The Legend of the Hungry Wolf in Basketball

Chapter 170 [Choose one of the playoff opponents]

The Clippers faced the Houston Rockets back to back and lost 91 to 104.Although the Rockets have the most expensive "cheerleaders" in the league, they are still the favorites to win this season.

With Tracy McGrady announcing surgery on February 2, the season was reimbursed, and the discord in the Rockets locker room came to an end.As a superstar with an annual salary of more than 19 million US dollars, McGrady's average of 2000 points and 15.6 assists per game is a bit unreasonable.Before the All-Star Game, Rockets boss Alexander also supported McGrady. He said: "We will not break up with McGrady. He is an excellent superstar. I talked with Morey, and he performed very well in the playoffs. We don't plan to trade such a good player." However, McGrady soon announced the operation without any warning, and the behavior of the Rockets' top management looked like a joke.

Yao Ming led the team forward. After the All-Star Game, the Rockets became even stronger, firmly occupying the second place in the league.Vaughan Weaver broke out and also filled the vacancy at position 2.No one mentioned McGrady anymore, maybe when he recovered from his injury, he would be traded out of the team.

On April 4, the Clippers defeated the Hornets.Chandler's injury made the team's interior defense tight, and the Hornets have almost withdrawn from the playoffs.

The Clippers defeated the Nuggets, Timberwolves, Trail Blazers, and Supersonics one after another. They won another wave of 5 consecutive victories, with a record of 49 wins and 31 losses, ranking seventh in the Western Conference, leading the Hornets by 4 wins, and securing a playoff qualification.

The next thing they have to face is the problem of picking opponents. The No.8 Mavericks are only one game behind the Clippers. If the Clippers lose one game, the Mavericks will win both games. will be reversed.

The opponents of the Mavericks are the Timberwolves and the Warriors, and it is easy to win.The Clippers' opponents in the last two games were indeed the Jazz and the Lakers. It is very difficult to end the regular season with 7 consecutive victories. They have not won the Jazz this season, but they have won two games against the Lakers.

While the Clippers celebrate entering the playoffs, they also need to consider a question, which team is more beneficial to play against in the first round.

If you fight for the last two games and try to keep the No.7 position, you will meet the current 56-win Rockets.The Rockets' lineup restrains the Clippers, and the players know Thibodeau's defensive system very well, so the possibility of winning is too low.

If No.8 advances, it will be difficult for the Lakers to break through the first round.Meeting the Lakers in the playoffs, the Clippers have no home court.In the Staples Arena, most people will support the Lakers in the playoffs. This is obvious. The Lakers may compete for the championship, but it is difficult for the Clippers to go far.

Deliberately losing and picking opponents is also an unspoken rule in the NBA, which applies to teams that do not have home court advantage in the first round of the playoffs.The top four teams will not do this. In the real contest of the playoffs, the importance of an extra home court advantage has been proved N times in the past.

Thibodeau didn't want to go home "fishing" easily in the first round. After the training session, he called the coaching staff and players for a meeting in the locker room.Discuss whether to try to keep seven in the last two games or to deliberately lose to be No.8.

The first one to express his opinion was Ye Feng. "I hope to play the Lakers, don't have to fly to play away, the players can guarantee the best condition. And the Lakers don't have a strong swingman, they can't defend me. If I play the Rockets, I have to fight Artest Battier the whole game. Entanglement, that's bad."

Ma Hong raised his hand and said, "Let's play the Lakers. The Rockets' No. 4 Scola plays with footwork. We haven't defended him well enough in the past few games. There are many people in the team who are good at blocking shots, and we can't defend against footwork."

Hardaway also said: "I also agree with playing the Lakers. Lakers guard Fisher is slow, Jose (Barea) has the advantage and can start. For the Rockets, Alstom and Brooks are very fast. Yao Ming is not good at defending. Compared with the Rockets, our only advantage is the 2 position."

The players also expressed their opinions. They all want to avoid the Rockets and play the Lakers. Even if they are eliminated, at least they don't have to fly around.

Donald Sterling also supports playing the Lakers, the reason is simple, the Clippers tickets are cheap.As long as the game is in Los Angeles, everyone will buy their tickets.

Although the Lakers' record in the regular season is better than that of the Rockets, they have weaknesses in lineup configuration, and the Clippers are just able to seize these weaknesses.

On the 14th, the Clippers played against the Jazz at home, which was broadcast live across the United States. ESPN sent Jeff Van Gundy and Joan Barry to be responsible for the live commentary.This is a game related to the final ranking. Los Angeles fans hope that the Clippers can get seventh and avoid the Lakers in the first round. On the forum, everyone is calling for the Clippers to beat the Jazz with all their strength, and then the Lakers release the water. You can guarantee the seventh.If they knew that the Clippers were ready to "release the water" first, I don't know how they would feel.

In the waiting room, Thibodeau was preparing to arrange tactics. Ye Feng called Thibodeau aside and said lightly: "Tom, I have a proposal, I hope you can satisfy me."

