Chapter 1345 Victory to Restore Face
During the regular season, the Cavaliers' lineup once amazed the entire league. Clevelanders even thought they had found the password for James to lead the team to victory.
"The great LeBron plus our current players equals the best Cavaliers~!" This is what the Cavaliers head coach said to reporters when he set a team record and won 39 wins and 2 losses at home.
At that time, Brown's face was full of joy and his pride was palpable. At that time, Brown was considered one of the candidates for the best coach of the season. Even after Jackson won this award for the second time, some people regretfully said that if it were not for the Lakers' 75 wins It's so unbelievable that Mike Brown will be the most suitable candidate for the best coach.
He is certainly qualified to do so. After experiencing the disappointing 2007-08 season, no one thought that the Cavaliers would return to people's attention this season in such a way, with a terrifying home winning rate and the title of one of the most devilish home courts in the league. , soaring to the best record in team history, and explosive growth in various statistics...
Outstanding, this is the best word to describe the Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference this season.
"Although the Cavaliers reached the finals, it was not until this season that James led this team to completely conquer the Eastern Conference. The outstanding performance of James and the Cavaliers may mark the beginning of an era, because the emperor is no longer alone, he has someone by his side. Maurice Williams, who entered the All-Star for the first time, and a group of role players who are not outstanding but perform their duties. It is said that it is easy to enjoy the shade with a big tree behind you. As long as the Cavaliers can keep the emperor, there will even be strong reinforcements. Hug your thighs. Although the playoffs haven’t started yet, at least in the regular season, James and the Cavaliers won the present and vaguely won the future!”
This is what ESPN said about the Cavaliers this season before the playoffs started. In addition to James, ESPN gave extremely high praise to other Cavaliers players, thinking that they may be the most suitable players in the world for James' style of play, and also praised them. highly praised the future.
And the Cleveland media also exaggerated, "Even if LBJ can't win the Finals championship trophy this year, then next year's championship trophy will definitely be reserved for him!"
Cleveland Sports Weekly made no secret of its thoughts. They have been coveting the championship for a long, long time.
"The Cavaliers are going to win the championship this year." James was interviewed by the media with high spirits after the Eastern Conference semifinals. At that time, they were the most powerful team in the Eastern Conference, with both offense and defense, and they were unable to fight back against the Hawks and Pistons.
James himself and his teammates performed extremely well, and the bench led the Eastern Conference in scoring. At that time, the Cavaliers were the biggest favorite in the Eastern Conference.
However, all this came to an abrupt end tonight!
"We need to sum up this game. We need more people to stand up and score. We have a lot to do. We still have a chance to bring the game back to Cleveland." This is what Mike Brown said in an interview after the fiasco. The arrogance from before was completely gone in his words.
And James didn't say a word and walked directly back to the locker room, his face full of disappointment. After losing this game, the Cavaliers had to face their first deficit in the playoffs.
What's even more disappointing is that the Cavaliers' substitute group that was touted to the sky in the regular season completely failed under the Magic's steel defense!
In this game, the outside world saw James' crazy scoring and non-stop shooting, but he had to do this. The main reason was that his teammates could not give him enough firepower support. Yes, the Cavaliers' The shooting percentage was only 37.2%, and the three-point shooting percentage was as low as 19.2%. Except for LeBron, only Delonte West and Mo Williams scored in double figures with 12 points and 15 points.
As for the others, especially the inside line, they were completely beaten by the Magic. Big Z only had 9 points, Varejao only had 4 points, and Big Ben only had 4 points. The three of them did not score as many points as Howard alone, and Warcraft was on top of them. Random dunks, 23 points, 20 rebounds and 5 blocks exposed their shortcomings.
When encountering insiders like Howard, they are really like chickens and dogs.
So after this game, the outside discussion is no longer whether the Cavaliers can reach the finals, but how the Cavaliers can pass the Magic. The probability of the Magic entering the finals surpassed the Cavaliers for the first time after this game.
After watching the game, Ji Feng said that it was pretty much what he expected. He had already said that Cavaliers fans were really overly optimistic.
However, Ji Feng did not continue to spread salt to Cavaliers fans on the Internet. This is not because Ji Feng is merciful. The main reason is that the magic is enough. In two days, there may be cumin, chili powder and so on. Ji Feng I won’t join in the fun anymore.
…
On May 24, the Lakers continued to face the Nuggets in Game 4 of the Western Conference Finals. This game was also the Lakers' first match point.
The atmosphere at the Nuggets' home court seems a bit tragic, because regardless of winning or losing this game, this duel at the Pepsi Center will most likely be the Nuggets' last home game this season.
Trailing 0-3 in the Western Conference Finals, no matter how die-hard the fans are, they will not think that the Nuggets have a chance to complete a great comeback. To some extent, this is more difficult than winning the championship, because there are championships every year, but this has happened dozens of times. It hasn't happened once a year.
So the home fans also displayed big banners in the stands: Fight for honor!
However, although they are not optimistic about the Nuggets' reversal and advancement, the Nuggets still went all out in this game. After all, no one wants to be swept out, especially in the Western Conference Finals. Being swept is definitely an extremely embarrassing thing.
The Lakers are actually more passive than outsiders think. The reason is physical problems. After the last game, Bynum looked very tired. He even received intravenous drips to replenish energy, while Fisher had some edema in his knees after three high-intensity games, which also increased the uncertainty of this game.
In order to protect these two generals, Jackson changed the starting lineup for the first time, with Farmar and Radmanovic entering the starting lineup.
This also led to the Lakers not being in very good shape at the start, with unsatisfactory control of rebounds and many defensive loopholes.
When Martin's jump shot and dunk drove the Nuggets to attack, the Lakers fell into the dilemma of making only 2 of the first 9 shots; Nene and Billups increased their points one after another, and the Nuggets led 12-5 after Jones' dunk.
But the Nuggets also had eye-catching problems. Anthony missed all 7 shots in the first half of the quarter. After being sent off in the third game and losing the game, Anthony's mentality was a bit broken. Although the Nuggets led all the way in the latter part of the first quarter, Anthony took the eighth shot. After still hitting the iron, Kobe hit consecutive jump shots and succeeded at the buzzer. At the end of the first quarter, the Lakers chased to 19-22.
In the following 2 and 3 quarters, JR Smith began to exert his strength. The Nuggets hit a 15-2 climax in the second quarter, but the Lakers' problems still did not improve. The number of strikes increased. Although Ji Feng began to exert his strength in the third quarter, he He scored 9 points in a single quarter and a near-double-double of 19 points and 9 assists at the end of the third quarter, helping the Lakers maintain the point difference without being widened to the point where they could not catch up. However, after all, it was difficult for Gasol to resist the Nuggets alone. Due to the performance of the whole team, at the end of the third quarter, the Lakers continued to trail the Nuggets 66-77.
In the most intense fourth quarter, Bynum scored two goals in the final quarter, but Billups once again exerted his strength, hitting Bynum for a three-pointer and then hitting a long shot. Kleiza also hit a three-pointer. After the break, the Nuggets completed a 12-3 offensive and already led 89-73.
The scene was still agitated. Smith was judged to have a technical foul. Bynum's fierce interception of Anderson was judged to be a flagrant foul. The situation on the court was once out of control. The subsequent games continued to be turbulent. Phil Jackson was judged to delay the game time. Anthony and Martin They were judged to have technical fouls one after another. The fouls continued and both sides took frequent free throws.
But in the end, Smith scored three-pointers, and the Nuggets expanded their advantage and sealed the victory. In the end, the Nuggets won 120-101.