Chapter 165: Three Games Away from the Championship

Si Jia Li had come to shoot a promotional film for the movie "We Bought a Zoo." Miami had always been a place Hollywood actresses loved; the climate was charming and the scenery beautiful. Who wouldn't like to play while working here?

Not to mention, Jack Fan was here too.

It is worth mentioning that during the filming of this movie, the male lead, Hollywood heartthrob Matt Damon, had been rumored to be in a relationship with Si Jia Li.

Finally, this Hollywood superstar, who was annoyed by the rumors, complained to the media last week: "I don't even play basketball, why would you think she would date me?"

This sentence made the audience in front of the TV set run wild with imagination.

And now, the media had taken photos of Jack Fan and Si Jia Li on the beach.

It is worth mentioning that the media had taken some strange photos.

Jack Fan and Si Jia Li had dug a big hole on a secluded beach, then Si Jia Li seemed to lie in the "paint," and then Jack Fan buried her, leaving only her head exposed. Jack then lay down there too, using a huge piece of cloth to cover Si Jia Li and his lower body.

Si Jia Li's explanation afterward was: "This is a method to remove dampness. It's normal that you don't understand; Traditional Chinese Medicine culture is profound and vast. This is the beach dampness-removal method."

That photographer had once vividly revealed: I did see that yellow cloth undulating violently; it should have been Si Jia Li's head, but I didn't take a picture. The camera in my hand at the time was too terrible, and they found a very hidden place, surrounded by palm trees…

Entertainment media were gossiping to their heart's content about what Fan Xi and Si Jia Li were actually doing on the beach, and whether that "dampness-removal method" was really effective. Anyway, the North American Traditional Chinese Medicine Association had already come out to claim it, saying that doing this indeed had a dampness-removal effect, but they couldn't understand why Jack was lying next to her. Could it be "Yin-Yang harmonization"?

By contrast, sports media launched a verbal attack on Fan Xi. They felt that Fan Xi doing this would affect Los Angeles's morale. As the most powerful guard in Los Angeles after Kobe, he should shoulder the responsibility of the game, not go to the beach to remove dampness with a rumored girlfriend ahead of time.

…

Fan Xi received the news from his agent Lu Yuan and PR Ma Chen respectively.

Lu Yuan told Fan Xi not to be affected by those sports media; they were just making trouble out of nothing now and couldn't affect any market trends. Just do his own thing.

Ma Chen told Fan Xi even more that the off-season was coming soon, and these gossip news actually helped increase his influence.

Both of them carried a bit of encouragement.

But Fan Xi didn't think so.

He originally hadn't planned to go to the appointment, but Si Jia Li was too charming. Her voice on the phone was so captivating that it made "Little Jack" restless, and she also mysteriously told Fan Xi that she had an inside tip to tell him.

Fan Xi was as hard as iron on the court, with a tenacious will. But off the court, he was indeed a bit soft-hearted. Although he wasn't Zhang Wuji, but… in terms of emotions, he was slightly passive. But then again, who could resist these Hollywood sirens? Even Tang Seng wouldn't be able to hold up.

Si Jia Li had received rave reviews for her performance in "Iron Man" last year, and her Black Widow image made fans excited.

She was indeed a treasure of a girl. At 27, she was like two gold bricks in front of Fan Xi, always able to bring him new surprises.

When she proposed to give Fan Xi a surprise on the beach, Fan Xi's adrenaline spiked, almost causing his brainwaves to shoot out directly.

Therefore, Fan Xi even felt a little regret.

Perhaps letting go a bit more would be better.

With Kobe Bryant injured and out for the season, Fan Xi's thirst for strength grew, especially in terms of physical stamina. A day earlier, Phil Jackson had conservatively said to Fan Xi: "Jack, we can't even change our tactics now, because your stamina might not last two quarters in the kind of confrontation in the Finals. LeBron James and Wade will definitely take turns wearing you down."

"If you can play the whole game, perhaps we can use our interior advantage to maneuver with them."

Phil Jackson said this hoping Fan Xi wouldn't shoulder too much pressure. His thinking was the same as Kobe's; he hoped Fan Xi would score more stats and grow his skills and on-court reactions in the cruel environment of the Finals.

The Finals are the best place to forge a superstar.

These thoughts actually coincided with the expectations Jean Bas and the others had for Bynum.

To some extent, the Lakers were like a giant ship about to sink. The big shots on the ship were no longer thinking about steering the giant ship to the other shore of success; they just wanted to scrape together enough capital before the ship sank completely.

Fan Xi had this natural condition; if he wanted to compete with Bynum for stats, Bynum would be no match.

