NBA: Warrior godfather.

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For the Warriors, this victory brought their record to 50 wins and 31 losses. Even if they lose to the Trail Blazers tomorrow, the Warriors can maintain their seventh position in the Western Conference. And if the Warriors beat the Trail Blazers and the Spurs lose to the Mavericks, the Warriors will surpass the Spurs and rise to sixth place in the Western Conference.

This unexpected victory greatly boosted the Warriors' morale. The Jazz are a strong playoff team, but they couldn't defeat the Warriors who had three starters resting. The Warriors are still in great form after defeating tough opponents, and the young Warriors are filled with confidence heading into the playoffs.

In the local team's locker room, the players were talking and laughing. Curry and the other three who didn't play were dressed casually and smiling. At first, they were resentful about resting, but now that they had won, their resentment shifted towards Liam.

Chandler said loudly:

"The coach is much better than Larry Brown. That old man wanted to play the starting team for 48 minutes and never gave me a chance to play. He would never dare to be like our coach and rest the starters against strong teams, and STILL win!"

Chandler was so bitter about Larry Brown that he would occasionally scold him. Although under Liam's strict orders, he didn't speak about such things in front of the media, there were no taboos in the locker room, and Liam was the only one who could let things slide.

Anyone who loves basketball is unlikely to like Larry Brown, including Liam.

Larry Brown stifles all the creativity, imagination, and talent of the players, forcing them to play the most "correct" defensive basketball with iron-blooded discipline. The level of boring and dull games played by the teams he trains is scandalous. The Spurs' games are considered "the most boring finals in history," without exception.

"Coach, are we going to fight against the Trail Blazers with all our might tomorrow and compete for sixth place in the Western Conference?" Curry looked expectantly at Liam.

He still remembered that Liam had mentioned yesterday that they might need to play against the Trail Blazers. Today, they defeated the Jazz. Naturally, he thought that Liam had already calculated everything and wanted to compete for sixth place in the Western Conference. The rest was just to recharge and save energy for the battle against the Trail Blazers.

However, why they needed to rest against the higher-ranked Jazz but not against the Trail Blazers was beyond Curry's understanding. He was just responsible for playing and didn't think too much about other things.

"Uh..." Liam cleared his throat with some embarrassment. "What about this? We still have to wait and see how things unfold tomorrow, but you'll actually play tomorrow."

"Depends on the situation?" Curry asked uncertainly.

"You'll find out tomorrow," Liam said vaguely.

Curry looked at him with confusion in his eyes but didn't ask any more questions. He turned around and joined his teammates in celebrating.

Liam looked at his team members laughing, with a smirk on his lips.

His original plan was to rest, lose to the Jazz, then wait and work, and then defeat the Trail Blazers, who were at the end of their season, to face the Mavericks in seventh place in the Western Conference.

But who would have thought the Jazz's interior line would be so weak today? Liam couldn't hold back for a moment. Seeing the Jazz's weaknesses, he made adjustments and easily beat them.

But sometimes, winning isn't necessarily a good thing. Tomorrow, the Mavericks will play against the Spurs. If the Mavericks win, the Warriors will need to lose to the Trail Blazers. Otherwise, the Warriors' ranking will surpass the Spurs and move up to sixth place. In that case, the Warriors will have to face the Suns.

The Suns had been the Warriors' nemesis this season. In the four encounters between the two teams, the Suns won three times. The Suns, under Nash's control, completely restricted the Warriors' fast-paced game, and Curry, still immature, couldn't compete with the Suns in terms of controlling the pace. Liam was afraid of facing the Suns.

But it was impossible for him to have two consecutive openers; otherwise, the player condition would definitely be affected. How to lose the game with all the starters present gave Liam a headache.

If it really doesn't work out, I'll have to take the blame to win, no matter what! Liam clenched his teeth and made a decision.

...

The next day, April 14.

Today is the last day of the 2009-2010 NBA regular season. The league has scheduled 14 games for today, with the Nuggets and Kings being the only two teams not playing. The other 28 teams, including the Warriors, will take part in games.

