NBA backer king

Chapter 140 Playoffs, the first round against the Lakers

At 06:30, the bus of the Suns also came to the American West Arena.

At this time, it was still very bright, and there were fans outside the arena, crowded and full of voices, black and white.

Comrade Lao Wang took a look and found that there were quite a few fans wearing the No. 33 jersey. He looked at their feet and found that many of them were wearing the K1 that was just released this morning.

"Look, they are wearing my K1." Pointing out the car window, he proudly shouted to his teammates.

"Old K, how much did you sell?" Barkley asked.

"I guess it's ten or twenty thousand?" He said without hesitation.

"what?"

Including Barkley, everyone in the bus looked at him in surprise.

"You think you're Michael Jordan?"

Seeing the smile on his face, Barkley came to his senses and smiled angrily: "If you can really sell [-] to [-] a day, I guarantee that Nike and Adidas will fire a group of executives."

"At twelve o'clock noon, more than 800 pairs were sold. They expect three or four thousand pairs to be fine today." Old Wang said seriously.

"Three or four thousand?"

Barkley said in surprise: "Three or four thousand is not bad. Centers don't sell shoes, even the three super centers. Among all the centers, O'Neal's shoes are selling well. You are not much different from him. He sold more than 8000 on the first day, and you are almost half as good as him."

Kevin Johnson said: "Old K's style of play is very violent and attractive. I don't think it's surprising that sneakers can sell well."

Dan Marley said: "Based on the baskets he collected, he smashed down several baskets, and he can gain many loyal fans."

Coming up from the underground parking lot, some waiting media followed up and asked some questions.

"Charles, how many games do you think it takes to solve the Lakers?" A reporter from a local TV station asked.

"Hello."

Barkley waved to the TV cameras and said with a smile: "I'm sure it won't drag on until G5."

"Old K, congratulations, Mammoth just announced that your K1 sales exceeded 4000 pairs today." A reporter shouted loudly.

"Oh, it's great, old K, congratulations, your sneakers are a big seller."

"Old K, I also bought two pairs of K1s."

Including the media and the management of the Suns, everyone sent their own congratulations.

"Thank you, thank you fans for your support..." Lao Wang quickly thanked the fans through the lens of the local TV station.

Zhang Lili was sitting in the stands, No.16 row, at the American West Arena, which cost him more than 100 dollars.

He was reluctant to pay for the regular season, but he didn't want to miss the playoffs.

He was holding a CD recorder in his hand, and was going to record the game, and bring it back to Liu Yumin, so that she could see Wang Tiejun's strength.

A few days ago, he also contacted Sun Zhenping, asking if there was any possibility of CCTV coming to interview, but unfortunately, no.

However, Sun Zhenping told him that the last live broadcast of the All-Stars was good. The station plans to continue to broadcast the All-Stars next season, but there is currently no plan to broadcast the regular season. Instead, it is considering live broadcasting the finals. This has been discussed and has not yet been decided.

In the locker room of the home team, the atmosphere is okay, not too tense.

The Suns have entered the playoffs for the fifth consecutive season. They reached the second round last year. Most of the players have playoff experience.

There are also rookies, but what Comrade Wang wants most is to make money. The sneakers are selling well today. I am very excited and nervous. What is that?
Moreover, he is not Barkley and the others. He has just entered the league, and now he has no pursuit of the championship at all.

But there is another rookie who is very nervous, so nervous, his eyes are red, and his voice is a little hoarse when he speaks. That is the coach of the Suns, Paul Westphal.

In order to prepare for the playoffs, he hasn't slept well for several days. Everything is ready, but he always feels uneasy.

"Someone is very nervous, this is not good news." Barkley said with a sad face.

"I'm not nervous." Old Wang shouted immediately.

"I didn't mention you. You don't even have nerves, how could you be nervous?" Barkley said angrily.

"Then who are you talking about? Oh, I see, Oliver Miller, are you nervous?" Old Wang asked loudly.

"I, oh, yes, I'm a little nervous, yes, sorry, I have to go to the bathroom." Miller said awkwardly.

"I looked at the time, 10 minutes, you have been there three times, this is the fourth time. Son, you need to replenish your kidneys." Old Wang shouted.

