no shortcuts in basketball

Chapter 303 The Ring of Satan

Revenge is the main theme in the NBA, and many old enemies were shaped under this main theme.

The most familiar rivals to fans, the Lakers and Celtics, were forged in revenge in the finals, and they continued to do so, with sparks flying every time they met, until they were ended by a shocking kneel.

The grudge between the Warriors and the Mavericks is not limited to just last season. The one most familiar to fans is that the Mavericks let the Warriors into the playoffs in 07, and then were blackballed by the Warriors. If you include last season, this will be repaid. The hatred can be regarded as double.

Of course, if you include the grievances between the Warriors and Xu Yong, you don't know how many shares should be counted.

"We can beat them once, and of course we can beat them a second time." Green also said harsh words before the game as expected.

Obviously, Green's temper that was defeated by Xu Yong back then has been completely restored with the Warriors' championship last season.

After all, Green not only defeated Xu Yong last season, but also won the championship after James left. With the double buff, without expansion, he was missing an egg.

Regarding Green's behavior, Xu Yong said that not only was he not angry, but he was very happy.

After all, as his own strength becomes stronger, especially when his opponents become weaker due to the epidemic this season, his desire to compete has indeed inevitably declined.

Take the game against the Grizzlies in the first round, for example. He said those words not only to remind his teammates, but also to stimulate his own desire to play.

Otherwise, under normal circumstances, the Mavericks would never lose against a team dominated by rookies.

But now, he doesn't have to look for it himself, Green has already arrived at his door.

Before the start of the semifinals between the two sides, Xu Yong received his second MVP trophy of the season, or if you include the All-Star game, it should be his third MVP trophy.

After the award ceremony ended, the starting players from both sides began to appear on stage.

When Xu Yong came on the court, he looked at Green, his eyes full of kindness.

After Green noticed Xu Yong's gaze, he turned his head involuntarily.

Although he had said harsh words in front of the media before, it was nothing but a cannonball, and there was no psychological pressure. But when he faced Xu Yong, Xu Yong smiled and he felt that there was a knife hidden in the smile, and he was instinctively afraid in his heart.

After all, there are so many scenes of Xu Yong violently torturing him during the Bulls period that a series of slides will appear at the slightest thought.

But when the game actually started, he discovered that Xu Yong did not cause trouble for him, but only hit Wiggins, who was opposite him.

Wiggins was the No. 1 pick, the one who replaced James alone. After the Warriors won the championship, he was even called the league's top small forward, but he was eaten alive by Xu Yong.

The picture was so cruel that Green's soles felt cold after looking at it.

Not sure if it was an illusion, but he felt that Xu Yong's dominance in the park was even more terrifying than before he retired.

Kerr also didn't expect it at all. You must know that Wiggins is extremely talented and has the strongest perimeter defense ability on the Warriors. He also restricted Xu Yong in previous games, but he couldn't hold it down tonight.

Even when he attacked from behind, Xu Yong just put in more effort and then knocked out the helper defender.

"God, what did the Warriors do to Xu? He looks like he's going to tear the Warriors apart!" Even Kenny Smith, who has always been calm in the commentary box, couldn't help but exclaim.

"You are so forgetful. Have you forgotten what Draymond (Green) said about winning a second time?" Barkley said jokingly, leaning on his seat with an expression that showed he was enjoying himself immensely.

"Man, don't try to anger Satan, the consequences will be very serious." After seeing Smith smile, he sat back and said seriously to the camera.

The Warriors have nothing to do against Xu Yong, and they dare not mobilize any more defensive resources for Xu Yong. Although DeRozan has been in relatively average form since entering the playoffs, he cannot withstand the threat of Jokic in the paint.

This ultimately cost the Warriors an opportunity early.

In the end, under Xu Yong's crazy output of 50 points in three quarters, the Mavericks defeated the Warriors 117-97 and won G1.

