When pride still matters

Chapter 518: Unreachable in This Lifetime
"I really liked the energy we had in the first half," Lue said in an elated halftime interview on ABC. "You know, that's the best thing you can see in a team, and I just want to enjoy the moment."

"Frye scored 32 points in the first half, which is not far from the prediction that he will score 50 points tonight. Do you think he can accomplish this goal in the second half?"

"Frye is always Frye." Coach Lu said confidently, "18 points is easy for him, and I guess he will achieve his goal before the end of the third quarter."

Unlike Coach Lu, Phil Jackson once again acted bitter and resentful.

The decision he was about to announce in the locker room was not in James' favor.

But if they want to beat the SuperSonics, they have to do it.

When reporters asked him what went wrong in the first half for the Lakers that led to such a passive situation, he said: "It's still the same problem. We are all too self-centered."

"For example?"

"If the miller seeks only to bring water into his own mill, the water outside it will wither." Jackson quoted the Western prophecy, "Honor and self-interest must not be mixed."

The media noticed that Jackson rarely praised the SuperSonics.

If the Lakers don't play well, it's their own fault.

If the Lakers play well, it's a given.

The team is filled with arrogance, not only among the players but also among the coach.

In comparison, Coach Lu is undoubtedly more popular.

Commentators on major television stations began to criticize Jackson's arrogance.

"I think both the Supersonics and the Lakers performed very well. The only one who didn't keep up with the pace was the Lakers coaching staff." Charles Barkley said bluntly, "I don't want Coach Jackson to criticize the team for not being united every time the Lakers are in adversity, as if if they were united, the Supersonics would not take the lead."

"Man!!!" Barkley said helplessly, "Is it so difficult to acknowledge the excellence of the Supersonics and to recognize Tyronn Lue's coaching staff?"

Barkley bluntly spoke out Jackson's thoughts.

In the NBA, there are factions among coaches.

For example, Popovich worked as an assistant coach for Larry Brown and Don Nelson in his early years, but was soon poached by the Spurs because of his outstanding abilities, so he set up his own school in San Antonio. Brown and Nelson are just connections to him, not mentors.

Although Phil Jackson played under Knicks godfather Reed Holzman in his early years, this does not mean that he is from Holzman's line, because he learned his subsequent coaching skills on his own.

The same goes for Tyronn Lue. Although he played for Jackson for several years, he is not considered to be in the other party's faction. If you have to count, he belongs to George Karl's faction.

Today, Karl is the only one who can threaten Jackson as the "GOAT of modern basketball coaches." He naturally looks down on rookies like Coach Lu, who have limited professional abilities but are talented in coaching and can apply what they have learned to other situations.

Jackson would not admit that Coach Lue used the referee's penalty scale to strengthen the defense, making it difficult for the Lakers to adapt and making it difficult for him to find a suitable response plan tonight.

If you can't admit that your opponent is strong, and you don't want to find fault with yourself, then you naturally have to put the blame on the players.

Although it is common among coaches for Zen Master to blame players, the Lakers' several passive situations tonight were caused by James being beaten by Yu Fei.

So when he said this, he was kind of holding James accountable.

Even though he has no such idea, the resourceful professionals will be able to "guess" the underlying meaning.

"Regardless of whether Coach Jackson's statement is reasonable or not, I want to know, who is the 'miller' he is talking about?"

ESPN's Mark Jackson talked about this topic during halftime.

"First, rule out Marc Gasol." Mike Breen is a fan of Gasol, who appreciates his retro and tough style of play. "He will never be known as selfish."

Jeff Van Gundy smiled sarcastically and said, "Mark can never be a miller. We must know that role players can never be millers because they are not qualified to be selfish on the court. I think Coach Jackson is referring to those two people?"

His colleague started to act dumb: "Which two?"

"Ah, those two guys," Van Gundy said with a smile. "I can't say any more."

Yu Fei didn't care about the behind-the-scenes stuff on the sidelines. He walked through the aisle with a towel in his hand.

Will Smith, who was sitting in the front row, complained to him: "How many times are you going to beat me?"

Yu Fei asked in return: "As one of the most influential celebrities in the world, how long do you want to maintain your influence?"

Smith said, as a matter of course, “Until the day I die.”

