Every year in the playoffs there is always a different situation.

In some years, the first round of matches started very intensely.

Sixteen teams, eight series, and maybe half of them go to the sixth or even the seventh.

In some years, the first-round series is quite boring, there is no suspense, and it is basically 4:0 or 4:1 to finish.

This has to do with many factors, such as the tightness of the whistle, the disparity in strength between teams, and the overall style of play and style of the league.

Generally speaking, once the referees start to play demons, the first-round series tends to be played a little longer, after all, for the sake of ratings and attendance.

The playoffs are different from the regular season, and the playoffs have a large share of the box office league, and one more game will earn a lot more.

Ticket revenue alone is in the millions, and if it's a key battle, such as a popular team tie-break, the box office revenue plus advertising expenses will be even more.

And relatively speaking, the manipulation of the first round of the game is relatively easy, the disparity in strength between the two sides is relatively large, and the strong team loses one more game, which does not have much impact on the outcome of the series.

When it comes to the semi-finals, it's a different story, with the top two battling each other, and the outcome of a game is likely to determine the outcome of the final series.

If you are a little careless and get away with it, it will have a great impact on the ratings and box office in the future.

So overall, the first round has a large number of games and a large gap in strength, which is a good opportunity for the league to control the field and collect Mimi.

Min Congda didn't expect that the league controlled the game to the head of the Clippers again, and he started to control it in the first game.

The Clippers are strong and strong, and the first round of the playoffs is against the disciplined Utah Jazz, but the first game between the two sides at the Staples Center was a big surprise.

The Clippers were dragged into overtime by the Jazz team who felt amazingly in the case of absolute crushing strength, and in overtime, the Clippers made mistakes at critical moments, Harden and Curry made mistakes one after another, missing the opportunity to overtake the score.

caused the Clippers to cause an upset in the first game, 109-110, losing to the Jazz by 1 point.

Min Congda didn't have much hope in this game, and the $12,000 had already been in the account, waiting for the system to deduct the money.

Who knew that the first game escaped a catastrophe, which made Min Congda see a glimmer of hope that the Clippers would be hacked!

The long-suppressed emotions were released at the end of the game.

It's been three years, and when it comes to the playoffs, it's Min Congda's nightmare moment.

I can't beat it, my opponent really can't beat it.

Beat the Lakers in the first round from 10 years, and fell behind 0:3 to bite back two games.

In 11 years, the first round of the black eight entered the West Finals, and then in 12 years, they directly won the championship.

Everything went so smoothly, which made the stars and teams who didn't get a single hair in their entire careers ashamed.

Unexpectedly, the Clippers, who played such a strong form in the regular season this year, overturned in the gutter in the first game of the first round.

After the game, Min Congda made an unprecedented appearance and participated in the team's post-match press conference.

For the most part, Min Congda, as the general manager, has little interest in the press conference.

I was already very uncomfortable, and I had to be asked and praised by reporters, wasn't that salt on the wound?

It's rare for the clipper to overturn today, and Min Congda, who understands that there is wine and drunk today, hurry up and participate in the press conference.

Min Congda, who has been experienced for many years, knows that the Clippers' loss is definitely an accident, and he will never be as naïve and full of dreams as in the past.

Seeing the team lose one game, it feels like the series is going to be over, and the champagne is opened in advance to celebrate, and the result is always slapped in the face.

Weathered, he understands that the Jazz won because the referee's whistle was loose, not only giving the Jazz a large number of free throws, but also turning a blind eye to some excessive fouls by the Jazz.

In addition, the young players of the Clippers did have some underdogs, which made the Jazz play in shape, so they lost the game.

When the reporters heard that Min Congda participated in the post-game press conference, they were all waiting for each other, with long guns and short cannons waiting.

They knew that as soon as Manager Smart opened his mouth, he must be running for big news.

When the alliance office saw Min Congda participating in the press conference and making remarks, they had to tremble and prepare for public opinion and public relations in advance.

