So in the end, the Hornets still failed to win this game at the hands of the Nets.
A few days later, the Nets swept the Hornets 4-0 and easily advanced to the second round.
After the last game, Jordan invited Lin Ying to have a meal alone.
"You know what? I've lost more games in the two years I've been the boss than I've lost in my entire career."
Jordan will not reveal his true side to others easily, but Lin Ying is not someone else.
"That's not your fault, it's management's fault."
There was nothing wrong with Lin Ying's answer, but it also made Jordan startled.
"Do you meet Prokhorov often?"
After coming back to his senses, Jordan asked and then ate a spoonful of caviar.
"Once? Or twice? If you win the championship, it should happen twice, once when you win the championship, and once when you award the championship ring."
Lin Ying's answer made Jordan laugh.
"He is really a lazy boss."
Jordan said with a smile, eating another spoonful of caviar,
"It tastes good, try it."
Lin Ying nodded and took a spoonful.
There are many types of caviar. This is black caviar, which is a specialty of Russia.
It's a bit fishy and salty, and it melts quickly.
"So Dean Walken is doing everything the Nets do on a regular basis?"
Jordan then asked.
"Mark is very professional."
Lin Ying nodded.
There's nothing wrong with that, except it ignores the fact that Walken Dean occasionally approached him about draft picks.
"Maybe I have to find a professional."
"What?"
Lin Ying didn't understand it for a while.
"It's okay. You said before that Kevin Durant wants to play golf with me in the summer?"
Jordan shook his head and then chatted with him about other topics.
…
Four days later, the Nets' second-round opponent was finally determined. The Celtics defeated the Pistons 4-2 and will play the Nets in the second round.
On this day, Lin Ying and Durant were training at their home training facility.
Lin Yinglian, Durant and Xiao Lin Yilian.
After practice was over, the two of them sat on the sidelines to rest and chat.
This feeling is very comfortable and the happiness index is full.
It's like two good friends who graduated from college. After graduation, they went out to work separately, and then went to work in the same city. After work, they could play ball together.
However, the two were not talking about the upcoming opponent, the Celtics, but about some situations in the first round.
When they decided to play the Celtics in the second round, the first rounds of other groups were also completed.
Their biggest rival in the Eastern Conference, the Cavaliers, easily defeated the Heat 4-1.
Wade is also a good brother of James. Against a good brother, James has no mercy.
As for the Cavaliers, their opponent in the second round was the Raptors. The Raptors also showed full competitiveness this season and also easily eliminated the Hawks 4-1.
So this year DeRozan will not meet Lin Ying again, but he will meet James.
"Stephen was injured just yesterday."
And when we talked about the Western Conference, Durant told us something.
He has a personal connection with Curry, and he will know the news as soon as possible.
"Is it serious?"
Lin Ying's memory is a bit confusing. He only remembers that Curry played in the finals this year in history and was overturned by the Cavaliers 3-1. It was so classic.
"The medial collateral ligament sprain of my left knee is fortunately only grade two. I will need to rest for about half a month."
"In half a month, the Warriors are in trouble."
Half a month is about 15 days.
This means that Curry will definitely miss the second round, and it is uncertain when he will return to the Western Conference Finals.
This is undoubtedly huge bad news for the Warriors. Curry's importance to the Warriors is self-evident.
The Warriors' opponent in the second round is the Clippers.
The Nets' previous 19-game winning streak was ended by the Clippers. At that time, Deron even teased Lin Ying whether he was willing to take action.
In addition to the Nets' own abnormal performance, that game also showed that the Clippers are not weak this season.
Another supporting data is that the Clippers easily defeated the Timberwolves 4-1 in the first round.
Curry's absence will undoubtedly make this series full of uncertainties.
"If the Warriors can get through this, we should be able to compete with them in the NBA..."
Durant choked back his words mid-sentence.
Although he hadn't finished speaking, Lin Ying still knew what Durant was talking about.
But it’s not necessarily true.
Even if the Warriors can beat the Clippers without Curry, there will still be uncertainty when facing the Spurs.
In the first round of the remaining two groups, the Spurs easily defeated the Trail Blazers 4-1, and the Lakers defeated the Mavericks 4-3.
If the Spurs successfully defeat the Lakers and reach the Finals, it's hard to say who will win between the two teams with the best performance in the Western Conference regular season.
