When pride still matters

Chapter 478 I only have feelings for you (unity)

After one quarter, the Supersonics took the lead thanks to Yu Fei's outburst in the quarter.

29 is better than 24
The Heat are 5 points behind.

At the beginning of the second quarter, the Sonics asked Durant to lead the second team, while the Heat asked Curry and Ariza to lead the second team.

Durant's task is to play the role of a star on the court. For the SuperSonics coaching staff, this is an easy task because the Heat's second team is not strong.

Ariza's defense is not bad, but how much can Curry, a rookie, do without the help of Wade, Turkoglu and others?

"I don't think he's going to be any better than Steph."

Off the court, Yu Fei is not so confident in Durant.

Brown speculated maliciously: "Because he doesn't like passing the ball?"

"This is one of them," Yu Fei said. "The most important thing is that we don't have an excellent backup point guard."

Commentators from various TV stations recognized the rookie's leadership.

As soon as he thought about it, he saw Durant waving to him.

So he feels his defense can be successful.

Curry is the absolute core of the Heat's second team and has a higher tactical status than Ariza.

With a 42% three-point shooting rate, Novak has won a stable position in the Heat.

Since his technical style highly overlaps with the team's system, even with the rookie pool as the core, the Heat's technical and tactics look no different from when the full lineup was in place.

"At this moment, KD is playing like Frye!"

Ariza opened his hands and had full confidence in defense.

When O'Brien saw Durant's posture on the court, he knew that the ball could never be passed again.

There are no Yu Fei and Roy on the court now, and even Brown is resting. Under this situation, if Durant decides to "give me the ball and get out of here", it is impossible for a small player like Ivey to refuse him. .

Riley found that Novak's characteristics are extremely suitable for the team. If they can let Love play center, they can let Novak play as a substitute at the fifth position.

His most unique skill is that he has the height of the 4th position and the speed of the 5th position, but he plays the 3rd position in college because his shooting is like a miracle.

This will make him angry.

Curry controls the ball, calls the pick-and-roll,
The Heat's backup center is second-year player Steve Novak (SF/PF/C) who came to pick and roll, quickly pulled away, caught the ball and hit a three-pointer.

With a cold face, he ran past Ariza.

Collins' exclamation did not make Durant feel any joy.

He hopes to become the first person of the new generation. A player with mediocre skills like Curry does not belong to the same track as him.

The actual situation is more complicated than what Yu Fei said.

It just sucks.

However, Curry has never entered the discussion for the No. 1 pick.

Their second team has Durant, Moreau, and Alonzo Key, but they don't have a qualified passer.

"Why is this young man so restless?" Xiao Ou thought to himself, and then pulled away from the paint area.

This impression continues to this day.

Despite winning two consecutive championships with the team and even averaging 20 points per game last season, he didn't get the kind of praise he wanted to hear from professionals.

He had played against Durant last season. He felt that although Durant's jump shot was very high, his offense with the ball was average, so it was not difficult to defend.

"He's really great, isn't he?"

That's how people look at this draft.

Curry's performance once again aroused the exclamation of the audience.

If Yu Fei hadn't brought the small ball era ahead of schedule, Novak would have been just a puzzle player with unique skills.

If he is really as good as the legend says, he should at least be selected as the No. 1 pick, right?

This shows how scarce the most basic skill in basketball is in the Sonics' second team.

The Sonics' backup point guard, Royal Ivey, who joined the team this summer, originally wanted to use a formulaic positional tactical offense.

Even if Blake Griffin, the No. 2009 pick in the class, was reimbursed for the season at the beginning of the new season, no one thought there was a problem with choosing Griffin as this year's No. pick.

Therefore, he can control the ball calmly.

After Ariza fully experienced Durant's strength, he only had one emotion in his heart.

However, just because of Yu Fei, Curry was selected for the 2008 Dream Team, performed well in the Olympics, and then landed in Miami in this year's draft as "the answer to the new generation of basketball."

