1994, Seattle Key Arena.

This is one of the most broken stadiums in the team.

Because the venue was too broken and the Seattle city government was reluctant to build a new venue, the Supersonics moved out of Seattle and headed to Oklahoma many years later.

Of course, in 1994, Supersonics were still Seattle's darling.

This year, they achieved excellent results of 63 wins and 19 losses in the regular season, ranking first in the league.

This is Michael Jordan's first year of retirement. He has no leader and is a good opportunity for many powerful people to compete for the championship.

Supersonics are definitely the favorite to win the championship. At least in the West, they don’t feel that they have any rivals.

Olajuwon won a great harvest of personal honors this year. He won the 10th regular season, as well as the best defensive player, the first lineup, the Rockets also ranked second in the West after 58 wins and 24 losses.

However, Supersonics are not afraid of the Rockets and Olajuwon. On the contrary, they have always been the hard-working hands of the Rockets and Dameng. If they meet in the Western Conference Finals, Supersonics will be confident of killing the Rockets.

As for the first two rounds? League first place like Supersonics should consider the division finals.

But no one would have thought that they were in big trouble in the first round.

Facing the Denver Nuggets, the eighth-ranked Denver Nuggets in the West, easily won the first two games and thought that the third game would sweep into the next round, the Nuggets launched a Jedi counterattack.

After returning to the plateau home court in the third game, their expectations of sweeping the supersonics into the next round were shattered.

Then in the fourth game, they completely suppressed the Supersonics with their hard defense and stubbornly tied the big score.

In the first round of the 1994 playoffs, the Supersonics ushered in their life-and-death battle at home.

The Key Stadium was full this night, and perhaps one of the significance of a life-and-death battle for Seattle fans is to watch the Supersonics advance to the next round at their door.

So they all came to cheer for the Supersonics. In their opinion, there was no big suspense about Supersonics winning this game.

The Supersonics have won 34 of their last 39 home games.

Moreover, before 1994, there was never a situation where the first round of the division was eliminated.

For the first place, the first round is just a fiasco.

But history is for creation.

Just one year ago, the Phoenix Suns almost made a comeback in the first round.

In the end, they gritted their teeth in the battle of life and death, and then entered the finals and created glory.

Supersonic fans believe they can create the same glory. You should know that the Supersonics were eliminated in the Western Conference Finals last year. They lost 34 unfortunately and vowed to make a comeback this year.

The fans are full of confidence, but the players are not necessarily the case.

Before the game, the team's head coach George Carl himself said, "I can't deny that I really feel uneasy, that feeling is like swallowing ice."

Swallowing ice will not only cool, but also choke.

The feeling of being stuck in the esophagus without going up or down, and being unable to breathe well is really vivid.

Li Liang all felt that in the supersonic locker room, a tense atmosphere was spreading and conveying.

Gary Payton of the team sat in front of the closet and was dealing with his foot injury.

His foot injury was exacerbated during the game.

I thought I could eliminate my opponent in three games to enter the next round, but I didn't expect to delay it to the last game.

He carefully stuffed his bandaged feet into his sneakers, walked back and forth, and made sure that he was not particularly uncomfortable.

Actually, there are still some, but even if there are, he must appear.

No one from the other Supersonic players stood up and said something. Head coach Carl was discussing something with the assistant coach. I don’t know why he didn’t communicate with the players. Even if he shouted a few times, he could just drink chicken soup.

In this atmosphere, Li Liang wanted to say a few words but didn't know what to say.

Needless to say, just play the game.

Although the Key Stadium is shabby, the fan atmosphere here is full of fans.

So when the Supersonics moved out of Seattle to Oscar for the future, the people of Seattle were always worried and hoped to have a new team in the city.

Compared with the tension of the Supersonic players, the Nuggets players completely relaxed.

Their current situation is that they will lose and make a lot of money if they win. Those who are barefoot are not afraid of those who are wearing shoes.

In fact, this is the case in the playoffs, the rankings are all over the place. Whether you can advance depends on whether you can use your strength to defeat your opponent.

