Don't talk trash to him.

Chapter 217 LeBron's most promising episode!
Before the game against the Trail Blazers.

The Pacers just challenged the Cavaliers away.

Even though they are only ranked sixth in the Eastern Conference.

The Pacers also had a great time, defeating the Cavaliers 109-100.

Completed a regular season sweep of the Cavaliers for the third consecutive season.

In fact...

If it wasn't for the first game in 04, the Cavaliers' opponent would be the Pacers. Then the Pacers would have swept the Cavaliers for four consecutive seasons.

The Cavaliers were able to win that game thanks to Suwan!
Just as the Pacers can now maintain their dominance over the Cavaliers, it is also thanks to Suwan.

In this game, Suwan beat Vince Carter and scored 36 points, 7 rebounds and 4 assists.

But that wasn't what impressed Randolph the most.

What he remembers more vividly is...

Cleveland fans booed Suwan loudly.

At the time he asked: "What the hell have you done to this city!"

In fact, he himself was a little panicked.

Because tonight is his first time back to the Rose Garden since being traded.

Given his previous bad behavior in the Rose Garden, he felt that he would receive no less booing than the Cleveland fans had given Suwan.

However, when Su Wan pushed him into the audience's sight,...

Nothing happened!

This group didn't seem to realize that Zach Randolph was back.

He could hear the boos.

But I just heard it.

Compared to the crazy boos that Cleveland fans gave Suwan.

It's like heaven and earth.

Su Wan smiled.

Randolph was embarrassed.

He knew exactly what Su Wan was laughing at. ——Does this little booing need to brew for so long at the entrance of the away players' tunnel?

"It seems that you haven't done anything impressive here? This city has forgotten you!" Su Wan's words did not take Randolph's feelings into consideration at all, but then he added, "So Zack... let them remember you tonight!"

Looking at Su Wan's eyes, it would be a lie for Randolph to say that he didn't feel warm in his heart.

but……

When the thought "Su Wan is really a warm little sun" popped into Randolph's mind, he felt like he was crazy.

Zack, have you forgotten how this guy has tortured you over the past month?
Don't be fooled by these small favors, he is the devil...

The angel in!

Randolph was confused again.

Because he suddenly heard Su Wan saying to other members of the Pacers:

"Come on, everyone. Zach is back on his home court for the first time since being traded. Let him show off..."

He really acts like a "big brother"!

To be honest, although Randolph is a few years older, based on the vision that Su Wan has shown, he feels that Su Wan is more than qualified to be his elder brother!

What does "give a slap and then give a sweet date" mean?

Then Su Wan said, "The brothers are all helping you tonight. Can you promise me in the next game that you won't shoot so carelessly!"

Zach Randolph's shooting percentage is not high, but this has a lot to do with his playing style.

He is just like Chris Webber when he was young, he likes to take wild shots.

All kinds of irrational middle distances, but without that kind of ability.

Especially after joining the New York Knicks this season, he has developed his three-point shot.

It’s not that having this ability is bad…

but……

In comparison, Zach Randolph's advantage is the confrontation under the basket. His "fat-wrapped muscles" are like the "Golden Bell and Iron Cloth Shirt" practiced horizontally. His confrontation ability is particularly outstanding, especially his ability to quickly grab the frontcourt rebound after shooting, which is considered top-notch in the league.

Like Kevin Love, he lacks jumping ability and relies entirely on his sense of the rebounds, continuous tip-offs, and confrontation to gain a more advantageous position, thereby defeating his opponents and grabbing rebounds.

It is also for this reason that he is more lethal with the ball under the basket.

In this respect, he seems to be the opposite of O'Neal Jr.

Therefore, Suwan would rather Randolph play to the basket, and O'Neal would be better off setting a pick-and-roll with him, shooting mid-range shots, and then relying on his mobility to complete a "second rebound."

Randolph seemed to be accustomed to the "conditional deal" with Suwan and agreed readily.

Then his eyes fell on Aldridge opposite him.

Then there was no one else in his eyes.

