The NBA's Absolute Dominance

Chapter 204 The Champion

The timeout ends, and the Rockets launch their attack.

Kenny Smith returned to the field, dribbled the ball to the top of the arc, and before Kendall Gill could get close, he passed the ball to Drexler on the right wing.

Drexler received the ball and immediately faked a shot before driving to the three-point line and then stopping abruptly for a jump shot.

He was in excellent form today, and he made quite a few shots with that skill.

Avery Johnson wasn't completely faked out and jumped to block Drexler's shot from his right side, but he wasn't high enough and missed by a significant margin.

But at that moment, Kevin Willis came up to double-team Drexler in the low post, blocking his shot.

"Another pincer attack!" Xu Jicheng shouted excitedly.

"Bang!"

The shot missed by a little bit, and Tang Bei grabbed the rebound in the backcourt, allowing the Heat to attack.

"Get back to defense quickly!"

Tomjanovich shouted from the sidelines.

The Heat's fast break failed, and they switched to a half-court offense. Tang Bei entered the paint and drove straight to the basket.

At a crucial moment, Hakeem Olajuwon defended Tang Bei with all his might, preventing him from getting close to the basket.

But Tang Bei didn't want to waste his energy on him. With a sudden Tai Chi turn, he bypassed him and entered the basket.

Avery Johnson and Tang Bei have played together for two seasons and are very familiar with each other. When he saw Tang Bei turn around, he was ready to pass the ball.

The next moment, the basketball flew through the air, the Rockets tightened their defense, but Tang Bei under the basket leaped high, a head taller than a human.

"boom!"

He caught the ball with both hands and slammed it into the basket.

"WOW!"

The Heat erupted in cheers.

"88-89, the Heat are only one point behind, their chance to turn the game around has arrived!" Sun Zhenping exclaimed excitedly.

"After the head coach quit, the Heat went on a 6-0 run, that's fantastic!" Han Qiaosheng exclaimed excitedly.

Xu Jicheng laughed and said, "The Rockets don't seem to have adapted to the Heat's double-team tactics yet, which is understandable, since the Heat have never used double-teams, not even switching on defense."

"brush!"

This time, Kenny Smith dribbled to the top of the arc and launched a surprise three-pointer.

88:92, Heat on offense.

"Bang!"

Glen Rice ran to a slightly open spot beyond the three-point line on the left wing, received a pass from Tang Bei, and attempted a three-pointer, but missed, resulting in a +1.

Fortunately, Kevin Willis grabbed the offensive rebound and, after being double-teamed by Hakeem Olajuwon under the basket, passed the ball to Tang Bei.

"boom!"

"Di!"

Tang Bei slammed a two-handed dunk, knocking Robert Horry down and simultaneously dunking over Hakeem Olajuwon, drawing a foul from Olajuwon.

Tang Bei then showed no mercy at the crucial moment, making the free throw and scoring his 55th point.

91-92, Rockets on offense.

Before Kenny Smith even got close to the top of the key, he was met with fierce pressure from Kendall Gill, at which point Avery Johnson decisively double-teamed him.

In the low position, Tang Bei saw that Avery Johnson's double-team was complete, and without paying attention to Olajuwon, he immediately ran upwards.

"here."

As Tang Bei crossed the free-throw line, Kendall Gill made the steal, shouted, and immediately accelerated towards the frontcourt.

Kendall Gill passed the ball to Tang Bei, who took two big strides across the center line. There were no defenders in front of him, with Hakeem Olajuwon and Kenny Smith trailing behind him by two meters.

"Oh oh oh……"

"Shh!"

The Heat's entire team stood up and cheered, which also provoked a lot of boos from the home fans.

"boom!"

The next moment, Tang Bei smashed the Rockets' basket with a tomahawk dunk.

Xu Jicheng shouted excitedly, "93:92, the Heat have taken a one-point lead. The Heat went on an eleven-three run in the final quarter, with Tang Bei scoring nine of those points."

"Di!"

The Rockets were on offense and called their second timeout of the fourth quarter after inbounding the ball.

