Not far away, Abdul-Jabbar was being interviewed.

"Karim, do you think Mosaic still has a chance?" The journalist asked.

Abdul-Jabbar smiled and said: "There are definitely chances, next up are their two home games, home advantage is an important factor that cannot be ignored. ”

The reporter asked: "Actually, many media are very optimistic about Mosaic, their lineup is really strong, ESPN believes that Mosaic has a 49% chance of reaching the finals, which is only two percentage points lower than hypersonics."

So Karim, before the Western Conference finals series, did you ever think that Mosaic would have two consecutive defeats on the road? ”

"I said before the series that the mosaic weakened the interior, but the reinforced outside still couldn't beat the supersonic outside, and they were more likely to lose the Western Conference finals," Abdul-Jabbar said.

As for the two consecutive defeats on the road, this is not the most important thing, they may come back one or two at home, but the final result will most likely not change. ”

At this time, Da Meng returned to the locker room, although he lost two in a row, but his emotions were not as broken as the last game, the main reason was that the confidence in the last game was broken, and he lost too badly, this time the situation is much better, there is a chance to win, he believes that when he returns to the home field, he will have a chance to win back.

"Rudy, we're still a little passive, their pinching gives me a lot of headaches, it consumes more energy, it's not efficient, you have to find a way to solve this problem." He said to head coach Tomjanovic.

Tomjanovich nodded and said, "Don't worry, Hakim, I'll figure it out." ”

Da Meng added: "We must also strengthen the defense of Iron Fist, and we can't let him do whatever he wants in our front court." ”

Tomjanovic smiled bitterly and said, "Unless we have a strong defense like the Bulls on the outside, it's hard to guard against him." ”

"You can play the edge ball of the joint defense." Big Dream Road.

Tomjanovic immediately shook his head and said, "They can defend you like that, but we don't need to guard them that way."

Because Iron Fist is the core of the ball, we can wrap him, either directly on the outside, or when he breaks through with the ball, and there is no need to play the edge ball of joint defense. ”

"What then?"

Da Meng couldn't help but get anxious, this can't work, that can't work, so just waiting to be eliminated?

Tomjanovic looked at the glider again, in these two games, Drexler's performance was very poor, 17 points in one game, 15 points in the other, not to mention offensive efficiency, and the iron fist defense greatly limited the glider's offense.

Let's not talk about the first game, the defense of Iron Fist was too terrifying, but in this game, Iron Fist changed the anti-glider, and the glider couldn't talk about performance at all.

He knows very well that if he can't get the glider to work, then this lineup is not as good as last year, at least last year with Thorpe, the inside line is stronger than it is now.

"Clyde, do you have anything to say?" He asked.

The glider smiled bitterly: "Although Iron Fist didn't have a horror tonight, he also played top defense with 6 steals and 3 blocks, and we must find a way to get rid of his defense, otherwise our outside offense, even including the inside offense, will be subject to his defense." ”

Tomjanovich nodded heavily, yes, defense, get rid of the defense of the iron fist to have a chance to beat the supersonics.

No, after getting rid of his defense, you have to limit him on the offensive end to talk about beating him.

It's just that mosaic can't do anything now.

Inside, without Thorpe, relying on big dreams alone, although he still has an advantage, he has no advantage in rebounding, secondary offense, defense, etc.

On the outside, Iron Fist is unstoppable on the offensive end, and on the defensive end, he alone can suppress half of the mosaic's outside line, and he can also help defend the inside line.

"Can't you beat it this time? How do you get past this? ”

The heavy pressure weighed on his heart and made him a little breathless.

……

Mosaic's two-game losing streak on the road immediately caused many American media and commentators to change their minds on the series.

ESPN's prediction for the Western Conference Finals is 51% for SuperSonics and 49% for Mosaic, and they revised the numbers overnight to 65% and Mosaic 35%, becoming the same as the two teams in the East.

There is no media mentioning the resilience of Mosaic, because last year's Western Conference Mosaic did not show any resilience in superSound.

Even the media in Houston were frustrated and lost faith in the Western Conference showdown.

"One of our feet is out!" Houston Chronicle.

"If we had a Michael Jordan on the outside, we would have swept the SuperSonics, but unfortunately we didn't, so avoid being swept away, that's the only way we can stay decent." Houston Sports News.

……

"Bang!"

At 9 o'clock on the 25th, in the hotel restaurant, Olajuwon was so angry that he slammed his fist on the table when he saw the news from the Houston Sports Newspaper.

"Will we be swept away?"

Glaring viciously at a pair of fierce eyes, Dameng, whose face was full of ferocity, gritted his teeth and yelled at his teammates:

"Those bitches media only serve to demoralize us, our goal is to win, to make it to the finals, to take out the Iron Fist guy, not to think about what to avoid being swept away, that should never be our goal, you say?"

