Chapter 681: The Coach Sacrifices to the Heavens

On May 27, at 7:30 p.m. PT, at Oracle Arena, Game 5 of the Western Conference Finals is about to begin.

Everyone was waiting for the Los Angeles Clippers to die — including the more than 19,000 Warriors fans in gold T-shirts in the stadium and the millions, tens of millions, of non-Clippers fans who watched the live broadcast in front of their televisions.

Watching the idol collapse has always been a great event in the world of sports.

The Clippers have been in the league for three years, and they're big enough and the team has enough saga to tell.

When they fall, it is as if a huge whale has died, which will provide abundant nourishment for the food chain.

The first is meat-eating sharks, who bite off large pieces of meat from dead whales.

This summer, Leonard, Jimmy Butler's contracts expire and they are about to become free agents.

Once the Clippers dynasty collapses, these two fresh, potential big fish are likely to become the targets of the powerhouses.

It is said that the Texas Spurs and Rockets have their eyes on the two, the Spurs are eager to get Leonard, and the Rockets want Houston-born Butler to return to his hometown to play.

Then there are the little fish that eat bones, offal, and leftover meat, and they will clean up the meat that can be seen.

Role players such as PJ Tucker, Bonner, Dragic, and Livingston will also face contract extensions and trades, and they are all very high-quality role players.

Once the Clippers trade or abandon them, there will inevitably be teams willing to take over, and the strong teams will be given pieces of the championship puzzle and strengthened.

After all, the Clippers produced it are indeed high-quality.

Then there are the whale bones, which are rich in oil and contain nutritious bone marrow that crabs, sea worms, plankton can use as a delicious meal, and a whale skeleton is enough to support a small ecosystem.

The end of the legend means that TV stations like ESPN, Turner, Fox and others can criticize unscrupulously, and of course, after a period of criticism, you can turn on nostalgia mode.

TV stations can produce documentaries, they can produce interviews, and write a lot of articles summarizing and analyzing the Clippers' impressive three years, the first three-game winning dynasty since Phil Jackson.

By the way, Min Congda can be pulled out and criticized, saying how successful he was when he was the general manager, but he rashly became a coach, which led to a failure.

Of course, Min Congda may lead the Clippers to make a comeback, continue to win the championship, and return as the king, but at least in the summer of '15, he will be said to be useless.

The media has been waiting for this day for a long time, and they have accumulated enough grievances and black material, and they are waiting for an opportunity to vent it.

Everyone is waiting to see how the biggest NBA-Batman will hack the Clippers and Min Congda on Twitter - this account has now swelled to more influence than all NBA names, deserving to be the uncrowned king of league news, and the NBA's number one mystery at the moment.

Even though the bones of whales have been gnawed clean, the role of whale carcasses is still not finished, because their skeletons can also create an environment for the cultivation and reproduction of many bacteria.

For a long time, whale bones will be a huge colony, and the bacteria on the bottom of the sea will slowly absorb the nutrients from them over a period of years or even decades, so that the giant creature will eventually return to the natural environment completely.

For ordinary fans, the legend of the Los Angeles Clippers will be a story that many people will never forget.

Over the course of several years, they forced the rest of the league's best stars to form teams and huddle frequently, and finally ended the dynasty with two super small forwards.

Fans are constantly arguing about who is stronger, who is more dominant, and who is the better one compared to the Clippers dynasty and the Lakers and Bulls dynasty?

These topics will continue to nourish the gossip enthusiasm of NBA fans, as well as the traffic enthusiasm of many column creators.

Before the arrival of a new dynasty, a new topic, and a new generation of fans, it has become the spiritual nourishment of fans for a long time.

Finally, one day, all the organic matter and nutrients on these bones were eaten up, and the huge skeleton was buried in the mud and sand, becoming a huge and amazing fossil under the action of time.

One day in the future, a little bit of exclamation will be given to new fans who have never witnessed their glory in person: they were once so strong, so powerful. But it's just a fossil.

It's like the Boston Celtics, who set a record for consecutive championships in the North American professional leagues, and the golden generation of black and white double brakes that have been buried in vague TV signals, and so on.

All of this was foreseen and even expected, and the Clippers, from the coaching staff to the players, were like lambs to the slaughter, and the whole team exuded a breath of death.

Min Congda stood on the sidelines, and he loosened his tie, making the somewhat tight collar of the card loose.

After becoming the head coach, Min Congda felt most annoyed by the fact that the head coach had to wear a suit and leather shoes on the sidelines.

In order to make himself more comfortable on the sidelines, Min Congda ordered several sets of particularly loose suits and shirts for himself.

In this way, when he is emotional, he can swing his arms and scold at the referee, so that he will not be restrained by his clothes.

But tonight, this suit is still a little tight on him, and it feels a little weird.

However, the attention of the fans is not on the coach's suit, but on the players on the field.

Mark Gasol suffered an unexpected injury in the last game, which made the situation worse for the Clippers.

In his unsurprising absence, the Clippers put Matt Bonner on top as the starting center.

