My days of working at the NBA

Chapter 35 You son of a bitch!

"Ugh!"

"Ugh!"

"Waaah..."

In the locker room, ghostly screams rose and fell, like the cries of monkeys on both banks of the river, and could not be stopped no matter what.

"Haha! We've made it to the quarterfinals! We're the elite quarterfinalists!"

Even the old man Anderson was so excited that he jumped and danced around like a teenager.

Reaching the Elite Eight is the best result in the history of the University of Missouri. The last time they made it to the Elite Eight was in 2002, a full seven years ago.

After seven years of honing their skills, the sword was drawn and struck decisively, eliminating the championship favorite Memphis in one fell swoop. The confidence and energy this victory instilled in everyone is absolutely immeasurable.

This can be seen in Anderson.

He stood there, his voice still trembling slightly: "My warriors, your performance tonight has excited me and given me real hope of winning the championship."

As he spoke, he suddenly turned around and looked at Duze and Carroll: "You two must be wondering why I didn't let you play in the second half."

He paused, staring into their eyes, and said, "Because I see hope of winning the championship."

These words immediately put the entire locker room into a solemn atmosphere.

It's not hard to understand. It's precisely because they saw a chance to win the championship that they couldn't let their core players play more, even though the outcome was already decided.

The sole purpose is to prevent accidents from happening.

Many championship favorites have fallen from grace after their key players get injured, and then been eliminated from the competition.

Now that we have such a big lead, ensuring the health of our key players and minimizing their fatigue is the top priority.

The real battle is yet to come.

Anderson's voice became more emotional as he spoke: "I've always emphasized that our goal is the championship, and we have the ability to compete for that trophy. But the truth is, we have too many flaws: a weak interior, inconsistent scoring, and a lack of real scoring ability... I know very well that reaching the top 16 is already a huge success."

"But now, the situation is completely different; our beast has awakened."

He looked at Du Ze, his eyes burning with fervor: "Since entering the tournament, Du has seemed to have flipped a switch, unleashing tremendous energy. He has transformed our originally weak interior into a terrifying no-fly zone. No one dares to easily shoot in this area, which is a huge boost to our defense."

"At the same time, his offensive decision-making and his ability to seize opportunities have also improved dramatically. He can even shoot three-pointers now. In the three games of the tournament, he made four three-pointers, which has given us strong outside firepower and made our offensive space wider and our options more diverse. I think now, we truly have the strength to be champions."

Upon hearing this, everyone's spirits lifted.

Now, do they truly possess the strength to win a championship?

Everyone instinctively looked at Du Ze.

In fact, it wasn't just Anderson; everyone in the locker room felt the same way. Since Duze's outburst, their control over the game was completely different from before.

The most striking example is the last game. Even though the whole team had a terrible shooting night and only scored 23 points in the first half, they still managed to win thanks to Du Ze's strong rim protection and interior defense.

This demonstrates their ability to provide a safety net, and it is also the source of their confidence in truly entering the championship race.

Lawrence was the first to shout, "Yes, we are transforming! And Du is the energy that drives this transformation. This time, I will fight with all my might for the championship!"

"Fight for the championship!"

"Fight for the championship!"

"Fight for the championship!"

The whistling sound was deafening in the small locker room.

Everyone seemed to have been injected with adrenaline, their veins bulging, necks stiff, shouting at the top of their lungs.

When Du Ze shouted along, he subconsciously glanced at the old man.

Anderson's eyes were deep, and a slight smile played on his lips...

Hmm... this isn't going to be another bowl of chicken soup for the soul, is it?

He felt it was somewhat similar, but the old man's words just now were so sincere and earnest, as if they were true.

At this point, he could no longer distinguish between truth and falsehood, or right and wrong.

Anderson suddenly shouted at him, "Du, are you confident?"

What else could Du Ze say? He simply clenched his buttocks and loudly replied, "Yes."

Anderson: "Is it possible?"

Du Ze: "Absolutely."

Anderson: "What are we?"

Finally, Du Ze roared, spitting out saliva, "We are the champions!"

But as soon as the words left his mouth, that familiar voice came.

[Host detected promising to lead the team to the NCAA championship]

[This will trigger an advanced mission: Lead the team to its first-ever championship title]

[Task requirements: as above]

[Reward for successful mission: You will receive one additional opportunity to enhance a dynamic talent template. You may choose any dynamic talent and make minor adjustments to it.]

[Additionally, there will be a 300-point bonus as a championship reward.]

[Mission Failure Penalty: The current 4cm increase in wingspan will be restored to its original state, and an additional 4cm of wingspan will be reduced.]

"You son of a bitch..."

Du Ze couldn't stand it at all and immediately started reciting the Three Character Classic.

That's absolutely outrageous.

Josh Smith's original wingspan was already short, only 213cm. It's one thing to cancel the 4cm that was added before, but now they want to reduce it by another 4cm?

That would reduce his wingspan to only 209cm.

With a height of 206cm, his height-to-arm span ratio makes him look exactly like a short-armed kid.

This is absolutely a sinkhole.

The fact that he didn't jump up on the spot shows that he was quite rational.

Because he knew very well how difficult it was to win the championship.

This isn't about manipulating data. At least you can control how you manipulate a particular statistic.

The outcome of a game depends on many factors, such as teammates' thoughts and condition, opponents' condition, the officiating standards, injuries, on-court factors, off-court factors, whether someone is in a good mood, has diarrhea, or even whether the arena's air conditioning is working properly. All of these can have a butterfly effect.

The quarterfinals mean there are still three matches to go before winning the championship, and those matches will be against three completely different opponents.

There are just too many uncontrollable factors.

It was even worse than the last time; he simply couldn't accept it.

As a result, that bastard Lawrence actually thought that the three-word phrase he shouted was a championship slogan, and actually followed along, shouting, "You son of a bitch..."

Others chimed in, "You son of a bitch..."

The heaviness in Du Ze's heart was instantly washed away, leaving him completely dumbfounded.

To his surprise, the old man Anderson also chimed in, saying, "You son of a bitch..."

What's even more outrageous is that the old man shouted while raising his little fists and stomping on the floor, displaying a rather indomitable spirit: "You son of a bitch..."

They actually looked quite cute.

Du Ze almost burst out laughing. Damn it... you almost ruined the good deed.