Pressure is a privilege and a surefire path to a championship

"Pressure is a privilege" is a well-known phrase in the tennis world, first coined by Billie Jean King and also quoted by Zheng at this year's Australian Open. Recently, in the NBA Finals, Jalen Williams also mentioned this sentence.

In the finals G1, Jay Wei played abnormally with 17 points on 19 shots, and he said in an interview: "Pressure is a privilege, so I enjoy the feeling of being dependent. G2, although the efficiency of Jayway's 5-of-14 shooting was still not high, he created a lot of kills and got 19 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists.

For the Thunder, a group of guys who are playing in the Finals for the first time, no matter how big their hearts are, it is impossible to have no pressure. Alexander is facing the toughest public opinion situation of the season, and the higher he stands, the more enemies he makes. Chet needs to play tougher, and Jay needs to play more efficiently.

When most people were optimistic about the Thunder before the game, after the first game was killed, the pressure on the Thunder was unprecedented, losing two home games and almost having declared the defeat of the finals, but fortunately, these lads withstood the pressure.

Not every player has the opportunity to experience this kind of pressure, so at this time, pressure will also become a privilege. Thirty teams, more than four hundred players, and in the end, only two teams and two dozen players were able to stand on this stage.

Too many people fell outside the Finals, and some people didn't even play in the Division Finals, so there is the fluttering sentence "Some people win the MVP but don't achieve anything in the playoffs", of course, this sentence has become the most ironic boomerang in the past two years.

The more brilliant your accomplishments, the greater the pressure you face, and the truly strong people are invariably able to turn pressure into motivation, they face it, they enjoy it, they beat it, and they miss it even in the years that follow.

At the beginning of 2020, when the NBA was forced to shut down, James, who couldn't stay idle, began to look through the previous game videos, and also started live broadcasts to interact with netizens, when asked about the mentality before the 12 East Finals G6 game, James said:

"My mentality is that if we lose, Pat Riley will probably break us up. I don't want that, it could be the fastest dissolution in basketball history. If I hadn't been able to put up a historic highlight, it would have been a major blow to my achievements. ”

To be honest, the pressure on James before the G6 of the 12 Eastern Conference finals may be the biggest and most terrifying since I watched the game. The first four games of the series were tied at 2-2, and Pierce hit a three-pointer to seal the victory in the battle of Kings Mountain: "James never thought about the Celtics!" ”

Faced with a 2-3 situation, James has no way back all season, and even if James wants to achieve greatness, there is no way back at this time. He came to Miami in 2010 with infamy, and in 11 he lost the finals and fell into the lowest point of his career.

As James said, 12 years may be their last chance, and losing to G6 means losing everything. Your exodus ends up being a joke, your entire career is saddled with the label of being under pressure, and the Celtics will be your lingering nightmare.

At that time, James was facing unprecedented pressure on and off the court, and there were billboards on the highways in Boston to take out LeBron. People can't wait to see James destroyed, throwing all their spit on him.

Under such pressure, in the most important game of his career, James played the best game of his career. 12 of 14 in the first half, I remember a shot followed by a wave of 12 in a row, and the atmosphere of that game was very weird, if you can describe it in one word, it was suffocation.

James' string of goals crushed the North Shore Gardens. It was also a game in which James completely abandoned his basketball philosophy, no matter how many people came to wrap it, James only had the basket in his eyes, and he didn't want him to pass the ball.

The entire Celtics team, including countless spectators waiting to see James' jokes, was silent throughout the first half. With a slight noise, James pressed down with a mid-range shot. And James himself did not celebrate presumptuously, at most he roared twice and then quickly returned to a state of concentration with a expressionless face.

In the third quarter, James stared at the front with a solemn expression in the process of returning to the defense, leaving this heirloom "Death Pupil". James shot 19-of-26 in the whole game, scored 45 points and 15 rebounds, the data is not an exaggeration, but this game is the best of James' career in the minds of many people.

After James, a state similar to the "Pupil of Death" has never appeared again, and that kind of resolute, ruthless and even cold-blooded state of play is hard to find. It can be said that such an unprecedented, suffocating pressure forced the most focused James, and at this time, pressure is a privilege and a must to the championship.

Stress can be a monster at times, it can make you feel physically and mentally exhausted, but at the same time, the excitement and adrenaline rush that stress brings will also push you to become a stronger version of yourself. The emotional release after overcoming stress, believe me, it was one of the most beautiful experiences in the world.

The phrase "pressure is a privilege" has long been imprinted on a wall at the end of the players' tunnel at Arthur Ashe Stadium, the famous tennis court, to inspire every player who comes and goes.

And Billie Jean King's words are followed by another sentence: pressure is a privilege – it only comes to those who deserve it.