I’m Really Playing Basketball

After the Eastern Conference finals, he announced that he would retire after the finals of this season.

Chen Xiao's words can't be described as causing a thousand waves with one stone in the entire NBA, in the entire sports world, and even in the public opinion of the entire world.

For the fans, for most of the media, it was really too sudden.

Because for a player of Chen Xiao's level, even if he wanted to retire, he had to do it in the same way as when Jordan retired, that is, he had to organize a parade across the United States.

But Chen Xiao didn't plan to hold any parade across the United States at all, but directly announced his departure.

Regarding Chen Xiao's choice, during the TNT studio battle, Chris Webber said: "For God, that so-called parade is an insult to him, even if it is Jordan, I think if possible, He will also choose to turn around and leave when he is at his peak. This is the most dignified way to leave. I am very sorry for God's departure, but I support his choice. The finals are the best stage, whether it is coming To the NBA, or to leave the NBA, is the best stage!"

Chris Webber's words are a bit of a pun. As a rookie, Xiao Chen can play in the Finals in his rookie season. This is the best way to come to the NBA.

And Chen Xiao played the finals in the last game of his career, which is also the best way to say goodbye.

Soon, Chris Webber's speech was recognized by most people.

Indeed, for Chen Xiao, this is indeed the best way to leave.

Moreover, as the incident unfolded, more and more inside information about Chen Xiao announcing his retirement came out.

For example, the whole world knows about the timing of Chen Xiao's retirement announcement. In fact, Chen Xiao has long planned to retire. It's just that many interested parties don't want Chen Xiao to retire. In this case, the interested parties basically agree with Chen Xiao reached a not-so-formal verbal agreement.

That is, as long as Chen Xiao returns to the Nets and can lead the Nets to the championship, they will not persuade Chen Xiao any more.

According to these people's thinking, it would take at least three years for Chen Xiao to win the championship in the Nets, right?

Chen Xiao is in the NBA, if he really wants to play until he is 43 or 44 years old, then it is indeed possible.

It's just that Chen Xiao didn't expect that in his first season with the Nets, he would directly lead the team to the finals.

As for directly announcing retirement after entering the finals, this is indeed not in line with everyone's tacit understanding, but these people don't think there is any problem.

Chen Xiao has won all the 11 finals in his career.

This is the 12th time in his career, can he still fail?

Although the Lakers are very strong, Chen Xiao is indeed qualified to announce her decision in advance with such confidence.

So, after Chen Xiao's retirement conditions came out, although most people thought it was okay for Chen Xiao to say that, and he should not be able to lose this time in the finals, Chen Xiao's idol and good friend Ke Boss didn't think so.

In an interview, Boss Ke said with a smile: "I will keep God for everyone."

Of course, the joke is a joke, and the boss of Ke also knows that the finals against the Nets is indeed very difficult.

Chen Xiao is an old monster player. If such a player is still extremely powerful, it would be really dangerous to put him on a stage like the finals.

Although the Lakers have the strongest defense in the league, in fact, everyone says that the Nets have a strong offense, but their defense is also very good.

Chen Xiao, Ingram, Jimmy Butler, Bruce Brown, Xiao Chen.

This is the starting player of the Nets. These five starting players are actually players with both offense and defense.

Including Chen Xiao, when Chen Xiao got old, the problem with his defense was his help defense, not his solo defense. His solo defense was still top-notch in the entire league, especially stance solo defense.

In the playoffs last season, Jokic even stood up against Chen Xiao under the basket, but he couldn't push Chen Xiao. Who do you ask for reasoning?

Among the major centers in the entire league, the only player who can single-play Chen Xiao under the basket is Oden after Milicic retires.

But if the Lakers want to take advantage of the loopholes in the Nets' defense, they have to go back to the Nets' starting five players who are all offensive and defensive.

Ingram, Jimmy Butler, Bruce Brown, and Xiao Chen can all move, fill up, and run.

And these four players are all about 2 meters long.

Except for Bruce Brown, the other players are all above 2.01 meters. In fact, the height of the Nets' lineup is not short.

It can be said that this Nets is definitely Pat Riley's ideal team consisting of five offensive and defensive all-round players of about 2 meters.

Pat Riley also organized such a team in the Nets, but Pat Riley's Nets headed by Carter are actually not as strong as this Nets.

