am i proud?

Chapter 185 My free throws are accurate now!
The generals of the two sides fought a lot before the game, which also added fire to the upcoming NBA Finals. According to the predictions of ESPN and TNT, the ratings of this year’s Finals will reach 13. This figure is 2000 points higher than the 0.2 Finals when the Lakers won the championship for the first time.

That is to say... the number of people watching each game of this year's finals will be close to 2000 million. For the United States, a country with a population that is a fraction smaller than China, it is indeed an astronomical figure.

当然，2000年时奥尼尔在总决赛6场比赛中场均可以轰出38分16.7篮板2.3助攻2.7盖帽1抢断，投篮命中率高达61.1%……真要算起来，那一年的奥尼尔才是真正的“巅峰鲨鱼”！
This can be seen from his average offensive rebounds per game. Since the 1999 playoffs, he has not averaged less than 5 offensive rebounds per game in the playoffs...but since the playoffs this year, his offensive rebounds have dropped to 3.8.

There is also shooting percentage. This season, he took 252 shots in the playoffs and only scored 126 goals, with a shooting percentage of 50%.

This season, due to the impact of the toe injury, and the restrictions of "three seconds in the penalty zone defense" and "legalization of zone defense", O'Neal has fallen slightly from his true peak, but he is still the most terrifying inside killer in the league... none of them!

Therefore, in the past few days waiting for the end of the Western Conference Finals, Daben will specialize in training one-on-one on the inside every day against the big center. His "accompanying training" is naturally Gates, who is the closest in size to O'Neal.

After a whole season of tempering, Gates now weighs 138.5 kilograms, which is 143 kilograms lighter than his original weight of 4.5 kilograms in time and space.

For a giant like Gates, this is undoubtedly a good thing, because losing weight allows him to run faster and last longer... As such a majestic man, how can he not last?

Speaking of durability... Carlisle is very satisfied with the physical condition of the Pistons players. Since they swept the Nets in the finals, they had 5 more days of rest than the Lakers, and they will definitely have an advantage in physical fitness.

Of course, what Kobe, the No. 5 of the Lakers said, is not unreasonable... resting for 1 more days will definitely give you an advantage in terms of physical fitness, but since they have not experienced hard battles in the Eastern Conference Finals, and they have rested for so long, it is really unknown whether the Pistons players can immediately enter the peak state in the finals G[-] game.

The battle is approaching, and of course it is impossible for Carlisle to increase his training, otherwise he would not be Carlisle but Riley.

As for the G1 game, he didn't worry too much, because the strength of the Pistons was no worse than that of the Lakers.

Although Carlisle did not travel from a later age like Wang Dalin, this did not affect his confidence in his players!
If he also traveled from a later life, then he would know what kind of good card he is currently holding... It is not an exaggeration to say that this is a king bomb plus four 4s, right?
First of all, Wang Dalin, the boss of the team... He is currently an A+ star. Although his overall ability value is only 90, his real combat power is not even inferior to Kobe.
Secondly, Billups, the main player of the Pistons, was known as "the most low-key FMVP in history" in the original time and space.

Shooting guard Hamilton is a very mature A-level star, and his offensive strength is very close to that of the later "Cosmos Brave" and the "God of Soup".

There is also the team's inside pillar Daben, who is already very good as the defensive core, especially good at assisting defense in the three-second zone.

In addition, the Pistons also have high-quality role players such as Robinson, Barkley, Williams, Barry, and Jones. Of course, Carlisle has reason to believe that they can beat the Lakers' second team in the transition period.

No bragging, the current strength of this Pistons team is definitely no less than that of the Pistons team that won the championship in 2004 in the original time and space!
In the original time and space, the Pistons won the championship relying on suffocating defensive strength, but we all know...that old boy Larry Brown has never been able to train offense!

Maybe Wang Dalin and the others couldn't play the super defense of the Pistons, but their offensive firepower was at least two levels higher than that of the Pistons!
This is the 21st century, who said that only defense can win the championship?
Wang Dalin, who came from 2021, clearly remembers that in 2017, "Cosmos Brave" won the championship not because of a suffocating defense, but because of the super offense that tops the league!
As far as their so-called "unlimited defense changes" at the time, it would be so-so in the early 21st century!

The biggest trouble now is that the Lakers have an "OK combination". This combination of inside and outside is almost the strongest in history... Except for the Lakers, there is really no team in the league that can have an S-level superstar and an A+-level star at the same time.

