In the final moments of Game 5 of the 1998 Finals, Shay used a drift back on the right flank to play in the back of the game. Miller chased the ball with all his might.

In 1998, Michael. The first year of Jordan's second retirement.

The Chicago Bulls, led by Maddie and Van Horn, are happy to take the top spot in the reverse league.

With 11 wins in the whole season, he is at the bottom of the East, and the Nuggets, who are also 11 wins in a single season in the West, are shining for a while.

The Bulls' average ticket price for the '97-98 season was only half of last season's, and even that still can't resist the crazy drop in attendance.

No one knows how Klaus felt at this point, after all, just one season ago, they were the highest-grossing team in the league with just 11 losses in the regular season.

In just one year, it has become only 11 wins in the regular season, and ticket revenue has been greatly reduced.

Do you really think the fans are here to watch the game? No, fans and book lovers alike come to see people.

It's to see Michael. Jordan's.

Klaus's ability to dismantle the team is so strong that it is estimated that only the 6-year-old Ou Shenxian can match it.

As a result, instead of the Chicagoans to reach the Finals, it became the Indiana Pacers team in the original history who played seven games against the Bulls in the Eastern Conference Finals.

Beep King Bird leads his trash-talking three-point assassin out of the East!

Nix? Laughing to death, they couldn't even snatch a win from the Pacers.

The Pacers' Dutch giant Smitz averaged a team-high 19.5 points per game on the Sharks' head! Simply because, the shark never pounces to defend against the opponent's mid-range shots.

Smitz and Reggie. Miller relied on the cooperation of blocking and dismantling with one hand, and he abused O'Neal so incompetently and scolded angrily:

"If the Dutchman dares to go one-on-one with me, I can beat him!"

But such a shout is like a woman's "ah don't", which will only make the attacker work harder.

In this way, the shark still holds its own record of being swept once a year.

In order to express their determination to beat and win the championship, the tenacious Pacers even shaved their heads with all their ambitions, which has become a beautiful scenery in the NBA.

But just when the people of Big Cornfield thought they could finally reach the top, the most indisputable basketball god, the most terrible basketball devil, did not give them any chance!

In the first two games of the series, the Lakers firmly held the Pacers in the Great West.

The championship flags seemed to tell the Pacers players that they were playing a Finals that was destined to end badly.

The third battle returned to the big cornfield, and the tenacious and unyielding Reggie. Miller delivered that classic push. Of course, the person he pushed changed from Jordan to Shay.

This stubborn blow made Reggie. Miller helped the team pull one back.

It's hard for people to imagine how this thin guard who looks like a hemp pole can compete with Shay, a basketball god and demon.

Shay also shook his head, although the first two Pacers were big defeats, Reggie. Miller was arguably the toughest player of the '90s.

It is worthy of the tough guy who refused to recruit for Logo two years ago, refused to team up with Shay, and said that he must lead the Pacers to defeat the tough guy of the Lakers.

However, this is where the Pacers and Reggie are. Miller was all he could do.

After this one, the Pacers were furious.

In the fourth game, Shay scored 45 points and gave it to Reggie. Miller suffered a 12-point loss.

And then there's today.

The Pacers were united and kept biting the score, but they couldn't get ahead.

With 33 seconds left in the game, the Pacers were still trailing by three points.

At this time, four-time MVP, scoring champion, steal king, DPOY, the undisputed king of the basketball world.

Throw the basketball from your fingertips with a drift back on the right wing of the court.

Then, in Larry. Bird's solemn gaze crossed Reggie's. Miller, hollow into the net!

Shay, 38th of the game.

In the last 32 seconds of the game, the difference was stretched to 5 points!

Reggie. Miller crossed his waist, his face full of helplessness.

His defense just now was obviously impeccable, and he didn't lose his position at all.

In fact, Reggie. Miller's defensive performance in this year's Finals was fantastic.

But time and time again, Shay shot the basketball again and again without any problems with his defense.

This goal made the fans watching TV in Los Angeles cheer.

Because now, Shay is highly likely to become.

The first player to win three consecutive championships since the 60s!

"In the last 32 seconds, Shay is only 32 seconds away from establishing a three-peat!

We are witnessing history! ”

Amid the shouts of the on-site narrator, Shay smiled and looked at Reggie. Miller.

Shay admits that Miller is a first-class tough guy and a real man.

If it weren't for being too stubborn and unwilling to leave the Big Cornfield, Shay would have really wanted to be teammates with someone like Miller.

But no matter how much you appreciate each other, on the basketball court, Shay will not be merciful!

He looked at Miller, who was already desperate, and said softly:

"Reggie, you are indeed the best player on the planet.

After all, you're the only person other than Jordan who can force me to use 80% of my strength.

