The Whip of the God of Basketball

Karl Malone was standing in the free throw circle preparing to fight for the ball with Chris Anderson. He could feel the pain in his knees, and it was already difficult for him to take off. In the attack just now, he tried to use as little force on his knees as possible, using Use all your strength to shoot the ball. When there is a pause in the fierce game, the pain in the joints will suddenly hit. Karl Malone gritted his teeth and prepared to compete with Anderson for the ball.

Jarvie threw the ball up, and Anderson jumped up first and touched the ball as expected. He flicked the ball toward Kevin Garnett, but Malone didn't even take off. He knew he couldn't jump over Anderson. So Malone rushed directly to the direction of Anderson's ball, trying to compete with Garnett for this important ball.

The two people collided heavily. During the collision, Garnett's knee hit Malone's knee. The two extremely hard parts of the human body collided, and the ball rolled directly out of bounds. Javi blew the whistle, hesitated, and pointed his finger in the direction of the Lakers' offense. However, everyone's attention was not on the ownership of the ball, but on the two people lying near the free throw line.

Kevin Garnett clutched his knee in pain, sweat covering his cheeks, and the grinning expression was enough to make Leon's heart twitch. But after a second or two, Garnett felt relieved. With the help of his teammates, he stood up, moved his legs slightly, and then did two squat movements. After a simple inquiry from the team doctor and After checking, he said there was nothing wrong with him. He also made an OK gesture towards Leon, indicating that there was nothing wrong with his knee.

Then he shook his legs and prepared to get back into the game.

But on the other hand, Karl Malone's situation is not so optimistic. There is no exaggerated expression on this tough man's face. He just purses his lips tightly and holds his knees with his hands, as if this can make him feel better. The Lakers teammates surrounded him, and the team doctor also came forward. O'Neal tried to pull Malone up, but Malone just tried and found that his knee was completely unable to exert force. He could not even adjust it to a position that would allow him to turn over and stand up. posture.

"I can't move my knee, I can't move it." Malone said hoarsely, his voice was low and full of pain, like the rough white salt from the Great Salt Lake.

The team doctor stepped forward and pressed several parts of his knee, then gently supported his calf and thigh and asked, "How does it feel when you bend it a little?"

The team doctor gently twisted Malone's knee. A painful expression appeared on Malone's face. The team doctor immediately stopped. He made another simple inquiry, then stood up and faced the Lakers coaching bench, shook his head, and said to Malone. : "I'm sorry, but I think you have to go."

Malone looked at the team doctor and said, "Can we try again?"

The team doctor said: "If you don't want to walk with a limp for the rest of your life, it's best not to. I suspect that the cruciate ligament in my right knee is torn. I must get off the field as soon as possible and prepare for surgery."

Hearing this, Malone looked up at the high ceiling of Staples. There were 14 championship banners of the Los Angeles Lakers hanging on it, but none of them belonged to him, Karl Malone - and probably not the fifteenth one.

At this time, O'Neal realized that he should not pull Malone up, but carry him off the ground. The hearts of everyone in the Staples Arena were clenched. No one wanted to see such a scene. With four minutes left before the end of the game, Karl Malone fell to the ground and could not get up again. This is likely to be the last game of Karl Malone's career. Some fans have red eyes or covered their mouths in disbelief.

The Celtics players were also a little surprised and shocked. They watched the huge Malone being lifted up by the even bigger O'Neal. He landed on one leg and, with the help of another staff member, limped towards the players. Walking down the aisle, they didn't know whether they should continue the game and kick the Lakers out, or stay on the court and applaud Malone - a farewell ovation for this great power forward who has been in the basketball world for 19 years and ranks second in total points in history.

The first one to applaud was Fox Leon. When Malone passed by the Celtics bench, Leon applauded vigorously, and the slaps made a crisp sound like a cattail leaf fan.

Malone turned to look at the Celtics head coach and found that his eyes were full of sincerity, admiration and a trace of regret. He knew this was not ridicule, but reverence.

Upon discovering this, Ma Long lowered his head, and then the audience began to applaud, giving the last cheers and encouragement to this unyielding fighter. Malone felt impulsive tears brewing and reverberating in his eyes, but he couldn't help it, he didn't want the tears to fall.

Malone raised his head and muttered: "Don't cry, don't cry Carl, don't cry, Carl!" This was what his mother, Cheryl, always said to Malone when Malone was about to cry. Now, Cheryl has passed away. She died of a heart attack in the summer of 2003. At that time, Malone was already preparing to join the Lakers in a last-ditch effort for the championship.

"Karl! Basketball is with you!"

The moment he entered the tunnel, a fan on the sidelines shouted loudly to Malone. Listening to these words, Malone's tears in the tunnel finally couldn't stop flowing.

When a man sheds tears, he doesn't shed them lightly, but they are not sad yet.

Leaving this game, leaving basketball, leaving dreams, everything, I can only say goodbye to it with my own tears.

When Malone's back slowly disappeared deep into the tunnel, Fox-Leon knew that the last stumbling block on the road to winning the championship had quietly disappeared, just like he came to the league quietly and silently in 1985. This hard and tenacious stone cracked after struggling with fate for 19 years. But he left behind dignity, regret, lamentation and legend.

The game was interrupted for nearly 10 minutes, and the Celtics players were also affected. The originally fierce and tense atmosphere of the game seemed to suddenly become sad. It seemed that everyone could no longer harden their hearts to beat their opponents. .

However, Leon called a timeout to let everyone adjust their mentality. He said: "I hope that each of you, when leaving this venue, can proudly say that I once stood on the top of the world and enjoyed the most beautiful scenery." Beautiful scenery, I would die for it. We should respect fighters, and the best way to respect them is to do things they have not done."

There were only a few minutes left in the game, and the Celtics still maintained their advantage. At this time, Leon had already figured out the Lakers' next strategy, not because he saw through Jackson, but because he saw through Kobe.

When the game restarted, Malone's unexpected injury gave the Lakers players a sense of shared hatred. Malone had just used his knee to gain the right to attack. George served the ball from the sideline, and Kobe made a wide circle from outside the three-point line to ask for the ball. George passed the ball to Kobe, and Kobe faced Pierce's one-on-one defense and chose to force the ball after continuous crotch changes. of three-point shots.

If you make a move like this, you are a hero; if you don't, you are a bear.

This year, Kobe has been a bear more often than a hero. The ball hit the rim hard on his neck, Kevin Garnett picked up the backboard, and his knees seemed fine.

Looking back, the Celtics once again took advantage of O'Neal's inability to expand the defense on the defensive end and used two high screens to create a shooting opportunity for Pierce, but Pierce's mid-range shot failed. But with the help of God, Chris Anderson once again grabbed the offensive rebound from the shark's mouth and distributed the ball to Arenas' hands beyond the three-point line.

The son of Los Angeles, a boy who has been looked down upon since middle school, Gilbert Arenas has been growing up in the eyes of others who underestimate him, has been fighting for others' unfair evaluation of himself, and has been fighting the world with anger. . When he received the ball, another experienced point guard would have chosen to stabilize his success rate, which would have cost him at least another 24 seconds.

But No. 0 won't. His 0 starts from scratch and never gives his opponent a chance, 0 chance.

Arenas took the ball and shot a three-pointer directly from outside the three-point line. While the ball was still flying in the air, Arenas landed, turned around, turned his back to the basket and raised his own flag to more than 15,000 Los Angeles fans. The arms seem to say, "Cheer for me."

No one cheered for him because the ball went in and pierced the Lakers' heart like a knife.

A three-pointer was made, and the point difference was widened to 10 points.