You are the pearl, Mo Mengchen

Chapter 885
The evening of July 2002, 5
Game [-] of the Western Conference Semifinals kicks off at the Staples Center.

With O'Neal absent, the Lakers have only Kobe to rely on, and Los Angeles fans are counting on him to save the team.

After a year, Kobe, who is diligent and more entertaining, has attracted many fans. O'Neal's big mouth and being defeated by Mo Mengchen in the finals for two consecutive years disappointed the fans. They need a brand new hero.

Is there anyone more suitable than Kobe?

Young, aggressive, just like Michael Jordan back then.

You know, Michael Jordan is so far the only player who has beaten Mo Mengchen for two consecutive years. If Kobe can become Jordan, they can beat the Pistons.

Lakers fans have big dreams, but reality finally wakes them up from their dreams.

The final whistle blew.

108 is better than 95
The Lakers at home lost to the Kings by 13 points.

Although Kobe scored a game-high 42 points, the Kings were unstoppable when Nowitzki and Tracy McGrady teamed up.

The dream of a champion is broken.The hearts of the Lakers are scattered, as if the championship should be awarded to them.O'Neal was injured, Kobe couldn't support himself, and the role players had their own thoughts.

Kobe Bryant couldn't break through layers of double-teams.The king finally got his revenge and defeated the OK Lakers, which is comparable to climbing Mount Everest for them.

At the end of the game, McGrady slammed his jersey off, and it felt as exciting as if they had won the finals.

Kobe sat on the bench, tears welling up in his eyes, and the photographer clearly recorded this shot.This is the first time Kobe has cried in public on the court.

Is he crying over this failure?
Maybe, but not all.

If he can't lead the team to victory, the boss battle between him and O'Neal will not end. He missed the opportunity to prove himself and wasted the efforts of this whole year.

For him, this is really unacceptable.

In another set of Western Conference semifinals, the Spurs and Trail Blazers played to the end, narrowly winning by 2 points, and successfully advanced to the Western Conference Finals.

Different from the suffocating atmosphere in the West, the Eastern Conference has already decided the opponent team in the conference finals.

The Pistons and 76ers are the two mountains in the East.

Before the start of the divisional finals, the league announced the winners of the major awards of the season.

Mo Mengchen was the biggest winner.

Scoring leader, assists leader, first team of the year and second defense of the year.

This is the third consecutive year that he has been selected to the first team of the year, and it is also the first time in his career that he has been selected to the best defensive team. Although it is the second team, it is also an affirmation of him.

Hill of the same team squeezed out Kevin Garnett to be selected for the first team of the year, but lost to Garnett and Duncan in the competition of the first defense of the year, and was selected for the second defense of the year.

A team has two outside super giants with both offense and defense. This is the configuration of the 90s Bulls.

In addition to Mo Mengchen and Hill, the appearance of another person made Joe Dumas suffer a lot of criticism.

Ben Wallace was strongly elected Defensive Player of the Year, First Defense of the Year and Most Improved Player.

In other words, Big Ben is recognized as the NBA's No. 2001 defensive player in the 2002-[-] season, and the Pistons let go of the NBA's best defensive player without any gains.

Just for...well, a big luxury tax.

Wallace has always wanted to stay in the Pistons, but he wants a maximum salary contract, which is an affirmation of his ability, and the Pistons do not want to give it. The outside world interprets this behavior as saving money-in fact, it is because they want to switch to Princeton-but in From the perspective of others, the Pistons don't need to save money. They have already made a lot of money from advertising and sponsors in the past few years, and signed a record broadcast contract. Sometimes, the Pistons have to spend a sum of money to relieve those losing teams.

Obviously rich, but give up the Defensive Player of the Year for the luxury tax?
Joe Dumas was originally in a good mood, drinking happy water in the office, looking at unscrupulous documents, listening to compliments from sycophants, carefree, his life was so leisurely and comfortable that he once thought he was living in a dream In the middle of the day, I complained all day that doing things was not challenging, and hoped for some excitement.

No, here comes the excitement.

