Legendary star

Chapter 490 We are all getting old!

"We won! We won!" On the night of June 2003, 6, just after the on-duty referee blew the whistle to end overtime, in the center of the court at Staples Center, the Lakers' home court, a Pacers player After the game, they celebrated wantonly on the court, but the atmosphere in the Staples Center was extremely quiet. Most of the fans at the scene watched the scene in front of them quietly, and even a very small number of Lakers fans were already in the stadium. He covered his face and wept.

At this time, the Pacers are very excited. The victory of today's game can be said to have basically laid the foundation for the Pacers to defend their title. With a big score of 3 to 1, the Pacers are defending this year's championship. It can be said that it is already a certainty, so the Pacers are extremely excited and excited.Especially those players who have only joined the Pacers this season, like Mutombo who has not won a championship for many years, and rookies like NN-Hilary and Tyshawn Prince, their mood is even more exciting now, Mutombo Tombau is excited that after more than ten years of hard work, he finally has the opportunity to taste the taste of the championship. For rookies like Hilario and Prince, they can enter the league in their first season. Winning the championship with the team will undoubtedly be more beneficial to their future careers.

While the Pacers were up and down, and celebrating recklessly in the center of the stadium, Lakers coach Phil Jackson stood on the sidelines, staring straight at the scoreboard, still unable to believe that the game was lost like this, and the same , All the players on the Lakers bench also looked at the court in astonishment, especially Devin George covered his face with a towel and cried, beside Devin George, in overtime O'Neal, who committed six fouls in the game, leaned his huge body on the seat and looked at the field blankly.As for the Lakers players on the court, Kobe sat alone under the basketball hoop, looking at the sky above the arena from time to time, while Payton and Malone walked to the sidelines with the same disease, leaning on the billboard, eyes full of complex.

During the celebration with his teammates, Meng Xu sighed softly after seeing Kobe sitting under the basketball hoop in a daze from the corner of his eyes. After O'Neal, Phil Jackson can't use Kobe. In today's game, if Phil Jackson can coordinate the timing of O'Neal and Kobe's strength on the court, the Pacers will have no chance to beat the Lakers, and even drag the game into There is no chance of overtime. Phil Jackson is too superstitious about O'Neal. In his heart, as long as O'Neal stands on the court, he can solve a problem, and he turns a blind eye to Kobe's growth, making a superstar who is at his peak It is really very difficult to be a younger brother of another superstar of comparable strength, not to mention Kobe has the kind of character that is not willing to be inferior, so the discord between O'Neal and Kobe is actually a long time ago. It's doomed.When lamenting Kobe, Meng Xu also thought of himself. In fact, Meng Xu is the same as Kobe in his bones. And O'Neill's current situation.

Although today's game is only the fourth game in the series, today's game is undoubtedly very important to the trend of the entire series, which is why there are many so-called "brick players" before the game. "It is predicted in advance that the team that wins this game will win the final victory of the series.And after losing this game, not only the outside media, but even the Lakers and the media that supported the Lakers did not think that the Lakers could reverse the Pacers and win the entire series after falling behind 1-3. Victorious.

"Today's game, the two teams played very well, both us and the Lakers showed their best form, this is a very difficult game, very lucky, we won the final victory! "When the press conference after the game began, Larry Bird, who was on the winning side, still looked very calm. After all, winning this game only increased the Pacers' chances of winning. Defeated the Lakers and won the championship.

"Meng, can you tell me why you took so few 3-pointers in today's game?" After Larry Bird took the lead to speak, the first reporter who asked the question directly pointed the microphone at Meng. Xu, although Meng Xu is the core of the Pacers, after Meng Xu came to the Pacers, he seldom attended the press conference before and after the game, especially in the playoffs, and he was rejected by Larry Bird. Seriously, this also made these reporters very dissatisfied. Today, Meng Xu attended the post-match press conference for the first time. The reporters at the scene naturally put all their attention on Meng Xu. .

"The number of three-point shots has a certain relationship with the team's tactics. When our team has a large group of excellent three-pointers, I will naturally reduce the number of three-point shots." Meng Xu smiled slightly , said this sentence with a face of sincerity, and then motioned for the next reporter to ask a question.

Immediately after Meng Xu finished his answer, the reporters on the scene were whispering. After all, Meng Xu's famous saying is "It's easier to shoot 3 points than 3 points!" After dividing the shooter, reducing the number of 3-point shots and switching to 3-pointers that I think is more difficult is somewhat unbelievable.

"Meng, do you think that after winning today's game, you have won the final victory? It seems that the Lakers can no longer pose any threat to you." The second question was a reporter from the Los Angeles Times , and the Los Angeles Times reporter's question was not only very unreasonable, but also deliberately dug a hole for Meng Xu to jump into. There will be nothing, but after being taken out of context and deliberately distorted by these reporters who regard integrity as dung, the "crazy words" that Meng Xu said today will definitely arouse the anger of the Lakers, and even all the fans who support the Lakers, so After the reporter from the Los Angeles Times asked the question, the rest of the reporters at the scene were also waiting to see how Meng Xu would respond. O'Neill, who was sitting next to Meng Xu, looked at the reporter and was obviously very angry. This reporter from the Los Angeles Times , When asking this question, they did not consider the feelings of Phil Jackson and O'Neal who were also sitting on the scene. What does it mean that the Lakers can no longer pose any threat to the Pacers?If the reporter asked the question in private, O'Neill would definitely not be able to help but beat him up.

