The rest is just noise

A few days later, in Game 3 of the first round, the Lakers defeated the Suns without a fight and advanced to the semifinals with a score of 3-0.

After the game, Duncan and Yu Tiancan, two seniors from Wake Forest University, exchanged jerseys.

"Today's young people are really different." Barkley, who was enjoying his success, began to comment, "In our time, how could something like this happen? We all want each other to die, and it is impossible to exchange jerseys with each other!

"

"That's because no one wants your jersey, right?"

Liu Yuqing sarcastically mocked Buckley.

Barkley said angrily: "You know nothing! There are so many people who want my jersey! Like Kevin McHale, you know, right? He was chasing me to change my jersey back then, and I didn't pay any attention to him!"

Although Liu Yuqing is already one of the hundreds of best basketball players in the world, he, like most people, only focuses on the present and does not care about history, let alone the history of professional basketball.

Therefore, he did not see through the false information in Buckley's remarks.

Louis smiled and said nothing. Seeing that the old pig had already obediently resigned himself to being the substitute, he would not tell everyone about the fact that McHale immediately became the MVP after leaving him.

At the same time, another set of duels in the West were in danger.

The Trail Blazers, ranked third in the Western Conference, and the Timberwolves, ranked sixth in the Western Conference, played the first three games and trailed 2-1.

After so many years, although Jordan has made the name Michael a synonym for failure in the basketball world, he has never failed in the first round.

Since he arrived in Portland in 1984, the Blazers have lost only two first-round games.

Jordan has never been out of the first round in his career.

But now, they were given a match point by a team that had grown up secretly by picking up the slack during the offseason.

Moreover, due to Pitino's unkind full-court press concept, the core led by Jordan and Olajuwon was overwhelmed.

They are both 36 years old.

Who at this age has nothing to do with the full-court press?

Moreover, even if you do it, the effect will be terrible because the overall talent of the Blazers is too poor.

What's more, Feimeng and Feimeng didn't disobey orders. They did follow Pitino's instructions. As a result, Olajuwon was injured, Kidd's problem of unstable basket was caught, and Jordan was caught by his own defense.

The tactics exhausted all the energy, and as for the Timberwolves, Manning was like a god of war, finding the feeling of turning into a firefighter to put out a fire (Heat) in Indiana.

After losing the match point at home, the Portlanders, who had become immune to Pitino's beautiful words, finally shouted the outrageous slogan: "We want Pat Riley! Give us Pat Riley!"

"

It's easy to say nice things when things are going well, but not the other way around.

Pitino was no longer in the mood to whitewash his image. He emphasized loudly to the media: "What we need most now is patience. What Coach Riley couldn't do in six years, I can't do it in one place."

Completed within the year.”

Pitino thinks Trail Blazers fans are too impatient, but the opposite is true.

Fans have long been disappointed with Pitino, and it's only now that they've exploded.

They were not so much a call out to Riley as an indictment of a situation with no hope in sight.

That night, scars could be seen on the corners of Jordan's mouth and between his left eye and eyebrow, which were left by him during the game.

"We will not be eliminated in the first round." Jordan said solemnly, "We will not end hastily like this!"

Louis, who was far away, saw Jordan showing his determination and couldn't help feeling that the opponent's prospects were already bleak.

He believes the Blazers will not fall in the first round.

Because this is Jordan in 1998.

In his previous life, this year's Jordan was able to take Pippen, who was not at full strength, through the muscle jungle in the East, and single-handedly won the "survive or perish" game in the finals, successfully taking the throne.

, eternal godhead.

However, under Pitino's wrong tactical guidance, Jordan may not even make it to the Western Conference Finals this year.

If this happens, it will be the end of an era.

Since it was too long to wait for the semifinal opponent to be announced - most likely the Spurs - Louis organized a mini training camp in Miami.

The news made West nervous.

Riley organized a devil training camp in Santa Barbara before the finals. As a result, all the core members of the team were injured, leaving Kareem Abdul-Jabbar alone to carry the Knicks in their heyday. Who would not want to caress Kareem Abdul-Jabbar after watching that scene?

Gay baldness as a sign of sympathy?

