Su Wan was decidedly unhappy after losing the ga.
But it wasn’t because of the referee’s decisions.
Possibly because he was a transcender, the disparity in free throws of 23 to 10 didn’t seem outrageous to him; he’d seen greater disparities in free throws before.
Those who understand, understand!
And he didn’t think that the free throw count was the main reason the Pacers didn’t win the ga tonight.
Given the Pacers’ ability to restrict the Lakers, they could have taken the ga even with such a disparity in free throws.
He had also seen similar gas where the team that was stylistically restrained managed to "sweep" or achieve a "gentleman’s sweep" through a strategy of "turning up the heat at the end."
Moreover, Su Wan’s fifth season in the league was almost over.
He had also experienced tis when the Pacers overwheld their opponents in the number of free throws.
He hadn’t said anything then, and there was no need to get upset now.
You can’t always expect to just reap the benefits without any losses, right?
His annoyance stemd from the fact that they hadn’t taken the ga on the Pacers’ ho court.
Of course, he was well aware that Shaquille O’Neal must be very happy...
However, he didn’t care about the free throw count, but as they say, the squeaky wheel gets the grease; it was still important to speak up when you were at a disadvantage.
So when the post-ga dia asked him about the 23 to 10 free throw disparity, he said, "I’ve always believed that if the referee blows the whistle, it’s a foul; if he doesn’t, then it’s a good play. The free throw count of 23 to 10 proves that the Lakers were better at drawing fouls tonight, but I believe we can’t always be this bad, and the Lakers can’t always be this good!"
Rick Carlisle, on the other hand, was more aggressive. After the ga, he fiercely criticized the referees: "23 to 10? Did the Lakers have to win today? If that’s the case, just let us know, and we might as well not play at all today. Let them have the win; tonight was just too unfair."
Without a doubt, Carlisle would be facing a fine of 50,000 US dollars for his comnts.
Carlisle was well aware of this.
But know it as he might, he did it anyway.
The fourth NBA coach in history to lead a team to a "three-peat" is just like that!
You’ve got to express your temper!
Just as Su Wan had anticipated, Shaquille O’Neal was elated; as he got off the team bus and headed to the airport, he couldn’t help but hum a tune. Mid-hum, he felt a chill on his back and glanced to the side, suddenly catching Su Wan’s inexplicable stare.
His fake smile with anger not truly hiding behind it felt very familiar to the "Shark."
"Su, listen to , I’m not happy about the loss..."
His tone carried a hint of timidity.
Ever since he accepted in his heart that Su Wan could be cranky with him, he had been losing his temper less and less in front of Su Wan.
Su Wan cut him off coldly, "I don’t care how you feel, but I definitely don’t want to play a Ga 7 in the finals. After the next ga, I want to see the O’Brien Cup!"
Shaquille O’Neal imdiately saluted Su Wan: "Yes sir!"
He had clearly been watching too many Hong Kong cop movies.
The next morning, as Rick Carlisle received the League’s fine, Nike urgently produced a promotional video for the finals titled "The Highest Mountain" VS "The Longest River," which was officially released.
Since Bill Walton had co up with this concept only a week ago, Nike’s production was very rough, simply splicing together so representative scoring monts from Su Wan and Kobe’s careers, ending with Su Wan and Kobe facing off, ball in hand, with "The Highest Mountain" VS "The Longest River" popping up in the center of the screen.
Neither Su Wan nor Kobe knew about this promotional video, and Nike’s representatives hadn’t asked them to film it.
Nike knew all too well that Su Wan and Kobe would not be distracted by other matters during the finals.
But despite its rough production, when combined with passionate music and an already scorching hot temperature, it was like pouring a small can of gasoline onto an already fierce fla, making the blaze leap even higher.
Before Ga 6 of the finals even started, the number of live viewers had reached 33 million!
This number had already matched the peak of last year’s and the year’s before finals.
It stands to reason that if this ga is intense, the viewership will definitely set a new record.
David Stern had stopped considering artificial interference.
Frankly speaking, the only way he could interfere was by directing the referees’ whistles.
But the referees’ whistles control the score, not the intensity of the ga.
He was fully aware that if the whistle blew too often, it would backfire, making the ga fragnted and dull.
That would be a case of attempting to gain an advantage only to end up worse off.
Therefore, what he did was...
To relax the standards for fouls and leave the ga in the hands of the players on both teams.
He believed in Su Wan, believed in Kobe, believed in Shaquille, believed in Yao Ming, and also in Zach Randolph, Paul Gasol...
With a group of high-quality superstars like this facing off in the Lakers’ "do-or-die" battle, who needs the referees to be overly involved?
Just watching them play was enough!
"Toot!"
David Stern, who was in the arena tonight, heard the sharp whistle and gathered his thoughts, turning his gaze towards the court.
Shaquille O’Neal won the jump ball, prompting a huge wave of boos from the crowd.
After Billups advanced to the frontcourt, he called for a pick-and-roll with Shaquille O’Neal.
This made the Lakers fans on the side secretly sweat.
Normally, the Pacers would give the ball to Su Wan at the start to help open the ga.
Now they had changed their strategy, especially in such a crucial ga; the biggest reason they could think of for this change was:
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