"Haha..." The locker room burst into laughter.

"call!"

In the noisy environment, Paul Westphal breathed a sigh of relief, the pressure was released, and he felt better.

"I did the math, and it seems that this year's salary has been paid, but this is not right. The playoffs have just started, so there will be no salary in the future?"

Wang Tiejun shouted suddenly.

"Old K, don't you know that there is no salary for the playoffs?"

"Old K, you won't spend all your money? Then I congratulate you. In the next few months, you will have to borrow money to live."

Everyone laughed.

Comrade Wang said with a surprised face: "The playoffs are for nothing, so what's the point of playing in the playoffs?"

Barkley became anxious, and quickly said: "Old K, you can't be lazy, the playoffs are the time for everyone to work hard."

"It's boring, Charles, you can play it yourself." Old Wang leaned back on the wardrobe, shaking his head like a rattle.

Barkley said anxiously: "Don't worry, we have a share of the ticket revenue. As long as we reach the finals, it is safe to share 20 US dollars per person."

"Haha, look at how anxious Charles is about to cry. If we don't win the championship this year, will he really cry?" Old Wang laughed.

"Haha..." The locker room burst into laughter.

"Damn old K, are you playing tricks on me?"

Barkley reacted, dumbfounded.

At eight o'clock, the two sides announced the starting list.

Lakers: Divac, Eldon Campbell, AC Green, Byron Scott, Saidal Streiter

Suns: Wang Tiejun, Barkley, Ceballos, Dan Marley, Kevin Johnson

The game was broadcast live across the United States by TNT, and the commentators were Laitem and Dortmund.

"Divac is 216 centimeters and 110 kilograms, Campbell is 211 centimeters and 100 kilograms, and AC Green is 206 centimeters and 100 kilograms. The Lakers have arranged two centers today. Is this a double-tower tactic? But in terms of average altitude, the Lakers have an absolute advantage, because only the old K of the Suns' five starters is above two meters." Dort laughed.

"So the Suns need to be careful about rebounding, inside defense, pick-and-roll tactics, etc." Laitem said.

"The other two teams have one thing in common. The only ones who can shoot three-pointers are their shooting guards." Dott laughed.

"Also, old K suffered a loss under Divac's hands last time and was fined. Later, I heard that Divac signed up for an acting training class in Hollywood, and now his acting skills are even more exquisite, so this series, old K should be more careful."

Letem smiled authentically.

"Haha..." The two laughed loudly.

At a quarter past eight, the starters started.

"boom!"

The starting game was particularly enthusiastic, and countless fans cheered. The atmosphere of the playoffs surpassed that of the regular season.

At 08:30, the game officially started.

Wang Tiejun was also very excited when he stepped on the court for the playoffs for the first time.

Divac's bounce is mediocre, he flicks the ball away first, and the Suns attack.

Reaching the low post on the left wing, Divac used the wrapping defense, which is a defensive method he is very good at.

The defensive method of flopping was actually unintentional last time, but after tasting the sweetness, it is now under development and is making good progress.

The Lakers' defense requirement for him today is to use winding defense to interfere with Wang Tiejun, supplemented by flopping, once the ball comes down, it is necessary to create conditions for double-teaming.

Wang Tiejun, who is balanced in strength, stood firmly, with Divac on his left elbow, and opened his right hand for the ball. Kevin Johnson passed the ball.

As soon as the ball was passed, he saw the Lakers double-teaming. It wasn't the weak side defense. Campbell didn't dare to release Barkley, but AC Green who was 206 cm and 100 kg.

Green is very close to him, on the right wing, only two meters away from him, and he can be in place with one step after turning around.

"Snapped!"

After receiving the ball, AC Green double-teamed and hit his hand hard with one hand.

But his hand was too big, and when he caught the ball, he squeezed his five fingers, and then retracted, Green missed.

In the next moment, his feet didn't move, and he was hit in a row from left to right, with two bang bang bang bang, Divac and Green were knocked away one after another. He had a short shot space, and then immediately got up and hit a frontal hook.

Divac's center of gravity was bumped, and he took a small step back with his back foot. Seeing his opponent take off, he couldn't keep up with the rhythm.

"Shh!"