The morale of the Mosaic team was indeed a little low, and when they were asked by Da Meng, no one said anything, and they all lowered their heads to cook.

"You bastards, cowards, softasses!" Da Meng scolded.

The glider's face was a little ugly, as an old friend of Big Dream, he was also one of the scolded, but his character was like this, and he didn't want to say anything, just calmly persuaded: "Hakim, calm down, we don't want to lose either." ”

"Hakim, calm down." Head coach Tomjanovic also advised.

Da Meng calmed down a little and said, "I'm sorry, I'm not targeting you, I just don't want to lose again, we have to win back, we can't fall at the feet of the iron fist every time and let him humiliate us." ”

In a bad atmosphere, the mosaic team went back to their room to pack their luggage after breakfast, and then took a bus to the airport.

Supersonic speed is not so urgent, it leaves at 1 o'clock in the afternoon, arrives in Houston at almost 4 o'clock, and arrives at the hotel at a quarter past five.

After dinner, the agent Philip contacted Zhou Quan.

"Zhou, the promoter of your next boxing match has been done."

"Who?"

"I've thought about it for so long, I've eliminated a lot of promoters, and I'm left with Donkin and Bob Arum, you know them, right?"

"Of course."

"I chose Bob Arlum."

"Yes, I don't like Donkin, Michael Tyson says he's a vampire."

"That's why, I know you don't like him."

"And what about the opponent?" Zhou Quan asked again.

"The opponent is the former WBO world heavyweight champion selected by the WBC, Michael Muller." Philip said.

"Is that him?"

Zhou Quan nodded, this is a fairly famous world boxing champion, and Michael Tyson, Holyfield, Lewis, and Riddick Bow are the same level of boxing champions.

"Yes, he's going to be the first American professional fighter you'll face in the ring. I'll give you his information, and I'll come over tomorrow. Philip said.

That night, the G2 battle began.

O'Neal burst the Bulls' interior line, shooting 17-of-24 from the field, shooting more than 70 percent and scoring 38 points and 16 rebounds.

But Anfernee Hardaway couldn't play well, shooting only 6 of 15, shooting only 40%, and only got 18 points, 2 rebounds and 3 assists.

Jordan shot 10 of 23, with a shooting rate of 43.5%, and 2 of 4 three-pointers, with an average shooting rate, but made many free throws, 15 of 16 free throws, and scored 37 points, 5 rebounds, 6 assists, 4 steals, 1 block, 2 turnovers and 2 fouls.

Pippen had a quasi-triple-double of 17 points, 10 rebounds and 9 assists, but shot less than 40% from the field and also delivered 3 steals.

The Bulls had a total of 12 steals as a team, the Magic only had 4, and the Bulls had 4 more rebounds, and the Magic had 7 percentage points higher in shooting percentage, but the Magic had 17 turnovers, while the Bulls only had 7.

In the end, the Bulls relied on a strong outside defense, 88-93, and once again defeated the Magic at home with more offensive efficiency and won two consecutive victories.

Zhou Quan watched this game, it's not that O'Neal is not strong enough, but just like a big dream, the Bulls control the outside line, and they control the game.

The Magic only lost by 5 points, but they made 10 more turnovers, but if they missed a few turnovers, they could lose to the Bulls.

This is the same as the supersonic beating the mosaic, the G1 battle mosaic has as many as 29 mistakes, the supersonic only 8, 21 more, and the G2 battle has 8 more mistakes than the supersonic.

When the outside line is suppressed by the opponent, the mistakes will increase, the mistakes will increase, the offense will not be able to play, and the loss will become inevitable.

"In the same way, the Bulls and SuperSonics both beat teams with super centers with strong outside offense and defense, and so far, the two super guards have dominated the series." New york times.

"Those who have the inside line win the world, but in the past ten years, this law seems to be wrong, and now it is the one who gets the outside line who wins the world." Washington post.

The next day, on the 26th, both the Magic and Mosaic were criticized by the media, while the Bulls and SuperSonics were touted by the media.

At noon that day, Philip rushed to Houston, and Zhou Quan met him in a restaurant.

"Zhou, the contract with Bob Arum has been signed, and his company will invest $65 million in promotion, starting tomorrow."

"Plus, your appearance fee is $20 million, which is double the amount you paid in your last fight. WBC takes a 5% of the exit fee, which is a fixed fee. By the way, Michael Muller is 15 million, not as high as you, his influence is not as big as yours, there is no exposure, and the high exposure of the NBA will help you a lot. ”

"In terms of PPV, you're 60 percent and Michael Muller 40 percent. But Bob Arum has to take 30% first, and you divide the rest. In terms of box office and advertising revenue, you and Michael Muller share 5% and 2% respectively. ”

"By the way, the unit price of the PPV is $78, which is a very high price, and I hope there will be a good result."

