mountain top

Chapter 90 Crushing Destruction (7000 words long chapter, begging for monthly subscription!)
America West Arena.

Bell, who finally overcame his physical exhaustion, hit a three-pointer for the Suns to stop the bleeding.

But coming back, it was time for Qin Yue and Brown to perform.

The former missed the jump shot, the latter tapped the rebound, Qin Yue followed up and hit the rebound.

"The league really shouldn't compensate him with the best defensive player award, but should set up a separate best mismatch award for him."

In Los Angeles, Jerry West, who was watching this year's Western Conference Finals with Lakers General Manager Kupchak, made such a sharp comment.

Hearing this, looking at West's face that was sometimes appreciative, sometimes surprised, and sometimes disgusted tonight, Kupchak asked: "Do you think the Warriors will win the championship this year, Jerry?"

"I do not know."

After a pause, West added: "But the Suns should not be their opponent."

In this regard, Kupchak, who agreed with West, said: "Jerry, what do you think of Qin Yue as a player?"

"Your Chinese pronunciation is good, even more professional than the DJ at the Warriors' home games."

Kupchak said: "Sure enough, I knew that even if you have never liked Asians, your curiosity will definitely drive you to pay attention to the Warriors' games."

After showing Kupchak a warm smile, West said: "I don't like Asians for personal reasons, but for basketball reasons, I will always remain curious about him."

Jerry West will certainly pay attention to Qin Yue.

After all, this was also the motivation that drove him to live a few more years since his retirement.

Every day, he appreciates these young players with doubts and curiosity, and looks forward to the emergence of a genius who can change history - this is Jerry West's biggest interest since his retirement.

"His jump shot is not consistent enough, although he has incredible coordination, which allows him to find different angles on the court."

"His size and athleticism give him a lot of assets, but at the same time, it also makes his offensive load on the court far exceed that of outside stars like Michael and Kobe."

"In short, he still has many shortcomings. Do you still want to hear about them?"

At this moment, looking at West's deep eyes, Kupchak wanted to say that he knew all these shortcomings of Qin Yue, but before he could open his mouth, West waved his hand to interrupt him.

Because on the TV screen, it was the Warriors' offensive round again.

On the court, Qin Yue, who completed a hand-to-hand pass with Davis, was first blocked by Marion. He then turned to a back-to-back shot, and after pressing Marion's defense near the three-second zone, he found Brown with an imaginative pass behind his head.

At this moment, the Suns' restricted area seemed to have become the stage for Qin Yue and Brown, allowing the two brothers to ravage them at will.

“What a great shot.”

West commented the next second, suppressing the nausea in his chest.

Then, West took a deep breath and turned his gaze to Kupchak, saying, "I've already mentioned his strengths. The league should give him a Best Mismatch Award."

Best Misplacement Award.

In fact, after watching the Warriors' first two rounds of the playoffs, in West's eyes, the damage Qin Yue caused to the opponent's defense through mismatch far exceeded his defensive contribution to the Warriors.

Although Qin Yue is an assisting defense expert who averages more than 3 blocks per game in both the regular season and the playoffs, and since entering the playoffs, Qin Yue has been fully committed to both offense and defense every night.
But as West said, Qin Yue's physique determines that his physical energy consumption when attacking hard is far greater than that of outside stars, so Qin Yue also inevitably needs to make a choice.

That is, should we invest more energy on the offensive end or devote more concentration on the defensive end?

Artest's joining the team only alleviated this problem, but it still cannot solve it from the root.

Because it is impossible for Qin Yue to score 30 or 40 points every night and at the same time become an indestructible defensive barrier for the team like Duncan and Garnett.

If he can really do it, the NBA should send the championship trophy directly to Oakland.

In West's view, Qin Yue's so-called explosive creativity comes from the devastating damage his mismatch advantage causes to the opponent's defense.

In the first round of the playoffs, the Mavericks players even felt that the game was over before they had even tried their best.

In the Western Conference semifinals, the Spurs used a defensive strategy similar to "one-on-four".

Because Duncan's innate star whistle determines that he is the only player in the Spurs who can provide intensity to Qin Yue, the Spurs can only rely on Duncan to execute and complete the "stare" in the "one stare four combinations".

West admired the courage of the Spurs and Duncan, but the result was that Qin Yue scored 38 points and 40 points for the Warriors in the third and fourth games respectively.

