The evening of May 15, 2002

Game 6 of the Western Conference Semi-Finals kicked off at Staples Center.

O'Neal was absent, and the Lakers were left with Kobe Bryant to rely on, and Los Angeles fans were counting on him to save the team.

Over the past year, Kobe, who is diligent and more entertaining the audience, has won many fans. O'Neal's big mouth and the defeat by Mo Mengchen in the finals for two consecutive years disappointed the fans. They need a brand new hero.

Is anyone more suitable than Kobe?

Young and extremely aggressive, just like Michael Jordan at the time.

You know, Michael Jordan is the only player to beat Mo Mengchen for two consecutive years. If Kobe can become Jordan, they can defeat the Pistons.

Lakers fans are dreaming about spring and autumn, but reality finally wakes them up from their dreams.

The final whistle sounded.

108 to 95

The Lakers, who were at home, lost 13 points to the Kings.

Although Kobe scored a game-high 42 points, Nowitzki and McGrady joined forces on the opposite side. When the touch was blooming, the king was unstoppable.

The dream of a championship is shattered. The Lakers' hearts are scattered, as if the champion should be handed over to them. O'Neal was injured, Kobe was unable to support himself, and the role players had their own thoughts.

Kobe was unable to break through the layers of double-teams with three heads and six arms. The King finally avenged his previous shame and defeated the Ok Lakers, which was comparable to crossing Mount Everest for them.

At the end of the game, McGrady took off her jersey hard, and it felt as exciting as if they had won the finals.

Kobe sat on the bench, tears burst out from his eyes, and the photographer clearly recorded this shot. This was the first time Kobe cried in public on the court.

Is he crying for this failure?

Maybe, but not all.

If he cannot lead the team to win, the battle between him and O'Neal's boss cannot be concluded. He missed the opportunity to prove himself and wasted the whole year of hard work.

For him, it was really unacceptable.

In another group of Western Conference semi-finals, the Spurs and the Trail Blazers played to the end, narrowly won with 2 points, and successfully advanced to the Western Conference Finals.

Unlike the suffocating atmosphere of the West, the East has already decided on the teams in the division finals.

The Pistons and the 76ers are two high mountains in the east.

Before the division finals began, the league announced the winners of the major awards this season.

Mo Mengchen is the biggest winner.

Scoring King, assisting King, annual first team and annual second defense.

This is his third consecutive year in the first team of the year and his first time in his career to be selected for the best defensive team. Although it is the second team, it is also a kind of affirmation to him.

Hill, who was in the same team, squeezed out Kevin Garnett and was selected for the first team of the year, but lost to Garnett and Duncan in the competition for the first defense of the year, and was selected for the second defense of the year.

A team has two super giants with both offense and defense, which is the configuration of the Bulls in the 1990s.

In addition to Momonchen and Hill, there was another person who had another appearance that caused Joe Dumas to suffer huge criticism.

Ben Wallace was strongly elected as the best defensive player of the year, the fastest-progress player of the year.

In other words, Big Ben is recognized as the No. 1 defensive player in the NBA in the 2001-2002 season. The Pistons let go of the NBA's best defensive player without any gains.

Just for...well, a big luxury tax.

Wallace always wanted to stay with the Pistons, but he wanted a maximum salary contract, which was a recognition of his ability. The Pistons did not want to give it to him. The outside world interpreted this behavior as saving money - in fact, it was because they wanted to play Princeton instead - but in other people's eyes, the Pistons did not need to save money. They have made a lot of money just by relying on advertising and sponsors in recent years, and signed a record broadcast contract. Not only did they make a lot of money, but when the league concluded the year-end, the Pistons also had to pay some money to help those losing teams.

He is obviously very rich, but he gave up the best defensive player of the year for the sake of luxury tax?

Joe Dumas was in a good mood, drinking happy water in the office, watching the unlucky documents, listening to the flattering compliments, carefree, his life was so leisurely and comfortable that he thought he was living in a dream, complaining all day long that it was not challenging to do things, and hoped to have some excitement.

That's right, the excitement is coming.

