When pride still matters

Chapter 616 Wish you good luck
Whether it is Bosh's injury or the trade deadline of this season, their subsequent impact will not change the pattern of the season. Only the team itself will have problems because of it.

As the most watched team, the first thing the Clippers need to do is to focus on their game.

For small-market teams, it's easy.

If you don't have enough entertainment outside the stadium and the local media is not very noticeable, then you won't be distracted by things outside the game.

But playing in Los Angeles, it's so difficult.

An ordinary little thing may not attract any attention if it happens to other teams, but if it happens in a Los Angeles team, it will attract attention and be interpreted from various angles.

Yu Fei ignored his teammates' calls.

Oh, the GOAT doesn't like him, and he can't stay with the Clippers anymore.

Yao Ming had a serious expression on his face off the court.

Oh, Yao doesn't want to play as a substitute anymore, when are we going to get him back in the starting lineup?
Antetokounmpo and Jokic quarreled.

Oh, there is no harmony among the young Clippers.

Interestingly, that last thing is true.

Antetokounmpo believes that there is a serious competition between him and Jokic. Therefore, he will target Jokic intentionally or unintentionally from time to time. Jokic is unaware of this and does not think that competing for the position of the team leader is something he needs to consider.

Apart from Antetokounmpo, no other Clippers player would seriously think about who should take over as the team leader after the GOAT retires. It is this difference in thinking that has led to Antetokounmpo and Jokic's dislike for each other.

This subtle hostility has also spread to their fan base.

Antetokounmpo's extreme fans claim that Jokic has fatal flaws in defense and is not up to the task.

Although Jokic's fans are fewer in number, they are also good at counterattacking the opponent in defensive counterattacks. They generally do not confront Antetokounmpo's fans head-on because the opponent can easily overwhelm them with their numerical advantage.

However, whenever Antetokounmpo plays a bad game, Jokic's fans will seize the opportunity to attack his rough skills, sarcastically saying: "This is the successor to GOAT? Don't mention this again!"

This kind of fighting between fans made Yu Fei feel familiar. He vaguely remembered that when he was browsing forums in his previous life, if he entered the sections of rebuilding teams with multiple lottery picks, he would see fans of each team arguing endlessly to defend their own players.

This phenomenon is equally common in the United States, especially in the Clippers - the team has two famous young inside players, which provides fertile soil for this toxic fan culture.

Yu Fei is powerless to stop this situation, as it is an inevitable product of the development of social media. Regardless of the industry, fan groups will develop into "fan circles" and fall into a state of mutual hostility.

Compared to loose fan groups, the competition between fan circles is more like an ideological confrontation, and they cannot tolerate each other. Whoever wins the game will temporarily gain the upper hand, and third parties will take the opportunity to fan the flames.

In this atmosphere, the technical flaws of Antetokounmpo and Jokic were exaggerated by the fans and everyone knew about it. Especially Jokic's defensive problems. Whenever he was substituted out, the commentator would comment: "As long as the Clippers can't solve Nikola's defensive problems, they have to make substitutions."

However, this is not always the case. In the data era, judging an inside player's defensive ability is no longer just based on blocked shots and rebounding data.

The Clippers also have a statistical indicator for "bluffing" defense, which is mainly used to measure the performance of players in protecting the rim and influencing opponents. In this statistical indicator, positioning and selection are particularly critical.

According to the Clippers' internal statistics, Jokic is one of the best inside players in the league in terms of positioning and selection.

A negative example is Andre Drummond, the rebounding champion who averages 15 rebounds per game. Although his theoretical data seems excellent, his defensive positioning is too retro and not adapted to the development of modern basketball.

Jokic's main problem is that his defensive awareness and technique have reached S-level, but his movement speed is only D-level.

Many times, although his mind could keep up with the opponent's attack, his body could not, and he was eventually successfully scored by the opponent using the "fishing enforcement" tactics.

This kind of thing is basically unsolvable by Jokic alone, and he can only ask Yu Fei, Antetokounmpo and others for more help.

Clippers games are accompanied by small fights on and off the court. Antetokounmpo likes to pick on Jokic, and now, Jokic will also find ways to fight back, but the scope of their fight is strictly controlled and has never spread.

"It's becoming less and less of a question - is there a team that can stop the Clippers in the playoffs?"

The Clippers never popped the champagne, but the media did it for them.

When they entered April with a 67-7 record, expectations began to rise that they would make the playoffs with an unprecedented 74-7 record.

This desire is undoubtedly a burden imposed on the team.

