Chapter 100: The Western Conference Finals MVP is well deserved
With the score tied, both teams reached their match point, and the Dallas fans regained hope that they still had a chance.

Although the chances are slim, as long as there is still a chance, they will believe that their Kings will lead them into the finals.

The day after Game 6, the Mavericks boarded a plane to San Antonio.

The atmosphere on the plane was depressing all the way. Before the battle began, everyone was afraid to speak.

Zheng Yang was not that nervous in his heart, but when he thought of his opponent, his expression was somewhat solemn.

The Spurs are really strong. This is Zheng Yang’s truest thought. But no matter how strong they are, the current total score is 3-3. With only one game left, the Mavericks still have hope.

It all depends on how both sides feel tomorrow night.

……

On June 6, the Spurs' home stadium was bustling with people. The noisy crowd stood in the stands on this sultry night and released their passion to their heart's content. They all came for their home team.

"We defeated the Cowboys last time and they were lucky to win the game. They were not so lucky in this game."

A young fan standing in the stands, wearing Duncan's No. 21 jersey, shouted loudly at the camera, and others followed suit.

"A decisive blow! A decisive blow! A decisive blow!"

They were all very excited and were ready to witness their home team advance to the finals again at home.

……

"The camera can tell stories. Just now, after the camera swept across Zheng Yang, it stopped on Tim Duncan of the Spurs.

Obviously it also wants to tell us that which of the two teams can advance tonight depends on these two star players.

Perhaps before the start of the playoffs, many fans still had some controversy about the Mavericks' star player, but after experiencing the first two rounds of the series and combining it with the last game, it is obvious that this controversy has completely disappeared.

Compared to Nowitzki, the 19-year-old Zheng Yang is obviously the one who really carries the team forward. We can't ignore Nowitzki's importance to the team, but we can't exaggerate him too much. "

In the CCTV studio, Yu Jiazheng was chatting with everyone about some pre-match situations.

Before the start of this year's playoffs, even though Zheng Yang won his first scoring title and All-Star MVP in his career, there were still big differences of opinion about who was the most important person on the Mavericks.

After all, Nowitzki averaged 22 points, 9.7 rebounds and 3.1 assists per game this year. Although the improvement is not huge compared to last season, his performance is still quite outstanding.

With such outstanding performance and having come to the Mavericks a few years earlier than Zheng Yang, it would be fine if the team's record was average and the attention was low, but with so much attention as it is now, it will definitely cause discussion.

There are still many people who think that Nowitzki is the better one. The reason why Zheng Yang looks more eye-catching is, firstly, his playing style, and secondly, Zheng Yang has seized Nowitzki's shooting rights.

If Nowitzki could have the shooting rights of Zheng Yang, he would be the most eye-catching one.

But after the playoffs, especially after being in an unprecedented desperate situation, no one dared to doubt Zheng Yang anymore.

Zheng Yang scored 50 points in the last game, what about Nowitzki?
He only scored 15 points.

In such a crucial game, Nowitzki was unable to stand up and help the team win, then who is the most important person to the team!

it goes without saying!

So after the last game, the media completely sided with Zheng Yang. Even the poster that the Spurs made for this Game 7 had Zheng Yang in the C position alone.

Zheng Yang is the only king of this team!
“The Mavericks won the last game very hard. They widened the gap again and again, and were tied again and again. But in the end they successfully defended their home court and breathed a sigh of relief.

Will this be the turning point of the entire series? We'll have to wait and see in today's game!

Players from both teams come on the field and the game will begin immediately! "

At the beginning of the game, the performances of both teams were average. It was not because of excessive tension that caused deformation of technical movements, but mainly due to physical strength issues.

The playoffs started in late April and it has been a month and a half now. During this month and a half, they have been playing extremely intense games.

Although judging from the big scores, their first two series were not that difficult, but that was only relatively speaking. In fact, their opponents were not weak, but just not comprehensive enough, and all had weaknesses of one kind or another.

That's why they were defeated by them, but in the process, both the Spurs and the Mavericks consumed a lot of physical energy.

In addition, the first six games of this series were all very tense, with the outcome decided at critical moments.

In this situation, the players must feel extremely tired, and it is a blessing from God that they are not injured.

Old Nelson could also see the problem, but there was nothing he could do. In this situation, it all depended on the players' ability to adjust themselves. Besides, they were not the only ones feeling tired, their opponents were as well.

Therefore, the Mavericks players do not need to perform well, as long as they are better than their opponents.

Zheng Yang missed the first two shots in the first quarter. His touch was not very good at the beginning of the day, but then he made three of three shots and scored 6 points, which was not bad.

However, the good news for Zheng Yang today is that his teammates have begun to reawaken after experiencing the slump in G6.

Whether it was Jason Terry, Dampier, or Big Chou, they all scored points in the first quarter.

Among them, Finley, Jason Terry and Jerry Stackhouse all made three-pointers from the outside in the first quarter, which was very good news for the Mavericks.

Because when the Mavericks get into the three-point shooting mode, the Spurs have to divert their defensive attention to other players. At the same time, their space will become larger, which is very beneficial for Zheng Yang to drive to the basket.

So in the second quarter, Zheng Yang began to attack the basket continuously. When the Spurs were unable to limit Zheng Yang on the outside and let him rush forward successfully, Muhammad under the basket alone could not stop him from scoring.

