radicalducati Chapter 73 Stern's Headache! Lin Ze's Season Over? [Daily Updates of 20,000 Words, Please
Chapter 73 Stern's Headache! Lin Ze's Season Over? [Daily Updates of 20,000 Words, Please
Chapter 73 Stern's Headache! Lin Ze's Season Over? [Daily Updates of 20,000 Words, Please Subscribe]
Ma Long, who was under Lin Ze, tried to resist during this opportunity, but he was pinned down and his strength and angle were terrible. Not to mention, Lin Ze had the advantage of his arm span.
Lin Ze simply shifted his head slightly backward to successfully dodge Ma Long's punch, and then followed up with two more punches to Ma Long's face with a "thump! thump!"
Blood also began to ooze from Malone's other nostril, eyebrow, and mouth. At this point, his entire face was covered in blood, making him look incredibly terrifying.
Hubble, behind Lin Ze, had completely pinned Stockton down, venting his frustration wildly.
Lin Ze was certain that this guy was venting not only his resentment towards Stockton, but also his hatred for Jordan's high-pressure dominance during his years with the Bulls.
After taking four consecutive iron punches from Lin Ze, even Ma Long, who was as strong as a human weapon, felt dizzy and lost the strength to resist.
Then Malone felt a lightness on his body. When he barely opened his eyes, he saw Russell and substitute center Ostertag dragging Lin Ze off him.
"Get lost!" Lin Ze struggled violently as soon as the two pulled him away from Ma Long. Russell never expected Lin Ze to be so crazy and couldn't react in time, so Lin Ze broke free.
Ostertag, a standard redneck polar bear whose weight is comparable to O'Neal, was not easily overtaken by Lin Ze, but this was not a good thing for him either.
With his other hand freed, Lin Ze threw a punch, hitting Ostertag squarely in the nose. The guy screamed in pain, clutched his nose, and collapsed, blood immediately flowing from his hands.
Lin Ze did not finish off Ostertag.
He charged at Malone again, slamming Malone, who had barely managed to sit up but was still far from standing, back onto the floor.
"Fuck you, you piece of trash! You sissy!" Lin Ze roared, "Elbow me! If you try anything funny again, you coward!"
"Show me the toughness you had when you raped a minor! You coward who only knows how to bully the weak! Can't you hear me? I'll show you what's what, you bastard!"
Accompanied by profanities, Lin Ze continued to pound his fists down. Ma Long, who was beneath him, could do nothing but barely raise his world-famous elbows to protect his face.
But covering his face was only to prevent Lin Ze from beating him even worse.
Fight back? The fact that he hasn't been knocked unconscious yet is already a result of his years of high-intensity training and his strong physique.
At this moment, O'Neal took advantage of his massive size and, seeing that both of his teammates had a clear advantage, he began to mediate the fight.
He single-handedly grabbed Russell, who was trying to rush forward a second time, and Hornacek, who was struggling to get closer to help, while frantically shouting, "Stop fighting! Stop fighting! Carl, stop hitting Carl! Lin is just a child, stop hitting Carl!"
Their main selling point is blatant lying.
As for Rice and Fox, those two guys weren't idle either; they both went to break up the fight.
Rice put his arm around Lin Ze's waist but didn't exert any force. At least 90% of his energy was focused on the referee behind him who was trying to rush over. His big butt kept swaying back and forth, preventing the referee from getting past him to break up the fight.
He was shouting, "Karl, calm down, Karl! Let's play basketball!"
Fox inexplicably fell to the ground, knocking down the referee who was trying to rush over.
Fox yelled, "Fuck you! What are you doing? I was just trying to break up the fight, stop kicking me!"
It has to be said that the type of head coach determines the type of players they lead.
Jackson's protégés are all shameless, one after another.
At this point, the field was completely divided into three groups, each doing their own thing, but they were still unable to completely quell the conflict.
By this point, Sloan, sitting on the sidelines, was on the verge of a mental breakdown.
Anyone with half a brain can see that the Jazz are suffering a huge loss, almost being completely dominated by the Lakers.
