Chapter 1 The Finals Begin

June 4th, the NBA Finals G1 between the Raptors and the Lakers officially kicked off at the Air Canada Centre.

At this time, the Finals still adopted the 2-3-2 format.

Before the game, American experts generally favored the Raptors to regain the throne this year.

In the eyes of these experts, the Lakers' only advantage in this Finals was Shaquille O'Neal.

However...

Due to some well-known reasons, Shaq's reputation in the public had been harmed in the past two years...

Therefore, when doing pre-match analysis, some experts even believed that it was questionable whether O'Neal could beat Ben Wallace.

On the court, compared with two years ago, the current Raptors not only had better chemistry between the players on the court, but also were significantly more calm and composed in terms of mentality.

CCTV, while broadcasting the footage of the two teams warming up, Zhang said, "Why does everyone, including Su Feng, say that mentality determines everything?

Look, Kobe is as nervous as if it's his first time playing in the playoffs. I've counted, since the beginning, he's missed at least six or seven three-pointers in the warm-up."

Hiss—!

It had to be said that Zhang was indeed a commentator with a lot of attention to detail.

But...

What did Kobe's poor warm-up shooting have to do with him being nervous?

In fact, even if it wasn't the Finals, Su Feng hadn't seen Kobe shoot accurately too many times during warm-ups... Ah呸!

Kobe was the most accurate man in the world besides Su Feng, and no rebuttal was accepted!

In order to complete his revenge in this year's Finals, O'Neal specially treated Kobe to several meals before the Finals started.

And since the relationship between these two had become strained...

This was definitely the first time ever.

In addition, Kidd had also temporarily accepted his role as the Lakers' third leader in Los Angeles.

Look, in the face of the temptation of a championship, what did it matter how many internal conflicts there were?

Before the game, in an interview, the "Zen Master" also rarely revealed his killer intent.

"If we have to be the villains, then why not?"

Before the Finals started, because the public overwhelmingly supported the Raptors, the Lakers were also regarded by many neutral fans as the "evil boss."

However, in the NBA, there was never a saying that the prince would definitely save the princess from the devil.

Because most of the time, the NBA script was that the devil killed the prince and married the princess.

And on the eve of the decisive battle, Jackson's move was tantamount to telling the Lakers players:

Wake up, since we are all villains, are you still going to wait until after the Finals to complain about the public opinion?

Especially a certain super center, do you know that if you win another silver medal this time, you will be a five-time runner-up!

In this life, just in terms of the number of times he had reached the Finals, O'Neal had already tied Jordan.

However, unlike Michael Jordan, who had reached the Finals six times and won the championship six times...

O'Neal had been swept in three of his past five Finals appearances, and he had only won one of the other two after playing a Game 7.

In fact, in terms of dominance and leadership ability alone, O'Neal had already proven that he was not inferior to Jordan.

However, for competitive sports, which had always placed importance on champions...

The Finals runner-up...

Really didn't have any gold content.

On the court, after the two teams finished warming up, the big screen immediately showed the starting lineups of the two teams.

Lakers: O'Neal, Horry, Fox, Kobe, Kidd.

Raptors: Ben Wallace, Chris Bosh, Su Feng, Vince Carter, Nash.

In the center of the court, the game began with two O'Neals jumping for the ball.

As a result, the fatter O'Neal had the last laugh.

Kidd was responsible for dribbling the ball across the half-court. The Lakers adopted a 1-2-2 formation, starting with their traditional triangle offense.

In this year's Lakers' playoff journey, Horry's condition was average. Before the Finals started, his three-point shooting percentage was only 5%.

Yes, you read that right, it was 5%.

But because this guy had the attribute of a clutch player, Su Feng still gave instructions to Ben Wallace, who was responsible for guarding him, before the game.

That was, if necessary, they could let Kidd shoot, but not this guy.

On the court, under Kidd's command, the Lakers quickly found an opportunity.

O'Neal squeezed away Chris Bosh in the low post, and Kobe also managed to get into position while entangled with Carter.

At this moment that tested emotional intelligence, Kidd naturally chose to pass the ball to Fox, so that Fox could be the villain.

On the left side of the court in the low post, O'Neal received Fox's lob pass.

Then, after turning his back and squeezing away Chris Bosh, this fathead fish hit a jump shot, 2-0.

