When pride still matters

Chapter 413 The Brave and the Dragon
Chapter 413 The Brave and the Dragon
Some people had expected the Bucks to meet the SuperSonics in the Finals.

Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals at North Shore Garden did have similar signs.

Kevin Martin and Danny Granger played well, but Milwaukee's always-trusted inside man, or rather, Pau Gasol, was blown away by Garnett.

This caused a chain reaction.

The inside line that should have formed a balance with the Celtics was broken, and the Bucks had to rely on outside support. They had some belief, which made the game last until the end. Alas, home field advantage and destiny may be there.

Garnett made up for an impossible shot, and Pierce singled out Granger to score the key goal that widened the point difference.

94 is better than 89
Once the king, the Bucks, who had won four championships in the past five years, collapsed in front of the finals after losing the league's No. 1 player.

How close are they?
"Their bodies have crossed the line, but unfortunately, the last ones standing on the court are the Boston Celtics."

ESPN's Mark Stein writes.

The defeat meant Milwaukee's three-peat dream was over.

But as the main tool for the reverse side this season, they have done a good job.

Why did they become the tools of the Flying Faction? Just look at their record.

Think about how much discussion after Jordan retired for the first time when Pippen led the team to the semifinals about "could it be possible that Jordan had a hand in Pippen's thigh"? You will know how impressive the Bucks' achievements are. Feipai was satisfied.

However, for those Bucks players who had played alongside Yu Fei, this defeat was heartbreaking. They failed to meet at the top.

Granger burst into tears.

"We were really close." Martin said in an interview, "But... you know, our team is too young. Frye taught us a lot, but there is one thing that cannot be taught, and that is face-to-face To the pressure. We just have to do our job around him when Frye is here, and right now, we need to get his job done, and we didn't get it done tonight."

That night, Yu Fei received a text message from Granger.

"For everyone, win that damn championship!"

With the Bulls and Heat winning this year's lottery as they did in previous lives, receiving the No. 2007 and No. 08 picks respectively, there is only one suspense left in the - NBA season, and that is the ownership of the championship.

If we want to start from the grand narrative, both teams have reasons to win.

Thirty years have passed since the Sonics last won the championship. This time, their championship is not simple. It is to awaken the enthusiasm for the team at home in exchange for more support and thus gain greater opportunities. Through future financing plans for new arenas.

However, if I emphasize this matter, the smell of copper would be too strong.

In professional sports, we should emphasize glory and dreams, right? Supersonic has all of these.

They ranked second to last in the league last season and ranked first in the Western Conference this season. Yu Fei, who changed everything, gave up the chance of three consecutive championships in Milwaukee - as Wu Fei Deer and the Green Army fought in seven bloody games in the Eastern Conference Finals, there is no doubt about this - he took the initiative to give up the Chosen Empire in order to save the The titular return to his hometown successfully prevented the SuperSonics relocation that was supposed to happen this season.

Their popularity has risen rapidly and the market has been fully activated. The Sonics are now the biggest bull stock in the professional basketball market.

A bad team turned around in one year and successfully reached the finals. They are still four games away from turning the perfect fairy tale into reality.

So, what about the Celtics?

A few years later, when Gilbert Arenas, a shooting star of the era who only won one series, openly stated that "the Celtics are irrelevant in the last 30 years of basketball history." What is the flaw in this statement? It is a fact, but a qualified fact. Just like some media have to set a lot of conditions in order for their favorite players to be ranked high on certain lists.

The biggest limitation of this theory is time. During the time limited by Arenas, the Celtics did not do anything for more than half of the time. However, if we count from the birth of the NBA, for more than half a century, the Celtics have always been An evergreen tree in the NBA. Intentionally limiting the time will yield a biased result. If Arenas limits the time to 20 years, then Jordan's Bulls will have no impact on professional basketball. If he limits the time to 10 years, then the Spurs dynasty officially recognized by the NBA will have no impact on the last ten years.

