Rekindling the dream of becoming a star

Chapter 317 I Can't Fall Down

"This is a terrible thing, and its impact will be far-reaching, I'm sure of it," said renowned sports journalist Stephen A. Smith on his show "First Take."

This speech was given after the Thunder's home victory over the Clippers. Paul George and Chen Wang had a verbal altercation after the game, and Beverley and Harrell were about to come to George's aid when Westbrook blocked them, which led to a larger-scale physical altercation.

Both sides, totaling more than thirty people, were on the field, each looking for their opponents, talking animatedly, and the fans took advantage of the chaos to cheer, creating a scene as explosive as if Mars had collided with Earth.

When things started to spiral out of control, Chen Fang snapped out of it. He put his arms around Beverley and Harrell, and with Rivers' help, the Clippers retreated first.

Under the protection of security personnel, the Clippers left the court quickly through the player tunnel amidst deafening boos and projectiles.

The conflict led to the cancellation of all post-game media interviews and other activities. The Clippers immediately boarded a bus and headed straight to the airport, fleeing Oklahoma City, without even returning to their hotel.

That night, it became a hot topic in North America, with reporters, coaches, and players all posting comments on Twitter to show their support.

The origins of the conflict are also traced back, making it easier for everyone to discuss right and wrong more broadly.

In the second quarter, Thunder's Markieff Morris pushed DiVincenzo during a fast break defense, causing the latter to land unsteadily and strain his right hamstring, leaving the game.

The referee only issued a regular foul and did not notice the covert handball.

As his teammates helped him off the field, Di Vincenzo angrily told everyone that he had been tricked and that it was a malicious criminal.

So after the game restarted, during an offensive possession, Dillon elbowed Markieff Morris to the floor during a pick-and-roll.

Because the object was pressed against his carotid artery, Markieff Morris went into a brief shock and only regained consciousness after emergency treatment by the team doctor.

Dillon's action was immediately ruled a flagrant foul 2, and he was ejected from the game.

This angered Chen Fang, who wanted to discuss the action with the referee. Although Dillon did it on purpose, the elbowing of Morris was indeed an accident.

But before he could say two words, Paul George suddenly appeared and pushed Chen Wang away from the referee.

Chen Fang got angry and immediately started exchanging trash talk with Paul George face to face. Because the referee was nearby, the verbal altercation was very brief.

With Dillon leaving the court, the Clippers found a weakness at the small forward position. In addition, Westbrook and Paul were both greatly stimulated and began to explode. At the end of the first half, the Clippers were down by 11 points.

After adjustments at halftime, the Clippers, led by Chen Fang, launched a strong comeback in the third quarter.

When the score difference reached 4 points, Brunson's layup was blocked by Westbrook. An extremely excited Westbrook stepped over Brunson, who was lying on the floor, and trash-talked him.

As the team leader, Chen Fang rushed over immediately and pushed Westbrook away. Just as he was about to help Brunson up, he was pushed from behind by Hamidou Diallo, the 45th overall pick in this year's second round, and fell into the crowd of media reporters on the baseline.

Diallo simply wanted to show his loyalty to the team's leader, Westbrook, but he chose the wrong person and the wrong time.

The Clippers were furious because, near the Clippers' bench, Beverley was the first to jump up and rush over to grab Diallo by the neck, but Westbrook reacted and stopped him.

With the arrival of others, Westbrook found himself isolated, but Thunder players quickly moved to the baseline, marking the third clash of the game.

Chen Fang, having gotten up, suppressed his anger and stopped his teammate's recklessness.

Because of his patience, the conflict did not continue. As the actions of both sides became more and more aggressive, the referee hoped to control the game through the calls, which made the Clippers, who were used to playing a smooth offensive and defensive rhythm, very uncomfortable, and the point difference continued to widen.

In the fourth quarter, Chen Fang began to score with the ball, but the Thunder's two key players stepped up.

Westbrook is currently in his prime. His shooting weaknesses have not yet emerged, and he is at his best in terms of willpower, confidence, and physical condition.

In his previous life, Chen Fang was always surprised by Westbrook's dramatic decline in athletic ability, and many analyses did not believe that they were correct.

Until recently, he suddenly realized that a guess he had made might actually be the truth.

This discovery came from a one-on-one game with Kobe in the summer. Although Chen Fang won, Kobe was not convinced. He resentfully massaged his right fingers repeatedly while muttering to himself.

Kobe's assertiveness and refusal to defend himself led many to overlook the fact that every finger on his shooting hand had a problem.

"I have a hard time controlling the force of my shots; all my shots are hard-hit, which causes a lot of trouble at different shooting distances and release heights."

"I neglected to allow my finger to recover, thinking it wasn't a big deal."

