In game 6 in Utah, we just did not play well enough to win the game. After being down by 16 points in the first half, we battled back and nearly tied the game. Unfortunately, we just did not have any fuel left to make another run in the second half and our season ended after losing game 6.
We really had an incredible year when you look at everything we went through. We started the year 6-1. Everyone thought that we were one of the best teams in the NBA. We then proceeded to lose 6 games in a row. People began to dismiss us as a pretender and not a contender. For the first half of the year, we just could not find any consistency and were often labeled the most disappointing team in the NBA by many media outlets. No one believed in us. Our team never gave up.
We then went on a historic 22 game winning streak, the second
longest winning streak in NBA history. We did something that
Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Oscar Robertson and
nearly every player that ever won this game had never done
before. It was truly a magical run. We believed
that we would win every game we played and we played with amazing
teamwork and precision. Unfortunately, after 12 games we received
word that our best player, Yao Ming, would miss the rest of the
year with a stress fracture. We were devastated for both Yao and
for us, but we knew we still had a very good team. Again, most
people counted us out. We kept fighting and stayed together as a
group and continued to win 55 games in the most competitive
conference race ever in the history of the NBA.
Not too bad for a team that most did not think would have a chance
to accomplish anything of note.
I would like to thank all of our Chinese fans for cheering us from China. We appreciated all of your support and are thankful that we have such great fans. Next year will be great, count on it!!!
Your friend,
Shane
这是一个很棒的赛季！是的，我们这个赛季结束得太早，但我为球队战斗到底的精神感到骄傲。犹他爵士是一个强硬的对手，我们事先就预感到这个系列赛会非常艰难。在比赛开始前，我们就得到了很多坏消息，阿尔斯通伤了，麦蒂和我也都深受伤病的困扰。姚明依然无法上场！在输掉了头两个主场之后，许多人都认为爵士可能将我们横扫。我们没有丧失斗志，而是继续战斗并赢得了在犹他州的第三场比赛。接下来的第四场比赛我们也有不错的机会，但我们没有投中关键球。第五场是我们这个系列赛众发挥得最好的一场，最终我们赢了对手25分。我们觉得自己每场比赛都在进步。
第六场比赛，我们没有打好。第一节就输了16分，我们很快回过神，奋起直追，几乎将比分追平。不幸的是，下半场我们没能保持这个势头，在输掉了第六场后，我们的这个赛季就结束了。
如果回顾一下这个赛季，你会发现一切是如此的难以置信。赛季开始之初我们6胜1负。每个人都认为我们是NBA中最出色的一支球队。接着我们就遭到了6连败。很多人都认为我们名不副实。在前半个赛季，我们的磨合不够，被很多媒体形容为最令人失望的球队。没人对我们有信心。但我们从来没有放弃。
我们终于迎来了历史性的22连胜，这是NBA史上第二长的连胜纪录。我们做到了很多总冠军球员(包括迈克尔－乔丹、魔术师约翰逊、拉里－伯德、奥斯卡－罗宾逊)都做不到的事。这是一段神奇的时光。我们相信只要我们打出精妙的团队篮球，我们就可以赢得所有比赛。不幸的是，在12连胜后，我们失去了球队中最好的球员姚明，由于应力性骨折，他缺席了本赛季剩余的比赛。这对于姚明和我们自己都是一次毁灭性打击，但我们依然是一支优秀的团队。许多人再次看衰我们。我们再接再厉，在NBA史上最激烈的一次赛区排名争夺战中，我们一共拿下了55场常规赛胜利。对于一支球队来说，不被人看好也许反而是件好事。
再次我要感谢所有为我们加油的中国球迷。我们感谢你们的支持，真的要向如此多出色的球迷说声谢谢。明年会更好，希望如此！！！
你的哥们，
肖恩
