unfinished glory

Chapter 148 Aftermath
Since it was the home court of the Cavaliers, although the Spurs players were very excited, they did not celebrate too presumptuously.

The stage was quickly set for the awards ceremony, with Stern congratulating the Spurs and handing the championship trophy to Holt.

After receiving the 2006-2007 championship trophy, the Spurs players shouted happily again, competing to take photos with the trophy.

Then the FMVP was announced, and there was basically no suspense about this award.

In the last game, Duncan only scored 21 points, but Li Chongxiao went all out and scored 45 points, showing those cynics that he is fully qualified to win the FMVP award.

Duncan averaged 26.25 points and 13.5 rebounds per game, while Li Chongxiao averaged 32.25 points, 7.5 rebounds and 7 assists.Unless the judges are blind, or have some stake in it, it's impossible to make a wrong choice.

As Stern read out Li Chongxiao's stats slowly to the note, the final award became clear. In the end, Li Chongxiao won the highest honor in his career, FMVP!

When Li Chongxiao held up the trophy, Huaxia fans couldn't believe it.Although there were already signs in the previous game, when this moment came, people were still caught off guard.

The grievances of many fans about his reluctance to join the national team dissipated in no time. Facts proved that his two summer efforts were worthwhile.

Li Chongxiao won the FMVP, which also caused a big shock in the American basketball world.

After Nash became the first non-American regular season MVP, Nowitzki became the first non-North American regular season MVP.

Now that even the finals have been captured, Li Chongxiao has become the first non-American FMVP in NBA history.

The NBA is becoming more and more international. No wonder Stern grinned from ear to ear when presenting the award to Li Chongxiao.

The NBA's professional team estimates that in the next few years, the NBA's revenue in the Chinese market is expected to reach one billion US dollars. In terms of costs, due to the two live advertisements of Li Chongxiao and Yao Ming, more than half of the revenue is pure profit.

What makes Stern even more happy is that the finals for two consecutive years have become a stage for young people, and emerging forces have begun to stand in the foreground, sweeping away the lack of successors for the league's stars in the previous two years.

In his mind, James and Li Chongxiao are in the Eastern and Western Alliances, and there will be a few more finals in the future, which is expected to reproduce the situation of the "black and white duo" fighting for hegemony back then.

……

Back in San Antonio, the team prepared a huge welcome ceremony, as well as a championship parade.

Spurs fans are the happiest fans in the past few years. In the past five years, they have won three championships. Although they failed to defend the title successfully, this record is enough to make them feel proud.

But for Li Chongxiao, this year's playoffs is the most difficult game he has ever played.

He not only has to compete with opponents on the court, but also against the pressure from Coach Popovich.

Popovich's basketball tactics made him feel very depressed. Most of the time, he felt that he was restrained.

Through this round of the series, he thoroughly understood Popovich's basketball philosophy, and felt the differences between himself and the coach in basketball philosophy.

To put it simply, Popovich believes that the team is a machine, whether it is ordinary players or stars, they are all parts of the machine, and only by operating step by step can the machine's effectiveness be better exerted.

And Li Chongxiao thinks that players are human beings, strong and weak, sometimes high and sometimes low, and cannot be as stable as a machine.

Team tactics do work in many cases, but superstar basketball is another way of playing and should not be regarded as a scourge.

In fact, these two concepts only have different emphases, but they are not opposite to each other.Both Li Chongxiao and Popovich are smart people, it is impossible not to see through.

In essence, the biggest difference between the two lies in who should take the lead in the team.

Popovich certainly felt that the head coach had the final say, and that the Spurs were formed and coordinated by him to achieve today's achievements.

And Li Chongxiao believes that the star is the core and soul of a team. No matter how powerful Phil Jackson is, he can't hide the brilliance of Jordan and the edge of the OK combination.

On this kind of issue, the players in the league basically have the final say. Popovich is against the trend, but this is his charm.

The success of this season has further enhanced his authority. In the eyes of the outside world, he can represent the Spurs better than Duncan.

Not only are there such fans in the United States, there are also some people in distant China who think so.They always talk about basketball as a team sport, and try their best to downplay the role of stars, saying that they just appreciate team teams.

There is nothing wrong with this kind of thinking, just like some people like flashy offense while others like iron-blooded defense.

But some fans who like the Spurs always emphasize the team, deliberately ignoring that the team has a three-time MVP in the top ten in history for one team and one defense, an FMVP for two teams and one defense, and two All-Star players. It's ridiculous.

……

This season, Li Chongxiao has gradually grown into the team's second core. The duo of him and Duncan also reminds people of the OK combination of the vertical and horizontal league.

Li Chongxiao's growth trajectory and team record have made people gradually stop mentioning the title "McGrady". Many commentators and fans think that he and McGrady are players of the same level.

Some extreme fans even abused McGrady on the forum, thinking that a player who has not even played in the second round of the playoffs, why should he be compared with the two-time championship member and the new FMVP.

This statement slowly fermented after the Spurs won the championship, and soon spread to McGrady's ears.

McGrady was very annoyed by the statement. Facing the reporter's interview, he said without hesitation: "Wait for him to get a 30-point season, and then compare with me."

This is a very good angle, which made the media very happy. I didn't expect that there would be desserts to eat before the draft.

In the next few days, they kept provoking McGrady, expecting to dig out more news from him.

Li Chongxiao is a real watcher from the other side, he routinely goes home to practice for ten or so days every summer.He spends time with his family or conducts business activities every day. He learned about McGrady from the reporter. He said with a smile that he didn’t know about it, and he will pay attention to it later.

In China, the heat of this matter is not the highest. The media are not so concerned about McGrady's remarks, but are more interested in Li Chongxiao's FMVP.

But when Li Chongxiao returned to the United States, he was surrounded by reporters. When he heard McGrady say, "He just hugged Duncan's thigh. If Yao Ming was replaced by Duncan, I would also be FMVP." At that time, he couldn't bear it anymore.

Li Chongxiao didn't intend to have the same knowledge as McGrady when it came to ironing himself, but when it came to his good friend Yao Ming, he couldn't remain indifferent, and responded:
"It's true that I didn't have a 30-point regular season, but I had a 30-point Finals."

(End of this chapter)