Bill Russell said, "The Rockets' morale has been hit hard, going from a 7-point lead to a 1-point deficit."

Bill Walton said, "If the Rockets can't quickly come back, their morale will collapse."

Barkley said, "Hakeem is still not good enough. Like me, I swept Michael to win the championship. Now Hakeem is going to be swept. Sigh!"

"Hakeem, your contract expires next year. Come and latch onto my coattails, and I'll teach you how to win a championship."

"Ha ha……"

Upon hearing Barkley's words, the Bill brothers burst out laughing simultaneously.

After returning to the bench, Tang Bei discussed the next defensive tactics with the two coaches and teammates, including Avery Johnson.

“We keep double-teaming the ball handler, so they should increase their passing and break our double-team,” Avery Johnson said.

Dell Curry said, "Then let's switch back to man-to-man defense, no switching, no double-teaming?"

Tang Bei glanced at the two assistant coaches; neither of them were good at defense, so they couldn't be relied on. He thought for a moment, then nodded and said:

"We can also try switching back to our original tactics, which will be another surprise."

On the Rockets' bench, Tomjanovich indeed devised a strategy to strengthen passing, using passing to break the Heat's double-team tactics.

After the timeout, the Rockets went on offense, but found that the Heat had switched back to man-to-man defense and were no longer double-teaming. As a result, the offensive strategy they had just devised to strengthen passing was no longer effective.

Under the Heat's man-to-man defense strategy of not double-teaming or switching, the Rockets also got two opportunities through movement and pick-and-roll.

These were Drexler's open shot and Mario Elie's mismatch opportunity against Avery Johnson.

Kenny Smith quickly passed the ball to Drexler.

Drexler received the ball in the right elbow area, turned and jumped to shoot, but a figure rushed out from the penalty area, blocking the air like a mountain.

Kendall Gill, who had been shaken off by Drexler, saw Tang Bei coming to help defend and immediately abandoned his defense, turning around and running towards the Heat's frontcourt.

"Snapped!"

The next moment, Tang Bei slapped the ball towards Kendall Gill's front.

"Another cap! Tangbei caps the Drexler glider!" Xu Jicheng shouted excitedly.

Sun Zhenping excitedly shouted, "Kendall Gill, hurry up! You've got the ball! The Rockets' defense is too slow to get back on defense! Layup...it's in!" 95-92, the Heat are now leading by 3 points.

Han Qiaosheng said happily, "Tang Bei's defensive rotation just now was very bold. He completely abandoned Olajuwon in the low post and went all out."

Xu Jicheng laughed and said, "He seized the perfect opportunity, blocking the shot while also cutting off the passing lane between Drexler and Olajuwon."

Next, Hakeem Olajuwon missed a shot after being blocked by Donald Trump, Kevin Willis grabbed the defensive rebound, and the Heat went on offense.

"The Heat are already 6-for-7 in the fourth quarter. Let's see how they play this game," Bill Russell said.

"The Rockets went 1-for-4, with two shots blocked, both by Tang Bei, and two turnovers," Bill Walton said.

Tang Bei ran to the frontcourt, overtook Avery Johnson who had the ball, and saw Glen Rice being entangled by Mario Elie at the left arc, so he stopped to set a screen.

"Whoosh!"

Seeing this, Avery Johnson waved his left hand and passed the ball to Glen Rice, who had a small open space.

Glen Rice received the ball behind Tang Bei, dribbled two steps to the top of the arc, created distance from Mario Elie, and then launched a three-point jump shot.

"brush!"

The next moment, the basketball pierced the hoop, splashing water everywhere.

"Three points? Great!" Sun Zhenping exclaimed excitedly.

The Rockets trailed by 6 points, 98-92.

Bill Russell sighed and said, "The home team's morale has further declined, and the players on the field are somewhat unresponsive."