Fortunately, apart from the two of them, the Lakers don't have a third star who can reach the A level... If so, Wang Dalin feels that unless he can continue to play like last year, the Pistons have no chance of winning.

After the system was upgraded this time, the setting of increasing the ability value by points was cancelled, and Wang Dalin could only rely on hard training if he wanted to continue to improve.

Fortunately, his potential value has been abruptly raised to 99 since he got the "Hanging Force System". Otherwise, with his original basketball talent, it is estimated that no matter how hard he practiced, he would not be able to continue to improve.

The time has finally come to June 6th, and the final G5 battle will start on this night.

The Pistons players only ate their [-]% full for dinner, and arrived at the "Palace of Auburn Hills" around [-]:[-] pm.

They first warmed up for half an hour, and then gathered in the locker room, waiting for Carlisle to make the final deployment.

"I have already said what should be said, so I don't have much to say!"

Carlisle opened with this sentence, and all the Pistons players couldn't help laughing... Every time Carlisle said "I don't have much to say", he would always chatter for at least ten minutes.

"Hehe, well, it seems that everyone doesn't believe that I can be concise, so I will say more!"

Carlisle shook his shoulders in a timely manner, and then continued: "I don't need to tell you about this game. We all know that the most important thing for us is to restrict Shaq and not let him score easily in the paint! Even if he scores, he must pay more. So... Ben, are you ready?"

Da Ben said with a serious expression: "Well, I'm ready!"

Carlisle turned to look at Wang Dalin and said, "Darling, what about you?"

Wang Dalin smiled and said: "Coach, don't worry, I will change places with my brother at the right time!"

Obviously, in order to limit O'Neal, Carlisle decided to let Wang Dalin play the fourth position in this game... Since he increased his strength to 85, he is currently the second most powerful fighter in the Pistons.

Moreover, he also has the skill of "Admiralty Falling to the Ground", which can instantly increase his strength by 8% and body weight by 10%. With his current strength and weight, once he uses this move, he will immediately have a strength of about 92 and a weight of about 118 kg.

This kind of strength and weight is even slightly better than Barkley in his heyday. Although he is still not as good as O'Neill, it is definitely enough to barely carry him for two or three seconds.

It's a pity that this trick can only be used 5 times per game. If it can be used 10 times or more per game, how can "Golden Bell Falling to the Ground" be just an A-level star skill?
That's not a proper S rank!
Carlisle's defensive strategy against O'Neal is very clear, that is, try not to double-team and try to defend as single as possible. Even if he is scored, it will consume his physical energy.

As for the "shark-cutting tactics", Carlisle is of course prepared, but he is reluctant to let the main players like Da Ben and Wang Dalin "cut the sharks". Of course, the most suitable for the Pistons is Gates, the meat shield center... A bench player among the bench players, how much loss can he suffer even if he commits 6 offenses?

Carlisle's gaze swept across the players' faces one by one, and finally settled on Hamilton's face.

"Richard, your task is very difficult. In addition to defending Kobe, you also need to exhaust him on the defensive end as much as possible. Can you bear it?"

"Don't worry, coach, what you should worry about is whether Kobe will be spit out by me!" Hamilton had a smile on his face under the mask, obviously he was very confident in his physical ability.

"Okay, everyone... In addition to the above, I also want to emphasize the transition period. The second team must try to spread the score as much as possible. If you can't do this, the starting players will play very hard!"

After Carlisle finished speaking, Williams, Barkley and other substitute players responded in a hurry: "Don't worry, coach (Rick)!"

"Well, good, it's time for us to go out, let the home audience see our determination, let's go!" Carlisle walked out of the locker room first, and all the players followed one by one.

Walking to the door of the player tunnel, the lights in the arena have dimmed.

The players of the visiting team have all appeared, and the on-site DJ began to introduce the players of the home team in turn.

"Next, let us welcome the best rookie of the 2000-2001 season, the best sixth man, the MVP of the 2001-2002 season All-Star Game, the first team member of the best team, from Chongqing, China, the strongest undrafted pick in NBA history, and our Detroit superstar-Darling... Wang..."

Hearing the shouts of the home fans who were about to overturn the roof, Wang Dalin took a deep breath, trotted into the field with his right fist raised high, and hit his chest with his teammates one by one.

To be honest, he has gone through this kind of entering ceremony dozens of times, but this time he still felt the trembling all over his body... This is the highest stage in the NBA, how could he suppress the excitement gushing out from the bottom of his heart?
As the star of the home team, Wang Dalin greeted the Lakers players in turn.

