Chapter 1106 The Heat are Here!

American Airlines Center, the final quarter, as the clock ticked down to zero...

The entire arena erupted into a sea of joy.

In the second half, the Celtics, who were down by 23 points at halftime, failed to complete the comeback on this night.

Ultimately, the final score between the two teams was 100 to 115, with the Heat advancing to the Finals with a 4-2 series victory.

However, amidst the celebrations...

On the court, as Su Feng, Ginobili, Stackhouse, and others put on the hats symbolizing the 2006/07 Eastern Conference championship...

Nearly 20,000 Heat fans in the arena fell silent.

Because now...

Only one series remained before Su Feng left Miami.

"Do you think the next team that has Su will be as sleepless as we were back then?"

"Who knows? I just want to witness this Heat team win three consecutive championships."

Inside the arena, the Heat fans, with their understandably complex emotions, and the Heat players, who were celebrating their victory, were a sight to behold.

"Come back next year, Tim!" Pat Riley said, patting Duncan on the shoulder after letting out a long sigh in the player tunnel.

Upon hearing this, Duncan, his face filled with regret, slowly unclenched his tightly held fist.

Frankly speaking.

In the world of the NBA, losers often need more courage than the ultimate winners.

Because when you strive for a goal for an entire year, only to have the results fall short of your expectations...

The bone-piercing pain...

Only those who have experienced it firsthand can truly understand.

No one knows if the Celtics will be able to recover next year.

But after celebrating with his teammates, Su Feng was confident that...

Next season, this Celtics team would only become more resilient.

Don't ask Su Feng how he knew.

Because back in Toronto, he had weathered similar storms.

As everyone knows, the NBA has a famous slogan: "This is where amazing happens."

But in reality, how many "miracles" are there in the NBA?

Admittedly, O'Neal's performance has noticeably declined.

But with this Heat lineup that Su Feng personally assembled, who said...

That the Heat looked weaker than the Celtics?

Judging from the Eastern Conference Finals, even in the two games that the Heat lost, their bench players performed better than the Celtics' bench.

In addition, the Heat, who have dared to give young players more opportunities in the regular season in recent years, have reaped a bountiful harvest in this year's playoffs.

This is why Spoelstra dared to assert that the Heat would gain more of an advantage as the series progressed.

Because in this year's playoffs, the Heat were the only team that dared to use an 11-man, or even a 12-man rotation.

On the surface, Ginobili and Stackhouse's successive explosions on this night laid the foundation for the Heat's victory, but in reality...

The Celtics' exhausted stamina was unable to sustain them in their continued battle with the Heat, which was the key to the Heat's victory.

In terms of tenacity, Su Feng believed that even if they played six more games, the Celtics would not give up until the very last moment, all to comfort Auerbach's spirit in heaven with a championship.

But...

Reality is so cruel.

Even the strongest mental fortitude cannot instantly restore a weary body.

...

After the Eastern Conference Finals, Celtics coach Karl spoke specifically about the Heat's terrifying roster depth in an interview.

"Before the game, I believe many people thought that this year's Celtics would be stronger than the Heat.

But after the game started, every time those young players on the Heat's bench stepped up to share the pressure for Su...

That's when we realized that we had once again 'underestimated' this Heat team before the start of this series."

"Without a doubt, Rondo and Louis have the potential to become star players in the future.

Moreover, thanks to the excellent performance of these young players, the Heat veterans, who were able to get more rest, also created a lot of trouble for us in this series.

You know, I'm not someone who likes to flatter opponents.

But in my eyes, this Heat team is completely worthy of the word 'historic'."

On the other side, in his interview, Su Feng attributed the credit for winning this series to the Heat's clear division of labor, with everyone moving towards a common goal.

"I'm very grateful that in the last season of my Heat career, I have such outstanding teammates.

Maybe to outsiders, this Heat team has no other All-Star players besides me this season.

But in my opinion, my teammates are better than many star players."

After learning from the lessons of the Toronto era, Su Feng's team-building philosophy has also changed in Miami.

Indeed...

In terms of the number of stars, even if O'Neal returned to his peak, the lineup of this Heat team would not be as impressive as that of the Raptors back then.

However, if there was a real chance to play against the Raptors of that era...

Su Feng had full confidence in defeating them.

Because ultimately, in basketball, no matter how many stars you have, only one can score on the court at a time.

In Su Feng's view, whether it was the quality or quantity of role players, this Heat team was definitely historic.

