Curry casually put the MVP trophy in the locker room, and not in his locker, but in Harden's locker.

Then I went back to the field to warm up and get ready for the game.

Harden sat in front of the locker and stared at the entire MVP trophy that didn't belong to him in a daze.

Is it really his turn next season? Isn't this really a joke?

Harden didn't think much about it, and followed suit, and the first game of the Western Conference finals was about to begin.

This is the fourth consecutive year that the Clippers have reached the Western Conference Finals, and they have been regulars in the Western Conference since 2011.

The Clippers players are full of confidence, while the Warriors players are a little tired in comparison, having just returned from Oklahoma and not even having time to return to Oakland for a day of rest and heading straight to Los Angeles to play.

Because they didn't predict winning the tie-break in the seventh game in Russia, they booked a ticket back to San Francisco in advance.

After winning the tie-break, the team immediately refunded all the previous tickets and changed them to tickets to Los Angeles.

However, there is no night ticket to Los Angeles, and the fastest is the next morning, so the players can only sleep and get up early in the morning to go to the airport to take a flight, and then come to Los Angeles in the afternoon, sleep deeply, and wake up the next morning to prepare for the game.

The Warriors played two rounds of tie-breaks, and there were overtime games in each round, and the players' physical energy and energy were greatly consumed.

Young players like Lillard and Thompson on the outside are okay, and the young guys are recovering very quickly.

Insiders like Bogut and David Lee are enough to choke, especially Bogut, who has a lot of injuries.

And the Clippers have so many outside attackers, Bogut's defensive role on the inside is crucial, and if he is not in good shape, it will be difficult for the Warriors to create some trouble for the Clippers.

Although the situation is very unfavorable, Warriors head coach Jackson is still ambitious, leading this youth army to the Western Conference finals, and also playing against the Clippers, whom he hates the most, Jackson is of course full of thoughts about a life-and-death showdown with the Clippers.

The victory in the first two rounds gave Jackson a lot of confidence, what Lakers, what Thunder, is not my Warriors' opponent!

Before the start of the game, Jackson gave a sideline interview to reporters and said: "Tonight is going to be a tough game, and it's also a tough series. But it doesn't matter, we've just gone through two tough rounds and come out on top to be the winner, and I believe in my players, these talented youngsters, who have the ability to do wonders. ”

In terms of tactical development, Jackson was also very bold in the first game, deciding to resolutely attack the Clippers and bombard the Staples Center again with an excellent offense.

However, after the start of the first quarter, the Warriors players probably wanted Jackson to swallow back what he said in the interview.

This is bragging before it starts fighting, if it is the dominant side, forget it, you see, see who the opponent is?

The Clippers started the game very well, and Randolph, who was choked by Duncan in the last round, began to play on the heads of David Lee and Bogut to regain some confidence.

He started the game with consecutive attacks, scored 4 goals in a row, scored 8 points, and beat the Warriors 8:0 alone.

The Warriors' offense was weak under the Clippers' strong one-on-one defense, and their three-point shooting tonight was terrible.

It's not that they're too vegetable, it's that the state today is really bad, and it can't be compared to the Clippers who are waiting for work.

The pre-game preparation was not done well, Jackson just said that everyone let go of their hands to attack, there is a kind of you attacking? Will you attack me and take a look?

The Clippers didn't use any particular defensive strategy, just a simple half-court man-to-man, but they were very pressing.

Curry's defense is the main weakness of the starters, and the Warriors try to attack Curry, but as long as they cover and block, the Clippers must switch defenses and put enough pressure on the ball carrier.

Lillard is only a sophomore after all, and he played quite well in the first and second rounds, but he looked inexperienced and untouched against the Clippers' best outside defensive combination in the Western Conference finals.

In the first quarter, the Clippers led the Warriors by 8 points at 31:23, and the Clippers played easily and naturally.

Tyronn Lue is responsible for the substitution, and the whole team runs at a constant pace, regardless of whether the Warriors can catch up or not.

In the second and third quarters, the Clippers maintained a lead of about 10 or 8 points.

