The rest is just noise

2-in-1

After losing to the Knicks on Christmas Eve, the Trail Blazers unexpectedly lost in Boston to a team with Jordan, Thomas, Barkley, Sabonis, and Nance. They lost against the Celtics who only had Sampson.

Sampson manipulated Sabonis like plasticine in that game.

His dominance lasted the entire game, finishing with 66 points, 14 rebounds, 5 assists and 7 blocks.

Even if Sampson performs like this, without the help of his teammates, it will be difficult to defeat the Trail Blazers.

Billy Owens provided maximum help, recording a triple-double of 26 points, 11 rebounds and 12 assists.

If the Blazers perform normally, even if Sampson performs like this and Owens performs at a super level, the two sides will still be in a 50-50 matchup.

But in the end the Blazers lost by 12 points.

"This team is starting to get toxic."

Bill Laimbeer said it to the point.

He concluded that there was a problem in the Trail Blazers' locker room, and Riley's control over the team was no longer what it once was.

And this judgment is not unfounded.

Riley used high-pressure tactics in Portland.

He wants the players to feel tremendous pressure and at the same time brings an unbearable amount of training.

Barkley complained endlessly. He persisted for two years but gained nothing.

Now he couldn't hold on any longer.

Riley's words no longer work. Barkley's self-management ability is his number one problem in reaching the highest level.

He is not the kind of person Jordan would endure anything to win.

And this is precisely where Riley, Jordan and Barkley differ.

Barkley and Jordan used to be die-hard buddies, but now their relationship has cracked.

Jordan repeatedly emphasized the need to work harder, but this determination is not seen in Barkley.

The Christmas War brings up all the problems.

The Blazers took a turn for the worse and lost consecutive games.

On the Knicks side, there are no problems either.

The contract extensions of Louis and Wilson have never been finalized, and the future of the team is uncertain.

At the player level, the conflicts in the past have been eliminated this season.

Because of Ewing's growth, and because of Wilson's deliberate avoidance, a new balance emerged.

But the problems of individual players cannot be completely eradicated.

For example, Muhammad Rauf, whose faith has always been a sensitive area within the Knicks.

Everyone knows that place is untouchable, but fans don't think so.

Rauf may be the only Knicks player who is not popular in New York.

Rauf was most criticized for his disdain for pre-match rituals last season.

When the superstars that MSG paid a lot of money to come on stage to sing the American national anthem, Rauf was either not present, stayed in the locker room, or stood in the corridor waiting for the ceremony to end.

Therefore, some fans insulted Raouf as a coward.

He didn't even dare to look at the Stars and Stripes.

There were more and more voices like this, which made Rauf make a decision.

January 12, 1994

This is a special game, the second game of the season between the Knicks and the Magic.

Ewing, O'Neal, Kemp, Webb, this will definitely be an extremely bloody internal hand-to-hand battle.

The garden was full, and all the seats in the front row were occupied. Even Louis, who had not appeared at MSG for many days, came to the scene with his family.

Before the opening scene, the camera specifically showed Louis.

Louis' daughter seemed to dislike the atmosphere at the scene and clamored to go home, but was hugged hard by her father.

Then, Louis probably told a joke to make his daughter laugh.

"If the leader renews his contract with the team, I am willing to help him coax his daughter for free." Knicks star Walter Frazier joked.

Angie then said: "Then you have to work hard, Clyde, Coach Lu's daughter is the smartest child I have ever seen, and she is not that easy to coax."

In this happy atmosphere, Rauf decided to do something big.

In fact, when Louis saw Rauf among the players on the Knicks court, he felt that something was wrong.

The opening ceremony is about to begin, and Rauf usually finds an excuse to get out of the way at this time.

But he's still on the field.

Has he figured it out, or has he lost track of time? Or, is he planning to do something?

The person in charge of singing the national anthem tonight is the queen of rock and roll, Tina Turner. However, although she is famous, Louis only knows her because she had a fight with her husband.

As a man, her husband finally lived up to the physical structure given by the Creator that is more conducive to fighting. He had an absolute advantage in points and undoubtedly defended the dignity of men. But it would be great if he could not defend his dignity by beating women.

.

At this time, Louis didn't care at all about Tina's severely fat figure. He just wanted to know what Rauf was going to do.

He also wanted to rush down to the field to remind Rudy.

But he cannot do this in his current status.

Moreover, the most sacred moment of the national anthem ceremony has begun.

Everyone must stand up and must not move without permission, even Louis, a foreigner.

Tina sang loudly, while Rauf lined up with his teammates.

"Oh, you can see the first ray of light at dawn!"

The high level of singing is always a great pleasure for the audience, and patriotism can be seen spreading among the Americans who are proudly paying attention.

