When pride still matters

Chapter 345 Because the Bucks will always be here

When the Spurs were easily defeated by the Bucks in Game 3 of the Finals, they handed home-court advantage back to Milwaukee.

This night, the Spurs' defense had many problems, mainly because it was not targeted enough against Fei.

Duncan scored 24 points and 11 rebounds. This data is good enough, but if he wants to win, he needs to perform even greater.

ESPN columnist "Sports Man" Bill Simmons, who has always been at odds with Yu Fei, used an article to analyze why Duncan's ten consecutive years of outstanding games make people feel "boring". He also learned from Duncan's unparalleled stability Sex found out why the Spurs were destined to lose to the Bucks.

"Duncan averaged almost exactly the same numbers from his first season to his tenth season that just ended (21.1 points, 11.9 rebounds, 2.7 assists, 2.5 blocks, 55% shooting, 39.1 minutes per game), Very similar to his 20.0th season (10.6 points, 3.4 rebounds, 2.4 assists, 55 blocks, 34.1% shooting, 50 minutes per game). His calm demeanor has not changed at all and he looks exactly the same as he did a decade ago. .A great big man who performs consistently and leads your team to at least 1994 wins every year is what Duncan can bring. However, you can't expect him to be like Shaq during the dynasty, or Hakeem in 95-. Olajuwon rules everyone the same."

Simmons believes that there is no explosive talent in Duncan's DNA, and there are only a few players who can explode with more power than usual when needed.

When Simmons' views were brought to Duncan by media friends before the fourth game, he looked at him with wide eyes: "I'm pretty sure Frye and I have the same chromosomes and DNA. We are both males."

The Spurs looked like they were trying their best, but they just couldn't beat the Bucks.

The fourth game of the Finals was still the home court of the Spurs. The Bucks started with a 5 OUT lineup. This was an arrangement to use offense to defeat the opponent directly from the beginning and establish a victory.

Yu Fei admits that he has met many stars, but Duncan is the rarest superstar, which cannot be measured by statistics alone. Fifty years from now, statistics fans will point to Duncan's numbers and conclude that Kevin Garnett is better than him. Even when the data of players in the small ball era exploded, Duncan's seemingly bleak career average data could not allow future generations to outline in their minds the image of the best power forward in history.

However, when the last moment came, Yu Fei's pass helped Raja Bell hit a key three-pointer.

98 is better than 91

The Bucks won Game 3 without any danger, taking a 1- lead.

He thinks he's done enough on the court, but he's really not a great communicator.

"The Spurs have done everything they can, but the sky is too high for Milwaukeeans!" Bill Walton said. "I take my hat off to Tim Duncan for what he and his team brought tonight. It was a great defense, but we should pay tribute to Frye and the Bucks. They were one game away from the final victory. They were one game away from winning four championships in five years. I don't care about your standards. , at least in my eyes, the Bucks are already an unquestionable dynasty team!"

In other words, the X offense simplifies complex tactics, so that Yu Fei never has to yell at his teammates to direct his teammates' movements like those short point guards.

Manu Ginobili's excessive help defense allowed Yu Fei to seize the opportunity and complete a 2+1 jump shot on the opponent.

That night, Yu Fei's press conference lasted for half an hour.

In the end, the Spurs were still the same Spurs, but Popovich realized one thing: Frye must not be given the opportunity to pass the ball to lead the team.

The tight string in San Antonio was broken.

The Spurs' extremely tight overall defense caused the Bucks' total score to drop to less than 100 points for the first time in the playoffs.

Yu Fei had noticed this before, but tonight, Duncan was literally demonstrating to him face to face what it takes to be a leader who can lead a weak team forward.

An aging star has better defensive abilities after turning 30?

No, Malone is destined to be one of the few examples. Duncan's defense is not that he showed a stronger defense than a few years ago. If we really want to talk about his personal defense, it is actually obviously not as good as it was in the 2003 Finals. At that time, Duncan alone covered the area within the free throw line. Now, the strength of Duncan's defense is that he is an excellent team communicator.

It was a friendly yet competitive conversation, like five friends playing a black game, telling each other information about themselves and their opponents, trying to figure out how to win. Duncan is the center of it all, the big brother who looks out for everyone else. During a pause in the game, Yu Fei can always be seen hugging his teammates and giving advice, or beckoning everyone over for impromptu encouragement. He is the Spurs' defensive backbone, the smartest player on the court, an emotional leader, a clutch scorer and a competitive star.

A reporter asked: "If the Bucks win the championship, will you choose to stay?"

Therefore, even if they have to constantly send mispositions to Yu Feidan, the Spurs will resolutely implement the strategy of unlimited defensive changes.

"That's not something I'm thinking about right now."

On the defensive end, Yu Fei has never been the core of the team's defense. Although he has been selected for the defensive team for two consecutive years, this is not because his defense has truly reached the top ten level in the league, but because he plays an important role in the overall defense of a team. On a very strong team, he averages 1+1 blocks and blocks per game.