Sure enough, Min Congda took the lead in firing at the whistle of the game at the press conference, hitting the key point of the league:

"I've been putting up with the league's whistle for a long time, why don't you blow so many defensive fouls? Isn't it just to play a few more games to increase the league's income? The referee issue, I talk about it every day, every month, and I have fined a lot of money for this, you see, does the league have any intention of improving? Not at all, they know the fine! I don't know how many more times or how many more times I'll say the same thing. Seriously, I'm burned out, I'm feeling exhausted. I want to say, you can never wake up a person who is pretending to be asleep! I know that I said that these alliances may have to be fined again, it doesn't matter, anyway, I will say in the future, simply the alliance will be fined a big one, directly... Fines me $50 million! ”

Min Congda's abacus is played, and the system will hear it.

A fine of $50 million, he can figure it out, you are a monopoly company?

With such a huge amount of fines, the alliance cannot issue them, it has exceeded their authority, and it is not legal.

Of course, Min Congda is in line with the mentality that I will not lose money anyway, so I will try it.

What if it succeeds? In the case that the completion of the bankruptcy plan is far away, making a fortune by relying on fines can be a good way to save the country.

After scolding the league for a fine as usual, Min Congda encouraged the Clippers players again, saying that they had played well tonight and continued to keep it up.

But these words are really more uncomfortable than scolding them to the Clippers players, which is encouragement, obviously yin and yang weirdness to criticize everyone.

In the Clippers' locker room after the game, there was a deathly silence.

Since March, the Clippers haven't tasted loss for a long time.

I didn't expect to overturn in the first game of the first round of the playoffs, which was really uncomfortable.

The day after the game, the whole team practiced in the training center to prepare for the second game.

During the training session, Tyronn Lue kept talking to the players individually to understand their psychological state.

As a player who has won three consecutive championships, Tyronn Lue coaches the number one obstacle on the road to defending the title.

The so-called fighting is easy, guarding the country is difficult, there is no champion to compete for the championship on the road, everyone is struggling to climb up, everyone's eyes are facing up, all are upward.

But after winning the championship, it is different to defend the championship, you have to look back and look down from time to time, and watch others rush up, that kind of mentality is different, easy to slack off, easier to fear.

When it comes to tactics, Tyronn Lue is dispensable with the Clippers, and it doesn't make much difference if he has him or not, anyway, he will have everyone else, and he won't...... That's too much.

But when it comes to being a political commissar, having a good relationship with the players, and appeasing the mentality of the young players, Tyronn Lue really got the true pass of Jackson and has a set.

In the case that Min Congda basically gave up on the team and was always in a weird situation on the outside, Tyronn Lue did a good job of calming the emotions of the players.

Two days later, the Clippers replayed the Jazz at home, and the Clippers didn't give the Jazz a chance, and they weren't impatient themselves.

Some strong teams stole one game from their opponents in the first game, and they began to work hard in the second game, eager to win the opponent by 30 points and 40 points to relieve their anger.

But in reality, you just win by 100 points, the big score is still 1:1, and the most important thing is to take back the initiative in the series.

The Clippers played steadily in the second game, did not rush to the results, and played evenly with the Jazz in the first half.

But in the third quarter, the Clippers suddenly exerted force, and the offensive and defensive ends suddenly put huge pressure on the Jazz.

The Jazz's offense and defense collapsed suddenly, and they were only 3 points behind at halftime, and they were beaten by the Clippers in the third quarter, and the difference quickly stretched to 15 points.

Later, the Clippers did not chase and fight, but played slowly with the Jazz like a cat and mouse, and played the opponent's points to death.

Because you slaughter by a large score, you may provoke the opponent's resistance when they return to their home stadium in the next game.

And this kind of control in the palm of your hand can wear down the opponent's will to resist.

Not surprisingly, the Clippers comfortably beat the Jazz at home in Game 2.

Although the difference in points is only 10 points, the difference in strength between the two sides is by no means 10 points that can be reflected.

For this result, as early as Min Congda's expectations, the fine of 3,000 yuan was paid happily.

Unfortunately, after the last match, Min Congda's critical remarks did not receive any feedback.

Adam Silva didn't even make a phone call, and took a non-heary attitude, saying that he would let him say that the fine would be useless anyway.

Min Congda knew in his heart that the standard of the alliance's fines must be getting higher and higher.

In the past, a little criticism after a game, or even a little violation during the summer league, would incur a fine.

What now? Even if you squat on the head of the alliance and, the alliance may endure it, and it will become more and more difficult to earn money through fines.

