Legend of Tomorrow

In the past two days, a very magical thing has happened in the NBA.

Guo Xu scored 56 points and 8 assists in the Christmas game, which was discussed crazily by fans on the Internet. Lake Black used this incident to mock Kobe and mock the blindness of the Lakers management.

However, the coverage of the major sports media was not very strong. They just mentioned the game and finished it. There were no interviews, no exclamations, and no stars from other teams were interviewed to talk about Guo Xu's high score. Thinking back when Guo Xu scored 40 points in his rookie season, many players stood up and commented.

No one mentions McGrady's 46 points in defeating the Pistons. It seems as if it's not important at all for players to score high in the Christmas game, but how can this be a small thing?

As for O'Neal's public ridicule of Kobe Bryant at the press conference, the media only briefly mentioned it. Some analysts said it was an angry remark by O'Neal and a joke because he said Madsen is too independent.

The truth of the matter is that league officials headed by president David Stern used their connections to minimize the impact of Guo Xu leading the team to defeat his old club. They do not want this incident to be remembered. Although fans can't forget it.

Some things are too much, and once they go too far, it will be very uncommercial.

The Lakers can lose, and they also lost a lot in the early stage, but they can't lose too ugly. Okay, the combination can have conflicts, but they must be resolved to the end. If the conflict gets too serious, it will not end well.

In Stern's view, Guo Xu went a bit too far in the Christmas game. Fortunately, he had enough sense in the last quarter and didn't come out to brush up the data. Otherwise, the president would have been very angry and the consequences would have been serious.

If Guo Xu scores 70+ against his old club on Christmas Day, he will be in big trouble. Then the president will have to call everyone for a meeting, and he must work out a plan to restore the Lakers' popularity that night.

Is this a slap in the face to the Lakers? This is a slap in the face alliance.

It is inevitable that the president hates Guo Xu. If the Lakers become a bad team, just like the 76ers, it is inevitable that the ratings will drop. O'Neal and Kobe are far more popular than Iverson, and the league will make a lot less money. Money.

In a business league, making money is always the most important thing. No matter which star you support, this will not change. If a team lacks commercial value, no matter how passionate the league is, it will not support it. You can go home and go fishing passionately.

From 1996 to this year, Stern spent countless efforts to turn the Lakers into the most popular team in the league.

He did a lot of controversial things, such as letting O'Neal, who had no honors and not even an All-NBA team, be selected into the 50 Greatest Stars.

Let Kobe, the second-year rookie and the sixth man of the Lakers, become the starter in the All-Star Game and so on.

His treatment of the OK group is like Cao Cao's treatment of Guan Yunchang.

Of course you will be the hero, and I will be the villain!

Although this Guan Yun was shorter than Cao Cao, when he went to chop Dong Tianbao, the red rabbit horse rushed into the street, and the Qinglong Yanyue knife was trampled to pieces. He couldn't defeat Kong Xiu in a duel. Later, he shaved off his beard and became a bearded man. But this does not affect Master Cao's feelings for him.

The Lakers succeeded the Bulls, who won three consecutive championships. Sterner did not want them to end up like the Bulls, and the dynasty was abandoned immediately.

It was understandable that the Bulls were useless in the 1998-99 season. Jordan retired, Pippen and Rodman left, and the dynasty team simply disbanded. How could Kukoc remain competitive as the boss?

What about the Lakers? With only one Guo Xu left, it would be difficult to even make the playoffs. Do you want Stern to attribute all the dynasty's contributions to Guo Xu during promotion? One crown surpasses Iverson, two crowns surpasses Jordan?

The league cannot allow reporters and fans to belittle the Lakers. No matter which way you look at it, suppressing the Lakers must be avoided.

In Guo Xu's previous life, the alliance did this. The conflicts between OK and OK happened as early as 2000 and became serious in 2002, but there is always a limit to media coverage. Fans later learned the truth, mostly through the autobiographies written by O'Neal and The Zen Master.

If Kobe hadn't committed the Eagle County Incident in the summer of 2003 and said Shaquille also did it, even if the OK group broke up, the conflict between the two would not have become irreconcilable. Once Eagle County comes out, who will compete with him? The news was overwhelming, and the matter was so big that Stern couldn't suppress it.

Later, Stern made Kobe feel what father's love is like a mountain. He was praised again after winning two scoring titles. The Grizzlies gave Gasol to help him compete for the championship. The league also arranged for the All-Star Game. The ok group won the MVP together and directed the touching scene of Smile and forget grudges.

Does the OK combination really like each other? The purpose of letting go of grudges with a smile is to make money, which is not harmful to either of them. The management team behind them is also happy to see all this.

Kobe Bryant's image changed from QJ suspect to a superstar step by step. He even toured after retirement, making the NBA and the Lakers a lot of money. O'Neal also got rid of his petty image and became an entertainment superstar after retiring, continuing to maintain high commercial value.

In short, the news of Guo Xu's high score in the Christmas game and the internal strife between OK and OK was downplayed. A day later, the Lakers beat the bottom-ranked Nuggets by 25 points. Instead, it was widely reported by the media. OK and OK combined to contribute 71 points.

A group of experts praised the OK combination for knowing their shame and then being brave. As long as both of them can calm down, the Lakers will definitely get out of the trough.

People in the media circle can tell at a glance that this is hype, but most fans will buy it, and ordinary people are too easy to fool. Next, as long as the league arranges more home whistles and star whistles for the Lakers to help their record return to within the playoffs, it will attract a large number of fans' attention, maintain the Lakers' image as a strong team, and make people mistakenly think that they are still the favorites to compete for the championship.

It would be better if Kobe can have a consecutive 40+ game, which will prove that he is really capable and is Jordan's successor. O'Neal should give up the ball.

If the Lakers are beaten again in the playoffs, it doesn't matter. The ratings of being beaten are also high, and it won't be too late to beat their team by then. If the team that eliminates the Lakers is the Suns' best team with the most gimmicks, Stern can also accept it from other teams.

Some things in the NBA are actually manipulated behind the scenes. For example, in Guo Xu's previous life, Game 6 of the Lakers vs. Kings in the 2002 playoffs was a script, and the hacking of Yao Ming and the Rockets in the 2005 playoffs was also a script.

At that time, the Rockets led the Mavericks 2-0 in the away game in the first round. After returning to the home court, Yao Ming pulled out to cover his teammates. He was called for a foul even if he didn't move. He blocked the sight of NBA golden whistle Tim Donaghy!

There is also the incident of Barkley kissing the donkey's ass during Yao's rookie season. It is probably a premeditated hype from the league as a greeting. Both Barkley and Yao Ming gained a lot of attention as a result. Yao Ming, who was previously called a parallel import, suddenly became popular. Without this classic marketing case, if Yao Ming only scored 20 points, how many more fans would he have gained?

The scandal between Guo Xu and Kirsten Dunst was hyped to divert attention. Many fans found it strange, but it did have an effect. Stars in the entertainment industry also took advantage of the situation to jointly hype it up.

Of course Guo Xu found that he was being used as a pawn, but he didn't care at all. The only ones who benefited were his friends.

He also consciously went with the trend. No matter who interviewed him after Christmas, he kept silent about the Christmas war and only talked about Jack and Kirsten.

Stern was very happy after seeing Guo Xu's performance and liked him even more. This is how young people should understand their own position and not block everyone's way of making money.

Hello everyone is really good, very good!

( = )