When pride still matters

Chapter 501 If
Before the start of the playoffs, the SuperSonics announced that Brandon Roy would continue to be absent because his recovery speed was slower than expected.

The news caused widespread concern.

Fans are worried that Roy will be out for the season.

The Supersonics officials did not deny this possibility.

Some tabloids began to spread rumors that Roy's surgery had failed and he was about to undergo a second surgery. Some tabloids also said that Roy's surgery sequelae were far-reaching and that not only would he not be able to return in the playoffs, but it might also affect his career.

In order to clarify the rumors, Yu Fei specially asked his media friend Mark Stein to come to Seattle to do an exclusive interview with Roy.

ESPN's basketball reporters and writers have a regular column called "Dime a Week."

It means, "Let's talk about a dime."

ESPN reporters usually share their chat records with industry insiders in this column.

Roy seemed fine and chatted with Stein for half an hour.

The most critical topic is still Roy's injury.

Stein asked, “Are you optimistic about returning to the playoffs?”

Roy replied: "I am optimistic about everything. If possible, I hope to return tomorrow, but the decision on this matter is always in the hands of the doctor. I am healthy only when they think I am healthy."

Stein was keenly aware of something unusual: "Are you having a disagreement with the doctor?"

"I feel good, but the doctor thinks I can't come back after the examination." Roy said helplessly, "I have to listen to the doctor."

Stein asked again: "Many Sonics fans believe that if you can't come back, the Sonics will be at a clear disadvantage against the Lakers in the playoffs. What do you think about this?"

Roy was naturally very happy that the fans saw him as the Sonics' hope of winning.

However, Roy did not become complacent.

"I think our top priority is to beat the Timberwolves tomorrow night before we worry about how to deal with the Lakers," Roy joked. "Wouldn't it be the worst to be defeated by the Timberwolves?"

The interview is over.

Stein had a draft in mind and could finish the article in an hour.

"Take care, Brandon."

Because of Yu Fei, Stein has a very good relationship with the Supersonics.

He knew everyone from the boss Bennett to the staff at the Furtado Center.

He was concerned about Roy's recovery.

"Why did Fry choose you to write this article?" Roy asked curiously.

Stein said, "Because I'm the most-viewed reporter on ESPN?"

“More than Bill Simmons?”

"Bill has a wide range of interests. He not only pays attention to the NBA, but also MLB and NFL." Stein said with emotion, "Even if he can't focus on basketball, he is still the best sports writer in the world. However, even if he only writes one NBA article a week and each article can reach a million hits, it is still not as good as me writing 20 news reports a week, even if my average hits are less than ."

Besides, that guy can't even write an NBA article every week. How can he compare with me in terms of quality and quantity?

Stein looked at Roy with great confidence.

Roy understood: "Quantity is more important than quality."

"In fact, my quality is better than his." Stein said arrogantly, "It's just that there are still more fools in this world. Bill's articles can provide emotional value for them, but I can't. Because I am only responsible for news output. News only tells facts, not emotional value."

Roy couldn't help but nod, with an expression that said, "I understand, even though your average number of clicks is ten times lower than others, you still beat Bill Simmons in terms of quality and quantity."

But I still prefer to read Bill's articles.

Roy thought to himself.

"it's over?"

Yu Fei walked in.

"Brandon is very good at chatting." Stein said with a smile, "I hope we can have a chance to work together next time."

Roy said, "There must be."

Stein took his leave.

Yu Fei looked at Roy and said, "You seem to have recovered well."

"If the doctor lets me come back tomorrow night, I can score 30 points on Russell Westbrook," Roy said. "But the doctor won't let me."

Considering Roy's glass body, it wouldn't hurt to be cautious.

But Yu Fei thought about his previous life. Roy was basically one of the most fragile players in history. Even a steady player like Kawhi Leonard had to recuperate after being injured every year. He could only show off his prowess in the regular season and then fall asleep in the playoffs.

Leonard has to be thankful for an era that treated players like national treasures.

Otherwise, Roy and many other players before him who turned into glass after being injured will serve as a lesson for him.

Yu Fei didn't expect Roy to become an iron man after he recovered. Even if he could only play on and off like Leonard, it would be a kind of luck.

"Listen to the doctor."

Yu Fei said.

"Of course I listen to the doctor," Roy said. "It's just that I heard about what happened in the team some time ago. It seems that there is a big difference between me and you. You should pray that I can return soon."

Yu Fei had to admit that without Roy, Durant's ambition had indeed expanded exponentially.