Although he couldn't wait to tear the Raptors and Su Feng to pieces in his heart, in order to save energy, O'Neal still chose a relatively low-key scoring method for this shot.

After O'Neal quickly scored two points for the Lakers, Chris Bosh was not discouraged, but quickly ran to the baseline and quickly passed the basketball to Nash.

"The Raptors' offense is really fast. To be honest, watching O'Neal run like that, I feel bad for him." CCTV, Zhang said with a smile.

As a sport where the one who scores higher wins, the Raptors' strategy tonight was to use speed to beat the Lakers' slow pace.

In the Lakers' half, Nash quickly found Su Feng cutting towards the middle.

After Nash found Su Feng with an imaginative bounce pass, Su Feng, carrying Kobe, used his wingspan advantage to put the ball into the basket.

Beep—!

At the same time, the baseline referee blew his whistle, indicating that Kobe had hit Su Feng's hand when he was making a layup.

"No other reason, just long arms and big hands!"

Looking at Kobe, who was about to argue with the referee, Su Feng shook his slender fingers and smiled.

Kobe was immediately exasperated!

Big hands...

So what if you have big hands?

Is it amazing to have big hands!

It's already 2003, stop showing off your big hands in front of me every day, okay?

Swish!

On the court, Su Feng made the extra free throw, 2-3.

And on the return, this time Chris Bosh learned from experience and successfully created an offensive foul by O'Neal through early positioning and the acting skills personally taught by Su Feng before the game.

"No other reason, just IQ." In the restricted area, after getting up, Chris Bosh complained while looking at O'Neal, who didn't look very smart.

Now it was O'Neal's turn to get angry!

IQ...

Are you sure your IQ, which couldn't even get you into college, can compare with mine?

No...

Referee, you can't be so biased towards the Raptors!

This guy was just acting just now!

On the court, under O'Neal's constant complaints, even though the NBA hadn't introduced the zero-tolerance policy yet, the referee still gave him a technical foul.

Su Feng went to the free-throw line to take the free throw.

Swish!

2-4.

Then, the Raptors still had possession.

At this time, with these few calls at the beginning of the game, the Lakers players' mentality had obviously changed somewhat.

Because before the game, the Lakers players thought that the referee would definitely be biased towards the Raptors, so now that the team had started the game in such a disadvantageous situation, the Lakers players had a psychology called "persecutory paranoia."

In fact, the game had just started, and in terms of the referee's previous calls, they weren't particularly biased towards the Raptors.

However, when the Lakers players played the game with this mentality, it was difficult for them not to be distracted.

On the basketball court, in this kind of strong-versus-strong match, the most taboo thing was that your attention was not focused enough and you were distracted by things outside the court.

As a result, after the first quarter, the Lakers players all turned into iron blocks, while the Raptors were all like gods.

The score between the two teams in the first quarter was 18 to 33.

In the first quarter, apart from the two free throws at the beginning, the Raptors only went to the free-throw line twice in the subsequent game.

In contrast, the Lakers, who had O'Neal, got 10 free-throw opportunities in the first quarter.

However, under the influence of their mentality, even the "underhand free throw" couldn't save this fathead fish.

In the second quarter, Jackson kept emphasizing calmness and concentration on the bench.

It was a pity...

In the second quarter, after Su Feng scored a super long-range three-pointer for the Raptors as soon as he came on, even Jackson couldn't stay calm.

What the hell!

This is the Finals, when you're throwing recklessly, can you please pay attention to the "Basic Law of Reckless Throwing?"

Su Feng: Uh!

But this is how I usually play!

This season, in the regular season, Su Feng had to shoot 9.2 three-pointers per game on average, and basically half of them were the kind that could scare Davis into a heart attack.

Although in the final shooting percentage panel, Su Feng shot a historical low in his career three-point shooting percentage this season.

But when he was accurate, his opponents were often tortured crazy by him.

Look, in order to prove to Su Feng what a reasonable scoring method was for a scorer, Kobe turned around and gave Ben Wallace a block, didn't he?

This season, in the regular season, Kobe could score 28.8 points per game on average, making him the Lakers' number one scorer.

This data was slightly less than Su Feng remembered.

This was mainly because the Lakers had Kidd in this life, and Kobe's offense on the court had become more scientific.

In fact, in terms of scoring ability alone, this Kobe had also begun to enter his peak.

