When pride still matters

Chapter 522 No Matter What the Cost

"Frye, what do you think of LeBron's claim that he doesn't play for stats?"

"I don't have much to say, really, so far."

"Does this defeat frustrate you?"

"I would be lying if I said we weren't upset about tonight's defeat," Yu Fei said. "The answer is a little, but not that serious."

"Kobe told you before the game that the Lakers would win tonight and that they would win the series. What chances do you think he has of achieving that goal?"

Yu Fei remembered what happened before the game started. Kobe had already completed the first half of this goal.

But completing the remaining half is not so easy.

Although they were completely defeated by the Lakers tonight, looking back, there were many uncontrollable factors, such as everyone except Durant was silent, and the referee team headed by Dick Bavetta made the Lakers seem like they were playing a home game.

As long as the core players continue to perform, there will definitely be a lot of room for role players to perform.

Because the core player with the ball can treat his teammates as blood bags to absorb their data, and he also has the magic power to "make his teammates better."

As for the referees, it is foreseeable that the penalty standards for the next game will be adjusted back to a normal range.

In other words, the Lakers shooters will no longer get as loose offensive opportunities as they did tonight.

Although the Sonics' offensive talent is far inferior to their opponents, they can still put enough pressure on their opponents on defense.

Therefore, Yu Fei confidently replied to the reporter: "If this is a marathon, Kobe has already finished half of it tonight, but he will never finish the second half."

The last question is a bit like celebrating a funeral.

A reporter from the Seattle Times asked: "Frye, tonight you became the first player in NBA history to score 50 points in a row in the playoffs, a feat that even Wilt Chamberlain and Michael Jordan have never achieved. What does it mean to you to accomplish this feat?"

Yu Fei looked unhappy about losing the initiative in the series, but he replied, "It doesn't make any sense. If there is, it will disappear soon. Because I will score 50 points in three consecutive games."

The shadow of G4's failure is spreading, but Yu Fei is already building momentum for the next game.

This is why many people think he is a superstar born for the social media era.

He is really good at finding images for himself.

Just when everyone was marveling at the Lakers' strength, James' selflessness, and helping him catch the war criminals of the Supersonics, Yu Fei once again diverted the outside world's attention with a 50-point preview.

Now, the pressure seems to be on the Lakers.

At the Lakers' post-game press conference, Kobe and James, who usually entertain reporters separately, rarely appeared in the media interview room at the same time.

Strangely, Kojan didn't look excited about the big win.

The reporter asked Kobe: "This is a rare big win in your record against Frye, but you don't look happy. Why?"

"The big score is 2-2." Kobe asked, "Do you think I have any reason to be happy?"

James has had a difficult relationship with the media over the past year, and when he saw Kobe treating reporters like wild dogs barking at him on the side of the road, his mood instantly improved.

"When we beat the SuperSonics, I guarantee you'll see genuine smiles on our faces."

James helped Kobe ease the embarrassment caused by the cold and harsh words.

Then, the reporter consciously played the role of a eunuch and brought Yu Fei's latest 50-minute trailer to the head of the evil empire.

"Is this old news, or did he just say that again?"

James asked jokingly.

"Just now," the reporter said, "Frye said he wanted to become the first player in history to score 50 points in three consecutive playoff games."

"He's dreaming!" Kobe's face was full of anger. "I've had enough of this!"

Kobe could fully foresee that Yu Fei could dilute the subsequent impact of the Supersonics' home defeat with just this sentence.

In the next few days, until the decisive battle, the only thing the outside world would care about was whether Yu Fei's 50-point prediction could be realized.

This hypocritical bastard once again used damning remarks to dilute the shadow of failure.

The Lakers won't get the credit they deserve.

Kobe could fully foresee that in the next two days, he and the people around him would be asked countless times how to stop Yu Fei from scoring 50 points in the decisive battle.

It was obviously empty talk, but people just bought into it because the person who said it was Yu Fei.

"Kobe, what do you mean?"

"I'm putting this here. You can put it in the newspaper or post it online. Anyway, we won't let him score 50 points in three consecutive games!" Kobe's face was flushed and his temperature looked very high. "We won't let him succeed again!"

