Who would have thought that in the end it would be the Grizzlies and 76ers who made it to the Finals?

It's not that a rising emerging team really has a chance to win the championship, let alone the championship, most of the young emerging teams that once shined on the NBA stage have not even entered the division finals, such as the Wizards in the East and the three musketeers of the SuperSonics in the West.

In the past 13 seasons, the Western Conference Finals team has been a bull, with the Kings, Jazz, Nuggets, and Suns in the middle...... Many teams have risen one after another, but none of them have broken the dominance of the Finals.

Moreover, since the beginning of the new century, only two teams have won a championship for the first time in franchise history - the Mavericks and the Heat.

The other champions, the Lakers, Spurs, Pistons, and Celtics, are all teams that have won championships in the last century.

So it's hard to add a championship team, and even a lot of superstars haven't made it to the Finals in their careers.

When Kobe Bryant and James were eliminated, the media began to support the Grizzlies, hoping that the Grizzlies could win the championship.

In addition to the emergence of a new championship team, there is also Nash, the picture of Nash tearing on the court after the Grizzlies eliminated the Lakers 4-1 to advance to the Finals touched the tear ducts of many old fans.

The day after the 76ers advanced, on June 12, the 76ers immediately came to Memphis to start preparing for the game.

After a day of rest on the Grizzlies' side, they also began to prepare.

Major mainstream media outlets have begun to do programs to analyze the strengths and weaknesses of the Grizzlies and 76ers.

Judging from the comparison of regular season matchups, the Grizzlies have the advantage.

Compared with the lineup, the 76ers stars are stronger.

Evans, Iguodala, and Howard have a strong combination of starting giants, and in terms of role players, Holiday has been selected for the second defense in the second grade, Louis Williams, who has the best sixth man strength, Judy Meeks, a high-quality shooter, and Thaddeus Young and Hawes, who are unreliable in defense but can shoot the basket...... The bench is not good, as far as Louis Williams, Meeks, and Hawes are reliable, Lavoy Allen, and Sam Young are more pitiful.

Basically, the 76ers rely on Evans, Iguodala, Holiday and Howard, four stars with unique characteristics on both offensive and defensive ends, plus the sixth man, Louis Williams.

On the Grizzlies' side, if you fight for stars, you really can't fight for the 76ers, and only Randolph can be compared with Evans and Howard in terms of strength.

But the Grizzlies have a better overall cooperation and stronger team strength, Sun Ce, Nash, Gasol Jr., and Tony Allen all have their own characteristics, and they are first-class players in the eyes of the media, experts, and fans.

Paul George and Jordan Jr. are all quasi-first-class players and have first-class performances when they do what they have to do.

Klay Thompson and Yi Jianlian, Neal, Redno and Battier are also quite high-quality role players.

Jimmy Butler doesn't see a future yet, the Development League doesn't play well, but the Grizzlies didn't send him away in a trade, and Lewis signed back mainly because he doesn't want other teams to sign him, of course, if he uses it best, but he only played twice in the playoffs, and it was garbage time.

and Aaron Gray, the No. 5 interior player who has had a good performance against Yao Ming.

In the performance of this year's playoffs, the media believes that the Grizzlies should be more stable and stronger overall, because once the Grizzlies determine the advantage, they play very steadily, and the Thunder and Lakers are both solved by the Grizzlies in 5 games.

On the 76ers' side, they led 3-1 twice, but they couldn't solve the opponent immediately, and they were dragged to the tiebreaker by the Bulls, and they were almost dragged to the tiebreaker by the Heat.

Analysis comes and goes, and the media feels that the Grizzlies have an advantage.

Perhaps, it's because people want to see teams beat teams that have a lot of stars.

……

Even if they don't deliberately pay attention to public opinion, the media and fans hope that the fact that the Grizzlies win the championship will reach the ears of the Grizzlies players.

Sun Ce was very happy when he learned about the changes in public opinion, as a socialist successor who was born under the red flag and grew up in the spring breeze...... But any player who really integrates into a team wants to be praised for his team.

This sense of team honor may be more exciting than individual honor.

However, Nash and Battier have been urging their teammates not to be too complacent, they have been playing for so many years, they know very well the difficulty of winning a championship, and they have reached the last step, let alone be careless.

"Be happy, wait until you're holding the O'Brien Cup," is a phrase that Nash and Battier have been on their lips since advancing to the Finals.

