Chapter 137: Zheng Yang became Pippen's disciple?

After winning the first game of the series, both Zheng Yang's performance and Pippen's praise after the game attracted countless media attention.

They all wanted to find Michael Jordan and ask him to express his opinion on Zheng Yang's performance in the first game. Whether the other party praised or belittled Zheng Yang, it could attract countless traffic.

And what about Michael Jordan?
Instead, he hid himself at this time. He didn't want to meet those reporters who were like dog-skin plasters. He had already guessed what they would ask, but for Jordan, no matter what he answered, he would not get any benefit.

You said Zheng Yang performed well, and you had a conflict before. Isn't it a bit embarrassing to say this now?

You said Zheng Yang's performance was not good, then you are lying with your eyes open, or you think that this game is not good enough and the Spurs are not strong enough!
Since he couldn't find a suitable answer, Jordan simply hid himself to avoid all the trouble.

After the first game, Zheng Yang continued to hone his skills in breaking double-teams before the second game, while also communicating with his teammates around him, hoping to help them get back to their form as soon as possible.

The finals are not an ordinary regular season. It is basically impossible to win the championship by relying on individualism.

Maybe you occasionally have one or two superb performances and finally win the game, but you can't guarantee that you can have a hot performance in every game, and a big performance at that.

So Zheng Yang must have teammates around him who can stand up.

He can score at critical moments of the game, but his teammates must participate in the offense at other times.

The Knicks' players are quite strong, but they just haven't found their form yet.

They still need some time.

The second game of the finals started on June 6. Although the score was close throughout the game, the Spurs were always in the lead.

With their sophisticated experience, the Spurs controlled the tempo of the game.

最终呢这场比赛被马刺队以88：95成功拿下，郑阳表现依旧出色，拿到了28分12篮板4助攻2盖帽1抢断2失误的完美数据。

However, with his teammates performing mediocrely, there is no hope of winning relying solely on Zheng Yang's performance.

克劳福德拿到12分5篮板，昆廷.理查德森拿到15分6助攻，大本拿到8分9篮板，埃迪库里则是拿到12分9篮板……

Four players on the team scored in double digits, but only two scored more than 15 points!
Looking at the Spurs, Parker scored 30 points, 4 rebounds and 2 assists, with a true shooting percentage of 68.9%. It is right for Popovich to shift the team's offensive focus to him. This guy can handle the output and is efficient.

Duncan got a near triple-double of 23 points, 9 rebounds and 8 assists, including 4 offensive rebounds. The fact that he was able to grab 4 offensive rebounds from Zheng Yang, Big Ben and Eddy Curry is enough to prove how active and hard-working this guy is on the court.

Ginobili, who came off the bench, scored 28 points, 78.9 rebounds and 25 steals in just 6 minutes with an astonishing true shooting percentage of 3%.

When the GDP trio performed so well, victory was basically a foregone conclusion.

The Spurs successfully tied the score at 1:1 at home, and the next game will move to Madison Square Garden, where they will play G3 and G4 of the NBA Finals.

The Knicks returned to their home court and began to regain their form and their morale rose amid the fierce cheers from their fans.

They want to win a precious championship trophy for this city.

So they had a fierce battle with the Spurs in Game 3. The game was very intense and full of gunpowder.

During the game, Eddy Curry had a conflict with Bowen. The two pushed and shoved each other, and eventually both received a technical foul.

However, the Knicks, who were full of fighting spirit, eventually lost the game at home. The Spurs won another game with a score of 108:103, successfully changing the score to 2:1!

本场比赛里，郑阳砍下25分9篮板6助攻，但出现了5次失误，昆廷.理查德森投进了4颗三分，最终拿到了21分3篮板7助攻。

Eddy Curry also performed poorly, with 8 points, 9 rebounds and 4 turnovers. The entire game can be described as a "master of spitting."

On the Spurs side, Tony Parker scored 26 points and 7 rebounds. Although Duncan only scored 15 points, he also got 15 rebounds. Ginobili played averagely and only scored 12 points.

Michael Finley, the biggest contributor to the victory, exploded in this game and scored 28 points.

The veteran proved with his actions that he still has the strength to fight.

Like Zheng Yang, he also wanted to win the second championship ring in his life to prove to the Mavericks that giving up on him was the worst decision the Mavericks had ever made.

Losing two games in a row is the situation that Knicks fans least want to see. The team’s hard power is already lacking, and after losing two games, their morale is completely gone.

What the hell is that!

Are they really going to be defeated by their opponents 4:1? Is there really no hope for them?

For Knicks fans, being able to become the No. 1 team in the Eastern Conference and reaching the finals this season was a complete surprise that was beyond their expectations. Even if they failed to win the championship this season, they have no complaints about the team, only full of admiration and love.

They knew that as long as Zheng Yang was there, they would win the championship sooner or later, and it would definitely not be just one.

But when I think about the championship being right within reach, it would be such a shame to miss it!
They long for hope to emerge, that the man wearing the No. 19 jersey can transform into a god and lead them to victory again.

Game 6 of the Finals will begin on June 14, still at Madison Square Garden.

……

In this series, no matter who wins or loses, the saddest fans will never be the other side, but the Mavericks fans.

Whenever Mavericks fans turn on the TV to watch this year's finals, the words that always come out of their mouths are "Fuck Avery."

They looked at the King on the Knicks side and Michael Finley on the Spurs side, and they felt extremely sad in their hearts.

