Lin Yu quickly called Stern.
After Stern received the call, his heart skipped a beat. He thought something had happened. Yesterday, he just received a call from China TV, saying that they would broadcast the entire Eastern Conference finals live. Stern was so happy that he was really afraid of this. Something happened.
"Lin, what happened?" Stern asked tremblingly.
"Mr. Stern, I want to ask you for a favor, no, it should be two."
"The first one is that I want to acquire the remaining 50% of Paulin's shares. Is there any way you can get him to agree?" Lin Yu is most concerned about how to get Paulin to sell his shares.
"Huh? Lin, is this what you mean, or is it what your elders mean?"
"If that's what you mean, I think you need to ask your elders for their opinions. That's more than 100 million U.S. dollars, not just 100,000 or 80,000 dollars for you to buy a Rolex."
Stern said with a deep frown.
Lin Yu smiled bitterly in his heart, not knowing what his background was in Stern's mind.
"Of course it's my own intention, but I don't have enough cash on hand right now, so I might have to borrow some from you."
"Don't worry, I can use the 50% equity in my hand as collateral."
When Stern heard this, he sighed secretly. When he was 27 years old, he had just passed the bar exam and was carrying bags behind a senior lawyer every day. At the age of 27, Lin Yu was already preparing to fully acquire an NBA team. What a human being. More infuriating than popular.
"Forget the mortgage, how can I still not trust you?"
"It's easy to borrow money, but we still have to see what price Paulin offers first."
"Paulin actually owns a lot of industries. There are three sports teams alone. In addition, your Verizon Arena also belongs to him."
"That is to say, even if you fully acquire the Washington Wizards, you still have to play in his arena. This can easily be blocked by him, for example, by raising the rental fee of the arena."
"Now he owns half of the equity, so it's not easy to tamper with the rental fee."
Stern reminded kindly.
Lin Yu nodded. Most NBA teams actually rent arenas. Only a handful of team owners own arenas, and Paulin is one of them.
According to the current market price, renting an arena is actually not expensive. The average rental cost for each team is less than US$2 million per year.
Lin Yu thought that even if Paulin raised the price, it would only double to four million at most, and the extra two million would just be a splash.
"It doesn't matter, as long as we can accept half of his equity. Mr. Stern, can you think of a way?"
"This is not difficult. He is a businessman. As long as the price is right, he will definitely sell it."
"I'll help you find a price first, and you'll be waiting for news from me in the next two days."
Stern simply took this job on himself. He helped Lin Yu so much. On the one hand, he felt that Lin Yu helped him develop the Chinese market. On the other hand, he felt that only in the hands of Lin Yu could the genius truly succeed. Market value skyrocketed.
Stern's image in the minds of players is very bad. Almost all players think that he is a dictatorial tyrant. However, Lin Yu knows very well that this old man's contribution to the NBA is immeasurable and has saved the NBA from crises many times. middle.
To be fair, if it weren't for Stern, the NBA would have been doomed a long time ago. How many tens of millions of contracts do these players still want? There are no doors.
The era of the black-and-white rivalry between Bird and Magic Johnson was introduced, and then the era of Jordan's one true god was introduced. The salary cap was introduced to limit the dominance of one NBA team, and then the maximum salary regulations were introduced. Let NBA owners make money, develop the Chinese market, and attract a large number of brand advertising bindings. Take Nike for example. If it were not the NBA, it would definitely not be able to make so much money in China.
It was a series of classic operations that forged the subsequent prosperity of the NBA. Lin Yu at least admired Stern in this aspect. He was really capable and capable.
If Lin Yu can fully control the Wizards now, it will definitely be a good thing for the NBA.
After hanging up the phone, Lin Yu patiently waited for news from Stern. Next, the Wizards were about to face their second-round playoff opponent, the Heat.
Yes, it's the Heat again. The Wizards' playoff script this year is almost exactly the same as last year. Even if the rankings of the Eastern Conference teams have changed greatly, the Wizards will still face the Heat and Knicks in the first two rounds, and then there is a high probability that they will face the Bulls in the Eastern Conference Finals.
