Chapter 930 929. Tiger's Mentality (Please Vote, Recommend Votes and Monthly Votes!)

After easily defeating the Mavericks on the 27th, they took a day off. On March 1st, a new game month began, and the league announced the new winners of the month.

In the West, Steve Nash won the award. This is the third time this season that Nash won the award. Except for the January award that was snatched away by Francis, Nash won the Western Conference award in November and December.

In the East, with a 16-game winning streak, the Hawks won all 11 games in February, and Liu Mang finally won the Eastern Conference award.

His average points per game soared to 37 points per game, and stabilized, with a trend of continued explosion. Liu Mang finally let people see his "progress" and finally won the Eastern Conference award.

At least there is not a season when Liu Mang cannot get the Player of the Month award. He won the Player of the Month award once when he was a substitute in his second year. He is very depressed that he cannot get the award this season. Fortunately, the league did not do such a great job in praising the 03 generation...

In the afternoon, he received the Player of the Month award trophy and asked the special reporter to take a photo. The league officials also took a group photo to be used as the news picture for the official website. Liu Mang's obsession with the Player of the Month award has been reduced this season. In the first three months, James, Wade, and James were the Player of the Month awards, which really annoyed Liu Mang.

Wade is okay, at least he is third in the Eastern Conference. James could not enter the playoffs in his second season. He was really praised without any effort. Although his data is good, he has not yet converted the data into results.

Every time Liu Mang sees the 03 generation, he wants to have a go. This is also the reason.

At night, the Hawks ushered in the first back-to-back of the new game month, first playing the Bucks and then the 76ers.

Playing against the Bucks, the Hawks sent out the starting lineup of Calderon, Liu Mang, Prince, Muhammad, and Rasheed Wallace.

The Bucks are really desperate this season. Kukoc retired, and the Bucks' group of young people striving for advancement had no one to suppress them. The most important thing is that their leading point guard, TJ Ford, who is recognized as the fastest player in the league, was written off for the season, and Mo Williams, the second-round pick in 2003, became the starting point guard. That guy, called a loner, led the Bucks' singles craze. Whoever got the ball from the outside played singles.

The Bucks were a playoff team last year, but they completely collapsed this year. They have never entered the top ten in the Eastern Conference. They have been rotten from the beginning. Except for Reed's improvement from 21 points per game to 23.3 points per game, the Bucks management has no reason to be happy and is forced to start playing badly.

Coach Terry Porter has prepared his resignation letter. He feels that being an NBA coach is much harder than being a player and an NCAA coach. As a player, he was a top point guard who had a tough fight with Magic Johnson and scored 14.9 points, 10.1 assists, 4.4 rebounds and 1.8 steals. However, being an NBA head coach does not make as much money as a college coach, and he has to serve a group of masters who are difficult to serve, and these masters are not as good as when he played.

In the past two years, many NCAA coaches have entered the NBA, but basically they coach for one or two years and then go back to college.

However, even if the Bucks management decided to play badly, they were desperate when they played badly. They ranked third from the bottom in the Eastern Conference with 21 wins and 40 losses, which was already very bad. Not to mention the Bobcats, the Raptors only had 20 wins...

The Bucks, ranked fifth from the bottom in the league, could not improve their record. They were not the worst in the league. Now the players have no intention of winning, even Reed.

People are like this. Even if they are very competitive, they will not go against money. Reed's current 3-year, 9 million contract is completely incompatible with his worth. At least he needs to get a salary of 9.33 million like Terry to meet his expectations. This season is Reed's fifth season, the last year of his three-year contract. Although Reed's average points per game have reached a career high, even under the new rules that prevent him from defending the perimeter, his shooting percentage is the lowest since his rookie season, and his efficiency is extremely poor.

Anyway, the team is so bad. Reed averaged 20.4 shots per game and only hit 8.5 goals, the lowest among players who averaged 20+ points per game this season. Iverson's shooting percentage is 45%.

The game was won easily. The Bucks' defense did not defend as long as they encountered pick-and-rolls. There was no defense at all. They all wanted to score and brush up their data. Not only Reed, but also the second-year Mo Williams also wanted to get a contract extension. The two-year second-round pick contract expires after this season, so they were all brushing up their data.

