Chapter 390: Runner-up

"Is it true?" He Zhongqiu asked.

Chenglong sighed again and nodded.

"Did he smoke alone, or with his friends? How long has he been smoking?" He Zhongqiu asked.

Chenglong stood up and kicked Xiaofangzi on the leg, angrily asking, "Speak!"

Lin Fengjiao's body trembled, and Chenglong's kick seemed to have hit her.

The little house cried, "Last year, I went to the Netherlands for fun. Marijuana is legal there. I thought I wouldn't get addicted, so I just tried it. But..."

Chenglong was so angry that he kicked him again, and angrily scolded him: "You useless thing, your grandfather taught me since I was a child, and I also taught you that you can touch anything except drugs and gambling. Have you forgotten? Why are you so useless?"

"Brother Cheng, it hasn't been long, and marijuana is not as bad as other drugs. Even though I'm addicted, I think I can still quit." He Zhongqiu advised.

"Yes, yes, you must quit, you must quit." Chenglong said hurriedly.

Hearing that she could quit, Lin Fengjiao nodded repeatedly, seeming to be relieved.

"Isolate him first, cut off all contact with his friends like him, and then send him to a drug rehabilitation center," said He Zhongqiu.

"it is good."

The headache started. Where should I send him to detox?
It's definitely not possible in the United States. Marijuana is too easy to get here. If you quit drugs here, you might get even more addicted.

It won’t work in Hong Kong or China either, because the influence is too great and it will definitely be known to the whole world.

Finally, he decided to send Xiaofangzi to Australia for drug rehabilitation, and let Lin Fengjiao accompany him, under the pretext of studying abroad.

"Mid-Autumn Festival, thank you for this time!" he said gratefully.

"As long as my sister-in-law and Xiaofangzi don't hate me, that's enough." He Zhongqiu said.

"He dares!"

Chenglong turned around and kicked the little house again.

"Zhongqiu, I want to thank you, really!" Lin Fengjiao said quickly.

Chenglong didn’t like basketball in the first place and was not in the mood to watch the finals, so he immediately booked a flight back to Los Angeles.

On May 5, the NBA 31/06 season finals kicked off.

Madison Square Garden in the evening.

The finals between the two most watched teams in the NBA league attracted a large number of Hollywood stars and a large number of current and retired NBA stars, making the scene star-studded.

In the NBA, at least fifty superstars including Jordan, Olajuwon, David Robinson, O'Neal, Wade, LeBron James, Ray Allen, Garnett, Vince Carter, and Iverson came to the scene.

In Hollywood, there are Statham, Dwayne Johnson, Tom Cruise, Will Smith, Pitt, Angelina, Vin Diesel, Stallone, Scarlett Johansson, Jessica Alba, Julia Roberts, Monica Bellucci, Megan Fox, etc., as many as NBA stars.

At eight o'clock, both sides announced their starting lineups.

Lakers: Kwame Brown, Yao Ming, Odom, Kobe Bryant, Derek Fisher

Knicks: He Zhongqiu, Alonso, Shane Battier, Josh Howard, Steve Nash
The television broadcast rights holder for the finals is TNT, the commentators are Barkley and Kenny Smith, and the guest commentator is Lakers superstar Magic Johnson.

Barkley made a few opening remarks, then said in shock: "Look, tonight's finals, I think it's the most star-studded game in history."

Magic Johnson nodded and said, "Yes, even in the Staples Center, it is difficult for me to see so many big stars. I believe the ratings tonight will be very good."

At this time, Kenny Smith said excitedly: "We have received reports that the current US viewership has exceeded 5000 million and is rising rapidly."

"God, there are still more than 20 minutes in the game. Will the record be broken this time?" Magic Johnson said in shock.

Barkley immediately said: "The current NBA viewership record is last year's Finals Game 4, with an average of 5325 million viewers and a peak of 6278 million."

Kenny Smith's eyes sparkled as he said excitedly, "This will be the NBA's Super Bowl. I even think the highest viewership tonight will exceed 7000 million."

