Chapter 459 Chapter 458: When everything is coming to an end (please vote!)
The largest point difference reversal in the history of the NBA Finals still occurred in 2008.
It's just that Kevin Garnett changed from the one who created the reversal to the one who was reversed.
There was nothing like Tracy McGrady's miracle of 35 seconds and 13 minutes tonight, nor was there Roger's last-minute scoring streak when he reversed the Knicks 14 years ago.
The Golden State Warriors' comeback wasn't visually spectacular or dramatic.
It was just a group of men who still wanted to win after four consecutive years of winning. Under the leadership of a brave leader, they persisted until the end, and everything fell into place.
But this result is more disappointing than the sudden outbreak of a certain star, because the outbreak of a star is accidental, and the Warriors' reversal proves that this team's hard power is enough to defeat the New York Knicks, even if they are behind by "100 million points" at the beginning. It doesn't matter.
Faced with such a reversal, everyone in the Knicks was frustrated.
Yao Ming was helpless when facing CCTV reporters. He rarely smiled: "I really hope those New York fans who turned off the TV in advance will not watch the news. We were once so close to victory, but now we are out of reach."
Dwyane Wade let out a long sigh: "This is Roger. If it were to change to someone else's team, I would have torn down the locker room of the Oracle Arena."
Kevin Garnett wore a hood and refused to answer all questions.
Also silent is Knicks coach Mike D'Antoni.
He certainly knows where the Knicks' pain points are and why the team loses energy in the third and fourth quarters. But the reason why he still uses short rotations is not because he enjoys the feeling of being a cosplayer, but because the Knicks’ bench is not thick enough to maintain the team’s tactical execution. There are only one or two people on the bench who can play in the finals. function at the level.
Over the years, the Knicks have been unable to solve the problem of a top-heavy roster. They have a bright starting lineup, which means they can only sign role players with mid-level and minimum salaries. This is a problem that every super team needs to face.
LeBron James mentioned this when talking about his 11-year loss in the original timeline. He believed that the Heat did not have enough outstanding role players, so the Heat was not a super team, and it was normal to lose.
If there are 11 other MVP-level teammates around him, James will not lose.
When there are not enough role players available, Tom Thibodeau is an assistant coach who likes to mess with the starters. He cannot help Mike D'Antoni share the pressure in the rotation strategy.
Whenever Mike D'Antoni wants to discuss this matter, Tom Thibodeau always waves his hand: "If it's so troublesome, why don't we just let the starters play the full 48 minutes?"
Mike D'Antoni was speechless.
Therefore, this problem for the Knicks is really difficult to solve.
Mike D'Antoni had nothing to say about this defeat. He could only answer the question with one repeated sentence: "The series is not over yet, the series is not over yet."
However, this statement obviously did not satisfy the critical New York media.
The New York Times even pulled out Lenny Wilkens, who had retired at home, to flog him: "In the past five years, Lenny has said 'the series is not over' a total of fifteen times. As a result, every time he said this We all ended up losing when the Knicks led by 23 points. During the reversal, we really couldn't imagine any possibility of winning. Spike Lee was right. Roger killed all the suspense in the basketball game. As long as Roger doesn't retire, the New York team will definitely not win the championship. New York Giants fans. Definitely agree with that.”
In addition to the New York media, the Nike team was also furious.
Because this game reminded people of LBJ, countless fans expressed their opinions on the Internet: "Look at Roger's game, this is why LeBron will never succeed."
The calmness and courage that Roger showed when facing the dilemma of being 23 points behind is exactly what LeBron James does not have. He is a guy who will be at a loss once he is in a headwind situation.
In fact, Bill Simmons discovered a problem: LBJ seemed to have none of the six championship creeds he summarized for Roger.
Other stars are more or less satisfied with one or two things, but LBJ can't even touch it.
He suddenly had the inspiration to add this paragraph to the end of Roger's autobiography to tell the world why LeBron James is destined not to succeed.
This big reversal severely made James, who had been eliminated, become famous. It also severely damaged the morale of the Knicks and destroyed part of the suspense of the game. So much so that a new topic became hot: Will Roger play in the next game? The last game of your career at Oracle Arena?
As the greatest basketball player in the past 15 years, Roger's reputation has earned him enough respect this season. When he officially announced in the middle of the season that he would retire after playing this season, most of the stadiums he visited for the last time would prepare some special tribute ceremonies for him.
This time, it seems to be Oracle Arena's turn.
Although the number of games to be played in the finals has not yet been determined, fans in the Bay Area and Russian bosses must be fully prepared for this.
This can't be as grand as Kobe Bryant's final game at Staples Center, because this is the finals after all, not the final chapter of his retirement tour. If you make it too gorgeous and end up losing, or even lose the finals, then everything will turn into a farce.
At the end of the day, Roger's goal now is to win the championship.