In West's eyes, the reason for this result was that Duncan was unable to form a real matchup with Qin Yue.

Qin Yue's outside offensive methods make it impossible for traditional power forwards to compete with him, but his physique and strong inside attack make it difficult for ordinary power forwards to limit him in the low post.

Simply put, since entering the playoffs, Qin Yue has been using his strengths to attack the opponent's weaknesses every night, and in fact has brought victory after victory to the Warriors.

The Spurs won the third and fourth games by relying on offense, not because their "one-on-four" defense defended Qin Yue, they simply restricted the Warriors' outside shots and won the games with more accurate shooting.

Parker's explosion and the three-pointers made by the Spurs' shooters were the key to the Spurs' victory.

In fact, if you insist on asking West to help the Warriors find the reason for their loss, he will definitely tell you that Artest and Davis, the two unstable deputies, are the root cause of the Warriors' total three losses in this year's playoffs.

In Qin Yue's previous life, including Parker's leveling period, Davis had an overall shooting percentage of only 35.6% when facing Parker.

And Parker?

The answer is 53.5%.

Although teammates must be considered, Davis is a point guard whose shooting choices are not reasonable and is far from efficient at any stage of his career.

In this life, Davis, who gradually changed his playing style beside Qin Yue, has indeed become the perfect second organizing point for the Warriors.

But his weight of 100 kilograms also determines that his output and production on the court are destined to be incomparable with Parker, who only focuses on singles in the game.

As for Artest?

His bulldozer-like charge is certainly his trademark, but throughout his career, when has Artest's offense ever been stable?

However, even so.
They still made it to the Western Conference Finals.

At the America West Arena, the Warriors' offensive round.

Looking at Qin Yue, who first set up a wall for Davis in the high position and helped him trample Nash, and then immediately bounced out to the three-point line to hit a three-pointer for the Warriors, West suddenly sighed: "What a pity."

On the side, Kupchak asked curiously: "What a pity?"

West groaned, "It's a pity that the head coach of the Dallas Mavericks, Avery Johnson, is an idiot. It's a pity that the San Antonio Spurs can't use their tough defense. It's a pity that the core of the Phoenix Suns, Amar'e Stoudemire, can't use his full strength due to injury. It's a pity that in this year's playoffs, we still can't see how much potential he (Qin Yue) has to tap."

The next second, Kupchak smiled and said, "Can I understand this as your compliment to him?"

West waved his hand and said, "It's up to you how you interpret it."

In the second half of the second quarter, Qin Yue scored 14 points for the Warriors, locking the score at 67-55 at the end of the half.

As Qin Yue wreaked havoc again and again, the America West Arena, the Suns' home court, which has always been famous for its explosiveness, also went into silent mode.

At this time, during the halftime break, West asked, "You came to see me today, not just to watch the Western Conference Finals with me, right?"

Upon hearing this, Kupchak went straight to the point: "I heard that the fans in Memphis are very dissatisfied with Paul (Gasol) recently."

West shrugged and said, "No team's fans would like a star player who leads his team to a disastrous first-round defeat year after year."

Kupchak laughed and said, "Why do I feel like you are making indirect accusations?"

West didn't mince words: "If Shaq was really popular in Orlando, how could we have gotten him?"

Seeing this, Kupchak took a deep breath and said, "Jerry. The Lakers need Pau Gasol."

West waved his hand and said, "Mitch, you are the general manager of the Lakers, and I am the general manager of the Grizzlies, so if you want to negotiate, at least you have to tell me your sincerity first."

Kupchak said: "Except Kobe and Lamar, you can pick the rest."

West rolled his eyes at Kupchak and said, "Mitch, please tell me, what else does the Lakers have besides Kobe and Lamar? You are not negotiating, you are trying to rob, and you are robbing openly."

Kupchak said helplessly: "The Warriors have risen, Kobe is at his peak, Jerry, I have nowhere else to go, I can only come to you for help."

West shook his head and said, "I left the Lakers a long time ago. What does it have to do with me that you missed Kobe's peak?"

"Two draft picks, plus the players you need."

"not enough."

"Four draft picks, two first-round picks, two second-round picks."

"not enough."

"Jerry. I can put Lamar on the shelf."

"It's still not enough."

At this moment, looking at West who was in a state of deep thought, Kupchak said with tears in his eyes: "Jerry, I really don't have any extra chips in my hand."