Louis' main purpose was not to train, but to make up for Duncan's birthday. Moreover, he also deliberately chose a place like Miami with plenty of sunshine, endless beaches, and clouds of beautiful women...

"As long as you know what's going on." West stopped asking.

In fact, Duncan doesn't care whether he misses his birthday or not. What matters to him is that he can finally take off the pressure of playing basketball and swim.

"Sir, Tim is like a fish in the water, swimming so fast!"

Wang Mukong is the only one among the Lakers who is not interested in beaches or beautiful women. He also has a phobia of the deep and dare not go into the sea, so he can only eat barbecue on the shore.

"I heard that if a hurricane hadn't washed away the swimming pool in his hometown, he might not even be playing basketball now."

"Maybe, but I think he was born to play basketball."

Duncan is the kind of person who is very easy to get acquainted with people because he has no airs, is good at listening, has an online business relationship, and can also make wild jokes at a high frequency.

He likes to make fun of others, and he also accepts others making fun of him. But what he can't stand the most is the game where O'Neal beat him to pieces with a sky whistle.

How can a victory obtained with the referee's help count?

What Duncan didn't expect was that Kobe's competitive spirit could be brought from the court to the beach.

"Let's test the water quality today!"

Duncan asked helplessly: "Do you want to win or lose in everything?"

Kobe said he was justified: "As a player like me who is not even a starter, of course I have to stay motivated. Do you think I would be willing to be Jiang Duo's substitute?"

"Well, that's true."

Then, Duncan and Kobe began to compete in swimming.

Although Duncan has not practiced swimming for many years, his childish skills are still there, and he is more than enough to defeat a half-hearted player like Kobe. Kobe knew that he was defeated, but he had to persevere to the end, and then he was taught a lesson by the sea.

Kobe accidentally stepped on a sea urchin. It was so painful that he almost called his mother on the spot.

Everyone gathered around.

After Duncan looked at it carefully, he said sincerely: "Bean, you should pee at this time and pee on the area where the sea urchin was punctured."

Kobe was so painful that he wanted to cry. Hearing these words, his eyebrows twitched and he looked at Deng Dadai with dissatisfaction.

"Tim, your conscience is very bad!"

Duncan pretended to be innocent: "Where is that?"

"Hmph, even if I never went to college, I wouldn't be stupid enough to listen to you and pee on myself!"

Ben agreed: "That's right, that's nonsense, Tim, do you think Bean is as stupid as Jasmine?"

Everyone started making noise again.

Duncan waited for everyone to calm down and said: "I'm serious. The acidic substances in urine can relieve your pain. It's like a self-sufficient painkiller. I'm not lying to you. Of course, believe it or not.

.”

Duncan was a loyal man, and Kobe knew he had misunderstood him.

Although his feet still hurt terribly, there was nothing he could do.

Kobe had no choice but to say: "I understand, thank you, but I don't feel the need to pee now."

But Duncan still had a sincere face, like the most reliable honest person in the world, and said with a smile: "I have."

That night, Duncan's birthday party was very grand.

Team staff and players have prepared gifts.

When the birthday cake arrived, little Bas raised his eyebrows at Louis.

Louis understood, walked out and asked, "What happened?"

"Sir, there is something wrong with the cake."

"poisonous?"

"That's not true."

"Then what's the problem?"

"Well…"

Little Bas felt that he couldn't explain a sentence clearly, so he took Louis over to have a look.

When Louis saw the greeting card on the cake, his first reaction was to laugh, and then he straightened his face and said angrily: "Which crazy bastard did this?!"

Little Bas looked like he wanted to laugh but was afraid to laugh.

"Do you know something?"

Bass Jr. smiled bitterly and said: "I guess... the whole team has a share."

"The whole team is involved? Is Tim's popularity so bad?"

"Not necessarily. This is just a friendly joke. Maybe it can inspire Tim. You know how much he loves to joke."

At this point, Louis could only let it go.

The room was filled with the singing of "happy birthday to you".

Duncan wore an exquisite paper crown on his head, closed his eyes, and made one good wish after another to benefit others and himself.

Then, when he opened his eyes, he saw a greeting card that had been pushed into his sight. It read:

"If you are well, it will be sunny. Sincerely, Shaquille O'Neal."