The Warriors players played very depressed and aggrieved, they tried their best to chase it, and the back of the Clippers was in front, but they just couldn't catch up.

During a timeout in the third quarter, Mark Jackson was so angry that he scolded the bench, not scolding the Warriors players for not playing well, but scolding the Clippers for bullying people too much and properly controlling the score.

It's just boiling a frog in warm water, showing off your muscles, if I don't fight with you with all my strength, I'll win you by about 10 points, and I don't want more, just make sure you are obedient.

Jackson feels that he and his players are being played by the opponent, and the most obvious thing is that there are two balls where the Clippers can play a fast break counterattack and directly attack the basket, but they don't, but they slow down, fall into position, and play tactics with the Warriors, and they have to play tactical cooperation.

Isn't this naked play? What about a tactical experiment in the West Showdown game?

But the anger is the anger, the warriors really can't find a way to crack it, and the hard power and state are here.

During the timeout, Jackson could only ask the players to strengthen their defense, push as fast as possible, and make the game fast.

The hope of the Warriors lies in grasping the flaws of the Clippers, with a 10-point difference, and it is very likely that they will come back in a wave and quickly turn the situation around.

"Try to narrow the gap to within five points before the end of the third quarter, and we still have a chance to play the opponent in the fourth quarter!"

Jackson asked his players to play a wave of offensive surges to turn the tide of the situation.

But the Clippers seemed to have found any signs, and Tyronn Lue also scolded the players during the timeout, saying that everyone was too underestimated, and the 10-point advantage was thought to be stable?

The Warriors are a team with strong three-point explosiveness, and if they don't play well in a stage, they may be seized of the opportunity to make a sudden break and be caught up by the opponent.

The Lakers and Thunder both died at the hands of the Warriors like this, and their three-point shooting was really sharp.

"Don't control the score, fight hard! Kill your opponent and eat this peach! ”

So the Clippers didn't show mercy anymore, and after re-entering the court in the second half of the third quarter, they suddenly gave the Warriors an intensity.

A wave of high-intensity defense, pinching the ball carrier plus a high-speed wheel transition, Leonard and George made consecutive steals, and then the fast-break counterattack was successful, beating the Warriors a 7:0!

Stopped the warriors again.

"Coach, it's a climax." Klay Thompson sat on the bench and said lightly.

Mark Jackson looked at a serious Thompson and thought to himself, TM, is this what we typed?

You've been beaten out! is out!

Jackson was a little discouraged at this time, he knew that this time was probably not going to work.

The players are in poor form, the opponents are waiting for work, playing at home, well prepared, and the first game cannot be beaten in any case.

So, in line with the principle of surrendering and losing half and seeing each other well in the future, the warriors symbolically resisted in the fourth quarter and replaced the main force and stopped fighting.

The Clippers were also very righteous on their side, and immediately replaced their garbage players on the court, and the lead has reached 20 points, an expected big victory.

Speaking of which, this is actually the first big win of more than 20 points in the Clippers' playoffs this year, and there was no slaughter in the first and second rounds.

It's not because the Warriors are weak, but because the Clippers are in shape.

With about five minutes left before the end of the game, Min Congda got up and left the arena, there was no need to continue watching.

Min Congda is still very satisfied with the current state of the Clippers, and after adjustment, no team can beat them this year.

In contrast, Min Congda is more concerned about what the outcome of the Nets and Cavaliers game will be, because this will determine whether Kobe Bryant and Min Congda's mutual agreement can be realized.

In the end, the Clippers beat the Warriors by 21 points at home 117:96, and from the beginning of the first quarter to the end of the game, they did not give the Warriors a single lead.

The Warriors really experienced being pressed to the ground and beaten, and after going back this time, the Warriors will definitely sum it up seriously, and they will not admit defeat easily.

After the Warriors and Clippers game, the Nets and Cavaliers game was played in Cleveland the next day.

Surprisingly, and understandably, the Nets played badly in Cleveland, and the 23vs24 that people were expecting wasn't exciting.

