Champion Rules

Chapter 85 081: The Shortcut (Seeking monthly votes!)

"Wanting to Wear the Crown"

Lin Qi looked at the slightly yellowed old newspaper in his hand, drew back the curtains, and opened the window, as if to throw out all the stale air from the room.

This newspaper is from exactly one month ago, when Lynch had just defeated Shaquille O'Neal's Heat in Game 7.

He defeated the top team in the East and led his team to the conference finals in his first playoff appearance in his career.

Then, his good friend Carmelo Anthony appeared.

"Linche needs to understand one thing: beating the top seed in the East doesn't mean he's number one." Before the series began, Anthony bluntly reminded his fellow Asian player.

The Detroit Pistons are powerful, incredibly powerful.

Under pressure from the two Wallaces, Lynch had no way to break through in positional play and score.

Lynch has a lot of offensive skills, but he doesn't have a real killer move yet.

Beneath the iron curtain erected by the two Wallaces, his back-to-the-basket moves were like a tidal wave crashing against rocks.

Ben Wallace's steel-like chest always pushed him out of his comfort zone, while Rasheed Wallace's towering arms turned every jump shot into a game of probability.

Attacking the basket? That's wishful thinking.

The Detroit Pistons were the ultimate answer to the Dark Ages of defense; they found the optimal solution to win under those rules.

Although Lynch can still score off the ball, the off-ball style itself limits his output.

So in this series, although Lynch still averaged 20 points per game, he did not score 30 points in any game.

Of course, although Lynch's offense was not going well, he still proved his value on the defensive end.

Rasheed Wallace averaged a paltry 8.6 points per game throughout the series, struggling offensively.

Most importantly, Lynch also limited Carmelo Anthony to just 13 points per game – compared to 20.7 in the regular season.

With Lynch's help defense, Anthony's title of "offensive kaleidoscope" seemed somewhat undeserved.

His efficiency in driving to the basket was too low, his mid-range shot was too reliant on his touch, and his ability to pass the ball out in double teams was inferior to that of his contemporaries Wade and LBJ. Limited by his stamina, his off-ball play was even less consistent than Lynch's, and his highest-scoring game was only 16 points.

Under Lynch's omnipresent defense, Carmelo Anthony was reduced to an inefficient mid-level offensive player in the Eastern Conference Finals meat grinder.

In terms of individual performance, Lynch is better than Anthony.

The series went on for six games, with Anthony averaging 13 points, 4.3 rebounds, and 2.5 assists, but less than 1 steal and 1 block per game.

Lynch averaged 20 points, 12 rebounds, 3.1 assists, and 2.8 blocks per game.

However, the Knicks ultimately failed to break into the NBA Finals due to the Pistons' perfect team defense.

This is what troubles Lynch the most—a guy who is clearly inferior to him beat him and ended up becoming the FMVP.

After the Detroit Pistons defeated the Knicks 4-2, they faced the Spurs in the Finals.

The lack of a mid-range defense in the Spurs' defensive system gave Anthony room to operate. Those isolation jump shots that were shut down at Madison Square Garden blossomed in the Spurs' defensive vacuum.

Carmelo Anthony, in his second year, rediscovered his glory in the Finals, averaging 20.4 points per game with a 43% field goal percentage.

Carmelo Anthony's stats against the Spurs were certainly not as impressive as Kobe's, but in a battle of extreme defense, the Pistons only needed Anthony as a breakthrough point to turn the tide.

When Manu Ginobili pierced the Pistons' defense with his unpredictable and unpredictable drives, Carmelo Anthony was able to respond with his mid-range isolation plays.

The Detroit Pistons defeated the Spurs 4-3 in Game 7, winning their second consecutive championship!

Carmelo Anthony won the Finals MVP, making him a legend, a legend that other young people can only look up to.

Lynch had never experienced such a defeat before.

In Serbia, he was better than Darko Milicic, so his team won.

In the European leagues, he outmaneuvered Jaskovicius, Mascio Baston, and Dejan Bodiroga, thus becoming the champion.

At the Olympics, his pure skill far surpassed Marbury's. He completely destroyed Argentina's frontline, and the Italians could only rely on outside shooting to gamble on victory, which is why he won the Olympic gold medal.

These victories all follow the most primal champion's law: when your fangs are sharper, victory will naturally bow down.

But this rule doesn't work in the NBA.

