I just play ball

Chapter 333 No Suspense
Li Yue finished the sideline interview, attended the press conference with Kobe, and then took the team bus back to the hotel.Nick Yang mentioned that many people on the social network are arguing fiercely about whether he has become No.1 in the league. All the teammates laughed at this, and Li Yue himself found it quite interesting. Although he didn’t care about the result, he was also curious. Take out your phone to browse.

Similar debates occur almost every day, because the major NBA-related media need traffic and attention, and many fans need to vent their restless hearts through "fighting". If they win the final victory, they may even feel that they like a certain A certain player is a very awesome thing, and that sense of superiority is very funny.

Therefore, media such as ESPN and TNT create an NBA player ranking every three to five times. Except for Michael Jordan, who has been undisputed and rock-solid for a long time, Kobe, LeBron, and O'Neal are often regarded as provoking attention and controversy. For example, ranking Kobe outside No.10, or placing LeBron in a very high position, O'Neal is used to refer to whether the ranking of the first two is reasonable, because O'Neal has fewer MVPs and more FMVPs.

With the rise of the mobile era, the semi-annual or monthly rankings can no longer match the fast-paced era. The media has concocted vocabulary such as team leadership ability and key ball ability, and even vertically detailed data through various high-level data. points, but in the end it was transformed into a leaderboard. The players must be divided into high and low. The fans are also happy to see this scene and never get tired of it.

Like many players, Li Yue is quite puzzled by this, and understands that this is the nature of human beings. It is this infinite yearning for "the first" that makes human beings flourish so far, just like mentioning the richest man in the world, Bill Gates His name will always pop up first. As for who is the second richest person in the world, there are very few people who know his name.

Clicking on the Twitter hot list, Li Yue found out whether he has become the No.1 topic in the league. At present, there have been more than 3 related tweets, and the Lakers lead the Rockets 0-63, and the two Lakers players were selected as the best first defense at the same time. These two topics are also on the hot list. In addition, the Wizards only scored [-] points in the game, a total of four NBA-related events.

In Li Yue's impression, 63 points in the playoffs is an extremely low score. Click here to view the detailed report.

It turned out that after reaching a one-to-one draw with the Pacers, the Wizards returned home as if they didn't know how to play. The three main players, Wall, Bill and Nene, encountered the Pacers' tight defense and had no offensive power. Wall and Bill made 32 of 12 shots and made 9 turnovers. Nene made 14 of 3 shots and scored only 8 points and 3 rebounds.

63 points is also a magical score. With this score, the Wizards, together with the Bobcats, Raptors, Trail Blazers, and Eagles, tied for the fourth lowest score in the playoffs. The lowest was G3 in the 54 finals. Got [-] points.

It is a little surprising that the Pacers, who greatly restricted the Wizards, have not been recognized by fans and the media. There are many tweets and comments that this is a pecking game, because the Pacers only scored 34 points at halftime , including 12 free throws, and only scored 85 points after the game was over, which is far behind the Lakers, Heat, and Spurs.

After browsing through it roughly, Li Yue quit the topic with 63 points, and clicked on the topic that was also selected for the first defense.

This situation is not special. Since the 68-69 season, the selection of the best defensive team, Dave De Buschell and Walter Frazier of the New York Knicks, two ancient celebrities, have been selected five times in a row at the same time, and even There has been a spectacle in which three ancient legends of the Portland Trail Blazers, Maurice Lucas, Bill Walton and Lionel Hollins, were selected at the same time, as well as the Celtics in the 80s, The 76ers, Pistons, Rockets and Bulls in the 90s also had similar achievements.

What really touches the G point of the fans is that Li Yue and Iguodala are both strikers or outside players, which is very different from the inside players in the past, which heralds the end of the era when the center is king and the league enters a new era.

Only the Bulls in the 95-96 season were similar. At that time, Jordan and Pippen entered the best defensive team at the same time, but Rodman was also among them. In other words, Jordan and Pippen enjoyed the BUFF bonus, while Lee Yue and Iguodala did not get much help from their teammates. They are the absolute defensive pillars of the Lakers this season.

Of course, another reason is that the same situation happened last time, and it needs to go back to the 07-08 season. At that time, Duncan and Bowen of the Spurs were selected as the best first defense at the same time. It has been many years since the NO- After the introduction of the HANDCHECK rule, the league encourages offense quite a lot. It is not easy for the Lakers to achieve such an achievement.

