Champion Rules

Chapter 193, Page 189: Crushing a Legend While Still Sober (Seeking Monthly Tickets!)
All sports writers are keen to use the names of star athletes to create new sports terms or phrases.

Ewing's Law, Jordan's Rule, Curry's Gravity, Green's Formula, and Jordan's iconic shot back then—all these are examples of high concentrations of Edwards.
These words and phrases often have a huge impact and are the golden key for media professionals to gain recognition.

Reverse Lin Qi.

This new term, coined by Marc Stein, is making Nike feel embarrassed.

For five years, the sports giant invested hundreds of millions of dollars in an attempt to mold LeBron James into the perfect icon of talent, leadership, and commercial value, but Marc Stein tore apart the entire elaborate narrative with just a few words.

Because this word made everyone realize:

Nike's ideal image of LeBron James is that of a Reebok spokesperson.

Lynch has accomplished everything Nike hoped LeBron James would achieve.

Especially during this period, LBJ's phone number change controversy and his comments about wanting Antoine Jamison have made the term "reverse Lynch" more believable.

At this point, LBJ was like Kevin Durant in the small-ball era.

Every decision Kevin Durant makes makes LeBron James' decisions seem less terrible. Every move he makes makes LeBron James seem less sleazy.

Conversely, every action and word that LBJ takes now acts as a prism reflecting Lynch's excellence.

He became nothing more than an insignificant shadow beneath Lynch's feet.

This result was painful for Nike, but delighted for David Stern.

This escalated the feud.

Before Lynch entered the league, LBJ criticized Lynch's signing with Reebok as "shortsighted" in order to protect the brand, thus starting the feud between 20 and 23.

In 2005, when the Cavaliers had already decided to lose the game, Lynch still stubbornly scored 42 points, mercilessly slaughtering LeBron James.

After the game, LBJ angrily shouted, "I'm at odds with Lynch," marking the first escalation of their feud.

The concept of "reverse Lynch" has now further deepened the feud.

LeBron James has no way out. He will have to face Lynch for the rest of his career, and every time he meets Lynch, it will be a war.

In the NBA, a massive reality show, rivalries and nemesis are indispensable.

Next, Lynch's medal became LBJ's disgrace.

The opponent's triumphal arch will surely be this side's Waterloo.

They were mutually exclusive, yet closely connected.

These arch-rivals will forever be a topic of conversation in this era.

Maverick Carter was very worried about LBJ's mental state; it would be hard for anyone not to feel frustrated in such a situation.

As dawn broke, outlining the mansion, Maverick Carter nearly burst through the door.

In the shadows outside the floor-to-ceiling windows, LeBron James was nestled in a leather sofa, the newspaper in his hand blocking out the light and making half of his face indistinct.

Maverick Carter walked up to LBJ, snatched the newspaper from his hand, and tore it to shreds: "Enough! Ignore what that bastard writes. The whole world knows he's Lynch's mouthpiece. These hyenas who spew lies will only lick the bones Reebok throws at them! You must not let his words control your emotions!"

But LeBron James' expression was calmer, or rather, colder, than Maverick Carter had imagined.

He stared at his best friend and teammate, and said coldly, "Tell the Cavaliers to hurry up and get Antoine Jamison sorted out."

“God,” Maverick Carter breathed a sigh of relief, “I thought you’d be disappointed, after all…”

"There's nothing to be disappointed about, brother. Now, I only have one choice: to fight to the death, by any means necessary. Sooner or later, I will make Lin Qi utterly disgraced, I swear!"

LeBron James has come to terms with the fact that there is no possibility of a win-win situation for him and Lynch in this league.

He was willing to do anything to defeat Lynch.

At this time, the teams and players with grudges against the Knicks were not limited to Cleveland.

The popularity of the "reverse Lynch" concept marked a victory for Reebok, but not Lynch's ultimate victory.

As his expectations were raised with each victory, the championship seemed to have become a necessity.

If he fails to win the championship, his entire season will be considered a failure.

Therefore, Lynch was not satisfied with his record of 23 wins and 1 loss.

He still wanted to reap a crazy harvest of victories.

But many people do not want Lynch's reign to truly begin.

After losing to the Magic, the Knicks suffered their second loss to the Miami Heat this season, marking their first losing streak of the season.

As last season's Eastern Conference champions, the Heat do not want their dominance to be broken.

Paul Pierce, who was humiliated by Lynch in their last encounter, played with extra intensity tonight.

His defensive moves were rough, and his offense was resolute.

The intensity of the match between the two sides exceeded the scope of the regular season from the very beginning.

But the most exciting part of tonight's game wasn't the intense competition, Wade's 42 points, or Lynch's 4 blocks.

It was the conflict between Paul Pierce and Trevor Ariza that broke out in the third quarter.

At that moment, Trevor Ariza was guarding Pierce. As Pierce scouted out to the three-point line to receive a pass from Wade, Ariza used a violent collision to push Pierce aside and steal the ball.

