Chapter 1416 1415. It's Them Again

It has to be said that although Garnett makes fans who don't like him feel disgusted by all his actions.

However, if a group of players who are eager to win have a superstar like him, they will want to be teammates with him very much, because he can change the team culture of a team.

Before getting Garnett, the Bulls were a team full of talent, but they didn't have that kind of toughness, and they didn't have the spirit of fighting to the death.

But now with Garnett, the Bulls have not only become a top team in the league, but even if Garnett is resting due to injury, their players have strong confidence and toughness!

Liu Mang thought he could easily beat the Bulls without Garnett, just like in the past two years, playing casually, after all, they didn't even have Ben Gordon, Chandler, and Eddy Curry.

But...

In this game against the Bulls, the Hawks were beaten 22 to 14 in the first quarter!

The Hawks only scored 14 points in the first quarter!

The Bulls' defensive toughness gave the Hawks, who underestimated their opponents, a wake-up call.

Fortunately, the Hawks coaching staff had a trick up their sleeve. Although the opponent didn't have Garnett, they still used the full main lineup. Originally, the Bulls had a good defensive system and defensive discipline, and they could be used as opponents to practice tactics without Garnett. Unexpectedly, it turned out to be a good idea.

In the second quarter, McGrady showed his strength when Liu Mang was not in good form. He scored 15 points in a single quarter, helping the Hawks to catch up to 38 to 42 before the end of the half, with a difference of only 4 points.

In the third quarter, Jason Terry and Grant Hill scored 20 points together. When Liu Mang performed mediocrely in the first three quarters and only made 3 of 15 shots, the other two of the three Hawks, plus Rondo, Grant Hill, Marion, Kwame Brown and others, helped the Hawks to tie the Bulls with 63 to 63 at the end of the three quarters.

After three quarters of building up his touch, Liu Mang finally found his aim in the fourth quarter. He scored three three-pointers in a row at the beginning of the fourth quarter. The Bulls, without a backbone, were still a little behind. Their offense collapsed in the final quarter. It was not until the fifth minute of the final quarter that they scored their first field goal. They were defeated by the storm in the final quarter set off by Liu Mang.

Liu Mang played 39 minutes in the whole game, made 8 of 23 shots, scored 24 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists, 3 steals, 1 block and 4 turnovers, helping the Hawks to reverse the Bulls with a score of 91 to 77.

Although Liu Mang's shooting was very poor in the first three quarters of this game, it was not without effect. His defense was still good.

Of course, it was thanks to McGrady who scored 15 points in a single quarter, and Jason Terry and Grant Hill who both scored 10 points in a single quarter, otherwise they might have capsized in the gutter.

…

After defeating the Bulls, the Hawks' record became 56 wins and 20 losses. With six games left, they are expected to win 60 games!

The Bulls have 56 wins and 18 losses, and the number of wins has been tied by the Hawks, but they have played two fewer games. The Bulls' opponents in the last few games were not strong. The key is that they did not have Garnett and showed such resilience. They must have a great defensive advantage against weak teams. Liu Mang feels that it is still difficult to catch up with the Bulls' record.

However, Liu Mang does not care about this. It is already very good to have a chance to win 60 games.

What surprised Liu Mang is that there may be five teams that have won 60+ wins this season. In the past, the top four teams in the West have collectively won 55+ wins, and the eighth team in the West has 50 wins, but the total of 5 teams in the East and West with 60+ wins will definitely be the first time in NBA history.

This has a lot to do with the fact that after the Hawks won three consecutive championships, those championship contenders spared no expense to strengthen their championships in order to seize the weak period of the Hawks after the three consecutive championships.

Often after two consecutive championships or three consecutive championships, some stars will be forced to form a group, but at this stage, it is okay. Almost all the stars who actively leave the team to form a group are over 30 years old.

Entering April, the schedule has suddenly gone from hell to heaven...

Pistons, Pacers, 76ers, Heat, Pistons, Bucks.

The opening game of the playoffs is set to be on April 18.

The Hawks' last game at home against the Bucks is on April 16. Six games in 16 days, Liu Mang really can't adapt to it for a while.

There is a game on the 4th, three days of rest from the 1st to the 3rd, the second game on the 7th, the third game on the 9th, and the remaining three games on the 11th, 13th, and 16th.

There are only three games in 10 days. Liu Mang couldn't help but post a photo of himself "Ge You's paralysis" and a picture of the remaining regular season schedule in April on Facebook.

The arrogant Liu Mang once again caused heated discussions.