Of course, Lin Yu is not so naive as to think that Pat Riley doesn't play any tricks. It's not that Lin Yu judges a gentleman's heart with a villain's heart. Lin Yu is not a villain, and Riley is not a gentleman.
In the previous game, Riley had instructed PJ Brown to wrap around Daba's arm. Unfortunately, Daba's thick arm directly dislocated PJ Brown.
Now that it's the playoffs, if he really sees no hope of winning and is about to be eliminated, Lin Yu doesn't believe that Pat Riley won't make small moves.
The first two games are the home games of the Wizards. PJ Brown has returned to the Heat. Unfortunately, whether facing Webb or O'Brien, PJ Brown's defensive effect is limited. He is not good at defending the fourth position with this type of deflection.
And Mourning under the basket was even more miserable. Lin Yu took turns playing Ben and Bus to go to the wheel battle. Even Mourning, who was tough, couldn't bear it. Lin Yu even saw Mourning drinking Gatorade with spices during the break. , most likely it is mixed with painkillers.
Daben and Daba are two tough men with so much strength that it is difficult for Mourning to parry even one of them, let alone get caught in a wheel fight.
The Heat's outside line was also beaten. Nash simply didn't play in these two games. Lin Yu has been using Kobe to face Tim Hardaway.
Lin Yu is indeed not a villain, but he is petty. Tim Hardaway angrily criticized Lin Yu at the All-Star Weekend. It is strange that Lin Yu can coddle him.
Even if Kobe plays the one position, the Wizards' offensive rhythm is not as smooth as Nash's presence, and Lin Yu doesn't care. He is winning anyway, so he might as well disgust Tim Hardaway.
The Heat's internal and external core were suppressed miserably. How could they win? They lost both away games by more than 20 points.
When he arrived at the Heat's home court, Tim Hardaway lost his nerve again and began to angrily yell at Lin Yu and the Wizards.
"I've never seen a team that has such a home-court advantage. It's like I could get called a foul for anything I do on the court."
"Kobe is a kid under 20 years old. I don't know who trained him to be so dirty. He elbowed me at least ten times in these two games!"
First, he complained that the referee's whistle was too biased in favor of the Wizards, and then he complained that Kobe was too dirty, and by the way, he also criticized Lin Yu.
Since this is the home court of the Wizards, isn't it normal to have more whistles? Lin Yu has led his team in more than a hundred games now, and he has never criticized the opponent's home court advantage.
This has always been an unspoken rule of the NBA and is part of the NBA. After all, the NBA is a commercial league, not the Olympics. Fans who spend a lot of money to watch games can never watch their home team suffer a penalty.
As for Kobe's elbow, Lin Yu admitted this. It was indeed an elbow, but Tim Hardaway was not clean either. He also did little tricks in pinching people.
Why is the intensity of the playoffs so high? It’s because both sides are desperately trying to win, and they are very aggressive and defensive. Even the referees turn a blind eye to these things in the playoffs. As long as they don’t It wouldn't be a big deal if it caused a fight.
This is not Tim Hardaway's first time playing in the playoffs. How could he not know this? Saying these things at a press conference is just to disgust people.
…
"This damn old thing, look at my waist, it's all bruised by him."
"He is the first to complain. In the next game in front of the Heat fans, I have to beat him up."
Kobe lifted up his clothes and showed Lin Yu and his teammates the pinch marks on his waist. It was indeed shocking to see.
In fact, because of the skin color of black people, these scars are not obvious. If it is those fat white players, such as the later-generation pork belly Jokic, then he will be covered in blood stains during a game, which will look particularly obvious.
"Don't come here, you guy. Don't think that I can't see through your purpose."
"You just want to take advantage of this opportunity to make crazy moves and use various tricks to defraud the right to take action!"
McGrady quickly exposed Kobe, and the two of them fell in love and killed each other every day.
Kobe laughed sarcastically, "What happened to me taking more shots against the Heat? When we face the Bulls next, I won't even have a chance to take action. How about Michael leaving it to you to defend alone?"
