Chapter 1153 1152. Defeat the Two Texas Heroes!
129 to 112, the Hawks beat the Mavericks and won four consecutive games.
Liu Mang was a little disappointed that he didn't see the Mavericks at the end. The Western Conference in this time and space is very different from the original time and space, and Liu Mang couldn't predict what the result would be in the Western Conference.
The Spurs, who didn't feel slack even though they didn't win the championship, Kobe, who got a super center in his peak period, and the Mavericks, who are still strong, which team will laugh at the end? Anyway, the Hawks' last ten games against two of these three teams will definitely be the last match of the season.
However, the Mavericks gave up strategically, which Liu Mang had expected after the score difference was widened to 21 points.
The Mavericks' strategic abandonment is understandable. The coaches brought up by old Nelson are relatively utilitarian and calculating. Popovich and young general Johnson both consider the team's playoffs. If it does not affect their playoff rankings, they will even take the initiative to lose. For example, in the original time and space, the Mavericks finally let the Warriors into the playoffs in the 06-07 season and did not want to play the Clippers in the "peak period" of those two years...
Revenge against the Mavericks, the Hawks won 4 consecutive victories.
The day after the game, the Hawks immediately flew to San Antonio, where they will rest for a night and challenge the Spurs on the 31st.
66 wins and 7 losses, 73 games played, and there are still nine games before the playoffs. The Hawks' playoff atmosphere is getting stronger and stronger.
In the afternoon in San Antonio, Liu Mang, McGrady, Calderon, and Iguodala, the four main ball handlers, were called to the hotel conference room by the coaching staff to discuss the playoff issues with the coaching staff.
The Hawks have already secured the first place in the league. Although there is still a small goal in the regular season, the focus is on the playoffs. Once there is any problem at the end of the regular season, the Hawks coaching staff will decisively give up the goal of breaking the historical record and focus on the playoffs.
The start time of the Hawks' playoffs has been determined. They will play the first playoff game of the season against the eighth-ranked team in the Eastern Conference on April 21 as the playoff opener.
As for the eighth-ranked opponent, the Hawks are not particularly concerned. The focus is on the second round and the Eastern Conference Finals opponent.
The opponent in the Eastern Conference Finals is most likely the Heat. The Pistons are now purely relying on a strong lineup and are still rooted in the third place in the Eastern Conference. It seems difficult to win the Heat, who were heavily reinforced last summer.
As for the opponent in the second round, it is really hard to say.
The main reason is that Liu Mang thinks the Cavaliers will not be too bad in the playoffs. No matter who ranks fourth in the Eastern Conference between the 76ers and the Nets, Liu Mang does not think they have a sure win.
Liu Mang was deeply impressed by James in the original time and space. He had never been eliminated in the first round. In his first playoff game in his career, he beat Arenas psychologically. Arenas had already led the team to the second round in the 04-05 season in the original time and space.
However, the 76ers and the Nets are not the Wizards. Iverson and Kidd are not so fragile. In addition, Iverson's playing style has changed and Webber, who averaged 20+9+3 at the end of his peak, and Kidd has Carter who is not injured.
Even if James usually performs better in the playoffs than in the regular season, Liu Mang cannot predict the result of the Cavaliers meeting these two teams.
The coaching staff of the Hawks did not want to guess the goal of the playoffs through a simple meeting. It is not like there are no upsets in the NBA.
There will be many such meetings, and they will definitely come every three or five days. They will be determined at the end of the regular season, and if there are any changes in the playoffs, they will immediately adjust according to the changes.
…
On the last day of March, after resting for a night in San Antonio, the Hawks came to the ATT Center to prepare for the game against the Spurs.
As for the Spurs, the schedule at the end of the season is not so friendly. When the Hawks came to San Antonio yesterday, they had just gone to New Orleans to play the Hornets. They won the game and increased their wins to 55, further consolidating their first place in the West. But today, they will return to their home court and face the challenge of the Hawks.
At the end of the season, the Hawks finally enjoyed the feeling of the early season when all the opponents had a terrible schedule and they could easily deal with it.
The schedule was loose at the beginning, tight in the middle and loose at the end. After getting through the most difficult stage, the sky is wide and the sea is wide!
Popovich felt that Liu Mang's continuous evolution year after year was incomprehensible.
How can someone keep improving?
In Liu Mang's rookie season, Popovich wanted to bring him into the team. He originally wanted to use the same trick that the Wizards used to dig Arenas, but in the summer of 2003, the Hawks announced that they had extended Liu Mang's rookie contract for one year. This practice was the first time in NBA history after the salary cap and bird rights clauses were introduced. No team was willing to sacrifice their wallets in that way.
Even the Rockets' initial offer to Yao Ming was not a maximum salary. Until Yao Ming's showdown in the negotiation, the Rockets still expected Yao Ming not to renew his contract with a maximum salary...
The Hawks would rather let Liu Mang get a maximum salary from the fourth year, and a long-term maximum salary, and would rather give Liu Mang a second contract that is higher than other teams can give, similar to Arenas's contract, and give Liu Mang an extra salary of almost 50% more than what he can get from other teams every year, in order to keep Liu Mang. Popovich knew that it was impossible to get Liu Mang.
Now Popovich feels that he still underestimated his original expectations for Liu Mang.
The last time they played, Liu Mang's miraculous three-pointer made Popovich feel like he would be killed by 39 seconds every time he played against Liu Mang...
