mountain top

Chapter 135: Rushing to that date! (Additional chapter for Alliance Book Friend 20195725!)
This year's Western Conference Finals between the Warriors and the Supersonics not only significantly refreshed the overseas ratings, but also successfully broke the NBA ratings record in the United States.

The outstanding performance of the star players of both teams was certainly the key to the continuous refreshing ratings in the first four games.

But more importantly.
At this special moment in the current era
Both teams played at the highest quality allowed by current NBA rules, both on offense and defense.

Since the birth of basketball.
Every change in the rules undoubtedly greatly affects its development and is ultimately presented to the world through the content of the competition.

As we all know, before entering the era called "Iron and Blood", the NBA also experienced the era of attacking for the sake of attacking in the early and mid-1980s.

In the "Roaring Eighties", star players could score as easily as chopping melons and vegetables, which caused great dissatisfaction among fans.

Compared to other more physically intense sports events at the time,
People at that time simply could not understand what was so interesting about basketball, a game where you could score by just bringing the ball to the front court and making one or two simple passes.

Therefore, in order to save the competitiveness of the NBA, a commercial league, with the tacit approval of the then new league director David Stern, a large number of defensive coaches began to show their skills.

Since the late 1980s, the NBA has officially entered the "iron and blood" era.

That was an era when the quality of players was competing with each other.

Because before the NBA officially introduced zone defense, the existence of illegal defense allowed every team to create absolute one-on-one opportunities for their star players by clearing half the court, so the stronger the personal ability of a superstar, the easier it is for you to break through the opponent's defense.

With Michael Jordan's personal abilities, he should have completely dominated that era.

After all, in that era, who could compete with Jordan in terms of star quality?
But Chuck Daly and the Pistons' "Jordan Rule" have made people gradually realize that no matter how strong a superstar's personal abilities are, he has his limits.

Therefore, Phil Jackson came to Chicago with his triangle offense and used the triangle offense to build Michael Jordan's fame.

although
As Jordan's skills became more and more sophisticated in the later stages of his career, even his teammates believed that the triangle offense would only restrict Jordan in certain rounds.

But no matter what, in that era of competition of personal ability, Jordan became the ultimate king.

Then, the NBA entered the next era.

In 2001, in order to limit Shaquille O'Neal, who was at the peak of his powers at the time, the NBA officially introduced zone defense.

If we say that the NBA in the 1990s was full of "iron and blood", fans were still willing to pay for the superb personal abilities of superstars.
The introduction of the zone defense, coupled with the league's long-standing hand-check rule, ushered in a period of true dark ages for the NBA.

In the NBA, the power of the zone defense is certainly greatly reduced, but when the zone defense is combined with the hand-check rule, the Detroit Pistons will use their game content that even mosquitoes can't fly into to tell you:
NBA games no longer have the exciting "blood" that makes your blood boil, but only the "iron" of iron hitting the target that constantly surrounds your ears.

For this reason, the NBA had to officially make the decision to cancel the Hand-Check rule in the summer of 2004.

As the season with the strictest enforcement of the No-Hand-Check rule in the league, the Warriors' championship journey last year also benefited from it.

However, this also made David Stern realize once again that after losing the Hand-Check rule, overly lawless superstars would make the game less enjoyable to watch.

Therefore, starting from the 06/07 season, the NBA has tacitly condoned more intense physical confrontations.

This has made the NBA enter what is likely to be the most entertaining period since its inception.

Without the Hand-Check rule, skilled outside players can display their offensive talents more freely.

The introduction of zone defense allows teams that are good at defense to build a richer defensive system.

The high-intensity physical confrontation ensures the competitiveness of the NBA after the Hand-Check rule was abolished.

There is both offense and defense.

Sometimes, a team with good shooting can score 110 or even 120 points on a certain night.

But sometimes, two teams that are not in good form will use the thrilling fights to attract the audience's attention.

The three-point shot was far from being as easy to fire as it is in later generations.

The status of role players has been rising with tactical innovations and the needs of various teams.

Superstars can still demonstrate greatness with their unstoppable performance.

2007 5 Month 29 Day.

When this round of the Western Conference Finals returned to the Oracle Arena in Oakland, the Warriors played such a game against the Supersonics.