When shaking hands with O'Neill, O'Neill grinned and said: "Darling, I will not show mercy tonight, you have to be careful!"

Wang Dalin smiled and said, "Is that so? I won't show mercy to you guys tonight. You should be the ones who should be careful!"

Kobe walked over from the side, first shook hands and hugged Wang Dalin, then smiled and said, "Tonight I will deal with you like I dealt with Chris (Weber) in the last round!"

Wang Dalin immediately retorted: "You should beg your team's uniform team to trade Chris over quickly, otherwise if you meet me in the finals, I'm afraid you will only be the runner-up!"

The smile on Kobe's face disappeared immediately, and he said coldly: "Very well, we'll see!"

The whistle for the start of the game was about to blow, and the starting players of both sides came to the center of the court.

The starting players of the Lakers are center O'Neal, power forward Horry, small forward Fox, shooting guard Kobe Bryant, and point guard Fisher.

The Pistons' starting lineup has changed slightly, including center Ben, power forward Wang Dalin, small forward Williams, shooting guard Hamilton, and point guard Billups.

Phil Jackson was not surprised by the starting lineup of the Pistons. As the head coach with 8 championship rings in his hand, he thought it was normal for Carlisle to make this change...but he thought it would not have any effect!

Don't you just want to limit O'Neal?
Which team in the league doesn't want to limit O'Neal when they meet the Lakers?

But have any of them done it?

Big Ben took a deep breath, jumped higher than at any time in the season at the jump ball, and finally won the ball against O'Neal for the Pistons.

Billups grabbed the second spot and slowly dribbled the ball to the frontcourt under the defense of Fisher.

Wang Dalin ran around Daben's screen and temporarily let go of Fox who was guarding him. Jackson shouted anxiously from the sidelines: "Rick, follow up with Darling-Wang, don't let him catch the ball easily!"

Since he is called a "Zen master", Jackson has never liked to shout loudly on the sidelines. In his opinion, this kind of behavior is undoubtedly very low. How can he show that he is outstanding?

But this was only the first game of the finals, and it was only the opponent's first attack. Jackson couldn't help breaking his own routine, which showed how much he valued Wang Dalin.

Fox was still a step too late, Wang Dalin received the ball smoothly, and immediately half-turned and shot before Fox chased and interfered with him.

"Dang", the force of the ball was a little bit stronger, and it hit the neck of the basket and bounced high...Obviously, although Wang Dalin was in good condition, the excitement in his heart still affected the feel to some extent.

O'Neill caught Big Ben, took off the rebound, and threw it to Fisher.

In the TNT studio, Kenny Smith and Larry Bird were already in place.

After seeing Wang Dalin's shot, Smith smiled and said: "It seems that Darling-Wang is a little excited today. He didn't make such an open shot!"

Bird also laughed and said: "He is only 20 years old, and this is his first time playing in the finals. It is not surprising that he is a little excited... After all, not everyone can be as calm as I was when I played in the finals for the first time!"

Smith: "..."

It is worthy of being the strongest "forced king" in the history of the NBA. When the commentator did not let go of his old skills, and his pretending skills are getting stronger and stronger.

……

Fisher slowly dribbled the ball across half court, and then came to the top position of the three-point arc.

Billups smiled as he followed him: "Hey, Derek, let me guess what you're going to do next... Well, you're going to pass the ball to Shaq, I guess?"

Fisher was speechless for a moment...

Who in the entire league doesn't know that I'm the famous "Dribble Guard"?Do you have to say it face to face and mock me?Well, since you said that I want to pass the ball to Shaq, I want to pass it to Kobe... Well, forget it, let's pass it to Shaq!
Being ridiculed by you, I will not lose a little meat, if the first attack is not given to Shaq, Phil will really scold him!
Fisher saw the opportunity and lobbed the ball to O'Neal, who was being defended by Ben. O'Neal received the ball and wanted to turn around and go to the basket, but Wang Dalin had already stuck to him, and together with Ben, they formed a pincer attack on him.

O'Neal protected the ball and wanted to push away Wang Dalin and attack the frame directly, but when he pushed hard, he found that Wang Dalin just swayed and stabilized his figure without even taking a step back.

"Damn it! Why is this kid suddenly so strong?" O'Neill couldn't help being taken aback, the ball protection movement was a little changed, Da Ben saw the opportunity and slapped down, and the knife dropped the ball in his hand with a "slap".

