Chapter 1082 The Last Traditional Center

The day after the Western Conference Finals ended, Yao Ming officially announced his retirement, and the news quickly dominated the trending searches on social networks in both China and the United States.

On the homepage of the NBA's official website, the NBA officially commented on Yao Ming:

"With this, the last traditional center in the NBA has also bid farewell to his beloved stage."

In this life, whether it was personal honors or career stats, Little Yao, who had long occupied the throne of "World's No. 1 Center," was definitely worthy of the title of legend.

In his fifteen-year NBA career, Little Yao played a total of 1044 games, averaging 19.1 points, 9.0 rebounds, 2.8 assists, 1.9 blocks, and 0.4 steals per game.

Although in the later stages of his career, due to the limitations brought about by his physique, Little Yao's attendance rate, playing time, and average stats were all affected to a certain extent, compared to Su Feng's memories, Little Yao's career in this life was not only more complete, but he also led the Sixers to the NBA championship in the 03/04 season with Iverson.

And what was interesting was...

Whether in his previous life or this one, Little Yao's career stats were as maddening as ever.

In this life, Yao Ming scored a total of 19,940 points, 9,396 rebounds, 1,984 blocks, 2,923 assists, and 418 steals.

Apart from steals, which were inherently difficult to accumulate for a center, Yao Ming's other four stats were only a little short of allowing him to enter the "20000+10000+2000+3000" club.

And in Su Feng's memory, because he was forced to retire due to the major injury he suffered in the 08/09 season, Little Yao's four technical statistics were also just a little short of allowing him to enter the "10000+5000+1000+1000" club.

It was truly torturous for perfectionists!

However...

In any case, in this life, Little Yao definitely wouldn't have so many "busybodies" coming out to criticize him when he was inducted into the Hall of Fame in the future.

Because before this season's All-Star Weekend, Little Yao had already officially entered the NBA's replenished "Sixty-Five Greatest Players" list. Therefore, at next year's All-Star Weekend, which was the 20th anniversary of the "Fifty Greatest Players" selection, Little Yao would also participate in the "Sixty-Five Greatest Players" award ceremony with other superstars.

In addition, on the day Yao Ming officially announced his retirement, the Sixers also announced that they would hold a jersey retirement ceremony for Yao Ming in the future.

For Chinese fans who were long accustomed to "eating big chunks of meat and drinking big bowls of wine," Little Yao's retirement in this life was not as shocking as it was in Su Feng's memory.

However, on the day Yao Ming announced his retirement, many Chinese fans still felt sad about it.

Three Olympic championships and two World Championship titles were the most beautiful memories that Yao Ming and Su Feng brought to Chinese fans.

But...

Where in the world is there a feast that never ends?

And just as Chinese fans were still lamenting that time was too ruthless...

The Eastern Conference Finals, the Eastern Monster Room that had been raging since the Jordan era, had also reached a fever pitch.

In the first six games between the Celtics and the Bulls, the two teams each won three games.

If the Western Conference Finals that had already ended were the stage for the Lakers and Warriors, these gods...

Then this year's Eastern Conference Finals were the shining moment for the Celtics' coaching staff and the legendary godfather, John Davis.

In the first six games, the tactical battles between the two teams' coaches became the key factor in determining the outcome of the games.

According to the schedule, the Bulls and Celtics would return to the United Center in Chicago on June 2 to decide this year's Eastern Conference champion through a Game 7.

On the evening of the 2nd, in his mansion in Newport, Los Angeles, Su Feng and Kobe watched this equally classic Game 7 while eating melon seeds.

In the end, the Celtics, who were one step higher, had the last laugh.

In the Game 7 decider, at Bird's suggestion, Celtics coach Karl boldly changed the Green衫 Army's defensive arrangement. (Green shirt army)

He switched Leonard, who had previously been responsible for mainly defending Harden, to mainly defend Rose.

As the young man who, at least for the moment, was the most promising to become the next Su Feng, Leonard did not disappoint Karl and Bird's expectations of him.

In the game, under Leonard's defense, Rose, whose body had almost reached its limit after the first six games, only made 5 of 17 shots.

On the other side, Harden fell into a strange circle of madly missing shots in this game.

In the entire game, Harden fired a total of 14 times from beyond the three-point line, only hitting 3 of them.

On the court, because of the Bulls' collective loss of their outside touch, the Green Army's inside players, led by Duncan, did not give the Bulls' attackers any chance.

In the end, the final score of this Game 7 was 71 to 90.

Relying on their defense, the Celtics donned the hat symbolizing the Eastern Conference championship amidst the curses of the Chicago fans.

Uh...

It must be mentioned that...

After the game, the boos and curses that rang out at the United Center were not directed at the Celtics.

But...

"Three-pointers, three-pointers, still three-pointers. Without free throws, can you only shoot three-pointers, James?"

"Hurry home and find your pile of big-butt mamas! Chicago doesn't like cowards like you!"

"We don't need James Harden, we only love Derrick Rose!"

Cough.

To be fair.

