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Chapter 224 Everyone's a Qin fanboy, the most dominant! (Two chapters combined)

The loss in the first game made Mavericks head coach Mike Woodson realize that Qin Yue is now an unstoppable player on the court.

What is an unrestricted player?

Simply put, Qin Yue's performance currently depends solely on his own on-the-spot condition, rather than the opponent's defensive strategy and level of defense.

In the long history of the NBA, the last player who was unstoppable was Michael Jordan during his prime in the 1990s.

However, compared to Jordan back then...
Because Qin Yue's model provides him with fundamental strengths such as vision and defense, his floor is higher than Jordan's. That's why Marion said after the first game that Qin Yue is at least fifty times better than Jordan was back then.

Although Marion's statement clearly contained elements of praising Qin Yue.

But it is undeniable that...
In the playoffs, where Qin Yue is destined to give his all, if the Mavericks want to defeat the Warriors led by Qin Yue, even if they can do their best according to their pre-game plan, they will have to pray that Qin Yue doesn't perform too well on the night of the game.

"What we are trying to beat is likely the most dominant player in the history of basketball."

At the post-match press conference after the first game, Woodson said, "We're bound to need some good luck to beat him."

Two days later, the Mavericks and Warriors continued their Western Conference Finals Game 2 at Oracle Arena.

That night, while the Mavericks players were striving to do their best in every detail, they finally got the "good luck" they had hoped for before the game.

The referee in charge of this match, James Williams, is a young referee who still needs to hone his skills in big games.

结果
Due to a lack of experience, coupled with a pre-game hint from league officials that the Mavericks could receive some preferential treatment, Williams' officiating was clearly problematic from the very beginning of the game.

First of all
In addition to consistently calling the opposite star whistle on Qin Yue as usual, Williams called two defensive fouls on Qin Yue in the first half of the first quarter alone.

These are two typical examples of calls that could have been made or not.

In his panic, Williams chose to blow all the calls.

This prompted Warriors fans at Oracle Arena to immediately chant "Black whistle, black whistle."

Despite the immense pressure, Williams did indeed make quite a few balancing calls for the home team, the Warriors, in the subsequent game.

But when Williams tried to maintain a balance for the sake of balance, his officiating style fragmented the second game, greatly impacting both the home team, the Warriors, and the visiting Mavericks.

Of these, the Warriors were clearly more affected than the Mavericks.

As the Warriors' fierce offensive was repeatedly interrupted by the referee's calls, and Williams, in a moment of irrationality, called two defensive fouls on Qin Yue in the second half, Qin Yue quickly found himself in foul trouble. The situation in this unwatchable second game soon turned in favor of the Mavericks, who had a group of seasoned veterans.

Even during the match, Marion confidently joked with Qin Yue: "You definitely fouled Dirk just now, because I saw you hit Dirk's body hair with my own eyes."

After a pause, Marion added, "You know, Germans tend to have more body hair, which makes sense."

Seeing this, what could Qin Yue, who was both amused and exasperated, say?

Watching Williams, drenched in sweat and exhausted in the second half, Qin Yue didn't even complain about the young referee's officiating.

As a veteran who has played in the NBA for many years, Qin Yue knew very well that Williams did not deliberately blow the whistle that night.

In his constant struggle to regain his balance, the young referee had already lost himself on the field.

Moreover, as the Warriors win more and more championships in the future, Qin Yue knows better than anyone that it is only a matter of time before the league chooses to give the entire Warriors team the opposite star treatment.

Therefore, before taking the moral high ground to criticize the league after the game, Qin Yue always treated the game with a calm mind.

The final score was 120 to 116.

With Dirk Nowitzki making all 25 of his 25 free throws, the Mavericks pulled off a major upset at Oracle Arena on the road.

In fact, looking only at free throws, the Warriors had 38 free throws that night, just one less than the Mavericks' 39.

However, Kwame Brown, who had been able to get balanced calls from Williams in the second game, had a dismal free throw percentage of 6 out of 16.

After the game, Woodson and the Mavericks players, knowing that the Mavericks had only narrowly defeated the Warriors due to off-court factors, did not get carried away. Instead, they collectively became fans of the Warriors.

Even before this Western Conference Finals began, Woodson reviewed the Mavericks' past playoff failures.

Among these lessons learned from failure, Woodson discovered that a large part of the reason why the Mavericks have always been targeted by the league in terms of officiating standards since the "Donaghy incident" is that Mavericks owner Matt Cuban is the kind of person who benefits from others but then complains.

As a team owner who frequently complains about the referee's calls in public, even when the referees have been quite lenient with the Mavericks in some games, Cuban often complains afterwards that the referees are blowing the whistle unfairly.

