Bishop of the Abyss

Chapter 204 204. Explosion: Luke who kicked the referee angrily; the Western Conference Finals controlled by the league! (two chapters in one)

"It's not good, Lu, the Warriors just defeated the Rockets in the tiebreaker and completed the promotion 4:3."

"Our opponent in the Western Conference Finals will be the Golden State Warriors, which is a real headache."

Pushing open the office door, General Manager McHale ran in in a panic, looking at Luke who was sitting at his desk staring at the computer watching the game, McHale's face was full of worry.

This season, the Golden State Warriors only played a record of 42 wins and 40 losses and ranked eighth in the Western Conference. It stands to reason that this ranking is not enough to threaten the promotion of the Timberwolves.

But the key point is that the Warriors led by Nelson were too evil. First, the Black Eight defeated the Mavericks in the first round, and then defeated the Houston Rockets in the semifinals through a tiebreaker.

All the way to the Western Conference finals, this is something that all fans did not expect before the start of the playoffs.

And the Golden State Warriors averaged 116.3 points per game in the playoffs, ranking first in the league, even 5 points more than the second-ranked Phoenix Suns.

The average of 116.3 points per game is impressive even in the small ball era, not to mention the current era of hand-to-hand combat that mainly fights defense.

Even though the Golden State Warriors lost 112.8 points per game and ranked first among the 16 teams in the playoffs, the offensive firepower of the Golden State Warriors still makes other teams feel scared.

In particular, this Warriors team has a lot of star players, and the head coach Don Nelson has arranged a lot of three-point shots. No one knows in which game this Warriors team will suddenly have a convulsion. This is how the Warriors can advance all the way reason.

In addition, the Golden State Warriors are the only team that double-killed the Timberwolves in the regular season this season.

The reason why Luke even made up his mind to trade Allen Iverson was after the loss to the Warriors.

This year, the Warriors have three players averaging [-] points per game in the playoffs, and six players averaging double figures per game.

The average three-point shot per game has reached about 40 times, nearly 15 times more than the Timberwolves.

The promotion of the Warriors is the last situation that general manager McHale wants to see. Compared with the Warriors, McHale hopes that the team's opponent in the Western Conference Finals is the Houston Rockets.

Unfortunately, the Rockets led by Yao Mai lost to the Warriors. In the tiebreaker, the Warriors made 22 three-pointers and set a playoff record. They could only watch the Warriors step over their heads.

"It's really a headache."

"But no team can win a championship on offense alone without defense. Don is a good basketball coach. I am ashamed of the madness of daring to practice."

"But this round of the series, I want to stop the miracle of the Warriors. Otherwise, once the Warriors pass the Western Conference Finals, this year's championship may be a miracle in the entire history." Leaning back slightly, Luke frowned Said slightly solemnly.

The Warriors this season are a typical example of not playing cards according to common sense. They have improved the team's offensive efficiency through a large number of three-point shots.

In addition, Baron Davis, "Martial Saint" Jackson, and Jason Richardson all have excellent ball-holding offensive capabilities, which gives the head coach Nelson Sr. more room to play.

Although the Warriors' offense is not stable enough, which is as strong as the old Nelson, it can't be solved, but once the Warriors play a tailwind, the game will basically be concluded.

This is exactly why the Warriors played seven games against the Rockets in the semifinals, because the Warriors' performance was extremely unstable.

Even if the same offensive system was used in the seven games, the large number of three-point shots also means that the Warriors are too dependent on their own touch.

This is a very deadly double-edged sword, but old Nelson, a lunatic, dares to bet against him.

The old Nelson knew that the Warriors' defense was too poor, and it was impossible to aspire to the championship under normal circumstances, so the old Nelson simply played magic ball, which was a bit similar to the Houston Rockets who were obsessed with three-pointers in later generations.

In many cases, even if there is a chance for a two-pointer, the Warriors have to seek a shot from outside the three-point line.

The biggest difference between the Warriors and the Houston Rockets at the moment is that the Rockets back then had James Harden as the core, and Harden alone controlled the ball. With a group of shooters, Harden used his personal ability to help the entire team. The team shoots a lot of three-pointers.

However, the Warriors built by the old Nelson is that everyone can become a ball-holding point, even Al Harrington at the fourth position can take the initiative to attack on the offensive end.

In short, except for center Biedrins, everyone else may become the core of the Warriors' offense, which makes it difficult for the defensive team to grasp the key points and dismantle the offense like defending Kobe against the Lakers.

Now that the Warriors beat the Rockets in a tie-breaker, this is something Luke had guessed before. The Warriors built by a gang of gangsters are certainly a bit tricky, but under absolute defensive pressure, unless the Warriors can feel hot every game, otherwise pure Offensive teams are bound to pay for their comeback in the playoffs.

The first game of the Western Conference finals between the two sides will officially start on May 5, local time in the United States, and this spear-and-shield confrontation has attracted a lot of attention from fans.

Before the series started, the fans were discussing it on the Internet in full swing, and they began to imagine the process of the Timberwolves and the Warriors playing against each other.