"if."

"No ifs!"

Bryant interrupted the reporter's assumptions.

But how can there be no ifs in the sports world?
"But."

"No buts!" Kobe said loudly, "If he does it, I will retire!"

So, humans have no brains when they are angry.

Kobe was not angry because of Yu Fei's arrogance, but because the other party was trying to guide public opinion to downplay the impact of tonight's game on both sides.

The Lakers won't get praised for a big win, and the SuperSonics won't get too much blame for a big loss.

All we have to do is wait patiently for the fifth game.

If Kobe hadn't made the "I'll retire if..." statement, perhaps the Los Angeles media could have swayed public opinion a little. But now that he said this, he truly made Game 4 "insignificant."

Now, people are just looking forward to the fifth show in Los Angeles in two days.

When leaving the media interview room, Kobe noticed that James looked at him with a playful look.

"Speak directly if you have anything to say."

Kobe didn't want to be stared at like that.

"The stakes are high." James asked with a smile, "How can you be sure that person can't do it?"

"I can't guarantee it," Kobe said. "But it's going to give us some challenges. LeBron, don't you like challenges?"

There is something ironic about this question.

If they like a challenge, why would they come together to make it less difficult?

James' true feelings were never really revealed.

He said flatly: "I like winning."

"That's a good thing, but your desire in these few games is obviously insufficient." Kobe said, "What's wrong, man, do you remember your first press conference when you arrived in Los Angeles?"

James thought about it.

Kobe reminded him in a more direct way: "More than one, more than two, more than three."

"If we want to win more than three championships together, I really need you to do more on the court." Kobe encouraged, "Two days later, use all your energy to shut that person up completely!"

This is the first time in nearly a year that James believes his emotional knot can be untied in Los Angeles.

"Man," James asked, "do you really mind? I mean, if I'm going to be in control..."

"Do your job," Kobe said. "Winning is the most important thing."

Strong alliances often begin for a common goal, but in the process, the distribution of benefits, competition for status and the right to speak on matters big and small can change the nature of many relationships.

James has been struggling for a while, but tonight he found for the first time that Kobe was not as narrow-minded as he thought. Their alliance is solid. Now that the common enemy is in front of him, defeat him, go to the finals and hold the trophy, let the haters scream.

This is his idea, and it is the purest idea.

The Lakers' internal integration was not nearly complete until after Game 4 of the Western Conference Finals.

They have infinite possibilities. They can become infinitely powerful, or they can fail infinitely. This is the charm of infinity. Infinity means that everything is possible.

The next day, the post-match remarks of the leaders of both teams really grabbed the headlines in the media.

No one is really talking about Game 4 anymore.

The post-match segment about catching war criminals was replaced by a preview of the decisive battle.

Yu Fei's teammates were rarely freed from the pressure of public opinion and could concentrate on preparing for the game.

But Kobe's seemingly brainless assists actually helped the Lakers unify their thinking.

If these things hadn't happened, Seattle would have wanted to catch war criminals, and the Lakers would have constantly magnified Kobe's leadership performance and then picked on James. As the second-in-command, 14 assists in a single game may seem good, but was 14 points in the entire game inappropriate?
Are desires really that low?
Now, no one discusses this anymore.

When Yu Fei heard Kobe's retirement statement, he was a little amused.

This reminded him of a story he saw on an online forum in his previous life. In the early days of his career, Jordan played against the Celtics in their prime. He scored 49 points in the first game and 63 points in the second. The reporter then asked Bird, if this continued, would Jordan score 77 points in the third game?
Bird then replied that if Dan scored 77 points, he would retire and become a truck driver.

Yu Fei didn't know whether this was true or not, he only knew that Jordan only scored 19 points in the third game. But the shock shown by the media about Kobe's retirement speech made the event itself have some unexpected program effects.

It's a good thing that Kobe actively cooperates with him in off-court hype.

Let those bored media and fans pay attention to these gossips and tidbits, and they will have no time to make up stories about their teammates.

That afternoon, Yu Fei found that his teammates' eyes were shining in the Furtado Center. They all looked like they had not been bullied online after the defeat. Yu Fei did his best to reduce the impact of the loss. Now the problem came to the coaching staff.

