I’m Really Playing Basketball

On the evening of April 19, 2003, the long-awaited NBA playoffs officially began.

The much-anticipated "Battle of Truth and Shooting Truth" between the Nets and Celtics, or the "Possible Battle of Black and Eight," will start on the evening of April 20th.

Before the battle between the Nets and the Celtics, everyone on the Net watched the four NBA playoff games on the first day of the NBA. The purpose, of course, was to understand their opponents, especially the two sets of matchups in the Eastern Conference.

After the first day of the playoffs, the two games in the Eastern Conference made the faces on the Nets look a little solemn.

Because on the first day of the playoffs, all the top-seeded teams in the Eastern Conference lost.

The Pistons, second in the Eastern Conference, lost to the Magic 94-99 at home. In this game, McGrady scored 43 points, 7 rebounds and 3 assists and led the team to defeat the Pistons.

The Pacers, third in the Eastern Conference, lost to the Bucks led by Ray Allen 100-106 at home. This game was different from Tracy McGrady killing everyone by himself. Ray Allen also performed very well, shooting 28 shots. He also scored 30 points on 12 shots, but the real winner of this game was Tim Thomas who scored 19 points on 7 of 8 shots in the fourth quarter.

Tim Thomas, who went 7-for-8, was paired with Ray Allen, who was 3-for-4, and Michael Reed, who was 2-for-2.

In the fourth quarter of the game between the Bucks and the Pacers, the Pacers were shot to death by the Bucks.

As a defensive team, the Bucks allowed 36 points in the fourth quarter and only scored 21 points.

Especially the Pacers' leader Reggie Miller, who was chased by Ray Allen in the fourth quarter of this game and failed to score a point.

The Bucks recovered a 15-point deficit in a single quarter and led by 9 points after three quarters. After the fourth quarter, they lost by 6 points.

The Bucks led by Ray Allen and the Pacers led by Reggie Miller have also been rivals in the East in recent years.

In the 1999 playoffs, Ray Allen met Reggie Miller for the first time in the playoffs. Ray Allen lost and was shaved 0-3.

They met again in the first round of the 2000 playoffs. The Pacers led by Reggie Miller once again defeated Ray Allen's Bucks, but the score had become 3-2.

By the way, before this year, the first round of the NBA playoffs was a best-of-five series.

It is worth mentioning that in the first four games of the playoffs between the Bucks and the Pacers in 2000, Ray Allen was evenly matched with Reggie Miller. Unfortunately, in the fifth game, Reggie Miller proved that the old ginger was still hotter.

After the 2000 playoffs, Ray Allen and Reggie Miller never met again in the playoffs.

But in the next few years, the wins and losses of the two teams in the regular season have begun to change.

The Bucks have won 8 of the last 12 meetings, and 6 of the last 8 meetings.

This season and last season, the Bucks and Pacers both had a 3-1 regular season record.

Therefore, before the start of the Eastern Conference playoffs, many people said that this year's Eastern Conference playoffs are likely to have two games.

The Celtics had a black eight against the Nets, and the Bucks had a black six against the Pacers.

But after the first day of the Eastern Conference game, even the Pistons seemed to be defeated by the Magic!

In professional sports, nothing is guaranteed to win.

No one can be sure who they can beat until the game is over.

Therefore, the seeded team cannot say that it will definitely win.

But since it has been rated as a seeded team, there is always a basis for it.

If you are stronger, there should be no problem.

Who would have thought that this appearance completely shocked a group of judges.

The Pistons, the second seed in the Eastern Conference, and the Pacers, the third seed, fell one after another. This is indeed stressful for the Nets, which were already trapped in the vortex of public opinion.

After all, the whole world knows that the Celtics came to the Nets on their own initiative.

As long as the Celtics win the last game against the Heat, their ranking will rise to seventh place.

However, the Celtics deliberately rested their two leading players Antoine Walker and Pierce in the game against the Heat.

In the end, the Celtics lost to the Heat 82-84 in an away game, and finally settled their ranking at eighth in the Eastern Conference.

The Celtics are eligible to choose their own playoff opponents.

In the end, the Celtics chose the Nets.

This is understandable. After all, the Celtics are most interested in playing the Nets in the regular season. Both teams know themselves and the enemy, and the Celtics have found a way to deal with the Nets.

If it weren't for Chen Xiao's counterattack, the winner of the last regular season game between the two teams would have been the Celtics!

For the Celtics, they absolutely do not believe that Chen Xiao and the Nets can kill every game.