Lynch is a better individual than Carmelo Anthony, but he is no match for his Detroit Pistons.

He did better than Carmelo Anthony, but could only watch him achieve phenomenal success—two NBA careers, two championships, and one Finals MVP.

Blessed by God, Nike is almost being turned into a sub-brand by AJ!
Lynch knew the crux of the problem: the Pistons were much stronger overall than the Knicks.

Carmelo Anthony's success was not due to his superior ability, but rather because he was fortunate to be in a better environment.

If he continues on the same trajectory as before and ends up with the Nuggets, he will never achieve these things throughout his career.

Of course, Lynch's Knicks teammates had done their best, so he had nothing to complain about.

He was just very unwilling.

Knowing the truth and being able to accept the truth are two completely different things.

Fans 20 years later all know that Michael Jordan is not as good as LeBron, but very few people can accept this fact - how can someone whose career total points are less than Kobe's be compared with the all-time leading scorer?

Lynch was frustrated; he wouldn't say something like he was happy for Anthony.

Melon also knew Lynch's personality; the reason they were compatible was precisely because Lynch wasn't tactful enough.

So after winning the championship, Melo did not provoke Lynch.

He simply sent a few gigabytes of videos of himself practicing basketball at a nightclub until 3 a.m. to Lynch's email address.

I believe Melo; he has really tried very hard to restrain his desire to show off.

Lin Qi put down the newspaper and lay flat on the large bed. "Thump, thump, thump!"

The rhythm of knocking on the door roused Lin Qi from his reverie. He opened the hotel room door and saw the man who always calmed him down.

Alberto Herreros, the legendary captain of Real Madrid's basketball club and now assistant coach, stands under the corridor lamp carrying a wicker food basket, the aroma of olive oil and freshly baked bread wafting from the basket.

He's working part-time as a delivery driver and tour guide in Lynch today.

"Linchi, have breakfast! Try Angela's cooking. I heard she was making breakfast for the NBA Rookie of the Year, so she started researching recipes a day in advance."

After the Eastern Conference Finals, Lynch went to Spain, where he could get away from the hustle and bustle of New York and not have to see Carmelo Anthony holding up the Finals MVP award on TV every time he turned on the TV.

For the young Lynch, whose career has been going smoothly for a while, he needs some time to process his first major defeat.

Erero saw the newspaper with the headline "Wanting to Wear the Crown" on the front page, crumpled it up, and threw it into the trash can.

“In Madrid, we don’t read those trashy newspapers. Here, take this.” Herreros handed Lynch a copy of Marca.

The above article, which is quite rare, reported on NBA news.

"Although Carmelo Anthony won the championship and finally won the Finals MVP, we all know that Lynch was the best player."

Erero tilted the tin pot in an amber arc, and the rising steam swirled into mist at the rim of the porcelain cup.

He deliberately made a crisp sound as the teaspoon clinked against the rim of the cup, trying to wake the young man leaning against the window: "Look, everyone knows who the real master of the sky is. And look at the third edition, the kids in Madrid wrote you some messages and drew cheering notes with crayons, which are much better looking than Cameron Anthony's face."

"Alright, alright, Carmelo Anthony is the champion, and I lost to him. He's the biggest winner this season. That's the fact, nothing more to say. I'm not like Shaq who can't accept reality. I'm just still processing all of this." Lynch put down his newspaper and picked up his teacup.

"Where are you planning to go these next few days? Will you continue to order room service from the hotel?"

"Hey, I never use that stuff."

"I'm just asking for food, what's the rush?"

Lynch:
Seeing Lynch just eating his breakfast in silence, Herreros suggested, "Why don't we go hiking and relax? The scenery on Peniarara is quite nice this time of year, and it's not too far from Madrid. The hike isn't too difficult either. Come on, don't just sit here like an abandoned bulldog."

He grabbed the last almond cookie and bit into it: "Anything is fine."
-
A mountain breeze brushed against Lin Qi's hair, and in the distance, pine trees cast dappled shadows between the rocks.

Ereros poked the granite beneath his feet with his trekking pole, the metal tip making a crisp sound as it struck the stone. "How about it? Pretty good view, huh?"

Lin Qi leaned against the weathered rock wall, unscrewed the mineral water bottle, and swallowed hard.

To be honest, Lynch wasn't particularly impressed—the scenery was certainly beautiful, but Lynch wasn't someone who was sensitive to natural landscapes, not the kind of person whose soul would be cleansed by beautiful scenery.

