Bishop of the Abyss

Chapter 253 253. Step into the Finals! "The plan has changed, the goal has changed" (8.6K words)
The series fell behind 0:3, which made the morale of the lakers fall to the bottom.

Even the leading star Kobe felt frustrated and no longer had expectations for this round of the series.

But no one wants to be swept by opponents in the playoffs, especially at home.

In the fourth game of the Western Conference Finals, the Lakers showed the momentum of a last stand, and they played very resolutely from the beginning of the game.

The head star Kobe has changed his normal routine, from non-stop personal offense to creating more opportunities for his teammates.

Kobe could be said to be gnashing his teeth in the whole game. Facing the overwhelming three-point firepower of the Grizzlies, Kobe used his personal ability to save the team from fire and water again and again.

Even if the Grizzlies also want to sweep the Lakers 4:0 in one go and secure a place in the finals in advance, the Lakers obviously don't want to lose this home game like a bereaved dog.

With Kobe's consistent offensive stability and Odom's personal explosion in the second half, the Lakers always led the Grizzlies by a narrow margin, desperately trying to avoid being swept out.

The tenacity shown by the Lakers in this life-and-death battle caused some troubles for young people like the Grizzlies.

Kevin Martin used his personal ability to rush to the inside again and again, trying to win free throws through physical confrontation, but the referee did not do so. He basically turned a blind eye to Kevin Martin's fouls.

This also made it difficult for Martin to exert his full strength. Facing a five-on-eight situation on the court, the Lakers successfully maintained their lead until the end of the game.

In the end, they defeated the Grizzlies at home by a narrow margin of five points, rewriting the total score of the series to 1:3.

The Lakers won the fourth game of the series, which still caused a lot of heated discussions in the outside world, but there are still very few fans who are optimistic about the Lakers' ability to reverse and advance.

After all, the playoffs fell behind 0:3 and wanted to make a comeback. This has never been a precedent in NBA history.

Coupled with the personal dominance that Luke has shown in the past two years, no one believes that the Lakers can create miracles in this round of the series.

The Lakers' victory in Game [-] of the series was unanimously considered to be the team's final struggle.

Being able to avoid being swept out of the series has made the Lakers do their best. The Grizzlies will return to the home court in the next game, and the pressure on the Lakers once again began to rise in a straight line.

It is foreseeable that the Grizzlies returning to the home court will definitely not give the Lakers any chance to comeback, or even let the Lakers see hope.

In order to avoid long nights and dreams, the Grizzlies will definitely treat the fifth game of the series as the finals. For the Lakers, this is obviously an extremely bad thing.

…………

In the fifth game of the series, the Grizzlies sat at home to meet the challenge of the Los Angeles Lakers.

The loss in the last game did not make the Grizzlies feel depressed, but it also inspired the Grizzlies' determination to defend their home court.

The willpower that Kobe showed in the last game is amazing. No one wants to give Kobe a chance. Kindness to the Lakers is cruelty to himself. go all out.

The fact is indeed the same. Although the Grizzlies returning to the home court have not been favored by the referees, as long as the referees do not help the Lakers secretly, it will be the biggest help to the Grizzlies on the field.

The victory in Game [-] of the Western Conference Finals seemed to allow Kobe to see the key to the Finals.

As soon as the game came up, Kobe still wanted to use his personal ability to drive the offense of other teammates around him, just like the last game.

However, Luke never falls twice in the same position. He learns lessons and sums up experience through losing. This is what Luke is best at in his coaching career.

Facing the adjustment of the Grizzlies' defensive end, Kobe's wishful thinking on the court is doomed to fail, and the Gasol brothers also stood up without hesitation, sharing more offensive pressure for Kevin Martin on the outside.

The lineup configuration of the two teams is to sit on the inside of the Twin Towers, but the combination of the Gasol brothers is obviously much better than the Lakers Twin Towers.

Although both Gortat and Okafor have good personal abilities, they are really not good enough in front of the Gasol brothers.

Especially in the matchup between Pau Gasol and Okafor, the gap between the two is simply heaven and earth.

Throughout the series, Pau Gasol had the upper hand against Okafor, leaving Okafor far behind on both offense and defense.