At the beginning of this game, when Calderon was on the court, Liu Mang continued to play without the ball. In the last game, he scored 40 points, 17 of which were scored by shooting after receiving the ball. The proportion of points scored with the ball dropped from 69% to 58%. It would be good if it could be stabilized. If the proportion of points scored with the ball can be reduced to about 50%, it would meet Liu Mang's expectations.

Halfway through the first quarter, Calderon was replaced by Iguodala, and Jason Terry replaced Prince. Liu Mang began to need to pass the ball, but it was mainly Iguodala and Jason Terry who held the ball. Playing against weak teams made Iguodala take more responsibility.

Basically, he was running tactics and treated this game as a training game.

Liu Mang clocked out in three quarters, 15 of 23 shots, 3 of 7 three-pointers, and his efficiency was very high, but he didn't have many free throws. Except for Reed's outside defense of his shooting, the opponent didn't even bring up defense when he saw him rushing into the inside. He only got 3 free throws and scored 36 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 steals.

Relying on Liu Mang's 36 points, Mourning, who came off the bench, scored 17 points, 7 rebounds and 4 blocks, Muhammad had 4 points and 12 rebounds, Jason Terry had 18 points and 6 assists, Persson had 14 points, and Igor scored Dara had 6 points, 5 assists and 4 rebounds, Korver had 9 points, Calderon had 7 points and 9 assists, Josh Smith scored in double figures in garbage time, and the Hawks easily defeated the Bucks 115-90. To 17 consecutive wins.

…

…

The day after playing the Bucks, the Eagles immediately faced off against the Philadelphia 76ers.

The 76ers may be the Hawks' opponent in the first round. As of now, the situation in the Western Conference is very stable. The Suns are first in the Western Conference with 49 wins and 10 losses. The SuperSonics are second in the Western Conference with 45 wins and 14 losses. The Spurs are 44 The Mavericks are fourth in the Western Conference with 14 wins and 14 losses, and the Mavericks are fourth in the Western Conference with 39 wins and 22 losses.

Although the Mavericks' recent pain period has greatly affected their record, they still have an advantage over the fifth-place Rockets with 35 wins and 25 losses. The gap between the fifth-place Rockets and the sixth-place Kings is also relatively large. The Kings have 32 wins and 27 losses. The Nuggets in seventh place had 31 wins and 29 losses, and the Grizzlies in eighth place had just 29 wins and 29 losses.

The Lakers dropped below 50% of their winning percentage, with only 28 wins and 31 losses.

After that, the Clippers and Warriors both had only 26 wins.

Relatively speaking, the situation in the Eastern Conference is more chaotic. The top five are as hard as iron. The Hawks are ranked first with 50 wins and 7 losses, the Pistons are ranked second with 48 wins and 11 losses, the Nets are ranked third with 32 wins and 27 losses, and the Heat are ranked 44. Ranked fourth with 16 wins and 16 losses, and the Bulls ranked fifth with 35 wins and 14 losses.

But the five teams ranked six to ten, the Magic, the 76ers, the Wizards, the Pacers, and the Cavaliers, all have a winning rate of almost 50%. Relatively speaking, the Pacers with a broken lineup are slightly worse than the Cavaliers who are favored by the league's students. , but it is estimated that it will be difficult to determine who will get the three playoff seats until the last minute.

And there is another key point. Everyone wants a higher ranking, and no one wants to play the Hawks. However, the seventh position in the Eastern Conference is very coveted by those teams, because the Pistons have been hacked.

This makes it difficult for the Eagles to determine who their final opponent will be, so they fight these five teams to death.

…

"There are so many Iverson fans here again. I said Tracy, why are there not so many fans here?" Liu Mang couldn't help complaining.

"My fans are here too! It's just that you're used to it!" McGrady emphasized.

At 8:15 in the evening, players from both teams entered the stadium. When Iverson came out, many fans cheered for Iverson, even in the away game.

Iverson's fans are quite die-hard, which Liu Mang admires very much.

Look at the fans who had "hooligan" written on their chests all over the place. Liu Mang didn't want these fans. He asked McGrady: "Tracy, I know you care about face. Look at these fans. Do you want to buy fans? I I can sell it to you for a small fee."

"roll……"

Liu Mang fiddled with Tracy McGrady for a while, then went up to practice shooting and waited for the game to start.

Iverson does this every time, and he usually plays well. Not to mention a close relationship, at least he plays well.