It’s this guy, it’s this guy. It’s because of this guy that Portland traded him. He must beat this bastard tonight!
The Trail Blazers are very similar to the current Pacers, relying mainly on the performance of the No. 2 and No. 4 positions to win.

These two people were also their biggest gains in the previous year.

As for this year's top pick, Oden...

The media said that his biggest opponent was injury, and this time, injury defeated him.

Greg Oden became the first No. 00 pick in the s to be injured and out of the game before playing a single game in his rookie season.

Therefore, this year the Trail Blazers still use the "06 Twins" as the team's offensive starting point.

Just look at the data of these two people this season:

阿尔德里奇场均17.8分7.1篮板；罗伊场均19.1分4.7篮板5.8助攻1.1抢断。

They are definitely worthy of the title of "Twin Stars" of the Trail Blazers.

Any win the Trail Blazers have made so far this season must have been the result of outstanding performances by these two players.

It is also for this reason that the Trail Blazers are in big trouble tonight.

Su Wan easily suppressed Roy.

Aldridge also showed obvious discomfort when facing the confrontation with Zach Randolph.

Plus the full support from the Pacers.

In the end, Zach Randolph scored 34 points and 13 rebounds, successfully beating Aldridge, who made 17 of 5 shots and 3 of 3 free throws, and finally only scored 13 points. In addition, he only had 5 rebounds, which was lower than his average level.

Randolph gave a "satisfied and evil smile" after the game.

The Portlanders at the scene seemed to finally remember who he was, and there were waves of crazy boos.

Randolph was delighted.

It's a great feeling to still be remembered.

"So, man, when we come to the NBA, we should not only earn some dollars, but also leave some footprints. What do you think?" Su Wan looked at Randolph who was having a great time tonight, and said meaningfully.

Randolph nodded. He had to admit that Su Wan's words touched his heart.

When he first entered the arena before the game, he felt that no one cared about him, which really made him feel empty. At that time, he was thinking, "You can at least boo me a few times! After all, I have been in Portland for 6 years!"

He longs to be remembered by the fans.

In any way!
It's just the past...

He didn't really realize it.

After this day, Rick Carlisle quickly discovered that Zach Randolph seemed to have changed. He was more active in training and sometimes even took the initiative to stay for extra training. It seemed that this did not happen very often, maybe only once a week.

But it is still very different from forcing Su Wan to increase his enthusiasm before.

Sure enough, no matter what aspect, active or passive, it can be felt very intuitively.

The Pacers still maintained their sixth place ranking in the Eastern Conference during this period.

It’s not that their strength is limited to this.

After Zach Randolph was willing to cooperate, the Pacers' strength rose again.

It’s just that there are only a few games left in the regular season, and it’s time to choose playoff opponents.

The current top four in the Eastern Conference are the Celtics, Pistons, Cavaliers and Heat.

From Suwan's perspective, it is clear who the Pacers should pick.

Of course, it's not all about taking advantage of LeBron.

More importantly, if the Pacers climb to the 4th or 5th position, they will face the Celtics in the second round. This is currently the strongest team in the Eastern Conference. Rather than meeting them in the second round, Suwan would rather meet them in the Eastern Conference Finals.

The main reason is that the current Pacers team needs to get used to each other.

In the second round, playing against the Pistons, who only have four tigers, is obviously better than playing against the Celtics.

The Cavaliers also seemed to have noticed Suwan's "sight" and recently suffered a "three-game losing streak".

When they suffered three consecutive losses, the Pacers won three consecutive games.

Seeing that the two teams are about to meet again in the fourth and fifth rankings, the Cavaliers can only quickly consolidate their third position in the Eastern Conference and work hard in every remaining game.

They started winning, and the Pacers started losing…

Finally, on April 4, all teams in the league played their last game of the regular season.

