After losing to the Celtics, the Hawks' record became 53 wins and 20 losses.

The April schedule starts on the 1st, with a game every other day, from the 1st to the 17th, and there are games on every odd-numbered day.

The schedule is not difficult at all, there is no back-to-back schedule, and it is not easy at all. It is just a bit stressful to prepare for the playoffs.

The nine opponents are the Bucks, Knicks, Wizards, Pacers, Bucks, Celtics, Nets, Cavaliers, and Bulls. Except for the Wizards, Bulls, and Cavaliers, the other opponents are quite difficult, especially

It's the Nets after the Celtics.

That is the key to sniping the Nets in the playoffs. You must first lose to the Celtics and then kill the Nets.

At the same time, to be on the safe side, you must not lose the other 7 games to have a chance to win 60 games. You must win at least 5 games to win 58 games and break the team's record for wins.

This is like playing a real knockout game. Coach Kruger did not mention the matter of rest on April 11 during the last regular season team meeting at the end of the season on March 31.

The requirement for the five games before playing the Celtics is to win them all! Play like the playoffs!

The overall core of the Eagles, except for the addition of Liu Mang and Ratliff's health, is generally similar to last year.

Last year, the Hawks' core inside player in the first half was Mutombo. Later, they traded for the younger Ratliff. By then, Ratliff had already been reimbursed for the season. However, if not for this, the Hawks really wouldn't be able to trade Ratliff.

At that time, Ratliff was 27 years old, ranked first in the blocked shots list, and had just been selected for the All-Stars. The kind of people selected by fans. Mutombo must have been stronger at that time, but Mutombo was only two years younger than Jordan. At that time,

Already 35, and this is Mutombo's own estimation. He looks older than this. Who knows how many years he can maintain his condition. At that time, the Hawks were in the second half of the playoffs and wanted to make changes.

, and even used a first-round pick from the 2001 class with little talent to trade back the retired Ratliff.

In total, Ratliff is almost the same as before Mutombo was traded last season, except that he moves a little slower than Mutombo.

Therefore, the Eagles lineup knows how to play in the playoffs, and their tacit understanding has been developed in the previous regular season.

Although Liu Mang has never played in the playoffs, he has never seen Pig Run or eaten pork. He just has to work hard to excel at what he is good at!

The playoffs are simply to put it simply, whoever can play to their strengths has a chance of winning!

…

On April 1st, the Hawks hosted the Milwaukee Bucks at home.

In the conflict between Big Dog Glenn Robinson shouting that I want to renew my contract, and Ray Allen's contract being bigger than mine, and Ray Allen accusing Big Dog of not being active in training, playing alone, and knowing that the data will be increased every year of the contract, Xiong

It’s not without reason that the Bucks are gradually falling away from the playoffs this season when the 76ers and Raptors collapsed.

A team composed of three first-class players, three scorers averaging 20 points per game, came together, and the result was only ninth in the Eastern Conference.

The main reason is that Glenn Robinson committed suicide. When he was selected by the Bucks as the No. 1 pick in 1994, in that era of imperfect rules, he insisted on a "maximum salary" for 10 years, the maximum salary in 1994...

More than 3 million. According to the expected salary increase at that time, he initially wanted 100 million in 13 years, but finally signed a contract of 68 million in 10 years.

The seven-year, $21 million contract Pippen signed at that time was almost in the same situation.

Who would have known that just one year later, NBA revenue would skyrocket again, with maximum salaries doubling, and two years later, billion-dollar contracts would be all over the place.

Now, Glenn Robinson is seeing that Ray Allen, who signed a new contract in 1999, has a higher salary than him this season, so Glenn Robinson is clamoring for a salary increase, and he is becoming more and more at odds with Ray Allen.

.

Glenn Robinson is not old either. He is 29 years old. He was born in 1973. He is in his prime. He can still average 20 points per game when he has teammates like Cassell who averages 20 points per game and Ray Allen who averages 22 points per game.

21 points proved that he is still very strong.

But when the contract actually expires in 2004, he will be 31 years old.

The same situation exists with Kidd. Kidd signed a contract for 9 years and 54 million...

However, Kidd does not rely on physical fitness or possession of the ball when playing. Unlike Glenn Robinson, his style of play relies heavily on physical fitness. He can fire off the bounce from anywhere inside and outside the three-point line. He also has many offensive skills inside, but they are all

It depends on physical fitness.

And I like to clock out and get off work, and after getting 20 points, I become lazy.

It would be difficult for Glenn Robinson to get a big contract at the age of 31. Only fellow drinking buddy Popovich did this.

In this game, the Hawks played fiercely from the start. The Bucks were obviously unable to withstand the disparity in strength and internal conflicts.

After Liu Mang came up and challenged Ray Allen to defend, the Bucks could only rely on Glenn Robinson on the offensive end, but Raheem's defense was not a vegetarian, and the big dog also withered today.

His teammates were fierce. Liu Mang seized the opportunity and continued to break through the basket to cause damage. He almost raised his personal score to 20 points at the beginning of the fourth quarter because he had defeated his opponent. In the third minute of the fourth quarter, the Eagles

Already leading the opponent by 20 points, leading 91 to 71.

