Where the noise did not reach

Chapter 132: The Taste is Great, No Explanations Needed
The 2007-08 season playoffs, in terms of results, showed a clear two-way battle for supremacy.

The Boston Celtics in the East are ranked first in the league with a record of 64 wins and 18 losses, while the Dallas Mavericks in the West suffered from a lack of time. They assembled a superstar duo of Kobe Bryant and Dirk Nowitzki mid-season, but did not have the opportunity to provide them with the most suitable teammates. They quickly signed Sam Cassell and Chris Webber before the trade deadline to strengthen the team, but it was still not enough.

The level of competition in the Western Conference this year is unprecedented in NBA history.

Leaving aside the hellish Southwest Division, the Warriors, ranked ninth in the West with 46 wins, let's just talk about the Lakers, ranked eleventh in the West, who have achieved 39 wins. Such a record, if played in the Eastern Conference, would secure them the eighth seed in the playoffs.

In such a competitive environment, even a team as strong as the Mavericks couldn't dominate the Eastern Conference like the Celtics. Aiming for 60 wins, they ultimately achieved 59 wins, ranking first in the Western Conference and second in the league.

This will not affect the experts' evaluation of them.

Despite their shortcomings at the small forward position, they are the kind of team that can conquer the Western Conference if they play to their full potential.

But the changes in the West are not limited to this.

The Grizzlies are ranked seventh in the Western Conference with a record of 51 wins and 31 losses. They will face the second-ranked New Orleans Hornets in the first round.

The Jazz, who were originally supposed to face the Rockets in the first round, have become invisible victims of the butterfly effect due to the rise of the Grizzlies, and will face the Spurs in the first round.

Although the Rockets avoided the Jazz, their situation isn't much better; they will face the Phoenix Suns, the fifth seed in the Western Conference, in the first round.

The Grizzlies-Hornets series is considered one of the least suspenseful first-round series.

Because they have the prodigious third-year guard Chris Paul, who has put on an MVP-caliber performance this year and, barring any unforeseen circumstances, will become the youngest MVP in history (23 years and 1 day old).

Paul not only saved professional basketball in New Orleans, but literally. To understand this, we need to look back at the Hornets' tumultuous history: forced to relocate to Oklahoma for two seasons due to the devastating impact of Hurricane Katrina, and this season marks their first year back home.

It was in this season, filled with hope and a comeback, that Paul experienced a complete breakout. He led the team on a winning streak, especially after the All-Star break, putting up astonishing numbers—averaging 22 points, 13 assists, and 4 rebounds per game, with shooting percentages of 50%, 41%, and 80% respectively. Throughout the season, only two teams truly managed to frustrate him: the Boston Celtics, the league's defensive benchmark, and the Utah Jazz, led by Deron Williams.

Bill Simmons ranked Chris Paul second on his famous annual value list, writing, "Of all the top players, besides Kevin Garnett, no one is more important to his teammates than him. In fact, my favorite game of the year was Chris Paul's, when he missed two game-clinching free throws in Orlando and then watched Turkoglu's three-pointer miss as the final buzzer sounded. After the game, Paul was disappointed in himself and didn't celebrate, so his teammates and coaches immediately surrounded him, patted him on the head, patted him on the back, and did everything they could to let him know how important he was to them. Honestly, besides KG, he's the only MVP I can accept!"

Besides Chris Paul, the Hornets' roster also includes David West, who has developed into an All-Star center this year. Although he may not be quite on par with the star centers of other playoff teams in the West, he is definitely not to be underestimated.

From the outside perspective, the Hornets' main problem is their over-reliance on Paul. If Paul gets into trouble, the whole team could fall into chaos.

Even so, most experts still believe the Hornets can easily overcome the Grizzlies. The reason is simple: from the outside perspective, the Grizzlies are still a team that has not yet completed its rebuilding process.

The four-team trade in the middle of the season removed Rudy Gay, the biggest problem in the locker room, and brought in Jason Kidd to fill the weakest point guard position, but at the cost of losing two key players, Pau Gasol and Mike Miller.

The Grizzlies' post-trade structure is more rational, and Xu Ling plays more smoothly, but this does not mean that their overall strength has made a qualitative leap.

Their most prominent problem lies in the lack of scoring options, especially the insufficient firepower off the bench. Whenever the rotation begins, opponents often take the opportunity to narrow the gap or widen the score. This deep-seated structural problem cannot be solved in just one season.

It's fair to say that if Xu Ling hadn't risen to prominence so suddenly, the Grizzlies' management would be busy figuring out their luck in the May lottery, rather than figuring out how to deal with the Hornets led by Chris Paul.

Fate had brought them to this point, yet almost no one was optimistic about their future. Even the local Memphis fans, at this moment, only hoped that Xu Ling could lead the team to win one game in the playoffs—even just one would be enough to satisfy them.

April 19th marked the opening day of the NBA's first round of games, with the Grizzlies departing for New Orleans.

