Chapter 506 504. The Hardest Time Begins
After entering March, if the schedule in the second half of January is suffering and the schedule in February is purgatory, then the Eagles' schedule in March is 18 levels of hell.
No matter how difficult the schedule in January is, at least it is only the second half of the month, and the schedule in February is difficult, at least there is an All-Star Weekend in the middle of the game, which is postponed for a week.
But when it comes to March... at the beginning it directly connects seamlessly with the last day of February.
On March 1, the Eagles, who had just finished playing the Magic, immediately faced back-to-back challenges from the Knicks at home.
The Knicks, like the Wizards, have a record of 27 wins and 30 losses, tied for tenth in the Eastern Conference.
The Knicks are good, and they are not bad. As the richest big city team in the world, James Dolan, the rich second generation who took over the Knicks in 1999, was asked by reporters in mid-January. The Knicks have no hope of making the playoffs again this season. Will they choose to go to Bo James? James Dolan said: They can be bad, but they are not allowed to be bad.
This logic is very interesting, it can be rotten, but it is not allowed to be rotten.
Dolan actually wanted Bo James. See how skillful the art of speaking is, but he couldn't save face and said directly that he was going to be bad.
Dolan just wants to preserve the "dignity" of the holy land of basketball. The bad thing is that they don't work hard, but that they are not strong enough.
Then the Knicks players and coaching staff took it seriously!
The Knicks players and coaching staff felt the sense of self-identity and pride that a "rich team" should have!
The Knicks players are all working hard. They feel that their dignity has been maintained, and they have the urge to "die for their confidants" towards Dolan. Then, in the past more than a month, they have a record of 11 wins and 6 losses. Catch up with the Wizards.
This wave of outbreaks caused Dolan to suffer.
Why did it explode all of a sudden?
Aren't you all ready to move towards the penultimate place in the East?
Going straight from a 10-win team all the way to close to 30 wins, it might even hit 40 wins at the end of the season, which made Dolan so desperate.
There is a chance for 40 wins, even if you get 40 wins, you will not be able to enter the playoffs!
But no matter how desperate you are, you have to swallow your broken teeth.
No, the Knicks are going to play the Eagles. Dolan did not accept interviews recently, but because of an exclusive interview with a Chinese reporter, in order to open up the Chinese market...because the Knicks are too easy to open up in the North American market, even if the record is last 1. Ticket revenue ranks No. 1 in the NBA. Knicks’ ticket prices are close to those of NFL teams. Of course, NFL only has 16 regular-season games a year, so tickets are naturally expensive, but football is open-air. On average, about 40,000 to 50,000 people watch each game. For example, the Los Angeles Rose Bowl of NCAA football and the NFL’s annual Super Bowl can be watched by up to 100,000 people. In addition, the NFL has more teams, and it is definitely more profitable than the NBA.
The Knicks are one of only two teams in the NBA that can compete with NFL teams in ticket sales.
North America's live broadcast share, the Knicks' income is also in the forefront of all NBA teams.
Because it has become one of the best teams in the NBA market so easily, Dolan has the ambition to open up overseas markets. The Chinese market is undoubtedly the NBA's largest overseas market candidate. I haven't seen the NBA putting a lot of publicity resources into it. Is it all in the Chinese market? Dolan also wants to get a share.
So, when I was interviewed, I couldn't control my mouth anymore.
In an exclusive interview with Imperial TV, Xu Jicheng from Xinhua News Agency asked the Knicks whether they would compete with the Hawks for a playoff spot this year. Theoretically speaking, the Knicks still have a chance, after all, they are only less than the Hawks. Four wins.
In order to impress the Chinese fans that the Knicks are a tough team that will never give up, Dolan replied: "No, our goal is not the playoffs, but the championship, no matter how difficult it is, even if We failed in the end, and our goal is to win the championship, as a professional team, if we don’t fight for the championship, we should just disband.”