And they were all skilled in their own right.

For example, Rondo, who could single-handedly defend all point guards in the league except for a certain unknown successor.

Then there was Ginobili, who could display his heroic nature in times of crisis.

And Ariza, who, even if he usually bricked shots, could drag the opposing outside scorers into the "bricking zone".

To be honest...

The reason why Spoelstra was able to show his coaching talent in this season's playoffs...

Was also related to the fact that the Heat had too many cards to play.

After all, in the NBA, how many coaches have fought such a luxurious war?

...

Ah...

Ah-choo!

Dallas.

After the Heat advanced to the Finals as he had expected, John Davis didn't know why that night, but he felt like someone was constantly talking about him behind his back.

But so be it!

Because right now, the primary task for the Mavericks was to win the championship...

So after staring at the Mavericks' playoff roster and pondering for nearly half an hour...

Davis felt that Cuban was making things difficult for him!

Because...

Even back in Toronto, John Davis had never fought such a luxurious war!

Chandler, Nowitzki, Howard, Terry, Kidd...

Dampier, Diop, Barea, Jones, Posey...

Asking for a friend, with the Mavericks' roster, which didn't even blink when paying the super luxury tax...

Who should he use first in the upcoming Finals?

Oh, right!

Why not give Su Feng a surprise and arrange for Zhu Fangyu to start in one of the Finals games?

That night, looking at the Mavericks' extravagant roster, Davis felt that after this year, he and Su Feng might not even be friends anymore.

Because with Su Feng's meticulous personality...

Davis knew that the Dallas Mavericks, who were destined to intercept his three-peat...

Would definitely be written down in his little notebook.

"That's life, Su!

There are wins and losses; that's what life is all about."

Obviously.

Dallas was ready to face the Heat again in the Finals.

Online, after the Heat and the Mavericks met again in the Finals after a year, many sharp-eyed American fans complained: "You think the winner between the Mavericks and the Heat is the winner this year?

No!

You're all wrong!

Because you've forgotten that no matter which of these two teams wins the championship this year, the principle that only NBA teams with Chinese players can win the championship will continue to be in effect!"

Since Hu Weidong won the championship with the Bulls in the 1997/98 season...

To date, although the teams in the Finals have changed time and time again...

What remains unchanged is that...

Every year, the team that wins the championship must have a Chinese player on their roster.

This is why, when Sloan selected Yi Jianlian to Utah, the local fans in Utah joked that Sloan wanted to use Yi Jianlian to get rid of the Jazz's curse of never winning a championship.

So...

What Su Feng dominated the NBA?

Wake up!

Those teams aiming for a championship, are you still not planning to select a Chinese player to your team?

Even if you just put them on the bench and worship them, you have to do it!

Ahem...

To be fair.

Foreigners' thought processes are indeed different from those of Chinese people when it comes to "superstition".

Because not long after the Heat and Mavericks met in the Finals, Sun Yue, who was preparing to participate in this year's draft, inexplicably received invitations from more than a dozen teams.

And among them...

There were even powerhouses like the Celtics.

But after talking to Sun Yue on the phone and giving him some advice, Su Feng remembered that...

Before the "Chinese Player Championship Law" was hyped up, only a few teams were originally interested in Sun Yue.

Although in this life, Sun Yue, who won the World Championship with the Chinese men's basketball team, had a higher exposure rate than Su Feng remembered, and he himself had good dynamic and static talents...

But in the NBA, where there were so many supermen, Sun Yue's talent was definitely not as exciting to these NBA teams as the Sun enthusiasts claimed, like Yi Jianlian.

After all, in the NBA, there was never a shortage of players like Sun Yue, who were about 2 meters tall, could run and jump, and had a good wingspan.

And as for the Sun enthusiasts' claims about Sun Yue's dribbling and flexibility?

To tell you the truth.

If it was in Asia, then Sun Yue's dribbling was indeed very good.

But in the United States, would anyone really think that Sun Yue's dribbling had reached the NBA level?

In Su Feng's previous life, even if Sun Yue didn't waste his talent, in Su Feng's opinion, he could not become an All-Star player as the Sun enthusiasts claimed.

Because in Su Feng's eyes, Sun Yue's best template was to become a player like Lance Stephenson.

Sun Yue had outstanding athleticism and a good build.

As long as he was willing to train, his defense would definitely allow him to earn a living in the NBA.

But any higher than that...

