basketball never sleeps

Chapter 174 Where does my champagne come from?

"Coach Brown, what's going on with your forehead?" The reporter, who was trying hard to hold back his laughter as he looked at the newly minted white leather bag, even forgot to ask about the Pistons' defeat.

"It's nothing, just a prank by two troublemakers."

Under the table, Larry Brown restrained his trembling hands and adjusted his glasses that were pushed up by the swelling.

Larry Brown almost bit off the calculus from his teeth amidst the frantic shutters of the reporters.

He had considered making a big deal out of it and asking the alliance to severely punish these two bastards.

However, Mo Wen had a very good sense of what he was doing. A big brain-destroying blow to Dali, although it was very harmful and extremely insulting to him, but it was still a brain-breaking blow to you.

If you complain because of a brain failure, you will only be laughed at in the United States, a country that values ​​the strong.

Therefore, no matter how painful it was, in order to maintain his character as a tough assistant coach, he could only grit his teeth and show a nonchalant attitude.

Just like how he dealt with doubts after losing a game.

"The Heat are strong but not invincible. If you know the ball, you can see the Heat's weakness. If there were no surprises in the first quarter, the Pistons should be the real winner."

Larry Brown made a tune, and the Pistons players also showed off their steel mouth and teeth in front of the camera.

The Heat were not to be outdone. In front of the camera, O'Brien bluntly accused the Pistons of being dirty.

"They know they can't win with their strength, so they can only use these dirty methods to influence us."

"They found that they couldn't stop me, so they let Ben disturb my mood. They found that they couldn't solve Mo Wen, so they tried to find role players to find Mo Duizi. Believe me, if that idiot hadn't accidentally knocked himself out, Mo Wen would

They will definitely not let him go, and they will succeed."

"I finally know why Ben would wear ridiculous afros when I play games. He is 100% afraid that I will come back with revenge."

Ao Pang talked a lot like a barrage of words.

But Ben on the other side completed the killing blow with just one sentence——

"My free throws are more accurate than his."

The teams from both sides were restrained for fear of fines, but the media in both places were not so polite.

If the quarrel was based on reality at the beginning, later it turned into a vain pursuit of enemies.

"Revealing the myth created by the Miami Whistle Team with 40 free throws in one game!"

"Evil criminals meet evil criminals again, on the past and present lives of the Bad Boys Legion!"

"The NBA has no memory, who is the real villain!"

The competition is so exciting. To really get ahead, you have to watch the media reports.

May 24th.

Amid the cheers of the crowd, G2 of the Eastern Conference Finals started as scheduled.

Mo Wen, who was declared "seriously injured" by the Heat, still insisted on starting the game, causing the fans on the sidelines to burst into unprecedented cheers.

Many fans even shed tears on the spot.

Because in the Heat's promotion, Mo Wen suffered from more than a dozen injuries and was unable to even attend the press conference after the last game. An ordinary player might have needed an emergency truce for treatment.

Even the media in Detroit were excited for a long time after learning the news, but they did not open the champagne on the spot after being corrected by a certain Detroit insider.

There was no mention of O'Pan and Wade being really injured (those in need of protection), and Mo Wen, who pretended to be injured and ended up playing the game, was actually pushed along by the flow of the situation.

Mo Wen once doubted whether Pat Riley had a copy of "The Art of War" on Pat Riley's bookshelf, otherwise why would the fiction and reality be so slippery?

In fact, the Heat did not make false propaganda, because Mo Wen had a lot of purple and bruises on his body, plus some blood stains that were directly pulled out. You can count dozens of them, but in the end they are all skin injuries.

Of course, if these injuries are applied to a little fresh meat who feels like he is about to "die" even if he cuts his finger, it is indeed a serious injury, but for an NBA player, this level of injury is actually the same as eating and drinking.

usually.

To be honest, Mo Wen doesn't like this kind of hype that is divorced from the facts, but the NBA needs heroes, even if they are artificial.

The team needs it, the league needs it, and Nike needs it.

From another perspective, the country also needs it.

And don’t listen, you don’t need it. (Understand the applause!)

Back to the court.

While fighting for the ball, Billups poked Mo Wen next to him with his elbow.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk, how's your health? You're a disabled hero with a strong will?"

"Still alive." Mo Wen rolled his eyes angrily.

"You are still alive, but the old brothers have been tortured by you two, and they are still disgusted after just a few games. So——"

"so?"

"So do you want to pay for the hush money and emotional distress?" Billups rubbed his fingers and glanced at the beautiful woman on the sidelines.

"Oh, if you want to play, just say so. With our relationship, we can arrange it for you tonight. But if you had told us earlier, you could have played for two more days. After all, you will have to pay for your own air tickets when you come to Miami.

"Mo Wen followed his gaze and glanced over.

Normal, just dress a little cool.

However, compared to the fans on the sidelines in Detroit, it is indeed of high quality.

"Hmm. Hmm? You bastard, do you think we will be swept away by you?" Billups heard the meaning of Mo Wen's words clearly and came up with a hidden little elbow.

"What if?" Mo Wen shrugged.

