Chapter 1273: Chapter 403: We Believe

But Gary Payton can feel it, it’s just self-deception. People lost confidence because of the Reign Man’s departure and gave up on competing this season, and that false confidence would be completely exposed in training and matches.

Everyone says they’ll keep trying, but they slack off in practice and don’t give their all in games.

Losing the second key player doesn’t mean the team will immediately collapse, but it is definitely the beginning of their decline.

However, in San Francisco, the players’ confidence is reflected in their actions.

The Warriors as a whole give off the vibe that each of them is preparing to achieve something big.

They genuinely believe they can build a dynasty under Roger’s leadership, even with the unfortunate loss of Amar’e Stoudemire.

Gary Payton couldn’t understand where this confidence came from, but even he got swept up by this atmosphere.

He still doesn’t interact much with others, always remaining outside the core circle of the team. However, he finishes every training task excellently, even the physical training that Roger forcibly arranged for him.

A good atmosphere can indeed change a person, and in a team where everyone is putting in effort, Gary Payton has no thought of slacking off.

For a moment, Gary Payton truly believed the Golden State Warriors could still defend their title.

Unfortunately, the mediocre preseason performance shattered all his fantasies.

After losing Amar’e Stoudemire, the Warriors indeed faced a very severe challenge at the power forward position.

Spo tried three players as the starting power forward during the preseason: Stephen Jackson, Boris Diaw, and Dikembe Mutombo, and they each had their own issues.

Stephen Jackson’s rebounding was too weak, Boris Diaw’s shooting response wasn’t strong enough, and if Mutombo teamed up with Camby for a twin-tower lineup, their offense would be too poor.

The lack at power forward, coupled with the gap in firepower after losing Old Cat, led to a difficult preseason for the Warriors.

In the penultimate preseason game, the China game against their finals nemesis the New York Knicks, the Golden State Warriors suffered a defeat.

The Knicks didn’t change much over the summer; the lineup of Wade + Battier + KG + Yao Ming didn’t have much room for upgrades. But with almost the same lineup, the Knicks beat the Warriors by 16 points in the preseason.

It was a derby match Chinese fans had eagerly anticipated all summer and the revenge match New Yorkers had waited all summer for.

New Yorkers knew this was just the preseason, but they were still thrilled by the victory.

KG and Yao Ming completely controlled the interior, allowing Wade to take jump shots freely. Even if Wade missed, it didn’t matter because the Knicks could grab plenty of offensive rebounds.

KG could also focus more on help defense since, no matter who played at power forward, his influence on offense couldn’t compare with Stoudemire’s.

After the game, the taunts towards Gary Payton from New Yorkers reached their peak.

Returning to the United States, a column by Bill Pennington in The New York Times made the Gloves lose face.

“Gary is like an unfortunate stray dog, no, even more pathetic than a stray dog. After the Knicks lost in the 2005 finals, he chose to defect. It’s the most shameless act of defection I’ve ever seen; I’ve never seen a player join the opposing team of last season’s finals during the offseason. It’s even more outrageous than liking to drink a woman’s bathwater.

But his cowardly behavior was ultimately punished by God. I can’t wait to see what expression Gary Payton will have when the New York Knicks lift the trophy in 2006.”

This article portrayed Gary Payton as a “defector,” without mentioning that the Knicks didn’t want to renew with the Gloves.

That’s how New York media is; they openly insult any player who’s ever played for the Knicks.

Patrick Ewing’s jersey retirement ceremony at Madison Square Garden was warm, making people forget what he once went through in New York.

One can imagine how furious Gary Payton was; he was abandoned by New York, yet now it was said he abandoned New York to defect.

The key point is that last summer when the Gloves first arrived in New York, Bill Pennington was the first reporter to interview him, and they had a pleasant chat. He thought they were friends.

But now, that damned guy wrote a completely baseless article for the sake of newspaper sales.

In the locker room interview the next day, Gary Payton vented his anger at the media: “I can thump my chest and say I gave everything for New York! Don’t forget, if it wasn’t for my two three-pointers, the Knicks would have lost even worse in the finals! We failed, I was abandoned, and yet in those bastards’ mouths, I became the culprit? Unbelievable! I thought only Cleveland reporters would do such things!”

Gary Payton didn’t know what he was working for, and he was completely lost.

With the Warriors, he was out of place.

Everybody was thinking about victory, moving forward, being positive, while Gary Payton was gloomy, dejected, and without any fighting spirit.

As the regular season approached, this situation still hadn’t changed.

In the opening game against the San Antonio Spurs, Gary Payton had no impact in defending Manu Ginobili during the transitional phase.

After adding Raja Bell, Popovich could comfortably let Ginobili take on the sixth-man role.