Chapter 1196 1195. The Future Is Yours

In the past three years, the Cavaliers and Hawks have played against each other 12 times in the regular season, and James has participated in 10 of them. The Cavaliers have lost 12 consecutive games against the Hawks. Including the 2002-03 season, the total is 14 consecutive losses. The last time the Cavaliers defeated them The Eagles were still in the midst of civil strife within the Eagles.

After that, the Cavaliers never defeated the Hawks again... In fact, except for the Cavaliers, many teams have not defeated the Hawks since the 2003-04 season.

The winning numbers for three consecutive seasons are 70-68-73.

This is one of them.

The second is that every time Liu Mang plays against James, he tries his best to bully James.

Coupled with the long-planned and repeatedly considered strategy to defend James, the Cavaliers are at a loss...

The words of ESPN's beautiful writer gave James a great encouragement and stimulated public opinion.

Fans have always been very tolerant towards young players, especially towards a third-year player like James who is only 21 years old and has already led the team to the playoffs and scored 30+7+7.

Only 21 years old, there are too few people who can perform like James. Jordan has not even entered the NBA at this time.

Compared with Kobe's second team and first defense when he was 21 years old, James is barely comparable.

The only one who could perform better than Liu Mang at the age of 21 was Magic Johnson, who won the championship MVP almost exactly one year earlier than Liu Mang.

ESPN forced a rhythm and guided the direction of public opinion.

Not many people thought the Cavaliers had a chance to win, so it was easy to take the lead.

The only difference is that when there was no one to guide public opinion, James couldn't see the words to comfort him, and his little heart would be even more intolerable. Now that there is someone to guide him, he can see the words to comfort him.

The news on the night of the game and the content of what the fans said were all saying that James and Liu Mang were far behind and would never catch up.

Although the direction of public opinion has changed, the fans still say the same things, but the tone is different, and the senses of the people watching are very different.

Everyone likes encouragement, not ridicule.

James saw that the whole world was encouraging him. Although he felt strange when he saw Liu Mang's words and thought of some unknown things and became more confused, his mentality improved a lot.

On May 9th, the second game of the series between the Eagles and the Cavaliers.

James seemed very motivated from the beginning of the game and really tried his best!

However, the effect is still average. James's technical shortcomings will not improve overnight because he is more diligent and encouraged by more people. There are still areas that the Eagles can take advantage of.

In the second game, Liu Mang scored 30 points, 9 rebounds and 6 assists, McGrady had 17 points, 3 rebounds and 10 assists, Jason Terry had 14 points, Josh Smith had 13 points and 6 rebounds, Korver had 13 points, and Kwame had 13 points. -Brown had 8 points and 11 rebounds. The Hawks defeated the Cavaliers 115-91 and won two consecutive victories, leading 2-0.

James made 7 of 26 shots in this game and scored 23 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists...

James' statistics are more and more similar to Liu Mang's impression of James, who was swept by the Spurs in the 2006-07 Finals, and even worse...

He played very hard, but in the face of the Eagles' increasingly proficient defensive strategy, James' performance was not as good as in the first game. The Eagles are in a good situation!

…

On the 12th, after two days of rest, the Hawks started their third game against the Cavaliers in Cleveland.

Big Z, who only scored 10 points in the first two games combined, had a small explosion today, scoring 26 points and 12 rebounds, beating Kwame Brown, mainly because his mid-range shot was very accurate.

However, it didn't make much difference to the Cavaliers. The Eagles steadily suppressed the Cavaliers.

Moreover, Big Z exerted more force on the offensive end, and his physical fitness began to decline on the defensive end. Kwame Brown scored 20 points and 8 rebounds. Kwame Brown did not do very well in rebounding today, but Kwame Brown can watch on the offensive end. This offset the 26 points that Big Z worked so hard to score. The Cavaliers were loose inside and not only Kwame Brown scored easily.

Although James returned to the home court and scored his first 30+ points in the second round, scoring 31 points, 6 rebounds and 2 assists on 12 of 27 shots from the field, playing the most efficient game, the number of assists was getting less and less. .

The mentality of the Cavaliers players has collapsed!

Liu Mang scored 25 points, 7 rebounds and 6 assists, along with Kwame Brown's 20 points, McGrady's 17 points and 7 assists, and Jason Terry's 19 points. Four of the Eagles scored in double figures, winning 97-89 on the road. , the steady lead was maintained until the end.

3-0, the Eagles had no surprises in the second round and firmly won the match point 3-0!

…

…

When that report came out, although it gave comfort and hope to Cavaliers fans and James, it actually sounded the death knell for most of the Cavaliers players.

No one believed they could win, and they didn’t believe it themselves. In the third game, it seemed a little more difficult for the Hawks to win, only winning by 8 points. But that was the result of Big Z and James’ refusal to give up. The Cavaliers had a total of 89 Among them, James and Big Z scored 57 points. Counting Larry Hughes's 13 points, these three people all scored 70 points, and the others combined for only 19 points.

The Cavaliers' 70 million-plus lineup is already the salary that a championship-level team should have at this time. The Hawks' 70 million-plus salary this season, if the Hawks win this season, will already be the highest-paid champion in NBA history so far.

But most of the players in the Cavaliers' 70 million-plus lineup are players with expired contracts from other teams, that is, they are players with outstanding performance in the contract year, and they collapsed after getting the big contract.

James' "useless teammates" is confirmed...

After the argument of "James paying tuition" appeared in the first game, although the ratings of the game between the Hawks and the Cavaliers were high, the fans watched it calmly and calmly.

The fans of the other three rounds of the series were relatively not so calm and quarreled a lot.