With luck, he hit the first playoff goal of his career.

"Papa..." There was warm applause at the scene.

"Beautiful! Old K broke through the double-team and hit his first hook in the playoffs." In the TNT live broadcast, Dott laughed.

"I noticed that old K didn't move his feet, he didn't move his feet. This is different from his previous strikes. In the past, his strikes had the coordination of his feet. Without the coordination of his steps, his power seemed to be weak. You can see that the two defenders didn't completely break apart, and only got a little space."

Letham said.

Dort guessed: "Is it to avoid hitting Divac due to movement?"

"Haha, it's possible, I think it should be out of that consideration." Laitem laughed.

The two guesses were actually a joke, not that.

Because no matter how realistic Divac's flop is, as long as the attacker's supporting foot does not move, and there is no obvious movement of raising his elbow and sinking his shoulders, he will fall to his own death and be killed. By today's standards, that is also a normal confrontation.

Only when the attacker is fully on the move does his flop have room to play.

The reason why Wang Tiejun didn't move and didn't fully exert his strength was due to physical considerations.

In fact, he doesn't need to completely knock over the defender, he just needs to break away a little to get up and shoot. It is even more unnecessary to knock over the defender, it will only waste his physical energy.

He can do that in the regular season, because it is more enjoyable and more attractive to fans, but he can't do that in the playoffs with higher defensive intensity.

Watching two playoff games last night, this is one of his gains and insights.

The Lakers attack.

Divac's strongest ability is support.

There are four basic tactics in basketball, support, pass and cut, breakthrough, and screen. He is good at three of them.

Coming to the low position on the left wing, leaning against Wang Tiejun, he opened his hand for the ball.

At this time, the point guard at the top of the arc, Streiter, gave the ball to the small forward AC Green on the right wing, and he immediately pulled it to the left wing, taking away Kevin Johnson, so that the Suns had no chance to double-team Green.

Green got the ball, didn't stop in his hand, and immediately passed it down to Divac, and then immediately bypassed Ceballos in front of him, and quickly implemented a strong side cut.

"boom!"

Divac, who was backed by Wang Tiejun, suddenly threw the ball with both hands on the floor on the upper (left) side. After the ball bounced, it was caught by Green who cut inside.

Green passed over Wang Tiejun, who didn't dare to stretch out his hand, and only had time to guard it with his eyes.

Green one-step into the paint, and then step up to take off.

Barkley returned to the basket to defend, but it was too late, and if he rushed in, he would be dunked.

"boom!"

With a neat one-handed dunk, the Lakers scored two points.

"The Lakers' tactics are very clear, pass and cut + support. They focused on the weakness of the old K's lack of lateral movement speed, and they attacked him. This requires the Suns in other positions to quickly defend. At the same time, Ceballos should not easily miss this point." Dortmund immediately analyzed.

"Barkley on the weak side was pulled out by Campbell, and he came back a bit slower. Campbell has a bit of mid-range and long-range shooting ability. He has 37% of his two-pointers and long-range two-pointers, and he can't be completely empty. This is probably the reason why the Lakers let him start tonight. He increases the height of the basket, and has a height and long-range shot, which can pull Barkley away." Laitem analyzed.

At this time, Dan Marley missed a goal, and Babel protected the backcourt rebound.

Looking back, Lakers shooting guard Byron Scott also missed a shot, and Wang Tiejun grabbed the backcourt rebound.

The reason for grabbing this backcourt rebound is because the Lakers did not give up on offensive rebounds. Divac and Campbell rushed to the basket at the same time. To grab a rebound, even AC Green rushed in.

"Be careful with rebounding, the Lakers are competing for this advantage." A live commentator shouted.

"Old K made a long pass to Ceballos, a strike!" another commentator shouted suddenly at this moment.

"boom!"

Ceballos drove to the basket with the ball, and Lakers shooting guard Byron Scott, who was chasing to the basket, made a dunk.

On the sidelines, Lakers coach Randy Fender glanced at Wang Tiejun, who was still under his basket, and shook his head in disappointment.

He is also a rookie, an assistant coach of Pat Riley, and only became the head coach of the Lakers this year.

