When pride still matters

Chapter 602 The Art of Awarding

The 71 wins give the Clippers home-court advantage in all playoff series.

At the same time, Yu Fei once again gained the MVP reputation.

He won the MVP last year because he led the Clippers, who were not favored by anyone, to a good record that shocked the outside world, and also because his competitors were not gaining momentum, so he was able to win the award easily.

This year, Yu Fei's biggest selling point is that he led the team to the third best record in history - 71 wins, and his personal data showed a trend of rejuvenation. After the madness of March, Yu Fei finally played 77 games, averaging 31 points, 11 rebounds, 7 assists, 2 steals and 1.2 blocks per game.

However, the improvement of the team's record is not enough to be the main plus point for him to compete for MVP. After all, he has led the team to achieve better results. Moreover, the Clippers introduced Yao Ming and Klay Thompson this year, coupled with the growth of Antetokounmpo. Although the media generally predicted these operations and believed that the Clippers would be finished, the results are now completely different from the outside world's speculation, and the media's standards have changed as a result.

As for personal statistics, although Yu Fei's statistics are undoubtedly MVP-level, compared with his previous performances, this is not the most outstanding season. It can be said that his statistics can no longer shock the outside world. He once averaged 36 points per game in an era when the defensive rules were relatively loose, and he also averaged a triple-double during the Bucks' second championship. Even after moving to Seattle, he still averaged a triple-double.

Yu Fei's data has already made people numb.

Therefore, despite his impressive record and impressive personal statistics, Yu Fei's MVP momentum is still not as good as Durant, who led the Knicks to 65 wins. Durant's average statistics are 32 points, 7 rebounds and 6 assists. Except for scoring 1 point more, he is completely suppressed by Yu Fei in other aspects. However, the media always label the GOAT as "aesthetic fatigue" to weaken this gap.

In addition, New York's market influence and media power are no less than Los Angeles. Moreover, the Clippers do not have a monopoly in Los Angeles, and they cannot fully obtain the full support of the media in the entire region.

This is also Nike's top priority right now. They desperately need their players to win MVPs, which will inject a shot of adrenaline into the entire brand.

However, Yu Fei does not care about the struggle behind MVP.

For him, one more MVP is not much, and one less is not too little - after all, he already has 6 MVP trophies.

He is now focused on the first round of the playoffs.

The intensity of competition in the Western Conference this year is brutal.

After the Nets' Big Three broke up, Western Conference teams shared the Nets' carcasses.

Anthony went to the Lakers, Howard went to the Rockets, and Paul went to the Pelicans.

These three teams are currently ranked fourth, fifth and sixth in the Western Conference respectively.

The Lakers ranked highest, followed by the Rockets, and the Pelicans, who had the weakest foundation, ranked sixth.

Ahead of them are the Clippers, Spurs and Warriors.

Such is the competitive pressure in the Western Conference that even if they get a healthy All-Star player, they still can't make it to the top tier.

However, the rise of these three teams has indeed squeezed the living space of other teams.

It was under such circumstances that the Timberwolves were squeezed out of the playoffs.

The Mavericks, who have been fighting with the Spurs since the 2000s, also fell behind this year, barely ranking eighth in the Western Conference and facing the big boss Clippers in the first round.

The Mavericks are no longer a championship contender.

The last time they had a chance to compete for a title was the season after Tony Parker moved to Dallas.

But Parker's peak ended in the summer of 2013. As a star player who relied on speed, injuries and age caused him to decline faster than his peak running speed.

After Parker's decline, the Mavericks can only make up for the quality of the ball handlers with quantity.

They brought in another veteran, Monta Ellis, and signed an even older veteran, Andre Miller, to work with Parker to ensure the system could function normally.

Nowitzki is not at his peak anymore. In his early years, the German tank could make up for his lack of defense with offense, but now, in order to prevent his defense from causing trouble, the Mavericks signed Tyson Chandler to clean up the mess, and then, dug Chandler Parsons from Seattle last summer.

Today's NBA is no longer the same NBA as when Cuban first bought the team.

The league has taken severe punishment measures against those wealthy and willful teams. People like Cuban, who are not that rich among the owners, naturally become the people he hated the most.

He began to calculate every expense and stopped acting recklessly. He could give up anyone except Nowitzki.

Meeting Yu Fei's team again in the playoffs after many years has a different meaning for the Mavericks veterans.

Before the series began, Nowitzki was asked, "Is this different from 2006?"

"One thing is different," Nowitzki said. "No one thought we could win this time."

Before the first game of the series, Yu Fei and Parsons caught up on the past.

Parsons didn't want to leave Seattle, but if he wanted more money, he had to leave.

Loyalty is one thing, more money is another.

Parsons chose more money without hesitation.

"How does it feel to be in Dallas?" Yu Fei asked.

"I like it here," Parsons said. "There's not as much pressure as in Seattle, and there aren't a lot of eyes on me."