Although Muhammad can serve as the team's starting center, this guy's strength is indeed average, and he has not won any valuable awards in his career. In addition, he is not tall and has average physical talent, so the deterrence he provides under the basket is very average.

After the second quarter, the Mavericks successfully took a 7-point lead, which greatly boosted the morale of the Mavericks.

After all, during the last game they were still worried about whether they would have to go home to fish soon, but now they are about to send their opponents to go fishing.

The Mavericks players were full of excitement, but the Spurs, although they were a team with a lot of playoff experience, were also uneasy when faced with one foot off the cliff, and kept their heads down in silence. "Coach, don't take me off in the second half unless I tell you to."

Duncan, who was also feeling uneasy, shouted at Popovich. His face remained expressionless. This was his habit. He didn't like to have his thoughts written all over his face.

But Popovich, who is familiar with him, understands that his beloved disciple can no longer be as calm as before.

This is normal. After all, this game determines the only ticket to the Western Conference Finals. Whoever wins will get in.

Although Duncan, 29 years old this year, has already won two championships and two FMVPs, if he wants to move up in the historical rankings, he must seize every opportunity to win the championship.

The group of guys above him are all full of honors!
"Don't worry, Tim. We will win this game. They won't be able to hold on for long before being defeated like they did in the previous games."

Popovich patted Duncan on the shoulder to comfort him, but the latter just nodded and said nothing more.

Some emotions cannot be calmed down by just a few words.

The second half of the game started quickly. Although the two teams were still evenly matched, fans familiar with the Spurs would find that the Spurs, who used to play steadily and regain control of the game in the third quarter, did not show that kind of control today.

They started to make some low-level mistakes and were a little too patient when passing the ball on the court. There were three 3-second violations in the third quarter alone. Their dribbling and technical movements were somewhat deformed and no longer so smooth and silky!

Simply put, the current Spurs seem to have lost their souls, with only their bodies running on the court.

Although they can still match the Mavericks on equal terms relying on their instincts, don't forget that the Mavericks are now in the lead.

As the game time decreased and the Spurs were unable to reverse the score, they only played worse and worse.

Duncan played for 11 minutes in the third quarter, which was higher than his normal playing time. However, seeing that the score was still 8 points behind at the end of the third quarter, he punched the stool beside him in frustration.

Although he can always control his emotions perfectly, he is also a human being and there will always be times when he loses control.

Just like in the seventh game of the 13 Finals, he missed the tip-in at the last minute of the game, pushing the fruits of victory to the Heat, so he slammed the floor in anger.

This classic shot was left in the NBA!
Even the psychology master Tim Duncan was like this, not to mention others. Therefore, in the first half of the fourth quarter, the Spurs were beaten 16:5, and the score difference was directly widened to 19 points.

When there were only 6 minutes left, the score difference was as much as 19 points, and all the Spurs players were dispirited, Popovich knew that the game was over.

They lost, lost the game, and also lost their ticket to the finals.

The Mavericks over there were already laughing, especially Jason Terry who was shouting at everyone else.

“I’m going to play in the finals, hahahaha!

Who would have thought that I would play in the finals! "

"Shut up Jason, everyone be quiet, is the game over? There's still half a quarter left, do you think you have a sure win?

Don't let it go, or I won't see you hiding in the locker room wiping your tears later."

Old Nelson yelled at Jason Terry and his gang, but the tightly clenched water bottle revealed that his heart was far from as calm as he seemed.

The finals, that’s the finals, a level that many people have never experienced in their entire lives.

Even Nash, a two-time MVP winner, once said that he would be willing to trade these two MVPs for a chance to play in the finals!

Nelson has been coaching for many years and is well-known in the league, but he has never led his team to the finals.

Now that the opportunity is right in front of him, how can he not be excited.

But as he said, the game is not over yet, there is still half a quarter left, and there are still many variables.

If they let their guard down and the Spurs successfully counterattack, it will be too late to cry!
So now he has to be the "spoiler" to let everyone focus on the game again, and then celebrate properly after the game is over.

After being yelled at by old Nelson, everyone came back to their senses and dared not play anymore, but the excitement was still unconcealed in their eyes.

The game was ultimately won by the Mavericks without any suspense. The Spurs' counterattack did not come, and they still looked dejected until the end of the game.

How can they win the game if they can't even concentrate fully on the field?

God knows how excited the Mavericks players were when the game ended.

At that moment, Zheng Yang's mind was really blank. He couldn't calm down and think about anything. He just wanted to roar and release his inner emotions.

He even felt that his language system had begun to become confused and he didn't know what he was saying.

He just wanted to yell loudly and let out all the pressure in his heart.

Although their battle was not over yet, he wanted to temporarily put down the burden on his shoulders and have a good rest.

Others were not much better than Zheng Yang. Some of them even started wiping away tears. Perhaps for many people on this team, this might be the only chance in their lives to play in the finals.

After the game, an award ceremony for the Western Conference champions was held. When the host announced that Zheng Yang won the Western Conference Finals MVP, Dampier excitedly picked him up and let him enjoy the cheers and shouts.

This was his moment of glory.

There was a hint of regret in Nowitzki's eyes, but he still applauded Zheng Yang afterwards, as he knew that he deserved the MVP title.

As for Zheng Yang, after being put down by Dampier, he smiled and took the trophy handed to him by David Stern.

Holding the weighty Western Conference Finals MVP trophy in his hand, he had only one thought in his mind.

What would it feel like to hold the FMVP trophy in your hands?

(End of this chapter)