The top eight teams in the Eastern Conference have been officially confirmed. With the confirmation of the top eight teams in the Eastern Conference, the results of the first round of four matches have also been announced:

The Celtics, ranked first in the Eastern Conference, faced the Atlanta Hawks, ranked eighth in the Eastern Conference;
The second-ranked Pistons in the Eastern Conference faced the seventh-ranked New Jersey Nets;
The Cavaliers, ranked third in the Eastern Conference, faced the Pacers, ranked sixth in the Eastern Conference;

When the media across the United States noticed that this matchup finally took place, they all showed an attitude of watching for fun.

Most media people noticed the strange momentum of the two teams at the end of the season.

A little analysis will reveal that one team does not want to face another team, while the other team clearly wants to face this team.

The final result is:

He runs away, he chases, he can't fly!

The Cavaliers and the Pacers met in the playoffs for the third consecutive season.

This time the Cavaliers are the top team, and the Pacers are ranked sixth in the Eastern Conference, the worst in the Suwan era.

But the outside world is overwhelmingly optimistic about Suwan and the Pacers.

At the same time, the Indiana media was not in a hurry at all when they saw that the team only ranked sixth in the Eastern Conference.

Not only am I not in a hurry, but I even feel like laughing...

Barkley said: "Suwan is really insulting the Cavaliers in various ways!"

As a top team, we have suffered enough humiliation.

Now these guys are starting to play the game of "the weak defeat the strong"!

The New York Times said: "This should be the most suspenseful black six in the world, right?"

When the Cleveland media saw that they were third in the Eastern Conference, no one was optimistic about them. Instead, they all favored the Pacers, who were only sixth in the Eastern Conference. They were so angry that they needed to be given oxygen immediately.

Is there any more heavenly justice?
Can you give the third place in the Eastern Conference a little face? We have won 10 more games than them!

Apparently the Cleveland media has forgotten last year's "Black Eight Miracle".

Sometimes, the difference in wins can truly reflect the strength gap between the two teams.

But sometimes, the difference in wins is as insignificant as the crown on someone's head.

The Cleveland media was very angry. They could only write one article after another to encourage the Cavaliers. Ugh, they told the Cavaliers:
We are the team with the better record this time!

Don't think about how many times we have been swept by them!

And don't think about the fact that we just lost to them in the regular season.

None of this matters...

The important thing is!

We have a better record!

Cleveland fans were already nervous, and after reading this article, they became even more anxious and confused.

Given the completely opposite attitudes of the media and fans on both sides, those who don’t know might think that the Cavaliers are sixth and the Pacers are third.

The Heat, ranked fourth in the Eastern Conference, eventually collided with the Magic, ranked fifth in the Eastern Conference.

From the outside, their matchup is also the one with the most suspense.

In the West, the first-placed Lakers faced the eighth-placed Warriors; the second-placed Hornets faced the seventh-placed Nuggets; the third-placed Spurs faced the sixth-placed Mavericks; and the fourth-placed Utah Jazz faced the fifth-placed Phoenix Suns.

In terms of popularity, perhaps only the "Ox-Horse Battle" is somewhat interesting. In the eyes of media people, there is basically no suspense in the other matches.

Including the game between the Utah Jazz and the Suns.

The Suns have clearly been going downhill this season. Their style of play has been studied by other teams, causing their offense to become less and less smooth. More importantly, of course, both Steve Nash and Stoudemire are plagued by injuries.

Originally they were able to make the playoffs this season thanks to Shaquille O'Neal.

The Suns did not make the Cao Dan trade this time, but their overall state is not good. In contrast, the Jazz is a team on the rise. Deron Williams and Boozer form the "New Utah Double", which makes the whole Salt Lake City shout "My youth is back".

When people going up the mountain meet people going down the mountain, their fighting spirit has already determined the final outcome of both sides.

Of course, this is from the perspective of a media person.

On April 4, the day after the regular season ended, the league announced the "Rookie of the Year" award.

Although this year is a "draft year", it is similar to 04. Most players need enough growth to realize their potential, including Kevin Durant. But even Kevin Durant, who is still in his growth period, averaged 20 points per game and shot 43.2%.

Compared to LeBron's average shooting percentage in his rookie season, it is higher.