Wang Dalin stretched out his long arm and poked the basketball again, which just hit Williams' arms, and Williams then passed the ball to Billups.

"Isn't it? Darling-Wang actually held Shaq inside?" Smith couldn't help exclaiming, "What's going on... Did Shaq not have dinner today?"

Wang Dalin has never shown extraordinary strength before. This season, he even suffered a little disadvantage when confronting Olajuwon. It is no wonder that Smith was surprised.

How would he know that Wang Dalin's strength has suddenly increased from 73 to 85... 85's strength value can already be ranked at the upper-middle level among inside players, and he also has the "golden bell falling to the ground" trick.

When he used the "golden bell falling to the ground" to explode instantly, he could even make his power reach around 92 in a short period of time... 92 power is one of the few in the entire league!
To put it bluntly, when he used "Golden Bell Falling to the Ground", no one in the league can crush him with strength... O'Neal is no exception!

"I don't think Shaq didn't eat. I'm afraid Darling-Wang brought us a new surprise!" Bird was much calmer than Smith. "If my guess is correct, Darling King must have trained hard to improve his fighting ability!"

Smith couldn't help saying: "Can strength be developed so quickly?"

After Billups dribbled the ball for halftime, the Pistons players all began to actively move. Daben once again made an off-ball screen for Wang Dalin.

"Shh..."

After all, Wang Dalin is in good condition. The strike just now was just because he was too excited. Now that his mood has calmed down, his hand feeling will naturally return to normal.

2:0, Wang Dalin took the lead for the Pistons, and the Lakers also passed the ball to O'Neal again.

"I won't let you go to the basket!" Big Ben struggled to stand behind O'Neal, gnashing his teeth.

O'Neal's expression became more serious, and he was no longer joking like usual.

"Will he be able to play this ball by himself?" Smith asked Bird, in fact, this sentence was also asked for the vast audience in front of the TV.

"Just now the head of the Pistons has scored a goal, and Shaq will score this goal by himself no matter what!" Bird said lightly.

Sure enough, Bird's judgment was very accurate. As soon as he finished speaking, he saw O'Neill pouted his big butt and started to push towards the basket.

After all, there is still too much weight difference, and strength alone cannot hold the "big shark" going all out.

Wang Dalin also came to assist in the defense. O'Neal ignored them and directly hooked sideways under the attack of the two of them. The ball hit the board and bounced into the basket.

Some people in later generations say that the "ancient beast" Chamberlain's supernatural power is amazing, and he can definitely defend O'Neill one-on-one.

Chamberlain is indeed born with supernatural power, but veteran fans know... how good he is in the regular season, he has more hips in the playoffs.

In his era, Chamberlain had never been able to rely on strength to overwhelm the entire alliance. In his personal confrontation with Russell, he could only be said to have the upper hand... From Wang Dalin's point of view, Chamberlain's strength is about 90-94, which is still quite inferior to O'Neill's 99 full-value supernatural power.

This is easy to understand, because Chamberlain weighed only 125 kg at his peak, while O'Neal weighed 147 kg.

Daben has tried his best, but still can't stop O'Neill's attack, and he can't help but look a little depressed.

"Brother, it's okay, we can't defend Shaq every ball!" Wang Dalin patted Da Ben's shoulder and smiled, "If he wants to play singles next time, I'll hit him first, and then he will hit you and then hit him again... Let's disrupt his offensive rhythm first!"

Da Ben nodded and said, "Okay!"

Of course the main players should control the number of fouls they make, but they must not hesitate when it is time to foul. As the DPOY of this season, how could Daben not understand this truth?
It was the Pistons' turn to attack. This time Wang Dalin ran to the right flank to catch the ball with his back, and Fox stuck closely behind him.

Wang Dalin played handsomely by catching the ball with one hand. Normally, he would carefully observe the running positions of his teammates around him, but not today.

He carried Fox behind him with his back, and Fox couldn't help taking a step back, a sneer appeared on the corner of his mouth: "Rick, your strength is so weak, how can you fight against me?"

Fox carried him with difficulty on his chest, put his hands on his waist and replied, "We are weak... I can still guard against you!"

Wang Dalin smiled slightly, turned his back and turned to the bottom line, Fox quickly slid to keep up.

Although Wang Dalin's collision pushed Fox away a little bit, the shot space was not very good. He hesitated for a while, and instead of choosing to shoot, he dribbled a step sideways to the middle.

Fox's footsteps were indeed slightly more flexible than Wang Dalin's, and he slid over again the moment Wang Dalin started.

