Chapter 68: Fighting the Mavericks Again
At the Mosaic team's press conference, a Phoenix reporter asked Dream: "Hakeem, is K worthy of your evaluation tonight?"
Dream had a sour face and said expressionlessly: "No, I said, he will only be qualified for me to evaluate him if he can achieve the same average statistics as my rookie season."
"Why are the requirements for him so high?" asked the reporter.
"Who told him to say such nonsense?" Da Meng said unhappily.
Having said that, he himself knew that Old K couldn't defend him, but he himself was not efficient in defending Old K either, otherwise how could he allow a rookie to score 20+10 over him?
He was especially surprised by Old K's technical move of following a hit with a hook shot, because after being hit, his center of gravity was moved, and it was difficult for him to make an immediate defensive move when his opponent stood up to shoot. If it weren't for the small move, Old K's hook shot hit rate would have been higher today, and it would have made him look even uglier.
This surprised him greatly, because the defensive pressure was very great at close range, so his hit rate at close range was very low, less than 40%, which was even lower than the hit rate of a two-point shot.
However, he cannot learn this technique because he is a center with excellent technical skills and athleticism. He does not have the brute force of Old K, nor the hard-hitting skills of sweeping and crushing opponents.
"Today he knocked you over and completed a dunk. Do you have anything to say about this?" the reporter asked again.
"Hmph, I knocked him down three times. You should go ask him if his ankle is broken." Daming's face became even more sullen and he said unhappily.
"Whether you were attacking or defending tonight, you tried your best to avoid confrontation. Is this your way of playing around him?" the reporter asked again.
"This is the fourth one, and you're not done yet?" Daming said angrily.
The host quickly signaled to the staff to go up and take away the reporter's microphone and terminate the question.
But after thinking about it, Da Meng decided to answer this question. He didn't want to admit that he was playing around Old K tonight.
After organizing himself, he said: "My style of play is flexible. I am not like Lao K who has no technical content and plays like a donkey, so there is no such thing as playing around him. This is him attacking me, and I am disdainful of it.
Also, he is purely playing with his body. Once his physical fitness declines or he gets injured, can he still play hard in the low post like he does now? No, he will immediately become a waste.
I am even sure now that he must have a back injury. His back muscles cannot withstand the kind of force he exerts for a long time. He will definitely be crippled by his back injuries after playing for a few years."
"So he scored 20+10 on you and made four hook shots. What do you have to say about that?"
Although there was no microphone, the Phoenix reporter asked loudly again.
"Are you really not done yet?"
This time Da Meng was really angry. He turned his head away and stopped answering.
…
Back at the hotel, Wang Tiejun lay on the bed, turned on the system, and looked at the low-step training card.
His current low-post step level is 63, which is not even up to the full-level standard of 110, and he urgently needs to improve.
However, he also wanted to accumulate 1,000 points to get a composite card that combined martial arts steps with basketball steps, and then use this card, which should achieve the best effect.
After thinking it over, he decided not to touch this card for the time being. It wouldn't be upgraded in a short time anyway. All training cards required a long time of training, so he could wait a while.
…
The next day, the game was widely reported by the sports media.
This time, the media could no longer ignore Comrade Lao Wang who scored 20+10 against Dream, and gave him a lot of space in the report.
However, the media focused on describing the three times he was knocked down by Dameng, and even described them in quite a few details. Everything else was glossed over, and the rest of the content was all about reporting on him slapping Crazy Max, which further deepened his image as a violent person.
Only the media in Arizona, including Phoenix , did not report his beating, but instead focused on his performance of 20+10 over Dream, which further increased his attention in the state.
"I see, these media are not good people."
On January 20, 1993, around 8:00 a.m., in the hotel restaurant, Comrade Lao Wang was flipping through a few newspapers while eating breakfast.
Watching sports news and adult television is his way of improving his English, and it is very effective.
But the more I read, the angrier I got. Except for the Arizona media, other media almost portrayed him as a violent murderer and arsonist. It's too much. Is he that kind of person?
After breakfast, they went back to their rooms to digest the food. Then at 9:30, the Suns packed their bags and headed to the airport.
At this time, the NBA had already received the evidence collected by the Suns.
An hour later, the Suns boarded a special plane.
Next up are back-to-back games against the Mavericks and Spurs, which will be a big test on physical fitness.
Just as they were about to land in Dallas, the NBA league headquarters in New York announced a penalty decision, which surprised the media and the league.
First, Mosaic home fans used racist terms against Wang Tiejun, and the Mosaic team was fined $100,000.
Second, Vernon Maxwell used racial slurs against Wang Tiejun, was fined $20,000, and suspended for three games.
Third, the two live commentators of the regional broadcaster of the game used racial discriminatory terms against Wang Tiejun, and these two commentators will be banned from entering the Mosaic home stadium for thirty days.
The league has had similar penalties for racial discrimination before, but they were not so severe, especially the punishment against regional broadcasters, which is the first time.
So as soon as the decision was announced, there was a huge response. Many stars expressed their support for the league's decision when they were interviewed by the media, and the media could not express any different opinions.
Because of the open opposition to racial discrimination, almost everyone agreed with the league's punishment decision, especially the Mosaic team, which also said that they would not appeal and would accept the punishment.
Only Crazy Max and the two commentators were very depressed. The former was beaten and fined and suspended, while the latter could not work for a month and might even lose their job opportunities.
As soon as they got off the plane, the Suns also learned the news. Comrade Lao Wang was very happy. At least in the future, those bastard commentators would not shout out titles like "Chinese coolies" in front of countless fans.
"There was overwhelming support. Our application was very successful this time and the alliance's decision was correct," Colangelo said with a smile.
Wang Tiejun could only say in his heart that this was hypocritical. He was sure that in this country, 80 to 90 percent of the people were racist, and their discrimination was even open, but some public figures would not show it, and ordinary people would not care at all and would discriminate when necessary.
The Mavericks are a team that holds great malice towards Wang Tiejun. The last time he beat up Mavericks power forward Terry Davis, he became the team's mortal enemy.
When I arrived at the hotel from the airport and got off the bus, local media swarmed over me.
