When pride still matters

Chapter 173 Turbulent Situation

Allen Iverson was criticized after Game [-].

Critics expressed bewilderment at his overreaction.

Judging from the penalty scale, Iverson has benefited most of the time. Why can't he stand it when the referee suddenly relaxes the scale?

The 76ers trailed 0-3, and no team believed they could chase three games like the Trail Blazers in the Western Conference.

After all, in terms of the Trail Blazers' lineup depth, their fall to No. 8 is entirely due to the coaching staff's inability to coordinate the needs of the players.

The potential of this kind of team with amazing depth but internal discord is the most terrifying.

The Mavericks inadvertently inspired the Blazers' potential, but the 76ers had no potential to tap.

A few years later, they were still in the championship runner-up season, counting on Iverson to kill his opponents alone.

The strong teams at the same time as the original 76ers either fell or were strengthened. No one remained the same like them.

Two days later, the Bucks and 76ers ushered in Game [-] of the semifinals.

The defeat in Game [-] demoralized the Phillies.

No one believed they could win against the Bucks anymore.

The questions surrounding Philadelphia and the outlook for the season are no longer in question.

What people want to know more is where Iverson's future will go, just like whether Larry Brown, whose contract has expired, will return to Philadelphia.

The 76ers, who lost their fighting spirit, gave up resistance amidst Brown's screams.

Iverson scored 30 points in the last game of the season, which looked good, but his 32-for-12 shooting rate was unsatisfactory in any case.

Opposite Iverson, Yu Fei looks like a product of another era.

全场不到20次出手，通过大量的防守反击和外线投篮砍下全场最高的33分，带领球队4比0横扫76人。

After the game, no one asked Yu Fei what it felt like to sweep Iverson.

The focus of the media is the last big drama before the Eastern Conference finals: "Fry, according to the last MVP simulation of all parties, half of the media believe that you will be elected as the MVP of this season. What do you think of this?"

Yu Feizi clearly knows that the media's simulated selection is like the major labor union awards before the Oscars, and is an important indicator of the final MVP vote.

In those seasons with overwhelming candidates, the media's simulated selection may not matter, but in a highly competitive season, the media's preferences will determine who wins the MVP.

最典型的就是1989-90赛季，三大MVP热门的得票率分别是26%（魔术师）、25%（巴克利）和23%（乔丹）。

Whether from the perspective of star-making or the degree to which the 84 duo improved their respective teams, they are more worthy of MVP than Magic.

But in the end, the more popular Magician still won the MVP that year by a narrow margin.

This year can also be regarded as a year of fierce competition. The main competitors are Duncan, Kidd and Yu Fei.

Duncan's single-core attribute, Kidd's 360% turnaround for two consecutive seasons and Yu Fei's amazing improvement (leading the Bucks to the league's first record).

Judging from the popularity, Kidd is destined to be the running back. As Duncan is recognized as the best active player, it seems natural to win the MVP.

However, another Yu Fei appeared in the east.

The personal data is impeccable, allowing the Bucks to win 1/3 more games than last season, and he is still the supernova that the league is touting - this shows Duncan's biggest shortcoming.Everyone likes him and recognizes his strength, but when it comes to awards, everyone will give priority to others.

After the Bucks swept the 76ers in the semifinals, in order for the company to have a second MVP player, Reebok's media power was fully mobilized and it carried out all-round marketing for Fly.

During the same period, Duncan's Spurs were locked in a tough battle with the Lakers, who were aiming for four consecutive championships.

The Spurs really don't have time to publicize how worthy of the MVP Duncan is. For these people who believe in the stonemason spirit, isn't it natural to award the MVP to Duncan?

Popovich believes that if Yu Fei and Duncan's teams are swapped, the Bucks will be stronger, and the Spurs will never be able to compete for the championship.

In his opinion, this is the standard for "MVP".

If someone in the league can do better than you after replacing you, then why should you win the MVP?
But this impossible assumption is still YY in the end. Yu Fei doesn't put his mind on it because he has already been fooled by the "qualification issue" once.

He could have unlocked the "All-Star" achievement in his rookie season, but was squeezed out by veterans due to his poor reputation and lack of qualifications.

If the league really feels that getting Duncan a second MVP is more important than creating the youngest MVP in history, then what else is there to say.

This is no longer a question of "who is more worthy". Yu Fei believes that his qualifications and gimmicks are superior to Duncan's. If the result is not as expected, there must be something wrong with the alliance.

Therefore, he no longer cares about MVP.

It doesn't matter if Yu Fei doesn't care, what matters is that the people behind him don't care.

Reebok mobilized the media force, and agent Trem also used all his connections to ensure that Yu Fei could get enough MVP votes.Then, the Bucks began preparing for the Eastern Conference Finals.