Why do you say that?
Because these two were originally players of their Mavericks team!
They originally had Zheng Yang, Nowitzki, Michael Finley, Jason Terry, and Dampier...

They are the true king's team. Looking at it from today's perspective, this team is likely to establish their own dynasty! Even if it is not a dynasty, they will be competitive for the championship in the next ten or even fifteen years, and they will win at least three more championship trophies.

But such a lineup was actually dismantled by that group of management and that stupid coach!
They would rather keep Avery than an MVP-level player!
What is the result of all this?
They were the ones who were eliminated in the first round and they were engraved on the history's shame list!

The Mavericks fans felt extremely heartbroken. Every goal scored by Zheng Yang and Michael Finley broke their hearts!
How much they wished that time could go back to two years ago. No matter what the cost, they would not allow Zheng Yang to leave.

Of course, all this is impossible to happen again!

……

"The fourth game of this year's finals is about to begin! At present, the Spurs have made the score 2:1 with their tacit cooperation. If they continue to win this game today, then they are likely to win this year's championship trophy with a score of 4:1 after returning to their home court in the next game.

It was not easy for the Knicks to win the first game. As for this year's championship...

There is indeed a gap between them.

But I still look forward to a miracle. I am not a Knicks fan, but I am a Zheng fan!

I never hide my love for him! Even if he didn't win the championship this year, in my eyes, he is still the best player in this season, regular season, and playoffs."

Barkley said this during the pre-game chat.

He is a professional player, and he can certainly see the gap between the two teams. Although the Knicks are a good team, they lack a stable second scoring point.

It’s like their team has a player who gets full marks, but no player who gets around 90 points, but all players get 70 or 80 points.

These players who scored 70 or 80 points are more dependent on their form. If they are in good form, they can fight back and forth with any strong team. Once they are not in good form, they can only rely on Zheng Yang alone to hold on!
The Spurs have three players with scores above 90 points. Even if one of them performs poorly occasionally, the team is still very competitive.

This is the gap between the two teams!

The Knicks' victory in the first game was beyond many people's expectations, so it was reasonable that they lost four games in a row afterwards.

"Zheng's performance has been outstanding. In every game you can see him constantly attacking the inside, fighting for rebounds and actively defending.

He is willing to put everything he has into the game. We know that there are many other young and outstanding players in the league, but the problem is that what they prefer to do on the court is score.

Sometimes they are even willing to sacrifice the interests of the team for their own personal data.

This is the difference between them and Zheng!
I think they should learn from Zheng, who has the qualities of our players from the 90s. Like me, I will help the team in various ways on the court, even if there are many things that cannot be reflected on the stat sheet.

Many people have criticized me, saying that even without me, Michael could have won six championships, and they think that I got all the championships by luck.

They didn't see my efforts!
But I don't care about that, I won't pay attention to what they say, so I like Zheng's performance on the court. He is willing to do the dirty work, and this is the greatness of a player!

His future and prospects are definitely limitless."

Since he praised Zheng Yang after the last game, Pippen has received a lot of media attention. With his smart mind, he immediately realized that this was a traffic password, so before this game he continued to praise Zheng Yang and tried his best to link him with himself.

He is ready to establish himself as a senior who cares for the young people in the league!

It’s true that I don’t have as many honors as Jordan, but what if there comes a Pippen disciple who is better than Jordan?

Wouldn’t that make me even more awesome than the God of Basketball?
No one could see the twists and turns in Pippen's heart yet, only Barkley felt something was wrong...

What does he have to do with you, the eternal runner-up? What's the connection between him being the leader of a team and you being the eternal runner-up? What's the connection between being like you and not like you?
However, the other party was saying good things about Zheng Yang, so Barkley would not confront him for it.

This much-anticipated game began soon. After playing three games, the head coaches of both teams still did not make any adjustments to their starting lineups, obviously believing that this was the most suitable starting lineup for this game.

At the beginning of the game, the Knicks played very actively and aggressively. They defended actively and kept fighting, trying to keep the victory in Madison Square Garden.

But their touch was not very good today, except for Zheng Yang.

Others kept hitting a wall in their attacks and missed their shots frequently.

The Spurs on the other hand played at a leisurely pace. They were not in a hurry even if they failed to widen the score gap at the beginning. In their opinion, the Knicks were already trapped.

The death struggle looks fierce, but it won't last long.

They just need to nibble away at the opponent little by little, and then they will achieve the final victory.

Larry Brown saw that something was wrong on the field, but there was nothing he could do. There are many things a coach can do, but he is not omnipotent.

The most important factor in determining whether a game is won or lost is the performance of the players on the field. If they can't make the shot, what can Larry Brown do?

Time passed by little by little, and the game finally entered the fourth quarter. At this moment, the score on the field was 78:72, and the Spurs led by 6 points.

Perhaps because they thought victory was in their grasp, the Spurs' defensive pressure in this game actually decreased a bit compared to the previous three games. Even though the Knicks' outside shooting percentage was not high, they still scored a lot of points by attacking the inside, which allowed them to keep the score close.

However, up to now, the players' morale and physical strength have been greatly consumed. It seems that it will be difficult for them to win this game.

"In the fourth quarter, try to give the ball to me as much as possible and I will attack."

Zheng Yang, who had only scored 15 points in this game, said this during the intermission, and everyone was stunned.

In the first three quarters, Zheng Yang's offensive desire was not very high. They all thought that Zheng Yang had given up the game, so he played somewhat negatively.

Who would have thought that he would say such words at this moment? Does he think they still have a chance of winning this game?

(End of this chapter)