When pride still matters

Chapter 174 Never Forgive
The opponent in the Eastern Conference Finals is the Nets, which is definitely good news for the Flying Tigers and the Bucks.

Since the start of the playoffs, some media have said that these two teams are the kings of the Eastern Conference.

The Bucks are the clear king, and the Nets have established themselves as the king after 8 wins and 1 loss.

However, just like Meng Huo cannot defeat Zhuge Liang no matter what he does, it is impossible for the little king to defeat the big king.

Compared with the Nets, which were swept by the Bucks during the regular season, their personnel has not changed, except that Jason Kidd suddenly entered MVP status. In the first round, the Gentlemen swept the Boston Celtics, and in the second round, they defeated the Pistons, who were second in the Eastern Conference. He was sent away in four games, and Chauncey Billups, known as the second point guard in the Eastern Conference, was left with a clear matchup gap.

ESPN's Mark Stein wrote on the night the Nets swept the Pistons: "Compared with last year, the Nets' mentality this year is obviously much better. In last year's Finals, they were like wearing black socks, white shoes, Bermuda. Tourists in shorts standing on the corner of 7th and 42nd Streets in Times Square were crushed by a purple and gold cleaning truck. Now they are back seeking revenge, and the only thing standing in their way is the Milwaukee Bucks, who are No. [-] in the Eastern Conference. "

Yu Fei's existence caused the Nets to form a grudge with the Bucks during the regular season.

However, due to the Bucks' sweeping performance and Yu Fei's continued evolution, the old grudges seemed to have been settled, and neither side had any radical remarks before the start of the Eastern Conference Finals.

However, Nets coach Byron Scott said that Kidd is the MVP in his mind. If Kidd was not there, he would vote for Duncan.

In other words, as the favorite for MVP, Yu Fei is not among the top two MVPs in Scott's mind.

Yu Fei believes that the reason why Byron Scott has this wrong perception is entirely because he attacked the Nets too lightly during the regular season.If he performs against the Nets like he did against the Wizards (averaging 50 points per game in three games), he believes that Scott will definitely regard himself as the first MVP.

It doesn't matter, there are still a few days until the MVP is announced, and he can re-establish Scott's understanding of himself.

Before the game started, Yu Fei and Ray Allen came to the midfield and warmly "received" Kidd and (Kenyon) Martin.

"You've been a little quiet lately, and I'm not used to it." Yu Fei said to Martin, "I still like to hear you say that I'm overrated."

After Martin was severely educated by Yu Fei, his first reaction was to be harsh, which is the famous "he is overrated" incident.

Then, when the Bucks swept the Nets in the regular season and won every game by a big score, no matter how hard Martin talked, he was unable to refute the fact that the Nets couldn't beat the Bucks.

Therefore, in order not to make people think that he is a softie who only knows how to talk, he tried his best to downplay the matter.

But how could Yu Fei play according to his routine?The more you try to make a big deal out of a big deal, the more he wants to make a big deal out of it.

This is the psychological trauma that Kenyon Martin left in his rookie season as the Chosen Son, relying on the strength of the team to defeat the Wizards in the first round.

This will probably require Kenyon Martin to pay off every day of the rest of his career.

Moreover, Yu Fei is a very particular person. He knows that as time goes by, many people will not know what Martin did to him, so if he can be elected to the Hall of Fame in the future, he will also tell the fans at that time about Kenyon Martin. Bullying and telling stories that he is overrated.

As a player who had been forgotten by the world before Yu Fei traveled through time, Yu Fei hopes that if people in the future still remember Martin, they will remember him as a player with no football ethics, oral ethics, and poor vision.

From this point of view, Martin should probably thank Yu Fei.

It is difficult for him to be remembered forever, but he has the opportunity to be remembered as the chosen one and be remembered forever.

At this time, Martin did not dare to say any harsh words. He just said fiercely like a tough guy: "When the series is over, we will know who is overrated!"

He now knows to keep a tightrope in everything, but it's too late.

Yu Fei walked back with a smile.

Ray Allen asked: "Do you hate him that much?"

"Just like you hate AI, MJ, Kobe, George."

Ray Allen said: "I don't hate MJ."

"I don't hate him." Yu Fei paused, "But I am very interested in making him hate me forever."

why?Ray Allen could never understand why Yu Fei was so domineering.

Even if there is a conflict, Yu Fei has taken revenge that he should have avenged before, and he should return to his original state after that.

But Yu Fei's approach is to continue to add new wounds to the opponent's body after the great revenge is avenged.Although he has no revenge to avenge, he can make the other party feel the pain of having revenge that is difficult to avenge.

He enjoyed it very much.

After the game started, the Nets' defensive intensity was indeed significantly higher than in the regular season. Their zone defense could still cause trouble for Yu Fei's breakthrough.

However, Yu Fei in the regular season has proven that as long as the shooters around him maintain accuracy, it is impossible for the zone defense to stifle him.