Dolan responded by citing the connotation of Kobe, who was still a substitute, in his rookie season after he made consecutive shots outside the basket and was eliminated by the Jazz in the playoffs.
Kobe was a substitute back then. Apart from his style of playing like Jordan and the large market in Los Angeles, his talent was part of his second-year selection as an All-Star starter. What’s more, his rookie season dared to make a lore shot in the playoffs. Be brave enough to take responsibility after losing.
These remarks are quite morale-boosting. The Knicks have been playing for more than a month, and the morale they mentioned last time has almost been exhausted. They could have done a good job. If the season ends with 30 wins, the top three picks are not big. Perhaps, the top five picks can still be fought for. This year's record in the Eastern Conference is very average. It is difficult to win 50 wins for the first place in the Eastern Conference, so the records of weak teams are also good.
But after hearing the president's words, the players felt a "sense of mission", even if they couldn't even make the playoffs in the end, but as the famous coach Tomjanovich said, they can't live without a championship heart!
As a result, the Knicks, who Dolan was expecting the losing streak to begin immediately, went berserk during the away game against the Eagles.
On March 1st, the Eagles, who had played back-to-back after just 7 games in the past 11 days, faced the Knicks with a tired team, and were stunned by this team that started in mid-January.
Originally, Knicks players hated the Eagles, and Alan Houston hated Liu Mang even more, and it exploded today!
Alan Houston has a feeling of "turning back" this year. He actually played the strongest season of his career. He averaged 22+3+2 per game and scored a new career high. If it weren't for the Knicks' 97 million salary, nearly half of it was in The Knicks have a better record for supporting retired, waived, and DNP "former stars". This year is Alan Houston's career masterpiece.
Today, the Knicks seem to have regained the iron-blooded defense of the Pat Riley era, tyrannical physical confrontation, and precise mid-range shooting. They beat the Eagles to a 45-34 lead at halftime.
Most of the Hawks' players are weak, not because they want to work hard, but because they are really tired.
In the third quarter, Liu Mang took Prince, Chris Crawford, Newbell, and Boozer, who are not bad in physical fitness, to fight for a wave, trying to overtake the score.
Indeed, the third quarter was the best quarter of the game for the Eagles. They scored 28 points in a single quarter. Liu Mang scored 13 points and 5 assists in a single quarter, but the Knicks scored 31 points!
The Eagles have a good offensive lineup, but except for the two guards, the three players in the frontcourt were all sieved. Not only did the fork not shrink, but it was pulled by the Knicks to 14 points, 62 to 76 behind in three quarters.
In the final quarter, Liu Mang led Jason Terry, Prince, Boozer, and Muhammad to continue to fight hard. After three quarters, Jason Terry and Muhammad also recovered. Not as big as Raheem and Ratliff, the overall condition of the Eagles in the final quarter began to pick up.
But the Knicks were not careless. They had a rare chance to win against the Hawks. How could they be careless? Alan Houston, who scored 20 points in the first three quarters, exploded in the final quarter and scored 22 points in a single quarter. Even Liu Mang poked his finger into Alan. -Houston's eyes are in the eyes. Today's Alan Houston didn't back down. He stood up bravely. When the Hawks found the feeling to counterattack in the final quarter, Alan Houston came with a personal scoring shock wave, relying on 22 points in a single quarter. The 35-point performance of the entire Eagles in a single quarter, plus the 6 points scored by others after Alan Houston attracted the defense, the Knicks carried the Eagles' counterattack in the final quarter!
Liu Mang scored 36 points and 8 assists today, but lost to Alan Houston's explosive 42 points.
In the end, the Knicks defeated the Eagles 104 to 97 in an away game, "fighting for a breath" for Knicks owner Dolan's belief of "never say never"!
Knicks owner Dolan came to the away game to watch the game. Seeing that the Knicks played like a championship today, he almost spit out a mouthful of old blood.
