The rest is just noise

The Eastern Conference Finals ended in a tragic way.

In the Western Conference, the seemingly dead Lakers unexpectedly drew with the Trail Blazers in the first four games of the Western Conference Finals.

In Game 5 of the Western Conference Finals, Magic had a triple-double, Wilkins scored 40 points, 40-year-old Kareem Abdul-Jabbar scored 30+7, and the Lakers won the King of Heaven.

"Maybe next year, Michael?"

In Game 6, fans at Forum Arena pulled out a poster with these words.

If Louis were the head coach, he would ban fans from carrying such slogans into the stadium, because it is not a wise move to provoke someone like Jordan who gets angrier and stronger.

Sure enough, in Game 6, Jordan had no teammates in his eyes. He played alone a lot in a way that is unacceptable to the world. He scored 55 points without taking his teammates seriously, and led the team to win against the wind in the forum.

The game was pushed to the seventh decisive battle.

Game 7 at Memorial Stadium took fans back to the era of Bill Walton.

Eleven years ago, Walton led the team to sweep through the crowd here, including the Lakers led by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar at their peak. Ten years later, the 40-year-old Kareem Abdul-Jabbar came here again to play in the playoffs, facing a

A completely different player than Walton.

The Trail Blazers used a pocket formation to shrink the penalty area, and Jordan rushed to the basket wildly, causing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to leave the game with the sixth foul early in the fourth quarter.

Xavier McDaniel's fierce confrontation pressed the pause button on the essence of human movies.

Larry Nance battles hard in the penalty area.

He should dominate this series with his physical fitness. Because the Lakers have no point that can match him at the fourth position.

But we cannot judge the outcome of the game solely by book strength. What you think is an advantage sometimes does not become your advantage.

Pat Riley took risks and adopted the same style of play as the Blazers.

The pocket formation, pioneered and popularized by Louis, became the theme of the game that night.

Nance couldn't fly in this situation, Drexler couldn't hit a jump shot, Jordan couldn't hit a 3-pointer, and Magic hit every 3-pointer that night like he was possessed by Curry.

In the last few minutes, Jordan gave up shooting from outside and instead used the best first step in history, passing Michael Cooper like a wooden stake to tie the score.

Before the end, Nance's putback dunk gave the Trail Blazers the lead.

Afterwards, the magician exits and the tragedy actor comes on stage.

What the magician did was familiar to Louis and fit his impression.

The Tragedian is different.

Initially, Tragedyman was used to mock Magic's disastrous performance in the 1984 Finals. In the following years, Magic never made any major mistakes. His performance was always stable, and he could do things he was not good at before.

Such as three-pointers, such as attacking with the ball, such as the ability to take over at critical moments... they all improved through the torture of the Celtics.

This version of the magician may be far more powerful than the one Louis knew.

After all, Louis' previous life, the 1987 Magic, couldn't have averaged 2 three-pointers per game.

For a person who has never played on the three-point line since he was a child, even if he has an excellent feel for the ball, it will take extremely hard work to develop a stable and reliable three-pointer in a few years.

The sweat that the magician put into this is unimaginable to ordinary people.

Tonight, in the Lakers' last attack, Jordan personally defended Magic.

Jordan is this year's scoring leader, steal leader, selected to the first-team defense and second in the MVP voting.

The MVP honor is an award that neither Magic nor Jordan have ever received in their careers.

Magic used his size to hit Jordan with his back. Outside the paint area, in the last few seconds, he opened his legs and ran as fast as he could.

One step, two steps, jump.

Under Jordan's defense, the ball in Magic's hand was lifted from his right hand and kept rising. When his hand reached the highest point, the ball flew away from his fingers.

Even the flying man couldn't stop this ball.

Jordan watched the ball fly up, and when the red light came on and the game time reached 0 seconds, whoops!

Memorial Stadium turned into a sea of ​​tears.

The fans cried out in pain. For three consecutive years, the Lakers eliminated the Trail Blazers in the Western Conference Finals and entered the Finals to challenge their destined opponents. It was also the most exciting rivalry showdown of this era.

"Maybe we should vote for Magic as the regular season MVP."

A media person who has a choice in MVP voting said after the Western Conference Finals.

The irony is that when it comes to MVP voting, Magic is not even in the top four, let alone competing.

Watching Magic reach the Finals again, although Louis was very excited about his performance in the Western Conference Finals, his opponent in the Finals was a team that was difficult to beat.

To beat the Celtics, one must either have a strong frontcourt lineup to suppress Sampson and Laimbeer; or one must have an outstanding wing lineup to counter Bird and strengthen the defensive strength.

