Chapter 1 Champion Ring

The AT&T Center was incredibly lively tonight, the faces of the fans filled with happy smiles, just like when they held the championship parade last season.

Because tonight, the championship ring presentation ceremony would be held at the stadium!

Last year, because they won the championship on the road, the fans couldn't witness the team lifting the championship trophy at the stadium with their own eyes.

But now, they could see the league present the championship ring to the team on their home court!

League President David Stern and Vice President Adam Silver both came to the game.

Amidst the cheers of the fans, the table displaying the championship rings was pushed to the center of the court.

The on-site photographers immediately gave a close-up of the rings.

At the very center of the ring's top was a Spurs team logo, surrounded by uniform diamonds. Above the logo were the three English letters "NBA," and below were the English letters for "champion."

Compared to the championship rings of other NBA teams, the Spurs' ring was, like its team culture, low-key and simple.

One very obvious thing was that the words on most teams' rings were "world champion," while the Spurs' ring said "NBA champion."

The biggest advantage of doing this was to save money. After all, the main material of the championship ring was pure 14k white gold and diamonds, and fewer words would greatly reduce the cost.

After Stern gave a congratulatory opening speech, he and Spurs owner Holt presented the championship rings together.

First the coaching staff, then the core players, and finally the bench players.

The championship rings were also divided into two types: one with names, given to players who had played in the Finals and had stats, and the other for bench players who rarely played.

After the GDP went up and received their own championship rings, Tang Tian was the fourth to take the stage.

His appearance drew cheers from the fans, no less loud than those for the GDP.

Speaking of contributions, Tang Tian's contribution in the Finals was second only to Duncan's, something the fans knew very well.

Tang Tian took the ring from Holt's hand.

"Congratulations, you've been outstanding."

Stern next to him congratulated, also giving Tang Tian a hug.

His face was full of smiles, and you could feel that these actions were from the heart.

Last year's Finals broke viewership records in China, and he should indeed be happy.

And that was obviously inseparable from Tang Tian.

After Yao Ming, the NBA had finally found another player to reopen the door to the Chinese market.

When Tang Tian hugged Stern, he noticed a gaze looking at him from the side.

He turned his head and found it was Silver.

Unlike Stern, although Silver was also smiling, it was a somewhat forced smile.

There were rumors that Silver was competing with Stern's old rival Tatum for the position of league successor, and because Tatum had Asian ancestry, he was not very fond of Asian players. It was unclear if this was true.

After taking his championship ring, Tang Tian went back to the line.

"Why do I think this ring is similar to the one from '07? The only difference seems to be the numbers."

Tang Tian had just walked back when he heard Parker complaining in a low voice.

He smiled and picked up the ring to take a look.

The front of the ring was the same as what the photographer projected onto the LED screen. One side had the initials of Tang Tian's name, and the other side had a very interesting pattern.

A hammer striking a cracked rock.

This should be a picture version of that locker room motto.

It seemed that this rock culture was really everywhere in the Spurs.

"Tony, you have to give the designer some buffer time. You've won a championship in recent years, and there's so little space on it."

Tang Tian had just finished looking at it when he heard Ginobili's trash talk, and couldn't help but laugh.

The championship ring was more about honor. Whether it was simple or worthless, its meaning was the most important thing.

The ring presentation ceremony was still in progress.

At this time, on the other end of the court, the Thunder players looked at the scene with envy.

Durant's behavior at this time was quite amusing.

At first, he deliberately didn't look over there, but after a while, he couldn't help but turn his head to look. But perhaps he thought of something, and immediately turned back. After a while, he couldn't help but peek again.

If the lights weren't all focused on the center of the court, the scene would definitely have been projected onto the LED screen by the photographer.

He was extremely excited when he won the championship at the Olympics, but after returning to the NBA, he found that what he cared about most was the NBA ring.

But with Harden's departure, the ring was even further away from him than before.

The ring presentation ceremony ended, and the championship banner raising ceremony was held on the spot.

The background music used was "We Are The Champions," and the scene was almost a chorus.

Accompanied by the singing, the Spurs' fifth championship banner was raised to the ceiling, and deafening cheers rang out in the arena.

Now, they were the defending champions!

Durant finally looked at the banner intently at this time, his eyes full of complexity.

"Kevin, let's start!"

Just then, Westbrook slapped Durant on the shoulder forcefully, saying in a firm tone.

Harden's departure had lowered the team's morale, but not Westbrook. He had always been the most high-spirited person on the team.

Durant nodded, then turned his gaze to the Spurs' half of the court, where they were warming up.

Although Harden's departure had weakened the Thunder's strength, with him, Westbrook, and Ibaka, the core framework of the team was still there, and the Thunder still had a very strong competitiveness.

The Spurs won the championship last season when they were not favored, and they could do the same.

Moreover, his ball-handling had improved significantly during the offseason, and his personal confidence was also at a peak.

After the awards ceremony, the opening ceremony was immediately held, and the starting lineups of both sides took the stage one after another.

The Thunder's side was still the lineup from last season: Westbrook and Sefolosha on the outside, Durant and Ibaka on the frontline, and Perkins at center.

On the Spurs' side, Popovich also lined up the regular lineup: Parker and Tang Tian on the outside, Leonard and Duncan on the frontline, and Splitter at center.

Ibaka won the tip-off for the Thunder, and Durant went to the frontcourt to ask for the ball to go one-on-one against Leonard.

Unlike last season, when he could only break through on the left and do turnaround jump shots, because he had strengthened his ball-handling, he did a crossover directly against Leonard at this time.

Leonard pounced for a steal, but his death wrap failed.

Durant's concentration was frighteningly high at the start. At the moment Leonard reached out, he shook past with a change of direction, dribbled forward, and shot directly.

"Swish!"

The basketball went into the net cleanly.

Durant scored the first point for the Thunder.

After scoring, his facial expression was quite cold, looking really like the Grim Reaper.

"Limit him from receiving the ball as much as possible."

Tang Tian took the initiative to remind Leonard at this time.

Durant had always been very sensitive, and the Spurs presenting the championship rings in front of him must have stimulated him.

And even more crucial was that Durant could now dribble the ball, which made him more difficult to deal with than last season.