Vince. Carter's career has undoubtedly been illustrious, and he is one of the brightest stars of the post-Jordan era. The four-time All-Star vote king is the best proof of his super popularity.

But just as everyone's youth memories inevitably hang a few cracks, Carter's career also has many unsatisfactory points. For example, he failed to make a good end to the Raptors, and for example, he never made it to the Finals......

Speaking of which, Carter is as if he was born without a chance to win the finals. Because every time, he seems to have a plan, and he always just misses the opportunity to play in the finals.

In the 04-05 season, Carter joined the Nets, but the Nets played in the Finals in 2002 and 2003 just before he joined. As a result, after Carter joined, the Nets' best result in the playoffs was only the Eastern Conference semifinals. He perfectly missed the Nets' prime, missing out on the Finals.

In the '09-10 season, the Magic acquired Carter through a trade. Coincidentally, the previous season, the Magic had just reached the Finals under Howard's leadership. And the Magic recruited Carter in the hope that he could play the role of a big heart at the critical moment of the Finals.

But unfortunately, the following season, the Magic were eliminated by the Celtics in the Eastern Conference Finals. Once again, Carter perfectly missed the finals.

In the 10-11 season, the Magic sent Carter to the Suns. It is worth mentioning that the Suns also reached the Western Conference Finals the previous season, and they seem to have the capital to play in the Finals, and Carter's dream seems to be able to come true in the Suns.

But in the season since Carter's arrival, the Suns have only finished 40-42 in total. Not to mention the Finals, they didn't even qualify for the playoffs......

In the 11-12 season, Carter joined the Mavericks as a free agent. At that time, the Mavericks were also very hopeful of reaching the Finals, because just the previous season, the Mavericks had just successfully defeated the Heat Big Three to win the championship.

But when Carter joined, the Mavericks have not been able to go further due to improper operation and other reasons. His dream of playing in the finals was once again shelved.

This is the hapless Vince. Carter, he's always going to play to teams that look like they're going to be able to play in the conference finals. But when he joins, the team that can play in the finals will decline for a variety of reasons.

Such an experience is very regrettable, but for Carter, the most regrettable one was in 2001. Carter's deepest memory was left in the spring of 2001.

It was the closest Carter thought he had ever been to the Finals of his career, and the most regrettable.

In the 00-01 season, this was probably Allen. Iverson has one of the best seasons of his career.

He averaged 31.1 points, 3.8 rebounds, 4.6 assists and 2.5 steals per game, winning the scoring and steal titles, leading the team to a 56-26 record, ranking first in the East.

In addition, he won the only MVP of his career, becoming the shortest MVP player in history.

Carter was also unsolved that year, averaging 27.6 points, 5.5 rebounds, 3.9 assists, 1.5 steals and 1.1 blocks per game, and was elected All-Star vote champion for the second year in a row, and the peak was just beginning.

So in the Eastern Conference semifinals that year, the peak Carter and the peak Iverson met like this.

These two superheroes are not convinced by anyone, and they have started scoring competition since the first game, taking out all the inventory in the skill package, and the two have all kinds of unreasonable goals one after another.

In this round of the series, the two dedicated the scene of the fairy fight to the fans. Iverson's phrase, "In my eyes, the basket is as wide as the sea" is from this series.

What many people don't know is that Iverson just finished saying this, and in the third game of the series, Carter responded to Iverson with 9 of 13 three-pointers and 50 points from the game, and replied after the game, "In my eyes, the basket is as wide as Lake Ontario."

From the on-court performance to the post-match trash talk, both sides were at odds with each other. This shows how intense the two fought in this series.

In the end, the series was dragged into a tiebreaker. And this is where Carter's nightmare begins.

In the seventh game of the series, the two teams are still inseparable. Until the last 2 seconds of the game, the winner could not be decided.

At that time, Carter's Raptors trailed the 76ers by one point 87-88, and the Raptors possessed the ball. The life and death of the two teams are all in the hands of Carter alone.

Carter ran around the top of the arc to the bottom left corner, received the ball, turned and leaned back, and leaped high. At that moment, the 76ers fans were almost suffocated.

But in the end, the high-arc shot came out of the frame, and the 183-year-old fighter ran all over the court with the bounced basketball, and was worshiped by the fans in Philadelphia.

But not many people noticed that in the shadow behind Iverson, Vince . Carter was saddened.

A ball that cost the Raptors a chance to advance. One goal that unleashed all the previous efforts.

As we all know, that year, AI finally led the team to the finals. Although the Lakers who did not overturn the "OK combination", they can be regarded as stepping onto the altar from then on.

As for Carter, how many people remember him who was evenly matched with Iverson?

If the last shot goes in, will Carter also lead the team to the Finals?

Unfortunately, there are no ifs in the basketball world. Carter has never been so close to the Finals since, and the bottom left corner has become the biggest nightmare of Carter's career.

Since then, for 14 years, every training session, Carter has practiced shooting in the bottom left corner.

He didn't know if he had a chance, he just knew that if it did, he would have to seize it.

This year, he joined the Grizzlies at the invitation of Link. Once again, Carter's team was hit hard ahead of the Finals.

Carter doesn't want to be a liability, he wants to make it to the Finals, but he doesn't want to lie down in the Finals, but wants to contribute to the Western Conference Finals.

If the opportunity arises again, he will have to hold on to it.

Therefore, he frantically whipped himself in the bottom left corner. He knows he'll probably never have that kind of shot and that situation again in his life, but he needs to motivate himself in this way and make himself more powerful in the next games.

He tirelessly shoots basketballs, hitting again and again. 14 years like a day, waiting for an opportunity.

However, Carter could never have imagined that the first thing he was waiting for was not an opportunity, it was Link.

"Vince, it's been an hour, almost." Link wiped the sweat from his forehead, and he was sweating just for Carter to pick up the ball.

"Uh...... Thank you for staying with me to practice, Link. Carter scratched his head in embarrassment, he had practiced so hard that he had lost track of time.

Carter hurriedly picked up the basketballs scattered all over the place and put them away, ready to finish the practice.

"You've been feeling good lately, so don't be soft on your next game in Auckland. We need your three-point range so badly, Vince. With you, we're sure to have an edge. Link said to Carter with a smile as he helped clean up.

Hearing Link say this, Carter, who was originally picking up the ball, suddenly froze in place.

38 years old, playing off the bench, averaging less than 10 points per game, no sense of existence. Practice hard to grasp an opportunity that may never arise.

It was as if he had been forgotten by the whole world, and only he was still spurring himself. But now, someone is saying to him, "We need you so much."

Carter turned his head to look at Link, who was picking up the ball, and for some reason, his desire to fight against fate became even stronger.

This year, he will definitely be able to break the curse of missing out on the finals!

"Don't worry, Link, I'll do my best to help you. Whenever I have the opportunity, I will take advantage of it. Thank you for staying with me, hey, wondering why I always shoot in the bottom left corner? ”

"Oh? Why? ”

"Hmm...... Speaking of why, we have to talk about the 2001 Eastern Conference semifinals. You know, I was as young as you ......."

Two men with a huge age span, sitting on the wooden floor of the training hall, returned to that wonderful and colorful spring of 2001.