Unlike the series opener, the core players of both teams engaged in a fierce, needle-for-needle battle from the very first quarter.
The action on the court went back and forth, with neither side giving an inch. Every offensive and defensive possession was charged with hostility.
The sheer magnitude of the players' movements was jaw-dropping, while tonight's referees allowed this high-intensity physicality to continue, undoubtedly making the game even more tense and thrilling.
Whether they were spectators in the arena or fans glued to their televisions, everyone was drawn into this breathtaking showdown. Each person stared fixedly at the screen or court, afraid of missing a single spectacular moment.
After all, in the United States, the NFL had always been more popular with the public than the NBA, and the reason was not complicated.
The high-intensity, brutal physical collisions on a football field were simply beyond imagination. Even "every punch landing flesh-on-flesh" was far from an adequate description.
Here, there were only forms of fierce confrontation that people had not thought of—nothing the athletes were incapable of doing.
It was precisely this near-madness of physical combat that awakened the wild instincts buried deep within people, making it impossible to look away.
By comparison, the NBA of later years had gradually declined, and its falling domestic ratings were an indisputable fact.
The key reason was that the NBA's style of play in later years had grown increasingly soft. The slightest physical contact would draw a piercing whistle. Such games lacked sufficient physicality and naturally struggled to capture viewers' interest.
Perhaps the NBA's global fame was indeed greater than the NFL's, but it was undeniable that its domestic ratings in later years had declined year after year, its former glory gradually fading away.
But things were completely different now. All of it was