Bill Walton said, "That's right, the morale has collapsed. The Rockets fans aren't booing as enthusiastically, while the visiting fans are cheering even louder." Barkley said, "The Rockets' morale wasn't high to begin with. They lost the Finals last year, and this year they were completely outplayed by the Heat in the first three games. Today, they only managed to boost their morale with a hot hand, but their lead wasn't much. So now that they've been overtaken, their morale has started to crumble."

Bill Walton said, "When morale collapses, the shooting touch is bound to suffer."

"brush!"

Robert Horry stopped the bleeding for the Rockets with a mid-range jumper.

98:84, Heat on offense.

Kendall Gill dribbled down the right wing, drove into the paint, forced Olajuwon back to defend the basket, and then passed the ball to Tang Bei, who was cutting to the basket.

"boom!"

Tang Bei received the ball behind Olajuwon and immediately slammed it in with a powerful dunk, knocking Olajuwon down with the force of the impact.

"Oh my, Tang Bei has suddenly come up with something big. Can Olajuwon still get up?" Xu Jicheng asked in surprise.

Hakeem Olajuwon was knocked to the ground, landing face-first without warning, and slid forward a few meters. When he finally stopped, his face was covered in blood, which was mostly wiped away by his jersey.

"why?"

He got up in despair, looking blankly at his teammates. Several teammates were also looking at him with confused eyes, and morale officially collapsed.

“He’s bleeding from the nose, but he should still be able to fight,” Bill Russell said.

"He probably has a fracture. Even if he can still play, it will take him a few minutes to recover. The Heat will take the opportunity to widen the score gap, and the Rockets will have no chance," Bill Walton said.

With Hakeem Olajuwon off the court for treatment, the Heat completely took control of the game.

"WOW!"

Shortly after, when the final whistle blew, the Heat erupted in cheers and rushed onto the court, while the Rockets left the court dejectedly.

Tang Bei took the initiative to shake hands with Hakeem Olajuwon and said, "Hakeem, your prime has passed, but I haven't even entered my prime yet. What are you going to do next?"

Hakeem Olajuwon has a broken nose and is wearing a transparent mask with cotton balls stuffed in his nose.

Upon hearing Tang Bei's words, he was so angry that he spat out two cotton balls, and said irritably, "You haven't reached your peak yet?"

"I'm only 22 years old. My physical fitness and skills are definitely not at their peak yet. I'll be even stronger in the next few years," Tang Bei said with a smile.

"Shet!"

Hakeem Olajuwon turned and left in frustration.

"Ha ha!"

Tang Bei felt that he had fallen in love with the act of killing people and destroying their spirits.

At that moment, the music of "I am the champion" rang out in the Peak Stadium, dozens of large balloons burst in the roof, and endless confetti rained down.

"Congratulations to Tang Bei, congratulations to the Heat, for winning the championship with a four-round sweep!" Xu Jicheng shouted excitedly.

"Congratulations to Tang Bei, congratulations to the Heat, for defending your championship title!" Sun Zhenping cheered.

"Congratulations to Tang Bei for scoring 66 points in a single game of the Finals, breaking the NBA playoff and Finals single-game scoring record," Han Qiaosheng said with a smile.

Bill Russell said, "Unfortunately, the Rockets led for three quarters, but were overturned in the final quarter when the Heat lost their head coach."

Bill Walton said, "Kevin Longley will most likely leave the Heat. The Heat need a new head coach and will develop new offensive and defensive tactics for the new season. There may be an adjustment period."

Barkley said with a grin, "Not only the head coach, but also Kendall Gill and Kevin Willis, two of the Heat's five key players, have had their contracts expire."

Their value increased after winning the championship, and the Heat couldn't sign them. Like last season, half of their championship roster will leave.

Bill Walton said, "But the core lineup of Tang Bei, Avery Johnson, and Glen Rice will not change."

Bill Russell said, "The core roster remains unchanged, so there shouldn't be any major problems this year. However, Tang Bei and Avery Johnson both only have one year left on their contracts, and the Heat's roster will face dismantling next summer."

Bill Walton said, "The Heat should extend Tang Bei's contract this offseason. Whether they can reach an agreement on the contract is the key to whether the Heat will break up next summer."