Therefore, the Warriors officials did not arrange many tribute activities. On the day G2 started, the Warriors just put out those six chairs again.
Tom Mecherry, Al Attles, Chris Mullin, Rick Barry, and Nate Thurmond, five legendary players whose jerseys were retired by the Warriors, sat down, and there was also a chair with Wilt Chamberlain's jersey - in fact, more fans think that 20,000 pairs of women's pants should be placed in Chamberlain's position.
Six summers ago, when Roger played in the Bay Area for the first time as a Warriors player, these Warriors legends also appeared and gave Roger the fire of his legacy.
Now, this fire has burned throughout the basketball world, and they will come to watch this magnificent scenery.
Seeing Roger appear, Tom Mecheri, the original owner of No. 14 in the Bay Area, stood up and shook hands with Roger: "It's an honor. Now the whole world knows the story of No. 14 of the Warriors."
"Tom, thank you for being willing to take off your retired jersey and give it to me. Thank you for the poems you wrote for me over the years."
"Come on Roger, win this game and let the New York bastards go back with a score of 0-2."
"I know it Tom, don't miss the opportunity, right?"
After that, Roger hugged several other celebrities, and that was all for tonight's tribute ceremony.
The starting lineups of both sides gathered together, and the Warriors fans were already cheering before the game started.
Today, the entire Oracle Arena stands turned white, and almost all fans are wearing Warriors No. 14.
Mike Breen looked at all the standing fans and couldn't help but sigh: "No one seems to dare to blink because they don't want to miss every second of the world's greatest player at Oracle Arena."
The New York Knicks failed to get off to such a strong start today. The feeling they had in the first quarter yesterday was hard to come by.
The Warriors had a very good start. Roger calmly gave the ball to the teammates with the best opportunities time and time during the pressure. The Warriors also seized the opportunity.
The entire Warriors team also regarded this as Roger's swan song at Oracle Arena, so they performed very hard and did not want to leave any regrets.
Under the excellent touch of the entire Warriors team, the Warriors led 34-27 in the first quarter.
In the second quarter, in order to avoid a physical breakdown, Mike D'Antoni replaced Wade and Garnett in advance to rest, hoping that they could save their energy in the second half.
Taking advantage of the break between Garnett and Wade, Roger scored 14 points in a row.
This is why Mike D'Antoni doesn't like substitutions. The Knicks' substitutes are completely unable to shoulder the heavy responsibility in the Finals.
In the second half, when the Knicks started again and were beaten to death, they once narrowed the point difference to 4 points.
31 seconds before the end of the game, Yao Ming caught the ball in the low post and turned over to face Stoudemire and Stephen Jackson, narrowing the point difference to only 2 points.
Yao Ming pumped his fist and shouted. He gave the Knicks hope of winning the next away game.
Tom Thibodeau picked up the tactical board and asked two people to chase Roger no matter what. Even if you leave others open to take shots, you can never let Roger shoot.
As a result, before the sideline ball was released, there were two people chasing Roger around him.
The Warriors had no choice but to give the ball to Brandon Roy, and Garnett jumped out to interfere.
KG took off with all his strength, and his height made Roy completely unable to see the frame.
But if Roy passes the ball temporarily now, there is a high probability that he will make a mistake.
Therefore, he could only take the shot without seeing the basket.
The basketball passed Kevin Garnett's fingertips, but bounced out of the frame. The Knicks' defensive strategy worked! Yao Ming turned around and wanted to grab the board, but due to physical reasons, he could no longer jump up. Amare Stoudemire jumped up hard, but he also couldn't catch the basketball directly, so he slapped the ball in the air and hit it beyond the three-point line.
Roger just caught the basketball one step away from the three-point line, and because of the sudden incident, neither Wade nor Kirk Hinrich was close to Roger.
At that moment, the hearts of almost all New York fans stopped beating, and almost all Warriors fans raised their arms and cheered in advance.
Kevin Garnett immediately left Roy and ran towards Roger.
But it's too late.
The basketball hit the net, and Oracle Arena seemed to be spewing lava.
The nirvana that has played out countless times here over the past six years brings an end to Roger's golden era in the Bay Area.
"Isn't this really a stage play that has been rehearsed countless times?" Mike Breen looked at the excited fans around him and Roger who was calm and composed on the court. He felt unbelievable. "What if this is Roger playing in Oracle?" The last performance in the museum, then this is undoubtedly the most perfect ending.”
At this time, the fans at the scene became commotion.
Roger looked in the direction of the sound and saw a familiar figure he hadn't seen for a long time.
John Cage, a guy who rarely came to watch games since the Warriors moved to Mission Bay, once again took off his shirt after many years and danced for Roger in the stands.
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Next to him, the grown-up child was doing exactly the same thing as him.
There is a sentence written on the bodies of both father and son: "Roger is the eternal king of the Bay Area."
