The Way of Basketball: Never Talk Shit to Him!

Having watched the main 4 games of the Western Conference finals, the Mavericks currently have a better target in mind. As long as they don't let the score gap widen in the first three quarters and then desperately exhaust Dirk Nowitzki's physical fitness, if Nowitzki can't stand out in the fourth quarter, the Mavericks are bound to lose without a doubt.

Looking at the Spurs' performance in these 4 games, once they catch fire, their "Magic Ball" playstyle still poses a real threat...

But now, they all feel:

Su Wan is right!

Defeating the Spurs not only secures the championship title but also garners a boost in fortune.

It's a "two birds, one stone" situation.

When the media in San Antonio and Dallas heard Su Wan speak like this, they were livid.

Isn't this an outright disdain for them?

Both sides are holding back a surge of energy, eager to advance to the finals and settle the score with Su Wan.

As a result, the Western's "King Mountain Battle" became the most intense playoff game of the season.

Both teams kept hitting crucial shots in the final moments, dragging the game into the first overtime, and that wasn't enough, they played a second overtime, where the victor was finally decided.

The Spurs narrowly escaped with a 128 to 124 victory, winning by just 4 points.

By the second overtime, you could see Nowitzki and Tim Duncan were both so tired they could hardly stand, just hanging on by a thread.

At the end of the game, both of them immediately found a place to sit down.

Barkley couldn't help but say, "Now, it looks like whoever makes it to the finals will have a hard time stopping Su Wan and the New York Knicks!"

The Knicks are indeed a "Youth Army."

Inexperienced, naive, these are their issues, but one thing is for sure, their physical fitness is top-notch.

Now look at the Mavericks and Spurs, all "Old Teams" aside, they went through two overtimes in just one Western Conference finals game. Even if the Spurs who secured their "King Mountain" victory manage to wrap up the series in Game 6, the Knicks would have already been resting for 4 days, lying in wait and fully prepared.

With their old arms and legs, how many games could they possibly run with them?

Not just Barkley, but many in the media also believe this. This season's New York Knicks really do seem to have an additional dose of luck.

In the other Eastern Conference semifinal matchup, a massive brawl broke out, resulting in "mutual destruction," bad enough, but now both teams entering the Western finals are old folks as the core of "Old Carriages."

And they still fought each other so fiercly.

In this state, even making it to the finals seems like it would be a Pyrrhic victory...

What has the media wide-eyed is that the New York Knicks' "lucky streak" continues.

In Game 6 of the Western finals, the Mavericks incredibly managed to level the series at 3-3 on their home court.

And yet again, the sides fought through an overtime.

Though the Spurs managed to bring it to a "Game 7 showdown," just look at them at the end of the game, completely exhausted.

"The only good news for the Spurs is..."

"The first two games of the finals are on their home court!"

"This gives them more time to recover their physical fitness..."

San Antonio's media began to create a championship-winning atmosphere.

For this city, Su Wan is undoubtedly the "arch-enemy," so a few articles stirring things up was all it took to ignite the emotions of San Antonio people.

From the pre-game atmosphere of the first game, it was clear this would be a war shrouded in gunsmoke.

Some fans even threw empty drink cups at Su Wan and the others as they emerged from the visitor's team tunnel.

Su Wan glanced over at the security guard beside him, "Buddy, you do know you're on the clock, right? Be careful or they might dock your pay!"

The guard gave him a very characteristic international hand gesture in response.

Su Wan laughed.

Excellent!

This damned city really hasn't changed one bit.

He didn't take it personally with the guard.

After all, he really wasn't very popular in this city.

But he was definitely going to take this out on the Spurs.

Amidst the stadium cheers, Su Wan caught sight of the Spurs' players.

The Western Conference finals "Game 7 showdown" had also been decided at the very last moment.

But with two days' rest, except for Tim Duncan, everyone else seemed to recover quite well.

This is the advantage of having "home-court advantage," no need for tiresome travel. With the physical condition of NBA players, two days is enough for them to shake off the "debuff" from the previous game.

Of course, this would just be a spiritual recovery. The physical fitness issue still remains, it just wouldn't explode in the first game.

What the New York Knicks needed to do was to speed up their fatigue process, causing their physical crisis to erupt sooner.

Therefore, from the start tonight, the Knicks set an especially fast pace for both offense and defense.

Popovich couldn't deny such a fast-paced game.

Even though he knew the Knicks wanted to use this fast tempo to wear down the Spurs' players.

But what could he do?

The Spurs themselves were a team that played fast this season.

You couldn't just slow down the pace considering physical fitness, could you?

The Spurs' starting lineup for this season was:

"Point Guard Tony Parker, two Shane Battier, small forward Jefferson, Power forward Dejuan Blair, center Tim Duncan;"

They weren't cut out for the "Position War."

A slimmed-down Tim Duncan simply couldn't hold his ground in the paint.

But tonight, the Spurs' offense was in good shape — perhaps a benefit of the tough battles in the West. Intense games can awaken a player's potential, improving their conditions.