Wang Dalin made a subtle elbow with his left hand, followed by "Golden Rooster Independence".

"Not good!" Fox struggled to take off, but he had already been elbowed by Wang Dalin and took a step back. He could only watch the ball fly over his fingertips in disbelief.

"Shua", there is this ball again!
It is worthy of the defensive strength of the playoffs. Although the Lakers have not yet double-teamed Wang Dalin, in order to score this goal, he has already used the two major moves of "Malong Iron Elbow" and "Golden Rooster Independent". These 2 points are really not easy.

In the small ball era of later generations, Wang Dalin would probably be called an offensive foul for this ball. After all, he elbowed Fox before turning around... But in this era, such actions are too common!

In terms of one-on-one single-defense strength, from the mid-80s to the beginning of the 21st century, it should be regarded as the scariest era in NBA history.

It wasn't until 2010 that teams in the league began to use "mixed zone defense" extensively, emphasizing a more layered defense, and this terrifying one-on-one defense gradually disappeared from the league.

That's why the "old gangster" publicly stated that if he was born in the small ball era, he would definitely score 50 points per game...Of course, everyone knows that this is impossible, because his three-point ability is almost zero!
If he doesn't practice his three-point shooting well, he really can only be regarded as an enhanced version of DeRozan!
James' bulldozer breakthrough is not necessarily worse than Jordan's, right?
Didn't he get extremely embarrassed by the old thief Bobo when he didn't have the ability to project?
Perhaps it was precisely because of the embarrassing scene where he couldn't make a shot two steps away that James made up his mind to practice his shooting ability... Although it is still not very accurate, at least no one dares to let him go!

……

It was the Lakers' turn to attack, and Kobe finally received the ball, but instead of attacking with the ball, he lobbed the ball high into the interior, and O'Neal received the ball again.

The Lakers players all pulled away to let the inside singles play. O'Neal held the ball with one hand and looked back at Daben arrogantly, and Daben stared back not to be outdone.

O'Neal dribbled the ball with his right hand, leaning on Big Ben with his left shoulder and carrying it hard to the basket.

This style of play is simple and direct. Daben tried his best to shift his center of gravity forward and put all his body weight on O'Neal's back...but he still couldn't stand it, and O'Neal pushed into the basket again.

"Snapped!"

"beep!"

Just as O'Neill was half-turning and wanted to shoot with a hook, Wang Dalin came over and slapped him hard on the right shoulder, sending him directly to the free throw line.

"I said... you kid, do you want to strike so hard?" O'Neal grinned in pain, and Wang Dalin left a red palm print on his right shoulder, which really hurt.

"You can't be cruel, I can't let you achieve 2+1!" Wang Dalin smiled slightly, showing a harmless appearance to humans and animals.

O'Neill was speechless, so he walked to the free throw line and made only one of the two free throws.

Jackson on the sidelines yelled loudly: "Foul Ben... let him go to free throws too!"

Sure enough, Horry, who had no sense of presence since the start of the game, hugged Ben who had just run to the Lakers' three-second zone.

Jackson showed a hint of a scheming smile, but when he noticed Carlisle's calm expression, he immediately "thumped" in his heart... "No way?"

When Da Ben walked to the free throw line, Wang Dalin hurriedly said to him: "Brother, don't be shy, you will be with me and second brother!"

Billups also said: "Brother, come on!"

Da Ben chuckled, and after catching the ball, he made a gesture of "inverting the urinal", which immediately caused an uproar in the audience.

"Isn't it?" Smith was so startled that his eyeballs almost popped out, "I was going to use the actions of Rick Barry to make free throws?"

Bird was also quite shocked, and murmured: "He can't shoot as accurately as Rick, can he?"

As if he was responding to the questions of the two of them, as well as the audience, Da Ben raised his hands and shot the ball. The ball passed through the basket with a "swish", and the home fans exploded with a "boom".

Big Ben shot the ball as silky and smooth as "Dove" chocolate, and he was definitely not fooled at a glance.

He also successfully scored the second free throw, and Jackson immediately stretched his face... It is obvious that he can't continue to "cut money" tonight!

"Haha, Phil, you don't look very good!" Big Ben deliberately ran past the Lakers bench, and laughed while running, "You think I can't make free throws, do you? Tell you, my free throws are accurate now!"

　Thanks to "777", "Brazek", "Yinghuobu O(nn)Ofei", and "LiNgJ" for their encouragement!
　　
　
(End of this chapter)