When pride still matters

Chapter 423 The greatest court controller

The first quarter of Battle of Tianwangshan has all the elements one could want.

With the performance of the stars, Yu Fei scored 14 points in a single quarter, while for the Celtics, the Big Three each performed well.

The Celtics finally got rid of the predicament of not playing on the road, or in other words, the referee team headed by Steve Jarvie released their shackles.

Javier is known for encouraging confrontation, which suits the Celtics, who like physical confrontation.

In the second half of the first quarter, Roy, who was the secondary attacker, started to take advantage of Yu Fei's strength, and the SuperSonics took the lead until the end of the first quarter.

29 is better than 26
The SuperSonics lead by 3 points.

However, there is a shadow hidden under the supersonic advantage.

Kwame Brown, who had an active start, picked up two fouls, Marion also had one, and substitute Nick Collison also had two fouls.

Insiders are high-risk positions on the court. If they are not absolute stars, to a certain extent, insiders are also expendable.

Collison has no objections.

Pierce, who is responsible for leading the Celtics' second team, is not angry. Even if he can't guard Yu Fei, will Roy also want to make a big difference?
Soon, Pierce faced Durant, broke through with the ball and took three slow steps for a layup.

Normally, Yu Fei would lead the team through the first five minutes of the second quarter before taking a break, but tonight, Karl clearly felt the difference in intensity.

He is a slow-heating player and usually does not reach full form as soon as he comes up. It's just that the Celtics happen to be the kind of strong defensive team that will kill you when they meet. Therefore, if a player like Roy who cannot enter the state at the beginning is affected by this kind of defense, he may continue to be bad.

But the opponent is still the Celtics, the team with the deepest inside line in the league.

Roy did not disappoint.

"No. 1 pick, you really can't do it without Da Fei!"

There is a devil in Durant's heart, telling him to take the ball boldly.

Teacher Tony, like Victor Oladipo a few years later, was regarded as the next Dwyane Wade before entering the league, but one of them developed 70% of Wade's offensive firepower, and the other on defense. End completely surpassed Wade.

The problem for the Sonics is that, except for Brown, they don't have a suitable substitute at the fifth position, so every foul by Brown is fatal.

This is rare in the finals.

Roy broke through with rhythm, and Allen's defense quickly made a mistake. After being shaken away, he saw his opponent score a jumper.

But at this time, Teacher Tony has not yet experienced transformation.

Therefore, if Yu Fei can rest, he can rest for a while and take a look at Roy's leadership in the transition period.

In the second quarter, the SuperSonics asked Roy to lead the transition period, and Yu Fei took a rest.

They need to risk a lot of fouls to fight.

Pierce scoffed.

But with Yu Fei, Roy's pressure dropped sharply, and slowly, his touch became hotter.

What Frye could do, he could do.

As a 198cm combo guard, Roy is undoubtedly an underestimated player. The Celtics asked Tony Allen, who had not yet figured it out, to defend him at the beginning of the second quarter.

"Nick, I need you to hold on for a few more minutes." Karl said, "Our inside line needs to rest."

Youth can be an excuse for many things, but not this one.

Think about what 19-year-old Frye was doing.

Everyone is 19 years old. Is he better than anyone else when he was 19?
Suddenly, Durant stepped into Yu Fei's role.

When Yu Fei came off the field, he suddenly stepped forward, briefly took over the opponent's tactical position, and asked Roy for the ball.

Pierce is a person who is difficult to evaluate on the defensive end. On the one hand, his defensive steps are not fast enough. On the other hand, he has good confrontation, dares to take action, and has rich experience.

It's like his offense, which seems slow, but every step makes sense. It seems like a reluctant offense, but it can be completed in his hands.

The same goes for defense.

Unless you are as talented as Yu Fei and James, it will not be easy to pass him.

Durant's talent undoubtedly has an overwhelming advantage, but compared to James, Durant's body had greater limitations during his rookie period.

Durant's dribbling change, although not as good as flying, has begun to take on power. However, the moment Pierce's body got close to him, his center of gravity began to reverse, and he finally forced the shot in a way that he was not used to.

Such a shot is naturally impossible to hit.

This round against Pierce was Durant's normal routine in the Finals.

His talent is there, but the confrontation problem has been infinitely magnified.

Talent can solve many problems, but after all, it requires a strong body as a capital.

Durant struck the iron, and the audience burst into boos.

That was not for Durant, but for Pierce, and even more for the referees.