Why didn't I see you guys like this at the beginning of the season? This is only the possibility of the playoffs, or is it an extremely low possibility, and you exploded?
...
...
30 wins and 26 losses, the Eagles suffered a loss in the second game of back-to-back across the month.
This kind of thing is within the expectation of the Eagles coaching staff, so in the games in late January and February, the Eagles want to win so much, just to accumulate a few wins in case this happens.
They played 7 games in the last 11 days at the end of February. The schedule was cruel, and March has basically been this kind of schedule, so the Eagles must have a certain number of wins as a buffer when they have to lose.
For example, next, after playing the Knicks, the Eagles only have a day off on the 2nd, and then start on the 3rd, and it will be another 7-day 5-game, first three consecutive home games, the Celtics on the 3rd, and Back-to-back home games against the Warriors and Hornets with No. 6, and then back-to-back away games with No. 8 and No. 9 against the Hornets and Heat.
Fortunately, they are all playing at home or against teams from the East, West, and South Divisions. It is less than an hour's flight from Atlanta, but even so, the Eagles players want to take Gatlin to New York to bomb the NBA headquarters.
NBA officials said that they are also very helpless!
Yes, they treated the Eagles like cattle in order to open up the Chinese market. However, they gave the Eagles a very loose schedule in November, December and the first half of January. It can be said that the entire NBA An easy start to the schedule never before seen in history.
But the Eagles couldn't help themselves to death, and wasted the schedule of only 28 games in the first two months.
Originally, David Stern thought that the Eagles had the best record in the league in the first two and a half months. With the record of the Eagles last season and the fact that the players are all young, there must be improvement this year. It is not difficult to win the half-time championship of the regular season, and then as the half-time champion of the NBA regular season, we will warm up for the playoffs during the Chinese New Year and more than a month after the Spring Festival.
The plan is perfect, but things often don't go according to plan, and the Hawks are still struggling for a playoff spot in March.
David Stern is also suffering!
If the Hawks fail to make the playoffs due to an accident, David Stern will probably vomit blood. If the Hawks and Rockets fail to make the playoffs, he will probably want to kill himself. The Chinese market is so hot this year. , especially the imperial court has a "championship heart", even when predicting the finals between the Eagles and the Rockets... there are already domestic "ball experts" who have begun to analyze the probability of black eight, the word black eight In the domestic basketball circle, it has become extremely popular recently.
Although David Stern knows that this is something that cannot be dreamed of, but both teams have entered the playoffs, which makes Chinese fans look forward to it. No matter how miserable it is, at least one team must enter the playoffs .
But now, the Rockets and Hawks are in the eighth position in their respective divisions. David Stern is worried every time he sees the Hawks and Rockets lose.
But the matter has come to this point, the Eagles players can only complain in private, and they still have to say that they don't care about the schedule and just want to win.
...
On March 2, one day off, what is enough time for one day?
Enough to go to the supermarket.
In this difficult time, after Liu Mang got up in the morning and finished training, he didn't continue to focus on basketball in the afternoon. At this time, the more he thought about the schedule and worries about the future, the more entangled his emotions became.
After waking up in the morning and finishing training, at noon when Dinah finished her homework, Liu Mang took little Lolita to the supermarket to buy some boards, screws, mini electric drills, and plastic baffles with a high transparency close to the transparency of glass. After buying the things, I went home in the afternoon and made the honor display cabinet by myself.
Dinah used his plastic storage boxes, cardboard boxes and other things to store those trophies before. Dinah always felt that it was too "dignified", so she wanted to make an honor display cabinet by herself.
Hire workers?
Forget it, it's too expensive, Dinah doesn't have enough pocket money, so she tricks Liu Mang to buy wooden boards and make them herself.
Liu Mang was worried about having nothing to do and playing games was annoying, so he readily agreed.
Although you can't do it, you can learn it!
