Bishop of the Devil

Recruitment for the Boilermakers has now come to an end.

At the end of Black March, the Boilermakers defeated their opponents in the NCAA finals again and won three consecutive NCAA championships!

This is the third consecutive NCAA championship, and the Boilermakers are definitely the hottest team in the NCAA today.

Under such circumstances, it would be easy to recruit new people...

Because when Richard recruited new players, he gave many substitutes opportunities to perform. After the old Philip took over, he also implemented Richard's strategy.

For example, at the No. 1 position, the starting player is Billups, but Bibby also got one-third of the starting opportunities.

These target players naturally have no reason to reject the boilermakers...

Bearded Davis was taken care of first, and Brownie Jr. promised to guarantee a third of the starting games.

Secondly, Odom and Brand agreed without saying a word...

What Richard didn't expect was that Artest and Larry Hughes, after some further consideration, also made the decision to join the Boilermakers!

This means that in the list of seven given by Richard, except for Tracy McGrady and Shane Battier, all others have been successfully recruited!

Five super newcomers have been added, making the Boilermaker's strength even more terrifying...

In Richard's first season coaching the Boilermakers, he had a four-star lineup, and in his second season, he had a nine-star lineup.

In the first season after Richard left, the Boilermakers were a seven-star lineup, and now they have become a ten-star lineup!

Simply terrible!

…

Richard was naturally quite satisfied with this result.

The stronger the Boilermaker is, the more stable Richard's rear base camp will be.

…

The Trail Blazers coaching staff spent two days discussing how to target the Lakers.

In the end, there was not much gain. The only gain was Zhang Weiping's crooked approach...

And this crooked way may not necessarily come in handy. Maybe it is not impossible for the Blazers to steal the chicken but lose the rice.

The current plan can only be to take one step at a time.

…

Los Angeles, the City of Angels!

The entire Trail Blazers team, plus the coaching staff and logistics, had checked into the hotel two days in advance.

In the next few days, they will stay in Los Angeles until they play the first two games of the first round of the playoffs.

The first round of the playoffs currently adopts a five-game system. If the Trail Blazers lose the next two home games of the Lakers, the situation will be more miserable...

The players are very conscious. Although Los Angeles is prosperous, they are not in the mood to go outside for excitement.

…

On April 23, the Lakers faced the Portland Trail Blazers at Staples Stadium.

"Guys, relax, there's no need to be so nervous!"

"I believe God must be on our side!"

Richard clapped his hands to boost the morale of the players.

"Our starting lineup is No. 4 for this game. Ben, look for a chance to try O'Neal's free throw shooting skills after the start!"

"Rashid, Robinson, and Kobe, you three, do your best to defend the perimeter!"

There were still fifteen minutes left before the start of the game, and Richard gave another careful warning.

He played against the Lakers four times in the regular season, and Richard came up with a different starting lineup each time.

Among them, the No. 4 starting lineup is considered to be the most effective one. Sabonis is at the center, Ben is at the power forward, and the remaining three are Rasheed, Robinson and Kobe.

The old Sabonis has good tonnage and strength. When facing O'Neal, the effect is better than the current big one.

But the disadvantage is that Lao Sa cannot hold out for too long. If he keeps fighting with O'Neal under the basket, he will be able to maintain his peak state for 25 minutes...

Beyond this time period, Lao Sa will not be able to survive.

My body can't bear it. After all, I'm so old and still have all kinds of old diseases.

…

Players from both sides began to enter.

Richard was relatively relaxed. He knew that it was useless to be nervous. The rest would depend on the performance of the players under him.

"Dudududu!"

The referee blew the whistle to start the game, and the originally noisy Staples Center suddenly became quiet.

This is the first playoff game since the Lakers introduced O'Neal.

Lakers fans are naturally looking forward to it. The situation of the Lakers is actually similar to that of the Trail Blazers. After they joined the Trail Blazers in the Western Conference Finals in the 1990-91 season, they have not touched the floor of the Western Conference Finals in the past few years and have been lingering in the first round. …

The arrival of O'Neal now makes Lakers fans wonder, will this most dominant super insider in history lead their home team to defeat the Bulls?

…

Sao Paulo and Shark jumped the ball, and Shark got the ball for the Lakers in the first offensive round.

Crazy Fan held the ball and faced Kobe's defensive push. After the ball reached the frontcourt, it was directly transferred to Eddie Jones's hands.

Eddie Jones took advantage of his teammates' pick-and-roll and took a mid-range shot, but it was nothing.

O'Neal, who was under the basket, pushed past Sabonis to get the offensive rebound, then turned over and dunked directly.

"Rebound!"

"Rebound!"

Richard stood on the sidelines and reminded Big Ben loudly.

If O'Neal keeps getting offensive rebounds in the opponent's offensive rounds, it will undoubtedly be a nightmare for the Trail Blazers...

So Richard would rather let Ben let go of his opponent Campbell than let O'Neal easily grab the offensive rebound!

Ben nodded towards Richard.

…

The Blazers' offensive round is handled by Rasheed. His stable mid-range shot is already the most reliable weapon in the Blazers' offensive position.

"Whoa!" Rashid, an anti-aircraft gun, turned over and hit a mid-range shot.

Rasheed's hit made Richard relieved. The situation he was most afraid of was to be hit by the Lakers at the beginning. In that case, it would definitely be quite fatal for the new team of Trail Blazers!

The new army is not as tough as those old strong teams and is at an absolute disadvantage at the beginning, which has a great impact on the morale of the new army.

…

The Trail Blazers players on the court are very focused, especially the three outsiders including Rasheed, who are quite good at the defensive end. The Lakers themselves cannot play fast breaks unless they are willing to give up O'Neal, a killer at the basket. Fly from the backcourt to the frontcourt and take a direct shot...

Or O'Neal also joins the fast break, runs back and forth desperately, and then plays for twenty minutes out of breath due to the huge tonnage...

The Lakers can't get up and can't be fast. In this case, the Trail Blazers' three anti-aircraft guns on the outside are very comfortable to defend.

The Lakers' backcourt is their team's main output point, except for O'Neal. However, due to the excellent defense of the three anti-aircraft guns, their offensive efficiency after the opening was not outstanding, and could even be said to be a bit bad...

Eddie Jones only hit 1 of his 4 shots in the opening game and scored two points...

Crazy Fan didn't go crazy today. He missed three shots in the opening game and was intercepted by Kobe Bryant when he passed the ball to O'Neal.