When pride still matters

Chapter 404 The championship will belong to Seattle
In Game 5 of the semifinals between the SuperSonics and the Hornets, the two sides returned to Seattle.

Before the game started, David Stern showed up.

He got a lot of boos.

Fans didn't like him because everyone knew the Sonics were considering moving because the league president wanted it to happen.

But Stern is not one to dislike boos.

Otherwise, the NBA Draft would not be held in Madison Square Garden for a long time.

Tonight, Stern comes to KeyArena with only one thing to do.

He will award Yu Fei the MVP trophy for this season in public.

"What is the most valuable player?" Stern picked up the trophy and said next to Yu Fei, "I think Frye can completely represent the meaning of the word itself. He can not only fill up the statistics, but also in his own way Impacting the game, most importantly, he can determine the rise or fall of a big market."

Fans don't want to listen to Stern's nonsense, they just want to watch Yu Fei win the trophy.

Subsequently, Yu Fei successfully took over the grand prize that many players dreamed of from Stern.

This is his fourth MVP award.

For some sensitive people, this moment means a lot.

"The gap has narrowed again."

"Frye's MVP is only one less than Michael's."

"There are only two championships missing."

This is Yu Fei's situation. Many people want to catch up with him, but his goal is only Jordan.

For those who support him, they will only compare Yu Fei with Jordan.

Paul on the opposite side saw the trophy. He had already accepted it mentally, but when he saw this big treasure that should have belonged to him being held in someone else's hand, he inevitably felt lost.

That night, the Sonics were in great shape.

Yu Fei is not willing to let his milestone turn into a tragedy. The Hornets, who are lagging behind by a big score, lack the mentality to persist to the end.

Especially Paul, he just wants to prove that he is worthy of MVP, but how to prove it?
He increased the proportion of personal offense, but his impact on the game was minimal.

The Hornets persisted for three quarters and then collapsed in the fourth quarter. The Sonics defeated their opponents through a wave of defensive counterattacks.

4 is better than 1
The Sonics became the first team to advance to the conference finals.

Another set of matchups in the West showed an anxious trend.

The Lakers and Spurs tied in the first four games. The Lakers won the fifth game, but the difference was only a hair's breadth. It is still unclear who will win the sixth game.

In the Eastern Conference, the first four games of the two-group series were all tied, and the situation was tense.

In the sixth game between the Lakers and the Spurs, even though Tim Duncan had a double-20 performance, Kobe shot 30 of 16 from the field with only a few free throws, overwhelming the Spurs' proud defense.

The wings of Bowen and Caron Butler were like nothing in front of Kobe, completely unable to stop his offensive.

This kind of pure personal ability and unsolvable shooting reminded the Spurs of the man in the 2003 Finals.

When Kobe gave them this fear beyond death, the Spurs were in chaos and ultimately failed to drag the series to Game 7.

The Spurs are out.

They have a lot to think about this coming summer. The bloated cap space is too heavy for a small-market team like theirs.

If you can win the championship, you can grit your teeth and persevere.

But now, it's clear.

Bowen is too old, Butler is not suitable for the Spurs' system, and Luol Deng's rookie contract is about to expire. He has averaged 15 points per game for several consecutive years and is a general that the Spurs rely on on the wing. He is young and able to play, so he must be retained. People coming down.

But if Deng is to be given a big contract, then the Spurs must increase revenue and reduce expenditure, retire when it is time to retire, and optimize when it is time to optimize.

The era of wing king is approaching. The Spurs thought they had the deepest wing lineup in the Western Conference. However, they were unable to do anything when faced with Kobe's explosive form.

Moreover, their talented lineup is unable to perform at its full strength due to the lack of a stable point guard.

The playoffs are a place where strengths and weaknesses are compared. If the advantages of the long board are not enough to cover the disadvantages of the short board, it will naturally be taken advantage of and defeated by the opponent.

The Spurs, who had obvious shortcomings, were out.

The Lakers look toward Seattle.

At this time, Yu Fei was preparing to hold a press conference to deliver his fourth MVP acceptance speech.

After hearing this, Kobe clenched his fists and said to the person who delivered the news: "No matter what he says, we will enter the finals!"

In the east, the atmosphere of a decisive battle is even stronger.

The Celtics will play again at home.

They simply strangled the Magic, leading 3-2, and then went to Orlando to play the sixth game.

The No. 25 Cammy on the ground, Kevin Garnett, the true MVP of this season in the words of Bill Simmons, nicknamed "Sports Man", scored 11 points and rebounds.

Unfortunately, tonight’s truth is a “falsehood.” Pierce made 15 of 5 in the game and was completely outplayed by Carter on the opposite side. Reed also failed to show his strength as the top shooter in the Eastern Conference.

