When pride still matters

Chapter 261 Who cares about Tayshaun Prince

今年，东部有四支50胜以上的球队，他们分别是60胜22负的步行者，54胜28负的活塞，53胜29负的雄鹿和50胜32负的热火。

This is the first time since 1998 that such a "grand occasion" has occurred in the East.

Of course, this is still incomparable with the West.

In addition to the league's first-place Suns (62 wins) and the league's second-place Spurs (60 wins, two wins over the Pacers in the regular season), they also have four 50-win teams. Moreover, the Nuggets, who are ranked seventh in the Western Conference, have 49 wins, and the Grizzlies, who are eighth in the Western Conference, have 45 wins. If these two teams are placed in the Eastern Conference, they can be ranked fifth and sixth in the Eastern Conference.

Although the gap between the top teams in the East and West may not be that big, the quality of the teams in the second and even third tiers is completely different.

Entering the playoffs as third in the Eastern Conference is a new experience for Fei.

In the past three seasons, his team has been either eighth or first in the Eastern Conference.

Therefore, his first opponent entering the playoffs is either the strongest in the division or the weakest.

The third-ranked opponent in the Eastern Conference matched him with the Washington Wizards, who ranked sixth in the Eastern Conference.

Everyone knows the special significance of the Wizards to Fei.

But before the game started, Yu Fei said: "I will not treat this game with any personal emotions. We want to advance to the semi-finals, which is very important to me."

"Why is it important to reach the semifinals?"

Yu Fei looked at the reporter as if he was mentally retarded, and casually explained: "Because Detroit is there."

After that, the first round begins.

Yu Fei seems to be still playing in the regular season, easily breaking through the Wizards' defense.

Instead, the Wizards' offensive core, Gilbert Arenas, performed mediocrely when the team needed him to step up.

Yu Fei led the Bucks to win the first game.

Arenas scored only 19 points and was seriously questioned by the outside world.

This guy is known as a general, but his ability to withstand pressure is extremely limited. He continued to pull his pants in the second game, and the Bucks got off to a 2-0 start without any pressure.

Sometimes, the quality of the opponent can be seen in one or two games.

The Bucks were more cautious and decided to take the Wizards seriously again.

In the third game, we came to the Wizards' home court.

If his ex is the most familiar stranger, then this is Yu Fei's most unfamiliar home ground.

In order to erase the imprint of the Jordan era, the Wizards did everything possible. Not only did they purge all management personnel, arena staff and players who were familiar with Jordan, they even made some adjustments to the layout of their home court.

Except for the name "Wizard", Yu Fei can't see any trace of the old days here.

Then came the game that night. Arenas, who returned to the home court, was a little more active than before, but today, the Bucks did not rely on Fei's performance, because Mobley and others felt hot and their shots were sure to hit.

This caused the Wizards to lose the confidence to defend their home court.

After three quarters, the Wizards fell behind by a big score.

At the end of the fourth quarter, the Bucks beat their opponents by 21 points on the road.

A big 3-0 lead in the playoffs allowed the Bucks to basically lock in their qualification for the semifinals.

"We have more important things to do."

When reporters asked Yu Fei what his future prospects were, he answered lightly.

Just when the media began to build momentum for the semifinal showdown between the Bucks and Pistons, the Western Conference was not to be far behind and also made headlines.

In the first round of the Western Conference, the Rockets surprisingly turned away in the first two games, causing the Mavericks to lose two consecutive home games.

Teams in the front position usually have an advantage over teams in the back position, but the Mavericks were beaten to a pulp.

Moreover, according to Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy, the Mavericks were so decimated only with the help of their "godfather".

Van Gundy believed the referees were targeting Yao during the game and identified Mavericks owner Mark Cuban as the reason for this.

Because Cuban complained to the league before the start of the playoffs that some of Yao Shuan's defensive moves were ignored, which was unfair to other teams.

From the data point of view, Van Gundy's statement is not unreasonable. In the first game, Tracy McGrady came to earth, but Yao Shuan left the game with six fouls in 20 minutes. In the second game, Yao Shuan made 14 of 13 shots from the field, but committed five fouls. . After Van Gundy said this, he not only caused an uproar, but also made the league office very angry.

"If he continues to talk like that, he shouldn't be in the league," Stern told reporters.

Then, Van Gundy got a $10 fine.

This is the highest fine ever issued by an NBA coach.

Although Yao Huang said that he would bear half of the fine for his head coach, this is not the key to the problem. The key is that Van Gundy started the team and fired, but the Rockets were more seriously targeted.

Originally, only Yao Huang might have been targeted, but in the following five games, everyone on the Rockets had to play under double standards.

This doomed the tragedy of the first year of the Yao-Mai Rockets. Yu Fei thought this was a script killing between the Rockets and the Mavericks.

Unfortunately, it was Rocket himself who was killed.

