Mountain Peak System: a Path to NBA-Chapter 667 - 228: Without Him, Very Important to Me! (1st Update of 2 Consecutive Updates!)_3
The answer is obviously no.
At the start, the Knicks indeed played impressively on offense.
But every time Qin Yue exerted a bit of force, the Knicks would fall back to their old problem.
Which is that they couldn't defend against the Warriors' tsunami offense. Once the Knicks' own feel for the game declined and Durant's stamina couldn't support him to keep scoring, the increasingly anxious Knicks would make a lot of unforced errors on the court.
That night, in front of Iguodala, Qin Yue once again displayed his unstoppable personal offense—outside breakthroughs, fierce attacks inside, low-post backdowns, and those terrifyingly accurate pull-up threes.
Throughout the game, Qin Yue scored 45 points, 17 rebounds, 12 assists, 4 blocks, and 2 steals for the Warriors, shooting 16 out of 27, including 5 out of 8 from three-point range and 8 out of 8 free throws.
It is worth mentioning...
When Westbrook came off the bench, Big Westbrook, who often transformed into the Warriors' offensive booster in the last game, became the most efficient offensive player for the Knicks that night.
Shooting 7 out of 12, including 1 out of 3 from three-point range and 6 out of 8 free throws, Westbrook scored a total of 21 points, 4 rebounds, and 5 assists for the Knicks, becoming the only player in the Knicks squad who could hold his head high as he left Oracle Arena after the second match.
As for James, who got more ball possession on the court, he actually performed well if you only look at the main statistics.
However, under the Warriors' defensive strategy of blocking the paint, as long as James couldn't find his outside shooting touch in the game, his offensive efficiency would inevitably drop significantly.
Of course, after the second game of the finals, the player responsible for taking the blame would certainly not be James.
Because since Durant is the nominal leader of this Knicks team, after leading the Knicks to suffer two consecutive defeats in the finals with a score of 112 to 127...
To gain the loyalty of the faithful James, Durant surely couldn't choose to shirk when it was time for him to take the blame, right?
Indeed, in the second game of the finals, Durant, who shot only 9 out of 25 the entire game, was the main culprit for the Knicks' loss.
Post-game interview session.
Even though no reporters asked James about Durant.
But to express his loyalty to Durant, James still proactively "vindicated" Durant by saying: "I think people shouldn't focus too much on 'KD' missing those shots in the game because every scorer has nights when their touch is off."
On the surface, James's high-EQ remarks seemed to speak for Durant.
But with James's deliberate reminder...
The media grasped the key point of the issue.
And immediately after the second game ended, Durant faced intense media criticism and expressed his appreciation to James the next day.
Truly, Durant, who has been learning from Qin Yue all his life, is not what he used to be.
However, while learning from Qin Yue, Durant's own intelligence doesn't automatically increase.
So, when Durant realized he was being widely criticized by the media and only the loyal James was willing to speak for him, how could the young Durant have anticipated that James's original intention of "vindicating" him was just to help him take the blame?
"'KD', you don't need to care about what others think of you."
James said to Durant with an experienced tone: "Those people don't understand basketball at all, they have no idea what kind of defensive pressure you're facing in the game as the absolute core of this Knicks team."
Yes!
Absolutely right, bro!
At that moment, looking at James, who spoke every word to his heart, Durant suddenly found that James was the perfect sidekick God had given him.
And how about James?
While James still needs to stay low-key and patient in the short term.
But once James noticed that Durant was already getting lost in his sweet talk and couldn't extricate himself, the decision to switch tracks to seize power allowed James to almost instantly foresee his bright future with the Knicks.
Perhaps, the current situation for the Knicks in the finals is very unfavorable.
Perhaps, the Knicks, trailing 0-2 in the series, will likely lose the finals this year.
But in James's view...
This time, he's merely losing the present.
James knows very well that with Durant and Harden continuously growing, along with Iguodala at the peak of his career, this Knicks team is destined to get stronger each year.
So, what's there to fear about losing?
Has he, James, not lost enough in front of Qin Yue since he joined the league?
In James's eyes, only by winning the future does he have a chance to turn the tide before Qin Yue.
In fact...
For James, his primary task right now is figuring out how to get Westbrook completely out of the equation.
Because after a full season together...
James knows better than anyone that Westbrook is simply not compatible with him, and in terms of personality, Big Westbrook is also the biggest obstacle to him gradually reaching the power center of the Knicks.
Yes.
How the Knicks perform in this year's finals is not important to James.
But without Westbrook...
It becomes very important to James.
...
PS: I know seeing this short update makes some of my fatherly readers anxious, but don't worry because today we have another update coming up. Remember to refresh and check for the next chapter.
