When pride still matters

Chapter 403 Mathematical Genius
The semifinals between the Sonics and the Hornets may be the least talked-about series among the series.

The feud between the Lakers and the Spurs can be traced back to 1999. The Bucks, who lost Yu Fei, are still very strong. They went 2-0 with the Cavaliers in the first two games of the series, which caused a problem.

If James can't even beat the Bucks who lost Yu Fei, how should he evaluate Yu Fei's resume with the Bucks?
This may be an "angle" that even Yu Fei's camp could not imagine.

Because Yu Fei did not leave any feathers behind, and also trained several outstanding young people for the Bucks, they could quickly take over after Yu Fei left, allowing the Bucks to still be competitive in the Eastern Conference. Then, some people would actually question Yu Fei's strength.

Maybe it’s not Yu Feiqiang who won the four championships in five years, but the Bucks?
However, Yu Fei's achievements in the Sonics are well known, and this cannot be erased by a superficial permutation.

On the contrary, the James camp, which is keen to promote this narrative, will have to face a problem sooner or later.

If they lose to the Bucks, they will have to face this result: LeBron can neither beat the Bucks who are flying, nor the Bucks who are not flying. No matter how many excuses there are, when a team loses the best player in the league, Well, it will never be the same again.

Since Yu Fei has widened the gap with James, the marketing direction of James and the marketing machine behind him is now "the first person after Frye".

Moreover, they did not forget to remind people that James does not have a good team. In fact, he is almost the same as Yu Fei. As long as the strengths of both teams are equal, surprising results may occur.

Now Yu Fei is not in Bucks. James is undoubtedly the player with the strongest personal ability in this series.

Even though Marion scored 18 points and 8 rebounds, and Brown also scored 16 points and 7 rebounds, the Sonics still lost a city to the Hornets.

Celtic glory seems to only work at home.

Will the Celtics make the playoffs?

When this happens, it will naturally arouse doubts from the outside world.

In addition to the challenges faced by James, the most jaw-dropping thing is the Celtics who have been so arrogant in the regular season.

To put it bluntly, this matter ultimately comes back to James.

Tonight, Yu Fei performed even better than Paul, with 38 points, 14 rebounds and 9 assists. However, Roy was in poor condition and Durant became "the player who should be thrown into the trash can". The performance of other young people Also lackluster.

"Other than Frye, Kwame and Sean, no one else on our team has deep playoff experience," George Karl said of the loss. "So, I'm totally okay with a misfire like tonight. . They are all young people. When they are focused, they can break through all obstacles, but when they encounter problems, they will also get into trouble. "

Will the Celtics only play at home?
Is a team that can't win on the road considered a championship favorite?

"NBA games are really stupid!" Childress shouted, "Why do they have such a big advantage at home? I can't touch Chris Paul at all!"

In the locker room, most people were silent.

If a star cannot use his own personal ability to change the trend of a series - just like when Yu Fei slaughtered the Pistons in the semifinals in 2005 - then the star's ability will naturally have to be re-evaluated.

Just when the outside world was paying close attention to the Eastern Conference, the SuperSonics quietly broke their playoff winning streak in New Orleans.

And now, he is already 0-2 behind.

In the third game of the semifinals, the Hornets were all on the line and firing on all cylinders. Paul showed his style as a point guard, scoring 30 points and 10 assists in a single game, making New Orleans crazy.

In the away game, without the blessing of home court advantage, their defense was restricted and their offense was on thin ice. The entire team seemed to have plenty of spare power, but they just couldn't perform it.

The Celtics won the first two home games, but when they came to the away game, they didn't know how to play.

If he loses to the Bucks, there will be no excuses.

Among the young men, only Josh Childress had any complaints.

They have the most solid starting lineup and the deepest bench in the league, and then they had to fight the Hawks in seven games in the first round before advancing.

In the semifinals, they encountered the Eastern upstart Magic, who also inherited the style of the home dragons.

Childress provides an acceptable perspective for young people.

We lost not because I was a good player, but because the dog referee was not a human being.

Regardless of the fact that everyone's average hit rate is below 40%, it's really true.

"Is this the reason why you scored 7 out of 1 in the game?" Yu Fei asked.

Childress was asked.

Yu Fei then turned to Durant: "Kevin, you made 11 of 3 shots tonight. Can you tell me, is your shooting percentage so low because of the referees?"

Durant wanted to blame the referee, because he was really under strict marking and couldn't find his touch.

If it were at home, would the Hornets dare to target him like this?

But he couldn't say this when facing Yu Fei, who made 20 of 12 shots from the field.

"Listen, when we play badly, it's best not to make excuses like this!" Yu Fei said loudly, "Don't forget that we were also taken care of at home."

