Where the noise did not reach

Chapter 105 It turns out the biggest villain was myself.
There will be even more tonight, more comments, and more statements.

Because this is an important game that transcends the significance of the regular season.

“It was a tough loss,” Zydrunas Ilgauskas said disappointedly. “We came back incredibly strong in the final moments. Zydrunas Ilgauskas and Delonte made some incredible shots. We almost pulled off a miracle. But in the end, we couldn’t complete the comeback. Memphis played brilliantly and they deserved the win.”

When asked about Xu Ling's finger-wagging gesture at the end and his fake out James, Zydrunas Ilgauskas's expression turned extremely grim. He carefully chose his words: "That's part of the game. Players get emotional on the court and make some... well... we won't encourage those moves after the game. The referees made their calls. As for that play... LeBron is one of the best defenders in the world, and anyone can be fooled by a great fake. That doesn't define who he is."

However, James's number one supporter on the team, Daniel Gibson, was much more direct in his emotions.

Gibson was still visibly emotional in the media room: "We fought to the very last minute! We never gave up! That move? He lacked the most basic respect for the game and for his opponent. This is Cleveland! You can't do that here and expect to get away with it. It's despicable."

When a reporter pressed him on whether this would create a rift between the two teams, Gibson coldly replied, "What do you think? This is no longer basketball."

Meanwhile, other Grizzlies players also had to give their opinions after the team's leaders had made their comments.

Kyle Lowry exclaimed excitedly, "This was a great team win! We held our nerve and executed our plays in the final moments. Eli made a crucial shot, and that's what a great player does!"

New signings like Josh Howard and Trevor Ariza expressed more excitement about integrating into the team and the joy of winning, carefully avoiding direct questions about personal grudges.

Marc Jafaroni gave Xu Ling his full support and hoped to ease the tension at the press conference by making an American-style pizza that would please everyone.

But he also knew that from the moment Xu Ling shook that damn finger at James, there was no way things could end happily for everyone.

The aftershocks of anger still linger on the streets, in bars, and on sports radio in Cleveland.

"shame!"

"A complete and utter disgrace!"

"That Chinaman should be expelled!"

Similar roars echoed throughout every corner of the city.

Cleveland's well-known sports talk show was overwhelmed with calls as fans vented their anger with a variety of heated words, calling on the league to impose further penalties on Xu Ling.

Amidst the hustle and bustle of the world, Xu Ling and Roderick Craig arrived outside the visiting team's locker room.

Craig remained silent because Xu Ling did not speak first.

Tonight, so many unimaginable things happened.

As you know, the final outcome of that tweet was the classic scene known as the "judgment button".

The direct consequence was that the Lakers ultimately traded Kobe, officially ending the post-OK era. The resentful Lakers fans thus became the world's largest group of "Xu Ling haters." As the NBA's second-largest market, Lakers fans are located all over the world. This also means that Xu Ling's haters are also spread across the globe.

But Craig never expected that Xu Ling, once he made a move, would create such a spectacular scene.

The act of shaking off LeBron James and sinking a crucial three-pointer was enough to ignite public outrage. But then he actually wagged his finger at James, who was lying on the ground.
Craig couldn't even imagine the repercussions of this incident. At least in the NBA, it had been a long time since such a public and undisguised moment of hostility had occurred.

Just then, Xu Ling pushed open the locker room door. Instantly, all eyes turned to him—there was no doubt, only pure admiration.

Xu Ling went inside and remained silent.

Finally, Darko Milicic broke the silence. With a solemn expression, he slowly said, "From now on, I will not only pray for you, but also for your opponents."

Xu Ling could barely suppress a smile. Should he say thank you?

Meanwhile, another humorous big guy, Radmanovic, joked from the side, "Damn, is it possible that all of this tonight was brought about by your prayers?"

Instantly, the visiting team's locker room at Quicken Loans Arena erupted in enthusiastic laughter.

Considering the mood in Cleveland and the possibility that Cavaliers fans who hate Xu Ling might cause trouble outside the Grizzlies' hotel, the Grizzlies made a last-minute decision to fly back to Memphis overnight.

As it turned out, this decision was absolutely correct.

Thousands of Cavaliers fans surrounded the hotel that night, as if demanding that Xu Ling atone with his death. When the hotel informed them that the Grizzlies had already checked in and left early, they became even more furious and hurled vulgarities.

After returning to Memphis, Xu Ling went home and slept for a few hours before waking up.

He could have slept a little longer, since the team was already on holiday. Last night's game against the Cavaliers was the last game before All-Star Weekend, and they won. Now, the entire league is going into a break to prepare for the upcoming trade deadline and All-Star events.