"Boss, can I still be dissatisfied with what you say?" Thibodeau smiled.In today's Clippers, it is not an exaggeration to say that Ye Feng is the actual boss, Sterling has already relegated to the second line, and Ariel always listens to Ye Feng.

Ye Feng smiled and said: "Since the last two games don't care about winning or losing, can you let me shoot all the balls? I want to compete for the scoring champion."

Thibodeau smiled and said: "I have an opinion, what if you score a lot and win the game?"

"The Mavericks will not lose to underdogs. If they win this game, they will lose to the Lakers in the next game. We only need to lose one game to drop to No. 8."

Ye Feng is very determined, and now he averages 29.1 points per game, behind Wade's 29.2.If a high score is scored in a game, the ranking may be rewritten.If the whole team passes the ball to him and takes 50+ shots, this honor can be obtained.

It's a good chance that Jazz starting shooting guard Ronnie Brewer will miss this game because he has to attend his aunt's funeral.Brewer is a muscular guy that Ye Feng hates. He averaged 13.7 points, 3.2 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 1.6 steals per game, and his shooting percentage was 50.8%.

Without Brewer, it would be much easier for Ye Feng to score.

Thibodeau arranged related tactics, arranged for the whole team to pick and roll Ye Feng, and let him shoot as much as he wanted.The teammates all knew what he was going to do and had no opinion.

When he appeared on the stage, in the auditorium, someone had already played the slogan "Hungry Wolf 70 points".His current career high scoring record is 66 points, and fans have set 70 points as his new goal.Fans don't know how to be satisfied. In fact, there are only a few people in the 60+ club. Michael Jordan's career high is only 69 points.

Ye Feng didn't want to play so alone, but his personal honor was right in front of him, and he could get it after two hard work. If he pretended to say he didn't care at this time, he would be too stupid.If he loses the scoring title by 0.1 points less than Wade, he must have been thinking about it for several years.

He is not the first person to fight for the scoring champion. "Admiral" David Robinson scored 1994 points in the last regular season for the honor of scoring champion in 71.The opponent at the time was the Clippers.Even if it was said that the gold content was low, Ye Feng would admit it.The irony is that many people are talking about the problem of Kobe playing without passing, and comparing Ye Feng's triple-double record, but now Ye Feng wants to play in Kobe's way.

Clippers starting lineup is: Love, Gortat, Smith, Ye Feng, Chalmers.

When Van Gundy looked at the lineup, he couldn't understand it: "I think it would be better to play Hayes today. Hayes is not good at attacking. His single defense ability is better than Gortat. Against Boozer, let him play. Best fit. And why not start Tony Allen? His perimeter defense is very strong."

Jumbari said with a smile: "Maybe the Clippers want to attack and replace Chalmers as an outside shooting point. When Allen is on the court, the opponent can stick to the basket. Let us see what the Jazz will do. Today Brewer Absent, the Clippers will play better."

The Jazz sent Okur, Boozer, Kirilenko, Miles, and Deron Williams.

The two sides stood in the middle circle, and Kirilenko was beside Ye Feng. AK47 is very thin and weak, and its specialty is assisting defense and blocking shots, not anti-personnel.Ye Feng immediately decided to play the low post, and the others had already figured it out, that is, to evacuate the inside line and carry out the pick-and-roll.

At the start of the game, Gortat beat Okur with a jump ball, and the Clippers fought in position.Chalmers passed to Love, who was pulled up to the high post, Smith covered without the ball, and Ye Feng went to the low post on the right.Love passed to Smith, and the latter lobbed Ye Feng. The Jazz defended the 23 zone defense. After the switch, Myers became a single defense against Ye Feng.

Ye Feng didn't pay attention to Miles who was 198cm tall at all, he turned his back and squeezed inside.Miles weighs 101 kilograms, and his defense is also very poor, with a tough style, but he is a little worse than Ye Feng.He resisted two steps and suddenly turned to the baseline and entered the basket, stuck Miles behind him, and jumped back with all his strength.Miles jumped up to block the shot. Ye Feng scored with both hands and scored with Miles' right hand. The referee whistled, 2+1.

Miles was going for the ball, and he played more elegantly. His elegance helped Ye Feng.The Clippers fans applauded one after another, and after making an extra penalty, it was 3-0.

Just 15 seconds later, the Jazz attacked, Miles received the ball and broke through, and passed Ye Feng without a cover. Hit someone with the ball.Just half a minute into the game, Myers fouled twice. He was holding a basketball with a dazed look on his face.

Sloan angrily replaced him and replaced him with Korver.

Van Gundy said with a smile: "Myers may be the fastest player to be replaced in history. He should declare the world record. This is very beneficial to the Clippers. Korver who came up from the Jazz is a pitcher. How can he Is it possible to defend against Ye Feng?"

Jumbari said with a smile: "Korver was originally a pure shooter. After being traded to the Jazz, he was influenced by his teammates and began to build muscles. Now he is stronger, but his three-pointers seem to be not as accurate as before. Let's see."

Van Gundy said seriously: "Brewer is not here today, Miles is troubled by fouls again, and the Jazz has no suitable substitute for the 2nd position. Maybe something amazing will happen today."

(End of this chapter)