the rest, only noise

Chapter 1047
Two in one
After losing to the Knicks on Christmas Eve, the Blazers actually lost in Boston-a team with Jordan, Thomas, Barkley, Sabonis, and Nance faced the Celtics with only Sampson and lost.

Sampson handled Sabonis like plasticine in that game.

His dominance lasted the entire game, eventually scoring 66 points, 14 rebounds, 5 assists and 7 blocks.

Even if Sampson played such a heavenly performance, it would be difficult to beat the Blazers without the help of his teammates.

Billy Owens provided maximum assistance, scoring a triple-double of 26 points, 11 rebounds and 12 assists.

If the Blazers play normally, even if Sampson plays like this and Owens plays super-level, the two sides will still be in a [-]-[-] game.

But in the end the Blazers lost by 12 points.

"This team is starting to become toxic."

Bill Lambiel said sharply.

He concluded that there was a problem in the Blazers' locker room, and that Riley's control over the team was not as good as before.

And this judgment is not unfounded.

Riley used high-pressure tactics in Portland.

He wants the players to feel tremendous pressure and at the same time bring an unbearable amount of training.

Barkley complained endlessly. He persisted for two years, but without any gains.

Now he can't hold on anymore.

Riley's words are no longer valid, and Barkley's self-management ability is his number one problem on the way to the top.

He's not Jordan's type of guy who would put up with anything to win.

And this is precisely where Riley, Jordan and Barkley differ.

Barkley and Jordan were originally hard-core buddies, but now, the relationship has cracked.

Jordan has repeatedly emphasized the need to work harder, but this kind of determination cannot be seen in Barkley.

The Christmas War blew up all the questions.

The Blazers took a turn for the worse and lost consecutive games.

On the Knicks side, it's not without problems.

The contract extensions of Louis and Wilson have never been finalized, and the future of the team is uncertain.

At the player level, those conflicts in the past have disappeared this season.

Because of Ewing's growth and Wilson's deliberate avoidance, a new balance has emerged.

However, the problems of individual players cannot be completely eradicated.

For example, Mohammad Rauf, his beliefs have always been a sensitive area within the Knicks.

Everyone knows that place is untouchable, but the fans don't think so.

Rauf may be the only player on the Knicks who isn't popular with New York.

One of the things Rauf was most accused of last season was his contempt for pre-game rituals.

When MSG spent a lot of money to invite superstars to perform the American national anthem, Rauf was either not there, or stayed in the locker room, or stood in the hallway and waited for the ceremony to end.

Therefore, some fans called Rauf a coward.

He didn't even dare to look at the Star-Spangled Banner.

There were more and more voices like this, which made Rauf make up his mind.

1994/1/12

This is a special game, the season rematch between the Knicks and the Magic.

Ewing, O'Neal, Kemp, Webber, this is bound to be an extremely bloody inside hand-to-hand battle.

The garden was full, and the front-ranking seats were full. Even Louis, who hadn't appeared in MSG for many days, brought his family to the scene.

Before the opening, the camera was specially shown to Louis.

Louie's daughter didn't like the atmosphere of the scene very much, clamoring to go home, but was hugged by her father.

Then Louis probably made his daughter laugh with a joke.

"If Leader renews his contract with the team, I am willing to help him coax his daughter for free." Knicks star Walter Fraser joked.

Angie continued: "Then you have to work hard, Clyde, Coach Lu's daughter is the smartest kid I've ever seen, not so easy to coax."

In this pleasant atmosphere, Rauf decided to do a big thing.

In fact, when Louie saw Rauf among the players on the Knicks field, something felt wrong.

The opening ceremony is about to begin, and Rauf usually finds an excuse to get out of the way at this time.

But he's still on the field.

Has he figured it out, or has he lost track of time?Or, what is he going to do?
The person responsible for singing the national anthem tonight is rock queen Tina Turner, but, despite her reputation, Louie knows her because of her fight with her husband.

As a man, her husband finally lived up to the body structure bestowed by the Creator, which is more conducive to fighting, and has an absolute advantage in points. He undoubtedly defended the dignity of men, but it would be great if he could not defend his dignity by beating women.

At this time, Louis didn't care about Tina's body that was already seriously fattened. He just wanted to know what Rauf was going to do.

He also wanted to rush down to remind Rudy.

But with his current status, he couldn't do that.

And, the holiest moment of the national anthem ceremony has begun.

Everyone must stand up and not move without authorization, even if it is a foreigner like Louis.

Tina sang loudly, and Rauf, he lined up with his teammates.

"Oh, you can see the first light at dawn!"