While other teams are fighting for the playoff rankings, the Hawks have entered the last six games waiting for the playoffs.

Fans on the Internet have ridiculed Liu Mang's behavior, which is clearly a hatred.

On the two days of rest, on the 1st and 2nd, Liu Mang not only trained and played with the two kids and the little girl, but also went to the TV station to record a few episodes of "Details".

The rest days passed quickly, and soon it was April 3rd, and the Hawks began to prepare for the game against the Pistons.

…

"All the main players?" Liu Mang was surprised to see that all the main players would play in the next six games.

"But the schedule in April is so easy, all the main players should be used, for the final run-in for the playoffs, and strive for better chemistry..."

Liu Mang immediately understood the coaching staff's current thinking.

Before he knew it, it was this time again, and it was already the sixth time he was about to start the playoffs. Liu Mang recalled that he had partnered with Dean Grove, Jason Terry, and Emmanuel on the back line before. It seemed like it happened yesterday. When I came back to my senses, I saw that Emmanuel, who was directing the trainers to arrange the training ground, was already a ball...

Over the past few years, Emmanuel has become the leader of the Eagles' training staff. Mainly because Malone and Mark Madsen didn't want to be the so-called leaders, so they let Emanuor do the work of Moron Willie. .

Time flies like water...

In the morning team meeting, the Eagles coaching staff announced the arrangements for the next few games.

As Liu Mang expected, after entering April, it was time to really train for the playoffs.

When training for the playoffs, there will be no rest. Instead, all the main players will be fully rested. After resting to allow the players to fully rest and adjust the players' personal status to the playoff mode as much as possible, now it is time to adjust the team's status to the playoff mode. It's time for playoff mode.

This matter may not seem like anything special, but it is very important.

This is the successful experience that the Hawks have explored over the past few years, and it is also the team's wealth that Liu Mang enjoys. Liu Mang has always felt that the Mavericks' biggest problem this season is that they do not know how to suppress and adjust their state. Young general Johnson When he saw the opportunity to break the team's winning record, he kept his head down and rushed forward.

However, this arrangement means that some inside players such as Mark Jackson, Hollins, Gortat, etc. will not get a chance to play.

Marion, Kwame Brown, David Lee, Gortat, Swift, Mark Jackson, Hollins, a total of seven insiders, and Grant Hill and Granger also appeared most of the time. The power forward position of the Hawks' small lineup has become full of people from the initial weak state of only starting and a few rookies...

The main reason is that there are more people at the center position. Kwame Brown, Gortat, Mark Jackson, and Hollins are all centers. Swift is more suitable to play the center of a small lineup, just like Stoudemire, of course. , is the cliff-jumping version of Stoudemire.

Among those who were not put on the active list by the coaching staff, one was Hollins, which was expected, and the other was Mark Jackson...

Compared with other teams that prefer to use veterans at this stage, Mark Jackson is not much stronger than Gortat. Mark Jackson has reached the end of his career and was not trained by the team. Coach Kruger chose to let Gortat entered the active list for the playoffs.

The Eagles coaching staff often prefers the young players they select to train.

But Liu Mang also likes the arrangement of the coaching staff. As for Mark Jackson...after all, he is not familiar with it...

…

…

"Chauncy, you don't know, I've been so bored these days. I have to rest and rest every day. It's really troublesome."

Billups looked at the pretentious Liu Mang across from him, and really wanted to stab this bastard to death with a fork.

The Pistons played 10 games in 16 days in April, two back-to-back games. Hearing Liu Mang say this made me angry to death!

The Pistons just suffered a defeat in Chicago yesterday and it was a bit difficult to catch up with the Magic. They flew to Atlanta early this morning and played the Bulls in the first back-to-back game last night.

Billups, who had just woken up at noon, received a call from Liu Mang asking him to go out for dinner. Billups was quite happy, but it turned out that this guy just wanted to show off!

"Ace, there's a telephone pole over there." Billups pointed to the telephone pole outside the window.

"Yes, what's wrong?" Liu Mang asked, looking at the telephone pole.

"Take off your clothes and dance while hugging the telephone pole. The police will come and arrest you, and you won't be bored anymore." Billups said calmly.

What a venomous mouth!

Liu Mang didn't expect that this guy would be so cruel once he opened his mouth!

With 38 wins and 36 losses, the Pistons are currently ranked sixth in the Eastern Conference. The gap between them and the Magic, which is 40 wins and 35 losses, is not very big. However, it is still very difficult to catch up. Compared with the very popular Magic team, the Pistons' schedule is It has always been miserable. Yesterday we played the Bulls, and today we have to play the Eagles again. It is extremely miserable...

