NBA's King of Talking

The Thunder's Western Conference Finals opponent has been determined: the Spurs, one of the three major Texas illusions, known for their "old" image. The Spurs swept the Clippers in the semifinals to advance to the Western Conference Finals.

Before the Western Conference Finals began, major media outlets were already generating a lot of buzz, with some favoring both the Thunder and the Spurs. The media also felt a bit of a "happy dilemma": the Heat were likely to emerge victorious from the East, and if the Spurs reached the Finals, it would be a clash between the "Big Three" (Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, and Manu Ginobili) and the "Big Three" of the 2003 draft class, with rookie Tim Duncan facing off against LeBron James, whose future was in the making. If the Thunder reached the Finals, it would be a battle between the Thunder's young trio and the Heat's Big Three, a clash of talent and a chance for who would finally claim their first championship.

Regardless of the matchup, it's full of highlights, and the league is naturally happy to see a Finals series with such buzz. Looking back at the 2004 Finals, Spurs vs. Pistons, a seven-game series with rock-solid defense, the competition and excitement were incredibly high, but due to a lack of buzz, the viewership was extremely low.

The league is very reluctant to see this situation happen again. This is a business league. Although we haven't been able to have a "23 vs 24" matchup, as long as it's not like the Finals that had no buzz back then, it's fine.

The first game of the Western Conference Finals against the Spurs is on the 28th, so the Thunder have enough time to rest and prepare.

During this time, Jia Fei trained very diligently. He's in a good mood now; hitchhiking helped him successfully complete the task and earn points, which feels great!

Reggie found it strange to see Jia Fei, who was always smiling. Neither of them had a chance to play, so what was this guy so happy about?

The Thunder arrived in San Antonio, Texas on the 26th. On the 27th, the team held their final practice before the Western Conference Finals, preparing for tomorrow's game.

The Spurs' style is different from the Lakers'. The Spurs are extremely team-oriented, emphasize defense, are experienced, and each player on the team is like a cog in a machine, making it difficult for them to lose their temper.

The Thunder's advantage is their youth and talent. If their teamwork isn't great, they can compensate with their talent. A novice can beat a master with a novice's punches.

The 28th is almost here, and Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals is about to begin at the AT&T Arena in San Antonio.

The Thunder consistently used a 9-man rotation in the playoffs, which is considered average for the playoffs. The playoffs are different from the regular season. Even the Spurs, who often used more than 10 players in the regular season, started increasing the playing time of their Big Three (Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, and Manu Ginobili) in the playoffs.

Jia Fei and Reggie are 11 or even 12 players on the team, so they are naturally not included in the rotation.

In the first game, the Thunder, who led for the first three quarters, were outscored by a run in the final quarter and ultimately lost the game.

This is the Thunder's first Game 1 loss in this season's playoffs.

Two days later, the Thunder lost again, falling behind 0-2 in the series.

This puts the Thunder in the same situation as their previous opponents, making Game 3 at their home court a do-or-die battle.

Back in Oklahoma City, Game 3 of the Western Conference Finals began on June 1st.

Coach Brooks went even further in this game, implementing a seven-man rotation and relentlessly pushing his starters. The result, of course, was positive; the Thunder played with momentum and even created garbage time in the final stages of the game.

Jia Fei and Reggie even went up for a stroll, which can be considered as making an appearance in the Western Conference Finals.

The series score was changed to 1-2, and the Thunder were not in a desperate situation of being down 0-3.

May 3, Western Conference Finals Game 4.

In this game, the Thunder continued with their 8-man rotation and won another game, tying the series at 2-2!

This means the Western Conference Finals will become a pivotal Game 5 showdown!

In NBA history, since the implementation of the best-of-seven format, the winning team in the pivotal Game 5 has had a very high probability of advancing.

On June 5th, Game 5 of the Western Conference Finals, a pivotal matchup.

In this game, the Thunder continued with an 8-man rotation. Coach Brooks was essentially "openly managing" the game, relying heavily on the starters and hoping to overwhelm the veterans with sheer numbers.

In this situation, Popovich really can't come up with any complicated tactics for the Spurs, since the opponent has already revealed their hand.

In this game, the Thunder relied on their talent to defeat their opponents, taking the pivotal Game 5 and finally seizing the initiative in the series.

Two days later, back in Oklahoma City, the Thunder won another game, winning four straight to eliminate the Spurs with a 4-1 series score and advance to the NBA Finals!

This is the first time the SuperSonics have advanced to the NBA Finals since they moved to Oklahoma City and changed their name to the Thunder!

Confetti was flying around the Ford Center, and the cheers from the crowd were deafening. Jia Fei could feel the passion that the city's fans had for basketball.

In the long history of the NBA, there are many teams that have never won a championship, and many teams have never even reached the Finals. A team that can reach the Finals is itself a team with the strength to win the championship, not to mention that the Thunder's roster is so young.

After changing into the Western Conference champions' T-shirts and hats, Jia Fei and his teammates went to participate in the division championship ceremony. Even the benchwarmers were part of the team and could feel the atmosphere, which Jia Fei thought was really great.

The Thunder advanced to the NBA Finals, becoming the first team to reach the Finals. Their opponent in the Finals will be the winner between the Heat and the Celtics.

That evening, the Thunder had a simple celebration. After returning home, Jia Fei immediately logged into the system to check the status of the ongoing tasks.

Clearly, the mission of "reaching the NBA Finals" was accomplished, whether he led his team to it or relied on others to achieve it. He happily accepted the mission reward and immediately gained a point!

Oh my god! So many points!

Jia Fei kept counting 0, 1, two, 3, 4, until his eyes were blurry. He was a little unaccustomed to having so many points all at once.

Having been poor for so long, suddenly becoming well-off made me feel lightheaded.

Now, Jia Fei has a total of points in his account. He likes having so many points, but he doesn't want to risk his cubs, so he redeemed them.

His "Iverson Peak Skill Integration" jumped from 17% to 22% in an instant.

If it costs 2000 points to increase by 1%, then it should increase to 23%. Since it's already 22%, and there are still 99 points left, it means that to increase from 20% to 30%, each 1% increase would require 3000 points.

This is not hard to understand; just think of it like leveling up in a game.

The problem for him right now is that the higher the level of the game, the more experience points he earns by clearing higher-level dungeons. He can't enjoy the benefits of higher-level dungeons whether he's doing quests or accumulating rage points.

There's nothing he can do; that's how it's set up, and he can't change it. All he can do is try his best to earn points.

Jia Fei sighed inwardly, realizing he had finally reached one-fifth of Iverson's peak skill level!