"Look, you have the answer." Yu Fei smiled, "Instead of asking me to go easy on the Lakers, why don't you follow LeBron's example and take a shortcut?"

For a celebrity, it doesn't matter which team he is labeled as.

Not everyone has cultivated a Lakers fandom as well as Jack Nicholson.

After Yu Fei finished speaking, Smith only thought about it for a minute and then patted his thigh and said, "You're right. Why should I support a team that is destined not to win?"

After that, he instructed his assistant to go shopping in the commercial street outside the Key Arena and buy all the products related to Yu Fei.

"Should we clean up the Lakers' stuff?"

"Not yet," Smith said. "What if they win?"

"Makes sense."

Yu Fei greeted the top-ranked people passing by one by one. This was his life.

But that life is illusory and those relationships are not solid.

He walked into the aisle, with fans on both sides shouting his name frantically, holding up jerseys and pens, hoping to get his autograph.

Yu Fei has a habit of signing autographs for one fan in the aisle during every game.

Tonight he once again randomly chose a female fan.

The problem is, all she has is a pen.

"Where do you want me to sign?" Yu Fei asked with a smile.

The man thrust out his chest unrestrainedly, with his massive peaks sticking out in front of Yu Fei through his clothes. "You're welcome, Fry."

People around him started to make a noise, and Yu Fei revealed so much gossip that many of his habits became known to fans.

"I won't be polite."

"I wish every one of my fans could be of such high quality." Yu Fei met Lin Kevin in the player tunnel.

"What female fans?" Lin Kevin asked.

"Nothing." Yu Fei asked, "What happened?"

Kevin Lin said: "The people at Reebok heard about your pre-game prediction. If you really get 50 points, they will release a 50-point night commemorative T-shirt next month."

"anything else?"

"Just like before, you have 10% profit dividend," Lin Kaiwen said, "You need to work harder in the second half."

Yu Fei is not interested in making money by taking advantage of others, but he also understands that this is the operating logic of the sports economy, seizing some gimmicks to sell a mediocre product.

A T-shirt with mediocre workmanship and not very good materials, as long as it is linked to tonight's game, they can put it on the shelves before the fans' enthusiasm subsides. One piece costs $150, and the manufacturing cost + labor may be less than $30.

The fans are well aware of this, and they will always be the ones to be taken advantage of.

It's like when they put on this T-shirt, they have an incredible connection with Fry Yu.

"I didn't say that just to sell clothes," said Yu Fei.

Lin Kaiwen laughed and said, "Whatever you are involved in is not a business? Fry, fame and fortune are bitches. And you..."

Lin Kevin hesitated to speak.

"I know." Yu Fei said self-deprecatingly, "I'm probably one of the most famous and wealthy bitches in the world."

During basketball season, there isn’t even one.

Lin Kevin added in his mind.

visiting team locker room

Phil Jackson has unique perspectives on many things.

During his decades of coaching career, he has also encountered many difficult situations.

Now, his coaching career is nearing its end.

His contract with the Lakers will expire in the summer of 2011.

Previously, he has hinted many times that if the Lakers can win two consecutive championships next summer, perhaps he will renew his contract for one year in order to have the opportunity to win three consecutive championships for the fourth time in his career.

But now, he no longer has so many thoughts.

Let Kobe reach the height he deserves and leave with victory next summer like Jordan in 1998, that would be the best ending for him.

To achieve this goal, they must first make James understand that the Lakers are Kobe's team, but sooner or later they will also be his team.

He is only 25 years old and has plenty of time.

"Kobe, I need you to play aggressively in the second half." Jackson clearly established Kobe's core position, "If necessary, the ball can be concentrated on you."

"LeBron," Jackson called out James' name seemingly casually, "Do you remember how we beat Seattle in Game 2?"

James said calmly, "I have a good memory, Coach."

"Be who you were that night," the Zen Master said. "We have another chance tonight."

James liked the win in Game 2, but he didn't like himself in Game 2.

In other words, he thinks he can do more, but on the Lakers, he can't get the biggest piece of the pie.

Now the Zen Master wants him to be himself again, and he can understand that because he was completely defeated by Yu Fei as the core tonight.

The Lakers have two plugs, and if one fails, they naturally have to try the other one.