The quasi-double-double data that allowed Okafor to average 10.6 points, 8.7 rebounds and 1.7 blocks per game can only be reduced to the background.

And Marc Gasol also took advantage of his shooting ability very well, forcing Gortat to have to defend farther in this series, and he has never been able to take advantage of his own advantage in the penalty area.

To make matters worse, Gortat was originally a player with strong offense and weak defense, and Marc Gasol's real strength lies in the league's first-tier penalty zone defense.

Even though Gasol Jr. is just a rookie player who has just entered the league this season, his excellent lower body strength allows Gasol Jr. to stand motionless in the penalty area.

No matter what method Gortat uses, Gasol can always adapt to the situation, limiting Gortat's shooting percentage to only 39.7%.

You know, a center player with a shooting percentage of less than 40% is absolutely disgusting in this era.

What's more, Gortat's shooting percentage in the regular season can reach 51.2%. This round of the series was defended by Marc Gasol, and Gortat instantly became a soft-footed shrimp.

The offensive end can't play its own strengths, and the defensive end also feels uncomfortable when facing Marc Gasol, who has a shooting range. This simply makes Gortat feel like dying on the court, and for the first time began to resist the upcoming game.

With Pau Gasol's personal performance of 18 points and 7 rebounds in the first half, the Grizzlies led the Lakers by 15 points to end the contest.

Even the commentator Konifleck couldn't stand watching the series matchups that seemed to be at a different level.

"This is really a boring game. The Lakers just saw a glimmer of hope for a comeback in the last game, but today they were poured cold water by the performance of the Grizzlies."

"I have to say, it's really frustrating."

"It can be seen that the Lakers are already desperate enough on the court. The head star Kobe even endured the pain caused by his fingers and gritted his teeth to continue fighting, but the two teams don't seem to be at the same level at all."

"When the Grizzlies made a series of defensive targets against Kobe on the defensive end, the Lakers had no third person besides Lamar who could stand up and take over the offensive banner."

"To make matters worse, although Lamar's performance in this round of the series has been stable, his poor shooting ability made it easy for the Grizzlies to figure out a way to deal with it."

"If the Lakers are still in this state in the second half and can't find a way to beat the Grizzlies, then this round of the series will basically end."

Coney Flake's analysis attracted the approval of his partner Tom Horvath, "Yes, the Grizzlies are better than the Lakers in terms of ball distribution."

"Any player on the field may become the final offensive end point, which makes it difficult for the Lakers to determine the focus of defense. Except for the focus on Kevin, we can't see the strength of the Lakers on the field at all."

"Among them, Coach Phil's triangle offense was thoroughly grasped by Luke. Until now, it has been completely reduced to Kobe's offensive performance alone."

"What is unbelievable is that even so, Coach Phil still insists on playing the triangle offense until now. This is really not a decision that a successful coach should make."

"Persistence has always been an admirable thing, but Phil sits in the position of coach, and blindly persisting is likely to become ignorance and completely ruin this Lakers team."

"Especially the Lakers have strengthened this season. The gap in the current lineup is not much worse than that of the Grizzlies, but the combat effectiveness of the two teams is very different."

"I think this is a question worth pondering by the Lakers management this summer, and it is also something that Coach Phil himself should reflect on."

As a Lakers fan among the commentators, Tom Horvath is obviously dissatisfied with the performance of the Lakers, especially Phil Jackson has been insisting on using the triangle offense, which in Tom Horvath's view is simply stupid.

Obviously, Luke has made a very accurate analysis of Jackson's triangle offense, forcing the Lakers to change from an overall team to a singles team where Kobe alone took over the offensive banner.

However, even so, Phil Jackson doesn't seem to want to change at all. This kind of old-fashioned style is really infuriating.

It is no exaggeration to say that even if the Lakers management announces the firing of the famous coach Phil Jackson during this offseason, outside fans will not be surprised.

Because Jackson has proved to people with facts that when facing a young coach like Luke who knows how to adapt to the situation and pioneered small ball play, Jackson is like an old man who has no power to fight back.

