Bishop of the Devil

On May 21, the Eastern Conference Finals began.

The Pistons generals had already arrived in Charlotte in advance. Yao Ming had a meal with Richard the night before and chatted for a while.

We didn't talk about the game. There's nothing interesting to talk about. Winning is winning. We've reached the Eastern Conference Finals, and it's impossible for anyone to let anyone off the hook.

The two of them mainly talked about the upcoming draft.

Richard did not hide anything and told Yao Ming his intention to select Sun Yue.

He is not afraid of being intercepted by the Pistons. Sun Yue's strength is not very good. If he puts it in his hands, he can use some props to enhance Sun Yue's strength so that Sun Yue can survive in this league.

But if the Pistons choose Sun Yue, Sun Yue will probably be fired by the Pistons in less than a season. The same will happen when Richard takes over Sun Yue.

Yao Ming was a little disappointed when he heard that Richard was not planning to select Yi Jianlian with the second pick.

However, this disappointment was only fleeting. He knew that Richard must have his reasons for not choosing Yi Jianlian.

It may be that the Pirates don't have a place for Yi Jianlian. In Yao Ming's opinion, this should be the biggest possibility.

Yi Jianlian has a good prospect in the draft. No matter which team takes him, considering the vastness of the Chinese market and Yi Jianlian's good talent, it is unlikely that Yi Jianlian will always be a substitute.

The Pirates have too many talents available, especially Milicic. If Yi Jianlian joins the team, his first competitor will be Milicic...

How could Yi Jianlian possibly compete with Milicic? You must know that last season Milicic ranked third in the MVP selection behind Nowitzki and Yao Ming.

With such a status in the league, it would be funny if Yi Jianlian was squeezed out of the starting position by a new guy.

Not to mention Milicic, Yao Ming feels that whether Yi Jianlian can compete with Millsap is a matter of opinion.

Yao Ming knows Richard very well. He knows very well that in Richard's team, it's all about strength. If you don't have strength, even if you are Richard's compatriot, Richard won't be able to give you too much preferential treatment. .

…

G1 of the Eastern Conference Finals started. This game made Richard realize more deeply that the team really cannot do without a super center.

Mourning is now much better than Varejao, but he is still at a disadvantage in front of Yao Ming.

The only good thing is that this disadvantage is not particularly big, not so big that Richard cannot bear it.

Just imagine if Mourning wasn't so powerful, the Pirates could only send Varejao to face Yao Ming. It's unimaginable what a scumbag Yao Ming would turn Varejao into.

In just the first few minutes, the idea of ​​improving the strength of the inside line was deeply rooted in Richard's mind.

Without a powerful super center, Richard really doesn't feel safe.

After getting Oden next year, Richard is going to find a way to get O'Neal. In this case, it will be a double insurance.

Richard doesn't know whether Oden can truly fulfill his talent, but he is quite sure.

As for O'Neal, he performed well with the Suns, but no one can say whether the Buccaneers can perform like the Suns.

And O'Neal's experience is also a very valuable asset for young centers.

…

The game continued on the field, and Richard could clearly feel that the referee was favoring their Pirates team.

He didn't think much about it, thinking it was the home field advantage given by the referee...

By the time G1 ended, the Pirates won by seven points, but this seven-point lead was actually mainly a free throw advantage.

The Pirates took 12 more free throws than the Pistons in this game.

It can be seen that the Pirates' strength does not have much advantage over the Pistons.

This is still the decline of the Pistons in the past two years. If they were replaced by the Pistons at their peak, I am afraid that the Pirates will definitely not be their opponent tonight.

Winning this game made Richard a little frightened, and the next G2 made Richard sweat from behind because of nervousness.

With three seconds left in the game, the Pistons led by one point. As a result, at this critical moment, the referee called a foul on Piston Clark.

This foul actually belongs to the type that can be called or not. It is more likely that it is not called, but the referee still called it and gave Granger two free throw opportunities.

Granger withstood the pressure and made two free throws to kill the Pistons.

Compared with the Pistons' free throws in this game, the gap is not small...

Richard couldn't understand. What on earth was Stern doing? Why does it feel like Stern is walking the Pirates into the finals?

In fact, Richard was right. Now Stern really wants to get Charlotte into the finals and finally win the championship.

Of course, it is definitely impossible to give a walk, and Stern doesn't have that ability. The only thing he can do is to let the Pirates get more free throws and reduce the away disadvantage at the Pistons' home court.

If the Pirates are not strong enough, even if Stern takes care of the Pirates, it will definitely be of no avail.

In history, there are countless teams that have this kind of free throw advantage and are defeated by their opponents in the series.

