In the Eastern Conference finals, because the Pistons took the initiative, the two teams played a defensive battle, and the spectacle was really not as good as the Rockets vs. the Lakers, so the ratings of the Eastern Conference were much lower than those of the Western Conference.

But the two teams played very fiercely, until the tie-break.

In the tiebreaker, the Pistons won 90-69, and finally defeated the Nets 4-3 to enter the finals, and their opponents were naturally the Rockets who swept the Jazz 4-0 in the first round, the Spurs 4-1 in the second round and the Lakers 4-0 in the Western Conference finals.

……

The Finals matchup is out, the Rockets will face the Pistons, and the schedule has been released, and the two teams will stage the first game of the Finals in Houston on June 6.

At the same time, the name of Charlotte's expanded team has been decided, and Robert Johnson held a press conference in Charlotte.

Announced: "The name of the new team is Charlotte Bobcats, the new season, the Bobcats will join the league, the expansion draft will be held on June 23, Qiao Hai will become the executive president of the new Bobcats, and Qiao Hai will be responsible for all the construction of the new team." ”

Qiao Hai calculated the time, two days and one battle, if the finals hit the tie-break, then the time will also come to June 20.

For Qiao Hai, time is a little short, but he is not a human, he is a god, so no matter how busy he is, he can get over.

Qiao Hai is already conducting the investigation of the draft expansion.

Robert Johnson sent a list, and at a glance, he knew who to pick and who not to pick, but of course, there was still a problem, he had to use this list to make some articles and take something out of the hands of some teams before expanding the draft.

"At this year's draft, we have two picks, one is the fourth pick in the first round and the other is the fourth pick in the second round, and the draft tryouts have already started, and we have made a tryout list, and you can see if there is anything that needs to be added."

The draft trial has begun, and Qiao Hai is not yet in place, but everything in the team must be decided by Qiao Hai.

So, Joe Hay found an assistant in advance, and Kevin Pritchard, who previously worked as the head of scouting at the Spurs, was poached by Joe Hay to take the position of general manager of the new team, Bobcats.

Before Qiao Hai arrived, Kevin Pritchard had the right to make some small decisions, but the big decisions had to be made by Qiao Hai.

In the 2004 draft, Qiao Hai had already found information and studied it for one night.

In this draft, there is only one happy beast Dwight Howard who can be selected as a cornerstone player, but the probability that the Magic will not select Howard is too low.

In the past, the Bobcats management operated by agreeing to the Clippers' proposal, using the expansion draft pick to select the Clippers' player Pedrager Drobiak, and then sending the No. 4 pick in the first round and the No. 4 pick in the second round, and got the No. 2 pick in the first round from the Clippers trade.

In the end, Emeka Okafor was selected with the No. 2 pick in the first round.

Of course, Qiao Hai could repeat this operation, but he felt that if Howard could not be selected, then this operation would be unnecessary.

Therefore, Qiao Hai's idea is that the draft pick does not select cornerstone players, but only quality championship puzzle pieces.

From this point of view, there are still a lot of high-quality puzzle pieces in the '04 draft, Ben Gordon, Andre Iguodala, Ruhr Deng in the lotto, Al Jefferson in the middle of the first round, . Smith, Tony Allen at the end of the first round and Kevin Martin.

As well as Andre Vallejo and Trevo Ariza, who were drafted in the second round, are all available.

Qiao Hai finally circled these names and sent them to Kevin Pritchard by email.

……

On June 6, the finals began.

At the Toyota Center, the Rockets held a grand appearance ceremony, and Qiao Hai enjoyed the cheers of the audience.

Although the finals have not yet started, Rockets fans know very well that the final victory is not far from them, not that they look down on the Pistons, but that they believe in Qiao Hai too much.

Charles Barkley in the commentary box was quite surprised: "Qiao Hai is close to leaving Houston, why are the fans still cheering so enthusiastically?" ”

McBrin then explained: "Because Joe has already conquered the Houston fans, it only took Joe two years from failure to success, and such a head coach, even if he has already confirmed his departure, he has contributed to this team." ”

Kenny Smith has the most say because he is a Rocket celebrity, he also nodded and continued: "Look at this rocket, Yao Ming and Dwyane Wade were both selected by Qiao Hai, they will be future superstars, and a new OK combination will be formed, Ron Artest was traded by Qiao Hai, and he will be the third star of the Rockets." ”

"Qiao Hai has left so many treasures to this Rocket, even if Qiao Hai leaves, this Rocket will be a strong contender for the championship, and it is hard for Houston fans not to thank Qiao Hai, just like Vancouver fans still worship Qiao Hai as a god."

……

The new round of blowing against Qiao Hai is over, and on the field, the starters of the two teams have already appeared.

"The two teams started the game, on the Rockets' side, Gary Payton and Dwyane Wade partnered on the guard line, Ron Artest on the wing, and Yao Ming and Chris Anderson on the inside."

"The Pistons' starters this season have also been very consistent, with Steve Francis and Richard Hamilton in the backcourt, James Posey in the third, and two Wallaces, Ben Wallace and Rasheed Wallace on the inside."

"From the perspective of the lineup, the intersection of the two teams is very much, the two starters of the Pistons are from the Rockets, and the Rockets' Dwyane Wade essentially belongs to the Pistons, and it will be these players who have intersected with each other to determine the victory of the two teams."

Yao Ming and Rasheed Wallace stood in the center circle, and the jump ball session was about to begin.

"Jumping ball, Yao Ming still has a huge advantage......"

With a beep, the referee threw the ball into the air above the stadium, and with a snap, Yao Ming first touched the basketball and pulled the basketball over.

Gary Payton got the basketball, advanced to the frontcourt, and then gave the ball to Wade.

Wade held the ball, Yao Ming gave a block in the high position, and at the beginning, the Rocket's style of play was the two-person turn of Yao Ming and Wade.

In this round of the finals, Qiao Hai and his coaching staff thought very clearly that if the Rockets want to win, they must break the Pistons' defense.

The Pistons' defense is a strong overall defense, and the Rockets happen to have two players who have a strong joint defense, Yao Ming and Dwyane Wade.

The two teamed up, and the chances of the Rockets breaking the Pistons' defense are still quite large.

In the first attack of the opening game, Wade and Yao Ming came to a blocking and dismantling cooperation, Wade broke through, the Pistons directly sandwiched, and then, Wade had to share the ball.

When the ball was behind him, there was a small vacancy in front of Yao Ming, but James Posey had already switched over, and he didn't want to miss this opportunity, so he directly threw a long-distance two-point shot.

Bang, didn't go in.