That's why the Mavericks are no longer the same.

They have become a team like the Bucks.

They try not to be bad, but they don't have the heart to compete for supremacy. However, they do have the idea of ​​entering the playoffs in the name of competing for supremacy and tricking fans into booking season tickets for next season, and it's a big idea.

"It seems that I can only let you go on holiday early." Yu Fei said, "This is the only thing I can do for you."

"No, GOAT!" Parsons pretended to shout.

The game started immediately.

The Mavericks don't have many tricks to play against the Clippers, basically just using various types of zone defense back and forth.

Because Antetokounmpo is nominally the Clippers' point guard, although the Greek retained the shooting posture and rhythm of his rookie period under Yu Fei's reminder, his body is ultimately too big, and it is impossible for him to dribble and organize the ball while taking into account his shooting feel.

Therefore, the zone defense works wonders for Antetokounmpo. Once he is unable to hold the ball and cause damage, he has to pass the ball to Yu Fei in large quantities.

In this way, he actually became a tool man for dribbling across half court.

Every team that plays the Clippers will push them to this point.

A team that cannot achieve this is basically a team that is so weak that Yu Fei is not worthy of taking it seriously.

But once the ball comes into Yu Fei's hands, there is almost no team that can cope with it.

Yu Fei is now like a small Jokic, with one person holding the ball, four people running around, and five opponents keeping a close eye on him all the time.

He can always seize the gaps in the defense and make accurate passes.

If the defense is good enough, he will decisively switch to offensive mode.

Tonight, the Mavericks wanted to limit Yu Fei's cooperation with his teammates and suppress his personal offense through double-teaming. However, the two-pronged tactic was poorly executed and turned into a situation full of loopholes.

Yu Fei made a series of fake moves to attract double-teaming, and then lobbed the ball to Yao Ming for an easy dunk.

The Mavericks tried to disrupt Yu Fei through a combination of real and fake defense, but this trick only fooled the young man.

Yu Fei directly called for a pick-and-roll, forced Nowitzki to play, and made the opponent relive the bitter memories of the summer of 2006.

The only place where the Mavericks can compete with the Clippers is when the guards connect with Nowitzki and Patterson on the outside when they hold the ball. But the Clippers' defensive resources are too abundant.

Antetokounmpo's physical fitness and mobility often allow him to cover two people at the same time when defending, and Richard Jefferson is one of the few veterans who has deteriorated the least on the defensive end. Add in Yu Fei, who suddenly started to exert his strength on the defensive end after February, and top 3D player Klay Thompson, and the Clippers' defense is almost impeccable.

The only defensive loophole of the Clippers may be Yao Ming, who has difficulty dealing with pick-and-rolls and cannot limit the opponent's outside shooting tactics. However, there are four players in the Clippers' starting lineup who can switch defense, so it is not easy to train Yao Ming. Due to their own shortcomings, the Mavericks players also failed to successfully complete targeted attacks.

In the end, the Mavericks lost by a large margin. They found out helplessly that even though they didn't make too many mistakes, they were still completely beaten.

The gap in hard power between the two teams is there. As long as the Clippers don't encounter any accidents, the result will be difficult to change no matter how Dallas struggles.

Nowitzki was in poor form tonight. Not only did he fail to create pressure on Yu Fei at the four position, but he also forced the Mavericks to have other players guard Yu Fei in a staggered manner in order to cover him.

Even with the utmost protection for Nowitzki, Yu Fei could still find many opportunities to name him.

If a team has to patch up its core players in order to protect them, and the core still cannot play its role, then it is worth pondering whether the existence of this core still has meaning.

“Should Dallas take the keys back from Dirk?”

The TNT team raised this question when discussing Nowitzki's poor performance in G1.

Both Barkley and O'Neal believe that the Mavericks should give up continuing to use Nowitzki as the core and start rebuilding from next season.

Guest Magic Johnson said: "This is not just a basketball issue. This is Dirk's 17th season with Dallas. I believe they know that there will be no better results if they persist, but this 17-year emotional bond is extremely rare in professional sports."

This also leads to another topic. If Nowitzki wanted to win the championship, he could have left Dallas. With his strength, landing in the top three teams in the East and West could almost break the league pattern. However, he chose to stick with it.

Now that he's old, is Dallas going to turn its back on him?
That’s the problem with ring culture—winning comes first.

Nowitzki's choice with the Mavericks is a two-way loyalty. They are not swayed by outside public opinion.

In the second game that followed, the Mavericks forced the Clippers into overtime, and Nowitzki was in explosive form, scoring 35 points.

But in the end, Yu Fei and Thompson's dominant performance in overtime prevented defeat.

The Mavericks lost their spirits in the overtime of the second game. When they returned to their home court, they made consecutive mistakes and the Clippers won three games in a row without any bloodshed.

With a score of 3-0, Dallas no longer had a chance to create a miracle.

This is the first time Yu Fei has played a series with the Mavericks since 2006.