Between Bonner and Jokic, the Clippers coaching staff chose the more veteran Banner after discussion.

The young Jokic had just made a fatal mistake in Game 4, a defensive three-second free throw that sent the opponent to a free throw, which caused the team to lose the game and fall into a desperate situation.

At the moment, he was sitting on the bench, his eyes calm and distracted, and he had just entered the NBA, and he still couldn't deeply understand what this game meant.

At the start of the game, the two sides jumped the ball, Bogut touched the ball first, and the Warriors began their first attack.

In Game 5, at home, with a 3-1 lead, the morale and confidence of the entire Warriors team has reached its peak.

In the first shot of the opening game, James rushed into the basket with a sharp breakthrough and threw it high to Bogut.

Bogut catches the ball and dunks it with both hands!

Bonner starts, and the team's defense is bound to suffer.

His ability to protect the basket is much worse than that of Gasol Jr.

Oracle Arena was jubilant, as if from this ball, the Clippers were about to be condemned to death.

However, Bonner's starting position on the offensive end is good, and he stands in his sweet spot – 45 degrees to the left.

After receiving Curry's breakthrough, he hit a three-point shot!

Curry is all too familiar with this point, and has practiced countless times in the regular season.

Bonner's three-pointer cooled down Oracle Arena.

Although the two sides launched a high-quality attack.

James assists on Durant's mid-range shot.

Harden made a strong basket after blocking and assists Anthony Davis for a layup.

James responded with a high post and went straight to Lillard, who cut into the air, and scored a two-point layup.

Leonard turned his back to the ball, turned around and forced Durant to hit a mid-range jumper.

After the grinding of the previous games, the core players of both sides are in good shape, and the game feels fast.

The two teams are not too secret in terms of tactics, passing and cutting, misalignment, and offensive and defensive confrontations at high speed and high intensity.

The defense of both sides throughout the series was almost one-on-one, no one used joint defense, no one used strong and weak sides to press and pack.

Because the use of joint defense, or the pressure and wrapping on the strong and weak sides, means that the defensive end has to choose one of the two, and some of them must be released.

But who can you put in this lineup of the two teams? No one can let go, and letting anyone go can lead to a collapse.

Therefore, both teams are basically the ultimate one-on-one single defense, testing the players' defensive personal ability and basic defensive literacy.

Inside Bogut, Anthony Davis, Green and others, but if they go to help defend and fill the position, they will have to pay some price.

There are too many people who can pass the ball both offensively and defensively, and there are too many people who handle the ball themselves after receiving the ball, so it's better not to move.

So in the fifth game, the coaches of both sides decided that a firm one-on-one defense is to fight the hard power of the players on both sides.

However, the game was won by the right and the odd, and Kerr did it by the odd, and the five-small lineup he sacrificed so far, the Clippers have not been able to really contain it.

Even if Min Congda has discovered the problem of the five smalls, how can you solve it? It still depends on specific operations to crack it.

Judging from the first quarter of the game, the Clippers don't seem to have a way to deal with it, and they still rely on the strength and state of the players to solve it.

This is the usual practice of general coaches, to ensure that the players play 100% of their strength, and whether they win or not depends on the players' own performance and creativity.

Their rotation was the same as before, and their tactical play was not particularly adjusted, but they still managed to take a 29-27 lead in the first quarter.

But Kerr knew that Min Congda was not such a person, he waited patiently and nervously, and by the middle of the second quarter, Kerr had changed to a five-man lineup, and he wanted to see how Min Congda would respond.

At this time, the Warriors trailed the Clippers by 3 points, and when James, Durant, Thompson, Green and Lillard were on the floor at the same time, the Warriors' offensive state was instantly activated, and their confidence was too strong.

Kevin Durant and Thompson hit two three-pointers in a row, and they seemed to open the three-point scope in an instant after swaying in the first quarter.

In the first four games, in front of the two cups of poison Thompson and Durant, the Clippers had to drink one of them, and the one that they didn't drink didn't necessarily stop playing.

So far, the Clippers still insist on letting PJ Tucker defend Durant alone, but it doesn't seem to have worked too well.

The Warriors overtook in an instant, Min Congda stood on the sidelines and watched the performance of the Clippers players, their defense became sluggish, the offense gradually lost its discipline, and the passing began to hesitate - the Clippers' passing coordination has always been very fast and tacit.

As a result, Harden's breakaway ball went out of bounds and was a mistake.

Followed by Green in the high post, hanging James, James received the ball and made a layup, the Warriors 48:43, leading by 5 points!

Min Congda still didn't call a timeout, and at this time Curry stepped up, and the tactic that the Clippers could use seemed to be singles.

As a result, the Warriors chose to switch defenses, with James defending Curry one-on-one and forcing Curry to break through with a pressing aggressive defense.

Green lunged at Curry under the basket and interfered with Curry's layup!

The ball had a downward pressure action, but the referee didn't blow it!

Green snatched the ball, and the Oracle Center was jubilant.

The Warriors counterattacked, James received the ball and advanced quickly, hitting the ground and passing Durant.

Durant dodged Leonard's interference, jumped, and dunked with both hands!

