Chapter 1461 1460. The Fury of Atlanta

It took a day to fly back to Atlanta from Los Angeles and rest during the trip. On June 8, the Hawks had a day of preparations.

There isn't much preparation time. There are two rest days between each of the first four games of this year's finals.

But……

The Eagles, who returned home, did not hold on to their first home court as expected.

Of course, once you reach the finals, your teammates will work hard.

Back at home, Liu Mang and Tracy McGrady's performance in the second game also gave their teammates confidence.

But after returning to the home court, it is inevitable that there will be some psychological relaxation because of finding "reliance" when returning to the home court. The performance of Liu Mang and Tracy McGrady in the second game also became the "reliance" of their teammates...

In the third game, the Eagles returned to their home court.

Amid the cheers of fans at the scene, Liu Mang performed well, making 14 of 31 shots, 7 of 15 three-pointers, and scored 47 points, 5 rebounds, and 2 assists in a single game. Tracy McGrady saw that Liu Mang had a good touch and took the initiative to attract defense. The task was to provide Liu Mang with the ball. When Liu Mang pulled out to shoot and there was no good opportunity to grab offensive rebounds, McGrady grabbed three offensive rebounds, and he also tried his best to compete with Odom for rebounds on the defensive end.

6 of 15, 19 points, 10 rebounds and 12 assists, McGrady recorded his fifth career Finals triple-double.

but……

The Eagles returned to home for their first game and only scored 92 points!

Liu Mang and Tracy McGrady both scored 66 points combined, while the rest of the Eagles only scored 26 points combined!

In the first game back at home, except for the Maimang team, everyone else on the Eagles team didn't perform as well as in the second game!

Although the Eagles' defense did a good job, limiting the Lakers to 99 points, their lowest score since the Finals, the Eagles only scored 92 points when they returned home! It’s useless no matter how well you defend yourself!

0 to 3!

Five years later, a team fell behind 3-0 in the Finals again. The last time the Nets entered this situation was in 2002, and before that, the Magic fell 0-3 in the first three games in 1995. Falling behind, but the Magic were even worse that time. The Magic lost their first two games at home.

…

The worst-case scenario that Liu Mang began to worry about at the beginning of the season has appeared, and it is even... worse than the worst-case scenario that he originally worried about!

Liu Mang knew that there would be a lot of trouble after winning three consecutive championships, including a decline in form, loss of concentration, pride, and even a mentality that he didn't even think about continuing to win...

The decline in form, Jason Terry confirmed, is mainly due to tiredness.

Concentration has declined. Before the series with the Bulls, McGrady basically did not consider the issue of concentration throughout the season. If he was interested, he would play well. If he was not interested, he would just take a shot. Anyway, the data of around 20+5+5 is readily available. .

Proud...this was a collective performance by the Eagles.

The mentality of never thinking about continuing to win the championship... This actually appeared in the two new stars Marion and Grant Hill.

Just like Grant Hill planned before joining, he joined early just to get a better run-in. With this idea, he did not expect to win this season from the beginning, and even reaching the finals was beyond his expectations.

Marion is similar. He just wants to get along well and help the team win more games. As for whether the playoff performance is good this season, Marion is very open-minded. He will not worry about the future of the Eagles, but he also I don’t have high expectations for this season.

From the beginning until the finals, Liu Mang never expected that except for Tracy McGrady, everyone else would fail in the finals!

Not to mention the first and second graders, in addition to the stable mentality of Granger, he performed well and did a good job when he came off the bench to defend Kobe. To defend against Kobe, you need people like Tracy McGrady, Grant Hill, and Granger who are height-conscious. The other first and second graders... Rondo has become the target of the opponent's defensive tactics. David Lee's defense is not as good as Swift, Gortat... He was not allowed to experience the finals, but Mark - Jackson went up and fought for a few minutes, but it had no effect at all.

After three games, McGrady was not that excited except for the first game. From the second game on, he became the Eagles' strongest player when Liu Mang was targeted by the opponent.

35+10 in the second game, and 14 points, 10 rebounds and 12 assists in the third game, helping Liu Mang score 47 points in a single game.

But others...

Dead silence!

After losing the first home game, the Eagles locker room was filled with silence.

Falling behind 0-3, the worst possibility Liu Mang thought about was falling behind 1-3. This was the worst possibility he thought of before the finals started.

But I didn’t expect that after working so hard, the team worked so hard in discussions, training, and fighting on the court, to fall behind 0-3!

No one complained.

There was nothing worth complaining about at this time, and no one was in the mood to complain about teammates.

Liu Mang has nothing to complain about. During the game, his teammates worked very hard, both offensively and defensively. The defense was effective after the third game, but the offensive end was in poor condition.

Falling behind 0 to 3... When this kind of thing happened in front of them, the mentality of the Eagles players gradually collapsed, and their beliefs began to collapse...

"Is the establishment of a dynasty really the end of a dynasty?"

This thought appeared in the heads of all the Eagles players.

Except for the 1960s, no team has won more than three consecutive championships, and the three consecutive championships, after the Celtics' eight consecutive championships, have only been four times now, no more, no four consecutive championships.

As strong as the OK combination, they were almost swept in the second round of the second year after three consecutive championships.

