Chapter 114: No One Can Judge Me
Kevin Durant said he learned a lot, but how much did he really learn?
Similarly, some people were dissatisfied with Xu Ling’s remarks that somewhat disrespected opponents, such as ESPN reporter Chris Sheridan, who has been publicly blocked by Xu Ling: “I often hear people say that Eli is not wrong, the ones who are wrong are those narrow-minded people, but if no one can get along with you peacefully, then whose problem is it?”
The grudge between Xu Ling and Sheridan is something well-known in the NBA.
Sheridan’s relationship with Nike behind the scenes is very complicated. Ever since Xu Ling entered the NBA, the former has been writing articles for a long time opposing the latter’s various behaviors, and this dispute reached its peak on “Shaking Finger Night.”
Xu Ling refused to answer Sheridan’s question and publicly expelled him from the media interview room.
That was a highly symbolic event. Sports reporters live off superstars; sports reporters without connections in the circle are no different from fans in the basketball community.
Few reporters really want to offend a player to death, let alone a super rookie like Xu Ling who has become a prominent figure after just half a season.
Sheridan’s experience made other media adopt a more cautious attitude toward Xu Ling, because they didn’t know when they would be resented by the Regicide.
Normally, Xu Ling wouldn’t pay attention to Sheridan, because he doesn’t follow reporters’ columns unless he sees them while browsing online.
This time, he happened to see Sheridan’s article, so he posted a tweet: “I completely agree with Mr. Sheridan’s view. So to not ‘disrupt the peace,’ I choose to continue blocking him. That’s how I solve problems.”
Moreover, after posting the tweet, Xu Ling moved on from the matter.
The outside world also didn’t take it seriously, because Xu Ling had greatly raised people’s threshold. This kind of thing was routine for him, not worth mentioning. It would only be news if he started knowing how to play Tai Chi.
The Grizzlies still needed to strive for a playoff spot.
In the extremely cutthroat 2008 Western Conference season, being four games behind wasn’t something you could catch up whenever you wanted.
However, at this moment when the Grizzlies were single-mindedly chasing a playoff spot, they still passively became the subject of news.
And this time, it wasn’t Xu Ling who drew the news media’s attention.
The protagonist of the news was Vladimir Radmanovic.
His story had a mundane beginning.
Upon returning from vacation, Radmanovic reported that he “accidentally fell” in Utah, resulting in a left shoulder injury. The team followed procedure and issued an injury notice, causing no ripples.
But a few days later, rumors from local Utah tabloids spread like a virus, claiming someone witnessed Radmanovic sledding at Park City ski resort—this clearly violated the NBA contract’s ban on high-risk activities. Under the dual interrogation of public opinion pressure and his own conscience, Radmanovic confessed to the team through his agent: he had lied; he was injured while sledding.
When the news reached basketball operations president Jerry West’s ears, the LOGO Man was furious.
“Are we building a basketball team, or running a damn circus??”
This season really had too many incidents.
All the Grizzlies’ historical seasons combined hadn’t made headlines as many times as the past half season.
“Proactively contact the league office,” West ordered. “Fully report the situation. Prepare an internal penalty plan—make it severe, but it must be within the rules framework. We can’t give the players’ union any room to make an issue of it.”
West’s considerations were professional and restrained. However, when the matter was reported to team owner Michael Heisley, it provoked a different kind of reaction.
Heisley, who usually doesn’t interfere in team operations, believed this unauthorized contract violation caused serious damage to the team and must be heavily penalized.
Heisley issued instructions to give Radmanovic the harshest punishment: 1 million US Dollars.
West felt a wave of annoyance. He despised this meaningless toughness, which would only push things toward a worse situation.
Sure enough, after the Grizzlies submitted their intention for a massive fine, the players’ union exploded. Executive Director Michelle Roberts’ protest call went straight to West’s office, vehemently accusing the proposal of being “absurd and provocative” and threatening the harshest arbitration.
The media frenzy reached its peak.
“Memphis Sledding Team,” “LOGO Man’s Nightmare,” “Million-Dollar Sled”—all sorts of satirical headlines flooded in, and West once again made the team the focus of the sports world in the way he least wanted.
Throughout the process, Michael Heisley never publicly expressed anger again. He didn’t even personally handle the dispute with the union. When things reached a stalemate, West consulted him again, hoping to lower the penalty standard.
The result was that this owner completely changed his previous attitude and fully regained his calm: “This incident fully proves our brand attention is rising. Jerry, on the fine matter, you need to stop the losses quickly. I don’t want this to continue distracting the team from games.”
West finally understood that the key to the problem wasn’t how to handle Radmanovic, but that this team owner really enjoyed the feeling of being watched by the whole world.
Whether good or bad, the Grizzlies had now become the NBA’s popular team.
Considering their market, this was almost unbelievable.
The team Heisley bought back then was rapidly appreciating, a situation completely beyond West’s expectations, and it also gave Heisley extra views on such media matters.
And so, everything settled. As the highest decision-maker in the Grizzlies’ basketball operations department, West issued a 500,000 US Dollar fine to Radmanovic.
The players’ union accepted this penalty outcome, and the “Sledding Guy” had no major objections.
This was a minor episode during the Grizzlies’ playoff push. It was rare that it wasn’t because of Xu Ling making headlines. Everyone was forced to comment on it, but among teammates, what could they say about such an absurd news story? Just express some regret.
On February 24, the Grizzlies had achieved a three-game winning streak after resuming play, still three games behind the Western Conference Eighth, but they had successfully edged out the Trail Blazers by a slim 0.5-game margin to reach Western Conference Ninth.
However, a major test soon loomed before the Grizzlies.
They would face the Dallas Mavericks on the road, their third matchup this season.
