Chapter 523

The Pistons, the Nets, the Hornets, and the 76ers collectively expressed their contempt for the useless Celtics.

Actually let the Eagles get back the feeling just like that?

It's so useless!

Especially the Pistons. They had a feeling that the Eagles were going to be cold. Even if they finally switched back to the previous style of play, it would definitely have a certain impact. For example, Jason Terry, who originally got the ball, and lost Liu Mang, who may not be used to the ball for a while, and the overall cooperation of the Eagles may be affected.

The Pistons were pleasantly surprised when they saw that the Hawks had to play the Celtics and Pacers in two of the last four games against the Celtics and Pacers.

Who would have thought that the Celtics with such a strong defense were beaten into a sieve by the Eagles, and the feelings of the four teams that are about to play the playoffs with the Eagles can be expressed in a single sentence?

The most sad and indignant is a team that is about to play against the Eagles and ranks third in the Eastern Conference but has been ignored by people-the Pacers. It didn't take into account that the Pacers, who are already sitting third in the Eastern Conference and won 48 wins and 31, didn't even enter the shortlist for the Eagles' opponents.

On the contrary, the Milwaukee Bucks, ranked seventh in the Eastern Conference, were included in the ranks of the possible underdogs. On the night the Celtics lost to the Eagles, the Bucks won and climbed to sixth in the Eastern Conference. They all felt that they had a rich season. Payton, who has experience in the post-match, can play the next game.

In fact, the difference between sixth and third in the Eastern Conference is only 5 wins, which is not so different.

Looking at the public opinion in the media, it seems that he has already been eliminated, and Payton is going to the playoffs. It is really fierce. He just won the Eastern Conference Player of the Month in March. The Pacers are the same as the Celtics who consciously were targeted by the Eagles. I feel the evil in this world...

After the game between the Eagles and the Celtics, the sloppy style of the major media was fully displayed.

When the Eagles were 1 win and 3 losses, the media were criticizing coach Kruger for his wrong decision, telling him to stop quickly, finish this season first, and deal with those moths next season. They are extremely pessimistic about the improvement of the Eagles , Most of the media even said that because of this change, the Eagles' already successfully paved path to the playoffs would be affected.

But after winning a game against the Celtics and showing the ability to seamlessly switch between the two ball-handling cores, the direction of public opinion changed suddenly.

"New Generation Teacher"

The Cardinal of the Eagles

"Another Phil Jackson"

"..."

"..."

The major media scrambled to praise Coach Kruger. It can be seen from the game that when Jason Terry held the ball to organize, Liu Mang played obviously more easily, and the two each played their own characteristics of holding the ball. After that, it is hard to guard against.

This change made the media praise Coach Kruger so much that they were embarrassed to read newspapers and online news.

Fortunately, the next day was the league's first slot match between the Kings and the Spurs, which attracted the media's attention in the afternoon, otherwise Coach Kruger would be blown away.

Although Coach Kruger knows that he should not be proud or smug, and although the Eagles have been praised by the media, they have been blown up that they will go all the way in the playoffs, but Coach Kruger knows that the road is very difficult. There is no advantage. No matter who they play, they start away. The team is still in the most unfavorable situation. It just won 41 wins and locked in the playoffs.

But this does not prevent Coach Kruger from being happy. He couldn't help being happy when he saw Liu Mang, and he laughed so hard that Liu Mang's hair stood on end...

...

...

The Eagles have three games left, while the Magic have only two games left. Moreover, the Magic has 38 wins and 42 losses, and the Eagles have 41 wins and 38 losses. The playoffs have been stabilized.

Boston is a good place, a famous academic city, the birthplace of the American War of Independence, a city with highly developed biomedical technology, and various orchestras and stage theaters. It ranks eighth in the ranking of major cities in the United States, one year higher than Atlanta name.

Instead of leaving the next day after playing the Celtics, the Eagles had a day off in Boston.

The main reason is that the time is very awkward, the last three consecutive away, there are two days of rest between the first two games.

After playing the Celtics on the 12th, rest on the 13th and 14th, play the Pacers on the 15th, and finally on the 17th and 18th, there will be back-to-back away games and home games against the Heat. The regular season is about to end.