"Don't you even think that the Lakers have no chance at all? Originally, I thought that as the media in Los Angeles, you would be loyal supporters of the Lakers. Even if the Lakers were in desperate situation, you would firmly believe that the Lakers would be able to get out Mire, but, alas..." Although after winning this game, the Pacers' victory seems to be a certainty, but Meng Xu didn't want to be very arrogant and shouted a declaration of victory, because it was not only against the The disrespect of O'Neal and Kobe is also disrespect for themselves.Therefore, Meng Xu didn't answer the question directly, but asked the reporter a question first. Meng Xu shook his head as he spoke, apparently very disappointed that the reporter from the Los Angeles Times could ask such a question.Then, with a sigh, seeing the embarrassing dark expression on the reporter's face, Meng Xu said slowly again: "Here I want to quote a famous quote from Mr. Phil. The charm of basketball lies in the fact that no matter how many Hollywood scripts I can’t write all the changes in the basketball court. There are seven games in the entire series. Winning this game can only mean that we are one step closer to victory! And the Lakers have Shaq and Kobe. In today’s game, the two of them They scored more than 80 points together, and they have Gary and Carl and Robert, such a great group of players, so although we won today, we still will not take it lightly."

"This kid, if you don't want to be a coach, you'll lose your talent!" Larry Bird, who was still a little worried at first, fell into the pit as soon as Meng Xu's head got hot, and a smile appeared on his face after hearing Meng Xu's answer. , In the NBA, winners can be arrogant or open-mouthed, but the winner still has to show the generosity a winner should have in order to gain the respect of others. To those guys who casually shoot and belittle their opponents after winning, It will definitely become the target of siege by everyone.

After Meng Xu's voice fell, Phil Jackson and O'Neill turned their heads to look at Meng Xu almost at the same time. The reason why Phil Jackson looked at Meng Xu was naturally because Meng Xu quoted his own sentence, while O'Neal looked at Meng Xu The reason for this is because of Meng Xu’s admiration and respect for himself in the lines. Although these are useless in O’Neill’s view, considering that Meng Xu used to look down on him no matter the occasion , the attitude of the entire Lakers that only Kobe can catch his eyes, so O'Neal was surprised after hearing Meng Xu express his respect for him for the first time.

"Did the New York Times reporter not come today?" After answering the Los Angeles Times reporter's question, Meng Xu stretched out his hand to signal the next question, but the New York Times reporter who was supposed to ask the question in order did not stand up, so Meng Xu couldn't bear it. He asked a joking question. After Meng Xu's voice fell, the press seats in the audience immediately burst into laughter, and just after the New York Times reporter stood up in embarrassment and prepared to ask questions, he felt very embarrassed. It was Meng Xu who yelled directly: "Okay, next one!"

"85 points, 26 rebounds, 11 assists, the Lakers duo performed terribly, but it was difficult to bring the Lakers a victory!"

"The Pacers beat the Lakers in overtime, and the Pacers are one step closer to defending the championship!"

"An epic finals, the Lakers and Pacers teamed up to contribute the most exciting game in NBA history!"

On the second day after the game ended, almost the entire American basketball world was discussing last night's game, whether it was O'Neal who blasted the Pacers inside by himself, or Meng Xu's double-hitter at the end of the fourth quarter. Seven goals, and scored an equalizer at the last moment to drag the game into overtime. In overtime, Meng Xu faced the joint block of O'Neal and Hawley, and staged the sky walk plus three consecutive The layup with the tie rod is the focus of everyone's discussion.

On June 6, amid the buzz, the Pacers beat the Lakers 20-91 at the Staples Center to win Game 82 of the Finals, giving them a 4-1 aggregate victory over the Lakers , Successfully defended the championship and became the sixth team in NBA history to win the championship for two consecutive years.

After the loss of the last game, the Lakers obviously lost their fighting spirit. Many players were like sleepwalking after they came on the court, especially at the end of the fourth quarter because they collided with Kobe, which caused Kobe to lose Meng Xu German-George was replaced by Phil Jackson in less than 3 minutes.And O'Neal was also in poor form due to exhaustion in the previous game, but O'Neal still scored 22 points and 12 rebounds.On the other hand, Kobe, still the same as the previous game, fought until the last moment, but when his teammates were out of shape and the Pacers frantically double-teamed him, Kobe finally made only 26 of 12 shots.

"DiBacon, what are you doing with such a stinky face? We won! We are the champions now!" When the whistle sounded at the end of the game, all the Pacers entered the field to celebrate their victory over the Lakers and the defending championship. The two old guys in the Pacers, Dikembe Mutombo and Reggie Miller are still sitting on the bench.Because Reggie Miller got what he wanted last year, and because he has become a marginal player in the Pacers this season, Reggie Miller has already looked down on this year's championship. After all, the Pacers In the process of winning the championship this season, he did not contribute much.And Mutombo, an old guy who won the championship for the first time, was still so calm after the game, which was very beyond Reggie Miller's expectations.

"I remembered the scene of participating in the Finals with the 76ers." Mutombo only played for the 76ers for one and a half seasons, but in that one and a half seasons, Mutombo was the best defensive player and the best player in the league. One of the insiders, became the 76ers who lost the overall game. That year, the 76ers also played against the Lakers in the 5-game series. Although Mutombo had done his best, he was still defeated by O'Neal. It was blown up, and the trip to the Finals, which the entire Philadelphia had placed high hopes on, failed. That is to say, Mutombo's mentality and physical condition have changed since then, so that after the contract expired, he was given up by the 76ers .Although at the beginning of joining the Pacers, Mutombo held the idea of ​​reaching the finals with the Pacers again, proving himself again, and getting a ring at the end of his career, but when Mutombo really set foot on the Pacers again In the finals, he helped the team defeat the Lakers, and after defeating the big fat man, Mutombo did not have the slightest pleasure of revenge.

"We're all old!" Reggie Miller sighed as he looked at Mutombo, and then at Malone and Payton who were standing under the basket from left to right in the distance, looking up at the sky above the court.

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(End of this chapter)