The Way of Basketball: Never Talk Shit to Him!
Chapter 183 - 130 David Stern Only Cares About Ratings!

Chapter 183: Chapter 130 David Stern Only Cares About Ratings!

On the sofa in the general manager’s office, Larry Bird watched Su Wan and Foster leave the scene on the TV and said to the side to Walsh, "Alright, now you can go and save the day!"

Walsh had come running to him in a panic as soon as the chaos had begun.

Larry Bird sat calmly, waiting for the signal to be cut off and then for it to be reconnected. "What for? You think you could have stopped it? Don’t worry, it’s just fans hitting players. That bastard David would offend anyone, but he would never offend the fans. Just look at how the Auburn Palace incident was handled. Other than the two fans who led the riot, all the severe punishments were placed on the players."

"Just wait, the Spurs are done for!"

"Not just this season, but next season as well!"

Unable to persuade Bird, and too scared to go to the scene alone for fear of accidental injury, Walsh just sat there until the game had ended.

Now, Bird was sending him in.

"What for, what am I supposed to do now?" Walsh responded with the same question to "Big Bird".

"Of course, to show our players and fans support!" Bird stood up, his eyes cursing at Walsh:

You idiot!

At this time, Su Wan and the other players had just finished their interviews, and reporters were still standing outside the locker room corridor, taking photos.

Don’t think these photos weren’t significant.

But these were photos of the Pacers’ home team tunnel after the "Conseco incident", with just a hint of disarray. They could stir the fans’ imaginations, wondering if after the match, they had chased the Spurs’ players down to the hospital and beaten them up again?

The appearance of Bird and Walsh immediately gave the reporters a target, they approached them and encircled them, asking for their thoughts on the riot that had just happened.

Larry Bird said, "I regret to see such an unfortunate incident occur during what should have been an exciting Finals. However, I completely understand the feelings of the Pacers’ fans. We’ve been through a lot this season, and just when we were about to emerge from the muck and create new glory, some teams tried to ruin it all with dirty tactics. This is absolutely not permitted in Indiana. One last thing, if in the ’80s there had been a team that made the playoffs by continuously injuring core players of the opposition, they would have been sent to the hospital by now. The league needs to give everyone an explanation, how teams like the Spurs should be handled. If playing dirty counts as passion, then we surely can be even more passionate!"

Walsh, who had been listening by his side, pushed up his glasses and added seriously, "The league must give an explanation!"

"You must give me a result as soon as possible!"

As Bird demanded an explanation from the officials in front of the cameras, at the same time, David Stern was slamming his hand on the desk in the commissioner’s office.

He was shocked at tonight’s "Conseco incident".

How long had it been since Auburn Hills?

From last November to this June, less than eight months...

He thought the punishment he had handed out last time was heavy enough to deter some people.

But now, it seemed that the earlier treatment had been too light.

No, he absolutely had to eliminate the root of the problem this time. He could not allow similar incidents to happen again.

He asked for a detailed report from his staff, from the beginning of the whole incident to the end, written very meticulously.

When he first saw the change in atmosphere on the scene, starting with Bruce Bowen tripping O’Neal, he was so angry he threw his gold-rimmed glasses onto the table. "That old bastard Greg really thinks the league condones this filth, huh?"

Over the years, he had made considerable efforts to achieve "one man, one city", making sure every team had a representative superstar.

So far, it had been successful, with Philly represented by Allen Iverson, Cleveland had LeBron James, and the "Holy City" had Tim Duncan.

To give the stars in smaller markets more confidence, Tim Duncan had been set up as a prime example by him.

He longed to see Tim Duncan achieve even more, which led him to turn a blind eye to Bruce Bowen’s actions.

But he hadn’t foreseen that Popovich would become more audacious. From the second round of the playoffs this season, every game they would try to disable an opponent’s core player. Stern had already planned a "reckoning" after the season, intending to issue new rules to restrict Bowen.

Especially since, with Su’s instigations, the fans and media of other cities were increasingly resentful towards the Spurs.

He couldn’t pretend it wasn’t happening.

But it turned out he was a step too late...

Of course, he hadn’t expected Bowen to become the spark for a second "Auburn Hills Incident".

If he had known it would come to this, he would have imposed heavy penalties earlier!

Then he saw Foster apply a "naked strangle" to Tim Duncan’s hand after the game had restarted, and he felt his breathing constricted in that moment.

Of course, this was yet another scene he did not want to see.

He had also heard the harsh words Su Wan had spoken before the game.

He thought Su Wan was merely being a brash youth, trying to intimidate the Spurs so they wouldn’t dare to play rough.

"That bastard Greg!"

The more he thought about it, the more Stern cursed out Popovich.

Don’t you know what kind of temper Su Wan has?

A typical "stab me once, I’ll stab you back" person.