After browsing, Li Yue clicked on the topic of the Lakers leading 3-0.

There are few compliments for the Lakers, and most of them are ridicules for the Rockets. Some fans pointed out that the Rockets' advancement to the second round of the playoffs was entirely due to the Sterling incident. If it weren't for the referee's tendency to make penalties, the Lakers' opponent should be the Clippers .

Media such as "Bleacher Report" and "Slam Dunk" mercilessly criticized Rockets coach Kevin McHale's severe lack of offensive tactics, sharply mocked Harden's weakness in scoring, and sympathized with Howard for having very few shots.

After losing three games in a row, the Rockets' offensive and defensive shortcomings were fully exposed, and no one criticized Jeremy Lin for dragging the Rockets down.

Withdrawing from the topic of the Lakers leading 3-0, Li Yue conveniently opened the topic of whether he became the No.1 topic.

Top 1 Tweet from Steven A. Smith: Trust me!I understand you fans who support LeBron very much, because Li Yue currently has few honors, but you must understand a concept, that is, No.1 in the league and historical status have two completely different meanings. What we should discuss is This season, Li Yue has surrounded LeBron in all aspects from personal statistics, team wins, and various awards. You are absolutely mistaken, Li Yue is No. [-] in the league.

The second popular tweet is from Bill Simmons: Stephen strongly asked us to clarify the concept, but he himself did not understand that the No.1 in the league is calculated according to the period. When LeBron won the MVP for the first time, the No.1 in the league was still Kobe, really completed the fourth MVP over Kobe last year, please don't change the concept and change the topic.

The third popular tweet is from Magic Johnson: As the No.1 in the league before Michael Jordan, I feel qualified to comment on this. The No.1 standard should not be statistical or time-limited. The real standard is players and The subconscious feeling of the fans, now please ask yourself, who is the most powerful player in the league today?
As long as you often watch NBA games or browse relevant information, the name you blurt out must be Li Yue, just like when Michael Jordan was mentioned back then, all of us would frown slightly and say in our hearts, 'that guy is hard to handle. ', Li Yue also performed at the same level this season. He not only broke all kinds of long-standing records, but also led the team to the best record in history and never lost to the same team twice. He is the strongest in the league today that.

Perhaps because it is difficult to refute, the magician’s twitter triggered the most comments, a large number of fans quarreled about it, and there were even personal attacks, which involved lengthy racial discrimination, which led to Twitter’s official ban on many accounts, and the related popularity further increased.

Li Yue repeatedly swiped his phone to browse, and before he knew it, the team bus arrived at the hotel.

Back in the room, Taylor called to inform that the debate on the topic of 'No.1', because it involved racial issues, had triggered discussions in outside media, including global media such as BBC and Reuters.

Taylor believes that this is a major opportunity to expand Li Yue's global influence. If it is handled properly, it is very likely to become a superstar with the same advertising value as football star Ronaldo, and can open up the top luxury endorsement market.

Taylor asked whether to use public relations means to intervene, it is best to be able to conclude the matter.

Li Yue didn't think much about it. He felt that it was just because there were too many LeBron fans. After winning the MVP and double first team this time, there was a substantial "threat", which triggered a sense of crisis among many LeBron fans. Maybe no one will continue to discuss it tomorrow.

After hanging up the phone, he chatted with Chenxi via video call as usual, and watched other news for a while before resting.

...

Early the next morning, as soon as Li Yue woke up, he was caught by Nick Yang to listen to the latest RAP Divine Comedy together.

After listening patiently, he was dragged to try the vegan breakfast that has recently become popular in the NBA circle.

As a carnivore, he finds it difficult to understand why some NBA players stick to a vegan diet for a long time, just like the Heat's James Jones, whose physical confrontation ability is greatly affected, and even three-point shooting can hardly make up for his athletic disadvantages.

The same is the case with NBA vegetarian pioneer John Sely. Although he has won 4 championships in his career, in his 12-year career, he averaged 9.5 points per game and averaged 3.1 fouls per game for defense.