You're strong, but I'm sorry, I'm God!

Remember, don't mess with Basketball Jesus! ”

Reggie. When Miller heard this, his heart was already shattered.

The whole Pacers team has done their best, and Reggie has done their best. Miller also took out what he had learned all his life.

But as Shay said, he only used 80 percent of his strength. Miller's all, in exchange for Shay's ease.

So far in this year's finals, Shay has only G4 and has scored more than 40 points in a single game.

And in last season's finals, Shay and Jordan's showdown, Shay averaged 40+ per game in the finals!

It's not because Shay's scoring ability has declined, it's because Shay doesn't have to score that many points to break the Pacers.

The Pacers couldn't even force out one of the strongest Shay!

In fact, the Pacers are not inferior to the Lakers in terms of staffing or tactical strategy.

Bird's level as Coach of the Year speaks for itself.

But they can't beat the Lakers, and if they lose, they lose without Shay!

The Pacers are a very tough team defensively, but the offense is only mid-league in the league.

It's more similar to the Lakers.

The difference is that the Lakers have a super scorer and the Pacers don't!

This leads to the critical moment, the Lakers' offensive ability is stronger than the Pacers, which is why the Lakers can have an advantage!

To put it bluntly, it's because of Shay!

And according to Reggie. Miller knows that Shay is still playing with an ankle injury.

This tenacious son of the cornfield has been completely conquered.

After a round, Shay's defense allowed Reggie to defend himself. Miller hit a key three-pointer.

So far in the fourth quarter, Shay has only allowed Miller to score four points.

Shay, on the other hand, scored 10 of the Lakers' 21 points in the fourth quarter.

With his terrifying individual ability, he blocked the last glimmer of light and hope for the Pacers.

Mutombo grabbed the rebound, and Dutch giant Smitz had to make a tactical foul on Mutombo in desperation.

But everyone knows that it doesn't help.

As long as that No. 23 is on the floor, it seems like the Lakers will never lose the Finals.

Sure enough, Mutombo's one-of-a-two free throws didn't change anything.

At the last moment, Mark. Jackson missed a quick three-point shot, and the Pacers regretted a 6-point difference and sank in the Finals!

On the court, Shay pursed his lips, jumped up, swung his fist, and swept the world!

With three consecutive championships, Shay's reaction was calmer than expected.

He didn't have the excitement of his first win in '93.

There was no excitement of winning the championship for the second time in '94.

There was no tears after winning the championship for the third time in '96.

There is no glass of wine that toasts his ankle in 97.

It's as simple as throwing punches, raising arms, and dominating the alliance.

This year, the Lakers have encountered too few obstacles along the way.

68 wins in the regular season, this is still Carlisle is afraid that someone will be injured in the playoffs, so he deliberately released a few games at the end of the season.

Otherwise, it can win 70+ games.

Only two losses in the playoffs, one was to the Jazz in the Western Conference Finals and one was pushed away by Miller.

Phoenix Suns? Unfortunately, the Fliggy Jazz suffered a back injury during the regular season and didn't make it to the playoffs.

So the Suns lost Barkley in the playoffs and failed to meet the Lakers in the Western Conference for the third year in a row.

No sun, no Jordan. All of this has made Shay's three-in-a-row season uneventful.

A quiet victory, a quiet harvest honor, a calm champion.

Shay looked at Reggie. Miller, sighed.

Sometimes Shay wished he had beaten Michael at the moment. Jordan.

Miller is strong and not fake, but

It's still a little bit off.

Three consecutive titles, the fifth title in seven years of his career.

This made Shay feel as if everything was out of challenge.

These three consecutive championships are too easy to win, and which man likes Mu Gong?

Mai Buckle, Mai Buckle, why did you say you left so early?

It is said that Jordan is now preparing to be his own boss.

Shay sighed, you don't really think you have talent for everything, do you? At your level of drafting, it's better to blind draft with your eyes closed, what kind of boss you are.

Shay took the stage and took his championship and FMVP away, almost like an annual routine.

Stern smiled as brightly as last year, and finally, the league has finally had a three-peat, three-peat, dynasty since the 60s!

Last summer, Shay's influence had already made the NBA popular.

This year's three consecutive championships have been achieved, and presumably Shay's popularity will reach its peak!

But

It's enough for Shay to be so strong, no matter how strong it is, everyone can't play it.

Something like the Celtics' 8 consecutive championships and 11 championships in 13 years will never happen in Stern's hands.

Shay's glorious story, that's it!

Shay looked at Stern's complicated expression, and knew that this summer would be extremely turbulent.

Because in the summer of '98, there will be a new round of collective bargaining.

