Bishop of the Abyss

Chapter 73 73. Van Gundy's Dismissal Crisis
Tracy McGrady scored 49 points in a single game, leading the Rockets back from a desperate situation, and tied the series to 1:2. This incident undoubtedly became the focus of news on the second day.

Just when the Rockets fans were desperate, McGrady's performance was like a ray of sunshine in winter, giving the city of Houston another hope.

Even though everyone knows that McGrady can't play this god-like performance throughout the series, but at least the Rockets have the power to resist under the leadership of McGrady, and they are no longer the lambs to be slaughtered by the Timberwolves.

Sometimes it is like this, even if they know that the team has little hope of advancing, but when the team plays an excellent game, the fans will see hope from the bottom of their hearts and start touting it on the Internet.

However, although McGrady scored 49 points in a single game in the playoffs, although it was shocking enough, the biggest news in the league this day was instead the Timberwolves coach Luke.

The Timberwolves lost to the god-possessed McGrady in the last game, but the team coach Luke's news interview after the game became the focus of the series.

Faced with the reporter's question, after the loss, Luke said very calmly that the team would win two games in a row in the next one, and would not give the Rockets any more chances, and personally sent Jeff Van Gundy home to fish!

Luke's domineering response was beyond the expectations of many fans. No one thought that Luke would say such arrogant words after the game.

Even Luke's implication pointed out that Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy has exhausted his talents, and the next step is for the Timberwolves to reap the game.

In the perilous series of confrontations in the playoffs, few people speak out before the conclusion is reached. After all, this is likely to usher in a wave of face-slapping.

So Luke's words immediately attracted the attention of fans, and even fans who didn't pay much attention to this round of the series crowded over to join in the fun.

Everyone wants to see if the Timberwolves can really win two games in a row in the next two games and send the Rockets home with a big score of 4:1.

If not, Luke's words will probably be picked up for ridicule. Even if he is drowned by Heizi's saliva on the Internet, everyone will not be surprised at all!
…………

The fourth game of the first round was still played at the Rockets' home court. Before the game, the warm-up atmosphere of the two teams was very tense. Obviously, this game is very important to both sides.

The Rockets naturally listened to Luke's remarks after the game. Even though the Rockets did not respond, it does not mean that the Rockets are willing to be slaughtered.

Whether it is from a competitive standpoint or a public opinion standpoint, the Rockets must win this game, otherwise the team's morale will plummet, and there is a high probability that they will be eliminated by the Timberwolves 4:1.

And after being out of the game, there will be abuse and ridicule from online fans. This kind of thing is definitely not what the Rockets want to see.

Until now, Jeff Van Gundy didn't know what Luke, a lunatic, was thinking.

If Luke just wants to use this method to make the players deal with the game with all their strength and win two games in a row in the last two games, then Van Gundy can only say that Luke is a real lunatic!
Luke would choose such an extreme incentive method in the playoffs, which is really not something a normal person would think of.

But no matter what Luke's original intention is at present, Jeff Van Gundy only knows that once the Rockets are eliminated by the Timberwolves 4:1, the Rockets will definitely face the irony like a mouse crossing the street.

Let alone whether he himself will face the crisis of getting out of get out of class, anyway, the Rockets will definitely become the laughing stock of the league and be nailed by the Timberwolves to the shame of public opinion this season.

After all, the Rockets were eliminated 4:1, and being picked out by Luke to send the Rockets 4:1 are completely different concepts.

So Van Gundy is now riding a tiger, and no longer has a choice between winning and losing. Whether it is for himself or for the team, he must lead the team to win this victory!
After the game started, the Rockets still continued the starting lineup of the last game. This lineup gave Jeff Van Gundy a taste of the sweetness, and Van Gundy will naturally insist.

However, the Timberwolves, who had been using Divac as the starting center before, ushered in a change in this game.

Since the Rockets' starting lineup changed from Yao Ming to Mutombo, Luke simply started Eddie Griffin in this game, apparently in exchange for a style of play.

During the regular season, Eddie Griffin served as the starting center many times. As a mobile insider with a height of 100 meters and a weight of only [-] kilograms, Griffin's physical fitness exploded. Absolutely the top level of the league.

And Eddie Griffin also has an excellent three-pointer. This season, Eddie Griffin's three-pointer can reach 34.6%.

For an insider in this period, this three-point shooting rate is very impressive, enough to rank in the top ten big players in the league who average more than one three-point shot per game.

If it is against Yao Ming, Griffin's body is simply useless, but when Jeff Van Gundy took the initiative to push Yao Ming off the court, Luke felt that he had to teach "Mediterranean" a good lesson!
Throughout the first quarter, Eddie Griffin's playing made the Timberwolves play a huge change, especially when the Timberwolves launched a defensive counterattack. Eddie Griffin's sprint speed almost made the 39-year-old Uncle Mu feel desperate.

It's hard to imagine that Eddie Griffin, as an inside player, can sprint faster than most forward players.

Explosive physical fitness, this is why Griffin was selected by the NBA team with the seventh overall pick in the first round.

