Champion Rules

Chapter 382, ​​Section 378: Kevin Durant will never understand (Seeking monthly votes!)
When David Stern saw Adam Silver's promise to reduce refereeing errors, he knew that his successor was already helpless against Lynch.

David Stern was a more decisive president; he could keep the Boston Celtics, who had been tanking for years, from getting any decent draft picks, and he could make Arnold Auerbach leave in anger.

If he wanted to target Lynch, he would likely have adopted an even tougher stance and continued to persist.

But he didn't want to do it at all.

Moreover, David Stern is not disappointed with the current outcome.

David Stern actually quite approves of Adam Silver's overall strategy.

The time is not right yet.

You can't force smaller teams to rise to the top in a league with a global superstar like Lynch.

Who the hell wants to see the Utah Jazz beat Michael Jordan with blatantly biased officiating? Nobody wants to.

Adam Silver's "average strategy" can only be implemented when the league lacks a truly dominant superstar.

At that time, the alliance will need to use quantity to make up for the lack of quality.

But it's clear that there's another player in the league whose quality far surpasses everyone else's.

David Stern now prefers Lynch.

His tough, unyielding attitude, his unparalleled individual ability, and his witty insults at his opponents—this league needs a superstar like him.

David Stern would be disappointed if Lynch were to kneel down and cover his head because of the whistle.

As it turns out, his judgment was excellent; Lynch was the most perfect "work" of his entire CEO career.

The day after the game, Adam Silver personally promised to control officiating errors.

The Brooklyn Nets have officially announced the firing of General Manager Billy King.

Mikhail Prokhorov showed no mercy and kept his word.

He knew that with the score already down 0-3 and the team's confidence completely destroyed, beating the Knicks was absolutely impossible.

Billy King failed to fulfill the boss's primary objective of "winning at least one game," so this exceptionally intelligent general manager was immediately fired.

Billy King gained even more popularity from this, and Shaquille O'Neal nicknamed him "The Prophet".

He fulfilled the reverse prophecy that "as long as I am in this league, I may witness Lynch's failure."

He's no longer in this league, so Lynch definitely won't lose.

Thus, the "super battleship" that clamored last summer to overthrow the Lynch dynasty and attempt to grab a share of the New York pie has completely sunk.

For Game 4 of the series, Mikhail Prokhorov made an unprecedented appearance to watch the game live.

He wasn't expecting a miracle, and the Nets didn't give him one.

The Nets, who had completely lost their fighting spirit, lost by 23 points today. Well, their defense was generally adequate.

After the match, the Russian oligarch did not storm off in anger. On the contrary, he went onto the court and embraced Lynch.

Since their first encounter this season, when Lynch wore a crown in front of him, he has not taken the initiative to contact Lynch again.

Although it was somewhat unusual, Lin Qi still embraced her generously.

After the hug, the Russian grabbed Lynch's hand and lifted it high, as if Lynch were a boxing champion.

Facing the reporters' cameras, Mikhail Prokhorov shouted, "Hail the King of New York!"

Nobody knows what happened to him; was he severely traumatized and went insane?

After the celebration, Mikhail Prokhorov hugged Lynch again.

This time, he whispered close to Lynch's ear, making sure the camera couldn't capture his lip movements, in a voice only the two of them could hear:
“I know you only signed a one-year extension with the Knicks because you wanted to test the free agent market. Yes, you have a reason to do that, because at your level, a max contract doesn’t make sense anymore. I understand what you’re looking for, believe me, I understand. Come to Brooklyn, I’d love to talk about equity.”

After saying this, Mikhail Prokhorov smiled, shook hands with Lynch, and then left.

Lynch laughed; Mikhail Prokhorov's thinking was indeed simple and straightforward.

Since the Nets can't make anyone the King of New York, well, they might as well just buy the King of New York.

The equity stake is indeed very attractive. Regardless of the team's performance, the Nets have already gained added value from their relocation to Brooklyn. From now on, the Nets' value will remain high.

In another timeline, the total cost of Tsai's acquisition of the Nets was approximately $35 billion, setting a record for the highest transaction in the league at the time—Prokhorov's total cost for the Nets was only $8.5 million.

In Brooklyn, a place that attracts superstars, Mr. Tsai should have had a bright future.

Little did they know that the team would turn into Arkham Asylum.
In short, the Brooklyn Nets' equity is indeed valuable.

However, James Dolan had previously promised to give Lynch some equity after Lynch retired.

Therefore, Lynch is not thinking about leaving for the time being.

Moreover, his contract extension with the Knicks for only one year was not because he wanted to test the free agent market.

