When pride still matters

Chapter 595 The Fire of Revenge
This summer's Heat, like the SuperSonics in the summer of 2012, proactively cut down on their roster for fear of a super luxury tax.

Yao Ming failed to stay, and veterans such as Battier chose to retire. They also had to appease the emotions of some people, such as Wade who missed the chance to defend the FMVP.

This is undoubtedly a heavy blow to Wade. He is not as open-minded as Curry, or he has not reached that level yet.

Because Wade's experience in this life is completely different from that in the main timeline.

In this life, after a long wait, he finally waited for the team to select Love, Curry and others. After they gradually grew up, Yao Ming joined the team and he led the team to the top.

From beginning to end, Wade has always been the backbone of this team, the undisputed core, and has always regarded himself as the boss.

Although his physical condition has gradually declined with age, it is still sufficient to support his status.

However, in last season's finals, Curry was elected FMVP, which undoubtedly poured cold water on Wade. The era of the younger generation has arrived, but he is not going to give up his position.

This situation is not without precedent in NBA history. For example, when Wes Unseld won the Finals MVP for the Washington Bullets, although his statistics were not as impressive as Elvin Hayes, the media preferred to choose the good guy Unseld rather than admit that Hayes was the best player due to their prejudice against Hayes.

The situation with the Heat is more complicated.

Judging from the performance in the finals alone, Curry and Wade are evenly matched. In this case, the FMVP is usually awarded to the player with more experience, so Wade should be the defending champion.

However, when the situation became 50-50, some seemingly irrelevant factors quietly came into play.

The sneaker brand endorsed by Wade is China's Li Ning. Although the brand was once very popular in China, it is only a niche product in the United States and its influence is far less than that of Reebok endorsed by Curry.

Reebok only needs to make a little push behind the scenes, and the FMVP balance will naturally tilt towards Curry.

In this way, Curry became the second completely successful star under Reebok, but Wade had no place to vent his resentment.

After the start of the new season, Wade's desire for ball possession increased greatly in order to defend his position as the leader. This change affected the overall performance of the Heat.

Yao Ming's departure also became a shame for the Heat.

They have been burdened with a similar infamy as the SuperSonics back then, but because Miami is a major tourist city rather than a media center, and because the team lacks a big traffic star, the reputational damage is relatively small.

However, the problem of Wade's ball-dominant style of play was revealed at the beginning of the season.

Since the ball is concentrated in Wade's hands, the original four-star lineup had to downplay the role of other players and became "Wade alone".

This has a huge impact on the team. Curry was less affected because of his off-ball ability, but Butler and Love suffered a lot.

After Yao Ming left, Love's pressure on the inside increased sharply. The Heat signed Yao Ming's replacement from the free market, 2012 first-round pick Festus Ezeli. This former No. high school student in the United States plummeted in college and was eventually selected at the end of the first round. Over the years, the team that chose him gave up on him, and the Heat, who could not find other cost-effective inside players, could only hope for his talent.

Ezeli's talent is more reflected in the defensive end, which is the characteristic that the Heat least needs. The Heat is not a team known for its defense, and a center who can defend cannot relieve Love's offensive pressure. As a result, the situation quickly deteriorated.

Without Yao Ming, Love can only shoot from the outside, and if an inside player relies only on shooting to maintain his dignity, his performance will naturally be unstable. As a key link in the Heat's offensive system, Love's condition has declined sharply, and he can almost compete for the title of "Fastest Decline of the Year".

Also affected is Jimmy Butler, who is entering his contract year.

As a representative of a low draft pick who made a comeback, Butler does not have outstanding talent, but relies more on tenacious defense and fighting spirit. If you want him to play a role on the offensive end, you must give him enough ball rights. Wade's possession of the ball prevented Butler from showing his strength.

Although head coach Spoelstra is aware of the problem, he is powerless to change the situation because Wade's position has exceeded the scope of the coaching staff. Pat Riley may be the only one who can correct the chaos, but Riley remains on the sidelines.

From the beginning of the new season to before the Christmas game, the Heat lost 8 games, while in the past few years, they lost at most 5 games during the same period. Facing the Clippers, who currently lead the league with a 3-loss record, the Heat are in a bad situation.

Yao Ming is still the same kind big man, but Coach Spoelstra is not naive enough to think that the way the Heat treat Yao Ming won't make him feel disgusted.

The Heat is one of the few teams in the league that still builds the team in a "big family" mode. During the season, the team regularly organizes group dinners and allows players to bring their families to participate, so that they have a close relationship with each other.

Yao Ming's family members appreciated this very much. As long as the Heat showed sincerity, Yao Ming could have taken another pay cut to stay. But they did not consider this option from the beginning, and finally kicked Yao Ming out in the most ruthless way.