Since the Warriors are playing away, they arrived in Portland from Oakland this morning. Fortunately, the distance between the two places wasn't very far; otherwise, the entire Warriors team would have spent another exhausting night on the plane.

Before the game between the Warriors and the Trail Blazers started, Liam found Jonathan and assigned him the task of keeping an eye on the game between the Spurs and the Mavericks.

Jonathan immediately agreed and looked at Liam with a smile:

"Coach, I know what you mean. Don't worry. With the strength of the Mavericks, the Spurs are definitely no match."

Looks like you, Coach, are nervous too. I get it. You're afraid that if the Mavericks lose, the Warriors won't be able to surpass the Spurs in the standings.

Liam's expression froze as he weakly waved his hand:

"Go ahead, tell me the result as soon as the game is over."

...

Half an hour before the start of the game between the Warriors and the Trail Blazers, Liam was in the locker room organizing tactics for the team:

"... We're going to make some changes today. Don't get too excited during the game, pay special attention to the matchups. It's time to protect ourselves and not overexert. The most important thing is to stay healthy and get into the playoffs. The regular season really is over for us, so I'll control your playing time..."

Just as he was seriously advising everyone to stay focused during the game, Jonathan, who had been browsing on his phone in the corner of the locker room, suddenly looked up with a surprised expression, approached Liam, and said:

"Coach, the Mavericks won! The Spurs lost by 7 points, and the final score was 96-89. As long as we win against the Trail Blazers, we'll be sixth in the Western Conference!"

His voice sounded a little loud in the quiet locker room, and everyone could hear it clearly. The bored expressions on everyone's faces instantly turned excited. They looked at each other, and their eyes suddenly lit up.

As long as they win against the Trail Blazers, the Warriors will secure sixth place in the Western Conference!

They had heard Liam's words for a long time, which meant they should conserve energy for the playoffs. Although that made perfect sense, it wasn't what these young players liked to hear. They liked to give their all in every game. If they were going for first place, they wouldn't be satisfied with sixth. If they could score 20 points, they wouldn't be satisfied with 19.

Chandler was the first to speak:

"Coach, let's fight. If we win, we'll be sixth in the Western Conference!"

"Yeah, coach, we're not tired. We can fight one more time, don't you think?" Curry shouted.

"That's right, coach, let's give it another good fight!" Azubuike shouted.

"Coach, I can play 48 minutes. I'm not tired at all, really!" Butler looked at Liam with enthusiasm.

Liam looked at Jonathan, who smiled shyly, shrank his neck, and retreated to a corner.

He didn't know why Liam was glaring at him, but he knew the coach wasn't happy, so he must have done something wrong.

Liam slightly furrowed his brows and silently looked at the noisy members of the Warriors. They were a little scared by what they saw, and their voices gradually grew quieter.

Silence fell in the locker room, and Silas spoke:

"Liam has his own considerations. Honestly, there's not much difference between sixth place and seventh place in the Western Conference..."

"Do you really want to compete for sixth place in the Western Conference?" Liam suddenly interrupted.

"Of course, the higher the ranking, the better," Chandler said naturally.

"Yeah, I've never tried sixth place in the Western Conference. The last time we made the playoffs, we were eighth in the West... but we were eighth, haha," Azubuike smiled.

"I think seventh place in the Western Conference is quite good. I really didn't expect a player like me, undrafted, to follow the team to the playoffs. But the higher the ranking, the better. It would be great if one day we can reach first place in the West!" Reggie Williams scratched his head and laughed.

Butler also smiled and said:

"Coach, what he said is right... since we're playing, shouldn't we do our best to win every game? Whether we're competing for sixth place in the Western Conference or not, I have to win this game!"

Among the crowd, only Curry didn't respond. He had followed Liam longer and knew him better. He could tell that something was off with Liam's mood.

After everyone finished speaking, Curry hesitated and said:

"Coach, don't you want us to compete for sixth place in the Western Conference?"

As soon as he said that, everyone looked at him, then turned their attention to Liam.