Unwilling to give up, Pierce grabbed Ariza's jersey and yanked him to the ground.

Just as Trevor Ariza was about to get up, he was rammed by Udonis Haslem, who knocked him over again.

The physical altercation escalated to a boiling point.

DeShawn Stevenson and Amir Johnson quickly arrived; the former wrestled with Haslem, while the latter grabbed Paul Pierce from behind with a chokehold.

There's always been tension between the two teams. Last season, the Heat eliminated the Knicks, and this season the Knicks' strength has made the Heat nervous.

They all wanted to secure the only Finals ticket in the East, so the game was no longer just a performance.

All this hostility was unleashed the moment the conflict erupted, at which point they fought like true enemies.

Realizing he was at a disadvantage, Paul Pierce frantically pounded the floor. A rear-naked choke is no joke; it can not only cause unconsciousness but also lead to muscle spasms or relaxation.

He can get blood on the basketball court, but he will never allow himself to get yellow.

He felt something was emerging, and as he was about to faint, he had no control over the emerging trend.

Amir Johnson was quickly pulled away by more people, while Paul Pierce, after being rescued, immediately clutched his ankle: "Ah! God! Wheelchair!"

Everyone was completely baffled. How could your ankle be injured when your neck was locked?
However, for safety reasons, the Heat's team doctor still pushed a wheelchair, lifted Pierce onto it, and pushed him off the court.

After he left, everyone looked at each other in bewilderment. Wade squinted and covered his mouth and nose, saying, "Who the hell farted!"

A few minutes later, cheers erupted at the American Airlines Center, and Paul Pierce, who had just been wailing in pain, returned to the court as if nothing had happened.

This is nothing short of a medical miracle. Dwyane Wade was astonished: "Man, you got some painkillers? This is just a regular season game!"

Paul Pierce waved his hand: "That's something only cowards use! I don't need it!"

In an instant, Paul Pierce's image in Wade's mind became incredibly towering.

Just then, the equipment manager returned to the bench and yelled, "Paul, what are you going to do with those shorts you have poop on?! Wash them and keep using them or throw them away? I'm having a hard time dealing with you just leaving them in the middle of the locker room like this!"

Wade: ? ? ?
Combining the lingering smell with the inexplicable ankle injury, Wade instantly understood everything. No wonder he didn't need a cortisone injection; you can't inject that spot with cortisone.

Pierce frowned as he glanced at the equipment manager, then turned back to stare at Wade: "Who is that bastard calling?"

This minor incident did not ease the tension of the game; the two sides continued their fierce battle until the very end, when Lynch missed a three-pointer and Mario Chalmers made a clutch shot, finally deciding the outcome.

After the match ended, the reporters weren't even concerned about the game itself.

The Heat's equipment manager's shouts from the bench have gone viral online.

After the game, Lynch commented, "This is the most memorable comeback in NBA history. By the way, Paul is a player with a high basketball IQ. If it were me, I probably wouldn't have thought to cover that smart ankle so quickly."

Numerous awkward questions were also thrown at Paul Pierce himself.

"Paul, how are ankles and buttocks connected?"

"Can we say that Amir Johnson beat the shit out of you?"

"Do you think this is a different kind of triumphant return?"

Wade was laughing the whole time, but Paul Pierce couldn't laugh at all.

He hated Amir Johnson, hated Lynch who mocked him, and hated every bastard in an orange basketball jersey.

The rivalry over winning the championship and personal grudges were combined into one thing, deeply ingrained in Paul Pierce's heart.

Trevor Ariza was equally furious: "The Miami Heat are trying to intimidate us with their tough fouls, but that's wishful thinking. I really hope to face the Miami Heat again in this year's playoffs; we all want to take them out of the playoffs ourselves!"

Lynch supported Ariza's statement: "If we can't eliminate the Heat to win the championship, I'll feel like the championship is missing something."

As the team's star player, Wade certainly wouldn't back down: "Tell them that Miami is ready to treat our guests with an even tougher approach."

The regular season allowed the grudges to continue to accumulate and deepen.

Christmas Day showdown: Knicks vs. Lakers, second game.

Kobe Bryant secured the victory in the fourth quarter with a series of difficult shots, avenging his loss in the opening game.

It's not hard to imagine what Kobe would say.

He was never humble in the face of victory.

"Let's get this straight: if anyone thinks that the season opener loss defines this Lakers team, then tonight I proved that view wrong."

Everyone's talking about Lynch's dominance, but who has Lynch actually dominated? He can't maintain his victories in front of us; his dominance is just a castle in the air.

Lynch didn't argue with Kobe; he simply said calmly, "I just hope that six months from now, we and the Los Angeles Lakers will be there."

Lynch didn't want to respond much, because a war of words was meaningless, and dominance isn't something you can just talk about.

If the Knicks want to face the Lakers again, they'll have to wait until the NBA Finals six months from now.

That's the only way to resolve the feud.

The problem with the regular season is that it can't solve everything.

