Chapter 53: Trailing by 20 points at halftime

The result of Game 3 was within the fans' expectations. After all, it was normal for either team to win.

But it was the process of winning that surprised everyone.

Suddenly I feel sorry for the Kings players!
Peja almost burst into tears in the post-match interview. He spoke aggrievedly about how difficult it was for them to play this game!

I was woken up by fireworks in the middle of the night, the locker room smelled bad, and the stadium had no air conditioning...

He has never felt so wronged in all his years playing in the NBA.

The league also immediately issued a statement, urging the Mavericks to resolve the locker room congestion and arena air conditioning problems before G4, otherwise they will be punished.

Old Nelson also knows that there is only one chance to use this kind of "evil trick", and it will be gone once used. If he wants to win it twice in the future, he still has to rely on his hard power.

However, he still called Zheng Yang over to discuss the matter before the game. This guy has a lot of clever ideas and he might have some new ones.

Zheng Yang had some bad intentions in mind, and he really couldn't think of any good solution.

However, the team is currently leading 2-1, and he remains very optimistic about this series.

Don’t think that the gap in strength between the two teams is huge just because the Mavericks were swept 4-1 by the Kings in the original history.

This is not the case. In the original history, in G4, the Mavericks were only 2 points behind, and in G5, the Mavericks were only 1 point behind. The difference was only one round.

This time with the addition of Zheng Yang, the "key man" and "team boss", the Mavericks still have a very good chance of winning.

……

2004年4月26日早上，德克萨斯州达拉斯大街小巷都挂起了小牛队的各种海报，同时上面还标记着“3-1”的字体。

Obviously, the fans hope that the home team can win another game in today's match and change the score to 3-1. Then they will have three match points and may be able to win the game 4-1 in one go.

When Zheng Yang drove to the stadium, the other players were chatting excitedly on the sidelines. It could be seen that they were in a good mood and were obviously very confident about today's game.

Fat Monk, who is not sure what rank he is in the team, has already started inviting everyone to go to the bar to celebrate after the game tonight.

Others responded one after another!
But in Zheng Yang's opinion, it is far from time to talk about celebrating. The Kings are really strong. Now it is neither 3-0 nor 3-1. If you are too happy too early, you will definitely suffer in the end.

But several veteran players on the team didn't say anything, and Zheng Yang thought about it and still didn't speak.

Joking is just a joke, but Zheng Yang knows that he is currently a rookie and is on a championship team.

If you really point fingers at a veteran, no matter how popular he is, he will eventually be disliked.

While having lunch, Nash noticed that Zheng Yang was in a bad mood and felt a little puzzled.

"Zheng, why are you so depressed? Are you feeling unwell?"

"No, Steve. I just... I just feel that the atmosphere in the team is a little weird. Everyone is too optimistic."

Nash and Zheng Yang have a pretty good relationship, and since there are only the two of them, Zheng Yang spoke frankly.

Nash thought about everyone's state in the morning and it seemed that they were indeed a little too excited.

But he still comforted her.

"Don't worry, Zheng. Everyone understands the importance of this game. They will play well. I mean, you don't have to worry too much."

After hearing this, Zheng Yang could only nod and hope so.

Suddenly, Zheng Yang asked another question.

"Steve, your contract will expire after this season. What are your plans?"

As far as I can remember, after this season, the Mavericks were only willing to offer Nash a cheap 4-year, $3600 million contract. What's even more outrageous is that only part of the salary in the last year of the contract was guaranteed.

In the end, Nash did not accept the humiliating offer and returned to his old team, the Suns, with a six-year, $6 million contract.

Nash, who returned to his old club, was also very competitive. He suddenly reached the peak of his career when he was over 30 years old, winning two consecutive MVPs and being the assists king five times.

Although he failed to help the team win the championship, the Suns were always a strong team in the Western Conference during that period.

In fact, the reason why Cuban was so stingy about Nash's contract is very reasonable, because Nash is now 31 years old, and under normal circumstances, he should be at the peak of his career.