51:43！ The Warriors have an 8-point lead!

On the giant ship of the clippers, there seems to be a crack that cannot be bridged.

At this point, there were still three minutes left before the end of the first half.

Min finally called a timeout, a long timeout, and the players dragged back to the bench with heavy steps.

Everyone's faces are a little dazed, how to fight? How to prevent it? I don't know.

Maybe they have the ability, but at the moment, they don't have that confidence.

Everyone looked at Min Congda, Manager Smart always had a way in the past.

But will he be able to do it tonight? He said that the series has just begun, it's all 1:3, is it just started?

Is it possible to make a 5:4 turnaround?

Besides, after all, it is the players who fight on the field to determine the result, and no matter how good the coach is, he can't go on his own......

Hey, no, something isn't right.

The Clippers players found that the coach didn't say anything after the timeout, didn't set up the tactics, didn't agitate the guys, and he actually started to undress.

Undressing? What is this operation? He unbuttoned his tie, unbuttoned his shirt, and took off his blazer, what was he going to do!?

Min Congda's actions quickly attracted the attention of the players, the surrounding audience, and even the TV station, and he actually took off the suit on his body, and then revealed the Clippers away blue jersey he was wearing!

Blue, No. 4 jersey, red piping, is this Superman? Take off your suit and transform?

The TV station commentators were stunned, what did Smart want to do, he wanted to play by himself?

The fans at the scene looked at the Clippers bench and were speechless in surprise, this Smart, what amazing operation?

At this time, Min Congda looked at the stunned looks of the players and said: "You idiots, if you can't win and can't implement my tactics, I have to go in person!" ”

As he spoke, he took off his leather shoes and took out a pair of sneakers from under the bench and put them on.

The Clippers players are all looking at each other, what is going on, can the coach still play on his own?

It's not that Min Congda hasn't played with everyone, he often plays together this season, but he always gets a hat.

When Min Congda participated in the team's training, he explained many tactics in great detail.

Everyone knows that if he can play in the NBA, he must be a good point guard.

Both Harden and Curry feel like they've benefited a lot.

"Don't be stupid, I don't want to lose here yet, do you just want to end the season like this and go fishing with George? I don't even want to die. I tell you, if we lose this series, I'll resign, I'll go back to China to sell insurance, and you'll be left to fend for yourselves! But until then, I'm going to go for it! James, Durant, they're just cowards in a huddle, what are you afraid of! I'm not afraid of them! Stephen, do you remember that when Griffin maliciously fouled you, I dared to rush up and beat him! What are you afraid of! Fxxk！ ”

Min Congda vented his anger to the players in a rare way, but this anger was not negative, but it made the Clippers players slowly sober up.

Yes, what are you afraid of, we are united, we have experienced so many ups and downs, can we be defeated by two cowards in a group?

"Stephen, you come down and rest, I'll play point guard, I'll tell you how to attack."

Curry didn't speak, thinking to himself, do you really think you can play?

At this time, the referee and the technical desk also sensed that something was wrong, what was Smart trying to do?

When tonight's referee, Malloy, saw a small man wearing the No. 4 Clippers jersey standing on the sidelines to come on the court, and that person was Smart Min, he was not good.

He hurriedly blew his whistle and ran over and asked, "What are you doing Smart for!" How do you change into a player's clothes! ”

Min Congda said: "I'm going to play, Malloy. ”

Malloy hurriedly stopped Min Congda and then called a stop to the game, "You can't do this, and you can't be on the sidelines in a tracksuit!" ”

Then, Malloy and the other two referees gathered at the technical table to discuss with the technical officials how to deal with this unique scene.

The fans at the scene were also speechless, and there was a boo at the scene, but there were also many spectators cheering for Min Congda, "Come on, Smart, go on the field!" ”

When the Warriors players found out that Min Congda was going to play, everyone looked sluggish, and everyone was going to kill the Clippers in one go, what is the situation now?

The game was interrupted for two minutes, and after discussing with the technical desk, the referee decided that according to the provisions of the collective bargaining agreement, the coach was not allowed to be a player, and the dress code required him, and sent Min Congda off the field!

Min Congda spread his hands, he ran to discuss with the officials of the technical station, and the other party said: "Smart, you are too messy, let's put on the suit and don't catch a cold." ”

"Fuck you!"

Before leaving, Min Congda told the players: "I won't go back to the dressing room, I'll go straight back to the hotel. If you win, let's go back to Los Angeles and prepare for Game Six. If you lose, let's go back to Los Angeles and go fishing, and you can do it yourself! ”

"Tyron, I'll leave it to you."

Min Congda handed over command to Tyronn Lue.

Director Lu nodded calmly, in fact, he already knew the result.

He pulled out a note from his suit pocket with Min Congda's instructions for him before the game.

Rule 1: Reuse Jokic and add Randolph to the rotation.

Article 2: Focus on attacking Draymond Green and Lillard.

At this time, Min Congda left the field from the players' tunnel wearing the No. 4 jersey.

He sacrifices himself to wake up his players.

(End of chapter)