Dumars was collectively ridiculed by the media outside of Detroit.As for their own media, they don't ridicule. What they say is more serious than ridicule. If they are polite, they call Dumas a miser, and if they are ugly, they directly greet their IQ.

Dumas couldn't tell.

What can he say?I could only endure it in silence, and wait until night to call Mo Mengchen to complain.

Letting Wallace go was the unanimous decision of Dumars and Mo Mengchen, and now it has been proved that this decision is not wrong. It seems that the Pistons are losing money. If Wallace stays, he will definitely not be able to find a role under the Princeton system. , and the indirect rebounding system in the Pistons will shrink his stats by more than half, and he will no longer have the opportunity to let the world know how good his defense is.

If he stayed in the Pistons, he could not have achieved these honors.

Letting him go can be said to be a win-win for both parties, but the Pistons seem to be at a loss, after all, they didn't get anything.

Mo Mengchen expressed deep sympathy for Dumas, and after hanging up the phone, he couldn't help laughing.

After that, the Western Conference Finals started first.

The king's running and bombing faced the Spurs' twin towers. The king played the running and bombing team's demeanor. It was a different kind of running and bombing from the Pistons. It was quite free, and the superstars could play as they wanted.

However, it is generally believed that Bruce Bowen's stepping on Arenas was a key point that changed the trend of the game.

It was the third quarter of the game. After Arenas scored two consecutive three-pointers, Bowen defended in front of him.

His defense has reached the extreme, and Arenas made a strong three-pointer. This time, it's a bad thing.

The moment he landed, Arenas stepped on Bowen's feet.

Bowen acted innocent, and the Spurs were outraged.

"If I could play, I would break his feet! I promise I will!" Popovich couldn't control his temper, and slammed Bowen's dirty moves after the game.

"Popovich has always been a coach I respect very much. It is regrettable to hear him say that. I didn't mean it. The video of the game can testify. Doesn't the referee not impose additional penalties on me? Doesn't that explain the problem?" Povich's response outraged fat guys all over San Antonio.

A scolding war between Sacramento and San Antonio began.

What could be more ironic than this scene?Bole and Maxima in the previous life are now enemies.

The West played a story just after the opening, so how can the East lag behind?

April 5

The curtain opened in Detroit.

Empire Axis Arena
The Pistons and 76ers have met in the Eastern Conference Finals for two consecutive years.

Mo Mengchen and Hill walked to the midfield, stepped on the team logo that they defended to the death, and shook hands with Duncan and Iverson.

"I hope that when the game is over, I can see your tears form a bridge." Iverson said to Mo Mengchen.

"If I cry, it will be for you." Mo Mengchen held Iverson's hand tightly, "You are a group of worthy opponents."

Hearing this, Hill could hardly hold back his laughter.

After all, the two groups of people turned around and retreated.

After playing the last game with the Pistons before the All-Star weekend, the 76ers realized that the lineup was insufficient and sought reinforcements at the No. 1 position, but failed.

Because apart from Duncan and Iverson, their book lineup is extremely lacking in talent, and there are no hot items that other teams want, so naturally they can't do business.

Now, they have to play with an obviously flawed lineup and the Pistons.

Iverson, Snow, Mark Halperin, Coleman and Duncan versus the Pistons' Mo Mengchen, Ginobili, Hill, Rasheed and Curry.

Duncan is in charge of the jump ball.

Curry stood in front of Shifo, and suddenly found a strange smile on the other's face-a superstar like Tim Duncan would never laugh for no reason. Is there any deep meaning?

Curry frowned thoughtfully. Just as he was wandering in the sky, the referee threw the ball into the air, and then the ball was shot away by Duncan.

"What are you doing?" Mo Mengchen shouted.

When Curry reacted, the 76ers' offense had already hit beyond their own three-point line. Iverson swayed left and right, simply and neatly. Although Mo Mengchen's footsteps were fast, he couldn't keep up with his straight-line acceleration. The space was too small , making it easier for the side with the ball to attack.

In a blink of an eye, the ferocious flames turned into offensive blades. Iverson scored a layup and scored the first goal of the Eastern Conference Finals.

(End of this chapter)