Mountain Peak System: a Path to NBA-Chapter 707 - 245: Decision 2 and the Battle of the Century (2nd update, begging for monthly tickets!)

At the age of twenty-one, no one knew what a profound impression Duncan had left on Qin Yue at that time.

But compared to that spirited Duncan of the past, the current Duncan is once again standing at the crossroads of fate.

In the first round of the Eastern Conference playoffs, the Celtics narrowly defeated the Bulls with a 4-3 victory.

Undoubtedly.

This was a series that fully exposed the weaknesses of the current Celtics roster.

Just like the Supersonic's lineup, which has been aging year by year.

The current roster of the Celtics also has the problem of aging.

Although both Pierce and Ginobili, at thirty-four, can still use their experience to educate younger players on the offensive end.

But on the defensive end, their defense is not quite impregnable and can be breached easily.

Pierce's defensive strength lies in his power.

This allows him to hold his ground against power forwards on the court.

However, once facing agile forwards, Pierce's slow footwork becomes a challenge for his teammates.

And Ginobili?

Sorry, throughout his career, apart from using little tricks, Ginobili was never known for his defense.

The Celtics' poor perimeter defense meant Duncan and Horford were constantly overworked every night.

Until the Eastern Conference Semifinals.

Facing the star-studded Knicks.

The weakness of the Celtics' perimeter defense was suddenly magnified exponentially.

Indeed, the retreat of Horford and Duncan could effectively prevent the now-crowned James from doing whatever he wants in the Celtics' paint area.

However, who should deal with Durant?

Whenever James needed, it was always Durant, the Knicks' Head of the Family, who successfully mirrored the performance of the past Qin Yue in this series against the Celtics.

In the first game of the Eastern Conference Semifinals, Durant scored 39 points.

In the second game of the Eastern Conference Semifinals, Durant dropped another 41 points.

And in the third game of the Eastern Conference Semifinals, with Durant scoring 38 points at North Shore Garden Arena, leading the Knicks to consecutive wins, the series lead was taken by the Knicks 3-0...

This Celtics team, which had reached the Finals three years in a row and won the runner-up for three continuous years, subsequently lost their last hope of a comeback.

Trailing 0-3 in the series.

The Celtics, who could now prepare for next season's playoffs in advance, suddenly had Duncan seriously considering his future this summer.

Because, since leaving the Spurs, what Duncan wanted most was to defeat his junior once in a series with integrity.

Even if it meant bearing a bad reputation, Duncan did not hesitate. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

Therefore, since the Celtics could no longer give him hope of defeating Qin Yue, coupled with Angie having already demonstrated his ruthlessness by trading Carter...

Thus, before being swept out by Angie, Duncan, no longer shackled by loyalty, naturally had to seriously consider his future.

No doubt about it.

This is definitely the most defiant chapter.

Because even though this Knicks vs. Celtics series had little to do with James personally.

But Duncan, who should have used "The future is yours" to punch James out of Decision I and then sniped him out of Decision II in the Finals, was now turned upside down, knocked out of his Decision II by the Knicks, nominally led by James.

In fact, had it not been to beat Qin Yue once, Duncan's best option would undoubtedly be to join the Warriors.

It's a pity...

Duncan's dignity as a senior did not allow him to do so.

...

In the East, the Celtics' ejection was already on its countdown.

And in the West, after leading the team to eliminate the Grizzlies 4-0, the Warriors secured their spot in the Western Conference Finals ahead of the Lakers.

Why ahead of the Lakers?

Because after the Lakers finished Game 4 with the Mavericks next door, Qin Yue was quite convinced that this Mavericks team was no match for the Lakers.

Although starting last season, the burning Nowitzki brought the Mavericks a very competitive roster by taking a pay cut.

But one has to say, the Lakers indeed made a great deal last summer.

If before, Qin Yue would mock Paul's All-NBA First Team credentials as undeserved.

This season, purely based on performances up to now, no one dares to say Paul is not the strongest active point guard in the league.

The Wake Forest duo's excellence in sweeping the NCAA is still showing its value.

Because in the regular season, this season's NBA leaderboard for the five main stats was dominated by Qin Yue and Paul together.

In the Western Conference Semifinals against the Mavericks, knowing that as long as he could counter Parker, he could leave the rest to the Gasol Brothers and Kobe, Paul averaged 21 points, 4 rebounds, and 9 assists for the Lakers in the first four games.

And with Paul controlling the game...

The Lakers managed their turnovers noticeably better than the Mavericks in this series.

In Qin Yue's past life, throughout his career, Paul's assist-to-turnover ratio was as high as 4 to 1.

On the premise of averaging 9.2 assists per game in his career, Paul averaged only 2.3 turnovers.

What does this statistic imply?

It signifies that Paul was by no means useless as some later critics claimed.

Although the title "God of Point Guards" was often a jest at Paul's expense.