bdsm-fiction Chapter 430 Overwhelming Doubts? A Chapter Delivered After Just One Match
Chapter 430 Overwhelming Doubts? A Chapter Delivered After Just One Match
"The Earth is flat."
"Pfft!"
On the plane back to Indiana, Lin Tian woke up laughing.
Under the watchful eyes of audiences worldwide, especially countless Chinese football fans, Director Xin's words, spoken with righteous indignation, a serious expression, and utmost focus, are destined to be imprinted in Lin Tian's mind for a long time, and may even be unforgettable for his entire life.
It's so exciting!
Especially noteworthy was Director Xin's expression at the time. After the awards ceremony, Lin Tian obtained the entire recording of the ceremony from Pelinka.
Of course, Master Lin only wanted to see that one segment.
"The Earth is flat!"
Whether the Earth is flat or not is actually hard to say. After all, even things like time travel and reincarnation can happen, so the idea that the Earth is flat doesn't seem impossible.
But while it's hard to say for sure, Lin Tian was quite certain that Director Xin's career was over.
On this stage, even if Director Xin swore, they could find a way to portray it as genuine emotion. But is the earth flat? In this kind of setting, to say such things with such certainty, Lin Tian was quite certain that the Basketball Association would absolutely not tolerate him.
Go report to the planetarium.
As for why Director Xin said that, it's quite simple.
Lin Tian has so much equipment, he's put it to use!
The geocentric model!
When Lin Tian first got his hands on this thing, he thought it was some kind of junk.
Now, Lin Tian understands!
Everything is preordained!
This thing comes in handy!
Moreover, it can be used so enthusiastically and widely known throughout the world.
Judging from the sensational effect, this "geocentric theory" is the most sensational and influential thing Lin Tian has ever done since he started using the system!
"Does your team leader really think the Earth is flat?" Pelinka, sitting next to Lin Tian, couldn't help but ask Lin Tian another thought-provoking question.
"I think there are at least 200 million people in the world who have the same question as you, including me," Lin Tian shrugged. "But I firmly support everyone's pursuit and exploration of different truths, which is the biggest reason why humanity has been able to keep progressing."
"Get lost! You're still defending me? Your mouth hasn't stopped the whole way here, you've laughed at least 800 times already, and you're defending me?" Pelinka rolled his eyes, indicating that Lin Tian was talking nonsense and he wasn't buying it.
Lin Tian could only shrug and offer no explanation in response to Pelinka's questions.
He couldn't explain it; he was just too happy to contain himself.
Especially when recalling Director Xin's appearance and expression at the time, and everything he had to face after returning to China...
I can't help it, I want to laugh!
Lin Tian hadn't received any professional training, so it was normal for him to be unable to hold back, wasn't it?
It's forgivable.
"Let's not talk about him." Pelinka adjusted his sunglasses, too lazy to continue discussing with Lin Tian about an idiot who thought he possessed the truth, and instead changed the subject, saying, "You know what you'll face when you return to America, right?"
"First, help me calculate what I got this time."
"In the next three years, I will have at least $2500-3000 million in additional income each year, as well as an endless supply of luxury goods, watches, men's clothing, all kinds of top-tier accessories, and a Mercedes-Benz S-Class that I can drive in rotation." Pelinka spoke of his achievements with great familiarity and without the slightest hesitation.
"With this successful opening of the luxury brand endorsement door, you'll only get more and more similar endorsements and collaborations in the future, and the prices will inevitably keep rising! Those are all greenbacks!"
"As for the trophies you won, they were just consolation prizes that came along by chance. They won't be very valuable for at least the next year or two. But with their current investment and determination, I think they will become world-class top sports awards in three years at most."
"Back then, as the first Grand Slam winner, you were truly amazing! You won a real Grand Slam! You won everything, whether you should have or not!"
"No, there's also a lifetime achievement award. Maybe when you're 60, you can come and collect that, achieving a true grand slam!"
"But that's not what I want to say. What I want to say is, when you go back to Indiana, do you know what you'll face? The public opinion you'll face will definitely be terrible!"
