Basketball's No. 1 Anti-Fan

Chapter 211: A Shocking Kneel

Wallace acted quickly. After talking with Hansen, he arranged a tryout that day, and then reached a one-year minimum salary contract with West.

Although it is called one year, because the season has entered the second half, the actual amount of this contract is probably only about 400,000 US dollars, which is a very small cost.

And the reason why Wallace dared to sign West was because of Hansen.

Hansen is very capable of dealing with problem players, not to mention that West originally came to the Grizzlies with Hansen.

Hansen met West on the day of signing the contract.

If West looked a little haggard when he first came to Memphis after not seeing him for a few months, then West at this moment was visibly decadent.

Hansen seemed to understand why West ended up on the streets just a few years after leaving the NBA.

Once people with mental problems lose their goals, they are like a lonely boat floating on the ocean, losing the motivation in life.

So in a sense, the Grizzlies signing West at this time is equivalent to giving him a helping hand.

When he saw Hansen, a glimmer of light appeared in West's decadent eyes.

Perhaps to him, Hansen was one of the few islands he could see in the endless ocean.

Han Sen also went up to him and gave him a hug.

"Glad to be back." Han Sen patted West on the back.

West nodded vigorously, and Hansen could feel his body trembling slightly.

West's addition is a great addition to the Grizzlies.

Although Livingston is in good shape, he has injury risks after all, so Joerger is still conservative in using him in the regular season.

And Livingston has no outside shooting, so when he is targeted in some games, West can come on the court to solve the problem.

Of course, the most important thing is that West did not do anything that affected the locker room after he arrived at the Grizzlies.

Wallace made the right bet. As long as Hansen was there, West's negative factors would not appear.

Time flies and it is already late December.

The Grizzlies still firmly hold the top spot in the Western Conference, but the competition among other Western teams has become fierce.

Now the Western Conference is basically divided into two major groups, and the Grizzlies, Lakers, Spurs and Nuggets have basically secured their place in the upper half.

In the lower half, the Mavericks, Warriors, Clippers, Thunder, Rockets and Jazz are engaged in a crazy 6-to-4 battle.

The most noteworthy team among them is the Thunder.

Although the arrival of James made the Thunder earn a lot of money off the court, they have not been able to solve the compatibility problem between Westbrook and James.

Westbrook had already made concessions, but Carril's article "James opted out of the contract in 2014" made him change his mind.

The atmosphere within the Thunder team is a mess right now.

This has caused them to start showing signs of falling behind in the battle for playoff position.

If nothing changes, it is inevitable that James will miss the playoffs in his first year in the West.

The team at its peak cannot even make it to the playoffs, and this team is in a very bad shape.

It was at this time that the Thunder faced the Grizzlies for the third time this season.

Because they are not in the same division, this is also their last match of the season.

The game was played in Memphis.

Although it is the end of the season, the attendance at FedEx Center is still very high.

It will still take time for Memphis to expand its market, but it is obviously much better than San Antonio.

During the pre-game warm-up, the camera turned to James, who looked very solemn.

Hansen was not surprised that James might not make the playoffs.

After all, as far as he knows in the "history", the competitiveness of the Western Conference is enough to push the "Thanos James" of the previous year back to the "teammates in CBA" stage in the second year.

Not to mention that James also had the classic 4 "75 big" operations that missed the play-offs.

Although James is younger and still in his prime, given the hellish situation in the Western Conference this season, it is normal for the Thunder, which has many internal problems, to fall behind.

If you ask what method is there to help them, everyone knows that it is to solve internal problems.

But that is precisely the problem that cannot be solved now.

Han Sen even felt that if the Thunder really couldn't make the playoffs this season, they might not want to trade James, but James himself would have to apply for a trade.

After all, if Nike's top brand falls into the ditch for too long, it will really become stinky.

The game started soon, and surprisingly, the Thunder was in pretty good shape tonight.

