The No.1 Anti-Fans in Basketball-Chapter 122 - 97: Water and Fire Do Not Mix_2

So it’s not about who is stronger, it’s about who has more weaknesses.

However, once the game started, Hansen found that both teams were playing extremely anxiously.

The problems were indeed visible on the court, but Magic Team’s outside shooting was too fierce.

Carter seemed to be on fire once he entered the finals, continuously pulling off perimeter shots.

Interestingly, this was the first time Carter had made it to the finals in his career.

At the last moment, trailing by 3 points, it was still Carter, taking advantage of Howard’s screen to nail a three-pointer and forcefully dragged the game into overtime.

"How come this is nothing like what I imagined?" Rondo was a bit stunned.

"Didn’t you watch last year’s finals?" Hansen had thought Lakers were much stronger than Magic and hadn’t watched that year’s finals.

Rondo shook his head; he had been busy chasing girls at that time.

Hansen silently took out his phone and began to search for news related to last year’s finals.

Unaware until he looked, he then realized that one really shouldn’t just consume the news.

The game between Lakers and Magic was nothing like he had imagined.

In 5 games, only the first game was a no-brainer where Lakers won 100 to 75 against Magic Team.

It made sense since none of Magic’s players had been in the finals before; they couldn’t possibly all be time-travelers like himself and were bound to be shell-shocked at the start.

But from the second game onwards, everything changed.

In the second game, Lakers won over Magic 101 to 96 in overtime; Courtney Lee had the chance for a game-winner in the regular time, but Gasol’s hand extended under the basket interfered with his alley-oop, which the referee didn’t call as goaltending, a decision that was controversial at the time.

No wonder Magic wanted to replace him with Carter; with Carter, it would have been a direct alley-oop dunk to finish, leaving no room for controversy.

Then Magic returned to home court, breaking the finals’ shooting records and defeated Lakers 108 to 104.

It’s fair to say, had that interference been called, it wouldn’t be 1 to 2, but 2 to 1 for Magic.

Then in G4, both teams went into overtime again; with Lakers trailing by 3 points in the final moments, Fisher sunk a clutch three-pointer, dragging the game into overtime where Lakers eventually won, taking a 3 to 1 lead in the series.

In the last game, Magic players had lost heart, getting swept away 86 to 99 by the gentlemen.

There has never been a 1 to 3 comeback in NBA finals history, and the G2 decision also made them realize the league wasn’t on their side.

So, back then, they knew the outcome was fixed and probably wanted it to end sooner to head home early.

Thus, this wasn’t an easy victory at all; it was won incredibly precariously!

Had Lee’s shot been called as interference or Fisher’s three-pointer not made, Lakers might have lost in the end.

But when was that? It was the season of Kobe’s return as a king!

After the Stern’s much-anticipated 23 vs. 24 saga failed to materialize, the league needed Kobe’s positive image.

If you promote that Lakers and Magic had a back-and-forth game, that’s not conducive to image building.

Then you see, people like Hansen and Rondo who hadn’t watched the finals just took their word for it.

Hansen already knew media was a useful tool but still underestimated its power.

Suddenly, he thought of something, not even watching the finals, he picked up his phone and walked to a corner to make a call.

You know, Cavaliers had a big 4 to 1 win in the semi-finals against Celtics!

Those who watched the game knew how intense it was, but those who didn’t and if the media portrayed it like Lakers vs. Magic, wouldn’t his achievements be seen as worthless?

He directly called Carrell.

Carrell, having moved to TNT, had been quiet and it was time for him to start making moves.

After talking with Carrell, Hansen felt it wasn’t enough and made another call to the head of UA.

It was also time for his shoe factory to exert some effort.

By the time Hansen finished his calls and returned, the game was already over.

Kobe scored 8 points in overtime, leading Lakers to an overtime victory.

So in the end, it still comes down to the mettle of the superstars.

Carter performed well, but his ability to carry the team fell short compared to Kobe.

