the rest, only noise

Chapter 1472 Catch the Truth
In the 2000-2001 season, the NBA's suspense situation can be described as the biggest in the past 20 years.

Until June, it is still unclear which two teams can come out of the East and West.

In early April, the regular season came to an end.

The Los Angeles Lakers lead the league with a record of 64 wins and 18 losses.

While the Lakers are still going strong, times have changed.

"Boston Globe" explained this weird phenomenon with an article titled "Welcome Back, 64 Wins Ranked First in the League".

In the past three years, except for the suspension season, the Lakers have won 78 wins and 77 wins.

The two seasons, including the playoffs, have lost a total of 9 games.
Even, ESPN added all the nine losses of the Lakers to the classic channel to highlight its rarity and specialness.

Now, the Lakers are like the top teams that they often see in the past, ending with 64 wins, still the first in the league, but they don't feel as invincible as they used to be.

The current Lakers are led by the two youngest superstars in the league, Kobe and Garnett. They have unlimited potential, but they still lack real experience.

Maybe in a few more years they can get to that level, but not yet.

The Globe said very contemptuously in the article: "Lost the asylum of Benjamin Wilson, Dejan Bodiloga and Tim Duncan, the brutal playoffs will make Kobe and KG realize that they are not ready."

Soon, "Los Angeles Media" also issued an article to refute: "We don't pay much attention to the views of those areas that focus on the lottery draw."

The Lakers lead the record list, followed closely by the Miami Heat.

The arrival of Tim Duncan allowed the Heat to once again have a superstar who can completely place the burden of the team on him after 1995.

This season, the Heat won 63 wins, and Duncan became the number one favorite for the regular season MVP.

Because compared with several other popular teams, Kobe and Garnett support each other, Wilson and O'Neal have double-ups inside and outside, Dallas's European Big Three fight each other, and the Knicks' two flanking giants can also protect each other from wind and rain. Only Duncan has no second superstar around him.

Petrovic and Schramf are both veterans, Wang Zhizhi and Stephen Jackson are too young, and Liu Yuqing who follows him is a great shooter, but if there are not enough great teammates to hold him back, his personal threat will also be reduced.

It can be said that the Heat with Duncan and without Duncan are two teams. Among all the championship teams, no one has contributed more to the team than Duncan.

Also for this reason, the Heat's prospects for the championship were underestimated.

Other championship opponents have several powerful helpers. Looking at the people around Duncan, there is no brother of the same level. Two fists are hard to beat four hands. What is he fighting for the championship?
For such doubts, Duncan often refuted with a smile on his face: "If this statement is true, the US team should have won the gold medal in the Sydney Olympics."

Immediately behind Miami is the New York Knicks.

It doesn't matter that Stockton and Ewing are old, Miller is still a good shooter, Tracy McGrady and Hill have risen to take over the team and become the new top cards of the Knicks. They won 60 wins this season, ranking third in the league and second in the Eastern Conference.

Then came the Philadelphia 59ers with 76 wins.

Originally, the 76ers had an expectation of 60 wins, but the team's chemical reaction was not good, and they were unable to play the ideal routine for a long time, causing them to often lose games that they shouldn't lose.

Moreover, the plan to have Sam Cassell as a mentor with a hot-headed Baron Davis arguably failed.

Cassel's arrival aroused Davis' uneasiness and dissatisfaction.

He has no confidence in his future in Philadelphia and is not happy about his reduced playing time.

Cassell is also awkward. Although it was difficult for the Celtics before, he was the point guard at any rate. It's good in Philadelphia. It doesn't matter if his position is unstable, and he still has to compete with Davis.

The way for Philadelphia to resolve the differences between the two is to start with two point guards.

Davis plays the [-]st position and Cassell plays the [-]nd position.

Of course, there is no question of playing time in doing so, but who holds the ball across the half court, who takes the lead in positional battles, and who stays without the ball has become a new problem.

O'Neal began to complain about the missed pass.

Davis has something to say, I haven't seen you complaining before, it is obviously the ugliest problem in NBA history.

The first ugly. Oh no, Kassel also has something to say, who did I partner with before?I used to partner with Ewing and Sampson. One of them doesn’t want the ball, and the other can get the ball directly from the free throw line. Who is like you, with a big belly, leaning in the low post and waiting for someone to pass the ball? Are you a god?
This makes people have to think of when O'Neal was selected by the Magic in the draft, Hubie Brown commented sharply: "Orlando must find a good lob player."

It's never been easy to give O'Neal such a dead-on traditional inside lob.

In Orlando, Webber helped the point guard share a lot of passing, so O'Neal didn't feel that way.

After coming to Philadelphia, he realized how rare it is to have a power forward partner like Webber who doesn't take up space, doesn't need the ball, and can shoot three-pointers without stealing the show.

He probably won't have a power forward partner half as good as Webber again.

Louie watched the 76ers game and felt that whether the team could win the championship depends on whether O'Neal can catch a lot of balls.

Then he watched the cooperation between Davis and Cassel. He felt that even if Liu Wei went to play point guard for the 76ers, he would not be worse than these two guys.

They had no idea what kind of pass O'Neal needed.

Of course, Philadelphia is not dead, they have the league No.1.

The ultimate solution to O'Neal's inability to catch the ball is to be puzzled, and just copy the answer-Phil Jackson can make Wilson play point guard, and he can pass the ball, but somehow, he didn't do it, and he didn't even try.

Louie believed that Jackson would not be foolish enough to pass Wilson's card.

Therefore, it can be determined that letting Wilson play the master is Philadelphia's hole card, and it is a hole card that needs to be played in the key battles of the playoffs.

After Philadelphia, it's the Dallas Mavericks.

Under the leadership of Don Nelson, the Mavericks with the European Big Three fully absorbed the "Eye of the Storm" in the beautiful basketball system. After internal digestion, they evolved the "Dallas Fast Break" that allowed the Mavericks to score an average of 124 points per game.

With their crazy offensive performance, the Mavericks won 57 wins in a single season, ranking second in the Western Conference and fifth in the league. It is difficult for a team that focuses on offense to reach the end in an era where the rules are biased towards defense.

The above five teams are recognized championship teams.

From a structural point of view, the competition in the East is more intense.

There are three championship contenders in the East.

If it goes well, the semi-finals will see the championship teams bite each other.

At this time, TNT announced the good news that Louie's attendance rate will increase significantly during the playoffs.

Although he has only been working in the media for one year, Louis has been loved by the audience for his excellent conversation, sharp comments and merciless accusations against the stars.

This allowed TNT to start contract renewal negotiations with Louis a few months in advance.

They wanted to lock Louie and the show firmly, so they offered a six-year, $6 million contract and promised to create another show with Louie as the core.

Except for Oprah, no one in the entire media industry has a higher annual salary than Louie.

TNT believes that as long as Louie wants to stay in the media industry for a long time, it will accept this crazy offer.

The result was unexpected, and Louis simply refused.

Moreover, the reason for the refusal can even be called arrogant.

"I have other plans for my future."

After the news broke, there was a series of voices in the sports world discussing Louis' next plan.

TNT's quotation is already high enough, and there should be no second TV station that can offer a bigger contract.

If Louis thinks that his future is not in TNT, there are only two possibilities left. He wants to enjoy life wholeheartedly and doesn't even want to do idle work.

Or, he's preparing for a comeback.

In the face of these two options, everyone who is familiar with each other has accurately grasped the truth.

(End of this chapter)