Zhou Quan asked, "Is the time set?" ”

"It's set, give you three months, September 15th in Las Vegas. I fought for it, but Michael Muller didn't agree to play in Los Angeles, and neither did the WBC, they both thought that Los Angeles was your home and that this fight had to be held in a third-party venue. ”

"Which hotel?"

"MGM Grand, it can accommodate 20,000 people."

"Okay."

"Bob Arum has prepared a training team for you, all of the best in the world, including the best sparring partners. By the way, this is Michael Mueller's material. ”

Zhou Quan took a piece of paper and a few CDs, and after putting them in, he looked at the contents of the paper.

Michael Muller, 188 cm naked and the same as himself, weighs 101 kilograms, 9 kilograms heavier than himself.

Born in 67, now 27 years old, the peak age group, left-handed boxing champion, offensive tricky and ferocious, jab is quite lethal, heavy punches have a certain strength.

The most important record is defeating the former world boxing champion Cooper in 92 and winning the heavyweight world boxing championship belt of the WBO, one of the world's four major boxing organizations.

In April '94, he defeated Holyfield in 12 rounds to become the WBA and IBF heavyweight world double.

In November '94, in the case of dominance, he was suddenly hit by Foreman's heavy punch in the 10th round, and was directly knocked out of the ring, losing all his titles.

The current WBC heavyweight world ranking is sixth, and the top five are all current world champions, or former world champions, and Michael Muller is the same.

"To be able to beat Holyfield, to be able to fight with Foreman until the tenth round, and even to have an advantage before, it's just that Foreman seized the opportunity to hit hard, Zhou, his strength is definitely the top, don't be careless." Philip admonished cautiously.

"I know."

"But his heavy punch power is the worst of these world champions of his level, not as good as Tyson, Lewis, Holyfield, but definitely bigger than you, you have to be careful not to be beaten by his heavy blows.

By the way, his style of play is somewhat similar to Holyfield's, you can refer to Holyfield's style of play. ”

"Okay, I see."

Zhou Quan looked at it, put the paper away, and then said: "The current head of WBC is Oliver McCall, right?" ”

Philip nodded and said: "Michael Tyson's previous sparring skills are stronger than the David Tua you defeated, all of Tyson's sparring partners were knocked out and injured by him, and they couldn't last long, only McCall could withstand his heavy punches."

In September last year, he directly knocked out the world boxing champion Lewis in the second round, which caused a big upset, and this guy's strength is very strong. ”

Zhou Quan smiled: "I guess Lewis must have shed tears secretly." ”

"Poof, it's possible to be knocked out in the second round." Philip couldn't help but laugh.

That night, the G3 battle of the Western Finals began.

"Victory!"

Back at home, the mosaic, with the support of countless home fans, soared in momentum, and when they came on the field, the shouts of victory shook the earth.

In this game, 100:108, in the end, Mosaic relied on home advantage, defeated the SuperSonics, pulled back a game, and the two sides played 2-1.

Zhou Quan's performance was still good, with 32 points, 5 rebounds, 11 assists, 5 steals, 2 blocks, 3 turnovers and 5 fouls, shooting 54.5% from the field.

He defended Kenny Smith in the first half and the glider in the second half, and the effect was good, no matter which one faced him, he was suppressed.

It's a pity that Da Meng played a super explosive state, shooting 16 of 24, shooting 66.7%, 13 of 14 free throws, and hitting 45 points, 18 rebounds, 6 assists, 4 steals and 7 blocks.

"We won! We will win another game in the next game, as long as we win another game, the final winner will be us. Back in the locker room, the excited big dream yelled at his teammates.

The glider was also very excited, and he saw a little hope of reaching the finals.

He played a little better today than the last one, scoring 22 points.

But he still couldn't break through the Iron Fist defense, the main play was in the first half, neither Kendall Gill nor McMillan prevented him in the first half, and scored 15 points, but in the second half Iron Fist defended him, he only scored 7 points.

Mosaic pulled back and changed the media's perception, and the next day, reports abound about Mosaic's resilience.

However, from this day on, Zhou Quan's boxing promoters also began to promote boxing matches, and overwhelming advertisements appeared in major media.

This is not only in the United States, but in the world, and the front pages of the world's major media are full of news reports about this boxing match.

From a global perspective, Zhou Quan's boxing news has attracted far more attention than the NBA playoffs, even in the United States, it is also the head of the NBA.

David Stern has a headache, isn't it good to promote it after the playoffs, what are you doing to steal the limelight from the NBA, is it easy for me to pull the NBA until now?

Countless media called Zhou Quan's phone, but his mobile phone was turned off, refusing all interviews, not wanting to be distracted by boxing, and the playoffs are the most important thing for him at the moment.

(End of chapter)