Life as NBA Rookie (SlamDunk System)-Chapter 193 - 201: Back on Top! World Champions!

After the first four games, the Celtics’ chances of winning the championship were hanging by a thread.

In this era, no team leading 3-1 in the NBA Finals has ever been overturned.

And after Game 3, even if David Stern wanted to keep milking ticket sales, he’d have to think twice about whether Bay Area fans might storm the NBA’s New York headquarters in retaliation.

Right now, the internal investigation into Joey Crawford still hasn’t wrapped up.

Stern knows full well it’ll likely end up swept under the rug.

But after that blatant "rigged" Game 3, the league’s officiating has become a lightning rod for criticism.

Over the first four games, anyone with eyes could see that the Warriors, led by Zack, were attacking the paint far more often, yet they ended up with nearly 30 fewer free throws than the Celtics.

No more playing favorites with the Celtics.

Stern was crystal clear on that.

No matter how much buzz this Finals series was generating, the league couldn’t afford to keep openly favoring the Celtics like in Game 3.

One day later, Game 5 of the Warriors-Celtics Finals tipped off at the TD Garden.

This was the second year the NBA had renamed the Finals MVP award the "Bill Russell Finals MVP Award."

Nobody knew what was going through the mind of "The Lord of the Rings" Russell, who, just last year at the Staples Center, had presented the award to his archrival’s star, Kobe.

Tonight, Russell might have to hand the FMVP trophy to Zack, with the Larry O’Brien Trophy—the ultimate symbol of NBA team glory—already shipped to Boston per tradition.

Even the most diehard Celtics fans in the stands wore looks of despair.

Because if the Warriors won this year, it would mark the third straight year the Celtics would be the league’s biggest losers—cementing their legacy as a dynasty of runners-up.

"What’s wrong with being runner-up?"

During pregame warm-ups, Zack said to Duncan, "Making it to the Finals three years in a row is its own kind of dominance. Plus, you’re still young. I’m betting the future’s yours, my dear senior."

Duncan flashed a sly grin. "You’re right. I’ve still got plenty of untapped potential."

Zack hadn’t expected his playful jab to slide right off Duncan.

It left him a bit deflated.

Because Zack couldn’t imagine keeping as cool as Duncan if he were the one finishing second three years running and getting teased like that.

On the court, after warm-ups, head referee Bennett Salvatore grabbed the ball and headed to center circle.

For Game 5, the Celtics stuck with the same starting lineup from the previous four games.

The Warriors, meanwhile, swapped Curry for Nash, who’d been coming off the bench for several games.

"Don’t stress, Steve," Brown said to a visibly nervous Nash, who looked like a rookie playing his first game ever, as they prepared for the tip-off. "It’s just a championship. You’ll get used to this."

For Nash, on the verge of his first career title, the moment was heavy with emotion.

From Phoenix to Dallas, back to Phoenix, and now Oakland, that championship ring within reach felt like God’s ultimate reward for his winding, hard-fought journey.

"God, this won’t be my only ring, right?" Nash looked up at Zack, loosening up enough to crack a joke.

"Of course not," Zack replied.

The opening tip went up, and the Warriors’ unstoppable second-best center in history, Kwame Brown, easily won possession.

Nash dribbled across halfcourt, with Zack facilitating, setting up Brown to fire the first shot of the game.

The once-mocked "small hands" kid soared above the rim, and Brown—finally living up to his hyped potential—flashed a radiant smile through the clouds of his past.

SLAM!

"Remember this one!"

After the dunk, Brown strutted toward the Celtics players, boasting, "You almost stopped the great Kwame Brown!"

The Celtics were visibly irritated by Brown’s cocky antics.

Especially their coach, Gentry, who noticed Mike Malone pacing the sidelines with his hands in his pockets.

"How do they manage to be this obnoxious?" Gentry thought to himself. "They’ve got zero class as winners!"

What’s winner’s class, anyway?

On the court, when Zack slid into perfect defensive position and swatted Horford’s turnaround floater out of bounds, Brown—more hyped than Zack—rushed over. "I knew you’d block that guy! He had the nerve to challenge our paint without even looking!"

Zack grinned. "It’s all you, man. You know I’m just here to back you up."

Everyone knows winner’s class is defined by the winners themselves.

And with Zack, the ultimate winner, hyping him up, Brown wasn’t about to act like some humble gentleman and shy away from flexing.

The Celtics inbounded the ball.

With the shot clock ticking down, Pierce passed to Carter, prompting Wallace to question him. "Truth, you shouldn’t be passing to teammates in moments like this."

"Shut up!" Pierce snapped. "Don’t freaking question how I play!"

CLANK!

On the wing, Carter’s shot under Bell’s tight defense rimmed out.

Brown fought for position, helping Zack secure the defensive rebound.

Zack charged up the court and, before the Celtics could set their defense, spun and delivered a no-look pass to Nash on the fast break.

SWISH!

On TNT, pointing at the shot clock that showed just five seconds had passed, Barkley marveled, "Against the Warriors’ fast-break whirlwind, every opponent can only feel helpless."

From the sidelines, watching the Warriors’ supporting cast clearly outshine their Game 1-4 performances, Gentry’s gut sank.

Because a red-hot Zack alone was already unstoppable for the Celtics.

When the entire Warriors roster was clicking, the Celtics didn’t even need to wrestle with the question that had plagued them for four games: Should we double-team Zack?

On offense, the Celtics’ "Jet" Pierce finally got one back, draining a morale-boosting three over Wallace.