It is undeniable that Jackson has won the next nine championship rings through the triangle offense, but the times are constantly changing. As Luke continues to promote the advent of the small ball era, the formation of the triangle offense is slow and inefficient. Positional tactics have become less and less in line with the current playing style of the league.

The era belonging to Phil Jackson has passed, and the Lakers' loss this season is the best proof.

As for whether the Lakers management has the courage to fire the legendary coach who is still under contract, it depends on whether the Lakers management can make the most sensible judgment.

.........

Entering the second half, the Lakers still did not intend to give up, and launched the last counterattack under the leadership of star Kobe Bryant.

Unfortunately, the Grizzlies at home withstood the Lakers' desperate counterattack, and by the way, the lead was getting bigger and bigger. By the end of the three quarters, the Grizzlies had 21 points.

Seeing that the game was about to lose suspense, Phil Jackson, who was sitting on the sidelines, was full of unwillingness.

Under normal circumstances, this time period can already enter the garbage time ahead of time, but Phil Jackson does not intend to give up the game in this embarrassing posture.

Instead, they continued to let Kobe and others stay on the court, constantly praying for a miracle to come.

However, since the start of this round of the series, Lady Luck has never been on Phil Jackson's side.

I don't know if the three consecutive championships have used up all of Phil Jackson's luck. In short, Phil Jackson has declined to the extreme in the past two seasons.

Especially the appearance of this guy Luke made Jackson's coaching career plummet.

Until this season, it fell directly to the bottom, and it is unknown whether he will be able to appear in the NBA next season, which makes "Zen Master" feel desperate.

At the end of the game, the Grizzlies beat the Lakers by 17 points at home and advanced 4:1. They rushed out of the West for the first time since the establishment of the team and stood at the top of the league.

The team successfully got the tickets to enter the finals, which made the fans in the entire Grizzlies stadium instantly boil.

All the fans are happy from the bottom of their hearts. The era of the Grizzlies is coming. Although they don't know whether they can win the championship trophy in the finals, the division championship also makes the city of Memphis sleepless at night.

After the game, Lakers star Kobe Bryant hugged the Grizzlies players one by one, and even encouraged Martin, who won the next regular season MVP this season.

"You are definitely one of the best scorers in the league. You have an offensive sense that I am envious of."

"The Grizzlies have grown into an invincible team with your help. I believe you have a high probability of winning the championship this season."

"At present, you are only one step away from success. I can only say, good luck."

Martin was a little excited by the encouragement from his idol Kobe. Although Martin had never been used to this idol when they played against each other on the court, after the game, Kobe was still the lofty basketball idol in Martin's eyes.

"When I was still in school, I enjoyed watching you play. The willpower in you has moved me many times."

"As early as when I was in high school, many people around me were saying that I didn't have the talent to play basketball. Everyone said that my body was too thin to be a professional basketball player."

"The school coach even persuaded me to give up this idea as soon as possible, and consider ice hockey or other sports."

"During that time, I really had a very difficult time, but whenever I even wanted to give up, the words you said would always ring in my ears."

"You said that not everyone is talented, but as long as you work hard, everyone can succeed."

"It's really a pleasure to stand on the same field as you. In my heart, you are the greatest player in this league."

Kevin Martin hugged Kobe with red eyes. No one knew what the thin Martin had gone through step by step until today.

And the feeling of being able to personally lead the team to defeat the idol he admired most in the Western Conference Finals made Martin feel that all the misfortunes he had encountered before were worth it.

Hearing Martin's heartfelt words, Kobe was a little surprised.

There are many newcomers who have entered the league in recent years who regard Kobe as an idol, but Martin's experience surprised Kobe.

"Believe me, you are definitely one of the best basketball players in this league, and you already have what a leader should have."

"But you need to be more confident, no matter who you face, you must show the belief that you will go all out."

"Just like when you successfully entered the NBA despite doubts step by step, the future will always be in your own hands." Patting Kevin Martin on the head, Kobe walked towards Luke again.

"Coach Lu, sometimes I really envy them for being able to play under a great coach like you."

"I've never seen a coach as great as you. If there is a chance, I really hope we can join forces."

Looking at the Grizzlies players with excited smiles on their faces, Kobe felt a sour taste in the corner of his mouth.