The Clippers couldn't hold on because they had been winning for too long.

In early April, Curry and the Heat transformed into dragon-slaying warriors, scoring 54 points with unstoppable shooting skills and handing the Clippers their eighth defeat of the season.

"I want to thank Stephen," Yu Fei said. "Thanks to him, we no longer have to worry about record keeping."

After losing the chance to break the record, the regular season doesn't mean much to the Clippers.

They have already secured first place in the league, and that won't change even if they lose all their remaining games.

Rivers, who has always liked to coach in a strict manner, began to imitate Popovich and implement large-scale rest at Yu Fei's suggestion.

Yu Fei also rested for two games at the end of the season.

This delayed his 33000-point milestone until the final game of the season.

That night, their opponent was the Portland Trail Blazers.

Yu Fei only needs to get 25 points tonight to join the 33000-point club.

As an all-around forward, Yu Fei does not reject being regarded as a scorer, because his performance of averaging 36 points per game in the last year of his starting era was deeply rooted in the hearts of the people.

Over the years, Yu Fei has basically remained healthy. With the advent of the space age and the fact that the team has needed him to support the team independently for many seasons, his scoring statistics have remained high. He currently averages 30 points, 10 rebounds and 9 assists per game in his career. Including tonight's game against the Trail Blazers, this is his 1100th game in his career.

Entering the 1100-point club in his 33000th career game seems like a wonderful counterpoint.

In the end, Yu Fei did not disappoint the audience. In this game where everyone liked him to score, he took 30 shots, scored 52 points and 11 rebounds, bringing the season to a perfect end.

After the game, Portland's home game ball was given to Yu Fei, and Yu Fei threw the ball into the audience, he didn't need it.

The reporter asked him: "Why don't you keep the ball?"

"Then there are too many things I need to leave behind." Yu Fei said with a smile, "33000 points is just the result of data statistics. There is no need to remember it."

"But it's still great, isn't it?"

"I think so. It means you need to stay healthy and perform well for 14 consecutive seasons," Yu Fei said. "That's really great."

Then, the reporter who loves to fantasize asked another question: "If the 2011-12 season had not been suspended, your total score might be more than 35000 points now, which means you might surpass Kareem Jabbar and become the NBA's all-time scoring leader before the age of 37. Does this bother you?"

"Becoming the all-time scoring leader is still a great achievement, which means that a player can maintain an excellent competitive state for nearly 20 years," Yu Fei said, "but it is essentially a statistical result."

"If you see me on the court when I'm 37, it's definitely not for the sake of chasing a record, it's just because I love basketball."

Changes began to happen to Yu Fei that even he had not expected.

He became more and more fond of reasoning and correcting reporters' questions, gradually showing the characteristics of a greasy middle-aged man, and often citing his own years of experience and lessons.

When you try to refute him, he will show a rare fighting spirit and try his best to respond to your questions.

Therefore, reporters often have no choice but to surrender and think: Yes, what GOAT said is right, the historical scoring champion is not particularly great, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar must have fainted in the toilet crying.

The most interesting thing is that Kareem Abdul-Jabbar himself quoted Yu Fei's interview on Twitter and said: "Fry Yu is a real basketball player who knows what is most important."

At the end of the regular season, the Clippers entered the playoffs with an impressive record of 73 wins and 8 losses.

Yu Fei played in 77 games this season, averaging 25 points, 7 rebounds and 7 assists per game.

His statistics have declined compared to last season because of the growth of Antetokounmpo and Jokic, which led to the team's redistribution of the ball.

In the first round of the Western Conference playoffs, the Clippers faced the Rockets, who were ranked eighth in the Western Conference.

The Rockets have been plagued by Howard's problems this season, and their regular season performance has not met expectations. They had a chance to turn things around before the trade deadline, but because they did not receive a satisfactory offer, they eventually gave up the deal and had to drag the problem to the end of the season. Howard's shadow still looms over the team.

Facing the Rockets, who were facing internal and external troubles, Clippers coach Rivers seemed calm as usual. His strategy was to lock down Harden, so that no matter how hard the other Rockets players tried, they could not really shake the lifeblood of the Clippers.

Interestingly, Rockets head coach Kevin McHale has a similar strategy.

He tried to limit Yu Fei through double-teaming and double-teaming, hoping that the other Clippers players could not complete the fatal blow. However, it turned out that this tactic had limited effect. Although the Rockets did successfully limit Yu Fei for one game, the flexible and changeable play of the other Clippers players made it difficult for the Rockets' defense to cope.

