nba championship predators

Chapter 94 Heart is higher than the sky, life is thinner than paper

On April 2002, 4, the first round of the playoffs began. The New York Knicks played against the Toronto Raptors at home.

The Raptors are ambitious this season. They fought the Philadelphia 76ers in the second round of the playoffs last season with almost no score in seven games, and finally lost by one point.

This series gave them great self-confidence. You must know that the 76ers won the championship in the end, and the Raptors were unconvinced in the seventh game. There are two reasons for their unconvincing:
First of all, the seventh game was not a big loss. Until the last two seconds, the Raptors still had a chance to kill the 76ers, but in the end Carter hit the iron with a three-pointer and the lore was attempted.

Second, there was a reason for Carter's last shot, or at least Toronto fans thought there was a reason:

Vince Carter, who was 24 years old and 114 days old at the time, chartered a plane before the crucial tiebreaker to attend the graduation ceremony of the University of North Carolina, and then flew back to Philadelphia, almost missing the tiebreaker because of being late.

Toronto fans think that if Carter doesn't do this, maybe his mentality and physical strength will allow him to hit that damn three-pointer and save the Raptors.

They believe that it is unforgivable that Carter put his graduation ceremony above the interests of the team, which eventually led to the loss.

So Vince Carter, who missed the lore ball, was put on the fire and roasted for three full months.

But Carter had his own reasons. When facing the media many years later, he was still able to raise his head and say: I have a clear conscience about this choice, and I will still insist on doing it no matter when.Basketball has indeed given me a lot and given me opportunities in many ways, but the time to play is limited.When we play our last game as players, we may be veterans on the court, but we are young in the real world, and we have to move on with our lives after that.

Unlike most NBA stars who came out of the slums, Carter grew up in a well-educated family. His mother is a highly respected teacher, so the role of students has always been more important than players in his life.In Carter's thinking, self-achievement through reading is a very, very critical process in life.

Moreover, "you must complete your college studies" is an agreement between Carter and his mother, and it is a prerequisite for leaving college early and playing in the NBA.It was not easy. Carter spent three full years and worked so hard during the offseason. He spent nights fighting while others were fishing and basking in the sun. In this process, studying is not just an obligation to fulfill a promise, but a habit, a part of life.

For Carter, attending graduation, delighted to hear her name called and receiving her diploma was the perfect end to the process.It brings as much satisfaction, accomplishment and sanctity as lifting the championship trophy after the NBA Finals.

So you can understand that when the Toronto Raptors fans criticized him for not going back to school and thought "you can buy a diploma", Carter almost squirted salt soda all over his face in anger: Let your NND serial spring and autumn spiral turn fart!
But these don't affect the Toronto people who are good at YY. They have won the Larry O'Brien Cup many times in their dreams.Many local media even made unscrupulous assumptions: If Carter hadn’t returned to school, if he had made that damn three-pointer, the Toronto Raptors would have replaced the Philadelphia 76ers, defeated the Bucks, and entered the Finals.

So the Toronto people are full of ambition and high spirits. During the offseason, they renewed Carter's contract for $8800 million, retained the lineup from last season, and coaxed the two-time All-Star center Olajuwon to upgrade the inside.

But as the saying goes: Seven points depend on hard work, and three points are doomed!
As the saying goes: heart is higher than the sky, life is thinner than paper!

Competitive sports rely on strength. Without strength, you can't even make it to the playoffs, but your luck can't be too bad.Otherwise, the Orlando Magic, Oklahoma City Thunder, Sacramento Kings, and Phoenix Suns should all win the championship in a certain season.

The luck of the Raptors is too bad, maybe it is not compatible with the Spurs. This season, when the Raptors played the Spurs at home, Carter was injured:
On December 2001, 12, the Spurs challenged the Raptors in an away game. With 12 minute and 1 seconds left in the second quarter, Bruce Bowen stepped on Carter, and Carter fell to the ground in pain.Fortunately, the injury was not serious. The next day, Carter was alive and kicking and scored 44 points in 43 minutes at the home court of the Charlotte Hornets.

On February 2002, 2, it was still the Raptors' home court. At that time, Bowen had been crippled by Zhao Ke for nearly a month, but Carter was still injured. He sprained his left quadriceps.

Lacking the core, the Raptors, under the leadership of the head coach "Thousand Victory Coach" Lenny Wilkens who is good at playing team basketball, ended up with a record of 12 wins and 2 losses, catching up with the last train of the playoffs.

Lenny Wilkens is also a god-man, a winner in life.Played at the point guard position for 15 years in the NBA, was selected to the NBA All-Star team 9 times, and won the NBA All-Star MVP in 1971.Before retiring in 1975, he had been a head coach for five years (1969-1972 as player-coach for the Sonics, and as player-coach for the Trail Blazers since 1974).In 1979, the fourth year of retiring as a full-time coach, he helped the Seattle SuperSonics win the NBA championship. In 1996, he became the first coach in NBA history to achieve 1000 victories. Since then, he has been called the "Thousand Wins Coach". In 1989, he was elected to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame as a player.

With such an old fairy sitting in charge, Torontonians feel at ease.And the talkative Toronto media began to run the train again. They compared the results of the last 14 games of the two teams in the regular season:

The Raptors have 12 wins and 2 losses, and the Knicks have 3 wins and 11 losses.

It can be concluded from this: The New York Knicks, the No. [-] in the Eastern Conference, has begun to decline. Their inside twin towers may be hidden with the head coach, while the Toronto Raptors are in good shape!
The Torontonians who are good at self-comforting have ignited the fire of hope again: Maybe the Toronto Raptors can make a comeback and create the third "black eight miracle" in NBA history?

　PS: Thanks for the bloody knife, those who came to make peanut oil, those who are lazy and don’t want to change their names, rub their backs online, Kong Mushang, and don’t thank Xiao Cao for your enthusiastic rewards ^8^
　　Thank you for the book friends who collected, recommended, and clicked. Happy Valentine's Day everyone!
　　
　
(End of this chapter)