When pride still matters

Chapter 605 GOAT is very accurate in judging people
The Warriors' main problem is that their young players, while promising, are too young.

Lillard is not in his peak form yet, Leonard is still a stuck version of Jordan, and Griffin is close to his peak level, but he has never been a decisive figure in the playoffs.

Joe Johnson, the Warriors' most trusted veteran, is neither better nor worse.

He is very useful when the game is not going well or when someone is needed to execute a key shot, but if you expect him to bear this heavy pressure throughout the whole process, it would be a bit too much.

They can rush the 39-year-old Duncan to death, but facing Yu Fei, who is less than 32 and a half years old, the youthful energy can not be exerted much.

Facing a 1-3 situation, the Golden State Warriors still did not lose faith in the fifth game.

They want to prove they are better than they were last year.

Last year they lost to the Clippers 1-4. Will they lose again this year after adding Griffin? If they really play like this, who should be blamed for the loss?

Unfortunately, they did strengthen, but the Clippers strengthened even more.

Putting aside Yao Ming, who is a major reinforcement, Antetokounmpo's growth and Jokic's arrival are obvious reinforcements.

With players such as Richard Jefferson and Gerald Green strengthening the lineup depth, it is no coincidence that the Clippers can win 71 games this year.

The key to the fifth game lies in Yao Ming.

This year is the third consecutive season that Yao Ming has made it into the first team, but the evaluation he received was not high.

Generally speaking, those who can be selected into the first team for three consecutive times are all superstars of a certain era, but Yao Ming did not gain similar reputation because his statistics were not very good, and moreover, the inside players of the same era all had their own problems.

After all, this is an era where even Jordan, who averaged 12 points, 12 rebounds and 2.4 blocks per game, can be selected as the second-team center.

After Yao Ming's successful transformation, due to his outside playing style, the low-post offense of the early years was much less seen. Fans saw him more often shooting three-pointers from the outside, going into the paint to eat cakes, and then scoring 17-18 points per game, and grabbing 6-7 rebounds.

Is this the data of a super inside player?

However, if the opponent really ignores Yao Ming and focuses on dealing with the Clippers' outside line, then Yao Ming will start to punish the opponent.

Although his low-post offensive power is not as strong as it used to be, that is also due to weight loss. Besides, there are not many heavy inside players now, and very few people can withstand him.

This is where the Warriors died tonight.

They tried to let Green deal with Yao Ming.

Yu Fei looked outside and saw Green defending Yao Ming alone?

Not to mention one-on-one defense in the low post, just in terms of physical conditions, Green needs to put in a lot of extra effort if he wants to go around to defend Yao Ming, because he is too small for Yao Ming.

So Yu Fei started to lob the ball to Yao Ming.

Yao Ming got the ball and did nothing else but show off his big hook shot over Green's head.

Green chose path dependence at this moment. He is used to blocking the lower body to deal with contemporary star inside players. Since the era of space basketball has almost harsh requirements on the movement speed of inside players, contemporary inside players basically do not deliberately strengthen their lower limb strength.

Yao Ming was not like that.

His legendary thick calves have attracted attention since his debut. This is his innate advantage in strengthening his lower limb strength, but the trouble brought by the thick calves is also obvious - his lateral speed is inherently insufficient.

Green chose to block Yao Ming's lower body, and he was destined to be severely beaten from the beginning.

Yao Ming completed consecutive attacks in the low post, making it difficult for Green to deal with.

When the Warriors gave the order to double-team Yao Ming, Yu Fei and Yao Ming changed their playing style.

They started to play pick-and-roll, and Yao Ming started shooting three-pointers again.

Even when it comes to three-point shooting, Yao Ming is more accurate than most shooters.

As a 223 cm behemoth, he has a 40% three-point shooting percentage. Any team that dares to let him shoot three-pointers will end up in a bad ending.

The collapse started from the inside and then came to the outside.

Klay Thompson has been waiting for this day since he scored 60 points against the Warriors in the regular season.

60 points in a single game just proves that he has the ability.

But to prove that the Warriors' decision to trade him was wrong, they would have to send them home in the playoffs.

Yao Ming opened fire, Thompson continued to fire, the Warriors' shooting percentage dropped, and Antetokounmpo happily began to counterattack defensively.

The Golden State fell short of their goal.

4 is better than 1
This result is exactly the same as last year.

At the end of the game, Clippers owner Steve Ballmer, frantically throwing oversized buckets of popcorn, rushed to the nearby media and shouted: "You all said we were going to be finished! Now what do you say! We are going to the finals!"

This is a historic night.

The Clippers finally won the first Western Conference championship flag in team history.

Of course, this cannot be compared with the Lakers, a super powerhouse that has countless Western Conference championship flags.

But what matters is the present moment.

This is Yu Fei's ninth time winning the division championship, and he has long been immune to such scenarios.