After watching the game, Hansen and Rondo started talking about investments.

The primary reason Hansen invited Rondo this time wasn’t to watch the game, but for investment purposes.

The basic idea was for him to make decisions, while Rondo handled execution, so if any legal issues arose, Rondo could deal with them directly.

Of course, this wasn’t the entirety of Rondo’s task; he also had to capitalize on his photography skills to film a documentary for Hansen.

This wasn’t considered a high-level move, it was even something like what LeBron had during his high school years.

Otherwise, where do you think those early images of stars came from?

These moves could simply be understood as: Hansen was also starting to build his own team, and Rondo was the first person to join it.

Rondo hadn’t expected Hansen to trust him so much and was so excited that he immediately declared his intention to transfer to Cleveland.

With no chance of playing in the NBA and his graduation just a year away, transferring schools was indeed necessary.

But Hansen signaled him not to rush, everything still had to wait until his own situation had settled.

The next day, Carrell took the lead in launching an attack on TNT.

"If Hansen were here, the Cavaliers would have won the first game of the finals,"

"Who is the real person capable of helping the Cavaliers win?"

"Hansen gives his all for victory, LeBron goes all out for stats,"

"Does Cleveland need a future that can help the team win, or a King who can never win a championship?"

"Jordan took Nike to the altar, Nike placed LeBron on the throne, that’s the difference between them."

...

This wave of actions, which could be called ’all energies’ had dazzled Hansen and even reminded him of Skip Bayless, the acknowledged "top LeBron hater" who had posted nearly 50,000 tweets with 87% mentioning LeBron or his nicknames.

For a moment, he regretted considering this guy as a partner instead of nurturing him as his leading hater.

Carrell’s remarks naturally provoked a counterattack from James’ team.

But each time, Carrell managed to respond gracefully and even presented equally matched situations.

Sometimes Carrell said one thing, and James’ team had to use ten or more sentences to explain.

It wasn’t that Carrell was so remarkable, but rather his words were a form of art crafted from truth or embellished reality.

Truth is a swift blade.

Just as Carrell was wielding dual blades in a fierce battle against LeBron fans, UA also made a statement on their official website in support of Hansen.

They did it in a unique way because it was just like what Hansen had done initially: presenting facts.

"16th pick, 77th rookie, against the Celtics series, averaging 22.8 points, 3.4 rebounds, 2.6 assists, 46.2% field goal percentage, 37.5% three-point shooting.

G1, 33 points, highest scoring debut playoff game by a rookie since Derrick Ross;

G4, 21 points, a three-point buzzer-beater, staged the ’Father and Son Recognition’ masterpiece;

G5, 35 points, in LeBron’s absence single-handedly defeated the opponent and made a difficult shot to clinch the game, shouting ’This is my house.’

Cleveland’s future is already within the ranks."

UA’s move was not just at Hansen’s request but also because they needed such an opportunity to build an image of defying authority through the confrontation with Nike, thereby enhancing their own brand influence.

Hansen took on LeBron, UA defied Nike, this was moving forward in both directions.

Carrell’s aggressive output and UA’s support, all these off-court factors continuously heightened Hansen’s presence and also pushed Hansen and LeBron increasingly into opposition.

They were now like fire and water.

Time swiftly moved to mid-June.

After six intense games, the Lakers finally defeated the Magic Team 4 to 2, achieving a back-to-back championship.

Just as Hansen had observed in G1, the Magic Team played to their strengths, but the star quality still led them to defeat.

Kobe won the FMVP again, securing his personal fifth NBA championship ring.

At the championship ceremony, Kobe smiled more broadly than ever before.

5＞4, he finally became that number 5.

During this time, however, LeBron seemed to have suddenly evaporated from the face of the earth.

Not only could the Cavaliers’ players not find him, but even the Cavaliers’ staff couldn’t contact him.

However, Hansen sensed something different in the air.

How familiar was this smell?

At that moment, Thomas gave Hansen a call.

Ferry wanted to talk to him.