"What makes us so proud and cheering at the last light?"

There is only one American who has no pride on his face.

Unfortunately, that person is Rauf.

He put his hands on his waist, and Stockton behind him had a look of horror on his face: "What the hell are you doing?"

His hands extended downward, and his body slowly sank.

"Stop!" Stockton's roar attracted the attention of the person in front of Rauf.

Reggie Williams turned around like he saw a ghost: "Damn, what are you doing?"

He didn't do anything, Rauf just felt that he had to do what he should do.

He has to show an attitude.

"Oh, that Star-Spangled Banner is still flying high, isn't it?

Flying in this land of freedom, in this home of the brave!"

At this moment, Mohammed Abdul-Rauf sat down.

In this land that claims to be free, in this country that advocates individual heroism, Rauf has used an irreversible way to let everyone understand that he does not care about the bad song that Tina Turner is singing.

He also doesn't care what others think of him.

He can do whatever he wants.

"You're going to fucking kill us!" Stockton roared irrationally.

Rauf closed his eyes, the corners of his mouth were trembling, and his shoulders kept twitching.

He can't control his mood, just like he can't control other things. The only thing he can control is his own will.

Just when the whole audience was in an uproar, Louis turned around indifferently and left the scene.

From that point on, no one cared about the game.

Rauf's behavior began to be discussed, from fans to commentators.

"This is an unforgivable move," NBC announcer Marv Albert said.

Rauf made the game awkward, and the Knicks fans at the scene didn't know whether to support their team.

His teammates were also at a loss.

The whole game was shrouded in a weird atmosphere.

In the end, the Knicks won.

The dedicated Wilson and Ewing showed their prowess, one dominated the outside and the other dominated the inside, making the Magic's geniuses suffer in the away game.

After winning the game, Ewing didn't feel relaxed at all.

Because he knows the real trouble lies behind.

"Patrick, what do you think of Mohamed Abdul-Rauf's disrespectful behavior towards the flag?"

At this time, playing dumb is Ewing's only way to avoid taking a stand.

"I don't know. I'll figure it out and then I'll have the answer."

Wilson saw the sensational live broadcast mishap as an opportunity.

An opportunity to make him even more disliked by the public.

"I don't want to comment on this matter. This is MAR's freedom." Wilson said indifferently, "I don't care."

However, not everyone can grasp it as clearly as Wilson and Ewing.

John Stockton did not hesitate to stand against Rauf: "I can neither understand nor forgive. This thing makes me sick. What makes me even more sick is that I have to fight with him."

Fighting side by side, he must stand up and give everyone an explanation."

Stockton is known as the American Wolf Warrior, and Rauf's behavior today touched his bottom line.

Kemp's answer was completely copied from Ewing: "I haven't figured out the situation yet, so I don't know what to say."

"I don't give a damn what he does!" Rodman responded like a self-destruct truck. "If this country is free enough, then why does it matter if he stands to listen to the national anthem or sits to listen to the national anthem?"

"Because this is a serious offense to the national flag."

"What the hell, I'm tired of hearing your fucking platitudes, MAR can do anything in that situation, we can stand and salute the flag, we can sit and salute the flag, I don't give a fuck if he's standing

Stay or sit!"

The amazing thing is that although Rodman's statement was very incorrect, no one would follow up on it.

Because he is not a normal person. Unless he shows a clear disgust for the national anthem ceremony like Rauf, no one will care what he says.

In addition to the Knicks' core players, like veteran captain McHale, he also tried to make peace.

When people asked him to comment on Rauf's behavior, McHale looked surprised: "Who are you? You don't appreciate such a wonderful game, but you care about boring things?"

"Kevin, do you think it's boring to sit down during the national anthem?"

"What? Did he do this? I'll talk to him."

The answers from his teammates were varied, but only Stockton was clearly on the opposite side of Rauf.

Tomjanovich felt bitter, he did not expect such a thing to happen.

He should have noticed something unusual about Rauf. This guy was the first person to come to the court tonight to shoot and warm up. He usually would not attend the national anthem ceremony, but today he unusually chose to stay.

If it were Louis, he would definitely be able to stop Raouf before he causes trouble.

"This is an earthquake." Rudy wanted to use abstract metaphors to avoid the reporter's questioning. "We are all fleeing. When we escape to safety, we will think about why we did this.

so."

I don’t know whether Tomjanovich’s metaphor was too obscure or the reporter didn’t expect to get the answer from him.

After hearing Tomjanovich's answer, the reporter let him go.

The reporters were very sorry. They originally wanted to ask Louis to comment on this matter, but Louis was nowhere to be found.

Where did Louis go?

Of course he was not idle!

