Chapter 230 Tim Donaghy, You Better Have No Problem

Next, the Lakers attacked again.

O'Neal attacked the basket with all his strength. He Zhongqiu was limited to three fouls and did not dare to increase his defensive intensity. He was squeezed into the basket and scored a dunk.

He Zhongqiu was restricted on the defensive end and had to strengthen his offense under the basket when he was in high physical strength. Even O'Neal and the Postman had a hard time defending him together.

However, this kind of intense attack under the basket consumes a lot of his physical energy. After one or two shots, he has to rest for two rounds.

In the 7th minute, O'Neal was called for an offensive foul, which was his second foul.

"Shh!"

Countless Lakers fans booed the referee crazily and cursed at him.

However, He Zhongqiu soon received his fourth foul, committing a defensive foul on O'Neal. The referee believed that he had kicked O'Neal with his legs.

In this way, facing the Wolverine who had four fouls, O'Neal and the Mailman attacked the basket more unscrupulously and succeeded repeatedly.

After the second quarter, the Knicks were trailing by 43 points, 52:9.

"O'Neal scored 20 points in the first half, and Kobe was in good shape today, scoring 14 points in the first half," Barkley said.

"Wolverine scored 21 points, his performance was no worse than O'Neal. But his outside teammates were not very strong and their performance was not as good as the first two games," said Kenny Smith.

Da Meng asked doubtfully, "Didn't you see something was wrong?"

"What's wrong?" Barkley asked quickly.

Dream said: "As the core of the Knicks, the first scoring point, and the main attacker, Wolverine has already committed four fouls, which is a huge hidden danger for the Knicks."

"Snapped!"

Barkley patted the commentary booth and said with sudden enlightenment: "I thought so too. This is what's wrong."

Kenny Smith looked at Barkley with disdain and retorted: "But Hakeem, the Mailman has already had four fouls, the same number as Wolverine, and the referee did not hold back on the Lakers.

According to the foul record, the Lakers had only three fewer total fouls than the Knicks, and only two more free throws. The Lakers did not have a home whistle tonight. "

Barkley nodded quickly and said, "Yes, the referee's whistle was relatively fair, even fairer than the first two series.

After all, in the first two series, the Knicks averaged 7.2 more free throw opportunities than the Lakers, and had a clear home-court advantage. "

Da Mengxiang thought for a moment and said, "I don't mean that the referee's whistle is unfair. I mean, the current situation is not favorable to the Knicks."

Barkley said: "That's right. The Wolverines should control fouls and try not to get the fifth foul in the third quarter, otherwise the Knicks will be very passive."

New York, it turns out that the angry Adam Silver has calmed down.

But his big bald head was still covered with sweat and his eyes were full of nervousness.

He was transferred to China and was targeted by Wolverine. His performance dropped drastically, he couldn't carry out his work at all, and his future was ruined.

David Stern had previously informed him that if he continued like this, the company would fire him.

Before, they said they would give him three months, but now they only give him one month to quickly reconcile with Wolverine in order to resolve his current predicament in China.

He didn't want to ask Wolverine for help at all, but once he was fired, where would he find a good job with an annual salary of one million dollars?

The millions of dollars in mortgage payments were overwhelming him, and if he lost his job, he would go bankrupt.

Under the huge debt pressure and hatred for Wolverine, the Lakers suffered two consecutive losses, and the news of the conflict between O'Neal and Kobe was exposed again. The gambling group drastically adjusted the odds, which made him see the opportunity.

He chose to gamble on football, and bet heavily.

He rushed back to New York and borrowed $2 million from a private loan company, all of which he bet on the Lakers to win.

In order to ensure that the Lakers won the finals, he used his connections in the NBA and paid $100,000.

As long as he wins, he will get more than 600,000 US dollars in cash, which will be 400,000 or 500,000 US dollars after expenses. Even if he is fired by the NBA, he will not go bankrupt in a short time.

