Don't talk trash to him.

Chapter 172 LeBron, the "Chosen One", face your destiny!

It's no wonder Suwan said that, mainly because the Cavaliers' schedule in March was too good, with 14 games, no "back-to-back" games, and only four teams ranked in the top eight in the East and West, while the others were basically weak teams, including two games against the Raptors and two games against the Bobcats.

LeBron doesn't have any other special features, but one thing is that he almost never fails when playing against weak teams and he always gets impressive stats.

His entire journey with the "Dream Team" at the 2024 Olympics is the most authentic portrayal of his career.

He launched a heavy attack against weak teams in the beginning, and when the opponents became stronger and stronger later on, he relied on his teammates to continuously perform at the MVP level at critical moments and anxiously won the victory. Finally, he relied on his own strong influence in the media to win the final MVP trophy, making others think that he was the biggest C player in the team.

The team's performance and his statistics in March once again proved that LeBron's characteristics have never changed.

Including this "Player of the Month Award", LeBron has won the "Player of the Month" award twice this season.

This made him extremely proud.

If he hadn't been concerned about his teammates' reputation, he would have confronted Su Wan directly in front of the media:
"I led this group of players from Cleveland who I didn't know where to find and they won Player of the Month twice. Su led All-Stars like Ron and Jermaine and they only won Player of the Month twice this season!"

Final Thoughts

Su is not as good as me!

Of course, there is another reason:
The Cavaliers' first game in April is at home against the Pacers.

He couldn't show off.

Who made Su Wan's teammates better than his teammates?

After winning the "Player of the Month Award" in March, LeBron increasingly felt that the real reason why he was not as good as Suwan was that his teammates were not good enough.

If he and Su Wan switched roles, he would let Su Wan know what "cruel" means!
Wait!
and so……

"Mike, I feel my wrist is a little sore."

On the day of the game, LeBron James found Mike Brown, looking constipated and rubbing his wrist.

Mike Brown was horrified and quickly called the team doctor. He also removed LeBron from the starting lineup and added him to the daily observation list.

The Cavaliers' public relations department also released the news:

LeBron will miss today's game against the Pacers due to an old wrist injury.

When the Cavaliers fans saw this news, they were immediately filled with worry. - LeBron's performance on the court in the past month and his team's results have successfully made Cleveland full of confidence in him again.

They are not worried about the outcome of this game. Even if they lose to the Pacers, their eighth place ranking in the Eastern Conference will still be stable.

They are currently leading the 9th-placed Philadelphia 76ers by as many as 4 wins.

In the remaining 7 games, they only need to win 2 to 3 games to ensure their entry into the playoffs.

What they are more worried about now is LeBron's wrist injury, whether he will miss the Cavaliers' first playoff trip in the 00s.

Compared to them, the outside world's speculation is crazier:
"LeBron was performing a tomahawk dunk in the game the day before yesterday. I can't believe he got injured two days later!"

"If I were LeBron, I would also choose to get injured in this game!"

"In fact, this is a wise decision. Regardless of the team's idea or LeBron's personal wish, it is better to avoid this regular season game with the Pacers than to be hit again!"

Ok……

Given LeBron's current image in the media, many people are wondering whether his injury is real or fake.

Many people believed that he faked injury in order to avoid Su Wan.

Of course, some people ridiculed this decision, but others agreed with it.

LeBron was hurt by the public opinion and wanted the team doctor to give him an injury diagnosis report, if there was no problem with the examination equipment. Fortunately, he could not give a direct answer, but Nike took action on his behalf.

Soon, most of these unfavorable public opinions disappeared.

"Mainstream" voices gradually take over the market:
"LeBron is the soul of this Cavaliers team. If he really suffers a serious wrist injury, it will definitely be a blow to this Cavaliers team!"

"The most important thing for Cleveland now is to protect LeBron's wrist!"

"All of Cleveland is looking forward to good news!"

……

Before the game, Suwan was also asked about LeBron's sudden injury and his absence from tonight's game.

He smiled and said, "I hope I don't have to post a missing person notice to find him in the future."