Kobe suffered ligament strains or tears in his little finger, ring finger, index finger, middle finger, and thumb, which greatly affected his shooting accuracy. It can be said that in the later part of his career, his shooting was a hard finger and wrist press based on muscle memory. This shooting technique made it difficult to guarantee a high shooting percentage.

It was after this incident that Chen Fang began to pay attention to protecting his shooting fingers, practicing finger techniques, and ensuring flexibility.

Returning to Westbrook, his shooting hand also suffers from numerous injuries, but these injuries are self-inflicted. As a representative of violent aesthetics, the damage to his fingers from dunking is always enormous. Strictly speaking, a dunker can never become a shooting elite.

Durant has always maintained the habit of dunking lightly, while Curry actually has to thank his height and jumping ability, which really helps his unpredictable shooting touch.

So when Westbrook's physical abilities declined, his status changed from leader to role player, and his shooting problems began to be magnified.

Shooting is a skill in basketball where confidence accounts for 60% of the game, while technique is secondary. When Westbrook wandered to the Lakers, this was amplified, greatly damaging Westbrook's confidence.

In addition, the zombie jump shot itself is a flawed shooting technique. When jumping ability and balance cannot be maintained at their peak, a significant reduction in accuracy becomes inevitable.

Westbrook had an exceptionally good game. In the fourth quarter, he teamed up with Paul George to suppress Chen Fang's scoring spree with more points.

With three minutes remaining, the score difference was still 14 points.

Rivers opted for stability by substituting his starting lineup; his experienced sense told him that if they continued playing like this, something bad was bound to happen sooner or later.

As the final buzzer sounded, the Clippers swallowed the bitter pill of defeat. If it weren't for Morris's provocative walk past the Clippers' bench, the game might have already ended.

But there are no ifs. Furious and with nowhere to vent his anger, Chen Fang immediately stood up and started trash-talking Morris.

Paul George, who was not far away, immediately came over and joined the fight, which led to the scene at the beginning.

The retrospective analysis did not clarify things; instead, it made them more complicated.

Some fans believe that the Clippers' defensive approach was problematic, which prompted the Thunder to automatically escalate their defensive approach. This approach, which ignores the facts of the game and only focuses on past mistakes, has drawn a lot of rebuttal from Clippers fans.

When asked by reporters, Rockets' Carmelo Anthony smiled but remained silent, while Harden immediately voiced his support for his younger teammate Chen Fang.

"If I were provoked by a rookie, I couldn't do what Chen Wang did. No one can control this kind of accumulating anger."

Of course, Harden's position is awkward. It's difficult for him to criticize Westbrook directly because of their relationship, so he can only choose an unknown rookie to express his opinion.

But DeRozan reacted strongly: "As we all know, Chen Wang is not one to get angry easily. I don't understand why the Thunder would make role players do something like this. If you want to win, you should do it fair and square, not like this."

As the leader of the Thunder's "Big Three," KD also joined in the fun.

"Russell and Chen are both very passionate players, but this time it was a bit of an accident. I believe more that someone is behind it."

The implication is that it was most likely at the behest of Thunder head coach Billy Donovan.

The day after the conflict ended, A-Smith offered his interpretation of the incident on his own program.

"I don't mean to blame anyone, but it's really not a face-saving thing. Both sides have great players, but they're focusing on arguing."

"Letting role players destroy everything, I mean, reminds me of the Chicago mob, which is wrong. If you want to win, you should use tactics and courage, not let aggression take center stage."

A. Smith then steered the conversation toward the Clippers.

"Chen Wang's performance this season has been surprising. He has no bottlenecks. Last season was his rookie season, and he completed it very well."

"Right now, the aura he's projecting seems to be telling everyone in the league, 'I'm not someone to mess with.'" "At this moment, they are second in the league and first in the West."

"Following the Clippers, the Rockets and Warriors are close behind."

"When the Clippers perform better, more teams will target them. The Thunder's tactics are not a coincidence. I'm reminding Chen Wang that you are being watched by the entire league."

"But this is the test you have to go through on the road to becoming a superstar."

"Looking forward to your performance!" A-Smith said confidently to the camera.

Back home in Los Angeles, Chen Fang turned off the TV, stretched, and frankly admitted that he was still angry two days later.

At home, he dared not reveal the slightest bit of his feelings, but Wu Zi understood perfectly well, and spent the last two days at home with Chen Fang.

"Are you tired?" she asked.

Lying in the backyard, Chen Fang squinted, enjoying the warmth of the winter sun. Hearing this, he shook his head and said, "I'm not tired. This is just the beginning."

"If a fight really broke out that day, would you have taken action?" Wu Zi continued to ask.

"Yes, and I'll be the fiercest one."

Wu Zi fell silent, seemingly sensing her dissatisfaction. Chen Fang explained, "Competitive games are barbaric and glorify violence."

"Of course I don't have to use my hands, but if I can demonstrate that kind of physical toughness, it will save me a lot of verbal sparring."