During this period, what impressed Yu Fei most was not the Spurs' tenacity, but Duncan. This player has played nearly 900 games and is over 2003 years old. His legs and feet are no longer as light as when he was young, but his defense against the Bucks But it was more powerful and suffocating than the finals.

Could it be that a Karl Malone-like mutation occurred in Duncan?

Duncan made Yu Fei reflect on the way he leads the team.

Because this is no longer a problem for Fei.

That night, Yu Fei returned to the hotel and found Kwame Brown watching the final episode of the final season of "The Sopranos" with Lawson.

This episode had been aired a few days ago. The reason why Brown and the others did not watch it was because the outcome of the finals was still uncertain and they were not mentally "ready" yet.

But as a phenomenal American drama, its ending touches the hearts of viewers across the country, just like those who have delayed watching the third and fourth parts of "Women's Federation" for a few days will inevitably learn on the Internet that Star-Lord is The beastly behavior at the end of the third part and Iron Man's bad behavior in the fourth part.

The most interesting thing about "The Sopranos" is that the screenwriter wanted to keep the audience interested until the end, leaving an open ending for the audience.

"Is Tony (the protagonist) dead?" Yu Fei asked.

"I don't know," Lawson said. "I believe he's still alive."

Yu Fei didn't like this show because the more he looked at it, the male protagonist Tony looked more and more like Michael Jordan from the Wizards era, especially when he screamed "I'm the one giving the fucking orders" with a ferocious look on his face, he looked so much like him.

This made him stop watching the show after the third season. However, the ending was so popular that you could hear people discussing "whether Tony is dead or not" everywhere, so he also had a rough idea of ​​the ending.

Two days later, the Bucks returned to the ATT Center.

On the bright side for the Spurs, they are just as lucky as the Mavericks last season. They sold out tickets to every home game this season.

At least they didn't lose in terms of ticket revenue.

But for Duncan, his career has been changed.

This evening, league executives and Bucks executives gathered together.

According to their internal calculations, the Bucks have a 90% chance of winning the championship tonight.

However, they still miscalculated.

They underestimated the blow to the Spurs from the loss in the last game.

As soon as the game was changed to "Five", Duncan, as the most stable superstar in history, actually had several low-level empty baskets and failed to score.

What followed was a swift and violent offensive by the Bucks.

Kevin Martin broke through Ginobili's defense from the wing and became the Bucks' leading scorer in the first half.

Danny Granger is a sharp shooter, scoring every goal, and looks better than Luol Deng, the new star that the Spurs rely on.

Aldridge, Brown, Bell, Barry, Sprewell, everyone on the Bucks is playing. Yu Fei, who averaged 34 points per game in the finals, only scored 18 points tonight, but sent 17 assists. .

Three minutes into the fourth quarter, the Bucks already held a 22-point lead.

Karl wanted to replace Yu Fei at that time.

But Yu Fei refused.

Karl hesitated for a second and then decided to let Yu Fei finish the game.

The Bucks' dominant style of play sparked heated debate among the professional community in attendance.

Legendary NCAA coach Bob Knight couldn't help but ask: "Frye really plans to leave Milwaukee?"

"It's not clear." The person around him said, "But all the clues point to this, he is ready to leave."

These rumors stung Bucks owner Herb Kerr.

He had never communicated with Yu Fei about the future. He thought that as long as the Bucks were competitive and did everything Yu Fei asked, they would always have Frye. However, when he heard that Yu Fei refused to negotiate for contract renewal in advance, his mood sank to the bottom. However, when he came to negotiate with Yu Fei outside the St. Francis Training Center, he saw one poster after another of Brett Favre not far from the training center.

Although Yu Fei is the hero in Milwaukee, Favre's influence here is still huge, not to mention the entire state of Wisconsin.

Yu Fei's commercial value and influence around the world are not comparable to Favre, but here, he is not as good as Favre.

The Bucks have given everything, but Yu Fei has also given everything to the team, winning four championships in five years. This result is enough for him to become a wanderer in areas that are not so fond of football, but not in Milwaukee, and even less in Wisconsin. .

Now, the game comes to its final moments.

In the last ten seconds, 114 to 97, the Bucks had a chance to win.

8 秒

Yu Fei has stopped the ball.

5 秒

The Bucks players stood up and gathered around the sidelines, ready to rush into the court.

3 秒

Yu Fei put the ball on the ground.

1 秒

When the buzzer sounded, the Bucks won their fifth championship in franchise history.

Hugs, celebrations, interviews and FMVP trophies.

Yu Fei won his fourth championship as expected, and then had a party with his teammates in the locker room.

When the champagne was poured out and the media poured in, a veteran reporter who had interviewed Too Fly many times over the past five years asked excitedly: "Fry, can we keep this team? Is there any way we can keep it?" it?"

"Tom," Yu Fei wiped the champagne on his face with a hint of relief. "Neither I nor anyone else can ever play for the Bucks forever. Sooner or later this team that has won everything will disappear and we will go through a generational change, but I hope from the bottom of my heart that Milwaukee fans never have to pray Someone else saves them because the Bucks will always be here.”

(End of this chapter)