"Erwin, what are your thoughts on this game right now?" On May 19, 2001, in the first game of the Spurs and Lakers Western Conference Finals series, when the three quarters were over, the Spurs and Lakers were tied at 62. In this game, Popovich and Phil Jackson's strategies are very clear, and they are much the same, the Spurs' key defensive object is still O'Neal, David Robinson is on the top, Tim Duncan is waiting for an opportunity to wrap up, and the Lakers are also using Hores Grant to defend Duncan, O'Neal is on the side to help defend, and the outside core of the two teams, Meng Xu and Kobe Bryant have always been one-on-one, ace to ace, and there is no wrapping of the other party throughout the whole process.

In this game, the main players of both teams rarely rotated, and in the first three quarters of the game, Meng Xu and Duncan on the Spurs side played a full 36 minutes, while O'Neal and Kobe Bryant of the opposite Lakers did not have the slightest rest. After the start of the fourth quarter, the core players of both teams finally did not play again, but sat on the bench to accumulate energy for the final few minutes of the showdown.

"I'm desperate for those few minutes to get past and see if there will be a situation where the two teams will cut each other's core in the final moments of this game." The game between the Spurs and the Lakers is the focus of everyone's attention, in the last game with the Mavericks, after Meng Xu was slashed by the old Nelson at the last moment, there are now many basketball bricks and fans, and they are beginning to look forward to the scene of the Spurs and the Lakers slashing each other.

"If such a ridiculous scenario does occur, I think it's time for the alliance to intervene." Unlike Magic Johnson's interest, Michaels is now worried, if the two teams really cut each other in this game, then it can definitely disgust a large number of fans, and it will definitely directly affect the ratings of the next game, for this season's playoffs, not only the NBA league, but also the top management of the ABC television network, all hope to make a breakthrough in the ratings, you must know that since Jordan retired, the NBA's ratings have been declining, if it continues like this, The NBA will soon fall from the top three sports leagues in North America to fourth, and this kind of result is certainly not what the NBA league and the ABC television network want to see.

For this round of the series between the Spurs and the Lakers, when the situation in the semifinals began to become clear, the league had mobilized almost all its resources and began to build momentum and hype for this round of the showdown of the century, after all, these two teams gathered, the two strongest inside lines in the active service, and the two most popular outside stars, and the crazy showdown between Meng Xu and Kobe Bryant was constantly taken out and replayed, creating a gimmick for the confrontation between the two in the Western Conference Finals, but if in this round of the series, the Lakers really slashed Meng Xu, The Spurs slashed O'Neal, so all the efforts that the league had made before were basically in vain.

There are even rumors that before the start of this game, David Stern, the president of the league, even called the senior management and head coaches of the two teams in person to confirm that there would be no disgusting situation in this game, but the final result made David Stern unsatisfactory, because the two teams from the chairman to the head coach are vague and silent, and even the Lakers, who have always regarded themselves as noble, also prevaricated David Stern with the idea that competition and ratings cannot be mixed.

And in this game, the president of the league, David Stern, also appeared at the home court of the Spurs again, but now David Stern in the box has always pulled a face, and even because the game is getting closer and closer to the end, David Stern even twisted his ass a few times in a row, for fear that the game will develop in the direction he does not want, and finally when the official pause, the main players of the two teams returned to the court, David Stern's anxiety also reached its peak, and the assistant handed him a cigar, After lit up and inhaled sharply, David Stern calmed down a little.

"Boy, it's finally time for you to pay off your debts." O'Neill, who was walking towards the arena, now looked at Meng Xu in the distance, and also had a look of revenge, although before going on the field, the head coach repeatedly told him that only after getting his own gesture could he start cutting Meng Xu, but now as long as he thought of it, after a while Meng Xu's desperate little eyes, O'Neal's heart was already uncontrollable. And O'Neal after last season's loss, in the summer of the off-season, he has been practicing his free throws very hard, and even found a Lakers celebrity like Magic Johnson to guide himself, although O'Neal is not a free throw master now, but compared with the first half of his career, O'Neal has made great progress, in the regular season this season, O'Neal's free throw shooting rate has reached 60%, an increase of 10 percentage points compared with last season, and in the last round of the game, The Kings also wanted to use the shark slash against themselves, but in front of O'Neal's 73% free throw shooting rate in the entire series, the Kings died very miserably, so now O'Neal can't wait to hope that Popovich will chop himself again.

"You still want to cut me, I'll let you know why the flowers are so red." Looking at O'Neal's provocative gaze in the distance, Meng Xu also said secretly in his heart, now I'm not afraid of you cutting me, and for this kind of point-giving move, Meng Xu is already a little impatient, and even hopes that after the referee's whistle blows, the Lakers will start cutting themselves immediately.

