Chapter 525: Prelude to the Storm

Winning G1 is equivalent to winning this series, which is the consensus of almost everyone in the league.

The Lakers had already played their strengths to the extreme in the first game, so the failure brought them not only a score, but also suffocating psychological pressure, while it brought the Supersonics a kind of smooth road after climbing over the top of the mountain.

The mentality and state of mind of each other are immediately judged, which will only make the next game more and more difficult for the Lakers.

Sure enough, in the second game G2, the Supersonics, who had the home advantage in the God Arena, were full of momentum, while the Lakers were somewhat tired after the peak of prosperity.

The Supersonics focused on Nash's defensive loophole on the offensive end, and relied on Sakuragi Hanamichi's restriction on Kobe and Lin Dong's blockade of Nash on the defensive end, forcing the Lakers to only play Odom and Yao Ming.

If we only consider the hit rate, Yao Ming's power under the basket is strong enough, but two major problems are inevitable. First, the offensive method is single. Although Chandler can't bear it, he can greatly increase the difficulty of Yao Ming receiving the ball by defending in front. Second, it is also Yao Ming's most fatal problem, that is, physical strength.

In the first half, he could still rely on sufficient physical strength to compete with the Supersonics for points, but when it came to the second half, Yao Ming's scoring efficiency began to decline as his physical strength gradually declined. Although Kobe occasionally supplemented him, the overall stumbling, and the already insufficient morale was gradually exhausted in this stumbling offense.

The Supersonics always occupied the lead and the initiative on the court. Although they did not kill the Lakers in one wave, the score difference was steadily increasing.

From 32:26 in the first quarter, to 68:57 in the second quarter, and then to 101:83 in the third quarter.

Although the game was still going back and forth, the steady widening of the score difference made the Lakers see no hope at all. By the fourth quarter, Yao Ming was already very tired, and he began to struggle against Chandler under the basket, and even made frequent mistakes. Phil Jackson had to replace Yao Ming with Bynum, trying to use the new force to attack Chandler, and let Yao Ming rest until the last few minutes before trying again.

Unfortunately, Bynum was no match for Chandler at all. After he came on the court, he was beaten by Chandler and Sakuragi Hanamichi on both offense and defense. Once the Lakers lost the inside line, the defensive pressure of the Supersonics was reduced, and the blockade of Kobe and Nash became more extreme, causing the Lakers to collapse. With 5 minutes left in the game, the score difference had reached 27 points. Phil Jackson gave up the plan to let Yao Ming return to the court, and replaced Kobe, Nash, Odom, Christie and other main players collectively and gave up the game.

The final score was 136:112, and the Supersonics completed two consecutive home wins.

Two days later, back at the Stades Center, the Lakers played G3 at home.

Kobe began to gradually adapt to the defensive intensity of Sakuragi Hanamichi, while Nash and Odom played pass control. With a few days of psychological preparation and the advantage of the home stadium, the weathered Lakers regained their vitality.

Coupled with two consecutive wins and the Sonics and Cavaliers finals that have been widely publicized and discussed, the Sonics as a whole inevitably showed some psychological slackness. Of course, there was also interference from the home fans. Iguodala, Chandler and Rukawa frequently missed shots from the outside. The Lakers were suppressed throughout the first half, and they once led the Sonics by nearly ten points.

But in the second half, Lin Dong began to exert his strength. While the Lakers were forced to play three-on-one, the Sonics finally regained their touch in the open space on the outside after being alert.

In the third quarter, Rukawa made 5 of 7 shots, Iguodala made 3 of 4 shots, and Chandler made 2 of 2 shots. Ten 3-pointers in a row really confused the Lakers, and the score was easily recovered.

The Lakers gave up the double-teaming of Lin Dong and turned to block the Sonics' outside line, trying to let Lin Dong score and bombard each other to suppress the Sonics' outside line first, leaving the victory to the last moment.

But Yao Ming's physical problems began to emerge. On the defensive end, he couldn't compete with Sakuragi Hanamichi's rebounds, so Lin Dong began to choose a lot of outside shots.

The 3-point rain continued, but because of the imbalance of mentality and Yao Ming's physical decline, the Lakers began to stumble on the offensive end.

Unable to defend and score, the score difference quickly widened, the Lakers missed the opportunity, and lost G3 again with a difference of 7 points.

The big score of 3:0 in the playoffs has never been reversed in the history of the NBA, although Phil Jackson kept claiming that records are meant to be broken and the Lakers are here to create miracles.

But to be honest, everyone can see that the Lakers have lost their edge, while the Supersonics have linked up internally and externally, as if they have entered a new realm. Now the only suspense is whether the Lakers can defend a home court in Game 4, so that this super team with enough strength to be ranked in the historical rankings can lose less ugly.

The number of fans supporting the Lakers in the United States has increased suddenly, but not out of boredom with the Supersonics, but out of respect for this Lakers team.

Of course, it is also out of wanting to see one more exciting match...

-Come on Lakers! You must win a game anyway!

-Black Mamba is the eternal god! Please win once no matter what!

The night before Game 4, May 21st...

On the other side of the East, the Cavaliers have completed their second round of the series ahead of schedule, defeating the Wizards led by McGrady with a clean 4:0, and all four games were big scores without suspense.

LeBron's perfect integration with the team has enabled the Cavaliers to show absolute dominance on both offense and defense, attracting many anti-Sonics fans to set the pace on the Internet.

Whether it is a specific matchup analysis or a comparison of the strengths and weaknesses of the two teams, the Cavaliers are completely superior to the Supersonics. For a time, the king's spirit was fully revealed, and there was no suspense about aiming for the championship, as if they had already dominated the world.

