From today on is the king

Chapter 695
"How about it, Ace, this coffee shop is not bad!" James said with a little complacency.

"Wow, really, the environment here is great, the lake is outside the window, I have been here for several years and I didn't know there was this coffee shop, LeBron has yours." Liu Mang praised.

"Haha, I really like the comfortable environment here in Atlanta, so every time I come here, I will find interesting places here." James laughed.

Seeing people talk about people, talking about ghosts, James' social philosophy has become more comfortable after entering the NBA for almost a year.

Facing Liu Mang, who is a traditional Chinese at heart, who is not interested in drinking in the middle of the season, has two girlfriends who are not interested in going out and fooling around, and has a somewhat eccentric personality, James also chose an eccentric way of speaking to cater to Liu Mang's quiet hobby.

"In the future, I guess I will come here whenever I have nothing to do. There is still a membership card here? Then I have to get one." Liu Mang said after seeing the promotion of the membership card on the dining table.

"Ace, do you like this place? I've already applied for a membership card. I'll give you mine. I've filled it with money." James took out the membership card and handed it to Liu Mang.

"It's so embarrassing, I can just make one myself." Liu Mang said like that, without resting his hands, he grabbed the membership card and squeezed it tightly.

A drop of cold sweat was left in James' heart. This 'only' membership card that can be obtained by charging 2000 dollars, this guy is simply enough!James doesn't know what kind of character Liu Mang is. According to media reports, in order to "please" his girlfriend, Liu Mang spent several million to buy a villa in Los Angeles. The last time he was in Los Angeles, the party's cruise ship money was also paid by Liu Mang, but in this kind of "small money", he can actually be so stingy.

After a bit of slander, James still had a smile on his face: "It's okay, I can't come to Atlanta a few times a year, next time I come, just call Ace and you can come with me..."

……

On the first day of March, the Cavaliers came to Atlanta, and tomorrow the two teams will play against each other for the last time this season.

James arrived in Atlanta in the morning, asked Liu Mang to have dinner together at noon, found a cafe near the lake, the two ate some steak or something, and in the afternoon, the two athletes with the highest endorsement fees for Nike went together to promote some of Nike's non-signature shoes.

Endorsing Nike is not just to promote the pair of signature shoes every season. Signature shoes, in a real sense, are an extra 'honor'. Their endorsement contract is to endorse all Nike basketball shoes, and 90.00% of basketball shoes are not signature shoes.

Because of Liu Wei, Atlanta has gradually become one of the cities that the world pays attention to basketball. The basketball atmosphere here is getting stronger and stronger, and a large number of Asian fans choose to travel here. This is one aspect that promotes the local economic development. It is also an aspect that makes many basketball-related industries pay more and more attention to this place. For example, Nike puts many new product release conferences in Atlanta.

In the afternoon, Liu Mang and James went to the new product launch conference together, which attracted the attention of many Asian media and American media. Seeing that the relationship between James and Liu Mang seemed to be very good, the media were also very surprised.

Didn't it mean that Liu Mang and James are direct competitors of No.1 in the future league?The relationship is so good, what are you doing!How should they promote it?

I can't bear it!In this way, there is no way to find something that can do something to make news!
At the press conference after the promotional event in the afternoon, Liu Mang and James were interviewed together, and the media were ready to take the initiative to provoke trouble.

The reporter who took the initiative asked James: "Hi LeBron, Ace said that Wade is 5 cm shorter than Jordan, and he is the best player in your rookie class. Do you think Ace is right?"

Taking it out of context, taking it out of context properly, Liu Mang next to him was so angry that he almost interrupted, but it was Schwartz next to him who pulled him to calm down.

James was very calm and said with a smile: "Dwyane is great. He is going to make the playoffs this year. From this aspect, I admire Dwyane a lot. My goal is to make it to the playoffs with my teammates."

Schwartz patted Liu Mang under the interview table, meaning: Look at what other people say, and then think about what you say.

Liu Mang was also surprised by James' "maturity". What does it mean to be watertight?This is watertight!

Instead of directly answering the question of who is better, but from the perspective of the playoffs, ignoring the topic of who is better, and answering by making it to the playoffs, and even if they want to make the playoffs, it is not about leading the team, but about being with teammates!
This language art makes Liu Mang, who has inherited Chinese language art for thousands of years, feel ashamed.

This guy is a genius!

The media were a little frustrated, James, a rookie, didn't make it!