Lin Tian remained relaxed, saying, "Compared to the extra 3000 million US dollars in income each year for the next three years, is what I'm facing really that bad?"
"Oh, in that case, the situation you're about to encounter is nothing special, just average!"
Lin Tian stretched lazily, leaned back in his chair, and closed his eyes again. "I need to recall that 'flat earth' image again. I don't think I'll ever forget it. As for the rest, let's talk about it after we get off the plane!"
Lin Tian knew exactly what he would face after returning to the United States, but he was just too lazy to talk about it.
Because in his view, what he was about to face was truly insignificant.
It's just public opinion attacks and all sorts of negative reports!
Lin Tian didn't even need to return to Indiana to guess what the media would say.
Arrogant and rude! Lin attended a shoddy awards ceremony in Europe during the playoffs!
"Over 17000 kilometers round trip! Lin put on a race against time during the playoffs!"
"Having gone a whole week without training and suffering from travel fatigue, is it overconfidence or arrogance leading to imminent destruction?"
How to maintain your current state of mind? Or do you simply not care about your current state?
The team's wins and losses may no longer matter to Lin; all he cares about is himself!
"The continuous victories and uninterrupted championship wins have led him astray! Lin has lost his original aspirations!"
Do you remember that boy who was willing to give everything to get on the court at the end of the second round? He's dead!
Lin has lost himself; he's just an empty shell now!
"If it were Lin from three years ago, he would never have traveled 2 kilometers to receive an award at this time! He is no longer the pure person he once was!"
Winning or losing? It doesn't matter! Winning the championship? It doesn't matter either! Lin has already become a selfish person!
"Likely to be eliminated in the Eastern Conference finals, Lin can't possibly lead the team to the championship!"
Jordan's dream of winning another championship was shattered prematurely; teaming up with Lin again might have been his biggest mistake!
"Regret! Renowned reporter openly regrets casting his MVP vote for Lin Tian!"
MVP? Does he even deserve it? Retired NBA legend says Lin Tian's MVP trophy should be revoked this year!
With his eyes closed, Lin Tian could imagine that articles like these would flood his and American fans' screens after he returned to Indiana.
Or rather, these doubts and sarcasm began to emerge from the day Lin Tian left Indiana.
After all, the playoffs are still going on. Suddenly traveling across the ocean to attend some ridiculous awards ceremony during two rounds of a series is unprecedented, not only in the NBA, but also in the entire history of North American sports, or even in the history of sports worldwide.
Lin Tian's actions this time were truly unprecedented.
After all, the distance is just too far!
But of course, this is also why the organizers wanted Lin Tian to go and to get him a Grand Slam set in just one competition.
Popularity!
The topic went viral!
As for everything Lin Tian was going to face, the organizers of Lawrence were naturally not worried at all.
What's it to them!
All they care about is the level of discussion and popularity.
And Lin Tian himself?
He doesn't care at all.
It's not that I don't care about winning or losing, but rather that I don't care about these criticisms.
Lin Tian was absolutely confident that the journey of over 1 kilometers would not have any impact on him.
For Lin Tian, the so-called doubts, criticisms, distrust, and sarcasm were just a matter of one game.
In his first game of the Eastern Conference Finals after returning, Lin Tian played brilliantly, leaving his opponent utterly defeated and putting up impressive stats. Wouldn't that solve everything?
It's that simple, that easy!
Therefore, Lin Tian really didn't take any of this to heart.
Not only did Lin Tian not take it to heart, he had already decided that the first thing he would do after returning to Indiana was to collect news and reports related to Director Xin.
"The Earth is flat!"
Lin Tian must remember these words and this moment!
Unforgettable!
However, after Lin Tian returned to Indiana, he actually had about 24 hours to rest before the first game of the Eastern Conference Finals!
This time, the Pacers' opponent is the Nets again!
The Nets and Pistons battled all the way to a Game 7 in the Eastern Conference semifinals, with the first six games of the series being closely contested and evenly matched.
The Pistons have stronger outside firepower, with Billups and Hamilton being formidable attackers, while Kidd's firepower on the Nets is negligible, and Carter alone can only barely keep up with the two.