The high-level singing is always very enjoyable for the audience, and the patriotism can be seen among the Americans who are proudly saluting.

"What makes us so proud, cheering in the last light?"

There is only one American with no pride to be seen on his face.

Unfortunately, that person was Rauf.

He put his hands on his waist, and Stockton's face behind him showed horror: "What the fuck are you doing?"

His hands extended downward, and his body sank slowly.

"Stop!" Stockton's roar caught the attention of those in front of Rauf.

Reggie Williams turned around, like he had seen the devil: "Damn, what are you doing here?"

Nothing, Rauf just felt that he was going to do what he should do.

He has to show an attitude.

"Oh, the Star-Spangled Banner is still flying high, isn't it.

Flying in this land of freedom, in this hometown of warriors! "

At this moment, Mohammad Abdul-Rauf sat down.

In this land of self-proclaimed freedom, in this nation of individual heroism, Rauf has irrevocably made it clear to everyone that he doesn't care about that shitty song Tina Turner is singing, and he doesn't care what people think of him.

He can do whatever he wants.

"You're gonna fucking kill us!" Stockton growled irrationally.

Rauf closed his eyes, his mouth was trembling, and his shoulders were twitching.

He can't control his mood, just like he can't control other things, the only thing he can dominate is his own will.

Just when the audience was in an uproar, Louis turned around indifferently and left the scene.

From then on, no one cared about the game.

Rauf's behavior began to be discussed, from fans to commentators.

"This is an unforgivable act," said NBC announcer Marv Albert.

Rauf made the game awkward, and the Knicks fans at the scene didn't know whether to support their team.

His teammates were also at a loss.

The whole game was shrouded in a weird atmosphere.

In the end, the Knicks won.

The dedicated Wilson and Ewing showed their prowess, one ruled the outside line and the other ruled the inside line, making the magic team's geniuses suffer in the away game.

After winning the game, Ewing did not feel relaxed at all.

Because he knew that the real trouble was behind.

"Patrick, what do you think of Mohammad Abdul-Rauf's disrespect to the flag?"

At this time, playing dumb is the only way Ewing can avoid expressing his position.

"I don't know, I'll figure it out and I'll have an answer then."

Wilson saw the sensational on-air mishap as an opportunity.

A chance to make him even more hated by the public.

"I don't want to comment on this matter. This is MAR's freedom." Wilson said indifferently, "I don't care."

However, not everyone is as clear as Wilson and Ewing.

Like John Stockton, he stood on the opposite side of Rauf without hesitation: "I can neither understand nor forgive. This incident disgusts me. What disgusts me even more is that I have to fight with him. He must stand up and give everyone an explanation."

Stockton is a well-known American wolf warrior, and Rauf's behavior today touched his bottom line.

Kemp's answer was copied exactly from Ewing: "I haven't figured out the situation at the moment, so I don't know what to say."

"I don't care what the hell he does!" Rodman replied in a completely self-destructive truck style. "If this country is free enough, why does it matter whether he listens to the national anthem standing or sitting?"

"Because, this is a serious offense to the flag"

"What the fuck, I've heard enough of your fucking clichés, MAR can do anything in that situation, we can stand and salute the flag, we can sit and salute the flag, I don't fucking care if he stands or sits!"

Miraculously, although Rodman's speech is very incorrect, no one will go online.

Because he is not a normal person, unless he expresses a clear distaste for the national anthem ceremony like Rauf, otherwise, no one cares what he said.

In addition to the core players of the Knicks, like the old captain McHale, he also tried to get along with the mud.

People wanted him to comment on Rauf's behavior, McHale looked surprised: "Who are you all, you don't appreciate such a wonderful game, but you care about those boring things?"

"Kevin, do you think sitting during the national anthem is boring?"

"What? Did he do something like this? I'll have a word with him."

Teammates answered in all kinds of ways, but only Stockton clearly stood on the opposite side of Rauf.

Tomjanovich felt bitter, he did not expect such a thing to happen.

He should have noticed Rauf's abnormality long ago. This guy was the first person to come to the court to shoot and warm up tonight. He usually would not participate in the national anthem ceremony at all, but he chose to stay abnormally today.

If it was Louis, he would definitely be able to stop Rauf before he made trouble.

"This is an earthquake." Rudy wanted to use an abstract metaphor to avoid the reporter's questioning. "All of us are fleeing. When we flee to safety, we will think about why we made things like this."

I don't know if Tomjanovich's metaphor is too obscure, or the reporter didn't expect to get an answer from him.

After hearing Tomjanovich's answer, the reporter let him go.

The reporters regret that they wanted to ask Louis to express his opinion on this matter, but Louis has disappeared.