In Woodson's view, if this continues, even if the referees don't want to target the Mavericks, they will still target them.

Therefore, before the start of this Western Conference Finals, Woodson approached Cuban early on, hoping that the latter would not cause trouble for this team aiming for the championship.

“Matt, you can’t keep complaining about the referees like this,” Woodson said. “I believe that in order to ensure the game is exciting, the league will definitely favor us in this Western Conference Finals, but if you keep complaining about the referees, then our advantage will be lost.”

Upon hearing this, Cuban looked puzzled and said, "But what if those damn bastards blatantly give Messiah the star call during the game? What should we do then?"

Woodson explained to Cuban, "Matt, to limit the Messiah, the league introduced the 'Messiah Rule' last season. So you don't need to worry that the league will favor the Warriors in this Western Conference Finals. In fact, since last season, the referees have been blatantly blowing biased calls against all of the Warriors' opponents."

Under Woodson's earnest advice, Cuban, who is known for his outspokenness, chose to keep quiet during this Western Conference Finals series.

Furthermore, in order to show the league just how strong Qin Yue was, Woodson led the Mavericks players in praising Qin Yue to the best of their ability from before the first game.

"I know we successfully dismantled the Warriors' home-court advantage in this game," Woodson complained to the media at the press conference. "But I have no doubt that the Warriors' overall strength is still far superior to ours, because only when you play against the Warriors, who have Messiah, can you truly feel the omnipresent dominance of Messiah."

During the game, Marion, who was responsible for guarding Qin Yue, said: "I think my evaluation after the first game was too conservative. To be honest, after this game, in my mind, Messiah is at least a hundred times better than Michael Jordan in his prime."

On the court, Chandler, who had been bullied by Qin Yue multiple times, said, "Do you know how devastated I felt every time I had to help defend him? He's so strong he's not even human. I'm officially reporting him; he's definitely an alien!"

After the second game, Qin Yue, who knew that the Mavericks players were trying to gain sympathy from the league by praising him with obvious ulterior motives, sighed and said, "No wonder everyone was a Jordan fanboy in the 90s."

Indeed, in the 1990s, praising Jordan in the NBA became politically correct not only because Jordan was indeed very strong, but also because his opponents did not want him to receive too many star calls on the court.

After all, Jordan was already unstoppable in his normal state.
And what about Jordan, who always gets star referee calls?

Of course, no matter how much Qin Yue understands the Mavericks, the Warriors must fight for what they deserve.

"I've always been understanding of the difficulties referees face during the officiating process." After the match, when asked about the issue of the refereeing standards, Qin Yue pointed to his arm covered in scratches and said, "But the referees can't always target me, because if playing too well is also a mistake, then from now on, who will be willing to improve their skills?"

In the past two years, the alliance has quietly reached a tacit understanding with Qin Yue.

In other words, Qin Yue does not object to the referee giving him the reverse star call, but the referee must also ensure that he applies the same defensive standards to his opponents.

Now, even if the reason this tacit understanding was broken in this second game is Williams' lack of officiating experience, the league must appease Qin Yue with their attitude.

really
The following day, the NBA responded to Qin Yue with the list of officiants for Game 3 that they had released.

Before leading his team to Dallas, Qin Yue breathed a sigh of relief upon noticing that Dan Crawford was the referee for Game 3.

Although since last year, Crawford's favorite thing to say to Qin Yue has been: "You know, in order to ensure the entertainment value of the game, I can only give you biased calls."

However, compared to other referees, Crawford is the most impartial referee in Qin Yue's eyes since the Qin Yue Rules were introduced.

On the evening of the 24th, Game 3 of the Western Conference Finals between the Warriors and the Mavericks was held at the American Airlines Center.

Right at the start of the game, Qin Yue blocked Nowitzki's signature one-legged fadeaway jumper, a move considered unblockable by most, during a defensive play.

Cuban, who had promised Woodson he wouldn't complain about the referee, jumped up and down on the sidelines, shouting, "That's a foul! How could he have blocked Dirk's shot if it wasn't a foul?"

However, when the slow-motion replay showed it was a perfect 360-degree block, Cuban instantly became the clown.

That night, under Crawford's objective and fair officiating, Qin Yue, who was able to participate fully on the defensive end, completed a total of 6 blocks and 4 steals.

The three-time Defensive Player of the Year led the Warriors to a hard-fought victory over the Mavericks on the road, thanks to his defense that covered almost the entire Warriors' half of the court.

The final score was 108 to 94.

Compared to the previous two matches, this was a game where both teams' attacks were somewhat off.

In the game, Qin Yue's successful defense against Nowitzki in several key rounds ultimately determined the outcome of the match.

