In front of the whole United States live broadcast, Li Ke didn't say much.
But then, when he returned to the locker room and faced with more and more complex reporters, Li Ke was not so polite.
"Sheldon, once again, has suffered racial discrimination in North Shore Gardens, now, what do you think about racial discrimination?"
"Opinion? Disgusting, so disgusting!"
A reporter from Sports Illustrated raised a question that was like a complete copy of the Bobcats’ away game against the Celtics three months ago. Li Ke shook his head, and this time, he was even more direct.
“I played two games at North Shore Garden Arena, and both games, I was threatened by racial discrimination, which can only prove two things-”
"The human rights issue in the United States is very serious, and the Celtics have not taken practical actions to rectify the racial discrimination problem in the North Shore Garden..."
The reporters in front of him stared at him, and Li Ke raised these two points. The first point was like a re-raising three months ago, but this topic was really sensitive. American reporters did not dare or wanted to ask more questions, so their focus was on the second point.
Yahoo Sports reporter asked tentatively: "So, do you think the Celtics should also take some responsibility?"
"Of course, their supervision is not effective, and the alliance should punish them severely..."
"Do you think the punishment is reasonable?"
"The heavier the better."
A reporter from the Boston Herald immediately interrupted and opened the topic: "Tell me about your two downward thumbs after the game. That was a provocation to the entire North Shore Garden. It almost escalated the situation. Do you think you were rational at that time?"
Obviously, the reporter with his butt on Boston and Celtics directly pointed his finger at Li Ke.
Li Ke's reaction was not as strong as he imagined. He just shook his head:
"Provocation? No, that's not provocation."
"That's just a response. The race Knights provoked the whole game. They kept booing, verbally swearing, all kinds of dirty words. I've heard all the game. After my team and I won the game, I'm having a response as it should. Is there any problem?"
Without waiting for the further question from the Boston Herald reporter, Li Ke immediately mentioned the extremely violent reaction of fans at the North Shore Garden Arena after the game:
"By the way, thank you for the reminder, you reminded me that after the game, the fans of the North Shore Garden Arena were about to rush out of the stands and punched me. Ron Artest punched the fans, so he was suspended for 73 games. The Celtics fans punched the fans on the court. Considering the attempt to punch, it should be reasonable to have half of the games in the North Shore Garden empty..."
The reporter from the Boston Herald was stunned. He did not expect that Li Ke would actually cue Artai at this time, which extended the Celtics should have been punished for more than 30 games in the empty game.
Although everyone knows that the league will not punish this way, the problem is that Li Ke’s words are pressure. If he really succeeds, the Celtics will inevitably suffer heavier punishment.
If Vick Grosbeck were on the scene, he might have scolded the Herald reporter's mother.
You have obviously lost the consequences, but you still have to mess with the other party. Isn’t this a reason to make trouble for others?
...
In New York, David Stern, who made the punishment decision early, got off work, but learned from a familiar reporter that Li Ke's pressure was put in.
Mr. Si smiled: "It's already heavy enough to punish a series of empty home games, so it's impossible to add more..."
A penalty for a whole series of empty games is equivalent to a direct penalty of at least ten million US dollars. If the series is played for seven games and the additional fine is added, the Celtics' losses can even be close to 20 million US dollars.
Mr. Si believes that the punishment for this level is already very heavy.
So, he did not call Stu Jackson to change the punishment he had already made.
Toward the microphone, to the reporter who was passing the message:
"That's it, Mark, I'll go to bed first. What's the specific punishment? You can see the NBA official website cafe tomorrow morning."
Mr. Si hung up the phone, turned around and went to bed.
The fermentation of public opinion has just begun.
Once, America's reaction was not that strong.
Apart from Xiao Du, Jiba and other close friends, as well as Twitter Facebook kings like Lebang, who posted a post on Twitter to support Li Ke, North American basketball has not made any more noises.
Speaking of which, the first racial discrimination in North Shore Garden made Li Ke feel the NBA's zero tolerance for racial discrimination. It seems that many black players, even white players, are like him, and cannot bear the slightest racial discrimination.
