When pride still matters

Chapter 162 The ghost of Milwaukee is coming
In the second quarter, the Spurs began to treat the Bucks completely as an opponent of the same level.

However, the point difference was widened in the first quarter, resulting in the Spurs never having a chance to play against the Bucks at a normal pace tonight.

They were beaten by the Bucks at the beginning because they underestimated their opponent. From the second quarter, they were in a dilemma of chasing points but unable to close.

The Bucks' style of play looks weird, but it's indescribably fierce.

One of Popovich's intuitive impressions is that the Bucks' three-point tendency on the offensive end is too high.

Including Yu Fei, there are six players in the Bucks who average more than 2 three-pointers per game.

They take nearly as many 24-point attempts per game as Don Nelson's Mavericks ([-] [-]-point attempts per game).

The problem is, Popovich can't find any similarities in the two teams' styles of play.

The Mavericks took more three-pointers, but they still played the traditional way.

Not so for the Bucks. According to the data Popovich obtained from his assistant, more than 70% of their opponents' positional battles tonight were shot before the attack time entered the last 8 seconds.

The Spurs are a team that pays attention to the quality of their defense. They force the opponent's ball holder in every game. Therefore, it takes 6-7 seconds for the Bucks' ball holder to cross the half court.

In other words, most of the Bucks' offense is completed within 9 seconds after arriving in the frontcourt.

This is a very scary offensive rhythm.

Generally, this rhythm only occurs when a strong team abuses a weak team.

But the Bucks seem to have always played like this.

Then there was the five-out lineup that dazzled Popovich.

Under Yu Fei's leadership, that lineup produced an offensive attack that Popovich could not have imagined.

Initially, he thought the key lay with the other four shooters.

It wasn't until he took a flying pick-and-roll and directly pulled up from the outside, and used the space created by the four shooters to continuously invade the basket, causing the Spurs to lose both inside and outside, that he realized that the scary thing was not the four shooters on the outside, but making full use of them. Four shooters bring space threats to the ball handler.

The Bucks used that system to build a 17-point lead in the first quarter and then faded away.

In the next three quarters, Popovich didn't see that again.

He didn't believe it was an accident.

That must be the Bucks' last resort, and I just gave them a try tonight.

The result really crushed them.

In the following games, the Spurs' focus was on chasing points.

All the Bucks have to do is consolidate their advantage.

At halftime, the Spurs narrowed the point difference to 9 points.

In the third quarter, Yu Fei beat Bowen.

In normal mode, Bowen has nothing to do with Yu Fei.

Popovich feels that Yu Fei has improved a lot compared to last season, especially his shooting and physical confrontation.

Yu Fei's explosion allowed the Bucks to open the point difference to 15 points again.

At the beginning of the fourth quarter, Ray Allen came up and scored three points in a row. Sprewell intercepted Parker's pass and counterattacked to score 2+1.

From the moment the score difference reached 20 points, the suspense of the game disappeared.

The Spurs, who averaged only 95 points per game, did not have the offensive firepower to chase 20 points in the fourth quarter.

Popovich allowed the main lineup to play a few more minutes, which allowed Yu Fei to get his 19th triple-double of the season.

Counting his rookie season, Yu Fei has already scored 28 triple-doubles.

After the game entered garbage time, George Karl also replaced the main lineup.

Soon, garbage time is over.

At the end, 109 to 92, the Bucks achieved revenge against the Spurs at home, bringing their winning streak to 58, once again surpassing the Mavericks to become the league's first.

Yu Fei, who scored 24 points, 10 rebounds and 14 assists, was asked for the nth time about the possibility of averaging a triple-double per game.

This is not to blame the media. Yu Fei is indeed the player closest to averaging a triple-double in decades. He currently leads the team's three basic statistics with an average of 25 points, 9 rebounds and 9 assists per game.

"If I play on a lottery team, I believe I have a chance to get that data." Yu Fei said, "But what's the point? Big O is not great because he averages a triple-double per game, it's just a Data, if I get it, great, but if I don’t get it, what does it matter?”

George Karl even directly mocked the media for not understanding football: "You can only look at the data. Compared with Frye's defense tonight, his data is nothing to mention. His defense is great. You know the Spurs How many points do players score against him? The answer is 0."

Popovich gave the Bucks a shot in advance: "I wouldn't be surprised if the Bucks reach the finals this year."

"Before the game, some people kept saying that the Eastern Conference teams were not worth mentioning. I think those people can shut up now." Duncan didn't know if it was intentional, but he asked, "Why did DC trade Frye?"

If Yu Fei succeeds and the Wizards also succeed, people who like to revise history will naturally insist that it is a win-win deal.

That's not the case now. The Wizards are struggling for a playoff spot, but the Bucks have already locked up the playoffs.The Bucks, who don't have to worry about a playoff spot, are aiming to be No. [-] in the league.

Although some blind media like to emphasize that it was Sprewell who brought changes to the Bucks, Yu Fei's data is too dazzling.

Totally impossible to ignore.