Barkley brought the topic back and said, "At present, the media basically believes that the Knicks will continue to win the championship, but I hope the Lakers can play a very exciting finals and leave some suspense for the ownership of the championship."

Kenny Smith said: "The Knicks have only nine players left in their rotation, and the remaining three are marginal players, which is similar to other teams.

So in terms of the lineup, although two key players cannot participate in the series, the lineup is not at a disadvantage, it just loses the original lineup depth. "

Barkley asked: "Ervin, the media is not optimistic about the Lakers, what do you think?"

Magic Johnson smiled helplessly and said, "Charles, this is where I stand."

"Ha ha……"

Barkley and Kenny Smith laughed.

Magic Johnson then said: "Actually, I think the Lakers can play if Wolverine doesn't play fast breaks."

Barkley burst out laughing, then said, "Then unless the league makes special rules to restrict Wolverine from playing fast breaks."

Magic Johnson also laughed, which of course was impossible.

Kenny Smith said: "If we just discuss the situation where the Wolverines lose their fast break ability, I also think the Lakers have a chance."

Barkley nodded and said, "A guy who can run 9.91 meters in 120 seconds, is a super center weighing kilograms, has superhuman strength, and has the ability to shoot accurately off the backboard, then he is a bug in the NBA."

In the player tunnel, the starting lineups of both teams met.

"Hey, Yao Ming, congratulations. After five seasons, you finally made it to the finals." He Zhongqiu shouted from a distance.

"Thank you for your congratulations." Dayao said unhappily.

He Zhongqiu came up to Kobe and said, "How about it, Kobe, are you sure you can win the championship this time?"

"of course."

Kobe, who was full of morale, said unconvincedly.

He Zhongqiu smiled and said, "Our tactics today are fast-paced offense and defense. How do you deal with it?"

"Hehe, even if you win in that case, it would still be an unfair victory." Dayao said helplessly.

"Haha, why do I smell the scent of an old sauerkraut jar?" He Zhongqiu laughed.

"I'm out."

Depressed Yao Ming walked towards the exit. "Wolverine, you may not win." Kobe said as he walked away.

He Zhongqiu shouted from behind: "Kobe, you guys can be the second, but don't even think about being the first. Not to mention Yao Ming, even if peak O'Neal teamed up with you, I can still beat you."

"Humph!"

Kobe was so angry that his face turned black and he quickened his pace. He really didn't want to stay with He Zhongqiu anymore. It was too infuriating.

"Champion! Champion! Champion..."

"Wolverine! Wolverine! Wolverine..."

When He Zhongqiu made his final appearance, 20,000 Knicks fans stood up and cheered at the top of their lungs.

Zhang Heli said excitedly to CCTV's live camera: "If the Knicks win four consecutive championships this year, it will create a miracle in the modern basketball history of the NBA and become the first team to win four consecutive championships.

The Knicks will become one of the greatest teams in the league, and Chulby will become one of the greatest players in the NBA, even reaching the historical status of the God of Basketball, Michael Jordan.”

He Zhongqiu high-fived at least a hundred people from the exit to the stadium. The process took at least five minutes, and most people didn't have time to talk.

As the leader of the Knicks, He Zhongqiu traditionally said a few words to boost morale before the start of the finals.

He took the microphone from the host and performed a square fist salute. Immediately, there was a warm applause from the audience and countless fans returned the salute.

Zhang Heli happily said to the CCTV camera: "Did you see it? In New York, in Madison Square Garden, in the Knicks, the Chinese atmosphere is getting stronger and stronger. Such a large-scale fist-holding salute cannot be seen in China."

At this time, the scene became a little quiet, and He Zhongqiu's voice rang out: "Knicks fans, we are about to start another title defense. At this moment, we should congratulate the Los Angeles Lakers."

"what?"

The fans were surprised. Why should we congratulate the Lakers for winning the championship?

A group of Lakers fans and coaching staff, five hundred Lakers fans who came from afar, including Lakers owner Buss and his family, were also very surprised.

David Stern, who was sitting with Old Buss and James Dolan, couldn't help but feel a little confused. Could it be that Wolverine was trying to show goodwill to the Lakers and wanted to play for the Lakers?