Historically this year, the Spurs were eliminated by the Thunder in the semifinals, but now, with Durant coming to the Nets ahead of schedule, that will never happen again.
"We'd better pay more attention to ourselves. It's not that easy for the Celtics to win."
Lin Ying brought the topic back.
"They can't guard against us."
Durant is very confident.
This is also the kind of confidence they should have. Their only opponent in the Eastern Conference is the Cavaliers, and there is a gap in quality between other teams and them.
"Kevin, even if you are facing an ant, you will be bitten if you are not careful."
Lin Ying reminded Durant not to underestimate the enemy.
"But we're wearing shoes!"
Durant's answer made Lin Ying put a hand on his forehead.
Okay, I know you are straight.
"Jimmy is a very energetic guy. His statistics will not be very beautiful, but he will make the team competitive."
Lin Ying then spoke.
If Love is a typical player in the Timberwolves who has good statistics but can't win, Butler is a counterexample.
Perhaps in the eyes of many people who only look at statistics but not football, he is mediocre, but in fact he has the ability to change the competitiveness of a team.
This has been proven many times in history and is still proven today.
"I know."
Durant nodded seriously.
It's not that he suddenly changed his temper, but that he knew that Butler used to be Lin Ying's younger brother, and Lin Ying's evaluation was authoritative.
"Of course, I think it is a good thing to play against the Celtics. He will make us enter a tense state and truly enter the playoff mode."
Lin Ying continued.
Not underestimating the opponent means respecting the opponent, but they need to adjust their condition before playing against the Cavaliers and their opponents in the finals.
The Warriors can't afford to lose with 73 wins this year, and they can't afford to lose either.
…
Before the start of the Western Conference semifinals, the league announced the ownership of the best rookie and dpoy.
The Rookie of the Year went to Towns, who got more than 50% of the votes, Porzingis got 31%, Booker got 9%, and the others were ignored.
The dpoy belongs to Leonard, who won this award for the second time after last season.
It is worth mentioning that Jimmy Butler also received nearly 20% of the votes.
This has to start with Thomas Jr.
Thomas needs a system that suits him to help the team win.
This system is a defensive system. How many points he scores, if no one wipes his butt, he will let his opponent score more points.
The Celtics provide just such a system.
In this system, the presence of Butler and Howard has been heightened.
Especially Butler, there are countless scenes of helping Thomas wipe his butt, and his sense of presence is naturally strong.
The Celtics arrived in Brooklyn the day before the game.
That night, Butler went to the training hall and practiced for a while with Lin Ying and Durant.
“It still feels like home here.”
Butler wiped his sweat and said to Lin Ying with a smile.
“Aren’t you happy in Boston?”
Lin Ying heard something in his words and asked.
Butler moved his mouth, but still didn't speak.
But in fact, he knew it even without telling Lin Ying.
The Celtics' lineup is not weak on paper this season, but in terms of record, not only is it compared to the Nets and Cavaliers, it's also a notch behind the Raptors.
Internal conflicts are more terrifying than external enemies.
To take an extreme example, if Lin Ying used Green's formula to Durant, it would be useless for the Nets to have the Texas Twins.
"Jimmy, you can come back."
Durant on the side suddenly spoke.
This was said somewhat suddenly.
But surprisingly, Lin Ying didn't refute immediately.
This year's free market is very special. The team's salary cap has increased significantly, and each team can have enough room to strengthen.
But there is a point that is easily overlooked. There are so many free agents in the free market, and it is not enough to consume so much salary space.
So this will inevitably mean that supply will exceed demand and junk contracts will be everywhere.
Some people say it’s okay not to sign it, just leave some space.
This is definitely not possible.
First, there are many teams that need to fill the poverty line. Second, and more importantly, premium contracts are contracts and trading chips, which are more valuable than air.
Not every team's air is valuable.
So in this context, it would be a waste if the Nets have space.
Moreover, Mahinmi Jr.'s contract expires this summer, and Lin Ying and Durant have to sign new long-term contracts, so there is room to sign a maximum-paying player.
For example, if you had the opportunity to sign James, wouldn’t you?
Just kidding, but the Nets do have such room for maneuver.
On this basis, letting Butler return to the Nets is indeed a theoretically feasible option.
Of course, this possibility is very small.
