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Chapter 257 Youth Memories of 98 Years

Who plays professional basketball without encountering embarrassing things throughout their careers.

For example, the sweep of the playoff series.

When the Jazz were eliminated by the Sonics with a score of 72 to 103 in the fourth game, the Mormons in Salt Lake City seemed to have an epiphany.

It's true that success is double evil, and failure is double evil. After fifteen or sixteen years of ups and downs, in the end, is it finally time to withdraw from the stage of history?

In the last round, the Jazz swept the Lakers, and the fans in Salt Lake City were still celebrating. They probably felt that after such a long time, the team finally encountered another sweep.

Feng Shui took turns, the Western Conference Finals, the Jazz swept out the Supersonics 0 to 4 times.

At the end of the game, Payton was extremely excited, clenched his fists and roared.

Finally reached the Finals again. Since the last time they lost in the Finals, the Supersonics have been in a turbulent situation. Fortunately, Wally Walker is also a man with a brain, especially last summer. His thinking was very clear. Send away the big contract, keep Kemp, and strengthen the inside

This year, the Supersonics' strength has risen instead of falling. In the playoffs, they finally avenged the Jazz last year.

The Jazz's lineup is not much different from last year. The only problem may be that the team's bosses are one year older, and Stockton, who has never been troubled by injuries, suffered injuries this season.

A little bit of subtle changes, one ebb and flow, formed such a situation on the court.

In fact, the Jazz still had a chance. They still led by 3 points in the last 9 seconds of G5, but they didn’t seize the opportunity at the last moment. Looking back now, Adam Keefer’s free throw seems to have directly changed the direction of the entire series.

The media in Los Angeles is very interesting. After the Jazz were swept out by the Sonics, a topic survey was released on the Internet.

"Which is more painful for the team to be eliminated 4 to 3 or to be eliminated in a sweep?"

This topic is true. If it hadn't been more than a week, the Lakers would have been blacklisted if they did this kind of thing just after the end.

too disgusting

Sweeping is definitely not a good experience, especially in the 0th game after 3 to 4, the team feels Alexander the most, and it is normal for the mentality to collapse.

Sometimes, a series of games seems to be divided, but it is actually a whole.

If you are not careful, there may be a chain reaction, and the cause is all because of a small detail.

The Jazz are very depressed.

Since the selection of the Utah Shuangsha, the Jazz have never been swept by other teams in the playoffs, and at the worst time, they have won at least one game.

That should have been in the playoffs in 91, in the semifinals of the Western Conference, the Jazz lost 1-4 to the Trail Blazers.

In that round of the series, although they lost to the Trail Blazers 1-4, in fact, except for the first game, the scores in the other games were very close.

In the final battle, six Trail Blazers scored in double figures and eliminated the Jazz.

But that's not as bad as this time, this time not only in the Western Conference finals with a higher stage, but also without winning a game.

Winning a game and being swept are two different concepts.

Being swept away is miserable, and the fig leaf has a good reputation.

The current swept players in the Western Conference are mainly Shaquille O'Neal. O'Neal is one of the few players in history who was swept in the Finals.

The Jazz's Shuangsha feels that this year's playoff experience is very bad.

After the final battle, Karl Malone, who is the head star, was interviewed.

"The West is too difficult. There are three teams with 60+ victories. We have made a lot of efforts, but we still lost the game at the last moment. This round of the series does not belong to us"

The Sonics left Seattle overnight, and to celebrate a victory, it is comfortable enough to return to their own territory.

Although it is not yet the day to celebrate all achievements in Seattle, adding another Western Championship trophy to the team archives is enough to remember history.

This is the fourth Western Conference championship in the history of the Sonics. In the previous three years, everyone knew that in one year, it was the year before last, when they lost to the Bulls in the Finals.

The other two years were the 1977-78 season and the subsequent 78-79 season, and the opponents in the finals in these two years were both the Washington Bullets. They lost in the first year and won in the second year, successfully revenged.

So it has only been two years since the last time it entered the finals, but it has been almost 20 years since the last time it won the championship.

This time is not too long.

In the NBA, there are some teams that have not won the championship. The Sonics can have a championship, which is already a relatively prominent history.

For example, in the West, the Clippers, Jazz, Nuggets, Timberwolves, Suns, Spurs, Mavericks, and Grizzlies have not yet won the championship.

Many teams have not even won a Western Conference championship.