When Jordan retired for the first time, some people said that after winning three consecutive championships, he was afraid of losing in the fourth year, so he ran away. Of course, few people said this, but more people thought that Jordan might win eight consecutive championships if he did not retire. .

But everyone knows that eight consecutive championships is absolutely impossible. In the 1990s, the number of NBA teams has gradually increased to 29 teams. Compared with the 1960s, there were only eleven teams in total. The playoffs were only a few games except for the finals. Game, the Celtics entered the Finals for the entire decade from 1956 to 1966. Yes, the Lakers also entered the Finals 6 times during that period, and the other four opponents of the Celtics were the Hawks, who prevented After winning the first championship in team history, the Celtics won ten consecutive championships with the Hawks led by Bob Pettit in the 1957-1958 season.

When the Celtics won eight consecutive championships, there were only three teams that had a chance to win the championship: the Celtics, Lakers, and Hawks. In that decade, there were only two championships, the Celtics and the Hawks.

The 1990s were already very different. There were already many teams competing for the championship in the 1990s, and it is even more different now. There are three major powers in the East and West.

Therefore, three consecutive championships is equal to climbing to the top, and it is also equal to ending the peak. This is the consensus of people.

The Eagles players also wanted to fight at the beginning.

I wasn’t too disappointed after losing two away games, but I lost the first game at home...

This feeling... basically confirms the previous uneasiness and the arguments of the fans and the media.

Being behind 0 to 3, this means only...elimination!

"I have thought about the worst plan for a long time, but I didn't expect it to be so bad..." Liu Mang smiled bitterly and couldn't help but read out loud.

The Chinese spoken by Liu Mang was not understood by the others, but it attracted the attention of his teammates.

The coaching staff went out to deal with the media and did not let the players endure the siege of reporters.

Lose... everyone loses. Being behind 0-3, the Eagles never thought about it, but the matter has come to this, and protecting the players is what the coaching staff has to do.

Not all coaches like to blame their players.

Disrupting the quiet atmosphere in the locker room... The teammates, who were originally in a depressed state, all looked at Liu Mang.

At this moment, Liu Mang, who was still affected by the low pressure from his teammates just now, was stared at by more than a dozen teammates. He felt... so special...

Being stared at by his teammates like this, Liu Mang no longer felt the depression of defeat and his dissatisfaction with the current situation.

Let’s ease the embarrassment!

Liu Mang said to his teammates who were looking at him: "Okay, take a shower and get ready to go back to bed. We haven't been eliminated yet. Are you ready to go find the Mavericks to hold a fishing competition together at this time?"

Everyone else was still in a depressed mood, half-dead when they heard Liu Mang's words...

"Why is the boss still so confident? It's 0 to 3!"

This was what the rest of the Eagles thought when they heard Liu Mang's words.

It is true that Liu Mang does not look particularly confident now, but considering the current situation, the mentality of his teammates after hearing Liu Mang's words, and the negative things they just thought about, the teammates looked at Liu Mang's normal expression. It feels like I am full of confidence.

"Boss, we are going to be eliminated..." Kwame Brown couldn't help blurting out.

When Liu Mang heard this, he didn't feel any surprise. As expected, it was this guy who was the first to explode.

"Hasn't he been eliminated yet?" When Liu Mang said this, his mood began to change again.

Indeed, in terms of public opinion, after winning three consecutive championships, the Eagles will not bear too many negative voices if they fail to win the championship in the fourth year, not to mention that they also reached the finals this season.

But Liu Mang... was unwilling to give in!

This unwillingness is just like losing to the Nets in the tiebreaker in 2003... or even worse!

After winning the championship, it's a good thing that Liu Mang didn't enter the finals. If he had entered the finals and lost...

Liu Mang was unwilling to give in!

Very unwilling!

Seeing that the emotions of his teammates seem to be ups and downs, but because of Kwame Brown's words, not all fluctuations are in a good direction. The card that Liu Mang had wanted to use before the finals must be used now.

Although the timing of using it may be very bad, so bad that Liu Mang doesn't know whether it can have a very good effect, or it may have no effect...

However, Liu Mang was really unwilling to give in! He wants to keep fighting!

Even if the final result...

Liu Mang turned on the power of the head of state and said in a speech tone: "We are all going to lose anyway, right? Why should we be depressed? Frustrated, we are also going to lose. Since we are going to lose, why don't we make it more difficult for them to win? Some?

We have only lost one finals, but they are already crazy about winning the championship. They have probably prepared champagne in the hotel to celebrate. Do you want to see them celebrate on our territory?

And... we are already the champions. We have won three consecutive championships. It’s not like we can’t afford to lose. Don’t look like you’ve been dumped by a woman. There are only two days left. We will fight them to the end in the next game! "

"Ding... Special card: Atlanta's Fury. Prerequisites for use: 1: In the playoff series, the opponent wins three games first. (Completed) 2: The host uses words to inspire displeasure and anger in teammates. (Completed ), special card: Atlanta's Fury has met the conditions for use, and the host can use Atlanta's Fury to amplify the team's current emotions to the extreme..."

I woke up around four o'clock. . . I completed a chapter of two thousand words written last night. . I actually finished writing another chapter before leaving for work at 7:30. . I went to the company to correct the typos and then updated them. See if there are still typos.