Dumas was collectively mocked by media outside Detroit. As for their own media, they did not mock them. What they said was more serious than ridicule. They politely scolded Dumas for being rich and kept accusing him of money, and the more unpleasant ones, they directly greeted him in terms of IQ.

Dumas couldn't say anything about his suffering.

What could he say? He could only endure it silently and wait until the night to call Mo Mengchen to complain.

It was Dumas and Momonchen's unanimous decision to let Wallace go, and now it has proved that this decision is not wrong. It seems that the Pistons are losing money. If Wallace stays, he will definitely not find a role under Princeton's system. Moreover, the indirect rebounding system within the Pistons will reduce his data by more than half, and he will no longer have the opportunity to let the world know how good his defense is.

If he stayed at the Piston, he wouldn't have been able to achieve these honors.

Letting him go can be said to be a win-win situation, but the Pistons seem to lose a little, after all, nothing has been gained.

Mo Mengchen expressed deep sympathy for Dumas, and after hanging up the phone, he couldn't help laughing.

After that, the Western Conference Finals started first.

The King's running and bombing faces the Spurs' double towers. The King plays the style of a running and bombing team. It is a different kind of running and bombing than the Pistons. It is quite free and the superstars can play whatever they want.

However, it is generally believed that Bruce Bowen's footsteps against Arenas is a key point in changing the trend of the game.

That was the third quarter of the game. After Arenas scored two consecutive three-pointers, Bowen defended him.

His defense has reached its peak, and Arenas made a strong three-pointer. This time, it’s a bad thing.

The moment he landed, Arenas stepped on Bowen's feet.

Bowen acted innocently, and the Spurs were extremely angry.

"If I could play, I would break his foot! I promise I would!" Popovich couldn't control his temper and squirted Bowen's dirty movements after the game.

"Popovich has always been a coach I respect very much. It is a pity to hear him say this. I didn't mean it. The game video can be used as a testimony. Can't the referee not punishing me with additional punishment?" Bowen's response to Popovich angered the fat men in San Antonio.

A verbal battle between Sacramento and San Antonio was kicked off.

What else is more ironic than this scene? Bole and Qianlima in their previous life have become enemies now.

The West played a story at the beginning, how could the East fall behind?

May 19

The curtain opened in Detroit.

Empire Axis Arena

The Pistons met with the 76ers for two consecutive years in the Eastern Conference Finals.

Momonchen and Hill walked to the midfield, stepped on the team logo that they had defended to the death, and shook hands with Duncan and Iverson.

"I hope that when I finish the game, I can see your tears forming a bridge." Iverson said to Mo Mengchen.

"If I could shed tears, it would be for you." Mo Mengchen held Iverson's palm tightly, "You are a group of heroic opponents."

Upon hearing this, Hill almost couldn't help laughing.

After saying that, the two men turned around and retreated.

After the All-Stars finished the last game with the Pistons before the weekend, the 76ers realized that the lineup was insufficient and sought reinforcement at No. 1, but failed.

Because except for Duncan and Iverson, their book lineup is extremely talented and there is no hot product that other teams want, so they naturally cannot do business.

Now, they have to play with obviously flawed rosters and Pistons.

Iverson, Snow, Mark Harplin, Coleman and Duncan against the Pistons Momont Dun, Ginobili, Hill, Rashid and Curry.

Duncan is responsible for jumping the ball.

Curry stood in front of Shi Buddha and suddenly found a strange smile on his face - a superstar like Tim Duncan would never laugh for no reason. Is there any deep meaning?

Curry frowned and thought. Just as he was traveling around the sky, the referee threw the ball into the air, and then the ball was snapped away by Duncan.

"What are you doing?" Mo Mengchen shouted.

When Curry reacted, the 76ers' offense had already hit outside his three-point line. Iverson shook left and right and was straightforward. Although Mo Mengchen's pace was fast, he could not keep up with his straight acceleration. The space was too small, making it easier for the side holding the ball to launch an attack.

In a blink of an eye, the fierce flame turned into an offensive blade, and Iverson scored a layup and scored his first goal in the Eastern Conference Finals.
Chapter completed!