Of course, this also has something to do with some teams joining the league later.

But judging from the current situation, there are more and more teams. After the ball god abdicates, the battle for hegemony is being staged, and the difficulty of winning the championship is actually getting higher and higher.

In this case, winning the Western Conference Championship is also a very high gold honor.

This is also Qin Fei's first team collective honor. When he raised the silver-white trophy with both hands, his face was full of smiles.

It's a wonderful thing.

At the beginning of the Eastern and Western finals, some experts predicted the two-round series matchup.

Among them, the Supersonics and the Jazz are considered to be a very anxious round of the series, because the strength of the two teams seems to be too similar, and the Supersonics are far from reaching the standard that can solve the problem within 5 games.

As a result, the Sonics swept the Jazz

Some experts also predict that the Bulls will easily solve the game against the Pacers within 5 games, and then reach the finals again.

What is the reason? The Pacers don't have much experience, the Pacers have a bad record against the Bulls, and the Bulls are in even worse shape now.

Especially when the Bulls lead the Pacers 2-0, more people look down on the Pacers.

But to say, the Pacers team is really fierce, not only the coach is fierce, but the players are also fierce.

After entering the playoffs, it is said that in order to save the time of washing and combing hair and hurrying to train, almost the entire Pacers team shaved their hair, not only the blacks like Miller and Davis, but also the whites like Mullin and Smits.

When the whole team came out, it was a group of muscular men with bright heads, like Shaolin monks, it was really spectacular.

During the G2 battle, the two sides stuck together like brown sugar, and no one could get rid of the other. In the last 2 minutes and 40 seconds, Jordan showed his MVP qualities and scored three goals in a row, ruining the Pacers' hope of counterattack.

After two games, head coach Bird complained about the penalties in the first two games: "I told my players that in this series, the referee will not face you, and you must get used to it."

I'm surprised that it's not a big deal to say such a thing. If it is a few years later, it will be fined. There was once a big fat man who was fined [-] US dollars by the league for saying similar things. He cried like a child who weighed [-] catties.

In Game 3, the Pacers scored in double figures and defeated the Bulls.

In the G4 game, Pippen, who had pitted Malone in the finals the year before, missed two free throws in the last 18 seconds of the game, giving the Pacers, who were 1 point behind, a lifeline.

In the next 2.9 seconds, Miller rushed out from the bottom line, pushed away Jordan who was in front of him, turned around and shot after receiving the ball, and hit a three-pointer! 96 to 94, the Pacers unbelievably tied the score and took the lead.

More than ten years later, Jordan said generously: "If you don't blow, it's not a foul."

But today, it is almost full of overwhelming controversy, and there are even magical experts suggesting a rematch.

One day later, Qin Fei scored two three-pointers to tie the game in Salt Lake City. Overtime dragged the Jazz to death, adding a bit of unique and beautiful color to this legendary summer.

The Bulls and Pacers drew 2-2, which was quite different from the one-sided situation predicted before the game.

In the end, the two teams went all the way to the tiebreaker. Since the Bulls played against the Knicks in the Eastern Conference semifinals in 1992, they have never played a tiebreaker in the playoffs.

But that time, the Bulls beat the Knicks by a big score, and this time, the Bulls and the Pacers fought in a dark, bloody river, and Miller and his teammates almost brought down the Bulls who were at the end of their strength.

在这场令人窒息的抢七大战中，公牛队命中率低达38.2%，乔丹25投9中，皮蓬18投6中，朗利5投1中，哈珀4投1中。而步行者的命中率高达48.2%。

An important reason for the Pacers' loss in this game is that they lost too many rebounds, which is somewhat similar to the situation when the Sonics lost that year

Jordan after the game: It's dangerous to play like this.

Dominance is in sight, and the Indiana created a classic playoff round. Even if they fall short in the end, they can raise their heads and walk out of the court with their heads held high.

As a result, the scarred and exhausted Bulls finally made it to the finals once again, and their opponent was the Seattle SuperSonics.

What's more, the Sonics' record is actually better than that of the Bulls. The Bulls have to fly to Seattle first.

This is another thing that takes a lot of energy.

When he lost the finals, Payton said that he would come back sooner or later.

After two years, he finally did it again, against the same red Bulls.

The Bulls hit the sixth championship in team history.

Got it, Jordan is the well-deserved god of basketball, and he is even more legendary on the road to legend.

