The No.1 Anti-Fans in Basketball-Chapter 98 - 87: The True Honeymoon (Two-in-One)_3

Kobe still maintained his enthusiasm because, like O’Neal, he wanted more championships than his rivals.

But what others wanted was higher status, more shots, and bigger contracts.

And those things could not be obtained on a Lakers team whose roster was essentially set.

After finishing the game and taking a shower, Hansen and Conningham brought some gifts and went to visit O’Neal at his home.

O’Neal had surgery on his finger. Apart from not being able to play basketball, it didn’t significantly impact his daily life.

When he saw Hansen, he looked almost no different than usual and even stood up laughing to embrace Hansen.

"I watched the game, you really kicked Kobe’s butt, that guy still doesn’t understand that there’s no ’I’ in ’team.’"

He still loved to diss Kobe.

"But there’s ’me’ in it, right?" Hansen said, laughing.

O’Neal was stunned for a moment, then burst out laughing.

"How did the doctor put it?" Hansen asked, concerned about O’Neal’s injury.

You wouldn’t know from today’s game since the Lakers’ big three front line didn’t perform at all.

But they wouldn’t always be like this, the finals awaiting in Hansen’s memory of that year marked the milestone where Gasol shook off the "soft" label.

That’s when O’Neal’s presence was necessary.

And this was assuming the Cavaliers made it to the finals; if they were to face the Magic, it would be a completely different scenario whether O’Neal was there or not.

"Probably not until May."

"That’s actually good news."

May, meaning roughly the second round of the playoffs.

According to the current rankings in the East, the Magic Team was chasing the Cavaliers closely, and the two teams would meet in the Eastern Conference Finals.

So O’Neal even had a round of series to get back into feeling.

However, Hansen suddenly remembered something. Had the Cavaliers not made it to the Eastern Conference Finals that year?

In his memory, James’s version 1.0 Cavaliers had faced the Magic in the playoffs before.

Not the Magic, then they must have lost to the Celtics in the semifinals.

So that good news might need to be tempered.

"Don’t worry, even if I’m not fully recovered by then, I can still play with one hand." O’Neal said, flaunting the muscles of his left hand.

That made Hansen laugh. Was O’Neal trying to transform into Emperor Oden? But this wasn’t the NCAA.

However, from the conversation, you could feel O’Neal’s fighting spirit—the contest between him and Kobe this year was to see who would reach 5 first.

If the Cavaliers really faced the Lakers in the finals and O’Neal made a strong comeback, he wouldn’t be surprised at all.

After chatting for a while, Hansen told O’Neal to take good care of his injury before getting ready to leave.

"You didn’t need to bring these gifts." It was only then that O’Neal noticed that Hansen and the others had left stuff at the door.

His career earnings approached three hundred million, and even after taxes, he still had over a hundred million, not to mention his investments and endorsements.

Although not as much as Jordan, he was already among the highest earners in NBA history; why else would he casually give Hansen a car worth four hundred thousand?

Or in other words, no matter how valuable the gifts Hansen brought, they would end up accumulating dust in the basement.

"It’s an East University habit; just consider it as ordering takeout since you can’t go out due to your injury," Hansen said with a smile.

O’Neal was amused by Hansen’s humor and laughed heartily.

It must be said that beyond just mutual benefits, personality played a role in how well they got along initially.

After returning from O’Neal’s house, Hansen didn’t directly go home but instead went back to the stadium and got in touch with the team doctor.

After playing against the Lakers, he felt some soreness in his knee. frёewebnoѵel.ƈo๓

The diagnosis from the team doctor was the same as last time, but his tone was more serious and even concerned.

Because Hansen had not only returned to his previous training intensity, but whether in training or on the court, he was making more aggressive moves.

With the season entering its latter stages, Hansen’s physical endurance was also reaching its limit.

He worried that if Hansen continued playing this way, he might end up getting injured due to fatigue.

Hansen’s previous experiences had made him fully trust the team doctor, so he was willing to listen to his advice again.

However, the doctor’s advice this time posed a challenge.

Apart from reducing his training volume, the doctor also asked him to cut back on aggressive moves during games, especially the "Mysterious Steps" kind of explosive moves, which were too taxing on his knee.

He could reduce his training, but to actually do that in a game would be like trashing his own skills.

He already had few offensive options, and reducing his breakthroughs would mean reverting to a 3D player, rendering all his previous efforts useless.

And how could he explain to Brown? Tell him that he was afraid of getting injured, so should all the tactics arranged for him be canceled?

That was simply unrealistic!

At this moment, he thought of Grover.

It wasn’t that he regretted not heeding Grover’s advice initially; rather, he found himself in a similar situation as before.

Had he listened to Grover then, he wouldn’t have been able to make his mark with the Cavaliers so quickly, and he wouldn’t have been able to achieve his current status on the team.

It seemed like a choice, but really, there was none.

Still, he chose to follow part of the team doctor’s advice—reducing his training volume, even though he was currently breaking through a bottleneck known as the "Giant Slayer."

But going slower was better than getting injured and not being able to play at all.

...

Time flew and half a month had passed; now, only about ten days were left until the end of the season.

During a game against the Bulls, in a full-force breakthrough, he collided with Noah and twisted his ankle, leaving the court.

Reality is not like novels; Hansen wasn’t a protagonist with an immunity to injuries.

In fact, as an Asian with a higher rate of injuries, being able to continue up to this stage without injuries was the result of his careful planning and sufficiently listening to the team doctor.

But playing with the risk of injuries meant there was a possibility he could get injured.

The post-game examination showed that Hansen was quite fortunate not to have fractures or ligament ruptures, meaning he only needed to rest for 2–3 weeks for a comeback.

And with this injury, his previously unrested knee automatically got some rest.

So, in a way, this could also be considered good news.

But the bad news was, getting injured at this point not only meant he would miss the last week of the Cavaliers’ games but also the first round of the playoffs.

Yes, he was now keeping O’Neal company.