"You talk as if you can beat anyone." Wu Zi was unhappy. From her perspective, she didn't want Chen Fang to act like this.

"Ha, you really underestimate your husband. With grappling and wrestling, even if he's stronger than me, I can still knock him out in a second."

Wu Zi naturally didn't believe it, but she wouldn't argue with her. She knew very well that when men go out to earn money, what they want most when they come home is gentleness, not oppression.

"This conflict has caused an uproar in China, and Thunder fans have been so criticized that they've defected." Wu Zi recalled an interesting incident and seized the opportunity to bring it up as a topic of conversation.

"That's normal, that's how fans are. I would have done the same!" Chen Fang said, not finding it surprising.

"Right now, there are only Clippers fans in China. Lakers and Warriors fans are all being targeted. It's pretty exaggerated." Wu Zi has plenty of time and, being interested, often browses domestic sports websites.

"Do you know why?" Chen Fang laughed.

Without keeping him in suspense, he continued, "Strictly speaking, Chinese people are not interested in any sports."

"Huh?" Wu Zi was surprised by this viewpoint.

"I didn't say that; I read an analysis about it before." Chen Fang had seen it on Zhihu before, but he didn't take it seriously at the time. Now, with so many experiences, his feelings are naturally different.

"Think about it, before I came to the NBA, Yao left the Rockets, and in the following years, the NBA suddenly became less popular in China. Why is that?"

"It's simple, Yao Ming has retired, so of course there's less attention."

"That's right, but that's only the surface."

"Do you think we like the NBA? No, the vast majority of Chinese people like Yao Ming."

"So once Yao Ming is gone from the NBA, there's no need for the NBA to pay attention to him anymore."

"Of course, I mean in a broad sense. There are still many people in China who really love basketball, but compared to the group that followed the NBA at that time, it was still a very small number."

"Is that so?" Wu Zi was skeptical.

"Then let me ask you again, do you really think we like Yao?"

"if not?"

“You’re wrong again. Actually, who Yao is isn’t important.” Chen Fang sat up. “What’s important is who’s in the NBA.”

"In what capacity in the NBA?"

"In the minds of Chinese people, the NBA is the top league in basketball. Whoever is in it is the top."

"But our understanding of this 'top' is just a concept, like our understanding of gold and copper."

"When this person is in the NBA, the sense of identification and recognition will please the brain. If this person can also win games, play beautiful offense, and gain widespread recognition from foreigners, then people will spontaneously like them."

"To some extent, this explains why we Chinese value results when it comes to sports."

"As long as the result is good, excellent, and you win against other races or countries, you will like the sport."

"Yao played in the NBA and with the Rockets, achieving results that made the Chinese people proud and gaining widespread recognition from many well-known figures. That's why we like Yao."

"Is it really that simple?" Wu Zi still didn't understand.

"Yes, this is especially evident at the Olympics."

“A project with advantages, regardless of whether you have participated in it or studied it, as long as the past results are good, will attract a lot of attention.”

"Diving, table tennis, weightlifting, shooting, badminton. Many people don't even understand the rules or have ever participated in these sports, but they're guaranteed to have huge viewership ratings."

"So, you mean we Chinese aren't sports fans, but champion fans?" Wu Zi blinked and asked.

"Yes, that's a good summary, that's roughly it."

“We’ll like any sport as long as the result is good. Actually, this isn’t specific to Chinese people; it’s just human nature.” Chen Fang didn’t say it in absolutes.

"As long as there are outstanding people in this sport, it will receive a lot of attention."

"But football doesn't seem to be like that!" Wu Zi thought of a problem.

"Therefore, it is difficult for our football to take off. Because football and basketball are both sports that require broad participation to become strong, which is contrary to human nature."

"Isn't basketball a good sport?" Wu Zi still didn't understand.

"No, without me, Chinese basketball would still be a mess." Chen Fang lay back down in his chair.

Faced with her husband's proud words, Wu Zi smiled and pursed her lips.

"Don't laugh at me for bragging, it's true," Chen Fang sighed.

"For a sport to reach its peak, it needs a continuous stream of outstanding individuals at the highest level of that sport."

"Once it breaks down, it will fall into a slump. This is not something that the government can control, nor can it be achieved by wishful thinking on the part of the people. Throughout five thousand years of history, a person with radiant brilliance has always been needed to lead a nation to glory."

"This is the underlying logic of the rise and fall of a nation, and also the essence of the rise and fall of Chinese sports."

"Therefore, no matter what, I cannot fall. I want to shine even brighter in this league!"

"I won't have the right to complain about being tired until a successor is found!"

Hearing Chen Fang's words, Wu Zi suddenly froze. She stroked her lover's cheek, and only now did she understand what Chen Fang was insisting on.

(End of this chapter)