"Stop looking down on people, you bastard. Believe it or not, we will beat you out tonight!"

"You have indeed changed. I don't remember you still having the habit of daydreaming."

"Fake Squid, Bitchi!"

Either ESPN said that tonight's game would be extremely hot, but before the game even started, Mo Wen and Billups had their elbows touching each other.

The love-hate relationship between the two did not last long, and the game started at the whistle.

The lineups on both sides remained unchanged from the first game, they were still the same players.

After the two teams spent a few fouls in the first quarter to figure out the referee's tolerance limit, they threw away the shackles and "Jie" opened the seal.

The scene didn't look as intense as the first quarter of G1, but looking at the whole game, the intensity of the confrontation was actually higher than in the first game.

There are no unexpected conflicts; there are no shortage of expected confrontations.

There is a saying, this game should be the first game of this series.

In the first quarter, the two teams scored a constipation-level score of 18:19.

It reminds people of the fear of being dominated by the Pistons and Pacers in last year's Eastern Conference Finals.

It can only be said that Larry Brown, who has a perfect defensive rating, knows how to make the game more ugly.

In the first half of the first quarter, when the Big Three were all in the lineup, the Heat relied on the offensive deterrence of the Big Three and scored 14 points in the first 7 minutes. The efficiency was impressive.

Compared with the Pistons, who only scored 8 points at the same time, it is even more efficient.

But after O'Brien left the game at the 8-minute mark and Wade left the game at the 10-minute mark, the Heat's offense seemed to have suddenly entered the depths of winter.

In 5 minutes, the only scores for the team were a mid-range shot by Mo Wen and a three-pointer and two goals by Da Zhi, who was smoking in the corner.

Larry Brown, who was so confused by Mo Wen, searched around for players but couldn't find another player who was willing to do his dirty work for him.

Except for players like Caron Butler who are in desperate need of playing time during the contract year to perform, no one is willing to work hard for a coach who is about to leave.

The NBA is about one emperor and one courtier. It does not mean that if a player's status has improved when Larry Brown was in office, he will still be valued by another coach.

Therefore, in addition to exposing the matter and using public opinion to exert pressure, Larry Brown can only speak in a basketball way.

In the past two days, the Pistons' coaching staff has spent most of their time studying how to restrict Mo Wen, except for reviewing games.

When the Big Three are all here, they haven't figured it out yet, but when Wade or O'Neal goes off the court, it's not difficult to restrict Mo Wen.

After all, last year's OK was very difficult to guard against by the Pistons.

Although Mo Wen's ball-holding core style and catch-and-shoot style are difficult to guard against, there are examples of these two types in the Pistons.

Moreover, Mo Wen played a lot of training games with the Pistons last year, and in the training games at that time, Mo Wen's playing style was actually not very different from now.

Larry Brown created a "personalized" version of man-to-man defensive tactics for Mo Wen.

The so-called man-to-man defense is one of the original defensive tactics, and its characteristic is that it can effectively reduce the offensive team's shooting rate of mid-to-long-range shots. Coupled with the Pistons' inside ability to protect the frame and help defend, it is definitely a perfect defensive closed loop.

Larry Brown mixed some habits into it.

Mo Wen also tried to lead his teammates and then use their intimidation to feed himself, but several teammates also behaved very anxiously under man-to-man defense.

In the second quarter, O'Brien and Wade returned. Mo Wen played another three minutes before taking a break, and the Pistons' lineup also shrunk.

Wade's efficiency was mediocre, with a mediocre 2-for-5 shooting and a foul, but it didn't quench his thirst.

The well-educated Austrian performed well, shooting 3 of 4 from the field in the beginning, and was about to gain momentum. The Pistons were not polite and decisively sent him to the free throw line three times to help him cool down and return to reality.

Obanga practiced free throws, but this improvised behavior did not bring much change to him.

Compared with the heat, which heats up for a while, cools down for a while, and red for a while, the overall performance of the piston is quite stable.

Their jump shot may not be graceful or elegant enough, nor is it coquettish and smart enough, but from a statistical perspective, excluding big players, if they add up two random players, they can get a squinting eye or a ditch head.

Therefore, rounding up, the Pistons are also a team with two superstars.

Back to the game, something extraordinary happened at the end of the second quarter.

With 7 seconds left in the offensive round, Wade's fast break was blocked by a double team. In desperation, Wade could only protect the ball and wait for his teammates to respond.

There were 3 seconds left when Rasul received the ball, but he made three three-pointers today, so he was not that confident.

He didn't dare to waste money anymore and could only choose the next lucky pot.

Just then, a huge figure appeared next to him, and he passed the ball to that figure.

Just like that, 1.2 seconds later, O'Neal received the pass from outside the three-point line.

If it were a regular 24-second offense, if O'Pang received such a pass from the outside, he would definitely be scolded.

But the whistle sounded immediately, and O'Pang had no time to think, so he could only follow instinct and throw the ball towards the basket.

Bang... Bang... Swish——

Ao Pang didn't even have any hope.

The last time he made a three-pointer was when he was still with the Magic in 1996. It was also the last attack of the first half in the regular season game against the Bucks. At that time, Hardaway was originally scheduled to shoot that shot, but Hardaway failed.

