When the Lakers were out, there was only 1/3 of the audience left.

Hollywood's celebrities are long gone. They're not pure fans, and if the Lakers can't pull off a miracle, it's a time-wasting farce for them.

Players from both sides greet each other.

Kobe Bryant looked like the most injured one, and this year was supposed to be a year of revival for the Lakers, only to have him lose out.

The Lakers have been like an attractive soap opera for the past few years, when Kobe averaged 36 points per game, they stopped in the first round, and then Kobe couldn't stand it and asked for a trade unless the Lakers strengthened him. Kidd's arrival alleviated some of the problems, but not all. The trade seemed to qualifies Kobe Bryant for the title, but in the end, his injuries and a still lackluster roster led to the defeat in the Western Conference Finals.

Kobe Bryant didn't win the MVP and now he's losing the series.

In one season, he lost all the competition he could.

"I won't bless you." Bryant said to Fly, "But I'll bless Seattle." ”

Yu Fei responded simply: "Thank you." ”

Without too much emotional exposure, Bryant maintained a superficial coldness.

This is the person in Yu Fei's memory.

He remembers that when he was training in Las Vegas last year, he often went to nightclubs with Anthony and them, and one day he saw Kobe Bryant wearing a jersey in the elevator in the middle of the night, with a solemn face.

Anthony asked him what he was going to do, and Bryant only replied coldly: "Training." ”

Yu Fei still remembers everyone's reaction.

Kwame Brown said with trepidation: "It's good that I didn't go to the Lakers in the first place, this guy is a freak." ”

Therefore, this year's defeat will not break Kobe, he will quickly recover from his injury, and then return to training and catch up with the Beijing Olympics.

Yu Fei began to receive blessings from the rest of the Lakers.

In his opinion, only Xiao Ao's blessing is the most sincere.

"Da Fei, promise me one thing."

Yu Fei could probably guess what he was going to say.

"You say."

"You know, I'm the only one who's beaten you in the playoffs in the last seven years." "I hope this record will be maintained. ”

Yu Fei understands the truth, but why does Xiao Ao emphasize the past seven years instead of the past eight years? Is it because he hasn't been the only one for eight years?

"Even if I don't say yes, Seattle will say yes." Yu Fei said, "We have a reason to win. ”

"That's good. Also, tell that dog mongrel. Ao still hasn't forgotten Brown, he "loves" him so much. "I'm averaging 16 points and 10 rebounds per game in the Western Conference Finals, and he's twice as big as him, he's not my match at all, and he'd better keep his mouth shut!"

Yu Fei couldn't laugh or cry.

Other people in the supersonic speed do not have such a peaceful mind as Yu Fei.

Every time he wins against the Lakers, what George Karl looks forward to most is the handshake with the opposing coach after the game.

"I'm sorry, but this time it's me who wins!"

It's Carl's favorite thing to say in recent years.

Combined with his extremely smuggling face and under-pumping tone, it was enough to inflict extra damage on the other side.

And the happiest thing about Carl was when he said this to Phil Jackson.

It is obvious that the Zen master's years of practice in Zen could not make him settle his mind.

Tonight, Karl was still like this, with a smug look on his face, and came to the sidelines with a smile: "Oh, Phil, I'm sorry, although you are very good, there are always people who are better, and I will win this year." ”

Jackson couldn't even say a word of courtesy to this kind of bullish bastard.

He's rarely angry anymore, but Carl is able to break the defense with precision every time.

For no other reason, in the eyes of the Zen master, Karl used to be just a general person who liked to talk high, claiming to be his old enemy, but he didn't get into his eyes at all.

Enemy? He also deserves it? Just because he played the most stress-free finals of his career with supersonics?

Then, somehow, in the summer of 2001, Karl suddenly got a gift from his North Carolina juniors and traded the second-best rookie in Wizards history, indirectly creating a dynasty team with four championships in five years.

Yu Fei surpassed all the active players in a short period of time, and Carl also became a phoenix, and began to shout with himself all day long, preaching everywhere that "although the coach is useful, if Phil doesn't have MJ and OK, he will achieve nothing like me before."

"Laugh, George." Jackson said to Karl with suppressed anger, "Wait until the Finals, and you'll see that your young players are as weak as lambs in front of the Celtics." So just laugh now, because you'll soon be unable to laugh. ”

"Thank you for your blessings, Phil." Carl really laughed even more, "It's so much better than all that 'good luck' bullshit!" ”

The SuperSonics went home with the Western Conference champions.

It was their fourth Western Conference championship in franchise history.

However, Payton and Kemp's 1996 Western Conference Championship was overlooked as they were overshadowed by the aura of 72 wins over the Bulls.

It's just that the blood of the horns of that bull is part of the glorious deeds of the other party.

In the eyes of true supersonic fans, the 1978 and 1979 Western Conference championships are what matter. That's the key to SuperSonics starting with an unrespected garbage team and having a solid fan base locally.

Outside the airport in Seattle, a large number of fans came outside to pick up the plane.