Regardless, seeing the Russian oligarch, whose chin seemed to reach the ceiling when they first met, now personally bowing down in submission, still filled Lynch with a sense of satisfaction.

He has once again achieved a brilliant conquest.

After the Knicks swept the Nets 4-0, the Oklahoma City Thunder were also nearing the end of their Western Conference semifinals run.

At this moment, the Memphis Grizzlies players are celebrating wildly. After a hard-fought battle, they have secured match point and are currently leading 3-1.

Kevin Durant scored 45 points, but his team still lost.

Tonight, he brought his unique style of singles fighting with a stick to its fullest potential.

Tony Allen couldn't stop him, Carmelo Anthony couldn't stop him, and Zach Randolph couldn't stop him either.

But he still lost, unable to preserve his hope of moving forward.

What he couldn't understand was that the Memphis Grizzlies shouldn't have won.

Yes, they shouldn't have won.

Look at this Grizzlies team, they don't have that much talent.

Their roster on paper doesn't look as good as the Thunder's, even after losing Stephen Curry.

Footage of KD being interviewed in the locker room after the game quickly appeared online.

Lynch was in the locker room with his phone, watching the interview with Kyrie Irving.

In the video, KD looks completely confused:

"We shouldn't have lost to Memphis tonight! No way! I mean, I gave it my all, I scored 45 points, and I... I still don't know how we lost to Memphis, damn it!"

After reading it, Lin Qi smiled and said, "Of course this idiot wouldn't understand."

Kevin Durant doesn't see the mutual sacrifice among the Memphis players.

We can't see the data on how they gave up in order to win.

We couldn't see them putting in any effort to defend.

Carmelo Anthony only took 8 shots tonight, just so that the Grizzlies could attack the Thunder's weak interior defense more often.

And what about Kevin Durant?

After the team lost Stephen Curry, he once again refused to play Steve Kerr's passing and cutting, feeling that no one on the team was worth him doing so much off-ball movement, not even James Harden.

So, he had a blast in the singles match tonight, scoring 45 points and stealing the spotlight.

But the result?

It's normal that he doesn't understand why he lost.

Kevin Durant has never been a leader, he isn't now, and he never will be.

He was obsessed with his own talent, and even more obsessed with the theoretical potential of a team. But he forgot that basketball is basketball; you can't play basketball on paper.

This was the key factor that limited his career from going any further.

His bottleneck lies outside of basketball skills.

Kyrie Irving was equally puzzled after watching the video: "So, why did the Thunder lose? I mean, KD's point is valid; the Thunder clearly have more talent. KD, James Harden, Serge Ibaka—even without Stephen, their talent is far superior to Memphis'."

Lynch understood Carey Irving's naive question because he was too young and lacked the unique experience he had during his time in Europe.

Lynch patted Kyrie Irving on the shoulder: "Because the Memphis Grizzlies are a real team, it's that simple."

"Oh, that's a really common answer. So, according to you, our opponent in the finals is Memphis?"

"Do not."

"See, you admit it yourself, teamwork wasn't the key reason for their victory. If they were the best team in the West, who could they have lost to?" Irving laughed, like a student who had caught his teacher making a mistake.

Lynch remained calm in the face of rebuttal: "Of course the team is important, but unfortunately, I never said Memphis was the best team in the West. Trust me, Kyrie, San Antonio will make it to the Finals, and that might be the biggest challenge of your career."

Lynch's gaze was serious; he had long considered the Spurs as his hypothetical opponent in the Finals. So far, the Spurs' performance had indeed been unstoppable.

What level is this Spurs team at? Let's put it this way: in the original timeline, the invincible LeBron James completely dominated Matt Bonner at his peak—what a magnificent achievement that would be.

But because the Spurs are a super team with fifteen superstars, LBJ lost.

That's right, the Spurs' talent on paper isn't that great either.

Watching their matches really gives you the feeling of the Big Fifteen.

Lin Qi didn't intend to delve deeper into the topic; he needed to focus on the present, so he changed the subject:
"But Carey, before that, don't you want to kick Chris Paul's ass first?"

At this point, the Pacers were leading the Miami Heat 3-1.

Lynch's new pet, the tall guy who clapped wildly after Kyrie Irving's injury and took one of the greatest negative steps in basketball history, will most likely be on time for the Eastern Conference Finals.

Kyrie Irving, who had a grudge against Paul during the regular season, was indeed eager to get back at him, instantly forgetting all about "team," "Spurs," and "Grizzlies."

“I’ll make that bastard more disgraced than Billy King,” Irving replied.

Young people may not understand the secret to victory.

But they certainly know how to humiliate their opponents.

Lin Qi put away his phone and smiled:
"We are of the same mind on this."

(End of this chapter)