He accepted the arrangement, but he didn't know if he would get another chance.

If he doesn't get the chance, is he going to win his first championship as the undisputed second-in-command, as the outside world has said - Scottie Pippen next to Kobe?

Is this what he was pursuing when he came to Los Angeles despite being criticized by everyone?

There was not much time, so short that even James couldn't find the correct answer.

At the beginning of the second half, the Lakers had an urgent desire to catch up.

Even when playing small ball, it is not easy to fill the 20-point gap.

Kobe didn't play much in the first half, and he wanted to be aggressive in the second half, but he wasn't familiar enough with the basket in KeyArena.

In theory, the basketball hoops in NBA arenas are all of standard design, but the performance of players in different arenas varies, just like Nadal on clay and Federer at Wimbledon. Data shows that KeyArena is the arena with the lowest affinity rate for Kobe.

He rarely had any great performances here.

With the heavy responsibility suddenly placed on him, Kobe first chose to shoot from the outside, and then demonstrated his back-to-the-basket skills like a textbook.

He got off to a good start.

He can score from the outside and is also stable in back-to-the-basket shots, but the two stars of the Supersonics are performing well.

Durant called for a screen to shake off James and then received a pass from Yu Fei and hit a three-pointer. Yu Fei also returned the favor with a back-to-back shot in the next round after Kobe made a back-to-back shot.

The two sides competed in personal ability and then passed the ball to the outside shooters.

The Supersonics' strong confrontation strategy is still effective.

The Lakers' outside three-pointers, which they rely on, lost their accuracy tonight.

Richard Hamilton missed a three-pointer, Gasol grabbed the rebound, but was blocked by Jordan, James grabbed the offensive rebound and passed it to Kobe, who turned around and shot a jumper, but still missed.

What is more demoralizing than losing offensive rebounds consecutively is missing out on extra offensive opportunities gained from consecutive offensive rebounds.

TNT coach Hubie Brown commented: "I don't know why the Lakers are so anxious. They are indeed behind by a lot of points, but if they can't stay calm, they can't do anything."

This time, the Sonics protected the backcourt rebounds.

Yu Fei made a long pass to Hughes, who scored on a fast break.

The score difference came to 21 points.

The Lakers made a substitution, replacing Hamilton with Mike Miller.

It turned out to be a timely adjustment.

Miller played very well in the second quarter. Now he came on the court again and hit a three-pointer as soon as he received a pass from James.

The Supersonics failed in the positional battle, the Lakers counterattacked, and Miller followed up and hit a three-pointer.

Miller's three-pointer brought the Lakers back from the brink of defeat.

When Yu Fei saw that Durant was obviously unable to defend against Miller's off-ball offense, he reminded Coach Lu to call a timeout.

After the timeout, the Supersonics repeated the same trick. DeAndre Jordan was taken off the court, O'Neal moved to the five position, Yu Fei played the four position, and then Alonzo Keylor, who had nothing but energy, was replaced to defend Mike Miller.

The referee's lenient standards on defense gave Key the conditions to limit Miller.

When the game started again, what awaited the Lakers was the devilish physical contact.

James wanted to make his third three-pointer of the quarter against Miller, but after the timeout interrupted his rhythm and with Key's defense, Miller couldn't even find a chance to shoot.

"Tyronn Lue is definitely underestimated!" Jeff Van Gundy said unexpectedly, "We all thought he was the loophole of the Supersonics, but so far in the series, he has not acted like a rookie coach at all!"

Although many on-the-spot adjustments were the result of collective efforts, such as the timeout just now, it was entirely Dafei's decision.

But this did not affect Coach Lu at all. After hearing others' praise, he smiled confidently at the camera, saying "If you can praise others, praise them more."

All the Lakers can do is respond to the Supersonics with the same tough defense.

The Supersonics, who also lack shooters, were more conscious than the Lakers in giving the ball to their stars to solve the problem.

Yu Fei received the ball in the low post, made a strong back-to-the-basket shot, caused Jamison to foul, and made both free throws.

The Lakers came to the frontcourt, passed the ball around, and then sent it back to James.

James looked at Hughes, who was defending him. He had treated him like a toy when they were in the Cavaliers. Now he was old and ugly. How could he defend him?