He remembers the 2006 Finals, and is particularly impressed by what Nowitzki said after losing the Finals.

So, he now has a problem.

In the fourth game of the first round, the American Airlines Center was still full of spectators.

Mavericks fans cheered for their team with all their might.

The Mavericks seemed to cheer up a little, and their condition improved compared to the third game, but Yu Fei and Thompson's three-point rain from the outside quickly woke them up from their dream of winning.

The game entered the Clippers' rhythm, and the Mavericks' season journey also entered the countdown.

In the end, the Clippers defeated the Mavericks without any suspense and advanced to the semifinals with a score of 4-0.

Nowitzki didn't seem to be in pain. After all, they were definitely underdogs. Winning was a surprise, but losing was the norm. He had become numb to it. When he walked in front of Yu Fei and was about to say "Congratulations", Yu Fei asked first, "Does time really solve everything, Dirk?"

This question brought Nowitzki back to nine years ago.

After losing the finals that year, ESPN's Jim Gray asked him: "How are you going to digest this year's failure?"

Nowitzki replied: "Time will solve everything."

However, the most famous line from that year's final was Yu Fei's acceptance speech: "Because you don't know if there is enough time."

Later, it was widely believed that this was a sign that Yu Fei was about to leave Milwaukee, suggesting that time was running out to save the Seattle SuperSonics.

Now, when Yu Fei brought up the matter again, Nowitzki couldn't help but recall the opportunities he had missed over the years. He had many opportunities to join a super team like James, but he ultimately chose to stay in Dallas. The reward for this loyalty was a 17-year record without a championship.

Obviously, this record will continue until the day he retires.

However, looking at James' experience with the Lakers, has he really succeeded? Even if he leaves Dallas, he may not be successful.

After meeting Yu Fei, Nowitzki felt more and more that his choices over the years were not wrong.

"It's solved," Nowitzki said softly. "I just lost to a better player."

Nowitzki knows that he doesn't have enough time, and he has fully accepted that his career is likely to be championship-less.

"That's good." Yu Fei said no more, "See you next season."

The Clippers easily defeated the Mavericks, and the post-game awards ceremony followed.

Curry, Harden, Durant, Yu Fei and Yao Ming were selected to the best team.

This is a big highlight today. James, who has been selected to the first team for many consecutive years, dropped to the second team this year.

James' camp has hinted everywhere that this is because Nike's publicity machine has shifted away from James and toward Durant.

The big city effect is also perfectly reflected in Thompson. This season, Thompson averaged only 21 points, 3 rebounds and 2 assists per game, which is almost the same as his data in the Warriors last season, but he was successfully selected to the third team.

Next is the announcement of the best defensive team.

Paul, Yu Fei, Leonard, Draymond Green and Jordan were selected for the first defense, and Giannis Antetokounmpo was selected for the second defense.

Then came the second highlight of the day: Yu Fei beat Jordan Jr. and Leonard to be elected the best defensive player (DPOY).

Some of Yu Fei's haters claimed: "This is direct evidence that Reebok manipulated media votes!"

Yu Fei's defense has long been controversial.

Critics think his defense is like Dr. J. Although he averaged 2.3 steals and 1.5 blocks per game, he has never been selected to the All-Defensive Team. Given Dr. J's popularity, if his defense was half as good as his statistics, he would have been selected long ago.

Comparing Yu Fei with Dr. J is undoubtedly a satire that his defensive data was "brushed up".

Supporters have tried hard to prove the actual effectiveness of Yu Fei's defense, but controversy about his defense has always existed for many years.

Winning the DPOY this time seems to have touched the nerves of some people. After all, this is the only honor that Jordan has and Yu Fei has not had before.

However, Yu Fei's camp was not happy that he won the DPOY. Winning the DPOY meant that the media was indeed going to label him as "aesthetic fatigue" and then choose Durant as the MVP instead.

Giving the DPOY award to Yu Fei now seems to be an attempt to silence outside criticism in the future.

But Yu Fei himself is quite open-minded. He is not like the people in his team who want to take all the honors. After all, he is already recognized as the GOAT, and every additional honor he wins will only make it more difficult for future pursuers to catch up.

So what if the MVP goes to Durant? The key to who wins the season is still who wins the championship.

Therefore, Yu Fei quickly ordered the team to stop discussing who would win the award.

If we don't talk about MVP, the Clippers are undoubtedly the biggest winners this season: the best record in the league, three players selected to the All-NBA Team, and three players selected to the All-Defensive Team. The Coach of the Year award belongs to Rivers, and the General Manager of the Year award goes to Arn Tellem, who was criticized during the offseason.

The entire Clippers team is thriving, and the big market effect of Los Angeles is also emerging.

The team's revenue, market share and influence in Los Angeles are all growing rapidly.

As long as the Clippers can win the championship, the Lakers will no longer be the only franchise in Los Angeles that is the pride of the city.

(End of this chapter)