In a classic political show, Seattle Mayor Greg Nichols stood up and roared like a betting dog betting his life on the Sonics: "You pig-like referee, why didn't you blow the whistle?" ? Are you targeting us? You will never succeed!

Today is a citywide holiday in Seattle.

The die-hard Sonics fans may be less than one-third of the city, but when the game reaches the level of the finals, it has nothing to do with whether they are fans or not. Everyone in Seattle will be watching the Finals. At least 70% of Seattleites will watch this game.

As one of the biggest faces in the city, Nichols deliberately chose to come tonight, not only to show his support for the Sonics, but also to show voters how strong his sense of city honor is.

Nichols's thunderous fury startled "Mr. T" Jarvey.

In the end, nearby security came to calm Nichols down, and the game was not interrupted.

Durant struck the iron and the Celtics counterattacked.

In the blink of an eye, the Sonics' lead was only 1 point.

One minute later, the Celtics officially took the lead.

After another minute, the Celtics replaced all their main players and expanded their advantage to 5 points in two minutes.

Then, Yu Fei put down his playing uniform and came to the sidelines with Brown and Marion, preparing to play.

Durant's "evaporation" in the Finals had a huge impact on the Sonics.

If he can perform normally, Roy can cooperate with him as a poor version of Yu Fei. However, since the start of the second quarter, he has made 5 of 0 shots.

Is this all due to the Celtics' defensive intensity? Not really.

In addition to the pressure from Pierce, on the other hand, he wanted to prove himself so much that the psychological pressure was too great.

But Roy's self-confidence has exploded. Even without Durant's help, he is confident that he can beat the Celtics' perimeter.

Reed came to defend, but he didn't pay attention at all. After changing, he suddenly pulled up and forced an unreasonable three-pointer.

The score difference returned to 2 points. Then, Childress committed a tactical foul on the Green Army. Yu Fei and others replaced three players including Durant.

When Durant walked off the court frustrated, Yu Fei suddenly stopped him and said: "If you want to play like me now, you are a million years too early."

The good news is that Durant is just frustrated, not desperate.

He was still in the mood to joke: "Because I won't live to be a million years old."

Yu Fei laughed and snorted, "Watch carefully, I will take care of Paul Pierce."

"He was in great shape tonight," Durant warned.

"That's just right." Yu Fei said without looking back, "The more fierce he resists, the more excited I get."

After Yu Fei came on the court, Pierce, who was confident in Durant, was still in the mood to tease: "Hey, Da Fei, did that useless boy sue his parents? Sorry, I'm just so heartless."

Later, Pierce faced off against Yu Fei.

Although he got the ball, it was a feint. In the end, the ball was passed to the outside and Reid hit a three-pointer.

The point difference returned to 5 points.

With the lessons learned in the first quarter, the Celtics would attack nervously whenever they saw Yu Fei getting the ball.

They overlooked one thing. Yu Fei likes to stay near the paint area since he came on the court in the second quarter.

The moment Yu Fei got the ball in the low post, the Celtics immediately pulled in the defense, and a double team was formed almost instantly.

However, Yu Fei's pass was one step faster than the double team.

Yu Fei in the low post became the axis of the position. Before the double-team appeared, the basketball had been passed to Marion's hands.

Even Marion didn't know how Yu Fei discovered him.

Marion cleared his mind and rushed in from outside the paint area to dunk.

Afterwards, Pierce attacked Yu Fei singles out, but missed.

Yu Fei collected the rebound and dribbled to the frontcourt. When he saw that the Celtics were already in position, he patiently waited for his teammates to come over, and then started to play from behind the three-point line.

"This is too far from the basket!"

As soon as such calls appeared, the Celtics once again had defensive loopholes because they were too focused on flying.

With his back to the basket, Yu Fei suddenly threw the ball to the basket. Childress, who ran out of nowhere, caught the ball and made a layup, causing a foul.

Childress scored an extra penalty.

"SuperSonics tied the score!"

"Under the basket, in the paint, inside the free throw line, outside the free throw line, outside the three-point line, every position, every area, Frye can be a threat!" Jeff Van Gundy praised, "He may be the best player in history. Great court man! ”

The origin of all this can be traced back to the night conversation between Yu Fei and Jerry West a few years ago.

West believes that Yu Fei has reached the extreme as an outside player. If he wants to take it to the next level, the next step is to develop inside and low attack.

After a few years, Yu Fei has achieved something.

After several rounds, the Celtics were in complete panic.

Insider? Outside line? Low position?

What will he do next?
(End of this chapter)