When pride still matters

Chapter 267 It would feel better if it was Frye

The Bucks' ability to break through the Pistons and advance to the Eastern Conference finals to join the Eastern Conference's No. 1 Indiana Pacers was far beyond outside expectations.

From an outside perspective, the Pistons only need to restrict Yu Fei, and beating the Bucks will not be a problem.

As a result, they failed to restrain Yu Fei at all.

Because Tayshaun Prince, the key figure the Pistons use against Fei, is an elite defender with more talent than size. Like all wing spiders, he does not have enough weight to resist Fei's breakthrough.

This caused Yu Fei's outside breakthrough to be like entering uninhabited territory.

The Pacers don't have this problem.

Ron Artest, their chief perimeter defender and DPOY winner for two consecutive seasons, plays defense like he's raping his opponent.

Every time Yu Fei met him, it was a tough battle, because this man had both skills and strength, and was as strong as an ox. He was not the type who could knock people away and break through just by moving a little.

The game against Artest was a war, which caused Yu Fei to devote too much energy to perimeter attacks.

The Bucks are currently extremely dependent on Fei's personal offense.

Cuttino Mobley has made it clear that he will not return in the Eastern Conference Finals. This has nothing to do with whether he recovers, because this is his contract year, and he wants to enter the offseason without any mistakes and sign a big contract.

Therefore, Yu Fei was isolated and helpless, and he could not find a second teammate who could hold the ball and share the pressure.

The Bucks had no choice but to play a 5 OUT lineup throughout the game.

The main idea is to win if you feel it, and send it if you don't.

This is the Bucks' only option.

Once such a choice is made, the outcome is doomed.

In Game 99 of the Eastern Conference Finals, the Pacers at home defeated the Bucks 93-4 and advanced to the finals with a score of 2-.

"I have nothing to say, I wish you all the best."

Yu Fei whispered as he hugged Artest.

Artest asked: "Why don't you hate us?"

Artest was really shocked. Everyone said that Da Fei was narrow-minded and would retaliate. They personally ended the Bucks' hope of three consecutive championships. Da Fei didn't curse himself, but he actually blessed him?

"If you win the championship, I can at least comfort myself like this. We just lost to the strongest team of the season." Yu Fei said helplessly, "So, you guys had better win the championship."

This truth is not difficult to understand, and Artest understood it immediately.

"Don't worry, we will definitely win." Artest said carelessly, "Actually, what we wanted to beat the most was the Pistons, but it's a pity that you killed them."

Yu Fei can understand that the Pacers were eliminated by the Pistons last year.

Afterwards, Yu Fei and the Pacers players agreed, and after showing the demeanor that a loser should have, he patted Kevin Martin who was crying because of his own mistakes.

Due to his amazing performance against the Pistons, Martin averaged 24 minutes per game in the Eastern Conference Finals. His performance was dismal, with a shooting percentage of less than 6% and no more than points scored.

"Fry, it's all my fault."

What Martin received was not comfort, but confirmation.

"Yes, it's all your fault." Yu Fei said, "So you'd better put on 20 pounds of muscle before the new season, otherwise I will send you to the Clippers."

Martin was stunned.

Yu Fei added: "No, the Clippers are not a garbage recycling station, and they probably won't want you, so if you still haven't gained weight by then, just find a place where no one is and hang yourself."

Back in the locker room, Yu Fei didn't see any frustration or sadness. Everyone had a mentality of "it's enough to get here".

After all, they took out the Pistons.

Yu Fei feels a little regretful for missing out on three consecutive championships, but he also knows that getting here this year has exceeded his goal, and there is nothing more to say.

The person who was probably the saddest about this was George Karl.

After all, his old enemy has led the team to three consecutive championships more times than he has championship rings, which makes people angry when talking about it.

How do you sum up this season now?

Karl thought for a long time and didn't know what to say.

You can't say, "It's great that we can become the runner-up in the Eastern Conference. Everyone can happily go home for the holidays, right?"

Suddenly, Christian Leitner stood up.

"After tonight, I will retire. In addition to wishing you all the best in the future, I also want to say something else." Leitner pointed to Yu Fei next to him, "Although Frye is usually a bit condescending and unreasonable, but I believe that if he was willing to fall out with management over a lunatic who choked a fan and finally got that son of a bitch a big contract, he could do the same for any of you. After that day, he also He has carried the team, and without him, not only would we not be here, we would not be able to make the playoffs.”

"The most important thing is that he is not yet 23 years old. You bastards, maybe you don't know how lucky you are. Help him. As long as Frye is still here, everything is possible and everything depends on him. I I believe you can still win the championship in the future.”

Lawson beside Yu Fei was already stunned.

He couldn't believe that this Leitner once had a fistfight with Yu Fei in D.C.