But this time, Li Ke deeply felt what it means to "people can never understand each other and empathize with each other."
In addition to posting support from teammates and close friends, the remaining black players in the NBA seemed to have disappeared. Even the Celtics' soul Pierce also felt that Li Ke's continuous provocation of North Shore Garden was too much.
What about the promise of zero tolerance for racial discrimination and sharing the same hatred of the enemy?
Discrimination by black people is discrimination, isn’t it?
"You can't count on these old men, you have to rely on yourself..."
Of course, the yellow people in the mainland of Amerika realized this. Almost at the first time of the game, the Chinese and overseas Chinese in the United States immediately launched an organized protest.
Especially several cities related to Li Ke, Charlotte, Austin, Los Angeles and Boston.
The organizer of Charlotte is the group of hardcore fans of Li Ke, and the organizer of Los Angeles is the group of compatriots Li Ke met when he was living in Los Angeles.
The organizers of Boston are local Chinese and overseas Chinese. They could not stand the atmosphere of white supremacy in Boston for a long time. This incident gave them a reason...
Finally, Austin, Cong Ming, Dong Jinji, Lin Qi, Chen Xiaoyang and Archie were organizers. They even called Li Ke and said, "Brother Li, don't be afraid, it's over just now, we will support you!"
There is also the other side of the ocean, and the afternoon was just around the end of the game.
Because of the broadcast of Yangwu, millions of domestic fans have become excited about the racial discrimination against North Shore Garden.
"If NBA does not give a reasonable explanation and does not make reasonable punishment, we should resist NBA!"
"Must severe punishment!"
"I hope the NBA can clarify the seriousness of this incident, face up to the problem, and solve the problem!"
“…”
Because of the existence of the wall, no matter how much domestic public opinion ferments, it will be difficult to affect foreign countries.
Until the evening, several heavyweight contestants joined the battlefield—
"We have expressed strong dissatisfaction with the NBA on this incident of serious racial discrimination..."
"Basketball Association Announcement..."
"Yangwu Statement..."
...
In David Stern's apartment in New York, the phone rings quickly.
Mr. Si, who had only slept for three or two hours, sat up from the bed with a frown, took out his glasses, and answered the phone.
The next second, his expression became serious.
"Stu, notify all members of the board of directors, an hour later, the conference call."
...
His eyes turned to Li Ke. After the game, Li Ke took advantage of the post-match press conference to vent his vent.
At the same time, he is also looking forward to the league's punishment for the Celtics.
Speaking of which, it is impossible for the league to directly condemn the Celtics, and it is impossible to move all the games back to Charlotte.
The Bobcats' profit in this penalty will be at most that the away game will be played in an empty game. Without interference from opponent fans, the pressure of the game will be greatly reduced.
Despite this, Li Ke still hopes that the alliance can further increase the punishment.
After the game, Li Ke hoped to see that the league could punish the Celtics for more than 30 games in the empty game. It was not a joke. He really hoped that the Celtics would be punished more than 30 games in the empty game.
"I don't care about the benefits of the game, all I care about is: I don't want to hear those disgusting words in the NBA arena."
David Falke and Boss Qiao had already sat in front of Li Ke. Boss Qiao nodded, and he could understand Li Ke very much.
Because when he first entered the NBA, Boston was racist and targeted black people.
Even if Bill Russell won 11 championships for the Celtics, he still had to separate from the white players when the team was having dinner.
For a long time, he was not a city hero in Boston, and even was booed by home fans at his own home court.
It was not until the 1990s that the Celtics held a retirement jersey ceremony for Bill Russell that he heard his cheers at the Celtics' home court, so he burst into tears...
Boss Qiao, who entered the NBA in the 1980s, of course, had also been discriminated against by Boston racial knights.
"Don't worry, Sheldon, David and I will help."
As Boss Qiao said this, David Falke nodded.
"Yes, I'll call now, and tomorrow you will see a public opinion storm, which will force David Stern to take a heavy blow!"