Although the Pistons had Rasheed, an all-around forward, constantly attacking the Nets' defense, the Nets also had twin towers, giving them a clear advantage in the paint!
In the decisive Game 7, the inside game was precisely what determined the outcome!
In this Game 7, although Kidd only made 2 of 9 shots and scored 5 points, he also delivered 11 assists, grabbed 8 rebounds, and locked down Billups!
基德让这轮系列赛场均23分的比卢普斯在抢七大战中只有11投3中，只拿到9分6篮板5助攻！
Kidd missing shots and not scoring is a routine occurrence for the Nets; their players and coaches are already used to it!
It doesn't matter if Kidd doesn't score, but it would be terrible if Billups doesn't score!
He is the Pistons' number one scorer and primary offensive core. If he goes cold, the entire Pistons' offense will face huge problems.
Furthermore, with Billups completely shut down by Kidd, Hamilton's weaknesses on offense—insufficient ball-handling ability and weak ability to break through defense—were glaringly exposed. That night, Hamilton also only made 7 of 16 shots, a mediocre performance.
But Hamilton did the same thing as Kidd, successfully dragging Cattra down with him despite his own poor performance.
这个晚上的卡特，同样是20投7中只拿到了18分4篮板2助攻而已。
In other words, all four of the two teams' star perimeter players underperformed!
Therefore, the outcome of this game can only be decided in the paint!
Neither team's three big men disappointed.
拉希德22投13中，其中3分球7投5中，罚球5罚4中，拿下35分14篮板的大号两双数据，也算是打出了又一场职业生涯代表作！
While the Nets' twin towers on the opposing team may not have performed as well individually as Rasheed, their overall performance was better!
大姚15投8中拿下21分11篮板2盖帽，加索尔14投8中拿下18分10篮板4助攻！
The 39 points and 21 rebounds that the two combined for were the biggest reason for the Nets' victory!
Especially in the last two minutes of the game, Gasol and Yao Ming scored three consecutive baskets. Yao Ming scored a low post one-on-one, and Gasol scored a mid-range shot from the high post. The last basket was the Nets' signature high-low post combination, where Gasol attracted the defense at the high post, then drove to the basket and passed the ball to Yao Ming.
Yao Ming received the ball and immediately slammed it home with a powerful dunk!
After this basket, the Nets successfully extended their lead to 6 points with 30 seconds left in the game!
The outcome is already decided!
Although the Pistons did not give up and Rasheed scored another 2 points, it was obviously too little time to make a difference, as there was simply too little time left.
Especially with Billups and Hamilton both performing poorly, the Pistons were simply unable to overcome the 6-point gap and unfortunately fell in the decisive Game 7!
89: 84!
The Pistons have once again failed to reach the Eastern Conference Finals! Ever since the Bad Boys disbanded, the Pistons have been unable to break this curse and return to the Conference Finals!
With the addition of Kidd and the Twin Towers, the Nets have reached the conference finals for the second consecutive year!
This year, their opponent is still the Pacers!
In the West, the game between the Mavericks and the Jazz, although it didn't go to a Game 7, was still incredibly close. Jermaine O'Neal seemed to be inspired by the Most Improved Player award, and coupled with the Mavericks' terrible perimeter defense, O'Neal played like the real O'Neal this round!
6场比赛，他场均能够贡献33分11篮板4盖帽的恐怖数据，命中率还高达夸张的55%！
Looking at the data alone, there's absolutely no problem calling this Shaquille O'Neal!
In addition to averaging 33 points and 11 rebounds per game, Jermaine O'Neal also single-handedly destroyed Dirk Nowitzki! Throughout the entire series, this guy relentlessly battled Nowitzki, limiting him to an average of only 21 points and 7 rebounds per game, with a shooting percentage of just 41%!
With Jermaine O'Neal playing so brilliantly, the Jazz pulled off another upset since the first round, successfully advancing to the conference finals!
The Jazz, having upset their opponents in two consecutive rounds, have become this year's biggest dark horse! Jermaine O'Neal's status in the league has risen dramatically, and he has clearly become a leading figure among the younger generation of top power forwards!