After playing against the Celtics, the Eagles stayed in Boston, mainly because Indianapolis really couldn’t compare with Boston. The next three games, the Eagles were going to take it easy, mainly running tactics, allowing more In the past few months, players with few performance opportunities have played, and it doesn’t matter whether they win or not. Even if they win all the remaining three games, they will only win 44. It is impossible for the Celtics and Bucks to lose all the remaining games. All wins are possible. The Eagles have little chance to climb to sixth. Seventh is the devil's ranking that all playoff teams in the East want to avoid. Losing, if Zhenyi accidentally climbs to sixth, the tragedy will be the Eagles themselves.

In the morning, the Eagles trained for two hours in the rented gymnasium of Boston University, mainly to consolidate the style of play of yesterday’s game. In the afternoon, they practiced individually. People who want to go out and visit Boston, a historic city in the United States, can also do so. go shopping.

Liu Mang chose to visit various universities in Boston with Rahim, who had an inexplicable yearning for learning and expected his son to be admitted to a prestigious school and become a scholar.

Boston is a gathering place of famous universities. In addition to Harvard and MIT, two well-known universities that Lanxiang is familiar with, there are three other universities that are also top universities. Tufts University, one of the 25 joint universities of the Ivy League, and Brandeis University, a top academic university known as the Jewish version of Harvard with less than 5,000 students, are known as the top five universities in the United States.

In addition, there are seven first-class academic universities in Boston, such as Northeastern University, University of Massachusetts... three first-class financial management schools... If you want to count all kinds of second- and third-rate universities, including Pheasant University, Boston's There are more than 100 universities in a city of only 200 square kilometers...

This is also the key reason why Boston is the most densely populated city in the United States after San Francisco. There are too many universities. Universities are the best business gathering places, and a school can drive a lot of economic income.

Liu Mang first visited Boston University with Raheem, and then went to Northeastern University, which is the closest to Boston University, with Raheem. Not to mention, whether it is the memory of Liu Mang's previous life or the memory of this life, he will never forget his memory. Very emotional.

Liu Mang was very touched by the experience of leaving university and entering the society with a dream, which was crushed by reality, and the feeling that he was about to graduate from another university.

On April 19th, the graduation ceremony of Liu Mang's college was moved forward to April 19th, which is the day when the Eagles' regular season ended.

The normal graduation ceremony should have been in early May, but because Carter missed the training and pre-game preparations for the tiebreaker against the 76ers two years ago because of the graduation ceremony, Carter performed abnormally in that game and only made 6 of 18 shots. The Raptors lost 87 to 88 to the 76ers and missed the first chance in team history to enter the Eastern Conference Finals. Carter was criticized, and North Carolina was once caught in a whirlpool of public opinion. The dragon team lost, because the graduation ceremony is not the same as getting the graduation certificate or degree certificate, it is just a pre-graduation ceremony.

Of course, this ceremony is very important to many students, such as Carter who promised his mother to take his mother to the graduation ceremony.

So now all the schools with active NBA stars will decide the time of the graduation ceremony according to the situation. After all, an NBA star can be said to be the glory of the college or even the whole school. More than 400 players in the NBA are college students, and they insist on holding Those who have enough credits to be able to graduate, probably can count on both hands, and at the same time can just make the playoffs in the year of graduation, it is estimated that it is rare to meet once in ten years.

For example, Raheem, because his family is only close to the middle-class income, but has 5 younger siblings who are at most 7 years old, he started to bear the pressure of life at home after finishing his freshman year, and chose to enter the NBA early It is a pity for him that he failed to become a master's student at the University of Detroit like his third brother, and he also failed to get a university diploma, so he put his expectations on his own children.

Special things are treated specially. Although Liu Mang did not get a degree certificate, he has graduation qualifications. When people from Georgia Institute of Technology contacted him, he knew that he was in this world and was going to graduate soon.

Looking at the youthful college students, Liu Mang and Rahim spent a sightseeing trip that was not very interesting, but both of them thought it was very good.

...

A day later, the Eagles came to the home of the Indiana Pacers to challenge the Pacers away.

The Pacers lost to the Celtics in the previous day's game and became 48 wins and 32 losses. They completely lost hope of surpassing the 50-30 Pistons, regardless of whether they played the Celtics or the Bucks. It's pretty much the same for them, and they haven't won much against either team in the regular season.