"See that? That’s why I make double your salary!" Pierce pounded his chest at Wallace.

Wallace just nodded. "You’re right."

But on the next play, guided by Zack, Wallace—who isn’t known for his three-point shooting—got the green light to launch.

SLAM!

"Clear skies, clear skies!" Wallace landed from the dunk, mimicking a phone call celebration. "Mission accomplished, air strike complete!"

Pierce’s trash talk couldn’t faze Wallace, a quirky guy with his own mental universe.

You might think Wallace was celebrating that dunk for the Warriors.

In reality, he was role-playing a U.S. Raptor fighter pilot from his imagination.

Over the course of their seamless teamwork this season, Zack had learned that Wallace’s mind was far more vivid than your average player’s.

Wallace often daydreamed about being a secret agent, fighting in an intense war, or saving the world as a superhero.

So, how was Pierce supposed to get under the skin of a guy with such a colorful inner world?

Plus, Pierce’s famous line—"Nobody trash-talks me, or I’ll swing"—held no weight against this Warriors squad.

Let’s be real: Pierce, all talk, wouldn’t stand a chance against this team of tough-as-nails Warriors.

Heck, before Pierce could even throw a punch, Dunleavy Sr., chilling on the Warriors’ bench, would probably take him out with a folding chair.

Celtics’ ball. Dooling crossed halfcourt, passed to Carter, who lobbed it to Duncan, posted up in the paint.

Duncan’s side-hook banked in.

Tossing out a quick "Lucky shot" jab, Zack fired the baseline inbound to Nash.

As Nash crossed halfcourt, Bell, reading him like a book, sprinted to the corner.

Nash’s pass was on point, arriving the second Bell got there.

SWISH!

At the scorer’s table, on a night when the Warriors didn’t even need Zack to dominate to spark an offensive surge, Gentry’s eyes lost the spark from the past few games as he called a timeout.

"The Warriors are building their victory tonight!"

On TNT, Barkley declared, "If the Celtics can’t match this offensive firepower, we might as well congratulate the Warriors for winning another world championship under Messiah’s leadership."

At TD Garden, halfway through the first quarter, the Celtics had scored 14 points.

Fourteen points in half a quarter was honestly their usual offensive output.

But the Warriors? They were playing out of their minds tonight.

On the left wing, when Murphy, subbing for Brown, pulled the trigger, the ultra-confident forward didn’t even look back at his three-pointer before starting his celebration.

SWISH!

In basketball, confidence is contagious.

On the next play, seeing Zack’s expectant glance, Curry—who’d planned to safely pass back to Zack—gritted his teeth and launched a shot from two meters beyond the arc.

From the bench, Nash, just subbed out for Curry, raised his hands for Curry’s ultra-long three.

"Stephen, what are you doing? This is the Finals!"

On TNT, Barkley, who’d been questioning Curry’s shot choice a second earlier, watched the ball swish through the net.

"That’s the Golden State Warriors! Once they get rolling, no team can stop them," Barkley’s co-host Smith said.

"You wanted me to shoot, right?" Curry asked Zack as they jogged back on defense. "I was gonna pass it back to you."

Patting Curry’s shoulder, Zack said, "Exactly what I was thinking!"

Zack realized he’d need to pop a heart pill before games with Curry.

Because did Curry even know that Zack’s expectant look last play was because he was wide open for an easy attack?

End of the first quarter: 41-28.

The Warriors, dropping 41 points in a single quarter on the road, had all but crushed the spirits of the home crowd.

This was the least Zack had sweated in any quarter of the series.

"I’m not sitting this one out," Zack, who’d posted a modest 4 points, 6 rebounds, 7 assists, and 1 block in the first, told Malone during the break. "Once we blow it open, I’ll have plenty of time to rest."

So, in the second quarter, Zack stayed on the floor.

Gentry, hoping to claw back some points, felt the despair spreading through the arena like wildfire.

Under Zack’s orchestration, Jack, Dunleavy Jr., Old Hill, and Barnes all got buckets.

By now, every Warrior who’d played had scored, and their eyes turned to McRoberts, the only one on the active roster yet to see the court.

"You guys staring at me like that is stressing me out," McRoberts said with a wry smile as he prepared to check in late in the second. "I’m scared I’ll be the only one not scoring tonight."

Luckily, his worries were unfounded.

The moment he stepped on the court, Zack drew a double-team and zipped a perfect pass his way.

With no one within two meters of the rim—heck, he could’ve sipped some water first—McRoberts didn’t let his team down.

BOOM, SWISH!

From the Warriors’ bench, as McRoberts scored, every player erupted into hugs.

"We’re the champs!" Brown yelled from the sidelines.

"MVP, MVP!" Curry joined in, hyping him up.

At halftime, with every player having scored, the Warriors led 74-48 on the road.

Theoretically, the Celtics still had a shot to come back.

But as the third quarter kicked off, every Celtics fan knew they were staring down a third straight year as runners-up.

Eight minutes into the third, Zack lost interest in padding his stats.

After asking Malone to sub him out, he quickly grabbed a bucket of ice-cold Gatorade and dumped it over Malone’s head.

"That’s what you deserve, Mike," Zack said.

"You’re damn right it is!"

Drenched to the bone, Malone ripped off his shirt. "Come on, you punks, I know you’ve been waiting for this!"

The Warriors, each armed with their own bucket of ice water, swarmed him.

In the fourth quarter’s garbage time, with the final score locked in at 131-91, Barkley’s booming voice rang out across North America on TNT: "Let’s congratulate the Golden State Warriors! After two years, they’re world champions again!"