Because their Eastern Conference finals opponent has been announced.

That is the New Jersey Nets that Yu Fei and Karl long for.

If the Bucks are the king of the Eastern Conference, then the Nets are undoubtedly the king.

They eliminated the Celtics 4-1 in the first round of the playoffs, and then faced the second-place Pistons in the Eastern Conference in the semifinals and swept them out 4-0.

The Pistons, who were originally ambitious and wanted to make some achievements, were poured cold water on them. The impatient Pistons fired Rick Carlisle.

And, almost on the day Carlisle dismissed get out of class, the Pistons announced their new coach: Larry Brown.

This can be regarded as earthquake-level news.

The outside world generally does not understand Carlisle's dismissal. Although he was completely blown away by the Nets, if there is a problem, it is Chauncey Billups who has the biggest problem.

Not to mention the conflict with Carlisle during the playoffs, as the Pistons' best player in the first round of the playoffs, he was crushed by Jason Kidd at the No. [-] position in the semifinals.

身为球队老大，系列赛场均9.8分6助攻命中率27%，基德则以场均23.8分10篮板8助攻42%的命中率实现统治。

It was obvious that Billups had a problem, but after all, he had a conflict with his coach in his first year in Detroit.Pistons general manager Joe Dumars is very clear that they cannot exchange Billups for a better No. [-] position. If Carlisle cannot resolve the conflict between him and the players, the team can only optimize the coaching staff.

As a result, Carlisle, who still had one year of contract, was fired, and Larry Brown was laid off from Philadelphia and then re-employed as fast as lightning.

If this was not deliberate, I am afraid no one would believe it.

Although the Pistons were eliminated, they also became the great joy of the NBA. A shaky and impatient team ushered in an extremely tough and impatient control freak.

Unlike the Eastern Conference that swept, swept, and swept again, the Western Conference's playoff process was as brutal as the Colosseum.

In the first round, there were one set of tie-breaks and two sets of six-game tiebreakers. The semi-finals were even more shocking. The defending champion Lakers and Spurs fought in six bloody games, eventually leading to the inevitable demise of the dynasty.

The Lakers in the 2002-03 season were special. Kobe officially seized the class and seized power. Putting aside his crazy shots during the regular season, during the playoffs, he averaged nearly 10 more shots per game than O'Neal.If the Lakers can win four consecutive championships under his leadership, then the succession of power and throne will be unquestionable.

However, Duncan's Silver and Black Army blocked Kobe's ambitions.

That's why Kobe was in tears at the end of Game [-].

The night when the OK dynasty collapsed, many people found it incredible.

The league's top center and the league's top ten superstars join forces. As long as there are no major injuries, their dominance should last for five or six years.

As a result, Duncan, who seemed to have few helpers, actually eliminated them in the playoffs?

The MVP discussion about Duncan also reached its peak at this moment.

After the game, ESPN reporter David Aldridge asked Duncan: "Although Frye's MVP call is greater, your performance in the playoffs has been unanimously recognized by everyone, do you think this will help you get more Vote?"

"I hope so, but it shouldn't happen." Duncan said confidently, "The MVP depends on the performance of the regular season, and I think my performance is enough, and of course, Frye is enough, so it's not a problem for me. "

Aldridge couldn't help but ask: "What's the problem?"

"If I don't win a real ring, there will be people who keep repeating that the 1999 championship was just child's play that happened at the carnival." Duncan said seriously, "This is the real problem."

Aldridge once called Duncan an "abstinent giant" in a 1999 column because Duncan never seemed to publicly announce his preferences or desires, even if he, like Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, did in his second season. Leading the team to win the championship is still irrelevant.

For the first time, Aldridge saw clear appeal on Duncan's face.

He wants to win again.

Because his first championship was wantonly desecrated by people led by Phil Jackson. They said that championship had no gold content and needed to be marked with an asterisk.

When OK won three consecutive championships in the new century, this view became mainstream with the strong rise of the Lakers.

"Lucky Spurs" is an extremely harsh comment for Duncan.

Compared to this, it really doesn't seem important to Duncan who is elected MVP.

No one will care that during OK's three consecutive championships, the invincible duo only won one MVP trophy, but everyone who cares about basketball will remember the three consecutive championships they won.

Aldridge realized that Duncan's attitude was almost identical to that of the Spurs.

Everyone in the Spurs thinks Duncan is the MVP, but few media outlets will promote this view.This is completely different from Yu Fei and the forces behind him.

Although the conference finals haven't started yet, Aldridge is already looking forward to the two teams meeting in the finals.

There hasn't been such an interesting matchup in the NBA Finals since 1999.

(End of this chapter)