When pride still matters

Chapter 457 Come on MIL
"Unless the league agrees, this will be the last time I receive the MVP trophy in front of the person who was voted second in the MVP vote." On the night of the first game of the Western Conference Finals, Yu Fei received the MVP trophy from David Stern before the game started. But his acceptance speech was extremely harsh to the ears of the loser who came second in the MVP vote. "Otherwise I probably wouldn't be chasing a sixth MVP trophy."

Fans in the Key Arena began to boo.

It's basketball season in Seattle.

It's been going on for two years.

Every summer is the peak basketball season in Seattle.

Yu Fei's jokes made the scene cheerful, and Stern's expression was very subtle.

He still remembered the draft eight years ago. When he saw Yu Fei's name in the Cavaliers' envelope, he just regarded this kid as a high-risk young man who catered to the trend of the times and was eager for quick success.

Who would have thought that it only took him eight years to shake the foundation that Jordan had laid for twenty years?
After the awards were given, Stern retreated into the audience and sat next to Sonics owner Clay Bennett.

"David, I hope you have a good night."

Whether Stern is pleasant or not, Bennett is bound to be.

Now, even if they want the Sonics to leave, it's no longer feasible.

"Basically, we can rely on social financing to raise the money to build a new arena, but I know that the league needs the support of the city government." Bennett said, "Our financing has been completed, and by then, the city government will We only need to pay 2/5 of the money. As far as I know, public opinion in the city has already favored us, and the city government has loosened its tone. Of course, there are still some damn pro-democracy organizations making trouble, but I don’t think this will be a problem. ”

Stern understands that basketball has been resurrected in Seattle.

Even so, the Sonics' financial report synchronized with the league showed that their revenue this season was US$2.3 million, second only to the Lakers and Knicks.

As soon as Bennett finished speaking, Yu Fei on the court intercepted Kidd's pass. After rushing to the frontcourt with a fast break, he suddenly threw the ball back and upwards, put his hands together, and said "I didn't know what was going to happen." With a look on his face, Durant jumped up, caught the ball and dunked.

This honest-looking Oklahoma City hunk will suck fans' money like a vampire.

All signs indicate that Yu Fei will lead the league out of the difficulties and scandals in the first half of the 2000s.

The noise from KeyArena swept through the place.

"You have to do this every round!"

If the league was at rock bottom after the Donaghy incident, then with the Chosen One saving the Sonics, the league is back on the road.

What the league needs to get rid of is the "post-Jordan era" narrative.

"I still say that, you need the best arena in the league." Stern's appetite and ambition are much greater than Bennett's. "I wonder if Seattle can meet that criteria."

This will be a new era.

Stern looked around and saw that the size of Key Arena was far from meeting the commercial value of the Sonics.

"Young man, no one can stop you!"

Stern knows Bennett.

"Beautiful, KD, just fight like this!"

That's not all. As the finals approach, once the Sonics reach the finals and complete the defense of their title, they will reap the championship dividends in July and August after the season ends.

Now, they live in the era of Frye Yu.

But Stern would also be entertained.

From this point of view, Yu Fei has fulfilled the promise he made in the summer of 2007.

But Stern still doesn't know what Yu Fei's era means.

How is this era different from the Jordan era?

This fanatical arena is filled with Yu Fei’s believers. Those guys wearing No. 44 jerseys and wearing items related to Yu Fei are the most annoying “Yusexuals” on the Internet⑴.

They are the Internet generation, but like old people like Stern.

For them, although the Jordan era has ended for eleven years, it feels like it happened yesterday. Yu Fei's rise was too fast, reaching such a height in just eight years.

Stern doesn’t know where the Yu Fei era will lead the league, or whether the Yu Fei era will be greater than the Jordan era, but this is their only choice.

Yu Fei is the only self-disciplined, handsome, cool person they can find, with breathtaking charisma and unparalleled business value. He is not capable of domestic violence against his wife. He went to the hotel to rape the waiter because there were rumors on the Internet that his teammates had sex with him. A superstar who failed in crucial battles.

Don't think this requirement is low, it's actually very important. It's like Jordan didn't need to prove he was the best in history, he just needed to prove he was better than everyone else of his generation. The premise is not to be promiscuous like a magician, not to go to jail like Tyson, not to let the secret have too close contact with his little brother like the Meilian Sect.

That's the secret to success, not just being successful in your career, but being successful while making yourself look more right than everyone else.

Yu Fei's winning night, the opening night of the Western Conference Finals, was also the night of the Lakers' disastrous defeat.