A high ranking can only bring an advantage of one more home court.

When there were not many teams in the early years, the first round of the division was still able to get byes in the first round. Later, the byes were cancelled and they had to play in every round.

So some coaches pointed out that the benefits of winning the first place in the regular season record are too low.

For players, in the playoffs, everything in the regular season is over.

Whether it is the first in the league or the best record, it is not very useful. You must be able to win in 5 or 7 series.

However, for supersonic players, the ranking first has changed from honor to burden.

I am afraid of losing, I am really afraid of losing.

No first in history was eliminated in the first round.

The players underestimated the enemy, and their eyes were too long to forget to pay attention to the thorns under their feet.

The only person who doesn’t feel this way now is Li Liang.

He replaced the German Schramf, the current senior of Nowitzki is a German pioneer.

Although he did not achieve as high as Nowitzki, he was considered a successful team.

Li Liang and him are both in similar positions and heights, so the replacement of him can be considered a fit.

George Carl set up tactics before the game, demanding that the game be tightened at the beginning of the game, and strive to defeat the Nuggets in a short time.

George Carl was obviously a little anxious.

The whole game was pressing tightly at the beginning. It would be nice if it was the first time to catch the opponent off guard.

But the Nuggets and the Supersonics played four games, and there were no secrets before each other, and the effect of pressing the whole game may not be good.

On the contrary, if the Nuggets are allowed to stabilize their position, the pressing of the whole game will cause the Supersonics to fall into a physical crisis.

As expected, at the beginning of the game, the Supersonics took out all their energy and used high-intensity tight defense to suppress the Nuggets.

As a result, the Nuggets players were calm and slowed down, and fought against the supersonics little by little.

Li Liang ran along for several rounds on the court, and his first feeling was that the confrontation was really strong.

The atmosphere on the court is suffocating, the defensive players move very well, and the referees have a very large scale, so they don't easily whistle.

This is Li Liang's first time participating in a competition in the 1990s, which is indeed different from the 1970s and 1980s.

The team's defense has begun to have a system, the players' physical fitness is stronger, and the whistle on the court is looser.

Li Liang touched the ball several times, but he didn't get a good chance to get a phone, and he made a mistake under the pressure of the Nuggets.

In the system competition, Li Liang has no rune bonus, no skills, and no props.

He is a whiteboard, and it will definitely be even more difficult to fight.

In the first quarter, the two sides reached a supersonic lead by only 1 point.

It is harder to score points on both sides than to eat shit.

Li Liang tried three points but failed to hit.

The Nuggets' defense is very tight, and more importantly, because Mutombo guards the three-second zone, the supersonics cannot open the inside, and the outside line will not have good space and opportunities.

In 1994, the league had not had three seconds of defense, and there was no joint defense. In advance, it was not allowed to attack in advance. It was mainly one-on-one defense.

So without the inner center point, it is not that easy to hit a three-pointer.

But Li Liang knew that to win this game, you must rely on three points.

Since it is a task of force three-pointers, I can only force it to.

At the beginning of the second quarter, Li Liang sat off the court to rest.

At this time, the Nuggets have begun to take the initiative in the scene.

The Nuggets played very well, relying on the inside, Mutombo, Ellis and Williams, and frantically attacked the Supersonics' three-second zone to grab the frontcourt rebounds.

The Supersonics are also not good at shooting in their style of play. Although they ranked fifth in the league in the regular season averaged 105 points per game, they only made 8 three-pointers per game than Li Liang has made fewer shots per game this season.

Such three-point shots rank lower in the league.

The main scoring method of Supersonics comes from fast counterattacks, secondary attacks, and especially fast attacks after pressing down defense.

Supersonics' average steals per game ranked first in the league and was far ahead.

However, the Nuggets' stable play tonight made the Supersonics unable to play their advantages, especially Payton's foot injury, which made it even worse.

Li Liang sat next to George Carl, thinking about how he should play his three-pointer.

The intensity of the game will only get higher and higher, and the space will only get smaller and smaller.
Chapter completed!