lakers championship

Chapter 253 Attitude Determines Everything

As the saying goes, the nature of the country is easy to change, and Cousins ​​is easy to create conflicts in the locker room. Whether it is intentional or unintentional, direct or indirect, it still happened, and it happened at a critical moment in the playoffs.

Originally, under the influence of Tianyang, he had changed somewhat, and now he has returned to before liberation.

ESPN, NBATV, Sports Illustrated and other media's official Twitters forwarded it one after another. In just 2 minutes, fans who followed the NBA all over the world learned the news.

Fans took a quick look and thought it was fake news. After all, the five-year $13 contract that Cousins ​​signed with the Kings in 5 did not include any player options. The initiative was in the hands of the Lakers. No matter what choice Cousins ​​made It must be approved by the Lakers management first.

But it is still possible to think about it later. After all, there are many players in the league who will do anything to get a big contract. For example, Boozer, after tricking the Cavaliers into canceling his rookie contract, immediately signed a fat contract with the Jazz.

Boozer is kind. Some players are dissatisfied with the management, and they don’t meet with the team staff directly, forcing the team to trade them somewhere. Cousins ​​did this when he called the Lakers. Son, no matter what tricks come out of play, everyone will not be surprised.

Soon, the fans were divided into two factions, one faction supported Cousins ​​to get the maximum salary, and the other faction opposed it.

Support one side, expressing that Cousins ​​scored 22 points, 11 rebounds and 4 blocks against the Spurs, which fully reflects the dominance of the first center. It is unreasonable not to get the top salary for such statistics. You must know that the Cavaliers can do TT8+8 With an average annual salary of 1600 million US dollars, Cousins' data has nearly tripled.

Opponents said that Cousins ​​was able to get a double-double, which was entirely due to the SkyOcean and Lakers system. Those scores were exchanged for Randall and Ingram, and the same effect could be achieved. The greatest value of Cousins ​​​​is to contain other players. The team's inside line, to prevent other teams' inside lines from double-teaming Tianyang, the ideal price should be 2200 million US dollars a year.

The dispute between the two sides did not show a one-sided trend, but intensified.

……

On the morning of May 5, the Lakers finished regular training, and Kupchak interviewed Cousins.

The two closed the door in the office and talked openly.

Cousins' first question was asking whether the management would give a maximum salary. Kupchak said that he would wait until the end of the 18-year contract to talk about it. There is still one year in between, and there are too many things that may happen.

Cousins ​​agreed, and then asked if he could get more shot rights. Kupchak said that he could not make the decision, and everything must be implemented according to the tactical arrangements of Coach Wharton, and as the general manager, he has no right to interfere.

Cousins ​​was noncommittal, saying that he didn't know about the incident that his agent broke the news to WOJ, and he would not do it again in the future. He would try his best to defend himself according to SkyOcean's proposal, and prove his strength and attitude to the world.

Kupchak said yes, but immediately after the conversation, Jim Buss was informed that an extra plan would be made in case of a contingency.

……

On social networks, discussions about Cousins ​​gradually disappeared with the arrival of the fourth game between the Lakers and the Spurs.

Before the game, the Spurs' official tweet showed that Manu would be the starting shooting guard in Game [-].

Once the news came out, the fans realized that Popovich had decided to give up.

Manu's starting is not a change in pursuit of a comeback, but a compensation for his never starting in the Spurs for 13 years. After all, he is old and is very likely to retire after the season is over.

When the game really started, Wharton also made arrangements, arranging for Tianyang to match up with Manu as much as possible.

Not to take advantage, but to pay the utmost respect to Manu.

Sure enough, Manu may have considered that it was the last battle of his career, and he played with all his strength without reservation, using the attribute of "20 minutes of Jordan" to the fullest. In the current game, Tianyang and its opponents have two quarters, and it is hard to tell the winner, but the Spurs are still behind the Lakers as a whole.

In the end, the Lakers swept the Spurs 4-0 and advanced to the Western Conference Finals.

The moment the final whistle sounded, Popovich hugged Wharton with a smile on his face, then took the initiative to go on the court, pulled Tianyang and said: "Enjoy your victory, I hope you can go further. "

The Lakers jumped from the bottom one in the Western Conference last season and the second bottom in the league to become a participant in the Western Conference Finals, which is beyond everyone's imagination. Even though the Lakers have advanced, the media and fans still find it unbelievable.

At the press conference after the game, the reporters thought that the entire Lakers team would be extremely excited, and there must be a lot of mutual praise. They thought that only Walton and Nick Young were present, and they only briefly summarized without any sign of celebration.

The reporters were unhappy and went to the locker room, only to find that Tianyang and Ingram were not there.

Under questioning from the reporter, McGee told the truth: the two have to train until 10 o'clock every day, the purpose is to keep their bodies in the game state.

The reporters didn't believe it, and ran to the court again. It turned out that the two were indeed training, not just shooting casually, but defending each other and practicing breakthroughs.

The attitude of the two completely shocked the reporters present.

When the news spread to social networks, the fans were equally astonished and tweeted and sighed.

"I've been watching the NBA for some years, and I've seen many hardworking guys. Tianyang and Ingram are the two most hardworking. In addition, I'm very curious, will they practice more in private and secretly surpass each other?"

"It's too ruthless! I've seen extra training after losing, but I haven't seen extra training after winning. If they win the championship, wouldn't they go to the weight room to celebrate?"

"Tianyang and Ingram have terrible talents and extremely terrifying self-discipline ability. The Lakers have a bright future and will definitely win the championship in less than five years, but they are still dominated by the Warriors now!"

The last tweet emerged from the piles of praise tweets and was recognized by many fans. The originally harmonious discussion turned into a debate again.

Fans who support the Warriors believe that the Lakers have shown absolute dominance in the playoffs, with two consecutive rounds of 4-0, which can be described as the best.But at the same time, the Warriors also defeated the Blazers 4-0 in the first round and the Jazz 4-0 in the second round.Every game is basically a big victory. The average playing time of Curry, Durant, Thompson, and Green is about 5 minutes less than that of the Lakers Tianyang, Ingram, Randall, and Cousins. Definitely better than the Lakers.

Fans who support the Lakers believe that the Warriors' core playing time is short because the Trail Blazers and Jazz are not as strong as the Rockets and Spurs.

……

At 5 am on May 3, the entire Lakers team landed at Oakland International Airport.

As soon as Tianyang walked out of the airport, a tabloid reporter who couldn't get the interview permission shouted provocatively: "The Warriors will sweep you, you will never win, think about signing summer!".

Generally speaking, Tianyang would not pay attention to such people, but this tabloid reporter was a little more innovative than those who only shouted 'the warriors will beat you'. He stopped, turned around and asked, "Then who do you think Join us to defeat the Warriors?"

When the tabloid reporter saw Tianyang's reply, he immediately shouted: "LeBron James."

Tianyang smiled and did not make any comments, but started another topic and said, "Do you know my attitude? My attitude is that the Lakers' current lineup can beat the Warriors!"

(End of this chapter)