"Coach, should we make some arrangements?" On the bench of the Spurs, looking at Popovich, who was obviously a little anxious, assistant coach Steve Kerr asked on the side, although Meng Xu has been practicing his free throws in the past few days, but the effect is not very obvious, and after being slashed by the old Nelson in the semifinals, the Spurs are now also very worried that the Lakers will cut Meng Xu in this round of the series.

"Let's wait." Popovich's tone also revealed some helplessness, although he has coached Meng Xu for two seasons, but Popovich has never made targeted training for Meng Xu's free throw difference, similar to Meng Xu's thoughts, Meng Xu's average free throws per game last season was only more than 1 point, although this season has increased a lot, but it has only been 3 times, so Popovich did not take it to heart, but it was his own mistake, but he was caught by his teacher's teacher in the semifinals, although the Spurs still eliminated the Mavericks, But it left a fatal hidden danger for the series between the Spurs and Lakers.

"Are you going to start?" When the game played 8 minutes in the fourth quarter, Meng Xu helped the Spurs lead the Lakers by 4 points through a 3-pointer, and after Kobe's mid-range shot was deflected under Meng Xu's interference, in the next round, Meng Xu just dribbled past half court, Rick Fox did not hesitate to foul Meng Xu, and just after Rick Fox fouled Meng Xu, the entire Alamo Stadium suddenly remembered the boos in the sky, just like last season, when the Spurs cut O'Neal at the Lakers' home court, and Stamps roared like a tsunami-like boo.

"The climax of this game is finally coming." Seeing that there were 4 minutes left in the game, after the Lakers began to foul Meng Xu, Magic Johnson also said with interest, it seems that in this game, there will really be a scene of the two teams cutting each other.

"Ugh." Michaels, the magician's partner, seemed to have thought of what might happen in this round of the series after seeing the scene on the court, and he also shook his head and sighed softly.

And David Stern in the box saw that the Lakers began to cut Meng Xu, and directly threw the cigar in his hand to the ground, staring at the Lakers chairman Lao Buss not far from him with an unkind face. And the chairman of the Spurs, Peter Holt, is finally a lot easier now, as long as the Lakers start to cut Meng Xu first, then it is logical for the Spurs to cut O'Neal in the next game, with the Lakers and Old Buss in front, even David Stern can't do anything about himself, if he wants to wear small shoes, he will wear them for the Lakers first.

"Meng, come on, relax, we'll win." When Meng Xu walked to the free throw line, Duncan was the first to come over and high-five Meng Xu, encouraging and cheering Meng Xu, and also hoped that Meng Xu would not be nervous, as long as there was no game with the Mavericks, the kind of situation where half of the free throws could not be scored, and now the Spurs, who are still ahead by 4 points, still have a great hope of winning.

"Hmm." After high-fiveing Duncan, Meng Xu nodded, slapped the basketball 3 times, and then grabbed the basketball in his hand with his left hand, with a relaxed expression.

"Anna bless me." After Meng Xu silently recited a sentence in his heart, he began to touch his face with his right hand continuously, and after touching it 4 times in a row, he finally put his right hand on the basketball and made a very standard shooting posture.

"Elwin, is this Jeff? Hornacek's free-throw stance? Seeing Meng Xu's special free throw prelude, Michaels immediately remembered the Jazz legend Jeff? Hornacek, Jeff? When Hornacek first entered the league, free throws were mediocre, but since Jeff? After Hornacek invented this exclusive move of groping his face before the free throw, Jeff? Hornacek's free-throw percentage skyrocketed, and he never fell below 85 percent in his career, and in the season between his retirements, Jeff? Hornacek's free-throw shooting rate is even as high as 95%, and the NBA's record of hitting 67 consecutive free throws has been played by Jeff Bush. Hornacek kept.

"It looks like it, but it's not the same, Jeff? Hornacek's face is usually only touched once, and Meng Xu touched it 4 times in a row, and I don't know where Meng learned this way of making free throws. "Now the scene on the field, watching the magic Johnson is also confused.

"Boy, are you praying? It's useless, hahahaha. O'Neal, who was standing on the edge of the paint area, waiting to grab the rebound, also kept sarcastically at Meng Xu after seeing Meng Xu's weird free throw posture.

"It's useful or not, you'll know soon, I hope you don't cry and call mom next." After Meng Xu shot back at O'Neal, he threw the basketball in his hand. With his current free throw attributes and the bonus of touching his face narrow free throws, it is still okay to maintain a shooting rate of more than 80%, and this is enough, as long as his free throw shooting rate is higher than O'Neal, even if the two teams cut each other next, it is still the Spurs to win.