super small forward

Chapter 522 522. Looking for Trouble
73 wins, the highest winning percentage in history, the Lakers fans at the scene were like New Year’s Eve, Kupchak, who was almost bald, rushed into the court like a big child happily, and moved the ribbons and champagne that had been prepared a long time ago When they came up, everyone celebrated, as if they had won the championship.

Of course, this is indeed something worth celebrating, a bucket of champagne was directly poured on Liu Ren's head...

However, Liu Ren's gaze has been fixed on Lillard, whose fellow player from the visiting team left sadly.

It is true that the Lakers have won all four games against the Trail Blazers this year, and there is not much suspense, but if it is Liu Ren vs. Lillard and Aldridge, Liu Ren basically lost all four times. When the Lakers' record was not that good this season, Liu Ren won the match against the two.

At that time, Kobe hadn't come back yet, and the young players of the Lakers didn't have the confidence to be a strong player. The Lakers were not as powerful as the Blazers at the beginning, and they all relied on Liu Ren and the Blazers' hard steel to drive the team to win. next victory.

At this time, Liu Ren suddenly missed the feeling of leading the team by himself last season.

Kobe, who was celebrating with his teammates, saw Liu Ren's expression. He has been in the NBA for 19 years, how could he not know what Liu Ren was thinking?He thought exactly the same as when he partnered with O'Neal!
Kobe understood Liu Ren's current thinking very well, and he didn't think Liu Ren's thinking like that was a bad thing, but it was definitely not a good thing.

Kobe wanted to do it alone, and then got the chance to do it alone, but the result was obvious. He didn't make the playoffs for one year and was eliminated in the first round of the two years. Kobe finally realized how happy it is to have a teammate like O'Neal.

Regret?

Of course Kobe would not regret it, otherwise he would not be Kobe, and he would not be able to support the rise of Bynum and the arrival of Gasol.

For Liu Ren's current state, Kobe did not enlighten him or anything, but let it go.

Liu Ren grew up watching the Lakers games. Could he not understand what Kobe went through?Can you not imagine the change of Kobe's thinking over the years?

But that was someone else's business, not Liu Ren's own personal experience.

Kobe knew that Liu Ren would only grow up if he experienced more things in the future, and the most important thing now is the championship!
Liu Ren is still young, and his future career is still long. Although the Lakers have such a good lineup now, Kobe knows that one day such a lineup cannot be maintained. Green and Whiteside are fine, neither of them is the main scorer Long-term partnership with Liu Ren is not a big problem, but Antetokounmpo and LaVine are obviously not in the pool, even if the management deliberately guides them to develop into organizational players.

But the Lakers already have a better organizer, that is, Green, and LaVine's scoring talent is even more obvious, and there will definitely be conflicts in the future.

When these people left one by one, Kobe believed that Liu Ren would gradually understand the value of having these teammates.

After leading the Cavaliers alone for seven years, James, who has never had a real All-Star teammate, has a particularly deep understanding of this kind of preciousness, so he risked the world to bring his talent to the Heat.

Kobe is noncommittal about this, but it definitely takes courage, because it is clear that he will face the encirclement and suppression of the entire league and the criticism of public opinion.

In fact, it was too miserable for James in the Cavaliers in those years. Seeing that the Cavaliers had three No. [-] picks in four years as soon as James left, you knew how miserable it was. The player with the last record in the league won two regular season championships.

Liu Ren was envious of James' high-spirited and independent battle in the league, and Lillard and Aldridge had the opportunity to challenge the strongest team alone, but Lillard and Aldridge envied Liu Ren even more.

Kobe knew that the Lakers would always have a low point. At that time, Liu Ren had to face it by himself. Even the Lakers couldn't be at the top forever, and there would always be low points.

But that's all Liu Ren's own business. Kobe continued to celebrate with his teammates.

Kobe immediately put the matter of Liu Ren behind him. Seeing the fans celebrating the championship, Kobe was also excited: "See Michael Jordan! I broke another record of yours. !"

……

……

Get 73 wins, the task is completed!

D'Antoni can finally start his rest plan!
The rotation of the Lakers this year is actually rare in the entire history of the NBA.

Generally speaking, as long as it is not the main force of the iron, it is rare to play 70 games in a season, especially for teams that focus on team offense, such as the Spurs, Eagles, and Raptors. In this way, including when the starters are often unable to play, Duncan and Leonard have only played 65 games this year for the main players. The number of appearances of defensive players, as a substitute, is like Ginobili this year. He is not injured, but he is a substitute, so sometimes he does not get the opportunity to play. He has only played more than 60 games so far. This is just an example. example.

The Lakers' second team basically played every game as long as they were not injured.

This is actually very detrimental to physical reserves.

