Chapter 719 718. Second in History! (Seeking Subscription)

Memphis, Liu Mang's blessed land.

Back then, it was here that he yelled "Why not me", and Liu Mang began to enter the fans' sight by taking advantage of the counterattack psychology deep in the fans' hearts.

With the princely general Xiang Ning's kind mentality, Liu Mang counterattacked all the way to the present.

In the last game at the end of the season, on April 12th, the Hawks players had a day off at home. On the morning of the 13th, they flew for half an hour to Memphis. On the 14th, they played the last game of the season and challenged the Grizzlies away.

After getting out of the airport, I took the bus to the city center. The big hotels in Memphis basically hit the city center, because there are not many people in this city.

In this place, because of yellow fever more than 150 years ago, a quarter of the people died, and half of the people fled here. Later, after the yellow fever vaccine came out and the large-scale outbreak of yellow fever was eliminated , the population gradually increased.

Therefore, the buildings here have not changed much for fifty or sixty years. After the end of World War II in the middle of the 20th century, it still retains the appearance of the 19th century. Since it was a Spanish colony, it retains a large number of Spanish buildings. Architecture, the protection awareness of humanities and architecture in the United States appeared very early, so most of the buildings built later are also European style.

Liu Mang looked at the buildings outside the window, why didn't he realize that the buildings here are quite interesting?

When I came here before, how could I be so relaxed and comfortable, I came once a year, the rookie season was still busy gaining a foothold, and the second-year team almost fell out of the playoffs.

This year, the Eagles' record is second only to the Bulls with 72 wins. It is best to win 70 wins. If they don't get it, it will still be the second regular season record in history. There is no pressure at all.

Liu Mang looked at those buildings, and Stockton introduced these buildings to Liu Mang, 60% of which were Spanish buildings and 90% were European-style buildings. The population is only 500,000 to 600,000 people, the GDP of the entire city is less than 30 billion US dollars, the four or five cities in the entire Memphis metropolitan area add up to less than 70 billion US dollars, and even the Atlanta metropolitan area, which is the ninth urban area in the United States, has more than 280 billion US dollars. Memphis, a "small mountain village" with less than a fraction of its GDP, has lived for so long. The largest pillar industry here in Memphis is probably the headquarters of FedEx. It has the second busiest airport in the world after Hong Kong. Goods in transit.

In Liu Mang's memory, Gasol is a person who prefers to enjoy life, either to go to a big city, listen to a symphony, watch an opera, or live in a familiar environment. After the founding of the city, most of the people who came back here were Hispanic. Gasol is not used to living here.

And the other cities Gasol originally stayed in, Los Angeles, Chicago, the second largest city and the third largest city in the United States, when he went to the Spurs, they all went to get a big contract to retire, and the Spurs are also extremely rich compared to Memphis. .

Liu Mang considers himself a gentleman, and Gasol, who is rarely seen in the NBA, naturally wants to get closer. As the leader of the 2001 class... the leader, Liu Mang thinks this title is better than the leader , as a martial arts fan, I feel that the title of "Leading Brother" is a bit unharmonious. As the leader of the 2001 class, and even the leader of the new generation of players, he has conquered many opponents relying on his strength and charisma. The relationship with many young stars is not bad.

No, Liu Mang hasn't seen Gasol for a long time, and he came to get close to Gasol.

At this time, Liu Mang was missing Gasol, and his heart was so desolate.

Usually in the West, it's okay to be yelled at by Garnett four times a year. After Rasheed Wallace went to the East, he also became a yelling brother.

The last time the Grizzlies played the Eagles away, Gasol was yelled at by Rasheed Wallace, and Rasheed Wallace became angry when he saw this so-called most gorgeous power forward of the new generation. The loudest roar...

...

Since the first round of the playoffs last season changed from a best-of-five 3-inning system to a 4-inning 7-inning system, the time dragged on for too long, and this season's playoff schedule has changed significantly.

The end of the regular season has been brought forward to April 14th, and the playoffs will start on April 17th. The previous playoff schedule, which had a two-day break every time there was a home and away game, also had to be changed to one day. When the home and away games alternate between the home and the guest in the first four games, the rest time is two days. After the four games are finished, if there is a fifth game, there will be a two-day rest between the fourth and fifth games to allow consecutive games. The two home and away teams have two days of training time to adapt to the home and away game, but in the possible sixth and seventh games after the home and away game, they only have one day off.