After the game, Dirk Nowitzki, who scored 18 points and grabbed 6 rebounds for the Mavericks with 6 of 20 field goal attempts and only 6 of 20 free throws, said in an interview: "His defense always suffocates me. He is definitely the toughest defender I have ever faced."

In the past two years, as Qin Yue has gradually grown into a historically great defender, no one in the public eye would question him as much as he did in the early part of his career, calling him just a stat padder.

According to the schedule, Game 4 of the Western Conference Finals between the Warriors and the Mavericks will continue at the American Airlines Center one day later.

Despite the fact that after the first three games, the Mavericks, led by Woodson, were convinced of Qin Yue's dominance on both ends of the court, in the NBA, how could a true warrior choose to surrender just because the opponent is strong?

Before Game 4, Woodson spoke with several Mavericks players.

To Marion, Woodson said, "Sean, I know you've given it your all in this game, but now you have to do even better for us to have a chance to beat the Warriors." To Chandler, Woodson provoked him, "Tyson, do you want to just watch Kwame Brown, that stat padder, make it to the Finals again?"

Woodson encouraged Parker, saying, "Tony, I have no doubt that you are the best point guard in the West right now. All along, you just need a chance to prove yourself."

Speaking to veterans like Kidd, Woodson envisioned the future, saying, "If we can beat this Warriors team and eventually win the championship, how will future generations describe our championship run this year?"

As for Nowitzki, Woodson kicked the country bumpkin from Würzburg and said, "Dirk, I know you didn't play well in Game 3, but listen, even if you miss your first ten shots, you have to fire on your eleventh. Got it?"

At the American Airlines Center, after warming up, the competition officially began.

Warriors starting lineup: Qin Yue, Jamison, Wallace, Bell, Nash.

Mavericks starting lineup: Chandler, Nowitzki, Marion, Stevenson, Parker.

In the jump ball, Qin Yue narrowly defeated the furious Chandler.

Nash dribbled the ball across half-court, and the Warriors spread out, leaving only Qin Yue at the top of the arc to run a pick-and-roll with Nash.

Nash, who was cutting in from Qin Yue's left flank with the ball, saw that Marion had blocked his passing lane to Qin Yue in advance, so he simply chose to take the pass himself.

On the court, Nash, during a sudden stop, steadily shot the basketball into the hoop with a standard archery stance.

2:0.

This kind of horseback archery has always been one of Nash's specialties.

The fans at the American Airlines Arena are no strangers to this.

But on this night that could decide the fate of the Mavericks, after Nash scored, the home crowd was filled with hatred.

It's the Mavericks' turn to attack.

Despite his poor performance in Game 3, Nowitzki was not affected. After receiving a pass from Parker's breakthrough, and facing Qin Yue's help defense, "King Nowitzki's" shot drew a beautiful high arc before swishing through the net.

2:3.

Qin Yue had already pushed his defensive efforts to the limit for this play.

Because Qin Yue's help defense distance determined that his jumping position was insufficient to block Nowitzki in this defensive possession, if Qin Yue's defensive stance had been even slightly more aggressive, it would have been a foul.

As we all know, in the NBA, apart from Curry in later years who doesn't use a cylinder when shooting three-pointers, most NBA players still enjoy the benefits of being fouled by the defense.

Therefore, Qin Yue had nothing to say if Nowitzki scored.

Then, the Warriors had possession of the ball.

Qin Yue, noticing that Chandler was always protecting Nowitzki, did not rush to clear Jamison's half of the court so that he could go one-on-one against Nowitzki. Instead, he signaled Wallace to first screen for Jamison on the right side of the court and let Jamison go around to the other half of the court to receive the ball.

Under Qin Yue's guidance, Jamison, fully understanding the instructions, received the ball at the high post on the left wing and made a clean layup.

As a short forward, Jamison's biggest advantage on the field is that those taller than him are not as fast.

In addition, Jamison has a reliable mid-to-long-range shot, which will inevitably make him a difficult player to contain when a mismatch occurs.

On TNT, watching Jamison shine in this Western Conference Finals, Barkley laughed and said, "Who would have thought that after returning to Oakland, Antoine, who will soon turn 35, is undergoing a wonderful evolution?"

In the previous three Western Conference Finals games, Jamison averaged 21 points, making him the Warriors' second-leading scorer after Qin Yue.

Without a doubt, Jamison's outstanding performance in such an important game makes him far from being a so-called "CBA teammate".

In his previous life, Qin Yue's understanding of Jamison was limited to the game in which he scored 51 points against Kobe Bryant early in his career, and Jamison's resume as a "CBA teammate" with the Cavaliers.

But in this life, after working with Jamison, who is now in the twilight of his career, Qin Yue feels that Jamison was only ten years too early.

