When pride still matters

Chapter 138 Dumpling Night?Or proof of evolution? (Thanks to the leader of Aitna Silver Moon for the reward)

After being eliminated by the Nets in the first round last season, Yu Fei had an idea.

The video of this Nets game should be destroyed. This kind of unappreciative game should not exist.

This has nothing to do with him being eliminated by the Nets, it is purely a feeling on the spot.

As soon as tonight started, this feeling was even stronger.

Jason Kidd deepens the impression of a player who is "perfect except for shooting".

Watching Kidd play is as eye-catching as watching a swimsuit beauty with an angelic face but a flat airport.

The Bucks adopted a semi-short strategy against Kidd.

Everyone defending Kidd must be more than half a meter away.

If Kidd wants to shoot, the Bucks welcome it.

No matter how great the organizer is, if he does not have enough offensive threats, he will not be able to carry forward the "passing method".

In every game, Kidd tests his hand that night.

Kidd took the Nets' first shot.

Kidd's shooting movement reminded Yu Fei of Charles Barkley's ridiculous golf skills.

The posture, movements, and steps were all fine, but the last moment he took action was uncoordinated that people can't describe in words.

"boom!"

Kidd's strike was not surprising at all, even his teammates expected it.

The Nets retreated quickly, preventing the Bucks from successfully counterattacking.

The two sides began an ugly tug of war.

As the team in the league that is most devastated by big men in the playoffs, they are also the team in the league that is best at using zone defense.

Yu Fei will not forget how he lost last season.

This is why he worked hard on shooting during the offseason.

When he met the Nets again, he was determined to get rid of the impression that he "cannot break the zone defense".

Yu Fei raised his hand and asked Mason to come out to pick and roll.But Mason was just pretending. He wanted to get the ball, so he made a fake pick-and-roll.Yu Fei never believed in his pick-and-roll quality. He dribbled directly in the opposite direction of the pick-and-roll, stopped suddenly, and shot a jumper from the left side of the free throw line.

2 is better than 0
"You should have passed the ball to me!" Mason said. "I had a better chance!"

Yu Fei scolded directly: "Until you get rid of that beastly pick-and-roll habit, don't expect me to pass the ball to you!"

Mason asked for help and ran away in despair.

No one could have predicted that this would be the beginning of a scoring drought for both sides.

But for those familiar with the Nets' style of play, this situation is not surprising.

As long as Kidd feels bad, the Nets' positional battle will be very weak.

The Nets also made up their mind not to give the Bucks an opportunity to easily defend and counterattack. Therefore, even if they were in a positional battle, they would retreat quickly.

The Nets strengthened their defense against Fei, and very smartly "screened" the Bucks' personnel on the defensive end.

Some conservative coaches believe that the introduction of zone defense will cause players to lose their sense of responsibility on the defensive end and become a waste that relies on team defense.This concern overestimates players' reliance on zone defense.

The Nets were the first team to realize that the zone defense era would revolutionize defense. They were also the first team in the NBA to use zone defense to "screen out" players with lower shooting percentages in the opponent's lineup and release them, luring the opponent to pass the ball to players with lower shooting percentages. Players, let players with low shooting percentages take shots.

And this is the norm in the small ball era.

In the small ball era where offense and defense are unbalanced, it is usually difficult to guard stars who are in form. In order to concentrate defensive resources, players who are not good at shooting will always be completely left out.

This was unusual in the pre-zone defense era.

In order to restrict Yu Fei, the Nets mainly did three things.

One is that Jason Kidd is the main defender, and then assisted by zone defense; the second is that no matter which inside line comes to give Yu Fei a pick-and-roll, then the Nets inside line who comes to the high post must directly double-team Yu Fei; the last is to selectively let go. Even Sprewell, who shot 37% from three-point range, was left open. The only player being closely watched was Ray Allen.

After Yu Fei showed off his jump shot to the free throw line, the Nets defended him tighter.

Although Yu Fei wants to go all out and test the results of summer training by constantly taking shots, the game has just begun. No matter from which aspect, it is not wise to attack at full speed from the beginning.

Therefore, Yu Fei passed the ball to Sprewell who was left open.

As a result, Sprewell approved the Nets' emptying strategy with practical actions.

"boom!"

"Good shot!" Yu Fei joked.

George Karl seemed to be on stimulants. When he saw the Nets going to play a fast break, he shouted excitedly: "Get back! Get back! Don't let them succeed!"

Karl's concerns are not unreasonable. As a team that is prone to positional battles, rotational counterattacks are an important part of the Nets' offensive system.

Kidd is also the best fast break master in the league today.

This round was very dangerous. The Nets got a better position, while the Bucks only had Yu Fei and Sprewell retreating in place.

Sprewell blocked Kidd's advance.

Kidd passed the ball to Kenyon Martin, who was full of performance desire.

Martin caught the ball and when he saw Yu Fei was defending him, he wanted to show his tough side.However, Yu Fei did not lose his position and did not commit a foul, while Martin did not have enough skills to get rid of the defense.In this case, he can only return the ball to Kidd, indicating that the fast break is blocked and allowing the team to slow down and play positional warfare.For Martin, there is no "can't" in life or on the court.All those who choose "can't" are incompetent.

