Chapter 272: 270. Short-Term Shadow
Defeating the Lakers and sweeping the Lakers in the regular season, if it can be done, will undoubtedly bring great confidence to the Hawks team composed of young players.
Especially Raheem, who has been in a downturn for many years and finally regained the high-spirited core of the team when he graduated from college and participated in the draft, it is necessary to further enhance this confidence.
Coach Kruger has been preparing for the game against the Lakers since he finished playing against the Spurs. As for the easy victory against the Hornets in the middle, it was purely a surprise. He maintained his physical fitness very well and waited for the Lakers to arrive.
The two most critical points, the first point is that O'Neal continues to be absent, Kobe leads the team alone, and Jason Terry is in excellent form recently, averaging close to 30 points per game in recent games.
Jason Terry is in good form, Raheem is full of confidence, and there is a rookie who does things from time to time. Coach Kruger is still very confident in winning the Lakers led by Kobe alone.
It's not that Kobe said that his ability to lead the team is not good, it's just that he is better at taking a lineup that could have reached the playoffs to the championship level, not the kind of player who can support a system alone.
Kobe is good at attacking sharp knives and strangling opponents on both offensive and defensive ends at critical moments.
It's okay to let Kobe lead the team alone. If he can't guarantee it, he can score 60 to 70 points by himself and make the opponent cry, but it is relatively easy to fight.
These combined reasons are the key to coach Kruger not having much confidence in playing the Spurs, but wanting to double-kill the Lakers.
Just before the pre-game training with the Lakers, coach Kruger had just put pressure on the players to stimulate the fighting spirit of the players, and the tragedy happened.
Ratliff sprained his ankle during training. After inspection, there is no serious injury, but he will be out for at least two weeks!
This is undoubtedly a bolt from the blue for the Eagles!
Ratliff's injury is inseparable from the Hawks' tight schedule of 9 days and 6 games in the past. The main reason is that they rested for 8 days and then played 9 days and 6 games immediately.
The average of 7 points and 8 rebounds per game may not be important, but blocking people when grabbing rebounds, blocking shots and defensive interference from the opponent's breakthrough players at the basket, and defending at critical moments, Ratliff can only play 27 times in a game. Eight minutes, but his role is irreplaceable by anyone on the Hawks except him. In the entire NBA, except for Ben Wallace and Mutombo, no one else can accomplish these things like Ratliff .
For a while, the Eagles, which had won seven consecutive victories, cast a shadow over their heads.
The core center was injured, and people discovered that the Eagles seemed to have nothing but the five main players!
No matter which of these five people is absent, the blow to the overall structure of this team will be huge!
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"I hope Theo can return as soon as possible. He is a key part of our team. We can't miss anyone in the whole team, otherwise it won't be the Eagles." Raheem said in an interview before the game.
"We're going to wait for him to come back, we're going to take the win and not worry him, hey man, Theo's just sprained okay? Wait and see, he'll be back in two weeks, he's still the best shot blocker ever , we will still maintain the title of one of the best teams in the East." This is Jason Terry, who has always been confident.
As for the last of the Eagles' three All-Stars, the head coach locked him in the locker room and prevented him from coming out for an interview...
Liu Mang doesn't care much about whether he accepts interviews or not. It's not that he has any prejudice against domestic reporters. The main reason is that domestic reporters sometimes have some questions that are too annoying. Now domestic reporters almost occupy the number of reporters when the Eagles play at home. You must know that the Eagles are now the most popular fried chicken team in the East, and they are no match for the number of domestic reporters who came from overseas.
Always ask Liu Mang how to evaluate Battelle's strength, how to evaluate Wang Zhizhi's strength...
He didn't play against these two people before. What would Liu Mang say? Battelle was in the Nuggets and didn't have any playing time. He was placed in the newly established Development League, and he never played against the Mavericks.
These problems are still acceptable. After all, he can have playing time in the NBA. There is no suspense that he is one of the more than 400 strongest players in the world. It is the pride of national basketball in any country.
But these reporters let Liu Mang predict which national players besides Yao Ming can enter the NBA...
More than one or two reporters asked this question.
So after Liu Mang's All-Star Weekend, except for the first two or three games where he honestly accepted interviews, he never went there again.
But, today is Kobe!
If you don't talk to Kobe, look at the future mamba's angry look, how can he be worthy of Peter Pan, who only comes to Atlanta once a year.
Make Kobe angry, this kind of thing is the funniest thing!
In the end, he was banned from being interviewed by coach Kruger, who had already expected that Liu Mang would do something. Liu Mang could only regretfully warm up before the game in the locker room.
Speaking of which, the three eaglets played against the Lakers today, and after Ratliff couldn't play, they were even more excited than before!
As for the game in the first two weeks of March after the Lakers, I don’t know. Anyway, the Lakers are playing against the Lakers now, and the opponent has given up an O’Neal. The Eagles, who have not yet confirmed that the end of the season must be the number one in the Eastern Conference, are very confident.
But if you want to play against Kobe, who is so competitive, everyone wants "fairness". If you let O'Neal, let's let Ratliff!
Yes, the three Kitty Hawks forcibly regarded Ratliff's injury as a big center for the Lakers!
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I want to be "fair" strategically, but in fact the Eagles are still under a lot of pressure.
After the All-Star Weekend, I don’t know why he started to go berserk. Kobe, who led the Lakers with 40+ games in four consecutive games and also won a record after the All-Star Weekend, is indeed very strong!
The key is that this guy shoots hard, his heart is even harder, and his will is too strong!
At the end of the pre-match event, Kobe led the Lakers to play. It is obvious that this Lakers team is very different from the ones they played against before!
When O'Neal was there before, the atmosphere of the Lakers was the feeling of everyone playing together. Before the game, O'Neill would greet and chat with the opponent, no matter what the relationship was. Apart from seeing Duncan and the Clippers, O'Neal had a lot of fun. Everyone else was grinning.
But now, the Lakers are full of serious feelings.
That very distinct feeling of Kobe and Jordan's high-handed dominance!
Before winning the first championship, Kobe may not have any ideas. For the second championship, those who did not win fmvp began to have ideas. On the way to the third championship, OK's battle for power has obviously begun!