The future will only go downhill!

Moreover, Nash currently suffers from a dislocated cervical vertebra, and it is difficult to predict what problems will arise in the future. That is why they offered such a low contract offer.

But to be honest, the title of the Sun God Doctor is not in vain!

With their help, Nash only missed 33 games in seven seasons, and he was still able to run on the court at the age of 38.

If Nash hadn't joined the Suns, he might have retired due to injury long ago.

Speaking of the new contract, Nash felt a little lonely.

“They are still talking to my agent, but the situation is not very optimistic.

Let's wait and see after the playoffs. If it really doesn't work out, I'll have to go to another team.

You know, I'm not young anymore, and besides the championship, salary is also very important to me."

This is a business league, and there are not many stories of one man for one city. Especially for players of Nash's age, this should be his last chance to get a big contract.

There's no way he'd give up so easily.

Zheng Yang also nodded.

"No matter where you go, we are brothers!"

"Of course!"

……

At 7:30 pm, G4 officially starts!
The Kings are coming on strong and they are determined to tie the score tonight.

By the way, they changed hotels at the last minute last night, so they were not disturbed and had a good rest.

Like the previous three games, Divac won the jump ball and the Kings took advantage of the first offensive opportunity.

Due to their strong desire to win, the Kings players were very active today. When Mike Bibby pushed the ball to the frontcourt, the others had already quickly taken their positions.

Divac, who received the pass from Mike Bibby, quickly passed the ball to Peja who was lurking in the corner. Due to the pick-and-roll, Zheng Yang failed to keep up in time, and Walker's backup defense was not timely either.

Therefore, Peja was completely in a wide-open situation. He did not disappoint his teammates and scored three points with ease.

Peja, who scored the first point at the start of the game, showed no expression on his face and still looked serious. Then he quickly returned to defense like his other teammates.

Under the pressure of 1-2, the Kings have broken out at their strongest level. No matter how strong the Mavericks are today, they are determined to take the game to the decisive stage.

(In the NBA playoffs, when two teams are tied 2-2 in the first four games, the fifth game is often called the "Decisive Game").

“The Kings were in great shape today, and they made their first shot solidly using the familiar Princeton system.

The spirit of the entire team showed that they were extremely eager to win the game. The tenacious Sacramento Kings wanted to tie the score before the game returned to their home court.

Facing such a Kings team, I wonder how the Mavericks will respond?

Hey, just mentioned the Mavericks, they made a pass error! This low-level error is a bit unreasonable! "

Yu Jia was explaining when Nash passed the ball to Dachou, but it was intercepted by the quick-eyed and quick-handed Doug Christie, who then quickly counterattacked.

Nash's defense not only failed to stop him, but instead turned it into a 2+1.

Doug Christie made the free throw and the score became 6-0.

"Hey focus."

Old Nelson on the sidelines shouted loudly, what's wrong with these guys today? Why did they make a mistake at the beginning?

The Mavericks passed the ball to Nowitzki in their second attack. He had already trapped Divac in the paint, successfully got the ball and turned around to shoot.

The ball hit the basket, and the rebound was protected by Webber, who immediately passed it to Mike Bibby, who quickly launched a fast break counterattack.

In addition to the Mavericks, the Kings are also good at fast breaks.

The reason why their offense was at the forefront of the league in the regular season was not only due to the Princeton system, but also its fast break counterattacks.

Webber received the pass from Mike Bibby and followed up with a dunk.

The score on the field was 8:0.

The Mavericks have not scored any points so far.

In the third offensive round, Nash and Nowitzki played a pick-and-roll.

The ball was originally passed to Nowitzki, and there was no one defending the basket, so he could just simply slam dunk.

The audience raised their hands to applaud, but Nowitzki, the "second in command" of the team, gave everyone a big thumbs up.

His hand slipped when he jumped, and the basketball flew out of bounds. The Mavericks made another mistake.