After Rauf did what he did, Louis reacted in the shortest possible time.

He first called the league office and asked them to impose the heaviest suspension on Rauf.

It was Stern's assistant Garcia Lynn who was responsible for contacting Louis, but he did not know how many games to be suspended because there was no precedent.

"10 games?"

"Is it too much?"

"I think it's just right," Louis said. "This matter is no small matter. The league must show a clear attitude and deal the heaviest blow. Only in this way can it stabilize the fans and deter other people who are eager to try."

Then Louie called his friends at the Times and Post and asked them to rush out two articles.

One article was responsible for fanning the flames and was published online.

An article is responsible for changing the topic and making things get out of control.

Finally, the Times published an article titled "The Madness of Dissidents" detailing the story of Rauf's madness.

The Post's article used Rauf's fault to insinuate attacks on the *** community, forcing other *** who originally opposed Rauf to side with Rauf. However, Rauf was

There is really no sense in this matter. Desecration of the national flag and national anthem ceremony is unforgivable in any country.

Louis' approach was callous, banning him for 10 games and slandering the entire *** group, all in an effort to keep Rauf.

That night, Louis appeared in the dressing room for the first time in a long time.

His face was so gloomy that no one dared to talk to him.

Louis walked up to Rauf and said coldly: "Do you know what is waiting for you outside?"

"Got it, Patriot's Bullets."

"I hope you never meet a true patriot. Waiting for you is a bunch of frantic reporters. Do you know how long it usually takes them to wait for news like this? Thanks to you, they will be waiting for the next month.

There’s something to do.”

Rauf remained silent.

"You still have a way out." Louis said, "When you are outside later, you will say that you had an attack of Tourette's Syndrome when the national anthem ceremony started and that you could not stand."

"That's not true, I won't lie."

"Fuck you! I don't give a shit about you!" Louis yelled, "You have to say that!"

Rauf's shoulders were shaking and the corners of his mouth twitched, "I won't lie, sir."

There was endless anger in Louis' heart, but most of that anger was because he was powerless to do anything about the situation.

How do you stop moths from flying into the flame?

"You can do whatever you want." Louis turned and walked away, "I am no longer your coach, Muhammad."

Rauf took a deep breath and prepared to walk out of the locker room to face reporters.

"Leave yourself a way out!" Ewing shouted.

Rauf responded: "I will."

Rauf walked out.

Ewing muttered: "Can he really do that?"

"Really?" Rodman sarcastically said, "He's a fool. He's just a reckless fool. He'll make the coach angry!"

Tomjanovich cleared his throat, "No matter what, MAR is still one of us, and we have to keep silent about this matter."

"I don't expect you to stand with him, but at least we don't have to stab him in the back."

Stockton couldn't bear it anymore: "I can't do it!"

Tomjanovich looked at him seriously: "You have to do it."

Stockton's quarrel with Tomjanovich is another story.

Rauf came before reporters alone and explained his behavior.

When reporters asked why he was showing such disrespect for the Star-Spangled Banner.

Rauf replied: "Because in my opinion, that flag is a symbol of oppression and tyranny. My faith teaches me that the only way to deal with it is not to look at it and to chant and pray silently. I will not criticize those who stand

I won’t criticize those who oppose me, and this is how I resist them.”⑴

Not only did Rauf leave no escape route for himself, he also cut off all avenues to defend himself.

He has taken a dead end, which is even more horrifying than his collapse in front of the media last year.

Last year, it could be said that he was ill. Now, his thinking is very clear and his logic is very clear.

While he was being interviewed, Louis watched the live broadcast in another room.

When Rauf said "oppression" and "tyranny", he angrily threw the remote control in his hand.

What happened today means that even if he succeeds in transforming Rauf, he will go bankrupt as a result.

What happened today means that the original version of Curry he imagined in the 1990s will no longer exist.

What happened today means that Rauf will be isolated by the entire league. Even if he has the strength to gain a foothold in the league, no team will be willing to provide him with enough opportunities.

He will be squeezed out of the league bit by bit.

In this matter, the alliance will be very covert, and each team will reach a tacit understanding to let him disappear quietly.

The last time Louis was this angry was when John Salley betrayed inside information to a writer.

But Selly finally redeemed himself in the final.

But Rauf, he put in so much hard work, but this is what he finally got in return?

A self-righteous cerebral palsy, fighting for the right to chant during the national anthem ceremony, carried out a terrorist attack that disrupted the entire team's formation and destroyed his own future?

That night, Jack Krueger, who probably had not been involved in team affairs during the season in a million years, called Louie's house.

It is worth mentioning that the last time he called Louis' home was also because of Rauf.

"Lu, what are you going to do with that madman?"

⑴This is indeed the case.