Although Roy severely suppressed Durant's ball rights, this can just form a triangular balance. Yu Fei, Roy, and Durant shared the ball rights equally under this balance, and no one should say that anyone is selfish.

Now, without Roy, Tyronn Lue is still playing the original and authentic ball-holding core system that only Yu Duzun can uphold. Durant is clearly in the best environment for his rise but is constrained by the system.

"Why do you pray for your return? To steal KD's ball?" Yu Fei said with a smile, "He only takes 16 shots a game now. If you return, will he still be able to touch the ball?"

Roy then asked a question that silenced people: "But I have to make a comeback."

Yu Fei didn't say anything.

Roy said: "You are quite talkative, keep talking."

"Hmm." Yu Fei said with a smile, "I heard Kevin has an interview with ESPN tomorrow night, and the person interviewing him is Jim Gray."

"The one who made the 'decision' with LeBron?"

"Correct."

"This shouldn't be a good thing." Roy thought wildly, "Does Kevin have to make a 'decision' too?"

"Don't interrupt."

Yu Fei said: "The theme of their interview is 'selflessness.' Kevin is going to talk to Jim Gray about how he can be a selfless player on a team where everyone wants to take more shots."

"He's so selfless," Roy joked. "I almost forgot that he had a fight with Tyronn because he was too selfish on the court."

"That's not the point."

"The point is, if he believes that he is a selfish player, can I ask him to consider the overall situation and take only 8 shots per game for your sake?" Yu Fei said with a smile, "If he is a selfless American son, he will definitely agree."

“When did he become the selfless son of America?”

"It will change tomorrow night."

"You're kidding, right?"

"Did you hear that?" Yu Fei smiled, "It seems that meniscus surgery doesn't hurt the brain."

The next day was the start of the playoffs.

key arena
Westbrook regrets it very much.

They should have entered the playoffs as the eighth seed in the Western Conference, which would have allowed them to avoid the Supersonics and directly challenge the big devil Lakers.

However, they managed to beat the Spurs, the third-place team in the Western Conference, in the final battle.

Under normal circumstances, the Timberwolves are no match for the Spurs no matter how hard they play.

However, since it was the last game of the season, the Spurs' 60 wins had already secured them third place in the Western Conference. Whether they won or not, the Timberwolves could not surpass the 66-win Supersonics, so Popovich rested Duncan and Ginobili in the final game.

The Spurs optimistically estimated that even without the two veterans, they could still beat the Timberwolves.

But the Spurs' weak back line was broken by Westbrook.

The collapse of the external dam brought about the entire collapse.

The Timberwolves won, Westbrook was happy, and then was told that the victory moved them to seventh in the Western Conference and would face the SuperSonics in the first round of the playoffs.

Westbrook doesn't like playing against the SuperSonics.

Because he always felt that Yu Fei could see through his thoughts, and he didn't like the feeling of being seen through by others at a glance.

But now, I have to touch it.

This was the first playoff game of his career. To the outside world, they claimed that they wanted to win, but everyone inside knew that they would be lucky to win one game.

When they met on the court, Yu Fei said to Westbrook: "Russ, it seems that you really like me."

Westbrook was speechless.

Instead, McGrady came over and said, "Frye, don't tease him."

"Tracy, have you done anything 'if' today?" Yu Fei asked.

Now it was McGrady's turn to be unhappy.

Ever since he renewed his contract with the Timberwolves, McGrady knew that he would most likely never win a championship in his lifetime.

Ten years ago, he was hailed as the most talented player of his generation, a generation that included peak Kobe, Allen Iverson and the demigod Carter.

Ten years later, McGrady didn't make it past the first round of the Miami Heat until the season before last, and then was dumped to Minnesota to retire. When people get older, they tend to have wild thoughts.

The first "if" McGrady said to the reporter was that if he was really traded to the Bulls, he would have a good chance of winning the championship with Jordan - he meant that even if the Bulls traded him with Pippen and asked him to replace Pippen in the 1997-98 season, the Bulls could still win the championship. You know this is basically a fantasy. Although Pippen once applied for a trade and didn't play until halfway through the regular season, he was still selected for the third team and first defense, which shows his role.

McGrady's second if is if he hadn't separated from Carter.

Then, if Duncan had joined the Magic and teamed up with him; if Hill had not been injured; and if he himself had not been injured.
Ruguo Mai, as one of the early mythical beasts in the Jianzhong Basketball Forum, was the first to give himself value through the void signboard - in the way of "if" - and finally achieved the status of "Ruguo Mai".