Many people believe that he will definitely be a strong contender for MVP next season!
It's also worth mentioning that although Nowitzki played poorly, it was also related to his injuries. He had some discomfort in his knee as early as the first round of the playoffs, and this injury became more and more serious in the conference semifinals!
During the crucial Game 5, Don Nelson noticed Nowitzki's poor form and increasingly serious injuries, so he immediately DNP'd Nowitzki and stopped letting him play!
Even though Nowitzki repeatedly asked to play, Don Nelson refused without hesitation and with unwavering resolve his request to continue playing while injured.
Don Nelson's reasoning was very simple: "I brought you from Germany to Dallas. Your mother said she wanted me to take good care of you. Your family definitely doesn't want you playing injured, and I promised them that, so I will. You, go and rest!"
Without Nowitzki, the Mavericks lost their most potent offensive weapon, and they lost the crucial Game 5 at home!
In their next game, the sixth, they will travel to the most intimidating home court in the entire league, Salt Lake City, to fight for a victory!
But clearly, without Nowitzki, the Mavericks would have had almost no chance of escaping Salt Lake City unscathed!
If they lose this game, they will lose the divisional semifinals for the second year in a row!
Before Game 6, Don Nelson had no intention of putting Nowitzki on the active roster or playing him. In fact, if it weren't for Nowitzki's repeated requests, Nelson would never have let him come to Salt Lake City with the team!
He was determined to protect his disciple and prevent him from playing.
But just before the game started, Cuban stormed into the Mavericks' locker room.
His goal was very simple.
"Let Dirk play! The team doctor said he's fine now! He can play!"
"You know nothing! Your head, like a basketball, is full of air, you bastard!" Old Nelson wasn't going to give Cuban any face, and retorted bluntly, "This is my team, I'm the boss! Dirk can't play tonight, not even Jesus would let him play! I said it!"
"You damn stubborn old man! This team isn't yours, it's mine! I'm going to get this team to the conference finals!" Cuban finally snapped, roaring angrily, "If you don't let Dirk play tonight, you're fired!"
"Just give me my due salary, and I can leave tomorrow!"
"But not tonight. I'm still the head coach tonight, and Dirk is absolutely not playing!"
Cuban's threat was not taken seriously by Don Nelson at all. He was joking. "I'm the guy who made a game-winning shot in Game 7 of the Finals. You think you can scare me with just a few words?"
Daydreaming!
"Are you sure you won't let Dirk play tonight?" Cuban laughed angrily. "Fine! Then I'm sure that after this game, you're no longer the team's head coach! You'll have every penny of your money, not a penny less!"
"But you stubborn old bastard, never show your face in front of me again! Get the hell out of here when you get back to Dallas! Get the hell out of here right now!"
"Very well, now that you've said what you wanted to say, can you get lost?" Old Nelson still showed no sign of yielding, and the duel between the two true big shots of the team had everyone on the Mavericks silent, not daring to get involved in the battle.
Both of them are known for their fiery tempers; who would dare to get involved in their fight?
Yes, there is, Nowitzki!
The German was quite considerate; he stepped forward and said, "There's no need for this. We all just want to win. This doesn't need to escalate to this point. Don, Mark, I think we should talk this out calmly."
"There's nothing to talk about." Old Nelson's stubbornness flared up completely: "That's settled then. I don't care what the team doctor says, I just see obvious swelling on Dirk's knee! I can't let my player play in this condition!"
"They are my players, so they are no different from my children! I will always protect my children!"
"Now, can you get lost?" Old Nelson stared intently at Cuban, who retorted just as sharply.
After a long eye contact, Cuban nodded and said, "I will begin the search for a new head coach right now. Regardless of how this series ends, you will be fired at the end of this season!"
After saying that, Cuban turned and left the locker room, angrily returning directly to the hotel.
He wasn't in the mood to watch tonight's game!
It's good that he didn't see it, otherwise it would have been even more upsetting.
Playing away from home, a do-or-die match, experiencing serious internal strife, and the team's star player not playing.
With numerous debuffs, the Mavericks were completely outmatched in this battle and didn't cause the Jazz any significant trouble.