He knew the old captain's good intentions, but it was obviously unrealistic to use beautiful scenery to heal himself.

This is like talking to a shark about self-discipline or to LeBron James about courage—you've completely misjudged the target.

However, Lin Qi was still very grateful for everything the old captain had done for him.

Looking at the distant blue lake, Lynch wiped his sweat and said, "Thank you for taking me out to relax, Alberto. I'll be going back to the United States in a few days; I have a lot of business to attend to."

"Since your heart isn't in this place, let's go down the mountain now."

"Hey, we've only just gotten here, aren't we going to enjoy the scenery a bit?"

"It's not important; what's important is the process of reaching the summit."

The young man suddenly laughed out loud, “Old Al, your process-only theory is too outdated. Look at those people riding horses up there,” he pointed to the leisurely tourists in the distance, “They saved themselves the trouble of climbing, but the scenery they saw was exactly the same as ours. Since some people can take a shortcut to the top, the process is actually not important at all.”

“There will always be people in this world who take shortcuts,” Alberto Herreros said, gazing at the distant scenery. “But that doesn’t stop you from sticking to your own path. You have your own journey, young warrior. Only you can decide what the process will be like. And different processes will ultimately lead to different outcomes.”

"No, it won't necessarily lead to a different outcome. Our destination is ultimately the same. Cameron can easily win two championships and an Finals MVP, while no matter how hard I fight in New York, I can only do what he has done, and the destination is just where he has already arrived."

"So, you think one championship is the end? When the Pistons beat Michael Jordan to win the championship, it wasn't the end for Michael."

For a basketball player, aside from retirement, the journey is always on the road.

A champion who takes shortcuts is definitely not the same as a champion who earns his title through hard work; time will reveal the difference. If Clyde Drexler wins a championship with the Trail Blazers, that championship will certainly be different from the one he won in Houston.

Don't envy others' easy success; it's worthless to you.

Embrace your difficult journey; that will make your victory shine even brighter.

Lynch didn't argue further; Alberto Herreros had given him another lesson.

He once guided himself to become a true professional player, and now he's teaching himself how to face failure.

He and Grant Hill were invaluable assets to Lynch.

“But then again,” Errero shook his head, “Melo is really lucky. The Detroit Pistons would be strong even without him. He’s probably the one who takes the most shortcuts in the entire history of the NBA. He was born on a shortcut.”

Lynch shrugged: "No, you haven't met the best shortcut taker yet, Alberto."

"who is it?"

"It's not me anyway."
-
Our goal is a three-peat! No matter what happens, no matter who tries to stop us, I will make this a reality. The regret of 1991 will not be repeated! Detroit, get ready to build a dynasty! — Carmelo Anthony shouted during his championship parade speech.

Eddie Jones is once again on the trading block by Pat Riley, who hopes to acquire multiple first-round draft picks. Where will this former All-Star wing go next? — NBA Time and Space.

This summer I will train hard. I promised Lynch I would help him win the championship. I also promised New York I would make them proud. —Stephen Marbury, in an interview with CCTV.

Tinker Hadfield leaves LeBron's shoe design team: Why do designers always leave LBJ's shoe design team? —ESPN Magazine

Milos Teodosic has torn his left ACL, and his draft stock has fallen out of the second round. — Belgrade Globe

The New York Knicks officially waived Allan Houston under the new rules, and the former All-Star guard announced his retirement. Shockingly, even with Allan waived, the Knicks remain the highest-paid team in the league. "Thanks to Isiah, he's truly great, no wonder no team dares to hire him now." —The New York Times.

Yes, we're 100% going to make the playoffs this time. You know, I don't lie to my hometown. — LeBron James in an interview with Sports Illustrated.

I've never seen a rookie achieve greater success in more challenging circumstances than Lynch. He led a team with a distorted salary structure to unexpected results. If the Knicks could trade Penny Hardaway, who's just getting paid but not contributing, for some valuable asset, Lynch might skyrocket to stardom. Penny could very well be the first player the Knicks trade this summer. —TNT analysis of the Knicks' offseason moves.

If Lynch is going to be outshone by a player like Carmelo Anthony, then the Knicks' management should all be shot! The youngest general manager in history, it's your turn to shine! Give Lynch a chance to show the world that he's far superior to that damn Detroit legend! —Stephen A. Smith

(End of this chapter)