mountain top

Chapter 287 The hero appears
All these years later, Kobe is still Kobe.

Although the jersey number changed from 8 to 24.

But before the first game of the Western Conference Finals, both Kobe's defiant expression and Kobe's fighting spirit—which would reignite in the next game no matter how many times Qin Yue defeated him—constantly reminded Qin Yue:

In Kobe's dictionary, there was never a word called surrender.

As is widely known, in the Bay Area, Qin Yue's will is the will of a warrior.

Therefore, in a sense, Kobe's will also represents the will of the Lakers in this era.

And
To honor the memory of Jerry Buss, who passed away in February of this year, the Lakers, who are going into the playoffs with a "desperate" attitude, are still a team with their own "morale buff".

During his pre-game analysis, O'Neal told TNT, "I don't know if the Lakers can stop the defending champions from moving forward, but I believe that this Lakers team, led by Kobe, will definitely fight the Warriors to the very end."

Barkley echoed this sentiment, saying, "In the past, we often said that many teams would be overwhelmed by the Warriors' aura before they even faced them. But believe me, the Lakers are definitely the team least afraid of the Warriors in this era."

He has been on the front line of the fight against the epidemic for many years.

In their long-standing rivalry with the Warriors, the Lakers are widely considered by Warriors players to be the toughest opponent they can face.

At the same time, the team's resilience in the face of the Warriors also left a very deep impression on the world.

At the game in Oakland, the big screen displayed the starting lineups for both the Lakers and Warriors five minutes before the game began.

The home team, the Warriors, consists of Brown, Qin Yue, Wallace, Green, and Curry.

The away team, the Lakers, consist of Marc Gasol, Pau Gasol, Kobe Bryant, Klay Thompson, and Chris Paul.

In the center of the court, during the opening jump ball, Gasol successfully pinned Brown down as he got up, giving the Lakers possession.

In the Warriors' halftime, as Paul dribbled the ball across half-court, Pau Gasol, who was being guarded by Qin Yue, decisively moved to the outside.

On the other side, Kobe, who had moved up to the high post to run a pick-and-roll with Paul and received the ball as he wished, accelerated and gathered the ball the instant he got rid of Wallace with a jab step, and drove towards the inside where Qin Yue had been moved away without hesitation.

Furthermore, in the Warriors' paint, Marc Gasol's textbook-perfect "Gortat screen" forced Brown to watch helplessly as Kobe put the ball into the basket.

Although not all of the Lakers' offensive players touched the ball in this possession.

But to true experts, this was an absolutely impeccable team offensive round.

Before the Lakers launched their attack, Pau Gasol served as a diversionary tactic.

Klay Thompson's presence on the wing further deterred the Warriors' forwards and guards from making any rash help defense.

There's also the Gortat screen that Gasol and Kobe had excellent chemistry with.

And Paul's quick ball-handling after a pick-and-roll with Kobe.

It's no exaggeration to say that in just this one possession, the Lakers demonstrated how different they are from other teams.

Barkley of TNT said, "The Lakers are one of the few teams in the current era that can match the Warriors' level in both offense and defense. This Western Conference Finals series is undoubtedly the biggest test the defending champions have faced so far."

The Warriors then launch their attack.

Curry, who was pulled and dragged by Paul, resulting in a dribbling error, felt that he was being discriminated against by the referee.

After the Lakers scored two more points on a fast break through Klay Thompson, Curry frowned at the referee and said, "Chris's steal just now was a non-basketball move. Such a move should not appear on the basketball court."

Shouldn't they be on the basketball court?
It has to be said that Curry is still quite young at this point.

Because in Qin Yue's memory, this baby-faced killer will only encounter more of this kind of non-basketball defense in the future.

In Qin Yue's previous life, O'Neal had referred to Curry as his own version of an outside player.

Regarding the unfair refereeing against Curry on the court, O'Neal said: "I know very well how afraid the league is of me and Stephen. They don't want to give Stephen too many free throws because that would likely make the game lose its suspense."

In the NBA, Curry is never the first star to receive reversed star refereeing treatment.

For example, during the establishment of the Bulls' second dynasty, many people only remembered Miller's game-winning shot against Jordan.

Few people remember that Miller's shove of Jordan before making the game-winning shot was an offensive foul.

What? Even the GOAT has experienced reverse refereeing treatment?

So what if?

Given Jordan's peak ability to break through defenses, if the league were to add an "invisible wall" to Jordan like it does to later perimeter stars, wouldn't Jordan be fined at least twenty times a game?

On the court, after pulling Curry, who was still arguing with the referee, back to his side, Qin Yue seized the opportunity to teach him a lesson: "Stephen, you have to understand that this is a recognition of you."