Because the five-point Nets lacked a tactical core like Chen Xiao, or a pivot!

In the Nets back then, the five fronts were Carter, Marion, Joe Johnson, Richard Jefferson and Martin. Not up to par.

Even if Carter's organizational skills are slightly stronger, he cannot become the axis of the team.

As for the net brought by Chen Xiao, both Chen Xiao and Xiao Chen can become the core of the team. Therefore, the chemical reaction of this net is better than that of the five forwards carried by Pat Riley before. The Nets are not a little bit stronger in chemical reactions.

Therefore, before the start of the finals, many experts said that the Lakers are the only team in the entire league that can block the Nets' offense.

This is indeed confidence in the Lakers, but for Kobe, the head coach of the Lakers, such confidence is actually a bit high on their Lakers.

If the Lakers' starting center is Jokic, the Lakers' defense may not be able to keep up with the Nets.

If the Lakers replace Jokic in the starting lineup, then Lowe, Siakam, Leonard, Paul George and Wade Jr., this lineup will play five forwards with the Nets.

The five fronts of the Lakers actually look very strong, but if the Lakers really play five fronts, it will have the same problem as Pat Riley's Nets back then, that is, strong is strong, but the chemical reaction will not be so Excellent, poor in organization and integration.

But no matter what, the Nets are here now, and the Lakers certainly hope to beat Chen Xiao and the Nets.

On June 1, 2023, the first game of the Finals between the Nets and the Lakers will be played at Staples in Los Angeles.

Because Chen Xiao announced his retirement announcement before the finals, even though this game was an away game for the Nets, the Staples on-site and off-court could be described as a sea of ​​fans from Chen Xiao.

After all, Golden State is also in California. Chen Xiao played in California for 10 years. Not only in Golden State, but even in Los Angeles, Chen Xiao's fans are everywhere.

What's more, after Chen Xiao's announcement of his retirement was released, Chen Xiao's fans all over the United States were rushing to Los Angeles or New Jersey.

Therefore, even though it was a home game, the Lakers players felt as if they were surrounded by fans of the Nets and Chen Xiao at their home court.

So much so that TNT's commentator Maizi laughed and said, "Tonight's Hollywood actresses are all in the color of God."

Yes, even the Hollywood actresses who usually acted crazy about the Lakers on the sidelines wore Chen Xiao's jersey, the Nets' black jersey, the Cavaliers' dark red jersey, and the Warriors' golden jersey. , the Bobcats' blue jerseys, and even Marquette's gold jerseys were worn.

Even during the game, when Chen Xiao assisted or scored in the game, many excited Hollywood actresses at the scene wiped their tears while being excited.

Everyone seemed to be Chen Xiao's old fans for decades.

Regarding the influx of so many defecting fans at Staples in this game, Kobe was actually very helpless.

There's no way, Chen Xiao's move is really powerful.

After all, this finals is the last series of Chen Xiao's career. Chen Xiao will not have a parade with him and Jordan in his career. Fans who want to watch Chen Xiao play can only come to this finals.

According to his knowledge, many senior Lakers fans were wearing Chen Xiao's jersey.

Don't talk about others, let's just talk about his son Kobe, who was wearing Chen Xiao's Nets No. 7 jersey in this game.

Even his son is like this, what else can he and the Lakers do?

The Lakers have it every year, but Chen Xiao, after this finals, really won't be able to see it.

Therefore, in this finals, the timing, location, and harmony of people are actually all on the Nets' side.

However, Kobe is not a coach who is easy to catch. In fact, in terms of coaching style, Kobe and Jordan are very similar. They are both very good at playing psychological warfare and gambling.

When Jordan was playing for the Bobcats and the Nets, he pre-emptively killed Pat Riley and his five forwards.

And this time in G1 of the finals, experts and fans feel that the Lakers will not change in G1, and even if they want to change, they will have to wait until G2.

But what is surprising is that Kobe changed directly in G1 in this game.

The team's starting center Jokic came off the bench, and Wade Jr. was mentioned in the starting position.

I have to say that Kobe and the Lakers really caught the Nets by surprise.

In fact, Kidd did not focus on the Lakers in this game to play five forwards.

Although Kidd has such an arrangement, most of it is aimed at the Lakers' Jokic lineup.