The Celtics, who had an extremely luxurious lineup and unparalleled depth, lost to the Magic 69-79 on the road.

The accusations against the Celtics came to a head at this moment.

The team that claims to be the best in the league can't win on the road?
The seventh scene is a familiar plot.

The Celtics continued to play excellent defense, limiting the Magic's score to less than 70 points, but their own team was working hard across the board. Pierce, Garnett, Reid, Rondo and David Lee all scored in double figures. Substitute Leon Bowie also performed well, as did Sam Cassel.

The invincible Celtics eliminated the Magic 4-3 at home.

Coach Zhutou excitedly shouted to reporters: "We have never lost confidence in ourselves!!!"

So why can't you win on the road?

"Man, does this matter? We won, that's all you need to know."

Are the Celtics going to become the first championship team in history not to win on the road?
Coach Hoghead said: "I don't think we can't win on the road, but if it happens, it happens."

Rivers' "put this, put this" style of interviewing discouraged those Boston reporters who had criticized him.

During the same period, another set of semifinal matchups in the Eastern Conference ended earlier.

The series between the Bucks and Cavaliers did not enter Game 7.

In the battle between the two sides, James tried his best and scored an unparalleled 45 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists. His performance was perfect, but unfortunately, the Bucks have the talent to overwhelm the Cavaliers.

Although Kevin Martin on the outside often falters in the playoffs, third-year star Danny Granger has a leadership quality that is familiar to Milwaukeeans.

Although Granger was no match for James, he was not timid at all. Faced with his opponent's 45-point triple-double, he responded with 34 points.

However, the Cavaliers only have James, and the Bucks not only have Granger.

The dominance of Gasol and Aldridge in the paint determined the final two games of the series.

They let James' divine performance in Game 5 come to nothing.

By Game 6, it seemed as if James, who had burned himself out in Game 5, had lost the indomitable fighting spirit he had in Game 5.

Before the game, Granger, the new leader of the Bucks, said: "Frye has never lost to LeBron. We are certainly not as good as Frye, but we have a clear bottom line. That is, we will not lose in the series. Lost to the Cavaliers.”

Regardless of whether Granger intended it or not, his statement brought a round of unfriendly public opinion bombardment to James.

James, who himself began to doubt everything, was affected by public opinion and began to retreat.

After the start of the sixth game, it was obvious that James was hesitant on the court.

He wants to attack and he wants to pass the ball.

He wants to take over everything, and he also wants to lead his teammates.

This kind of worry-and-gain mentality put the Cavaliers in an absolute disadvantage from the start. Like a drowning person, they struggled for a while, and then suffocated.

The Bucks came away with a big win in Game 6.

Everyone played well, they scored 120 points, while the opposite Cavaliers did not score more than 80 points.

It was a bloodbath with a margin of over 40 points.

At the end of the game, ABC played James' full game statistics.

18 points, 8 rebounds and 5 assists, this is a completely unqualified data for the ball-carrying core who went home to play.

"The most proud thing about LeBron's career so far is that it gave them the illusion that he and Frye are players of the same level." TNT's Barkley carried forward his usual loudmouth style, "What is the fact? These two people They are not even close at all!”

"I don't think LeBron has any excuses," ABC's Hubie Brown said. "The Bucks have a better roster than the Cavaliers, but there's no one on the Bucks team that can match him. Let me tell you what a true superstar looks like next." You can look at how Frye single-handedly defeated the Pistons in the 2005 Eastern Conference semifinals, and you can also look at how Michael defeated the Cavaliers in 1988. "If you're a player in that category, you have absolutely no reason to say 'they're the better team' in this situation, how can you back down?"

James' reputation as a superstar quickly collapsed after one series.

The impact of this incident is comparable to that of being beaten up by Yu Fei in Las Vegas.

The Las Vegas tragedy makes people no longer believe that he and Yu Fei are players of the same level.

The loss to the Bucks, who did not have Yu Fei, made a large number of media people question James' super gold content.

The Spurs are out and James is defeated, both of which are good things for Fei.

But now, he had no time to gloat.

As his fourth MVP acceptance speech begins.

It is more like a politician's speech than an acceptance speech on behalf of an individual. In addition to the significance of the MVP itself, Yu Fei emphasized how Seattle got him to this point. As his speech came to an end, every Seattleite felt that they had contributed to Yu Fei's MVP award.

"No matter what, the MVP belongs to me after all, and I feel honored about it, but please believe it." Yu Fei said at the end, "The championship will belong to Seattle!"

"!￥#￥￥"

This is the way the world is.

Some people hit rock bottom, and some people reach the top. Sadness and joy are incompatible.

(End of this chapter)