The Pope of Basketball Community

An hour before the game started on the 8th, there was a sea of ​​people outside the Wizards MCI Center. It was not so lively during the presidential election.

The management distributed blue and white Finals commemorative T-shirts to each seat in advance, and the fans uniformed their uniforms. Even Leonardo, who was sitting in the front row, did not refuse, which increased the morale of the home court. The Wizards have never done this before. There is a huge difference between the importance of the finals and ordinary games.

Old fans quickly felt something unusual, and the players' appearance ceremony changed from the past. The players and coaching staff have all been introduced, but Jordan did not appear.

Bucklage asked: "There was no news before the game that Michael was absent due to injury. Do we need to arrange a special appearance ceremony for him?"

Smith nodded: "That's definitely the case. Even if the series is full, he only has the last five games of his career. The Wizards should show their respect for him."

The lights were turned off, and Jordan's new promotional video was played on the big screen in the stadium.

It opens with some interviews with Jordan.

Ever since I was a kid, I dreamed of playing on the highest stage in the basketball world. I dreamed of playing in college and winning a national championship; I dreamed of winning a gold medal in the Olympics; I dreamed of winning a championship in the NBA.

Thank you to my teammates and coaches and the supportive people who made my dream a reality. I play for the love of it, never for any other reason.

This is the last year of my career. As long as I am still playing, I will strive for victory and always compete for championships.

After the interview clip, soothing music played, followed by a low and special singing voice.

"Today I hurt myself again to find out if I still had the strength to feel. I concentrated on the pain. It was the only real thing. The needle stung the wound, like the old sting, and I tried to let go. All this will be annihilated and never come back again, but I just remember everything..."

Nine Inch Nails' "hurt" is not very famous, but this year, the legendary musician Johnny Cash, who is in his dying years, covered the song and turned it into a classic.

The band's lead singer Trent Reznor shed tears after watching Cash's version of the MV and said that "Hurt" no longer belongs to him from now on.

Yang Rui likes commercial movies. In his previous life, he almost never made a Hollywood blockbuster. Among them, there is one commercial movie that is very emotional, and that is "Wolverine 3".

Hugh Jackman played Wolverine for seventeen years,

The movie ends with death, bringing it to a successful conclusion. The interlude in the movie trailer is "hurt". No song is more desolate than this song, and it better embodies the twilight of the hero.

Jordan stood in the tunnel, and his heartstrings were plucked when he heard the music. The song fit his mood very well.

On the big screen, a video of Jordan was playing along with the song.

To everyone's surprise, they didn't see the usual highlight reel of Jordan's goals.

This promotional video was shot like a movie trailer, like an MV, and the video was set to music. For this purpose, Yang Rui called Jennifer Aniston and asked her to introduce a well-known director who made short films. The video went through Careful editing.

It opens with Jordan staggering off the court, lagging behind his young teammates, and slowly walking into the locker room alone.

Everyone else went to take a shower. Jordan shook his sore wrist and touched the bruised areas on his body. He trembled slightly and looked at his old self in the mirror.

The video created a sense of the hero's twilight from the very beginning. Whether they were at the scene or in front of the TV, the audience realized that Jordan was really old.

In the first half of the video, the video mainly showed Jordan training hard within the team. After training, he put ice packs on his knees and put his feet in ice water. There were also shots of the trainer giving Jordan a massage.

Some close-ups show Jordan's fingers and toes. After playing games all year round and pricking his fingers several times, Jordan's right index finger is almost unable to bend. The price of his becoming a flying man is that his toes and soles are under tremendous pressure, and now his toes are also somewhat deformed.

The next video is about torturing Jordan in various ways. During the Wizards period, Jordan faced off against young stars, engaged in tough physical confrontations, was knocked to the ground by his opponents, fought hard for the ball on the floor, etc...

Finley, Najera, Adrian and other Mavericks players appeared on the scene several times, and there was no hiding behind their little moves. These were all added at Yang Rui's request after confirming the finals against the Mavericks. In the past, there were only scenes of Jordan competing against outside stars such as Kobe, Tracy McGrady, Carter, and Pierce.

Seeing these shots, many people are even more disgusted with the Mavericks and feel that their defense is dirty. In fact, as long as you edit, every NBA player can find many defensive tricks. Except for Nash, after all, others gave him the nickname "Na Bu Fang".

Before you know it, the lyrics have been sung and the music has come to an end.

Finally, several retired stars who entered the league at the same time as Jordan were interviewed and gave him their blessings. When Olajuwon slowly said: "Michael, you still have a chance."

The music stopped abruptly, and a documentary-like story was presented in front of the fans. It was extremely destructive. During the whole process, everyone was quiet. After it was over, thunderous applause erupted in the arena, and many fans were moved to tears.

Some fans who criticize Jordan for losing his ability online even feel guilty.

These people just saw that Jordan's strength had declined, that Jordan was not as good as before and was surpassed by newcomers. But I don’t know how much effort Jordan has put in to maintain his condition to the current level.

When the video of Jordan training, his injuries were displayed in front of people. Everyone understands that Jordan did not get to this point just by talent. The secret of his success is also the accumulation of sweat.

The headlights of the stadium illuminated Jordan. He slowly walked onto the court, waving to the fans around him with tears in his eyes, enjoying the applause of the fans.

Barkley and Kenny Smith were stunned. Jordan's appearance was beyond their imagination.

The song is too desolate. How can this be the music for a star to retire? You are going to die, Jordan-san!

The promotional videos of other teams always look for the most exciting goals and let the players appear in a powerful posture. This time the Wizards took the initiative to let Jordan step down from the altar, allowing people to see his weak side.

Jordan is just an ordinary person now, a veteran fighting to win. However, the more tortuous the road of struggle and the purer the heart, the more touching it is.

ESPN Radio also broadcast the game live. McBrin lamented: "There have only been two games in the finals. No matter which team wins in the end, I think Michael Jordan has already won. He is the greatest star in the history of the NBA!"

On the sidelines, Mavericks head coach Nelson frowned and took several deep breaths but couldn't calm down. He felt extremely shocked and doubled his pressure.

He knows that the morale of the Mavericks can no longer be compared with that of the Wizards. This promotional video moved him as an opponent, not to mention Jordan's teammates? The Wizards players will definitely go all out for every next game.

The same is true for hype. Compared with Jordan, Nelson's story is not worth mentioning at all and cannot attract fans.

The players began to warm up, and the audience took a long time to recover, especially those fans from English-speaking countries. After reading the lyrics and watching the video, they all began to lean towards the Wizards to win the championship.

This happens all over the world. Even if Chinese fans can't understand the lyrics, 99% of them support the Wizards. Many people started to know the NBA because of Jordan, and some people started to pay attention to the NBA because of Yang Rui.

They don't care about the Mavericks or Nelson. Even if Wang Zhizhi played in the Mavericks, it's a thing of the past.