But what’s interesting is that many years later, many fans said that Kevin Durant was an “Iron King” in his rookie season, and that he was able to grow thanks to the SuperSonics wasting two seasons and letting him go all out.

Then they called LeBron James the “3rd best rookie of all time!”

We don’t understand why…

But Kevin Durant, who won the "Best Rookie" award, was not very happy.

Because all the attention about this matter was taken away by the fact that Su Wan won the "scoring champion" title for the second consecutive season.

This is the first time since McGrady that a player has won the title of "scoring champion" for two consecutive years in the league.

Of course, compared with McGrady and Suwan, the two "scoring champions" are much more valuable.

After winning his first scoring title in his career, he led the team to win the championship in the finals.

Although this "scoring champion" did not have a good record in the regular season, he should not have any problems considering his opponents in the second round.

When McGrady won his first scoring title, he acted like the toughest player, and then he got the worst beating.

As for the second "scoring champion"...

It’s more like swiping it than taking it.

There are not many players who won the "scoring title" in the NBA but played for the worst team in the league that season. One of them is McGrady. This shows how unsuccessful this "scoring title" is.

Considering that Su Wan is only 23 years old, the media are asking him if he plans to continue to be the "scoring champion"?
Su Wan's answer was simple: "When the team needs me to win the 'scoring title', I will win it!"

The league then announced the season's "Best Sixth Man Award" and "Most Improved Player Award."

Manu Ginobili and Turkoglu won these two awards respectively.

On April 4, the playoffs of the 18-07 season officially kicked off.

The Pacers travel to Cleveland to face the Cavaliers.

The first game of the first round of the playoffs was not played in Conseco, which was a bit strange. But because the opponent was the Cavaliers... the Pacers overcame the strangeness.

The Cavaliers have not had any new locker room turmoil since the conflict between LeBron and Vince Carter.

A big part of the reason is that Vince Carter is lying flat.

This kind of lying down happens not only in private, but also on the court.

Just look at the movement of Vince Carter on the court in this game. When he can't get the ball, he stands on the wing, just short of putting his hands on his hips, taking a break. That look is very similar to Suwan's impression of LeBron.

Coincidentally, when Vince Carter attacked, LeBron had a similar reaction, standing outside the three-point line on the other side, occasionally preparing to cut in and interfere with the opposing players.

However, he makes too many "fake cuts" and it is easy for the opposing players to become immune to it.

Therefore, when Vince Carter took the ball to attack, the Pacers' defense was targeted, and they did not consider the possibility of LeBron cutting or catching the ball and shooting. Basically, as long as Vince Carter broke through with the ball and completed the position during the breakthrough, the player who could go further and defend LeBron on the wing would immediately leave LeBron open.

And Vince Carter rarely passes the ball to LeBron.

He knew very well that it would be impossible for LeBron to catch the ball and shoot a three-pointer in this position.

Most likely he holds the ball in his hands, observes it, pretends to fail to break through, directs his teammates to move again, and then he attacks with the ball again.

Anyway, the two of them are playing with two different systems.

To be honest, after Artest left, the Pacers' first line of defense against LeBron was only Suwan.

As long as LeBron calls a pick-and-roll, it's easy to get an open shot.

Compared to previous times facing the Pacers, LeBron was much calmer, at least he had more initiative in breakthroughs.

only……

After he rushed forward, his effectiveness in attacking the basket was still not very good.

Zach Randolph and Foster stood under the basket, compressing the space under the basket in various ways, resulting in very limited space for him to shoot even if he rushed into the inside.

In this small space, he also had to avoid Zach Randolph's 2-meter arm and Foster's interference...

It’s really not an easy thing to do.

What Barkley wanted to say was: "When will LeBron develop a stable mid-range shot? The Pacers are no longer able to fully cover him on defense. If he has a stable mid-range shot, he can completely tie down the entire Pacers' defense and prevent the two inside players from staying under the basket all the time..."

The key is that when he has the ball, there is only one option, which is why Randolph and Foster can continue to stand under the basket.