This is exactly the path the Pistons and Knicks are taking.

In the West, the team most suitable to challenge the Celtics is undoubtedly the Trail Blazers. They have the best wing lineup in the league. If they reach the finals, Louis can't imagine how the Celtics can defend Jordan.

How to guard against Drexler.

What is certain is that Bird will have the stinkiest Finals of his career, and the winner will be Thomas and Sampson.

From this point of view, even the Trail Blazers have a slim chance of winning.

Larry Nance was a plaything to Sampson.

The path chosen by the Lakers is to face each other head-on, attacking with attack.

This kind of ambition is rare.

Louis believes that there is no dead end for the Celtics to win four consecutive championships, so he does not pay too much attention and concentrates on doing two things.

During the day, I review the rookie list for this year's draft, and at night, I take care of Lorraine, who is about to unload.

Let's talk about this year's draft, just like most drafts since the 1980s, there is an unshakable number one pick.

David Robinson of the Naval Academy.

The media, which loves the new and hates the old, believes that he is an evolved version of Sampson. He is not as tall as Sampson, but he is still seven feet tall, but faster, more flexible, and more explosive.

A center who is more athletic than Ewing and has Sampson's guard skills.

In fact, it is not an exaggeration to say that he is a seven-foot small forward. His speed is too fast and is not what a seven-footer should be.

Regarding his potential, scouts rated him second only to Ewing, but his upper limit may be higher than Sampson.

In this evaluation, scouts agreed that Ewing's potential is higher than Sampson.

In this evaluation system, scouts default that Ewing's potential is higher than Sampson.

It seems outrageous but not difficult to understand. Ewing is recognized as the master of the future. Although there are no signs yet, who is sure that he will not break out in his senior season like Sampson?

Just looking at Sampson's first three seasons, no one could believe that he would beat all the big men in the league after 1984.

Louis knew what Robinson would accomplish in the future and wasn't surprised that scouts were touting him.

What he really cares about is the Knicks' selection.

They have the seventh pick in the first round, so his purpose is to bring a star prospect to the team.

As a time traveler, in 1987, a draft year that has already produced players who can play into the 21st century, it would be too much to not use your own advantages to find an acquaintance.

Moreover, this matter was not difficult at all. He immediately locked onto UCLA's Reggie Miller.

Dale Ellis was successfully discharged from the hospital in the playoffs and turned from a second-court shooter into the team's most reliable marksman, but the things he did in the regular season made Louis very disappointed.

Regardless of whether he would change his ways or not, Louis felt it was necessary to find a backup for him.

If the Knicks draft Miller, perhaps this backup tire will replace Ellis in less than two years.

Well... when it comes to three-pointers and three-pointers after running without the ball, apart from Ray Allen, Curry and Klay Thompson, which other player in history dares to say that he is better than Miller?

?

Therefore, the only people they need to be careful about are walkers.

Louis remembered that the Pacers didn't seem to trade for Miller, and Miller wasn't even their first choice. Therefore, as long as the Knicks use the seventh pick to select Miller, they basically have everything they need.

Then there is another matter, regarding the ownership of Scottie Pippen.

After Louis' efforts, he found Pippin.

A few months ago, Pippen worked at a burger joint in his hometown of Arkansas, halfway between Fog Street and Old Milo's.

Pippen played for the University of Central Arkansas for all four years.

The reason why Louis couldn't hear from him is because he is from the NCAA Division II league.

Probably, Pippen is the greatest player ever produced in the NCAA Division II league.

Precisely because he comes from a Division II league, a college league where there are still thousands of viewers every game, but there is no television broadcast and not many professional scouts care.

But players in the second league should not be ignored. Not to mention, Charles Oakley, an important backbone of the Knicks, also comes from the second league, and Rodman also comes from the second league.

Another flaw of the paper media era is that if a talented genius does not have a good background or is unlucky, he is likely to be relegated to the second-tier league and no one will care about him.

In the age of social media, a seven-foot boy can break through Curry's defense with a little backhand and slam into the basket for a dunk, making the nation famous. This allows scouts to discover his potential. In just that moment, he goes from being unknown to being the No. 1 high school student in the nation.

However, in this era, there are not so many media, no scouting network, no draft predictions, and no high school scouts. Scouts must rely on their own sense of smell and the recommendations of college coaches, running back and forth like headless flies.

If Pippen remains unknown, can the Knicks get nothing?

Louis thought to himself... No, this idea was instantly rejected by himself.