Facing the Wizards, who have been declining since Jordan, the Cavaliers' main players basically clocked out after three quarters. In addition, O'Neal wanted to embarrass his old club, so he was full of energy as soon as he came on the court, and exploded in every game, destroying the Wizards inside and outside.

McGrady played all four games. While being praised by some people for never giving up, he also became a brush of ridicule in the mouths of many people.

Although McGrady averaged 40+ points per game, which was his best personal playoff performance in this series, most of his points were scored after the Cavaliers' main players left the court. LeBron's one-on-one defense against McGrady was quite effective. McGrady's famous pull-up shot had almost no space to shoot in front of LeBron who had returned from special training.

His reaction was too fast and his physical fitness was too strong. What's more, he was not afraid of your breakthrough. After all, there was O'Neal in the interior and McGrady and Artest on the side to assist in defense. He was very good at targeting and making choices on the defensive end.

In Game 4, McGrady was even defended by LeBron to the point that he only made 5 of 21 shots in the first three quarters, scoring only 12 points and a hit rate of only 23.8%. He was almost defended to death...

The outstanding performance, the blockade of the ace, and the topic of the fateful entanglement between LeBron and Lin Dong for several years have led to the fact that American fans have lost interest in the so-called Eastern and Western Finals. Except for the Game 4 between the Lakers and the Supersonics, the whole country and even the world have begun to debate the finals crazily.

Compared with the Lakers, the Cavaliers have no obvious defensive loopholes to exploit, and their defensive strength is undoubtedly better than that of the Lakers; and with LeBron, Wade, and O'Neal, the three major finishing firepowers, plus Kidd, an organizer who is no less than Nash, the Cavaliers' offensive end is no less than that of the Lakers, or even stronger.

And after LeBron's return, the Lakers showed super stability and overall harmony in both series...

You know, even the Lakers, who are inferior to the Cavaliers in all aspects, once put the Supersonics in a difficult battle. It feels that the Supersonics are slightly stronger than the Lakers, but only to a limited extent. With such a comparison, defeating the Supersonics no longer seems so far-fetched.

One is the Demon King team known as the biggest BOSS in the league, and most of the main members are from mysterious Asia; the other is composed of pure Americans who symbolize freedom and democracy.

The drama of the Brave Dragon Quest has been hyped countless times before, but none of them has been as successful as it is now.

On the one hand, it is certainly because of the uninterrupted dominance of the Supersonics, because of the racial composition of the Supersonics, because the Supersonics are surpassing their three consecutive championships of the God of Basketball... On the other hand, it is indeed because this Cavaliers team has shown strong enough dominance.

A behind-the-scenes public opinion pusher is slowly pushing forward, it has refined countless tentacles, pervasive in every corner of the Internet, and the hot discussion is unprecedented.

More and more people have joined the discussion, and it has begun to become a phenomenal topic, radiating and affecting all walks of life and all ages.

The league's ratings reached 97.5 million in the Lakers and Supersonics G1, and the 100 million ratings mark, which symbolizes the grandest event in the United States, is likely to be broken in the finals!

- Although it was already past 9 o'clock in the evening, Phil Knight was still sitting in his office busy looking at various reports and handling various urgent matters.

When sponsoring the NBA, Phil Knight never thought that this training program, which was developed only for football training in 1891, would become so popular that it would be on par with the most grand event in the United States, the NFL.

The crazy Michael Jordan at that time was far from leading the NBA to its current height.

This huge dividend has greatly increased Nike's sales this year, and has beaten Adidas and Reebok, the two main competitors in North America, to the point where they are about to merge for self-protection.

But the businessman's sense of smell also made him very clear that when he stood at the peak of the storm, it was also the easiest time to fall down.

After all, Lin Dong rejected him, the abominable Asian who should have surpassed Jordan, was short-sighted, and raised the league to the same level as the NFL!

It is necessary to ensure that the Cavaliers defeat the Supersonics in the finals, so that the fruit of the basketball fever led by Lin Dong can be picked!

These days, he has used his voice in the league to constantly mobilize troops, from referees to hosts, from the media to the Internet, from the Internet to various public accounts supporting the Cavaliers, and even Facebook and Twitter, which are very popular among college students recently.

The overwhelming momentum has built up the Cavaliers, so that even if they still need the help of referees at the last moment, with these endorsements, they can maximize the dilution of fans' disgust...

Although Phil Knight thinks that this Cavaliers can beat the Supersonics in terms of strength, after all, they must ensure that there is no room for error!

However... he can also feel some abnormal reactions from the league.

It's not that someone jumped out to obstruct him or oppose him, but everything went too smoothly... Instead, Phil Knight felt that it was not real.

His keen sense of smell always made him feel that something was wrong.

While reviewing the documents, Phil Knight was thinking about this problem that had troubled him for a long time. Until he saw David Stern mentioned in a document, Phil Knight suddenly had an idea.

It seems... because the old man David Stern seemed too quiet?

When he kept reaching out to the league management to ensure safety, with the old man's character, he should have realized that this was a transfer of power and that Nike was trying to abolish his right to speak.

They had dealt with each other for so many years, and Phil Knight knew very well that the old man was extremely eager for power, but he chose to keep silent at this time and let him manipulate the league.

This didn't look like David Stern had plans to retire, but more like...

Phil Knight suddenly frowned and put down the pen in his hand.

David Stern has been a vigorous and resolute person over the years, focusing on results, and his decisive and ruthless actions are often fatal.

Therefore, indulgence and acquiescence at this time are more like a precursor to the coming storm.

It was like he was deliberately letting down his guard, waiting to catch him and strike him deadly!

Where would the trap be?