Of course, there are other teams with an astonishing number of second team appearances, but these teams often have a lot of main injuries, or the main lineup is too old, so the main lineup often rests, and the second team plays more time.

But like the Lakers, the main force is almost full attendance, and the second team is also basically full attendance.

In addition to Kobe and Gasol, as well as the daily water dispenser administrators LaVine, Thackeray, Henry, Nash in a suit, and Clarkson, who became the main force in the middle of the season, the other eight Lakers have played this season. More than 75 games, including Gasol and Clarkson have played more than 70 games.

Whiteside, Antetokounmpo, and McCollum were full attendance in the previous 80 games!
In addition to playing against the 76ers, Liu Ren also played 79 games.

No championship team has so many players who have played more than 70 games. The Heat and the Lakers who have won two consecutive championships only have five or six. Generally, the main players take turns to rest.

Fortunately, D'Antoni has made a lot of preparations for the playing time allocated to each player, trying to make the players less tired every game, otherwise the physical fitness will not be able to keep up.

However, deploying players' playing time and maintaining the team's strong combat effectiveness to strive for the first record in history, D'Antoni has lost more hair in the past few months than in previous decades.

Finally, now D'Antoni can directly rest the main players and let the role players play casually by themselves.

In the last two games, D'Antoni used it as a training game for the veteran Nash to practice and find out. He sent the starters of Nash, Henry, Nick Young, Antetokounmpo, and Thackeray to compete with the Kings. McCollum, Korver, LaVine, and others did not enter the activation list.

The strongest player of the Kings is of course Cousins ​​who always seems to be angry. Thackeray is naturally no match for him, and he was blasted to pieces. Thackeray can't defend against him. The weight and touch singles tricks were completely suppressed in front of the stronger Cousins.

When he is comfortable playing, Cousins ​​will play hard, kill in the paint, get 47 points and 22 rebounds with 40+20 data, and lead the Kings to the first back-to-back victory.

However, in the second game, the Lakers changed their strategy. They played and ran directly at the beginning of the game. Nash and Antetokounmpo deployed the offense, which immediately confused the Kings, which had neither an offensive system nor a defensive system. The Lakers Cousins ​​really can't keep up with the team's fast-paced style of play. His fat body and his personality of losing his temper and not knowing how to play well are the biggest obstacles preventing him from becoming the league's number one center.

The water dispenser lineup of the Lakers scored 1 win and 1 loss in the last two games, and the final record was fixed at 74 wins and 8 losses, which improved the best record in history by two wins!

The regular season curtain call of each team has gradually come to an end, and the ranking of the regular season has also been settled.

West side.

The Lakers with 74 wins and the Warriors with 62 wins lead the league, ranking first and second in the Western Conference. The Blazers took advantage of the first place in the division to rank third in the Western Conference with 54.

The Spurs and the Rockets also won the fourth place in the Western Conference. The Spurs came from behind and ranked fourth in the Western Conference with a record of 53 wins. 53 win and 1 losses in the first match at a disadvantage, can only be ranked sixth.

The most unlucky thing is the Clippers, they can only rank fifth with 59 wins and 23 losses.

The seventh and eighth are both teams in the Southwest Division, the 51-win Grizzlies and the 50-win Pelicans respectively.

Four teams from the Southwest Division made it to the playoffs this year, which can be said to have justified their reputation as a devil division, and the 47-win Mavericks ranked ninth is also a team in the Southwest Division. If it weren't for the rise of the Lakers, This year, the Southwest Division is likely to enter the playoffs as a whole...

In the East, the Eagles ranked first in the East with 60 wins, the Knicks ranked second with 59 wins, the Cavaliers ranked third with 56 wins, and the Raptors ranked fourth with 55 wins. The Celtics ranked sixth with 50 wins, the Nets ranked seventh with 48 wins, and the Bulls ranked eighth with 40 wins.

The playoff schedule is here. The first round opponent of the Lakers will be the Pelicans. This year is the first time the Pelicans have entered the playoffs since losing Paul, but they have to face the first regular season record in history. For the Lakers, Anthony Davis collapsed directly on the sofa when the Grizzlies beat the Jazz for the 51st win in the last game...

The second-ranked Warriors also feel a headache. They have to face the famous Grizzlies in the playoffs, and the entire series is a tough battle.

The saddest thing is the Rockets. They would rather play the Clippers with a better record than play the Trail Blazers in the playoffs.

The Clippers' record is much better than that of the Trail Blazers, but what is even more unlucky is to meet the defending champion Spurs in the first round.

Although the Spurs performed weakly in the first half due to too many games played in the previous two years, they fell out of the top eight at one point, but later climbed to fourth in the Western Conference at the last moment. Everyone in the Clippers felt that they had an unclear relationship with the dog. relation……

The east is more dire than the west. Anyway, there is no suspense in the west where the Lakers beat the Pelicans, but the east is very brutal.