For the Celtics, Antoine Walker, who plays the Nets and keeps his brothers from messing around, is the strongest. With Antoine Walker, the strongest, the Celtics are certainly the strongest.

If they were playing against the Pacers, the Celtics would definitely not be that strong if Walker were to mess with them.

Therefore, in the end, it is understandable that the Celtics chose the Nets, a 72-win team, as their opponent.

This choice really means that if you win as a supermodel in the club, you won’t have to work in the sea if you lose.

After all, even the weakest 72 wins, which is ridiculed by all NBA celebrities, is still 72 wins!

The excitement of the Black Eight 72-win team can raise the combat effectiveness of the very vicious Celtics by one or two levels.

The Celtics are playing against the Nets. The Celtics have the psychological advantage of being a low-ranking player. They have no burden and have ways to restrain the Nets. The strength buff on their side is almost full.

As for the Nets, it stands to reason that even if the Nets win 72, Keyfield still can't shoot if he can't shoot. Richard Jefferson's shooting is unstable, but it is still unstable. Martin can only sneak attack and cannot be an inside attacker. , then you still can’t be a strong attacker. Big Garnett doesn’t even dare to say that he can be a strong attacker. How about you, little Garnett?

Therefore, after the showdown between the Nets and Celtics came out, most NBA experts bet on "maybe a black eight". It is not without reason.

The Celtics are definitely the opponent the Nets least want to face in the East, not even one of them.

Of course, the expression on Chen Xiao's face at this time was completely different from the expressions on the faces of other Nets players.

dignified?

That is definitely impossible!

I noticed that the two coaches on Chen Xiao's side, Byron Scott and Eddie Jordan, also nodded secretly.

This is why they like Chen Xiao.

Let’s not talk about Chen Xiao’s strength.

You can always trust Chen Xiao's mentality.

They have confirmed this countless times.

On April 19, after watching the game between the Pistons and Magic, Chen Xiao received an excited call from Luo Ge.

Luo Ge was reporting good news to him. He won his first playoff victory. In his duel with Billups, the rookie scored 16 points on 6-for-16. His scoring was great, but this Compared with games and points, Luo Ge's defense is better.

In this game, Billups made 3 of 16 shots under Luo Ge's defense and scored 21 points.

Well, you read that right, 21 points.

In this game, Billups "cheated" and took 19 free throws in a single game. In the end, he used his "experience" to beat Luo Ge.

In this game, the Pistons made 40 of 47 free throws, while the opposite Magic only made 25. In this game, the Magic committed 35 fouls. Five people on the team committed four or more fouls, including Luo Ge who was sent off.

For a civilized person like Luo Ge to be so excited after winning a game, it was obviously not just because he won for the first time in the playoffs.

This is not an ordinary victory, this is a 5-on-8 victory.

This game between the Pistons and the Magic also made Chen Xiao realize something new.

In the playoffs, in the current league, there is an invisible hand artificially creating some suspense.

The same is true for this game and last year's game between the Kings and Lakers in the Western Conference Finals.

Although there are not many such games, and the possibility of the Nets encountering them is unlikely, no matter how low the probability is, if it falls on the head of the team involved, it is a 100% probability. No matter how low the probability is, if it falls on the head, it will ruin the game. What is lost is one team.

The Kings last season and the Magic this season…

Chen Xiao always feels that something big is going to happen in this series between the Magic and the Pistons.

On April 20, 2003, the day of the game between the Nets and Celtics, because this game was the first time that Chinese players appeared on the NBA playoff stage, CCTV's broadcast was very heavy.

Especially as a team with 72 wins, public opinion here in the United States actually thinks that this series has the possibility of a black tie. This makes CCTV and Chinese reporters very unhappy.

Therefore, the public opinion in the United States for this round of the series was reported truthfully in China.

CCTV is waiting for Chen Xiao and the Nets to slap American public opinion in the face.

Just like when CCTV truthfully reported the news about Barkley targeting Yao Ming.

Don’t think that CCTV always likes to whitewash the situation. CCTV is often very passionate.

"Chen Xiao, in this series between the Nets and the Boston Celtics, a lot of public opinion in the United States is not very optimistic about you. In your opinion, what kind of team are the Boston Celtics? Can you really hack the Nets?"

"Whether the Celtics can black-eight us, I don't know. It's a matter after many games. What I can know is that we can win this game."

Black eight?