There are even teams that have been swept...

Stern definitely does not want to favor Richard, his purpose is to seize the Charlotte market with the NFL.

If Charlotte can win the championship this season, it will undoubtedly attract more fans to the Pirates. If they continue to be strong for a few years, they can accumulate a group of die-hard fans.

Fans only have so much spending power. They may not go to NFL games after watching NBA games. After all, the ticket price is not a small sum.

In order to elevate the NBA to the second largest sports league in North America during his tenure, Stern has done everything he can.

As a beneficiary, Richard would definitely not say anything even if he knew about it.

Moreover, during the strong periods of the Blazers and Pistons led by Richard, Stern often hindered Richard. Richard's team averaged fewer free throws per game than its opponents.

But in the face of absolute strength, this number of free throws is basically negligible.

…

G3 of the Eastern Conference Finals was the Pistons' home court, but they didn't get any home court advantage. The referee's whistle was quite fair.

This justice is unfair to the Pistons.

However, with the strong performance of the players, the Pistons still maintained their home court.

In G4, things took a turn. In this game, Granger performed exceptionally, scoring a super-high 38 points, directly leading the team to win this crucial game.

Granger is so low-key that the Pistons don't pay much attention to Granger.

The Pistons put all their defensive focus on the iron triangle of Milicic, Iguodala and Paul, and as a result, Granger exploded.

This game can be said to be Granger's battle to become a god. In a crucial game like the Eastern Conference Finals, Granger scored a super high score of 38 points, which directly brought Granger into the eyes of the fans.

With his cool and elegant offense, clean and effective defense, and his approachable appearance, Granger instantly became famous.

After four games, the Pirates led by a big score of 3:1, pushing the Pistons to the edge of the cliff.

Pistons fans are naturally quite unhappy. After four games, they have not taken advantage of the whistle at all. The league is completely biased towards the Pirates. How can they be happy?

In the past, I'm afraid Pistons fans would have been able to criticize their opponents, but because their opponent was Richard, they couldn't.

Richard is a legend of their Pistons. He led the Pistons to two championships, and his jersey is hung over the Palace of Auburn Hills. How can fans spray Richard?

Unable to spray Richard, the fans directly aimed their fire at Stern...

Why does Stern care about this? As long as something is beneficial to the alliance, he will stick to it without hesitation no matter how many people criticize it.

Compared with Stern's righteousness, Richard's actions sometimes seem a bit petty.

However, Richard never thought about becoming a savior at all. He just wanted to make up for some regrets from his previous life and make himself happy in this life.

…

G5 of the Eastern Conference Finals, the home court of the Pirates.

The importance of this game goes without saying. The Pirates Arena was packed with countless fans. If the arena didn't sell tickets, the ceiling would have been filled with fans watching the game.

As long as they win this game, the Pirates will be able to advance to the finals for the first time in team history. No one is willing to miss this kind of game that witnesses history.

Not only fans, but also many people from the basketball circle came.

Paul Allen came to watch the game in person, taking Tiana and Jody with him, and the three of them sat on the sidelines with a baby in their arms.

The three children were almost two years old. After seeing their father, they waved their little hands and called daddy.

Not only Richard's family is here, Richard's cheap cousin Beasley is also here tonight.

What Richard didn't expect was that Durant and Curry were sitting next to this kid.

It's no surprise that Durant is sitting next to him. The two of them are like conjoined twins. Before entering the league, the two of them did everything together.

Durant's face was full of excitement. He knew that the Pirates had won the second pick, and he had at least a 99.99% chance of being selected by Richard to the Pirates.

From now on, this Pirates Arena will be where he plays, and Durant's smile reaches the back of his head.

I don't know what kind of expression he will have when he sees that he was selected by the Trail Blazers when the draft begins.

As for Curry and Beasley hooking up, this was something Richard never expected.

But thinking about it in a flash, Beasley and Curry are both about to join Purdue University, so it makes sense for these two to get together.

Richard was quite relieved to see Beasley and Curry talking and laughing.

Curry is a good kid, a really good kid.

The family is harmonious, and I have never heard of any scandal involving Curry.

The most important thing is that he has a good temper. Whether on or off the court, he is very humble and respects his opponents and teammates.

His personal living habits are also quite positive. I have never heard Curry complain about anything, let alone that he has been involved in drugs.

Beasley, a bastard, might be able to get infected by Curry and abandon some of his bad habits if he stays next to Curry.

There is no problem with this guy's talent at all. The biggest problem is that he has a lot of bad habits. Basically, this guy has all the bad habits that players can make.

Lazy, drugs, unsociable, arrogant...