196. Have the opportunity to become the first coach in history
May 9.
The second game between the Thunder and the Lakers Western Conference Semi-Finals was still played at the Ford Center Arena.
The Lakers lost to the Thunder with 15 points without any suspense in the last game. Many fans have already predicted this result in advance.
The words of head coach Yang Fan after the game made Jackson's face turn blue.
It is said that in the post-match interview with the Lakers, when Jackson learned about this, he almost started to curse Yang Fan.
Although Jackson endured it at the last moment, Jackson still pushed back with a tough stance to Yang Fan's remarks.
He said that he had never seen such a rampant coach, and even said that Yang Fan's behavior had ruined the atmosphere in the league, hoping that the league could punish him for his inappropriate remarks.
Jackson has always condemned Yang Fan from a moral level, saying that Yang Fan is really arrogant and has been talking wildly at a young age.
But in Jackson's personal response, he did not just defend this round of the game, nor did he say these harsh words that he would definitely win the next few games.
So when Yang Fan learned Jackson's response, he just smiled lightly and didn't take Jackson seriously at all.
Because this guy has become unconfidence even when he speaks harshly, in Yang Fan's opinion, such a Zen master is really not to be afraid.
As for Jackson's hope that the league will punish his inappropriate remarks, it seems to fans as cute as a clown.
It’s like two people fighting, one of them loses, and the one who loses hopes that the teacher can stand up for him.
…………
After the game started, the Lakers obviously became more engaged in this game, and the defensive movements became even more intense.
Obviously, the Lakers are already angry. Even some players like Bynum may still wish to see Jackson make a fool of themselves, but they still understand the principle of both prospering and loss.
In the whole game, the Lakers not only played very tough on the offensive end and tried to cause damage to the basket many times, but also gave enough confrontation on the defensive end.
Fortunately, the home referee is still fair in calling the Lakers in some defensive actions that have significantly increased the scale.
This situation obviously made Yang Fan more satisfied. Even in more cases, the referee still deliberately or unintentionally favored the Lakers.
But Yang Fan, who knows the inside story, just puts pressure on the referee symbolically, and often makes adjustments from himself.
After the end of the third quarter, even though the Lakers were desperately trying to win the game, the Thunder still led the Lakers by 8 points and ended the competition between the two sides in the first three quarters.
Back in the last quarter, the Thunder were still very stable on the offensive end and always kept the score difference on the field at about ten.
Even if the Lakers narrowed the gap to 5 points, the Thunder will also respond with offense in the next offensive round.
As time goes on the court, the Lakers are obviously becoming more and more frustrated.
Maybe failure is not terrible, but this kind of feeling of waiting for failure is really painful.
Due to the huge psychological pressure, this led to the attack of the entire Lakers on Kobe alone in the last two minutes.
Only Kobe dares to force his attack under the Thunder's defense. Even such unreasonable attacks may make Kobe's shooting rate lower and even become the target of the blame after the game.
But Kobe had no choice at this time, because it was difficult for other players to have such sufficient confidence except him.
"Du~Du~Du"
Until the whistle sounded at the end of the game, the Thunder defeated the Lakers again at home, rewriting the total score of this round of the series to 2:0.
After the game, some of the Lakers' players still hugged the Thunder one after another.
Although Kobe and Anthony are opponents, they still meet with smiles after the game. Maybe this is the charm of competitive sports.
"Don't be too frustrated. I realized your current mood a few years ago, so it's your turn."
"By the way, Coach Yang asked me to bring you a message. He said that no one knows what will happen in the future on the road of basketball, and no one can become an immortal legend."
"So you should always be firm in your heart. He is very optimistic about you personally, but it's a pity that this is a contest between him and Phil."
In the personal hug after the game, Anthony conveyed Yang Fan's words to Kobe. As for why Anthony was asked to convey them, because with Kobe's personality, these words were obviously not what he wanted to hear.
Kobe, who heard these words, obviously paused, and when Kobe turned his sight to the Thunder coach's seat, he saw only Yang Fan's back as he left the player passage.
I don’t know if I felt something, but when Kobe turned his eyes to Yang Fan’s back, Yang Fan raised his right hand while walking, waved his back to the home court as if he was saying goodbye.
…………
With the Thunder winning two straight games in the Western Conference semi-finals, this undoubtedly forced the Lakers to a dead end.
Because in this round of the series, the Lakers were originally at a disadvantage, and the current situation made Lakers fans feel even more desperate.
At least in addition to a few hardcore fans, there are only a few fans who still believe that the Lakers can defeat the Thunder.
It’s not that the Lakers are too weak, but this Thunder team is too strong this year.
Even though the Thunder are like the Celtics in the Eastern Conference this season, there are a total of four players selected for the All-Star lineup.
But the overall strength of the Thunder is much stronger than that of the Celtics, and three of them were selected as All-Star starters, which is incomparable to the Celtics.
…………………
"To be honest, I have never been as relaxed as this year. I feel like I did nothing this season, but I ended up breaking the best record in history in a daze."
"Until now, I feel that the championship is already in front of me. Even if we haven't even finished the semi-finals, my god, I may be crazy." General Manager Prosty said happily in Yang Fan's office.
Currently, the Thunder are ahead of the Lakers 2:0, so Prosty is in a good mood in this situation.
And as he said, Prostie seemed to have done nothing this year, but the Thunder became extremely powerful and even broke the best record of 72 wins and 10 losses.
All of this looks like a dream in retrospect.
"Don't be too proud of yourself. Although I don't think anyone can win this championship in my hands, history has told us more than once that being proud of yourself is definitely not a good thing."
He responded casually to Prostie who was obviously a little fluttering, while Yang Fan continued to sit in a chair and browse the computer.
At this time, what Yang Fan showed on his computer desktop were some regular season honor predictions this year.
Although these predictions are of little use, they are still more convincing in terms of probability.
With the Western Conference semi-finals finished two games, after the next game, all the honors of this season will be announced one by one.
This is very attractive to any player or coach who has the opportunity to win the award, including Yang Fan.
Because Yang Fan led the Thunder to a record of 75 wins and 7 losses this season, Yang Fan still wants to know if he has the chance to win the NBA Best Coach Award again.
You know, no coach has ever won this award in NBA history.
After all, in addition to excellent record, the criteria for selecting the best coach are also closely related to the team's improved number of winnings.
The Thunder were already very outstanding last season, so Yang Fan was somewhat puzzled whether he could win the Best Coach Award this season.
Especially since such a thing has never happened in NBA history, this makes Yang Fan look forward to it.
Because once Yang Fan can win the Best Coach Award this season, Yang Fan will become the No. 1 coach in history. In addition to being unprecedented, there is a very likely future.
No matter what, the Thunder have achieved a 75-7 record this season, so even if the team's winning game is not that exaggerated, it is still very likely that Yang Fan can be the best coach for the rest of the year.
At least if the best coach of this season is not Yang Fan, then no matter who wins this award, other coaches in the league will definitely be scolded by fans.
As the saying goes, the sky doesn't give birth to me, and I am handsome, and I will be the eternal night...
Chapter completed!