On June 7, the Lakers and the Cavaliers moved to Cleveland to start the third game of the finals. The Cavaliers were already fighting against each other and were facing a life-and-death juncture!

In the 60-year history of the NBA, no team has ever been able to turn the tables at 0:3. The Cavaliers also know that once they lose the third game, it means there is no hope for the entire series.

No one wants to work hard for nearly a hundred games and work hard for a whole season, but in the end he loses the finals. It is better to go on vacation after the regular season.

After losing the second game of the finals, the Cavaliers took a chartered flight back to Cleveland overnight and were in closed training for several consecutive days. The importance they attached to the third game can be imagined.

…………

On the plane from Los Angeles to Cleveland, Xiao Feng called out Kuppchek, Scott, Kobe and Mark for a meeting to discuss the strategies and tactics of the third game.

The organizational structure of the Lakers is somewhat different from other teams. As a core player, Kobe also has the identity of a boss, which often requires Xiao Feng’s recognition within the team.

Usually, Xiao Feng rarely interferes in the team's daily operations, training and competitions, and only intervenes in the team's strategy under some special circumstances. In fact, this is also Xiao Feng's practice in managing the company.

In the Lakers, Kupchek is dealing with the team's daily operations, ticket sales, and corporate marketing, while the team's internal training and tactical arrangements are hosted by Scott, and Xiao Feng is more like a normal core player.

Of course, because Xiao Feng and Kobe have special identities, they have more say in the team's tactics. Often when they are on the court, Scott rarely adjusts their tactics. Some people say that Scott is well-known for his Zen master and is usually calm on the sidelines. In fact, only Kobe and Xiao Feng know that he doesn't need to worry about anything on the court.

"In this game, the Cavaliers must work hard, so we will help them and bring the game back to Los Angeles!" After the others sat down, Xiao Feng directly stated his decision.

With the Lakers' overall strength and competitive state, Xiao Feng is not worried about capsizing in the gutter. After all, after two finals, he has already gained a real understanding of the Cavaliers' strength.

Although the "Big Three Cavaliers" has a great reputation, James is at the level of a top NBA star, and Love and Irving are only the first-class star, far from meeting the standards of the "Big Three". Other players in addition are average. The reason why the Cavaliers can enter the Finals for three consecutive years is because of the weaker strength of the Eastern Conference team. If the Cavaliers are in the Western Conference, they may still be ranked below the Warriors and the Spurs, which is not worth worrying.

In contrast, in the Lakers, in addition to Xiao Feng and Kobe, the two superstars, Mark and UAE, who started, are also top-notch All-Star stars, including Randall, Towns, Jeremy Lin and others. In the past two years, most of them have only seen Xiao Feng and Kobe combined with two swords and defeated the four sides, but they rarely noticed that behind the Lakers' victory, there is the silent support of these powerful players.

According to technical statistics within the Lakers, the substitute lineup has never been at a disadvantage when competing with the opponent's substitute, which is an important reason why the Lakers can easily win.

Based on his full confidence in the team's strength, Xiao Feng does not think that the Cavaliers can cause too much trouble to the Lakers in the series. Besides, when it is really a critical moment, Xiao Feng will start his personal offensive mode and win the game with his own strength.

Now, Xiao Feng is considering not to win in the third game, otherwise the 3:0 score may cause the Cavaliers to collapse and the game will not be back to Los Angeles.

According to the finals 2-2-1-1-1, Xiao Feng naturally hopes that the team can win the championship at the Staples Arena and send Kobe off with the best gift.

Of course, this is not only Xiao Feng's personal wish, but also the collective idea of ​​Lakers fans and sponsors. Even though the finals are so thrilling, Xiao Feng has to walk the tightrope.

"Will it be too dangerous to give up the third game?" Kupchek was a little worried. After all, the score of 2:1 is a very subtle existence, and the Cavaliers may have more hope and fighting spirit because of this.