During the last collective bargaining session, both the player and the owner reached an agreement:

If the player's gross salary exceeds 51.8% of basketball-related revenue, the management has the right to terminate the agreement early and renegotiate three years after the agreement becomes effective.

There is no doubt that player earnings now far exceed that figure.

In March, the league released data that total player wages accounted for more than 57% of basketball revenue, and 15 teams in the league were in the red.

In fact, in the process of Shay's victory to win the third consecutive championship, the representatives of the two sides have already conducted 8 rounds of negotiations!

It's just that neither side has agreed.

The owners want to add a hard salary cap to the NBA to prevent a second superstar like Shay from appearing with an annual salary of 40 million.

Even if there is only one Shay in the league, the owners can't stand more and more players taking tens of millions of annual salaries.

Just before the expiration of the last collective bargaining agreement, no player in the league had an annual salary of tens of millions, and the admiral's annual salary of 7.3 million was already a staggering one.

But now, just three or four years later, the league's highest salary has become Shay's 40 million!

And the highest salary of the alliance that year was 7.3 million, and now it can't even enter the top 20.

So after winning the championship this time and returning to Los Angeles, although the fans are still very high, although the news of Shay's "official god" is endless.

But both the players and the owners have a little more worry on their faces.

After all, if there is a shutdown, it will be a huge loss for both sides.

On June 22, less than a week after winning the championship, the two sides held their ninth negotiations, but the result was an unhappy breakup.

So, Stern immediately announced.

The NBA closes all arenas, and the shutdown officially begins!

For a while, the news of the NBA shutdown even overshadowed the heat of Shay's three consecutive championships.

You know, the last time the NBA was shut down was in 1976. Fans don't know when the NBA will restart, or if it will ever restart.

Of course, Shay was not idle.

In the offseason, he took time off to go to Georgetown University.

to their mentor John. Thompson, brought with him an incredibly tall big man.

"This" Thompson looked at the square-faced tower in front of him, first very surprised, then happy.

It's time for work!

It just so happens that Wang Zhizhi has decided to participate in the draft this summer, and Georgetown University needs the next leader!

This mysterious oriental giant, Thompson has been paying attention to him.

Although he has only been here for more than a month, the rivers and lakes are already full of his legends.

First of all, at a certain gram training camp in May, he was known as "the strongest hope star in the ugly country", and at the age of 16, he was considered to be able to enter the NBA. Chandler.

A schoolboy who was abused by this mysterious giant from the East as if he couldn't play.

Although the Oriental giant will soon be 18, 2 years older than Chandler. But the gap between the two is simply the difference between a basketball master and a layman.

Countless newspapers at the time exclaimed: "The gap between Chandler and the Giants of the East is like the gap between Drexler and Shay!" ”

Slip: 3Q, 5Q!

And just two weeks later, the figure of this terrifying and mysterious oriental giant appeared at Jordan's training camp.

The old rascal couldn't help but be shocked when he saw the big Asian man wearing the No. 198 jersey.

I don't know why, Danzi now has a heart attack when she sees an Asian!

But Jordan told himself that not all Asians are Shay.

Hu Weidong has played in the NBA for so many years, isn't he just an ordinary rotation player.

Wang Zhizhi is in the NCAA, didn't he win the championship like chopping melons and vegetables?

However, the next game between the young players still reminded Jordan of the horror of being dominated by the Lakers' No. 23 back then.

First of all, the defense of the Eastern giants, especially the rim protection, is simply invincible.

There are no peers who can score on him.

Volleyball big risks, top hats, and all kinds of big risks are staged again and again under Jordan's nose.

If it's just a strong defense, it's nothing, at most it's the next Mutombo.

And after Jordan read the information, it was also written: "He is mainly responsible for defense in the Chinese game, and he is not very good at attacking." ”

As a result, this guy who "doesn't know how to attack" can play a turnaround jump shot in the middle range of various jump shots!

With a height of more than 2.2 meters, he is still playing with a turnover jumper!

This Nima is even more perverted than Shay!

That's it, the coach who brought him here at that time was very dissatisfied.

The 1.6-meter coach jumped up and slapped the Oriental giant on the buttocks, shouting: "Buckle, you have to buckle!" ”

After Jordan's training camp, the Oriental Giants were once again in the newspapers.

Among them, the Houston media directly used the "eighth wonder of the world" to describe this oriental giant.

In just one month, he set off a bloody storm in Ameriken, the hometown of basketball.

And at this moment, he actually stood in John. In front of Thompson, do you think Thompson can not be excited?

A college coach gets a chance to coach a genius, just like an old ruffian gets the chance to call the best, it's so excited that I can't sleep!

What's more, it's still this kind of transnational airborne, which is even more exciting!

