The rest is just noise

contract of intent

This kind of thing, in the ranks of professional sports, is like the first step in striking up a conversation in our daily lives.

Hello, can you give me your contact information?

If the other party gives it, although it does not mean that it will definitely happen, it at least has a probability of happening.

If placed in the field of SP, the contract of intent is like all kinds of unspeakable GIFs all over the Internet. Many people will ask everywhere to find the source of the GIF, but in the end, those who have made great efforts to find the source will be disappointed to find

The essence of the entire content is concentrated in those few seconds of GIF. In short, it is just one sentence: You have been fooled, you are a scumbag.

Louis took a look at the contract of intent and found some interesting information.

It is the board of directors who drafts this contract.

If the Knicks hadn't become a golden brand, people at the head office probably wouldn't care about the appointment and dismissal of personnel in this organization.

Now that they have taken Krug away, they have directly skipped the level and given Louis a contract of intent, which can prove that the Knicks are indeed a high-quality property owned by the company.

But they also know very well that without Louis, the Knicks may still be able to make money, but they will not be as good as they are now, so they want to find out what Louis thinks before making the next step.

In addition to the board of directors, there are a few points.

They wanted Louie to both run the basketball operations department and serve in a decision-making position at the Knicks' superiors, Madison Square Garden Entertainment.

At the same time, they promised to give the basketball operations department more autonomy.

Louis can see full sincerity in this contract, they really want to keep him.

But this contract is a bit surreal and unrealistic for Louis.

His main business is professional basketball.

After leaving professional basketball, he may not be doing better than those professionals in other aspects, so bringing him to the decision-making level of MSG has almost no meaning other than giving him more power.

At the same time, if he comes to the decision-making level of MSG, he may have to interfere with everything big and small, which will seriously distract his energy.

So, it's a sweet trap, tempting for Louie, but unnecessary.

That night, Louis suffered from insomnia.

Although the contract of intention was written in a colorful way, he was not tempted.

Louis is very sure that he will not get a better offer from other teams than this intention contract, but renewing the contract with New York means that he is completely bound and locked to this city, and he will become the Reed of the Midwest.

Auerbach, as the latter meant to New England.

Becoming Auerbach was a very attractive goal when Louis was 20 years old.

Because he was just Bill Fitch's assistant at the time.

But now, being the second Auerbach is no longer so fun.

Because this is what Louis has in his pocket, and if this is his pursuit, then his pursuit has come to an end.

Could it be that at only 34 years old, he has reached his personal peak here?

Louis opened his eyes and went running again.

Fortunately, Lorraine was not awakened this time.

June 12, 1994

The entire Knicks team flew to Portland on a special plane.

They're already familiar with Portland.

In the past two years, they have come here to play three finals.

Now with a big score of 2-0, the team's morale is high.

On the other hand, Trail Blazers supporters don't have enough confidence in the team.

A pessimistic atmosphere enveloped the torn city.

Jordan felt that he had to do something to prevent the team from collapsing like this.

Therefore, this generation of genius who was running wildly along the path of a tragedy maker held a players meeting on the afternoon of Game 3 match day.

This meeting is very personal.

Jordan didn't let or in other words, he didn't allow the coaching staff to participate.

This made Pat Riley very angry.

Jordan opened his heart at the meeting, recounting all the failures he experienced after joining the NBA, and then asked Barkley: "Did you escape from Chicago just to taste the taste of failure like a tragedy master?"

Barkley raged: "I'm here for the fucking championship!"

Jordan then yelled, "Play like a fucking champ!"

The atmosphere was lifted like this.

Finally, Isiah Thomas asked sarcastically, "Do you know what a championship is? Have you ever won a championship?"

Barkley spoke with difficulty: "The Olympic champion... is also a champion."

Thomas sneered: "Glory belongs to the United States, no one cares about the Olympic champion on our resume."

Barkley was anxious: "That's why I fucking want to win an NBA championship!"

Thomas said loudly: "Then stop being angry with the coach and do what you have to do."

It can be said that this was the turning point of everything.

The Trail Blazers were originally lifeless and lacked connections between players. If Jordan hadn't been so amazing in the Western Conference Finals, they wouldn't even have been able to reach the Finals.

Now, it's Jordan again. He used a player meeting to break up the internal conflicts, bring everyone together, and make the Trail Blazers a threatening team again.

The only one who was dissatisfied was Pat Riley. He and the coaching staff were excluded from the players. He was completely unable to grasp the psychological state of the players before the game started.

All he knew was that something had changed.

For example, Barkley, that son of a bitch, stopped fighting with him.

That's a good thing, of course, but Riley still wants to know what happened at the players' meeting, but no one will tell him.

Riley is very worried. He is afraid that the players will reach some kind of tacit understanding and consensus such as "let us focus on playing basketball first and wait until the offseason to change coaches."

After all, players are the ones who have the closest connection. Jordan and Barkley are as close as brothers. Although the two have serious differences in their views, can Jordan really break with Barkley because of different ideas?

It turns out that Riley was overthinking.

Because the players don't have time to think about it now.

That night, Jordan, Barkley and Thomas showed the world a vicious team.

They took advantage of the home court advantage of the Memorial Coliseum and adopted an unreservedly violent basketball style against the Knicks.

Every round, someone has to fall to the ground.

This inevitably brings injuries.

Reggie Williams became a victim of violent basketball. His layup was blocked in the air and he broke his arm when he landed. He was diagnosed with a fracture after the game and was reimbursed for the season.

An angry Rodman wanted to avenge his teammates, and he targeted Jordan and did the same thing.

But Jordan's core strength allows him to still stabilize his body's center of gravity when he is violently attacked.

This horrific game disgusted many viewers.

For this reason, many people gave up watching the game.

This obviously affected the ratings.

But Portland doesn't care about this. It's not their obligation to play a good game. Their obligation is to satisfy their fans. How can they satisfy their fans? Of course it is to win.

As long as they can win, they will do whatever it takes.

"Portland is too crazy to accept losing to New York again."

At the end of the game, the score was 98 to 94. The Trail Blazers held the first home game with a 4-point advantage, with a big score of 2-1.

The media criticized the Blazers' rough play.

Riley dismissed these criticisms: "The Knicks did the same thing to the Celtics in 1988. I don't want to tell you what is right and what is wrong. I just want to say that basketball is always a sport.

It starts over and over again, like a bad rapper doing the same rhymes."

"We won't make excuses."

Tomjanovich tried to be magnanimous.

"The Blazers' style of play has a great impact on us, but we will definitely adapt."

Encountering such a predicament for the first time, Tomjanovich acted very immature, making the fans want to replace him with Louis.

At this time, Louis had already turned off the TV and was preparing to take a rest.

He could see that Portland was going crazy, just as the Knicks did when trailing the Celtics 3-1 in 1988 and decided to do whatever it took to create opportunities for themselves.

There is still more to play in this series.

The Blazers have full confidence in winning.

This is not to say that they did not have the confidence to win in the previous games.

For various reasons, the Knicks were in a disadvantageous situation in the first two games against the Trail Blazers.

The Trail Blazers are the team with the upper hand.

You know, faith is only important when playing against the wind.

If you have the upper hand, what else do you need to believe in? You deserve to win. If you lose, just find the reason yourself.

This is why the Blazers went crazy, they missed two opportunities.

On the same night, in a luxury residential area in west Los Angeles, a puppy kept barking, attracting the attention of neighbors.

Someone went to check, but found two people lying in a pool of blood in front of the house. A shocking case was about to shock the country. By then, except for the case itself, other things would not be important to people.