NBA opening draw to twilight Shaquille O'Neal

Chapter 1139 Kobe retired?Paul leaves the team!

Resting for too long doesn't seem like a good thing.

Since being promoted on the 24th, the Blazers players feel that they are almost suffocated.

Of course, this kind of complaint is just a joke in private. If you really want to say this in an interview, the Blazers will definitely become a public enemy.

On April 4, the sixth game of the East and West playoff series was over, and finally there was another team that advanced to the conference semifinals.

In the East, the Cavaliers defeated the Eagles with a total score of 4:2. In this game, James led the team to a quasi-triple double with 38 points, 8 rebounds and 10 assists, and was named the best in the game.

On the other hand, for the Eagles, Paul Millsap, Dennis Srode, Howard and others who performed bravely in the Quicken Loans Arena in the last game were all offline tonight, making the Eagles lag behind the Cavaliers throughout the game, and there is no hope of overtaking at all.

In the west, the old arms and old legs of the Lakers could not withstand the impact of the new generation of dual-core Spurs. Although they had caused a lot of trouble for the Spurs in the series, the physical problems of the core players of the Lakers were finally exposed.

In the crucial sixth game, the performance of the Lakers players who returned to the Staples home court can only be said to be quite satisfactory.

Kobe once wanted to fire all the firepower to the emergency team, but after all, it was hard to beat the erosion of time. In the end, he made 23 of 9 shots and scored 25 points with free throws.

Then there was Pau Gasol, who made 17 of 7 shots. Tonight he got a double-double of 18 points and 12 rebounds.

As for Chris Paul...

this?
It's very interesting.

Because...Paul got hurt again!
Whether it is bad luck or lack of physical fitness, he must withdraw from the ladder at critical moments in the playoffs, which has almost become a label for Paul in the playoffs.

There is no way, similar cases have happened to Paul too many times.

Just as people commented on Doug Rivers in the future - the essence of human beings is reversed!

The same principle applies to Paul.

On the contrary, it is the steady performance of the Spurs' dual core.

伦纳德全场27分8篮板4助攻4抢断2盖帽，再次展现出了自己攻防一体的属性，场上表现稳得让人发指。

Love had 26 points and 19 rebounds, only one rebound away from breaking the double 20+ in a single game in the playoffs. Spurs fans feel a little sorry for this.

After all, not everyone is like Wang Zelin. Countless players are looking forward to various performances against the sky. For him, it is as simple as eating and drinking.

It's just that the Spurs fans just felt sorry for a moment, and their hearts were soon filled with great joy again.

4: 2!

The Spurs advanced!
The Spurs became the fourth team in the Western Conference to advance to the conference semifinals this year. More importantly, they completed the promotion by stepping on the corpse of the famous old enemy, the Los Angeles Lakers.

The old king is dead, and the new king will be established? !

After the game between the Spurs and the Lakers, a voice suddenly appeared on the Internet: In the entire series, Kawhi Leonard’s performance was better than Kobe Bryant’s in all aspects... both offensive and defensive!
Compared with the old antique who will be 04 years old in about 39 months, Leonard, who is in his prime, is obviously more suitable to be a touted object.

Don't think there is anything too much, this actually has a certain historical heritage.

In the NBA, it doesn’t matter if you are one year older. In such a land, the only way you can prove yourself is to show the strength that makes others respect you.

因此，当26岁的伦纳德，在系列赛中面对科比的单防场均轰下27+7+4+2+1.5的全能数据之后，即便是在执拗的科蜜此时也不得不认清一个现实。

That is: the Black Mamba is really getting old.

At this stage, Kobe's ability to maintain an average output of 25 points per game in the series is actually very scary. It is really difficult to expect him to make the same contribution on the defensive end.

This situation is really like when Kobe scored a high score against the Wizards Jordan more than ten years ago.

The difference is that the person who was highly praised by the media changed from Kobe to Leonard.

And what has become the background board for young people has changed from Jordan back then to Kobe now.

When the news of the Lakers' elimination came out, it immediately caused an uproar in public opinion. After all, during the preview period of the playoffs, the Lakers were also considered to be a strong team this year, and they have a certain championship appearance.

When it was absolutely unexpected, they actually fell in the first round and lost to their old rivals, the San Antonio Spurs.

At the post-match press conference, Kobe's face was extremely gloomy, making the atmosphere at the scene extraordinarily deserted.

