When pride still matters

Chapter 137

The Bucks gathered their spirits and rushed to the away game.

The place we are going to this time is a bit special. It is almost the largest market in the league - New York.

However, the Knicks are no longer the gangster team that fought a bloody battle with the Bulls' first dynasty, lost to the 94 Rockets, and fought with their own clone team, the Miami Heat, for many years.

Trading Patrick Ewing was a watershed moment for them.

Now, New York fans have to watch Antonio McDyess limp on the court, endure Glenn Robinson's "15 points a game is enough for me" nature, and let Charlie Walton and Howard Eilish Lees debated who was the worse player, Kurt Thomas looked a little crazy and lost, Alan Houston looked like a disoriented zebra, and general manager Scott Layden could only hide in the VIP box and pretend it was Nothing is his fault.

New York wanted Mike Corleone to lead the team, but James Dolan and Scott Layden looked like Sonny Corleone and Fredo Corleone. ⑴'s super double.

⑴For those who have not watched "The Godfather", Sonny is the bad-tempered brother who does things without thinking and ends up dying.Fredo is a scumbag who fails to achieve anything but fails to do anything. In the second part, he cheated and cheated and was finally executed by the protagonist.

Yu Fei once felt powerless because of the chaotic relationship within the team, but looking at the Knicks' situation, what else can he ask for?
Although the Bucks have their own problems, they are by no means a fundamentally rotten problem like the Knicks.

"Trevor, if it were you, how would you save Knicks?"

Yu Fei asked Trevor White, a team reporter from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, on the plane.

Holding a cup of coffee, White said lightly: "My choice is the same as New York fans."

Yu Fei understood.

What White meant was that he was thinking the same thing as the crowd at Madison Square Garden who excitedly yelled, "Fire Scott Layden!" when the Knicks lost a home game during the draft.

It seems that the version of Knicks fans has not evolved enough to demand that Dolan sell the team.

But this is the most desperate part, because no matter how they shout, Dolan Jr. will not sell the team.

After that, nothing was said all the way.

To some in the Bucks, tonight's game against the Knicks is special.

Like Latrell Sprewell.

Perhaps it is because of the large market of New York. The love and hate of local fans for players have strong practical factors.

When you were in your prime and at your peak, they loved you, even if you almost strangled your head coach.

Once you start to decline, become inconsistent, and fail to lead the team back to the top, they will become mean and snobbish, and you may want to get a little love and understanding from them, but they will only become more critical.

Sprewell went from reformed hero to New York outcast in just a few years.

This made him feel that he needed to do something tonight to get revenge on these ungrateful fans.

The NBA's new cable television partner, ABC, cleverly broadcast the game live across the country.

Even if you don't look at the Knicks' big market, Sprewell and Robinson's gimmicks are enough to face their old owners.

Before the game started, Yu Fei went to the studio for a pre-match interview.

An ABC reporter asked Yu Fei a sensitive question: "Does George Karl's words bother you?"

Yu Fei thought to himself that this should be referring to Karl's remarks about the starting players being irresponsible after playing against the Magic.

Yu Fei's expression didn't change at all, "I asked George, and he wasn't talking about me, so I have no objection to it."

The ABC reporter seemed to want to make a big news: "Who do you think Coach Carr is talking about?"

"I don't know, and I don't want to know, as long as it's not me."

Yu Fei blocked the other party's question in the simplest way.

Then, Yu Fei returned to the locker room to prepare for tonight's game.

Soon, the game began.

Yu Fei has no special feelings for the Knicks, so his motivation for the game is very pure, just to win.

And for someone with personal emotions like Sprewell, his desire to perform will be much higher.

In the two games so far this season, Sprewell's performance can be said to be disastrous, making a total of 26 of 7 shots and averaging only 9 points, 3 rebounds and 2 assists per game.

In the Bucks, Sprewell does not have the offensive status he had during the Knicks era, or in other words, under George Karl's almost egalitarian offensive system, no one has the star privileges that are common today.

What Cal needs is Sprewell's defense.

Sprewell has always regarded himself as a player with both offense and defense. Only when he feels particularly bad, he will defend with all his strength.