You can think whatever you like, and hype it up however you like. I just want to win the next game.

Chen Xiao's answer made Teacher Zhang look very suspicious.

In fact, Chen Xiao said this not only in interviews with CCTV.

He said the same thing yesterday when he was interviewed by the American media.

Very confident.

Therefore, what Chen Xiao and Pierce said during their interviews yesterday became the focus of the entire NBA today.

"If Wonder Boy's Nets team gets hacked, he will lose his qualifications to be a great player."

As soon as Chen Xiao finished saying that he wanted to win the next game, Pierce stepped forward and directly put pressure on Chen Xiao.

To be honest, Pierce's method is indeed useful for a young rookie.

Aren’t young people prone to worrying about gains and losses, wanting to win but afraid of losing?

Before the game even started, the consequences of losing were laid out.

Moreover, these words were not only meant for Chen Xiao, but also for Kidd.

Chen Xiao was hacked and cannot become a great player.

So you Kidd has been hacked, can you still become a great player?

Of course not.

It has to be said that it is indeed the skin beast that Chen Xiao has enlightened. This opening is obviously different from the previous rank.

But obviously, both Chen Xiao and Boss Ji are the kind of people with a "heart of stone" with an "iron ambition". If this is the case, there is no way to affect the mentality of the two of them.

Although people on and off the Net are very cautious about the Celtics opponent, caution is caution, and fear is fear. The two are different.

The Nets are not afraid of the Celtics.

Of course, the Celtics are not afraid of the Nets.

"Paul, there's no response from Wonder Boy."

At the Boston Celtics training facility, Pierce frowned.

By the way, Chen Xiao didn't respond to his high-ranking trash talk yesterday, which made Pierce feel uncomfortable, the kind of discomfort he was holding back.

He has already prepared a series of combination punches.

Now, it feels like it is completely useless.

"Paul, I think as long as we can win the next game, it will be more useful than any trash talk."

It is really rare for Buddha Antoine Walker to say such murderous words.

Maitreya Buddha suddenly turned into an 'Angry Eyed King Kong'.

And what this says makes sense.

On the evening of April 20, 2003, at the Continental Arena in New Jersey, after several days of preparation and fermentation, the first round of the most watched playoffs between the Nets and the Celtics finally started.

To be honest, things like three people becoming tigers exist in any country.

When the whole world thinks that the Nets are disgusted by former Bulls players, and comparing them with themselves is an insult to their weakest 72-win team, which may be blacked out by the Celtics.

It is definitely unrealistic for the Nets fans at the scene to say that they don't have any such worries in their hearts.

After all, although the Nets won all four regular season games between the Nets and Celtics, they were very lucky to win two of them.

The victory relied on Chen Xiao's decisive kill.

Nets fans are the most timid and easily frightened fans in the NBA, and they are also the most easily startled fans.

Therefore, the current public opinion environment in the United States is indeed very unfriendly to Nets fans.

Fortunately, this game is at home, and Chen Xiao's elongated appearance words can give them enough confidence.

Listening to the cheers of the Nets fans at the scene, Yao Ming and Wade on the sidelines frowned in worry.

The results of this season's regular season are actually very unfriendly to Wade.

Five players from Marquette University eventually entered the NBA. The "Three Eagles and Two Claws" combination, except Wade, all others entered the playoffs.

Chen Xiao's Nets, Ron Howard's Magic, Braxon's Lakers, and Diener's Kings have all entered the playoffs.

Especially Braxon and Dina, maybe one of them can win a championship. If so, they will win back-to-back NCAA and NBA championships. This achievement is not low in the American basketball world.

In addition, Luo Ge and the Magic killed the Pistons in the first game.

Everyone is doing well, so he doesn't need to worry.

Only Chen Xiao is really worrying.

He is an old NBA fan and knows very well how critical the media is when the NBA reaches the playoffs.

Jordan was almost driven crazy by these media during the playoffs.

As a popular player on the hottest team, everything Chen Xiao does in this series will be amplified and tested.

During the regular season, Chen Xiao was protected by the rookie filter.

But in the playoffs, there is no protection left.

At this time, Wade was worried about Chen Xiao, while Chen Xiao, who was worried by Wade, was warming up on the court.

Chen Xiao came out of the player tunnel and was originally going to talk to Pierce.

Chen Xiao always felt that Pierce's misunderstanding of him was deepening.

But after seeing Chen Xiao, Pierce, who was so aggressive before the game, actually hid behind Antoine Walker again.