Shay saw that Thompson's harness was about to leak out, so he patted the big man next to him on the ass: "Say hello." ”

The big man was just stunned for a moment, and Shay reacted at this time, his left ear was not good, so he switched to the other side: "I said, say hello!" ”

The big man smiled and waved his hand at Thompson shyly: "Hello coach, my name is Yao Ming!" ”

Shay shook his head, and when he remembered that he would play an international game in the future, with a blind defender and a deaf center, the picture was simply like playing the Paralympics.

Shay officially handed over Da Yao to John. Thompson, the coach who has produced three Chinese NBA players.

Although Wang Zhizhi has not yet been drafted, he is already sure to be selected.

No, the NBA draft on the 24th was picked by the Timberwolves with the 17th pick in the first round, becoming the fourth Chinese player to land in the NBA after Shay, Lao Hu, and Bus.

In the original history, it was roughly a second-round show in 99.

And in this history, because he played in the NCAA and performed well, and he participated in the draft a year earlier than in the original history, it was logical to enter the first round!

Give Yao Ming to John. Thompson, Shay is looking forward to it.

If nothing else, this is estimated to be the highest-ranked Chinese player cultivated by Thompson!

Unconsciously, the starting lineup of the Chinese team is basically players who have established themselves in the NBA.

Nowadays, the Chinese team is indeed a strong basketball team.

The only regret is that they have never defeated the Dream Team.

And this is also something that Shay has been secretly planning!

Although such a thing as defeating the Dream Team seems very incredible in this era.

But after thinking about it, he took his 40 million annual salary, won three consecutive championships, and Jordan retired.

What else can't happen!?

But before that, Shay had to have surgery on his ankle first!

In this year's playoffs, Shay has been playing with an ankle injury, and his ankle has been sore, but he can't find a reason.

Viti gave Shay a full check-up the other day, only to find that Shay's ankle ligaments were in a very unstable condition.

To put it bluntly, the perennial high-intensity battle has made Shay's ligaments reach the limit.

Although it is not seriously injured yet, the soreness that has been felt all the time is a warning.

If left unchecked, the risk of major injury is very high.

Viti suggested that a ligament strengthening surgery should be done before a major injury occurs.

Surgery can tighten and strengthen one or more ligaments on the outside of the ankle joint to increase the risk of injury.

The advantage of this surgery is that it allows Shay to avoid a major career injury that can have a devastating impact on basketball players.

But the downside is that the recovery period for this surgery is very long, and it is expected to take 6-7 months of recovery period!

To be honest, the recovery period for this surgery is about the same as having surgery after a major injury.

The only difference is that if you wait until the surgery is too bad, you won't be able to go back to the way you used to be.

Although the recovery period of this operation is long, it basically does not affect Shay's athletic ability.

Shay didn't want to do it at first, if he really recovered for so long, he would be directly reimbursed next season.

But now, because of the shutdown of the Union, Shay has found out.

This is the best chance to have surgery!

Because if history doesn't change much, next season won't start until February of '99.

And if he has surgery, Shay is expected to be back in 100% condition in March and April, which is equivalent to only missing the new season for more than a month.

To defuse this ticking time bomb, Shay decided to undergo surgery.

After a period of conditioning, Shay underwent surgery to strengthen his ankle ligaments in August.

The surgery was a great success, and Shay officially entered a long recovery period.

During Shay's break, labor negotiations were also in full swing.

The most common basketball news Shay sees these days is that Shay's time is over!

Because more and more new rules are being exposed in labor negotiations, they are very targeted to Shay.

First of all, some media revealed that the NBA is going to open up joint defense.

The move was seen as a restriction on Shay's ability to attack too much.

Joint defense is not allowed, there is no team in the whole league to take Shay and have a way!

Secondly, some media revealed that after the player with bird rights jumps out of the contract in the future, the team must also retain the salary space of that player in order to renew the contract with bird rights.

In other words, Shay's game of jumping out of his contract to make room for the team to strengthen and then risking a contract extension will no longer exist.

Coupled with the fact that Shay had such a major operation, the outside world didn't know how much he could keep his state.

For a while, the topic of "Shay's Fall" became more and more popular.

Finally, on January 6, 1999, after a 129-day shutdown, the two sides finally reached an agreement.

Many of the new rules have also been officially implemented.

After the labor negotiations ended, the Chicago media uniformly gave a news headline:

"Shay's death is coming"!

Because all these new rules point to one goal: to let Shay, who has won three consecutive championships, go down the mountain!

Everyone seems to believe that the era that belongs to Shay has completely passed.

Thank you for the 5,000 reward from the big guy Cong Jun, thank you for the reward from the big guys such as the withered moon Wutong, thank you!

(End of chapter)