This is an obvious joke, and many Americans are also laughing at McGrady's "if".

However, not many people bring it up in person like Yu Fei did.

McGrady's face darkened and he said indifferently: "You know, I have to ask myself what ifs every day. Today's what if is... If you think you have a sure win, I will make you suffer!"

"If your strength regressed to nine years ago, you would still be qualified to say this, but now..." Yu Fei said and laughed, "How come I am also like this? Is this contagious?"

Afterwards, Westbrook and McGrady retreated to the backcourt, and both sides were unhappy.

At the start of the game, the Timberwolves played in a very conventional style.

They knew that they could not defeat the Supersonics with just their muscular strength, so they had to pick up the pace and try to force the Supersonics into a chaotic battle.

Only in this way can Westbrook enter his comfort zone.

This is also the Timberwolves' best winning style.

However, the Sonics' opening was quite methodical.

Yu Fei controlled the game steadily, played in the low post for Bosh, played pick-and-roll with Brown, and then played one-on-one with Durant on the weak side before breaking through and passing the ball himself.

The purpose of each ball is very clear, and the playing style of each round is different.

Moreover, all the players of the Supersonics were in good shape at the start.

Before Yu Fei even took a shot, the Supersonics had already scored 22 points in half a quarter.

The Timberwolves called a timeout in order to curb the offensive rhythm of the Supersonics, but after the timeout, Westbrook began to dribble against the wall because his shooting touch was not good tonight, and Yu Fei only needed to focus on his breakthrough.

Once Westbrook becomes a headless fly, he becomes an ugly turnover machine.

There is nothing he can't do when it comes to making mistakes.

Originally, Yu Fei had no chance to score, but now, he scored 6 points just by taking advantage of the defensive counterattacks from his opponents.

After one quarter, although the Timberwolves were still breathing, their bodies had already been buried in the ground, with only their wolf heads howling outside.

39 is better than 22
The Supersonics are leading by a large margin.

Yu Fei went down to rest early, and Coach Lu made extravagant use of the garbage time of the playoffs to play with rotations.

He hopes that every player on the roster can play and see who is in better shape.

Two people gave Coach Lu a surprise.

One is Shaun Livingston. Livingston was originally signed to be Roy's substitute. Now that Roy has not returned, he has become Yu Fei's substitute.

Since Livingston does not shoot three-pointers, this severely limits his role in the Supersonics system.

Carl didn't use Livingston well at first, so he simply abandoned him.

Coach Lu thinks that everyone has a role to play. What, you don't play tactics? That's fine, I don't have any tactics either, just do whatever makes you feel comfortable.

Coach Lu suffered from the constraints of the system when he was a player. He served the team and the core of the team throughout his career and never really played freely. Therefore, he is willing to give the guards the right to freely control.

This is also why he gave Fei the power to control and tried to summon the gods, and ended up summoning the deer Fei back.

Livingston is a guard who needs to back up in the low post, so Coach Lu gave him low-post tactics and let him play freely. With this arrangement, Livingston really came alive.

He went from a useless substitute to a useful role player.

Of course, this comes at a price, which is that the Sonics' second lineup is basically disorganized. Although there are basic tactics, they mostly just play against themselves.

However, Coach Lu believes in one truth.

Only when the ball handler feels comfortable, the team's offense will be comfortable. If the ball handler feels nauseous, then his pass will become vomit, indirectly disgusting the entire team.

Doing so indirectly dismantled Karl's second-team system, but it also made the transition period under Coach Lue look less chaotic. Although there was no system, it didn't matter. It was smooth and enjoyable, and everyone seemed happy, and that was enough.

Another beneficiary of Lu's system is rookie Alonzo Key. Key reminds Lu of his younger self, who worked so hard but no one could see it. Training twice as hard as others doesn't get five minutes of playing time.

Coach Lu designated Key as Durant's substitute and a substitute at the power forward position at certain times, and Key repaid him with strong energy.

Durant likes the Sonics' second-team play.

He knows he can get many opportunities with this style of play, and most importantly, there are not so many rules.

However, he and Yu Fei always went up and down together.

Therefore, he partnered with Yu Fei almost all the time, which was different from when Karl was there.

Karl often lets Durant lead the transition period so that Durant can let himself go during that time.

Lu's background determines that he will be down-to-earth and take the initiative to consider the grassroots players, but at the same time, this kind of thinking also makes him passively give up the opportunity to reduce the pressure on Durant.

Why is coaching related to philosophy? Because it is not just a matter of technical and tactical considerations, but also requires the inclusion of human considerations in the underlying logic.