Based on Su Feng's understanding of Sun Yue, that was a height he would never be able to reach in his life.

In addition, in the future, those who thought that Doncic's talent was not as good as Sun Yue's were ridiculous in Su Feng's opinion.

Because who said that technical talent was not talent on the basketball court?

With Doncic's ability to switch freely between FIBA and NBA rules...

Looking at the history of the NBA, how many could you find?

Of course, in any case...

Thanks to the brilliant achievements of his predecessors in the NBA...

Sun Yue's draft prospects were indeed better than Su Feng remembered.

In addition, he would not encounter obstacles in landing in the NBA in this life...

So if Sun Yue could make some progress before the Olympics...

That would undoubtedly be a blessing for Su Feng, who was preparing to lead his team to complete their title defense on home soil in 2008.

...

On June 4th, after resting in Miami for a few days, the Heat officially embarked on their journey to the Finals this year.

Because this season's NBA Finals still adopted the 2-3-2 format...

So before leaving, Su Feng, Riley, and Spoelstra were all clear that as long as the Heat could win one game in Dallas, they would be able to enjoy the advantage of three consecutive home games after returning to Miami.

But on the 4th...

After arriving in Dallas, Su Feng, Riley, and Spoelstra all fell silent after watching the Mavericks' recent game footage.

Because this season, as Nowitzki crossed the dragon gate...

The old driver had transformed into a Germanic Gundam.

Su Feng knew that in the upcoming Finals, it was no longer possible for the Heat to torture Nowitzki with a bunch of short, stout rebounding monsters like they did in the 2004/05 season.

And when Nowitzki remained on the court, it was meaningless for Su Feng to switch to the power forward position.

Because Nowitzki, whose "golden rooster stands on one leg" had reached its full potential, could now completely ignore Su Feng's defense and harassment.

In addition, Kidd, who was getting better with age, had a three-point shooting percentage of 41.5% in this season's playoffs.

In the playoffs, Kidd averaged 12.7 points for the Mavericks.

Although the score wasn't high, because Kidd's points came almost entirely from beyond the arc, this meant that the Heat's interior defense would inevitably be pulled apart when defending the Mavericks' pick-and-roll.

Now, Su Feng's only consolation was that Devin Harris was not on this Mavericks team...

Because if the Mavericks had one or two more attackers on the court...

With Davis, the author of *Court Spacing Theory*, understanding of court space, it would be difficult for the Heat to avoid defensive lapses.

In short...

If the Cavaliers and Celtics were more like shields...

Then this Mavericks team was the sharpest spear in the NBA this season.

Therefore, knowing that he couldn't contain this Mavericks team on the defensive end, Su Feng suggested to Spoelstra that day: "Let Manu continue to start; we need to use offense to defeat this Mavericks team."

Upon hearing this, Spoelstra thought for a while before offering a different opinion from Su Feng for the first time.

"I think it would be better to let Jason start." Pointing to Jason Kapono's name on the Heat's playoff roster, Spoelstra smiled.

At this time, Su Feng, who suddenly thought of something, smiled and said: "I think you're right, Erik!

This series, you are indeed the key to our victory over the Mavericks."

On the night of the 4th, after the discussion ended.

On the morning of the 5th, when Kapono was told that he would be on the Heat's starting lineup for the Finals against the Mavericks...

For a moment, the newly crowned All-Star Weekend Three-Point King almost thought that the world was about to end...

Because as the Heat's secret weapon...

Kapono, who had always known his limitations, was very clear that...

Based on his defense, his appearance would only be valuable at certain times.

But the Finals...

Jason Kapono could also start in the Finals?

"Trust me; since it's a brilliant move that even I can't think of, there's no way John could have thought of it either."

After practicing with Kapono for a morning, Su Feng, seeing that Spoelstra was wavering, encouraged him, as Kapono couldn't defend anyone.

"This is too crazy!" Looking at Spoelstra, whose growth rate in the past two years had far exceeded his expectations...

For a moment...

Riley really felt that he was outdated...

However, as the Heat's new starting lineup got better and better in training...

Riley realized that...

It turned out that as Su Feng was about to leave, what he left for the Heat...

Was this kind of creativity that dared to break conventions and boldly envision the game.

Basketball.

Who said it had to be done step by step and follow the rules?

Dallas, get ready!

A Heat team you've never seen before...

It's here!

...

ps: First chapter is here. Because the second chapter is a bit long, it will take some time. You can all sleep first and then read it!