Many fans are discussing whether the Warriors can upset the Timberwolves in the Western Conference Finals and become the biggest dark horse this year.

If this kind of thing really happens, the ratings of the Warriors in the finals will most likely not be lower than that of the Timberwolves, and may even be higher.

The overwhelming discussion outside still brought a lot of pressure to the Timberwolves.

After all, the Timberwolves are the dominant side on the bright side. Even if the Western Conference Finals successfully kills the Warriors, it is a matter of course from the outside world.

And once they lose the game against the Warriors, the pressure of public opinion facing the Timberwolves may flood in like a tide.

The Warriors' upset promotion has pushed the Timberwolves to the edge of a cliff at the level of public opinion. Before the series started, the Warriors already had the upper hand in morale.

Compared with the Timberwolves who don't want to lose and dare not lose, the Warriors can obviously play more relaxed in the series, and look at this round of confrontation with a flat mentality.

The worst thing is that Luke knows that the strength of the Timberwolves has touched the interests of other teams in the league.

As early as the regular season, the league has held shareholder meetings many times, and every time Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor will become the target of fire.

Even if David Stern is the president of the league, but to be honest, the president of the league is just a wage earner hired by the team owners collectively.

The real funders behind the NBA league still come from the sponsors of [-] teams. The beginning of the Timberwolves dynasty has gradually tilted the resources of the league, so that many teams have no choice but to be forced to fail, and the annual income is pitifully small .

Even last year, there were as many as six teams in the league with negative equity growth. Over the course of the year, the teams lost money after excluding various expenses.

The team's poor record makes fans have no intention of coming to watch the game, and the team will lower the ticket price if no one buys tickets, thus forming a very bad and vicious chain.

At the worst time, the Grizzlies' home tickets have been reduced to 5 dollars a piece, which is only about 35 yuan when converted into RMB, which can be called the price of cabbage in the true sense.

So Luke knew very well that David Stern would never allow this momentum to continue, let alone watch the alliance he promoted go downhill.

If there are multiple funders in the league at the same time in a state of loss in a season, Stern will inevitably use some means to sanction the Timberwolves and reshuffle the league to balance.

The loss of the funder is the last thing David Stern wants to see, and the withdrawal of the funder is something that Stern will never allow to happen.

This year's Warriors' upset momentum is very rapid. From the miracle of the black eight in the first round of the playoffs to the best effort in the second round of the playoffs, the Warriors stumbled all the way to the Western Conference finals, which can be called inspiration and miracle.

For David Stern, this is an opportunity. Luke is not sure whether the league will intervene in the Timberwolves-Warriors series.

As the current overwhelming discussion outside, the Warriors have become the darling of the playoffs.

Even if the Timberwolves stop in the Western Conference Finals due to the intervention of the league, the Warriors who have entered the finals can still guarantee that the ratings will not drop.

And once the ratings of the finals are guaranteed, David Stern's last worries will disappear, and he can take advantage of the trend to overthrow the Timberwolves' rule and win a new championship team to attract attention. It can be said to kill two birds with one stone.

Compared with the troublesomeness of the Golden State Warriors themselves, the attitude of the league is what Luke is most worried about.

Although the NBA has always claimed to be fair, just and open, it resolutely put an end to the occurrence of black whistle behavior.

But Luke, who has been a man for two generations, knows how ugly the alliance's eating is. In order to support his godson, the alliance can make some disgusting gestures.

As for the standard card points in normal games, needless to say, the league has the ability to control the game.

As long as the league wants to change the league structure, the league has too many ways to make fans feel sorry.

Black whistle is not just a deliberate favoritism against a certain team, the highest level of black whistle is double standards.

The double standard is so great that even the league dares to stand up and say with a clear conscience: "The league resolutely puts an end to black calls, and the bottom line of competitive sports should be guarded by everyone..."

Right now, Luke can only take one step at a time, trying not to give the Warriors any chance to win in this round of the series, and win the game in three quarters, so that even if the league wants to help, it doesn't know how to start.

Otherwise, once the game is dragged into the final stage, the Timberwolves must face a real five-on-eight!
...............

On May 5, the first game between the Timberwolves and the Warriors in the Western Conference Finals officially started.

The popularity of this round of the series is very high, and even before the game started, it has set a new high in the ratings of the league this season, which can be called a focus battle.

There are two teams, one is a quasi-dynasty team that has won the championship for two consecutive years, and the other is a crazy team that frequently performs miracles along the way.

If other teams can beat the Timberwolves in the playoffs, the fans may still feel a little shocked, but if this team is the Golden State Warriors, the fans may soon accept it.

After all, in the first round of the playoffs, the Warriors could even eliminate the league's No. [-] Dallas Mavericks. Fans really don't know what else the Warriors can't do.

In this game, the Warriors still continued their regular lineup. The starting five are: Baron Davis, Jason Richardson, "Martial Saint" Jackson, Al Harrington, and Andris Biedling s.