The final score was 109 to 91. The Eagles played a beautiful game with ferocious offense and defense, showing the strength gap between the first place in the East and the ninth place in the East!

Jason Terry, who entered playoff mode, was really scary. He made 7 three-pointers in a single game and scored 35 points in a single game. Whenever the Bucks showed the slightest sign of wanting to counterattack, he stepped forward.

A three-pointer kills the opponent.

Although the opponent may be a little weaker, Liu Mang still saw the shadow of the Jets that swept the Lakers with one hand.

It seems that when the Lakers were killed, Jason Terry and Jason Terry were both 34 years old, and now they are 24 and not yet 25...

…

…

The Eagles' brutal victory over the Bucks gave New Yorkers a sense of bloodshed, and New Yorkers who loved watching the excitement gathered in Madison Square Garden again.

The rookie who scored 50 points in the Mecca of basketball is here again!

Becoming the darling of New York is so simple. New York fans and the media have never been on the same page, and even some media outlets are not on the same page. Big cities with rich people are always so strange and incomprehensible.

Some New York media promoted Liu Mang as if he were a devil, and some praised him as much as they did when they praised Jeremy Lin for breaking out of the Lin Madness period. At that time, the Internet was not very developed, and there was no global influence because of that 50 game.

But Liu Mang is already very popular in New York, and the same kind of popularity is half and half, with some people loving him and some hating him.

But when Liu Mang came to New York, his popularity exploded!

In this last game in the history of the Knicks against rookie Ace Liu, the Knicks sold the highest ticket prices this season, second only to the Lakers' away game in Madison, and scalpers were also crazy about it.

James Dolan made another big fortune.

Weak teams always have more conflicts, while strong teams are always united... OK combinations don't count.

Because winning can cover up all conflicts, and losing can bring up all problems.

The closer they get to the playoffs, if the team is not a bad team, the conflicts caused by their record will become more and more prominent. Just like the Bucks, when they were still wandering back and forth in the playoffs, the internal conflicts of the Bucks were not that serious.

Now that the Bucks have "sit tight" for the ninth month, all their conflicts have broken out.

And New York is a magical place. Not only are there many conflicts within the team, the Blazers will be called the Blazers Prison in the next few years, which sounds pretty good when you think about it. The next name of the Knicks will be... the graveyard of the stars...

The magic of New York began even before the game between the Hawks and the Knicks started. When Alan Houston came on the stage, the whole audience was booing!

This kind of treatment is just like Ewing, who was beaten by the Spurs in the 1999 Finals due to injury and returned to normal form the next year, averaging only 15.9. Alan Houston's performance made the fans dissatisfied and began to be mad.

Shh.

On the contrary, when the Eagles, especially Liu Mang, who had his best performance of the season at Madison Square Garden, came on the court to warm up, the whole audience cheered!

A large number of fans chanted "We want Ace", which gave Liu Mang a "home court" feeling.

No need to betray anyone, just recruit directly face to face.

Looking at the attitude of New Yorkers who are stupid, have more money, live a better life, and support themselves together for retirement, Liu Mang said... How about waiting for the young man to become an old man and get a big contract when he retires?

Under such an environment, the Hawks were as high-spirited as they were at home, while the Knicks had already lost their morale. In addition, they had suffered a disastrous defeat in the previous three games against the Hawks, and had been scored 50 points by a rookie. They had no intention of resisting.

Then, a massacre came.

137 to 101, the Hawks beat the Knicks by 36 points on the road.

This was because the Eagles were not defensive, so the point difference was not too scary.

I don’t know if this game is a record for the Eagles. Liu Mang scored 31 points. He finally officially broke through 20 points per game and now averages 20.1 points per game! Jason Terry scored 30 points and Rasheed

Mu scored 33 points, and the three scored 94 points together!

The Knicks had no resistance and didn't want to resist anymore. They didn't have the feeling of first wanting to win, then wanting revenge, and then wanting to risk their lives like when they played against the Hawks three times before.

This is well confirmed.

…

…

All three players on the Hawks scored at least 30 points to defeat the Knicks. Although it did not shock the league, it also made many fans who were not impressed by the Hawks look askance.

It is true that no team in the East can pose much of a threat to the three giants in the West. This is recognized.

But in this game, Liu Mang, Jason Terry, and Raheem scored 94 points together, and all three of them scored 30. They became Oscar Robertson and Wayne Eng of the Cincinnati Royals in the 1960-1961 season.

After Bree, Jake Twyman, and Isiah Leder, Brian Grant, and Arvydas Sabonis of the Portland Trail Blazers in the 1997-1998 season, it was the third time in the NBA that they appeared on the same team.

A feat of three people getting 30!

There is no record to speak of, and the two teams that appeared twice before did not win any big honors.

But it looks terrible! Especially the next few opponents of the Eagles were in deep despair...

…

…

Wizards, Mr. Joe will not play for the rest of the regular season. Wearing a suit and smiling at Liu Mang, he told Liu Mang that he would first go to his training camp in the summer, and then he would go and get close to the two old guys from Utah, otherwise he would never be able to work with him in the future.
To be continued...