In this decisive battle where the winner would decide the trend of the series, the two teams fought till the very last moment, making the fans' hearts hang in their throats.

End timer:
——1 minute 27 seconds

Yao Ming received a pass from Garnett and dunked at the basket, helping the team change the score of the game to 90 to 89.

But in front of the TV, the excitement of the Sonics fans has not faded yet
——1 minute 09 seconds

Qin Yue hit a jaw-dropping baseline turnaround jump shot while being chased by Garnett and Posey.

At the Oracle Arena, a golden wave rolled over.

The scoreboard showed 90 to 91.

——57 seconds

Ray Allen made a low-level mistake of dropping the ball while dribbling.

But Jack, who took the opportunity to steal the ball, was immediately intercepted by Cassell.

The "alien" stole the basketball from Jack's hands at the risk of his life, and quickly passed the ball to the baseline. Garnett helped the Supersonics to overtake the score again under the strong interference of Artest.

Seeing this, Warriors head coach Mike Malone did not choose to call a timeout.

——41 seconds

After receiving the pass from Davis, Qin Yue faced Garnett and Yao Ming under the basket. After missing the first attack, he jumped continuously and easily tapped the damn basketball into the basket.

On the Supersonics bench, Rick Carlisle requested a timeout.

After the pause
——23 seconds

Ray Allen's missed three-pointer seemed to have ruined the Sonics' victory
But James Posey, the piece of the championship puzzle, suddenly appeared in the long backboard area where the basketball finally landed, and passed the ball to Yao Ming who was standing under the basket at the time.

The next second, Yao Ming stood at the crossroads that changed history.

In desperation, Qin Yue could only send Yao Ming to the free throw line with a destructive foul.

Next, Yao Ming missed what was probably the most important free throw in his life.

Because he made one of two free throws, the Warriors, who had the last offensive opportunity, could choose to use up all the game time in the next offensive round, rather than rushing to attack to ensure that the team still had time to adopt foul tactics after failing to make a buzzer-beater.

In front of the technical table, Warriors head coach Mike Malone requested a timeout.

And after the timeout, he chose to serve from the backcourt.

On the court, when Davis personally passed the ball to Qin Yue and Qin Yue personally dribbled the ball across half court, all the Warriors fans in the entire stadium had already stood up.

In order to prevent Qin Yue from using his broad vision to help his teammates complete the buzzer-beater, Rick Carlisle specifically told his players during the timeout that if it was not necessary, he would give Kevin Garnett absolute trust in this defensive round.

At the scene, Qin Yue officially launched this attack with about 5.8 seconds left in the game.

Garnett achieved theoretically perfect defense.

He was not shaken off balance by Qin Yue's shuffling steps.

He was not fooled by Qin Yue's sudden changes in rhythm.

But when Qin Yue jumped vertically and made a vertical pull-up shot, Garnett was unable to block Qin Yue's fatal shot with an astonishing height and an extremely long time in the air in an instant.

Afterwards, many Warriors fans admitted that when the basketball escaped Qin Yue's control and began to fly towards the basket, countless images popped up in their minds uncontrollably.

Among them, the most classic scene is, of course, Michael Jordan's "The Shot".

At Oracle Arena, when the electronic buzzer sounded, announcing the official end of the game, and the basketball hit the net, Qin Yue jumped up excitedly to celebrate, forgetting that his injury had not yet healed.
"The Messiah shot down the Seattle SuperSonics! He hit the game-winning shot for the Golden State Warriors!"

The final score was 93 to 95.

From hell to heaven, and now holding match point!
All Warriors fans hugged each other tightly with tears in their eyes!

The scene where Yao Ming felt guilty for missing a crucial free throw, and the scene where Garnett squatted on the floor and looked sad after his defense failed.
It undoubtedly became the perfect backdrop for Qin Yue's winning shot that night.

"Basketball is fucking damn good, basketball is fucking wonderful!" Malone, who was completely crazy, said excitedly in an interview after the game. "He scored 37 points for us with an injury and hit the buzzer-beater. I can't describe my praise for him in words. He is the best player on the planet!" Mike Dunleavy, who almost became a "war criminal" after only making 8 of 1 shots in the first game after returning from suspension, said in tears in the Warriors locker room.