"I am also looking forward to the day when I can join forces with you. If I have the opportunity, I would also like to try what kind of experience it is to coach the best player in the league." Luke smiled slightly, and Kobe and Bryant hugged each other as a sign A seed of hope was planted in each other's hearts.

Next, the Grizzlies will have a long period of rest, waiting for the winner between the Eastern Celtics and the Magic, thus staged the final peak battle of the 07-08 season.

At present, the Magic and the Celtics are tied 2:2. From the score, it is difficult to judge which team is more likely to enter the finals to compete with the Grizzlies.

However, fans hope that the Celtics will be the last laughing team, because Magic coach Stan Van Gundy has already tasted failure in Luke's hands.

Leading the Magic to the finals is Stan Van Gundy's success, but there is also a great chance that Luke will become even more successful!

.........

The big score draw between the Magic and the Celtics made it difficult for the Grizzlies to judge which team is more likely to become their opponent in the finals.

However, although the two teams are currently tied 2:2, the Celtics won these two games very difficult, adding up to a total of only 9 points against the Magic.

On the other hand, the Magic won the Celtics by 47 points in these two victories.

Judging from the situation, the odds of the Magic advancing to the finals seem to be greater.

But considering that the next battle of Tianwangshan will be held at the Celtics' home court, and once the two teams enter the tiebreaker, the Celtics also have home court advantage. In this case, it is difficult for even Luke to judge down the development.

To be on the safe side, the Grizzlies coaching staff can only increase their workload and study the tactics of the Celtics and Magic teams separately.

At this stage of the game, no one will care whether the coaching staff will be overwhelmed in the past few days.

At the same time, even the Grizzlies coaching staff has a very high enthusiasm for work. Casey and Gentry can't wait to work 24 hours a day, striving for the day when the Grizzlies win the championship trophy as soon as possible.

You know, if the Grizzlies can win the championship this season, not only the players and Luke will benefit greatly, but the entire Grizzlies assistant team will benefit a lot from it.

With the experience of winning championships with the team, this is an irresistible temptation for Casey, Gentry and others who want to become head coaches in the future.

Especially as Luke's status in the league is getting higher and higher, the assistant coaches around Luke have become the meat and potatoes that teams keep an eye on all the time.

Take the former Timberwolves assistant coach Raymond as an example. If it weren't for Raymond's unwillingness to leave Minnesota and even less willingness to bear the pressure of the head coach, Raymond would definitely be looted by many teams in the league.

It's a pity that Raymond is an unmotivated guy. This guy just wants to spend his old age as an assistant coach. As one of the assistant coaches with the highest annual salary in the entire league, Raymond enjoys everything he has now.

To paraphrase a sentence that Raymond often said to Luke, "There is no pressure to be an assistant coach, especially an assistant coach with my qualifications. As long as I don't want to leave here, no team will choose to lay off. I."

Luke really doesn't know what to say about Raymond's salty fish mentality, but everyone has his own ambitions, and since Raymond himself doesn't regret it, it's hard for Luke to persuade him.

Sometimes Luke even envied Raymond a little bit. In the NBA, a competitive league where he would be eliminated if he didn't work hard, Raymond could live so chicly like a stream of water.

With a popularity well-known by fans, an income far exceeding most people, and the love he receives in the city of Minnesota, Raymond is a proper winner in life.

If it wasn't for his ability to keep a low profile, Luke really wanted to hang around like Raymond, be an assistant coach freely, and he might be named the greatest assistant coach in NBA history after retirement.

Throwing away these messy thoughts in his mind, Luke handed the information on the desk to Bill Lambir in front of him, "Tell Dwyane and them, right now we are mainly studying the Celtics' tactical play, and the Magic can Put it aside for now."

"Even though I personally think that the odds of the Magic's advancement may be higher than the Celtics, but compared to the Magic's tactics, the Celtics are undoubtedly more complicated."

"If the Celtics really advance, we are likely to miss the best research opportunities."

"As for the Magic, I really know that guy Stan too well. The whole Magic is an offensive and defensive system built around Howard alone."