Su Feng knew that even he couldn't completely defend Kobe to death.

But...

In terms of messing with Kobe's mentality, he was definitely the number one in this league.

Raptors offense, after Su Feng received the ball on the wing, he used his right hand to make several feints with the basketball.

And this...

Kobe was really pissed off.

As Kobe's best friend, Su Feng was very clear about how dangerous it would be for the Raptors if this little mamba snake was comfortable.

On the basketball court, if Su Feng was worried about his relationship with Kobe and didn't go all out, that would probably be the most foolish thing.

In Su Feng's previous life, why did many NBA stars like to trash talk their opponents?

Because messing with mentality was a subject in itself on the basketball court.

You had to know that basketball was not suitable for saints.

Especially in the NBA.

When you chose to be Cheng Xin, there were plenty of Trisolarans in this league who wanted to take over the "Earth" you were on.

"Can you only do feints like a woman?" On the court, Kobe, who was exasperated by Su Feng, counterattacked in exasperation.

Oh!

My lovely Kobe, since you sincerely asked the question...

Then I have to seriously answer your question.

Dong, dong!

On the court, Su Feng suddenly put the ball down, and then, in the instant he feigned a breakthrough to the right, he suddenly pulled the ball to the other side with his left hand.

Seeing this, Kobe snorted and didn't take the bait.

That's it?

You think you can fool me with your Sam Cassell?

No!

This is not a Sam Cassell!

This is a Sam Cassell as the starting point, only Su Feng's knees can complete the Sam Cassell followed by a Crossover cosmic change of direction!

On the wing, after pulling the ball back to the right, Su Feng quickly withdrew to the three-point line.

Then, it was a handsome three-point sniper shot!

Swish—!

18 to 39!

Smooth, silky!

If the Su Feng of the past only had 15 to 30 frames!

Then today's him, at least has 60 frames!

Although there was still some distance from his dream of 2k, 4k, with his amazing acceleration, even Kobe found it difficult to react in the first place.

On the Lakers' bench, O'Neal, who had been substituted by Jackson to rest, couldn't sit still.

Because if he continued to sit down, wouldn't this G1 be in vain?

Um...

Alright!

Actually, even if O'Neal chose to come back, the Lakers would probably lose this game anyway.

Because as the Raptors' shooters on the court shot more and more smoothly, how could the Lakers' defense hold up?

The mental imbalance at the beginning caused the Lakers to dig a hole for themselves from the start.

After taking a big lead, the Raptors, who had relaxed their mentality, naturally took the lead in this game.

In the end, after Su Feng argued with Kobe for the entire game, the score of this game was 95 to 116, and the Raptors happily took the opening victory at home.

In the entire game, Su Feng was accurate first and then rusty. He made 11 of 24 shots and scored a total of 32 points, including free throws and three-pointers.

Kobe made 10 of 23 shots, scoring a total of 30 points, 6 rebounds, and 4 assists.

After the game, if you only looked at the data, you would even think that Kobe and Su Feng had fought to a draw.

However, for fans who watched the entire game...

They felt that Kobe had been beaten up by Su Feng all night.

Because many of Kobe's points were scored in the second half when the Raptors took a big lead, when Carter was defending him.

…

On the 7th, after adjusting their mentality, the second game between the Raptors and the Lakers continued at the Air Canada Centre.

In the first quarter, O'Neal, who only got 15 shots in the previous game, once cried while beating up Chris Bosh.

In the first quarter alone, O'Neal got 16 points and 9 rebounds.

With Kidd distributing the ball, after the Lakers players adjusted their mentality, this Lakers' offensive selection was indeed very reasonable.

Although the Raptors had many stars, in fact, only one person had the opportunity to finish each round.

In the second quarter, O'Neal didn't rest, vowing to beat the Raptors thoroughly.

At this time, Davis took the initiative to substitute Su Feng's second-in-commands, and Su Feng and Ben Wallace, led Marshall, Parker, and Jackson, three substitute role players, to deal with the Lakers.

Um...

It was fine for Marshall to be a role player...

But why were Parker and Jackson also role players?

Oh, your bench also had Nash, Carter, Chris Bosh, and the water dispenser managers Old Curry and Barkley sitting on it...

Then it was fine. (Coach Lu: ?)

With a complete lineup, no one knew better than Davis how to fully use the Raptors' pile of royal flushes.