Roger smiled and pointed to the stands. This time, John Cage was not taken away by anyone.
Mike Brin smiled: "Well, this is the most perfect ending."
At the last moment, Dwyane Wade hit a big three-pointer. Unfortunately, time was no longer on the Knicks' side, and they could only use foul tactics.
Amare Stoudemire stepped to the free throw line. His 80% free throw shooting rate this season seems to have decided the Knicks' fate.
Before the free throw, KG tried to interfere with Stoudemire with words: "Rejoice, Amare, you are just the No. 3 player on the Warriors. If you weren't fouled, you poor guy wouldn't even be able to touch the ball at this moment."
After Stoudemire listened, he steadily scored the first free throw, and then looked at KG: "I am part of the great history, you are the poor thing."
The second free throw was also hit, and the point difference returned to 4 points, which was maintained until the end of the game.
2-0, the New York Knicks seem to have seen their final outcome. After all, Roger had never lost a series when leading 2-0.
G3 had the same result. The New York Knicks led by 8 points in the first half, but their energy waned in the second half and were reversed by the Warriors. However, the reversal came earlier, and they completed the lead in the third quarter.
At the scene, many fans were already shouting "Mike, get out of New York". They really couldn't stand a coach who couldn't even solve the rotation problem, causing the team to always fall into a physical quagmire.
This scene must be very familiar to Lenny Wilkens, but is it really the coach's problem that the Knicks have been unable to win the championship?
Of course not, and it's not even the players' problem.
The only problem for the New York Knicks is that their opponent is the GOAT.
When the Warriors won Game 3 in New York, Roger's perfect season had basically been realized and was just waiting for the moment it came to an end.
Next, what people are paying attention to is no longer the finals itself, but the curtain call of a great player.
Game 4 of the 2008 Finals will most likely be the last game of Roger's career.
So at the press conference at the end of G3, reporters no longer cared much about the game itself.
Their problems all had to do with Roger.
"Roger, are you sure this is your last season? We all know that you have played in the NBA for a long 15 years, but you are fully capable of continuing. You have won a total of 936 games in your career, as long as you play one more This season, you will definitely become the youngest player in NBA history to win 1,000 games. Do you really not want to continue? ”
"I may not be the youngest person to win 1,000 games in NBA history, but I am about to get 12 rings, which is enough. Since when will statistics be considered an honor?"
"Will you come back like Michael?"
"Who knows? But I can give a more precise number than Michael: 99.99% I will not come back."
"Who do you think is the most qualified person in the league to be your successor?"
"I think everyone in this league is independent, and there is no such thing as succession. In 1993, the whole world was looking for Michael's successor, but in the end no one will become the next him."
"What else do you want to say about the final battle?"
"I want to win."
The last sentence is enough to prove that Roger's heart has never changed.
After the press conference, Roger met Bill Simmons in the player tunnel. He brought the first draft of Roger's autobiography and hoped that Roger would read it.
Roger doesn't like reading articles on electronic devices. He can't concentrate on reading on electronic devices. And he doesn’t know why, but if he doesn’t click on the pictures when reading text on an electronic device, he always feels that something is missing.
So Bill Simon specially printed a paper book for Roger.
Roger looked at the title of the book and felt that he had found the right person: "Champion's Creed? Interesting."
"If you take the time to read it in the next few days, if there is no problem, we will publish it in this version."
"Has all my classic trash talk been included in this book?"
"Of course, except for the replacement of swear words with asterisks, basically everything has been retained."
"That's great, thank you Bill."
"What I should do, boss. Actually, I'm curious about how you feel now. You have been competing in this league for 15 years. From the Michael Jordan era to now, Kobe is no longer young. You have experienced the entire golden era of the NBA. Now Everything is coming to an end, what are you thinking about? I think you should add this paragraph to your autobiography.”
Roger thought about this question seriously. It was difficult for him to sum up his past 15 years in one paragraph.
In the past 15 years, he has fulfilled his dream of being a hero, and he has been fighting with great fighting spirit for so long. Too many things have happened.
After reminiscing for a long time, Bill Simmons noticed that Roger's eyes were a little red.
He never thought that this kind of picture would appear on Roger's face.
Bill Simmons handed over a piece of paper: "Roger?"
Roger raised his head and glanced at the white light tube: "Thank you Bill, I don't need it."
"But."
"Shut up Bill, I have to go."
Bill Simmons looked at Roger's leaving figure and put the tissue back into his pocket.
"It's time to say goodbye, jock boy."
(Today is an update of 4800 words. I don’t want to rush to finish the final ending. Everyone can see that the energy and emotion I put into this book are different from the past. Therefore, I want to write the final ending slowly, at least I will satisfy myself. Of course I won’t postpone it until the 3rd, maybe the 2nd. Here, Laohe also wishes all readers and fathers a happy new year and all the best~)
(End of chapter)