The Way of Basketball: Never Talk Shit to Him!
Chapter 402 - 200: The Tortured LeBron, The Impact of Shaquille’s Absence._3

Chapter 402: Chapter 200: The Tortured LeBron, The Impact of Shaquille’s Absence._3

Sure enough, as a "hype master," he had already noticed that this year’s NBA Finals could very well be the most sensational round of finals since Jordan retired in ’98.

He could accept that the Lakers might lose to the Spurs, ultimately preventing this round of finals from happening. freewёbn૦νeɭ.com

But he absolutely couldn’t accept the Spurs winning by playing "dirty" and eliminating the Lakers, or affecting the Lakers’ full health entering the finals...

As everyone knows, anyone who hinders NBA promotion is an irreconcilable enemy of David Stern.

For the sake of ratings, he could make all kinds of changes, the most famous recent one being the rule changes in ’04!

The Spurs received a warning from the League, but didn’t dare to make these issues public, and so Popovich’s head hung beneath a suspended blade.

He knew all too well what fate awaited those who caught David Stern’s attention.

Just look at Boston’s recently deceased "Red Priest" to understand.

Boston’s decline from the entire ’90s to now, is it really just bad luck?

No team could be so unlucky for over 15 years, especially an elite club like Boston.

Popovich naturally didn’t want to become the next "Red Priest," at least not right now; he still wanted to climb higher and become one of the NBA’s most accomplished coaches.

He had to take League pressure seriously.

The Eastern Conference Finals were the first to commence.

The Cleveland Cavaliers arrived in Indiana the day before the game.

It was said that Shaquille O’Neal’s injury had worsened, so he didn’t travel with the team.

Once the Cleveland media, which had been somewhat skeptical, heard this news, they all obediently shut their mouths.

After all, Shaquille O’Neal was the "great contributor" who got the Cavaliers into the Eastern Conference Finals; they couldn’t push him too hard.

It’s hard enough attracting superstars to Cleveland...

LeBron James knew exactly what he was up against.

Because during the pre-game interviews, he didn’t dare make a single bold statement.

But there’s a thing as too much...

Being overly cautious made the media criticize him for completely lacking the dominance of the "Chosen One" and not deserving the nickname "King"!

Yep, the game hadn’t even started, and LeBron was already being criticized.

The reason for all this:

The media did not have a good opinion of him!

They were certain LeBron James would lose miserably.

The so-called "when the wall falls, everybody pushes"; right now, the media were those who started pushing first.

When LeBron saw these news reports, he knew a tormenting week had begun.

He had thought that the misery of this series of games would only start once the games began.

But before the first game even started, he had already been dealt an unexpected heavy blow.

On the day of the match, the NBA officially announced the final winner of the regular season MVP—without any suspense, the award belonged to... Su Wan!

Su Wan thus became, after Tim Duncan, another player to consecutively win the regular season MVP award.

He also became the first two-position player since Michael Jordan to repeat the feat.

The Indiana media quickly rode the wave comparing him to Jordan.

And this was not what made LeBron James most uncomfortable.

What bothered him even more was...

He had to watch David Stern personally hand the regular season MVP to Su Wan.

"MVP!"

"MVP!"

"MVP!"

When that moment arrived, listening to the entire crowd chanting Su Wan’s name, shouting "MVP," LeBron felt like he was sitting on pins and needles, with a thorn in his back, a fishbone stuck in his throat.

That was clearly the scene of his dreams.

Only the protagonist was himself.

But now he had to watch Su Wan enjoy the scene that he had only seen in his dreams.

To make matters worse...

This was the second time Su Wan was relishing such a moment.

The cameras at the venue kept focusing on LeBron for close-up shots.

They were torturing LeBron James with the silent language of the camera.

When LeBron James noticed that the cameras kept switching back and forth between him and Su Wan, he immediately lowered his head and cursed "damn it."

But by doing so...

LeBron, with his head down, and Su Wan, with his head up, holding the regular season MVP trophy high above his head.

The contrast became even more striking!

Erin quickly found the right angle and captured this scene.

Tomorrow, these two photos are definitely going to explode across the United States.

Interestingly, as Nike’s top two rising stars, Su Wan and LeBron, facing off on a stage like the Eastern Conference Finals, you’d expect Nike to do their usual and set up a VR clash, establishing the two as opposites in a "rivalry" marketing campaign.

But this time, Nike did separate promotions, focusing their promotion of LeBron on the fact that he had entered the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time.

No help there—if there was even a tiny bit of suspense in this series, they would have promoted both as "rivals."

It’s just...

Sigh!

Leave LeBron some dignity, right?

After the regular season MVP award ceremony was over, the Eastern Conference Finals officially kicked off.

The Pacers were at full regular season strength, while the Cavaliers had only one change: Vallejo replaced Shaquille O’Neal at the five.

However, despite the small lineup change, the Cavaliers’ approach to the game had vastly changed.

During the jump ball, Vallejo eagerly fought for the first offensive opportunity for his team.

As Gibson brought the ball up, he was about to instruct his teammates to move just like before, waiting for Shaquille O’Neal to come up and set a screen, when he suddenly remembered... Shaquille wasn’t there.

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