McGrady looked stunned, and suddenly looked at Kobe with pitiful eyes, "Okay, what you said makes sense. You do have a reason to take more shots in this series."
Lin Yu was also happy. Every time he played against the Bulls, Kobe played the role of a tool. He took seven or eight shots in the game, which was almost negligible. He focused almost all his energy on defending Jordan.
He's right, he won't lose against the Heat anyway, so letting Kobe take more shots can be considered as compensation for Kobe.
"Man, since you said so, you will have unlimited firing rights for the rest of this series."
"Remember, be careful. You should know how dirty the Heat team is."
Lin Yu said to Kobe.
Kobe was overjoyed and thanked Lin Yu repeatedly. He felt that the representative game of his career was about to appear.
After playing a full season with the Wizards, Kobe's statistics are not bad, but he just doesn't have the kind of super statistics that can be recorded in history.
It's the playoffs now, and the data is more valuable. Kobe is very motivated and wants to go on the court and score 60 points right away.
…
The game started in the evening. The starting lineup sent by Lin Yu was Kobe, Tracy McGrady, Peja, Webber and Bus, with full offensive and defensive intensity.
None of these five players has poor defense. Peja is the worst, and his defensive ability is also among the best among the third positions.
As for the offensive firepower, it is even more amazing. Lin Yu can confidently say that his lineup has the strongest offensive firepower in NBA history.
Any one of these five people has the ability to average more than 25 points per game. Where can you find a five-person group of this level in NBA history.
Just after the game started, Kobe beat Tim Hardaway and succeeded.
Poor Tim Hardaway is no match for Kobe. He can't even hit a speedster, let alone beat Kobe who is a speedster.
Seeing that Kobe was in such a hot state, other players on the court made wedding dresses for Kobe one after another. Bus helped Kobe get out of the basket, Webb pulled out to help with pick-and-rolls, and McGrady and Peja moved without the ball to help Kobe attract the opponent's attention. Defensive attention to prevent Kobe from being double-teamed.
The young Kobe showed his true qualities as a killer, and his explosive scoring power was so amazing that even Lin Yu was shocked. Isn't this kid going to score 70 or 80 points tonight?
Kobe Bryant scored 36 points in the first half, while his opponent Tim Hardaway only scored six points. This is a clear gap.
In the second half, Kobe's hand suddenly felt cold, but Lin Yu became happy. If he really scored 80 points for this guy, then his tail would be raised to the sky in the future, which is definitely not a good thing.
At the beginning of the second half, Kobe Bryant took four consecutive fade-away shots and hit three irons. This was a true four-legged three-iron game, which made Lin Yu happy.
However, the Wizards had a huge advantage on the scene. Even if Kobe shot excessively, the Heat could not find any winning points.
Don't forget, the game is not only about offense, but also defense. Kobe's shooting percentage is low, and the Heat's defense is painful, and the shooting percentage is not much higher.
By the time halfway through the fourth quarter, relying on his ultra-high frequency of shots, Kobe actually scored 23 points in the second half, and his personal score had reached 59 points!
"Ten seconds later, you will witness with your own eyes the birth of the youngest player to score 60 points in the playoffs in NBA history."
Kobe held the ball on the outside, looked at Tim Hardaway in front of him and smiled.
"When the game is over, I will break Michael Jordan's playoff scoring record. I will thank you very much at the post-game press conference."
Kobe's trash talk is the essence of Jordan, not dirty but irritating enough.
Tim Hardaway was so angry that he grinned and stepped forward to make a gambling steal. This action was quite irrational and gave Kobe a chance to break through the basket.
The game has reached this point, and Mourning's physical energy has been exhausted by the battle between Ben and Bus. At this time, Ben squeezed Mourning out of the three-second zone under the basket, and Kobe could drive straight in and rush to the basket for a dunk.
As long as this ball is dunked in, he will score 61 points personally and will become the youngest player to score 60 points in the playoffs in NBA history!