Do some carpentry work to divert attention, and study with little loli how to make a beautiful display cabinet. Although it is not very good-looking in the end, it is at least a cabinet, and then paint with plant paint and put it in the yard to dry , because the vegetable paint does not have too many chemical components, it can be used after drying.
In the evening, Liu Mang still felt a little sense of accomplishment when he saw that he and Dinah had worked together all afternoon to complete the honor exhibition cabinet, filled with his own trophies.
People are so easy to be satisfied. Sometimes when seeing the pressure like Mount Tai, instead of moaning about it, complaining about yourself or blaming others, it is better to find something else to do, find some small goals, and accomplish that. Small achievements are also nice.
Liu Mang did carpentry work with Dinah today, which really relieved a lot of pressure. Now Liu Mang is very happy, not thinking about those heavy things for the time being, and cheering for the completion of the goal with Dinah.
Watching Dinah ignore the sawdust on her head and excitedly let her uncle put the "Honor Notes" written long ago in front of each trophy, Liu Mang couldn't stop smiling. This little loli, Although occasionally I will be mad at myself, but when it should be cute, it is so cute!
According to Dinah's instructions, put them one by one in front of each trophy, and then picked Dinah up and hugged her chest. Dinah looked at the honor cabinet she had made by herself, where she wanted to put it, and I wrote the honor statement by myself, and I was so excited that I couldn't stop cheering...
...
After working with Dinah all afternoon yesterday, Liu Mang was in a much better mood.
The next day, the Eagles ushered in the next 7-day five-game schedule.
First up is the Boston Celtics.
Except for the top five in the East, from sixth to ninth, there is not much difference in record. Although it is difficult for the Eagles and Magic to surpass seventh or sixth, it is based on the current record of the Bucks and Celtics and the Eagles and Magic. The record gap is calculated.
The Eagles stand at 30 wins and 26 losses, the Celtics are 33 wins and 25 losses, the Eagles have a winning percentage of 53%, and the Celtics have a winning percentage of 57%.
If the Celtics have maintained a 56.7% winning percentage, it is basically impossible for the Eagles to catch up with the Celtics' record, after all, the schedule is so difficult.
But it's hard to say, if the Celtics lose a few games in a row, they will really have to work hard for the eighth place in the Eastern Conference with the Eagles and Magic.
The Celtics themselves are well aware of this. It is March, the last two months of the game, they attach great importance to it, and they have no intention of underestimating the Eagles.
For the Eagles, the situation is not very good. The room leaked and it rained overnight. Although Ratliff has been saving his use, a big center like him is not a violent and muscular type, but a tonnage type. There was no game for two months, and the schedule was brutal. During the pre-match inspection, muscle fatigue appeared.
Fortunately, there was no injury, and coach Kruger quickly put Ratliff on the injured list.
Raheem is really injured, his ankle is sprained, and he needs to rest for three to five days.
In addition, both Prince and Boozer suffered from different degrees of fatigue and injuries. The two rookies suddenly assumed important roles in the team from the end of December. Of course, the two performed well and became The Hawks are known to have missed picks in the draft, but it's a rookie.
Although Prince and Boozer are fine, and they don't even have obvious symptoms like Ratliff, but in order to protect the two, and Ratliff has already rested, two more rests... how big of a deal...
Then, the Hawks' starting lineup became Dean Grove, Jason Terry, Chris Crawford, Muhammad, and Kevin Wesley.
How long has the Eagles not been so starless!
The entire starting lineup has no All-Stars this season!
Then, the Eagles suffered a crushing loss at home...
It’s not that Liu Mang and Jason Terry didn’t perform well, but they performed very well. Liu Mang scored 33 points and Jason Terry scored 27 points and 5 assists. Can't hold back the Celtics' defense is really good. Since no one can dig Antoine Walker, the Celtics' defense has become very balanced. There are "no" obvious loopholes. They can't defend against Liu Mang and Jason Terry. Stay, but others are on guard.