The SuperSonics, who have successfully qualified for the finals, have garnered the attention of the whole city, and now the eyes of not just Seattle but the entire state of Washington are turning here.

They became the center of sports in the Northwest.

At this point, the Celtics were tied 3-3 in their first six games with the Bucks.

The two sides are not conceding a home game, but Celtic, who have home advantage, can play Game 7 at North Shore Garden.

The SuperSonics have already qualified, and they need to wait for the results in the East.

The wait is tough, but Seattle has waited enough time.

The SuperSonics' coaching staff expects the Celtics to face the Finals, so all setups so far have been for the Green Army.

The Furtado Center, a supersonic training base, is getting more and more crowded.

Lately, the staff here have been able to see their owner, Clay Bennett, walking around as if the wind was blowing at his feet.

Bennett has every reason to be excited.

Before the financing plan for the new stadium for the society began, his phone was blown up.

He doesn't need to pull his face to look for investment at all, because he is so popular, his current worry is, who is better to give investment opportunities to?

Warren Buffett and Ballmer already have the lion's share, and the remaining share of the investment needs to be put to good use.

Then, there's the supersonic's recent record.

The regular season has already allowed the SuperSonics to meet the revenue standard of a large market - $100 million. But the income from the playoffs is a different story.

As the hype escalated, the gimmicks increased and the attention continued to rise, SuperSonic, who had the league's number one star and had a fantastic story, became the darling of sponsors.

Bennett gets excited just by looking at the earnings report every day.

Today, he walked into the arena and found the team's president, Lenny Wilkens, looking at the players training with a serious face, so he went over and said, "Lenny, why are you sad?" ”

"Mr. Bennett," Wilkens has all the qualities a boss likes, tough, silent, smart, and capable. But he also has a drawback, which is that he is outspoken. "We've won four Western Conference championships, but there's only this year's Western Conference Championship flag on the Futado Center."

This is a "change of plan".

Supersonic was meant to be moved, so the elements that evoked nostalgia shouldn't continue to exist, so Bennett had everything that showed the history of the SuperSonics removed.

"You have a point, Lenny." Bennett said dissatisfied, "It's Sam's problem, he's thinking too poorly, we SuperSonics are a team with a glorious team history, and just hanging a flag will make people think that we have no history, and even think that we are a long-term cursed team like the Clippers!" ”

It's hard to hear a lifelong Oklahoma man say something like "we're supersonic."

But Wilkens held back.

He's not a guy who shows his emotions easily.

"You're right, boss." Wilkens decided to go along with it.

Bennett nodded happily, "Lenny, then you can get busy first, I still have some business." ”

Bennett was gone, but not far, and he looked around like a king returning to his palace, pointing out the shortcomings of the Futado Center and proposing to renovate the arena in the summer.

For him, it doesn't matter whether the superSonics win the championship or not. As a businessman, he has already made a lot of money this year.

After training, Yu Fei came to the sidelines to receive a massage from his personal trainer, Tim Grover.

Wilkens was standing next to it.

"Lanny, I heard Clay was here?" Yu Fei asked.

Wilkens replied succinctly, "He should have gone back to the office." ”

"Oh, I've got to find a chance to tell him that the lockers in our dressing room are too old." Yu Fei smiled, "You know what? I heard that Cleveland had made LeBlanc a special cabinet with a TV, stereo, snacks and books. ”

Wilkens didn't answer, he didn't know what the use of having so many things in his closet was. Isn't a wardrobe just a wardrobe?

At this time, Yu Fei's buddy Lawson asked: "Lanny, I've been hearing people say that this year is like 1978, you must know what this means, right?" ”

"I only know the basics." "There were 22 teams in the league that year, and the SuperSonics were 21st before the season began," Wilkens said. ”

"That's right!" Lawson said, "There are now 30 teams, and the SuperSonics are 29th pre-season. ”

Wilkens added: "We made the finals that year. ”

"That's right, that's right!" Lawson laughed, "We also made it to the finals. ”

Wilkens, who never knew what humor was, added: "But we were defeated." ”

"Amount"

Yu Feipi said with a smile: "It's time to end this discussion, we are not at all like the supersonic in 1978, because we will win." ”

Hearing this, Wilkens actually laughed.

It's one of the rarest things that happens to him.

He was laughing at the passage of time, he was laughing at Yu Fei's youthfulness, but he was also laughing at the stories and people that were no longer returnable, 30 years have passed, and few people remember how the supersonic miracle happened back then, how a dilapidated team turned from the garbage of the city to the totem of the city. Not all failures are outright failures, and some failures are meaningful.

However, Wilkens knew that Frye Yu would never understand this.

Because he rarely loses.

This is a man who sees victory as a necessity in life, and he comes for it, so he will never think about losing, let alone imagine the beauty of failure, and he will never try the sweetness of success after repeated failures, which may be the luck of contemporary Seattlemen.

They won't lose.

Wilkens thought to himself.

(End of chapter)