James dribbled forward, but Hughes confronted him with physical contact that he was not qualified to use against James under normal circumstances.

Although his defense was broken, it greatly slowed down James' speed. The other players of the Supersonics team assisted in defense and James missed the mid-range shot.

Singles is the answer to breaking the deadlock, but James cannot provide the correct option.

The rebound resulting from a failed positional battle was grabbed by Yu Fei, and the Sonics player who ran like a sprinter became the focus of the entire court.

"Oh! Alonzo Key!" Mike Breen exclaimed dramatically, "He's just flying!"

Yu Fei made a wonderful long pass. This pass was not only in place but also perfectly timed. It was not directed at Ji's body, but led Ji to run forward at full speed.

Finally, Key received the ball in the frontcourt, took two steps, and performed a dunk for the audience at KeyArena with the physical fitness that was praised in the scouting report during the draft.

As Ji ran back, he pointed at Yu Fei with both hands and shouted, "You didn't see the wrong person!"

Yu Fei almost forgot that he was the one who suggested the team to select Alonzo Gee.

He just raised his hand and gave a loud high-five to Key who had returned to the backcourt, without saying anything extra.

With a difference of nearly 20 points, the Lakers needed three-pointers, but the Sonics' defense stifled the possibility of hitting a large number of three-pointers.

They have to carry their hopes into the fourth quarter, and that requires the performance of their stars.

Then came the decisive minutes.

Yu Fei missed the three-pointer, and Kobe counterattacked with a mid-range shot.

Durant missed the shot in a one-on-one match, and the Lakers counterattacked again.

A glimmer of hope shone into the Lakers' game, and was then overshadowed by Yu Fei's unyielding three-pointer from the outside that ignored the defense.

"Shh!"

Kobe scored with a back-to-the-basket shot.

"He's struggling to hold up the Lakers!" said Doug Collins of ABC. "Others need to step up. Kobe alone is not enough."

However, Yu Fei made a pick-and-roll with Bosh and threw the ball into the air, and Bosh caught the ball and dunked it.

Hope is such a precious thing, it can be given by teammates but also taken away by opponents.

James organized the offense in confusion, and finally passed the ball to Gasol, who missed a three-pointer at the buzzer. Yu Fei grabbed the rebound and launched a counterattack, and the score difference returned to beyond 20 points.

"Has LeBron lost his confidence? Why doesn't he just play on his own?"

The commentator's questions were heard all around.

James couldn't necessarily hear what they said, but he could guess.

Kobe tried his best to break through, caused a foul, and made both free throws.

The Lakers are still alive.

Durant was attacking with the ball and was defended by James. This was an opportunity for the Lakers, but Yu Fei's tactical foul prevented James' fast break attempt.

Damn bastard!
James was full of resentment. He did not get enough support and did not receive the ideal treatment from the referees. He thought Yu Fei's tactical foul was a malicious foul. The opponent dared to do so because the number of fouls committed by the Supersonics in a single quarter was far from enough to warrant free throws.

James glared at Yu Fei resentfully, then took a mid-range shot under Hughes' defense, but missed and was counterattacked.

Afterwards, James was double-teamed when he broke through, and he threw the ball in a panic, but passed it to Miller who was standing on the outside.

The Sonics' subsequent attack failed to score, but all players retreated to their positions, leaving the Lakers with no fast break opportunities and having to settle down. James continued to direct the ball but could not create space, and finally had to force a shot with 24 seconds left at the top of the arc.

"boom!"

"This is the worst clutch performance I've ever seen from a superstar in his prime!" Hubie Brown continued to comment, "LeBron looks useless!"

On the other side of James's missed three-pointer, Yu Fei grabbed the 12th rebound of the game, dribbled past James who was about to foul him, and quickly stopped one meter outside the three-point line in the frontcourt.

A three-pointer flew out of his hand without waiting for anyone to get into position.

Yu Fei didn't even bother to see whether the ball had landed in the pocket, and turned around to return to defense.

Then--

"Ugh!!!!"

This shot sent the Lakers off tonight.

They can rest in peace.

Phil Jackson called for a timeout in despair, and there was basically nothing he could do.