The previous two encounters happened before the four-way trade. The Grizzlies had one win and one loss, but after the four-way trade, the Mavericks won more than they lost, currently holding a 37-17 record to rank Western Conference Second, just one game behind the Western Conference First Suns.
From the start of the game, the Grizzlies were thrown into disarray by the Mavericks’ ferocious offensive push.
The Mavericks’ biggest problem was defense: no defense at the three position, Nowitzki basically undefended, and at the five position, Dejan “former Western Conference second center” Dampier, who was just a solid blue-collar inside player.
But they didn’t need suffocating defense like the Eastern Conference Celtics; as long as they had offense fiercer than the Suns, most teams would GG after one offensive push.
After the first quarter, the score was a shocking 38-24, with the Mavericks leading by 14 points. The Grizzlies’ defensive line looked full of holes under the unstoppable offense of Nowitzki and Kobe.
In the second quarter, Xu Ling began to respond.
He no longer obsessed over initiating offense from the outside with the ball, but dropped to the low post more often. The first time, he received the ball on the left wing in post-up position, facing Kobe’s defense.
Xu Ling dribbled into post up, feeling the opponent’s strength, then hit a clean right spin move fadeaway jumper, the basketball swishing through the net.
A few possessions later, Xu Ling demanded the ball again in a similar position.
This time, the Mavericks chose to double-team. But Xu Ling didn’t panic; he keenly spotted the cutting teammate and delivered a sneaky bounce pass to assist the trailing Darko Milicic for an easy score.
Xu Ling’s strengthened low post defense also left a deep impression on his opponent.
When Stackhouse tried to isolation play Xu Ling in the low post, Kobe keenly noticed the difference. In the previous two matchups, Xu Ling had either been pushed away or faked out by fake moves when facing his low post offense.
But this time, Xu Ling planted his feet firmly, using his chest to resist Stackhouse’s power while his hands constantly disrupted Stackhouse’s dribbling and vision.
Stackhouse was forced into an extremely difficult fadeaway jumper, and the ball bounced off the rim.
“This kid’s low post defense… he’s improved too fast.” Kobe recalled the somewhat raw rookie from the start of the season in the low post—it was like a different person. “His core strength has improved, his defensive positioning is worlds apart. And his low post footwork… though still rough, it’s already taking shape.”
Under Xu Ling’s leadership, the Grizzlies steadied themselves. At halftime, they had narrowed the gap to 58-65, trailing by just 7 points.
In the second half, the game entered a stalemate phase.
The Grizzlies’ other players also stepped up in the third quarter, and the Mavericks’ offensive push finally paused for a bit. At times, they relied quite heavily on isolation plays from Kobe and Nowitzki.
This stalemate carried into the fourth quarter. With just a few turnovers from the Grizzlies and Xu Ling missing a couple of jump shots, the lead expanded to 12 points.
The timeout yielded no results. Kobe called a pick and roll and hit a four-point play over Darko Milicic, sealing the game.
The game entered garbage time in the final five minutes.
Mark Iavaroni proactively subbed out the starters, signaling the arrival of garbage time.
But after the game, Kobe lavished praise on Xu Ling: “I’ve played twelve years in the NBA, but I’ve never seen any player learn from lessons like Eli. He looks much better than that night he ‘judged’ me.”
Kobe was referring to the night Xu Ling slammed the Judgment Dunk on the Lakers that changed the Lakers’ season destiny.
At that time, facing Kobe who scored 58 points, Xu Ling responded with 48 points and the Judgment Dunk. The scene was clearly much more intense than tonight, yet Kobe said tonight’s Xu Ling was stronger? How does that make sense?
Xu Ling didn’t appreciate it and bluntly said: “Kobe won, so he can say whatever he wants. I reserve my opinion.”
On the night of defeat in Dallas, there wasn’t much frustration in the Memphis locker room. Instead, there was a clarity from being “taught” by a top powerhouse team.
Grizzlies coach Mark Iavaroni said to the players after the game: “You all saw it, right? That’s the intensity of a top team. But the good news is, we held our own for most of the game. We just lacked a bit of details and luck.”
This was necessary nonsense, because the Grizzlies couldn’t dwell on this loss. When they woke up tomorrow, they still had to prepare for the next game.
But Jason Kidd didn’t buy Iavaroni’s words.
In his view, this game still had many issues to analyze, but Iavaroni only knew how to spout this correct nonsense.
However, he wouldn’t go troubling the coaching staff like he used to, because no matter what, this was just an ordinary loss. Losing to the Mavericks wasn’t shameful.
Kidd was just wondering if they could really trust Iavaroni’s coaching staff in the playoffs.
Then he glanced at Xu Ling, who indicated he didn’t care, so neither did he.
Temporarily didn’t care.
The Grizzlies kept moving forward. The shadow of losing to the Mavericks quickly dissipated, and they notched another three-game winning streak, closing the gap to the Western Conference top eight to just 1.5 games.
It was at this moment that a piece of bad news highly favorable to the Grizzlies’ playoff prospects but enough to break the hearts of all Chinese fans came from Houston: Rockets’ star center Yao Ming suffered a stress fracture and was out for the season.
At that time, the Grizzlies were en route to their road trip on the Denver plateau. This was a key game they faced, with the Nuggets currently ranked Western Conference Eighth, only 1.5 games ahead. The outcome could affect both teams’ season destinies.
“I don’t care about other things. I just know I’m sending the Memphis guys home.” Iverson’s way of welcoming guests was very unique. “Eli is a promising young player, but this isn’t Cleveland or Los Angeles. No one needs to be judged here.”
“And no one can judge me.”
In response, after the team private jet landed, Xu Ling said, “Oh, judging is the judge’s job. I just want to win this game. That’s not an excessive demand.”
Is it really not excessive?