In fact, Randolph's defensive habits and enthusiasm were almost non-existent when he first came to the team. But after Su Wan deprived him of several shots, his subjective initiative gradually rose.

There is no doubt that Randolph can defend.

The inside line formed by him and Marc Gasol was the "meat grinder" in the Western Conference in those years.

And even though Randolph's legs were slower at that time, there was really no outside player who could train him against the Warriors. If the referee had not suspended Randolph in the most crucial game, it would have been possible for the Grizzlies to enter a higher stage in those years.

They were not "trained" after their mobility declined, so it is even more impossible now.

With Foster's encouragement on the defensive end, Zach Randolph is now willing to defend. -- In fact, Zach Randolph is a bit like the kid who needs to be "relocated three times". When he is with a bunch of "bad guys", he will also be bad. But when he is playing with Gasol, who is active in defense, he also has very good defensive enthusiasm before his knee injury.

LeBron's "tank charge" is a very lethal move against other teams, but in front of these two people, it is like a small iron skewer hitting a steel plate.

Fortunately, the referee gave him some whistles.

Otherwise, looking at LeBron's expression, I'm afraid he wouldn't even want to rush to the basket.

In fact, when the opponent team has a large center, LeBron rarely rushes to the basket frequently. He prefers to pass the ball after breaking through.

It's just that Channing Frye and Quentin didn't have good touch in this game, so he had no choice but to rush to the basket.

In the third quarter, he made a series of breakthroughs and free throws, successfully scoring 11 points.

The difference between the two teams was only 5 points at the end of the third quarter.

Suwan challenged LeBron: "Remember to hug every referee tonight after the game. Without them, this game wouldn't have lasted this long!"

By the end of the third quarter, LeBron had already had 15 free throw opportunities. He had a good touch tonight and made 13 of them.

With 13 extra points out of nowhere, it's no wonder that the score gap was reduced to only 5 points.

Facing Suwan's "trash talk", LeBron's choice is the same as most players in this league...

silence!

Su Wan looked at him and chuckled.

Well, he didn't expect to rely on LeBron to start "The zone" mode.

Besides, do we need to open "The zone" when playing against the Cavaliers?

At the beginning of the fourth quarter, Rick Carlisle arranged for Suwan and Randolph to have consecutive singles with the ball.

Suwan is facing Vince Carter or Quentin, neither of whom is a defensive stalwart right now.

The defenders Randolph faced were even easier to bully.

Channing Frye, like most "high-position gunners", can only make his presence felt when he shoots from long range on the offensive end.

On the defensive end, there is no difference between him with or without it.

Facing Zach Randolph, he could almost knock him away as soon as he made contact.

Mike Brown asked Varejao to deal with Randolph again.

Randolph is actually more afraid of this kind of "big meat shield".

But the problem with Varejao was that he moved too slowly. Randolph soon noticed this and no longer aimed to shoot and score when he was trying to kill Varejao.

He mainly plays the game of surprise. As long as the ball touches the basket and he is close to the basket, he is sure to grab the "offensive rebound" before Varejao, and then quickly shoot to complete the "second attack".

It is no exaggeration to say that Zach Randolph blew up the Cavaliers' inside line in the fourth quarter, scoring 11 points by himself.

Helped the Pacers beat the Cavaliers 101-90 by 11 points.

Suwan scored 26 points, 6 rebounds and 5 assists in this game.

Randolph scored a "big double-double" of 28 points and 15 rebounds in this game. Of course, a lot of the 15 rebounds were thanks to Foster's help in positioning him.

The day after the game, the Indiana media described him as a "hero."

When Zach Randolph saw the newspaper, he read the headline again and again.

In the past, the media always described him as a "cancer" and a "game worm". This was the first time he was described as a "hero". He felt a strange emotion in his heart. To this day, 70% of his enthusiasm on the court is because of the sword of Damocles that Su Wan was hanging over his head and could kill him.

But after he had to play seriously, he found that he didn't hate the feeling.

instead……

There is a yearning.