At the end of the first quarter, they were tied with the Grizzlies.

In the second quarter, James' staggered travel allowed them to gain a double-digit lead at one point.

Seeing this, Joerger replaced Hansen and Gasol Jr. in advance.

After the two came on the court, the quality of the Grizzlies' offense and defense improved rapidly, and Hansen's consecutive scores helped the Grizzlies close the score.

It was at this time that James increased his breakthrough ratio and the whistles on the court became more frequent.

After all, Stern only gave James a little punishment in the season after "The Decision", and then all the whistles that belonged to him were returned.

However, this still failed to stop the Grizzlies' momentum to catch up.

Stern changed the target of punishment to the Grizzlies this season. However, unlike James, the Grizzlies showed their adaptability and have become accustomed to playing under such whistles.

Of course, the booing from the fans at the scene would not stop, and it became louder and louder because the team was about to reverse the score.

At this time, James used the same trick again when breaking through the inside and took the initiative to lean towards Gasol Jr.

Gasol Jr. dodged sideways and tried to block the ball, but his shot hit James' wrist and the ball failed to go in.

Because of the angle, the referee did not see the hitter.

The continuous booing from the fans at the scene also put pressure on them, and they did not blow the whistle wrong this time.

After seeing this, James rushed to the referee and frantically signaled that Gasol had hit his hand, and he looked very emotional.

The referee was also a little confused, and finally the referee called two assistant referees over.

At this time, the replay of the previous ball appeared on the LED big screen. Gasol Jr. did hit his hand, and it was indeed a missed call.

After a brief discussion, the referee went to communicate with James.

They decided to uphold the original verdict.

In fact, even if it is a wrong judgment, the referee will not change the decision. At most, he will make up for it in the next round.

However, something unexpected happened to the referee again.

James seemed to be in disbelief about the referee's decision. He put his hands on his head and backed away while looking for the camera lens.

When he found it and made his body face the camera, he knelt down directly. Perhaps to make his kneeling more shocking, he clasped his hands together on the floor, lowered his head, and looked like he was begging for something.

This scene shocked everyone.

The referee had an expression that said, "It's just a foul, what's the big deal?"

Of course, his Thunder teammates were also shocked. Westbrook opened his eyes wide, looking like his worldview had been refreshed.

You have to know that the Thunder were eliminated by the Grizzlies in the playoffs in the past two seasons, and this experience can be regarded as a rivalry.

Ibaka, who was standing next to James, was at a loss. He seemed to want to pull James up, but seemed to realize that he couldn't.

The scene was already filled with booing noises.

No, you have enjoyed so many unnecessary whistles before, and you are so excited by just a misjudgment?

Of course, a big part of the reason they were making a fuss was because of James's actions.

If we list all the black whistle issues separately, we can fill a thick book.

But even the most vicious whistle turned into a fight when the players lost control of their emotions. James was the first person to kneel down in history.

Not to mention that James is a superstar in the league and Nike's top brand, how could he kneel down!

Han Sen was a little confused at first, but then he came to his senses.

James knelt not only because of the penalty just now, but also because of the ending of the Thunder's season.

It was said before that the Thunder team is now plagued by internal conflicts and there are ways to resolve the situation. Easing the conflicts is one way, and another is to blow more whistles.

If there were more calls like in Game 3 of the Finals last year, the Thunder would have made it to the playoffs.

As long as he can make it to the playoffs, James will not fall into the ditch. At worst, he can just find someone to blame at the end of the season.

After understanding this, Han Sen shook his head speechlessly.

Let alone Westbrook, his three views are also being refreshed at this moment.

He doesn't even want to say that Gay is better than James now, even old Carter is much better than James.

Veterans still have to have some dignity. Anyone with a bit of independent thinking can't stand seeing James behaving like this.

James' kneeling did not change the final outcome of the game, as the Grizzlies still defeated the Thunder 113-101.