...
No one knows that the board of directors of NBA is in full swing.
From a very stern tone across the ocean, he heard the severity of the incident.
Obviously, the original punishment no longer applies.
Heavy hands? This time I have to be heavy hands!
David Stern is not Xiao Hua. He knows very well what roles he needs to pay attention to the most on the other side of the ocean.
In the late 1980s, in order to open the market across the ocean, he held a videotape and waited outside the CCTV gate for two hours...
In 2002, Yao Yao was able to run for the NBA, which was his negotiations with the Basketball Association...
So, when the statements and announcements of these departments were issued, David Stern had decided that this matter could not be over.
"The Celtics are punished for all home games in the playoffs this season, all of which will be played in empty games."
"The fine has been increased from the previous $500,000 to $5 million. It should be mentioned that the amount of this fine is the highest in the history of the league!"
"In addition, collect videos of this game and strictly check every fan who watches the game on the spot. The time limit is one month. All fans involved in racial discrimination will be found and all fans are punished with a lifelong ban."
"Finally, a new rule was issued. In the regular season next season, the referee team will add a fourth official, whose responsibility is to supervise the arena, and the focus is to eliminate all racial discrimination."
“…”
Adam Xiaohua shut his mouth honestly and even nodded, looking very much like Mr. Si.
But he didn't know that Mr. Si had put an end to his NBA career.
Speaking of which, when Xiao Hua targeted Li Ke several times before, Mr. Si didn't think anything was wrong, but he just thought that Xiao Hua still needed training.
But now, Mr. Si already believes that Xiao Huaru is not taught.
When this incident first broke out, Xiao Hua even proposed that the alliance should punish Li Ke.
Thinking about it now, if the alliance really punished Li Ke, the market across the ocean would be basically over.
From 1989 to 2008, nearly 20 years ago, David Stern allowed the NBA to enter that market. Of course, he knew how precious that market was.
But Xiao Hua almost ruined the market, which made Stern think more about it. If Xiao Hua succeeds in the future...
After thinking about it for a moment, he didn't dare to think about it anymore.
This successor must not be Xiao Hua!
"Okay, that's all for the conference call, Stu, don't hang up your phone first."
Others hung up the phone one after another, and David Stern explained to Stu Jackson, who is now in charge of the Discipline Committee, and even mentioned:
"If I remember correctly, Sheldon Lee has performed very well this season. As a rookie, he averaged 20 per game, Stu, what do you think of his future?"
“Unlimited.”
"Then next season, let him get some of the benefits he deserves like Kevin Durant..."
...
The next morning, Li Ke was stunned when he woke up.
The first thing he saw was of course the heavy punishment from the NBA.
All the Celtics playoffs are empty? A heavy fine of $5 million? It will take another month to track down the racist slander in the last game?
There is even a new rule, and the referee team will add a fourth official!
Li Ke touched his chin: OK, now he is a person who forces the alliance to modify the rules! It is not a negative thing to be on the horse, how dare you believe it?
Of course he couldn't understand such a heavy punishment.
He didn't think it was all empty in the playoffs.
With his current "lofty ambition", the Celtics only have the last three games left at most.
It would be a great deal to fine 5 million US dollars. You should know that the heaviest ticket in the league's history was issued to the Timberwolves. Joe Smith's Yin-Yang contract incident, the league fined the Timberwolves a total of 3.5 million US dollars!
The 5 million US dollars fine is enough to show the sincerity of NBA.
With three empty games and careful calculations, the Celtics' losses have reached more than 20 million US dollars.
The subsequent investigation and the addition of a fourth official in the referee team is more like a move to solve the essence of the problem.
So, why did NBA take such a heavy hand?
Soon, he saw the reason.
"So many big moves are over? It's a bit like a certain Thunder incident, but David Stern is not Adam Xiao Hua, he knows the importance of it..."
To be honest, Li Ke's heart was warm. He knew that if he hadn't ended up with these big tricks, NBA wouldn't have taken such a heavy move at all.
Chapter completed!