254: 113: Brave Knight (Vote for Monthly Pass!)_3 254: 113: Brave Knight (Vote for Monthly Pass!)_3 Saru turned his head toward the window, “All that is in the past.”
“Fine, I’ll answer for you.
It was for the pride in your heart, for the honor of being a professional athlete!”
In ’88, you guys took down the United States team in Seoul, and that game could be considered the spark that led to the creation of the Dream Team.
In ’92, when the Dream Team of professional players was born, you still wanted to prove that you had the ability to compete with them.
You wanted the whole world to see the power of Lithuanian basketball, you wanted them to see that you could still win medals!
You wanted to inspire more kids with your actions, to open their eyes, to tell them about more possibilities in the world of basketball.
Despite numerous difficulties, you won the bronze.
Although you lost to the Dream Team, you experienced a competition that made you proud.
You were injured for a year and a half, and you played like crap during your comeback with the SuperSonics last season.
But that’s no one’s fault but your own, because you gave up.
You played hesitantly, you complained about the unfairness of fate.
If you had truly lost all your ability, then there really wouldn’t be anything to say.
But you clearly still had it, we all knew how excellent you were on the practice court.
It was you who got scared, afraid of missing shots, afraid of making mistakes, you did not dare to make your moves.
By doing this, you wasted all your efforts, you proved that European basketball players in the NBA are just fucking soft.
You’ve seen proud failures, but have you ever seen a proud surrender?
Why have you become this way?”
I don’t want to discuss this!
You don’t understand at all!” Saru rarely lost his temper, he didn’t know why Roger insisted on reopening his wounds.
But Roger didn’t pay attention to him, and continued to speak:
“It’s the shadow of the injury that haunts you, it’s George Karl’s idiotic insults that made you lose confidence, and you’ve silently accepted that.”
“But you still have a chance, think about it, what a sensation and impact it would be to become the first European player to win an NBA championship.
You can show every kid in Lithuania that you can make a stand in the NBA, isn’t that what you’ve always been doing!?”
You need to find your confidence and courage again, and only you can do that for yourself.
You can choose to be a nice guy, a nice guy we all acknowledge, but just a nice guy after all.
Obviously, ‘nice guy’ is not a term to describe a successful athlete.
Or, you can choose to be a champion while being a nice guy.”
The bus arrived at Roger’s house, and it came to a stop.
The staff on the bus naturally heard their argument, but now, they were very quiet, no one said a word.
Roger stood up, patted Marciulionis on the shoulder, “In ten years, don’t let your fans cry over the yellowed old photo of your ’88 championship victory.
Get some rest, Saru, we have a game tomorrow.”
After that, Roger got off the bus and waved goodbye to the staff members.
Saru was still looking out the window, fists clenched tightly.
What was he thinking about?
Perhaps the glory of the ’88 Olympics.
Perhaps the brief peak during his time with the Warriors.
Perhaps the repeated insults from the scumbag George Karl.
But he wasn’t thinking about any of those; he remembered the first time he left home to train with the national team, the bag full of apples prepared by his parents, and his mother’s parting words: “You can do it, brave Knight.”
The name Sarunas was taken from a brave knight in the works of the well-known Lithuanian writer Vincas Miciulevicius.