"Our work is not done yet," Yu Fei told ESPN. "This is just the beginning."

Yes, this is indeed a start.

But the Clippers are going to the Finals.

"The Clippers advanced to the NBA Finals for the first time this season, and this is also the first time in their history that they have advanced. We are about to usher in a Finals with the Clippers involved. This is a strange thing for the NBA - Fry Yufei really did it!"

The media hyped up the news that the Clippers advanced to the finals.

And in the East, a great battle is still not over.

The Knicks and Heat are competing for another Finals spot.

The best outcome for the league would be for the Knicks to reach the Finals.

As a result, the NBA will usher in a finals between the Los Angeles team and the New York team.

It's like putting Marvel's Avengers and DC's Justice League in the same movie.

At the same time, the Heat are also a team that can pursue three consecutive championships.

They also carry historical significance.

Therefore, although the Knicks got a little advantage in the penalty, there was no one-sided "decisive penalty" in the game.

In the first four games, the two teams tied, and when it came to the decisive game, Durant's teammates "betrayed" him.

Iguodala put up comprehensive stats, while DeRozan made just 14 of 2 shots. Rajon Rondo made some contributions in organization, but his lack of proactive offense was fully exploited by the Heat.

Led by Curry, the Heat quickly increased the tempo of the game and eventually defeated their opponents in the fourth quarter.

Durant scored 42 points.

In the sixth game, the Knicks, who had lost all their morale, suffered a complete defeat.

Even Durant's shooting percentage is only 35%.

Los Angeles vs. New York, this showdown is destined not to happen this year.

The Heat advanced to the finals for four consecutive years.

The league has some regrets, but the duel between Yu Fei and Curry is still the biggest drama of the year.

Who is the real winner?
Without a doubt, it’s Reebok.

Yu Fei, Yao Ming and Curry, Reebok's three stars all entered the finals.

No matter who wins the finals, Reebok will win.

Yu Fei blocked out the sounds from outside the venue.

On the day of the finals, he was unusually calm.

As if she felt he was too relaxed, his wife told him that she was pregnant again.

Yu Fei was stunned for a moment. Pregnant?
Does that mean that in ten months, they will have another naughty kid in their family? That's great.

Yu Fei went to the Staples Center with the news.

Probably because the Clippers made it to the finals for the first time in their history, Ballmer spent a lot of money and, taking advantage of the location, invited many stars from Hollywood to perform for the audience before the game.

Even if there is no game, the performance an hour before the game is worth the price of admission.

That's one of the benefits of playing in L.A. Here, stardom is always at your fingertips.

Yu Fei was not in a hurry to share the news that his wife was pregnant again, because many people in the team had no experience in the finals, which was one of their shortcomings.

There are also some people who, despite their experience, have strange emotions towards their opponents in the finals.

For example, Yao Ming did think about defeating the Heat in the finals to prove his worth, but he didn't expect this moment to come so soon.

"You're not scared now, are you?"

Yu Fei joked.

"Afraid? Bullshit!" Yao Ming snorted, "I just have a reason not to lose!"

Yu Fei laughed and said, "What a coincidence? I have the same reason."

"You've won eight championships, so why can't you lose? Are you going to let people live?"

"By the time of next year, my second child should have been born." Yu Fei thought of the scene, completely immersed in the scene he described. "I can't tell him when he grows up that I lost the finals today."

Yao Ming smiled and said, "So, we all have reasons not to lose?"

"almost."

"Then don't lose."

Of course Yu Fei didn't want to lose, but he felt that Yao Ming cared a little too much.

But isn't he the kind of person who would never show mercy if he had the chance to take revenge? Harmless is just his disguise, a conclusion drawn by those stupid media after seeing his appearance.

That night, before the first game between the Clippers and the Heat, the Staples Center was not only packed, but also attended by many Hollywood stars and Clippers legends.

The most famous of them is naturally Bill Walton.

Walton has a good personal relationship with Yu Fei and Yao Ming.

When O'Neal made racist remarks about Yao Ming, Walton was one of the stars who reacted most strongly.

However, Walton has faded out of media work in recent years due to injuries he suffered when he was young. He is now unable to walk normally and needs to rely on a wheelchair, which is very inconvenient.

Today, Walton is not only a special guest, but also a game commentator for a local TV station in Los Angeles.

Before the game started, Yu Fei and Yao Ming came to the sidelines to greet him.

"You know what?" Walton said, "The fact that the Clippers are in the Finals is like the Big Bang being confirmed to me. We never thought it would happen!"

Yu Fei responded: "But it happened, right now, right now, we are in the finals."

"Let's make the best of this explosion!" Walton said.

The game started.

The situation was very tense from the beginning.

Yu Fei unexpectedly discovered that the Heat had solved the partnership problem between Curry and Wade.

