Chapter 459 Chapter 458: When Everything is Coming to an End (asking for monthly tickets!)

The biggest comeback in NBA Finals history still occurred in 2008.

It’s just that Kevin Garnett went from being the one who created the reversal to being the one who was reversed.

There was no miracle like Tracy McGrady’s 35 points in 13 seconds tonight, nor was there Roger’s consecutive scoring in the final moments when he reversed the Knicks 14 years ago.

The Golden State Warriors’ comeback was not spectacular or dramatic in any sense.

It was just a group of men who were still hungry for victory after winning four years in a row and who persevered to the end under the leadership of a brave leader, and everything fell into place.

But this result is more despairing than a sudden outbreak of a star player, because the outbreak of a star player is accidental, and the Warriors’ reversal proves that this team has the hard power to deal with the New York Knicks, even if it is “a little bit” behind at the beginning.

Faced with such a reversal, all Knicks players were frustrated.

Yao Ming was helpless when facing the CCTV reporter. It was a rare occasion that he did not smile: “I really hope that those New York fans who turned off the TV early did not watch the news. We were so close to victory, but now it is so far away.”

Dwyane Wade sighed, “This is just Roger. If it was any other team that did this, I would have torn down the locker room at Oracle Arena.”

Kevin Garnett wore a hood and refused to answer any questions.

Knicks coach Mike D’Antoni also remained silent.

He certainly knows where the Knicks’ pain points are and why the team loses energy in the third and fourth quarters. But the reason why he still uses short rotations is not because he enjoys the feeling of cosplaying as a farmer, but because the Knicks’ bench depth is not enough to maintain the team’s tactical execution, and there are only one or two people on the bench who can play at the level of the finals.

Over the years, the Knicks have not been able to solve the problem of top-heavy lineups. They have a brilliant starter, which means they can only sign role players with mid-level and minimum salaries. This is a problem that every super team needs to face.

LeBron James mentioned this when he talked about his 11-year loss in the original timeline. He believed that the Heat did not have enough outstanding role players, so that Heat was not a super team and it was normal for them to lose.

If James has 11 other MVP-level teammates around him, he won’t lose.

In the absence of enough role players, Tom Thibodeau is an assistant coach who likes to stick to the starters, and he is unable to help Mike D’Antoni share the pressure in rotation strategy.

Whenever Mike D’Antoni wanted to discuss this, Tom Thibodeau would wave his hand and say, “If it’s so troublesome, why don’t we just let the starters play the full 48 minutes?”

Mike D’Antoni was speechless.

So, this problem of the Knicks is really difficult to solve.

Mike D’Antoni had little to say about the loss, and he could only answer questions with one repetitive phrase: “The series is not over, the series is not over.”

However, this statement obviously cannot satisfy the picky New York media.

The New York Times even pulled out retired Lenny Wilkens and said, “In the past five years, Lenny has said 23 times that the series is not over. As a result, we failed every time he said that. When the Knicks were reversed even when they led by points, we really couldn’t imagine any possibility of winning. Spike Lee is right. Roger killed all the suspense in basketball games. As long as Roger doesn’t retire, the New York team will never win the championship. New York Giants fans will definitely agree with this.”

In addition to the New York media, the Nike team was also very annoyed.

Because this game reminded people of LBJ, countless fans expressed their opinions on the Internet: “Look at Roger’s game, this is why LeBron will never succeed.”

The calmness and courage that Roger displayed when facing the dilemma of falling behind by 23 points are exactly what LeBron James does not have. He is a guy who will be at a loss when he is in a disadvantageous situation.

In fact, Bill Simmons discovered a problem: LBJ seemed to have none of the six championship creeds he summarized for Roger.

Other stars more or less meet one or two of these requirements, but LBJ doesn’t even come close.

He suddenly had an inspiration and decided to add this paragraph at the end of Roger’s autobiography to tell the world why LeBron James was destined to fail.

This big reversal made James, who had been eliminated, become popular again, and also dealt a heavy blow to the morale of the Knicks, destroying some of the suspense of the game, so that a new topic began to heat up: Will the next game be Roger’s last game in Oracle Arena in his career?
As the greatest basketball player in the past 15 years, Roger’s fame has earned him enough respect this season. When he officially announced in the middle of the season that he would retire after this season, most of the stadiums he visited for the last time prepared some special tribute ceremonies for him.

This time, it seems to be Oracle Arena’s own turn.

Although the number of games in the finals has not yet been determined, Bay Area fans and Russian owners must be fully prepared for it.

All this cannot be done as grandly as Kobe Bryant’s last game at the Staples Center, because this is the finals after all, not the final chapter of his retirement tour. If it is too grand and ends up losing the game, or even the finals, then all this will become a farce.

Ultimately, Roger’s goal now is to win the championship.

Therefore, the Warriors did not arrange too many tribute activities. On the day of G2, the Warriors simply put out the six chairs again.

