The No.1 Anti-Fans in Basketball-Chapter 411 - 212 Braised Pork Tactic_2

Originally, the Thunders’ problem was the dispute over ball possession, the compatibility issue with two big ball-handlers.

But after watching this playoff game, fans felt something else entirely.

The eighth seed playing the first seed, no matter what the reasons are, the difference in strength is obvious.

Since the NBA implemented the 16-team playoff format in 1947, in its 66-year history, there have been only 4 "Black Eight" miracles in 130 instances.

Especially since the first round adopted the best-of-seven format, there have been only 2 occurrences, and one of those was because Ross was injured.

To put it bluntly, this is a practically unwinnable match.

Just like Hansen said last year, failure divides people in different ways, and so does adversity.

Westbrook did not shrink in the face of adversity; he lost standing.

By contrast, after being trashed-talked by Hansen, James just disappeared, padding his stats during garbage time and staggered shifts.

It’s foreseeable that in the annals of time, fans won’t remember what happened in this game. They’ll see almost identical stats for James and Westbrook, and that the Thunders did their best.

But that’s for the future. What fans are seeing now is heroes and cowards.

Especially since James also pulled off that shocking kneeling stunt, fans’ perceptions are only going to deepen.

"Why would Nike choose a coward as their leading figure? Is this their brand identity?"

That was a popular comment, which was soon followed by another fan saying,

"I’d rather choose KD; at least he’s not spineless."

This comment suddenly woke a lot of people up—Nike’s stars aren’t only about James!

Kobe is getting older, and since he switched from Adi, he’s not the face of the brand, but Durant is a younger star than James.

And he led the Heat Team to 70 wins this season, something only Jordan had done since.

Why couldn’t Nike switch to Durant as their leading figure?

"Do you think Nike would switch?" This topic was so hot that Rondo even discussed it with Hansen.

"When does LeBron’s contract with Nike expire?" Hansen hadn’t paid much attention to this; he only remembered that when James first joined the League, Nike signed him to a 7-year, 96-million-dollar contract.

Time-wise, that contract expired in the summer of 2010.

"They renewed in 2010 with a 4-year, 80-million-dollar contract." Rondo had a good grasp of this information.

"2010, 2014."

Hansen was muttering these two years as if he’d discovered a new continent.

The 2010 Decision One, brotherhood basketball; the 2014 Decision Two, hometown basketball.

This was definitely not a coincidence.

He seemed to understand a lot of things all of a sudden.

The playthings of capital.

Just like Carrell said back then, "Nike propelled LeBron to the throne," James was chosen by Nike and then mythologized.

But this false god was just a tool, and as a tool, it certainly could be replaced.

"If LeBron doesn’t win a championship before 2014, I think that will be KD’s chance," Hansen predicted.

Durant has no charisma, but is James’s charisma any better?

Without all that packaging, James might not even measure up to Durant.

That’s the power of Nike; it could turn you from crap into something that tastes like chocolate.

Compared to that, whatever negative stuff about Durant hardly seemed to matter.

He suddenly found himself quite looking forward to the summer of 2014.

After a two-day break, the G2 between the Grizzlies and the Thunders continued in Memphis.

The course of the game wasn’t much different from G1.

In fact, even if James and Westbrook could handle the ball possession issue, the Thunders would still have a hard time beating the Grizzlies.

Because their skills overlapped too much, combined they were less than the sum of their parts.

Of course, the Thunders’ management was solely focused on making money, not on setting out to beat the Grizzlies or the Lakers.

It’s just that management didn’t anticipate Westbrook improving so fast and the conflicts between the two flaring up so quickly.

It wasn’t that they were dumb. Without foresight, wouldn’t Westbrook, Afflalo, James, Ibaka, and Little Lopez make a lineup several times stronger than the Nuggets?

Achieving a top-four finish in The West and making it to the second round would have already fulfilled their goal.

The Grizzlies had firmly established their game advantage early on, even more so than in the first game, leading by 15 points just before halftime ended.

Then, that’s when conflict arose on the court.

James, while contending with Randolph, first annoyed him with minor provocations and then elbowed Randolph in the neck.

Despite Coach Joerger’s earlier warnings, Randolph, with his explosive temper, couldn’t tolerate this and immediately grappled with James, wrestling him to the ground.

The referee ultimately called a technical foul on James, while Randolph was ejected from the game.

So James didn’t dare to play dirty, only sly.

After the technical timeout, Coach Joerger decisively sent in Jones.

Jones proved to be a real talent, as he actually mimicked James’ behavior, provoking Westbrook in various ways.

"You can’t win a game without KD!" his words after an elbow strike finally enraged Westbrook, and the two scuffled together until both were ejected from the field.

It’s worth mentioning that this was the first time Westbrook was ejected from a playoff game in his career.

Although he’s known for his stoic demeanor, his emotional control on the court has always been quite good.

The reason for his loss of control this time wasn’t entirely due to Jones.

From his pre-game confrontation with Stan, it was evident he wanted to win.

Even if he couldn’t win, he didn’t want to be humiliated again and again like James.

When he finally left the court, his expression appeared calm, but his inner rage and dissatisfaction had likely already boiled to an uncontrollable level.

After Westbrook left the field, James began to take control of the ball, scoring, rebounding, and assisting in everything.

Except the point difference remained the same.

The situation changed in the second half because the point difference grew even larger.

In the end, despite some minor incidents, the Grizzlies still triumphed at home court with a 103 to 88 victory, taking the series to a 2-0 lead.

James got a triple-double with 31 points, 11 rebounds, and 10 assists.

You can question any of James’ abilities, but you can never doubt his ability to rack up stats.

The League’s punishment for the skirmish was identical to that of the previous finals, issuing fines but no suspensions.

Although the match was one-sided, it garnered the highest viewership ratings of the first round; Stern wouldn’t let money slip away.

The third game of the series was set to take place in Oklahoma City.

Before departing, Coach Joerger spoke with Hansen about the incident with Randolph.

Because on many occasions on the court, it had been Hansen who calmed Randolph’s emotions.

However, during their conversation, Hansen shared some of his thoughts.

He believed that James’ behavior wasn’t repetitive.

Given James’ character, he was the kind of person who would only resort to violence when pushed to the brink.

But this time, his actions were somewhat linked to discussions on social media about Nike’s lead endorser.

Since being called a softie didn’t match Nike’s brand image, he toughened up once to quiet the negative voices.

Of course, that was just one aspect.

On the other hand, Hansen believed that being significantly behind in points had also played a role.

It was a peculiar angle, but he had his reasons.

He had reviewed instances when James had conflicts with others, not all, but mostly when there was a large deficit in the score.

Or perhaps this wasn’t unique to James, many skirmishes occurred when one side was frantic to avoid losing.

Just as Coach Joerger had emphasized from the start, the Grizzlies had greater ambitions than to engage in tit-for-tat games in the first round.

So, how to smoothly advance to the finals was their top priority.

After all, facing the Heat without a key player would truly leave them with slim chances of victory.

"Dave, do you know about Chinese cuisine?" Hansen suddenly asked an even stranger question at that moment.

Coach Joerger was completely baffled; they were discussing the game, why did Hansen suddenly bring up food?

But it seemed Hansen didn’t care whether Joerger knew or not and just went on to explain on his own.

"In our Chinese cuisine, there’s a very famous dish called ’braised pork belly.’"

Coach Joerger still didn’t understand what Hansen was getting at.

"Its cooking method is simple, summed up in eight words: ’simmer gently over low heat, thicken sauce over high heat.’"