According to the original playoff system, a series may take up to 17 days to play. If a team really wins the championship by playing seven games in each round, it may take two months and eight days, not counting two. rest day between rounds of the series.

Before the 1990s, there was still a huge gap in strength between the top four teams in the division and the bottom four teams. There were very few downs and downs, and black eights was a dream.

However, in the 1980s, after the NBA’s income began to rise sharply due to the advent of the Magic Bird era, the team became richer, and the training facilities and nutritional supplements for the players were also good. Parents of their children were more optimistic about the prospect of their children playing basketball. Parents let their children regard basketball as a future career, which has promoted the development of the NBA and greatly improved the overall strength of the league.

Of course, for those superstars, apart from the improvement of scientific and medical technology, the difference in the treatment of stars is not that big, and the improvement of the strength of stars is not as high as imagined. Even if it is the theory of evolution, decades, there is no way to let the top Physical fitness has improved visible to the naked eye.

But for role players, the improvement of overall strength is very obvious. Since the 1990s, those children who started to learn to play basketball in the early 1980s because of the surge in NBA income began to enter the NBA. The first batch was O'Neal's 92 By the era of the silver draft in 1995, the overall quality of the draft was much higher than in the 1980s except for 1984.

The black eight of the Nuggets, the record-setting Rockets won the championship with the lowest ranking sixth in the division, and the black eight of the Knicks to the finals, all of which have benefited from the surge in the strength of this wave of role players. Most of the players on the Rockets entered the NBA in the 1990s. Except for Olajuwon, Drexler, and Kenny Smith, the Rockets, Kassel, Robert Horry and others are all of that age. The first batch of players, the Knicks Black Eight except Ewing, almost all others entered the NBA in the mid-90s.

In the golden generation from 1996 to 1999, it reached the peak of talent. From 1999 to last season, the core of the championship and the team's second in the millennium were all players of this generation. Years of the Silver Draft era.

Due to the improvement of the overall strength of the league, the playoffs have become more exciting, and the strength gap between the teams has become smaller, but it has also led to an unreasonable schedule in the past. Now David Stern is gradually improving.

There is still the last game of the season. Most teams are on April 13th. The last game of the season has already been played. There are only a few games left.

Here in the East, the playoff rankings, the Eagles ranked first with 69 wins and 12 losses, the Pacers ranked second with 60 wins and 22 losses, the Nets ranked third with 46 wins and 36 losses, and the Pistons ranked third with 53 wins and 29 losses Ranked fourth, the Hornets ranked fifth with 40 wins and 42 losses, the Bucks ranked sixth with 38 wins and 44 losses, and the Heat, which has two years of poor experience, successfully dropped to 37 wins and 45 losses and ranked seventh. Like the Hawks, the Knicks ranked eighth with 36 wins and 45 losses, and they didn't want to win the last game. As a team with 36 wins, the Knicks actually announced that they would rest their main players...

At least in this game, the Knicks and the Eagles have a feeling of a level, resting all the main players, it sounds so domineering...

Aside from fan expectations and James Dolan's bad relationship with Price, is there any difference between playing the 60-win Pacers and the likely 70-win Hawks for the Knicks? It's better to fight the strongest one with the mentality of black eight, and it won't be too embarrassing if you lose.

The playoff rankings in the Western Conference have also been determined, with the Timberwolves ranking first in the Western Conference with 57 wins and 25 losses.

The Lakers are 55 wins and 26 losses, and there is still a game to play, but they can only be second. The third Spurs are 53 wins and 28 losses, and they also have a game to play. The opponent happens to be the Lakers, as a warm-up for the playoffs The league thought the Spurs and Lakers would be the strongest in the Western Conference, but Garnett led the team to No. 1 in the Western Conference with Cassell and Sprewell.

The fourth is the Kings, with 52 wins and 30 losses, and the fifth is the Mavericks, also with 52 wins and 30 losses. The regular season between the two teams was tied 2-2, but the Kings won more Western teams than the Mavericks, so The Kings are fourth, and the Mavericks can only be fifth.

