"Huh?!"
Blake froze for a moment.
Mia Quinn's sudden remark struck him as a little strange, but only for an instant. He didn't think much of it and simply assumed she was trying to comfort him.
He smiled. "Got it. Don't worry, Mia!"
"Mm-hmm."
Only then did Mia Quinn smile. She closed the app and quietly let out a breath.
Rumors?
Trending topics?
What was going on?
Back in his home country, a full day had passed since Game 4 between the Heat and the Suns.
But as the discussion continued to spread and intensify, the controversy surrounding the series only grew.
"Empty stats, empty stats, and more empty stats!"
"Can Blake do anything besides score? Is he just padding his numbers? Can't he pass the ball, get his teammates involved, and share the offense more?
"Can't he actually lead the team to a win?!"
"What the hell are they doing? They won Game 1, then dropped three straight. Blake clearly got ahead of himself. A rookie is still a rookie.
"He just doesn't have the composure yet."
"Exactly! If they'd stayed disciplined, ridden that momentum, and finished off the Heat, wouldn't we have had a champion from our own country?!"
"Damn it. The championship was once right there within reach, and Blake failed to seize it. Now they're down 3-1, and it's too late for regrets.
"There's nothing more painful than that."
"Blake is trash!"
"I can't believe they actually lost three straight. This is ridiculous!"
"Man... arrogance always comes back to bite you!"
"Blake is talented, but in the end, he was undone by his youth, arrogance, and overconfidence. He still needs time to mature as a basketball player!"
"They won the first game, then lost three straight and fell behind 3-1. No team in Finals history has ever come back from that kind of deficit.
"The Suns are finished!"
"They were only one step away. It's so frustrating."
"Can basketball in our country really never reach the very top? We're such a huge nation, with so many basketball players.
"And yet not one of them can lead a team to the championship?"
"Forget it. It's embarrassing."
"This is it. This is our ceiling, or maybe just the limit of what we're capable of.
"We'll never reach the top."
"..."
Those were only a fraction of the countless criticisms and insults directed at Blake under the trending discussions back home.
After a full day of building momentum, the abuse had become so widespread that some people had almost grown used to seeing it.
Since the Suns fell behind the Heat 3-1 in the Finals, the reaction in the United States toward Phoenix and Blake had been overwhelmingly positive.
People understood Blake.
They knew he had already given everything he had and played about as well as anyone could ask.
He deserved respect.
He deserved applause.
Yet Blake, a player representing his own country, was being subjected to endless criticism and abuse back home.
Was that reasonable?
In a way, yes.
His country was enormous.
But truly elite basketball players were extremely rare.
Whenever someone with real talent emerged, that player was forced to bear far more pressure than players from almost any other country.
Even some of the best players back home could dominate at the domestic level, only to become fringe players once they reached the NBA.
No matter how hard they worked, they often still found themselves completely outmatched.
Even if they had already given everything they had, even if they were far better than most domestic players...
Their ceiling remained where it was.
They couldn't carry an entire country's expectations.
And when their performances fell short, criticism was inevitable.
But things were different when a player possessed elite individual ability even without reaching the very highest level.
Then that player could earn tremendous praise.
Yao Ming was the perfect example.
At his peak, he was good enough to be regarded as one of the best centers in the Western Conference.
So even though he never once reached the Western Conference Finals, he still received enormous applause and support.
Because once people understood where the ceiling was, Yao Ming's outstanding performances became something to celebrate.
They earned recognition abroad and gave fans back home something to be proud of.
That naturally brought praise.
Blake had been the same before reaching the Finals.
His popularity had risen constantly.
Even as a rookie, he had already become the idol of countless fans, perhaps even hundreds of millions.
But then he reached the highest stage.
He made the Finals.
He had practically gotten one hand on the championship trophy.
And yet he still couldn't lift it.
That was when the anger and blame began.
In truth, while those fans were attacking Blake, they were also frustrated and devastated themselves.
Because deep down, basketball fans back home all shared the same dream.
They wanted to see one of their own players win an NBA championship.
Even if they themselves would never touch that trophy.
So while it looked as though the fans were attacking Blake, much of that anger actually came from their desperate desire to see a championship.
A championship.
They wanted to see one of their own players win one far too badly.
Now Blake had come so close, only for the title to seemingly slip away.
With defeat appearing almost inevitable, how could those fans not feel bitter?
With nowhere else to release that frustration, it all came crashing down on Blake.
On the man who had already reached the very top of basketball in his home country, yet still couldn't carry his team to a championship.
And that was also part of the burden Blake had to bear.
When Mia Quinn saw those comments, those insults and accusations, she felt terrible for him.
That was why she had warned him not to pay attention to what people outside were saying.
But Mia Quinn wasn't the only one who understood Blake.
There were many others who had experienced or witnessed that same kind of pressure, including Yao Ming and several veteran players and commentators.
Among them, Yao Ming understood him best.
He had once been the biggest figure in basketball back home, standing in much the same position Blake occupied now.
He knew better than anyone what kind of pressure came with that position.
He understood exactly what Blake was going through.
For many superstars, players such as Allen Iverson, Nowitzki, and Kobe, it was one man, one city.
One player only had to carry the hopes of one city.
But for Blake, still only a rookie, it was one man, one nation.
He alone had to carry the expectations of an entire country.
He had to shoulder the weight of basketball back home and move forward with a nation watching him.
The pressure of that responsibility was almost impossible to imagine.
In a rehabilitation room in Houston, Yao Ming was undergoing another day of recovery treatment.
During a break, he scrolled through the discussions back home, reading one post after another about Blake.
His brows gradually furrowed.
"At least I had time to grow before I entered the NBA and found myself carrying that kind of pressure.
"But you...
"You were thrown into the spotlight from day one.
"From the very beginning, everyone expected you to carry their hopes with you.
"You've never had the luxury of playing only for yourself."