Rivers' strategy worked. Harden, one of the few stars in the West who can destroy his opponent single-handedly, is likely to explode at any time once he finds his touch. Therefore, the Clippers' focus throughout the series was to make Harden play unpleasantly. And it turned out that the Clippers did just that.

For Harden, the Clippers' defensive resources are too rich. Tall, short, strong, thin, fast, dirty, jumpy - no matter what type of defender he faces, Rivers can find a corresponding countermeasure. On the contrary, the Rockets' strategy of locking down Flying only worked in the first game, and then the Clippers controlled the rhythm of the entire series.

Afterwards, Yu Fei easily broke the opponent's strategy with off-ball movement, and the series suddenly became one-sided.

The Rockets, who already had internal problems, had no good strategy in this situation and were immediately defeated and swept out by the Clippers 4-0.

Before the semi-finals, the league announced the winners of most awards. Unlike last year, there are not so many controversies this year.

Curry, Harden, Yu Fei, Durant and Anthony Davis were selected for the first team.

In addition to Yu Fei, Antetokounmpo and Thompson were selected to the third team.

Rivers won the Coach of the Year award for the second consecutive year.

Yao Ming was naturally elected the best sixth man of the year.

In terms of the best defensive team, Yu Fei, who was elected DPOY last year, obviously lacked energy on the defensive end this year. Not to mention defending the DPOY title, he didn't even make the best defensive team.

This kind of thing inevitably makes people wonder whether the media people responsible for voting are too frivolous.

Then came the semi-finals.

The situation in the East is that the Knicks are in the first place, looking down on the rest of the pack with each passing round: Who’s next?
In the West, the Clippers are even more unbridled. To them, it doesn't matter who comes.

The biggest surprise this year is that the Clippers and Spurs met in the semifinals.

This is a moment that many Yu Fei supporters have been waiting for for a long time.

Because the Spurs defeated Yu Fei's team consecutively in 2013 and 2014. Although there was a gap in overall strength, defeating Yu Fei in the playoffs for two consecutive years has become the Spurs' strongest record since winning the championship in 2005.

It is unknown how long Duncan can play. Once No. 21 leaves, the history of the Spurs will be over.

Therefore, Yu Fei needs to take revenge before that.

Now is a good time.

The aging of the Spurs and the rise of the Western Conference powers prevented them from maintaining their record advantage in the regular season. After the All-Star Weekend, due to the chain reaction brought about by the Pau Gasol trade, they lost many games that they should not have lost and fell to fourth in the Western Conference.

This would put them up against the Clippers early.

With the Clippers' strength this year, no one wants to meet them early in the playoffs.

"If we only look at the prospect of the battle, why don't we just give the championship trophy to the Clippers?" Popovich refuted those who were pessimistic about them. "As a result, you see, they still have to play a series with us, and it's hard to say who will win or lose."

In the first game of the following series, the Spurs wanted to use a blitzkrieg to catch the Clippers by surprise, and their strategic goal was achieved most of the time.

Antetokounmpo really lost himself in this blitz.

But they have the GOAT.

Yu Fei began to control the ball and shorten the time. Rivers also shortened the rotation, determined to compete with the Spurs in terms of lineup strength.

At the end of the confrontation between the two sides, the Spurs' veterans were too old and their young players were too young, while Yu Fei was at an age that was neither old nor young.

He can still run, jump, and dominate the game when he gets up.

In the last two minutes, the Clippers went on a 12-1 run to secure their final victory.

"Frye vs. Tim, how many times can we see this?" Jeff Van Gundy expressed the thoughts of basketball fans, "No matter how many times, it's not enough!"

In the second game two days later, the Spurs lost decisively.

They planned to return home and give the Clippers a beating, and they did just that.

On the road, the Clippers faced obvious home whistles and an extremely oppressive away atmosphere, and their form began to fluctuate. The Spurs may have had only this one chance to beat the Clippers in a series, and they seized it.

Like Rivers, Popovich played with a short rotation, using shooting range and home-court advantage to defeat the Clippers, breaking the opponent's unbeaten record since the start of the playoffs.

"Our goal is to go away with a score of 2-2!"

This is what Duncan said after the game.

So the series came to the fourth game.

A small episode in this game was that Yu Fei won the seventh MVP trophy of his career in the official announcement.

What is the significance of this matter?

He surpassed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to become the person with the most MVP awards in NBA history.

