When pride still matters

Chapter 416 Wise Man, Prophet and Rivers
"If this is what Da Fei said himself, we will let him eat these words back before the end of the fifth game." Pierce said, "Mark my words, he will eat these words back!"

The Celtics' famous home advantage and lack of wins on the road have pointed the way to the finals.

Whoever loses at home first will fall into the abyss.

The return of the Bucks is not a good medicine for the Sonics. This was originally their trump card, but Karl played it out in advance.

Because the Sonics needed to hold on for Game 3.

But in the end, they couldn't win with Yu Fei alone.

While the Celtics struggled in Game 1 due to the team's lack of finals experience, the Sonics' youth glut was overlooked.

The same is immature, but the degree is different.

The only thing the Celtics lack is experience in the finals, but the Big Three leading the team, Pierce and Garnett, all have experience in the conference finals, Reid has championship experience, and the other veterans have more or less playoff experience. experience, and what about the Sonics? They were still last in the Western Conference last season and were already in the primitive stage of accumulating talent, but Yu Fei's transfer pressed the accelerator button for them.

But the fact remains unchanged. Except for Yu Fei, Brown and Marion, no one else has experience in the playoffs for many years, let alone the finals, which is the greatest test of spirit, will, and physical condition.

Karl resumed his usual tactical training.

These words spoke to Karl's heart.

Marion said: "As long as we can win."

In the subsequent intra-team competition, Yu Fei and Roy each led a team.

"Anyway, just practice!" Karl said domineeringly, "We will make a game plan!"

"Although Doug reacts very slowly, he will definitely target you in the fourth game." Carl said, "Fry, you should know that a person's power is limited."

If it relies too much on flying, the Supersonics may collapse once it is restricted.

Yu Fei understands.

In terms of the ability of the coaching staff alone, Rivers is completely incomparable to Karl.

After the third game, Karl found Yu Fei and talked about preparations for the fourth game.

Karl said happily: "As long as you understand."

Karl laughed angrily, "Sean, I heard that you hate it when others ignore you. If this is true, why do you like a system where others don't notice you at all?"

Carr is not Rivers' kind of person who only uses his three-point ax for one season. The Sonics are a weaker overall team and one that lacks confidence. In the third game, he relied on his personal ability to win the game against the entire Sonics. Has the confidence of the team increased? Maybe, but it's limited.

Therefore, in Karl's eyes, the third game is both a must-win battle and a design for subsequent games.

However, the effect that the coaching staff can have is limited, and it is the players who ultimately implement the coaching staff's intentions.

The next day, training at the Furtado Center was different from the previous days.

"I'll make those bastards wake up." Yu Fei said, "They have been sleeping for a while."

"Didn't you say you can't win with this style of play?" Marion asked unexpectedly, "Isn't Frye our absolute core?"

They want the Celtics to believe that the Sonics have nothing to do and must place all their bets on Yu Fei.

If he can win, of course Karl doesn't mind if Dafei wins the ball and wins the data, but the Sonics are not a team dedicated to serving the ball-carrying core. This move has a miraculous effect, but the main purpose of this move is surprise. If this series goes to seven games, will they have to let Da Fei perform like he did in the third game in every game?

Such a victory would not make his teammates feel like they were "playing like a champion," but simply following Yu Fei's side.

It can be seen from the match that playing as a secondary attacker yesterday allowed Roy to recover a lot. He is in good training condition today.

"Do you know what Paul Pierce said yesterday?"

"He wanted Frye to eat back what he said to reporters."

After the training, Yu Fei challenged Durant alone. The idle teammates chatted about off-field gossip.

Yu Fei ignored them and focused only on Durant.

Durant may be the most pitiful player in the finals, because the intensity of the game far exceeded his capacity. After three games, he averaged only 10 points and 3 rebounds per game, and his shooting percentage was 36%.

This casts doubt on Durant's potential.

But Yu Fei knows that this is not the normal Durant. As the weakest player in the finals, he may need more time to adapt.

"What are you thinking?" Yu Fei noticed that Durant was distracted by the gossip next to him, "Don't tell me, you didn't take this training seriously at all."

Durant said innocently: "They were talking about Pierce and I couldn't concentrate."

So Yu Fei yelled at Roy who was chatting the most: "Brandon, KD said you are affecting his training, can you shut up?"

Roy opened his eyes wide and couldn't believe that the schoolbag boy would blame him.

Durant didn't expect Yu Fei to "help" him so much.

"Now, can you concentrate on playing football?"

"no problem."

Durant has dueled with Yu Fei countless times, but he has not won the first time.

Yu Fei seemed to be trying to help him find a feeling today, making various deliberate attempts to let Durant attack.

He severely reprimanded Durant for his problems, and then he did the same on the offensive end to let the opponent see where his problems lay.

