bookrandom Chapter 681 The Champion: No Surprises!
Chapter 681 The Champion: No Surprises!
Kidd shook his head and asked for a timeout.
Although he knew in his heart that his players' mentality had collapsed, as the head coach, he still had to fulfill his responsibilities.
After a long, impassioned speech, Kidd realized that his players' emotions were completely off.
This contrasted sharply with the fans standing, singing, and dancing at the Barclays Center.
The timeout was over, and Kidd put away his tactical board and stood up.
Kidd immediately saw Wang Xiucheng, the Nets' player, standing on the court for the first time, a rare occurrence.
At that moment, Kidd rubbed his eyes vigorously.
Perhaps because the lights in the venue had just been turned on, Kidd saw for a moment that a golden crown seemed to appear on Wang Xiucheng's head!
Kidd smiled wryly; it seemed he needed to replace his reading glasses again.
The match has resumed.
All the Nets players and staff stood up, their hands on the shoulders of the people next to them, excitedly waiting for the final three minutes.
All the fans were standing, and chants of "MVP" echoed throughout the stadium.
Dozens of burly security guards stood ready in the players' tunnel.
Both teams had lost their will to fight, but the final procedures still had to be completed.
With the game entering its final minute, Wang Xiucheng slapped Doncic's hand, drawing a foul.
Then, the five substitutes, including Choi Young-seok, who had been waiting on the sidelines, hugged and high-fived Wang Xiucheng, Durant, and others, before they came on to play the final garbage time.
Wang Xiucheng did not return to the bench, but stood next to Uduka, waiting for the final moment to arrive.
Finally, when the referee blew the final whistle, the entire Barclays Center seemed to explode!
All the fans jumped up and shouted, and some fans who were close by even jumped over the railings and rushed onto the field.
The celebrities in the front row kept clapping, and a few bold female celebrities had already rushed towards Wang Xiucheng.
Having learned from last year's experience, the security personnel who had been on high alert at the sidelines rushed in immediately, surrounded all the Nets players, and led them into the player tunnel.
Wang Xiucheng was especially important, surrounded by five security guards, all of whom were at least two meters tall, completely encircling him.
Congratulations to the Nets on successfully defending their title and becoming the NBA champions for the 23-24 season!
In the Tencent live stream, Wang Meng, Yang Yi, and the others weren't as excited as they were when the Nets won the championship last year.
Compared to last year's Finals which went to a Game 7, this year's 4-1 sweep of the Mavericks was indeed relatively easy.
Before the season began, many people believed that the Nets would win the championship, and the betting odds in Las Vegas also favored the Nets.
This is different from last year's NBA Finals between the Nets and the Nuggets.
In fact, after the first game of the Finals this year, some people, including O'Neal, had already predicted that the Nets would successfully defend their title.
The only suspense is how many matches will be played.
Without uttering any unnecessary words, Wang Meng looked at Yang Yi. At this moment, the fans were clearly more willing to hear Yang Yi's praise.
"Does Professor Yang Yi have anything to say?"
Yang Yi had also passed the moment of excitement and had calmed down.
"I believe everyone saw Xiao Wang's performance tonight. He wasn't very serious, he was half-lazy and half-slacking off, yet he still led the Nets to an easy victory in this final game."
"I believe that Chinese football fans must know why Xiao Wang did this."
"Around this time last year, Xiao Wang suffered a serious injury and almost missed the World Cup."
"If that's really the case, I believe we'll still be spectators in this year's Olympic men's basketball competition."
"But this year, to be precise, next month, the Olympic men's basketball competition will begin."
"At this very moment, our men's basketball training team is training in Europe and will be playing games against various national teams."
"Li Kaier and others have returned to the team. Now the men's basketball team is only missing Wang Xiucheng and Xiao Cui."
Yang Yi suddenly became serious. "I've received some information that the final 12-man roster for this Olympics may not be significantly different from the 12-man roster for last year's World Cup."
Yang Yi laughed again: "I believe that as long as Xiao Wang is here, our core support will remain."
Sitting next to him, Mina, who rarely interrupted, suddenly asked, "Teacher Yang Yi, I've seen many fans asking in the live chat, is it possible for us to make it into the top 16 at this year's Olympics?"
Yang Yi smiled upon hearing this, "There are only 12 teams in total, so where did the 16 come from?"
Mina stuck out her tongue, looking a little embarrassed.
"I think we still have a chance to advance from the group stage," Yang Yi said, then immediately added, "We'll talk about this on another program; the awards ceremony is about to take place here."
Wang Meng suddenly said, "We just received news that the FMVP voting has ended. Xiao Wang received all 11 votes from multiple media outlets, including ESPN, TNT, ABC, and Yahoo Sports, and has become the Finals MVP."
Wang Meng looked at his laptop and said, "Wang Xiucheng is also the fourth player in history to win the regular season MVP, regular season scoring title, and Finals MVP in a single season, ranking alongside legends like Jordan, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and Shaquille O'Neal!"
As he spoke, Wang Meng stood up straight, as if he had just received these awards.
"If we include the assist leader and steal leader, Wang Xiucheng is the only one in history to achieve this," Yang Yi added.
Wang Meng and Meina looked at Yang Yi and said, "You're right, Wang Chui!"
Inside the venue, everything is ready.
Nets owner Tsai Tsung-hsin did not attend this game; he was still in China at the time.
It's not that I don't want to come, but I'm too busy to get away.
Furthermore, Tsai Tsung-hsin did not expect that the Nets would win the championship in a Game 7 last season, but this season they swept them 4-1.
He didn't leave any time for it at all.
Julia Koch, the Nets' second-largest shareholder, accepted the award on behalf of Tsai Tsung-hsin and the team during the game, along with her daughter.
The Nets players, dressed in special championship jerseys, stood on the court.
When Adam Silver handed the championship trophy to Kevin Durant and the Finals MVP trophy to Wang Hsiu-cheng, confetti was sprayed around the arena.
All the Nets players jumped wildly, screaming in waves.
Wang Xiucheng's ears were almost deafened. Just as he was about to get away from there, he suddenly felt a chill on his head.
Knowing something was wrong, Wang Xiucheng yelled and ran while clutching his FMVP trophy.
Ben Sullivan, holding a glass of champagne, poured it over Wang Xiucheng while chasing after him.
At that moment, everyone in the uniform crew received a champagne glass; no player was spared.
After a commotion that lasted for more than ten minutes, Julia Koch finally spoke on behalf of Cai Congxin.
The statement was very official, but one thing was clear: the Nets will continue to be competitive for the championship, even at the cost of paying the luxury tax.
Wang Xiucheng stood in the last row, and Mary Julia held a towel to dry his hair, completely ignoring the dozen or so pairs of eyes on the sidelines that seemed to be spitting fire.
Afterwards, Wang Xiucheng, Durant, Towns, and others all gave speeches, and the simple yet solemn award ceremony came to an end.
The end of this game also marks the end of the NBA season.
Two hours later.
Conrad Hotel.