis in their team has stepped up again.
The big forward, who is known as the most accurate three-point forward in the active league, really has no sense of existence, and his age and not tough style of play has made him invisible on the defensive end, and soy sauce on the offensive end, that is, the defensive dominance of the peak Warcraft is too perverted, and he can often help him check and fill in the gaps in addition to the one in front of him, otherwise the Magic's interior care would have been beaten into a sieve by other teams.
This time, the leading big brother who sheltered him from the wind and rain, Lewis, who has been taken care of, has taken a boost, and the NBA referees are also skilled if they want to target some teams, they can't blow the ball into it openly, and at most they can only make some articles on physical contact, which just completes the most accurate three-point inside.
Anyway, his means of scoring are not hand-to-hand combat with people, but relying on running to shoot three points, taking advantage of the relaxation time of the Cavaliers and the three referees, Rashid Lewis threw 6 three-pointers in 4 minutes in one go, including a lucky 3+1, and directly scored 19 points in a row to overtake the Cavaliers' lead again.
Cavaliers fans can't understand it, this guy has always been a soft egg in the word of mouth, whenever it comes to important moments of important games, he will definitely play abnormally, the whole Cavaliers team and Cavaliers fans have never taken him to heart, why is he so powerful all of a sudden?
In fact, most people don't know, Rashad Lewis once had a glorious history for a short period of time, when he was in the SuperSonics, he was still a player who could be exchanged with Ray Allen, and he once scored the highest 50 points of his career in a game, and the strength of the person who can sign a contract of 100 million yuan is certainly not simple, even if he performs now, others can't let down their guard against him.
The Green Shirts were able to block Lewis because they had a player named Kevin Garnett on their team, and the Cavaliers were still reusing Vallejo and pianist Gooden, who had just entered the league not long ago, at the power forward position.
As soon as the knights saw that there was no way to go on like this, Black Bread immediately sent James who had just run to the bench again.
He has nothing outstanding as the coach of the Cavaliers, the only powerful thing may be that he has a little emperor in his hands, anyway, whether it is a collapse of the scene, an oath on the other side, a backward team, or a low morale, as long as he shows up, it is not wrong to throw James on the court.
And the current James is not a future thirty-year-old man, 23,4 years old he is in the year of playing, as long as the signs are not right, it is commonplace to play a whole game, in fact, even Totoro admires James's stallion-like physical strength and unyielding will, if he will definitely not let himself work so hard.
As soon as the little emperor came on the court, he launched five charges towards the place where Lewis was guarding, and Mr. Yuan instantly carried four fouls, the most embarrassing thing was that James broke through to the layup, Lewis turned around and ran backwards, but the little emperor chased after him with the ball, and Lewis was inexplicably sentenced to another blocking foul.
The referee's reason was that Lewis was still moving when the two made physical contact, and the big Van Gundy on the field was directly angry when he heard this explanation, brother, please open your dog eyes and see, my player is running backwards, and the little emperor is holding the ball and bumping into it, he is not playing basketball but football, so can you still sentence us to foul?
And then he really did it, Big Van Gundy walked to the faces of the three referees and pointed at their noses and scolded, a lot of spittle stars were enough for the three referees to wash their faces, these three people naturally would not be polite to him, and directly sent Big Van Gundy out of the game with two malicious fouls.
Big Van Gundy is also decisive, after seeing the referee's gesture, he didn't drag the mud at all, turned around and left, in the eyes of others, he may have lost his mind angrily because his players were treated unfairly on the field, in fact, in the eyes of industry insiders, Big Van Gundy's move was very exquisite.
The game has been played so far, as long as people who are not blind can see it, the league wants the Cavaliers to win, and the referees have already helped them like this, and the Magic really has no chance in this game.
The referee's decision is irreversible, and the outcome of the game cannot be reversed, Howard has committed three fouls, Lewis has four fouls, Tekoglu and Nelson have two fouls on their backs, even if the latter three bastards are not blind, the Magic can't be good today, they have helped the Cavaliers break one of their legs and one hand.
But the loss in this game seems irreversible, and Big Van Gundy doesn't care about his team's loss today, their original purpose was just to grab a home court of the Cavaliers, but what about the later series?
If they play like this in a life-and-death game like the Battle of Tianwang Mountain, their magic tricks will really be blind.
So Big Van Gundy wants to use himself, the loss of this game to make things bigger, gambling has always been a scandal that the NBA can't get rid of, he has to put these things on the table, relying on the power of Magic fans and neutral fans to put pressure on the league's top management, to see if they are really so shameless.
After the big Van Gundy got off the court, the Magic soon lost the commander and the chaos was in chaos, the Monster and Mr. Yuan did not hold out until halftime and graduated with 6 fouls, James was even more like no one in the Magic inside, this game Zhan Huang hit a big triple-double of 32 points, 12 assists and 13 rebounds in less than 3 quarters, and locked the victory with his team in the first three quarters.
It's just that the post-game press conference made him a little unable to experience the thrill of a big win after the game.
"Hello, I'm a team reporter from Orlando, may I ask Mr. James, what do you think of the referee in today's game?"
This American journalist is very clever and does not directly express his intentions, but goes around the bend to let the little emperor express his opinion.
Can James say that? He didn't know that the victory in this game was made possible by the help of the league's top brass, and in the face of those three referees who did their best for him, could he still speak ill of them behind his back? Please, they're here to help me.
But can he open his eyes and tell nonsense? Everyone who watched this game could see the tendencies of the game, and the degree of explicit refereeing even embarrassed the fans on the Cavaliers' side, could he still praise those referees for their goodness? This is not a slap in the face, and at the same time tell the world that he and the league top brass are wearing a pair of pants, and this game is the black hand arranged by him personally.
This question is so difficult to answer, this is the same as China's eternal problem of wives and mothers falling into the water to save which one to save first, even if James has been known for his superb emotional intelligence since he first entered the league, he is also confused at this time.
"Well, I don't think there should be any big problem with the referee's enforcement in this game." James muttered for a while before finally answering.
"It's a professional league, they're all professionally trained referees, and they have their own basis for making every decision, maybe there will be individual misdecisions in the game, but that's inevitable, every team will be treated unfairly every night."
As soon as James finished speaking, the Magic fans in front of the TV laughed, is this really an individual misjudgment?
"And there were a couple of balls that they did foul and they touched my body on the defensive end, and basketball is a game made up of rules and the referee is following the rules, so I don't think they have any problems."
Well, the little emperor has made it very clear, even if it touches his body, even if it is a foul, don't play with other teams against the Cavaliers.