Of course, the Pacers are still very confident in themselves, and they regard all comments that are not optimistic about them as motivation. They can't surpass the Pistons. Their goal is the Nets who are only one game ahead of them!

So before today's game, the Pacers made a lot of plans, such as how to deal with Ratliff's basket defense, how to deal with Raheem's low singles and baseline jumpers, how to cut off Liu Mang and Jason Te The duo in...

But when the two teams' starting rosters were announced before the game, the Pacers discovered that this was not the case at all!

The starting lineup of Liu Mang, Jason Terry, Prince, Boozer, and Metola, Raheem, Ratliff, and Muhammad directly truce, completely broke the Pacers' expectations.

The Pacers completely overestimated the importance of this game to the Eagles, thinking that the Eagles would work hard to win a few more games and win the last few games. Who would have thought that the Eagles only wanted Liu Mang and Jason Terry played those coordination more, and played more coordination with different teammates, so let the three frontcourt starters collectively take turns to give the role players more opportunities to perform.

It's also the end of the season, like Mertola, who may finish this season, it will be difficult to stay with the Hawks next season, and there may be no chance of playing in the playoffs. Kevin Willis is much more useful, and the trade has After Kevin Willis, Mertola didn't have much playing time, so in the end, the airport let Mertola also play to prove that he can play in the NBA. The Eagles can't control where he will go next season. The human touch of the team, after determining the playoff rankings, the Eagles gave them more opportunities to perform.

After the game started, the Eagles considered more, not how to score and how to win, but trying to let Liu Mang and Jason Terry create opportunities for big center Mertola.

This is simulating Ratliff's playing style on the court. Although Ratliff basically has no skills on the offensive end, he is so tall, so big, and the Eastern Conference, which is weak inside, is still very threatening. Standing there It's just a threat. If he can get in a few, the other party will not dare to let him go easily.

In addition to Murtola, there is also the cool guy Newbell, one of the short lineup rushers whose playing time has been reduced a lot since the Eagles had Boozer, and Chris Kerr, whose playing time has dropped sharply after Prince has Lawford and others all got a lot of playing time.

In addition to showing the human touch of the team, it is also one of the reasons for them to adapt to the team's changed style of play. They have played the old style of play for two seasons, and they are very familiar with it. Integrate into it, but the new style of play is not necessarily.

Be more adaptable, and if there is a foul crisis in the playoffs or when a surprise rescue is needed, you will not fail to integrate into the team.

...

However, the process of this game is always unexpected. The Pacers saw that the strongest players and defensive pillars of the Eagles were on a truce, and the players who were worried could start waiting for the playoffs so moistly. It is inevitable for the Eagles. Underestimated a lot, Artest can't find anyone to fight melee, it's a pity that the desire of the brain dominated by muscles has nowhere to vent.

But after the start of the game, the threat Boozer brought to Jermaine O'Neal exceeded Jermaine O'Neal's imagination. A rookie's cutting, pick-and-roll awareness, and mid-range shooting all surprised Jermaine O'Neal, which is much better than when he was 21 or 2 years old. In particular, Boozer's cutting awareness after the pick-and-roll, and Xiaolu's sharp low-post footsteps all surprised O'Neal.

The defensive combination of Ratliff and Muhammad is difficult enough to deal with. Fortunately, the offense of the two is not bad. As one of the best defensive power forwards in the Eastern Conference, although O'Neal is not as violent as Ratliff, he played. In the past three years since the start, the average blocks per game are 2.8, 2.3, 2.4, which is quite impressive.

But I didn't expect that the Hawks, a rookie on the bench, had the main tactical status, and the Hawks' inside offense had a new threat.

The Pacers couldn't defend the inside at the beginning. After Boozer attracted the defense, Mertola got a lot of opportunities to play high and high, and scored 6 points in a row. After the Pacers took good care of the inside defense, the Eagles' outside cut And the three-pointer made the careless Pacers stumble again.

Prince and the rotation Chris Crawford aggressively cut to the basket, Liu Mang and Jason Terry shot and passed the pick-and-roll quite tacitly, and Artest followed Prince and Chris- Crawford was dizzy from running, he wanted to guard Raheem! He wants intense body boom boom boom boom boom...