As long as he has money to continue repaying the loan, he will not be harassed by the bank, his credit rating will not decline, and he will have time to find a good and promising job again, without falling into a vicious cycle.

In the first quarter, the Postman committed his second foul at the start of the game. He thought he was betrayed and that he was doomed.

But now he finally understood that no, the plan was being implemented and it was going very smoothly, and no one doubted it.

Soon after, the third quarter began and the Mailman got his fifth defensive foul in the second minute.

"Shh!"

There was a huge booing and countless middle fingers were raised towards the referee.

Amid the boos, Phil Jackson took a deep look at the referee and did not choose to replace the Postman. Instead, he signaled him to continue playing and maintain defensive intensity.

He always had a feeling that the Lakers actually had a home whistle tonight, but it was a secret home whistle.

In the fourth minute, He Zhongqiu was called for a defensive foul on O'Neal, and his fifth foul was successful.

Rick Carlisle was a little confused. Should Wolverine be replaced?

But now the Knicks are still 8 points behind, and in the end he chose to keep He Zhongqiu on the court.

In the 8th minute of the third quarter, the Postman blocked He Zhongqiu's bank shot, which hit his arm. He was called for his sixth foul and was ejected.

In the next game, He Zhongqiu's defensive intensity was weakened again after he committed five fouls, and O'Neal vented his anger by attacking him crazily without sparing any energy.

On the offensive end, he still attacked with all his strength and continued to score.

At the end of the third quarter, the Knicks were trailing by 10 points.

Barkley said: "Wolverine scored 34 points in three quarters, O'Neal scored 32 points, Kobe scored 23 points, and now the situation is in favor of the Lakers."

Dream said: "The Sharks didn't invest much on the defensive end, but invested too much on the offensive end, so they probably don't have much energy left.

The Wolverines were limited to fouls and their defensive intensity was not high. Overall, he should be in better physical condition and has some energy left.”

Kenny Smith said: "But the Lakers still have Kobe, who can score in a double-team. And Nash of the Knicks, once he is double-teamed, his offense will be immediately restricted."

The fourth quarter begins at this time.

Kobe took over the Lakers' offense, first pulling up to the low post to receive the ball, or playing one-on-one against Wells in the low post, or using a pick-and-roll to get rid of the defender, quickly breaking through and attacking the Knicks' inside line.

He made two of three attacks, and even Jordan, who was watching the game on the sidelines, stood up and applauded him.

"This is Michael's low-post style of play, and Kobe has learned all of his techniques and styles," said Kenny Smith.

"Kobe scored twice and caused Mutombo to foul. Now the score difference is 12 points and Kobe has one free throw." Barkley said.

Dream said: "Kobe and O'Neal still don't cooperate, they play their own games. But even so, once they both play at full strength, it will be enough to give the Knicks a hard time."

The Knicks were on offense, and He Zhongqiu didn't have enough energy to play under the basket, so he switched to a mid-range shot from outside and hit the backboard.

Looking back, Kobe moved to the low post on the right wing, received the ball, turned quickly and entered the penalty area.

Faced with Kobe's unscrupulous rush to the basket, He Zhongqiu could no longer bear it, jumped up to block the shot, and reached out to grab it.

"Take it!"

Kobe's ball was caught and he screamed and fell from the sky.

"Di!"

The whistle sounded.

"It's over, it's over, it's over!" Zhang Heli and others exclaimed.

"The Lakers won."

Buckley and others said.

"Oops!"

When He Zhongqiu heard the whistle, he knew he was in trouble. Could it be that his blocking hand had left the cylinder again?

Sure enough, the referee ran over with a serious face, made a hand foul gesture at him, then a six-foul gesture, pointed outside the court, and asked him to leave immediately.

"Sir, I shouldn't have made a foul, it was a good hat-trick, my hand didn't leave the cylinder."