Although he is said to be the youngest player, it is actually extremely rare for a player to score 60 points in the playoffs. To this day, only two people have achieved this achievement.
One is Jordan, the record holder for the most points in a single game in the playoffs. In 1986, he scored 63 points in a single game.
The other one is the unlucky Elgin Baylor, who scored 61 points in 1962!
In other words, as long as Kobe Bryant dunks this ball, he can tie Baylor's record and rank second in the history of scoring in a single game in the playoffs.
Seeing Kobe rushing towards the basket, Tim Hardaway was very anxious. If Kobe dunked in, he didn't dare to think what kind of face Kobe would give him.
What he couldn't accept the most was that the game was not over yet, and Kobe still had the possibility of scoring higher.
Thinking of this, Tim Hardaway didn't care so much anymore and rushed towards Kobe. He was very fast. When Kobe got up and dunked, he took a step directly and elbowed Kobe to the ground.
Kobe has seen many players injured this year. He didn't dare to touch the ground with his feet when he landed. If he injured his ankle, the consequences would be disastrous.
"boom!"
With a loud bang, Kobe fell heavily to the floor, face down, and supported himself with his hands to prevent himself from falling too badly.
Even so, after landing, Kobe looked painful and covered his fingers, which were obviously injured.
Before Lin Yu could make any move, Lao Qiao on the bench became anxious.
That was his own son, his only son. Tim Hardaway made such a dangerous defensive move. In his opinion, it was murder, and he wanted to end his relationship with the Bryant family!
Old Bernie and Old Bob quickly went to hold Old Joe back, fearing that he would do something stupid.
Lin Yu's face was livid. He knew that the Heat were bad guys, but he didn't expect that they would start attacking in the third game.
He thought it would be Game 4, and after seeing that he was about to be swept by the Wizards, the Heat would take action.
Angrily, Lin Yu stood up suddenly. Pat Riley, who was not far away, flashed a look of expectation on his face. He couldn't wait for Lin Yu to rush onto the court.
The Heat are destined to fail to advance anyway, and Riley wants to drag Lin Yu into the water.
Bowen and Billups on the bench quickly stepped forward to hug Lin Yu.
"Boss, don't get excited. We have to play the Bulls later. You don't want to lead the remaining team into the Eastern Conference finals like last season, right?" Billups calmly reassured Lin Yu.
Lin Yu raised his eyebrows, "Fuck Dongjue, if I don't take this tone tonight, I won't be able to sleep for at least a week!"
"Damn Tim Hardaway, look at how I will deal with you!"
Tim Hardaway shrugged and walked slowly to Lin Yu, "How do you want to deal with me? Like you did with Childs?"
"Sorry, my deal is worth ten times as much as Childs."
After saying that, Hardaway laughed. Even if he lost, he was happy with this game. He was angry at the All-Star Weekend and vented it all at this moment.
Lin Yu's face gradually turned cold. Seeing Tim Hardaway leave triumphantly, it was really more uncomfortable than killing him.
"Boss, don't be angry. It's not worth being angry with this kind of person."
"If you are really angry, let me come on and I will help you vent your anger."
Uncle Bao, who was standing aside, suddenly spoke.
Lin Yu turned to look at Bowen, "Do you have any grudge against Tim Hardaway?"
"I can't say it's a grudge. Boss, you may not know my experience. I played with the Heat during my rookie season, but I only played one game and only played a few minutes."
"It's normal for sideline players like us to be bullied by stars in the locker room."
"No, I'm not talking about our locker room, Chris, they treated me well and respected me."
Having said this, Bowen's face was filled with a smile. In fact, he was exaggerating a bit. He did play only one game with the Heat in his rookie season, but it was not a few minutes, but 1 minute!
If the NBA clock does not start at the minimum of one minute, Bowen's actual playing time is only 32 seconds. That is a whole season, and he only played 32 seconds.
The key is that he doesn't have a pleasant appearance. He looks bitter and resentful, and his status in the Heat locker room can be imagined.