Tyronn Lue needs to sum up last night's failure and find a strategy for the decisive battle.

The disastrous defeat in Game 4 made Lu realize one thing.

It is unrealistic to expect to defeat an opponent like the Lakers with just one trick.

The aggressive defensive strategy worked in G3 under the referee's cover, but when the referee's standards changed, they couldn't adapt.

Therefore, they need to prepare for both scenarios.

But the problem is that since Lu took office, the work arrangements within the team have been clear. The offense is left to Yu Fei alone, and his coaching staff focuses on defense.

The Lakers are a team that cannot be killed by defensive strategies.

This forced Lu and the coaching staff to develop an offensive strategy together.

But when it came to formulating an offensive tactic, they hit a dead end from the very beginning.

When Lu took office, he simply and crudely designated Yu Fei as the ball-holding core and let him carry everything alone. Now he can't carry it alone, and he needs to change his tactics. How?
Just when Lu and the coaching staff were at a loss, news suddenly came from outside.

Brandon Roy has received permission from his doctor to participate in 5V5 training starting today.

"Really?" Coach Lu felt excited that there is always a way out.

But veteran assistant coach Tim Gegurich poured cold water on the idea: "Brandon hasn't trained systematically for half a year. It will take some time just to recover his physical fitness."

The implication is that Roy won't be able to make it to the Western Conference Finals.

Lu did not give up and took the initiative to go to the scene to see Roy's recovery.

It turned out that Roy's ball sense still needed to be restored, but there was no problem with his physical fitness.

After learning more about the situation, Lu learned that Roy himself paid great attention to physical training during rehabilitation. Although the training volume was not large due to the doctor's restrictions, he was definitely not in the state of a person who had just recovered from a serious injury and had not exercised for half a year.

Then, there's his performance in training.

The coaching staff that has allowed Yu Fei to monopolize the ball for a long time has almost forgotten that their championships in the past two years were won with the help of two ball-holding core players.

Roy is still finding his feel for the ball, but his ability to hold the ball, his threat to break through, his feel near the basket, and his vision for the ball will greatly reduce Yu Fei's burden, allowing Yu Fei to return to the third position to focus on offense, while Durant can punish the opponent's role players under the control of the two core players as he did in the past.

This is the reason why the SuperSonics have been so strong in the past two years.

"Brandon," Lu asked the team doctor in a soft voice, "is it possible for him to return in Game 5?"

The team doctor said: "It's better not to. His physical recovery still needs to be tested through a lot of training."

"About 70% of players who suffer knee injuries will be injured again during training." The team doctor told Lu a pessimistic number, "and less than 30% of the players can finally return smoothly after a normal recovery period."

"But." Lu was unwilling to give up. "Didn't Brandon say before the surgery that he would only need to miss 6-8 weeks? He has rested for so long, so he should..."

The team doctor replied seriously: "This is exactly why we should carefully plan his return schedule, because his recovery speed is not as expected, and his body may be more fragile than we thought. In any case, now is not a good time to return."

The light of hope was shrouded by darkness the moment it appeared.

Lu sighed and went back to his office to continue thinking of a solution.

What happened next was something Tyronn Lue could never have imagined.

After practice, Brandon Roy exclaimed like President O’Neal giving his inaugural speech: “Guys, I’ll be back in Game 5!”

"Really?!" Durant shouted.

"Impossible!" Yu Fei said, "You have just resumed 5v5 training. You need at least a month of observation period."

"Did I play badly just now?" Roy asked a speechless question.

"It's not a question of whether you fight well or not!" Yu Fei seemed to be exercising the veto power of the empire master. "Don't try to imitate Willis Reed! I don't agree!"

"I don't need your consent, the coach's consent is enough. I'll go find him right away."

Roy left as soon as he said he would.

"Stop the fuck!"

Yu Fei chased after him.

Everyone was speechless. They were looking forward to Roy's return, but they also knew rationally that Yu Fei's idea was correct. Roy had been away from the court for half a year. Even if his training condition was better than expected, he had to play in the Western Conference Finals right after resuming training, and it was the decisive game. The intensity might be higher than the seventh game in the Finals. It was too risky.