So after the first quarter, the Nets, which had the right time and place in the away game, fell behind 26 to 32 by 6 points.

To be reasonable, for two extremely powerful teams like the Lakers and Nets, it is still a lot to fall behind by 6 points in the first quarter.

And more importantly, Jokic will magnify the advantages of the Lakers in the rotation stage.

The starting lineup is leading, and the Lakers will have the advantage with Jokic as a substitute. This is a matter that affects the whole body.

Therefore, many experts said at the end of the first quarter that the Lakers are likely to win their home court by surprise in this game.

Faced with such an unfavorable situation, Kidd did not panic, but he did not intend to give up the victory of this game.

So, in G1 of the finals, Kidd let Chen Xiao play the entire game for 48 minutes.

Although in the end, the Nets failed to bring the game back, and the final score was 119 to 123. The Nets lost by 4 points, but Chen Xiao, who played for 48 minutes in the game, really put the Lakers and the Lakers against each other. Boss Ke broke out in a cold sweat.

When the players of the Nets didn't play well against the offense because they didn't adapt to the Lakers' five forwards, Chen Xiao made 16 of 38 in the game, 8 of 20 three-pointers, and 12 of 12 free throws. The game scored 52 points, 12 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals and 1 block.

As far as Chen Xiao's strong attack in this game is concerned, he is a 41-year-old player. Seriously, do you believe it?

On the stage of the finals, facing the single defense of Siakam, Leonard, Lowe, Paul George and other extremely defensive players, is it not scary to play such data?

Although Chen Xiao's shooting percentage in this game was indeed not very high, only about 42%, compared to his shooting percentage of close to 60% in the regular season, it was almost a cliff-like drop.

This also shows that the Lakers' defense is indeed very effective against Chen Xiao. If Chen Xiao can defend his teammates one-on-one, Chen Xiao's shooting percentage may not be as good. So good.

But, the point is, Chen Xiao can really attack!

Even if the hit rate is not that high, a player who can attack like this can still kill people.

In particular, the Nets' defense is also very strong, and the Lakers' singles shooting percentage in this game may not be that high.

It can be foreseen that in the future finals, the offense of the two teams may not be easy to play. In this case, the Nets with a stronger organization and a stronger single point of Chen Xiao will have an advantage.

After all, it is impossible for the Nets to be so strong every game.

Therefore, after G1, although the Lakers won, Ke Boss was still very cautious and cautious: "We didn't win the series. We need to fight game by game. I think everyone who watched the game Can understand the difficulty of the Lakers now."

Yes, everyone can see the difficulty of the Lakers.

On June 4, 2023, G2 of the finals between the Nets and the Lakers continued, and in this game, everyone felt the despair of the Lakers.

This is a very strong defensive battle.

Neither team hit 40 percent.

Among them, the Lakers' shooting rate is 37%, while the Nets' shooting rate is 39%.

In this game, the difference between the two teams is actually the 2% shooting rate.

In this game, Leonard of the Lakers was 8 of 20. In such a defensive battle, his efficiency is actually considered acceptable, exceeding the average of the two teams, and he also scored a team-high 28 points.

Compared with Siakam who was 6 of 18, Paul George who was 6 of 17, and Jokic who was 4 of 12, they are much better.

Even compared to the Nets' Ingram with 6 of 17, Xiao Chen with 6 of 16, and Jimmy Butler with 3 of 12, they are much better.

However, when everyone's shooting rate was less than 40%, Leonard scored 8 of 20, 40% shooting rate and scored 28 points, which is very impressive.

As for the Nets, Chen Xiao made 13 of 27 shots, 4 of 12 three-pointers, and 8 of 8 free throws. His 38 points were even more eye-catching.

In this game, Chen Xiao's efficiency still did not reach his average level, but he was more stable than Leonard.

In this game, it was precisely because he was the most stable player of the two teams that the Nets defeated the Lakers 116 to 110 in the away game.

And the G2 of this finals also made the Lakers think of the Western Conference Finals between the Lakers and the Warriors again last season.

Yes, the Lakers can indeed cause great defensive damage and passivity to Chen Xiao.

However, the Lakers have no way to prevent Chen Xiao from playing one-on-one, and Chen Xiao is really strong on one-on-one play, no matter if the defensive player is Leonard, Siakam, Paul George and Lowe, or Wade Jr. , Chen Xiao's offense is still the most stable player in the entire league.

