Now the Trail Blazers and Lakers have reached a score of 1:2, and the Lakers are currently one game ahead.

It seems that this matchup has little to do with the Grizzlies. No matter who advances, they may not be a match for the Grizzlies, but Jiang Dongbing has a bit of a headache.

The main reason is that this Lakers team is a little different from the Lakers under normal circumstances.

Under normal circumstances, the Lakers would have already fired Rodman, but now that the playoffs have begun, Rodman is still with the Lakers, and the Lakers have no intention of terminating Rodman's contract.

Jiang Dongbing didn't know if the butterfly effect had occurred due to his own reasons. He only knew that this matter was extremely difficult now.

If nothing else goes wrong, it shouldn't be a big problem for the Lakers to defeat the Trail Blazers. Next, the Grizzlies will meet the Lakers in the Western Conference semifinals.

Jiang Dongbing is now worried that he will capsize in the gutter and lose to the Lakers with Rodman.

Rodman, regardless of his off-court performance, is actually a very dedicated player. In classic NBA rescue scenes, Rodman will definitely have a place where he flies to save the ball in parallel.

As long as he is on the court, he can use all his energy to grab boards and defend like crazy.

"Jiang, the Lakers advanced. They defeated the Trail Blazers 3:1." Stewart walked into Jiang Dongbing's office and informed Jiang Dongbing of the Western Conference playoff results.

"I understand, Mr. Jackson." Jiang Dongbing nodded and said.

"What's wrong, are you worried about us losing to the Lakers?" Stewart couldn't help but ask as he saw Jiang Dongbing's sad face.

Jiang Dongbing nodded silently. He was indeed worried about this matter now. After finally getting to this point, he didn't want to be intercepted by the Lakers.

Stewart smiled and waved his hand, "Don't worry too much, you have done a perfect job this season."

"Even if we lose to the Lakers in the Western Conference semifinals, the boss can actually accept it. We are an extremely young team. Players like Jackson and Miller still have three-year rookie contracts and will have a lot of opportunities in the future.

.”

"So, don't put too much pressure on yourself, just do your best."

Jiang Dongbing smiled bitterly. Bosses McCaw and Stewart were optimistic and didn't seem to be thinking about winning the championship at all.

Maybe the weaklings are used to it. Now even if the Grizzlies have the best record in the league, they don't dare to hope too much for the championship.

And McCaw's idea is also very simple. The Grizzlies are an extremely young team now. If they don't win the championship this year, they still have a great chance to win the championship next year. If not, there will be another year after that.

As long as the Grizzlies can maintain their current box office appeal, McCaw feels that even if they don't win the championship, it won't be a big deal.

"Mr. Jackson, do you think it's possible for the Clippers to sell David Taillon to us?" Jiang Dongbing suddenly asked a strange question.

Stewart was speechless. He didn't know why Jiang Dongbing suddenly had such an idea in his mind.

"Jiang, nothing is impossible in this league. As long as you give a high enough bargaining chip to any player on any team, it is impossible not to get it," Stewart said eloquently.

"But what do we need David Taillon for? I don't think he is better than Miller."

Jiang Dongbing shook his head. In fact, starting from next season, this league will become the Lakers' world. To be precise, it will be O'Neal's world. This situation will last for at least several years.

Without a player who could compete head-on with O'Neal, Jiang Dongbing felt very insecure.

In his mind, there is probably only one player in the league who can truly say he has the potential to compete head-on with O'Neal, David Taillon.

Although Big Ben has also performed on the court in defending O'Neal alone, his defensive effect is not very good. In many cases, he needs teammates to help defend.

Anyway, Jiang Dongbing can't think of any player who can single-handedly guard O'Neal in his prime. At least there is no such player among the current players in the league and the following 1999 draft.

David Tailong can be said to be the only choice, so Jiang Dongbing naturally turned his attention to David.

However, in Stewart's view, although David's performance improved in the second half of the season, he was not necessarily that talented. He only averaged 14 points and 7.8 rebounds per game throughout the season, which is not very good.

It's bad, but compared to his draft prospects, it must be considered relatively bad.

The most critical thing is that David Taillon often makes some very low-level mistakes in the game, which also makes those who are optimistic about David very disappointed.

If Stewart really had to choose, he would rather have Miller than consider David.

After all, Miller still has a strong ability to pass the basket, which David does not have at all.

Jiang Dongbing did not refute Stewart's statement because there was really no need to do so. Judging from the current performance of the two, Miller was indeed better than David.

But that's just because David hasn't been further trained by himself. If David is under his hands, maybe his concentration on the game will become much better, and if his strength reaches the limit, he will definitely be able to compete with O'Neal.

…

Two days later, the Western Conference semifinals began at the Grizzlies' home court.

The venue was packed with fans, and the attendance rate directly broke the Grizzlies' team history record. For a team like the Grizzlies that has only been established for a few years, various records will definitely be broken easily.

O'Neal's appearance set off a burst of cheers at the scene. As the most popular center player in the league, Vancouver also has many O'Neal fans.

O'Neal also waved to the fans at the scene, with a smile on his face.

"Defend the opponent's perimeter, be sure to defend it well, and use your strongest defense!"

"We have reached this point and we must not let down our guard. Believe me, the Lakers are definitely our biggest opponent on the road to winning the championship!"

Jiang Dongbing was afraid that the players would underestimate the strength of the Lakers, so he urged the players to cheer up before the game.

Jackson and other new players are very excited at the moment and can't wait for the game to start immediately.

"Dudududu!"

The game officially begins!

O'Neal immediately showed his dominant strength under the basket at the beginning, beating Miller twice in succession and successfully scored four points.

The Grizzlies made two shots at the beginning and missed both of them, so the situation was somewhat unfavorable.

Judging from the situation, Miller is obviously no match for O'Neal, and his defense is not a great threat to O'Neal at his peak.

As time passed by, Jiang Dongbing's face became more and more sad.

The Grizzlies' outside touch was quite bad tonight, and Ou was also invisible on the offensive end due to Rodman's crazy defense.
Chapter completed!