From today on is the king

Chapter 1443 1442. Private Territory (seeking monthly pass)

"Ace: I'm already thinking about my opponent in the next round"

After the game against the Bulls, Liu Mang answered a reporter's question about how he felt about being promoted.

What makes Liu Mang regretful is that in this time and space, in the 2003 playoffs, he led his team to squeeze the Magic out of the playoffs. McGrady failed to say these words. These words were only regarded as a mockery of the victory declaration he said in 2003.

After the end of the series between the Eagles and the Bulls, there was no less exclamation than the Warriors eliminated the Mavericks.

Before the start of the second round, apart from Hawks fans, not many people thought that the Hawks could beat the Bulls.

Just like in the 2003 playoffs, when the three-peat defending champion Lakers met the Spurs in the second round, they were almost overwhelmingly unfavorable to the Lakers.

Compared to the Hawks, the Hawks were even less favored. The Lakers still had a solid lineup back then. The core lineup remained unchanged in the third championship year. The Hawks lost the best three-pointer in the NBA bench and the best single-defense perimeter player in the league. The defense has also been poor before the start of the second round, and the momentum is far less than in previous years...

Except for the Eagles fans, not many people would think how well the main players of a team that won three consecutive championships can perform well in the fourth year.

The Bulls have done everything they can. Kwame Brown averaged only 9 rebounds per game; McGrady’s initiative to hold the ball is not effective; Jason Terry has occasional flashes but most of the time he is not good; Nocioni, Duhon, Big Z, Malik Allen, Adrian Griffin are players in their prime who have experience...

The Bulls' performance in the entire series was not bad, on the contrary, they were very good, especially their touch. In the away game, their shooting percentage was almost [-]% or more.

but……

Relying on Liu Mang's explosive performance again and again, the Eagles defeated the Bulls 4-3!
The team can't score...

Liu Mang averaged 31.6 points per game and scored 221 points in the entire series.

Luol Deng, who ranked second in scoring in this series, had only 22.4 points.

The Eagles sometimes suffered setbacks in rebounds. Liu Mang used mid-range singles to call out the opponent's insiders, helping McGrady, Marion and other players with strong impact ability to attack the second time. Liu Mang also had 8.3 rebounds in the entire series. The Eagles ranked second, and the defensive end was even better...

场均31.6分8.3次篮板4.7次助攻1.6抢断3盖帽，几乎每场比赛都能在防守端起到重要作用！
If fans who have watched this round of the series say why the Eagles can win, there is basically only one answer-Ace is too strong!

In this round of the series, Liu Mang has completely convinced the fans and the media!
The 65 points in the crucial second game, the 38 points in the tiebreaker, when the score was only around 20 points, basically there were about two steals and three to four blocks in each game...

Fans and media's views on this round of the series - the Bulls defended everyone in the Eagles, only Liu Mang and the others had nothing to do!
On May 5th, the second day of the tiebreaker between the Eagles and the Bulls, which was also the day of the tiebreaker between the Cavaliers and the Magic, Liu Mang still overwhelmed the controversial series between the Cavaliers and the Magic.

No. 24 in the West said in an interview that when a star encounters a call that is favorable to him, no matter who he is, he will choose to seize this opportunity. The player himself cannot control whether this "good luck" will come to him. His opponent will be very upset when he encounters a favorable call, but when he becomes the "lucky person", no one will miss such an opportunity.

The referee's whistle tends to be himself, and LeBron James will certainly seize this opportunity to drag the series into the tiebreaker.

Entering the tie-break, the Cavaliers regained hope of advancing.

But...it also made the Cavaliers' opponents lose their mentality...

Just like in the 2002 Western Conference Finals, when the Kings were leading 3-2, the referee's call in Game 4 suddenly became extremely beneficial to the Lakers, allowing the Lakers to beat the Kings by [-] points in Game [-] when they might not be as strong as the opponent.

The Lakers scored 40 of 34 free throws in a single game, and O'Neal made 17 of 13 free throws. As a result, the Lakers only won by four points...

Such a result made the Kings mentality explode. The referee did not blow the whistle in the seventh game, but played it fairly. The free throws the Kings got in the tiebreaker were almost the same as the Lakers.

Mentality is very important to a player’s performance. Whether it’s the complacency after winning the championship or the explosion of extreme depression, it will seriously affect the player’s performance. Although players know that they should not be complacent or overly depressed, this is beyond the player’s control. Except for Duncan, who specializes in psychology in college and has a master’s degree in psychology by himself, it is difficult for others to complete self-adjustment.

And the academic world in the United States... is estimated to be one of the most demanding countries in the world. Duncan obtained a master's degree in psychology by himself, which is enough to prove how strong he is in this area.