In fact, the five starting players of the Lakers already have the highest defensive level in the entire league.

Even the young player Wade, he is also Chen Xiao's apprentice. Although his athletic talent is not as strong as that of his father Wade, there is no problem with Wade's height, wingspan and defensive skills. He is the best defensive player among young players in the league. One of the good ones.

Under such circumstances, the Lakers really had no choice but to double-team Chen Xiao. Facing the Nets, which had a stronger offense than the Warriors back then, double-teaming Chen Xiao was really courting death.

The current Lakers are not yet ready for death.

On June 7, 2023, G3 of the Lakers and Nets came to New Jersey to continue the game.

In this game, although the Lakers are playing away, the team's stars are in a very good offensive state.

For example, Leonard, 10 of 19 in the game, scored 30 points. For example, Siakam also scored 20 points in 8 of 16, and Paul George even hit 7 three-pointers in this game. He hit 12 and scored 38 points.

Even the substitute Jokic scored 10 of 16 and scored 25 points against Chen Xiao's tarsal maggot-like defense in this game.

Let's put it this way, the Lakers put most of their energy on the offensive end in this away game, fighting for defense and offensive stability. If they can't fight, Chen Xiao, then selectively focus on strengthening the offense, and the effect is also very good.

However, what disappointed the Lakers was that in this game, Chen Xiao made 16 of 32 shots, 8 of 16 three-pointers, and 11 of 11 free throws. He scored 51 points again in the game.

Do you think how efficient Chen Xiao is in this game?

In fact, it is not that high, but the output is really high, and the high output with ordinary efficiency is the stability of the attack!

Some players can shoot 20 shots and have a 50% hit rate, but if you let him shoot 30 shots, it may not be possible.

As for Chen Xiao, whether it was 20 shots, 30 shots, or 40 shots, he was able to maintain such stability.

With Chen Xiao's stability as the bottom line, the Lakers' defense was a little lax in this game. Jimmy Butler, Ingram, Xiao Chen and Beasley also played well in offense.

In the end, with the Lakers playing such an offensive offensive performance, the Lakers still lost the game 128 to 134 in the away game.

The Lakers still didn't lose a lot, but they did lose the game.

So after the attempt in G3, Kobe didn't dare to try more offense, and he still played defense in a satisfactory manner.

In G4 on June 9th, the Lakers were lucky enough to pull back a game.

Why do you say lucky?

Because with the defensive intensity of this game, it stands to reason that Leonard and Jokic cannot play this game with such efficiency.

In this game, Leonard shot 14 of 22 and scored 40 points. Jokic also scored 10 of 12 and scored 24 points.

You know, Siakam was 6 of 18 in this game, Paul George was 4 of 16, Jimmy Butler was 8 of 22, and Ingram was 5 of 16.

Even Chen Xiao's shooting percentage in this game was only 12 out of 30.

It can be said that in this game, Leonard and Jokic, Ingram, Jimmy Butler and Chen Xiao who defended them did not have any problems, but they were able to make shots in this game.

This is Chaoju, Chaoju has such strength.

Therefore, it is indeed a very lucky thing to be able to beat the Nets 112 to 107 in the away game and finally tie the big score to 2 to 2.

To be honest, in this finals, the Lakers are actually lucky.

Four games have been played so far. The Lakers often have stars who explode, while the Nets' stars, in such a high-intensity game, almost no players who explode.

However, on the other hand, even so, the big score is only 2 to 2.

For a person who has been in the NBA for nearly 30 years, Kobe never thought that luck would always favor him.

On June 12th, in G5 of the finals, Leonard, who was super god in the last game, made 10 of 26 in this game. Although the Nets' shooting percentage was not high, Chen Xiao's shooting percentage was only 12 of 32. He made 6 of 17 three-pointers and 8 of 8 free throws. He only scored 38 points with 32 shots.

But it's also better than Leonard's 28 points in 26 shots.

In fact, in terms of scoring per shot, Leonard and Chen Xiao are about the same in this game, but the problem is still the problem of production.

The efficiency of Chen Xiao and Leonard in this game is already considered the best star player of the two teams, but Chen Xiao can always be slightly more productive and efficient than Leonard.

Finally, it is reflected in the score that the Nets defeated the Lakers 108 to 105 away in this game.