At the scene, Tang Bei, who was celebrating, was approached by a group of reporters.

"Do you consider yourself the best active player right now?" a New York Times reporter asked.

"You guys decide," he replied indifferently.

"Tang Bei, why did Coach Kevin Longley quit after the third quarter?" a Xinhua News Agency reporter asked.

"He did not accept the management's decision to change tactics."

Do you think he should accept it?

An ESPN reporter followed up on this topic and asked.

"From a tactical perspective and considering the result of the final quarter, I believe it is necessary."

The reporter pressed further, "Tang, do you think it was right for the management to rudely interfere with the head coach's authority during the game?"

Tang Bei said, "You should ask the management about this."

"Were you involved in the conflict between the management and the head coach?" another reporter asked.

Tang Bei said, "I wasn't involved in the conflict, but I had some connections."

"Could you elaborate?" a reporter asked.

Tang Bei said, "During halftime, I suggested changing our defensive tactics in the second half, but the head coach refused, so we didn't change our tactics in the third quarter."

"Alright, gentlemen, it's time to celebrate. I have to go celebrate." With that, he ended the interview.

"Oh, Kevin Longley has appeared."

Two minutes later, head coach Kevin Longley suddenly returned to the field, and a group of reporters swarmed around him like piranhas smelling blood.

The Heat's management immediately realized they were in trouble; was Longley up to something?

"Coach Lengley, why did you leave before the start of the fourth quarter?" a reporter asked.

"Management suddenly suspended me from my position, so I had no choice but to leave," Kevin Langley said, still seething with anger.

"Is it because you don't intend to change your defensive tactics?"

"What tactics to use is the coach's prerogative, and the management has no right to interfere. They have overstepped their bounds."

"But after changing their defensive tactics in the final quarter, the Heat won. Do you think continuing with your tactics in the final quarter was the right thing to do?"

"That's another matter. Besides, if we continued with the original tactics, we might not have lost. After all, we won last year's championship and the first three games of the series thanks to my defensive tactics."

What do you want to say now?

"The Heat's management's behavior is unacceptable, and they should apologize to me."

Will you stay with the Heat to continue coaching?

"NO, I led the team to two championships and made history for the Heat, but I was publicly humiliated by the management. I will not stay with the Heat."

After interviewing Kevin Longley, a group of reporters then approached Mickey Arison, Billy Cunningham, and others for interviews.

Kevin Longley's disruptive actions interfered with the Heat's celebration, leaving the Heat's management in a very awkward position.

Lewis Shaffer said in an interview, "We did have some unpleasantness with Coach Lengley over tactical issues in the fourth quarter."

Is it related to the Tang Dynasty?

"During halftime, Tang suggested changing the defensive tactics for the second half in the locker room, but Lengley refused. This matter didn't have much to do with him."

"At that time, the management decided to continue with Coach Lengley's tactics in the third quarter, and if they continued to fall behind, they should change their defensive tactics in the final quarter."

"Unfortunately, Coach Longley was too stubborn. We continued to trail in the third quarter and still refused to change our defensive tactics. In order to win the championship, we had no choice but to suspend him from his post."

Will you apologize to him?

“I will discuss the relevant issues with him privately. Now it’s our time to celebrate. Sorry.”

With the championship trophy about to be awarded, Lewis Shaffer wanted to settle things quickly and opted for a tactical concession.

After a while of commotion, the reporters dispersed when it was time to present the trophies.

Then, Tang Bei lifted his second championship trophy, and subsequently won his second FMVP trophy by unanimous vote.

"Crack, click, click..."

The media's flashbulbs went off one after another, and the sound of camera shutters filled the air.

David Stern smiled and said a few words to Tang Bei, his feelings quite complicated.

Tang Bei's sudden emergence has completely changed the landscape of the NBA, and may even change the landscape of the NBA for the next ten years, something he did not expect.

Unfortunately, Tang Bei is not American, and it is said that he has not even applied for a green card, let alone immigrated.

If Tang Bei were American, he would definitely make him the next face of the NBA.

(End of this chapter)