"Chauncy, you can get out of your contract after this season. Will you renew your contract with the Pistons?" Liu Mang asked.

"No, they no longer regard me as part of the future." Billups responded.

When Billups said this, Liu Mang didn't hear much emotion.

Liu Mang thought about it and was right. The Pistons had not achieved real success and could not accumulate as deep a relationship as they had in the original time and space. Maybe Billups was unhappy when they were not taken seriously at the beginning, but Now that Billups is on the verge of parting ways with the Pistons, the feeling will definitely fade.

Thinking about the current ranking of the Pistons, Liu Mang feels so nostalgic... He has to play the playoffs with the Pistons again. Liu Mang played in the playoffs with the Pistons in the first four years of his career. He failed to play against the Pistons last year. , Liu Mang is still a pity.

Liu Mang was very happy at the thought of playing in the playoffs with the Pistons again.

But Billups on the other side couldn't be happy...

The Nets and Wizards, who are seventh and eighth, have a winning rate of less than 50%. The Pistons can't fall, and they don't want to fall. It's also difficult to beat the Bulls or Cavaliers. What they want most is to rush to fifth, so they can fight. The Raptors, but failed to rush forward. At this stage, it seems that Billups feels that he is about to play the playoffs with Liu Mang for the fourth time...

Billups felt like an "experienced baby" in Internet slang, letting Liu Mang fight monsters and level up...

...

At night, the Hawks' first game in April began.

With Billups, Hamilton, Delfino, Bosh, and Antonio McDyess, it is not difficult for the Pistons to make the playoffs.

Bosh is already a top star, a three-time All-Star power forward, averaging 22 points and 10 rebounds per game this season. Hamilton is also at his peak, averaging 19+4+3 per game. Billups has not declined yet, averaging 17 points, 3 rebounds and 7 assists per game.

For them, the biggest problem is that the team is no longer united.

Since last season, the cohesion of the Pistons has been scattered, and Liu Mang broke it up in the 2005 playoffs.

The Hawks were well-rested and played with all their main players. The Pistons fought a fierce defensive battle with the Bulls yesterday, with both teams scoring only over 70 points. They lost and were exhausted. Today they have to play against the Hawks again...

The Pistons were completely defeated and were beaten by the Hawks 41 to 13 in the first quarter...

The opponent scored 40+ in a single quarter, while they scored 13 points in a single quarter. The Pistons did not tend to struggle throughout the whole process.

Liu Mang, McGrady and Kwame Brown left the court early, leaving Rondo and Marion to hold the line. Grant Hill did not want to abuse his old club, so he took the initiative to leave the court after playing for a while. This game became the performance time for the Hawks substitutes.

Under the leadership of Rondo and Jason Terry, the Hawks used the substitutes to practice tactics, and the effect was quite good.

Rondo played 31 minutes in the whole game, scoring 5 points, 7 rebounds and 7 assists. Jason Terry scored the highest score, playing 34 minutes in the whole game and scoring 32 points and 4 assists.

Blake scored 11 points and 2 assists, Battier scored 10 points, and Swift scored the second highest with 19 points.

Liu Mang and McGrady only played in the first quarter, Liu Mang scored 12 points, 3 rebounds and 1 block... a new low in the season... McGrady started to rest after 3 points and 2 assists...

Billups may have used the rest of his energy to eat Liu Mang out of money at noon. He played for 22 minutes and only scored 6 points, 1 rebound and 4 assists with 1 of 9 shots.

Bosh performed well. The Pistons collapsed across the board in the first quarter, but Bosh played well against the Hawks' rotation lineup later. He scored 30 points and 6 rebounds with 11 of 25 shots.

114 to 89, the Hawks beat the Pistons by 25 points.

The fans watching the game felt very bored. The highest-rated time period for this game was the new episode of Liu Mang's "Details" after the game.

"Details" has become ESPN's main "basketball analysis" program. Starting from the episode with Kobe, ESPN formed an "analysis team" to study Liu Mang's details. After "Snakeology" became popular, this irregular program became a main program in ESPN's basketball program.

In Denver, Iverson was about to cry when he watched "Details of Allen Iverson" after the live broadcast of the Hawks and Pistons!

The season is about to end, and it's finally his turn!

It's just...

Liu Mang received a call while doing physical therapy after the game...

"Ace, explain to me why that bastard analyzed for 30 minutes and I only had 20 minutes?"