"Aesthetic fatigue" is finally no longer a reason to prevent him from winning the award, but GOAT supporters still remember last year's defeat: "Frye should have eight MVPs."

The Spurs, who were determined to tie the series 2-2, were completely dominated by the Clippers in this crucial battle.

Antetokounmpo has found his touch from the outside, and once he can make a shot, he is unguardable.

Jokic showed Duncan the future of the Serbian.

Then, Yao Ming's explosive performance as the sixth man became the last straw that broke the camel's back for the Spurs.

MVP didn't play to his full potential, but his teammates helped him win the game.

The reporter asked Yu Fei presumptuously: "Are you considering your opponent in the regional finals now?"

"The Spurs haven't been eliminated yet," Yu Fei reminded him. "Give them some respect."

The Spurs are indeed not dead yet, but their death has been announced and the funeral will be held in Los Angeles.

Semi-final Game 5
Before the game started, the Spurs arrived at the scene half an hour in advance to get a feel for the game.

Duncan could feel that the morale of the team had fallen to the bottom, and winning became a luxury. This situation has been common in the past few years.

"What's the fun in a competition like this?" he thought to himself.

Perhaps to ease the depressing atmosphere, Duncan suddenly laughed at himself: "You guys, I'm almost 40 years old, and I'm still discussing those 18+ tactics names with you young people, what the hell am I doing?"

However, none of his teammates got his humor, and everyone's reactions seemed blank.

At that moment, Duncan knew that tonight's game would be the last game of his career. He was too old, so old that he had lost all his enthusiasm. If he didn't even have the motivation to be serious at the critical moment that determined the fate of the season, what reason did he have to believe that he could persist for another season?
A few hours later, the game that would decide the Spurs' fate began.

Yu Fei started the game with great momentum, hitting three-pointers in a row, as if he was going to strangle his opponent's throat. The Spurs responded with George's singles and Walker and Duncan's pick-and-roll cooperation.

The young players didn't have a good touch, but they could still rely on Duncan's veteran experience. Duncan grabbed offensive rebounds again and again and completed the second offense skillfully. It was not until the second quarter that his teammates finally recovered.

The game seemed to have not lost its suspense, but that was all. The Clippers' strongest point was their GOAT, and the terrifying thing about GOAT was that he could control the entire team like an arm.

There was a time when Duncan had that ability, but he's no longer the same player he once was, and the Spurs have lost their explosiveness.

At the end of the first half, the Clippers led by 9 points.

At the beginning of the second half, Yu Fei continued to soar, widening the gap to 15 points. Later, Duncan's low-post singles and Ginobili's magical three-pointer narrowed the gap again, and the game was kept in a tense stalemate. The persistence of the veterans was rewarded by the young people, and the game was still full of suspense in the fourth quarter.

The Clippers always maintained a lead of more than 8 points. When Duncan caused Jokic's sixth foul and scored his 24th point, even the commentator Van Gundy, who supported the Clippers, was moved: "No matter what the outcome is, TD, you should give us a chance to say goodbye officially!"

Duncan didn't hear this because he was focusing on defending Yu Fei at the moment.

However, Yu Fei responded to Duncan's attack with a beautiful jump shot in the next second. This scene seemed to bring people back to the finals more than a decade ago, when the two were still young and Duncan was considered the better one, but Yu Fei finally had the last laugh.

Today, Yu Fei still wins in the end. He is the biggest winner in the NBA since the 21st century, and even the greatest winner since the merger of the league.

Duncan tried to respond to Yu Fei. He asked for the ball again, backed up, turned around and hooked the ball. However, Yu Fei saw through it. He jumped up and blocked the ball out of bounds.

"Don't even think about it!" Yu Fei roared.

"Good defense," Duncan said.

These two veterans, who are nearly 80 years old in total, fought until the last second.

In the end, the Clippers defeated the Spurs by 9 points.

When the final whistle sounded, Duncan thought sadly that this might be the best game he had ever played in his life, and it would also be his last time to face such an excellent opponent.

The score was fixed at 4 to 1, and the Clippers eliminated the Spurs. This was a hurdle they had to overcome on their way to defending their title, and the Spurs were about to face a huge change.

After the game, Duncan and Yu Fei hugged each other. He patted each other's back and whispered, "Frye, I've had enough. Right here, I want to tell you that I don't play basketball anymore. This is where I end up. I hope you know that I will miss playing against you on the court all these years."

After hearing this, Yu Fei's expression did not change at all. He just responded in an extremely calm tone: "Good luck to you."

(End of this chapter)