But Kobe is not a person who is unwilling to admit defeat, or in other words, at his age, he has to admit defeat if he doesn't want to.

"You ask me how to evaluate Kawhiron Leonard's performance in this round of the series?"

"Oh Schett! As you can see, I couldn't guard him at all. I was blown away! The Lakers' journey this year is over, which is a very frustrating thing."

Facing the reporter's question, Kobe seemed very excited at first, but as he spoke, he finally shrugged his shoulders with a helpless expression.

After a moment of silence, when Kobe raised his head again, people found that his eyes no longer had the seriousness and resentment just now, but a trace of relief.

Seeing this scene, the surrounding reporters were shocked, and the rich experience gained from years of interviewing career also gave them a strong premonition that there will be heavy news coming out of Kobe's mouth.

"From 1996 to 2017, before I knew it, I had played for this league for 21 years. 21 years, it feels like a dream."

"However, no matter how dreamy a story is, there will be a day when it ends. There is a message faintly conveyed inside my body: maybe, this time it is really time to say goodbye to everyone."

After all, Kobe put down the microphone directly, stood up, turned his head and left the press conference.

When everyone came back to their senses, the atmosphere at the scene reached a climax in an instant.

The reporters at the scene looked at each other, and they could see the shock in each other's eyes, and there were waves of discussions.

OMG!

What did they just hear?
What is the day when the story also ends?
What does it mean to really say goodbye this time?

That proud black mamba, that proud man, actually bowed his head in front of the media one day!
Just now, from the mouth of the man named Kobe Bryant, people couldn't hear that he seemed to reveal his plan to retire.

After Stone Buddha, is Mamba going to quit the arena?
……

……

"Fuck!"

"What did you say? Kobe is planning to retire?"

At home in Portland, when Wang Zelin woke up, he saw dozens of missed calls on the screen of his mobile phone, including Lillard's, Patton's, Batum's, and Jokic's.

After looking at it, Lillard had the most, a total of 18, so he decisively called Lillard.

As a result, as soon as he got connected, he heard a piece of news from Lillard that shocked him, and couldn't help asking.

"It's not sure yet, but from what Kobe said in the interview after the Lakers were eliminated last night, it seems that he really intends to retire."

On the other end of the phone, Lillard recounted everything that happened last night.

Hearing this, Wang Zelin was silent for a moment, and then replied: "Well, I see."

Ken Dou suddenly wanted to drive last night. As a two-year-old driver, Wang Zelin naturally had to be by his girlfriend's side all the time.

As for the live broadcast of the Spurs and Lakers game, he has left it behind.

He thought at the time, at worst, he would just wake up tomorrow and watch the game report.

In the end, I didn't realize that I actually missed a big show.

After hanging up the phone, Wang Zelin was stunned for a while, then turned on his laptop, switched accounts, and wandered wantonly on various social media platforms, wanting to see the reaction of the fans.

Sure enough, after the fans learned that Kobe had revealed his intention to retire, they were in the same mood as Wang Zelin, both complicated and shocked.

Although everyone knows very well that this season is the 21st year of Kobe's career, and even before the game, some people have speculated that this is very likely to be the last season of Kobe's career.

But at that time, Kobe came out to smash this rumor at the first time, and no one mentioned it again during the entire regular season.

Unexpectedly, after the first round of the Lakers playoffs, Kobe, as the main player, took the initiative to bring up the old story, no less than a 12-magnitude earthquake broke out in the fan community.

That's the Black Mamba!

That's Kobe Bryant!

No matter how picky Kohei is, he will not deny the legendary nature of Kobe's career.

From the perspective of comprehensive career achievements, off-court popularity and reputation, and commercial value, Kobe can be called the NBA No. 21 in the first decade of the 10st century.

The only one who can compete with Kobe for this title is probably Duncan, who just retired in the previous kick.

In terms of career achievements, Duncan is faintly above Kobe, but unfortunately, the gap in popularity and commercial value between the two is still too large.

NBA, after all, is a business league!
Compared with the simple and unpretentious stone Buddha, the majority of fans often prefer the gorgeous black mamba.

Therefore, Kobe's legend and greatness are beyond doubt.

When such a generation of legend revealed his plan to retire, the entire basketball circle exploded in an instant, and quickly radiated the entire sports circle.