The Clippers and Jazz series didn't last long.

Although Salt Lake City claims to be the home of Devil's Plateau, the Clippers have always been better on the road than at home.

Unless you build your home stadium on the Tibetan Plateau, that bit of altitude in Utah isn't a problem for the Clippers' youngsters at all.

110:101, 112:97, the two games the Clippers won neatly in Salt Lake City and got the series point of the series.

The Clippers didn't give the Jazz more chances, and Game 5 ended the Jazz neatly in Los Angeles and sent them home.

4:1, the Clippers successfully reached the semifinals.

Conversely, another user of Stamps, the Lakers, got into a tough battle in the first round.

Facing the Denver Nuggets, the Lakers, who did not have home-court advantage, played 1:1 with their opponents on the road.

After returning to the home court, the two teams played to a 2-2 draw, and in the fifth game, the Kings Lakers and Nuggets played two overtime games at Pepsi Center.

The long overtime made the Lakers team very tired, and in the end, the Lakers relied on Kobe's key layup to score 2+1 and win the game.

I thought the Lakers could end the series at home in Game 6 and reach the semifinals.

Who knew that the Lakers, who had a huge physical loss, seriously pulled their hips in the sixth game, and were defeated by the Nuggets 107:100, and the series was dragged into the seven-tiebreaker.

The situation is quite bad for the Lakers, and if they are eliminated in the first round, the conflict between Kobe and Paul will inevitably intensify.

Although Kobe Bryant played well, Kobe Bryant played an inefficient shooting rate in the sixth game, and missed consecutive shots in the fourth quarter, wasting a lot of opportunities.

The outside world is not very clear what happened to the Lakers after Game 6, in short, Game 7, the Lakers have readjusted.

They were at the Pepsi Center, with Paul as the core to organize tactics, 98:94, a four-point advantage, and defeated the Nuggets with difficulty to reach the Western Conference semifinals.

In the eyes of Lakers fans, no matter what, the first round is finally over.

And in Game 7, Paul scored 31 points, 11 assists, 3 steals and 5 rebounds.

It can be said that it was quite a perfect performance, completely dominating the game.

Min Congda's attention to the Lakers at this time has surpassed that of the Clippers themselves.

After the end of Game 6, he immediately mobilized the resources of the "Information Sharing Center" to find out the news within the Lakers.

According to the information found, the Lakers held a small internal meeting after Game 6, with some core players and management personnel attending, and Paul took the lead.

The purpose of the meeting is that the Lakers should establish a playing system with Paul as the core, and no longer let Kobe Bryant come alone, occupy so many shots, and play such an inefficient game.

Kobe Bryant, although he is the king of the Lakers, he is different from Magic Johnson, he is not the kind of sociable player, most of his appeal among players comes from his strength and personality, he is not good at socializing and gathering people's hearts.

Paul is different, compared to Kobe, Paul has better acting skills, is better at making himself look like a leader, and has a certain agitation.

As a result, Paul had the support of the Lakers management, Jim Buss, and some of the younger players on the team.

Bryant was taken from power, his tactical initiative, unlimited firing was restricted, and the ball would pass through Paul's hands.

Although Kobe, who has entered the twilight of his career, is unwilling, if he had fallen out with the team and Paul when he was young, Lao Tzu will stop playing, you can play by yourself.

But Kobe's mentality after ups and downs is very different from the past, he has learned to endure during the two consecutive championships, and this time he really endured it first and played the game well.

Of course, not all the players in the team support Paul, and veterans like Iguodala and Ci Shiping are still on Kobe's side.

Kobe Bryant took the initiative to choose to back down, and then handed over the team's tactical initiative to Paul in the seventh game, and sure enough, Paul played well in the Nuggets, and successfully won the tie-break away from home and advanced to the second round!

The victory in this series is still very important to Paul, and if he loses after seizing power, it is really unreasonable.

Of course, the media does not know about these news, and it usually takes many years before the witnesses come out to tell the inside truth.

And Min Congda learned about this major internal change of the Lakers through his pervasive intelligence network in Los Angeles.

He immediately made the next step: the semifinals, to fight the Lakers and Paul to death.

(End of chapter)