Wolverine’s two companies in the United States are in Hollywood, so it seems to make sense that he would want to play for the Los Angeles Lakers!
Only Yao Ming, who knew He Zhongqiu well, immediately realized that this little bastard He Zhongqiu was up to something.

The on-site commentator Bingo Boris reacted very quickly and immediately shouted: "Yes, congratulations to the Los Angeles Lakers for being the runner-up."

"Ha ha……"

Madison Square Garden suddenly burst into laughter.

"Clap clap clap..."

Jordan and a large group of other stars smiled and applauded.

"hey-hey……"

He Zhongqiu grinned wickedly and returned the microphone to the delighted host.

"Damn it, I knew this guy was up to no good." Yao Ming cursed.

Kobe clenched his teeth tightly and his eyes were murderous.

The game starts at half past eight.

He Zhongqiu and Kwame Brown jump ball and the Knicks attack.

Luo Chaoyi, who was sitting in the front row, couldn't help but feel a little regretful when he saw He Zhongqiu easily jump at least 80 centimeters high. With such a good jumping ability, if given more training time, He Zhongqiu would definitely have the ability to compete for the gold medal in the high jump at the Yanjing Olympics.

He Zhongqiu and Mo Ning entered the penalty area at the same time.

In the positional battle against the Lakers, Rick Carlisle and the coaching staff developed a strategy of…

He Zhongqiu first goes to the low post inside and tries to attack in the low post. If it doesn't work, he pulls out. Mourning, who no longer has the ability to shoot from mid-range, continues to stay in the low post and attract defense.

The outside players cooperated with the inside players to open up the defense, preventing the Lakers' outside players from having the opportunity to double-team He Zhongqiu, and creating mid-range singles opportunities for him.

By playing like this, one is to give full play to He Zhongqiu's strong low-post offense, and the other is to give full play to He Zhongqiu's mobility advantage and mid-range shooting ability in positional warfare.

In the past, He Zhongqiu strengthened his mid-range shooting because of physical fitness issues and wanted to increase his shots. But now his physical fitness is enough to support thirty or forty low-post attacks in a game, so there is no need to increase his mid-range shooting.

Of course, how to strike the right balance, whether to increase mid-range shots or increase low-post offense, is decided by He Zhongqiu himself.

In addition, play fast breaks whenever you have the chance. There is no need to hold back in the finals. The most reliable way to win is to use a devastating attack to directly defeat the Lakers.

Seeing He Zhongqiu and Mourning enter the restricted area, Yao Ming and Kwame Brown immediately approached He Zhongqiu and implemented a double-team in advance.

Being left open by the opponent, if Mourning was ten years younger, he would definitely be very angry, but now he only had the championship in his eyes and did not show any anger. He immediately moved to the right waist position and stretched out his hand to make a request.

"Whoosh!"

Nash's ball flew towards Mourning.

At this time, He Zhongqiu was using his strength to gain a piece of space under the basket amid the pressure from Yao Ming and Kwame Brown.

"Snapped!"

Mourning caught the ball.

Kwame Brown, who was closer to him, had to give up the double-team and turned around to defend, but at this moment, he pushed with both hands, and the ball flew high, flew over Kwame Brown's head, and flew towards the basket.

"call!"

He Zhongqiu soared into the air with the sound of wind, grabbed the ball with both hands, and smashed it towards the basket.

"boom!"

"Oh ho!"

As the dunk went off, Madison Square Garden erupted in cheers.

"Yeah, an alley-oop slam dunk! From the performance of Alonzo Mourning and Wolverine." The live commentator Harry Cost shouted excitedly.

In the live studio, Barkley praised: "Very good inside cooperation, making full use of the opportunity of Alonso being left open, using his catch to break the Lakers' early double-team on the Wolverines."

Kenny Smith said: "Yao was front-guarding the Wolverines, so the Knicks used Mourning as a staging post.

I'm curious, if the Knicks continue to play like this, will the Lakers double-team the Wolverines in the future? "

(End of this chapter)