After five goals, Yu Fei's trash talk made Durant anxious. He bared his teeth and changed direction drastically. Yu Fei's defense swayed aside, then he pulled up and scored a jump shot.

"Is that so?" Durant asked loudly.

"That's right." Yu Fei said, "That's it. You'd better remember this feeling. If you don't play like this tomorrow night, I will put the ball in your mouth!"

6 April

Today's game is scheduled for the afternoon.

Two hours before tip-off, the scene outside Key Arena was as the Seattle Times wrote: "Tens of thousands of Seattleites came to the scene with the most fanatical fighting spirit. They will let Bostonians understand that North Shore Garden is not the only one." The devil’s home court.”

Yu Fei's rumored girlfriend Amelia Nichols joined the crowd of fans and joined them in shouting vulgar "Boston sucks".

Seattle celebrities flocked to the arena.

Although it is not as full of Hollywood stars as Los Angeles and New York, and it is not as sports-oriented as Boston, but the celebrities in Seattle have their own taste, and that is the smell of copper.

Most of the people who come to the front row to watch the game are rich people who have roots in the Emerald City. They have nothing but money. Although money is just a number to them, they still like to make money. Moreover, they may not be fans, nor do they like winning as much as fans, but the SuperSonics, as Seattle's local team, has now transformed from a money-losing thing that cannot make ends meet to a money-making machine. This fact in itself makes them curious.

Then, the Celtics entered the game.

SuperSonics fans stood up and booed and cursed as if they were enemies.

This villainous atmosphere has emanated from their jerseys, causing hostility and hatred to quickly erupt in Key Arena.

After the players from both sides met, Yu Fei and Pierce exchanged some trash talk before going back to warm up.

Soon, DJ announced that the two teams would start, the substitutes would return to the court, and the fourth game of the finals was about to begin.

SuperSonics got the opening ball.

Like the previous game, tonight’s start was still led by Yu Fei.

But Celtic's focus was there from the start.

They selectively let go of Marion and took out one person to quickly double-team Fei.

Yu Fei passed the ball quickly, but Marion's way to the inside was blocked by Garnett, and there was a rotating defense from Pierce on the outside. He passed the ball again and found it in Durant's hands.

The ball is away from the core, and this is when role players are required to perform.

Durant's mind was already empty, so he collected the ball and shot when faced with an open space.

2 is better than 0
"Not bad." Yu Fei said, "It's so accurate that he doesn't look like a 'sharp shooter' with a hit rate of less than 40%."

On the defensive end, Yu Fei went straight to Pierce.

When Pierce took the ball, "Liar"'s voice came from all directions in Key Arena.

At first, the nickname was because Pierce faked too many moves, and then he paid tribute to Willis Reed in the first game. Although Boston fans were moved, their opponents did not accept this trick.

There are many people who think Pierce is acting.

Pierce ignored the surrounding situation and even failed to deceive Yu Fei with several fake moves, but he sold the flaw himself.

Yu Fei made a move, knocked away Pierce's ball, then moved forward, knocked the opponent away, grabbed the ball in his hand, and launched a counterattack on the spot.

Pierce fell to the ground in embarrassment. This action was so natural that it was unclear whether it was Yu Fei's collision or his own acting skills.

Former Sonics boss Schultz Howard, who was trying to save his image in front of the public, jumped up in anger and shouted: "That's enough, Paul Pierce! This is not the Oscars!"

Pierce stood up angrily and glared at Howard, "When I beat your damn team to pieces, you won't be able to scream anymore!"

It's just that the Sonics are now in the lead.

Yu Fei counterattacked and scored, 4-0.

Soon, the Celtics scored the first goal of the night through the inside.

Then they stood ready.

They thought that Yu Fei, who had averaged 40+ points per game so far in the finals, would come through with the ball like he did in the last game.

But it was Roy who dribbled the ball over.

Roy used Yu Fei's pick-and-roll in the frontcourt to directly break through Reid's defense and came to the basket to assist Brown for a dunk.

Doc Rivers' big face couldn't help but tremble.

This is not what they planned.

From double-teaming, to defense switches, and inside traps, they have prepared a lot of "surprises" for Yu Fei these days.

They believed that as long as Yu Fei was silenced, the Sonics would have no chance of winning.

Give Rivers another ten days, and he can't figure out why Karl put Yu Fei, who was in great form, into a position that didn't seem to allow him to perform at his full capacity.

"There's something weird!" Rivers said, "I smell conspiracy!"

Thibodeau, his right-hand man, speculated: "Maybe they just don't want to give up tactical flexibility?"

"No, no!" Rivers seemed to be a wise man and prophet who could see through the secrets of heaven. "This matter is not that simple!"

(End of this chapter)