He Zhongqiu tried to explain, but the referee said sternly, "Wolverine, I've warned you before, don't take your hands off the cylinder when blocking. If you have any objections, you can appeal to the league. But now please leave the court immediately. If you don't leave, I'll give you a technical foul and you'll definitely be suspended for one game."

"What's your name?"

He Zhongqiu stared at the referee and asked.

The referee's face twitched, and he wanted to give another technical foul, but Loswadaly, who was sitting on the sidelines, had already stood up. He could only give up this tempting idea and said, "Tim Donaghy."

"I'll have someone investigate you, and I'll also file a complaint with the league. It'd be best if you don't have any problems."

He Zhongqiu said something and turned to walk towards the player tunnel.

"what?"

Hearing this, Tim Donaghy's face changed drastically.

"Fake Oil!"

Seeing He Zhongqiu being sent off, Scarlett Johansson, who was sitting in the third row, glared at the referee and cursed inwardly.

"yeah!"

Far away in New York, Adam Silver roared with excitement.

He seemed to see a future in which the Lakers won the championship and he made money.

"Wolverine had 36 points and 10 rebounds with a shooting percentage of 62.5%, which was not a bad performance," Barkley said.

"O'Neal can no longer play. He doesn't even want to be in position. If Wolverine hadn't been fouled out, the Knicks would have double-teamed Kobe, and Wolverine's offense would have been unstoppable. It would have been hard to say what would happen in this game," said Dream.

Kenny Smith nodded and said, "But it's hard to say that the block just now was not a foul. The replay showed that his hand did leave the cylinder."

"I can only say that you can blow it or not, but this is the Lakers' home court, so there's nothing to say even if you blow it." Dream said.

In this game, with He Zhongqiu fouled out for six times, the outcome was basically decided, and the final result was indeed the same.

O'Neal was very happy. After taking a shower, he called Barkley and shouted:

"Charles, you stupid big mouth, we won, not only will we not be swept, we will beat the Knicks and win the fourth championship."

Barkley said helplessly: "You can curse, Shaq, I did guess wrong."

O'Neal said with great joy: "Haha, you idiot, you know this is why you will never win a championship in your life, you don't understand basketball at all."

Barkley was so angry that he vomited blood. He brought up this matter again. He mocked me for not having a championship whenever we met. You’re never going to stop, right?

He thought for a moment, interrupted O'Neal's taunting, and said, "Shaq, no matter what you say, today's whistle is a home whistle, and it favors you."

"Nonsense! Don't think that we have the home court whistle just because the Wolverines had six fouls. We had no more free throws than the Knicks. The referee must have received money from the Knicks." O'Neal said angrily.

"you sure?"

Barkley quipped: "That referee was really harsh on other guys, including Wolverine, even Kobe, who had four fouls.

But he was very tolerant to one person, calling only three fouls on him in the whole game, and this person is still the core of the Lakers. "

"Peyton?" O'Neal asked immediately.

"Haha, you're such a joker. Who else could it be except you? Can I say that he took your money?" Barkley sneered.

"Bullshit!"

O'Neal said angrily: "I didn't commit any fouls in the first place, and it was the Mailman defending Wolverine, so he was sent off."

"hehe!"

Barkley could only laugh sarcastically. There was no evidence anyway, right?

Over there, He Zhongqiu was talking to Luo Sihua Daley on the phone and said, "Luo Sihua, I want to check the referee. I think he is targeting me."

"Don't worry, Wolverine, no matter whether he has problems or not, he will not be used in Game 4," said Loswadelli.

"You didn't arrange this, did you?" He Zhongqiu asked suspiciously.

"Of course not, I assure you." Daly said quickly.

Scarlett Johansson was very unwilling after driving away from Staples Center. Out of a woman's intuition, after Wolverine was sent off, she felt that the Knicks were framed by the referee.

After she parked her car on the side of the road, she called her agent and asked him to help her find an NBA analyst immediately.

At the same time, David Stern was also talking to Loswadaly.