But what if Roy insists on coming back?

Can Frye stop him?

An extremely complicated thought lingered on the training ground. Roy's teammates admired his decision. They looked forward to Roy's comeback, but they also didn't want him to come back.

"Is this an act?"

DeAndre Jordan looks at Kwame Brown.

Brown shook his head and said, "No, Brandon is serious."

"Frye is serious too."

"If Frye doesn't agree, Brandon probably won't be able to come back, right?" Jordan Jr. said.

"God knows"

At this time, the owner of the SuperSonics, Clay Bennett, came over and asked with a smile, "I heard that Brandon is coming back?"

"But Frye disagrees." Someone mentioned.

"Indeed, it's too dangerous." Bennett changed his position immediately.

He walked towards the coach's office and heard a heated argument erupting from inside from a distance.

"In short, I don't agree." Yu Fei said to Lu, "I will not agree to let a player who may be injured again at any time come back in the name of saving the team!"

Yu Fei said loudly: "I will not allow anyone to gamble their career in pursuit of glory. These are two different things. There is no room for negotiation on this matter!"

"Fuck you, Fry, this is Seattle, not your dictatorship!" Roy roared angrily.

"You're damn right!" Yu Fei responded, "The SuperSonics is a kingdom ruled by me!"

Tyronn Lue is in a dilemma.

When Roy rushed in and said that he would come back no matter what, the other party's image in Lu's eyes was as bright and moving as a prince charming who fell from the sky.

Then, Yu Fei rushed in with a murderous look on his face and yelled, "I don't agree!"

Then it was none of his business.

He hoped that Roy would return, but he could not oppose Yu Fei.

In the end, this was really something that would not have happened if Yu Fei hadn't nodded.

Roy was furious and yelled at Yu Fei: "You've only been in Seattle for a few days? Do you think it's your turn to be a dictator? You're not even from Seattle! I'm telling you, I must make a comeback, and if you object, then I'll screw you!"

Yu Fei sneered: "I object!"

"Shut up!" Roy took a step forward. "I've had enough! I won't stay on the sidelines and watch you play anymore! The team told me a few days ago that they wanted me to represent the team during the finals and submit a financing plan for the new arena to the city government. I refused. Do you know why? Because I don't want to be a mascot! This is the most important year in the history of Seattle professional basketball! If we win the championship, even a hundred years later, people living here will remember my name! I want to be a part of this history! So, I believe all this is God's will! I'm recovered now, I can play, and I must come back. Neither you (looking at Yu Fei), nor the coaching staff, nor that damn Oklahoma country bumpkin boss who only cares about money, can tell me that I can't come back in Game 5!"

It was quiet in the coach's office.

Yu Fei stopped talking.

Lou stared at Roy, especially at the man behind him.

The answer to this came from behind Roy.

"I agree that you can come back in Game 5." The country bumpkin boss from Oklahoma walked up to Roy with a smile and said, "I fully support you, Brandon."

Roy's sanity returned and he swallowed hard.

"Boss, me"

"No need to explain, I understand how you feel." Bennett looked at Lu, "Coach, what do you think?"

Lu went all out and said through gritted teeth: "I support Brandon."

Then, everyone's eyes fell on Yu Fei.

"I'll tell you the final decision tomorrow," Yu Fei said. "If you still decide to make a comeback by then, I won't object."

After that, Yu Fei left.

"I now believe," Bennett told Roy, "that Frye considers you a friend."

If you want to confirm whether friendship is reliable, the most direct and convenient way to test it is to ask your friend to do something that is good for you but only bad for him. But on the other hand, someone who really regards you as a friend will not make such a request.

Roy knew why Yu Fei strongly opposed his comeback.

"I know," Roy said. "He's my best friend, too."

This is also the reason why he is determined to make a comeback.

For Roy, these three years have been like a dream. He and his best friend have achieved the most brilliant achievements in the NBA. Now, at the critical moment of the season, an opportunity to defend his honor and stand up for his friend is right in front of him, and he will never let it go.

Whatever the cost, screw it!
(End of this chapter)