Although the Bulls have a poor record, they are famous for being tough in the playoffs in recent years. It is not so easy for the Eagles to easily win the series. The Knicks and the Nets have a derby in the same city. I believe that the Nets will not give up easily. .

The Cavaliers beat the Celtics... People seem to have returned to the feeling they had five years ago.

The Wizards and the Raptors are even more equal. People in the other three series in the East can still predict the outcome, but the Wizards and the Raptors dare not say who will win except their respective fans.

The Cavaliers are suffering, and the fans can see it. The Celtics in the first round, the Knicks in the second round, and the Hawks in the third round. The three strongest opponents in the East have all met.

The Knicks are also suffering. The Nets look like they are going to die against anyone. They rely on the Eastern Conference to be too bad to lie in the playoffs, but they will go crazy as long as they play against the Knicks and the Clippers.

Then even if they make it to the second round, they still have to meet James. The Knicks players haven't thought about what will happen after the game against the Cavaliers yet.

The West side is relatively better. The Lakers took it easy in the first round. Sit and watch the Spurs and Clippers fight to the death and reap the benefits of the fisherman. .

Of course, it's only relative, because neither the Clippers, the Spurs, or the Warriors are easy to deal with.

The Warriors have to fight the Grizzlies first, and then the Rockets or the Trail Blazers...

Overall, the Lakers are much luckier than other championship teams.

……

……

When Liu Ren saw the situation of the playoffs, he slightly suppressed some worries in his heart.

What he worries about is that with such a good record in the regular season, he will definitely become the target of public criticism in the playoffs.

It is certainly a good thing to be the first in regular season history, but the pressure that comes with it is also great.

When he was still playing the game, his attention was focused on the game, Liu Ren didn't feel much yet, but during the two truces, the pressure of being the object of ridicule if he didn't win the championship appeared in Liu Ren's heart .

Liu Ren is the kind of person who will write on his face whatever he thinks in his heart. Although he can't say he is unhappy, he still becomes a bored gourd and stays at home. After the regular season, the Lakers have a day off, and Liu Ren is bored at home thinking about things Western.

Little Lolita came home after school today, she knew that Liu Ren had a rest today, so she came back happily and asked Liu Ren to take her to play with her, but when she came back, she saw Liu Ren sitting on the sofa like a stuffed gourd.

"Uncle~" Little Lolita took off her slippers and jumped into Liu Ren's arms, and said cutely: "What's the matter, isn't uncle happy? Didn't he just win the championship? Why aren't you happy?"

In the past two days, Little Lolita has often heard Xiao Niu and Monica discussing how their contract extensions will be renewed next season because the Lakers won the regular season championship, so she thinks that Liu Ren should be very happy.

Liu Ren was so bored that he was so bored, seeing such a cute little doll-like loli instantly felt relieved.

Liu Ren hugged little Lolita.

"Uncle, big villain, eat Betty's tofu again!" Little Lolita clearly enjoyed it, saying no...

"Betty, uncle is not happy to win the regular season championship. By the way, it's just the regular season championship. It's still too early to win the real championship. Forget it, you don't understand, but winning the regular season championship is a pressure. , the number one regular season champion in history, if you don’t win the final championship, you will really make people laugh..." Liu Ren is under unprecedented pressure now, remembering that he played in the playoffs without pressure last year, and reached The Western Conference Finals was praised by the fans as a bad situation, which is too different from now!

Now the fans are talking about how the Lakers will win the championship, and even say that they will win the playoffs with a complete victory.

Don't look at the fact that the fans are now in favor of the Lakers, but Liu Ren knows that these people are the ones who will step on them the most if something happens.

"Regular season? That's right! Betty remembered, there's still the playoffs! But uncle, it's fine if you win! Why worry so much, anyway, uncle, you and our Lakers are so good." Little Lolita didn't care Said that in his opinion, his uncle is the most powerful.

"That's right! It's fine if you win!" Liu Ren suddenly became enlightened, and suddenly smiled bitterly: "I am such an adult and I don't even have a child who can think about it. Worrying about losing is clearly asking for trouble. If you really want to lose , It’s not like that, it’s better to fight for victory with all your strength, like those miscellaneous things are just adding burden to yourself.”

"Betty is wonderful, such a clever little doll, let uncle kiss one."

"What's a doll? Ah! Uncle Big Bad, kiss Betty's sweet face!"

"What's the matter, don't let uncle kiss? Well, I won't kiss from now on."

"No! Betty wants uncle to kiss."

"Then what's your name?"

"Well... um... Betty wants uncle to kiss her again..." Little Loli moved her face closer as she spoke.

"..."

(End of this chapter)