Before the end of the third quarter, Yu Fei had already scored 45 points. He walked past James without paying any attention to him at all.

Afterwards, Yu Fei was substituted and did not return until the fourth quarter, when he scored 5 points, thus fulfilling the pre-match prediction.

The Lakers' resistance in the final quarter was not as strong as in the third quarter. They also knew that the game was over, so they only put up a little resistance and the game entered the rhythm of garbage time.

At the end of the game, the score was 119 to 95. The Supersonics fought back at home, defeating the Lakers by 24 points and leading 2 to 1.

Post-match interview
"This game proves our ambition to defend the title. We will not fall in the West." Tyronn Lue said confidently, "No matter how difficult it is, no matter how many obstacles there are, no matter who is ahead!"

Phil Jackson talked deeply about the loss: "In terms of the result, we need to pay tribute to Seattle. This is a game worth reflecting on. We were completely defeated. However, I believe we will rebound like never before."

"Frye is the best player in the world, but even the best players can't always win the game. The battle is not over yet." - Marc Gasol's view on the subsequent games.

"As for the substitutes, who hasn't been a substitute? Don't worry, I'll be back soon!" Kwame Brown talked about tonight's substitute arrangement, "This is just a technical adjustment."

"Without the support of my teammates, I couldn't have played the way I did tonight, so I have to pay tribute to my teammates. I have the best team in the world!" - Kevin Durant's thoughts on his 26 points, 7 rebounds and 4 assists in a single game.

"2 to 2." Kobe Bryant expressed his determination to win the next game in a special way, "This is the score of the series we will take back to Los Angeles."

"If he didn't have those vanilla whistles, he would have scored in the 20s," Ron Artest said disparagingly of Durant's performance. "Without his teammates providing him with screens, he wouldn't have been able to score in double digits on his own."

For LeBron James, tonight was a replay of Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals.

It's just that his performance was even more indefensible than in the first game.

In this game that the Lakers could not afford to lose, he made only 16 of 6 shots.

Charles Barkley from the TNT studio said bluntly after the game: "I call on Cleveland people to stop attacking LeBron. Look at his performance. Can't you understand him? He didn't betray you. What's wrong with him just trying to save himself? Tonight's game proves that he will never be the Magic Johnson or Michael Jordan of this era. At best, he is just a better-looking Scottie Pippen. He needs Kobe, just as Scottie needs Michael."

The media's main focus was naturally on James's abject failure in the third quarter, which led the team to complete defeat.

"I didn't find the feeling tonight, and I will take responsibility for the failure." James still has confidence in himself, "I can score on anyone."

"It's just that nothing went right tonight."

It was destined to be a bad night for the Lakers.

Yu Fei, however, attended the press conference with Alonzo Gee.

Key was the surprise player for the Supersonics in this game. He played 24 minutes as a substitute and scored 11 points, 4 rebounds and 1 assist. His counterattack dunk in the third quarter won a lot of applause.

"Before the draft, few people knew me. It was Frye who chose me. When the team didn't know who to choose with the last pick, Frye said in the draft war room, 'Hey, I think Alonzo Gee is good.'" Gee seemed to have seen the scene with his own eyes. "I will never forget the moment I was selected. I thanked God, hugged my mother, and swore in my heart that I would not let this man (pointing at Yu Fei) down!"

Yu Fei was slightly touched. It was a casual action at that time that made a man of such a strong character like Alonzo Key grateful.

He never asked for anything in return.

What Ji has achieved today is due to his own efforts.

"I think you all saw how motivated he was on the court. He was eager to play as much as he was eager to breathe. He deserves it." Yu Fei smiled, "I hope you will give him all the praise in tomorrow's report."

Finally, someone asked about Yu Fei's prediction that he asked Gasol to tell Kobe that he would score 50 points before the game started.

"It's not difficult," Yu Fei said. "You just need to score 45 points in the first three quarters and then score 5 points in garbage time in the fourth quarter to create a 50-point game. It's very simple."

In the Western Conference Finals, he scored 50 points to lead the team to victory. The opponent was a powerful team of the era, the Lakers. But Frye said it was very simple?
Faced with this lofty and cool statement, Alonzo Gee could only stare silently.

This is a height he will never reach in his lifetime.

(End of this chapter)