Otherwise, given his technical characteristics, he would certainly have achieved even greater success in the later era of small ball sports.

Because in addition to possessing the technical characteristics to become a top-tier power forward in the small-ball era on the offensive end.
Jamison is also a player who excels at grabbing offensive and defensive rebounds on the defensive end.

Admittedly, Jamison is no longer at his peak compared to his prime.

But he was Qin Yue's most top-tier frontcourt partner in the NBA.
Every time Jamison was promoted to the starting lineup, Qin Yue couldn't help but wonder what kind of trash the inside players he had worked with before were.

Meanwhile, on the Warriors' bench, Brown, who was once again assigned to come off the bench by Malone that night, also felt unprecedented pressure.

Because Jamison can do almost anything Brown can do, except protect the rim.

But Jamison can do things on the offensive end that Brown can't.

Therefore, the better Jamison plays when he starts, the more Brown feels that his standing in Qin Yue's eyes will drop.

On the court, Parker dribbled the ball to the frontcourt.

This time, Parker noticed that the Warriors had suddenly switched to a zone defense and chose to break through the Warriors' zone defense by driving to the basket.

On the perimeter, Stevenson received a pass from Parker after a drive and hit a three-pointer.

This season, as a pseudo starter for the Mavericks, Stevenson averaged only 5 points and 3 rebounds per game in the regular season.

But once the playoffs started, Stevenson, just as Qin Yue remembered, transformed into one of the Mavericks' most accurate outside shooters.

In the playoffs, Stevenson averaged 2.4 three-pointers per game for the Mavericks, with a three-point shooting percentage of 45%.

In this play, the Warriors' strategy of disrupting the Mavericks' offensive rhythm by switching to a zone defense not only failed to work, but also gave Stevenson an open shot opportunity on the outside.

Even so, Qin Yue did not complain about Wallace, who had just led everyone to switch to a joint defense.

Qin Yue knew that Wallace's initial intention in leading the switch to a zone defense was to test the shooting touch of the other Mavericks players and use that information to decide how the Warriors should respond to the Mavericks' offense that night.

Therefore, since this was an attempt to test the waters, how could Qin Yue possibly shrug and complain about it?
Qin Yue knew very well that if, as the star player, he neither allowed his teammates to take the initiative to try new things in a game, but instead demanded that they play mechanically like puppets, and made them take the blame for the losses, then in the long run, his teammates would inevitably be labeled as "CBA teammates" one by one, just like Jamison during his time with the Cavaliers.

On the court, it was the Warriors' turn to attack.

Nash did not pass the ball to Qin Yue first in this possession.

Because Wallace had cleverly cut from the baseline to the Mavericks' basket, Nash immediately passed the ball to Wallace.

The latter received the ball and scored a layup off the backboard, making it 6-6.

In the NBA, if a star player's one-on-one play is a team's fuse, a trump card when the team's tactics fail, then a team's ability to create multiple scoring opportunities through various tactics is an important standard for judging the quality of a team's head coach.

At that moment, looking at Mike Malone, who remained calm and composed in the other half of the court, Woodson knew very well that this Warriors head coach, who had never been well-liked by his peers, had long been underestimated by the outside world.

If Ma Long didn't have real talent, how could Qin Yue have felt at ease entrusting so many offensive possessions to his teammates in this Western Conference Finals?
Now, after the first three games, Woodson has gained a new understanding of this Warriors team.

That is, the reason why Qin Yue has always given people the feeling of being too low-key on the offensive end since the first game is not only because of his improvement in his level, but also because he needs to put his strength into the defensive end to support the entire Warriors' defense.

Especially in the previous three games, Qin Yue would take over the defensive responsibility against Nowitzki in the second half of each game.

Even so, Qin Yue will inevitably have to pay a higher physical price in defense, but he is willing to do so.

Woodson knew very well that if Qin Yue hadn't trusted his teammates and coaches enough, he would never have made such a choice.

On the court, the Mavericks are on offense.

Parker, who rushed into the paint to try and finish with a floater, was ruthlessly blocked by Qin Yue.

With that towering white pillar standing in the Warriors' paint, Qin Yue's consistent defensive presence, just like in Game 3, subtly influenced the Mavericks' offensive quality in the following possessions.

At the end of the first quarter, the score was 34-24.

Even though every Mavericks player played against the Warriors that night with the belief that they would win.

But on the court, the behemoth in the Warriors' lineup once again became an insurmountable barrier for them.

"Our resolve is utterly insignificant in the face of his absolute power."

During the break, Marion said in a desperate tone, "Now, in my mind, he is at least five hundred times better than Michael Jordan was back then."

……

P.S.: Here comes the short two-in-one chapter!

(End of this chapter)