Halfway through the second quarter, Yu Fei and Durant returned.

When Yu Fei came back, the Meng Lang style of play led by Livingston disappeared.

Yu Fei commanded his soldiers to form a battle line like a general on the battlefield.

This authority is irresistible.

Durant became a member of the lineup, and then Yu Fei broke through, tore apart Westbrook's defense, rushed into the basket and scored a dunk.

The KeyArena crowd began to cheer.

The Supersonics' lead has reached 25 points.

The suspense is gone.

The second half was all garbage time. The Supersonics did not continue to increase their intensity and just got a similar score as the Timberwolves, maintaining a 20+ point difference until the final whistle.

Yu Fei played for only 28 minutes and scored 24 points, 9 rebounds and 11 assists.

Compared to Yu Fei's average statistics in the regular season - 29 points, 10 rebounds and 12 assists (scoring leader + assist leader) - tonight's data has not yet reached his average level.

However, the competitive state displayed by the Supersonics is enough to sound the death knell for the Timberwolves.

Durant accepted an exclusive interview with ESPN with the title "How important is selflessness to the three consecutive championships."

Yu Fei accepted an on-site interview.

He was calm about the victory, but fully affirmed the support of the fans on the scene.

"I've heard that Rucker Park was a basketball mecca in its heyday," Yu Fei said. "If the rumors are true, then KeyArena tonight is a basketball paradise."

The ABC reporter asked: "So in your opinion, heaven is a basketball court?"

Heaven is a basketball court?

Yu Fei smiled and said, "This is the best interpretation of the game I can think of."

Then, the loser tonight vowed to make the SuperSonics suffer. Westbrook said, "We didn't have the energy tonight, but it won't be like this every night."

McGrady threatened: "If we didn't have so many turnovers, the game would never have ended like this."

Kwame Brown tweeted: "Look, Tracy is at it again, is this a good sign for us?"

After that, the process of the Supersonics' second away game was not much different from the previous game.

The Supersonics still led from start to finish, and won by 20+ points.

The Timberwolves want to get back a game at home.

In the third game of the first round, the outside world had great confidence in the Timberwolves because the referee was the notorious Scott Foster.

Many future fans are familiar with this guy mainly because he became Chris Paul's "victim".

But today, in 2010, the disgrace to Foster's reputation stems primarily from his close friendship with Tim Donaghy.

Donaghy was the most evil person in basketball, and Stern swore that Donaghy was the only evil factor. Foster, who had a close relationship with him, became the "seeded player" most likely to be tainted by evil. Under this prejudice, Foster's personal style was magnified. He was known for his arrogance, unwillingness to listen to the complaints of players and coaches, and tendency to incite rather than calm down conflicts.

Yu Fei's supporters were worried that Foster was up to something, but Yu Fei himself was not worried at all.

Two years ago, when Foster's father passed away, Yu Fei was one of the few players who sent him a condolence text message.

He and Foster were not friends, but Foster would never make things difficult for him.

Foster was even willing to whistle Yu Fei for a personal injury on the road.

Yu Fei didn’t know whether this had anything to do with the original text message he had sent, but Foster’s fondness for him must have led to some unnecessary protection in certain games.

That night, the Timberwolves were full of fighting spirit and confronted the Supersonics for three quarters. In the last quarter, Yu Fei repeatedly attacked the basket, causing the Timberwolves' starting center to foul out. The Target Center was filled with curses against the referee.

They thought Foster was the team's savior, but unexpectedly, he was a disaster.

The Timberwolves' defense collapsed after losing their starting center, and all their efforts in the first three quarters were in vain. Yu Fei scored 42 points, 11 rebounds and 7 assists, among which 17 free throws were eye-catching, which was the same number of free throws made by the entire Timberwolves team.

After the game, Westbrook angrily criticized the referee and subsequently received a $10 fine.

When the Minnesota media pointedly raised the free throw issue with Yu Fei, they got an outrageous answer.

"This may be one of the reasons why the Timberwolves lost tonight." Yu Fei said calmly, "But I think you should know that we can beat the Timberwolves even without the advantage in free throws. If you have any questions about the number of free throws, go and appeal, and ask your video analyst to edit the video and send it to the league. Don't ask me why I have the same number of free throws as the entire Timberwolves team. Should the referee ignore your fouls just because you don't have many free throws?"

"Or"

Yu Fei asked with a smile: "Are you actually trying to complain that the referee gave you too little help?"

(End of this chapter)