He really didn't expect Malone to be pinned to the ground and brutally beaten like that.
Although Sloan had just stood up and kept yelling at the scorer's table, urging them to intervene in the conflict, he wasn't in a hurry at all. He didn't think his players would suffer any losses.
But now he no longer has that thought; he genuinely hopes that the Staples Center security personnel will enter the venue quickly and end the conflict as soon as possible.
He thought Malone was about to be beaten to death.
Then, Sloan turned to look at his bench. The reason the players on the bench were still watching from the sidelines was not because they were afraid of the league's punishment, but simply because he had not yet given the order.
The Jazz are a team with strict tactical discipline and Sloan has absolute authority. They won't act on their own, even in something as trivial as fighting, unless Sloan gives the order.
Normally, Sloan is against escalating conflicts; conflicts on the field should be resolved by the players on the field.
At worst, we can send in a few fighters later for a rematch!
But Sloan has never supported people rushing onto the court from the sidelines.
But now, Sloan hesitated. He wondered if he should just let the whole team charge in, even if not for the victory in the fight, but just to save Malone?
"I advise you not to act impulsively." Just then, Jackson's annoying voice came from across the technical table: "You know the consequences of acting impulsively, and you can't afford to bear them."
Jackson, with a sincere expression, offered Sloan advice.
Sloan clenched his fists, staring intently at Jackson, then at the players around him. He had to use immense willpower to suppress the urge to immediately order Grant or someone else to rush over and punch Jackson.
Seeing Sloan's hesitation, Jackson shrugged dismissively, turned around, and returned to his own bench, back to the safety of being surrounded by his own players.
"The whole team are all softies who look tough!" Jackson finally uttered his trash talk after returning to his home turf.
It has to be said that the old man was indeed clever. If Sloan had heard these words, he would most likely have sent someone to rush over and fight him to the death.
But now—
Now, you old bastard, why don't you send someone to beat me up?
The situation on the field has changed again.
The security personnel finally rushed onto the field.
Hubble and Lin Ze were finally pulled apart, leaving Stockton and Malone lying on the floor groaning.
The Lakers players quickly retreated and huddled together, chatting and laughing, looking quite relaxed, as if they had just done something amazing.
The Jazz players, both on and off the court, remained silent.
The good news is that Malone and Stockton are both lying down right now, so they can legitimately surround the injured players and check on their injuries without having to confront those bastards from the Lakers.
Although Ostertag had stood up, blood was still flowing from his nose.
In this conflict, the Jazz were absolutely defeated!
The team's two key players were both brutally beaten. Stockton fared a little better, as he was only attacked by Hubble. Hubble's fighting ability wasn't that great, and he was pulled away by the referee early on, so Stockton only had a little blood on his mouth.
Without a doubt, the worst off was Ma Long. He had been pounded to the ground and punched countless times by Lin Ze, and was still lying on the floor, screaming in pain, covering his face.
Corners of the eyes, nostrils, mouth, face —
Malone's entire face was covered in wounds, making him look incredibly ferocious and terrifying.
This was after Lin Ze pinned him down, and he never thought of fighting back, keeping his hands covering his head the whole time.
If Malone had been thinking of retaliating and hadn't protected his head, Lin Ze might have really let him taste his own brains.
However, Lin Ze was not without injuries.
At this moment, Vidi and another team doctor were on either side of him, examining his palms and giving him some simple treatment.
Lin Ze's hands were covered in blood, mostly from Ma Long, but a small portion was his own.
After all, unless you're a professional who's been fighting for years and has calluses on your fists, an ordinary person hitting someone in the face with a fist will also cause cuts and bruises.
"Good news, the bone is fine!" Viti smiled and stood up, saying, "You're really lucky. When you hit someone like that, your hand bones can easily crack, fracture, or have other problems. You could have been out for the season. You'd better be careful in the future and not do that again."
"It's not right for you to advise me like that," Lin Ze couldn't help but say. "Shouldn't you be advising me not to fight?"
"Hmm—then don't fight with teams other than the Jazz," Vidi said after thinking for a moment.