Even if his teammates are inaccurate, Yu Fei can still prove to the Nets where he has improved most significantly compared to his rookie season - the accuracy of jump shots near the free throw line.

In his rookie season, Yu Fei did not have a stable jumper. He could be accurate or inaccurate for an entire game. Most of the time, he would jump back and forth between accurate and inaccurate.

This instability was even more apparent against the Nets in their first-round series.

During the offseason, Yu Fei practiced shooting, and spent one season with the Bucks as the main ball handler, taking a certain number of jump shots in each game.

Gradually, he found a feel for the free throw line, and since then, it has been one of his sweet spots on offense.

Tonight, the Nets were unlucky.

Yu Fei came up and first scored two jump shots from the free throw line, and then made a sudden point to allow Sprewell who was ambushing in the bottom corner to hit a three-pointer.

The Nets may be the best team in the league at using zone defense, but zone defense is fragile in the face of accurate shooting teams.

The defensive end was shot, and the offensive end hit a few more irons. Yu Fei pushed back and counterattacked. In less than half a quarter, the Bucks were already leading by 11 points.

From this second until the end of the game, the Nets failed to narrow the point difference to single digits.

In the end, Yu Fei scored a triple-double with 32 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists, leading the Bucks to a good start in the Eastern Conference Finals.

"Hey, Coach Scott." After the game, Yu Fei sent cordial greetings to Byron Scott, "Your MVP seems to have disappeared tonight. I hope you can find him before the second game. I miss him as much as you do.”

In this battle, Kidd's performance was quite stable. He scored 17 points, 4 rebounds and 10 assists on 4 of 10 shots. Although his shooting percentage was eye-catching, his 10 assists were enough to justify his reputation.

However, because Yu Fei on the opposite side also got 10 assists and scored 22 more points, his shooting percentage exceeded 32 percentage points.

Both are the absolute core, and the difference is obvious when compared.

"You could almost say we didn't want to win because we let Frye Yu do whatever he wanted on the court."

What Kidd said to the media was neither friendly nor calm. He meant to hold the team accountable.

It can be said that the first game set the tone for the Eastern Conference Finals.

Or, this tone was established as early as the regular season.

The Nets are very strong and can compete with the favorites in the Western Conference, but they have no competitiveness against the Bucks.

Because Kidd, the core of the Nets' team building, is facing a player who is taller, more talented, and more offensively skilled than him.

The Nets' zone defense system, which is eyeing the Eastern Conference, is also stretched thin against the Bucks, a team full of shooters.

Zone defense emphasizes collectiveness and rotation. Due to its defensive core of compressing space, it will inevitably give up some players in the opponent's formation who have poor shooting performance when operating.However, the Bucks are a team that can field a lineup with five outsiders, and the one with the lowest outside shooting percentage in this lineup is Yu Fei (36%).

The Nets, who must leave their opponents open in exchange for defensive tightness, can only choose a few shooters whose shooting percentages don't seem to be high but still have a shooting percentage above the league level in front of the Bucks where most people can shoot. The result is: Shot into flowers.

So what if they don't engage in zone defense and instead use the old coaches' favorite man-to-man marking?
Then Yu Fei will use pick-and-roll tactics to launch an "X offense" to constantly find the Nets' weaknesses.

The Bucks' advantage point hit the Nets' weak point so accurately that ESPN's Dr. Jack Ramsey wrote in his famous series "Dr. Jack's Diagnosis": "This may be the first time ever, The best team in the East completely restrained the second-best team in the East. This is not a strength gap, this is style restraint. There is no way the Nets can beat the Bucks."

Then, Ramsey sentenced the Nets to death at the end of the article: "There is no cure."

In the second game of the Eastern Conference Finals, the Nets grasped the key point and determined that Yu Fei was the reason why the Bucks were so troublesome.

In principle, there is nothing wrong.

When Yu Fei, a tall and versatile ball handler, plays his role, the Bucks' shooters can explode to the maximum extent.

However, guarding against Yu Fei can at most suppress his personal offensive, but cannot restrict his passing.

It is impossible to block Yu Fei by one person. Therefore, the Nets must concentrate their defensive resources on the court in order to do this.

The Bucks will have more guys open.

All Yu Fei needs to do is pass the ball.

The process is different from the first game, but the result is almost the same.

The Bucks once again beat the Nets. Yu Fei's personal score was limited to only 17 points, but he also scored 10 rebounds and 11 assists.

This was his second consecutive triple-double in the conference finals.

Kidd performed "stable". After 17-for-4 in the first game, he shot 19-for-6 again, totaling 14 points, 8 rebounds and 10 assists. Regardless of the low shooting percentage, it was a quasi-triple-double. , but most of the time no such person was found, so Yu Fei once again asked Byron Scott: "Where is your MVP?"

However, this time Yu Fei's sarcasm was even more thorough: "Have you bought a ticket to San Antonio and run away?"

