Basketball trainer, I created a super giant

Chapter 351 Whoever gets Tang Sen wins the championship.
After calming down, Tang Sen felt that although Carlisle was a bit impulsive, the matter was alright.

The only problem is, once you've said it, don't just disappear.

If you want to be honest with the players and apologize to them, what's the point of apologizing to the media? Apologizing to the players in person is the proper thing to do.

Just then, Yao Ming returned.

He first approached Tang Sen and asked Tang Sen if he knew about this matter.

Tang Sen nodded, of course he knew.

Yao Ming had a strange expression and didn't know what to say for a moment. Finally, he asked why they didn't persevere.

On the way back, Yao Ming carefully reviewed the second half of the season and didn't think the coaching staff had deliberately lost any games.

They played as usual, and there was no indication that they would prevent themselves from playing just to avoid losing the game.

He also cooperated with himself and achieved a triple-double average for the season.

Tang Sen laughed and said, "I didn't expect you guys to be so capable."

We really tried, but the team was too strong, and we just couldn't lose.

Tang Sen patted Yao Ming on the shoulder and said, "Yao, you have to understand Rick. The reason he made this decision is simply that he wants to secure the championship."

"A perfect regular season record is not as meaningful as winning the championship in our opinion."

At least that's what Tang Sen and the others thought at the time.

So you can find many reasons, but the core reason is only one: you want the championship and don't want to affect the team's chances of winning the championship for the sake of a meaningless undefeated record.

"I was also supporting Rick at the time, because I really didn't expect that we could keep winning."

A perfect season, undefeated, it's truly unbelievable, something I never dared to dream of doing.

It actually happened.

Yao Ming said, "I understand, Brother Sen, don't worry, I'm fine."

Tang Sen felt a little relieved, but then reminded him, "It's not enough for you to be okay. You're the team leader. The playoffs are about to start, so don't let these little things affect our performance."

Yao Ming understood, and immediately went to find Wade.

Just then, Carlisle walked in.

He didn't disappear; instead, he immediately called his wife.

In the past two seasons, he has devoted himself entirely to the game, and his wife has shouldered a lot of the burden.

Now that he's undefeated this season, Carlisle just wants to share the good news with his wife as soon as possible.

Upon seeing Carlisle, Thibodeau and the others quickly surrounded him.

"Scott found out?"

Leiden knew that Carlisle was not surprised.

But Thibodeau said he was a bit impulsive. Carlisle smiled wryly and said, "Impulsive is impulsive. I had already thought it through when I said it. I will bear the consequences myself."

Carlisle's integrity wouldn't allow him to hide what he'd done, especially given how hard the players had worked.

At this point, Carlisle immediately turned around, clapped his hands, and gathered all the players together.

Judging from everyone's expressions, they clearly already knew.

"Feel sorry."

Carlisle was the first to apologize.

The players looked at each other in bewilderment.

The quick-witted Swift couldn't help but interject, "Coach, how did you make us lose? How come we didn't notice?"

Many players nodded.

I didn't notice at all.

Carlisle shook his head and said, "It's all in the past now, it doesn't matter. What I'm trying to say is that for a while, I worried too much and my thinking became a bit skewed."

"But I soon realized that we had the ability to win the regular season and even the entire season."

"So guys, we've accomplished a great goal, but there are even bigger goals ahead of us. Let's work together to win this year's championship."

The players exchanged glances and then roared in agreement.

Compared to the media that sensationalizes and enjoys the spectacle, the players have a more genuine perspective.

Therefore, not intentionally losing the game is not important.

The important thing is to win, to get attention, to become famous, to win the championship, and then you can get a big contract and make a lot of money.

Tang Sen called out twice in response.

In any case, the regular season is over.

A resounding victory, a very satisfactory result.

Back at his home in Greenwich, Tangsen paid special attention to the television.

The mainstream television stations didn't mention Carlisle intentionally losing the game; they mainly focused on how incredible it was to have a perfect regular season record.

Then let's discuss whether the Knicks have a chance to have a perfect season.

For example, Barkley has already started calculating on TNT's side.

With the final day of competition over, the Eastern and Western Conference standings have been determined.

In the Eastern Conference, the top four are the Knicks, Pacers, Magic, and Nets.

Fifth through eighth are the Wizards, Pistons, Hornets, and Celtics, respectively.

The Magic have a much better record than the Pacers.

But there was nothing they could do; the Magic and Knicks were in the same Atlantic Division, so the Magic had to settle for third place.

The Nets even have one more win than the Pacers.

In fact, the Pacers were sitting at the same table as the Wizards.

The Pistons, Hornets, and Celtics are all in the same tier, with a difference of 1 to 2 games between each other.

So, in the first round of the playoffs, the Knicks' opponent will be the Celtics.

In Kenny Smith's words, even if the Celtics fielded six players, they still couldn't beat the Knicks.

In this round, the 4-0 sweep was effortless.

Then came the second round. Originally, in the Eastern Conference, the Nets were sitting at the same table as the Magic.