But that's a fact, he was there at the time.

Karl didn't expect Laettner to end the season in such a good way.

Losing the Eastern Conference Finals certainly loses the hope of three consecutive championships, but it does not mean losing the future.

That's what Laettner wants the team to understand.

As long as Yu Fei is there, the future will still be bright.

Karl suddenly felt that Laettner should consider transforming into a coach.

Unfortunately, Leitner has already made plans for his future. That night, Yu Fei received a text message from Leitner.

"I'll join."

A simple sentence, but it makes people feel warm in their hearts.

"Alas, another one has been sent away." Yu Fei said, "After the start of next season, my seniority will be one level higher."

Christina, who was lying next to Yu Fei, asked softly: "Who died?"

"My teammates."

"May he rest in peace."

Yu Fei was happy.

However, what he said is correct.

For a player, retirement is the end of this journey. It is not an exaggeration to say it is death.

Later, the basketball world will focus on the Spurs and Pacers finals.

This is a duel caused by the butterfly effect. Even Yu Fei himself doesn't know which side will win.

If he were given a choice, he would choose the Pacers, but intuitively, the Spurs may be better.

Interestingly, before the finals started, both NBA officials and industry experts believed that this series was very interesting and star-studded.

Duncan, Kidd, Ginobili, Miller, O'Neal, Artisette. How could a series like this lack something to watch?

But it turned out that there was really nothing to watch.

Spurs games have always been said to be boring, and the Pacers are even more heavyweight.

Their semifinal game against the Pistons last year was called the most miserable series in NBA history.

A 30-minute highlight reel can be edited out of the so-called "excellent defensive" possessions from both sides.

Any score over 80 in a game is considered an excellent offensive performance.

If the Pistons are the ratings killers, then this kid must be the Pacers.

After the series started, the Pacers quickly relied on their own strength to turn the game into the shape of the Eastern Conference playoffs.

The two sides went back and forth, and the Spurs didn't mind fighting the Pacers at all.

Because for them, whether they are facing an aggressive offensive team like the Suns or an extreme defensive team like the Pacers, they have ways to deal with it.

The watershed moment in the finals occurred in game five.

The brutality of the game can be said to be rare in modern times. Neither the Spurs nor the Pacers scored more than 70 points. In the end, Ginobili's snake-shaped layup completed the victory, allowing the Silver and Black Army to capture Tianwang Mountain with a big score of 3 to 2. lead.

This is a game that new fans can't understand, old fans applaud, and cloud fans don't want to watch for a second.

The game's record-low ratings prompted some changes in the ongoing collective bargaining agreement negotiations.

The league is determined to suppress this increasingly defensive trend, and the first one to bear the brunt of this is the damn hands-on rule.

For the players union, as long as it does not harm their interests, they generally will not argue with the league.

This year, labor and management are generally in harmony. Except for the disputes over restrictions on high school students participating in the draft and how to divide the money, other aspects are progressing smoothly.

As the finals brought the ratings into the dark abyss, both sides felt that life would be difficult in the next few years, so each side made compromises and concessions.

As a result, prohibiting high school students from participating in the NBA draft became a major part of the union's concessions, while management gave up 1% of total profits and added it to the salary cap.

This prevents regression events like this season, where the salary cap decreases instead of increasing, from happening again.

Moreover, the two parties also discussed Yu Fei's amazing 2+1 contract extension.

The bosses generally believe that Yu Fei did this because he wanted to leave Milwaukee as soon as possible. After all, for a superstar like him, big cities are the place to realize his value.

However, your big cities need stars, and our small clubs also need stars, so this situation must be restricted. But the players union is unlikely to agree to a collective bargaining agreement that would restrict free agents from changing teams.

Therefore, as a small club, the only way is to give them as much money as possible.

In this way, the Yu Fei Clause was introduced.

This clause stipulates that if a rookie player is elected MVP in his rookie contract, or is selected to the All-NBA Team or All-Star for three consecutive seasons⑴, he can get a contract that accounts for 30% of the team's salary cap in the second contract (the older contract (increased 5%) maximum salary contract.

⑴The difference from Rose's clause is that "being selected to the best team for two consecutive seasons" becomes three seasons.

At this point, the two sides have reached a multi-year labor agreement negotiation.

The NBA Finals also ended in the ugliest way.

The two sides played seven games, and the Spurs limited the Pacers' total score to less than 70 points for the second time in the series, and then scored 79 points, winning the second championship in team history in a thrilling way, and making up for the loss in 2003. regret.

Tim Duncan was slightly controversially elected as FMVP.

His acceptance speech was: "If the opponent was Milwaukee, if I defeated Frye Yu, it might feel even better."

(End of this chapter)