The reporter who was interviewing him looked puzzled at first, but he soon responded: "Do you think LeBron is just avoiding you?"

Su Wan shook his head: "I didn't say that, I just wish him good luck!"

Just one game without "milking James" is not a big deal.

We are all still young and there will be plenty of opportunities in the future!
Unless LeBron is like Embiid later, every time he meets Jokic, he will have various reasons to miss the game...

In the end, the Pacers easily defeated the Cavaliers without LeBron by 99 points, 78 to 21.

Of course, even with LeBron, the result wouldn't change.

It's all massacre!

Su Wan scored 21 points, 4 rebounds and 4 assists in three quarters, and then sat on the bench.

His figure could still be seen on the big screen from time to time.

Every time the camera passes over him, it will inevitably cut to LeBron James on the other side the next second.

Lens language:

If Suwan was still on the Cavaliers, how bright the future of this team would be!
I can’t even think about it!

Once again, Cleveland residents felt a tightness in their chests.

But this time, it's not just because of Suwan, but also because of Jose Calderon.

Back in Cleveland, he played a little more aggressively tonight. Facing the Cavaliers' guards who once suppressed him and prevented him from playing, he finally scored 15 points and 7 assists, showing a steady style of play. He was like a machine that would never make mistakes.

And this machine was also originally "Made in Cleveland"!
But last summer, he was sent to Indiana by Danny Ferry.

Does Larry Bird have any leverage over this guy?

Investigate thoroughly, must investigate thoroughly!
After the game, LeBron faced the camera with a very heavy face: "(Sitting on the sidelines and watching the team lose) That's terrible. I will do another MRI tomorrow. I hope I can hear good news this time. I think I see how important I am to the Cavaliers. I must return to this team as soon as possible!"

The next morning, the Cleveland media also called out affectionately: LeBron, come back soon, the Cavaliers can't do without you!

Barkley felt disgusted and immediately reposted the Cleveland report on Facebook, commenting: "If my memory is correct, then Suwan's record against LeBron is 4-0! Since being traded, Suwan has not lost to LeBron!"

Where does this “the Cavaliers can’t do without you” and “your importance to the Cavaliers” come from?

It's just that his speech was automatically blocked.

All eyes in Cleveland are now focused on LeBron James' latest wrist injury report.

The final result is gratifying:

LeBron's wrist injury is no longer serious and he is expected to return as early as April 4rd against the Portland Trail Blazers.

The heavy heart of Cleveland fans has finally been lifted.

For two days, LeBron faced "sporadic" ridicule from the outside world and put on a strong comeback against the Trail Blazers, the 15th team in the Western Conference, with a "quasi-triple-double" of 36 points, 9 rebounds and 10 assists.

In the last minute, he sat back on the bench.

After the game, the reporter that Rich Paul assigned to him asked him why he didn't grab another rebound: "So you can get a triple-double!"

LeBron replied: "I never live for statistics. Triple-doubles don't mean anything to me."

巴克利又忍不住了：“那你应该更早下场才对！比赛第三节骑士队就已经领先了开拓者队20分，而你当时的数据是26分6篮板7助攻，可你还是在第四节出场了11分钟！”

Are you trying to play the trick of trying to cover up something with me?
Barkley has seen people who really don't care about statistics, so it was hard for him not to complain after watching LeBron's interview.

LeBron saw Barkley firing at him again, and he looked upset: "No, is this guy sick? Why is he always picking on me?"

The main reason is that LeBron saw that Suwan had a personality of "not liking to break records" and thought it was very high-end, so he wanted to have a title of "not brushing data" himself, so he arranged this question.

Everything was perfect, and the Cleveland fans believed it anyway.

But Barkley jumped out again at this time.

He didn't understand how he had offended this guy.

But worse things happened:

The Cavaliers are currently ranked eighth in the Eastern Conference, two wins behind the seventh-placed Bucks. After beating the Trail Blazers, they are only one win behind the Bucks. But if they rise to seventh in the Eastern Conference, they will face the second-placed Pacers.

This is not what LeBron wants to see.

He feels it will be easier to play against the Pistons than the Pacers.