"Approval?"

Qin Yue nodded and said, "Remember, pressuring the referee is not your job. Now, get back to the court and dribble that damn ball across half-court, understand?"

As someone who has been through it all, Qin Yue knows very well that it is only natural that the Warriors, who have won the championship for three consecutive years, would be suppressed by the league.

Perhaps, such suppression is very unfair to the Warriors.

But since the predecessors of that time had also struggled their way up, Qin Yue naturally wouldn't voluntarily apply to become that most special person by spreading his hands or kneeling down.

On the court, it's the Warriors' offensive possession.

Under Paul's relentless pressure, Curry's passing quality was clearly affected.

Fortunately, Qin Yue managed to regain control of the basketball before Gasol could react.

Then, Qin Yue dribbled hard to the inside and scored a layup after switching hands.

CCTV's Zhang Weiping, who switched to live commentary starting from the Western Conference Finals, spoke up for Qin Yue, saying, "Strictly speaking, this play was definitely a plus-one."

Over the years, Qin Yue's two plus one number was "cheated" by the referee. If someone in later generations had asked the referee for help because they didn't understand, how many times would they have to kneel down to the referee to release the grievance in their heart?
However, Qin Yue, who was already used to this, simply said to the referee Dan Crawford as he retreated on defense, "You damn old man, you missed another free throw for me."

In Qin Yue's previous life, starting from the third decade of the 21st century, a very interesting phenomenon would occur in the NBA.

That is, star players wearing non-Nike shoes will gradually take away resources from the league from Nike-sponsored stars.

For example, Jokic wearing 361° clothing.

For example, SGA wearing Converse.

For example, Haliburton wearing PUMA.

So the question is, why is Nike's dominance in the NBA declining year by year, despite its already dominant position?

The answer is actually very simple.

Of course, in the NBA, where justice prevails, a certain Nike star showed the world with his actions that if you have to kneel down to beg for food to wear Nike, but you can beg for food to wear other brands while standing up, then who the hell would want to wear Nike?

Therefore, many fans' evaluations of LeBron James in later generations are clearly not fair or objective enough.

Because if it weren't for the unparalleled greatness of LeBron James, who single-handedly dismantled Nike's dominance over the NBA, how would other shoe manufacturers have survived in the future?
They helped their contemporaries realize their dreams.

He used his glorious image of kneeling and begging to influence players of his generation to choose other shoe manufacturers.

This is what makes James most worthy of praise in later generations.

At the same time, this is also what makes him most respectable.

After all, whether it's Jordan in the past or Qin Yue now.

While shattering the basketball dreams of their contemporary rivals, they were all using their influence to aid "Nai" in his quest for dominance.

On the court, the Lakers are on offense.

Klay Thompson got a shot off after running into position, and hit the ball over Curry's help defense.

"Just now, I felt like the air was guarding against me."

After scoring, Klay couldn't resist taking a jab at Curry, with whom he's never gotten along. Curry, always eager to prove himself, was about to respond with an Answer Ball.

But who would have thought that as soon as Curry dribbled the ball across half-court, he was met with Paul's tenacious defense.

Same as the previous two rounds.

The referees chose to ignore many of Paul's non-basketball moves on defense.

As a result, Curry, who became increasingly anxious as the game progressed, also fell into the common trap of young players.

At the top of the arc, just as Qin Yue broke down the wall, Curry's pass, which was far from the smooth and delicate style of Haliburton in later generations ("15 assists, 0 turnovers, I was overrated, remember that"), was immediately intercepted by Paul for the second time.

In the Warriors' halftime, Klay Thompson scored again on a fast break.

Meanwhile, Warriors head coach Mike Malone was forced to call a timeout at the scorer's table.

Similar to the previous Western Conference semifinals, Lakers head coach Mike Brown, knowing that Qin Yue was no longer a target, focused the Lakers' defensive resources primarily on Curry in this series.

Moreover, the Lakers did better than the SuperSonics in one area.
Paul's powerful punches and Klay's sharp tongue have clearly affected Curry's mentality.

Seeing this, Qin Yue, knowing that the more Curry tried to prove himself, the more anxious he would become, proactively called on his teammate Jarrett Jack when the Warriors called a timeout.

Unfortunately.

The Curry of today is not the Curry of the future, a seasoned veteran who can always face every game and every opponent with a calm mindset.

Therefore, Qin Yue decided to let Curry return to the bench to calm down.

After the timeout, the Warriors took Curry out, who had made several mistakes at the start of the game.

They replaced him with Jack, who is known for his experienced playing style.

Meanwhile, on the Warriors' bench, Curry, who had initially been feeling aggrieved, looked surprised to find... in the first possession after Jack entered the game.
That night, the Warriors played even more smoothly without him.