But the next second, after finishing thinking, West's answer was beyond Kupchak's expectations.

"I mean give you Pau Gasol and you can solve this Warriors team?"

Kupchak was surprised and asked, "Jerry, you...you agree to trade Pau Gasol?"

West pondered and said, "I wanted to give Paul another year, but you know, the Grizzlies fans are really dissatisfied with him now, so I have just made a decision. I want to tear down this Grizzlies team and rebuild it."

After a pause, West said, "But since we are rebuilding, then Shane Battier will naturally not be needed by the Grizzlies."

Kupchak was more and more shocked as he listened, and quickly said, "We don't have the chips to trade for Sean Battier!"

West laughed and said, "You're willing to give us four first-round picks and let me pick any player I want except Kobe and Lamar?

In fact, I have always liked some players on the Lakers. "

Is this really a transaction and not a robbery?

At this moment, looking at West, who had opposed the deal about two minutes ago, Kupchak felt for the first time in his life what it meant to be.
NBA version for free.

Does this Lakers team have the players that Jerry West likes?
The answer is obviously no.

Because besides Kobe and Odom
As for the other "scumbags" on the Lakers, which team's general manager would be interested in them?
It is true that West plans to tear down the Grizzlies and rebuild.

But at that moment just now, what really impressed West about Kupchak was not the chips that the Lakers could offer.

At the America West Arena, the game continued after halftime.

Although the Suns trailed the Warriors by 12 points in the first half, for this running and gunning team that could make up the 12-point gap at any time, at least in the eyes of those gnashing-teeth Suns fans at the scene, they were far from despairing.

In the third quarter, Marion and Bell made three-pointers for the Suns in succession, which once allowed the Suns to narrow the score gap to within 10 points.

But this night, the Suns' offensive engine Nash consumed fuel at a rate
Obviously a little faster than usual.

Brown, who was in the Suns' inside line, grabbed his 10th rebound of the game before the third quarter was over. It is worth mentioning that 10 of these 7 rebounds were frontcourt rebounds.

The Suns were unable to solve the damage Brown caused to their own restricted area, and were even less able to solve the problem of Qin Yue, who always found angles to give them fatal blows.

So, after three quarters, the score was 98 to 81.

The Warriors further widened the gap between them and the Suns.

In front of the TV, West, knowing that the Suns' outside shooting was not enough to help them beat the Warriors tonight, also turned off the TV at the same time.

Although there was still one quarter left, West had already got the answer he wanted.

The end.

124:107.

Oakland's golden wave completely overwhelmed Phoenix that night.

The Golden State Warriors, led by Qin Yue, who scored 41 points, 14 rebounds, 7 assists and 3 blocks, won their first game of this year's Western Conference Finals!

Earlier, Dunleavy and Artest, who had strongly recommended Qin Yue to "keep healthy" in the second half of the regular season and accumulated all their energy to explode in the playoffs, took credit in the locker room and said: "Playing well in the regular season can only prove that you are an ordinary star.

Only when you can score 30 or 40 points in the playoffs easily can you prove that you are a superstar."

This year, Qin Yue's explosion in the playoffs was indeed related to his listening to the advice of Artest and Dunleavy during the regular season.

In addition, after entering the playoffs, the entire Warriors team also rallied around him.

of course
Qin Yue did not disappoint the expectations and high hopes placed on him by his teammates and the team coaching staff.

Instead, he transformed all the resources the team poured into him into what West called devastating damage to the opponent's defense.

Throughout the playoffs, Qin Yue, who was always able to find mismatches and launch attacks, has delivered a shocking answer in his first playoff trip in his career.

Until the first game of the Western Conference Finals.
秦岳场均能为勇士砍下37.2分，这一数据，哪怕就连巅峰时期的迈克尔-乔丹都得礼让三分。（从88到98年，除去中途退役，乔丹的季后赛单赛季场均得分分别为：36.3、34.8、36.7、31.1、34.5、35.1、31.5、30.7、31.1、32.4分）
在世人眼里，秦岳本赛季的表现甚至已经超过了当年率领火箭卫冕的大梦-奥拉朱旺！（94/95赛季，奥拉朱旺场均33分10.8篮板4.5助攻2.8封盖1.2抢断）

"His mismatch advantage infinitely magnifies his advantages on the offensive end. I don't want to say that the league has ushered in a new Michael Jordan, but until the player who can match up with him appears, this will be a fact that cannot be reversed."