Mike Brown also thinks so. This season, the Cavaliers have 2 wins and 1 loss against the Pistons. As long as they face the Pistons, they have the possibility of "overcoming the strong".

For the current "disabled Cavaliers", if they could really accomplish such a feat, it would definitely enhance the cohesion and self-confidence of the entire team.

Of course, as the head coach, Mike Brown, especially LeBron James, will definitely receive a wave of top public opinion, which will wash away his bad image of crying in a press conference.

A man who can lead a team to defeat the strong is definitely a "mentally tough guy".

After the two of them reached an agreement, they deliberately lost the next game against the Seattle SuperSonics.

But at this time, the Pistons and the Pacers started the third game of the season.

Rick Carlisle continues to experiment with "small lineups."

The last successful revenge against the Heat gave him inspiration, and he planned to transfer the command from Calderon to Dio this time.

If it still doesn't work this time, then he will completely give up the idea of ​​competing with the Pistons with a small lineup.

But what he didn't expect was that the Pistons actually rested Ben Wallace and Billups in this game.

One "offensive core" and one defensive core, both of whom were not on the court, Rick Carlisle, who was unable to collect intelligence, immediately changed back to the "traditional starting lineup" and easily defeated the Pistons by 91 points with a score of 80 to 11.

After this victory, the two teams' records are tied, and the Pistons still have the upper hand over the Pacers thanks to the win-loss record between the two teams.

But at this point, the variables are huge...

If the Pistons lose another game, won’t the Pacers be in first place?
The Cavaliers quickly made an effort, but it was too late. On April 4, they lost to the Mavericks. After that game, the Bucks secured the seventh place in the Eastern Conference.

The Pistons also showed their fangs at this time":
LeBron James is indeed not easy to deal with, and in order to avoid being eliminated in the black eight, their target from the beginning was the Bucks.

After they secured seventh place in the Eastern Conference, the Pistons decisively lost the next game, giving the first place in the Eastern Conference to the Pacers.

Anyway, whether at home or away, the Pistons have defeated the Pacers before. For an old-fashioned powerhouse like them with a strong foundation and fighting with mental strength, it doesn't matter whether there are home or away games. As long as they have won at home, they have the confidence to defeat them again.

Just this made Mike Brown and LeBron James completely dumbfounded.

Having already secured the eighth spot in the Eastern Conference, they had no choice but to head to Indiana to challenge the Pacers, who were ranked first in the Eastern Conference.

LeBron James' first playoff trip in his career ended up running into Suwan.

On April 4, the Pacers easily defeated the Bobcats at home, ending all their journey in the regular season. In the end, their record this season was fixed at 15 wins and 62 losses, not only ranking first in the Eastern Conference, but also higher than the Mavericks' 20 wins and 60 losses, making them the team with the best record in the entire league.

This also makes many media believe that Su Wan is likely to be the regular season MVP this season.

After all, the regular season MVP is measured in many aspects. Suwan believes that after losing the game against the Mavericks, the regular season MVP should belong to Dirk Nowitzki. The "German Tank" believes that they are not at the same level as Suwan in the fourth quarter of the game.

But they felt it was useless.

The key is to see what the media people think.

The Pacers ranked third in the Eastern Conference last season. After losing Reggie Miller and Stephen Jackson in the summer, they ranked first in the league. At the beginning of the season, the Pacers started with 3 win and 1 losses. Suwan's return immediately put the team back on track. All of this is the reason why Suwan won the regular season MVP.

More importantly, if Suwan is really elected, he will be the youngest regular season MVP in NBA history.

As a journalist, who doesn’t want to cast a crucial vote that will witness history?

Su Wan did not respond too much to this issue. He had already said everything he needed to say.

The media talked to him about the opponent in the first round of the playoffs, and Suwan became talkative: "I hope LeBron can protect his wrist. The series is not just one game."

This means:

If you can't avoid it, don't hide!

The headlines in the Indiana media are even more eye-catching:
"LeBron, the Chosen One, face your destiny!"

Second update, we are entering the playoffs. Brothers, please vote for me.


(End of this chapter)