After being taught hard by Yu Fei, Ariza did not become humble, so when Durant used his signature dribble to the right and instantly changed his body to the left, Ariza lost it. Focusing on defense, his center of gravity was thrown away, so he had to watch his opponent, who was 5 centimeters taller than himself, dribble from the center and cut into the basket at a level that he could never reach, and then came to Nova Ke hit a beautiful one-handed chop in front of him.

The sounds were jarring to Durant.

Ivey passed the ball.

The young man is about to become one of the few attackers in the league who has nothing to offer him.

Roy said to Yu Fei after watching the ball.

In Yu Fei's impression, Durant in his previous life would win his first scoring title this season.

But judging from the team's training, he believes that Durant is still a scorer who can be restricted.

Take the Lakers as an example. If the Lakers let Artest limit Durant at all costs in the playoffs, then the former can be done.

Now Durant makes Ariza look like a toy. It can only be said that Ariza's defense has not reached that level yet.

"He can get better." Yu Fei said.

Roy asked curiously: "Why are you so strict with him?"

Yu Fei did not give an answer.

On the court, Jordan's defense gave the Sonics a chance to counterattack.

Durant's shortcomings were also exposed in the third-line fast break.

He is the one dribbling the ball, so in the center, with Morrow on the left line and Ivey on the right line, the simplest way to deal with it is to pass the ball to Morrow and let him shoot a chasing three-pointer.

In this three-on-two fast break, Durant had too many things to think about. He wanted to complete the offense by himself without appearing too selfish, so he missed Morrow's open space and passed the ball to Ivey, but the quality of the pass was not good enough. High, causing Ivey's hand to feel stiff when taking action.

Brown said a cold joke: "Maybe I should thank him for not passing the ball to me just now."

However, the consequences of a missed third-line fast break are not just a missed scoring opportunity, but will also have a chain reaction on the defense in the next round.

Curry took the ball and dribbled it to the frontcourt. Durant wanted to help defend, but he got a fake move that made the audience at Key Arena scream in surprise.

Curry slammed the ball to the ground, like a hit pass. Durant also judged this, so he stopped moving forward. But the ball didn't bounce to anyone else, but to Curry himself.

"!￥!￥"

Curry collected the ball from outside the three-point line and hit a chasing three-pointer.

"Shuh!!!"

Some people are born with the ability to conquer away games.

The reaction from the scene can’t lie.

Curry's shot stopped the game.

The Sonics requested a timeout.

Carr was disappointed with Royal Ivey's ability to control the court. As a point guard, he did not show qualified organizational skills.

If they don't want to watch the trend of the game be reversed by Curry, the Sonics need a more reliable ball handler.

Karl's choice was to replace Roy early.

Roy's return really changed the rhythm of the game, and the Sonics no longer played like a headless fly.

But this feeling is something Durant doesn't like.

It can be said that his heart instinctively rejects this kind of orderly competition.

In order to maintain the discipline of the game, Durant needs to move at all costs. This kind of thing was enjoyable during his rookie year when he couldn't score consistently with isolations. But now, he doesn't like it.

He believes that more than 70% of his runs are of no practical significance.

Because in those moments, the ball didn't pass through his hands.

Teams simply use his personal threat to force opposing defenses to shrink, an effect that won't have any impact on his numbers.

If someone gets an open shot because of his containment, the data will not read "Kevin Durant's offensive threat created a scoring opportunity for XX", they will only be specifically converted into assists in other people's statistics.

Durant hopes he can play the opposite role when Yu flies off the court.

What is Yu Fei's role? It means having the most ball rights on the offensive end, being the first to pass the ball, and having unlimited offensive autonomy.

Roy confirmed this when he arranged a weak-side isolation tactic for Durant, and Durant skillfully completed a negative-angle shot in front of Ariza.

He can be Yu Fei when he is not around.

Curry's privileged position with the Heat further fueled Durant's mentality.

I saw Curry dribbling the ball from the backcourt to the frontcourt, and no one asked him for the ball.