"A clown will only be laughed at even if he enters a magnificent palace, but a hero will be worshipped by the world even if he is in a busy city." At the press conference, Kwame Brown described Qin Yuedao that night in this way.

The next day.

Ira Berko, a Pulitzer Prize winner and angel investor of The Chosen One and Messiah, wrote in the New York Times: "This is another great moment bestowed by God on the sport of basketball. This year's Western Conference Finals has become the epic poem of Homer in the minds of countless people."

Sports Illustrated said mischievously: "Thank you Messiah for giving our newspaper another classic cover!"

After the fifth game of the Western Conference Finals, not only the fans and the media went crazy, but even the major sponsors behind Qin Yue went crazy.

The NBA's constantly breaking ratings and the topic discussion that shows no sign of declining are reminding the sponsors behind Qin Yue what kind of cash cow they have.

Jeff Schwartz brought back good news to Qin Yue that day.

In view of the amazing sales of Qin Yue's sneakers in the past two years, Nike has decided to sign a new contract with him.

The new contract will last for six years and is worth more than $6 million.

In addition, in addition to retaining Qin Yue's privileged licensing income, Nike will also give him a special sales bonus.

Of course, compared to this sky-high contract.
More importantly, this new contract will ensure Qin Yue has a unique position in Nike.

In Qin Yue's previous life, James never enjoyed the opportunity to renew his contract with Nike during the execution of his contract. Even in 2010, he only got a new contract from Nike for 8 years with a total value of US$1 million.

The reason why James failed to win this honor was that his shoe sales in the first six years of his career did not meet Nike's psychological expectations.

Since James' sales in the United States in the first six years of his career were less than $100 million per year, although his shoe sales still provided him with a considerable additional bonus, it was far from Nike's prior expectation that he would become the second Michael Jordan.

But now, Qin Yue's sneakers are not only selling well in the United States, but also in China.
Qin Yue's sneakers have become a fashion symbol.

It turns out that the good cooperative relationship that Qin Yue has always maintained with Nike's legendary sneaker designer Tinker Hasfield has become the key to the hot sales of his sneakers.

Because Qin Yue would never change the design drawings of the sneaker designer without authorization like his good brother did, and he would never give comments on the design of this legendary designer.
As a result, the fashionable and timeless "Bawang Series" shoes soon proved with market feedback that professional matters should be left to professionals.

Also, the current era of American fans' despair about American basketball.
It also indirectly led to the booming sales of Qin Yue sneakers.

This reminded Qin Yue that if he could use the home court advantage to completely destroy the redemption battle of American basketball in 08,
By then, American fans who cannot drive away their despair through redemption will inevitably develop an indescribable feeling towards him due to the human nature of admiring the strong.

As someone who has experienced this, Qin Yue knows very well that the so-called 08 Dream Team is not as strong as people imagine.

Moreover, in FIBA competitions
He will only be better than the NBA?

The zone defense will greatly weaken the influence of American stars on the court.

As long as he can maintain excellent on-the-spot condition in the game against the Dream Team, Qin Yue does not think that defeating the American men's basketball team is a fantasy.

Although it is indeed difficult.
But for Qin Yue, who is increasingly eager to gain more honors and always stand at the center of the basketball world, he wants to give it a try no matter how difficult it is.

In addition, on the day of renewing the new contract with Nike, Qin Yue immediately shared the good news with his good brother James, who had been on equal footing with him.

In this regard, James, who had just played the masterpiece of his career in the series against the Pistons - scoring 49 points in a single game and 26 consecutive points for the team in the fourth quarter and overtime, felt extremely complicated.

"He's showing off to you, Brown. Don't you think he never treated you as a real brother?"

Randy Mims, who has never liked Qin Yue, said to him after James hung up the phone.

Maverick Carter, who has a close relationship with Nike, reminded James: "Brown, I think Nike has used this new contract to declare the Messiah's banner status from now on."

Since Qin Yue entered the league, James has discovered
As long as anything is related to Qin Yue, nothing good will ever happen.

And, to James' great despair.
At this moment, he was extremely eager to return to the spotlight of the attention of thousands of people. Even though he played the masterpiece of his career in the game against the Pistons, he only snatched back a little attention from Qin Yue.

This is definitely not what James wants.

Because only when he stands in the spotlight is he the chosen one of Cleveland.