Just before boarding the team's private jet, Xu Ling casually posted a tweet that infuriated Hornets fans: "I'm ready for the second round. #Don'tSayItImpossible"

What makes this tweet particularly special is that Xu Ling used "#" as a hashtag.

In the future, the "#" hashtag will be a hallmark of social media platforms like Twitter, but few people do it nowadays. It wasn't until the California wildfires of October 2007 that journalists used #sandiegofire in Twitter news to unify the information flow, making people realize that doing so could improve searchability.

But this is still limited to news.

Xu Ling's sudden move suggests that, based on public perception, he clearly doesn't take Paul and the Hornets seriously and believes he has a better chance of advancing to the second round than Paul, the undisputed regular season MVP.

However, the Grizzlies have never won a single game in their playoff history. Is it really appropriate for you to make such a high-sounding statement?

As a result, a new wave of haters flooded Xu Ling's Twitter feed.

As the account with the most traffic on Twitter, Xu Ling's account is practically a dumping ground for the internet basketball community.

Lakers fans, LeBron James fans, and even other fans who dislike him, as well as casual observers who like to follow trends, all come to his Twitter to vent their frustrations.

Now there's just one more group of people.

Angry Hornets fans rioted in response to Xu Ling's tweet.

"A reminder for those unfamiliar with history: your team has zero playoff wins in its history. We, on the other hand, have an MVP!"

That's considered relatively mild. There are also less mild ones: "Shut your dog mouth, rookie! Wait until you score a basket in the playoffs before you spout this bullshit!"

There were also random spam messages: "The league's best point guard VS the league's most arrogant maniac!"

Whenever Xu Ling stirs up trouble on Twitter, his associates always add fuel to the fire.

Kyle Lowry took advantage of the chaos to retweet the tweet and said, "I support Eli, you can criticize me now."

Then Lowry's tweet was flooded with insulting "Who are you?".

Xu Ling himself did not pay much attention to the reaction on Twitter.

If he cared, he would have stopped playing long ago.

Who cares about a social media account where thousands of people wait for him to post a new tweet to criticize him every day?

He tweets mainly for fun.

Moreover, his sponsors also encouraged him to tweet.

So he posted one on the opening day of the first round of the playoffs, which really offended so many Hornets fans. It's a real shame. Have Americans lost their sense of humor?

Chris Paul simply laughed it off.

This point guard is perhaps one of the few normal people in the league.

Other proud and arrogant stars would probably have taken these remarks as blatant provocation. But Paul was different. He perfectly controlled his emotions, like a model star who had undergone professional public relations training, maintaining a polite smile when facing reporters: "Eli is Eli, he always likes to joke. I have nothing to say, let's see how it goes on the court."

This response was perfect.

When a mediocre player boldly declares his intention to defy the odds, others might at most praise his courage; but if a superior player voluntarily lowers his stance, humility will be the talk of the town. Whether these words are sincere or not, Paul certainly deserves his status as LeBron James' close friend.

The perfect balance of flavors speaks for itself.

On the contrary, Paul's teammates were getting restless.

Starting center Tyson Chandler was the first to stand up for his teammate, believing that Xu Ling's remarks were disrespectful to Paul.

For Chandler, Paul's arrival completely changed his career. The former national high school player who was once highly anticipated but failed to live up to his potential has transformed into a top-tier blue-collar center in the league under Paul's guidance.

Alley-oop dunks, rim protection and shot blocking—all his value was maximized under Paul's leadership.

"I don't care what others think," Chandler stated decisively in a post-practice interview. "No one can underestimate Chris like that. He's not only our leader, but also the MVP of this league. Some people may have forgotten how to spell respect, but we'll teach them a lesson on the court soon enough."

Chandler's words likely represent the sentiments of most Hornets players, who believe Paul deserves everyone's respect.

But respect is a matter of character, especially when you're trying to get respect from a guy who wags his finger at a dunked opponent in public; that's unwise.

When the Grizzlies arrived in New Orleans, reporters surrounded Xu Ling outside the airport, asking questions about the Hornets player's statement that he should respect Paul.

"What did Chris say?" Xu Ling asked.

After hesitating for a moment, the reporter replied, "He thinks you're just joking and he doesn't mind."

Xu Ling said, "I really want to get into the second round, and I'm not kidding."

Moreover, this has nothing to do with respect.

Does any team that makes the playoffs not want to advance to the next round? What does this have to do with respect?

After giving his answer, Xu Ling and his teammates boarded the team bus and headed to their hotel.

The professional basketball world probably won't pay much attention to the Memphis-New Orleans series unless it turns out to be a close contest.

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比赛时间：2008年4月19日 19:00
Competition Venue: Smoothie King Center

Matchup: Charlotte Hornets vs. Memphis Grizzlies (Game 1 of the First Round of the Playoffs)
Attendees: 17,446, full house
Broadcasting media: TNT
Commentary Team: Kevin Harlan (Commentator), Doug Collins (Commentator)

Referees: Dick Bavetta, Sean Corbin, Joe Ford
(End of this chapter)