"Alright," Jackson clapped his hands and said, "Get ready to go back to the locker room. Remember to disinfect the wound again, and if necessary, get a rabies shot to avoid infection."
Then Jackson cleared his throat, looked at everyone and said, "First of all, fighting is definitely wrong. I don't advocate and I hate violence on the court, but as for the Jazz, all I can say is—well done."
"Therefore, this is a one-time exception!"
"I promise it won't happen again!" Lin Ze said. "I have always loved peace."
Jackson glanced at Lin Ze, too lazy to say anything more to him.
Do you think I don't know whether you love peace or not?
"Also, there's a victory celebration tonight! I'll arrange it!" Jackson said, turning to O'Neal, "You're not allowed to compete with me for it!"
"Of course!" O'Neal laughed heartily. "This is probably the only time in my Lakers career that I didn't fight with someone over who paid the bill!"
"It really was a—" The commentator, Wilmarcus, paused here, wondering what adjective to use to describe the conflict. Logically, as a commentator, he should downplay the conflict and describe this kind of on-court brawl as terrible, intolerable, and heinous.
But considering Lin Ze's heroic demeanor just now and the miserable state of that annoying guy Malone after being beaten to a pulp, plus the fact that Wilmarcus is the undisputed number one Lin Ze fan in the United States.
To put it another way, the fact that he can suppress his laughter is a testament to his top-notch professional ethics, making him a role model in the industry.
"What a satisfying incident on the court." Smith once again came to his partner's rescue: "The whole incident only lasted a little over a minute, but the pace of it was unbelievably fast."
"From the start of the conflict to the direct punch, it only took a few seconds, right? Tonight's conflict had none of the usual prelude or trash talk; it went straight to the punch."
77
"And, um—"
Smith was also at a loss for words.
Wilmarcus chimed in, "Such a purely court-based incident is extremely rare in the entire history of the NBA! There wasn't a single disagreement between the two sides; they just started fighting without exchanging a word!"
"I think Lin has trained; look at his ground techniques—"
Wilmarcus could no longer contain himself; he wanted to comment on Lin Ze's fighting skills.
But then he heard angry shouts coming through his headset.
"Are you two bastards trying to switch jobs and become WCB commentators for the boxing championship belts? If not, shut up! Stop spouting that damn fighting technique nonsense! Fuck! This is an accident! This is a serious accident!"
"Get this back on track and condemn these conflicts! Say they're terrible! Don't let young people idolize these players who fight on the field!"
Smith desperately wanted to tell the leader in the earpiece that WCB might be some women's basketball league far away in China, or WBC.
It's the boxing champion's gold belt, but obviously the leaders don't care.
Wilmarcus had no choice but to stop discussing Lin Ze's boxing techniques and start watching the match video.
Now they need to trace the source; they need to see what exactly caused this conflict.
Then condemn the players who resorted to violence during the match.
"That's so dirty! Marlon's move was so dirty! Even in a boxing match, that move would get you penalized with a technical score deduction!" Wilmarcus roared. "He just grabbed Lin's neck and threw him. He could have broken Lin's neck if he wasn't careful."
"This might have been an accident. Lin lost all his balance when he fell, so it probably wasn't intentional."
"Ma Long charged at us again. It was terrifying. I think he was trying to kill us. If Lin had been pinned down by him, he might have broken a few bones."
Wilmarcus later demonstrated what double standards truly mean.
Although Wilmarcus and Smith didn't explicitly say "Malone deserved to be beaten," every word they uttered was guiding fans to think in that direction.
However, even without their guidance and bias, given Ma Long's numerous misdeeds and bad reputation over the past 15 years, the first reaction of fans when they hear that Ma Long is involved in a fight is that Ma Long has done something bad again.
Even if it was Rodman who clashed with Malone, the fans' first reaction would be that Rodman was bullied.
More importantly, the facts are indeed as Smith and Will Marcus said: Malone struck first, and Lin Ze was the victim.
It was Ma Long who choked Lin Ze, and it was also Ma Long who rushed over to straddle Lin Ze and continue attacking him after Lin Ze fell to the ground.