Then we had no choice but to focus on Liu Mang, and the reporter asked questions according to the questions he had prepared long ago: "Ace, you have created the best record since the new century. Are you confident that you can maintain this record and step on O'Neal and Duncan?"

James' language skills seem to be quite useful. Liu Mang almost blurted out something to follow, but the little Zhan Zhan seems to have such a high emotional intelligence. As a senior, how can he behave so mentally and be led by the nose by the media?

Liu Mang thought for a while and said, "Stamp on the championships of the past five years and the three MVPs? Brother, I haven't won a championship yet. It's still possible when I win at least four championships. This is just the regular season. Our goal is the playoffs, and the regular season record is just like that."

In the end, Liu Mang was still arrogant, and he couldn't suppress his pretense.

However, this answer, even if Liu Mang pretended to be forceful in the end, frustrated the reporters.

This guy has been with James for a long time!The reporter was completely blown away, next time he must not interview these two guys together!
……

……

On the second day, the game day between the Eagles and the Cavaliers.

After a day off, the Eagles came to Phillips Arena to face the visiting Cavaliers.

The Cavaliers are now very "open-minded", and there is no hope for the playoffs. This year, they have not won close to 40 wins and cannot enter the Eastern Conference playoffs.

The Cavaliers are now 25 wins and 34 losses, with 23 games left. It would be amazing to win 10 games in the remaining games, let alone 40 wins, so the Cavaliers are very relaxed and have no record pressure.

Therefore, the Cavaliers players, who have no psychological pressure, came to the Devil's home court of the Eagles, and they were not afraid of the frenzied atmosphere on the scene.

The devil's home game is mainly to psychologically suppress the teams with ideas and enthusiasm, suppress their self-confidence, and damage the morale of the opponent. The barefoot Cavaliers, who are not afraid of wearing shoes, are just like the Eagles in Liu Mang's rookie season.

And one more thing, Rasheed Wallace didn't play today, the hot atmosphere of the Eagles at home is just inertia, there is no absolute fanatical atmosphere driven by Rasheed Wallace.

Before the game, the old players of the first two seasons of the Eagles went to say hello and congratulate Newbell.

After the All-Star Weekend, because of his experience in playing in strong teams and partnering with Liu Mang and others, Newbell, who is more conscious and aggressive in playing, has secured his position as the main small forward in the Cavaliers. This season, he averaged 10 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists, 1.6 steals and 1.2 blocks per game. He won a four-year 4 million contract extension from the Cavaliers. As a former teammate, Liu Mang was also happy for Newbell and went up to congratulate him.

Since Newbell is in the Cavaliers, James and Liu Mang have a good relationship, just like Liu Mang was very popular in Philadelphia, James came to Atlanta is also very popular, except that the entrance ceremony gave the visiting team a lot of boos because of the devil's home.

After saying hello and reminiscing about the old days, Liu Mang returned to his half-court shooter and observed the strength of the opponent's lineup.

The top five starters played on the big screen.

"Zaidrunas Ilgauskas, ability evaluation 82, offense 83, defense 80, three-pointer 55, mid-range shooting 81, layup 87, speed 70, strength 93..."

"LeBron James, averaged 20.8 points, 6.5 rebounds and 5.3 assists per game, 84 ability rating, 90 offense, 70 defense, 60 three-pointers, 65 mid-range shots, 90 layups, 85 passing, 92 speed, 85 strength..."

Liu Mang feels unreasonable every time he sees James, and the progress is so fast!This is really a monster who may become a top star in the second grade, and he is more popular than others!
This rookie season is not over yet, and he has already averaged 20+6+5 per game!
Liu Mang has become more urgent to be promoted to a top star after this season, otherwise he will be suppressed by a second-year player, and it would be too embarrassing!

James' progress is indeed terrifying. In the original history, he averaged 27+7+7 per game since the second grade, which stunned those veteran stars. He really looks like the next Jordan.

This time, because of the extra pressure brought by Liu Mang's existence, and the fact that the Cavaliers still lacked Boozer, he had to grab more rebounds, score more points, and improve faster. He had only surpassed 20.5 points in the last month of the season, but now he is averaging almost 21 points per game, and his rebounds are almost one more than before. This makes Liu Mang's sense of threat even deeper!

It's just that James' helper is really not good. Except for the quasi-first-class level of Big Z, in the East, he may be able to rely on the overall strength of the East's insiders to make one or two All-Stars. Most of the others can't even reach the starting level.