At the beginning, the Eagles tried various offensive methods, and they felt pretty good. They caught the Pacers by surprise and started with a 22-9 start, which shocked the Pacers and Indianapolis fans.

The Eagles are too strong! With three starters missing, he is still so strong!

But playing and playing, after the Pacers got used to it and adjusted their defense, they realized that it turned out to be the same, but with a little more tricks, and without Raheem's defensive restraint point, Artest didn't care about Chris Crow. Ford, but after actively assisting the defense, the Eagles' offense began to misfire. At the end of the half, the Eagles were not only overtaken, but also trailed by 7 points, and the half ended 51 to 58.

In the second half, Jason Terry made trouble again. When he went up to play with a substitute, he had a good time alone, scored 14 points in a row, beat the Pacers 14 to 8, and almost overtook the score.

The Pacers also want to come off the bench to practice the ball, but the Eagles are playing so aggressively, looking to win. They are still competing for the playoff rankings and want the Pacers with home court advantage in the second round. Head coach Isaiah Thomas had to replace the starters.

Well, after Artest came to defend Jason Terry, Jason Terry decisively admitted the rough confrontation, passed the ball, and played tactics. After three quarters, he was 8 points behind 76 to 84.

At the end of the final quarter, Coach Kruger put Liu Mang up to run tactics again. Liu Mang did not have the leisurely mind of Jason Terry to score a wave. He came up and planned to run tactics for a few minutes and give the rest of the time to Dean Grove. , but the Pacers didn't believe that the Eagles would give up so easily, and continued to replace the main players, in case Liu Mang would score points if he disagreed.

Then...Liu Mang really ran a few rounds of tactics, and was replaced...

Isaiah Thomas is going crazy, he doesn't know what the Eagles are thinking!

The Pacers players were about to be tortured crazy by Isaiah Thomas. When they got close to the point difference, the head coach was scared like that...

In the end, the Eagles lost to the Pacers 99 to 108, and the Eagles players did not lose much. Mertola, who got 17+5, set a new season high and was very happy.

Murtola doesn't know if this is the last time he scored in double figures in his career. He was the second-round pick selected by the Eagles in 2000. Since he is a big center, his worth is much higher than that of a guard like Liu Mang. He signed 2+ 1 basic salary contract, but he averaged 4 points and 3 rebounds per game in his rookie year, and averaged 4 points and 2 rebounds per game in his sophomore year. The career high is only 14 points. He once got a double-double, 12 points and 12 rebounds. Before he might leave the NBA, he set a new personal scoring high. It is also a good memory for Murtola.

Chris Crawford is not the same as Newbell, they are good, especially Newbell, change teams, return to the familiar small forward position, maybe they can start, and they are still with the Eagles. There is a contract, but the Eagles are now strong and strong, and they have fewer opportunities to perform. The Eagles need more experienced veterans, because Prince and Boozer have joined, and when they have strength, they lack experience and veteran experience.

All three are likely to leave the Hawks next season. For this, the closer to the end of the season, the players understand more clearly, because they have become more and more marginalized.

But leaving may not be a bad thing. The Eagles’ lineup cannot give them a chance to perform. If they continue to stay, if they don’t have a good chance to perform next season, maybe their amazing impression on other teams in the 01-02 season will be slowly faded away. Erased, and with one year left on the contract, it may be harder to find a job.

Out of consideration for the team's salary and summer signings, Chris Crawford and Newbell will almost certainly be traded away, because Boozer will definitely need more playing time in the second grade. A player at the striker position who also plays in a small lineup will definitely leave.

However, the management of the Eagles is still humane, mainly because they are afraid that Liu Mang has deep feelings for his old teammates. If he sells it at will, it may affect Liu Mang’s contract renewal, so they notified their agent in advance and asked them to tell the players They have to play the rest of the game well and perform well. After the end of the season and during the trade period before the draft, we will try our best to send them to the team they want to go to.

Because I didn’t expect to get any good returns, the main thing is to free up salary space and position, and show the human touch of the team as much as possible, so that Liu Mang, a Chinese player who attaches great importance to human touch, will be more satisfied with the team. Will be disappointed with the team because of this matter, they are willing to spend a little more effort to do these things.