"Luo Sihua, did you arrange the penalty scale tonight? Although I hope the Lakers can win the game, I am very disappointed with the penalty tonight."

"No, sir, I just asked for a certain home whistle, but the penalty in this game has become a joke. I suspect the referee..."

"Then go check it out, and don't leak the news yet. Also, all referees in Game 3 cannot be used again."

"Yes."

……

On the 6th, the media made various comments on the G3 game.

There is a topic that has been discussed a lot on the Internet, and that is the issue of the referee's penalty standards in Game 3.

In Yahoo's Wolverine community, a netizen named Hand-Tear Wolverine posted a message, which was pushed to the top by someone else.

This netizen analyzed the referee's whistleblowing style and collected the referee's whistleblowing records for 67 NBA playoff games. He came to the conclusion that such harsh whistles are not the referee's style.

Based on this conclusion, Wolverine came to another conclusion, that is, the referee's penalty style suddenly changed in the G1 game for some reason.

"Tearing Wolverine apart is a good idea. This is the mutation against the Knicks. Tim Donaghy made Wolverine commit many fouls, limited his defense against O'Neal, and finally fouled him out, and then the Lakers won."

"Support the Knicks and the Wolverines, ask the league to investigate Tim Donaghy."

"This post is a conspiracy theory. There is nothing wrong with Tim Donaghy's penalty."

"In fact, in last night's game, Tim Donaghy was booed by Lakers fans throughout the game. He couldn't be targeting the Knicks, it should be said that he was targeting the Lakers."

“The Lakers didn’t get any home whistles despite being targeted by Tim Donaghy, but still beat the Knicks with their strength. Can’t the Knicks afford to lose?

"This post is nonsense. The referee used the same standard to call penalties for both teams. He even penalized the Mailman first. There was no possibility of targeting the Knicks. On the contrary, the Lakers did not get the home whistle. It should be that the Lakers were targeted in their own home court."

"I feel like there is something wrong with the referee. From the result of the game, it was the Knicks who were targeted, but from the process of the game, it was the Lakers who were targeted."

This post received strong support from Knicks fans and He Zhongqiu's personal fans, but at the same time, Los Angeles fans strongly disagreed.

The Knicks did not schedule training that day. They rested in the morning and after lunch, held a tactical meeting in the business suite of the hotel. Both owner James Dolan and Layden attended.

Layden first said: "I complained to the league last night. The Wolverines said they would investigate the referee. I have already checked. Tim Donaghy's previous penalties were not as severe as last night. He must have a problem.

But we don’t have evidence at the moment, and the change in his style of penalty enforcement alone is not enough to prove his problem.”

Rick Carlisle looked a little serious and said, "We have watched last night's game repeatedly. When Wolverine was sent off, it is certain that he was targeting us."

Ewing grunted, "Although, although it was the Mailman who was defending the Wolverines and he was sent off, I think that O'Neal was given a home whistle. He was the only exception between the two teams, and the whistle on him was not that harsh."

Everyone was stunned. No one had noticed this view before.

In fact, the key to last night's victory or defeat also lay between O'Neal and Wolverine.

As the Wolverines committed more fouls, the intensity of their defense dropped sharply, which allowed O'Neal's offense to become unscrupulous. He was unable to get to the basket before, but later he repeatedly got to the basket and scored, and the Lakers took the lead.

"Is there really a problem?" Thibodeau asked.

Rick Carlisle thought for a moment and said, "There was a hot post this morning, a post in the Yahoo Wolverine community. It's now being forwarded everywhere. I noticed it and took a look."

“My community?”

He Zhongqiu was stunned. He was too busy and he seldom visited his community.

"A netizen named Tear Wolverine posted this in your community. He must be your die-hard fan," said Rick Carlisle.

"he?"

He Zhongqiu still remembers that guy. Wasn’t he a fan of LeBron James? How did he become his die-hard fan?
(End of this chapter)