After arriving with the Wizards, he truly experienced the warmth of his teammates. Whether it was All-Star starter Buss, Webb or Kobe, or Ben, Tracy McGrady, Nash, O'Neill and others, they all treated Bowen like a brother. Any disrespectful behavior.
Lin Yu looked directly at Bowen and said slowly: "That guy called me a barbarian in front of reporters before."
"Then we brothers will give him a brutal look tonight."
"Looking at this posture, the referee probably won't expel him from the field. I'll give you two minutes, only two minutes. I want to see him being carried off the field on a stretcher!"
"Success, I will give you a three-year, four-million-dollar contract extension next season!"
Lin Yu was really like a devil making a deal with mortals at this moment. He originally captured Bowen in order to let Bowen go on the right path. However, what happened tonight made Lin Yu forget his original intention. He just wanted to let Bowen go on the right path. Damn Tim Hardaway was taken off the court on a stretcher.
After hearing Lin Yu's words, Bowen's breathing became rapid. The three-year guaranteed contract has a key contract amount of four million U.S. dollars. If he succeeds, he will at least be guaranteed to have food and clothing for the rest of his life!
"Done it!" Bowen said harshly.
…
The referee on the field hesitated for a long time, but still did not eject Tim Hardaway. He only recorded a first-level flagrant foul on Hardaway.
There are two levels of flagrant fouls. Level one is roughly similar to yellow cards on the football field. After accumulating two, it becomes a red card. That is, level two flagrant fouls will result in expulsion.
The Wizards got a chance to make two free throws.
Kobe had been pulled up from the floor by Webber and slowly walked to the sideline.
"How is the situation?" Lin Yu asked with a worried look, and Lao Qiao beside him was also heartbroken.
"The finger may be broken. Fortunately, the broken finger is on the left hand. Dongjue will not be able to give Michael the middle finger next time."
Kobe held up his left hand, and his middle finger looked obviously deformed, which made Lin Yu's scalp numb. Maybe it was broken? It was obviously broken, and there was only a layer of skin attached to the middle finger.
"Get off the field quickly and go back to the locker room." Old Qiao said with a trembling voice.
Kobe shook his head and said, "No, I still have two free throw opportunities. As long as I can make one, I will reach 60 points."
"Don't say I just broke a finger. Even if I broke my leg and collapsed on the floor, I still had to throw these two balls."
Lao Qiao became anxious and said, "I'll forget it hurts you to death."
Lin Yu could only sigh. Faced with this kind of paranoia, all he could do was fulfill his wish. If it were him, he might have made the same choice as Kobe.
"Go ahead and go back to the locker room after two free throws. Children are not suitable to watch what happens next." Lin Yu patted Kobe on the shoulder and smiled.
Kobe didn't understand what Lin Yu meant and turned around and walked onto the court again.
The fans at the scene gasped, already like this, but still want to take a free throw? Doesn't this kid have any pain nerves?
Fingers connected to the heart, it would be absolutely unbearable for ordinary people to experience this kind of pain.
Lin Yu looked at Kobe's back, and all he felt in his heart was admiration. It's no wonder that this guy has been able to stand in the NBA for so many years with his not-so-excellent physical talent.
"boom!"
Missed the first free throw.
"Uh-huh!"
For the second free throw, Kobe gritted his teeth, adjusted the trajectory of the basketball with the palm of his left hand, and hit it.
Sixty points in a single game in the playoffs!
The youngest player to score 60 points in the playoffs!
Ranked third in single-game scoring list in the playoffs!
Lin Yu clapped and cheered, Kobe deserves this honor tonight!
When Kobe Bryant returned to the locker room with satisfaction, Lin Yu glanced at Uncle Bao with a cold look.
"Come on, I want him to be taken off the field on a stretcher in two minutes!"
Bowen nodded and took Kobe's place.
Billups sat aside and became curious, "Boss, what if Bruce can't do it? You only said that success would allow him to sign a 4 million contract."
"What if it fails?"
Lin Yu had a cold smile on his face, "There is no possibility of failure."
Are you kidding me? That's Bowen. He wants to hurt people, and no one will be spared!