As the team's general manager, Kupchek naturally hopes to play one or two more games in the Staples Arena in the finals, after all, this means tens of millions or even hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue. If the finals in previous years, the ticket revenue for a game was about 10 million US dollars, but if Kobe's retirement factor was added, the ticket price soared by 5 times, which is really a once-in-a-lifetime experience!

However, Kupchek still hopes that the team can win the championship without any danger. After all, for the team's long-term future, a championship trophy is far more important than 100 million US dollars.

"The Cavaliers are fighting fiercely. We have an advantage in physical fitness. There will be no problem in the fourth game!" Being able to hold a retirement match at Staples Arena and win the championship is a huge temptation for Kobe.

Kobe also carefully analyzed the advantages and disadvantages between the Lakers and the Cavaliers, and felt that giving up a game is not the end of the world, and he cannot sweep, and a 4:1 score is enough to win the championship.

However, Kobe and Xiao Feng would give up their fourth game after 3:0, and now they have changed to the third game, which seems to have little impact.

"Let's take a look at the situation in the first half first. If the opponent fights hard, we will give up. If the opponent has lost his fighting spirit, we will do it better!" Although Scott was commented by the outside media as 'picking the championship', he still has some coaching ability on the spot. After all, he led the Nets and Kidd into the finals before.

After discussing it, the four of them finally agreed with Xiao Feng's decision and prepared to give up a game in Cleveland and finally save the suspense of the finals to Los Angeles!

Other players on the same plane did not notice the actions of the team's senior management. After all, although this kind of voluntary abandonment of the game is something that the NBA is looking forward to, it cannot be put on the table.

…………

Cleveland, the 45th largest city in the United States on the southern shore of Lake Erie, has a downtown population of less than 400,000, which is not at the same level as supercities such as Los Angeles and New York.

Although the Cavaliers have reached the finals in a row in recent years, this is not the city's huge attraction to superstars, but because the Cavaliers' boss is unlucky and has won three No. 1 picks in a row!

Although the Cavaliers are a strong Eastern Conference team and have superstars like James, the media attention they have received and the favor of advertisers are not even as good as a bottom-line team like the Knicks.

This is also an important reason why James envys Kobe in all kinds of envy, jealousy and hatred, because Los Angeles is naturally a huge stage. Even if the Lakers have a poor record, Kobe's attention and advertising fees will not change at all.

In Kobe's career, more than $400 million in advertising revenue has made most NBA players look forward to it. This is certainly inseparable from Kobe's outstanding performance, but the bonus of the city of Los Angeles is also indispensable.

In addition to having more income, super cities are much more attractive to powerful stars than other cities. Whether it is O'Neal, Malone, Aldridge, Mark last year, etc., this factor is reflected.

The reason why the Lakers have become one of the most successful teams in NBA history is closely related to "City of Angels". After all, players are also humans, and the charm of big cities is even greater!

Cleveland is too small, but now James has no way to turn around. Could it be that he can abandon the Cavaliers again and switch to the team? If that were the case, James' sponsors would not agree. After all, this would be a great destruction to his image!

James's only way out is to win a championship trophy with the Cavaliers, which can justify himself. He is still the most powerful warrior in the league!

…………

The Lakers arrived in Cleveland one day early. The players would not walk around at this special moment. They all stayed in the Hilton Hotel and occasionally went to the gym and swimming pool to do the following.

In the NBA, nightclub culture is very popular, but it doesn't work for the Lakers. After all, Xiao Feng is a traditional Chinese man and will not take his players to go to nightclubs to have fun. In addition, the team's personnel composition also makes the relationship in the locker room quite harmonious, and Lakers players rarely make negative news.

The three Chinese are all good men at home, so it is not easy to see the news of their bar. In addition, Kobe, Mark and others are all watched very seriously by their wives. Towns and Randle are still rookies, so naturally they will not be as indulging in the same mood as some old men.

For media reporters who followed the Lakers, the Lakers' performance on the court is exciting enough, but it is even more dull than the Spurs off the court. Perhaps this is the impact of Oriental culture on the team?