Liam paused for a moment. He looked at everyone's expectant and confused eyes, and slowly shook his head:

"No, Jimmy is right. As a team, it's our fault if we don't win. Whether we're competing for sixth place in the Western Conference or not, we have to win this game! Come here, I'll reorganize the tactics..."

He grabbed the tactical board from Silas, who was next to him, called everyone together, and made the arrangements aloud.

"... Okay, that's all, understand?" Liam finished speaking quickly, and everyone nodded in unison.

"Let's go, no more time, let's warm up and win this game!" Liam took a deep breath, pushed aside any other distracting thoughts, made everyone shout a slogan, and watched the Warriors players leave the locker room.

The coaching staff stayed behind. Silas approached Liam and asked quietly:

"Liam, weren't we trying to play against the Mavericks? Why did you change your mind?"

Only the coaching staff knew Liam's thoughts. After winning against the Thunder, Liam had discussed with them that although the Warriors had a chance to fight for sixth place in the Western Conference, the Suns were too restrained by the Warriors and might end up behind in the West, in seventh place, playing against the Mavericks.

The Warriors' ability to run and shoot had already limited the Mavericks, whose roster had aged significantly, and also intercepted Chandler. With Nelson, a consultant familiar with the Mavericks, organizing another Black Seven Miracle wasn't impossible.

Liam sighed softly, rubbed his cheeks with both hands, and said:

"I underestimated their desire to win."

Silas opened his mouth, closed it again, and then said:

"Why not explain it clearly to them? I think they'll support your decision. We face the Suns, and the chances of winning are slim, but not impossible. If we let this game slip by, reaching the Western Conference semifinals is still possible."

"And then what?" Liam lowered his hand and asked quietly.

"Then we should face the Suns..." Silas suddenly paused.

"You're right. I don't think the Spurs are a match for the Suns. Even if we're lucky enough to beat the Mavericks, don't we have to beat the Suns?"

"But we'll play one more round of playoffs!" Silas said anxiously.

He really didn't understand why Liam suddenly changed his mind. In his opinion, with the Warriors' fierce momentum at the end of the season, it was very possible to overthrow the Mavericks.

Liam exhaled a sigh of relief, as if realizing something, and said in a relaxed tone:

"Stephen, I know you're thinking of the team. If we play one more round of playoffs, the team's revenue will be much higher, and our young players can get more exercise..."

Silas nodded again. Liam said what he was thinking, but he was even more confused. Since Liam knew everything, he was the one who first suggested facing the Mavericks. Why did he change his mind so suddenly?

"... But what we're pursuing is reaching the Western Conference semifinals?" Liam became solemn and said with a deep voice, "I went through all the trouble to buy the Warriors, hid the truth during the draft, and selected players from a group of undrafted ones. Wesley and Kyle didn't do this to just buy tickets and make money from the playoffs."

"Actually, I'm very confident in beating the Mavericks. Their lineup has big flaws. This is one of the reasons I rested three starters in the last game. I need to take the initiative and guide the ranking towards the outcome I want. Pick the opponent I want to play against... But Jimmy is right, whether we compete for sixth place in the Western Conference or not, the players should focus on winning the game. Why didn't I tell them before that I wanted to choose the Mavericks? Focus on the game and be a pure player, not play with a purpose."

Liam laughed at himself and shook his head:

"But today I realized I was wrong. The player's duty is to win, and the coach's duty is to win. Picking an opponent won't end well. A truly strong team shouldn't fear any opponent. What's needed on the path to the championship is courage. I'm not afraid, rather than calculating carefully. Things like the next victory and Black Seven Miracles aren't important to me, and neither is making some extra ticket sales. What matters is maintaining the heart of a champion."

"Ha..." Ron Adams smiled, a relieved expression on his face, "Liam, I'm so glad you can see that. Never underestimate the heart of a champion. A winning culture is the hardest thing to build."

"Yes, we shouldn't be afraid of any opponent. The Warriors are a young team, and what young teams need is brave failure, not complicated victories."

Silas shrugged and muttered quietly:

"Well, you're the boss anyway, and you don't have the pressure of performance. You can do whatever you want..."

End of this chapter

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