Today, Sprewell broke Karl's rules.

As long as the ball is passed to his hands, he will not pass it out.

This made Carl furious.

But it was Sprewell's efficient offense that allowed Carr to restrain his temper.

Yu Fei has always felt that Sprewell was the earliest magic ball man. Tonight, his performance confirmed Yu Fei's guess.

Sprewell never takes a mid-range shot. For him, offense means three-pointers and breakthrough layups.

When he has the three-point touch, he plays like a scorer in the small ball era.

As soon as Sprewell's touch started, Yu Fei's positional battle scenes were weakened. He knew the significance of this game to the madman, so he could fight however he wanted.

As long as you can make progress.

In addition to passing, blocking, and pick-and-rolls, Yu Fei's main source of scoring is the defensive counterattack after catching the Knicks in position battles.

Tonight Yu Fei showed a variety of counterattack methods.

One-stop dunks, jump layups, Euro-step layups and even Euro-step dunks.

On a night when Sprewell shined in the Garden, Yu Fei scored 17 points, 8 rebounds and 11 assists with his flashy counterattack.

The real focus remains Sprewell.

On the opposite side, Glenn Robinson had no intention of going all out in front of his old team. He scored 18 points and then died down. Sprewell was on full fire, making 21 of 15 shots, including 7 of 5 three-pointers. He scored 40 points, 4 rebounds and 3 assists, and was elected the best of the game.

"For those who think I am no longer good, this game is a KO for them!"

Since the 90s, Sprewell's image has been associated with violence.

And tonight, after scoring 40 points, he looked like a serial killer with unfulfilled desires.

Anthony Mason had objections: "If I take so many shots, some people will say that I am selfish and disrupt the rhythm of the team, because I only get less than 400 million US dollars a year. But if it is those people with an annual salary of tens of millions, If you do, you will think it is right. I want to know when will this double standard end?"

George Karl also expressed admiration with disapproval: "Spree played a great game, and I'm happy that he finally found the feeling. However, if 40 of his 20 points were scored by two other teammates, If we get it, we will win more easily." Both the players and the coaching staff have rhythm masters, so the New York media naturally wanted to ask Yu Fei for his opinion.

"Fry, what do you think of Latrell's 40 points?"

"What do you think I should think? Actually, I want to ask you what you think. Do you like this deal?" Yu Fei said in response, "It's useless if you don't like it. Spree is no longer a member of the New York Knicks. One of us!"

After leaving New York, the Bucks returned to their home court.

They have two days of rest before they face the New Jersey Nets, the top team in the East.

Looking at the entire Eastern Conference, if you want to say which team has the most hope of winning the championship under the Western Conference, it must be the Nets.

Although they lost to the Lakers in the Finals last season, the Nets also learned their lesson in time and decisively traded the useless Keith Van Horn and replaced Larry Brown, who had been driven crazy by Iverson. In exchange for Dikembe Mutombo.

The most outrageous thing about this deal is that Van Horn is the type of player Larry Brown hates the most, just like Mutombo is the type of player Larry Brown likes the most.

Why would you trade your favorite player for the player you hate the most?He is crazy, he has given up on the original team building plan, and he is frustrated with the 76ers. This is the only explanation.

The Nets have strengthened their inside line. Although the 36-year-old Mutombo is no longer the Defensive Player of the Year a year ago, his ability to protect the basket and rebound protection are not comparable to Van Horn's. of.

Facing the upcoming strongest team in the Eastern Conference, the Bucks' head coach is distracted by other things.

Latrell Sprewell had just had a perfect night, and Carl knew he shouldn't have disturbed his good mood so soon.

However, when Karl saw that Sprewell had no intention of going head-to-head with Yu Fei in the match, he had an impulse deep in his heart, that is, he needed to urge the players to move forward. This was his obligation.

49 is better than 33
Yu Fei's team won a big victory, and the first achievement was naturally Yu Fei. He actually got a triple-double in a match, and the unsung hero was Ray Allen, whose three-pointers were like rain.

George Karl walked towards Sprewell who was not paying attention with a gloomy face.