Yu Fei scored a triple-double, Durant scored 30 points under Fei's gravity, and Kawhi and Bynum's inability to guard against the outside weaknesses became their Achilles' heel, and they were beaten by the SuperSonics in one game.

122 is better than 99
The Lakers lost the first game, but because of O'Brien's reimbursement, they had no one to stand up at the fourth position.

If you continue to place the twin towers, you will become a target for the Supersonics perimeter group.

But without the twin towers, Garfield or Bynum alone can't handle Brown and Marion in the paint. This means that things are hard to do and shit is hard to eat.

Ever since the Lakers gave up on making any moves at the trade deadline, Kobe had known this would be the outcome.

The Lakers' management tried every means to outline this summer for him: We will use salary space to get you two All-Star teammates.

Sounds great, but what about this season?
Kupchak said, "I believe in you, Kobe."

The trust of the management made Kobe feel weightless pressure.

In fact, a part of him liked this era.

People now no longer discuss the mess he had with O'Neal, and few people care about his dark history in Eagle County.

Yu Fei and Jordan account for eight of the NBA's traffic, and the rest are others.

In this season where the Sonics are invincible, everyone on other teams seems to be living in a vacuum.

Apart from the local media, there is very little discussion about them.

The only way they can integrate into public opinion is to talk about their opinions on GOAT.

This is something Kobe doesn't want to talk about. He wants to be the protagonist of the GOAT topic. But now, if he said in public that he should be a part of this topic, he would be ridiculed endlessly.

Because like O'Neal, he didn't prove himself after the breakup.

Kobe became more and more unwilling to give up, so he scored a game-high 38 points and 42 points in the third and fourth games respectively.

But the Lakers lost both games by double digits.

At this stage of the game, the advancement of SuperSonics' carnival basketball compared to other teams has become even more obvious.

Teams like the Lakers that rely on traditional centers are powerless to stop Seattle's outside shooting.

Artest, who is regarded as the trump card to limit Yu Fei, has nothing to do with Yu Fei on the defensive end and can only bully a junior like Durant. However, Durant has two older brothers, Yu Fei and Roy, to attract defensive pressure. And it is not used as the main attack point, so it is difficult to prevent death.

They can't guard against three-pointers and cannot kill key players. In addition, the Lakers' own three-point shooting rate is not high.

They suffered three consecutive losses in the Western Conference Finals and are about to become the last corpse of the Sonics left in the division.

5 April

This will be the Lakers' last game of the season.

Although Lakers insiders say they will try their best to win, no one believes them anymore.

The SuperSonics are about to enter the Finals.

Some changes gradually occurred within the team.

Yu Fei is aloof and not accessible to every media outlet, but the same cannot be said for the rest of the team.

Like the 96 Bulls, they became the Beatles in the sports world. Before each game, Durant would spend 10 minutes in exclusive interviews with major television stations to talk about his views on "victory."

Marion suddenly felt that the maximum salary might not be that important, but it was too late to turn back now.

ESPN reporter Jim Green asked veteran Tyronn Lue: "Does this Sonics team remind you of the 2001 Lakers team?"

"This is completely different." Coach Lu said eloquently. "The 2001 Lakers were more like a short-term abnormal outbreak. If you only looked at the regular season that year, you would never have imagined that they would be in the playoffs. But the Sonics are different. We were dominant in the regular season, but our performance in the playoffs was even better. We can say that this team is still evolving. This is not the best. Okay we.”

This night, the SuperSonics gave the Lakers no chance.

They led from the first second to the last second of the game.

Yu Fei scored 40 points in the only game of the series.

The SuperSonics once again won the Western Conference championship trophy.

Looking at the East, the Magic and Bucks are competing for the only remaining tickets to the Finals.

But the world has awarded the championship to the Sonics.

ABC's reporter asked Yu Fei: "Some people say that the two years you moved from Milwaukee to Seattle were like a fairy tale. Because you achieved all your goals. Fry, how does it feel to live in a fairy tale?"

"Not everything." Yu Fei said, "I still have a goal, or a wish."

"Oh, what is it?"

"Leaving Milwaukee was a very difficult decision for me." Yu Fei's eyes sparkled, "When I decided to leave, I said to the people there - 'The best thing I can think of is to let We'll meet at the top'."

After that, Yu Fei shouted into the microphone: "Come on MIL (abbreviation for Bucks)!!!"

⑴ Yusexual. I don't know how to translate this word. This word is adapted from the black name for James (bronsexual) on the Internet. It means that Zhan Mi's obsession with Lao Zhang has reached a perverted and exaggerated level, as if Lao Zhang's attraction to Zhan Mi exceeds the sexual attraction between the two sexes.

(End of this chapter)