When pride still matters

Chapter 262 The light and shadow of the semi-finals

What is the difference between the Pistons last season and this season?

There is no difference in personnel, but defensively, there is a slight decline.

Last season, the Pistons limited their opponents to 84 points per game, but this season, their opponents averaged 90 points per game.

However, the Pistons clearly changed gears after entering the playoffs. In the first round, the 76ers only averaged 85 points per game. In the last game, they also specially demonstrated a zone defense specially prepared for Yu Fei.

December 2005, 5

The first game of the semi-finals.

The Bucks once again came to the Palace of Auburn Hills, which reminded many people of the day that changed the team's fortunes.

The palace was still noisy, and the feeling of being hated by tens of thousands of people in the audience was even stronger than it was then.

In the aisle, Yu Fei was surrounded by his teammates.

Before each team enters the arena, someone will stand up and give a speech. Depending on the opponent, the content of the speech will be different.

Previously this was done by veterans like Sprewell or Horry. Today, Yu Fei was pushed out, and he only said one sentence: "For everyone, we have to win the semifinals."

Everyone at the scene knew what Yu Fei's "everyone" meant.

Not just those who came here, but those who didn't come here, they have to win the semifinals for these people.

Tonight, the Bucks' starting lineup is Yu Fei, Mobley, Barry, Horry and Mutombo.

Two sharp shooters with a three-point shooting rate of 40% on the outside ensure that Yu Fei can open up a hole every time he calls for a pick-and-roll.

Whether it's a 1-2 pick-and-roll between Yu Fei, Barry and Mobley, or a 1-4 pick-and-roll with Horry, the Pistons respond in the same way, which is double-teaming.

They believe the intensity of the playoffs can make Bucks shooters miss.

However, Barry and Mobley did not miss open three-pointers as the Pistons expected. Instead, they continued to eat the good cakes thrown by Yu Fei, using precise three-pointers to cause chaos in Detroit.

The Pistons' wrong defensive strategy caused the situation to collapse in the first quarter.

Yu Fei had 4 points and 7 assists in a single quarter, leading the team to a 31-17 first quarter victory.

The tone of Game 1 was set from this moment on.

Every subsequent round of the Pistons made up for the loss in the first quarter. The 22-year-old Yu Fei controlled the rhythm of the game as finely as a 32-year-old master.

Pass the ball and play tactics. If it can't open up, just call a 1-2 pick-and-roll to kill Billups.

"This game was over from the first quarter." ESPN analyst Jack Ramsey said, "Frye Yu's dominance is amazing, the way he controls the game is as beautiful as an artist, you can't To see that from another 22-year-old, he's the MVP this season."

In the first game of the semifinals, Yu Fei scored 24 points, 8 rebounds and 16 assists, cutting through the Pistons' defensive system like a chef unloading a cow.

The Pistons, who lost their home court advantage, are still confident in the series.

"There's no history of one man versus one team in professional basketball," Brown said. "If there was, it wouldn't have started with Frye and us."

Yu Fei's performance boosted his MVP momentum.

Judging from Yu Fei's regular season data and the Bucks' record, if you want to choose MVP, then this candidate must be Yu Fei.

However, three external factors cast doubt on Yu Fei's coronation.

One is that after the battle at the Palace of Auburn Hills, Yu Fei openly stood up for thugs like Sprewell and threatened the team to renew his contract; the other was that he shockingly demanded a 2+1 short-term contract as his second choice. contract; then, Nash's rise in Phoenix is ​​equally worthy of praise.

But the media power behind Yu Fei has begun to exert its force.

Yu Fei led the team to 53 wins despite losing his second and third assistants, and dominated the major data lists with monster data like the 60s. No one can compare to him in terms of personal influence and legend. He is more qualified to be elected MVP.

Reebok people believe that after a series of marketing and public relations, there is a high probability that Yu Fei can win the second MVP, so the most important thing right now is the series with the Pistons.

Whether he can complete his revenge against the Pistons is the key to reversing Yu Feifeng's review.

In the second game of the semifinals, the Pistons responded to the Bucks.

The defeat in Game 1 reminded the Pistons of last year's Eastern Conference Finals.

After careful review, they believe that double-teaming Yu Fei should be cautious, because the latter has no blind spots when facing the basket. He can rely on his height to see his teammates' opportunities and then send the ball out.