Why do championship contenders want to bring in veterans who have not won a championship but are experienced, former superstars or well-known leaders? It's because they have the majesty and they know how difficult it is to win the championship and they can push the young players.

Under the tireless supervision of the two veterans, the teammates did not feel noisy, because the glory of the championship was close at hand, and what the two said made sense, and they all calmed down and prepared for the game.

After all, they don't know much about the 76ers, and even the coaching staff only began to study the 76ers on the night after beating the Lakers to reach the Finals.

Moreover, they saw the active preparation of the visiting team training ground next door.

Evans + Howard, one of the three best point guards in the league, Evans, who is on a par with Rose and Paul, is paired with Howard, the best center in the league today, and is extremely intimidating.

……

While both the Grizzlies and the 76ers are actively preparing for the game, the basketball world on the South Coast is a prelude to a storm.

Pat Riley sent an email to team owner Mitch Allison and leaned back in his chair with a long sigh as LeBron James, the star of their Heat, sat across from him.

After losing to the 76ers last night and ending in the Eastern Conference finals, James flew back to Miami overnight last night and came to Pat Riley's office early this morning.

After making a look of being too anxious to do anything, Pat Riley began to flicker: "LeBron, you have to trust me, we will definitely find a suitable center for you." ”

James has been hearing this for two years, and in his first season with the Heat, he was puzzled by why the team's best center was the big Z who came with him to Miami.

After the retirement of Big Z, the only real centers on the team are Eddie Curry and Dexter Pittman, two big fat men who can't play more than 140 kilograms in a season.

As a result, he James changed from small forward to power forward, and in the Eastern Conference with the 76ers, he had to play center against Howard.

It's already here, and James doesn't care about face or anything, even if Pat Riley reveals that he forced the palace, he has to do it.

James said directly: "I need a clear target for recruitment, I, Dwyan, and Chris have all cut their salaries, not to help the team save luxury tax, our total salary this year is only 71.11 million, we have three All-Stars, three!" I didn't pay the luxury tax, and I didn't even use the middle-class clause this year.

Dwyane and Chris are reluctant to say it, but I will say that we are not taking a pay cut to save the team money, but to bring in better teammates with that money.

I need a clear target now, and if it doesn't work, I'll request a trade this summer. ”

It was clear, Pat Riley could hear James' seriousness, and he knew that James could definitely do what he said.

This person, I'm not afraid of bad people, I'm afraid of a good persona collapsing, but now James's character has collapsed, and the new character of the egoist has long been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people.

And this time their Heat team has nothing to say, the four teams in the division finals, except for the 76ers who have two rookie contracts of Evans and Holiday , only their Heat team has not paid the luxury tax, and the Lakers and Grizzlies have to pay more than 10 million luxury taxes.

As for the lack of salary space, Pat Riley knows that James knows the team's salary space very well, and at present, in addition to James and Bosh's $16.02 million salary, Wade's $15.69 million salary, only Chalmers, Mike Miller, and Haslem have guaranteed contracts, and the others are all short-term contracts, such as James Jones, James's friend, who is signed a year with a low salary, and Joel Anthony, Juwan Howard, Eddie Curry, etc. And this season's middle-class exception is useless, that is, I don't want to keep a long-term contract, and I want to try my best to keep the total salary below the luxury tax threshold.

Chalmers, Mike Miller, and Haslem are all good trade chips, that is to say, their Heat team's fixed contract is only the Big Three, even in the offseason, the Big Three will start to calculate the salary space for next season, James and Bosh's salary is only 17.55 million US dollars, Wade is only 17.12 million US dollars, adding up to less than 53 million, according to expectations, next season's salary cap is between 64 million US dollars and 66 million US dollars, at least 11 million US dollars can be freed up.

After a quick thought, Pat Riley maintained that anxious look and said: "I understand, LeBron, I've been working hard, but you know this kind of thing, saving money is definitely not my original intention, it is the boss's request, I will try my best to talk to him, but you have to give me a clear goal, so that I know how to talk to him." ”

James nodded, thought for a moment and said, "I hope that bringing in a teammate like Tyson Chandler or Andrew Bogut who is athletic and good at blocking and picking can help Chris share the pressure on the inside, and let Chris return to the power forward position, which can help me and Dwyanne reduce the pressure on blocking and picking!" ”