When pride still matters

Chapter 597 The Clippers are a whole team tonight
Yu Fei recently noticed something: his wife has changed a bit since they got married.

One day, wife Elizabeth Olsen suddenly heard a strange theory from somewhere that mothers should learn to prepare loving dinners for their family.

Isn’t this just an old-fashioned conservative idea?
This family model was very common in American TV dramas in the 80s: the father was the only one with a stable job, his income was enough to support the family, and the mother's responsibility was to take care of the family and do housework.

The modern women's awakening movement is most opposed to this, believing that women should not be bound by these traditional domestic roles. However, Olsen felt that she had to do this.

Yu Fei was quite confused by this. After all, their family had already hired a private chef to take care of kitchen affairs. In this case, Olsen's persistence seemed redundant.

However, Yu Fei did not object, after all, it was not a bad thing.

The real problem came one night when Yu Fei accidentally ate the apple pie that Olsen prepared for Xiao Bufan as a midnight snack. Although Yu Fei argued with reason, he was still locked out of the bedroom for the night.

"When you learn to say 'no' to your wife, man, you are truly mature."

Yu Fei then posted a tweet, which immediately sparked speculation about his marital status.

Yu Fei never shows mercy to such speculation. He directly "becomes possessed by Durant" and attacks those doubters on Twitter.

At the same time, the Clippers' problems also emerged.

The All-Star Weekend is coming, and as the team with the most traffic in the league, the Clippers may have four players selected for the All-Star Game.

However, this is not certain.

The undoubted All-Stars are Yu Fei and Yao Ming, followed closely by Giannis Antetokounmpo, who has made significant progress this season, averaging 17 points, 7 rebounds and 6 assists per game. The uncertain candidate is Klay Thompson.

In terms of statistics, Thompson is not bad, averaging 21 points, 3 rebounds and 2 assists per game. As a shooter, he hits 3.6 three-pointers per game, with a hit rate of over 3%, which is definitely one of the top shooters in the league. At the same time, his defense is also excellent, coupled with accurate shooting skills, he is a rare D player.

Despite his excellent statistical performance, as a third-year player, Thompson is obviously not as eye-catching as other players on the team.

It goes without saying that Yu Fei and Yao Ming are both popular kings; compared with Antetokounmpo, Thompson lacks the visual impact; compared with Jokic, he also lacks the latter's ability to use his hands to create miraculous passes.

With the Clippers, Thompson is a very pure shooter.

That's exactly what the Clippers need him to do.

Last season, Thompson completed 756 catch-and-shoot attempts with the Warriors, which alone allowed him to score 9 points per game, with a 40-point shooting percentage of 60% and an effective shooting percentage of %. He is a player who is both good at running and shooting.

But such players often don't attract fans much most of the time unless they get high scores.

So far, Thompson has maintained a stable offensive rhythm, scoring 20 points per game by relying on the space created by the core players of the team, but few people have noticed him.

Under normal circumstances, a player like him who averaged 20 points per game in Los Angeles would basically have a foot on the All-Star Weekend roster.

But with less than ten days left before the voting deadline, Thompson's All-Star spot remains undecided.

His main competitor happens to be the Warriors' starting guard Damian Lillard.

Since the All-Star voting system has been changed to only include guards and forwards, the No. 1 and No. 2 positions are all counted as guards.

Lillard currently has 30 votes and Thompson has 27.

A difference of 3 votes is just a small number for top stars, but for second-tier stars it is the key to whether they can become All-Star starters.

Thompson is another Avenger besides Yao Ming.

Moreover, like Yao Ming, he has sufficient reasons to take revenge on his former employer.

Yao Ming's situation can be said to be force majeure, after all, the super luxury tax is indeed a staggering figure. The Heat are worried about Yao Ming's contract premium, but in fact they are simply unable to bear the super luxury tax pressure brought by this contract.

In contrast, Thompson's situation is much simpler and more straightforward.

The Warriors' clear core support is Kawhi Leonard, followed by Lillard, and other players can only serve as supporting players.

Thompson himself did nothing wrong, but as a recognized sharpshooter, he performed poorly in the key series and inevitably became the target of public criticism. Therefore, when the Clippers proposed to trade Griffin, the Warriors chose the trade without hesitation.

This deal undoubtedly negates Thompson's value, and he cannot accept such an outcome.

Now in the All-Star voting, Thompson is suppressed by Lillard again. With the All-Star Game just one step away, how can he not be anxious?
Sometimes, the entanglement of grudges is so intriguing.

Just when Thompson urgently needed to prove himself, the schedule brought the Warriors to them.

On the night he arrived at the Oracle Center, Rivers gave an impassioned speech: "I have heard more than once that some people say we regret trading Blake, saying that Blake is better than Klay. But what is the truth? We have no regrets at all! Klay is the top shooter in the league. Tonight we have to give him the greatest support and implement our Ubuntu spirit. Remember, we are great because of others!"

Antetokounmpo shouted excitedly: "Ubuntu!!!"