He waved, and the Heat players consciously stepped forward to pick and roll. Who dare not do this?
This is the status of core players.

Morrow chose to attack halfway, at the cost of letting go of his opponent.

Curry's passing speed is very fast.

The ball turned from the free throw line to the outside, and Curry's teammate made a three-pointer.

Curry jumped to his feet as if he had accomplished something remarkable, and commentators showered him with praise.

“It looks like Stephen will soon overtake Chris and become the second-to-last player in the night-high league.”

Brown said smugly.

"Do you think Chris's ranking is lower than yours?" Yu Fei asked.

If the strength balance is not good for him, Brown will carry forward the ring culture: "I admit that Chris is good, but he has no rings, and I have four rings."

"In that case, Mero doesn't have a ring either," Yu Fei said with a smile.

"Mello? Damn it, I almost forgot about him." Brown said, "This does not affect my conclusion. Stephen is still the last one, but he will soon surpass Chris and become the second last. And Melo is The third-last player in the Yehei Major League.”

The strength of the rookie library is stronger than Yu Fei expected.

This can be said to be the charm of older rookies.

The higher the draft picks for older rookies, the higher the NBA's expectations for their immediate combat effectiveness.

Curry basically fulfilled his expectations.

While the outside world is optimistic about his future, they also underestimate him.

Many people think that this is Curry's peak state. His talent is not high, he is still old, and he is technical. Now he is almost at his peak.

No one expected that he would graduate from street gangsters to outer space racing like the protagonists of the "Fast and Furious" series.

Just when everyone thought that Curry would lead the second team to have a fierce confrontation with the SuperSonics second team led by Roy, Durant unexpectedly lost control.

Durant doesn't seem content playing second fiddle to the offense.

He took the initiative to come to Yu Fei's position, asked for the ball, and then launched an attack.

It has to be said that Durant's offensive ability is very strong. The combination of his height, wingspan and shooting ability is enough to make opponents desperate.

Not to mention, he also developed a ball-handling offense.

For several consecutive minutes, Durant's one-on-one was unsolvable, and Ariza, who the Heat had high hopes for, was defeated.

The Heat had no choice but to arrange a double attack.

This timely and effective measure quickly brought rewards to them.

Durant doesn't feel comfortable playing this kind of defense.

He inadvertently exposed a key reason why he could not become Yu Fei. He is not a good student like Yu Fei who is well-developed morally, intellectually, physically, artistically and physically. When faced with a double-team, he can find the openings of his teammates, but he does not have the ability to calmly play the ball under huge defensive pressure, nor does he have the ability to let go. A pass that the receiver is comfortable with.

This maximizes the opponent's double-teaming effect.

They not only limited Durant's offense, but also made the person who received Durant's pass take the shot in an uncomfortable way.

Seattle's shooting percentage dropped rapidly.

Yu Fei sat down there for five minutes.

Just when Durant was about to "explode", Karl nodded to him, indicating that he was ready to play.

Yu Fei threw the uniform he wore to prevent colds on the chair and said softly: "From today on, I don't want to hear anyone say that KD is the second me."

"He never was."

Durant never wanted to become the second Yu Fei.

This is Nike's wish and the fans' wish.

But Durant, like other rising stars known as "someone second", wants to be himself.

However, Durant never wanted to be denied in this situation.

However, Yu Fei has already seen through it.

In terms of technical characteristics and size, Durant should be the answer to the small ball era. His size is enough to play the fifth position in a small lineup, and his unlimited shooting range can continue to amplify his threat in the pick-and-roll.

In theory, Durant is an adapter for all tactical systems.

But, except for Durant's first year with the Warriors, he never proved to be a versatile tactical machine.

This is the biggest counter-intuitive impression on Durant.

He has the talent to complete all tactics, but because this talent is too great, he is unstoppable in one-on-one attacks. This fundamentally changed his view of basketball.

If it is so easy for Durant to score, why should he waste his energy running tactics?
The best tactic in the world is to let your teammate spread out and let him get into a comfortable position one-on-one.