Tom Mechery, Al Attles, Chris Mullin, Rick Barry, and Nate Thurmond, five legendary players whose jerseys had been retired by the Warriors, sat down. There was also a chair with Wilt Chamberlain’s jersey on it – in fact, more fans felt that 20,000 pairs of women’s pants should be placed in the seat that belonged to Chamberlain.

In the summer six years ago, when Roger played in the Bay Area for the first time as a Warriors player, these Warriors legends also appeared and gave Roger the fire of inheritance.

Now, the fire has spread throughout the basketball world, and they will come to watch this magnificent scenery.

Seeing Roger come out, Tom Mechery, the original owner of No. 14 in the Bay Area, stood up and shook hands with Roger: “It’s an honor. Now the whole world knows the story of No. 14 of the Warriors.”

“Tom, thank you for giving me your retired jersey, and thank you for the poems you wrote for me over the years.”

“Come on, Roger, win this game and let those New York bastards go back with a score of 0-2.”

“I will Tom, don’t miss the chance, right?”

After that, Roger hugged several other legends, and that was all for tonight’s tribute ceremony.

The starting lineups of both teams gathered, and the Warriors fans at the scene were already cheering before the game even started.

Today, the entire Oracle Arena stands turned white, and almost all fans wore Warriors No. 14.

Mike Breen looked at all the fans standing up and couldn’t help but sigh: “It seems that everyone dare not blink, because they don’t want to miss every second of the world’s greatest player in Oracle Arena.”

The New York Knicks failed to get off to such a strong start today. The kind of touch they had in the first quarter yesterday was something that could only be achieved by chance.

The Warriors had a very good start. Under pressure and double-teaming, Roger calmly passed the ball to teammates with the best opportunities time and time again, and the Warriors also seized the opportunities.

The entire Warriors team regarded this as Roger’s swan song at Oracle Arena, so they performed very hard and did not want to leave any regrets.

With the Warriors team’s excellent shooting, the Warriors led 34-27 in the first quarter.

In the second quarter, in order to avoid physical exhaustion, Mike D’Antoni replaced Wade and Garnett early to rest, hoping that they could save their energy for the second half.

Taking advantage of the time when Garnett and Wade were resting, Roger scored 14 points in a row.

This is why Mike D’Antoni doesn’t like to make substitutions. The Knicks’ bench is completely unable to shoulder the responsibility in the finals.

In the second half, when the Knicks’ starting lineup was beaten hard again, they narrowed the gap to 4 points.

With 31 seconds left in the game, Yao Ming received the ball in the low post, turned around and shot against Stoudemire and Stephen Jackson, narrowing the gap to just 2 points.

Yao Ming pumped his fist and yelled, giving the Knicks hope of winning an away game.

Tom Thibodeau picked up the tactical board and decided to have two people guard Roger no matter what. Even if he allowed others to shoot in open space, he would never let Roger shoot.

So, before the sideline ball was even kicked out, there were already two people chasing Roger.

The Warriors had no choice but to pass the ball to Brandon Roy, and Garnett rushed out to interfere.

KG jumped with all his strength, and his height made Roy completely unable to see the basket.

But if Roy passes the ball now, there is a high probability that he will make a mistake.

So he could only shoot when he couldn’t see the basket.

The basketball passed Kevin Garnett’s fingertips, but bounced out of the rim. The Knicks’ defensive strategy worked! Yao Ming turned around and tried to grab the rebound, but he couldn’t jump up because of his physical condition. Amar’e Stoudemire jumped up, but he couldn’t grab the basketball directly, so he slapped the ball out of the three-point line in the air.

Roger just caught the basketball one step outside the three-point line, and because the incident happened suddenly, Wade and Kirk Hinrich were not close to Roger.

At that moment, the hearts of almost all New York fans stopped beating, and almost all Warriors fans cheered in advance.

Kevin Garnett immediately left Roy and ran towards Roger.

But it’s too late.

The basketball went into the net, and Oracle Arena seemed to be erupting like magma.

The drama that has been staged here countless times in the past six years has been reborn, bringing to an end the golden age that Roger started in the Bay Area.

“Isn’t this really a stage play that has been rehearsed countless times?” Mike Brin looked at the excited fans around him and Roger who was calm on the court and found it hard to believe. “If this is Roger’s last performance at Oracle Arena, then this is undoubtedly the perfect ending.”

At this time, the fans at the scene started to make a commotion.

Roger looked in the direction of the sound and saw a familiar figure he hadn’t seen for a long time.

John Cage, who had rarely come to watch the Warriors since they moved to Mission Bay, took off his shirt again after many years and danced for Roger in the stands.

Next to him, the grown-up child was doing exactly the same thing.

A message was written on both father and son’s bodies: “Roger is the eternal king of the Bay Area.”

Roger smiled and pointed to the stands. This time, John Cage was not taken away by anyone.

Mike Brin smiled and said, “Well, this is the perfect ending.”