Well, his Pippi is still the Pippi he is familiar with, still the 'shy boy' who dare not talk to him head-on.

What a shy guy!

Only a fool would talk to you on the court!

No matter how strong my spirit is, I can't help but be torn apart by you like that.

Therefore, during the game, I, Paul Pierce, am a ruthless, speechless and expressionless ‘three-no-go’ guy!

The warm-up of the two teams ended, and the starting players of the two teams stood on the court.

Martin, Boozer, Richard Jefferson, Chen Xiao and Kidd, these are the Nets' starters.

Tony Batty, Walker, Eric Williams, Pierce, Jr. Bremer, these are the Celtics' starting players.

"There are no changes in the starting lineup of the two teams from the last meeting in the regular season. I don't know if the Celtics can successfully defeat the Nets in this game."

"I think there are a lot of opportunities. In the playoffs, the rules of the game are more conducive to the Celtics' defense. The defensive intensity encountered by Wonder Boy will be greater. In the regular season, Wonder Boy can always hit the ball no matter what. About 40% of the shots, in the playoffs, maybe only about 30%, this is very fatal, the Nets beat the Celtics in the last game of the regular season, not only the lore of Boy Wonder, but also because Boy Wonder Time is waiting for the Nets to survive."

"Facing the defensive style of the Celtics, the Nets rely too much on the offense of Wonder Boy. Unfortunately, Wonder Boy is not a superstar player like McGrady and Ray Allen who are stronger in the playoffs than in the regular season. , he’s just a rookie player, he’s just a role player.”

Before the game, the two TNT commentators were discussing the game leisurely.

For them, they certainly hope that this game will allow them to see the possibility of a black eight.

Black Eight!

This is a lot of traffic!

Heiba ​​has 72 wins, and his traffic is simply explosive!

This is why the Celtics can get support from media experts across the United States.

As long as the Celtics are likely to defeat the Nets, the American media will artificially amplify this possibility in order to attract attention and traffic.

So much so, before the game started, even Pierce and most of the Celtics players thought they really had a chance!

Very psychedelic.

The media kept boasting, and in the end Celtic fans and players believed it.

Of course, someone is awake.

For example, Celtics head coach O'Brien, however, O'Brien has no intention of pulling the team out of its dream.

It is a good thing for the team to be in such a trance, and it can bring great confidence to the team.

On the court, when the referee of this game, Bavita, threw the basketball in his hand, hundreds of millions of spectators across the ocean cheered collectively with Martin and Tony Batty's jump ball. Qiongxiao!

Of course, what was ringing in the ears of Chen Xiao and the Nets players was not the cheers of Chinese fans, but the cheers of New Jersey fans.

As Nets fans cheered, a scrappy Martin beat Tony Barty with a jump ball.

After the jump ball was successful, the Nets did not push for a fast break as usual.

After Kidd received the ball, he slowly advanced with the ball.

Martin and Richard Jefferson, the two fast-break princes, were also walking forward slowly.

"The team with the strongest fast break doesn't play fast anymore?!"

"Is it because you know that your fast break is useless against the Celtics, so you gave up resistance?"

The Celtics' starting lineup is aimed at the Nets' one big and four small lineups. The two starting insiders of the Nets are too short, and the Celtics can use a small lineup unscrupulously.

And the Celtics can also form a very strong small lineup, which is why the Celtics restrain the Nets.

The Nets couldn't hit the fast break, and the positional battle was restrained by the Celtics' tactics. It was really difficult for the Nets to beat the Celtics.

Most of the tactics can't be played at all, they can only attack by force, but only Chen Xiao has the ability to attack stably.

Everyone else is left to luck.

Even if the possibility of the Celtics being black is not 60% to 70% as those media experts boasted, it is still 30% to 40%.

It's just that at the beginning of this game, the Nets brought everyone more surprises than just not pushing fast breaks.

On the court, Boozer did not go down when he came to the free throw line. Richard Jefferson, who had always liked to cruise to the basket before, also squatted honestly on the three-point line, and Martin, the center of the Nets , standing on the left waist with Tony Batty.

The position of such positional warfare is very unfamiliar.

Soon, the No. 7 of the Nets, who always liked to cruise around the free throw line and the three-point line, walked all the way in, passed the free throw line, continued to walk in, passed through the paint area, and came to the right waist , the position where the inside back hit stopped.

"What is Boy Wonder doing?!"

