108-99, He Xi Meng defeated the shorthanded Spurs with a victory in the style of the Boston Celtics, successfully helping the Celtics win their 17th championship trophy in team history!
The Green Team was not short on championship trophies, but the fans in Boston had mobilized the entire city to celebrate their team's moment of glory.
Because the last time they were champions dated all the way back to 1986!
Nineteen years later, Boston finally welcomed another championship trophy!
Even more remarkably, before the season began, no one in the world expected the Celtics to win this season's championship. Even the fans in Boston did not expect the team to contend for the championship this season.
In the preseason predictions, the Celtics' championship hopes were far behind the Spurs, Suns, Heat, Pistons, and even the Mavericks.
Especially when He Xi Meng and Pierce had a conflict, fans despaired, doubting if the team could even make the playoffs this season...
But with Rivers gone, Ainge gone, Pierce gone... the Celtics, under He Xi Meng's leadership, played better and better!
"You lost!"
For this Game 7, Jordan and Bird, as the two owners of the Celtics, specially flew from Boston to San Antonio to witness their team's history.
And the moment the team won the championship, Jordan, instead of rushing onto the court to celebrate with He Xi Meng and the other players, turned to his co-owner Bird and said, "You win!"
It turned out that when Jordan decided to clear out the team at the beginning of the season, Bird had consistently opposed it.
Thus, the two owners made a small bet.
If the Celtics won this season's championship, Jordan would win!
If the Celtics could not win this season's championship, Bird would win!
Bird felt that his chances of winning this ridiculous bet were as high as 99%! So, he placed a heavy bet of 1 million dollars, wanting to fleece Owner Jordan.
Unexpectedly, the one who wanted to fleece ended up being the sheep being fleeced!
He actually lost this ridiculous bet?
Seeing Jordan's beaming smile, Bird nodded, "A bet is a bet! I'll have someone transfer the money to your account later!"
"Excellent! Now, let's go meet our championship team..."
With the Celtics' successful championship, He Xi Meng, with his outstanding performance, especially in the last three games – Game 5, Game 6, and Game 7 – was successfully selected as the Most Valuable Player of this year's NBA Finals.
This was He Xi Meng's third MVP...
These rookies were truly lucky!
They entered the league right in the 2004 NBA Draft and happened to coincide with He Xi Meng's move to the Celtics to rebuild the team. Otherwise, for rookies like these, it would have taken at least one to two seasons just to prove their abilities in this league, and winning a championship ring with a team would have been a distant dream...
But with the Celtics, He Xi Meng directly tapped into some of their future potential based on their achievements, allowing them to easily stand out among their peers.
Along the way, these rookies helped He Xi Meng achieve this season's ultimate goal, and He Xi Meng, in turn, helped these rookies achieve a dreamlike ending in this league.
Barring any unexpected developments, in two to three seasons, after their rookie contracts ended, these rookies would be able to secure at least a mid-level exception contract.
After all, championship experience was the best endorsement.
The 2004-2005 season had finally come to an end.
To avoid affecting his playoff form, He Xi Meng had not "paid his dues" to his girlfriend for a long time, so much so that Kayla began to suspect he was seeing someone else.
Facing his girlfriend's doubts, He Xi Meng could only answer with actions.
A week after the finals concluded, He Xi Meng stayed at home with Kayla, "discussing art," rarely venturing out.