In the final moments, Dwyane Wade made a big three-pointer, but unfortunately time was no longer on the Knicks’ side, and they could only use foul tactics.

Amar’e Stoudemire stepped to the free throw line, and his 80% free throw shooting percentage this season seemed to have determined the Knicks’ fate.

Before the free throw, KG tried to interfere with Stoudemire with words: “Thank goodness, Amare, you are just the third player of the Warriors. If you hadn’t been fouled, you, a poor guy, wouldn’t even be able to touch the ball at this moment.”

After listening to this, Stoudemire made the first free throw steadily, then looked at KG and said: “I am part of the great history, and you are the pitiful one.”

The second free throw was also successful, and the score difference returned to 4 points, which was maintained until the end of the game.

2-0, the New York Knicks seemed to have seen their final end. After all, Roger had never lost a series when leading 2-0.

G3 had the same result. The New York Knicks led by 8 points in the first half, but their vitality declined in the second half and they were reversed by the Warriors. However, the reversal came earlier and they overtook in the third quarter.

At the scene, many fans were already shouting slogans such as “Mike get out of New York”. They really couldn’t stand a coach who couldn’t even solve the rotation problem, causing the team to always be stuck in a physical quagmire.

Lenny Wilkens must be very familiar with this scene, but is it really the coach’s problem that the Knicks have not been able to win the championship?

Of course not, and it’s not even the players’ fault.

The only problem for the New York Knicks is that they are playing against the GOAT.

When the Warriors won Game 3 in New York, Roger’s perfect season was basically achieved, just waiting for the moment to come to an end.

Next, people’s focus was no longer on the finals itself, but on the farewell of a great player.

There is a high probability that Game 2008 of the Finals will be Roger’s last game in his career.

So at the press conference after Game 3, reporters were no longer very concerned about the game itself.

Their problems all had to do with Roger.

“Roger, are you sure this is your last season? We all know that you have played in the NBA for a long 15 years, but you are fully capable of continuing. You have won a total of 936 games in your career. As long as you play one more season, you will definitely become the youngest player in NBA history to win 1000 games. Do you really not want to continue?”

“I may not be the youngest player in NBA history to win 1000 games, but I’m about to get 12 rings, and that’s enough. Since when do statistics count as an honor?”

“Will you come back as Michael?”

“Who knows? But I can give you a more definitive number than Michael: There’s a 99.99 percent chance that I won’t be coming back.”

“Who do you think is most qualified to be your successor in the alliance?”

“I think everyone in this league is independent. There is no such thing as succession. In 1993, the whole world was looking for Michael’s successor, but in the end no one would be the next him.”

“Anything else you want to say about the final battle?”

“I want to win.”

The last sentence is enough to prove that Roger’s heart has never changed.

After the press conference, Roger met Bill Simmons in the player tunnel. Bill Simmons brought the first draft of Roger’s autobiography and hoped that Roger would take a look at it.

Roger doesn’t like to read articles on electronic devices. He can’t concentrate on reading on electronic devices. And for some reason, when he reads text on electronic devices without clicking on the accompanying pictures, he always feels that something is missing.

So Bill Simons specially printed a paper copy of the book for Roger.

Roger looked at the title of the book and felt that he had found the right person: “Champion’s Creed? Interesting.”

“Please take some time to read it in the next few days. If there is no problem, we will publish it in this version.”

“Does this book include all my classic trash talk?”

“Of course, except for the use of asterisks instead of swear words, most of it has been retained.”

“That’s very kind of you, thank you Bill.”

“I should do it, boss. I’m actually curious about how you feel now. You’ve been competing in this league for 15 years. From the time of Michael Jordan to now when Kobe is no longer young, you’ve experienced the entire NBA golden age. Now everything is about to end. What are you thinking? I think you should add this paragraph to your autobiography.”

Roger thought about this question seriously, and it was difficult for him to summarize his past 15 years in a single sentence.

Over the past 15 years, he has been dreaming of being a hero to the fullest, fighting in the mighty and high-spirited fields for such a long time, and so many things have happened.

After reminiscing for a long time, Bill Simmons noticed that Roger’s eyes were a little red.

He never thought that this kind of picture would appear on Roger’s face.

Bill Simmons handed over a piece of paper: “Roger?”

Roger looked up and glanced at the white light tube: “Thank you Bill, I don’t need it.”

“But.”

“Shut up Bill, I have to go.”

Bill Simmons watched Roger leave and put the tissue back into his pocket.

“It’s time to say goodbye, sports boy.”

(Today is a 4800-word update. I don’t want to rush the final ending. You can all see that the energy and emotion I put into this book are different from before. So, I want to slowly write the final ending, at least to satisfy myself. Of course, it won’t be delayed forever, at the latest on the 3rd, or maybe the 2nd. Here, Lao He also wishes all readers’ fathers a happy new year and all the best~)

(End of this chapter)