Bishop of the Devil

It is no exaggeration to say that if Larry Bird wants to be safe now, he will definitely make a lot of money if he sells the draft picks in his hands...

For this reason, he even made a special phone call to thank Richard.

Patting his chest, he promised that no matter what trouble Richard caused in the future, he, Larry Bird, would stand by Richard's side as soon as possible...

Although he got the draft picks, Bird was still confused. If he had made a mistake or had bad luck, all four draft picks might be wasted!

When the draft begins, I still have to beg Richard to help him control the eyes...

Even if Richard only helps him eliminate one or two target players, it will still be a huge profit.

…

Naturally, Richard would not help Larry Bird select someone. He would go to hell, that is, help him eliminate one or two options. This trivial matter was enough for Richard to gain Larry Bird's most determined friendship.

Now Richard has realized the importance of allies after what happened last time.

With his temperament, he will definitely make enemies in this alliance. Now that he has made enemies, Richard is unlikely to seek peace, so he can only defeat them and torture the other party into submission...

Fight a group of people and win over a group of people. This is Richard's plan, a plan that will allow him to completely gain a foothold in this alliance.

…

At the end of February, Richard led the team to San Antonio to challenge the Spurs away from home.

In the previous schedule, the Trail Blazers had played against the Spurs three times, and the outcome was a bit bad, with only a record of 1 win and 2 losses!

However, there was one defeat at the beginning of the season. Richard and the main players in the team were suspended, so the real record of the two teams was a tie, with one win and one loss.

The next game was the last meeting between the two sides this season, so Richard naturally took it very seriously.

The Bulls dynasty is about to collapse, and in the next ten years, most of the championships will be won by the Spurs and Lakers. If Richard wants to get a piece of the pie, he will naturally have to overcome the Spurs.

…

There is no doubt that the Spurs should be one of the shabbiest teams in the league. It's not that their lineup is not good, but that the market is too small and the owner is poor...

The Spurs boss is currently worth only 200 million US dollars, which is not as high as some players.

But it will be very difficult for this shabby team to compete with the wealthy Lakers in the next ten years.

This also shows Popovich's ability. If it were another head coach, it would be difficult to achieve Popovich's achievements.

Although Richard has led his team to play against the Spurs many times, there is actually no communication between him and Popovich.

Richard himself is not the kind of person who likes to get close to others, and Popovich may not have a good impression of Richard because of the Larry Brown incident.

…

"We are still the same lineup as last time. Ben, remember, guard Tim Duncan. This is the most important task I give you!"

"If you can limit Duncan's offense, then we will be the final winner of the game!"

Richard said to Ben with a solemn expression.

In Richard's opinion, this is the wisest choice...

These two people had played against each other in the finals, fighting in seven games, creating the lowest ratings in the NBA Finals. It was not only known as the most constipated finals since the introduction of the 24-second rule...

In this round of constipation battle, Duncan was quite uncomfortable being defended by Ben. His shooting percentage per game was only an embarrassing 41%, and his scoring average was only 20 points per game. It can be said that Ben's defense against Duncan was quite successful!

You must know that when Duncan entered the finals for the first time in his career, he averaged a terrifying 27 points per game and shot nearly 54% from the field...

When defending O'Neal, he doesn't have an overwhelming advantage in strength. He has a huge disadvantage in terms of tonnage and height, so it is naturally difficult to restrain O'Neal.

But Duncan is different. Big Ben's strength has a good advantage over Duncan. Although he is not as good as Duncan in terms of tonnage, his strength can easily make up for it. In addition, the height disadvantage is not as big as facing O'Neal, so Big Ben can naturally exert it. Show all your defensive strength without compromising at all.

"Don't worry, coach, I won't let him wreak havoc in our penalty area this time!" Ben nodded and said to Richard.

The last time the Trail Blazers lost against the Spurs, it was because of Duncan's explosion. He scored 32 points and 14 rebounds...

If it weren't for Duncan's outstanding performance, the Spurs might not have won that game.

"Jermaine, when you are facing David, remember, be smart on the defensive end and don't get yourself into foul trouble!" Richard reminded Xiao Ou again...

Admiral David Robinson can be said to be one of the best foul-drawing insiders in NBA history, averaging 8.3 free throws per game in his career.

And O'Neal is 9.3 times. It seems that the Admiral has fewer free throws than O'Neal...

But there is a reason why some of O'Neal's free throws were cut. As for the Admiral's free throw shooting rate of about 75%, no one would use the shark-cutting tactic against him.

In the three duels with the Spurs, O'Brien suffered in this regard. In the end of the three games, he received more than five fouls, and even left the game with six fouls.

At this moment, Richard naturally needs to give a good reminder, lest O'Brien leaves the field before half the game is finished...

…

Because Sports Car and Yao Dao have not joined the Spurs yet, the Trail Blazers only need to take care of the Spurs' twin towers. As long as they can guard against the Spurs' twin towers, the game will basically be won.

The only players in the Spurs lineup who have scored more than 20 points are David Robinson and Duncan. The remaining player with the highest score is young general Avery Johnson, who averages 10 points per game...

This little general is actually quite legendary. Like Bowen, his No. 6 jersey was retired by the Spurs. This is a great honor for a role player...

From this point of view, the Spurs are actually quite humane. It is basically impossible for other teams to retire the jerseys of role players like Bowen or Junior, even if they have played on this team for many years.

After his playing career ended, the young general also joined the coaching industry and contributed to the ranks of Spurs coaches.

In the 2005-06 season, he led the Mavericks to a good regular season record and was personally awarded the best coach of the season. However, he was unable to lead the Mavericks to a breakthrough in the playoffs.

Later, he was fired by the evil capitalist Cuban...

Rick Carlisle took over from him and led the Mavericks to win the championship.