The other three starters, small forward Newbell's ability rating is 72, and the average level of starting is a little higher. The 29-year-old Newbell is already at the peak of his career; the short power forward Eric Williams obtained from the Celtics was traded with Ricky Davis.

James, who took over the Cavaliers who had been in a mess all year round, was really unlucky to come to this ruined team, but he had to face all this with a smile on his face, because he was a representative of the new generation of American basketball players, and he couldn't show frustration about this situation.

Liu Mang felt that this was entirely the problem of the Cavaliers themselves. Two years ago, Ricky Davis was promoted as the boss, and then he was asked to serve as a rookie's second-in-command. How could such a change in mentality be reversed all of a sudden? Otherwise, James has a quasi-first-class star outside helper.

……

After the game in February, they forcibly pulled themselves together and helped the Heat win 2 wins. In March, the Eagles were forced to start a rotation in March, facing a schedule of 50 games, two back-to-back games, and no rest day for more than one day.

In order to get the first record since the new century, and the two-month schedule is the most difficult in the league after the Lakers and Rockets, and they pay more attention to the regular season record than those two teams, so they have been playing very tired. Even Raheem, who has missed only 10 games in the past seven years, also showed fatigue and had to rest.

And March is the scariest month for the Eagles. The five top five teams in the Western Conference will all come to Atlanta to challenge the Eagles this month, as well as the Pacers and Pistons. There will be a total of seven difficult games. Therefore, the Eagles had to take a large-scale rotation when they played the other nine games.

In addition, the playoffs will start next month. Although the regular season record is important, the playoffs cannot be delayed for the sake of 68 wins.

Fortunately, this month, the Eagles have a total of 12 home games and only 4 away games, which is also very good for the players to recover their physical fitness.

The starting lineup sent by the Eagles for this game is Liu Mang, Prince, Barnes, Boozer, and Ratliff.

Seeing Raheem and Rasheed Wallace in suits, Liu Mang knew that the burden of this game was heavy!Ratliff may not be able to play for a long time, so we have to solve the game quickly while Ratliff is guarding the inside line!
The Cavaliers sent a starting lineup of James, McGinnis, Newbell, Eric Williams, and Big Z.

It was another jump ball battle of "too close to win". Big Z and Ratliff came to the middle circle to jump the ball. Big Z relied on his height advantage and barely won the jump ball from Ratliff's head with a matchbox bounce. The Cavaliers went first.

To deal with James, Liu Mang decisively closed the door to defend against the attack of Barnes and Prince. Liu Mang guarded McGinnis himself, and zoomed in to bite the little Zhan Zhan!Boozer went to guard the mid-range shots of the slow-moving big Z. Ratliff was alone at the basket. Eric Williams and Newbell were scared when they saw Ratliff as the king of shot blocks. But this year, they shot a total of 200 three-pointers, which means they only scored 16. The two ran outside and ignored them, and they were covered by Ratliff when they went to the basket. Facing the defense of the Eagles, they were at a loss!
James watched Prince and Barnes attack together, and almost spit out a sentence stuck in his throat.

Do you want to go too far!
You called your brothers yesterday, but today you treat your buddies like this?

unacceptable!

In the face of two people's pincers, just Barnes, a guy who keeps making physical contact, is difficult enough to deal with, and Prince...

McGinnis, James' best outside shooter, was stared at by Liu Mang. The Cavaliers didn't have a good tactical system. Off-the-ball pick-and-rolls were basically blind blocks. Coach Paul Silas hadn't had time to formulate the team's offensive system. When he first took over the Cavaliers, he chose a high school student. The main reason why the team's overall progress has not been so fast this year.

In general, it is still a big problem with the management!
Being pinched by Prince and Barnes, James was treated at the level of Kobe and Tracy McGrady. James' passion for passing the ball couldn't be suppressed, and he passed it to the open Newbell.

Newbell caught the ball from the middle distance, feeling cold in his heart. He was a teammate with Ratliff before, and he knew how strong this guy's ability to block the basket was. He hesitated and made a mid-range jumper...

"Bang..."

Liu Mang immediately retreated to the basket to grab a defensive rebound.

Without Raheem and Rasheed Wallace, Liu Mang is more active in grabbing rebounds. With his wingspan and the advantage of bouncing, he can still grab rebounds. He has averaged 3.7 rebounds this year.

