Many longtime fans cried when Brown substituted the key players!
More than a decade later...
Veteran fans thought they were about to witness the city's championship dream again.
Do you hate the State of Wei?
hatred...
It was Wei Guo who destroyed the city's championship and shattered the dreams of Pistons fans!
actually...
Wei Guo faced the Pistons in the playoffs during his rookie year, and he made it to the Finals by defeating the Pistons. However, the Pistons that year were not nearly as strong as they are this year, and Wei Guo had a superstar like Iverson by his side back then.
The rain in Detroit is getting heavier!
Outside the arena, many fans were kept out by the heavy rain, watching as the Nets team bus left the arena in triumphant posture.
......
The Western Conference Finals concluded the following day.
Lakers 4-2 Timberwolves!
The Nets and Lakers will meet in the NBA Finals.
Wei Guo and O'Neal were like rivals; he faced the Lakers every year for the three years he entered the league.
In their first year, they defeated the Lakers in the Finals, ending the Lakers' three-peat.
The following year, they faced the Lakers in the Western Conference, defeated the Lakers to reach the Finals, and then defeated the Nets to win the championship.
They faced the Lakers again in the Finals for the third year.
The Lakers assembled an impressive "F4" lineup this year, a formidable roster on paper, but the results haven't been great. Superstars have their own arrogance, and the Lakers' locker room isn't exactly harmonious.
and...
Malone and Payton are both veterans, and they don't have much fuel left in the tank.
After the Nets and Pistons game, as the team bus returned to the hotel, most of the players received congratulatory calls and text messages from family and friends. Kobe even sent a text message to Wei Guo, first congratulating him, and then saying that he would definitely beat the Timberwolves and that he would not lose to Wei Guo in the Finals this year.
Stockton, however, was sullen!
His partner of twenty years, Ma Long, didn't send him a text message. Is this guy so petty?
......
The upcoming NBA Finals didn't excite the Nets players too much!
Everyone here is a 'veteran' who has played in the finals.
The Nets made it to the Finals last season, and almost all of their core players remained. Wesley and Cummings were there, Stockton had also played in the Finals, and even Tyronn Lue had a championship ring.
Aside from a few benchwarmers and Wei Dong, the Nets' only players without Finals experience are their two core players, Hill and Mourning!
Good news...
Hill and Kenyon are both ready to return for the Finals!
Bad news...
Hill and Kenyon are both ready to return for the Finals!
Good news for the Nets, bad news for the Lakers.
......
Wei Guo focuses solely on playing basketball, refusing commercial activities, endorsements, and even his own signature shoes.
Speaking of Wei Guo's sneakers, he wore very casual ones in his first season, wearing various brands. Later, Zhang Xiaoduo found several top sneaker designers to design and customize sneakers for Wei Guo. They had no logos and were not sold to the public. To date, Wei Guo has only given away three pairs of signed sneakers.
One pair was given to a one-armed fan.
Wei Guo heard some of his story; he lost his right arm in an accident, but he loved playing ball.
The video of this young fan practicing basketball went viral online. The Nets invited this fan to the arena to throw out the opening ball for a regular season game. After the opening ball, Wei Guo gave the young fan an autographed jersey and a pair of autographed shoes.
Upon learning that the young fan came from a poor family, Wei Guo suggested that the fan put his autographed sneakers up for auction online.
The fans are young...
Wei Guo is his idol, and he did exactly what his idol told him to do. As a result, the autographed sneakers that were "slipped into" the market have been resold for millions!
This price is reasonable for two reasons:
One issue is that Wei Guo has donated too few autographed sneakers; there are only three pairs so far.
Secondly, Wei Guo's sneakers are custom-made by several extremely famous designers. These sneakers are already considered luxury items, and even without Wei Guo's signature, the price would be over 100,000 yuan.
Xiaxia brought two bottles of fine wine with her when she came.
It's unusual for an agent to bring a gift when visiting a player's home. Wei Guo accepted the wine and said, "Don't leave at noon, let's have a drink together."
"Sure."
Xiaxia readily agreed.
Xiaxia didn't come here specifically to celebrate the Nets' advancement to the Finals; she just had a few things to share with Weiguo.
Xiaxia is a die-hard Jay Chou fan!
Jay Chou loves playing basketball, as his fans know. During the Eastern Conference Finals, several of Jay Chou's songs were played at the Nets' home game. After learning about this, Jay Chou sent a message to Wei Guo (Jay Chou's fans) saying he wanted a few tickets to the Nets' home game to watch the Finals live.
Xia Xia told Wei Guo about this as an interesting story, and to her surprise, Wei Guo readily agreed, saying that Xia Xia could just contact Jay Chou. As for the tickets, Xia Xia could handle it herself. Even if Jay Chou wanted Lakers home game players, that was fine too; Wei Guo could just give Shaquille O'Neal a call!
O'Neal cares a lot about this kind of thing.
That year was a game against the Clippers, which happened to be O'Neal's birthday. Jordan had just retired, and O'Neal's status was extremely high; he could be considered the best player in the league.
The Lakers and Clippers share the Staples Center. O'Neal wanted to ask the Clippers for some tickets to invite his family and friends to watch the game, but the Clippers refused. As a result, O'Neal scored 61 points and 23 rebounds in that game. Even when the team had a big lead in the last quarter, O'Neal did not leave the court!
to this end...
Many teams in the league understand that they can't afford to offend a superstar over something trivial!
......
The finals opened on June 5, 2004!
Jay Chou arrived at the competition venue as promised. At that time, Jay Chou's fame had not yet reached its peak, and he acted like a fanboy when he saw Wei Guo.
He was accompanied by several friends, all of whom are basketball enthusiasts. One of them is a singer who is also a fitness instructor specializing in aerobics. Wei Guo is a big fan of Jay Chou's songs, and upon meeting Jay Chou, he presented him with a pair of autographed sneakers!
Jay Chou understood the price of the autographed football star Wei Guo and was overjoyed!
Before the match began...
Wei Guo greeted O'Neal, and Stockton wanted to greet Malone, but Malone simply turned his face away.
Malone joined the Lakers for a championship, but he couldn't forgive Stockton for joining the Nets for the same reason, because Malone always considered Wei Guo an enemy and felt that Stockton must have the same idea.
Stockton's alliance with the Defenders is an act of treason!
How hypocritical...
Although the Lakers have assembled a "Big Four", Malone and Payton are both veterans. Take this season for example, Malone, who has played almost every game in his career, only played forty-something games this season. Payton played the entire season, but he only averaged 14 points and 5 assists, which is far from his peak performance!
Payton dared to challenge Jordan in his rookie season, but lost the courage to challenge him at the end of his career.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com