The sixth is the Grizzlies, with 50 wins and 31 losses, and there is still one game left. The seventh rocket, also has 50 wins, but 32 losses have been confirmed. Boom, Gasol is really against Yao Ming, whether it is the thin version or the strong version, Yao Ming has no good way to Gasol, the Rockets were beaten 3-1 by the Grizzlies in the regular season, even if the Grizzlies Lost in the last game, the Rockets can only be seventh, playing the Lakers in the first round.

The Rockets are only one breath away from being able to avoid the most terrifying Lakers in the West, but they are only one breath away. If Yao Ming was beaten by Gasol and the record is the same, he can only be seventh. It is better to say that the overall strength is still There is a gap, Francis and Mobley, there is always such a difference.

However, it is also a huge improvement for the Rockets to win the first 50 wins since the Rockets of the Big Three of Olajuwon, Barkley, and Drexler.

The eighth Nuggets, 44 wins and 38 losses, sit firmly in eighth place, the only team in the West, failed to compete in the top seven, and have a clear record advantage over the 39-win Trail Blazers, who are ninth in the West, and have been sitting firmly on the Diaoyutai .

...

On April 14, the Eagles came to the largest and most expensive building in Memphis history, the FedEx Center, the home of the Grizzlies, to challenge the Grizzlies away.

The atmosphere of the two teams is quite harmonious. There is no pressure on the ranking in the playoffs, and there is no possibility of a playoff match. The core relationship between the two teams is still very good. Even the fans of the Grizzlies are not so hostile to Liu Mang.

Originally, the Grizzlies fans were hostile to Liu Mang because Liu Mang and Gasol were competing for the best rookie, but this hostility was based on the fact that the two were evenly matched. Now Liu Mang and Gasol are obviously not in the same class. The comparison objects of the Grizzlies fans have changed. They have become Parker and Arenas, but they have become friendly to Liu Mang.

Corruption culture has begun to spread in the United States, which has mainly inherited British culture and is the most developed country in the world. Fans saw Liu Mang and Gasol chat happily together, and a magical Thoughts—Can you rely on Gasol to hook Liu Mang to your side? My own team has nothing, there is Gasol and a lot of salary space!

There is still one year left on Gasol's rookie contract. The Grizzlies can play this year because of the rookie bonuses of Gasol, Mike Miller, and Battier. Ernes, both of them have high-quality and cheap contracts, including Bunch Wells. Although his character is a problem, his strength, the contract of more than 6 million is indeed lower than his performance, and it is easy to trade. , plus other expiring contracts, before re-signing Mike Miller and Gasol and Battier in advance, the Grizzlies can free up nearly 20 million in salary space at once, which can give Liu Mang the biggest contract.

As a result, some fans at the scene began to shout "IP-double-group", which is the name of the AB combination, which is the abbreviation of Liu Mang and Gasol, similar to the OK-double-group of Kobe and O'Neal...

With the leader, it slowly spread, and the audience collectively began to shout "IP-double-group...IP-double-group...IP-double-group..."

Gasol is so embarrassed now, to attract Liu Mang to Memphis? If it weren't for the living environment here, he is very used to it, he doesn't want to stay here, and Rasheed Wallace, who was already full of hostility towards him, is now looking at him with more fierce eyes, Gaso I was embarrassed and desolate in my heart.

Rasheed Wallace is jealous! After the away fans started shouting IP-double-group, he also joined Liu Mang.

"Paul, it seems that your fans here really want us to form a team, and our style of play seems to be quite compatible, think about it?" Liu Mang teased.

Gasol felt that Rasheed Wallace's eyes had changed from fierce to full of murderous intent, and immediately said: "I like it here, you know I'm Spanish, here makes me feel like I'm in Barcelona."

Rasheed Wallace was satisfied with Gasol's statement, and his eyes softened a little, but he still gave Gasol a look, and then left to contact Ratliff for a shot.

Rasheed Wallace and Pau Gasol never thought that Liu Mang would play in Memphis, and Liu Mang is even less likely to come here. The bustling Atlanta with a comfortable pace of life is not waiting, come here? Unless it's head in the water of the Mississippi River.

Gasol looked at Liu Mang laughing non-stop, and saw the back of Rasheed Wallace leaving, and his heart was desolate and firm again! Da Diao Ruan also has a tough side in her heart. He vowed to work hard to improve his strength, and to take revenge on those who yelled at him in the future!