At this moment, the Bulls fans were really almost crying from cursing Harden.

But...

Judging from Harden's performance in this year's playoffs...

To sum it up in one sentence:

The higher the expectations, the greater the disappointment.

Especially the scandals that were frequently exposed by the media before the start of the Eastern Conference semifinals...

Even made Harden unable to lift his head on social networks for a time.

Although, a small number of rational Chicago fans also wanted to persuade other fans not to blame Harden alone for the team's loss.

But...

When even with death ahead of him in this Game 7, Rose was still charging forward with the ball...

What Harden left for the Chicago fans...

Was only the stereotype of him cowering on the three-point line and desperately assisting Duncan with rebounds.

Therefore, no matter how aggrieved Harden was at this moment...

He could only turn this grievance into motivation.

After all, in this martial world of the NBA...

History has proven countless times that as long as you can slap everyone in the face with your performance in the future, then no matter how bad Harden's image is in the hearts of Chicago fans now, at that time, Chicago fans will once again cheer and applaud for him.

...

On the 5th, Game 1 of the Lakers vs. Celtics Finals officially kicked off at the Staples Center.

This year's Finals used last year's 2-2-1-1-1 format.

The Lakers, with a better regular-season record, would have home-court advantage first.

As old rivals, there was no need to dwell on the grievances between the Lakers and the Celtics.

Before the game, pointing to the seventeen championship banners hanging from the Staples Center's dome, Karl said to the Celtics' players, "If we lose this year, then the Lakers will catch up with us in the number of NBA championships won.

Tell me, do you want to see that happen?"

Of course not!

What a joke!

Although the NBA, which places more emphasis on player confrontation, does not have the concept of a "derby"...

However, the animosity in this year's Lakers vs. Celtics battle was definitely no less than that of the English Premier League's Double Red Derby and the Spanish El Clásico.

Moreover, it was the kind where the Premier League and La Liga champions were decided in the final round.

On the court, after the warm-up, the starting lineups for the Lakers and Celtics were immediately displayed on the big screen.

Celtics: Ibaka, Duncan, Leonard, Ariza, Parker.

Lakers: Gasol, Jokic, Su Feng, Kobe, Rondo.

Unlike when playing the Warriors, because the Celtics preferred to use a "Twin Towers lineup" composed of Ibaka and Duncan this season, the Lakers also used a "Double Fat lineup" to counter them tonight.

So, now the question is...

Why didn't the Lakers use the "Death Five" that had previously played a key role in their game against the Warriors in the Finals?

The answer is simple.

Because if they did that...

The Lakers' inside would probably be beaten silly by the Celtics.

In fact, in the game against the Warriors, the Lakers only dared to use the "Death Five" when Little Yao was off the court.

Because unlike those inside players who, in order to adapt to the game's version in the future, even looked strained when backing you down...

Duncan, who could orchestrate attacks from the low post and could also attack strongly on his own, if you really regarded him as a 39-year-old veteran...

Then you probably wouldn't even know how you died.

At center court, Gasol and Ibaka jumped for the ball to start the game.

On the Lakers' bench, Adams was completely dumbfounded.

Because he never expected that Gasol would not even be able to beat Ibaka, the famous "softie," in the jump ball.

And right from the start, he allowed Ibaka to complete a powerful one-handed dunk under the basket.

So that's why...

Stereotypes can kill people?

You know, this season, Ibaka and Duncan were the most efficient defensive inside duo.

Especially after Duncan's athletic ability declined to the point where there was no room for further decline...

If the Hawks hadn't been so generous in trading Ibaka to Boston, then relying on Duncan alone, the Celtics would not have been able to build this defensive system that even Su Feng found headache-inducing.

As a blue-collar inside player, Ibaka not only had a certain shooting range on offense and was willing to set screens for his teammates...

And on the defensive end, his athletic ability and willingness to take the blame also greatly reduced Duncan's daily defensive pressure.

On the court, the Lakers' opening offense encountered trouble tonight.

Facing the Celtics' high-pressure defense, neither Su Feng nor Kobe were able to get good receiving opportunities.

In terms of personal ability, in this life, Leonard, who had won two consecutive seasons and become a winner in life, was obviously still some distance away from Su Feng and James in terms of personal dominance.

But Leonard also had his own advantages.

That was, because his playing style was similar to Su Feng's...

Therefore, no matter how much Su Feng tried to wear him down, it would be difficult for Su Feng to tire him to death like he had done with Little James before.

You know, in his previous life, in the 18/19 season, in the Finals against the Warriors, Leonard, who played nearly 41 minutes per game for the Raptors, not only had to shoulder the heavy responsibility of leading the team's offense in the game, but also had to work with his teammates to strangle Stephen Curry on the defensive end.

But...

Whenever you needed Leonard to stand up at the decisive moment, he would not experience "kidney overdraft" like James.

And that was what made the pull-up jumpers so awesome.

Because they could put the energy they saved on the offensive end into the defensive end...

So don't look at Leonard being slightly immature, but in Su Feng's eyes, he was much more difficult to deal with than James.