After the first game of the Western Conference Finals, Jerry West once again issued a warning to the world through the Los Angeles Times.

Of course, the Tian Ji horse racing tactics adopted by the Warriors in the regular season and the compensation from the league were objective reasons for Qin Yue's success in his rookie season.
But West knew that as long as there was no way to solve the devastating damage Qin Yue had caused to his defense and prevent him from exerting his explosive creativity on the entire Warriors team,
Then he is the undisputed banner of the NBA in this era.

On the night that the "zero-dollar purchase agreement" was reached with Kupchak, there were many reasons that ultimately led West to agree to the deal.

But there is one thing that West admitted: he really doesn't want to see the NBA dominated by an Asian player.

He watched every game Qin Yue played since entering the league with curiosity and doubt.

And we expect Qin Yue, the Messiah, to bring a world-destroying tsunami to the calm NBA.

But at the same time.
He also does not want the NBA to be dominated by Qin Yue in the future, and he does not want the Lakers to miss Kobe's precious peak period because of this.

Human beings are so complex and entangled.

Since West is not a god, he is naturally no exception.

Two days later, the second game of the Western Conference Finals between the Warriors and the Suns continued at the America West Arena.

Mike D'Antoni removed Stoudemire, who only scored 11 points and 5 rebounds in the first game, from the team's starting lineup, and activated a desperate five-man lineup with Thomas as center, Marion as power forward, and Dio, Bell and Nash as backcourt partners.

After the first game, even though D'Antoni had never known how to defend, he knew that the Suns would definitely not be able to defend against the Warriors' offense.

Therefore, in the first quarter, the Suns, with the spirit of going all in, led by Nash, frequently launched attacks on the Warriors' position through transition offense.

This crazy decision gave the Sun a glimmer of hope that night.

As West said, when Qin Yue repeatedly crushed the opponent's defense and exerted explosive creativity for the Warriors on the court, the speed at which his physical energy was consumed was destined to be rapid and irreversible.

Because he is an inside player who is 211 cm tall and weighs 121 kg, not a guard who is just over 190 cm tall and can run all over the court tirelessly.

The Suns sped up, so Qin Yue had to retreat quickly with his teammates.

The Suns launched a breakthrough and pick-and-roll from the outside, and Qin Yue also had to step forward to assist in defense and delay the game.

Although since entering the playoffs, the Warriors team and Qin Yue have worked together to make a team decision to let him devote more physical energy to the offensive end, but on the stage of the playoffs, how could Qin Yue just give a look every time he defends and then ignore his teammates?

That kind of defensive attitude is not in line with Qin Yue's character.

It is even more inconsistent with Qin Yue's temperament as the leader of this warrior team.

The final score was 104 to 108.

If you only look at the score, this is definitely a battle of offense and defense in the context of the current era.

But in fact, with the high-speed rotation of the two teams' offense and the increase in the number of game rounds, this was an absolute iron battle.

The Suns took a total of 38 three-point shots and only made 13 of them.

And what about the Warriors?

In the locker room after the game, Artest, the most accurate player on the team who made 4 of 2 three-pointers, wanted to review the game to find the culprit that caused the team's loss.

But after noticing Dunleavy Jr.'s 6-of-1 three-point statistic, Artest remained silent.

Then, when he saw Richardson shooting 5 for 0 from beyond the three-point line, Artest finally mustered up the courage to step forward and ask the other party what had happened.

However, Qin Yue did not give A Tai a chance to review the situation.

"Shut up, Ron! You are not allowed to review the game after losing. This is the rule we set together!"

If we really want to be angry this night, why should Artest be angry?
In the game, when Qin Yue created opportunities for his teammates through pick-and-roll, breakthrough passes, or tactical initiations, only God knew how many assists his teammates wasted in the game.

Qin Yue, who scored 30 points, 17 rebounds, 6 assists, 3 blocks and 1 steal for the Warriors in the game, grabbed Artest and made an important speech in the locker room: "Along the way, we supported each other and trusted each other.

Maybe the results won’t satisfy us every time, but we can never blame our teammates for that.

In this game, each of us has tried our best. In the next game, as long as we seize one or two more opportunities, the balance of victory will tilt towards us.

In this Western Conference Finals, I think we have fully demonstrated in the first two games that we are the better team than the Suns."

