Chapter 1951 War Begins! A Battle Between Top Talent and Top Teams (Happy New Year’s Eve)
A very bold statement.
Durant wanted to hit someone after hearing this.
However, although…
People are indeed more optimistic about the Lakers, who have been going smoothly, but it is still surprising that Ji Feng made such bold words before the game started.
If I remember correctly, this was the first time that Ji Feng directly announced that he would eliminate his opponent before the game started.
For a time, the popularity of the Western Conference Finals soared, causing no one to pay attention to the 7-game tie between the Celtics and the 76ers next door!
Iguodala felt very embarrassed. He finally had the opportunity to reach the conference finals in his career. His previous performance proved that he was not one of those leaders with poor team leadership skills, so he originally wanted to show off in front of reporters. , I didn’t expect at the time that the heat would be taken away by the Western Conference Finals that had not yet started next door. I was really angry.
Iguodala is determined to perform well in the subsequent tiebreaker. As long as they can defeat the Celtics, the 76ers will create a legendary record, that is, they will become the second team in history to finish eighth in the conference. The Black Eight team that made it to the conference finals!
Yes, even if they did it, they would only be the second team to do it, and the first team to accomplish such a miracle is basically an unreplicable legend.
That was the legendary Knicks in the 1998-99 season. According to Ji Feng, this was one of the few highlight moments in the history of the Knicks, even more legendary than winning the championship.
This time the black eight occurred in the 1999 playoffs, which was also a shortened season. In that season, although the Knicks did not perform well in the regular season and almost failed to make the playoffs, in the end they still relied on the strength of their lineup. Depth has caught the last train of the playoffs, but in this way, they have to face the Heat, ranked first in the Eastern Conference regular season, in the first round of the playoffs. The Heat lineup had Mourning in his peak period, while the Knicks only had They can only rely on Ewing, Sprewell, Larry Johnson and others who have long passed their prime to support them. After all, the lineup is full of veterans. No one can be optimistic about the Knicks in that round of the series.
But what I didn't expect was that the Knicks' old and strong lineup also had its own benefits. Although they did not perform well in the regular season, in the playoffs, this group of experienced veterans could finally show off their skills. At that time, the Knicks Although the lineup is serious and aging, Ewing is still a center who can compete with Mourning. In addition, they have good players such as Houston, the mid-range shooter, Larry Johnson, and Madman Sprewell. In five games, They beat the Heat to death (at that time, the first round of the playoffs was a best-of-five game) and completed the Black Eight Miracle.
In fact, at that time, the Knicks' ability to eliminate the Heat was enough to shock the league, but what they didn't expect was that they actually became more and more courageous with this strong lineup. They swept the Hawks in the second round of the playoffs and won 4:4 in the Eastern Conference Finals. A big score of 2 eliminated the Pacers led by Reggie Miller. Therefore, this team, which was only ranked 8th in the Eastern Conference in the regular season, entered the finals. This definitely caused an earthquake-level sensation at the time.
Who would have thought that Gorilla Ewing's second trip to the Finals would be at the end of his career.
But it's a pity that they finally failed to continue their good luck in the finals. After all, the Spurs were too strong that year. In addition, Ewing suffered a season-ending injury in the finals, which eventually led to the Knicks' inside attack by Duncan. Abuse, the combination of Duncan and David Robinson directly destroyed the Knicks' inside line.
However, although they did not win the championship, the Knicks, who entered the playoffs as the eighth seed in the Eastern Conference and completed the miracle of eight, and finally reached the finals, is definitely a miracle in NBA history.
After watching the magic created by the Knicks back then, let’s compare it to the 76ers today. Do you think they are somewhat similar?
The same shortened season, the same overthrow of the first place in the Eastern Conference. As long as they can overthrow the Celtics, the 76ers will further replicate the miracle of the Knicks. Now there are media reporters comparing the 76ers and the Knicks. Made a comparison.
It's a pity that the reason why a legend is a legend is precisely because of his difficulty in replicating. In the seventh game, the 76ers who went away failed to create a miracle.
The 76ers did not work hard. They brought the rhythm to the stage of hand-to-hand combat. The shooting percentages of both sides in the first three quarters were horribly low, one was 32.% and the other was 28.8%. After three quarters, the two sides were 55-52, and the Green Army only led by 3 points. .
In the final quarter, the two sides entered the final battle. Ray Allen hit two three-pointers to help the Celtics open the point difference to 8 points in the middle, but then the 76ers launched a counterattack again, and Iguodala made a sudden outside shot and scored 5 consecutive points. points, Philadelphia chased the score to 68-71. At 4 minutes and 16 seconds into this quarter, Pierce was sentenced to a collision foul, and 6 fouls came off the field!
This scene directly made many Celtics fans hold their heads with their hands in disbelief, and even made O'Neal grin. Facing such a 76ers and losing the general Pierce, the Celtics seemed to be going far away!
Sure enough, in the next round, the 76ers played too perfectly. The Celtics players seemed to be still immersed in the emotion of Pierce being sent off, and their movements were much slower. This made Rondo unable to move his hands. The ball was passed out, and not only that, he was pushed further and further away by Holiday, who was guarding him. It was a 24-second violation!
However, at this moment, Rondo is possessed by the spirit spirit!
Super long three-pointer!
I don’t know if Rondo silently recited Ji Feng’s name when he threw it out, but the ball hit the net hollowly!
This is a super three-pointer more than 2 meters away from the three-point line. Considering that Rondo averaged 22.5% per game in the season and 20.8% per game in the playoffs, this ball seems to be hard to describe as lucky. It’s simply a Yang Shou ball!
What's even crazier is that after making this shot, Rondo was out of control, breaking through and scoring 6 more points, scoring 9 points in a row to help the Celtics expand their lead to 10 points!
At this time, the 76ers were already stupid. They seemed to have difficulty accepting being defeated by Rondo. The final score was fixed at 85-75. The Green Army eliminated the 76ers 4-3 and met the Heat in the Eastern Conference Finals!
"Oh, it looks good now. It's you who is going around in circles. After a year, the opponents in the regional semifinals have become the opponents in the regional finals. I don't know if the results this year will be the same as last year!" Zhang The coach said after the game.
The suspense of the East and West regional finals is finally revealed, but fans don’t have more time to feel it. On May 28, the Western Regional finals will begin first!
Staples is star-studded!
However, the stars on the sidelines are only the most beautiful embellishment of this battle, the focus is still on the players on the court.
Lakers: Ji Feng, Kobe, Bynum, Gasol, Fisher.
Thunder: Durant, Westbrook, Perkins, Ibaka, Safrosa!
For the first time in the playoffs, the Lakers used Lao Yu, who had been on the bench. To be honest, Lao Yu had played very little time in the playoffs before. This move definitely exceeded most people's expectations.
But most of them are still between Durant, Westbrook, Ji Feng, and Kobe. Barkley said excitedly: "This is a collision between top talents!"
However, O'Neal seemed to have a different opinion: "No, this should be said to be a duel between top talents and top teams!"