Chapter 1297 Controversy Arises
After the game, as usual, both sides left without saying hello. The camera focused on the Rockets players leaving the court. From Adelman to Dayao to ordinary players, you can see the deep displeasure on their faces. Reluctantly, indeed, they are only one step away from an upset away win. If they can win, they will have an absolute advantage in this series. It is just a pity that they encountered the unsolvable Ji Feng!
And now the Rockets' trouble is not just as simple as losing a game. In addition to the players' fatigue, Artest may also receive additional penalties. According to the league's rules, a flagrant foul is punished more than a technical foul. More importantly, from the field point of view, a technical foul is just a free throw, but a malicious foul requires two free throws and one throw. If it is a serious malicious foul, you can be ejected directly. After being ejected, it will depend on the degree of maliciousness and the consequences. There are additional penalties.
So at this moment, the Rockets still have a lot of work to do. At least they have to be prepared for Artest to be fined and suspended. The harder it is to fight.
Of course, the Lakers' Vujacic also needs to face this problem, but Vujacic is only the Lakers' third choice at the third position. Compared with Artest, the Lakers naturally don't care.
As for the fine, Ji Feng publicly stated after the game that no matter how much the league fines, he will solve it for Vujacic.
The biggest problem the Lakers have to face now is Ji Feng's injury. After the game, Ji Feng, who was named the best of the game, did not appear in the press conference because he directly responded immediately after the game. Accompanied by Lakers team doctors and staff, he went to the hospital for further examination of the injured ankle.
Although the team doctor's examination and Ji Feng's self-perception can confirm that Ji Feng's problem is not serious, it is just an ordinary sprain at most. He can rest for two or three days and wait for the inflammation to be absorbed and it will be fine. However, the Lakers do not dare to be careless. , Old Buss personally decided to let Ji Feng check overnight. Ji Feng's health is too precious to the Lakers, and they don't want to leave the root of the disease due to carelessness.
Ji Feng certainly has no reason to refuse. Many superstars in the NBA have overly optimistically estimated their injuries due to misdiagnosis by doctors, leading them to blindly participate in training or games, which ultimately worsened their injuries. The most typical one is the Blazers' Veterinarians... So you must be cautious enough when dealing with injuries, otherwise it may ruin a player's career.
While waiting for the results after the examination, Ji Feng also sent a text message to Reba, who was far away in China, who was worried, to report that everything was safe, and by the way, he paid attention to the results of another playoff game that was being held at the same time tonight.
In addition to the Lakers and Rockets tonight, another playoff game is also the focus of the game. The Celtics, who are second in the Eastern Conference, will face the Magic, who are third in the Eastern Conference, at home. The performance of both teams in the first round fluctuated, taking 7 games each. It took 6 games to finally eliminate the opponent and meet in the semi-finals.
This is also the first time the Magic and the Celtics have met in the playoffs after 14 years. The last time they met was in the 1994-95 season. Under the leadership of Shaquille O'Neal and Penny Hardaway, the Orlando Magic is becoming one of the new powers in the East. , while the Celtics were in decline and finally entered the playoffs. However, the Celtics appeared fragile in front of the powerful Magic team and were eliminated by the Magic 1-3 in the best-of-five series. .
This is their second meeting in the playoffs. In the regular season, the two sides tied 2-2 in 4 games, which is considered a 55-open score. However, they won an away game in each of these four games, so this also made this game It became very suspenseful.
Sure enough, after the game started, the Green Army implemented their own tactics and strangled Howard. This was also the first thing that all teams playing against the Magic had to do. The two strong men, Perkins and Big Baby Davis, took turns to play. , launched a fierce confrontation with Warcraft inside.
However, Howard is not afraid of Perkins' type of insider. Howard, who is in hot form, scored 6 points and 6 rebounds in the first quarter, making the Green Army's insiders nervous.
But what Howard did best was not offense and rebounding, but defense inside the paint. He allowed the Celtics to only score 14 points in the first quarter in the paint. In the first quarter, he made a blinding shot against Rondo that silenced the entire audience. Under the control of Howard, the terrifying firepower of the Magic's outsiders Turkoglu, Lewis, Nelson, etc. made the Celtics somewhat overwhelmed.
At halftime, the Magic turned around and took a 36-54 lead.
At the beginning of the third quarter, the Green Army began to focus on the outside like a dream. Junzi Lei took the lead and led the team to chase points. Ray Allen's three-pointer in the half was finally opened. Four three-pointers in a single quarter helped the Celtics. The score difference was reduced to 10 points entering the fourth quarter.
The fourth quarter was a battle between Pierce and Lewis. They scored 11 points and 8 points respectively in the fourth quarter. The Green Army once narrowed the point difference to 2 points, but at the last moment, Howard's free throw saved the team. Made 6 of 7 free throws in the game, allowing the Green Army to suffer a defeat at home.
95-90, the Magic took the lead and captured North Shore Garden in the away game and won!
Howard finished the game with 16 points, 22 rebounds and 4 blocks, shooting 56% from the field, making him the best player in the game. Four Magic players scored in double figures, including Lewis with 18 points, Turkoglu with 17 points, Nelson with 14 points and Redick had 12 points.
The star-spreading spirit is most vividly reflected in Magic.
As for the Celtics, they lost the first home game again after the first round. Pierce scored 23 points, Ray Allen 22 points, and Rondo 14 points. The disadvantage of missing Garnett was once again revealed in this game.
"The Celtics are still familiar with the formula." Ji Feng was not surprised that the Green Army lost. They had directly sacrificed their home court at the beginning of the series many times, but in the end they successfully won the series. It has to be like a ritual of sacrificing the home court for good luck, so we still need to continue to see how this round develops in the series.
On May 6, Ji Feng, who had a rest all night, also received the inspection report. The report showed that it was basically consistent with the judgment of the team doctor. Generally speaking, it would not affect the next game, but the playing time needed to be limited. It would be better if he took a rotation. .
But Ji Feng refused to take a break without hesitation. At this time, taking a break was even more uncomfortable than losing.
Zen Master also agreed, because when it was not clear whether Vujacic would be punished with an additional suspension, he really did not dare to let Ji Feng rest. Otherwise, there would be only Ariza in the third position, which would be too weak.
However, at noon on the 6th, the league officially released the news on time. In addition to the referee reports of yesterday's two games, the most concerned was the punishment of Artest and Vujacic.
The penalties imposed by the league are also surprisingly consistent: Artest and Vujacic are not subject to additional suspension penalties, and both are fined 25,000 US dollars!
As soon as this result came out, the fans were in an uproar because it was so different from what they expected. Although it seemed that they were each playing 50 rebounds, in fact they all believed that not banning Artest was a wrong decision!