But in the past two years, despite a series of questionable actions by themselves, their actual strength has been declining.

They seem to be trying to emulate the Wizards and Pacers.

Therefore, it's hard to say who has a better chance in this series between the Nets and the Wizards.

But no matter who wins, they're no match for the Knicks.

So in the East, it still has to be magic.

Seeing the group enthusiastically discussing whether the Magic could stop the Knicks from winning the championship undefeated, but without mentioning the 40-win season and how the Knicks tried to lose but still won by a large margin against the Magic, Tang Sen knew that Carlisle wouldn't have any influence.

Sure enough, the next day the New York Times began to defend Carlisle.

That night, the editors at The New York Times must have racked their brains.

They unusually devoted a huge amount of space on the front page of the daily newspaper to reporting on the Knicks' undefeated regular season record, proclaiming them the new kings of New York.

Historic, unprecedented, a miracle.

Use whatever word sounds cool.

Anyway, this record deserves all the praise.

In the sports section, they reported on Carlisle's attempt to lose.

They didn't try to hide the matter with a short article; instead, they reported it openly and frankly, even using it as a front-page headline.

However, the angle of approach has completely changed.

Tang Sen had long witnessed the New York Times' ability to distort the truth.

Carlisle's attempt to lose, his alleged disrespect for his opponent, and even allegations of match-fixing, were all portrayed as virtues by the editors of The New York Times.

The title is "Rick Carlisle's Winning Strategy".

The book begins by delving into Carlyle's resume, telling readers just how amazing he was.

He spent years studying basketball game tapes with the Nets; he's incredibly hardworking.

He's an upright man, and they brought up the story of how he was forced out by the Pistons again.

It is said that Carlisle was too upright and could not stand the Pistons' lazy locker room, so he was discarded after being used.

Only then did they talk about how difficult the season had been for Carlisle, and how much hard work he had put in to keep winning.

He said he practically lived in the office, working himself to the bone.

Of course, the issue of Carlisle trying to lose cannot be ignored.

However, the New York Times interpreted this behavior as a strategic arrangement.

From Carlisle's perspective, losing was a necessary sacrifice for the sake of winning the championship.

However, a crucial point is that Carlyle only had this idea, but did not actually do it.

In other words, they had ideas, but didn't put them into action.

They even found evidence.

Take the game against the Magic, for example, which was the game that Carlisle himself admitted to.

The Knicks won big, but a closer analysis of the game reveals that after the first quarter when their tactics didn't flow smoothly, Carlisle made an adjustment.

Let Wade handle the ball, and Billups play as a wing shooter.

After this change, the Knicks took off immediately.

The entire process, as interpreted by the New York Times, became Carlisle's desire to lose, but ultimately his desire to try and see if there was any hope of a perfect season.

Then, with a stroke of genius, he made this adjustment, perfectly executing the balanced triangle strategy he had been playing last season.

This change laid the foundation for the Knicks' subsequent undefeated record.

Because of this experience, Carlisle realized that the team had the confidence to win the season with a perfect record, and even to win the championship with a perfect record. That's why he proudly declared after yesterday's game that they would win the championship with a perfect record.

He's such an upright person, he felt bad about it, so he took the initiative to apologize to the players.

He was also afraid that if they couldn't win the championship with a perfect record, the players would be under too much pressure, so he put all the pressure on himself in advance to show everyone how difficult it was for the players.

He gave everything for the team.

Add to that the media's characteristic biased reporting, and Tang Sen, if he didn't know the inside story, would have given Carlisle a thumbs up and praised him.

But that's not the case.

Carlisle's balanced triangle formation indicates he wanted to lose.

Who knew that Billups would make adjustments himself and find a way to get along with Wade?

And continuing to win afterwards was just to make the losses seem more reasonable.

It wasn't until they beat the Spurs and realized they couldn't afford to lose that they finally decided to go for a clean sweep.

The Post, and other New York newspapers, echoed similar sentiments.

Tang Sen flipped through other newspapers, all of which focused on the Knicks' undefeated record.

There have been reports about Carlisle's situation, but they have mostly been taken in a sarcastic or mocking light.

For example, they might joke about Magic and Rivers, wondering how Rivers would feel if he knew the news.

They wanted to lose to you, but they couldn't.

That, in turn, is enough to prove how big the gap in strength is between the Magic and the Knicks.

Even the Los Angeles Times on the West Coast, a supporter of the Knicks' biggest potential championship rival, didn't report on Carlisle's situation.

Their angles and headlines are more exaggerated.

Whoever gets Tang Sen wins the championship.

They actually started talking about Tang Sen.

The fact that he went from the Magic to the Knicks only proves one thing: as long as you give Townsend a group of talented players, he can give you a championship.

Inevitably, there were complaints that Kupchak hadn't given Tangsen enough checks.

Despite having all the advantages of timing and location, they still couldn't get Tang Sen to come to Los Angeles.

If Townsend comes to the Lakers, there will be no other teams to compete for the next ten years.

(End of this chapter)