All of a sudden, basketball fans and sports fans all over the world were frantically discussing, and everyone was guessing: Is Kobe's plan to retire really true, or is it just a moment of anger?
As a result, the NBA playoffs that were originally in full swing, all the limelight was overwhelmed by the news of Kobe's suspected retirement.

It can only be said that Kobe's 21 years of power is really terrifying!

……

……

Los Angeles.

Staples Center.

in the general manager's office.

Kupchak looked at Chris Paul in front of him, and wanted to make a last resort: "Chris, if you think there are any shortcomings in the current Lakers lineup, we can make up for it during the vacation. You still have the last year of your contract left. In fact, there is really no need to choose to leave the team so soon."

Perhaps due to the recruitment of Chris Paul in previous seasons, the Lakers formed the Big Three of Kobe, Paul, and his wife, so that Kupchak was not fired by the Lakers in February 2017 like in his previous life. He is still the general manager of the Lakers.

However, the Big Three of the Lakers, who were once highly optimistic, once again proved that they cannot help the Lakers break out in the Western Conference where there are many strong teams. As they fell in the first round this year, the Jenny family can no longer bear the status quo of the Lakers.

As one of the two most powerful teams in the NBA, they have formed the Big Three, not to mention the finals, but they have not even touched the floor of the conference finals for several years in a row. It is really a great irony.

Therefore, the Lakers urgently need a scapegoat now to block the anger of countless Lakers fans.

Obviously, the Lakers executives, mainly Jenny Buss, finally chose Kupchak as the scapegoat.

On the one hand, it is because Kupchak has enough qualifications, and on the other hand, it is because Kupchak did not stand on the side of Jenny Buss in the Lakers' battle. He chose Buss Jr.

Now that the emperor has a courtier, and the Lakers have recently been out in the first round, Kupchak's resignation has become an almost certainty.

But even so, Kupchak still wants to make a final struggle. He hopes to prove his skills by keeping Chris Paul.

Unfortunately, Paul was indifferent to his words.After a moment of silence, he shook his head lightly: "Mr. Kupchak, you don't need to persuade me anymore, I've made up my mind to go."

In fact, from the moment the Lakers were eliminated by the Spurs, Paul, who was sitting on the bench in a suit and leather collar, had already confirmed his idea of ​​leaving the Lakers during the offseason.

To be more precise, his purpose is to escape from this cruel purgatory in the west!
The reason why he chose to trade in the same city and join the Lakers at the beginning was inseparable from Kobe's lobbying, and on the other hand, it was also because the Lakers had far more traffic than the Clippers.

Of course, in essence, he still hopes that by joining the Lakers, he can hit the unreachable divisional floor!

After entering the league in 05, Paul quickly gained a foothold and played the league's first open position. After 08, Paul has basically secured his position as the league's number one point guard.

However, as a perennial double first-team player, Paul has never touched the divisional floor, and this matter has gradually become an eternal pain in his heart.

I originally thought that joining the Lakers would be able to break this curse, but unexpectedly, with the successive rise of the Trail Blazers, Warriors, and Mosaics, and the Spurs have also completed core replacements in recent seasons, in the west where strong enemies gather, the Big Three of the Lakers can't even make it to the semifinals.

At the end of the regular season, the Lakers management vowed to pick Mark as their first-round opponent, but they were easily challenged by the opponent in 6 games.

This year's first round tour became the last straw that broke the camel's back in Paul's mind.

Labor and management don't want to stay in this shitty western part!

After the Lakers went out last night, Paul took the initiative to find Kobe and told him that he did not intend to implement the last year of the contract and planned to leave the Lakers.

保罗现在的合同是2013年7月10日和快船队签署的一份5年1.07亿米元的合约，其中合同的第5年，也就是2018年，保罗拥有成员选项。

After learning that Paul wanted to leave the team, Kobe didn't care about the grief of the Lakers after being out, and tried to persuade him to stay, but Paul was indifferent.

More mourning than mourning, this is why Kobe made some angry words at the post-match press conference last night.

"Well, I choose to respect your decision."

After trying his best but it was useless, Kupchak forced a smile and sent Paul away, then sat on the general manager's chair and slowly closed his eyes.

When he opened it again, his heart was ready to be fired.

That afternoon, the Lakers officially put Chris Paul on the shelves. This news quickly made it to the hot searches on the whole meter, and the entire basketball circle once again ushered in a big earthquake.

First, Kobe was suspected of retiring, and now there is news of Paul leaving the team. Are the Lakers going to disband and rebuild?
(End of this chapter)