They fell behind by double digits early on and were unable to close the gap.
In the end, the Jazz won the game without any major incidents, advancing to the conference finals once again after many years!
This time, Malone and O'Neal are facing their former teams at the same time, returning to where their dreams began!
This series is sure to be full of exciting moments!
Following this round of matches, major media outlets suddenly began reporting extensively on the conflict and inside story between Don Nelson and Mark Cuban.
No one knows who leaked these locker room messages to the media, but all those involved had the same thought after reading the reports.
The report is very accurate!
After their conflict was exposed, neither of them seemed inclined to heal the wounds or ease the tension. They were both well aware that their tolerance for each other had reached its limit.
Cuban couldn't stand that Nelson didn't treat him like a boss, didn't give him any respect, and didn't listen to any of his opinions.
Don Nelson couldn't stand Cuban's constant meddling in the team's operations and games. His reckless trades and his verbal abuse of the referees on the sidelines were things Nelson simply couldn't tolerate.
Thus, the two, who had no intention of tolerating any longer, completely broke off their relationship.
Don Nelson resigned immediately after the game, giving Cuban no chance to find a replacement or come up with a second option.
Cuban also responded strongly, quickly wishing the old man a safe journey and smooth sailing in the future.
At this moment, the most embarrassed person must be Don Nelson Jr., the general manager of the Mavericks and son of Don Nelson Sr.
My dad and the boss had a fight. What should I do?
I'm so scared!
Cuban and Nelson Sr. remained rational on this matter, and both of them called Nelson Jr. immediately, with the same content and purpose.
"It has nothing to do with you. Just focus on your work."
After the Mavericks' farce, the rosters for the Eastern and Western Conference Finals have been finalized!
Pacers vs. Nets, Lakers vs. Jazz!
These can all be considered battles of grudges!
Another thing that must be mentioned is the MVP and the All-Star team!
While Lin Tianren was in Europe, the league announced the All-NBA Team and MVP awards for the year.
As for the All-NBA Team, Lin Tian and Jordan were unsurprisingly selected together for the First Team, along with O'Neal, Duncan, and Nowitzki.
The second team consisted of five players: Kidd, Kobe, McGrady, Garnett, and Ben Wallace.
The third team was selected by Allen Iverson, Steve Nash, Jermaine O'Neal, and Yao Ming!
The Pacers were the biggest winners with three players selected to the All-NBA Team. The Lakers, Nets, Mavericks, and Magic each had two players selected. The league's top five teams had a total of 11 players selected to the All-NBA Team, accounting for more than 73% of the spots!
The phenomenon of top players from the league clustering together is becoming increasingly apparent!
In addition, Ben Wallace once again won the Defensive Player of the Year award, becoming the league's best defender for the second consecutive year and being selected to the All-Defensive First Team.
Besides him, the members of the All-Defensive First Team of the year also include Lin Tian, Kobe, Duncan and Garnett!
As for the All-Defensive Second Team, it was led by Jordan, along with Kidd, Artest, Kirilenko and O'Neal, who formed this year's All-Defensive Second Team!
The fact that both the Lakers and the Pacers have three players selected to the All-Defensive Team fully demonstrates that these two teams are indeed the strongest top teams in their respective conferences!
Top teams must be able to handle both offense and defense, right?
Meanwhile, Lin Tian, Jordan, Ben Wallace, and Shaquille O'Neal were all selected to both the All-NBA Team and the All-Defensive Team!
These two teams have definitely assembled some of the strongest players in the league today, and a lot of fans are looking forward to the Pacers and Lakers facing off again in the Finals!
Everyone wants to see who will emerge victorious after both teams have upgraded their lineups!
Of course, before that, both teams need to make sure they don't get upset...
Another one is the biggest suspense of this year's regular season.
MVP!
Back when the season ended, some people had already predicted the six MVP contenders for this year. Everyone guessed that these six people would be evenly matched, splitting the votes among themselves, and that the final gap would not be too big!
When the mystery was revealed, the fans were stunned for a moment before they realized what was happening.
They had considered that the gap wouldn't be too big, but they never expected it to be this small!