You take the initiative to provoke, take the initiative to attack, and take the initiative to hurt people with dirty tricks. In the end, you can't win in a one-on-one situation, and even after your teammates intervene in the conflict, you are still beaten up. What else can you say?
How embarrassing!
Regarding the conflict, Wilmarcus concluded by saying, "This was a terrible and egregious incident, and the league must punish it severely! Such brawls should not occur on the NBA court!"
"But I also hope that all teams and players in the league will put away your dirty stuff! That stuff not only pollutes the court, but it can also easily cause serious conflicts! Tonight is the best example of that."
"There shouldn't be moves in the NBA that are designed to injure someone or send them to the ICU!"
Smith stated, "I fully support this, and I believe that fighting shouldn't be judged by its outcome, but by its cause! The party that strikes first should face more severe penalties! The NBA needs to nip potential serious conflicts in the bud!"
While the two judges were making their closing arguments, the referees watched the video and went onto the field to announce their rulings.
There's really nothing to announce; the ruling in this conflict was quite easy.
Lin Ze and Hubble were ejected from the game and will certainly face severe follow-up punishments. As the instigator of the incident, Malone, whose face was covered in blood, was also ejected from the game.
In addition, O'Neal, Fox, Rice, Stockton, and Russell, who rushed over to break up the fight, each received a technical foul.
Ostertag was spared a technical foul because he was hit so hard, but he still needs to go back to the locker room to treat his nose. Whether he can play tonight depends on his luck.
Lin Ze had nothing to say about the ruling. He and Hubble waved their arms around in the crowd and then walked toward the players' tunnel.
Along the way, they were greeted by cheers and shouts from the fans as if they were heroes, and heartfelt applause from the entire stadium!
What Lin Ze didn't expect was that everyone's welcome to him was only just beginning.
"You've made a name for yourself tonight, bro!" Hubble said on the way back to the locker room. "I don't think anyone will dare mess with you after tonight."
"It was us!" Lin Ze said, "Your performance tonight was no different from killing a psychopathic killer in the street!"
Every point guard and shooting guard in the entire league will worship you like Jesus.
Hubble, unusually, burst into laughter. The two chatted and reviewed the game as they walked, quickly returning to the locker room.
As soon as they pushed open the locker room door, they heard a cacophony of cell phone rings echoing throughout the room. Everyone's phone was ringing; clearly, countless people wanted to contact the Lakers players immediately and talk to them about this fierce battle.
Lin Ze returned to his seat. The person calling him was his younger brother in Dallas, so he answered casually: "Dude, Dirk's busy, so you only have 30 seconds to thank me."
"That's amazing, Lin! Well done, Lin!" Nowitzki's increasingly fluent English came through: "That's Malone! You actually managed to pin him to the ground and beat him up! You have no idea what he did to me this year, I almost fractured my bones!"
"Alright, Dirk, let's talk again when we get to Dallas. I have a lot of calls to take!" Lin Ze laughed and hung up the phone. No sooner had he hung up than the second call came in, also from Dallas.
Don Nelson's gruff voice rang out: "Kid, don't fucking re-sign with the Lakers this summer! What's the point of them making you their third option? Come back to Dallas, I'll make you the team's leader! FUXX! How come I didn't realize you were such a fucking player last year?"
"Come back to Dallas this summer, and I'll give you a max contract!"
"Did the team's general manager agree?"
"The team's general manager is my son! He was raised by my mother, what can I say and he wouldn't dare refuse?" Old Nelson was obviously extremely excited, shouting as he said, "Alright, I know you're busy! See you in Dallas."
After Old Nelson hung up, Lin Ze's phone rang again almost immediately.
During the roughly 10 minutes that Lin Ze waited for the team to return to the locker room at halftime, his phone never stopped ringing; he received calls from all sorts of people.
From Kukoc and Wennington, who were on very good terms with him, to Pippen and Kidd, who were on decent terms with him, and even some guys with whom he had only casual relationships, they all called Lin Ze or at least sent him text messages.
The most interesting one is Garnett.