The Magic's Happy Beast and Turkoglu are not considered mentally strong players, while Raheem is irritable...

In the tiebreaker between the Magic and the Cavaliers, Raheem committed 4 fouls after halftime. As soon as he played in the third quarter, he got [-] fouls because of his rough defense and left the field with [-] fouls.

This time it really wasn't that the referee blew too little. The angry Raheem even took a picture of James' nosebleed who broke through for a layup.

Howard was made to play the whole game for 33 minutes, elbowed LeBron James in the second half of the third quarter, received a malicious foul and was sent off.

特科格鲁则是沉寂了下来，前四场场均17分7板9助攻的他，第七场打了41分钟，只拿到6分6助攻3篮板。

93 to 80, the Cavaliers won this round of controversial series without much effort, except that James was "sniped" several times and the field was bloody.

……

The four conference finalists are out!
After playing the Bulls, Liu Mang and his teammates did not leave Chicago immediately, but stayed in Chicago for an extra day, waiting for the next round of opponents to come out.

If it's the Magic, go back to Atlanta. If it's the Cavaliers, you have to go directly to Cleveland. The Eastern Conference Finals will start on May 5.

Liu Mang watched the tiebreaker between the Cavaliers and the Magic in the hotel with his teammates and the coaching staff.

Supported... As an old teammate, Jason Terry will of course take the lead in supporting Raheem.

However, in the end the Magic capsized.

Helpless, but helpless.

The most controversial one was Game [-]. In both games, James' whistle basically helped the Cavaliers open up the situation. The Magic had already had problems with their mentality since Game [-].

Whoever leads from 22 to [-], the difference between the two sides is [-] free throws, and is forced to be chased by the opponent to [-] to [-], will have a mentality problem. In the sixth game, he dared not defend, and in the seventh game... his mentality completely exploded.

For such a situation... Liu Mang didn't know how to express his emotions, and he didn't call to comfort Rahim. Liu Mang knew that at this time, Rahim must be licking his wounds in the corner, waiting for an opportunity to respond in the future.

……

The next round of opponents came out. On the morning of the 20th, Liu Mang and his teammates set off from Chicago to Cleveland.

Also belonging to the Central Division, the distance between Chicago and Cleveland is only less than 10 minutes away from Atlanta to Miami and Orlando.

The Eagles can be regarded as waiting for work with leisure. They advance one day earlier, and tomorrow will be the day when the Eastern Conference Finals will start.

And tonight is the time for the first game of the Western Conference Finals.

When we arrived at the hotel parking lot, Rondo, who already had a bitter face, got off the bus with a more bitter face than usual.

"Why do you hang a bag around my neck? Can't you carry it sideways?" Rondo wondered.

In addition to his own bag in his left hand, Rondo is holding a bag of Liu Mang in his right hand, carrying Liu Mang's huge backpack on his back, and a bag hanging around his neck...

The backpack on the back is that Alexia is going to play the tiebreaker for the Eagles. Knowing that Liu Mang may not return to Atlanta after the tiebreaker, he prepared a lot of clothes. The backpack on Rondo’s right hand and the bag around his neck are Liu Mang’s last night.

Of course, Liu Mang will not be very happy now. He regretted not being able to fight Raheem at the top of the Eastern Conference, so he chose to bully Rondo...

When they arrived at the entrance of the hotel, the Eagles were surrounded by journalists who had "ambushed"... It was too late to call the security guards, they were already surrounded.

The coaching staff and the press officer have no choice but to let the reporters interview.

Of course Liu Mang was the key target of being besieged.

"Ace, what do you think about the Cavaliers reversing the Magic?"

A microphone hit Liu Mang's face again.

Liu Mang feels used to it...these reporters are getting more and more in touch with each other...

Liu Mang thought for a while and said, "The Magic are great. Sharif is still young. He is an iron man. I believe his peak period will last for a long time. There are Howard and Turkoglu, as well as Trevor and outside shooters. They have a very bright future. I think we may play against each other in the playoffs next year.

It’s a pity that I didn’t play against Sharif, who already has a strong team, but I’m also very excited to play against LeBron. LeBron is the best player in the league to break through and score. They have a great pick-and-roll center. "

This answer made the reporter feel weird. Is this a deliberate change of subject?

The reporter continued to ask: "Ace, this is the sixth consecutive year you have reached the Eastern Conference Finals. Facing the Cavaliers led by LeBron James, are you confident that you can beat the number one player in the Eastern Conference this season?"

"Confidence? When I started, I regarded the Eastern Conference as my private territory. Since I started, we haven't lost the playoffs yet."

(End of this chapter)