"Sprey, why can't you be more active?" Karl asked with dissatisfaction, "Where is that crazy winner yesterday? If you play like you did last night, you will win this game!"

Sprewell asked a question that even Carl couldn't answer: "What's the point?"

"It's this laziness! Damn it!" Carl seemed to be going crazy. "You just played a game with that lazy dog ​​Glenn Robinson and you got infected by him! This is it! This is what makes us lose our direction. ! We veered off course last year because of this damn laziness! If you can’t cheer up, we will never get good results!”

The innocent Sprewell was scolded for no apparent reason.

Does George Karl act like a lunatic only occasionally, or is he always like this?

In Yu Fei's impression, he always seems to be like this.

Yu Fei can't imagine Doug Collins being as crazy as George Karl, let alone Collins criticizing Jordan like Karl just did to Sprewell.

But is Carl really fearless?
Not necessarily. As far as Yu Fei knew, there was someone in the Bucks that he would never dare to complain about.

Yu Fei looked at Anthony Mason, who had been complaining since the beginning of the season.

Mason ignored Carl.

Carl also ignored Mason.

Will this two-way disregard solve the problem?

Yu Fei didn't believe it. Although this matter had nothing to do with him in the first place, as Mason's complaints became more and more harsh, he gradually felt that this was a problem that needed to be solved as soon as possible.

Thinking of this, Yu Fei asked Ray Allen, "Rey-ray, has our coach tried to use his tactics on Anthony?"

"Of course." Rey-ray responded sarcastically, "but he got a 'fat pig'."

George Karl's retreat proves one thing, he is not a real tough guy and he can be "attacked".

Yu Fei is referring to, like Jordan "Raider" Collins.

Of course Yu Fei would not try Mason's method. He would not call Karl a "dead fat pig". This would be too rude.

This was a method only a rough guy like Mason would use. Although it scared Carl, it also blocked the communication bridge between the two parties.In Yu Fei's view, Jordan's method of taming Collins is worth learning.

Yu Fei does not need the coach to "surrender" like Collins did to Jordan. In his opinion, it is enough as long as the coach "obeys" at the appropriate time.

To do this, he still has a long way to go.

Evening
Bradley Center has been the home arena of the Bucks since it was put into use in 1988.

However, due to the increasing number of teams using the new arena in recent years, the facilities at the Bradley Center are obviously outdated.

The problem manifested itself most prominently in the arena's heating system.

This place reminded Yu Fei of his previous life when he was at school in winter, when he took off his coat and played in the open-air court against the cold wind after school.

When you start physical activity, you can naturally resist the cold.But this is the NBA, and Yu Fei never thought he would encounter similar problems here.

Last time, I wasn't fully prepared for the magic. I flew to the scene and didn't realize how bad the situation was.

This time he was careful and arrived at the home court an hour early to warm up.

He attaches great importance to the game against the Nets, because he was eliminated by them last season.

In fact, elimination is elimination. The Wizards were originally eighth in the Eastern Conference. It is normal to lose to the first place in the Eastern Conference, but someone in the Nets likes to talk.

Kenyon Martin, the No. 2000 pick in [-], said after eliminating the Wizards that Yu Fei was overrated.

Yu Fei then mocked his Chinese tattoo.

This is the source of beef between the two parties.

When the Nets came to the scene, as usual, the main players from both sides greeted each other at midfield.

Jason Kidd simply greeted Yu Fei and then chatted with Ray Allen.

Kenyon Martin was not so friendly, "Hey, it's you, was it eliminated by DC so quickly?"

"Don't talk to me, you little guy who was swept by the Lakers." Yu Fei looked at Kidd, "Jason, I heard that this is your contract year?"

Kidd asked with a smile: "Any questions?"

"I suggest you run away after the season ends." Yu Fei said, "It is impossible to win the championship by staying with this person."

If you don't talk in half a sentence, it means you will start to curse if you say more than half a sentence.

So Yu Fei and Martin started scolding each other in the midfield position.

This was supposed to be a friendly show between the two parties, but it turned into a verbal hunting competition for women from the other family.

PS: Three new alliance leaders have been added recently, so there will be updates from alliance leaders today and tomorrow.
(End of this chapter)