The Timberwolves are: Iverson, Iguodala, Gerald Wallace, Artest, and Ben Wallace.

"Glove" Payton will miss the game due to injury, even if Payton has shown to the team that his body has no major problems and he can play in this game.

But to be conservative, Luke still asked Payton to continue the truce according to the team doctor's instructions, and instead put Iguodala on the starting lineup, partnering with Iverson in the backcourt.

As for why Luke didn't use Spanoulis, who has better organizational skills, in the starting lineup, because the Warriors' backcourt players are too offensive, and Spanoulis' defense will definitely be blown.

In contrast, Iguodala, who is more defensive, will be the best choice.

The two teams played fast throughout the game. At the same time, there were a lot of shots and blacksmithing accompanied by the fast pace. The sound of "bang bang" made the fans feel like they were in a super-large blacksmith shop.

The Timberwolves were originally one of the teams that played the most defensive counterattacks in the league. The Timberwolves have always relied on defense to win. After defending against the opponent's attack, the Timberwolves with Iverson and Spanoulis will always launch a counterattack immediately.

Defensive counterattack has become the main scoring method of Timberwolves this season.

As for the Warriors themselves, they are an offensive team. Old Nelson knows very well that once the Timberwolves' defense falls into position, the Warriors' offensive efficiency will inevitably be greatly reduced.

Therefore, the Warriors raised the rhythm of the game to the extreme at the beginning, trying to complete the offense before the Timberwolves' defense fell.

From the backcourt to the frontcourt until the end, it takes no more than eight seconds to play a full game.

Among them, the Warriors also made a lot of three-point shots in the first half, and a large number of three-point shots means that the Timberwolves can basically protect every defensive rebound.

It is precisely because of this that the rhythm of the two teams on the field is very fast. Different from the steady and steady situation of other series, this game seems to allow fans to see a new visual feast.

As Iverson scored against "Bearded" Baron Davis in the first half, at the end of the half, the Timberwolves led the Warriors by three points.

It is not difficult to see from the fact that the Warriors only lead the Warriors by three points at halftime, how much offensive firepower the Warriors have in this game.

The Timberwolves are not a team that is good at offense, but in the face of a large number of counterattack opportunities, the Timberwolves can slow down and play positions.

Especially the Warriors are determined to speed up the pace in this game, even if they serve from the baseline, they can always play fast.

Throughout the first half, because the Warriors' offensive shots all came from outside projections, the referees didn't have a lot of roles.

However, in the second half, Luke still found that his home whistle began to favor the Warriors intentionally or unintentionally.

In the fourth quarter, with less and less time on the court, the Timberwolves have been unable to open the score for a long time, and the point difference has been kept within five points.

The Warriors star Baron Davis is full of impact and is good at breakthroughs. In the final stage, as long as Baron Davis breaks through to the inside, the referee's whistle will sound immediately.

As the referee called the Timberwolves defensive fouls for three consecutive rounds, Luke, who was standing on the sidelines, finally couldn't bear it anymore, and rushed into the court angrily and kicked the referee directly.

Luke kicked Crawford more than three meters away, and the referee first showed a hideous expression after getting up. When he saw that the person who kicked him from behind was Luke, Crawford Obviously stunned for a moment.

But then he made an expulsion gesture to the technology desk.

Luke's crazy behavior scared the assistant coach Raymond. Although the referee's whistle made Raymond equally angry, and even the home fans booed neatly, Luke's behavior was still too impulsive.

In addition to being expelled from the game for attacking the referee, there is a high probability that Luke will be suspended by the league after the game. This is what Raymond is most worried about.

Luke's anger still persists after being dragged out of the court by Raymond and Lambiel.

This season Luke has been restrained enough to prevent the league from taking advantage of him, but the whistleblowing in the past few rounds has obviously made Luke angry.

At the same time, Luke's behavior also aroused the emotions of the entire Timberwolves home fans. With Luke angrily kicking the referee, the sound of "black whistle" sounded throughout the Target Center arena.

Looking around, the dark crowd around the stands all stood up and shouted "black whistle" to the referee Crawford in the field to express their dissatisfaction with the penalty.

Fans in the front row even threw their drinks and garbage into the field, causing the game to be stopped for a while.

Before leaving the field, Luke looked at the referee Crawford with a sneer on his face, and said with his mouth: "Satan is with you!"

Luke's words made the referee Crawford look a little ugly. If it were another coach, Crawford would just laugh it off, but this guy in front of him is a complete lunatic.

Crawford suddenly found himself in trouble, and a big one at that.

Although the biased whistleblowing on the court was an instruction from the league, this matter cannot be brought to the table after all, and it cannot be discussed in detail.

Thinking of this, Crawford's complexion became more and more ugly, and even turned pale in the end.

"Dududu~"

At the end of the game, the Warriors took the game away with Baron Davis' nine free throws in the last quarter, and took the lead in winning the Western Conference Finals with a slight advantage of 5 points, rewriting the total score of the series to 1:0.

　Ask for a monthly ticket, ask for a recommendation ticket, thank you, third child!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)