第一百七十三章

The Clippers faced the Houston Rockets back-to-back, losing 91-104. Although the Rockets have the most expensive "cheerleaders" in the league, they are still the favorites to win the championship this season.

With McGrady's announcement of the operation on February 19 and the season was reimbursed, the discord in the Rockets' locker room came to an end. As a superstar with an annual salary of more than $20 million, McGrady's average of 15.6 points and 5 assists per game is a bit unreasonable. Before the star game, Rockets owner Alexander also managed to stand up to McGrady, saying: "We won't break up with McGrady, he is an excellent superstar. I talked to Morey, and he performed very well in the playoffs and we don't plan to trade such an excellent player." However, McGrady quickly announced the operation without any warning, and the behavior of the Rockets' senior executives looked like a joke.

Yao Ming led the team forward. After the Star Game, the Rockets became stronger and steadily occupied the second place in the league. Vaughan Weaver broke out and filled the vacancy in the No. 2 position. No one mentioned McGrady again. Maybe when he was injured he was well, he was traded out of the team.

On April 2, the Clippers defeated the Hornets. Chandler's injury made the team's inside defense tight, and the Hornets have almost withdrawn from the playoffs.

The Clippers defeated the Nuggets, Timberwolves, Trail Blazers, and Supersonics in succession, with another five-game winning streak, with a record of 49 wins and 31 losses, ranking seventh in the Western Conference, leading the Hornets by 4 wins, and steadily qualified for the playoffs.

Next, they have to face the problem of choosing opponents. The eighth-placed Mavericks are only one game behind the Clippers. If the Clippers lose one game, the Mavericks will win both games, and relying on the mutual winning and losing relationship, the ranking will be reversed.

The Mavericks' opponents are the Timberwolves and the Warriors, and it is easy to win. The Clippers' last two games are indeed the Jazz and the Lakers. It is very difficult to end the regular season with 7 consecutive victories. They have not won the Jazz this season, but they have won two games against the Lakers.

While celebrating entering the playoffs, the Clippers also need to consider a question: which team is more beneficial to the first round.

If you compete in the last two games and strive to maintain the seventh place, you will meet the Rockets, who are now 56-win. The Rockets' lineup restrains the Clippers, and the players are also very familiar with Thibodeau's defensive system, and the possibility of winning is too low.

If you advance in the eighth place, it will be difficult for the Lakers to break through the first round. When meeting the Lakers in the playoffs, the Clippers are equivalent to not having a home court. In the Staples Arena, when entering the playoffs, most people will support the Lakers. This is obvious. The Lakers may compete for the championship, but it is difficult for the Clippers to go far.

Deliberate loss and choosing opponents is also a hidden rule for NBA, which applies to teams that do not have home court advantages in the first round of the playoffs. Teams ranked in the top four will not do this. In the playoffs, the importance of one more home court advantage has been proven n times in the past.

Thibodeau did not want to go home easily to fish. After the training class, he convened the coaching staff and the players to have a meeting in the locker room. He discussed whether to make every effort to ensure the seventh place in the last two games or to deliberately lose the eighth place.

The first statement was Ye Feng. "I hope to play against the Lakers without flying to play away, and the players can ensure the best condition. Moreover, the Lakers do not have strong swingers, so they are not easy to guard against me. If I play against the Rockets, I will have to be entangled with Artest Bathir all the game, which is bad."

Ma Hongju. The Rockets No. 4 Scola plays his footsteps. We are not good at defending him in these games. There are many people in the team who are good at blocking shots, so we can't defend our footsteps."

Hardaway also said: "I also agree to play against the Lakers. Lakers defender Fisher is slow, Jose (Baria) has an advantage and can start. If you play against the Rockets, Alstom and Brooks are very fast. Yao Ming is not easy to defend. Compared with the Rockets, our only advantage is only No. 2."

The players also expressed their opinions, all trying to avoid the Rockets' fight against the Lakers. Even if they are eliminated, at least they don't have to fly everywhere.

Donald Sterling also supports playing against the Lakers. The reason is very simple. The Clippers' tickets are cheap. As long as they play in Los Angeles, everyone will buy their tickets.

Although the Lakers' regular season record is better than the Rockets, they have weaknesses in lineup configuration, and the Clippers are just able to grasp these weaknesses.

On the 14th, the Clippers played against the Jazz at home, which was a national live broadcast. Espn sent Jeff Van Gundy and Joan Barry to be responsible for the live commentary. This is a game related to the final ranking. Los Angeles fans hope that the Clippers can get seventh and avoid the Lakers in the first round. On the forum, everyone was calling on the Clippers to beat the Jazz with all their might, and then the Lakers let the water go, so that they can guarantee the seventh place. If they knew that the Clippers were ready to "let the water go" first, I wonder what they would feel.

In the lounge, Thibodeau was about to arrange tactics. Ye Feng called Thibodeau aside and said lightly: "Tom, I have a suggestion, I hope you can satisfy me."

"Boss, can I still be dissatisfied with what you said?" Thibodeau smiled. It is not an exaggeration to say that Ye Feng is the actual boss of the Clippers today. Sterling has retreated to the second line, and Alice always listens to Ye Feng.

