Moreover, the statistics couldn’t fully reflect his impact—he made Howard extremely uncomfortable on both offense and defense.
After all, Howard was just a rough player who relied on his physique. Once he lost his physical advantage, he was like a giant blue-collar worker.
Without surprises, Hansen had to prepare for the upcoming final.
After Game 1, the media devoted a considerable amount of coverage to O’Neal’s performance.
The headline read: "Big Shark’s Fourth Spring."
His first spring was in Los Angeles, his second in Miami, his third in Phoenix, and although his fourth did not last a season, it shone in the playoffs.
Since his return, O’Neal’s form had been red-hot; as long as he got possession, he never disappointed.
It was no exaggeration to say that Cavaliers had eliminated Celtics in the previous round primarily because of Hansen, with O’Neal sharing the spotlight with James at least equally.
Then came Game 2, and O’Neal couldn’t get the ball.
James played the classic "the team lost, but I didn’t" type of game: 29 shots, 14 makes, scoring 37 points, 8 rebounds, 7 assists, 6 turnovers. However, the Cavaliers ultimately lost to the Magic Team 92 to 101.
Moreover, James astonishingly repeated this kind of play for two more games.
By the end of the fourth game, even after winning the first game, the Cavaliers were overturned by the Magic Team in three consecutive games, bringing the score to 1 to 3.
At this point, Hansen was really channeling his inner Mamba, uttering, "What can I say! Man!"
It was just so damn abstract.
Hansen felt that James’s obsession with statistics was comparable to the former "Emperor," Chamberlain.
Oh, back in his era, some fans called him "Old Chamberlain".
If you forced Hansen to analyze it from a different perspective, he could only conclude that James had lost his rationality after having the spotlight stolen by him in the first round and by O’Neal in the second.
However, that wasn’t even the most abstract part.
The most abstract thing was, when the Cavaliers were trailing 1 to 3 and about to repeat last season’s failures, Ferry came to Hansen!
"Do you want me to come back early?"
Hearing Ferry’s request, Hansen looked utterly disturbed.
Under these circumstances, why wasn’t Ferry persuading James to let go of his obsession with statistics, but instead trying to convince him to return early? Tʜe sourcᴇ of thɪs content ɪs 𝔫𝔬𝔳𝔢𝔩·𝔣𝔦𝔯𝔢·𝔫𝔢𝔱
"Impossible." After seeing Ferry nod, Hansen didn’t say "I refuse," but firmly voiced his stance.
Did you not understand why I got injured?
"I said it before, I’m a rookie. My desire for the championship isn’t that strong, I won’t risk my career for this title."
Seeing Ferry about to speak again, Hansen even began to preempt him,
"Don’t bring up LeBron taking injections to manipulate me, everyone’s physique is different, if my career is ruined, who will compensate?"
His situation was different from James’s. James urgently needed this championship to crown himself, but Hansen was more about showing his capabilities.
By beating the Celtics in the second round, he had already achieved his goal; everything beyond that was like icing on the cake.
Seeing Hansen’s resolute attitude, Ferry couldn’t say much more.
After all, as Hansen mentioned, asking a player to play through injuries was a form of moral coercion.
However, Hansen never expected that the day after he rejected Ferry, Windhorst from ESPN unexpectedly published an article saying the Cavaliers were lagging because of his absence, and no one could contain Carter’s performance.
"If Hansen could come back early, the Cavaliers still have a chance."
Hansen was thoroughly infuriated by James’s behavior.
This was similar to releasing injury reports before the game had even occurred, and even before the season ended, they were already trying to put the blame on him.
He immediately contacted Carrell and had him publish a report titled "In basketball, are statistics or victory more important?"
Carrell had been influenced by Hansen for a long time and had become bolder.
More importantly, as Hansen’s fame rose, so did his.
If he had to resign over this issue, he could simply switch to TNT or another media outlet.
Thus, the drama within the Cavaliers had kicked off before the season had even concluded.
Two days later, Howard fouled out, James exploded with 43 points, and the Cavaliers, on their home court, barely won back one game with a 112 to 109 score.
Four days later, the Cavaliers lost away with an 84 to 96 score to the Magic Team, concluding the series 2 to 4.
Initially, Hansen, after leading the third and second teams to victory, shouted to everyone that the person who could help the team win most was him, and without him, the Cavaliers couldn’t reach the finals.
He probably hadn’t expected that his words would turn out to be prophetic.
And with the Cavaliers’ elimination, Hansen’s rookie season officially came to an end.