When pride still matters

Chapter 239 The world after the fifth game

The day after the Bucks won the Battle of Tianwangshan, the media praised Fei's epic personal performance in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Finals. The New York Times called it "great." Sports Illustrated deemed it "immortal." It only took one night for Yu Fei to receive the highest rating, because people believed that such a game was a performance of the highest level even if it were played by Jordan.

No one is happier with Yu Fei's performance than Reebok CEO Paul Farman.

Last summer, Falman took the lead in supporting re-signing Yu Fei's contract at a record price, but not everyone inside Reebok was as optimistic about Yu Fei as Falman. Some inside Reebok felt that Falman spent too much money on Yu Fei. But after Game 5 in Milwaukee, any doubts disappeared.

Before Game 50 of the Eastern Conference Finals, Reebok only had about four or five people working full-time on Yu Fei and his brand (The Chosen Shoes). After the fifth game, that number increased to . Even Reebok's upcoming AAU competition across the country has been renamed "The Next Chosen One" to take advantage of Yu Fei's rising momentum. And set the final stage of the competition in Seattle.

Internally at Reebok, this series of changes is known as "AGF," short for "After Game Five."

Subsequently, Game 5 of the Western Conference Finals also started at the home court of the Minnesota Timberwolves.

The Timberwolves were already in a desperate situation of 1-3, but it rained all night. Before the start of the game, core point guard Sam Cassel was unable to participate in the day's training due to stiffness in his lower limbs due to injury.

In the game that night, Cassel's performance could be said to be a mess, and injuries significantly affected his performance. The Timberwolves replaced him 3 minutes before the end of the third quarter and never played him again.

Kevin Garnett's trip to the Western Conference Finals will once again end in failure.

The "Los Angeles Times" disdainfully called the Western Conference Finals "a farce that never had any suspense."

Although the Timberwolves' regular season ranking is higher than that of the Lakers, the expectations placed on the two teams are completely different.

The Lakers are considered the nemesis of the Timberwolves. As for the regular season ranking? that's not important.

Before the start of the playoffs, the Los Angeles media defined the Timberwolves as a team that "succeeds if it breaks through the first round."

Over the past seven seasons, they have always made the playoffs before being eliminated in the first round.

Even if they strengthen the team's lineup this year, the Lakers can use historical records to demonstrate why the Lakers will completely destroy the Timberwolves.

In the past nine seasons of Garnett, the Timberwolves have played against the Lakers 41 times, and only won 13 of them. Moreover, 3 of them were won in the middle of the regular season this season, which was a turbulent period for the F4 Lakers.

The results of the current playoff games undoubtedly prove outside predictions.

Garnett is the MVP, but he does not have the ability to change the trend of the Western Conference Finals.

When the Lakers defeated the Timberwolves on the road and won their fourth Finals ticket in five years, the media who supported them were all delighted.

Are the F4 Lakers invincible? no.

OK Reconciliation? Absolutely not.

But so what? To sportswriters, the Lakers' performance met every definition of a sports epic. They have a story that needs to be told, a story about a team that was riddled with contradictions, internal and external troubles, and almost self-destruction during the season, but it crushed all its enemies in the playoffs.

Sounds like the Yankees from the 70s.

But this is not the story of the fabled Bronx Zoo drama, this is the story of O'Neal and Kobe putting victory over their hatred for each other.

The Lakers crushed the Timberwolves' ambitions, but off the court, OK still behaved like a baby and was unreasonable.

On the night when the Timberwolves were eliminated, O'Neal did not forget to give someone eye drops during an interview: "We played too selfishly."

He accused the team of being selfish, but pointed the finger directly at Kobe.

Because of the selfishness of the team, no one passed the ball to him under the basket. So who is the one holding the ball the most? The answer is self-explanatory.

Bryant retorted: "He's strong and can fend for himself."

Then, O'Neal returned to his old tune and talked about his pending contract extension.

He made his position clear: "I will not take a pay cut. I will never take a pay cut. I will never accept a salary that is less than my ability."

This means that the Lakers need to give the 31-year-old veteran a contract extension worth at least more than $2000 million per year.

Not only that, O'Neal also made some secrets public. For example, he was actually the real general manager of the Lakers in the past two years.

why?

Because: "I'm the real manager of the team, I don't want to talk nonsense, I'm the one who brought them here (to the Finals four times in five years). I'm the one who made the calls (recruiting Malone and Payton) .Who doesn’t want to play with me? Everybody wants to play with the Big Diesel!”

This is why the "Los Angeles Times" called the Western Conference Finals a "farce". The Lakers defeated the Timberwolves in only five games, but they actually did not devote themselves to the series.

This also reflects the mentality of the Lakers after advancing to the Finals. Since Jordan retired for the second time, the East and West have been clearly defined. The West is too strong and the East is too weak. The Bucks last season were considered an accident, while the Lakers have always felt that the West The finals are a preview of the finals. Now that they have eliminated the Timberwolves, they have almost booked this year's championship.

It's no wonder that O'Neal in the OK era had a record of 12 wins and 3 losses against the Eastern Conference champions in the finals.

"If the Bucks advance to the finals, will the situation change?"

In the past two seasons, the Lakers' record against the Bucks in the regular season is 1 win and 3 losses.

⑴The Bucks lost the game because Yu Fei and O'Neal were expelled from the fight.

"Our game against the Timberwolves in the regular season was 1 win and 3 losses." O'Neal's iconic silly smile appeared on his face, "Do you think the situation has changed in the playoffs?"