Kidd is the biggest fish on the free market this year.

As an MVP-level point guard, he has not reached a contract extension with the Nets. Therefore, there is the possibility of leaving the team as a free agent.

And who is Kidd’s popular next target?It is the San Antonio Spurs who are about to free up a lot of salary space due to David Robinson's retirement.

The Spurs have a maximum salary cap space, enough to sign Kidd naked.

Therefore, rumors about Kidd going to the Spurs to join forces with Duncan next season have never been cut off.

Yu Fei's question was like a knife cutting into Byron Scott's heart.

For the Nets, having Kidd means hope.Lose Kidd and lose everything.

Subsequently, the venue for the third game was transferred to the Nets' home court. This is a game they must win.

After two games in a row, Kidd finally stopped playing the blacksmith and played an extraordinary game. He made 24 of 11 shots at home and scored a team-high 30 points and 12 assists. He struggled with the Bucks until the last 30 seconds, and Yu Fei controlled the ball. , call the pick-and-roll.

The Nets planned to attack Yu Fei at the moment he brought the ball into the three-point line. As a result, Yu Fei suddenly shot a cold arrow from the outside.

"Shh!"

The Bucks, who originally only led by 1 point, led by 4 points after this goal.

Kidd missed a three-point gamble, Yu Fei grabbed the defensive rebound, and the Nets committed a tactical foul with less than 10 seconds left.

The tide is set for New Jersey.

"This is an MVP-level performance! This is an MVP-level performance!" Bill Walton said excitedly. "If Frye is not elected MVP tomorrow, there must be something wrong with the voting system!"

于飞拿下全场最高的35分8篮板7助攻率队赢下第三场，从而将篮网逼入0比3落后的死局。

After the game, reporters asked Yu Fei: "According to the information we got, you have a 70% chance of being elected MVP. Do you think this has any special meaning to you?"

"Yes," Yu Fei said live, "I have to thank the management of the Washington Wizards. If they didn't trade me to Milwaukee, I would never have been so close in the second season. MVP.”

Yu Fei habitually mocked the Wizards.

His words would be in the next day's newspaper, but he didn't care what impact it would have on the Wizards.

Next morning
After voting, the league announced the winner of the regular season Most Valuable Award for the 2002-03 season.

Yu Fei was elected MVP with 30% of the vote, defeating Duncan with 28% and Kidd with 25%.

This allowed Yu Fei to surpass all previous MVPs and become the youngest regular season MVP in NBA history at the age of 20 years and 5 months.

One day later, the Bucks held a grand press conference for Yu Fei in New York as an award ceremony.

In addition to Yu Fei's relatives and friends and Bucks staff, Reebok's top executives also came to the scene.

Yu Fei thanked everyone as usual, but he saved the most "deserving" thanks for last.

"I want to thank Michael Jordan for his incompetence. If it weren't for his incompetence in trading me, I would not have such a great team, and I would not be qualified to make these remarks today."

"I also want to thank the Washington Wizards for their stupidity and for indulging Michael. If they didn't do this, we wouldn't know that such a management exists in the NBA. I feel sorry for me that I don't need to continue to stay in DC and Congratulations on the time they wasted, thank you for their mercy, this deal saved my career."

"Time will tell the value of this deal. I didn't expect that it only took me one year to turn them into a historic stupid pig. I will continue to work hard and give everything to become the best player and make this deal happen." The instigators of this will be nailed to the pillar of shame forever, and this is how I thank them. Thank you, thank you all."

On this happy day, at the end of this grand and grand MVP award-winning speech ceremony, Yu Fei did not express his deep gratitude to everyone, but focused his artillery fire on his enemies.

This is a good opportunity to get to know and understand Yu Fei.

He may have completed his revenge against the Wizards, but he will never let go.

Just like what he always said.

Never forgive.

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"We could have traded Rashard Lewis and Gary Payton for Frye, and now we're going to have to watch Gary go to free agency and then start a rebuilding plan with no end in sight. Rick Sund/ SuperSonics general manager) is unforgivable!" - "Seattle Times"

"Karl Malone is ready to enter free agency, John Stockton is considering retirement, Shaquille O'Neal is tired of Kobe Bryant, Frye Yu is very likely to make Michael Jordan no longer guaranteed, this is the NBA in 2003 ?”—The New York Times

"The entire Spurs team expressed anger at the results of the MVP voting. Popovich believes that this is purely for the sake of hype and publicity. Frye Yu may deserve the MVP, but no matter from which point of view, he missed the MVP. TD has not lost anything, what has really been lost is the MVP itself. The legitimacy and sanctity of this award have been lost!" - "San Antonio Express"

"The unclear future made MJ's team uneasy. They refused all interviews and blacklisted anyone who dared to ask 'Fry Yu questions.'" - "Washington Times"

PS: I forgot to write about the best lineup, so I will add it here: Da Fei entered the first team, and Ray Allen entered the third team.

(End of this chapter)