The Way of Basketball: Never Talk Shit to Him!
Chapter 311 - 182: Oh no, won’t my buddy end up becoming Stephen Curry?_2

Chapter 311: Chapter 182: Oh no, won’t my buddy end up becoming Stephen Curry?_2

Mavericks fans didn’t care whether it was the Mavericks who gave up on Nash or Nash who gave up on the Mavericks.

They just saw that after leaving the Mavericks, Steve Nash had performed at an MVP level during the regular season. So what were you doing all those years with the Mavericks?

It’s not that Nash played poorly for the Mavericks. Later, the media, in an effort to mythologize "Nash’s late bloomer story" and "dark horse rising," actually described Nash during his time with the Mavericks as just an ordinary main player.

But in reality, even during his time with the Mavericks, Nash was far better than Calderon, a standard league-first-rate point guard.

Considering the tactical role the Mavericks had set up for him, he really did his best. But in the eyes of Mavericks fans, Steve Nash was just a slacker, not using all his abilities.

Hmm...

This is Dallas!

They say New York fans are arrogant, but if we’re talking about arrogance, it has to be these "cowboys" from Dallas.

The fans here are not only arrogant but also inhabit one of the places most plagued by racial discrimination.

And after the Western Conference Finals, these fans turned their guns on Su Wan.

Looking at their behavior, it was clear that Su Wan’s degree of loathing in this city had surpassed that of Steve Nash.

With that in mind...

San Antonio, Houston, and now Dallas.

The whole of Texas was "pitch black."

Su Wan once again sighed to himself, if only I... well, the current system is already heaven-defying.

After two days of rest, June 3rd arrived, and the NBA Finals, which the Indiana media and Dallas media had been heatedly arguing about, finally began.

The first game of the Finals kicked off at Conseco Arena.

As the Mavericks players walked through the visitor’s tunnel, the crowd by the court, described as a "mudslide" by Donnie Walsh, immediately erupted in a tremendous chorus of boos, as if a real flood had burst, threatening to engulf the Mavericks, especially Nowitzki.

This was the Mavericks’ first trip to the NBA Finals, and also the first Finals trip for everyone on the team.

Compared to any away game they had faced in the playoffs, this crazed booing was on another level.

The Mavericks looked a bit more tense, but the "Little General" Johnson, with his drill sergeant-like shout, helped them adjust their state before the game started, and they came out playing well from the beginning. NovelFire.Côm-cσ๓

The Pacers, although more experienced, could not defend Nowitzki on the inside, as all the major media had discussed before the game.

Just in the first quarter, Dirk Nowitzki went 4 for 5 from the field, adding free throws and a three-point shot, racking up a total of 11 points.

The Mavericks got more and more thrilled as the game went on, hitting 15 three-pointers over three quarters, a very fatal three-point hit count in the current league.

In the end, the Mavericks won by a margin of 109 to 97, a 12-point "home takeover," on Indiana’s home court, taking the first game of the Finals.

Dirk Nowitzki’s 35 points and 9 rebounds slightly outshone Su Wan’s 27 points, 7 rebounds, and 3 assists.

This got the Dallas media completely hyped, hurling various taunts into Indiana:

"The fake can’t become real, give Dirk his regular season MVP back!"

"MVP thief of the regular season, now do you realize how far you are from a true MVP?"

"If you can’t win, you just can’t win; adding the regular season, the Mavericks have achieved their third straight victory over the Pacers!"

"Thank the Pacers for the O’Brien Cup; Huaxia people, having snatched the regular season MVP, now return it with the Championship Trophy!"

...

The Indiana media and fans were somewhat uneasy.

They were very concerned about the regular season sweep by the Mavericks. They thought that after sweeping and achieving "gentleman sweeps" over strong Eastern teams, the Pacers would be in prime condition for the Finals, unafraid of the Mavericks this time.

But...

They were trounced once again!

Carlisle’s expression grew more serious after Game 1 of the Finals.

In the first quarter, he made some tactical shifts, like using wings like Artest or Su to help O’Neal with help defense and double teams.

But Nowitzki possessed quite a good passing ability, which made them pay more attention to Nowitzki, only to allow the Mavericks to maximize his tactical value.

The first game proved that regular defensive strategies couldn’t contain Nowitzki, and if they simply tried to outscore the Mavericks, with the Mavericks’ outside shooting group, once they got hot, they were unstoppable.

They still needed to figure out how to suppress the Mavericks’ offense.

Unfortunately, the Mavericks’ offense in Game 1 was sparked by Nowitzki.

This made the problem a vicious cycle.

As a representative of the "Academic School" of coaching, Rick Carlisle was a bit overwhelmed now.

Su Wan was also contemplating a strategy to break through.

During the Eastern Conference Finals, he had been recalling the original Finals.

Of course, he was thinking about how the Mavericks won the first two games.

Now, he was thinking about how the Fire Team won the last four games...

The first was to ramp up confrontational defense!

But this worked on the other Mavericks players, just not so much on Nowitzki; even O’Neal was trying hard to defend him one-on-one.

But he just couldn’t stop Nowitzki.

Nowitzki at his peak was completely at the pace of a small forward...