The Way of Basketball: Never Talk Shit to Him!
Chapter 610 - 242 "Black Eight Miracle

Chapter 610: Chapter 242 "Black Eight Miracle

Yao was injured and left the court.

The final medical report showed a stress fracture, just like Shaquille O’Neal’s.

What was inevitable had come.

Su Wan had foreseen this.

Originally, Yao had fallen to a stress fracture.

Generally, those who suffer from this type of injury have bones that are not very tough, unable to withstand long-term strain, becoming more and more fragile, until a very common confrontation could possibly cause the injury.

This time, at the most critical moment, Yao listened to Su Wan and did not renew his contract ahead of time.

In order to maintain health in a contract year, he ultimately did not put on weight again.

But that was merely a suggestion that Su Wan had made.

However, since his transfer to the Lakers, he had fought through the finals for three consecutive years, playing from October to June each year. In the past three years, Yao had been playing for 9 months out of the year, and spent at least one month of the remaining three in training camps.

Born in 1980, he turned 30 this year.

In what year did Shaquille O’Neal’s relationship with Kobe officially deteriorate?

2002...

Shaquille O’Neal, born in 1972, turned 30 that year!

And after that, Shaquille O’Neal began to suffer frequent injuries.

His physical condition couldn’t handle it, not to mention Yao Ming.

Su Wan actually thought of warning Yao Ming, but after last summer’s conversation in Tianjin, Su Wan clearly realized that Yao wanted to walk that road.

Thus, retiring early due to exhaustion was probably his fate.

If he couldn’t meet the "call whenever summoned," how could he have embarked on that path?

The Los Angeles media wailed after hearing the news; they clearly understood what the end of Yao Ming’s season due to a stress fracture implied...

The "New York Times" directly issued a "death notice": "Los Angeles will become the first team in NBA history to win 72 games and 10 losses in the regular season, yet fail to win the championship!"

Los Angeles media were not convinced, but they couldn’t find any rebuttal.

The Lakers, with Yao, could only manage a 55-45 split against the Pacers.

Now without Yao, not to mention the rest, Paul Gasol would definitely be overwhelmed by the Pacers’ frontcourt.

Relying on Kobe alone to go head to head with Su Wan, if it had been three years ago, there might have been some hope, but now, as could be seen from last season’s finals, Kobe could no longer suppress Su Wan.

Thinking of relying on the outside to beat the Pacers was simply impossible!

Unless, the Pacers didn’t make it to the Eastern Conference Finals.

But...

A 65-win Cavaliers team was just fodder for Su Wan and the Pacers;

The third-ranked Hawks were nothing but chicks in front of Su Wan.

The only hope lay with the Boston Celtics, who had eliminated the Pacers in June 2008.

But back then, the Pacers only had Su Wan, who couldn’t support everything alone.

Moreover, Kevin Garnett was clearly not what he used to be after a severe injury...

Los Angeles media looked over the Eastern Conference teams and were shocked to find their biggest hope was their "mortal enemy" the Boston Celtics?

Better let the Pacers reach the Finals then!

Losing to Bolis was one thing, but losing to Boston was absolutely not an option!

Especially allowing them to step on their heads to win the championship would be the ultimate shame!

Pure Lakers fans would never accept such an outcome.

Los Angeles media also did not want to see such a situation occur.

On the first day besides the Lakers game, there was also the Bulls vs. Cavaliers in the East.

There was a significant gap in wins between the first and eighth seed in the East.

Initially, the media thought it would be a one-sided dominant victory.

But it turned out the Chicago Bulls had quite a bit of resilience.

And it was clear to see, this team had especially studied the Pacers’ and Cavaliers’ game videos.

The limitation they put on LeBron was very effective.

With the "Englishman" Ruhl Deng, and Joakim Noah inside, they made LeBron’s breakthrough very uncomfortable.

Both teams played tensely until the last 5 minutes of the fourth quarter, with the Cavaliers leading by only 4 points.

Hmm...

That’s how LeBron’s team was.

In the playoffs, no matter the opponent, they always gave a sense of a fifty-fifty chance.

In the end, Shawn Marion’s "crooked machine gun" from the baseline and a one-arm slam dunk following a backdoor cut helped the team narrowly win by scoring 5 points.

This dunk also became one of the so-called "top ten dunks in team history" by Cleveland media the next day.

However, such a hair-raising victory made some Cavaliers fans mutter to themselves:

Could something unexpected happen?

Good omens don’t work out, but bad ones do.

In the second game of the series between the Cavaliers and the Bulls, Shawn Marion, the hero who had won the first game, collided shoulder-first into Joakim Noah’s elbow while fighting for a rebound.

Upon landing, "The Matrix" twisted his face in pain.

He was then taken back to the locker room by the team doctor.

The on-site Cavaliers fans were stunned.

Not to mention that Marion was averaging 18.6 points per game during the regular season, the second-highest on the Cavaliers, along with 8.4 rebounds, contributing about 3 frontcourt rebounds per game.

The victory in the previous round was also thanks to him.

Now with a sudden injury, the Cavaliers were in trouble...

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