So—

G6 of the NBA Finals in the 17-18 season, in the locker room of the Houston Rockets.

What's going on?

In the first half of that game, the Rockets trailed by as many as 20 points at home in a rare way. And the team's self-confidence seems to have been swept away by the civilian Cavaliers team on the opposite side who don't rely on LeBron James - so what happened at that halftime break could make the Rockets finally fight back and win the game and the championship, Yang Yiming couldn't help but think about it when Yao Ming asked him.

Naturally, there is no Chairman Yao Mingyao.

At that time, Yao Ming was on the other side of the ocean, in China, and it was nine o'clock in the evening Central Time in the United States, which was the morning in Chinese mainland. As the president of the National Basketball Association, Mr. Yao Ming's day probably starts with a busy meeting. Even if he had time to get out of his official duties and come to Houston in the name of "inspecting the operation of the top basketball league" and watch the first half of G6, Yao Ming should not have come to the lounge of the home team of the Toyota Center to make his condolences and encouragement to the Chinese men's basketball team at this time.

While Yao Ming's symbolism is undeniable as a bridge between the basketball worlds of China and the United States, he has never been a leader in the history of the Rockets. When he first arrived at the Rockets, the team's boss was Steve Francis. Yao Ming is limited by language and the introverted character of Orientals, and even in the later stage, he can often play 20+10 data, but he still can't occupy a place in the right to speak in the locker room.

It wasn't until the last season or two, when Yao Ming's on-court dominance became more apparent as he gained weight, and he finally began to direct his teammates to defend, get angry at opponents, and even lash out at the referees, that he really began to take his place in the dressing room. It's a pity that this time didn't last long, and Yao Ming was seriously injured. After the fall of the Great Wall of China, he finally did not rebuild the prestige he had just established, but had no choice but to retire and return to China to be appointed as the chairman of the Basketball Association.

Not only did there be no chairman Yao Ming, but the bigger names in the history of the Rockets did not enter the locker room.

Before the start of G6, the cameras in the stadium focused on the stars who attended the night: Drexler, Kassel, Battier, Mobley, Olajuwon... But even Olajuwon, the absolute leader of the Rockets when they won the championship last time and the first person in Rocket history, sat on the sidelines with a few friends. The Rockets have widened the gap all the way, and Olajuwon is still talking and laughing with his friends, as if he is not worried about the situation on the court. It stands to reason that he could go to the Rockets' locker room and give some encouragement to the juniors as a passer-by. But Olajuwon didn't, he was still in the seat of the arena, and he didn't mean to move half a step at all:

Maybe in his mind, this is the battle of this rocket team at the moment!

His war has long since ceased, and it is up to you to win a new honor!

The locker room of the Houston Rockets.

Coach Mike D'Antoni sat at one end of the locker room with the tactical board behind him, but it was empty.

All the Rockets players, including James Harden, Chris Paul and Yang Yiming, whether they were the main team or off the bench, whether they were sweating profusely or not changing into their uniforms, all sat next to each other at the other end of the locker room. No one dared to speak, and it was horribly quiet in the locker room!

The halftime break is less than 15 minutes, and 5 minutes have passed, and Coach D'Antoni has not arranged any tactics, what kind of medicine is he selling in his gourd?

He only said one sentence before the silence began:

"Imagine if your basketball career was coming to an end in the summer, how would you spend the rest of your days thinking about that game?"

Everyone pondered in silence.

Yang Yiming has never played in a basketball league in high school or college, and he is only a first-year recruit in the NBA. But he has heard a lot of stories about student basketball, and these teammates around him are all from that time. These NBA geniuses, before entering college, can easily dominate with the monster-like physical fitness and basketball skills of high school students; After entering the university, their advantages will be weakened a lot, but they are all real elites after the big waves. Success at each stage naturally means more failures as a foil – the basketball youth of their peers came to a cruel end many years ago that summer.

But the proud sons around me, looking carefully, some of them are no longer young. Isn't their last summer of basketball getting closer and closer day by day?!

"Imagine if we weren't 20 points behind, but 40 points, a full 40 points."

This time Coach D'Antoni said one more sentence:

"40 points. Imprint that number into your head. It's 40, not 20! ”

Out of the corner of his eye, Yang Yiming glanced at several teammates around him, and when the coach gritted his teeth and shouted the number 40, he trembled obviously.

40 points.

In Yang Yiming's memory, it seems that there has never been a game, and there are as many as 40 points in a half-time loss. He was right. Yu Xiaochun, the basketball "Bai Xiaosheng" who sat next to him, can accurately tell him that at the level of professional basketball, the biggest reversal in history came from the Jazz's 36-point reversal of the Nuggets in 1996. The Jazz trailed by as many as 34 points at halftime, 36-70, and then the margin was stretched to 36 points in the third quarter, but Postman Malone and Stockton teamed up to turn the tide and perform a shocking miracle.

At the level of the Finals, the greatest comeback came from the Celtics in '08. They came back from trailing by as many as 24 points in the second quarter against the Lakers on the road, and the series was also a turning point.

The Rockets themselves, during the last championship-winning series, were led by 20 points by the Magic in the second quarter of G1, and finally relied on a magical three-point equalization score, and at that time, Olajuwon, who was laughing at the storm with friends outside the locker room, made a basket with 0.3 seconds left in overtime to overtake the score and win.

Regardless, no team has ever come back from 40 points behind. On the finals stage, the score difference that can be "allowed" and reversed will only be smaller.

If you really lose by 40 points at halftime, it actually means that the team has fallen into the abyss, and there is no room for a comeback...

"If you think about those two things—" Ten minutes passed after the break, and this was the third time Coach D'Antoni spoke, "you imagine one last thing: if we want to beat them, what are we willing to give up?!" ”

Like the previous one, Coach D'Antoni followed up and explained: "The Cleveland Cavaliers can give up the single-core superstar and give up using their LeBron James. It was for victory, for the last summer before the end of his career. ”

"So, if the situation is the same, what are you willing to give up? Think about it! ”