Moreover, he brought the Wizards into the playoffs last year, but now the Wizards clearly have three stars. Although one of them often activates the smart groin, there are still two stars who are full of attendance. How come they are even guaranteed a spot in the playoffs? What if it doesn’t work?
So why trade Yu Fei?

Is it because of strength?Will someone who leads his team to the playoffs in his rookie season lack the ability?
Or is it because of commercial value?When Yu Fei was with the Wizards, he did not show much commercial value locally, but when he came to Milwaukee, his enthusiasm for participating in team activities skyrocketed, and his own popularity in Wisconsin also began to rise. The product is becoming a local hot commodity.

Since it has strength and commercial value, what else is it for?
Or does he have a bad record?

It's a pity that Jordan's media friends racked their brains to find a bad record that the Wizards had to trade for Yu Fei. As a result, all the "bad news" about someone came on the court, such as feuding with Jordan, and Someone is at odds with someone. When he first enters the world, he is too sharp. Is this considered bad?
For now, Yu is just like Ke from Luo City, as pure as a piece of white paper!

Since Kobe, who has poor emotional intelligence, bad interpersonal relationships, and is not very good at handling media relations, can become a popular fried chicken, why can't Yu Fei?What did the Wizards want in trading him?
On the night the Bucks defeated the Spurs, the Wizards also had a game to play.

The Wizards' opponent is their life-and-death enemy in the playoff spot battle-the Orlando Magic.

Currently, the Magic are ranked eighth in the Eastern Conference, two games ahead of the Wizards.

As a result, McGrady scored 42 points, 7 rebounds and 7 assists that night. While defeating the Wizards, he not only widened the winning gap between the two sides to 3 games, but also because of the relationship between wins and losses, the Wizards need to win four games if they want to surpass the Magic and get a playoff spot. game -- assuming the Magic don't win a game from now on.

At this critical moment, when Jordan was asked by reporters how to evaluate the Magic's victory over the Wizards tonight, he said dissatisfied: "We played a bad game."

"T-MAC thinks he totally won the matchup with Jerry, what do you think?"

"That's true," Jordan said grimly. "His horse won and my mule fainted during the race."

没有人会问乔丹18投6中砍下12分（0罚球，0三分）是什么感觉。

But hearing Jordan call his teammates "mules" with my own ears, I can really feel that the basketball god has lost so much that he can't control himself.

Since the Bucks' game ended earlier than the Wizards, the Bucks, who defeated the Spurs, once again ranked first in the league.Since the start of the season, as long as the Bucks' record tops the league, someone will ask Jordan what he thinks.

At the beginning, Jordan would falsely congratulate Yu Fei, and then said that the Wizards were still adjusting and the situation would get better sooner or later.

A few months have passed...the Wizards are still the same.

When it seems like things are not going to get better, Jordan always gets angry when he mentions Yu Fei again.

Who will take the lead tonight?
Although the price of being labeled a "trash reporter" by Jordan was never being able to ask him a question again, anyone involved in professional sports knows that Jordan didn't have much left in his career.

He didn't have many games to play.

When he retires, he will become that hermit-like capitalist again. No one will be interested in such a guy.

At this time, a local tabloid reporter from Washington asked: "Michael, the Bucks defeated the Spurs in tonight's game and ranked first in the league again. What do you think of this?"

Jordan, who was already furious at losing to his playoff rival, glared at the reporter: "This is the media room in Washington. If you want to ask this, you should go to Milwaukee!"

"But, Michael, we still don't know what the systemic problems are in trading Frye." The questioner asked, "How serious are the systemic problems that allow us to trade a superstar who single-handedly led the team to the playoffs?" Rising star?”

This question accurately touches on another pain point of Jordan.

Jordan shouted angrily: "Leading the team alone? How dare you say that? Do you want to say that reaching the playoffs last season was all due to him?!"

"This...of course not...but when Frye took over the team, we were ranked ninth in the Eastern Conference." The questioner added rationally, "It's the same as now."

If he hadn't added the last sentence too smartly, God might have chatted with him for a while.

Now, no more.

Jordan also knows that talking too much will lead to mistakes. He has already made a mistake. If he continues to dwell on this issue, he will only put himself in a worse situation.

So Jordan gave the press officer a look.

The Wizards' press officer said, "Any other questions?"

Then, as a well-known "anti-Mike" media in the DC area, a reporter from the "Washington Times" asked: "There are less than ten games left in the season, but we need four wins and Orlando needs to stop winning to make the playoffs." Sai, please ask if you still have enough motivation."

Jordan showed his leadership style: "I won't let anyone on the court who doesn't have the motivation to win."

"In the last few games, we will have to play a game against the Bucks at home." The Times reporter asked, "Will you put your personal emotions into this game?"

It was so quiet that you could hear some people breathing.

After all, Jordan couldn't avoid issues related to the Bucks.

He took a deep breath and imagined that night, that game that was bound to have personal emotions.

"No," Jordan's brown eyes hid all emotions, some of which were just indifference, "I just play ball."

PS: I recommend a book "NBA Bad Guys" written by our book friend. If you are interested, please read the author's words.

　This is a text about the player system that traveled through the 90s. The system design is good. Since it is a new book, there are not many words. If you are short on books, you can read it.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)