The Lakers compared the Bucks to the likes of the Pacers, 76ers and Nets, suggesting they would be blown away like previous Eastern Conference teams.

But it's not the Bucks who are most angry about this, but the Pistons.

The Lakers didn't even mention them.

Yu Fei didn't care about O'Neill's words. The pig's scars always healed and the pain was forgotten.

In fact, Yu Fei feels that their Eastern Conference finals against the Pistons is a preview of the finals.

In the previous life, the 04 Pistons killed the Lakers like pigs in the finals. Now, the Bucks have taken the absolute initiative in the series.

After losing the crucial fifth game, the Pistons, who had exhausted all their cards, no longer knew how to win. Once the Pistons are eliminated and join the Lakers in the Finals, Yu Fei believes that the only way for them to prove that they are better than the 04 Pistons is to send the Lakers home in fewer games.

How many games did it take the Pistons to defeat the Lakers? It might be five games, or it could be six games, Yu Fei didn't know, but it was definitely not a sweep.

Although being swept is not a big deal in O'Neal's resume, it is extraordinary for Kobe.

Because in his previous life, when Yu Fei was watching James vs. Comey on the forum, he never saw James mocking Kobe for being swept in the finals. Instead, Comey would make an excuse for James being swept in the finals.

This is the only reason why Yu Fei believes that the 04 Pistons did not sweep the Lakers, and he feels that he must be right.

One day later, the Bucks traveled to Detroit.

The Palace of Auburn Hills is the famous home stadium of the Devils. Pistons fans believed that they were not in despair yet. Therefore, before the game started, they tried their best to interfere with the Bucks' warm-up.

Yu Fei noticed that Ray Allen had never missed a shot in the pre-game warm-up, so he joked to him: "It seems that you want to make all the shots that you missed in the last game tonight."

Ray Allen asked grimly: "Why not?"

Well, if he doesn't make it, let the team send him to the Clippers when the season is over.

Soon after, the game began.

The Pistons proved that when people start to get desperate, they can do things beyond their imagination.

In the previous five games, the Pistons' defense against Fei was not lax, and it was full of design, giving people a deliberate look.

Especially double-teaming, the Pistons frequently and cautiously used double-teaming on the fly.

Unless Yu Fei's teammates all turn into ice shooters, they won't be able to attack without thinking.

Under normal circumstances, their double-teams on Fei are placed on the breakthrough route. Moreover, this kind of double-teaming relies heavily on the judgment of the Wallace brothers. They will only choose to double-team when the situation is right.

Therefore, although Yu Fei has caught many flaws, he rarely easily feeds his opponents because of their brainless double-teaming.

But tonight, the Pistons went crazy.

Their double-teaming of Fei was as unscrupulous as if Larry Brown bet $100 million on Fei not scoring in double figures tonight.

Dribbling past half court? Pincer attack!

Call play from beyond the arc? Pincer attack!

Catch the ball from any position? Pincer attack!

Breakthrough with the ball? Is this a big deal? At least three people are attacking!

According to on-site statistics, as long as Yu Fei gets the ball within sight of Pistons players tonight, his double-team rate is 100%.

The Pistons did this and limited Yu Fei's scoring to a very low number - only 10 points in the game.

If the Pistons' goal was to limit the offense of Yu Fei, who averaged 34.4 points per game in the series, then their goal was achieved.

10 points in a single game. This is not only the lowest point of Yu Fei's series, but also the lowest score in a single game in the playoffs since his debut.

However, for a player who averages close to 30+10+10 per game in the playoffs, it is not enough to only limit his scoring.

If you want to do this too much, you risk causing the other person to focus their efforts on other areas.

Yu Fei could tell the Pistons' direction from the very beginning.

"The logic of their defense is very simple. As long as they guard me, they can win. This is what they think. It means, you are all trash, don't glare at me. If you don't accept it, prove yourself in the palace!"

Although this sounds ugly, that's what the Pistons really mean.

Yu Fei didn't want to put pressure on his teammates, but he didn't want to play tiebreaker, so he could only tell the truth.

He loves to tell the truth.

Telling the truth is pleasurable.

Since then, the offensive enthusiasm of the rest of the Bucks has increased significantly. Ray Allen first punished the Pistons' brainless double-teaming.

Sprewell followed, then Horry.

After that, everyone except Yu Fei started to score.

The Pistons' wrong defensive strategy allowed Yu Fei to send 13 assists in the half.

At this time, they have realized their mistakes, but the disadvantage has been formed. There is no regret medicine to take, so they can only continue to defend like this.

From the beginning of the second half, the Pistons gave people the feeling that they could lose the game, but they would definitely not let Yu Fei attack.

Even if Yu Fei is allowed to get 30 assists in a single game, they will make Yu Fei completely useless.

The Pistons' execution was impressive. Yu Fei did not find an opportunity to attack, so he had to continue passing the ball.

最终，于飞在34分钟的出场时间里砍下10分9篮板25助攻，带队以117比79狂胜活塞，大比分4比2晋级总决赛。

After the game, reporters asked Yu Fei what he thought of the Pistons' defense.

"They defended very hard and successfully reduced my scoring average by 4 points per game." Yu Fei said in a dumbfounded voice, "But it also increased my assists per game by 3 points, so I don't know if it's because of them." Desired results.”

PS: Take a half-day off today

PPS: Because we also know that in reality, the 04 Lakers were defeated by the 04 Pistons, and the Bucks who beat the 04 Pistons will definitely be cut off when they beat the Lakers in F4, so I will not write down the finals and finals in detail just to abuse the Olympic fat. It will be over soon.

(End of this chapter)