In the third quarter, relying on Nash's sudden acceleration on the court, taking advantage of the Lakers' physical decline, the Raptors completely reversed the situation with a wave of 19-4.

In the fourth quarter, Su Feng, who had been slightly slacking off tonight, also turned on his full power mode.

Kobe, who had been tormented by Su Feng for nearly 36 minutes, failed to continue his good touch in the first three quarters in the final quarter.

As everyone knew, high-intensity defense would affect a player's touch on the court.

Therefore, in the Finals, Kobe, who was actively looking for Su Feng on both ends of the court, found it difficult to have the same performance as he had in the Western Conference Finals, where he fought against the Minnesota Three Heroes.

In contrast...

The joy of being able to pass the buck to Carter was something that ordinary people couldn't experience at all.

Look, when you're not accurate, a healthy Carter can help you force a score.

When you want to attack, he can also help you create space.

Even on defense, when you're tired, you can let him help you gank.

It's just...

"Su, you're too inaccurate tonight, give me the ball, and I can easily kill this game."

If he didn't talk, how great would that be?

On the court, under the combined performance of Su Jordan and Carter Pippen, Kobe was beaten into a heartbroken boy from Los Angeles on this night.

The score of this G2 game was 105 to 116.

O'Neal, who contributed 36 points and 17 rebounds in the first three quarters, only got 2 shooting opportunities in the fourth quarter, and scored a total of 40 points and 19 rebounds.

Kobe, on the other hand, got 27 points, 5 rebounds, and 3 assists.

On the Raptors' side, Su Feng and Carter combined for 61 points, and Ben Wallace, who didn't have to face O'Neal directly, also had 16 rebounds.

After the first two games, according to the schedule, the next three games between the two teams would be moved to Los Angeles.

Of course, the premise was...

The Lakers had to win at least one game before they could enjoy the home-away advantage of the NBA Finals during this period.

In the public, after the first two games, many fans believed that the Raptors would take the series with a score of 4-0.

The experts didn't think the Lakers had any chance of a comeback.

Because the Raptors were in too good a state at the moment.

…

On the 10th, Los Angeles, Staples Center.

The Lakers, who were down 0-2 in the series, had been forced to the edge of the cliff.

Before the game, the Los Angeles media even added a negative buff to the Lakers, whose morale was already not high.

Because after the G2 game, according to reliable sources within the Lakers, O'Neal and Kobe had a disagreement off the court, so the Los Angeles media began to criticize O'Neal and Kobe for their behavior of having conflicts even before the Finals were over.

It's just...

In Su Feng's opinion, all of this was quite outrageous.

Because no matter what conflicts O'Neal and Kobe had, wasn't it you who were creating momentum and promoting the further expansion of their conflicts?

In addition, to put it another way...

Generally, it was difficult for outsiders to know about incidents that happened in the locker room like this unless there was insider exposure.

Because even Wang Zhizhi didn't tell him about this after the G2 game.

Therefore, Su Feng was very curious, which scheming boy stabbed the OK duo in the back?

On the evening of the 10th, while warming up before the game, looking at the sneaky Derek Fisher, Su Feng felt that he had guessed the answer.

In the G3 game, Kidd was tired and didn't want to talk.

In fact, in the locker room after the G2 game, Kidd had already controlled O'Neal and Kobe, who were blaming each other.

But unfortunately...

His halberd couldn't control the needle that wanted to poke those two eggs!

What the hell was going on!

The one named Derek Fisher, if you don't want to play, just retire, okay?

Why did you have to run to Kobe and say how Su Feng was, and then run to O'Neal and say how Su Feng was...

You didn't really think that the so-called OK friendship was really achieved by him, Su Feng, did you?

That was all靠靠 by this big guy!

Kidd was convinced.

He vowed that even if the Lakers wanted to renew his contract in the summer, he wouldn't stay with the Lakers.

It wasn't because he didn't want to stay in the City of Angels, but because he had had enough of the "Zen Master's" inexplicable trust in Fisher.

In Kidd's opinion, no matter how O'Neal and Kobe fought, at least those two were normal people on the court.

But him, Fisher...

He didn't really think he was better than himself, did he?

There was no way...

With the help of the Los Angeles media, even if Kidd had the ability to turn things around, he couldn't save this demoralized Lakers.