However, Fan Xi didn't want to.

Recently, every night when he went to sleep, Kobe's fighting spirit during those three minutes, as well as his dim state while lying in the hospital, would appear in his mind. He probably didn't want his third championship ring to slip through his fingers like this, right?

If you treat me as a national scholar, I will surely repay you as a national scholar.

…

June 3rd.

The second game of the Finals was held at the Miami Meihangzhongxin qiuguan.

This game attracted over 19,000 spectators. From the start of the game, the Heat's fighting spirit was very high, and the home fans shouted "beat" from the start, take down Los Angeles.

However, just at the start.

Fan Xi gave them a blow.

Fan Xi shook off Wade at the start and hit a 3-pointer under Deng Liwei's screen.

Subsequently, he forcibly accelerated to shake off Wade and killed his way into the paint, hitting a backhand layup.

Fan Xi's two consecutive decisive and fierce attacks were beyond Spoelstra's expectations. He had to mobilize more defensive forces to surround Fan Xi, and at this time, Fan Xi's passing found a way out.

Five minutes into the game, the Los Angeles Lakers led by 10 points, 16-6.

This once dropped everyone's jaws, and the shouting in Miami's home court came to a standstill.

However, after the first long timeout, Miami used the defensive strategy of having superstar Dwyane Wade press the whole court. Spoelstra saw that the Los Angeles Lakers had lost Kobe Bryant, leaving only Fan Xi as a reliable ball-handler on the perimeter, and Fan Xi's stamina couldn't afford the consumption.

Fan Xi's pace slowed down, and the Lakers' offense entered a stagnation.

Fan Xi once passed the basketball into the paint, letting Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol attack fiercely.

The two performed mediocrely, failing to achieve a shocking effect, and did not compress the defensive attention from the perimeter to the paint.

Phil Jackson, forced into a corner, even subbed in Lamar Odom as a "three-tall" lineup.

Odom would sometimes help Fan Xi bring the ball across half-court, but his current state was not the season when he won the Best Sixth Man; he couldn't even hit a shot when left two meters open on the perimeter.

Kobe's departure caused the Lakers' cohesion to vanish, and the original lineup advantage was slowly cut up and devoured by the Heat's Big Three.

Fan Xi tried his best to connect the whole team, but the effect was not obvious.

First, Fan Xi's stamina was insufficient.

Second, Fan Xi's offensive threat on the perimeter was not enough.

In the past, when Kobe was still there, the Lakers' interior and perimeter could act as horns for each other, two shocking offensive points taking turns bombing Miami's fast-break legion.

Now that the perimeter couldn't open up, the interior also hadn't accumulated the necessary advantages.

Fan Xi connected the first quarter, and the Lakers led by 3 points, 29-26.

In the second quarter, the panting Fan Xi sat on the bench, watching helplessly as the Miami "Golden Duo" launched a mercury-pouring-like counterattack. The fierce offensive momentum was like a tide, and the Lakers simply couldn't resist.

With 3 minutes left in the second quarter, Fan Xi insisted on going on the court to fight.

Fan Xi went on court and pulled Pau Gasol to play a high pick-and-roll, consecutively assisting Deng Liwei and Matt Barnes in hitting shots, stabilizing the decline.

But on the offensive end, they still couldn't resist the Heat's crazy offensive.

At the end of the first half, the Heat overtook them by 7 points, 58-51. If it weren't for Fan Xi going on court in the last 3 minutes, the point difference would have even expanded to double digits.

From the scene, it was completely the Heat suppressing the Lakers.

Every Heat offense was like water flowing into a channel, while every Lakers score was like a lucky hit.

Fan Xi played like a firefighter in the second half, plugging holes wherever they appeared.

He brought out a spirit of self-sacrifice.

19 seconds into the third quarter, in order to compete for the ball, he dove out and rolled into a ball with Dwyane Wade, finally ending up under Wade, but still passing the basketball out to Lamar Odom. Regrettably, Lamar Odom's layup was slapped out of bounds by James.

At 2 minutes and 19 seconds into the third quarter, Fan Xi forced an assault. He changed direction from Wade's left, used a nimble spin to get past Wade, and drove into the paint. However, he was met by James's help defense. The two collided hard in mid-air. Because he had tucked the basketball under his arm in advance, he dodged James's block, but he was sent flying by James's powerful body. Nevertheless, while losing control of his body, he forced a "flop" to draw a foul on James. He fell heavily to the ground, the massive thud causing all the surrounding spectators to be moved. But Fan Xi then calmly walked to the free-throw line and sank both free throws.

"This is a suicidal style of play."

Kenny said with his eyes closed; he felt very heartbroken.