The gap is still small.

It can only be said that from the perspective of the audience, this finals is really exciting.

The two teams played almost to the end of each game. The excitement and intensity are extremely rare in the history of the entire finals.

However, in the end, the Nets and Chen Xiao still won Tianwang Mountain, winning the match point of the championship 3-2.

When the G5 game ended, Kobe lost his mind. His sixth sense told him that he was as strong as Chen Xiao and as experienced as Chen Xiao. The Nets would never give the Lakers the opportunity to bring the finals back to the Lakers. .

Just like the Nets and the Heat in the Eastern Conference semifinals, and the Eastern Conference finals and the Bucks.

Although the Lakers and the Nets played more intensely.

But this time the big score in the finals, I am afraid the probability is still 4 to 2.

Facts have proved that Bryant's conjecture is not wrong.

Although the Lakers did not give up in G6 of the finals, the four stars of Leonard, Paul George, Jokic and Siakam all scored 20+, and even all four of them scored 25+. The Lakers also shot 48% in the game, and the Lakers have once again exploded.

But this game, the Nets star who had never exploded in this finals, finally broke out in this game.

Jimmy Butler made 8 of 14, 4 of 8 three-pointers, 10 of 10 free throws, and scored 30 points in the game.

Ingram made 9 of 15, 3 of 6 three-pointers, 3 of 5 free throws, and scored 24 points in the game.

Xiao Chen made 6 of 16, 3 of 10 three-pointers, 6 of 6 free throws, and scored 21 points in the game.

Beasley, who came off the bench, made 7 of 14 and 6 of 7 free throws. He scored 20 points in the game.

As for Chen Xiao, in this game, with his teammates playing very well offensively, he took 14 shots in the whole game, 7 of 14, 4 of 8 three-pointers, 2 of 2 free throws, and only took 10 shots in the whole game. He scored 20 points, but in addition, Chen Xiao also had 20 rebounds, 14 assists, 2 steals and 3 blocks in this game.

In this game, Chen Xiao was flying as a support.

In the end, the Nets with 5 players scoring 20+ points in the game, under the leadership of Chen Xiao, defeated the Lakers with 4 players scoring 25+ points. The final score was 128 to 123.

In fact, the score is still very close.

However, the final winner is the Nets!

"After 20 years, for 20 years, the Nets once again won the NBA championship!"

"20 years, 20 years old, congratulations to Chen Xiao and his son, this is the first championship in NBA history that belongs to a father and son player!"

"21 years, 12 finals, 12 championships, he was a champion when he came, and he was still a champion when he left. Let us congratulate God. He has completed the greatest personal legend in NBA history!"

When the game was over, Maizi and Chris Webber beside him were simply crazy.

The fans on the sidelines, the audience in front of the TV, and the fans on the Internet were excited, moved, and crying, and the whole world was resounding with Chen Xiao's name.

But at this time, as the No. 7 of the Nets in the center of the world stage, he was neither excited nor bitter. He just raised his right hand and smiled to his teammates, the fans at the scene, and the audience next to him.

All this seems so ordinary.

21 years of professional career, 12 NBA championship trophies, 12 NBA championship MVPs, 6 NBA regular season MVPs, 21 first teams, and best defensive player, best rookie, first defense, scoring champion, There are countless honors such as the assist king, the triple-double king, and so on.

Looking at the smile on his face, the calm smile, I don't know how many people are admiring him at this moment.

His 21 years of achievements in the NBA can actually make him even more arrogant when he leaves.

But he didn't do that, because, on the court at this time, there were still his opponents.

"This is the God of our basketball world, this is his basketball, and this is his influence. He not only achieved the highest basketball strength, but also pointed out the ceiling of basketball strength for all players. At the same time, he also made contributions for all basketball players. A second place, a perfect player, a perfect opponent.

What does a player who really loves basketball and plays basketball with his heart look like! "

I always felt like I had no other accomplishments in my life.

You may think that I am very good, with 12 championships and more than 50,000 points. If you really know me, I think you will think that I am not good enough. If it is you, maybe you have my Given the opportunity, we can do better.

So, for me, the greatest achievement in my life is not these statistics, nor these honors, but from a basketball layman, who has played basketball seriously all his life, and fell in love with basketball thoroughly.

I am really playing basketball!