"Beep!"

Tactical foul on O'Brien.

Yu Fei glanced at Durant and then pointed down the court.

Durant understood that he had been replaced.

As for why he was replaced, he knew it very well.

Because he was "willful", but the effect was not good.

Although he has proven his offensive ability, if he wants to replace the opponent when Yu flies off the court, he also needs to drive his teammates.

Durant didn't understand why it took such a complicated step to become Yu Fei.

The world touts that person as the master of the "One Empire," as if the empire was built thanks to one person, so why should that person be required to dominate the game offensively while also raising his teammates to the same level?
Isn't this a contradiction?

"You did a good job." Yu Fei said, "This Christmas, I want to make a wish to Santa Claus for you."

Durant asked: "Why?"

"I hope Santa Claus will improve your understanding." Yu Fei said sarcastically, "so you can know how different your game is from mine. It will do you no good to try to be me. We have always wanted you to do yourself, but you don’t seem to want to be yourself.”

Durant hesitated to speak. It's not that he didn't want to be himself, he didn't want to become the self who became an assist machine for Yu Fei and Roy.

He thinks he has a higher ceiling.

But he can't be the best version of himself if he keeps standing around waiting for the ball to come to him.

Therefore, this is the source of all his contradictions.

He doesn't want to become the second Yu Fei, but to be unique, he needs to stand in Yu Fei's position and play the way he flies.

When he screws up, Yu Fei questions why he doesn't become himself.

Yu Fei is back, and so is Wade of the Heat.

The absolute core of both sides came to the court.

Durant, who regarded himself as the protagonist, returned to the court. Karl asked him: "Have you ever watched Frye's game videos?"

Durant thought "seen it" was the correct answer.

"I watch it every day."

"From today on, don't look anymore." Carl said sincerely but hurtfully, "Forget about this, you will never be Frye."

Isn't this a good thing? Who said I had to be Frye? I just want to be myself!
Durant's calm expression completely failed to reflect his inner turmoil.

Until he sat down, Kwame Brown's ridicule made him unbearable: "Fry spent so much thought on you, is this how you repay him, Kevin? Well done!"

A born star must have a self-esteem that cannot be offended.

At that moment, the soul of the good guy Durant was imprisoned.

Durant yelled at Brown: "I never asked him to do this!"

Brown was startled, surprised by Durant's reaction, and then silenced the young star with his response: "You never asked him not to do it."

The changes are bigger on the court than off it.

Durant's singles disrupted the SuperSonics' game rhythm, but Yu Fei's return put them in the best shape.

This is like a game that proves "Yu Fei is Yu Fei, Durant is Durant".

Durant is an excellent offensive player who forces the Heat to double-team.

And Yu Fei is a problem that even double-teaming cannot solve.

When Durant was there, the Sonics' second-year guard Anthony Morrow was like Durant next to Yu Fei and Roy - a shooter that no one dares to underestimate.

But Durant never used Moreau's shooting threat, and only used the opponent's threat to allow himself to attack.

But Yu Fei activated Moreau with a pass.

From the second to the third quarter, Morrow's three-pointers poured out the Heat like rain.

Curry, who was extremely active before, gradually lost his sense of presence under Yu Fei's targeted attack.

Wade is unsolvable.

The Flash is at his peak, especially in this era of loose defense that prohibits players from taking the ball and allows players to take multiple steps after collecting the ball. His offense is an unsolvable problem for any team.

The Sonics responded to Wade in the simplest way.

That is confrontation.

No matter what Wade does, there is always someone in the Sonics who can respond.

Either Yu Fei or Roy.

O'Neal's low-post offense and Jordan's rim protection ability far superior to Brown's secured victory in the second half.

Just when the Heat were misfiring, the SuperSonics suddenly combined internal and external forces, and a wave of 12-0 extreme offense and defense extinguished Miami's fire of victory.

During this process, Durant almost sat on the sidelines and watched the game.

He kept thinking about Brown's words.

"You never asked him not to do it."