To put it another way, McGrady, who is ranked sixth, and the MVP winner, who is ranked first, are only less than 40 points apart!
In previous years' MVP selections, let alone the gap between first and sixth place, even the gap between first and second place was likely to be much larger!
This year's MVP selection has truly become a mess once again!
What's even more chaotic isn't that the difference between sixth and first place is only 40 points.
The most confusing part is the gap between first and second place.
0!
There's no difference!
This year's MVP award is once again a tie!
The reason why we say there has been another tie is not because there has been a tie in the league before, but because the two finalists of this year's MVP award became the first pair in the NBA to become the scoring champions at the same time just over half a month ago!
Just half a month later, these two guys became MVPs at the same time!
All I can say is that probability is really hard to predict!
Even if the scoring title can be controlled if the two players agree on it in the final game, the MVP voting is something that no one can control!
There are 121 journalists, each of whom can cast five votes, each worth 1 to 5, for five different players based on their own preferences.
Given this voting model and scale, what is the probability of a tie?
Well, the probability of a tie is not low, even 1 point is a tie!
However, if the two people who are both tied for the MVP award are ranked first in the MVP voting results and both become MVP, then the probability of that is infinitely close to 0!
Because there are just too many variables involved in this thing!
But even the biggest uncertainties have become reality this year!
Lin Tian and Jordan once again outshone the competition and received the same number of votes, becoming this year's MVPs together!
The second double tie of the season!
All sorts of incredible things, things that had never happened before and things that no one had ever even imagined, all came about because of the appearance of Lin Tian and Jordan, who were on the same team!
This season is destined to be extraordinary and crazy!
This is also Lin Tian's fourth MVP in five years and Jordan's first MVP since 1998!
These two truly had a happy ending in Indiana!
And now fans are already looking forward to it.
They're hoping for another tie for the Finals MVP!
Stern: If possible, it's not impossible to manipulate, just like MVP voting.
Yes, this time the MVP voting results were due to a little manipulation by Stern!
He originally didn't intend to get involved. Who won the MVP award didn't really concern him. Anyway, no matter who got it, it would definitely generate a lot of discussion and buzz.
But this year is a little different!
Stern discovered that while both methods could generate huge discussions and buzz, he came up with a way to maximize the level of discussion!
Just like the top scorer, let's have a wave of two leaders!
So, after the alliance collected all the votes, they began to calculate the final number of votes for each person.
Stern was involved and paid close attention to the entire process.
He would never have followed along like this before.
Although he came this year, his employees didn't have any questions. After all, he was the president. Maybe he wasn't busy with work today, or maybe he was genuinely concerned about the results of this year's MVP voting, which is why he came to the event.
So the group of people worked harder and harder, quickly counting and tallying the votes.
Stern watched from the side the whole time.
However, no one noticed that Stern secretly took out several ballots from his pocket at some point, and there were several more in front of him.
Stern was waiting for an opportunity, an opportunity to slip through the cracks!
He has to do this himself; there's absolutely no way he'd tell anyone in the world about it!
If even more people find out, this could become a huge scandal!
If the fact that the league manipulated the MVP selection results were to be exposed, regardless of Stern's motives or methods, it would be a devastating event that could destroy the league!
However... although Stern was prepared, he was in no hurry to make a move.
He was waiting for the vote count to reach its final stage.
He kept calculating the vote difference between the several candidates and the number of remaining votes.
After all, even if he were to manipulate things, he could only secretly change the content of 2-3 ballots.
If you do too much, you'll really be making a foolish mistake that's easy to spot.
He had already decided that if the gap was too big, he would pretend he had never thought about it and simply turn around and leave. But if the final gap was negligible, really just one or two cards, or 7 or 8 points, then no wonder Stern made a big fuss!
The good news is, he got this opportunity! The gap between Lin Tian and Jordan really is only a few points!
So, after calculating everything and making sure there would be no further changes, Stern handed out the few ballots he had secretly switched, and then secretly took back a few more.
Absolutely foolproof! Nobody noticed!
Now, the moment to witness a miracle! (End of Chapter)