Yu Fei has long been immune to Rivers's motivation. He and Yao Ming have experienced so much that their mentality and emotions are very stable. In this regard, they are indeed close to the mentality of middle-aged people.

But seeing the young players in the team being incited by Rivers' words, I have to say that as a coach, Pighead Coach is not enough with only professional skills related to coaching, but he is good at everything else.

"You only need to do two things tonight," Yu Fei said to Thompson, "run and shoot."

"I probably took 30 shots," Thompson said.

"As long as you're not too tired, I have no mind if you take 40 shots." Yu Fei's attitude gave Thompson the confidence to shoot at will.

In fact, judging from the number of shots alone, Thompson is the second best player on the Clippers.

Apart from Yu Fei, Thompson is the only player on the Clippers who averages more than 16 shots per game.

In terms of offensive status, Thompson is a very high priority in the Clippers. The only thing he lacks is confidence.

This kind of confidence cannot be expressed in words.

Many young people are confident that they can challenge the world, but when faced with heavy pressure, many of them will collapse due to their lack of experience in coping with stress.

Thompson collapsed once in the playoffs last year.

The result of that time was that his former club sent him to the Clippers like a stray dog ​​on the roadside.

So far this season, Thompson's performance has been extremely stable.

Stability is a good sign, and nothing is more important to a shooter than stability.

But to become a star shooter, stability alone is not enough.

How did Reggie Miller become famous as a shooter? New Yorkers know it best: it was those instantaneous bursts of points, those moments of winning with one strike. This experience will change a person's temperament, turning confidence from an unfounded nothingness into an inexplicable force that can be tangible on the court.

Yu Fei could feel the long-suppressed energy in Thompson, ready to explode at any time.

But this energy did not emerge from the beginning.

At least by the end of the first quarter, the Warriors would not regret trading Thompson.

Thompson's performance was mediocre, and he showed no intention of revenge against his old club.

The turning point of the game came in the second quarter.

Rivers replaced Yao Ming with Jokic, while the other positions remained unchanged.

On the Warriors side, Lillard's offense was fierce. Although Leonard's offense was not as good as expected, his suffocating defense forced Yu Fei to be more focused.

However, the Warriors' weak inside line problem still exists. Even if Griffin is traded, he does not have much advantage at the center position.

The young Big Three need space, but since Thompson was traded, the Warriors have not found a suitable shooter. Veterans like Joe Johnson prefer singles, and it is unrealistic to expect him to become a shooter who pulls space. The Warriors have thus involuntarily become a singles team.

Singles is the most effective offensive method on the basketball court to demonstrate a player's personal strength. It is a time to "show off muscles". The Warriors can often easily defeat teams that lack "muscles". But the Clippers' muscle content is no less than that of the Warriors.

Under Yu Fei's tight defense, Leonard's rhythmic offense imitating Jordan was seriously disrupted due to his lack of solid basic skills.

His attack failed, Jokic grabbed the defensive rebound and quickly passed it to Thompson in the frontcourt, who made a three-pointer.

The Warriors hadn't realized yet that a spectacular individual scoring performance was about to take place.

Then, Joe Johnson challenged Antetokounmpo, only to be blocked by his long arms.

It was another round of counterattack, and Thompson made another three-pointer.

Lillard made an effort and challenged Jokic, barely breaking the deadlock with a mid-range shot, but the score had widened to 6-2.

The Clippers quickly pushed the tempo, Jokic suddenly accelerated the serve, and the offense and defense that should have been a positional battle was forcibly transformed into a fast break by the Clippers. Yu Fei made an accurate pass and assisted Thompson to complete the aerial relay.

"Klay Thompson scored 8 points in a row!"

Lillard responded with another singles.

Afterwards, Yu Fei held the ball, called Jokic for a pick-and-roll, and then passed the ball back to Jokic. Jokic seemed to be pointing at the basket, but in fact he sent a wonderful assist to Thompson, who made another three-pointer. At this time, the Warriors' response was already weak, and the Clippers had just entered the state.

The Warriors tried a three-pointer but missed. Although they retreated quickly, they were unable to really limit the Clippers' offense.

Thompson bypassed the double screen of Jokic and Yu Fei at the baseline, received a pass from Antetokounmpo, turned around and hit a three-pointer; Jokic set a pick-and-roll, Yu Fei passed the ball, and Thompson scored a mid-range shot; Jokic took the ball in the high position, assisted Thompson to slip into the basket and complete a layup after body screen; the Warriors responded with an aggressive three-pointer but missed, Yu Fei grabbed the rebound, passed the ball on a fast break, and Thompson hit another three-pointer.

"Klay Thompson has scored 20 points in a row!"

"He seemed to be telling Golden State in this way that they made a huge mistake!"

The Warriors requested a timeout, but what could a timeout change?
Thompson's scoring method is different from those superstars who play unlimited singles when they are hot. In the process of his consecutive scoring, the time he touches the ball does not even exceed 30 seconds.