It's simply impossible to refute.

Does he have the right to say no to Fei?
Of course, with his status, even if he said so, the team would not do anything to him.

But he never refused to let Yu Fei push himself.

Is this to maintain his own image, or does he subconsciously hope that someone will teach him this way, or does he simply not have the guts to refuse Yu Fei?

This question bothered Durant until garbage time arrived.

Karl comes on for Durant.

Before Durant came on the court, Yu Fei asked him: "Can you let me sit on the court until the end of the game?"

There are four minutes left before the end of the game, and the Sonics lead by 20 points.

If this were overturned, it would be catastrophic.

Durant said humbly: "I will try my best."

Yu Fei smiled and looked unhappy: "Our Kevin is back."

Durant is back, specifically in the form of not grabbing shots, using formulaic running tactics, and only took two shots in the last four minutes, both of which were hits.

His shooting percentage returned to 50% and he scored 16 points.

Naturally, the nightmare comeback did not happen.

115 is better than 98
The SuperSonics defeated the Heat and won the focus game.

Post-match interview
"I still have a lot to learn from Frye." - Stephen Curry talks about his first meeting with Yu Fei in the NBA.

"I think we have a chance to win the game. The Sonics are not as strong as they were last season." - Dwyane Wade is looking forward to the next meeting.

"The scariest thing about them is they made it feel like we had a chance all the time, and we never came close." - Spoelstra on the game against Seattle.

"I made some mistakes, so coach benched me for a while. I deserved it." - Kevin Durant on sitting on the bench for long periods of time during games.

"There's no question that I'm going to play in Seattle for a long time and I want to retire here." - Kevin Durant on extending his contract with the team.

"I have to conserve energy because I know there's a war waiting for me on Christmas Eve." - Kwame Brown on why he played less minutes than DeAndre Jordan tonight.

Yu Fei is always the first to come to the media interview room.

The earliest to come means the earliest to leave. Many reporters thought this was a little ploy on his part. Because reporters will lose interest in his teammates after interviewing him. That way, the focus will always be on him.

However, some supporters of Yu Fei believe that this is Yu Fei's way of protecting his teammates.

If Yu Fei answered all the main questions at the beginning, his teammates would be less likely to make mistakes during the interview.

In a controversial person, countless opinions will arise on the same matter.

Today, Yu Fei still came here very early.

The strange thing is that Yu Fei didn't talk to the reporters about the game, they talked about the movie.

Yu Fei admitted that as a member of Marvel, he actually doesn't like superhero movies. He also said: "I really don't understand why my teammates like it, you know."

"The movie is so good. If I watched it before the game, I would be too excited and keep making mistakes on the court."

The reporters all knew that he was speaking sarcastically, so they laughed a few times in unison.

Then, finally someone asked: "Do you see this game as a warm-up for the Christmas Day war?"

Yu Fei asked: "Where are we going to play basketball on Christmas?"

"Los Angeles," someone answered.

How could he not know?
"Los Angeles?"

"Ah."

"Okay." Yu Fei suddenly said, "I didn't play in the Christmas game in the first year of my career. What's interesting is that every year after that, I played in games every holiday."

"Staples Center is a good place." Yu Fei said, "I like to play there."

Perhaps because of Yu Fei's mention of his rookie season, a reporter asked: "The owner of the Wizards, Abby Pauline, passed away a few days ago. How do you feel about him?"

"is it?"

Yu Fei glanced sideways at the reporter. The dog tag showed that he was from DC——

"I will not attend his funeral." Yu Fei said, "For me, he only has one impression in my heart, and I will definitely carry this impression into the grave."

"What impression?"

"He was the one who decided to trade me." Yu Fei's tone was a little cold, "Maybe DC fans should celebrate this. They got rid of a wrong boss, and Mr. Pauling no longer has to trade me. Whether he enters heaven or falls into hell, he will not mean much to this world. Fifty years later, if I am still alive, please believe that I will still remember who the person who traded me is."

"That's how I feel about him."

(End of this chapter)