At this moment, A Tai, who was completely shocked by Qin Yue, quickly slapped himself twice.

Meanwhile, Baron Davis, who made only 14 of 5 shots in this game and completely transformed into a "Ba Tie", took the initiative to take the blame and said: "I was a little too excited in this game and missed a lot of completely unnecessary shots on the court."

Seeing this, Brown smiled and said, "This is normal, Baron. Playing against Steve Nash on the court is like suddenly finding a naked blonde on the beach. Which man wouldn't be excited about this?"

"What a strange, yet apt metaphor," Davis thought to himself at this moment.

A day later, the third game of the Western Conference Finals between the Warriors and the Suns moved to Oracle Arena.

The sun's active acceleration will indeed speed up Qin Yue's energy consumption.

However, the reason why the Warriors lost the last game was that they were not accurate enough.

Moreover, Davis, who was too arrogant, also took the initiative to give up his biggest advantage when facing Nash.

In the NBA, every player is a real person, not just numbers and models in a game.

There is no such thing as unlimited offense in basketball games.

When Davis loses his mind in front of Nash, he will also use his career records of 38.5%, 36.8%, 34.8% and 31.8% single-game shooting percentages against Nash to tell you that in the NBA, the scene that people imagine that a certain player can definitely beat another player and beat him to death never exists and will never appear.

Because basketball is a five-person sport, especially for NBA players, when ten people squeeze into one half court at the same time, the court space is much smaller than people imagine.

In this game, Davis, who always remained rational, used his physical advantage to infinitely magnify Nash's defensive flaws.

These advantages may not necessarily translate into Davis' final score.

It also doesn’t necessarily translate into assists for Davis.

Just like the explosive creativity that Qin Yue brought to the Warriors, it would not always be converted into data.

But when the Suns' desperate five-small lineup had to frequently fill in for Nash on the court, the originally narrow court space immediately allowed the Warriors to find the offensive feeling.

Although a smaller lineup allows the Suns players on the field to switch defense faster and plug the loopholes caused by Nash in time.

However, Qin Yue, whose pressure on attacking was greatly reduced, once again became the peak that the Suns players could only look up to that night.

On the court, the Warriors' offensive round.

Davis, who broke into the hinterland and was surrounded, passed the ball to Artest who was in a better position. Then, Artest immediately smashed the ball near the free throw line.

That’s right, it’s smashing instead of passing.

Because only by smashing the ball can Artest create the best scoring opportunity for that man in the first place.

Near the free throw line, after firmly controlling the basketball, Qin Yue squeezed Marion aside, cut into the basket and scored the ball with his left hand.

At the same time, the first quarter score between the Suns and the Warriors also came to 20 to 28.

At the Oracle Arena, the cheers of the fans were getting louder and louder.

Although beforehand, Phoenix fans were trying their best to defend the value of Nash winning two consecutive NBA regular season MVPs, and even when the Warriors played in the US West Arena before, they did not hesitate to insult and mock Qin Yue for this.

However, Qin Yue's stunning performance in this year's playoffs has become strong evidence in the eyes of Warriors fans and a large number of neutral fans that Nash "stole" Qin Yue's MVP trophy.

Now, it's Warriors fans' turn to fight back.

"Steve Nash, you are just a statistician in the regular season!"

"You've never proven yourself in the playoffs, so why are you elected MVP?"

"Steve Nash, you shameless 'trophy thief'! Remember, you will never be able to touch the floor of the finals!"

After the first quarter, the score was 24 to 35.

Back on the bench, when boos, taunts, and even curses came from all directions, even Nash, a superstar known for his good temper, couldn't help but feel furious.

But on this night when the Suns' offense couldn't match the Warriors' firepower
No matter how angry Nash was, he had no choice but to swallow his anger.

This is the most cruel and ruthless side of the NBA.

It will never allow you to reach the top just because you have a good character.

On the court, after the intermission, Barbosa's three-pointer just bounced out of the frame, and Oakland's golden wave began to roll as Biedrins grabbed the backcourt rebound for the team.

A few seconds later, as the live broadcast showed a close-up of Qin Yue, who was applauding his teammates, all Warriors fans let their imagination run wild.
We seem, as if.
We are really heading to the finals stage!
……

PS: This is a long chapter of 7000 words, I’m begging for subscriptions and monthly votes!
(End of this chapter)