But when it came time for the game, he looked like he was thousands of miles away. He arrived in Atlanta yesterday and sat in a box to watch the game.

That's right, even if he was sitting in a box, Iverson was always so grand when he was rich.

But after coming to watch the Eagles game and saying hello to the Eagles players, not to mention having a meal together, Liu Mang felt that this guy was afraid that he would get a meal from him? Is he that kind of person?

Just like now, the game is about to start, and Iverson is discussing something with Webber over there, without coming over to talk to Liu Mang or the Eagles players.

Although his style of play has changed, his character is still the same.

Liu Mang didn't use to be hot-faced and cold-butt, he was both a big boss.

Know yourself and know your enemy and you will never be in danger. Liu Mang took a look at the 76ers players.

Allen Iverson, ability evaluation 96, is still a little worse than his peak, but better than when he just came back from injury last season. Overall, he is still at his peak, averaging 27.3 points, 4 rebounds and 8.4 per game. Assists, 2.4 steals, shooting rate of 45%, the best scoring performance of his career, fourth in the league in scoring, seventh in the league in assists, and second in the league in steals.

It's still the same Iverson. Whether it's his personality or his toughness on the court, there has been a huge change.

Liu Mang saw Iverson's data performance and found it difficult to deal with.

I’m still three or four months away from turning 30! However, Liu Mang thought about the original time and space. Iverson's injury was more severe before he went to get treatment. He adapted for a year in the 04-05 season and averaged 33 points per game in 2005-06. If it weren't for a certain Los Angeles player, He is the player with the highest scoring average in a single season since Jordan.

But now, everything is cloudy, Liu Mang is ready to surpass Jordan's highest scoring average.

Willie Green...Liu Mang's former teammate was traded to the 76ers after the All-Star Weekend. He played shooting guard with an ability rating of 72. He is a pretty good second-year player, averaging 7 points per game.

Childress, with an ability rating of 76, averaged 13 points, 6 rebounds and 2 assists per game.

There are more than 20 games left in the season, and the characteristics of the rookies have been fully understood. Childress's characteristics are clearly written in the scout report Liu Mang received. His shooting is not accurate, but he has three-pointers. He is fast and can jump high and cut well, which is very suitable for Iverson. There is only one big problem. He has no defense at all and is too thin.

Webber, ability rating 88, peak is over, but strength still exists. After coming to the 76ers, he averaged 15 points, 8 rebounds and 4 assists per game. His role is similar to Rasheed Wallace, but he is not as physically fit as Rasheed Wallace.

Mark Jackson, ability rating 74, averaged 12 points and 5 rebounds per game, muscular tough guy, good at catching dribbles.

After looking at the strength of the 76ers' lineup, Liu Mang knew that to deal with the 76ers, he had to deal with Iverson!

At 8:35, the previous game broadcast live on ESPN ended. The three-point battle between the Supersonics and the Suns. After Ray Allen returned, he fought the Suns into overtime. At the critical moment of overtime, Joe Johnson made a high-post back-up jumper at the critical moment, which widened the score difference to 138 to 134. The Suns held a four-point difference and defeated the Supersonics.

However, the Suns' game was really too fast. They played overtime, but the expected game time was only more than 5 minutes, which means that if they didn't play overtime, they would have to end the game about ten minutes earlier.

The referee got the news that the last game was over and notified the players of both teams that they could play.

The lights dimmed as Kwame Brown clapped his hands covered with magnesium powder and Muhammad thought about his pose. Rasheed Wallace's recorded ferocious roar set off the whole audience. Liu Mang sprinkled magnesium powder into the air and stepped onto the court with McGrady, who had communicated with the referee.

Prince and Rasheed Wallace continued to rest today. They did not break the rest because the 76ers were a possible first-round opponent. The Hawks sent out a combination of Liu Mang, McGrady, Korver, Muhammad, and Kwame Brown.

On the 76ers side, Iverson, Willie Green, Josh Childress, Chris Webber, and Mark Jackson started.

McGrady went up to greet the players on the 76ers side. The 76ers are considered a friendly team, but it is hard to say when they really meet in the playoffs.

As the referee blew the whistle, the ball was sent into the air. Kwame Brown easily won the jump ball. After Liu Mang received the ball, he passed it to McGrady and ran to the frontcourt.