The Knicks are eager to completely eliminate the Heat, and they must do so in the playoffs.

To prove his dominance, Lynch must defeat the Lakers in the Finals.

In the world of the NBA, the playoffs are where real rivalries are settled.

However, Lynch still showed glimpses of his dominance during the regular season.

As 2009 dawned and the Knicks had only lost four games, Stephen A. Smith raised a discussion:
"I know we've only played two-fifths of the regular season and there's still a long way to go. But can we expect the second team to win 70 games in the regular season since the 1996 Bulls? Many teams have given us that expectation over the years."

The Chicago Bulls in 1997, the Los Angeles Lakers in 2000, the Detroit Pistons in 2006, and the Dallas Mavericks in 2007—unfortunately, they all disappointed their fans.

Just like those highly anticipated 'MJ successors' who ultimately faded into obscurity, all teams that approached 70 wins eventually succumbed to reality.

No team has the dominance to reach the level of the 96 Bulls.

The New York Knicks are different, and Lynch is different. This man, who has just climbed out of the abyss of Finals despair, has the insatiable blood of a victor flowing through his veins. He will never feel that there are too many victories or that the games are too tiring.

We can trust Lynch this once. Many people have high expectations, but he might be the only one to live up to them.

The pressure of 70 wins has officially arrived.

This is something Flip Saunders doesn't want to see. 70 wins is a crown of glory, but also a poisoned syrup.

He knew all too well how this number would shatter the balance in the locker room—players might lose their edge amidst the praise, and more likely to overexert their bodies and wills during the final stretch.

Moreover, even if they break the seventy-win mark, this number will only be reset to zero after the playoffs, and will not provide any substantial help for the playoffs or the championship.

But the pull of history is too strong, and refusing to chase legends can also hurt team morale.

Philip Sanders practically sees 70 wins as a man-eating monster.

The New York Times even created a "72-win countdown" the following day.

From then on, they would write on the front page of the newspaper every day: "XX games to go to 72 wins".

The benchmark created by MJ is both a beacon and a curse.

The 96 Bulls didn't have that much pressure, because 60+ wins and 70+ wins are completely different concepts.

There are countless teams in history that have achieved 60+ wins, but only one team has achieved 70 wins.

The pressure was starting to show; Raja Bell had no touch in his first game of 2009, missing all five of his three-point attempts.

He admitted after the game: "Believe it or not, I just wanted to win too much. I was thinking, damn it, we can't lose, we're just a few bases away from achieving legendary status. But damn it, that made me hesitant to shoot. The more I cared about winning, the stiffer my shot became, and the basket seemed to shrink in front of me."

Philip Sanders approached Lynch after the game; he had to solve this problem.

“We can tell everyone to give up chasing the record. This doesn’t necessarily mean giving up, but it can at least ease the psychological burden on everyone.”

Lynch raised his hand to cut off the conversation, the crisp "click" of the cigar cutter echoing in the office. In the flickering sparks, his sharply defined jawline remained frozen like a sculpture in the rising smoke.

"It's not that simple. Even if we release the pressure internally, the outside world will continue to exert pressure. Look at the New York Times' countdown to 72 wins, those damn idiots. We can't let everyone tell the outside world that we don't have the courage to chase records, can we? Ultimately, we have to stand up and face this pressure, instead of running away."

"So what do you plan to do? Continue to be a slave to numbers?"

"Let's have a meal," Lynch lit a cigar. "I'd like to treat everyone to a meal."

"Have a meal?"

"Yes, my mother's cooking has an extraordinary magic. It's amazing how it helped a Chinese boy go from Belgrade to the top of New York."

Philip Sanders shrugged: "Let me warn you first, no drinking."

“No need,” the King of New York smiled behind his cigar. “We’ll crush the legends with a clear head.”
-
If the New York Knicks really break the 72-win record, I'll run through Madison Square Garden wearing Paul Pierce shorts stained with poop. If that motivates the Knicks, I'll do it. Because it's really not easy, and many people underestimate how difficult 72 wins are. It's not just a test for the team, but also a test for the team's leader. — Charles Barkley made this bet on a television program.

The Cleveland Cavaliers officially acquired Antawn Jamison from the Washington Wizards in exchange for Elton Brand and a second-round draft pick. The Cavaliers' trade was timely, preserving hope for LeBron James to avenge his loss to Lynch and regain his dignity. Hopefully, he can break his curse in the remaining two matchups this season. — NBA Time and Space

Pressure? No pressure. If there was pressure, I should have gone 0-for-5 yesterday, but as you can see, I went 1-for-5, so it didn't affect me at all. — DeShawn Stevenson on the pressure of 72 wins.

LeBron James's petition to retire with his number 23 number ended up with zero signatures, suggesting he overestimated his influence in the league. —Revealed by Stephen A. Smith.

Lynch's restaurant will be closed to the public tomorrow night. —The New York Times

(9400 words today, shortened by 600 words, will be made up tomorrow)

(End of this chapter)