The current strength of the Lakers is undoubtedly far behind the Suns. This time, he wants to focus on height and take advantage of the weakness that the Suns starting lineup is the shortest in the league, occupying a height advantage at the basket, and at the same time grabbing rebounds and expanding shots.

But when he failed to grab an offensive rebound for the first time, he was hit with a fast break. He realized that his tactical arrangement did not take into account Wang Tiejun's ability to launch a fast break.

This is like in volleyball, where there is no need for a second pass, the first pass is in place, and there is no way to defend this kind of fast break directly launched by the center after grabbing the backcourt rebound. As long as the speed of the outside line is fast enough, the success rate is very high.

"Green, don't go in when you are grabbing an offensive rebound, and pay attention to returning to defense when you switch offense and defense." He shouted at AC Green passing by.

The Lakers attacked, Divac and AC Green once again played pass and cut + support tactics.

Wang Tiejun paid attention, but he was still half a beat behind, and was killed by Green.

But this time Barkley quickly returned to the defense from the weak side and blocked the basket in time. Green made an emergency stop and threw a throw, and was caught up by Wang Tiejun in one step.

The ball fell and was caught by Divac. He threw it again. This time Barkley made a contribution, and he slapped the ball and slapped the ball into the sky.

"mine!"

Pharaoh jumped up and caught the ball.

"Old K!"

Ceballos has turned around and stepped down quickly. His defender Green is still beside Lao Wang and is in an open position.

"Whoosh!"

Lao Wang threw the ball with one hand, and the ball flew in a straight line.

Ceballos caught the ball and rushed into the frontcourt in one step. The Lakers point guard Streiter in the left center hurriedly lost Kevin Johnson and chased him.

Ceballos passed the ball to Kevin Johnson, who caught it over the free throw line and made a layup two steps later.

"Clap clap clap..."

The two big hats and the fast break stimulated the adrenaline secretion of the home fans, and the applause and cheers continued.

"Beautiful! The sun sent two big caps in a row and completed a defensive counterattack again." TNT commentator Dort shouted excitedly.

"As long as other people make up first, Old K can return to the basket in time. With his height, the Suns' inside defense can be improved a lot. Just now is a very good example." Laitem laughed.

At 9 minutes into the first quarter, at 18:24, the Suns had led by 6 points. After the timeout, the two sides replaced some substitutes.

Wang Tiejun sat on the bench with Barkley, Oliver Miller and the comeback Tom Chambers partner inside.

老王同志首节并没有多少进攻，3投2中，2罚1中，拿到了5分4篮板2助攻1盖帽1犯规的数据。

Three shots, two close-range hooks, one missed and another made.

The team's arrangement for him in the playoffs is that the opponent Lakers in the first series is not strong, so he is not allowed to attack the basket too much, so as not to consume too much energy. His tasks are defense, rebounding, launching fast breaks, supporting and covering, etc.

After the first quarter, 26:26, the two teams tied.

Chambers recovered from his injury for four months. He came back in the first game. He was in average condition. Within 3 minutes, he made 2 of 0 shots and only grabbed one backcourt rebound.

Oliver Miller's current tonnage has reached 135 kilograms, and he has gained 10 kilograms in one season. His tonnage has surpassed that of O'Neal. He is now the heaviest player in the league, and he can't control it at all.

In fact, he is also the real number one tonnage in the history of the league. In the future, Ao Pang will only be ranked second, with a peak tonnage of 170 kilograms. If you can't win, you can crush your tonnage to death.

With a tonnage of 135 kilograms and a height of 206 centimeters, his mobility has further declined, allowing the Lakers to frequently play fast breaks.

The poor performance of the two big insiders is the most important reason for the Lakers to tie the game in the bench lineup.

However, the head coach Paul Westphal did not make substitutions. In the second quarter, Chambers and Oliver Miller were combined inside, and the outside was also a substitute.

In the 3rd minute of the second quarter, at 32:26, ​​the Suns fell into a scoring drought, did not score a point, but fell behind by 6 points.

Oliver Miller was too nervous. He sent a turnover at the end of the first quarter and another turnover in the second quarter. Two turnovers within 5 minutes made the Lakers play two fast breaks.

Paul Westphal called a timeout and called all the main players.

(End of this chapter)