It stands to reason that the league will not favor the Mavericks. If Stern was asked to name an owner whose team he least wanted to see win the championship, he would not hesitate to name Cuban.

Cuban has embarrassed the league countless times since he bought the Mavericks. If Van Gundy's yin and yang of refereeing favored the Mavericks and Stern found it unacceptable, then what Cuban did was ten times or even more serious than Van Gundy's.

But, just like George Karl likes to talk about the Suns scoring 93+ free throws in the 60 Western Conference finals to enter the finals.

There was a force in the universe that wanted Barkley and Jordan to meet in the Finals.

So, is there another force in the universe that wants to hack the Rockets?

What can everyone get if the Mavericks advance to the second round?

Everyone can see the Mavericks fighting the Suns, watching Nash kill his old owner, and let Cuban enjoy the top-notch treatment of tens of millions of dollars - in order to sign Eric Dampier to reduce the burden on the inside, Cuban let Nash go. , and this decision will ultimately give a heart-breaking blow in the playoffs.

This is the ending the league wants to see, except that there is the Rockets in the middle.

Of course, this is Yu Fei's personal opinion, and he doesn't know what the real situation is.

Yu Fei will not directly help Yao Huang to criticize the referee or the league. After all, he is already a problem in the eyes of the league's top brass. Their semifinals with the Pistons are about to begin. If something goes wrong now, he may receive "special treatment."

However, just because you don’t help directly doesn’t mean you can’t help indirectly.

In the game when the Bucks eliminated the Wizards, the Wizards were also taken care of by the referees. This is normal. After all, they are a team that is behind by a big score and still sitting at home.

Yu Fei was called for four fouls in the game. After the game, he strongly expressed his dissatisfaction: "I don't believe there is systemic injustice in the game, but I have watched the series between Dallas and Houston, and I know what Yao has gone through. , the same thing happened to me tonight. This is not shady, this is just the reality of the country and society. This is the fact that this country has systematically discriminated against all people of color for hundreds of years."

Now it was the referee's turn to explain his position.

Instead, the league needs to disassociate itself and say it will investigate.

But this investigation certainly has no beginning and no end.

Yu Fei, who caused the trouble, was not affected in any way. Regarding this, he could only lament that political correctness still has some effect.

Then, the Bucks advanced to the semifinals.

They still need to wait for the results of the Pistons and 76ers games.

Compared with the Bucks, the Pistons' process of entering the semifinals was not so smooth. They lost one game to the 76ers in the first four games.

Then, in Game 76, the Pistons, as if they were demonstrating to someone, deployed a zone defense against the 64ers, making Iverson dumb and horribly limiting the opponent's scoring to 79 points. Then they scored 4 points, a big score of 1 to advance to the semi-finals.

The two teams met in the semi-finals as expected, which made everyone in the league extremely happy.

The momentum building before the game and the media publicity are all in place.

The only thing to ensure now is the relative fairness of the series and the security of the Palace of Auburn Hills.

Stern warned the Pistons that if spectators throw objects randomly into the stadium again, the league will reduce the Pistons' dividends this year.

The intuitive economic loss caused by the Battle at the Palace of Auburn Hills to the league was only tens of millions of dollars, but from a negative impact perspective, the real losses were in the hundreds of millions.

Yu Fei watched the fifth game between the Pistons and the 76ers and found that the opponent's zone defense had improved a lot compared to last year.

However, it's not just the Pistons' defense that has improved.

At the critical moment of life and death last season, the Pistons also used a zone defense. Although it was rough, it was effective. If Yu Fei hadn't had an explosive touch and used outside shots to kill the opponent, the result would have been hard to say.

This is why Yu Fei significantly increased his three-point shots after leading the team.

Yu Fei's three-point shooting percentage is close to 37%, which is higher than the league average, but his average three-point attempts per game is 10.8, which is only 4 times less than the Pistons' average three-point attempts per game.

This is a completely different concept.

This year's Pistons may be able to limit last year's Yu Fei, but against the current version of Yu Fei, even if they have the best zone defense in the league, it will be difficult to limit Yu Fei.

Before Game 1 of the Eastern Conference semifinals, Tayshaun Prince made a rare statement: "I'm the best guard on Frye of any able-bodied person on the planet."

"I have nothing to say to him." Yu Fei mocked, "When I get old, do you think I will tell my grandson that I scored 50 points against Tayshaun Prince in the Eastern Conference semifinals? Divide?"

Yu Fei's response not only mocked Prince, but also set a flag for himself.

He's going to score 50 points in the Eastern Conference semifinals.

Can this be done?

"It's just wishful thinking!" Big Ben responded, "We are here to avenge last year's revenge. This is not a competition, this is a personal grudge!"

Yu Fei did not respond, because planting too many flags could easily backfire on him.

Now, he just needs to prepare carefully and wait for the semi-finals to begin.

(End of this chapter)