"Meng, can you tell us why you took the initiative to apply for the exit in the fourth quarter? Is there any other reason? ”

The first game of the finals on June 9, 2007 ended with the Pacers' 109-96 home victory over the Spurs, in the entire first half of this game, the Spurs and the Pacers were inseparable, and even made people see the hope of winning for a while, but after entering the second half, Meng Xu took over the whole game, and in the case of playing 41 minutes, he scored 59 points, 11 rebounds, and 7 assists, but Meng Xu took the initiative to apply for the game when he was only 1 point short of winning the finals 60+, but many people regretted that this was 60+ in the finals, and Meng Xu gave up like this, so at the post-game press conference, after Meng Xu just sat down, the reporters in the audience asked Meng Xu questions.

"There was no reason, the score, we were sure we were going to win the game, and I was tired, it's that simple, it's not as complicated as you think." Meng Xu answered the reporter's question calmly, but he was already secretly scolding MMP in his heart, if I don't play, that's my freedom, instead of caring about whether I play or not, you should ask the head coaches of both sides how to play in the next game.

"Meng, your efforts today, we have all seen it, you didn't rest for a minute before that, and you did pay a lot, but don't you think it's a pity to be able to score 60 points in the finals with only 1 point? It's the Grand Final, not the regular season! Compared with the reporters of the Los Angeles Times, the tone of the reporters of USA Today is much more subtle, not so obviously aggressive, and compared with the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times, these two are either black Meng Xu, or they don't look down on Meng Xu's media, and the attitude of the United States Today towards Meng Xu is much better.

"No, the data or something, it's never a problem for me, 50 points in a single game, 60 points or something, for me there is no difference between 20 points and 30 points, compared to these dispensable data, what I want more is to win, there are 7 games in the finals, which is a very big test for every player's physical strength, so I need to rest early when the victory or defeat has been scored, so as to prepare for the next game." In the end, Meng Xu also made a joke with them: "If you score 60 points in a single game, the league will award the O'Brien Cup directly to us, then I am very willing to try it in the game." ”

After Meng Xu said that he didn't care about the data, the New York Times reporter on the side couldn't wait to smack him in the face, you don't care about the data, you swiped the NBA's second-highest single-game scoring record in the game against the Knicks? You don't care about the stats, after you scored a 50+ triple-double against the Knicks? You don't care about the stats, in the four regular season matchups between the Pacers and the Knicks this season, you scored 40+ games every game? The devil believes in you.

"Meng, congratulations on winning the first game of the Finals, judging from this game, the San Antonio Spurs are not as strong as everyone expected, so will you end the Finals this season with only four games?" The New York Times reporter, who was very unhappy with Meng Xu, immediately asked Meng Xu a very vicious question after listening to Meng Xu's words that I don't like data.

Although the Knicks missed the playoffs again this season, the media in New York still liked to see the finals matchup this season, a Spurs, a Pacers, they are all teams they hate very much, no matter who has the last laugh, the New York Times can take advantage of the opportunity to fall into the hole.

"The teams that can make it to the Finals are the best teams in their respective divisions, the Pacers are like that, and the Spurs are like that, so we do our best to play every game and try to get a result that we are happy with." For this kind of obviously sowing discord, Meng Xu basically will not answer it head-on, if the Pacers' current opponent is a team like the Knicks and Pistons, Meng Xu will definitely answer him, yes, we are ready to send you home in four games.

Meng Xu's caution is obviously beneficial, because in the second game of the finals two days later, the Pacers lost, if Meng Xu didn't know how to say when he was interviewed by reporters, we were already thinking about when to lift the O'Brien Cup, then Meng Xu would definitely be a big deal now.

Since the schedule of this season's finals is still 2+3+2, whether it can win an away game, for the Spurs, the result is a world of difference, if you return to San Antonio with a score of 0-2, for the Spurs, it is no different from standing on the edge of the cliff, but if the Spurs can win an away game and return to home with a score of 1-1, then the next three home games, the Spurs are likely to kill the Pacers directly.

Therefore, in the second game of the Finals, the Spurs came up with desperate strength to play this game, especially Tim Duncan, who scored 32 points and 14 rebounds in the first game, and then cut 43 points, 23 rebounds, 8 blocks, and 5 assists in the second game.

Because in the first game, Meng Xu's advantage over the Spurs was almost overwhelming, so when the system reminded Meng Xu before the start of the second game that Tim Duncan's game state was demonic, Meng Xu didn't pay too much attention to it, but wanted to have a hard fight with Tim Duncan in the demon state with a hint of anticipation.

However, the final result was that Tim Duncan directly crushed all the interior lines of the Pacers, NN-Hilario, Jermaine O'Neal, Darko Milicic were all sent off the court with a total of 6 fouls, and Tim Duncan scored as many as 27 free throws in a single game, although Meng Xu also scored 41 points in this game, but Meng Xu's layup at a critical moment was taken away by Tim Duncan, so the Pacers also missed the final hope of a comeback.

"Wonderful, really exciting, this is the finals I want, this is what the finals should look like."

After the two finals, the most excited person is undoubtedly NBA commissioner David Stern, Wake Forest duel, but David Stern's dream result, and Meng Xu and Duncan, who finally met in the finals, did not disappoint David Stern, the ratings of the first game of the finals reached 15.8%, which is the highest rated game in all the finals since Jordan's retirement, as for the second game of the finals, the Pacers and Spurs created a record high of 19.6% horror ratings.

Behind such terrifying ratings, there are piles of dollars, the most intuitive way to put it, the TV contract negotiations between the NBA league and ABC, TNT, ESPN, have risen from 8 years and 8 billion US dollars when the negotiations first began, to 11 billion US dollars in 8 years now, and if the remaining games in the finals can also maintain the ratings in the second game, then the TV contract will rise further next season, and the average value is likely to exceed 1.5 billion US dollars per year.

While David Stern was still preparing for the NBA to enter another prosperous era under his leadership, the Pacers were mired in a losing streak because they lost Game 3 of the Finals on June 14.

Compared with the first two games led by Meng Xu and Tim Duncan, the third game of the finals became the stage for Manu Ginobili's performance, and Ginobili scored a game-high 36 points off the bench, especially in the crucial fourth quarter of the game, Manu Ginobili continuously caused Meng Xu's offensive fouls, which became the turning point of the whole game.

After the Spurs won two games in a row, the situation of this season's finals has become delicate, from the absolute dominance of the Pacers in the first game, to the parity after the second game, and now the Spurs are coming from behind, and this season's finals finally have a little "flavor" of the finals.