In the G3 game, O'Neal and Kobe each played a good half.

But the result was that the Raptors laughed to the end with their ultimate one-guard-four strategy.

In the fourth quarter, seeing those open three-pointers made by Old Curry, Marshall, Carter, and others, Kidd's eyes were completely attracted by Nash.

What was the ultimate team basketball?

This was the basketball that he, Kidd, wanted to play!

In terms of organizational ability, Kidd didn't think he was worse than Nash.

But...

What was the use of saying this now?

Destroy it!

Quickly!

In the end, in the G3 game between the Lakers and the Raptors, relying on the heroic performance of the second-in-commands, Su Feng didn't even wait for his fourth-quarter all-out moment.

The final score of this game was 119 to 103, and after capturing the City of Angels, the score of this series had already come to 3-0!

After the game, Kobe and O'Neal returned to the locker room without saying a word.

In the stands, seeing Kobe's uncomfortable expression...

The "number one Kobe fan" in this league, Jim Buss, was also uncomfortable.

It's just...

As a fan of both Su Feng and Kobe...

After being uncomfortable for a while, Little Buss found that...

He didn't seem to be particularly uncomfortable.

Oh!

Damn!

I'm going to be the heir to the Lakers in the future!

How can I...

How can I be like those half-hearted bastards and not be sad about the Lakers' loss?

"Okay, stop pretending, Jim, even if you pretend, your father can't see it." As Jim Buss's good buddy, Jerry West saw through this guy's disguise almost at a glance.

"Jerry...I'm really sad!" Little Buss continued to "act."

"Heh, can you be more sad than me?

In this league, is there anyone more familiar with the taste of the runner-up than me?" Logo Man asked rhetorically.

Ah this!

Little Buss was stumped.

After letting out a long sigh, Logo Man said meaningfully to Little Buss, "I have to leave the Lakers after this season."

"Why? Can't they see your past contributions to the Lakers?" Looking at his good buddy, Little Buss said with a blank expression.

"No...this is not your father's intention, but my own intention.

Because I really don't want to see Shaq and Kobe break down like this.

So, since someone has to take the blame, why can't that person be 'unlucky' Jerry West?" Logo Man said.

"But..."

Looking at Logo Man, Jim Buss still wanted to say something.

However, after waving his hand at Jim Buss, Logo Man said, "You said...

If I had picked both Su and Kobe to Los Angeles in one go back then, what would that picture have been like?"

Ah this!

As the number one honey and number one Kobe fan in this league, Jim Buss felt that the picture was a bit beautiful, so beautiful that he didn't dare to imagine it.

"I don't know if there will be a chance to make up for this regret in the future... Forget it! It's another depressing year!" In the stands, Logo Man's eyes gradually lost their highlight.

In the center of the court, as the noise dissipated...

Just as Su Feng was about to walk back to the locker room with a happy face...

Suddenly, he was stopped by Nash.

"Su, if we can win tomorrow night, then it will be our last game in the Raptors era." Looking at Su Feng with a solemn expression, Nash said.

Hearing this, Su Feng also nodded in dismay.

Yeah!

If we can win the next game!

That would be the last game.

I have to say, time really flies by.

"Su, before I leave the Raptors, I have a regret, can you help me make up for it?" Nash continued to look at Su Feng and said.

After staring at Nash for a few seconds, Su Feng nodded.

Bang!

Bang!

Bang!

In a corner of the player tunnel, after patting Su Feng's back three times, Nash said to Su Feng, "In my Raptors career with you, maybe it's because there are more passing points on the court...

So I have never been able to find the feeling we had during our trial in Phoenix."

"You mean, the feeling of me running, you passing, me shooting, me running again, you passing again, and me shooting again?" Su Feng said with a smile.

"Almost... anyway, I just want to pass the ball to you properly one more time.

So Su...

In the fourth game, can you let me see how many points you can score in a game after you go all out?" Nash said seriously.

"Are you sure? This is the Finals." After thinking for a while, Su Feng reminded him.

"It's because it's the Finals that the points you score will have gold content!" Nash said with a smile.

Is that so?

In the corner, after taking a deep breath, Su Feng said while rubbing Nash's head, "Then Steve... do you know what the NBA Finals record for individual assists in a single game is?"

Nash: "Huh?"

"I guarantee, after the next game, it will belong to you."

…

Fa Biao De Wo Niu