However, the Bucks are full of outside shooters. As long as these people shoot nearly 40% of their three-pointers, the Pistons' defense may collapse.

Brown learned the lesson of the failure and asked the team to increase the intensity at the beginning. If Yu Fei wants to call the pick and roll, let him do it. Fight with the Bucks first, wait until both sides are almost exhausted, and then selectively let go.

However, even the Pistons did not expect that their dream would come true so quickly.

Before the game, they predicted that the Bucks would not be accurate all the time. As long as they continued to increase their intensity, they would always hit the mark.

Then, the Bucks staged fifteen consecutive irons from the outside in the second game.

Unable to make shots from the outside, and with zone defense and Big Ben protecting the basket inside, the Bucks collapsed in the third quarter and were beaten by the Pistons by 20 points.

"Outside shooting is something written in our DNA." Yu Fei explained why this game was lost so easily, "We didn't activate it tonight."

Although the Bucks lost, everyone could see that Yu Fei had not yet used his full strength.

This way of losing is not uncommon in the Bucks' regular season.

If his teammates are not accurate, Yu Fei will continue to pass, continue to be inaccurate, and then lose directly.

This is a strategy, not only because this series is destined to last for more than six games, but also because Yu Fei is currently an irreplaceable presence in the Bucks.

Against a strong team like the Pistons, he needs to play at least 42 minutes in each game. This astonishing consumption requires him to wait for the opportunity to exert his strength.

George Karl has no problem with this. He plays every game with all his strength. That's reckless. A true master will always test the opponent's strength in a series, observe the opponent's rotation, look for flaws, and then attack hard.

The experience of leading a single-core team awakened Yu Fei's awareness.

That night, Karl said to Fei in the locker room: "Are you interested in starting the next game without the ball?"

No ball?

Yu Fei thought about it, when was the last time he played without the ball?

Probably dates back to the Wizards era.

"Who will organize it?" Yu Fei asked.

Carr said, "Brent, he can organize."

"What is the purpose of doing this?" Yu Fei asked again.

"Are you a fool?" Karl scolded with a smile, "Of course it's to win."

Two days later, the two sides came to the Bradley Center. The Pistons thought they were fully prepared, but they didn't expect the Bucks to suddenly let Yu Fei take the third position.

Brent Barry had successfully transformed into a combo guard before joining the Bucks. It was only this year that he became a shooter with instigating ability next to Yu Fei.

Now back to his old job, he and Yu Fei's 1-3 pick-and-roll made the Pistons unable to react.

The Pistons' coaching staff has been preparing for the game based on the concept of their entire team challenging Yu Fei alone.

Suddenly, Yu Fei started to play without the ball and frequently set up sticks in high positions for singles.

The Pistons didn't react at first, and Yu Fei scored 18 points in the half.

In the second half, the Pistons reacted and began to tighten their defense.

Then, Yu Fei created chaos in a small space and sent out multiple opportunity balls.

The Pistons are in trouble.

Let's expand the perimeter. Yu Fei can't solve it in isolation. He's as strong as Big Ben and can't protect his own basket. Close the inside line, the Bucks' outside three-pointers will start raining down.

This hesitation determines the outcome of the entire game.

101 is better than 88

The Bucks lead 2-1.

Yu Fei once again led the team with 28 points and 12 assists.

If there's anything that unnerves the Pistons, it's this.

At least on the offensive end, Yu Fei still hasn't done his best. This is not the form in which he averaged 44 points and 37 points per game in the previous two months.

After tonight, at least one thing is clear for the Pistons.

Unless the Bucks' shooters are inaccurate, if Yu Fei encounters a pick-and-roll, just switch defenses without thinking.

They made up their minds. Even if Yu Fei called him to death, they didn't want to see him activate his outside shooters to win the game with three-pointers.

"We're going to give our fans a typical Eastern Conference playoff game."

Larry Brown told reporters before Game 4.

As a result, just as Brown said, the game turned into an unspectacular defensive battle.

This is not what the Bucks want, but the Pistons make substitutions during pick-and-rolls, forcing the Bucks to solve the problem in one-on-one situations, which makes it meaningless for Yu Fei to continue playing without the ball.

But even if he got the ball, today was not his good day.

Yu Fei was one step away from being a marksman tonight. He didn't score a single goal from outside the three-point line, but he could hit any number of shots inside the three-point line.