After Liu Mang grabbed the rebound, Ratliff didn't move, and stood in the three-second zone, because Liu Mang took the rebound and immediately counterattacked!
Liu Mang quickly rushed to the frontcourt, and the Cavaliers could only keep up with James. When James retreated to the center line, he tried to block Liu Mang. However, although James has a good attitude now, his defense is really quick, which is average. In fact, until the 08 Olympics, James' defense was average.

James couldn't even catch up if he wanted to!
Liu Mang rushed to the frontcourt and gently dunked the ball into the basket. He didn't dunk hard or anything to avoid affecting the touch. Although the opponent is not good today, he can't be fooled. He has to be very focused!

James looked at Liu Mang's completely different expression from the previous two fights, and James felt like he was being stabbed by a needle.

It's brother!Do you want to be so serious!
James has seen Liu Mang's expression before, only when he was playing with the Nets!

However, James was still a little happy in his heart, which proved that Liu Mang attached great importance to him.

The Eagles took the lead in scoring first.

When the Cavaliers attacked again, James received Newbell's serve and pushed forward. This time, he learned the skills. He saw Prince and Barnes directly preparing to pinch, and he started to accelerate just after halftime. Although James is now a little thinner than Barnes, he is all muscular and full of explosive power. When James accelerated to the three-point line, Prince and Barnes pinched past, but they couldn't stop it!
James rushed into the inside, and Ratliff could only back away from James who was fully sprinting. This guy was too fast and too fierce, even if he pulled down, he would have to pay a foul, and James who was fully sprinting couldn't stop him.

James rushed to the basket and dunked with one hand in response to Liu Mang's dunk.

Liu Mang went back to the basket and was ready to receive the serve. When James yelled to return to defense after dunking, Liu Mang clapped his hands and said to James, "Very good, very good, it's up to me next."

Seeing Liu Mang's expressionless expression, James was puzzled when he retreated: "What does this mean?"

Then, James knew what Liu Mang meant.

Liu Mang advances to the frontcourt with the ball, playing singles from outside the three-point line, and the Cavaliers have the best outside defense. Newbell, Liu Mang is too familiar with Newbell's defense.

Newbell is more familiar with Liu Mang's strength in singles!

Is it time to retreat and prevent breakthroughs?Still want to defend three points?Or an emergency stop jumper?The more you know Liu Mang, the more painful Newbell's defense will be!
Although Liu Mang is not omnipotent, he is too comprehensive in individual singles!
Liu Mang suddenly accelerated to the right, and Newbell, who was in panic, subconsciously took a few steps back. Liu Mang immediately retracted, took a three-pointer and swung the sniper...

Continuing the fiery three-pointer from the previous game, Liu Mang hit a three-pointer with a sniper shot!
5 points in a row!
When the Cavaliers attacked again, James continued to choose a strong attack. This move is really unsolvable. Without Raheem in the mid-range defense, Barnes and Prince are both single-defense types.

The Cavaliers clung to the score at the beginning, 4 to 5, and did not let the score break.

But when the Eagles were attacking, Liu Mang took advantage of Newbell being frightened by the three-pointer, let Boozer come out for a pick-and-roll, and then went down to the inside.

Liu Mang and James started a confrontation!

After playing in the NBA for almost a season, James, who is more and more able to use his physical advantages, has a high IQ. After finding a way to score, he has been choosing the midline to accelerate and forcefully squeeze two defensive players to attack the basket.
In addition to attracting more and more defenses, James also got 2 assists in the first half of the quarter, helping the Cavaliers score 7 points in 17 minutes!
The Cavaliers' offensive efficiency exploded at the start!
But the Eagles kept scoring. James understood what Liu Mang said.

After Liu Mang dunked a basket at the beginning and made a three-pointer, he attracted a lot of defense, and then began to cooperate with Boozer in the pick-and-roll, and began to create opportunities for his teammates.

After Liu Mang scored 5 points in a row, he sent out 5 assists in a row!Forcing the Cavaliers to choose single defense again, Liu Mang faced Newbell's defense and fired again in the three-pointer!
7分钟刘莽拿到12分5助攻外加两个篮板球，帮助老鹰队以24比17，领先骑士队7分！
This oppression made James feel breathless!
He has tried his best to break through against the two defenders, and he has to face Ratliff who is ready to defend in advance. He has only played for 7 minutes.There are more games like this than he usually plays in the whole game!
The rhythm of the two teams is too fast, because the defense of the Eagles is not as oppressive as usual, so the rhythm is very fast!There are many shots and the score is frighteningly high.