However, the outcome is no longer important, because the "shocking kneeling" has become the focus of the game.

The misjudgment became the strongest evidence in the hands of James fans, and James' kneeling was described as a protest against unfair judgment.

"That penalty changed the situation on the court. The Grizzlies had been trailing before, but then they gained momentum and won the game."

They were able to record the Grizzlies' championship years as "relying on dirt", so they naturally knew how to avoid the important issues in order to achieve the publicity effect.

Nike is also involved behind the scenes.

Although they actually found James' behavior incredible, it was obviously impossible for them to stand against James as they were in the same boat.

Because who would slap themselves in the face?
No matter how incredible James' behavior is, as long as it can be made up for, they will definitely help him.

Under these two loud voices, something that seemed incredible but expected happened.

Before James knelt, the Thunder had the worst free throw differential in the league, averaging 2.96 more free throws than their opponents.

The Lakers ranked second with 2.21.

This data is still within an understandable range, after all, Westbrook and James are both players who mainly rely on breakthroughs.

But after James knelt down, the Thunder's number soared to 10.96 in the following month.

In comparison, the second-placed Rockets had 3.34 and the third-placed Lakers had 3.17.

No one noticed this change at first. After all, the Thunder had fallen out of the championship race, and the outside world's attention on them would decrease.

It wasn't until Windhorst published an article titled "He's Back" on ESPN, listing James' statistics over the past month and how the Thunder returned to the Western Conference playoffs under his leadership, that it attracted outside attention.

It was also at this time that someone started to compile this data and publish it.

This also caused huge controversy among fans on social media.

James fans are still trying to explain.

"The Thunder strengthened their breakthrough offense in the second half of the season", "The Thunder tightened their defense and forced their opponents to shoot mid-range and long-range shots", these classic remarks reappeared in the arena.

However, most fans still have high IQs. After checking and confirming the accuracy of the data, many jokes appeared on the Internet.

"The Thunder's Battle of Stalingrad", "Daddy, love me again", "You have to have a background to get involved in this mess", etc. are also endless.

However, the most classic and widely circulated one is: A shocking kneeling.

The chosen son of God, that is the son chosen by God, this kneeling will surely shock the world.

This wave has brought a lot of hatred to the Thunder.

Time flies and it is already early April, and the season is coming to its final end.

At this time, the battle for playoff position in the Western Conference has reached its most intense moment.

The outcome of a game determines the team's performance in the season.

However, the Grizzlies are the easiest team in the Western Conference at this time because they have already secured first place in the Western Conference.

In addition, their win total was not as good as the Heat next door, so the final victory or defeat did not mean much to them.

In fact, with three games left in the season, Joerger had already started resting the main players.

This kind of operation is very common. It allows the main players to gather their strength and prepare for the upcoming playoffs, and also gives other players some opportunities to perform.

For example, in the last game against the Mavericks, West scored 20 points as a starter, which greatly boosted his personal confidence.

The most watched game at this time is the game between the Thunder and the Rockets next door. It will decide life and death, and whoever wins will advance to the playoffs.

It may sound unbelievable, but the popularity of this game actually surpassed the opening game between the Grizzlies and the Thunder.

James' commercial value is fully demonstrated.

And the fans' support rate for this game is also very interesting, basically half and half.

It’s not that there are so many James fans at this time.

But among those fans who support the Thunder, quite a lot of them go there with the mentality of watching the show.

For most fans, they want to see the Thunder fail to make the playoffs even with the referee's care.

But for those fans, they do the opposite and hope that the Thunder will make the playoffs, because then they can see the Thunder and the Grizzlies play a full series.

However, the support of the fans will not actually affect the outcome of the game.

The Rockets finally ended up in a 1v1 situation with the Thunder, which was destined not to have a good ending.

In the end, the Thunder won the game with a 36-19 free throw difference and successfully advanced to the playoffs as the eighth in the Western Conference.

(End of this chapter)