Then, Roy took the initiative and said, "It's my fault tonight. I didn't play well." "It's really your fault." Yu Fei said pointedly, "It's because you played so poorly that other people's shooting percentages continued." Even 40% can’t be achieved.”

Roy was very responsible, but when he heard this, he felt that it was open to question: "You can't blame me entirely, right?"

"Since you have to take responsibility, then take full responsibility. You see, I obviously played well, but don't I have to tell the media those bullshit words that I am responsible for the failure?"

"It makes sense. With great power comes great responsibility."

"So you still have any questions?"

"No more." Roy pointed at Durant, and used this to refer to all young players, "The reason why these bastards' shooting percentages were so low tonight is all my fault!"

Yu Fei looked at the others calmly, "Now that Brandon has taken responsibility, I won't say anything. It's all his fault that the result tonight is like this. However, if it's still like this in the next game, it's definitely not Bu's fault." Langdon’s problem.”

Yu Fei skillfully completed the post-game mobilization work.

When Carr gets back to the locker room, he just needs to bring up the issues he had tonight and address them in practice tomorrow.

Unknowingly, Yu Fei has adapted to the role of leader.

He is no longer the maverick who focused on the court during the Bucks, occasionally caring about his teammates, but most of the time he only focused on himself.

In Seattle, he has to be a leader.

Otherwise, this team will be leaderless, and even if it can make it deep into the playoffs, it will be impossible to win the championship.

Two days later

The Sonics once again set foot on the Hornets' home court.

Tonight, Karl intentionally targeted Paul.

The first is the offensive end. Karl asked Roy to take the initiative to attack and consume Paul to the greatest extent.

Followed by Yu Fei, although the Hornets have always avoided letting Paul face Yu Fei.

But Yu Fei has a lot of off-ball tactics in the SuperSonics. He is both a beneficiary of pick-and-roll screens and is also responsible for initiating pick-and-roll screens. A large number of pick-and-roll screens are bound to create mismatches and defense changes.

Whenever Yu Fei meets Paul, he will get stuck on the spot and ask for the ball.

Later in the game, even Durant began to ask for the ball to beat Paul alone.

Paul's defensive pressure has never been so great. He was exhausted tonight and can no longer perform as dazzlingly as in the third game.

Once Paul fails to display his core value, the Hornets' offense becomes mediocre.

David West singled, Peja made a three-pointer from the outside, Maurice Peterson's scrimmage and Bunchy Wells and other substitutes' singles.

Chaos, sometimes useful, mostly useless.

While Paul was eclipsed, Yu Fei became the core of the Sonics in the low post.

He constantly relies on his low post threat to provide assists to his teammates.

He looks like a collection of great insiders such as Sabonis, Webber, and Walton who are known for supporting offenses. However, these people are traditional insiders after all. Their offense cannot be separated from the response of the whole team, and Yu Fei But he really used personal threats as a gravitational force, forcing the Hornets defense to move in, and then used passes to defeat them one by one.

Tonight, Yu Fei only scored 16 points, but also got 15 rebounds and 17 assists. ,

The big triple-double of 16+15+17 made ABC's Doug Collins marvel: "USC's O.J. Mayo was called a combination of Kobe, Frye and LeBron in high school. In the 90s, In the s, Billy Owens was once hailed as the embodiment of Magic and Larry Bird, and we always have the wildest fantasies about those talented people with promising futures. But, let me tell you, Frye is just a fancier. Per se. He attacks like Michael, passes like Magic, is more versatile than Larry Bird, and can do anything he wants to do if he wants to!”

124 is better than 101
The Sonics defeated the Hornets on the road, taking a 3-1 lead.

"Many people say that Frye in Seattle is not as great as Frye in Milwaukee. I can only say that these people neither understand basketball nor Frye. Look at tonight's game. Frye is still the same Frye. He's going to be that guy when we need him to be," Carr told the media.

The time has come for the young Sonics to begin speaking out about their feelings on the road.

"We basically lost the last game because we were not used to being in New Orleans on the road." Childress said confidently, "Now we have adapted, so you can see that each of us is very comfortable. "

The reporter asked again: "Is it really because of you who have adapted, and not because of Frye's performance?"

Childress pondered for a moment. Although he believed Da Fei wouldn't mind his oral pleasure, he didn't want to take any risks.

Since reporters asked this, Sonics players have a politically correct formula to answer.

"Half and half," said the math genius Childress. "Fry's performance probably accounts for 99% of the credit, but don't underestimate my 1% contribution. You know Edison, and I believe you also know his As the saying goes, although Frye’s talent has 99% impact on the game, without my 1% contribution, his talent will be useless, what do you think?”

(End of this chapter)