This burly, tough guy, who had just been eliminated in the first round, sent Lin Ze a text message: "Lin, you did a great job! I mean, that was satisfying! What I really want to say is, well done—well, you know Lin, between you and me—"
"Those were all just basketball-related arguments, right? I've always considered us to be Chicago natives, childhood friends, brothers!"
Lin Ze chose to ignore Garnett's rather awkward text message.
He won't answer if Garnett calls him later.
Heh heh, you think you can just run away after offending Lin? I'm only letting it go with a text message because I'm good-natured. Dream on!
But apart from the awkward Garnett, everyone else conveyed roughly the same message.
Well done! It's gratifying! It's a great victory for the people!
Hubble, who was next to Lin Ze, was in the same situation and had also received countless congratulatory messages.
However, unlike Lin Ze, Hubble had other tasks besides receiving congratulations.
"Lin, Alonzo asked me for your phone number, and I gave it to him!"
"Charles also asked me for your phone number. Which Charles are you asking about? The one in Toronto—oh, I've got both of them, and the one in Houston too."
"Fuck! Ron!" After at least eight or nine veteran players from the league tried to get Lin Ze's number from Hubble, Lin Ze couldn't help but say, "How many people do you have contact information for? And they're all men, I'm starting to suspect you're a damn gay!"
"I've played in the league for 14 years," Harper said irritably. "And I used to be a franchise player, okay?"
While Linze and Hubble were enjoying hero-like treatment, some people in the league were having a complete sleepless night.
"What did you say? Lakers and Jazz? They played with blood all over the court?" Stern, who was already asleep, received a call from his assistant and immediately sat up in bed. For his age, the fact that he could get up so quickly and not even see his grandmother shows that he is in really good health.
"Who got into a fight? Was it Shaq and Malone, or Kobe and Stockton?"
"Lin and Malone? Hubble and Stockton?"
"I'm going back to headquarters immediately and rousing everyone! Get the recording ready, the media team ready, the PR team, the analysts, the referees—everyone come! I need to know the whole story."
"We must finalize the suspension plan tonight!"
Stern rushed out the door, and all the NBA's top officials and relevant department heads also gathered urgently.
They're unlikely to get a good night's sleep tonight.
In the Lakers' locker room, Lin Ze didn't answer the phone this time; instead, he made a call.
He had just calmed Britney and Beckinsale down, telling the two girls who had watched tonight's game not to worry, when he saw a rather urgent text message and quickly called back.
This time, Schwartz answered the phone.
"Why did you make such a big deal out of this?" Schwartz's first sentence sounded like a complaint, but his second sentence immediately showed his professionalism: "You need to get the team to do crisis management for you right away, to portray you as a victim, a pitiful person who was driven to desperation by dirty tricks and dirty tactics."
"I'll also help you build momentum. Thank goodness you're with the Los Angeles Lakers. Apart from the Knicks, no team has more influence than the Lakers. The entire Los Angeles media will be speaking up for you."
"By the way, remember to remind the team's PR team to emphasize how you presented Malone with the All-Star MVP trophy at the All-Star Game, and have them promote how much you respected Malone before the series started."
"Thank God, how did you come up with the idea of giving the trophy to Malone? It was a brilliant move! It made you lose the least amount of money and made you both a hero and a victim."
"One last question. We all know your core fanbase is in China, and at least 70% of your commercial value comes from China. But unfortunately, I don't know much about your home country. My question is: how do your fans in China view this fight?"
"Will you lose a large number of Chinese fans?"
"I don't have any media friends in China. I really hope I can do something for you, but I need to understand your country better in order to have a clear direction."
"You don't have to do anything, Jeff," Lin Ze said. "Relax. My country's fans will love me even more because of this fight. You can completely relax and even get a good night's sleep."
"You don't need to worry about or interfere over there at all. Okay, let's talk later, someone's coming to the locker room."
As soon as Lin Ze finished speaking, the locker room door opened, but instead of Lakers players, three Lakers legends entered: Magic Johnson, Jerry West, and Jerry Buss.