When Randolph was very young, he was so poor that he had no pants to wear. In the end, he took a risk and chose to "buy for free", but due to his lack of experience, he was eventually arrested and sent to a juvenile detention center.

He left the store with the desired pair of pants still tightly clutched in his hand.

At this moment, his inner yearning was no less than his yearning for new pants at that time.

However, he did not tell Su Wan about this feeling.

He felt so ashamed.

As expected, the Pacers won the first game of the series by overcoming the strong.

However, after watching this game, many media outlets said: "Perhaps this is the series in which LeBron has the best chance of winning against Suwan!"

After watching the first game, this is the feeling most people get.

This Pacers team is not as dominant over the Cavaliers as before.

It can be seen from the score difference that in all the games in the past, the Cavaliers have never been like this game, trailing by only 5 points at the end of the third quarter.

If the Cavaliers had played better in the fourth quarter and restrained Randolph more specifically, they might have won the game.

The point is, the Cavaliers have a chance to try again to do it.

The Cleveland media never expected that after the first game, the outside world's expectations for them would actually increase.

"The Bleacher Report" even said: "LeBron James is once again at a crossroads in his career. As long as he can make good use of his own advantages and the advantages of the Cavaliers, he can definitely achieve his first victory over Suwan in his career!"

Although this sounds a bit sad.

But equally, the Cleveland media felt a surge of encouragement.

Since everyone says there is hope.

So LeBron...

Come on!
The second game of the series came with everyone's expectations for the Cavaliers and LeBron.

Mike Brown played very well in this game. He launched layers of attacks on Randolph, who played a key role in the last quarter of the previous game. Randolph indeed felt uncomfortable.

He is just a small-time hooligans who has been racking up stats in bottom-ranked teams for years. He has never experienced many big scenes, let alone the playoffs where he is targeted by the opponent in various ways.

His performance in the last game was more like an X-factor.

Now that we are being targeted, many problems have been exposed immediately.

These problems cannot be changed by joining the Pacers and undergoing two months of training with Suwan. They will also require hard work and adjustments during the summer.

But Rick Carlisle is no pushover either. He used all his tactics to target LeBron. Whenever LeBron broke through with the ball, the Pacers would double-team him.

The two sides finally stood on the fighting stage, and the winner was decided by...

Suwan and Vince Carter!

The last game between the two teams in the regular season was Suwan defeating Vince Carter.

The same was true in this game. In the end, Suwan scored 38 points, crushing Vince Carter's 21 points, and the Pacers finally won by 16 points.

Under the heavy blockade set up by Rick Carlisle, LeBron only made 15 of 5 shots and committed 7 turnovers in this game!
If we really talk about terrible performance, he is even worse than Vince Carter.

But after the game, the Cleveland media directed their criticism at Vince Carter, believing that it was because he failed to suppress Suwan that the Cavaliers lost the game.

He is the "culprit" of this game!
The Cleveland Plain Dealer even said directly: "The trade for Vince Carter is the worst deal Danny Ferry has ever made!"

Then all the Cleveland media adjusted their mentality, constantly comforting themselves, comforting the fans, and also comforting LeBron James:
"There's still a chance! There's still a chance! We still have a chance!"

I don't know if their words really worked, but in the third game of the series at Conseco Arena, both Zach Randolph and Foster ran into foul trouble.

This made LeBron like a bird that had been untied, and he began to fly freely on the court, showing his talent without a doubt.

Coupled with the poor performance of the Pacers' pitching group tonight, at the end of the third quarter, it was even the Cavaliers who were leading.

They led by 78 points, 72 to 6.

LeBron James' face was full of enthusiasm.

Just today, just today!
The first victory against Su Wan is today!
He was so excited, let alone the people of Cleveland who were thousands of miles away.

At this time, Vince Carter suddenly turned his head and looked at Su Wan, smiled strangely, and then said:
"Man, are you too weak to even beat LeBron?"

This was the first time he spoke to Su Wan in the entire series.

Second update, please vote for me brothers!!!

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(End of this chapter)