…………

In the third game of the finals, the number of international media reporters who came to Cleveland to interview dropped sharply to 200, and more reporters stayed in Los Angeles. This shows that Cleveland is not very attractive to journalists.

Although the Lakers did not announce that they would bring the Finals back to Los Angeles, the various decoration activities of sponsors at Staples Arena have not ended and have long become a well-known secret.

Whether it is due to respect for Kobe, economic factors or attention, returning to Los Angeles to the finals is the best choice, so these smart reporters will not all arrive in Cleveland.

When James received the number of international media reporters applying for interviews, he felt very disappointed. No matter how hard he tried, he would not make Cleveland an international metropolis!

This also made James' fighting spirit burn. He vowed to teach the Lakers a lesson at home so that they could understand that the script would not continue to act according to their ideas!

At 8 pm on June 77, Cleveland local time, the third game of the NBA 2016-17 season finals officially kicked off, with the Cavaliers playing against the Lakers at home.

At the beginning, James, Irving and Love both fought fiercely. After all, if they lose in this game, the blow to the team's morale will undoubtedly be huge. No one wants to climb out of the 0:3 pit. If it is 1:2, there will be a lot of play in the subsequent game!

Faced with the fierce playing style of the Cavaliers, Kobe and Xiao Feng consciously avoided the edge. They did not take many moves, but were more involved in using the inside of Al-Union, Mark and other insiders to entangle with the Cavaliers.

Although she has decided to give up this game, Xiao Feng is unwilling to do it too obviously. After all, this will affect the image of the team and teammates. It is best to be difficult to solve and finally decide the outcome.

Kobe understood Xiao Feng's intentions very thoroughly, and he struggled to face James's attack, and the scores of the two teams also rose alternately!

The fierce battle between the two teams undoubtedly made the audience feel even happier. After all, a one-sided game is undoubtedly a disaster for neutral fans.

The game continued until the last five minutes of the fourth quarter, and the Lakers led by 3 points, which also made the field more intense. Mark and Towns had already left the court with six fouls.

Losing the pillar of the sky in the inside, the Lakers' disadvantages gradually emerged. Although Kobe and Xiao Feng's accuracy outside were still not bad, the Cavaliers still overtook the score!

In the end, the Cavaliers defeated the Lakers 112:108 at home, tying the finals to 1:2, which still gives the Cavaliers more expectations for the future.

In this game, James played for an astonishing 45 minutes, almost non-stop, scoring 30 points, 15 rebounds and 12 assists, leading the team to win. On the Lakers, Xiao Feng's triple-double and Kobe's 32 points were not bad, but the performance of other players was a little bit worse. Only Jeremy Lin and Albert scored in double points, Mark and Towns were troubled by fouls and struggled!

The Lakers' defeat has given the media more preparation, because Kobe's retirement game will not be played in Cleveland at least, and perhaps the script has been arranged long ago!

The team's victory made Cleveland a sea of ​​joy, but the Cavaliers fans were only happy for two days because in the game on the 9th night, the Lakers defeated the Cavaliers again and got the match point!

Although the score of 1:3 is not as desperate as 0:3, in NBA history, only 8 teams have made a comeback in the playoffs, not even in the finals!

In terms of probability, it is already very small for the Cavaliers to make a comeback, and it is more reasonable that the next game will be played in Los Angeles. I believe that the Lakers all hope to be able to pay tribute to the retirement of legendary superstar Kobe in a perfect way, right?

When Kobe scored 42 points in the fourth quarter of the fourth game and widened the score to 12 points, 20,000 Cavaliers fans at the scene stood up and applauded Kobe.

Perhaps, by throwing away the factor of the home team's loss, these fans are fortunate to be the audience who witnessed Kobe's final magical performance with their own eyes, which is actually a kind of happiness!

From now on, the NBA will never see a controversial but admirable paranoid like Kobe. Even in the eyes of Clevelanders, his own James is really unable to compare with Kobe in terms of personal charm!
Chapter completed!