When Liu Mang arrived at the frontcourt, he saw that it was Iverson who came to defend him. He immediately ran under the cover of his teammates. He thought that the 76ers averaged 99 points and lost 99 points of defense. He could easily get rid of them, but he ran out of the pick-and-roll and came to the three-point line on the left side of the basket. He saw Iverson following him closely like a shadow!

When playing without the ball, the most fearful is this kind of opponent who is fast and likes to compete! Just like Ray Allen, Alan Houston, and Hamilton have a headache when seeing Liu Mang, Liu Mang can be said to be the fastest off-ball shooter in the league when playing without the ball, but it is a bit difficult to meet Iverson!

Liu Mang immediately felt that playing without the ball also has flaws. Thinking of the development direction he chose, it was written to improve the efficiency of singles at critical moments, and he understood this matter at once.

McGrady saw that Liu Mang had no chance to run out and was closely bitten by Iverson, so McGrady came by himself.

McGrady pulled to the right side, and took three explosive steps to break through the three-point line, leaving Childress behind.

McGrady rushed into the inside, Webber and Mark Jackson both defended him, and Willie Green, who was defending Korver in the bottom corner, also doubled up. McGrady was careless and fell into the encirclement!

Too careless!

I didn't expect the 76ers' defense to be so fierce at the beginning!

The pass was blocked by Webber and Mark Jackson, and the pass to Korver who ran to the left 45-degree angle was blocked by Willie Green. The pass was blocked by Childress who chased back to Liu Mang outside the three-point line on the left side of the basket.

The main reason was that Rasheed Wallace was not there, and Muhammad, who was at the power forward position, was also active on the edge of the three-second zone on the left side of the basket. No one was responding in the left corner! It was impossible to open up the space completely!

McGrady suddenly had an idea and thought of Liu Mang's "God's Pass" and jumped up suddenly.

Sure enough, Mark Jackson, Childress and Webber all jumped up to block the shot. McGrady turned his back to the backboard in the air and threw the ball toward the top arc.

When Liu Mang saw McGrady jump up and turn his body, he said "MMX" in his throat. He guessed that McGrady wanted to play a trick!

What was this guy thinking?

Before Iverson could figure out what McGrady was going to do, Liu Mang saw McGrady turn his body to throw the ball, and immediately rushed to the direction McGrady was facing, which was the top arc.

Seeing that Liu Mang used his "exquisite ball-leading" to deceive Iverson and basically grabbed the ball when the ball fell, McGrady's face was full of pride when he fell. It turned out that ball-leading was so cool... bullshit!

When Liu Mang was about to touch the ball, Willie Green, who was closer to the top arc, rushed to the top arc first, knocked down Liu Mang and grabbed the ball!

The referee did not blow the whistle. Liu Mang was knocked down because McGrady passed the ball too suddenly. When he rushed over, he did not notice that there was someone else trying to grab the ball. He was knocked down by Willie Green who was ready to fight.

The two people collided without touching the ball, and they collided with each other. It was not that one of them was trying to hit the other. It was a reasonable confrontation when fighting for the ball!

Willie Green grabbed the ball and rushed to the front court and smashed the ball into the basket with one hand!

The fans at the scene saw Willie Green knocking Liu Mang over. They didn't care whether it was a reasonable collision or not. The referee didn't blow the whistle, and the fans booed.

But the next scene, the fans booed!

After Willie Green scored, he actually picked up the ball and made the action of Liu Mang actively sticking to him when he made a foul, and then threw the ball into the air and threw a rocket...

It was clear that he was provoking Liu Mang!

Willie Green played half of last season and was given up by the Hawks. He has always hated the Hawks. This year, when the 76ers traded away a bunch of players to replace Webb and no shooting guard, he finally took the starting position and beat the Hawks. , he wants revenge!

It is true that he has nothing to do with Liu Mang, and his decision to stay or leave has little to do with Liu Mang, but he was originally a "point guard" and naturally brought into the mentality of a "competitor".

The fans at the scene booed loudly when they saw Willie Green's actions.

Liu Mang stood up and saw this scene. He stuck out his tongue and licked his lips. He pursed his lips and said nothing. He ran back and waited for the serve. He showed no expression when passing by Willie Green.