"Are the kids alright? I was really scared. As soon as I found out you had a conflict with that thug, I immediately ended the party and rushed back." Bass and Lin Ze didn't talk much, and they didn't exchange more than a few words, but Bass's expression and tone at this moment made Lin Ze feel that he might be his long-lost younger brother.
"Don't worry, I'll make those hillbillies in Salt Lake City pay. On my way here, I contacted all my media friends and told them to start writing articles and doing everything they can to help you! Don't worry, this fight won't have any negative impact on you."
"Jerry's frantic," Magic Johnson laughed. "But I have to say, those were some really beautiful punches! I'm so glad I came to this fight; it's the best K-0 I've ever seen! Don't worry, don't be nervous, we'll handle everything!"
"I just called my friend who works in the league, and he hasn't revealed anything yet, but don't worry, I'll let you know as soon as I have any news."
"The team won't stand idly by," West concluded. "Even if you beat up two damn thugs, or even if you beat up Jordan, we'd still stand with you."
"In fact," Hubble couldn't help but say upon hearing this, "he really did fight."
"Oh?" The three magicians' eyes lit up immediately. "Tell me more!"
A few minutes later, the game went into halftime. The Lakers players went into the locker room, and the three big shots didn't stay any longer. After saying a few words of encouragement, they left the locker room.
The atmosphere in the locker room reached a fever pitch immediately after they left. Questions that hadn't been asked before suddenly came up, and everyone started asking about the details of the fight, how Lin Ze killed Ma Long, and what it felt like to have Ma Long's head smashed.
During halftime, Phil Jackson didn't even give any tactical instructions; instead, he kept making phone calls, clearly trying to influence public opinion.
He has quite a few media friends!
A dozen minutes later, the Lakers players got up to prepare for the second half of the game. Jackson patted Harper and Lin Ze on the shoulder to reassure them and let them rest.
At this moment, Lin Ze was truly relieved, and he couldn't help but echo Schwartz's sentiment: Los Angeles really does have its advantages!
In other cities, there would absolutely not be such a huge media advantage.
But now, he can already imagine that tomorrow morning, the newspapers across the United States will be filled with stories of how he was oppressed and humiliated by Malone, how he was forced to fight back, and how he ultimately beat Malone until his face was covered in blood in a one-on-one duel.
The game wasn't interrupted for long by the fight, but the Jazz were missing Malone, and the crushing defeat in the fight robbed them of all their confidence.
Therefore, they quickly collapsed during the game, and the match quickly became garbage time.
As the game was about to end, various members of the league finally gathered in an office at the league headquarters, where dozens of people watched the game replay of the moment when the conflict occurred.
"What do you mean?" After another recording finished playing, Stern pressed the pause button and looked at everyone present.
"The suspension is necessary," a staff member said.
"I don't want to hear any more nonsense, and you shouldn't say anything more," Stern interrupted him directly. "I only need the truth now, and then I'll make a decision on punishment. Such a serious fight occurring on the playoff stage must be severely punished!"
"The number of people involved in this fight is actually far less than that of the Heat and Knicks fight a few years ago," an official said. "In total, only five people were actually involved in the fight, but the fighting was so fierce that it made the scene look rather terrifying."
"I think the suspension standards can be referenced from that incident."
"Lin hit Malone with a bloody face, but only suspended him for two games?" another person protested. "There was no blood in those two games against the Knicks and Heat! I think the Asian should be suspended for the rest of the season! He should be banned from appearing in this year's playoffs."
"Are you crazy?" another person said. "Do you know how many Asians watch the playoffs? Do you know how many people in China alone watch the Lakers? Suspend them until the end of the season? Are you going to just abandon the international market we've worked so hard to build?"
"But two fights are too few," another person said. "Besides, after this fight, will the Chinese still like this kid? I've heard that China is called the 'Land of Etiquette,' and they hate violence."
The entire scene was then completely ignited, with almost everyone joining the discussion. Various arguments and opinions on punishment were put forward, and everyone had their own views.
Only Stern, the leader of this alliance, an old man with almost absolute power, remained silent.
Gradually, the noise and discussion in the room subsided and eventually stopped completely. Everyone looked at Stern in unison until one of them asked, "Mr. President, what do you think should be done about this?"
