Chapter 239 Reflection on Losing (Happy Mid-Autumn Festival)
After the All-Star Weekend, the contract extension deadline is approaching.
The second negotiation between Jeff Schwartz and Danny Ferry still ended in failure.
Because Lin Yu has decided to only accept early contract extensions at the maximum salary level, while Danny Ferry is only willing to give him a maximum of 4 years and 55 million US dollars.
The two sides just broke up.
Negotiations for an early contract extension between Rashard Lewis and the Cavaliers also collapsed. Time gradually passed after the contract extension deadline, and Danny Ferry no longer mentioned early renewal.
There's no point in mentioning it, it's no longer allowed by the rules.
The early contract extension was not reached, and the pressure was put on Danny Ferry. He had to start planning for the summer, how to free up sufficient space, and how to maintain the team's competitiveness.
Putting aside what happened in the summer, let’s just say that in the ongoing season, the Cavaliers are playing fairly smoothly, winning consecutive games and losing once in a while. It doesn’t matter.
In the remaining three games in February, the Cavaliers won all three, and the schedule went directly to March.
In March, they first lost a game to the Mavericks, and then restarted their winning streak, defeating the Raptors, Pistons, Bucks and Pacers...
After a wave of winning streak, the league's top spot seems less stable.
First, the Cavaliers are on a winning streak, and the Mavericks are also on a winning streak.
Secondly, the Mavericks have been chasing after them. In the direct confrontation between them, the Mavericks have won, and the winning gap between them has gradually narrowed.
With the Cavaliers' winning streak and Lin Yu's high-intensity special training, his off-ball attributes have gradually improved, but the improvement is not as fast as the previous improvements in three-point attributes or mid-range shooting attributes.
Much slower.
Lin Yu guessed that maybe his training method was wrong.
But he is not in a hurry. Anyway, for the time being, he is not in a hurry to use Klay's off-ball attributes. As long as he can reach full potential before the playoffs, that will be enough.
In mid-March, the Cavaliers ushered in another showdown with the Celtics.
Perhaps it was because they had won one game, the most important Christmas game, that the Cavaliers seemed a little unprepared for this game, and seemed to underestimate the enemy.
In short, the Cavaliers fell into a passive position and lost this game that was of great personal significance to Lin Yu.
The moment he lost the game, Lin Yu frowned and kept thinking.
He hesitated for a while and wanted to use props to forcefully win the game, but considering that this was just an inconsequential regular season, he did not take action.
Just relying on himself, he failed to help the Cavaliers win this victory.
After transferring and leaving the Celtics, he failed to win a game against the Celtics. After the game, no one criticized him.
Because of this game, Lin Yu's personal performance was fine.
His off-ball attributes have greatly improved, and his ability to eat cake has also improved a lot. In this game, he made 9 of 19 shots and scored 24 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals and 2 blocks. He completely defeated Ray Ah in the matchup.
Lun is also one of the most efficient players in the game.
Only Kevin Garnett, who made 10 of 17 shots and scored 24 points, 14 rebounds, 4 assists and 5 blocks, was more efficient than Lin Yu.
Lin Yu, who was efficient but lost, obviously just lost. No one would criticize him, but ridicule is inevitable.
Lin Yu also read some of the highlighted replies on reddit. He laughed at them, and then responded to a few more posts in order to maintain his own image.
"In the summer of 2006, Lin from China joined the Cleveland Cavaliers after he couldn't beat them... In the summer of 2007, Lin from China joined the Boston Celtics after he couldn't beat them..."
Under this article, Lin Yu himself replied: "It's just a regular season game, let's wait until we lose in the playoffs."
Under this reply of his, there are a bunch of comments that are just for fun, such as: "The flag has been set!"
Or: "So, if you lose in the playoffs, you'll go back to Boston?"
"If you can't win, then go back to Boston with a minimum salary?"
"..."
Lin Yu was also helpless. Even if he lost, he would be ridiculed in all kinds of ways. He could only reply: "The only winner in the playoffs will be the Cleveland Cavaliers!"
The Cavaliers' loss to the Celtics had a chain reaction. The Mavericks tied the Cavaliers' record and rushed to first place in the league because of their mutual advantage.
The Cavaliers lost their No. 1 spot in the league. Not only that, their No. 1 position in the Eastern Conference was also threatened.
The threat comes from the Celtics. With one victory that can be counted as two games, they have narrowed the gap with the Cavaliers to 0.5 wins. As long as the Cavaliers lose another game and the Celtics win another game, the two teams will
The ranking will be completely reversed.
The Cavaliers felt the crisis, and Mike Brown even thought about the playoffs because of this defeat.
"This defeat, from beginning to end, shows that it is not accidental..."
Many people felt that the Cavaliers' loss to the Celtics didn't mean much. For example, Brian Windhorst of the Cleveland Honest Daily wrote in his column: "In one season, the Cavaliers will compete with Kyle
There are two special duels. Before this, they had already won one, and now they have lost one, which is considered a tie."
"So, the Cavaliers' loss to the Celtics was, in the end, just a regular season game, which doesn't mean anything. The real showdown, just like what China Lin replied on reddit, is the playoffs.
A real battlefield!”
But obviously, Mike Brown doesn't think so.
"Everyone feels that we just lost a regular season game. It doesn't mean much, but this is what other people think. As the protagonist of this defeat, we must look back on this defeat."
"And if we look back on this defeat, what can we see? What we can see is that the Celtics relied on their defense to defeat us. LeBron only made 6 of 16 shots from the field. Rashad was blocked.
The defense made 4 of 13 shots, and only Lin’s 9-of-19 shooting rate was considered normal.”
"But it's just normal. Compared with the efficiency in normal games, Lin's efficiency against the Celtics is still low."
"This is observed from the data side. Judging from the situation of the game, we have been suppressed. The pick-and-roll offense from the outside can't block the opportunity at all. A single block will be blocked by the opponent's rotation defense. Complex multiple pick-and-rolls.
It is also difficult to block direct scoring opportunities. Only Lin can use the pick-and-roll to shoot from the outside."
"Overall, we were limited by the Celtics defense."
Finally, Mike Brown gave his conclusion: "Brian Windhorst mentioned the victory on Christmas Day, and what I want to say is that that victory covered up our problems. What can we do on Christmas Day?"
We won because the Celtics' defense hadn't finished running in yet, and we lost in this game in mid-March because the Celtics' defense had passed the running-in stage."
"In other words, in the real comparison of strength, we are not as good as the Celtics, and the remaining one month of games is our last chance to improve ourselves."