This is what a player who will be completely forgotten in 20 years will say to attract attention while working in the media, but the question is, what has caused the Celtics to be "irrelevant" in the past three decades? This started with the sudden death of Len Bias in 1986 and continued with the unexpected death of the new generation Celtics captain Reggie Lewis due to a heart attack. Then he missed Tim Duncan in the 1997 draft. Think of Rick Pitino as the new generation Auerbach, hoping that he will save everything like the red head did in 1950, but after studying the Celtics' situation, Pitino felt that there was no hope, so he destroyed everything. Then there was Pierce who was stabbed 11 times in a nightclub and was almost killed.

Celtic glory has long become a Celtic curse. As we all know, due to Yu Fei's influence, the media has overwhelmingly promoted that the Sonics were the second-to-last team last season.

So which team was last last season? Yes, it's the Celtics.

But the media building momentum for Yu Fei will not mention this.

Because the Celtics did not rise by Yu Fei's one-man power like the SuperSonics. They have the Big Three and many veterans who have surrendered their status in order to become a champion.

This is the backstory of the 2008 Finals, and why the NBA went to great lengths to promote it.

Not just because of the fascinating historical background behind the two teams, but also because they look similar to the 1991 World Series, known as the best Finals in MLB history.

In that year's MLB World Series finals, the two teams were also at the bottom of the previous year, but they met at the top of the next year and presented five intense games to the audience, three of which were rated as classics. A monumental tie-break.

It's been a while since the league has had a series worth so much hype.

With the marketing machine operating at full capacity, the influence of the finals has transcended the cities and states where both parties are located and has begun to spread across the country.

Fans everywhere take the initiative to choose their own supporters.

Among them, SuperSonics supporters account for 80%.

The existence of Yu Fei is the key reason. The SuperSonics' fairy tale color is more relatable than the Celtics' self-rescue. Another key point is that PTSD in Boston in most areas has begun to occur.

Boston has always been a famous sports city, but the city has a rich cultural heritage in history. However, before the new century, except for the Celtics before the 90s and the Bruins (NHL) in the 70s, professional sports in Boston were always associated with failure. But in the new century, the Celtics' misfortune seemed to feed back to other teams. The Patriots selected the best player in NFL history with an impossible pick, the Red Sox broke the Curse of the Holy Child, and Boston College won the NCAA. Hockey national championship, now, even the Celtics have unveiled the coffin.

The pride and pride of Boston comes from within, and the great success in the sports world allows them to talk openly about all the achievements of Boston.

Their writers have won many awards, and even the golden age of American sitcoms in the last century began with the broadcast of "Cheers". What? The main creative staff of this show has nothing to do with Boston. Come on, the main city of the show is set in Boston. How can you say it has nothing to do with it?
Even in a recent poll of "your favorite dead president," Boston was leading the way.

At least for now, Bostonians are a more disgusting presence than Yankees fans.

After witnessing Boston's recent success and expressing dissatisfaction with its inflated fans, a New York Times reporter wrote in a side note: "We should be thankful that Neil Armstrong is not a Bostonian, otherwise we might be Saw the headline in the Boston Globe, 'Boston Man Lands on the Moon.'"

Dislike of Boston suddenly became a hot topic in society.

These Boston bastards may have thought that if Goku needed help from the universe to use his energy bomb to destroy One Star Dragon, then Sonic would need their help too.

Because the Celtics look far better than the Sonics.

The Sonics are the braves and the Celtics are the dragons.

In the context of the great era, everyone has their own role.

For their part, Bostonians enjoy where they are.

Moreover, they really believe that the Celtics can defeat the SuperSonics because they have a group of mature and stable veterans. In addition to Yu Fei, Marion and Brown, do the SuperSonics have experience to speak of?
"17!"

"17!!"

"17!!!"

On the opening day of the Finals, the SuperSonics came to Boston. They met a large number of fans outside the airport. They shouted 17, which showed that they were determined to win the championship.

(End of this chapter)