Ye Feng smiled and said, "Since I don't care about winning or losing in the last two games, can I let me shoot the ball? I want to compete for the scoring champion."

Thibodeau smiled and said, "I have an opinion, what if you score a lot and win the game?"

"The Mavericks will not lose to the weak team. If they win this game, they will lose to the Lakers in the end. We can only fall to the eighth place if we lose one game."

Ye Feng is very determined. Now he averages 29.1 points per game, 29.2 behind Wade. If he scores high scores in a game, the ranking may be rewritten. If the whole team passes the ball to him and shoots 50+, this honor can be obtained.

This is a good opportunity. Jazz starts and scores guard Ronnie Brewer is going to miss this game and he is going to attend his aunt's funeral. Brewer is a muscle-boy who hates Ye Feng. He averages 13.7 points, 3.2 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 1.6 steals per game, shooting percentage of 50.8%, rarely missed the waves, and he can defend and hold him up on the defensive end. He is very powerful.

Without Brewer, Ye Feng would be much easier to score.

Thibodeau arranged relevant tactics and arranged the whole team to pick-and-roll for Ye Feng, so that he could take action as much as possible. His teammates knew what he was going to do, but he had no objection.

When he appeared, someone had already played the slogan "Hungry Wolf 70 points". His highest score record in his career is 66 points, and fans have set 70 points for his new goal. Fans don't know how to satisfy them. In fact, there are only a few people in the 60+ club, and Michael Jordan's highest score in his career is 69 points.

Ye Feng doesn't want to play solo, but his personal honor is right in front of him. He can get it in two games. If he still pretends to not care at this time, it would be too stupid. If he loses the scoring king by 0.1 points less than Wade, he will definitely be thinking about this for several years.

He was not the first person to fight for the scoring king. "Admiral" David Robinson scored 71 points in his last regular season game for the honor of the scoring king in 1994. His opponent at that time was the Clippers. Even if others said that it was of low value, Ye Feng admitted it. Ironically, many people were talking about Kobe's problem of not passing the ball alone, and compared Ye Feng's triple-double record. Now Ye Feng wants to play in Kobe's way.

The Clippers' starting lineup is: Love, Gott, Smith, Ye Feng, and Chalmos.

Van Gundy looked at the lineup and couldn't understand it: "I think it would be better if I sent Shanghai Yes today. Hayes' offense is not good. His single defense ability is stronger than Gott. It is the most suitable for him to go against Boozer. And why not let Tony Allen start? His outside defense is very strong."

Joanbarri smiled and said, "Maybe the Clippers want to attack, so they can replace Chalmos as an outside shooting point. When Allen is on the court, the opponent can hold the basket to the death. Let's see what the Jazz will do. Brewer is absent today, and the Clippers will be more likely to play."

The Jazz sent Oku, Boozer, Kirilenko, Miles, Deron Williams.

Both sides stood in the middle circle, with Kirirenko next to Ye Feng. Ak47 is very thin, and his specialty is to assist in blocking shots, not to resist people. Ye Feng immediately decided to play low posts, and others already knew it, just to withdraw the inside line and perform pick-and-roll.

At the beginning of the game, Gotat jumped the ball and defeated Oku. The Clippers' positional battle. Chalmos passed to Love who was pulled to the high position. Smith had no ball cover and Ye Feng reached the low post on the right. Love passed to Smith, who was hanging high for Ye Feng. The Jazz defended 23 joint defense. After the transfer, he became Miles defended Ye Feng alone.

Ye Feng didn't take Miles, who was 198cm tall, and squeezed his back to the inside. Miles weighed 101 kilograms, and his defense was also very regrettable. He had a tough style, but he was a little worse than Ye Feng. After resisting two steps, he suddenly turned to the bottom line and entered the basket, put Miles behind him, and jumped back with all his strength. Miles jumped up and blocked. Ye Feng scored with both hands, leaning on Miles with one hand and hit the ball with one hand. The referee blew a whistle, 2+1.

Myers went for the ball, and he played more elegantly. His elegantness helped Ye Feng. The Clippers fans applauded and scored a penalty, 3-0.

Just after 15 seconds, the Jazz attacked, and Miles received the ball and broke through, and passed Ye Feng without cover. This was a trap. Smith, who was in the rotation, stood on the position and was knocked to the ground. Miles was ordered to dribble the ball and hit someone. Just half a minute into the game, Miles committed two fouls. He held the basketball with a confused look on his face.

Sloan angrily replaced him and replaced him with Korver. There was no way to go. There was no one stronger than Korver at the Jazz No. 2.

Van Gundy smiled and said, "Myers may be the fastest starter in history to be replaced. He should declare the world record. This is very beneficial to the Clippers. Korver, who came up with the Jazz, is a pitcher. How could he defend Ye Feng?"

Joanbari smiled and said, "Korver was a pure pitcher. After trading to the Jazz, he started to train his muscles due to his teammates. Now he is stronger, but his three-pointer seems to be less accurate than before. Let's take a look."

Van Gundy said seriously: "Brewer is not here today, Miles is troubled by foul again, and there is no suitable substitute for the Jazz No. 2 position. Maybe something amazing will happen today."

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Chapter completed!