"It's not difficult to break this style of play, especially when we have Mark sitting in the penalty area, Howard will not play very well."

"So the top priority, we still have to study the Celtics as soon as possible."

After receiving the information that Luke handed him, Lambiel saw that it was indeed the same as before. The offensive tactics used by the Celtics this season were written in detail on a few thin sheets of paper.

Even the route of the Celtics in the game is very clearly described, and the offensive habits of Paul Pierce, Ray Allen and Cassel are also impressively listed.

This report seems relatively simple, but only Lambiel knows how valuable the things on paper are.

It is no surprise that Luke will give this kind of thing, because as early as the Timberwolves period, Luke would record all the offensive habits of each team before the playoffs, so that the coaching staff can make targeted decisions. Arrange player training.

In the past, Lambiel would still be curious about why Luke knows the offensive habits of every team and every player so well.

But now, Lambiel has long been used to it, because Luke is a freak, and it is obviously impossible to study why Luke is so perverted.

"I'll print out a few more copies of the information later and hand them over to Casey and the others." Ranbir glanced at the information on the paper, and put it in his folder, "You just said you I am more optimistic that the Magic can advance, don't you have an optimistic view of the Celtics with the Big Four?"

"I don't think anyone in the entire league knows the power behind the capital better than you. You know, the promotion of the Celtics is more interesting than the promotion of the Magic. If the league intervenes, the Magic will probably be defeated."

After brewing a cup of coffee for himself and Lambiel, Luke waved his hand casually, "Do you think the Celtics won these two games and the league didn't intervene?"

Luke's rhetorical question stunned Lambiel, who took the coffee, "You mean the league has started to intervene in the trend of the Eastern Conference Finals? If you say that, Doc Rivers is really useless."

"That was the lineup of the Big Four, but they couldn't even make it to the finals. Thinking about that scene, it will be very interesting then."

Lambiel gloated and took a sip of his coffee. "Fuck, hot!"

…………

The promotion of the Grizzlies in the West has made everyone turn their attention to the tragic Eastern Conference Finals.

It is not an exaggeration to say that the matchup in the Eastern Conference finals this season was tragic. The tie between the Celtics and the Magic made outside fans start to ridicule. This is the division finals in the eyes of fans.

It's not like the west, has it started?It has ended…

The crushing of the Lakers by the Grizzlies sent the city of Los Angeles into an uproar.

The calls for Phil Jackson to dismiss get out of class are also getting louder and louder. I am afraid that even Phil Jackson himself did not expect that, as the coach with the second highest salary in the league, he would be collectively called out by fans one day.

This makes Phil Jackson, who wears nine championship rings in both hands, feel that everyone must be crazy.

It's a pity that only Phil Jackson feels good about himself at the moment. The outside world's views on Phil Jackson are old-fashioned, ignorant of flexibility, and the "former league's first coach" who is about to be eliminated by the times.

But the culprit of all this came to the scene of the battle between the Celtics and the Magic.

The intensity of this round of the series is far beyond the imagination of fans, which also makes it hard to find tickets for the Eastern Conference Finals.

But as a privileged figure, it was not difficult for Luke to get a front row ticket.

Sitting in the front row, Luke began to closely observe the competition between the Magic and the Celtics in this round of the series.

The two teams played very focused throughout the game, and Tianwangshan's victory will represent which team can hold the match point in advance.

No one wants to lose this game and put the team at a disadvantage, especially the Celtics who are playing at home. If Tianwangshan loses, it will definitely deal a great blow to the team's morale.

Even Rivers, who was always talking and laughing, became extremely nervous. The sweat in his hands made him keep walking back and forth, for fear that the team would lose this round of the series.

Right now, Rivers is seeing all the evaluations of him from the outside world. Rivers knows that if the Celtics he leads really want to lose to the Magic in the Eastern Conference Finals, then there is only one end for him during the offseason. It was fired by the Celtics.

Coaching a Big Four lineup that fails to make it to the finals is definitely a black spot in a coach's career.

If Rivers is really going to be waived by the Celtics, it will be difficult for the league to have a second team willing to accept such a coach who has proven himself to have failed.