Kobe Bryant only scored 17 points on 5-of-19 shooting, while James clocked in and scored 30 points easily, helping the Cavaliers win 94-81 easily.

The Nets scored just 81 points in a game, which is the number of points that Kobe Bryant can score alone — and of course he can't do this one.

As a team with a seriously aging core, the Nets have gone all the way to the Eastern Conference Finals, and the consumption is already quite large, and it is normal for the state to be unstable.

Even if the Cavaliers have some minor internal problems, after all, the core players are at their peak, and their physical fitness and condition are much stronger than the old guys of the Nets, and they also have home-court advantage, so in the Eastern Conference finals, the outside world is generally optimistic about the Cavaliers.

After a day off, the rematch between the Warriors and the Clippers, the recovery of the young players was very fast, and the whole team quickly adjusted after the Warriors lost the first game.

In the game that night, the Warriors started with fierce firepower, changing the decline of the previous game and attacking the Clippers.

Mark Jackson's thinking has not changed, he still has to fight with the Clippers to attack, firepower coverage, and the quagmire tactics have basically no effect on the current Clippers, especially the Clippers' infinite dislocation offense has been developed, and the quagmire battle has little impact on the Clippers except for letting their offense go out.

Lillard, Thompson, Barnes, they played with a lot of momentum, blocking, shooting, breaking, using speed and accurate shooting to attack the Clippers basket.

They took the lead in the first half, while the Clippers played unhurriedly, they made a little more mistakes in the first half, and were caught by the Warriors and fought back several times.

In the third quarter, the Clippers suddenly made a strong effort and quickly caught up with the score, and the two sides began a tug-of-war.

The Warriors were not intimidated by the Clippers' ferocious pursuit of points, but launched an attack with the Clippers, and the two teams exchanged three-point shots.

Curry, Harden, Thompson, Lillard, and David Lee hit three-pointers one after another, and the scores on the scoreboard were on the rise.

The two teams are almost mirror images of each other in terms of style, and they can cope with every position, and the game is intense, fluid and good-looking.

The scores were staggered, and in the fourth quarter, the Warriors' shooting percentage began to decline, the intensity of the game became more and more intense, and outside shooting became difficult.

At this time, the Clippers' advantage in hard power began to show, Randolph continued to eat David Lee and Green in the low post, and the Clippers stretched the difference to 5 points.

Then in the defense, George and Leonard pinched Lillard, causing Lillard to make a mistake, and Curry hit a three-point shot on the counterattack, and the score suddenly stretched to 8 points.

The Warriors called a timeout.

The playing styles of the two teams are indeed similar, but the Clippers players are indeed much better than the Warriors in terms of individual ability, experience, and the thickness of the lineup.

To put it bluntly, the Clippers are a big Warriors plus, how can you beat your own dad Warriors?

On the contrary, the Mavericks' unconventional path, or the way of thinking and playing that is still stuck in the previous era, can cause a lot of trouble to the Clippers.

Min Congda sat on the sidelines and watched the game, there was no Poland in his heart, the Clippers won this game is not a big problem, he was just thinking, if one day to break the Clippers' new, trendy style of play, what kind of system is needed?

Maybe eventually a return to the tradition of low, height and mid-distance?

In the rematch of the Clippers vs Warriors, the Clippers won another game at home with a 5-point advantage of 115:110.

The game was well played, but there was not much suspense about the outcome of the game.

Compared with the Warriors, in fact, the Clippers hate playing the Thunder more, and a mirror team like the Warriors is really easy to handle, but with Durant and Westbrook, the Thunder will be more troublesome.

After the game between the Clippers and the Warriors, the rematch between the Cavaliers and the Nets followed, and the Nets lost 91:97 again, with a 6-point disadvantage on the road, and fell behind 0:2 in the Eastern Finals, which was extremely unfavorable to the Nets.

Now people think that the Finals in '14 will be the Clippers vs Cavaliers drama again, and the two sides will meet again in the Finals yesterday.

In the wee hours of the morning, after watching the game, Min Congda called Kobe.

At this time, Bryant had already returned to Brooklyn by plane, and the team disbanded and went home.