On the court, the Warriors are on offense.

Jack passed the ball to Qin Yue, who then passed it to Wallace in the corner. Wallace then drove into the paint and made a brilliant pass to Brown for a dunk.

Also, I just got back.

Paul, who used to teach Curry a lesson with his "cannon punch," was immediately met with a violent snatch from his old rival Jack.

As a point guard with ample experience in shooting since his college days.

Perhaps Jack is not as good as Paul and Curry in terms of individual ability.

But please don't doubt that the gunfighting experience is already etched into Jack's DNA.

At the high post, facing Paul's dirty little hand while protecting the ball, Jack directly flipped Paul over and used a sliding tackle-like move to steal the ball from Paul.

At that moment, the referee also ignored Jack's defensive move, which went far beyond the scope of basketball.

Meanwhile, on the Warriors' bench, JR Smith was also encouraging Curry, saying, "Stephen, you know, I may not be as smart as you guys, but since coming to the Warriors, I've come to understand one thing."

"What's the point?"

"As long as you follow 'Da Qin' with your feet on the ground, you will never lack opportunities to prove yourself."

More haste less speed.

In basketball, the tougher the opponent's defense, the more patience the offensive team needs.

Only patience can help you overcome the tough challenges.

Otherwise, if you rashly try to bite into it, even if your teeth are the strongest, they will eventually break.

"Now, be patient and wait for the turning point to arrive."

On the bench, JR continued to tell Curry, "Stephen, you're the team's second-leading scorer after 'Da Qin,' and you'll definitely be back on the court, but before you return, you have to make sure you can face this Lakers team with a calm mindset."

In that moment, Curry realized that even JR Smith could approach the game with a calm and composed attitude.
Feeling utterly ashamed, Curry almost instantly forgot the resentment that had been lingering in his chest for almost a season.

This is the moment when Curry truly matures.

If every player in the NBA is a sharp sword that needs to be honed.

At this moment, Curry, who is about to be reborn, is undoubtedly the perfect sword that the Warriors need.

In the first quarter, Curry, who had calmed down on the sidelines for a few minutes, returned to the court and, with Qin Yue's screen, drove into the Lakers' paint. With his incredibly soft touch, he completed an unbelievable reverse layup against Gasol's help defense.

Furthermore, in the ensuing defensive possession, Curry, who was determined to contain Paul, successfully prevented the Lakers from launching their first offensive attack.

On the court, seeing Curry calm down, Qin Yue was very pleased. Taking advantage of the dead ball time when Wallace passed Paul across the court and cut out of bounds, he specifically praised Curry, saying, "This is the Stephen Curry who inherited my number 30 jersey."

Upon hearing this, Curry, with a look that conveyed a mix of fierceness, determination, confidence, and seriousness, said, "I won't make the same mistake I did at the beginning again."

A calm Curry is terrifying at any time.

Oracle Arena.

The Warriors turned the tide of the game in the latter part of the first quarter.

As it turns out, not all players in the NBA are ever truly disappointing.

During a break, Barkley of TNT said, "I don't know how Stephen adjusted in such a short time, but now the Lakers are facing one of the most offensively impactful inside-outside duos in NBA history."

Beside him, O'Neal laughed and said, "Charles, have you forgotten about the 'Jr' who's about to come on?"

JR?

On-site in Auckland.

Who was it that drew cheers from the fans just before the start of the second quarter?

And who is it that won over the notoriously demanding Bay Area fans in just one season?

The answer, of course, is Michael Jordan of the Bay Area, considered by Warriors fans to be the greatest shooting guard of our time. Even Kobe Bryant is just a ball in comparison.
—JR Smith.

In the eyes of a certain fan in the future, JR was nothing more than an incredibly brainless CBA teammate.

But for Qin Yue at this moment and for Warriors fans right now.

This season, it was JR's presence that allowed Qin Yue to rest peacefully during the team's rotation periods.

On the sidelines, before JR was about to lead the team onto the court, even Qin Yue personally handed him a sports drink.

And what about JR?
Drink this "farewell toast".

Although that was not the original meaning of the English conversation between Qin Yue and JR.

However, after translation, it is roughly as follows:

"What brings you here, brother?"

"Capture Kobe, defeat the Lakers."

"What if I never come back?"

"Then leave and never come back!"

……

PS: Update delivered! (Stop talking, 30+ points, triple-double, 0 turnovers in the Eastern Conference Finals. If you don't understand, just ask: if Haliburton isn't the god of point guards, then who deserves that title? (It can't still be Chris Paul, right?) Also, tomorrow is still another day I'm rooting for Hua Zi.)

(End of this chapter)