Wei was watched by the two and couldn't catch the ball at all.

Forced to hold the ball, he took two steps outside the three-point line to catch the ball. He didn't think much about it and hit the ball in one unintentional shot.

That goal was also the only three-pointer he scored in his career so far.

And today, this shot was not only the only three-pointer he scored in his playoff career, it was also the only three-pointer he made in the playoffs!

That's right, before this shot, O'Brien had never made a three-pointer in the playoffs...

Aopang just didn't look at it. He glanced at his teammates, read the scoreboard again, clapped his hands, laughed, and said: "Oh, okay, I hit it!"

The audience on the sidelines thought they were dazzled. Only when the big screen above showed a flashback of this scene did people finally believe that O'Fatty had hit the three-pointer.

"OMG, what did I see!"

"Did this really happen, Shaq hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer?"

"This is O'Neal's own miracle and a miracle in the history of basketball!"

The crowd in the studio was still screaming at the end, but the on-site commentators had already turned off the microphone.

Aopang, who is very entertaining, opened his hands and circled around to embrace the cheers of the fans.

"There is no better three-pointer than this, so I will never shoot another three-pointer in my life."

In the locker room, Fatty Ao was talking nonchalantly.

"From now on, I will be the person who makes 100% of the three-pointers in the playoffs in my career. Mo, how should I put it, is this a state that you will never be able to reach in your life?"

"Haha, as long as you are happy."

In the second half, the anxious score intensified the impatience of the players of both teams.

The movements during the confrontation were so large that even a master of black hands like Mo Wen was caught twice and knocked to the ground, not to mention the others.

In today’s game, [touch, climb, roll, beat] is no longer a pronoun, but a verb describing details.

The ball became the object that everyone coveted because you couldn't legally swing your elbow without the ball in your hands.

The Pacers' defense is strong, but the Pacers are at least decent, but the Pistons have tasted the championship, and they understand the need to do whatever it takes.

Of course, no matter how strong the defense is, it's all relative.

And for players, now is the time to distinguish between genius and brush.

Whether it is Mo Wen, Wade or O'Neal, they can still maintain a shooting percentage above the standard line. As for the other Heat players... I can only say that they are worthy of their basic salary.

In the final quarter, the three Heat players played together for another 4 minutes. After the score difference widened by 8 points, they began to take alternate breaks.

This kind of behavior is somewhat arrogant and disrespectful.

But the problem is that the Pistons don't have any stable means of chasing points, and the three-point tactics used were discussed and practiced by Mo Wen with Billups when he was in the Pistons.

Mo Wen doesn't even know what the Pistons coaching staff has done this year.

The main lineup is from last year, the defensive tactics are from last year, and the offensive tactics are from last year.

If they had a year-end report, the PPT would probably just use last year's and change the year.

This kind of slackness will naturally come with a price.

Mo Wen saw the Pistons' tactics several times in advance, but only made a few arrangements to destroy their intention of forcing a three-pointer.

game over

Heat 100:94 Pistons

The Heat once again won the game with a 6-point advantage.

O'Neal has regained a lot of form, making 10 of 17 field goals, 1 of 1 three-pointers, 4 of 9 free throws, and scored 25 points, 9 rebounds, 2 assists, and 2 blocks.

Wade played a lot of minutes today, and he became more and more comfortable facing the Wallace brothers in the paint. He played 31 minutes, made 10 of 22 shots, 1 of 4 three-pointers, 7 of 8 free throws, and scored 27 points, 5 rebounds, and 6 assists.

1 steal.

Mo Wen, who has been in C since the Fat Shark and the big cheek injury, took a breather today. In addition, he was targeted, so his data declined. He only made 7 of 16 shots, 2 of 5 three-pointers, and 4 of 4 free throws.

, scored 20 points, 6 assists, 5 rebounds and 2 steals.

Except for three people, no one from the Heat scored in double figures. Haslem had 8 points, Rasual had 7 points, Damon Jones had 6 points, and Mourning and Da Zhi each had 3 points.

The shooting percentages of the Heat's role players are relatively ugly, but nearly 70% of the Heat's shots are concentrated on the Big Three.

The Big Three also have unique skills that cannot be guarded against. Even if they are restricted and uncomfortable, they can still achieve low shooting percentage or true shooting percentage.

After returning to the locker room, O'Neal was very excited.

This is 2:0 with real swords and guns.

The best defensive team in the league is CJB.

The No. 1 defensive team, how can they score more than 100 points in two consecutive games?

With the strength they have shown so far, breaking out of the Eastern Conference is like leaving home, and winning the championship is only a matter of time.

So, in front of the camera, Ao Pang shouted out the headlines of the next day's newspaper.

"Where's my champagne?"

I tried to speed up the pace and found that it was much smoother, although it may still be a bit watery...

I added a few hundred words to the previous chapter to complete the story. Although it still feels like a mess, at least it doesn’t smell so bad. If you have subscribed, you can check it out. I don’t want to set up flags recently, so I want to stabilize the quality first.

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(End of chapter)