the rest, only noise

Chapter 266 Competing for the best team in history

June 1984, 6, Game Day of Game 8 of the NBA Finals.

The Celtics are only one game away from winning the championship. If there is no accident, tonight will be their championship night.

People in New England were eagerly waiting, including Louie himself, who were preparing for it.

That night, he was at his apartment in Lorraine picking out outfits.

He spent about $[-] on custom-made ten sets of clothes. Every time he came out of the garden, he suspected that his clothes had smelled.

But considering the value of the clothes themselves, he did not throw them away.

"I will win today, right?" Lorraine asked with a smile, "Are you ready for the speech after winning the championship?"

"You said this, I really don't have any preparations, so let's improvise." Louis said casually, "Boston is not Cleveland, professional sports championships are very common."

Lorraine didn't have a deeper feeling for the meaning of the championship to the city. She was not an American, and she watched the basketball game because Louis liked it.

Louis chose the clothes and tie for tonight, and after they were dressed, he showed Lorraine the front and asked her to give a fair evaluation.

"You are definitely the most handsome basketball coach in history." Lorraine's evaluation was so "pertinent" that Louis felt elated.

In the evening, Louis and the Celtics players took the bus to Boston Garden.

On the bus, the players hardly spoke, maintaining a solemn silence.

Entering it from outside the garden, the players take a different passage from the audience.They will not be entangled by the fans, go straight to the locker room, each put down their luggage.

In the small, airtight, stuffy home locker room, where there was no good point, Louis glanced at the crowd and said, "I very much hope that this is our last game of the season."

"I have heard too many people say that we are the strongest team in history. I also hope that we are. We proved ourselves in the regular season. 72 wins are the first record in history. We can say that we are the best team in the history of the regular season."

"Now, we have to prove something in the playoffs." Louie's voice was full of confidence. "Not only do we want to win the championship, but we also want to win the championship cleanly. It is enough for the Lakers to win one game. We can only lose one game in the finals. If we don't win the championship tonight, we will not be considered the best team in history."

Louis said this not only to boost the morale of the team members, but he really thought so in his heart.

This is why he doesn't regard the 1996 Bulls as the best team in history.

Even if he is a Jordan fan, he doesn't think that team is the best in history. The secret to a 72-win regular-season record, like the Warriors in 2016, is in a less competitive league.The Warriors are because the previous generation has retired, and the new generation has not yet grown up; the Bulls' record bonus is that the league has been over-expanded in those years, and some bad teams have been added to improve their results.Many people think that the more teams there are, the more competitive they are, which is wrong⑴.

The more teams there are, the more dispersed the talent will be. The schedule has not changed, and the average talent of each team in the league has gone down, which seriously weakens the competitiveness.

Even so, before the Warriors, the Bulls were still the greatest regular-season team in history. They lost only one playoff game before the Finals, and faced the SuperSonics in the Finals in three straight games, securing the championship ahead of schedule.If they sweep the Sonics, no doubt, that team is the best in history, there will be no dispute.

But they lost two games in a row and won the sixth game. Except that Jordan won the championship on Father's Day to commemorate his deceased father, there were no other gimmicks, which seriously lowered the senses.

Therefore, Louis asked the players to win the fifth game.

"You have gone through a tough game until today, and you are only one victory away from proving that you are the best in history. I think I don't need to say more about the rest. In the last 48 minutes, I hope to see you show your best side, so that all the fans who come to the scene and watch in front of the TV can enjoy a perfect game!"

After Louie finished speaking, the players in the locker room encouraged each other.

They entered the arena, warming up excitedly.

The Lakers on the opposite side were lifeless. Although they recovered a game, not only did they fall behind 0 to 3 without a precedent for reversal, they fell behind 1 to 3, and there was no precedent for being reversed in the finals.

Under normal circumstances, the team that was reversed 1 to 3 encountered some unlucky things.

Such as infighting, injuries and so on.

There are also very few cases like the 2016 Western Conference finals, where the Warriors with stronger book strength were led 3-1 by the Thunder with greater potential.Next, the Warriors came to their senses, took out the state that should have been put in the finals to deal with the Thunder ahead of time, used hard power to get back three games, and then went to the finals to sacrifice themselves to achieve another record for the Cavaliers.

The Celtics are in high spirits, all members are healthy, and they are at home. The Lakers have almost no chance.

Before the opening, Louie came to the midfield and shook Riley's hand.

"We had a good night's sleep last night, maybe a miracle will happen today," Riley said.

Hearing this, Louis said: "You should thank me, I advised Reed to stop doing those things."

Riley didn't expect that Louie would be looking for praise. If Louie's suggestion really made Auerbach stop off-court tricks, then the Lakers really owe him a favor.