McGrady, who came back with Liu Mang, saw Liu Mang's expression. He felt Liu Mang's contempt and anger towards Willie Green with a delicate mind, and thought in his heart: "It's over, that kid is over... But it seems that the game is going to become ugly again. Relaxed..."

Liu Mang received McGrady's serve and advanced to the frontcourt without passing it to McGrady.

After arriving in the frontcourt, McGrady directed Korver, who wanted to go to the bottom corner to open up space, to go to the high post. McGrady himself went to the right corner to open up space.

This is not part of the strategy! Korver was a little overwhelmed when he came to the right side of the free throw line. This is not a place where he can shoot!

Liu Mang came to the top corner, and Iverson defended him. Liu Mang saw Tracy McGrady directing Korver to a high position. With this silent understanding, what else needs to be said? The one guarding Korver is Willy Green!

Liu Mang waved Korver over to pick and roll. Korver finally knew what he should do and immediately came up to help Liu Mang block Iverson. Liu Mang bypassed the pick and roll. Korver immediately ran towards the left corner. Ferson could only follow Korver and run to the left corner.

Willy Green was originally guarding against Liu Mang's breakthrough after the pick-and-roll, and immediately switched defenses, but found that Liu Mang was just waiting for Korver to take Iverson away and open up the space.

Liu Mang was dribbling the ball in the top arc and suddenly took a step to the right. Willie Green was so excited that he stole Liu Mang, counterattacked and dunked, and provoked Liu Mang. He did it all! The key is that Liu Mang "didn't dare to talk back"!

Seeing Liu Mang take a step, Willy Green, who was highly excited, suddenly took a step back. Liu Mang did not move forward at all and immediately pulled his foot back. Willy Green cursed in his heart that he had fallen into a trap and rushed back.

Willie Green, whose nerves were highly excited, still had some clarity in his head and rushed back without taking off.

At this time, Liu Mang grabbed the ball and bent his knees to jump. Willie Green saw that Liu Mang had grabbed the ball and was about to shoot, and he blocked the shot towards Liu Mang, but Liu Mang just stood on tiptoes!

Liu Mang swung past Willie Green, swung the ball and hit Willie Green, and threw a cannon into the sky...

The referee's whistle blows and the thug commits a foul!

Liu Mang didn't even look at Willie Green, walked to the free throw line and made all three free throws.

Liu Mang made a three-point foul, and Iverson couldn't say anything. He was originally guarding Liu Mang, but Korver took him away. No wonder Willy Green, a second-year player, was there.

It's time for the 76ers to attack.

Iverson advances to the frontcourt, he must first eliminate his offensive threat.

Liu Mang came to the top arc to defend Iverson, and gestured to Korver to be ready to defend at any time.

Iverson used the butterfly step to change direction drastically and could stop and accelerate at any time. There was really no way to prevent Liu Mang from being left behind by Iverson.

But Liu Mang did not give up and continued to catch up with Iverson. At this time, Iverson saw that Korver had already covered up the defense. He did not pass the ball and chose to make an emergency stop jumper outside the free throw line. He was covered from behind. Liu Mang interfered and was forced to adjust in the air and throw the ball out.

Iverson missed his first shot in the game.

When the Hawks attacked again, Liu Mang continued to play pick-and-roll with Korver, forcing the opponent to switch defense and then single out Willie Green.

Liu Mang still had the same expression that he didn't take Willy Green seriously, so he used fake moves again, and Willy Green was fooled again!

Liu Mang ran up to Willie Green and threw another sky cannon!

The referee blew the whistle again, and the thug committed a foul!

Only then did people realize that Liu Mang's two fouls were exactly the same as Willie Green's provocation just now!

Willie Green also reacted! He was completely teased by the other party!

The reason why the other party didn't respond was not because of anything else, but because he was too lazy to start a fight and just responded with a game!

When Liu Mang saw Willy Green's provocation, he didn't show an angry expression, didn't say too much, or even ignored Willy Green. The main reason was because if he was bitten by a dog, would he want to retaliate?

Tigers are powerful and can compete with lions and gain the upper hand in hand-to-hand combat with cheetahs, but when they encounter a crazy dog, they will avoid it if provoked.

If you defeat a lion, you will be feared by all beasts. If you defeat a cheetah, you will be feared by all beasts. But if you defeat a mad dog, there is nothing to show off. It would be bad if you were bitten.

As a tiger, when dealing with a mad dog, you have to be brutal!