If it weren't for alcohol and drug use, Griffin's upper limit is simply unimaginable.

"Bang!"

As Griffin once again completed an alley-oop with Cassel in the fast-break counterattack, the Timberwolves have extended their lead to 5 points after 26 minutes and 7 seconds in the first quarter.

Seeing this scene, Jeff Van Gundy's face was a little ugly, and he was even thinking about whether to bring Yao Ming to the court in advance.

Jeff Van Gundy knew very well that if he brought Yao Ming back to the court, the Timberwolves would also make adjustments immediately.

In this way, after Yao Ming plays, he will be attacked by the Timberwolves without restriction as before.

But if Jeff Van Gundy doesn't want to make adjustments, the 39-year-old Mu has been turned into a scum by Griffin.

It is his strength to let Lao Mu guard the basket and establish a no-fly zone, but if Lao Mu is allowed to fly around the court with Griffin, it will kill him.

Mutombo's offensive ability is too poor. Even if he has a size advantage against Griffin on the offensive end, it is difficult to provide too much firepower for the Rockets.

Even a skilled center like Yao Ming couldn't stand the Timberwolves' shameless attack. Van Gundy had no doubt that Lao Mu would be intercepted by the Timberwolves before he could turn around with the ball.

At present, there are only two roads before Van Gundy, but no matter which one it is, it seems that it is not easy to go, which makes Van Gundy feel devastated!
With the end of the first half, the Timberwolves still held an 11-point lead and clearly had the upper hand in this crucial first-round G4 battle.

After returning from the second half, Van Gundy tried a variety of lineups, and even put Padgett, who averaged only 4.2 points per game, at the center.

But no matter what kind of combination it is, the effect is not very good, especially when Padgett was beaten one-on-one by Eddie Griffin within a few minutes of playing, Jeff Van Gundy was so angry that he wanted to fire this trash on the spot!
At the end of the three quarters, the Rockets trailed the Timberwolves by 13 points. Not only did the situation not improve, but it seemed to get worse.

In the last quarter, under the leadership of Yao and Mai, the Rockets tried their best to counterattack. Van Gundy couldn't think of a better solution, so he could only put the Rockets' strongest lineup on the field and let the players adjust and play by themselves.

However, under the joint efforts of Luke and assistant coach Raymond, the Timberwolves have established an unsolvable defense switching system.

In Luke's view, this system is simply a cross-generational existence, because this system not only has Raymond's defensive efforts, but also combines Luke's cross-generational defensive philosophy.

Coupled with Garnett, the historical defensive axis, as long as Garnett is not troubled by fouls, the defensive oppression brought by the Timberwolves is definitely not something that Yao and Mai can work together to break.

Of course, except for the game where McGrady scored 49 points. After all, no matter how strong the defensive system is, it can only defend the players. For God, Luke's suggestion is to resign to fate.

At the end of the game, under the attention of many fans, the Timberwolves defeated the Rockets by 16 points in an away game and won the highly topical first round of G4.

After this game, the Timberwolves have rewritten the big score of the series to 3:1. While taking the lead in winning the match point, they also completely pushed the Rockets to a dead end, becoming a true sense of no retreat.

It is foreseeable that after this game, the satire on the Rockets on the Internet will definitely increase in batches, and the name Luke will be mentioned again. After all, Luke's behavior is really worthy of the name of a madman!

The Timberwolves' best player throughout the game was "Wolf King" Garnett. Facing Juwan Howard, who was extremely poor in defense, Garnett played the best game of the series.

31分16篮板3助攻2抢断以及4次封盖，这就是加内特G4贡献出的数据，一份并不震撼，但却极其稳定且全面的个人数据。

除此之外，被提上首发的埃迪格里芬同样表现出色，再登场23分钟的情况下格里芬8投7中，全场轰出17分6篮板2抢断以及1次封盖。

Even though most of Griffin's finishes are dunks after empty cuts, Griffin's excellent court mobility is definitely a model inside.

I am afraid that apart from the limited inside players such as Stoudemire and Garnett in the active league, Griffin's mobility is definitely one of the best.

Especially the efficiency when hitting the basket, sometimes it reminds Luke of that Harrell guy.

After the game, everyone in the Rockets bowed their heads and left the field from the player tunnel. Even when they left the field, there were faint boos from the scene.

Jeff Van Gundy glanced in the direction of the Timberwolves with a numb expression, and looked at Luke's back when he left the field. Van Gundy still couldn't figure out why Luke, a lunatic, wanted to target him!

Jeff Van Gundy is very clear that he has never offended Luke on weekdays, but what Luke is doing now is forcing Van Gundy to dismiss get out of class.

Even in order to arouse the pressure of public opinion, Luke used his own face as a bet, and he would never stop dying!
Van Gundy couldn't understand what Luke, a lunatic, wanted to do, but what Van Gundy knew was that if the Rockets lost again in the next game, his handsome position would definitely be lost.

Even if the management is willing to give him a chance, Houston fans will not let him sit securely in this position.

After all, no one wants to use a rubbish coach who has poor skills and can see through the tactical background at a glance!
(End of this chapter)