"Thank you, Coach Road, I hope you end up in a cocoon," Riley joked. "You never know the price of giving us a good rest."

"It seems that I have a chance to find out tonight."

Louie pretended to forget that they won a game against the Lakers in Los Angeles, not to mention that game locked them up for a title.

Isn't it good for the Lakers to rest at home?
Louie returned to the players, needless to say anything else, the Celtics and the Lakers knew enough about each other.

The Celtics lack depth inside, and the Lakers have no shooters to stretch the space.

If there is no accident, the Lakers will step up their attack on the inside. Louie's instructions to Sampson are to defend if they can, and they can score if they can't.

For others, just take one step at a time in the game.

The Lakers' starting lineup is more typical: Dennis Johnson, Magician, Wilkins, Rambis, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

The Celtics have always been those five people.

Jump ball, Sampson wins.

Thomas came up and played pick-and-roll with him, one split, one breakthrough.

Rambis was about to make a foul when Thomas passed the ball behind him.

Sampson made a high catch and shot, 2-0.

In the Lakers' offensive round, as soon as the magician took control of the ball, the boos in the garden were like boiling water pouring down his head.

The magician is the same as before, dribbling the ball with his right hand and looking forward. John Lang has already defended him out of experience.

If the magician wanted to break through, he would definitely be unable to guard against it, so he basically chose to block the side and put in the center, giving the opponent a chance to break through in the middle. He wanted to dribble with his right hand to take advantage of the trend, but it was impossible.

"Ervin Johnson has been getting bad reviews recently, and his performance in the finals was not as good as the fans originally expected."

"He's so young, he doesn't know how to find opportunities under this intensity of confrontation."

Heinsohn and Dick Stockton had just finished speaking when Magic lobbed Rambis.

Rambis beat Sampson hard. He has a bit of an advantage in strength. If it was Sampson who entered the industry two years ago, he would definitely be able to beat Sampson.

Now, even if Sampson has a disadvantage in strength, he won't be able to fly away when he is hit.

On the contrary, Rambis is in trouble. If he can't push the defense smoothly, it will be difficult to put the ball into the basket with his few moves.

All low-post attackers who are not clear-headed will step into a pitfall.

Louis called this misunderstanding "Wang Zhelin's misunderstanding".

This is a work experience in his previous life.

Wang Zhelin, as a once-in-a-lifetime unicorn in the Fujian men's basketball team, has the best post-90s insiders in China's basketball world and has the best low-post and basket offense. Because of his physical defects, his defense has always been criticized, but his style of play is as easy as cutting melons and vegetables in the low-intensity CBA.

He has all the strengths and weaknesses of a good post player.

His biggest shortcoming on the offensive end is that the moment he launches an offense, the pass button seems to be dismantled by himself, leaving only the offense, even if it doesn't go well, he must hit the end.Therefore, it is easy to be deflated when encountering hard stubble.

What surprised Louis was that almost all insiders who were not good at coping had this problem.

Even the great Yao Huang, his coping ability is limited to before the attack is launched.Once he starts playing with the ball and the opponent double-teams, his turnovers will rise rapidly.

Rambis chose to fight hard, but he couldn't push Sampson into the air, and he had to force his shot. The result waiting for him was cruel and merciless.

Sampson jumped in place, pulled out all the stops, and fanned his shot from the paint to the frontcourt.

Dazi Johnson caught up with the ball, and just turned his head, the referee whistled, and the Lakers violated the offense.

There was a burst of "MVP" chants in the garden, and Sampson had been labeled "Russell II" by virtue of his immortal performance in the fourth quarter of Game [-].

It is unimaginable that the 2-meter center can play like a guard. The color filter of the fans disappeared on him. They don't care what race Sampson is. They only know that Sampson is the most special superstar in all ages.

"In 'Ralph Field,' Kurt Rambis looked so naive just now!" laughed Heinsohn. "How could he expect to score with that kind of offense?"

The second climax tonight will come soon.

Bird suddenly faced the magician for the upper position, and the two had a strong willingness to compete.

I saw Bird stuck his position hard, and Thomas passed the ball.

Bird caught the ball and turned around, hitting a fadeaway jumper facing Magic's defense.

Although this shot is unremarkable, it is enough to make fans crazy.

Because it was Bird 1 V 1 singled out the magician and hit the ball on the opponent's head!
⑴I personally think that before the NBA expands its talent pool from the United States to the world to recruit seedlings like today, the production of players in the United States can support 18-20 teams at most.However, in the mid-to-late 90s, before international players were valued by the NBA, the league expanded to 29 teams.Therefore, the record of the championship teams in those years basically started with 60 wins.

(End of this chapter)