"We will not fall twice in the same place." At the post-game press conference, when a reporter asked Xu Yong why he had such a strong desire to compete tonight, Xu Yong responded to Green's trash talk from a distance. responded.

The Warriors press conference was very interesting now, because when reporters asked Green the same question, Green seemed hesitant.

Because he also realized that he had angered Xu Yong, which made tonight's game so difficult, so how could he dare to talk in this situation.

And Xu Yong didn't catch him and beat him tonight. If it were him, he would probably be even more embarrassed than Wiggins.

But if he doesn't answer toughly to such a targeted question, it will appear that he is very soft.

"You should ask Xu this question, I'm not the roundworm in his stomach!" Green said angrily.

This wave also caused fans to ridicule him enough after the game.

"On how to use the loudest decibels to say the most cowardly words - Draymond Green quotes."

"My voice was a little loud just now, and there were a lot of people outside. When I get inside, I'll kneel down for you."

"He is nothing without Curry, and he is complaining about James. He is a complete clown!"

……

Each of the league's superstars has many fans, which is what we commonly call various fans, but probably Green is the only one who can make them all agree at the same time. There may even be many Warriors fans who dislike him.

Green's voice has become much softer, but will Xu Yong lose his desire to compete because he speaks softer?

On the contrary, Xu Yong's interest was aroused after seeing Green give in so quickly.

In the G2 game, he began to ask Gibson to play pick-and-rolls for him more, and then looked for Green in misplaced positions.

When Green was brought to Xu Yong, his expression was particularly confused.

Xu Yong came to him when he was chatting with him, but he gave in and Xu Yong came to him instead?

What’s the point!

"You know, I look down on weaklings the most." Unlike the match against Wiggins in the last game, Xu Yong's trash talk started again after facing Green.

Because there were no spectators in the park, not only Green heard the trash talk, but everyone on the field could clearly hear it.

Green was afraid of Xu Yong in his heart, but he couldn't bear it when he was humiliated in person. He immediately put on a defensive posture and showed a fierce expression.

Then, he became another victim after Wiggins.

Can Green guard Xu Yong?

He can't be guarded, you know he doesn't have that ability!

This is something that has been verified more than once in past games, and there will naturally be no difference in tonight's game.

However, Xu Yong's scoring momentum tonight was not as strong as in G1. It was not that there was a problem with his condition, but that the Warriors' defensive strategy was obviously more radical, and Xu Yong's attack was more thorough. There were often three players on the court. A scene of a double attack. Is Green worse defensively than Wiggins? No, because Green is a member of the Warriors.

You can lose the game, but how can you be as embarrassed as Wiggins when one of your own is bullied?

The result of this is that Jokic is high.

Looney is not big enough in front of Jokic and is simply not big enough to fill the gap between his teeth. The Warriors' restriction on Jokic basically relies on Green's defense.

But now Green can't protect himself, and the Warriors have mobilized a lot of defensive resources to defend Xu Yong. Jokic immediately threw his hat and shouted "Who else?"

37 points, 21 rebounds and 6 assists, this is the data sheet that Jokic handed over in G2.

26 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists, these are the data given by Xu Yong.

Those who didn't watch the game thought that the data was wrong, but if you look closely, Xu Yong couldn't get 21 rebounds. We can only say that Xu Yong was lucky enough to play Pippen for Jokic tonight.

2-0, which was beyond the expectations of many outsiders. Although the Mavericks used two postures, the game process and results were the same.

If the Grizzlies as an opponent are not enough to explain the problem, then after these two games, everyone realized how strong this Mavericks team is.

"I don't think the series is over. We will defend our home court." After discovering that giving in was useless, Green returned to the rhetorical mode.

But the trend of the series after that was very similar to the sentence in "The Three-Body Problem": Destroying you, what does it have to do with you?

The state of the Mavericks and their understanding of the Warriors make them one level stronger than the Warriors. In this case, the outcome of the game has to do with Green's mentality and the Warriors. The game strategy doesn't matter much.