Charles Barkley was also very moved: "This kid is a bit like the players of our generation. Although we were willing to go to the Golden Club before the game, when it really came to the game, no one would fight harder than us."

Smith rolled his eyes at him and complained: "Can the women at the Golden Club compare to the Black Widow?"

"Although the sense of conquest isn't as strong, there are also those with great bodies, faces, and skills," Barkley said happily; he seemed to have fallen into some kind of memory. Such commentary diluted some of the cruelty of the game.

However, Fan Xi's battle did not stop.

In the next possession after hitting both free throws, he tried to chase down James. He jumped up and descended from James's back. Although the basketball was pressed down by him, James's powerful impact also caused him to fall from James's back again.

When Fan Xi fell heavily to the ground again.

Phil Jackson requested a timeout; he demanded that Fan Xi must return to the bench immediately.

He didn't want another player to get injured.

At this time, they were trailing by 6 points.

Fan Xi was pressed onto the bench, and the team doctor hurriedly brought him an ice pack.

Fan Xi had received a huge impact in this game.

And when he left the court, the point difference expanded rapidly. Lacking Fan Xi, the "wallpaper hanger," the Lakers' building instantly became riddled with holes, and the score expanded rapidly.

By the time Fan Xi went back on court in the fourth quarter, the score had already expanded to 18 points.

Fan Xi played for five minutes, failing to shrink the point difference to single digits, and at this time he was already panting, unable to even straighten his waist. Forced into a corner, Phil Jackson subbed him out, and subbed out all the starters.

118:99.

The second game of the Finals was taken by the Heat with a sweeping momentum.

A point difference of nearly 20 points made the Miami home court boil. Throughout the game, except for Fan Xi creating crises for them, they enjoyed a slaughter with a very relaxed mood the rest of the time.

Without Kobe, the Lakers were like a tiger without teeth; they had the body of the king of beasts, but couldn't hurt the agile cheetahs, and were instead hunted and eaten by three cheetahs in a roaming posture.

"This is probably the epitome of this year's Finals."

Kenny Smith said helplessly: "Jack Fan's stamina problem is too serious, and his perimeter offensive firepower has failed to reach superstar level. However, he is still young, and he has an infinitely bright future. He was able to get 16 points, 10 assists, 5 rebounds, 2 steals, and 2 blocks under the sticky double-team of Wade and James; that is already very rare. He only played a total of 22 minutes."

"Yes, he is still a distance away from a true superstar. If his stamina could last the whole game, perhaps he could touch the threshold of a superstar. If his jump shot off the dribble hit rate reached 40%, he would be a superstar."

Charles Barkley said objectively.

"But these two points both need time," Barkley then said: "So, what follows will probably be the Los Angeles Lakers suffering three consecutive defeats, and the Miami Heat taking the championship in Los Angeles with the momentum of sweeping away fallen leaves."

"No matter how we criticized LeBron James last summer, no matter how we said he had no ambition, but now, we must admit that he won. The championship is everything."

"Although there will still be many people assuming what would have happened if Kobe hadn't been injured. However, this world is like this; the winner takes all, and the championship is justice."

"And, another sad fact is. With the Lakers' defeat this year, the last banner of the '96 Golden Generation has also fallen. Kobe, returning from injury, cannot possibly have this year's state again; time is forcing him to grow old step by step. The era belonging to LeBron James has arrived."

Kenny Smith said a lot after the game ended. His words could not hide his reluctance to part with the Golden Generation, and of course, it also meant closing the coffin on this series.

Subsequently, reporters interviewed LeBron James, who had scored 38 points, 7 assists, and 7 rebounds in the game.

LeBron James wiped his sweat in front of the camera, revealing a victor's smile. He complimented: "The Lakers are an admirable team. Jack Fan's tenacious spirit is exactly the same as Kobe Bryant's; they are so similar."

Subsequently, he smiled and said: "I know he has a boundless future, and the future belongs to him. Oh, and Kevin, and Chris, and Derek, and Russell…"

He could finally say this sentence with his chest puffed out.

Since 2007, he had been suppressed by this sentence: back then, Duncan had taken him down in the Finals and said to him, "the future belongs to him."

Now he could finally say this sentence in an "old-fashioned" way.

It's just that he didn't seem to have won the Finals yet; the score between the two teams was 1:1, not 4:1.

However, no one felt that he was wrong to say so.

Everyone seemed to have determined that Miami would take down Los Angeles in the next three games, just like tonight, just like a person who had been hungry for three days eating an Orleans sturgeon burger.

Not far away, there were even Miami fans holding up cardboard signs that read: Three games away from the championship.

…