Without Raheem's restrictions, Pierce played so coquettishly that no one could stop him, even if Antoine Walker made 4 of 12 three-pointers, Pierce could drive it.
At the end of the quarter, the Celtics double-teamed Liu Mang and Jason Terry, defended the basket, and released others. Without Prince as a three-pointer and Boozer as a mid-range shooter, they couldn't make open shots from outside. The inside line was blocked, and the backcourt was flanked by double waves. The Eagles only scored 13 points in the final quarter, and the Celtics, who had already led by 7 points in three quarters, widened the gap in one fell swoop.
In the end, even if Liu Mang scored 33 points, Jason Terry scored 27 points, and the two scored 60 points and 10 assists together, they could not stop the team from losing streak. Pierce scored 32 points, 6 rebounds and 9 assists, leading the Celtics The Celtics beat the Eagles 103-92.
After losing to the Celtics, the Eagles only had one more day to rest.
Two consecutive losses, Liu Mang is so angry!
The record became 30 wins and 27 losses. Fortunately, the Magic did not win. McGrady continued his empty-handed journey and got a triple-double of 30+11+13. The result was shot to death by the Kings. Had a chance to breathe.
After a day off, the Eagles continued their schedule and are about to start a consecutive back-to-back.
First of all, on March 5, the Eagles continued to sit at home and ushered in the second and last match against the Oakland Warriors this season.
Losing two games in a row, Liu Mang was on fire!
Although I know that during the team meeting, the coaching staff also comforted the players and comforted the players not to lose their composure because of one or two losses. The goal of the team is the whole season, not just one or two games. When playing, don't lose your mentality because of one or two games.
But Liu Mang still has fire in his heart!
If there is a fire, we must calm down!
By coincidence, the Warriors are here!
Beat the warriors to calm down!
On March 5th, at 6:30 pm Eastern Time, the Eagles played against the Warriors at home.
The game is about to start, Liu Mang chose to start today! Playing with Jason Terry, Chris Crawford, Muhammad, Kevin Wesley.
For the Warriors, Arenas played with Jason Richardson, Jamison, Murphy and Dampier.
In terms of strength, the lineup of the Warriors and the current lineup of the Eagles may be stronger than the Warriors. The Eagles win because they have a clear core, tactics, and defensive system, and the Warriors have stronger personal strength.
However, just a week ago, these Warriors players had just experienced the worst game of their respective careers, and they were already terrified by Liu Mang's beating!
Arenas looked at Liu Mang who seemed to be breathing flames in his eyes, tightened his muscles, and shouted in his heart: "Brother Ace! Don't..."
But will Liu Mang miss the opportunity for the other party to step on him to death after the other party is scared out of his wits?
Obviously not!
Due to the absence of Raheem, Liu Mang and Jason Terry simply let their instincts fly!
After the start, Liu Mang faced Arenas. Arenas was still in fear of the last fight, and gave up on the defensive end completely.
This is the point that Arenas was most criticized during his peak period, especially when he was eliminated by James in the playoffs for three consecutive years. When Arenas played against James in the playoffs for the last time, he completely lost his fighting spirit. Ali The last time Nurse played against James in 6 games, he averaged 9 shots per game and only 10 points per game. If it weren't for Butler and Jamison averaging 40 points and 18 rebounds per game, they struggled to defend the two home courts, and both It was a narrow victory, and they might be swept away because Arenas lost his fighting spirit in the face of James.
The Arenas who confronted James was Arenas who had become a top star, so James spent two years torturing him until he lost the will to fight.
The current Arenas is only in the second grade, Liu Mang didn't need to spend too much effort, and he beat Arenas to the point where he lost his desire to become the number one player in the same class.
The more Arenas gave up on defense, the better Liu Mang played. Liu Mang made four consecutive three-pointers in the first quarter, and Arenas had no fighting spirit to defend!
Eat, sleep, and fight the general! Liu Mang's evil rule over the younger generation has begun!