The series between the Nets and the Heat has always been very tense. Kidd is very competitive as long as he can enter the playoffs. In the first four games, the Nets tied the Heat 2-2, especially in the fourth game, when the Heat was about to win at the last moment, but Kidd and Carter connected, and Carter made an alley-oop buzzer-beater with 0.6 seconds, and the Nets tied the score to 2-2.

The Lakers led the Suns 3-1. Liu Mang saw that the Lakers led the Suns 3-1 in the 2006 playoffs, and began to cheer for the Suns silently... 1-3 overturning the Lakers is Nash's standard reversal!

But... facing the Lakers with Yao Ming, the Suns are a bit miserable.

Don't say Yao Ming went to the Lakers. When Yao Ming was in the Rockets, the Suns couldn't do anything with Yao Ming. The Suns were so amazing last season, but they were defeated by the Rockets 3-1 in the regular season.

The most intense matchup was between the Mavericks and the Spurs. The Spurs lost the first game, 87 to 89, because Nowitzki, who scored 35 points and 15 rebounds, was blown away. Nowitzki's rebounding in the playoffs was simply explosive.

However, in the second game, Duncan returned 30 points and 20 rebounds to Nowitzki, and the Spurs beat the Mavericks 92 to 77.

After the third game between the Hawks and the Cavaliers, the Mavericks returned to their home court to play the third game with the Spurs. The Mavericks gave back the home advantage they had grabbed. Ginobili made a three-pointer to kill the Mavericks, and the Spurs beat the Mavericks 106 to 104, making the score 2 to 1.

…

…

The other three series were all very interesting. The series between the Suns and the Lakers were all interesting. The Suns scored 122 points in one game and won the Lakers by 24 points. If they can continue to explode, there will still be suspense.

On May 14, the fourth game of the series between the Hawks and the Cavaliers was already regarded by fans as the end of James' first playoff journey.

And it was indeed so.

In the first three games, Liu Mang was still holding back on the offensive end. I don't know why McGrady was so excited about the playoffs this year and played very hard, both on offense and defense. Liu Mang was also happy to give the ball to the players and just shoot and defend according to the established defensive strategy.

But in the fourth game, seeing that the Cavaliers were about to be swept, Liu Mang couldn't hold back his excitement and exploded in the first quarter!

18 points in a single quarter!

Liu Mang scored two three-pointers in the first quarter of this game, and then took advantage of James's tight defense to break through to the basket. He dared to force himself against Big Z, or he went to the inside to layup or caused a foul after a successful shot. In the first quarter, Liu Mang made 6 of 10 shots, 3 of 5 three-pointers, and 3 of 4 free throws, and scored 18 points in a single quarter!

The Cavaliers had completely collapsed. James was still fighting. After all, he was a young top star with ambition. He was unwilling to give up. However, James' best helper Larry Hughes was not playing well. Big Z fought hard in the last game, but he was weak today.

At the end of the first half, Liu Mang scored 30 points, 4 rebounds and 2 assists. The Hawks were already 71 to 44, leading by 27 points.

71 points in the first half was also the highest score of the Hawks against the Cavaliers. The Cavaliers had strong defense, but they did a good job in defense in the first three games, but they disappeared in the fourth game.

The game was played into garbage time in the first half!

The Cavaliers struggled in the third quarter, and after the score difference was widened to 30 points, they raised the white flag!

After Liu Mang scored 11 points in the third quarter, he was also replaced.

41 points, 6 rebounds and 2 assists, Liu Mang scored 40+ for the first time in the playoffs this year!

Unlike Miami, no one in Cleveland left the court until the end of the game. They knew they would lose after the first game, but they still didn't leave.

James finished the third quarter with 15 points and 4 assists before being replaced. Due to some off-court factors, his mentality was very peaceful, but he was completely at a loss.

There was no room for struggle!

To make a comparison, it was like James excitedly entered the finals in 2007, but was beaten bald by the opponent.

James averaged 24 points, 6 rebounds and 4 assists in this series, which looked good, but his hit rate was 34%...

James felt that he was good at nothing...

James never thought that he could become a player like Liu Mang. He firmly believed in one thing, that is, he believed in his physical fitness. He and Liu Mang were not the same type of players. Liu Mang needed more technology to have such strength and to play such data, but James didn't need it. He could easily maintain an average of 27+7+7 with his body.

But now, James has thoroughly felt the importance of technology. When the physical style of play is restrained by the opponent, as long as there is a proficient ability, whether it is a three-pointer, a mid-range shot, or a better footwork under the basket, not only can he use the rules, the situation will not be like this, and he will not be suppressed so badly.

However, James thought of Liu Mang's three-pointer history No. 1, his technology is getting better and better every year, and it is the kind of progress that can be seen with the naked eye, and he is getting closer and closer to the point where his offensive technology is 360 degrees without dead ends.

James thought of himself... very confused, his technology seems to be 360 ​​degrees without dead ends...

Finally, the series is over! The Hawks beat the Cavaliers 131 to 95, a 36-point difference, and swept 4 to 0!

After the game, Liu Mang came to the court and James followed him. The two teams had no hatred, and there was no way to sweep, because the strength gap was too big.

Liu Mang went up to hug James and said, "LeBron, you have to believe that sadness is inevitable. You are inevitably feeling extremely frustrated and even starting to doubt your life, but it doesn't matter, the future is yours."

After Liu Mang hugged James, who looked confused, he turned around and left.

James was encouraged to see Liu Mang comforting him like a "warm big brother" after the game.

"The future is mine... Wait, Ace seems to be only two years and four months older than me?"