In just three rounds, they had already made two turnovers, which was more than the number of shots.

Nowitzki seemed a little annoyed when he realized what was happening, but it was of no use.

The referee will not give the ball back to you just because you slipped.

Such a low-level mistake in such an important game can only mean that Nowitzki does not take this game seriously enough.

In that case, be prepared to be punished by the Kings!
Peja came back and made another three-pointer, and they started the game with an 11:0 climax.

"Hey Mavericks, what's wrong with you today? What kind of game is this? They had two turnovers, and everything was wrong.

Zheng Yang hasn't touched the ball yet, how can he play well? "

Coach Zhang frowned and questioned. As a Zheng fan, he really couldn't stand this kind of game.

This was the first time that Yu Jia agreed with Coach Zhang’s statement.

"Maybe the Mavericks should give the ball to Zheng Yang.

They were beaten 11-0 at the start, which was very disadvantageous for them. "

In the fourth offensive round, Zheng Yang began to actively ask for the ball, and he lived up to expectations and made a jump shot from the free throw line, helping the team get the first point of the game.

After scoring, he glanced at the Kings players, who were quickly following up and getting into position.

On the contrary, the Mavericks members seemed a little sloppy.

The 11:0 defeat just now did not hurt them. They still felt that the game had just begun and as long as they continued to work hard, they could win the game.

If this situation happened in a team with a leader with charisma, Jordan would have scolded his teammates if he saw them in this state.

But don't forget that the current team leader is Nowitzki.

There is absolutely no doubt about Nowitzki's strength. He has no problem being the tactical core of the team, but he is indeed not suitable to be the boss.

When his teammates have a lax attitude towards the game, he rarely takes the initiative to step forward and motivate the teammates. Even he himself is so lax.

Perhaps, as Chinese fans say, he should be the team's "second in command".

If Nowitzki doesn't speak up, and other people say this, it seems that their words are not powerful enough and difficult to convince the public.

Therefore, the Mavericks played the entire quarter with this attitude!

Even though Zheng Yang worked diligently on defense and seized every opportunity, after the first quarter, the score was still 32:20, with the Mavericks trailing by 12 points.

During the break, old Nelson flew into a rage and pointed at Walker, Nash and others and started to scold them.

"Were you guys walking around the court? What the hell was that in the first quarter? You guys were softer than my shit this morning.

If you don't want to play this game, get out of here. No matter who you are, if you don't want to play, get out now.

Next, if I find you being sloppy again, just get the hell out of here.

Did you hear me? "

No one dared to speak, not daring to offend old Nelson at this time.

After the second quarter, the Mavericks finally returned to their previous state. Although their enthusiasm was not as strong as that of the Kings, they were completely different from the first quarter.

But the gap between the Kings and the Mavericks was not so big that they could fight back whenever they wanted, and they didn't have a good touch in the first quarter, so they were suppressed by the Kings again in the second quarter.

After the second quarter, not only did the score not get narrowed, but the gap widened to 20 points.

20 points. In the small ball era, many teams have completed a 20-point comeback, but in the early 21st century, when the difference between the two teams reached 20 points, the game could basically be declared over.

What a waste of time, just withdraw from the competition and prepare for G5!
On the way back to the locker room at the end of the first half, the Mavericks players were like eggplants hit by frost, all with their heads down and silent!
The fans in the stands were equally angry, with a little boy about ten years old shouting at the players as they walked towards the tunnel.

"What are you doing? I finally got the chance to watch your game, why did you fight like this?"

Nowitzki and others quickly quickened their pace and were too embarrassed to answer.

What can they say?
Can they say that their arrogance caused them to lose the game in vain?

No one dared to say this.

Just after all the players walked into the player tunnel, Zheng Yang, who was at the end of the team, walked out again.

He looked at the little boy with a determined look.

"Don't worry! We won't let you go back disappointed today! I promise!"

(End of this chapter)