The rest is just noise

The United States was like this in May 1997. The entertainment industry was full of junk news that, in Louis' opinion, was not worthy of attention and dominated the headlines.

Eddie Murphy was arrested for secretly meeting transgender people, Ellen DeGeneres announced her coming out, the band that broke up reunited after so many years, who is who?

He collapsed again in public and was found to be the sequelae of drug addiction.

In contrast, Louis still likes the sports world.

For example, Mario Lemieux, the deputy dog ​​in the NHL world, announced his retirement, and all MLB teams retired the number 42 to commemorate Jackie Robinson, the pioneer black player in the major leagues - of course, Louis' favorite is from

NBA news.

The Heat and the Knicks, two super teams that have dominated the Eastern Conference in the past few years, ended the four games in the semifinals with their opponents tied 2-2. However, the controversies surrounding the game were more important than the game itself.

Attention.

For the Knicks, the main impact is the 300 million luxury tax before the season.

Sam Cassell and Allen Houston both said they were hurt.

And Scottie Pippen, a glass-hearted person with a glass heart, even had a broken mentality, and unilaterally announced that he would be retiring for the season during the season.

Since that day, the New York media has not stopped attacking Pippen.

Pippin is not a good boy who will let others scold him.

He railed against the Dolan family on various occasions, cursed the New York media and blamed teammates.

"When something like this happened to me, I didn't get any help or support from the team. They just watched." Pippen sneered, as if to say, then I now have the right to stand aside and watch.

The Knicks' internal conflicts are not that ugly.

Although their overall mentality was shattered, the internal atmosphere was extremely bad, and there was no possibility of repair, they still tried their best to play well.

However, according to this situation, even if they reach the Eastern Conference Finals, Louis does not think they can break through from the Eastern Conference.

If the Knicks in this state break out of the Eastern Conference, it can only be said that the Eastern Conference is really bad this year.

The internal fighting on the Knicks' side is still at a normal level. After all, it's all an extension of the regular season. It's different with the Heat.

Due to Petrovic's contract extension issue, the atmosphere within the Heat team has been bad since the beginning of the season.

At the beginning, Manning could still pretend to be a qualified leader, sacrificing the ball for Petrovic to prove himself.

However, the Croats were not grateful for this.

In Petrovich's view, it was Manning who ruined this team. He should give the ball to himself now, unless he wants to drive away another teammate who is among the top ten in the league.

Manning was very angry. He really didn't expect that Petrovich had no gratitude to him.

The conflict and contradiction between the two began during a joint training session within the team.

Petrovich said some nasty trash talk after Manning scored.

Manning then pushed him. If his teammates hadn't pulled him, they might have gotten into a fight on the spot.

From this moment on, things were not normal inside the Heat.

Since Petrovich's contract extension has not been finalized, there are increasing internal instability factors.

Heat godfather Lewis Shafir has a hard time talking.

He also wanted to renew Petrovic, who was a direct line member of the Heat with a well-established reputation. However, the other party wanted an eight-figure annual salary, which was unbearable for them.

If Petrovic is given the contract he wants, the Heat's total salary will exceed the cap next season by more than $30 million. By then, the luxury tax that will hit them head-on will become a terrifying monster.

Therefore, Shafir acted in full compliance with his boss's instructions, dragging his hands around Petrovich, and telling the media that he was uneasy about the relationship between Petrovich and Manning. Of course, this news was made by someone with no knowledge of the matter.

Disclosed by famous insiders.

The Heat management's approach was understood by Manning's team as the management's delay in renewing Petrovic's contract because they were afraid that Manning would be unhappy.

This gave Manning a very wrong understanding of his team's status. He thought he was the master. He felt that the Heat could not do without him, so he became arrogant and did not take anyone seriously.

During the playoffs, with every game, there is new news within the Heat.

There are rumors that Drexler is uneasy about his current situation.

Reggie Lewis is starting to rethink his future.

Jalen Rose isn't sure he has a future with the Heat.

Petrovic's agent revealed that his employer will test the free market this summer and the window to return to Miami has almost closed.

This is news that came out at the height of the playoffs.

Manning's response to this?

"I really don't care about these things, I just want to lead the team to advance to the Eastern Conference finals." Finally, he said, "Fans, please rest assured that as long as I am here, the Heat will be a respected team."

.”

Manning's serious look made Louis laugh heartily in front of the TV.

At the same time, Manning's appearance also gave him some inspiration.

The consequences of overindulging a star will destroy the foundation of a team.

In the battle between the Heat and the Celtics, the explosive bag that had been buried under the Heat finally exploded.

Sampson and Malone's inside pick-and-roll cooperation broke down Manning's defense.

Malone's offensive methods after rolling down the pick-and-roll have no blind spots. Manning thinks he is talented, but in fact, every mountain is higher than the next.

Malone's talent and combat power that were buried in Utah were fully reflected in this game.

This is the number one power forward in the league.

With Malone's full output, Sampson can save his energy to do things that are not reflected in the data.

On the offensive end, Sampson is always in a high position as the pivot, stretching the space and distributing the ball to provide support.

On the defensive end, Sampson's ability to protect the basket frightens Miami's old teammates. Even at 37 years old, as long as he steps into the penalty area, he is still an insurmountable peak.

Manning failed to attack the basket several times and was forced to shoot a fierce jumper from the outside.

However, this cannot penetrate the Green Army's inside line.

Petrovich criticized him a few times during the timeout. Because the game was not going well, Manning, who was in a bad mood, burst into uncontrollable anger.

"You fucking think you can teach me how to do things?!"

This was Manning's final warning.

Petrovich said coldly: "You are as soft as a piece of chewed bubble gum. You are no match for Karl Malone."

Unable to control his anger, Manning punched Petrovic on NBC's live camera.

"You stupid damn European dog!"

Manning punched several times before being pulled away by his teammates.

"I will let the team trade you!" Manning roared, "This is my fucking team! There will be no problem in trading you, you are a fucking burden to us!"

The commentator exclaimed, the commentator talked about the impact of this conflict on the Heat, and the media was already gearing up and couldn't wait to flock to the Heat's media room after the game to ask questions.

In the president's office at the Forum Office Building in Los Angeles, Louis was not surprised at all by the accident he saw.

From the day the luxury tax was introduced, from the moment Shafir chose the latter between Sampson and Manning, the Heat's outcome was doomed.

The reason they chose Manning is simple. Manning is younger and can still play well for at least five years, but Sampson is too old, so old that people can't see that he is a leader a hundred times better than the former.

As the general manager of a championship team, who would you choose as your cornerstone between Duncan in 2013-14 and Cousins ​​in his prime?

If he had to choose 10,000 times, Louis would choose the old Duncan who promised not to mess up before the finals started, and then really smashed the Heat, instead of being childish, stupid, irritable, irritable and never mature for ten years.

Get up Cousins.

In Louis' view, the choice between Manning and Sampson is much easier than the choice between old Duncan and peak Cousins.

However, these sentiments were all hindsight after all. The Heat were falling apart in front of the whole world, and Louis just felt sorry for Shafir.

One wrong decision directly ruined the future of a top team that had the potential to maintain championship prospects for many years.

However, looking back at history, are there still many such things?

It just changed the place and name, and maybe the process. The result is destined to be a spectacular failure. It is so terrible that when the participants get old, a documentary may be shot to squeeze out its remaining value.

As a person who witnessed the whole process of the Heat's collapse, Jim Buss, like the Heat's supporters, has a question for Louis: "Why, Sir? Why did they go to this point?"