"First of all," Stern said, "I suggest you learn about China. Someone just said it's a land of etiquette, and that's true. They do have that title, and they're proud of it."
"Some people say they don't like fighting. Chinese people in America are conscientious, hardworking and diligent, which is true, they really are like that."
"But I spent a few days there, talked to a lot of people, and had in-depth conversations with some of them. Then I learned some things that I couldn't understand but were true."
"Although the people of this country do not like fighting, they have an unparalleled and heartfelt fervor for fighting their own people against foreigners."
"I don't know why, maybe it's related to history, beliefs or something else, but I don't care about those things, I just need to know that this is the truth."
"This means that if we only consider the Chinese market, this incident will only bring us more benefits."
"Mr. President, do you mean—to give him a lenient sentence?" someone tentatively guessed Stern's thoughts.
"How could this be!" Stern exclaimed. "They must be severely punished! Bloodshed on the field is outrageous; I cannot tolerate it."
"Then do as I say, suspend him until the end of the season!"
"That's impossible too," Stern said. "The Chinese are waiting to see their heroes on the court, and the Los Angeles fans have their expectations too."
"So you mean—"
Stern sighed and said, "First of all, the good news is that it's Malone who got beaten up. That guy is really annoying, which will save us a lot of trouble. The Los Angeles people will also launch an attack immediately. Their media power will save us a lot of effort, so let them do whatever they want."
"Lin will soon become a hero forced to fight back."
"But if that happens, the Salt Lake City players and Malone—"
Stern glared at the person who asked the question, stopping him from continuing, but he didn't explain that there were some things he couldn't say.
Even if everyone here is one of their own, an insider in the league, Stern absolutely cannot say things like, "I don't care if bastards like Malone and Stockton die; they'll only damage the league's reputation," or "There are only a few people in Salt Lake City; the whole of America hates them. We just need to cater to the feelings of the vast majority."
As for Ron Harper? He doesn't care at all; he's just a role player.
Stern made the decision without any hesitation.
A young star who has just been selected as an All-Star starter, has at least 10 years of peak performance ahead of him, and a huge overseas market; and two old-timers who could retire at any time, are disliked, have an ugly playing style, and are unpopular.
How to choose is obvious at a glance.
At this point in the discussion, Stern's meaning is quite clear.
At the very least, we need to protect the Lakers and Lin Ze in terms of public opinion!
"Take the highest level of punishment, strictly ban them, and fine them, make them feel the pain! Confess, tell me how we've dealt with this level of brawl in the past."
The official who was called on stood up and said, "Malone initiated the conflict, so it's normal for him to be suspended for one game for that action. In addition, he lunged at Lin afterward, so a two-game suspension would be more appropriate. The rest of the Jazz team should not be suspended; at most, a fine or warning would suffice."
"As for Lin, although he was forced to retaliate, he really went too far and should be suspended for at least 3 games."
"For Hubble, two games would also be more appropriate."
"That's a bit too little." Stern thought for a moment and said, "The Jazz are definitely no match for the Lakers without Malone. The Lakers will definitely advance to the next round. Let's suspend Lin and Harper for 6 and 3 games respectively, so they can still make it to the Western Conference Finals."
"Ma Long is also suspended for 3 games."
"Then, according to the maximum standard, give these bastards the highest possible fine!"
"Who will be speaking tonight? When they speak, they must tell everyone that the league hates on-court violence and has zero tolerance for dirty tricks that don't belong on the court."
"The league will strengthen its management of these dirty plays and increase penalties. We will no longer allow any dirty, low-level non-basketball actions to harm hardworking players!"
Stern's last sentence revealed his true purpose and thoughts.
He wants to protect his star players from dirty play; he wants to reduce injuries. This year alone, there's been Hill...
With two of Duncan's top stars sidelined due to injury, how much attention has the league lost? He wants to completely drive those dirty players out of the league and make it more civilized and harmonious.
That chaotic era of iron-blooded, hand-to-hand combat, elbows, dirty kicks, and flying fists and knees is destined to be completely abandoned by the league and become a thing of the past!