Kobe's tone on the phone was a little bad, "What are you calling for?" The series isn't over yet, don't be complacent, I'll fulfill my promise, and you remember our promise. ”

Not to mention anything else, in terms of hard talk, Kobe Bryant is the number one in the league.

"I'm not here to laugh at your Kobe, I'm just worried and want to give you some advice, you can listen to it if you want to, you don't want to... I advise you to listen to it, you know, my advice has always been useful. ”

Min Congda's advice is really useful, especially in basketball, which is well known in the league.

Kobe Bryant was patient and said, "Say, what do you suggest?" ”

Min Congda said: "The first suggestion, you have to communicate with your coaching staff, let Turner play the starter, let Delon sit on the bench, and you play point guard." Playing like this, you still have some hope of winning. ”

Kobe Bryant didn't speak, thinking in his heart, in fact, he also had this idea, because Delong's performance in the series was really average.

originally thought that he could hold down the opponent when facing Owen, but he didn't know that the defensive pace couldn't keep up, the offense couldn't move, and his knee injury had a big impact on his explosiveness.

Delon was inefficient, and he had to take up a lot of the ball, and the Nets scored low in two games in a row, just because the offense couldn't be opened at all.

It's a really good idea to have Kobe Bryant play the No. 1 spot, Turner to start, and to increase the height of the front line against LeBron.

"Well, you go on."

"Second... Second, let me tell you two stories. In the 2012 Finals, the Clippers were also 2-0 down, and we were in danger in the third game, but we completed the comeback in the best three minutes, and Fisher struck the game. Many people don't know what happened when the Knights' attack suddenly lost power. It's a lot of credit for the team's defence, we used the joint defense and the 1-4 marking at half-time, but that's not the most important thing. The bottom line was that — and that's what I later learned — Stephen asked Irving, 'Even if you win, can you win the Finals MVP?'" It stands to reason that this sentence is not lethal, Irving was still a rookie at the time, but he played very well in the Finals, averaging 22 points per game, and we couldn't stop him at that time. But after Stephen finished speaking, Irving's two three-point shots from the outside missed the shot, and these two shots were crucial. We fought back and the tide turned. And then, you know, the whole series turned around. ”

Min Congda talked about the past of the 2012 finals, in fact, his heart still hurts, but now he feels much better in retrospect.

In fact, Irving's performance in the 12 Finals was very good and his performance was normal, but it was three minutes in the last minute of the third game, and two irrational three-point shots ruined the Cavaliers' hopes of winning the championship.

Kobe Bryant was silent after listening for a while, and after a while, he said, "What about the second story?" ”

"The second story is also one year in the finals, the guard of a strong team wanted to win the MVP of the finals, and then he made crazy shots in the game, all kinds of iron, and the shooting rate was only 38%, which caused the team to be easily defeated by the opponent and lose the ......"

"Alright, don't say it! I had three rings at that time! ”

"Yes, but human nature does not change, and many things are revealed from the beginning. Didn't you shoot three shots in a row when you were a rookie? Irving is just like you, and even his desire to perform better than you is even more unreasonable, and there was a conflict within the Cavaliers in the semifinals. As far as I know, Irving is not very convinced of James' leadership and dominance on the team. Yes, it sounds incredible, LeBron is the God of Cleveland, but some people just don't want to believe in God. It's an opportunity for you and the Nets to take advantage of it. This is a war, and you can use all kinds of means to win, and you don't want to be ridiculed by someone after losing the East Finals, and then being ridiculed by someone turned out the promise of the summer? ”

On the phone, Min Congda was like a devil, luring Kobe Bryant to a road of no return.

If James is around, he will definitely persuade Kobe Bryant, don't listen to this person, he is just to hold you to the altar, and then destroy you alive as a sacrifice for the Clippers to ascend the throne!

But Kobe Bryant couldn't care so much anymore, and he thought that Min Congda had a point, that a strong fortress always disintegrates from within.

Not to mention the fact that the fortress of knights has begun to loosen from the inside.

(End of chapter)