"But as long as you're not blind, you should be able to see how that damn bastard is playing against me."

Then, after a brief pause, Qin Yue added, "Is this what you call your love for basketball? Your perseverance for victory? Your constant advice to me about being kind to others?

How are you any different from that hypocritical king, Shaquille O'Neal?

No... I feel like I'm even insulting Shaq because, at least, Shaq won his championships cleaner than you did!"

"..."

Slap!

Slap!

Slap!

Oracle Arena.

As Qin Yue's words echoed like loud slaps on Tim Duncan's face, the sudden fallout between the two teammates instantly made the on-site reporters feel the blessing of the news god upon them!

Duncan's silence.

Bowen's increasingly sinister gaze after receiving treatment.

And Popovich's glare, as if he wanted to stare Qin Yue to death.

All of the above instantly pushed this already one-sided Western Conference Semifinals to a climax!

"Be careful... although the Spurs surely can't beat us in a fight, open attacks are easy to dodge, hidden ones are not." On the court, before the game resumed, Artest reminded Qin Yue.

Hearing this, Qin Yue nodded and said, "Don't worry, I will not be defeated by their dirty tactics."

The Spurs' "hidden attacks" are indeed hard to guard against, but Qin Yue knew very well, if he became overly cautious due to fear of the Spurs' dirty plays, he would fall right into their trap.

The game resumed, Spurs ball.

Without saying a word, Duncan quietly moved up for a screen for Parker, and after receiving Parker's breakthrough pass, he missed a layup under Qin Yue's tough defense.

Compared to the junior who once didn't even know how to defend himself, Duncan found, in a trance, that Qin Yue had grown to be a tough opponent, even for him.

Previously, Duncan would have praised Qin Yue's defense in such situations.

But seeing Qin Yue's look of not wanting to engage with him, Duncan suddenly felt a pang of loneliness and couldn't help but recall Qin Yue's soul-searching questions.

This was the biggest psychological wave Duncan had since entering the league.

Back to the Warriors' offensive round.

Watching Bruce Bowen who occasionally elbowed Qin Yue's waist, kicked his thigh, or tried to cover a rough move with a steal...

Duncan knew very well that these dirty moves, which had no place in basketball, were exactly what drove Bowen's repeated selections to the All-Defensive Team.

The referees were not deliberately condoning Bowen's behavior.

It's just that many of Bowen's dirty tactics were executed in the referees' blind spots.

Although in this profit-driven NBA league, the great Michael Jordan once said, nobody's clean.

But when Qin Yue dignifiedly scored against Bowen's defense...

Duncan realized...

He was not only unable to face Qin Yue just now, but even at this moment, he was afraid of the clear and bright eyes of Qin Yue.

On the court, Duncan's 45-degree angle bank shot bounced out.

Meanwhile, on the Spurs bench, Popovich, having fully made up his mind, issued a directive to Bowen, whose eyes were filled with ruthless determination, with their innate understanding.

Do it early or don't do it at all.

Popovich knew very well that Qin Yue was the absolute ace of the Warriors, but he was also their fatal flaw.

That is...

Once they lose him, the entire Warriors would become scattered, losing their backbone.

As early as last year, Popovich had fully realized this.

It's just that last year, he had to consider Duncan's feelings and the consequences of malicious fouling against Qin Yue.

But now...

In this game where ties have completely broken, since the other side already stated that Bowen intentionally injured as per his instructions, how could Popovich allow himself to be "wronged" for no reason?

On the right side of the court, using Murphy's high-position coordination, Qin Yue once again got the one-on-one opportunity against Bowen.

Bowen continued to harass Qin Yue with his small moves, keeping a cool face, and even as Qin Yue accelerated with the ball, Bowen acted as if nothing had changed.

It wasn't until he noticed Qin Yue about to leap that Bowen hurriedly retreated to the basket and proactively stretched out his premeditated leg to Qin Yue's landing spot.

Despite being cautious whilst landing, the inevitable "hidden arrow" made Qin Yue feel a throbbing pain in his ankle at that moment.

However, Bowen was worse off.

Underestimating Qin Yue's wariness, when Qin Yue's 124-kilogram weight pressed down on Bowen's fragile foot...

After a couple of cracking sounds, even before receiving treatment, Bowen knew... his right foot was likely fractured.

And most incredibly to Bowen...

After quickly realizing what had happened, that damn bastard Qin Yue actually endured the pain, pressing his entire body onto his unguarded right leg as he fell.

Crack.

Crack.

That was the sound of his right knee's cruciate ligament snapping.

On the court, as Bruce Bowen, suffering the consequences, lay in pain and couldn't get up, on the Warriors bench, Mike Dunleavy was already leading the charge: "Everyone clear out! Nobody's leaving alive today!"

Though Bowen had reaped what he sowed...

But since the Spurs dared to move against Qin Yue...

They shouldn't blame the Warriors players for venting their anger on Duncan!

On the sidelines, seeing the situation deteriorate, Popovich quickly signaled Budenholzer to pull away Duncan, who still stood there dumbfounded, seemingly lost in thought.

However...

It was already too late.

The next moment, Duncan, with no intention of dodging, took Mike Dunleavy's heavy punch head-on.

And Popovich, trying to intervene, was pinned to the ground and nearly suffocated by Artest's "clumsy" fall.

This sudden turn of events led to the game being halted for as long as 45 minutes.

At NBA headquarters, even the seasoned David Stern broke into a cold sweat from this incident.

Only to see Stern asking about Qin Yue's injury immediately, "Is there any latest information about his injury?"

At this, after urgently communicating with NBA staff on the scene, Mark finally breathed a sigh of relief and said, "The Warriors' team doctor said...

It's currently impossible to determine the severity of Messiah's ankle sprain, but since he managed to play through the pain, he should be okay."

Hearing this, Stern, finally able to lay his suspended heart to rest, said, "As long as he's okay, as long as he's okay..."

...

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