Even if there are serious conflicts within the team, Ainge cannot send Butler to the Nets.
Ainge is as stingy as Mosaic, and he didn't think too much about Butler in the first round of three or four rounds like you.
Butler just smiled.
Lin Ying also smiled when he saw Butler's reaction.
The biggest difference between Butler and history is that he already has two championships in his hands.
Therefore, what he longs for more than a championship is team status. Even if he eventually changes teams, he will not return to the Nets.
…
On game day, the Barclays Center was sold out.
During the warm-up before the game, the on-site photographers also kept taking shots of Butler.
The fans also felt extremely cordial.
Watching Butler, whom he drafted, grow into a core-level team is like watching his own children grow up.
Now that the children have come back with success, they feel full of pride.
During the warm-up, Lin Yingyou was observing the Celtics half court.
Then he discovered that the conflict between Butler and Howard was indeed quite obvious. There was zero communication between the two when they stood on one side.
Not only the two of them, Thomas and them basically had no communication with each other.
This scene seems really inconsistent.
This actually made Lin Ying feel that Durant's proposal yesterday was not completely impossible.
If conflicts within the team intensify, someone will inevitably have to leave, or else they may have to rebuild.
After the warm-up, the scene entered the opening ceremony, and the starting lineups of the two teams were announced one after another.
Celtics: Isaiah Thomas, Courtney Lee, Jimmy Butler, Thaddeus Young, Howard;
Nets: Bradley, Ariza, Lin Ying, Durant, Jokic.
There was a jump ball in the midfield of the two teams, and Howard easily moved the ball back to the Celtics half.
Jokic failed the jump ball for the nth time.
The Celtics started the game with Thomas Jr.
But it was not Howard who initiated the pick-and-roll, but Yang.
Young's pick-and-roll quality is average, but Thomas is indeed fast enough and confident enough.
He took the initiative to accelerate, took advantage of the time difference in the pick-and-roll to force a mismatch against Durant, and then used a fake back pass to catch the throw and hit the board.
The ball passed Durant's defensive board and bounced into the frame.
In this round, he brought the little man's spirituality to its fullest.
When the Nets attacked in the frontcourt, Bradley held the ball, Durant put up a pick-and-roll, and after the split, Bradley returned the ball, resulting in a mismatch.
The reason why the Celtics started playing Thomas is very simple. If you don't play him, you shouldn't let him stay on the court;
The reason why the Nets looked for mismatches when they first came up was also very simple. He shouldn't have played him even if he was on the court.
However, the Celtics are a little different from the Warriors. They have long been accustomed to this and have formed a complete defensive system.
Almost as soon as he was out of position, Li's help defense came up.
Durant chose to break through, but Butler had already blocked the ball in advance.
Durant was suddenly overwhelmed and couldn't distinguish the ball, so he chose to pull up and shoot a pull-up jumper.
"Dang!"
The basketball hit the hoop.
This ball is a bit difficult.
Howard grabbed the defensive rebound.
The Celtics advanced to the frontcourt, and Thomas continued to hold the ball in the pick-and-roll. This time he used a double change of direction, which was faster than Walker.
Durant was also passed immediately.
Speed ​​is the key to survival for top short players, and it is difficult to guard against Lin Ying and Durant's mismatched defense.
However, when Thomas rushed to the basket and threw up, Lin Ying was in place to help defend and caused huge interference.
"Dang!"
Thomas Jr.'s shot hit the frame.
But the moment the basketball popped out, a figure suddenly jumped up.
Jokic was stuck with Howard one second, but the next second he felt like he was pushed away by something.
"Bang!"
Before Jokic could react, Howard jumped high and smashed the ball into the basket directly through Jokic!
The huge impact pushed the little fat man straight out of the bottom line!
4 to 0!
Celtics take the lead!
And although it was only the first few rounds, the Celtics played the same game that Lin Ying saw during the warm-up before the game, which was very inconsistent.
There is basically no coordination between the three cores of the team. When the Heat used to play pick-and-roll with Howard, he didn't block at all with the Celtics.
But even so, relying on their respective strengths in certain aspects, they played pretty well.
It sounds weird to say it, but it's like a,
A divided whole.
ps: I went to do the nucleic acid test again, but it was said that it was transferred by express delivery, so I had to do it four times in a row. It was miserable.
Chapter completed!