For him, it was natural to attack Yu Fei's defense head-on.

However, he didn't have the skills.

After Yu Fei stood still, he allowed him to hit him with all his strength.

After the body collision, Yu Fei fell backwards and Martin entered the basket for a dunk. The referee blew the whistle and ruled that Martin had committed an offensive foul and the dunk was invalid.

For a moment, this problematic player who was named the "Bad Boy" on the cover of "Sports Illustrated" last year was furious, "Where the hell did I foul? What the hell are you blowing?!!!"

A Duncan-like "heartwarming smile" appeared on Yu Fei's face.

Martin, who was almost called for a technical foul, stopped questioning before angering the referee. He glared at Yu Fei fiercely, "You weakling, it was the referee who saved you!"

"You're not in a hurry, are you?" Yu Fei said proudly, "This is called the rule of reasonable utilization. If you can't even understand this, just read the rule book a hundred times!"

The confrontation between Yu Fei and Martin is undoubtedly one of the highlights of this game.

But rather than watching them quarrel, the fans at the scene still wanted to see a goal.

However, except for Yu Fei's free throw line jumper from the opening, in the next 4 minutes, both sides made mistakes and fouls due to various reasons, and the score was always 2-0.

The Bucks lead by 2 points, which is certainly good for the Milwaukee people at the scene, but is it really good to only score one goal in 4 minutes?
After being silent for 4 minutes, Kidd once again had the idea of ​​​​shooting after missing the opening three-pointer.

This time he planned to change the angle and shoot from a position closer to the basket.

Obviously Sprewell had given him more than half a meter of space, but Kidd still called for a pick-and-roll from his teammates and made a jump shot from the left side of the free throw line.

Still miss!

Yu Fei grabbed the defensive rebound and took the ball to the frontcourt himself.

Kidd pressed his body weight firmly down.

The height difference of more than 10 centimeters, coupled with Kidd's lowered focus on defense, made the matchup between the two seem so inconsistent.

And Yu Fei has had enough of sticking to the rules.

Facing Kidd's defense, Yu Fei directly crossed and dribbled the ball from the outside. After dribbling to the left and right, he suddenly collected the ball and made a three-pointer right in front of Kidd.

"Shh!"

5 is better than 0
"Fry looked good tonight!"

"Yeah, the Nets are going to be in trouble!"

A law in basketball games is that once one side breaks the scoring drought, the other side will also break it.

There is no reason for this kind of thing. Yu Fei completed a difficult pull-up three-pointer, and Kidd dropped the ball to Mutombo after halftime.

Mutombo, who seemed to have no independent offensive ability, hit Dan Gazulic's body with a zombie hook and scored.

5 is better than 2
Karl looked furious. Mutombo was definitely one of his most hated players.Moreover, this hatred has nothing to do with character, and there is no personal grudge between the two. This is entirely a grudge on the court.

George Karl is the first head coach in NBA history to be hacked.

Mutombo was the defensive core of that Black Eight team and had 1993 shots in five games (the first round of the Western Conference in 31).

Mutombo's block and the finger-wagging after the block disgusted Karl. When he saw him breaking the Nets' scoring drought with singles that he was not good at, he became furious and yelled at Gazulic. : "Harder, Dan! Are you a man? Fight like a man!"

The Bucks' response didn't keep Karl waiting.

When Ray Allen dribbled the ball across half court, he saw Yu Fei on the right making a gesture.

Therefore, Gazulic, who was eager to make a contribution, provided Yu Fei with a high-quality off-ball screen.

Yu Fei caught the ball at the free throw line and turned over to shoot.

7 is better than 2
Yu Fei took over all the Bucks' scoring since the start.

For the Nets, Yu Fei's performance was amazing.

Byron Scott remembers that during the first round of last season, Yu Fei's shooting was not stable and he was only accurate once in the four games of the series.

Tonight, he made three of three shots, all of which were long-range shots from beyond the free throw line.

Is this Yu Fei's dumpling night, or is it proof that his shooting stability has improved significantly?

The Nets players did not have the head coach's thoughts. Kidd and Martin exchanged looks and then completed a beautiful pick-and-roll in the frontcourt.

Martin blocked the inside cut, and Kidd made a wonderful pass.

The Bucks' interior was powerless to stop Martin's cut, and neither Mason nor Gadzulic could block the basket.

Martin dunked and scored.

"No one can stop me!"

7 is better than 4
Do you need to be so excited to eat a piece of cake? Isn’t it just a matter of having hands?

As soon as Yu Fei checked Martin in his mind, Wang Zhelin's pie-eating performance at the 2023 Men's Basketball World Cup came into his mind. This is really not something you can do with your hands.

PS: More updates will be added tomorrow

　Thanks to Aitna Yinyue, Nian_Jiu and Nan Cangxi for their alliance leader rewards, and thanks to Diyou Jiuxiao, Book Friends 20220701160708826, Feather Blade, Wood Will Spontaneously Combust, Master Wu, Numbultus Goria, Chicheng Stranger, It’s me, my little brother, Wooden Sword Ranger y, Looking for 3999, The Second Demon God of the Ancient Times, Look, there’s * (I can’t type the third word), thank you all for your tips.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)