Regarding Li Yue's doubts, Nick Yang explained that a vegetarian diet can allow the body to recover quickly and keep calm at critical moments. As long as the combination is reasonable, it can fully meet the nutritional needs, and protein can be supplemented in the form of protein powder.

But Li Yue feels that this matter has not been confirmed by medicine or kinesiology. It is a bit like Ray Allen not drinking coffee for a long time to keep his mind calm, but Ray Allen is not a vegetarian, and his key shots have not been affected in any way.

Of course, the biggest problem lies in how to distinguish whether the calmness at the critical moment is brought about by vegetarianism.

After thinking about it, Li Yue didn't continue to raise doubts. After trying the vegetarian meal, he asked for a few more slices of bacon.

After breakfast, the two left the hotel and drove to the temporary training ground for shooting practice.

When I arrived at the place, I found Kobe and Iguodala inside. I heard from the staff that it had lasted for almost an hour, and Landry and others also arrived later, so that the coaching staff could only come to accompany, and the whole team seemed to have lost. The first three games were just as serious.

The team's psychological counselor made suggestions about the situation, thinking that it should be moderately relaxed, which would be more conducive to the subsequent games. General manager Kupchak adopted the proposal, and the whole team took half a day off to go outdoors for the famous local BBQ.

The logistics department brought a lot of top-quality beef and pork ribs, and Nick Yang's vegetarian plan ended. He praised the deliciousness while eating.

The pleasant afternoon passed in a blink of an eye. The whole team rushed back to the hotel and spontaneously organized to watch the game. First, the Heat played against the Nets.

Back in Brooklyn, the Nets, which had lost two games in a row, were full of crisis, and head coach Kidd's strategy was quite extreme.

In the first quarter of Kidd's game, only Andre Blatche was assigned as a substitute to enter the rotation. The average playing time of the five starters was as high as 10.9 minutes, but LeBron seemed to want to prove his No.1 status and strength in the league, and directly opened the Overlord Mode, a total of 7 of 6 shots, including 2 three-pointers, also sent 2 assists, the defensive end also had 1 block and 1 steal, turnovers and fouls were 0, with one person helping the Heat lead the Nets 30 to 29 .

The generals of the Lakers were stunned. Li Yue was moved. He took out his mobile phone and opened Twitter. Sure enough, he saw a large number of LeBron fans and the media praised LeBron for his god-like performance. He thought Li Yue was really strong, but he wanted to To squeeze LeBron from the league's No. [-] position, it will take at least two seasons, and at least complete three consecutive championships to be eligible.

Unexpectedly, in the second quarter, Kidd's strategy was even more extreme. He directly arranged for two players to take turns taking care of LeBron. Also because of the lack of LeBron's organizational support, they only scored 2 points, while the Nets scored 19 points to complete the overtake.

During the halftime break, Li Yue took out his mobile phone and opened Twitter again, and found that a large number of LeBron fans accused the Nets of disgusting strategy and completely ruining the viewing of NBA games with complete technology. The Heat will inevitably encounter a strong counterattack in the third quarter.

Li Yue thinks that there is some truth to this statement. After all, the Heat often lay the foundation for victory through waves in the third quarter. When they come back from the locker room, the Heat will definitely find a way to solve the problem of LeBron's strict defense.

I thought, after the start of the third quarter, Kidd seemed to be crazy, arranging his own players to use foul tactics against LeBron at all costs, so as to deal with the Heat's early running and multiple screens, among which Paul Pierce and Mirza - Teletovic each paid 2 fouls for this, Garnett and Brac each paid 1 foul for this.

The key is that every foul is very fierce, which seriously affects LeBron's feel and state, but the effect received is also very obvious. LeBron made 5 of 1 shots in a single quarter, scored a total of 6 points including free throws, and made 2 turnovers. The Heat scored 14 points in a single quarter and failed to play the strongest wave, while the Nets scored 26 points and entered the fourth quarter with a 17-point advantage.

LeBron still encountered strict defense. Although James Jones made 4 of 4 three-pointers, he failed to help the Heat further narrow the point difference. The Nets finally won 104-90 and successfully defended their home court.

At the end of the game, Li Yue couldn't wait to take out his mobile phone and open Twitter. On the first post, he saw Stephen A. Smith saying: After the game between the Nets and the Heat in G3, I think there is no suspense over who is No. 1 in the league.

(End of this chapter)