Looking at the smile on Yao Ming's face, Spoelstra couldn't help but think of an ancient Chinese idiom he once said - a smiling face hides a dagger.

In contrast, Yu Fei is more direct. He has no entanglement with the Heat and can say things that Yao Ming is not comfortable saying.

"Yao Ming once told me that he had a very happy time in Miami," Yu Fei said in an interview with TNT before the game. "He said Miami is the best city in the world, but I disagree. I think Seattle is the best city in the world."

"Ironically, none of us could stay in the city we thought was the best," Yu Fei continued, "but I believe Yao Ming will feel more tonight."

TNT's Barkley couldn't help but challenge: "Do you feel more than when you played at Boeing Air Arena?"

"Maybe a little more." Yu Fei said calmly, "After all, I left on my own initiative after deciding to leave, while Yao Ming was rejected when he was ready to stay. Chuck, have you ever felt this way? I guess not, after all, you have never won."

“!##@%”

Several people in the studio began to laugh.

Barkley is a broadcaster who knows how to show effects. He immediately pretended to be defensive and shouted, "I hate you, Frye! You're becoming more and more like Michael!"

"At least I'm still willing to talk to you." Yu Fei said heartbrokenly.

It is well known that Barkley's harsh comments about the Bobcats two years ago led to his breakup with Jordan.

Yu Fei's mention of this made Barkley look even more embarrassed.

However, these dramatic moments are just the prelude to the Christmas War.

The game between the Clippers and the Heat starts in 20 minutes.

Judging from the record, the Heat are currently only third in the Eastern Conference, not as good as the Knicks and Cavaliers, but the title of defending champion is here. If they can keep Wade stable, they may be able to catch up.

Nothing is better than a focus game like this to calm Wade down.

But some of the Clippers' decisions made Wade even more angry.

At the beginning of the game, the Clippers focused on Curry.

Moreover, their purpose and tactical thrust were exposed from the first round.

Yao Ming came to the high post and set a pick-and-roll. Curry faced Thompson and was forced to squeeze out of Yao Ming's mountain-like body.

The purpose of doing this is not really to let Thompson beat his best partner across time and space. The core purpose is to let Curry run as much as possible on the defensive end and squeeze through various pick-and-rolls, thereby tiring him.

At the same time, Yao Ming has a back-up plan after the high-post screen.

He will then retreat to the three-point line. If Ezeli does not follow out, Yao Ming will receive the ball and shoot a three-pointer. If Ezeli comes out, he will pass the ball to Yu Fei so that he can enjoy the benefits of Love, who is one of the best defensive pits in the league.

With this tactic, the Clippers played five rounds in a row at the beginning without any changes. As a result, the Heat let Yu Fei play for two rounds, and Love was beaten. Seeing that they could not give Yu Fei the opportunity to single out Love, they let Yao Ming shoot a three-pointer. Yao Ming made 3 of 2 three-pointers.

This is just a small opening package on the offensive end. The Clippers have more to do on the defensive end. They always keep two people on the strong side and three people on the weak side.

The key to the Heat's strong offense lies in the dual threats of the backcourt duo: Wade has a strong ability to break through, and Curry is known for his amazing outside shooting. Coupled with the assistance of Love and Butler, as long as they play normally, any team will find it difficult to defend. However, the Clippers adopted a 2-3 zone defense tactic, relying on Yao Ming's height advantage to block the restricted area, and then Fei, Jefferson and Antetokounmpo displayed high-intensity defense and switching defense to compress the opponent's offensive space.

Wade was forced to play one-on-one because he had the ball, but the Clippers chose to let Jefferson defend him alone, focusing on limiting Curry and Butler. The Clippers went from strategic contempt to tactical disregard, which completely angered Wade. He tried to defeat his opponent with his personal ability, but his emotional fluctuations caused his hand to be unstable. He only hit one of the first four shots, giving Antetokounmpo and Yu Fei many opportunities for fast breaks.

Less than half a quarter later, the Heat were already in a passive position, and the score gap widened to 9 points. If they did not adjust in time, the gap would likely reach double digits. Coach Spoelstra made a painful decision to replace Wade and let Curry control the ball.

This is a far-reaching decision.

After all, it was Curry in the 2014-15 season who held the ball. In Yu Fei's previous life, Curry emerged as the biggest threat to LeBron James's historic status. This year, Curry entered his prime.

Even though he was suppressed by Wade before, Curry remained calm, never complained, and never played randomly, patiently waiting for the opportunity. Now that the opportunity finally came, he used various pick-and-roll tactics to force Yao Ming to face up to the powerful power of his former teammate.

"We can't let him shoot three-pointers like this anymore!"