However, Xu Ling has a very strict schedule, going to bed and waking up on time, and even if he didn't sleep well last night, he still has plenty of energy.

Today, as soon as he entered the living room, he saw Craig eating pizza and watching ESPN's morning show.

"Without a doubt, this will be the most controversial and iconic moment in the NBA this season, and even in the last decade!"

On the screen, host Stuart Scott spoke rapidly, with a huge split screen behind him. On one side was a slow-motion replay of Xu Ling shaking off James and hitting a three-pointer, and on the other side was the moment he shook his finger at James.

"Is this the ultimate competitive spirit, or a disgrace that transcends sportsmanship? We've seen Michael Jordan's The Shrug, and we've seen Vince Carter's The Dunk, but those are ultimately just contests on the court. But last night, we went from beautiful sportsmanship to pure hatred. We were caught off guard by Eli Xu's 'The Finger Wag,' which, in my opinion, is no different from Cantona's 'Kung Fu Kick'."

(1) A footnote for football novices like myself: Cantona kicks a Crystal Palace fan in 1995.

Then, Craig spotted Xu Ling and greeted him, "Eli, you're awake?"

"Let's change the channel, I've had enough of this," Xu Ling said.

So Craig changed the channel, and it just so happened to be Fox Sports, where the guests were arguing heatedly about the "finger wag".

“Why can’t Eli celebrate?!” one guest almost roared. “LeBron tried to teach him a lesson all night, and he won! In the most manly way! On the opponent’s turf, he took down the opponent in the opponent’s way! This is one of the greatest individual heroism performances in sports history!”

“This has completely crossed the line!” another elderly guest retorted. “This is a stain on the sport! Mutombo’s finger wag was an NBA award for his charitable work, Dikembe would never do that to an opponent, but what is Eli doing? This is blatant, malicious humiliation! The NBA should suspend him!”

Craig kept changing channels, but no matter which channel he changed, as long as it was sports news, someone would be talking about last night's game.

Xu Ling's fingers, the humiliated King James, arrogance and prejudice, respect and blasphemy, yellow and black people, the sports world is going crazy for this.

Xu Ling felt bored and went to the dining room, where the Filipino nanny who was in charge of taking care of their daily life had already prepared breakfast.

While eating, Xu Ling asked Craig about the progress of recruiting a nutritionist.

Craig looked troubled. Given Xu Ling's current status, he certainly couldn't recruit unknown trainers, but those big-name trainers generally wouldn't accept becoming a player's personal trainer.

So this matter has never been resolved.

Xu Ling also knew that it was very inconvenient to do this during the season, as most trainers' work gaps were during the off-season.

Then, Xu Ling's agent, Leon Rose, called.

Rose was probably the most devastated person last night.

His biggest star player and most promising rookie disliked each other, and then in one game, this animosity escalated into an irreconcilable hatred.

Rose tried calling James last night, but James didn't answer.

Then, Ross called Xu Ling again. Xu Ling answered, of course, but what could he do? The deed was done, so all he could do was offer a few words of comfort.

Perhaps there's some new information? Xu Ling answered the phone.

Ross sounded tired on the other end of the phone, but his tone was direct: “Eli, Adidas just called. Their marketing department… is very enthusiastic. They’ve decided to activate their contingency plan to incorporate last night’s episode—the ‘Judgment Knot’ and the subsequent footage—into your first flagship ad, which is expected to launch during All-Star Weekend.”

Holding the phone, Xu Ling could imagine the tense atmosphere at Nike headquarters at that moment. Their meticulously crafted, flawless chosen one had been defeated in the most dramatic and humiliating way in the highly anticipated match by a rookie they had tried to sign for a low price and indirectly portrayed as a "villain."

It remains to be seen what impact this will have on LeBron James' brand image, but one thing is clear: in Adidas' eyes, Xu Ling is not just a player, but also the sharpest spear they are using against Nike.

Xu Ling gave a few casual replies and then hung up the phone.

After finishing breakfast, Xu Ling turned on his computer and checked his Twitter account. He found that his latest tweet already had tens of thousands of replies. Keep in mind that Twitter currently has only about one million registered users, and its daily active users are no more than one hundred thousand. As a result, almost every one of his recent tweets has received more than ten thousand replies, and they are mostly blatant racist and hateful curses.

For some reason, Xu felt an unusual pleasure from this hatred, so he quickly typed a line and posted a new tweet.

"Taking the whole game seriously, but inadvertently hurting millions of people in the end, who could have imagined it would end like this?"

This shocking tweet has once again ignited the anger of haters.

(End of this chapter)