...
At 6:30 in the evening, the game between the Hawks and the Spurs officially began.
This time, it was finally the Hawks' turn to play as the more well-prepared team. The Spurs played back-to-back games and had almost no time to prepare.
After the game started, the Spurs were afraid of Liu Mang's three-pointer and defended very tightly. Liu Mang used his three-pointer threat to get many opportunities to break through to mid-range jump shots, forcing the Spurs to start double-teaming him in the mid-range.
If you defend Liu Mang's three-pointer, you can't defend Liu Mang's breakthrough. If you just let Liu Mang go to the three-pointer position where he is not particularly good at, Liu Mang is not like before the game with the Spurs, he was still concerned about efficiency. He was forced to shoot at the three-point point where he was not particularly good at! If he scored, he won, and if he didn't score, he just defended.
Playing against the Spurs, Liu Mang played more and more recklessly!
As the Spurs played, they were forced into the same mode as they had faced Nowitzki and Kobe. Either they were double-teamed and passed to death in the mid-range, or they were shot to death by Liu Mang in the mid-range.
After the All-Star Weekend, Liu Mang's shooting became better and better, and his condition became better and better. Part of the reason was that his physical talent was strengthened. Although the training in the middle of the season did not improve his mid-range shooting, it made him maintain the stability of his mid-range shooting better.
In addition to Liu Mang, Jason Terry, who was in good condition, also shot well today. Tracy McGrady, who hated Duncan for not going to the Magic and had no wins in the 7-game losing streak against the Spurs during the Magic period, also went crazy today.
Liu Mang had almost no three-point opportunities, but he had many mid-range shooting opportunities. If he was double-teamed, he would pass the ball. If he was not double-teamed, he would decisively play one-on-one mid-range singles. He made 11 of 21 shots, 7 mid-range shots, 1 three-pointer, 3 layups, 5 of 6 free throws, and 28 points in the whole game. In addition, he had 12 assists!
McGrady had more three-point opportunities. His height advantage was obvious. When he wanted to play, any position was a three-point opportunity. He made 5 of 11 three-pointers and 8 of 16 shots, scoring 23 points steadily.
Jason Terry also scored 21 points, and the three eagles scored 72 points together!
The three eagles were accurate in mid-range and long-range shots. The Spurs' defense focused mainly on the perimeter defense. Liu Mang passed a lot of balls to Kwame Brown, Josh Smith, and Iguodala who cut in. The Hawks took advantage of the Spurs' weakness and pressed the Spurs from the beginning.
On the Spurs side, although Duncan's smile was still warm, Ginobili, who was in poor physical condition, played very badly in this game. Although he was a super nervous knife, he was still a nervous knife. He often played badly. In this game, Ginobili only made 2 of 9 shots against Prince and only scored 5 points.
Even though Duncan stably scored 27 points and 12 rebounds, and also got 6 assists, Sprewell and Finley both scored 15 points, they were unable to save the defeat.
Parker scored 6 points with 2 of 7 shots, and Ginobili scored 5 points with 2 of 9 shots. It was too much for the Spurs. No matter how well the role players performed, two of the three core players only scored 11 points in total. The other Spurs players were also very good, and all three main scorers scored more than 20 points!
109 to 91, the Hawks easily defeated the Spurs and won 5 consecutive games.
67 wins and 7 losses, 8 games left!
…
The Mavericks and Spurs were successively beaten by the Hawks, which made the fans who had high expectations for these two teams to beat the Hawks feel a little overwhelmed!
The Hawks have won 67 games!
The Hawks only need to win 5 of the next 8 games to tie the Bulls' record, and 6 games to break the record!
The media naturally found Boss Joe, who was trying to buy most of the Bobcats' shares by lowering the price while the team was weak.
Boss Joe didn't look very good during the interview, but he still managed a smile: "Records will always be broken by someone. My six championships, two three-peat championships, and six Finals MVPs will be broken one day, so I don't feel worried at all. Instead, I hope to see this scene. I hope that my six Finals MVPs will be broken one day."
After playing against the Spurs, Liu Mang returned to Atlanta the next day. He finally had a good rest for two days. On the 3rd, he played the last regular season match against the Cavaliers this season.
So Liu Mang saw Boss Joe frantically hinting at his six Finals MVPs while drinking afternoon tea...
Boss Joe's look, any normal person can see that Boss Joe is very angry.
But Liu Mang can't care about the teacher's thoughts. Challenging the strongest is the most refreshing.
Next, there are games against the Cavaliers, 76ers, Suns, and Lakers. 4 games in 11 days, a wonderful schedule.
Liu Mang finally has enough time to study his opponents and prepare.
On April 1, Liu Mang returned to Atlanta and rejected ESPN's invitation to him to record a live show. This year, he really doesn't have the heart to care about those things. 73 wins are important!
Boss Joe's 1995-1996 star card, Liu Mang wants to drool when he thinks of it.
…
…
On April 2, the day before the fourth match between the Hawks and the Cavaliers this season, James and his teammates came to this sad city.
It's time to play against the Hawks again. James feels like a beautiful flower growing in the cold wind, with an uncontrollable beauty. There are always people who want to play with him...
Go home after get off work. Tonight is over. Go to bed early and come steadily. Tomorrow, I will continue to update four chapters with at least 12,000~Please recommend and monthly votes~