...

At this stage, Gasol is really miserable when he encounters the real top power forwards. Whether it is Garnett, Duncan, O'Neal, Rasheed Wallace, he will be able to meet these defensive power forwards. The play was very average, especially when he encountered two lovers who were screaming and screaming, Gasol immediately softened.

From the jump ball, Rasheed Wallace suppressed Gasol. Rasheed Wallace's defensive mentality is very interesting. Based on the mentality that his own data is not good and the opponent's data is also worse, every time Defensively trying all game...

Rather Stick to your guns!

Rasheed Wallace is such a forceful and alternative person. He has a hard time himself, and he will not make it easy for his opponents!

The Grizzlies are really strong this year, and their offense and defense are doing very well. Their old coach Hubie Brown was ordered to accept the position of head coach and general manager of the Grizzlies when he played eight games last season, and then started Drastically changed White Chocolate's style of play, and then used Drew Gooden, who was selected by the former head coach, to rob Mike Miller from the Magic, signed James Posey in the summer, and got the Blazers for nothing. Bunch Wells, plus the original Gasol and Battier, as well as Stromile Swift, Lorenzen White, Earl Watson and others, have risen strongly.

Although coach Kruger led the Eagles to the best record since the new century, in terms of the best coach, the old coach Hubie Brown became the biggest favorite!

Take a team that has been poor in a row and won the second pick last season, directly to the sixth place in the Western Conference, and with 50 wins, the improvement is comparable to that of the Eagles two years ago.

After Rasheed Wallace won the jump ball, Liu Mang faced the increasingly "mediocre" White Chocolate Williams, and saw that White Chocolate began to focus on defense and organization of offense, and even the three-point shooting percentage increased to Thirty-five percent of the first-class level has become a steady point guard. While sighing in his heart, he also started a steady style of play.

Looking at the previous two games, I tested many styles of play, and eliminated all the tactics that looked very attractive but did not match the team. Now the tactics used by the Eagles are suitable for the team and suitable for dealing with the Grizzlies. .

The main thing is stability!

On the offensive end, Liu Mang and Rasheed Wallace split the ball after the pick-and-roll, others cut into the running position, and Liu Mang and Raheem's singles tactics.

On the defensive end, rely on Rasheed Wallace to deal with Gasol, and the others also defend one by one, let Rasheed Wallace yell at Gasol... Restricting Gasol is the most important and difficult part of Mike Woodson's tactical defensive strategy, but the key to making it easier for Rasheed Wallace to defend Gasol is Liu Mang. Rasheed Wallace's Advice... Shout out!

This set of tactics is improved from the Timberwolves' style of play...

Restricting Gasol, the steady white chocolate is no longer as magical as it used to be. With the Eagles playing this game seriously, the Eagles have steadily gained the lead.

After the first three quarters, the Eagles lead 76 to 69 by 7 points. The Grizzlies are really strong, and they deserve to be a 50-win team. Reckless, in the fourth quarter, he suddenly turned on the wave shooting mode and scored 10 points in a row. The Eagles played a wave of 12 to 4, and the point difference suddenly widened to 15 points.

Liu Mang's sudden outburst stunned the Grizzlies. The Grizzlies are in good shape now. The Eagles have gone through rest and tactical drills, and they are in their best form now! Playoff Mode!

After relying on Liu Mang to score 10 points in a row to widen the point difference, the Grizzlies never narrowed the point difference to less than 10 points.

In the end, relying on this leading edge, they kept the leading edge until the end!

Relying on Liu Mang scoring 30 points, 5 rebounds and 8 assists, Rasheed Wallace limited Gasol to only 14 points and 6 assists. The Eagles defeated the Grizzlies 112-101!

With 70 wins and 12 losses, the Eagles became the second team in NBA history to win 70 wins!

Get 70 wins! The biggest regret is not that they didn't get 72 wins, but that the last game was an away game... Even the league can't do anything about it. Who knew the Eagles could play to this level? The players can only go back to the locker room to celebrate.

Liu Mangz's head exploded after the game!

A series of system prompts!

Started again... begging for a subscription... more and more every day. , the third monthly ticket is also unstable