This is hard to accept for a superstar who has been at the top of the league for the past two years.

Yu Fei didn't know how the Heat solved it, and later he saw that Wade had a contract option this summer.

Now everything makes sense.

The Heat focused on Yao Ming from the start.

As the most familiar stranger in Miami, Yao Ming obviously invested too much personal emotion.

When Curry treated him as a target and kept calling for pick-and-rolls, the desire to prove himself deep in his heart swept over the 35-year-old veteran.

Yao Ming mistakenly left the basket and was easily broken through.

The failure on the defensive end affected his offense, which is also the main problem of traditional inside players in the modern era.

Even if there is a technological transformation, it is difficult to remain stable mentally.

Once their defense becomes a breakthrough, the offense will want to help the team recover, which will add a psychological burden to themselves.

Yao Ming's mentality was affected and his shooting became inaccurate.

After half a quarter, the Heat took an 8-point lead and Yu Fei immediately reminded Rivers to make a substitution.

Rivers agreed, immediately replaced Yao Ming with Jokic, and then gave Yao Ming some clichéd words of encouragement.

Just as the Heat were shooting free throws, Yu Fei gathered everyone together and made on-the-spot arrangements: unlimited switching defenses, bold and quick counterattacks, and attacks on the opponent's offensive rebounds.

These three points are just aimed at the Heat's small lineup.

After only one round, the Clippers' style of play changed.

Curry can no longer call for a pick-and-roll to get a simple offensive opportunity, and the Heat need to pass the ball.

Love was unable to defeat Yu Fei in the interior, and when he came to the outside, he was defended by Yu Fei again.

Butler tried to play one-on-one, but was blocked by Thompson.

The Clippers' counterattack began immediately.

After the first quarter, the Clippers tied the score and entered the second quarter. Rivers followed the principle of using as many players as possible and kept Yu Fei, Antetokounmpo and Thompson on the court, and replaced Jokic, who couldn't keep up with the rhythm, with Nine-Finger Green.

This change in formation is to push Yu Fei to the center position.

This adjustment hits the Heat's weakness.

The Heat's inside line lacks height, and after the Clippers changed their formation in the first quarter, their response was to continue to reduce their size and use three-pointers to create space.

For them, the Clippers' initiative to give up size is exactly what they want to see.

Both sides feel that the other party's changes are beneficial to them.

Then, something happened that horrified the people of Miami.

Yu Fei began to take the initiative to face Curry.

Next is Antetokounmpo, followed by Jefferson, then nine-fingered Green, and finally Thompson.

Everyone's size and athletic ability gave Curry an overwhelming advantage. As the engine of the team, Curry began to misfire in the second quarter.

The game entered the Clippers' rhythm.

Yu Fei was the only core of the game. He got the ball in the low post, attacked the Heat's defense like a magic trick, and passed the ball like a magician.

Then, Yu Fei cooperated with Antetokounmpo in pick-and-roll.

Either Antetokounmpo breaks into the basket for a dunk, or Yu Fei finds a mismatch for a one-on-one, or he attracts a double-team from the Heat to assist his teammates.

Yu Fei and Antetokounmpo posed too great a threat, so Thompson on the weak side had to be left open. However, this shooter, who should not be left open, extinguished the passion of the Heat with his three-point rain.

In the second quarter, the Clippers suppressed their opponents with a score advantage of 38 to 19.

Yu Fei's performance in this quarter reminded people of how he destroyed the Warriors alone in Game 4 of the conference finals.

The commentator of a local Los Angeles TV station asked Walton on the spot: "Bill, what do you think of Frye's performance in this quarter?"

Then, classic Wharton commentary rings out: "Dana, I'm high up in Sunny Valley, looking down on the desert land, and the red light of the morning sun is lighting up this beautiful sky. I'm reading Edward Abbey's Desert Solitude, and the melody is surging in this smoky crater on opening day. I've been listening to Bob Dylan's album Modern Times, which is simply amazing."

"The tune that I can't get out of my head today is: John Fogarty's 'Center Field,' coach told me to go out there and I'm ready to play today. Or Bob Dylan's 'New Morning.' Dana, like you, I'm so happy to be here under the blue sky on a brand new morning, a new morning, opening day, what could be better than this?"

"Yes, it's Fry Yu's game!"

In the second half, Yu Fei patted Yao Ming on the back and said, "The first half doesn't count. The game starts now."

Yao Ming looked at the score. Well, the Clippers were already leading by 19 points.

GOAT says the game starts now.

What I mean is, garbage time has arrived, so should we take revenge if we have grudges to take?

How could he be this kind of person?

In the end, with the advantage in the first half, the Clippers defeated the Heat by 15 points and won the first finals victory in team history.

值得一提的是，上半场5投1中的姚眀，下半场11投8中，全场怒砍24分6篮板。

GOAT is very good at judging people.

(End of this chapter)