If it is said that in the past, whenever Qin Yue showed off to him in a condescending tone and teased him about his rough skills, James would only think it was a joke between brothers.

That goes on as time goes by.
James, who has long realized that he cannot coexist with Qin Yue, can only describe his attitude towards Qin Yue as "brothers in name only".

James knew very well that the only reason he could still maintain a "superficial brother" relationship with Qin Yue was because the two had not yet fallen out in private or in public.

But that day.
James felt he was getting closer.

5 month 31 day.

Game 6 of the Western Conference Finals between the Warriors and the SuperSonics moved to KeyArena.

The Warriors, who hold the match point, do not want to decide the outcome of this series through a seventh game.

Not wanting to let this round of topics run wild and the highly anticipated Western Conference Finals come to an end, league general manager David Stern slightly increased the difficulty for the Warriors in their match point game.

Although compared to the later explicit performances.
The referee that night simply acquiesced to the use of the Hand-Chcek rule, which should have disappeared.

But when the Sonics' zone defense was coupled with the Hand-Chcek rule, and until the end of the game, the two teams had only 12 and 14 free throws respectively.
The intensity of this confrontation increased again, and the defensive scene was unprecedentedly brutal. Unless someone really died, the whistle would never be blown in this game. However, this game greatly limited the Warriors' outside shooting ability.

Qin Yue, who felt from the beginning that the penalty scale was particularly unfavorable to the Warriors, did not take even one three-point shot on the night of the game.

他总计25投13中，罚球8罚7中，为勇士砍下了全场两队最高的33分外加14篮板5助攻3封盖1抢断。

But Qin Yue's outstanding performance could not prevent the team from losing.

Because in this NBA version of the "Battle of Verdun", the Supersonics with the twin towers in the penalty area will only have more advantages.

姚明本场砍下25分11篮板2助攻4封盖，加内特则是斩获19分10篮板4助攻2封盖2抢断。

The final score was 70 to 74.

After the game, I watched the players who were all blacksmiths in the game, Richardson who shot 7-for-0 from beyond the three-point line, Davis who shot 15-for-3 in the whole game, and Dunleavy who was regarded as the key to the game by the team, who shot 15-for-2 in two games.
In addition to Artest who still scored 13 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 steals in this game intensity.
Qin Yue's mood could only be described as wanting to burn Stern alive.

Although Qin Yue knew very well that the Warriors did have a chance to beat the Supersonics that night, he never expected that Stern would give the Warriors such a high intensity in the Warriors' match point game when he was playing with an injury.

But it's over
Qin Yue, who was unable to burn Stern to death, was destined to focus his attention on the seventh game that would be held at the Oracle Arena on the evening of June 6.

This will be the first time Qin Yue will face a tiebreaker in his career.

Owning the home court will be the Warriors' only advantage in this seventh game.

Qin Yue knew that in this life-and-death battle, Stern would definitely not let the referee replicate the excruciating defensive intensity of Game 6.

But even so.
To win this year's Western Conference Finals, the Warriors must seize those open shots like they did on previous winning nights.

Before the start of this game where anyone could become the Western Conference champion, Qin Yue, who was getting angrier and angrier the more he thought about it, had reached his peak with the resentment he had accumulated since his injury.

The good news is that as Qin Yue is close to recovery, his ankle is no longer as restricted as before.

The day before the game.

Under the supervision of the team doctor, Qin Yue is moving more and more freely and is now no different from when he was healthy.

Moreover, in the visualization data of the [Mountain Top] system, all the attributes that Qin Yue had previously lost due to injury were restored, with only the speed and jumping attributes temporarily having their ability values deducted.

There is no doubt that this will be Qin Yue's healthiest game in this year's Western Conference Finals.

At the same time, it was also a game in which he urgently needed to release his resentment.

However, a mere Western Conference Finals was far from satisfying Qin Yue's appetite.

But only after clearing the West
Only then will Qin Yue get the chance to go to the finals and continue to eliminate his resentment.

Before the start of Game 4 of the Western Conference Finals, the Cleveland Cavaliers, led by LeBron James, eliminated the Detroit Pistons 2- and advanced to this year's finals.

Qin Yue knew very well that he wanted to rush to the date with James.
Then he must lead the Warriors to defeat the Supersonics in tomorrow night's game.

……

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(End of this chapter)