Seeing that Chen Xiao didn't run, didn't base Chen's pick and roll, didn't make a gamble outside the three-point line, but when he came to the basket, he was reasonable, not only the audience and the commentary on the sidelines, even the TV The Chinese audience who knew Chen Xiao very well in front of the plane were stunned.

"Does Xiao Chen have the ability to attack in this area?!"

Even Pierce, who was behind Chen Xiao and pushed his hands on Chen Xiao's waist, was surprised.

He knew that Chen Xiao had no offensive ability in this area, so he didn't stop Chen Xiao from asking for the ball here.

He really wanted to know if the Nets had some conspiracy when Chen Xiao came here. For example, Chen Xiao was feinting and the Nets were attacking in other directions.

In fact, there is no conspiracy.

On the right side of the basket, Chen Xiao's confrontation ability has not been used yet, and he is about to reach the position of receiving the ball.

Chen Xiao at the basket easily received the pass from Kidd outside.

Seeing Chen Xiao receiving a pass from Kidd, Pierce's expression changed instantly. It wasn't that he became ugly, but he was ecstatic!

Not a feint!

The Nets actually let the wonder boy post up under the basket!

"In the playoffs, the Nets are actually going to let Wonder Boy score with a basket back that he has never used before? Has the Celtics really pushed the Nets to this extent?!"

After Kidd hit the ball into Chen Xiao's hands, Pierce was in ecstasy. The Celtics players on the court and Celtics coach O'Brien on the sidelines were all in ecstasy.

Even Barkley on the sidelines looked very excited at this time.

Black Eight may have really appeared again!

And he’s still a black eight with 72 wins!

However, at this time, Chen Xiao was very calm on the court.

Thinking back to the movements practiced in the past two days, after Pierce suddenly stepped up his confrontation with him, Chen Xiao used his own confrontation ability to withstand Pierce's first impact, and after stabilizing his figure... jumped high !

"This is?!"

Pierce, who had just put a great deal of resistance on Chen Xiao, was surprised to see Chen Xiao's action.

Because the starting point of this action looked very familiar to him.

It's not just Pierce.

Wade on the sidelines, Kobe in front of the TV, and even Jordan!

Take off, turn around, lean back, bend your legs!

When Jordan in front of the TV saw Chen Xiao's essential and familiar leg-curling action, Jordan stood up from his seat in shock.

He didn't even care about dropping the red wine glass and cigar in his hand, and rushed to the TV.

There was nothing he could do about it. He was so familiar with Chen Xiao's actions on TV!

Stay in the air!

The airborne special effect seems to be suspended in the air!

When Chen Xiao's action came here, the audience in front of the TV was sure why Chen Xiao's action made them speechless in shock.

At this time, Pierce, who was also in the air, watched Chen Xiao dodge his block as if he was stuck in the air. The look on his face was no longer the ecstasy of the Nets letting Chen Xiao come to the basket.

At this time, Pierce's face looked as if he had seen a ghost!

Take action!

Take off, turn around, lean back, bend your legs, stay in the air, and take action!

A swipe!

All in one go!

2 to 0!

Chen Xiao's first point in the playoffs came so quickly and quietly.

At the scene, in front of the TV, countless people were still suffocated and in disbelief after Chen Xiao's death.

until……

"Michael Jordan?!"

Buckley's roar seemed to wake up the whole world.

Michael is gone

But another 'Michael' came again.

ps: I saw in the previous chapter that some students discussed what McGrady said to the Pistons back then. In fact, the students’ discussions had problems. McGrady didn’t say that I was already thinking about my next opponent, and McGrady didn’t say that if it was last year, I'm already thinking about my next opponent. McGrady's original words after winning the third game were: "It feels good to get in the second round." These are McGrady's original words, McGrady's original words are actually more arrogant than the above two statements, which also completely angered the Pistons. In fact, if you understand the trend of this series, you will know why McGrady said this. This series between the Magic and the Pistons , the Pistons were really upset by Tracy McGrady and the Magic, and the referees also had some problems. Let's put ourselves in their shoes, if it were you, in a five-on-eight situation, and you didn't lose, but immediately got a black eight, would you not It would be very satisfying, would you want to get rid of all the anger you suffered?

Of course, Maizi is indeed a person who is not very particular about his words sometimes. He did this to the Pistons this time, and he said some disparaging words to Yao Ming in the future. Maizi has always been a very arrogant person, and geniuses are inherently pretentious. This is not a problem, the problem is just losing. For professional sports, losing is the original sin.