Where is Louie?
Of course he is not idle!

After Rauf did that, Louis reacted in the shortest possible time.

He first called the league office and asked them to give Rauf the heaviest suspension.

It was Stern's assistant Garcia Lynn who was in charge of contacting Louis, but he didn't know how many games to suspend because there was no precedent.

"10 games?"

"Is it too much?"

"I think it's just right," Louis said. "This matter is no small matter. The league must show a clear attitude and deal the heaviest blow. Only in this way can it stabilize the fans and deter other people who are eager to try."

Louie then called his friends at The Times and the Post and asked them to rush out two manuscripts.

One article is responsible for fanning the flames and going online.

One article is responsible for changing the subject and getting things out of hand.

In the end, the Times gave an article titled "The Madness of Dissidents" and elaborated on the process of Rauf's madness.

The post's article used Rauf's fault to insinuate and attack the terrorist group, so that other activists who originally opposed Rauf had to stand on Rauf's side.However, Rauf really has no reason in this matter. Desecrating the national flag and the national anthem ceremony is unforgivable in any country.

Louie's approach can be called ruthless, he was suspended for 10 games, and the entire prostitution group was thrown into the water, all in order to keep Rauf.

That night, Louis appeared in the locker room after a long absence.

His face was so gloomy that no one dared to speak to him.

Louis walked up to Rauf and said coldly, "Do you know what's waiting for you outside?"

"Yes, Patriot Bullets."

"I hope you never meet the real patriots. Waiting for you is a group of deranged reporters. Do you know how long it usually takes them to get news like this? Thanks to you, they have something to do for the next month."

Rauf was silent.

"You still have a way out," Louie said. "When you're outside later, you say that when the national anthem ceremony started, you had Tourette's syndrome and you couldn't stand up."

"That's not true, I'm not going to lie."

"Fuck you! I don't care that much about you!" Louie yelled, "You have to say that!"

Rauf's shoulders were shaking, and the corners of his mouth twitched, "I won't lie, sir."

There was endless anger in Louie's heart, but most of that anger was because he couldn't do anything about the situation.

How do you stop moths from flying to the flame?
"Do whatever you want." Louie turned and walked away. "I'm not your coach anymore, Muhammad."

Rauf took a deep breath and was about to walk out of the locker room to face the reporters.

"Leave yourself a way out!" Ewing shouted.

Rauf responded: "I will."

Rauf went out.

Ewing muttered: "Will he really?"

"Will it be?" Rodman sarcastically said, "He's a fart, he's just a reckless idiot, look at the coach!"

Tomjanovich cleared his throat, "In any case, MAR is still one of us, and we will keep quiet about this matter."

"I don't expect you to stand with him, but at least we don't have to stab him in the back."

Stockton couldn't take it anymore: "I can't do it!"

Tomjanovich looked at him seriously: "You have to do it."

Stockton's spat with Tomjanovich is another story.

Rauf came alone to reporters and explained his actions.

When asked by a reporter, why did he act so disrespectful to the Stars and Stripes.

Rauf replied: "Because in my opinion, that flag is a symbol of oppression and tyranny. My faith taught me that the only way to deal with it is not to look at it, and to pray silently. I will not criticize those who stand, and I will not criticize those who oppose me. This is how I resist it." ⑴
Not only did Rauf not give himself a way out, but he also cut off all the ways to defend him.

He's on a dead end that's even creepier than his media meltdown last year.

Last year, he could still say that he was ill. Now, his thinking is very clear and his logic is very clear.

While he was doing the interview, Louie watched live from another house.

When Rauf said "oppression" and "tyranny", he angrily threw the remote control in his hand.

What happened today means that even if his transformation of Rauf is successful, he will go bankrupt.

What happened today means that the original Curry he imagined in the 90s will no longer exist.

What happened today meant that Rauf would be isolated across the league.Even if he has the strength to gain a foothold in the league, no team will be willing to give him enough opportunities.

He's going to be pushed out of the league little by little.

In this matter, the league will do it very covertly, and the teams will reach a tacit agreement to let him disappear quietly.

The last time Louie was this angry was when John Selley sold inside information to writers.

But Salley eventually redeemed himself in the final.

But Rauf, he put in so much hard work, but this is what he got in return?
A self-righteous cerebral palsy fighting for the right to chant during the national anthem with a terrorist attack that disrupts the entire team and self-destructs?

That night, Jack Kruger, who had been out of the season for about a million years, called Louie's home.

It is worth mentioning that the last time he called Louis' home was also for Rauf.

"Lu, what are you going to do with that lunatic?"

⑴There is indeed such a thing.

(End of this chapter)