After Curry hit two consecutive pick-and-roll three-pointers, Yao Ming said to Fei anxiously.

Yu Fei glanced at Rivers.

The pig-headed coach is still spouting correct nonsense like “rhythm”, “confidence”, “maintain our momentum” etc. which are useful but not very useful.

Yu Fei decided not to wait for Rivers' reaction.

Just kidding, this guy is the king of reversals. By the time he reacts, it is possible that Curry will turn the game around.

Yu Fei first dribbled the ball into the inside and caused Love to foul, then clapped his hands before the free throw to ask his teammates to come to him. He made concise and clear on-the-spot arrangements.

Yu Fei's plan was simple: "From now on, we will switch defenses endlessly. We won't give Stephen Curry any chance to kill us with pick-and-rolls. Remember, we will switch defenses endlessly. Even if we have to let Yao defend Stephen, we must switch defenses! Switch defenses to the end!"

Rivers didn't know what happened. He just saw that Curry no longer enjoyed the treatment of getting intermittent shooting opportunities after a pick-and-roll.

So he cheered: "Good adjustment, this is correct basketball!"

Curry was silent for a while when his opponent changed strategy. The Clippers' outside line was open and Thompson made a three-pointer.

After a round of three-pointers, the score difference instantly widened to double digits.

In the second half, the Clippers insisted on the concept of unlimited switching defense, began to disregard martial ethics, and compared the quality of their stars with the Heat.

They suddenly put Yu Fei and Yao Ming on the strong side, just like the OK Lakers put Kobe and O'Neal on one side, and then let Yu Fei feed the ball to Yao Ming, thus setting a death problem for the opponent - either let Yao Ming play one-on-one, or double-team him, and see what the GOAT will do.

During Yao Ming's several years with the Heat, apart from consistently beating Dwight Howard in the playoffs, he was more of a tool on the court. This is why the Heat looked down on him and chose to give up on him in the summer.

But the Heat are fully aware of how terrifying Yu Fei is.

So, he chose to let Yao Ming play alone.

This is a perfect solution for both parties.

Yao Ming got the chance, he could beat his former team shot after shot, and the Heat got comfort, at least they controlled the GOAT on the outside and made him unable to move.

and then?
In the third quarter, Yao Ming made 100 of 11 low-post shots with almost 10% shooting rate, scoring 23 points in a single quarter and completely sending the game into garbage time by himself.

"So desperate?" Yu Fei teased after Yao Ming went crazy, "Is the grudge so great?"

Yao Ming did feel like he had gotten his revenge, but the good guy image he had maintained for many years prevented him from enjoying the pleasure of revenge while rubbing salt into the opponent's wounds.

He responded humorously: "I don't know the answer to this question now."

Yu Fei laughed after hearing this.

In terms of seniority, they, like Yao Ming, have long been tired of the long regular season and what they really desire is the playoffs and the finals.

However, even the most boring regular season has its meaning.

At the end of 2014, Yu Fei completed his revenge on Clay Bennett, and Yao Ming also took this opportunity to explode against his former club, proving what a serious mistake it was for the other side to let him go.

In the fourth quarter, the game entered garbage time.

Yu Fei and Yao Ming sat on the sidelines, watching Antetokounmpo, Thompson and Jokic, along with two substitute players, frantically rack up stats.

Antetokounmpo received a brilliant pass from Jokic, dunked from the three-point line, and excitedly shouted "Ubuntu".

"It's great to be young," Yao Ming sighed, "Now I can't do whatever I want like them."

Yu Fei asked: "Do you feel you are old?"

"After the Chinese New Year, I will be 36 years old. What do you think?"

"You're still 34 years old even if you haven't celebrated your birthday. Stop saying you're old all the time." Yu Fei snorted. After all, GOAT is only two years younger than Yao Ming. Hearing him say he's old all the time, he will have this mentality one day.

Yao Ming looked at the GOAT speechlessly.

Didn't this guy always claim that he would retire at the age of 35? Why does he still care about this?
At this moment, Yu Fei saw that Jokic had a clear opportunity to dunk, but insisted on showing off his skills, and was blocked by his opponent from behind.

He immediately jumped up and shouted, "Nicholas, are you serious? What's the point of being so tall?!!"

Jokic came back slowly and replied, "For riding horses."

"!@#￥"

The final score failed to truly reflect the gap between the two teams.

121:104.

But it is enough to make Yao Ming proud.

Like Yu Fei, he only played for three quarters, but scored 42 points, 6 rebounds and 4 blocks.

After the game, a reporter asked Yao Ming: "Do you have any resentment towards the Heat?"

Of course Yao Ming would not admit it.

He just said calmly: "No, it's all over. I just chose a team that is willing to give me $1700 million a year."

(End of this chapter)