Losing does not affect Jordan's historical status. The situation was already clear when he made the top 50 appearances at the All-Star Weekend last year. Jordan is the greatest star since the league was established for so many years.

In New York, the Olympic Tower building on Fifth Avenue.

Here is the headquarters of the NBA league, governing the core area of ​​the world's best professional basketball league.

Many newcomers who enter the league headquarters on the first day will encounter some professional questions about the professional basketball league. Here, people will often ask where you went to college. A large part of the reason is that college sports is a topic that many people like to talk about, or ask you which teams you have worked in before.

The Olympic Tower on the edge of Central Park is magnificent, with a total of 51 floors. The NBA office occupies the 14th to 20th floors, including office areas, league merchandise areas, staff restaurants, conference rooms, studios, etc.

The current NBA commissioner David Stern is 56 years old, and he is still relatively vigorous.

Since coming to power in 84, the NBA has gradually developed from a league in which 23 of 17 teams are in a loss-making state to a successful diversified business league.

84 is a very memorable year. The same year Stern came to power, Jordan came.

At the same time as Jordan, Olajuwon, Barkley, Stockton and other superstars also entered the league. Together, they created a magnificent and exciting eight-90s basketball league.

Of course, it was mainly active in the 90s.

Today, Jordan is approaching retirement once again, but the league still looks like he can't be picked up. Although he has been trying his best to promote the growth of some new stars, the real star with box office explosive power has not yet appeared.

Until the players from the class of 96 appeared.

Iverson, Kobe, Qin Fei, Ray Allen, and Marbury, the group of guards who emerge from a group, all have the same style, each has its own characteristics, and it grows extremely fast.

For example, the upcoming finals, Jordan VS Qin Fei?

Stern thought about it for a while and felt that it was very topical. Is it the battle of inheritance?

Isn't this the "Jordan successor" he has been looking for?

Regardless of whether the Supersonics win or lose, at least Qin Fei can be shaped first, just to fill the box office gap in the post-Jordan era

Stern has long understood that no matter how many centers are strong, it is the outside players who really attract fans and box office.

Why should we encourage offense? In fact, it is to increase the enjoyment of the game.

The emergence of Jordan realized the situation of controlling the game from the inside to the outside, leading a wave of outside players killing the game at the last critical moment, and also changed the "bad atmosphere" of "the insider wins the world". David Stern saw it in his eyes, so the two sides hit it off. The cooperation during this period can be described as a honeymoon within a honeymoon.

When the honeymoon finally expires, the next wave of honeymoon is to continue to look for outside players like Jordan or close to Jordan.

Anfernee Hardaway, Grant Hill

Including Qin Fei, who was rising at the moment, Stern was greatly relieved after seeing him.

A branch blooming alone is not spring, a hundred flowers blooming together makes the garden full of spring

Thinking of this, he dialed the phone.

A minute later, a young man in a suit and leather shoes came in from the outside.

"Mr. President."

"I have a broadcast plan for the finals. You can help me implement it. In addition, have you decided on the referees for the finals?"

"Of course, a total of 12 referees (4 games) have qualified for the whistle-handling finals." The visitor smartly reported the list of referees, and it was obvious that the work was in place.

The list of referees for the NBA Finals is selected by the referee committee based on the whistle-handling performance in the first three rounds of the playoffs, the accuracy of whistle-blowing and other data.Every round, some referees will be eliminated.

Only the referees who have passed three rounds of tests will finally be qualified for the whistle-handling finals.

As a result, in the final list, some are familiar old faces who have whistled many times in the finals, and some are new faces.

But no matter the old faces or new faces in the finals, they should all have certain whistle-blowing experience, otherwise they will not be able to enter the final list.

After listening to the list, David Stern nodded and said nothing. He waved his hand and let the person back out.

In just these two days, the Bulls entered the finals six times, Jordan sprinted for the sixth championship, and the news of the second three-peat finally detonated the major media, and the overwhelming news was the decisive battle between the Bulls and the Supersonics.

NBA officials also invited the host of Chaoting TV to host the live broadcast.

On the eve of the Football World Cup in 98, this sporting event seemed to be the last event of concern.

Bulls fans are all over the world. Everyone is waiting for Jordan to lead the Bulls to win the championship again, because that is the whole youth they want to see!

that's how basketball is

It's not big, but it can pretend to be all the joys, sorrows and joys of a person.

All the youth stories that can pretend to be the next person

(End of this chapter)