That was the opportunity created for him by Yu Fei's passes, Jokic's pick-and-roll and support, and the endless running of Antetokounmpo and others.

This is Klay’s highlight moment, but isn’t it also the pinnacle of team basketball?

Because these opportunities cannot be achieved by Thompson alone.

"This is the most wonderful thing I have ever seen on the basketball court!" Jeff Van Gundy praised, "So what if the Clippers have future warriors like Frye, Yao Ming, and Giannis? These talented guys are willing to do everything for Klay Thompson, just because Klay doesn't want to mess up the game tonight!"

After the timeout, the Warriors made only one adjustment: no longer fight for offensive rebounds.

Once the shot was taken, all players quickly retreated and focused on defending Thompson to prevent him from getting another chance to shoot a three-pointer.

To be fair, this adjustment helped, but not much.

Because although the three-pointer was fatal, the most terrifying thing about the Clippers tonight was the dazzling passing and cutting combination.

Leonard had a difficult back-to-the-basket single play under Yu Fei's defense and made a turnaround jump shot.

Then, Thompson suddenly broke through with the ball and made an urgent stop and shot.

This is a manifestation of people who are overconfident and start doing whatever they want.

The ball went in without a doubt.

The timeout did not interrupt Thompson's touch, but had the opposite effect.

The Warriors' timeout made Thompson realize that his limit was far beyond what he usually saw. Look at the Warriors' fear of him at this moment - they called a timeout specifically to stop him, but they still couldn't stop him!

This was Thompson's awakening moment.

That feeling is like Mitsui Hisashi's personal BGM playing, filled with a sacred feeling that he will never fail.

25分、28分、30分、32分、35分……

In the last round of the first half, Thompson enjoyed GOAT-level treatment - he got the ball on the outside and the Warriors double-teamed him without reservation.

In desperation, he could only take action by force.

The shot seemed impossible to hit, but the moment Thompson shot, Yu Fei couldn't help but spread his hands. He had shot the ball countless times in his life and knew exactly what the arc was when aiming at the basket. He was sure the ball would go in, but he couldn't help but wonder: How did he do it?
"Shh!"

"Why do I suddenly feel that..." Yao Ming suddenly made a cold joke: "Will it be easier to win the championship here than in Miami?"

At the end of the first half, Thompson scored 37 points in the second quarter, plus 8 points in the first quarter, he scored 41 points in the first half.

In modern NBA history, only two people have scored 40+ points in the first half: one is Yu Fei and the other is Kobe.

Tonight, Thompson joined the ranks.

After making that seemingly impossible three-pointer, Thompson yelled at his former Warriors teammates: "Give it to you sons of bitches!"

Antetokounmpo immediately rushed up to celebrate with him.

The Warriors are currently ranked third in the Western Conference. Logically, tonight should have been a fierce battle. But Thompson's outbreak completely changed the direction of the game.

The Clippers took a 28-point lead in the first half.

During the halftime break, Thompson took social media by storm with various highlights going viral.

Clippers head coach Rivers was so excited that his eyes were wet during the halftime interview: "Man! I know you all saw Klay's performance, but in my eyes, that was a whole team! This is the essence of team basketball! Klay believes in his teammates, and his teammates fully support him. He got most of the team's points, so what? This is what basketball should be like! This is real basketball!"

Thompson added 19 points in the third quarter and ended the game with 60 points in three quarters, and the game entered garbage time.

Although this game was full of personal heroism, unlike Kobe's 81 points against the Raptors, or Yu Fei's 71 points against James, after the game people will not only remember Thompson's great performance, but also the support of the team behind him.

"Klay lied to me." Yu Fei commented on Thompson tonight, "He said before the game that he would take 40 shots, but he didn't."

It was an explosive match that caused Thompson's popularity to soar overnight.

Just one day before the All-Star voting window closed, Thompson used this game to increase his vote count by 14, directly leaving Lillard behind by 10 votes.

The 2014-15 All-Star roster has been released, with four Clippers selected, making them undoubtedly the biggest winners of this season.

With his outstanding record, Rivers became the head coach of the Western Conference All-Star team.

Looking back at the beginning of the season, countless people thought that the Clippers were finished, and all kinds of pessimistic voices flooded the media, but now the situation has reversed, which is enough to make the Clippers' supporters dig up the past.

Yu Fei joked on Twitter in celebration of the team's four All-Star selections: "Those who said we were finished, what do you say now?"

The "Curse Game" has just subsided, and another major online cleansing has begun.

Before the rise of social media, people often said that the Internet has no memory. However, with the prosperity of social media, tracing past mistakes and publicly judging them online has become a normal social media game.

For the Clippers, this is just the beginning, and it is not time to be proud yet.

They know that those who belittle them are still lurking, ready to strike back at any time. Public opinion is a round-based game, and once the wind changes, public opinion will turn.

Therefore, they have no choice but to keep winning until their victory completely silences their critics.

(End of this chapter)