……

After the official timeout ended, the Eagles began to make substitutions. Liu Mang and Jason Terry played, and the lineup of Barnes, Muhammad, and Kwame Brown played.

James continued to play for the Cavaliers. He averaged 41 minutes per game in his rookie year. It was not easy for James. Without Ricky Davis, Boozer was not on their team. James had to perform better to have a chance to win.

If the starting lineup of the Cavaliers still has some strength on the offensive end, such as Newbell and Eric Williams cutting when James broke through, helping James attract Ratliff's defensive attention, allowing James to start 8 of 6, then Diop and Tony Batty... It's completely negative.

The two have almost no awareness of running positions and no shooting ability. In addition, James' style of play is really tiring, and the second half of the first quarter is obviously exhausted!James continued to forcibly attack the flanking defense of Liu Mang and Barnes. This time, James didn’t even have an outside shooting helper, so Liu Mang could go for the flanking attack. James could force Liu Mang and Barnes to rush into the interior at the beginning, but even if he rushed into the interior, seeing Kwame Brown, Mohammed and even his own teammates Tony Batty and Diop crowded under the basket, James didn’t know how to play. His teammates are too blind!Anyway, open up the space!
But if they had that kind of awareness, Tony Batty would not be given up by the original team, and Diop would not have such good physical fitness. He was still the No. 8 pick and only averaged 2 points and 3 rebounds per game in the third year of his career.

James forced a few times and hit the iron, and the Cavaliers' offense finally broke!

On Liu Mang's side, he threw his body into the air with his arms swinging. When the team's rebounds were falling, he tried his best to grab rebounds every time he defended. He received several rebounds in the second half of the first quarter. After winning the rebounds, he counterattacked. With Barnes, Muhammad, and Kwame Brown following up with three strong teammates, the Eagles' cavalry tactics started!

The combination of Liu Mang and Jason Terry's backcourt double waves started to chase three-pointers continuously. You throw one in and continue to throw it.

Originally, the Cavaliers wanted to send two high towers to suppress the fast tempo on the field, but even Big Z and Ratliff couldn't slow down the tempo. These two guys, who are only the third and fourth centers in other teams, are completely a burden!
The Eagles played a 5-16 scoring shock wave in the last 6 minutes of the first quarter!

40 points in a single quarter!
The Eagles led the Cavaliers by 40 points 23 to 17 after the first quarter!
The Cavaliers scored 23 points, which is basically not much different from their season average of 93 points per game, which means that the Eagles did not really limit the Cavaliers' offense.

But the Eagles' own offense is on fire!

Liu Mang scored 18 points, 5 rebounds and 6 assists in the first quarter!Liu Mang, who was completely focused today, carefully studied the Cavaliers' offense and defense before the game, and took advantage of the Cavaliers' weaknesses to help the Eagles play almost the best single quarter of the season!

Apart from looking for opportunities to constantly trigger skills, Liu Mang didn't use any small tricks, which was not necessary for the Cavaliers. He also respected James and used a double attack. Other than that, he didn't have any other excessive defense.

But that's it, Liu Mang's performance was so terrifying that he didn't expect it!
If it is 18 points and 6 assists, this is okay. 18+6 in a single quarter is indeed a bit amazing, and it is not too much. There are not many people who can get such data, but there are still 5 rebounds. The single game is almost complete. James' performance in the whole game!

The first time I played against James like Liu Mang played James, James played so badly, I didn't feel too much panic.

But today, James looked at Liu Mang, who was acting according to tactics and using his strength to perform this kind of performance, he was not good!

This guy is terrible!

Compared with McGrady who scored 8 three-pointers in a row with contemptuous eyes last time, Liu Mang brought James' pressure this time, no worse than McGrady!

Of the six "Jordan successors", James has already played against the other five.

Unlike Kobe, who is completely disdainful, the Lakers are too strong, and the Cavaliers are completely unstoppable. Kobe’s proud attitude of only playing for a few minutes before resting; it’s different from Carter’s mentality of playing when he rides a big Z dunk and dances back to defense and tells him to let him play too; it’s different from McGrady’s disdainful two games. After that, he used his speed to suddenly transfer him, who was still playing point guard, to a rookie with a different attitude.

Liu Mang's performance today made him look extraordinarily different among NBA players!

Today's Liu Mang made James feel very different!
James also thinks that Liu Mang is very different among "Jordan's successors"!Instead, I am that normal person!
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(End of this chapter)