This is an acceptable result for the Pistons. As long as the offensive and defensive range is reduced to the three-point line, the width and breadth of this space cannot allow the Bucks to exert their full strength.

Seeing that the shooters were all inaccurate, Karl changed his formation on the spot and replaced Ariza, George and Mutombo to fight for defense.

Fighting defensively against the Pistons is undoubtedly using one's own shortcomings to hit the opponent's strong points, but the outside line is inaccurate and the inside line is difficult to attack. Karl can only put all the offensive pressure on Fei, while the others defend desperately.

In the end, Yu Fei played 45 minutes, making 30 of 13 shots, scoring 38 points, 7 rebounds and 4 assists. The Bucks lost the game by 4 points.

The Bucks and Pistons returned to the starting line. After the big score was tied, the direction of the series came to Tianwang Mountain as the outside world expected.

Just before the Tianwangshan game, the NBA announced the shortlist for all major awards except MVP.

Yu Fei was selected for the first team again. This is the third consecutive year that he has been selected.

But in addition to the first team, he was also selected for the second defense.

Since his rookie season, Yu Fei's defense has always given people the feeling that there is a huge gap between the upper and lower limits.

But even if everyone knows that he will be very strong defensively, no one thinks that he can enter the defensive formation.

"It is said that Nike's publicity machine is the best in the world, but Reebok proved today that the influence of these sneaker manufacturers on major sports has reached a height that we can hardly imagine." Bill Simmons wrote in the article, " I can accept Frye defeating Steve Nash and being elected MVP, but to let Frye be selected to the All-Defensive Team? This is blatant robbery!"

Yu Fei's style is like a spring. The more harshly the media criticizes him, the stronger his rebound will be.

Battle of Tianwang Mountain, the stag returns to the palace.

At the beginning of the game, Yu Fei gave Billups consecutive blocks, and then repeatedly stole the Pistons' passes.

By counterattack alone, Yu Fei scored 12 points in the first quarter.

What makes the Pistons "gratified" is that they finally saw Yu Fei showing the level of commitment that there was no tomorrow in March and April.

However, the result may not be what they want.

Not only was Yu Fei full of strength on the defensive end, but he also played unlimited singles on the offensive end. Prince, who is known as the best defender on the planet, was shaken away many times, and then watched his opponent shoot and score.

半场打完，于飞轰下30分7篮板1助攻2盖帽4抢断。

He stopped passing the ball.

Maybe now would be a good time to double team?

In the second half, Yu Fei, who was in hot form, actually switched to off-the-ball play, went to a high position to allow the Pistons to shrink their defense, and then passed out three-pointers from the bottom corner, causing the Pistons to once again fall into the dilemma of not being able to take into account both inside and outside.

Today, the Pistons did not hesitate for too long. Once they discovered that the Bucks' three-point shot was accurate, they resolutely defended alone.

Then Yu Fei continued to play singles.

Prince was beaten. If Billups is replaced, he will still be beaten. Then replace him with Big Ben.

In the second half, Yu Fei indiscriminately singled out the Pistons players who appeared in front of him, using one mid-range shot after another to rid the iron barrel array of holes.

终场，99比85，于飞轰下52分8篮板4助攻4抢断4盖帽，如天神般伟大表现令奥本山寂静如坟场。

"I like it here." Yu Fei smiled sarcastically, "This reminds me of a lot of past events."

"Are you confident that we can end the series at home?"

"I don't know, I only know one thing." Yu Fei said, "If we come back here, I will completely defeat the Pistons in front of the Detroit people. Mark my words, this will definitely happen."

PS: I have just finished writing this after a long wait. I wish everyone a happy new year.

　Thanks to squad leader Yi for the leader award, and thanks also to Ziye Changqing, Chicheng Stranger, Melancholy Little Eyes, Period 0, Bai Xiaopao Jiang, Xiao Mo’s Classmate A, Nervous Nao Nao, God-Destroying Shadow Blade, Man Under the Parasol Tree , Larrzelluz, Gemini zmy, it’s me jojo, I want to admire myself, Mengjiang Pavilion, a shovel on the left, Dream about me, Inspector Bear, Gas Junker Town, don’t be presumptuous, just look silent, the wood will spontaneously ignite, Star Lord of the Forbidden City, Silver Moon City Will Never Fall, Silence of the Lambs, Nai He Common People Are Worried, and Maddie’s Moment Reward. thank you all.

　　

　

(End of this chapter)