In G3, the Warriors won the game with Thompson's explosion.

But just after Green said "I told you, we will defend our home court" after the game, the Mavericks won two games in a row and completed a gentleman sweep of the Warriors 4-1.

After the win, when reporters asked again about Green's remarks, Xu Yong, who thought Xu Yong would respond again, just laughed it off.

The most damaging behavior to a person is not how cruel you say to him, but how you show that you don't care about him at all.

Their goal before the game was to complete the so-called revenge against the Warriors, but after the game was over, the Warriors to them were just the eliminated defending champions and another opponent they defeated on the road to the championship.

Their opponent in the next round is the Thunder.

If possible, Xu Yong would prefer to play the Lakers in the Western Conference Finals. It’s not that he wants to be “good brothers” with James for a lifetime, as he said. It’s also not that the Lakers are weaker than the Thunder in terms of strength. It’s just because of him. He wanted to have a playoff clash with the Lakers, the champion team in history that he knew.

But God failed, or in other words, the Lakers really only have so much strength.

If you ask them to defeat this Thunder without the help of Xiao Hua's father, it will be really difficult for them.

It's also a park, but due to different historical trajectories, there are no fewer than three teams in the park that are stronger than the Lakers.

The Mavericks and Thunder also faced off for the second consecutive season, but this time the person taking revenge became the Thunder.

Compared with last year, because this year is the Western Conference Finals and Xu Yong has returned to his peak form, the outside world has paid very much attention to this series.

In particular, online ratings hit a record high.

Although this has something to do with the epidemic. After all, if you can't go to the scene, you can only watch online. But more importantly, whether the fans said "This is Durant's league" is true or false, maybe this year There will be a conclusion.

The Mavericks also pay special attention to their opponent, the Thunder.

During the training session before the start of the series, Malone did not come to the training hall empty-handed. He had a large gold chain in his hand from nowhere, and there was a sign on the chain.

This also instantly attracted the attention of the team members.

"You should all have seen what I'm holding in my hand." Malone said and picked up the iron sign. After turning it over, the players saw what was written on the sign. There was only one word: defense.

"As you can see, this is a golden chain of defense. I will give it to the best defensive player on the team after every game. Defense wins the championship."

Malone's words instantly caused a burst of cheers from the team members.

"Coach, is that really made of gold?" Xu Yong asked with a smile.

The team members all cast curious glances upon hearing this.

"Actually, Xu, if you sponsor it, I can make a real one." Ma Long said with a smile.

The team members burst into laughter after hearing this. Unlike Thibodeau's serious and rigid coaching style, Malone got along well with the players.

"Okay, I will." But Xu Yong's next words were beyond everyone's expectations.

Although winning this gold chain does not mean owning it, after all, it is not a one-time consumable, but just a symbol of honor.

But even symbols can really make people more motivated.

"Well, whether it's real gold or not, the honor it represents is the same, and what we need to do next is the same, when we face a team that's as good as us offensively, do Good defense is the key to our victory."

Xu Yong nodded in agreement. As a tactical coach, Malone's judgment of the situation is accurate enough and he also knows how to adapt. He is better than Thibodeau in this regard.

Of course, this is not an easy thing, because the center is Jokic, the Mavericks' defense is definitely not as good as the original Bulls, and the Thunder's offense is not that easy to limit.

But this may also be the reason why Malone would do this deliberately, because this is what they must do.

After two days of rest, the Western Conference Finals between the Thunder and the Mavericks is about to begin.

That is to say, in the locker room before the game that day, Malone was in the locker room holding a pair of gold chains that were similar in style but obviously looked completely different.

"Now it has a new name, Satan's Ring."

Malone's words suddenly burst into cheers in the locker room.

Because the implication of this sentence is that it has been replaced by a real gold chain.

As for why it is named this, who sponsor doesn’t name it?

(End of this chapter)