How glamorous the regular season is, how flustered the playoffs are, Rivers began to regret coaching such a star-studded team, because once the performance is not good, this end is definitely not what Rivers wants to bear.

However, the more afraid they are, the more they will come on the court. From the first half, the Magic has firmly occupied the advantage of the court.

"Warcraft" Howard even had the upper hand in the matchup with O'Neal in his old age. With his explosive physical fitness, he crazily ravaged the little remaining face of "Shark" O'Neal.

There is no such thing as respecting the old and loving the young on the court, even though O'Neal wanted to prove himself again after being dunked by Howard several times.

But the old body told O'Neal that he was not the "big shark" who was all-powerful back then. The weakness on both ends of the offense and defense not only made Rivers angry, but also made O'Neal himself very confused.

Relying on the Magic's star-spreading, open-branched style of play, the Magic has a firm upper hand. Even the Celtics, who are sitting on the Big Four, can only be beaten to the ground, as a challenger to compete with the Magic. Down.

O'Neal was at a disadvantage in the matchup with Howard, which made the Celtics' entire situation very unfavorable.

You know, the Magic's core style of play this season is the "one-star four-shot" developed with Howard as the absolute core.

Even if Rivers pinches Howard on the court, other Magic players can also give a fatal blow from the outside.

But once Howard is not flanked, the Magic's large number of air cuts and Howard's excellent personal ability will give Rivers a headache.

It is not difficult to crack the Magic's style of play this season, as long as there is a center player with excellent defensive ability in the penalty area.

After all, the core tenet of one star is still one star, and Howard's performance will determine the upper limit of the entire Magic team.

Originally, the Celtics still had Perkins, the historical-level restricted zone meat shield, on the bench. What is terrible is that the team already has "Shark" O'Neal at the center position.

The team believes that the existence of Perkins has become dispensable, at least the contract on Perkins has been inconsistent with his status in the team.

With the unanimous approval of Rivers and the management, the Celtics traded Perkins to other teams in the middle of the season to free up salary space while also gaining other good trading chips.

As a result, it never occurred to me that in the playoffs against the Magic led by "Warcraft" Howard, the Celtics' trade turned into a self-digging grave, or the kind of digging a hole by themselves, lying in it, and finally throwing away the dirt. Fill that kind.

However, O'Neal's performance in the Eastern Conference Finals was more like he was afraid that the soil would not be buried tightly, and he went up and stomped hard, which made the Celtics' unfavorable situation even worse.

As long as the big meat shield Perkins is still on the team at this time, Howard can't do whatever he wants like now.

The Celtics will also play very easily, but unfortunately, there is no medicine for regret in the world, and everything must be swallowed by the Celtics.

In the end, the whole game ended. In this high-profile battle of Tianwangshan, the Magic once again beat the Celtics by 18 points, rewriting the total score of the series to 3:2, and holding the match point in advance.

Sitting on the sidelines and watching the whole game, Luke already has a rough judgment on this round of the series.

O'Neal's drag became the last straw that crushed the Celtics. Even if the league interfered in the sixth game, as long as the tiebreaker can be kept fair, the Celtics will be eliminated by the Magic with a high probability.

Unless O'Neill can dream back to the top in the future and play the dominance of his peak period, it is inevitable that the "Warcraft" Howard will cover the sky with one hand.

However, the chance of O'Neal's sudden outbreak is no less than the chance of Howard's accidental injury. Unless O'Neal is willing to take drugs before the game at the risk of being suspended, this is destined to be a tragic ending for Rivers and O'Neal. .

Walking out of the gate of the arena, Luke boarded a car with a black solar film on the side of the road, took out his mobile phone and dialed Bill Lambier, "The plan has changed, and the next goal may change."

After hanging up the phone, Luke looked up and found that the team's new driver was trembling, his hands on the steering wheel looked a little nervous, his face was also slightly pale, and beads of sweat began to fall from his forehead, looking like he had a sudden illness previous symptoms.

Seeing Luke frowning at himself through the rearview mirror, the driver swallowed subconsciously, "I... I didn't hear anything."

　It has erupted for several days in a row, asking for a monthly ticket, asking for support, brothers!Ask for a monthly pass!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)