Basketball Legend: When Pride Still Matters-Chapter 1148 - 632: I Can Still Fight 82 More Rounds!
Chapter 1148 -632: I Can Still Fight 82 More Rounds!
The first round of the 2017 playoffs lacked suspense.
The teams aspiring for the championship advanced smoothly.
The main focus was on the League’s announcement of the season award winners.
Stephen Curry, leading his team to the top record in the league, was named the Regular Season MVP.
However, due to the abundance of stars on his team, and Westbrook’s impressive stats, Curry was both the MVP and yet not selected for the All-NBA First Team.
Such an oddity naturally sparked discussions about the criteria for selecting the All-NBA teams.
Especially in the Western, Fei’s stats were also divided among teammates, resulting in his most “mediocre” season since 2003—averaging 25 points, 7 rebounds, 6 assists, 1 steal, and 0.6 blocks per game. Nonetheless, he still managed to make the All-NBA First Team over LeBron James.
Meanwhile, it was still a fruitful year for the Clippers.
Fei made the First Team, Antetokounmpo was selected for the Second Team and the All-Defensive Second Team, Thompson made the Third Team, Yao Ming was honored as the Sixth Man of the Year for the second time, Jokić, although not selected for any team, was awarded the Most Improved Player of the Year, and Brogdon was chosen as the Rookie of the Year.
These dazzling awards almost all fell into the embrace of the Clippers.
However, celebrations would have to wait until after the season to officially take place.
This was another commercial reform motivated by Adam Silver, inspired by Kevin Durant’s MVP speech last year.
Last season, Durant was named MVP and led the Knicks to the Finals. Although they did not win the championship, his speech, “Mom, you’re the real MVP,” has become one of the most influential award acceptance speeches in NBA history.
Durant may find it hard to be the GOAT in basketball, but Adam Silver understood that being the GOAT is not about being the only one but about diversity. If you open enough fields, you can create enough GOATs for this world.
Speech GOAT, life GOAT, dress GOAT, peak duration GOAT, health GOAT, hero ball GOAT… until one day, who the real GOAT is becomes unimportant, as fans are overwhelmed by different “GOATs.”
Back to the point, the reason why Stern employed Silver was that his bald head was filled with countless commercial ideas. Through Durant’s GOAT moment, he realized that giving an acceptance speech in an intimate setting (like the Knicks practice facility) could elicit a stronger resonance. If such speeches were not given during the playoffs, they might have a greater impact.
So Silver had an idea: Why not hold an awards ceremony after the season to provide a proper stage for exceptional speakers like Durant?
Therefore, the League decided to commercialize the awards ceremony and move the process to television, striking a deal with ESPN.
The NBA’s first awards ceremony would take place after the season, before the draft.
This was the NBA Fei was familiar with before his time travel, but it’s no longer the NBA he knows now.
He does not like this change.
The issue is not the broadcast itself—TNT’s team can always produce a fantastic show. The problem lies with the setting and timing. Giving out awards on a TV show after the Finals undeniably diminishes the immediacy of these accolades. Moreover, on a night when relatively less conspicuous awards like “Sixth Man of the Year” are presented, they are often overshadowed by major ones like the MVP.
The advantage of the previous award mechanism was that each winner had their moment—players could hold a press conference at home, and if the team was still competing, they could have the award ceremony in front of home fans.
The new awards ceremony indirectly eradicates this kind of intimate interaction between players and fans.
It looks like a more modern NBA, but it’s no longer the League that Fei is familiar with.
After the League announced the major award winners, some were questioning why Fei could outpace James for the First Team selection, but Fei’s camp completely ignored these voices.
In the semifinals, the Clippers met their old rivals, the Spurs.
After Duncan retired, the Spurs officially entered a new era, which, mixed with growing pains, led them through a turbulent season.
Now facing the Clippers again, the Spurs were undeniably the underdogs.
Almost no one expected them to create a miracle.
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The process and outcome of the first game of the semifinals were not surprising.
The Spurs countered the Clippers’ half-court play with a five-out lineup, but then Kemba Walker, under the watch of Fei and Antetokounmpo, malfunctioned.
The Silver-Black Legion found it increasingly difficult to score in the second half.
Then, they were hit by a Clippers’ run.
The Clippers’ overwhelming victory reflected the structural disadvantages the Spurs faced against them.
The Spurs couldn’t handle the Clippers’ pick-and-roll strategies; their interior players were too slow, bound by outside shooting, unable to restrict the ball handler’s movement; the support for Paul George was lacking; and their offensive firepower was completely demolished when deploying a small-ball lineup.
Popovich knew that if they continued to compete on talent and raw strength, they would keep replaying the result of the first game.
To overcome the odds, they needed to introduce variables.
Where would those variables come from? Naturally, the coaching staff.
As long as Rivers was forced to overthink, he might make a bad move, therefore, Popovich commanded in the second game to switch relentlessly, then aggressively target Jokić in pick-and-rolls, regardless of anything else.
Meanwhile, during the game, Popovich didn’t miss the opportunity to play some mind games with Rivers.
