Mountain Peak System: a Path to NBA-Chapter 557 - 185: Unstoppable Warriors, Return to the Peak (Overnight 10,000 Word Update, Begging for Subscriptions and Monthly Tickets!)
Cuban deeply regretted letting go of Nash that year.
In Qin Yue’s previous life, Cuban stated more than once during interviews that letting Nash go was the most foolish decision he had ever made in his life.
"At that time, I blindly trusted the team doctor’s assessment of Steve’s back injury," Cuban said. "They thought Steve’s back injury might prevent him from lasting long, but in fact, we all know that even at 40, Steve was still active on the NBA courts."
Of course...
There is plenty of evidence to prove that Cuban’s decision to give up Nash was indeed related to the Mavericks’ team doctor’s misjudgment of Nash’s back injury.
But historically, Cuban, who was obsessed with using NBA LIVE to build the Mavericks’ team lineup, also had to bear the blame for his whimsical ideas.
That’s right. Because he found in NBA LIVE that even without Nash, the Mavericks could still win the championship as long as Dampier and Nowitzki were partners in the interior, so after decisively letting go of Nash, Cuban immediately gave Dampier a seven-year, 73 million US Dollar contract.
Undoubtedly, compared to being abandoned due to injury concerns...
This was the real reason why Nash always felt discontent about being abandoned by the Mavericks.
In Nash’s view, he would rather Cuban call him a money-hungry vampire, mock his style as incompatible with the Mavericks, or even blatantly call him a softie, than being told that the Mavericks could win the championship without him because of some game discovery.
However, at this moment, Nash had no idea that even more outrageous things would occur in Dallas in the next decade or so?
If Cuban at least used games to build a lineup,
Then the future Mavericks’ general manager, Harrison, decided to trade Doncic to the Lakers, making a deal that you couldn’t achieve even in a game.
At Oracle Arena, Nash’s scoring performance continued.
With the support of Qin Yue’s pick-and-roll, Nash, as if younger by ten years, scored 20 points for the Warriors in just the first quarter.
When Nash no longer needed to organize and always had the best player providing him space, his efficient offensive firepower was by no means inferior to any perimeter superstar known for scoring.
Nash’s top performance immediately simplified this Western Conference Semifinals.’,
Moreover, his successor Curry kept up the momentum for the Warriors after coming on as a substitute.
The only minor setback was... 𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂
In the second quarter, Curry attempted to perform a slam dunk through off-ball cuts but was unceremoniously blocked by the rim.
The Mavericks players on the court were completely taken aback that the rim would become their sixth man.
Fortunately, Golden State LaVine quickly pulled himself together with three successful three-pointers.
As Nash and Curry took turns to shine on the court, Qin Yue, who was just unanimously selected as MVP, fully felt how terrifying the double-team defense from Nash and Curry could be in this encounter with the Mavericks.
This player, acknowledged by the world as the best, was completely shut down.
Two of the best defensive players from the Warriors demonstrated through action that what "Miss Qin" couldn’t do, didn’t mean they couldn’t do it.
In the first three quarters, Qin Yue scored a total of 14 points, 12 rebounds, and 14 assists for the Warriors. Only when Mike Malone subbed him out did he notice that he had spent the entire match idly...
The Mavericks fell before the wave after wave of the Warriors’ offensive climaxes.
"Dirk did his best."
After the match, the Mavericks’ head coach Woodson said in an interview, "The two guards from the Warriors seemed to be on a cheat code, as you all saw, they (Nash and Curry) hit a total of fifteen three-pointers. Their outstanding performance from the perimeter rendered our defense utterly meaningless."
Throughout the game, Nash and Curry scored 41 and 24 points, respectively.
Although facing the Mavericks always left a bad taste, in Qin Yue’s view, Nash’s killer instinct was still not strong enough.
Because on this night...
If Nash’s killer instinct had been a bit heavier, his scoring wouldn’t have stopped at 41 points.
And interestingly...
Because Qin Yue was photographed by The Sun yesterday, after the coronation ceremony, taking his newly acquired trophy to a date with Sharapova in a Bay Area hotel.
So after the match, US reporters also pointed fingers at Sharapova, who had started preparing for the US Open months in advance, for Qin Yue’s so-called "poor form."
"Maria is innocent," Qin Yue defended this date, saying, "She just wanted to touch my trophy; what’s wrong with that?"
Qin Yue knew that facing doubts, only by delivering better performance on the court could he silence those journalists who always attributed his poor performance to outside factors.
Thus, two days later, Shawn Marion was thoroughly outplayed by Qin Yue.
Powerful slam, sudden stop, and direct grab.
On the court, against Qin Yue’s repeated use of the Big Urgent Pull, when Qin Yue was in good form, Marion, who could only be passively shot upon, wore an expression akin to an island starlet feeling lifeless after being covered by a male actor.
Grappling, collisions, and even football-style tackles.
It wasn’t that Marion hadn’t used the above tactics in the match to disrupt Qin Yue’s shooting rhythm.
But just like when facing the Pistons back then, unless you basically beat Jordan to death, you still couldn’t stop Jordan.
As long as Qin Yue could find his rhythm, any tough defense would be pierced through by his Big Urgent Pull technique, which had reached a consummate mastery level.
