I just play ball

Chapter 317 Open confrontation
Sterling's remarks aroused great concern. Kobe first voiced that he would never play for the Clippers. LeBron and other players followed up and condemned. Paul, the chairman of the NBA union, asked former NBA player and current Sacramento mayor Kevin Johnson to come forward to deal with it. Even President Okankai, who is on a state visit to Asia, condemned this matter.

Sterling issued an apology statement through the Clippers president, but the perfunctory wording failed to alleviate public anger, but instead triggered a larger-scale crusade. Clippers players even wore their jerseys backwards during the game to express their anger and opposition.

The new president, Adam Silver, held a press conference and promised to deal with the matter as quickly as possible.

Many media analysts believe that the league may severely punish Sterling and even force him to sell the team.

As a joint beneficiary, Li Yue was very curious. Why was it used as evidence of a crime even if it was leaked in private? Why is there no one to hold those hosts on Fox TV who blatantly discriminate against Asians?
Typical double standards, bullying the weak and fearing the strong.

The so-called fire at the city gate affected Chiyu, and the Clippers were also affected by Sterling. It seemed that no one wanted them to win. Some very biased penalties frequently appeared on them. A game that could have been won was abruptly lost.

The entire Lakers team watched the game collectively in the hotel. Everyone agreed that the Clippers would become a victim of the Sterling incident. The team could give up using the Clippers as an imaginary opponent in the second round and instead study how to deal with the Rockets in advance.

...

On the evening of the 27th, the Lakers once again visited Oracle Arena to challenge the Golden State Warriors away.

As a win or go home game, the Warriors showed an extremely strong desire to survive at the beginning of the game. Curry showed an extremely strong defense. Thompson hit three-pointers and three goals one after another, and Green even completed three steals.

The referee also gave the maximum assistance, and the situation quickly became 5-on-8. Kobe and Iguodala fouled twice in a single quarter. Li Yue was directly given a technical foul for asking the referee why he whistled his wrist.

After the first quarter, the Lakers trailed 33 to 49, and for the first time in the series, they suffered a visible loss to the naked eye.

In the second quarter of the game, the referee finally gave in, but on the defensive end, the Lakers, except for Li Yue and Kobe, did not dare to make too much action. The offensive end relied entirely on Li Yue and Kobe to maintain the score. 18 points behind.

Returning to the locker room during the intermission, Li Yue delivered a speech to appease the emotions of the team, saying that he would do his best to obey the destiny.

In the third quarter of the game, Kobe led the team to an offensive climax, and was immediately taken care of by the referee. The number of fouls reached five times, while Iguodala was angry at the referee, and was also dubbed the name of contempt for the referee, and was directly expelled. .

D'Antoni reluctantly replaced Kobe, and the situation became that Li Yue led the team alone, and the Warriors double-teamed unscrupulously.

Li Yue knew very well that even if the rules were unfair, he could not back down, otherwise it would be an intensified squeeze. He repeatedly double-teamed and tried his best on the defensive end until the beginning of the fourth quarter, leaving the field with six fouls on his back.

In the end, the Lakers lost to the Warriors 116 to 137, and the series score became 3 to 1.

Li Yue scored 49 points, 12 assists and 13 rebounds, and continued to maintain a triple-double. After the game, he left early with Kobe and others, and did not accept any reporters. The Lakers only left Walton to attend the post-game press conference. This is an expression of opposition to the referee's blatant control of the field, hoping to attract the attention of fans and the media.

It's a pity that the Sterling incident has dominated all NBA-related mainstream media, and news about the Lakers is like a flash in the pan.

...

On the night of losing to the Warriors, the Lakers flew back to Los Angeles on a special plane overnight, which took only 10 minutes.

Li Yue was still angry and sleepy, so he made a video call with Chenxi first, and then browsed NBA-related news.

On the west side, the Thunder and the Trail Blazers tied 2-2. The two teams are about to usher in the Tianwangshan hegemony. On the east side, the Pacers and the Eagles also tied 2-2. The Raptors and the Nets are also in the same situation. .

After browsing the video, I found that the referees manipulated the four matchups. The Lakers were the most serious against the Warriors. The referees seemed to hope that there would be more Tianwangshan battles or tiebreakers. During the game, they tried their best to avoid too much difference.

Some fans speculate that this is the new official's three fires. The team headed by Adam Xiaohua hopes to increase the suspense of the game, thereby increasing the ratings. In addition to the outbreak of the Sterling incident, it is necessary to show control over the league. become a victim.

Li Yue agrees with this speculation. He wanted to like it and repost it, but after a long time, he chose to give up. After all, there is no evidence, which can easily become evidence of the opponent's attack, and may even lead to a total loss, so we must be cautious.

But what should be done still has to be done, and absolutely must not give up resistance, at least to make the control not so easy.

The next morning, Li Yue instructed Taylor to edit the video of fouls related to this series, especially the technical foul, which was used to submit a complaint to the league and posted to various accounts on personal social networks, calling for more support from fans.

The official Twitter of the Lakers retweeted and stated that it had initiated a complaint to the league and asked the referee union to respond.

In order to achieve the effect, Taylor used public relations means, and many media followed up and forwarded it, which soon became a hot topic of discussion. Before the league announced the punishment of Sterling, it successfully grabbed the attention of a large number of fans.

Also as a serious victim, Paul also retweeted, and in the name of the chairman of the players' union, asked the referees' union and the league to give a positive explanation, so as to prevent this incident from becoming another evidence of the management's oppression of players.

Durant joined in, berating the referee for several absurd whistles and demanding an explanation.

Things got bigger and bigger, a large number of active players joined the crusade team, put forward a number of demands, and ESPN sorted out and released them.

First, establish a challenge mechanism. Players or coaches have the right to challenge the result of the penalty, a fixed number of times per game, if successful, the penalty will be changed, if it fails, the original penalty will be maintained, and the details will be discussed later.

Second, remove the zero-tolerance mechanism. This mechanism was introduced by the NBA in the 06-07 season. It stipulates that during the referee's whistle-blowing process, any player must not vent their emotions or gestures. However, this rule has too many slots, and it is simply a referee. The umbrella of doing whatever you want has actually expanded its scope of application in the 10th season, and there have been many funny penalties that must be included in the cancellation agenda.

Third, establish an after-the-fact review and punishment mechanism. If a referee makes many wrong judgments, the level of whistleblowing should be lowered, and it should be directly linked to the performance bonus, so that the referee does not need to bear any consequences.

Under the pressure of many parties, the referee union and the NBA official responded one after another, but the content was not painful, and it seemed that they did not take this matter to heart. Moreover, TMZ broke the news and claimed that the referee union and NBA officials openly led the confrontation with Li Yue. He is very upset about his behavior, and may be given special standards in the next competition and various award selections.

(End of this chapter)