In addition, there are Dean Grove and Emmanuel, whose contracts are about to expire and who are basically losing their NBA capabilities. They are not far away from leaving the team. They really have no hope of gaining a foothold in the NBA. capable.

The team's long-term plan cannot be a temporary idea. The playoffs have not yet started. The Eagles are already planning for the trade period before the draft. The Eagles are basically sure to have a first-round pick with the 14th pick. In this year's draft year, this draft pick is worth a lot of money.

Choose talent? The Eagles are not very happy, their talents are already exploding, and they have to trade and trade in a few years, otherwise Liu Mang, Jason Terry, Raheem, Boozer, Prince, Ratliff The salaries of the core players are skyrocketing! What the Eagles want is to strengthen their combat strength immediately, and strive to win a championship before their salary explodes. Otherwise, Liu Mang has no reason to trade anyone.

After playing the Pacers, the Eagles players came to the restaurant booked in advance to gather together. There were players who had a good relationship with the Pacers, and some players from the Pacers were also called.

Raheem called O'Neill, and Muhammad and Al Harrington were friends in the same class. When Liu Mang saw Muhammad and Al Harrington coming together, he thought it was Muhammad and Al Harrington. Hammad's good temper can make friends with someone as arrogant as Al Harrington.

After the regular season is over, in order to prepare for the playoffs, the coaching staff will definitely not give them time to get together, maybe there will be a curfew for the playoffs, so let's get together at this time. It's hard to say about the playoffs. If they lose in the playoffs, they may not be in the mood to get together by then.

Liu Mang also went. Liu Mang and Jason Terry made an appointment with Artest and Tinsley together. Liu Mang did not drink. After all, the Eagles are the visiting team. Going back and forth, afraid that this group of rich uncles will cause trouble or have any accidents, and their chief will have to take the blame and resign. With so many police officers nearby, Liu Mang, who is regarded as a "model" by the alliance, does not drink or go to nightclubs Naturally, he did not secretly drink alcohol as the "image spokesperson".

Liu Mang also knew the fate of these teammates. He was a little sad, but he also knew the team's arrangements for them. For example, Emmanuel and Moron Wiley have a good relationship, and they may stay on the team to become trainers. After all, he is a professional athlete. It is not bad to be a sparring partner. The salary is much less, but at least he will not retire and go bankrupt. Liu Mang feels better about this. Emmanuel is Liu Mang's first friend in the team. , although I have no sense of financial management, and my six-year career adds up to a salary of more than 2 million yuan after tax. I don’t know how much I spend. When I was poor, I followed Raheem or Jason Terry to pick up girls, but aside from money A good friend indeed.

Watching Dean Grove get drunk and talk about his dream of becoming a painter in the future, listening to Emmanuel blatantly say that one day he will snatch the vice president that Moron Wiley just took over from Uncle Callahan Then he was intimidated by Moron Willie and asked him to be responsible for picking up the ball every day. Seeing that Mertola decided to go back to college and finish college, and then go to open a small ideal of a gym, Liu Mang drank a glass of 2003 milk, thinking I think this is probably life!

"Ace, are you sad?"

A strong man who can be compared with Boozer in terms of appearance and style at this stage came to Liu Mang and asked.

"No, Ron, I'm happy for them. It's a good thing to have plans for the future, isn't it?" Liu Mang smiled.

"That's right, compared to many players, they are lucky to have a boss like you." Artest felt that he was worried for nothing. He saw Liu Mang's melancholy expression, and thought that Liu Mang was leaving because his teammates were leaving. sad.

Artest seems careless, but his heart is very soft, otherwise he would not become a famous charity participant in the future. He is careless only because he grew up in that chaotic place in Queens, where he can only be tough, otherwise become food for others.

"No, no, I'm not the boss, Sharif is the boss." Liu Mang quickly rejected the title.

Some of his teammates call him Little-boss in private, and he can accept it, but in front of outsiders, he doesn’t want to discredit Raheem. Raheem is the boss of the team, the symbol of the team, although Raheem Maybe he wouldn't mind it, but Liu Mang couldn't be ignorant.

Artest smiled and said nothing, replaced milk with wine, drank a glass with Liu Mang, and then returned to the ranks that had advanced from drinking and bragging to gambling...