Mountain Peak System: a Path to NBA-Chapter 396 - 133: Heading to That Date! (Extra - for Alliance Leader Book Friend 2019...5725!)
This year’s Western Conference Finals between the Warriors and the Supersonics not only significantly refreshed international viewership but also successfully broke the NBA’s domestic viewership records in the United States.
The outstanding performances of the star players on both teams were certainly the key to the continuously increasing viewership in the first four games. 𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂
But more importantly...
At this special point in time in the current era...
Both teams, in terms of offense and defense, played at the highest quality permitted by current NBA rules.
Since the birth of the sport of basketball...
Every change in the rules has undoubtedly greatly influenced its development, eventually presenting itself to the world through the content on the court.
As everyone knows, before entering the era known as "Iron and Blood," the NBA also went through the early to mid-1980s, a time characterized by offense for the sake of offense.
In the "Roaring Eighties," the ease with which star players scored, as if cutting through butter, instead caused great dissatisfaction among fans.
Compared to other sports events of the time that had more intense physical confrontations...
People of that era simply couldn’t understand what was appealing about basketball, where you could score by taking the ball to the frontcourt and completing one or two simple passes.
Thus, to save the NBA’s competitiveness as a commercial league, under the tacit approval of the then-new league director David Stern, numerous defense-oriented coaches began to showcase their skills.
From the late 1980s, the NBA officially announced its entry into the "Iron and Blood" era.
It was an era of star player battles.
Because before the NBA officially introduced the zone defense, the existence of illegal defense allowed every team to create absolute one-on-one opportunities for their star players by emptying the half-court, meaning the stronger the individual ability of a superstar, the easier it was to penetrate the opponent’s defense.
Given Michael Jordan’s abilities, he should have completely dominated that era.
After all, in that era, who could compete with Jordan in star quality?
But Chuck Daly and the Pistons’ "Jordan Rules" made people gradually realize that even a superstar with outstanding individual ability has his limits.
Therefore, Phil Jackson brought his triangle offense to Chicago and built Michael Jordan’s renowned reputation with it.
Although...
With all of Jordan’s skills reaching their peak in his later career, even at that time, Jordan’s teammates believed that the triangle offense sometimes only restrained Jordan in certain plays.
But regardless, in that era of individual ability competition, Jordan became the ultimate king.
Then the NBA entered the next era.
In 2001, to restrict the then-dominant Shaquille O’Neal, the NBA officially introduced the zone defense.
If the 1990s NBA, despite being filled with "Iron and Blood," still had fans willing to pay for the exceptional individual abilities of superstars...
The introduction of the zone defense, coupled with the long-standing Hand-Check rule, brought the NBA into an undeniable dark era.
In the NBA, while the power of the zone defense was certainly reduced, when the zone defense was combined with the Hand-Check rule, the Detroit Pistons would show you with their games, where even mosquitoes couldn’t fly in:
The NBA games no longer had the thrilling "blood," only the constant clanging of "iron" resonating around.
For this reason, in the summer of 2004, the NBA officially decided to eliminate the Hand-Check rule.
As the season where the NBA enforced the No-Hand-Check rule most strictly, the Warriors’ championship journey last year also benefited from this.
However, this also made David Stern realize once more that in the absence of the Hand-Check rule, excessively uncontrollable superstars might actually decrease the entertainment value of the games.
Therefore, starting from the 06/07 season, the NBA tacitly approved of more intense physical confrontations.
This allowed the NBA to enter what might be its most entertaining period since its inception.
Without the Hand-Check rule, skilled perimeter stars could more freely showcase their offensive talents.
The introduction of the zone defense allowed teams adept in defense to construct richer defensive systems.
And high-intensity physical confrontations ensured the competitiveness of the NBA after the Hand-Check rule was abolished.
It had both offense and defense.
Sometimes, a team with great shooting might score 110 points, even 120 points on a certain night.
But other times, two teams with poor shooting may also attract viewers with blood-pumping physical battles.
The three-point shot was far from being something players could casually fire like in later times.
The status of role players continued to rise with tactical innovations and the needs of various teams.
Superstars could still interpret greatness with their irresistible performances.
On May 29, 2007.
When this Western Conference Final returned to the Oakland Oracle Arena, the Warriors and Supersonics played such a game.
In this Game-deciding battle that could determine the series’ trajectory, both teams fought until the very last moment, keeping the fans on the edges of their seats.
Fourth quarter timer:
——1 minute 27 seconds
Yao Ming received a pass from Garnett and dunked it, helping his team change the game score to 90 to 89.
But before the excitement of the Supersonics fans watching on TV could fade...
——1 minute 09 seconds
Qin Yue hit an astonishing baseline turnaround fadeaway jumper amidst Garnett and Posey’s defensive encirclement.
Inside Oracle Arena, a golden wave surged.
The scoreboard showed, 90 to 91.
——57 seconds
Ray Allen made a low-level mistake, losing the ball while dribbling.