Especially in this life...

Because his growing environment was much better than in history, and in terms of ambition, Leonard also regarded Su Feng as his goal.

Therefore, you could completely regard this Leonard as a youth version of Su Feng.

On the other side, Ariza's entanglement also tormented Kobe quite a bit.

In terms of absolute strength, Ariza was still no match for Kobe as he had been last year.

But with Ariza constantly entangling him...

Kobe, who wanted to play a good supporting role, was simply unable to organize the team's offense as he had done before against the Warriors.

Fortunately, Jokic, who was entrusted with an important task by Coach Lu tonight, slipped quietly to the left corner before this attack.

Seeing this, Gasol quickly threw the ball to his "silly son."

Swish!

2 to 3.

Staples Center, along with Jokic scoring the Lakers' first goal of this year's Finals...

At this moment, even if he didn't believe in fate...

Su Feng couldn't help but sigh, "Looking back at the great figures of the past, we must look at the present."

To be fair.

In the second decade of the 21st century, after taking office as commissioner, he definitely had more cards to play than Stern.

It was a pity...

In terms of creating stars and promoting people, the commissioner wasn't even fit to carry Stern's shoes.

On the court, back on the other end, it was the Celtics' turn to attack.

Just now, with his "reasonable tugging," Leonard had made things difficult for Su Feng.

Now, Leonard wanted to cry even more.

As in the previous season, after entering the Finals, the referees, who had been impartial in the Western Conference Finals, seemed to have collectively gone blind.

Su Feng knew that if the Lakers could complete their title defense this year, then the Lakers' situation would probably be even more difficult next season.

This had nothing to do with the NBA's refereeing level.

It was just that this commercial league would not allow a team to monopolize the championship for a long time.

Clang!

On the outside, Ironza failed to seize the open spot that Duncan had screened out for him.

Teacher Jokic happily grabbed this defensive rebound.

Then...

Under the gaze of nearly 20,000 fans in the arena, an extremely sci-fi scene appeared on the court:

The teacher Jokic, after grabbing the rebound, did not pass the ball to the Lakers' guard, but dribbled the ball past the half-court line himself.

In his previous life, Teacher Jokic had staged many such famous scenes during his peak period.

But at this point in 2015...

Apart from the All-Star Game, it was not uncommon for inside players to dribble the ball themselves to launch fast breaks.

And what's more...

Wasn't Teacher Jokic still a fatso weighing nearly 130 kilograms?

On the side, as Teacher Jokic continued to grow, Rondo finally understood why, at the end of last season, Su Feng had told him that he had to be prepared to give up ball control in the future.

Because playing next to Teacher Jokic...

Many times, you would find that the point guard was a redundant position.

Including that Nuggets team in Su Feng's memory, Jamal Murray also assumed the role of offense rather than organization on the court.

On the court, in the Celtics' half-court, after Teacher Jokic dribbled the ball across the half-court line, he did not hand the ball back to Rondo. Instead, after patiently observing, he found Su Feng, who had shaken off Leonard by half a body, with a bounce pass.

Under the basket, Su Feng caught the ball and scored a layup.

2 to 5.

"Wow! Jokic is really flexible!

He actually did the work of both a power forward and a point guard!" Zhang指导 (Zhang Zhidao, a famous Chinese commentator) laughed when he saw this scene on CCTV.

In front of the technical table, the heart-wrenching moment had come again.

Because he felt that Bledsoe might have a better effect in this lineup for the Lakers...

Therefore, Coach Lu decided to promptly correct his mistake of including Rondo, the "Lakers' water dispenser manager," in my Lakers' starting lineup tonight.

To be fair, it was only in this life, under Su Feng's influence, that Rondo considered winning to be greater than everything else.

Otherwise, if it had been my cannon...

Wouldn't he have jumped up and hit Coach Lu's knee?

Oh, sorry, Paul probably wouldn't have to jump to hit Coach Lu's knee.

On the court, after two possessions, the Lakers replaced Bledsoe during a dead-ball opportunity.

And when he was substituted, Rondo also looked up at the Staples Center's dome with a helpless expression.

No way.

This was the tradition of this Lakers team.

Apart from Su and Ke, everyone had to compete for their position.

Therefore, even if you were still the Lakers' third-in-command a second ago...

The next second, you might very well become a close comrade of His Majesty Sacre.

Too strong!

Too strong!

On the Celtics' bench, watching Coach Lu unhesitatingly withdraw Rondo, Bird and Karl always felt that compared to the Lakers, the Celtics' lineup was like a bunch of beggars.

What Universe Warriors?

If the Warriors dared to call themselves a universe battleship in front of this Lakers team...

Then you guys should translate it...

What should this Lakers team be called!

...

ps: Alas, not only is the update late, but it's also shorter! But as the saying goes, ten authors have nine short stories, and there's one that's short among the short... Compared to the Water Eggplant next door, I don't know why, but I suddenly feel like my stuff isn't long enough! (Ah Qiao is awesome!)