When pride still matters

Chapter 618: Like It Will Never Stop

“Don’t forget Michael lost to Detroit three years in a row, too.”

This was the last time Steve Kerr showed off his deep-rooted media attributes after the Warriors were eliminated by the Clippers.

Perhaps it was not Cole's intention to cause ridicule, but he did it unintentionally.

《洛杉矶时报》尖锐地讽刺科尔：“迈克尔·乔丹在连续三年输给底特律的比分分别是1比4、2比4和3比4，第四年他们横扫了底特律。而勇士队在过去三年输给快船的比分是1比4、1比4和0比4。我不知道科尔是否具备基本的观察能力。自从克莱·汤普森被交易后，勇士队在快船面前越来越毫无竞争力。”

Kerr's comments were ridiculed for a few days, and then the Warriors began to evaluate his performance over the past two years.

In the summer of 2014, Kerr signed a multi-year contract with the Warriors.

But in the NBA, multi-year contracts for coaches have never meant security.

It is not uncommon for a coach to be fired and leave with liquidated damages after only one year of a five-year contract.

This is just like in professional League of Legends matches, fans often attribute failures to BP problems, pointing the finger at the coaching staff. Compared with the replacement of players, it is much easier to replace the coaching staff.

This is not only a phenomenon in LOL, but the norm in competitive sports as a whole.

The coach is always the most stable person to take the blame.

Although Kerr's tactical ideas are novel and suitable for the current era of space basketball, the Warriors believe that the players' progress is too slow under him.

For a team that likes to "loan the future", this is undoubtedly fatal.

So, on the third day after the Western Conference Finals, the Warriors officially announced that Kerr was fired.

This experience seemed to make Kerr discouraged about front-line work in the NBA.

He decided to bring his talent back to the media world.

On the same day he was fired, Kerr announced that he had signed a contract with ESPN to become a program analyst.

Just like that, the fate of a Hall of Fame candidate who once had the potential to be among the top 15 coaches in NBA history was completely changed.

Meanwhile, in the East, Durant and Curry are battling it out for Finals glory.

Curry lost last year, but hopes to challenge again.

However, this time, the Knicks' overall strength is clearly superior.

They have a formidable frontcourt combination -- Durant, Iguodala and Aldridge -- that dwarfs Miami's Butler and Love.

Most of the time, the Heat rely too much on Curry's outside touch.

But over-dependence can bring enormous pressure.

Curry was not able to hold on until the end like he did last year.

In Game 21 of the Eastern Conference Finals, the Knicks relied on their strong wing lineup to defeat the Heat and returned to the Finals after years.

Moreover, this matchup has a completely different meaning for the league.

Yu Fei VS Durant

One is the absolute ruler for nearly 15 years, and the other is considered to be the one who is expected to take over the league after Yu Fei retires.

"Don't hype it up," Yu Fei told the media before the finals. "Don't bring unnecessary pressure to Kevin. You know, he's like my little brother."

This scene will undoubtedly be familiar to James' fans.

However, the mean New Yorkers just felt that the GOAT was looking down on Durant.

They were very angry about this.

Because their wish is to see Durant defeat Yu Fei, thereby ending an old era and starting a new era.

Before we knew it, it has been four years since Durant was traded to New York.

It can be said that the Durant trade marked the collapse of the Supersonics dynasty. From then on, everything went wrong.

The GOAT left Seattle and would never play for the team he saved.

As the "consolation prize" of the Durant trade, Kyrie Irving is fighting alone in Seattle and barely holding on.

Brandon Roy was plagued by injuries and was once again ruled out for the season in the middle of the season. Doctors believed that the career of this Seattle hero was about to end.

Durant hasn't started his era in New York as expected, at least not yet. He's just made New York fans believe that he can start his own dynasty, just as they once believed that Patrick Ewing could do it.

A few days later, the finals kicked off.

The New York Knicks came to Los Angeles and walked into the Staples Center, the arena once dominated by the Purple and Gold Army.

Yu Fei seemed to have forgotten that he had played against Durant in the regular season, and still joked when they met: "Kevin, how was your year?"

Durant smiled and replied, "Great. It would be even better if we could win the championship."

Yu Fei continued to tease with a smile: "If I don't help you achieve the best ending, will you complain about me on Twitter with your trumpet?"

Five years have passed, and Durant's criticized black history has now become a topic that everyone can talk about freely.

"Now I only use my big account to send these things," Durant replied.

"It seems that you no longer play those childish tricks. This is a good thing. Leading the team alone is indeed a good opportunity for growth." Yu Fei nodded, "However, my goal is to win the tenth championship ring. Don't try to stop me!"

The game started immediately.

The reason why the Knicks were able to break out of the Eastern Conference was because of their unreasonable talent. The Heat lacked a strong inside player, and the originally strong wing players became a disadvantage in front of the Knicks. The game was almost entirely dependent on Curry's touch. But the game proved that a team that relies on one person to conquer the world is destined to not go far.

However, the Clippers' strength is another concept.

The Knicks relied on their talent to sweep the Eastern Conference, but found themselves suppressed by the Clippers' talent in the finals. Giannis Antetokounmpo exists to tell the world how willful a person can be if he has extreme talent.

A few years ago, he was playing in the lower leagues of Greece, earning only $10,000 a month. With his talent, he quickly crossed the class and landed in the world's top league. Even at this level, his talent can still crush most players.

Nowadays, Antetokounmpo is improving significantly every year. Except for his slightly unstable personal offense, he is the core of the Clippers second only to Yu Fei in other aspects.

In addition to visible talents like Antetokounmpo, the Clippers also have less conspicuous top-level "soft talents" like Jokic. The Knicks, who tried to compete with the Clippers in terms of talent, couldn't help but recall last year's Christmas game. At that time, the Clippers also crushed them in this helpless way.

Derek Fisher tried to imitate Zen Master's triangle offense, but this tactic is only useful when talent is superior. Once talent is not superior, it is difficult to play an effective role.

The Clippers crushed the Knicks by 24 points in the first game of the finals.

After the game, a reporter asked Fisher: "Do you still have confidence in winning the finals?"

Fisher responded: "We always have confidence."

But the source of this confidence is less clear.

In essence, Fisher is very similar to Rivers in his early years. They both played for different teams and different coaches during their playing careers, and they also had strong interpersonal skills off the court. However, there are also differences between the two - Rivers is good at networking, while Fisher has certain administrative skills. As the former chairman of the players' union, as long as he adapts to the coaching work, it will not be a problem for him to lead the team.

But leading a team is often only a small part of a coach's job.

The ability to respond, which is really needed on the court, is what Fisher lacks most.

A coach who likes to let his players play with talent must have a game plan and more careful on-the-spot arrangements when facing a team surrounded by talent, but Fisher did not.

So in the second game in Los Angeles, the Knicks were like an elephant performing at the Staples Center.

The Clippers were in charge of showing how to fit the elephant into the refrigerator.

They did it in three steps.

The first step is fire suppression, with a volley of three-pointers from the outside, widening the score gap and forcing Durant to enter unparalleled mode.

The second step is equal counterattack. The Knicks play stars, and the Clippers also play stars. Rivers’ favorite thing to do is to let the GOAT play freely.

Durant knew very well that if he wanted to beat the Clippers, he had to win against Yu Fei.

This is also the wish of many people.

If he really has the ability to take over the league, he must defeat Yu Fei like Jordan crushed the Lakers in 1991.

It is not too much to ask a 26-year-old superstar at his peak to beat a 34-year-old superstar in his late stages.

In order to give the two players a chance to compete fairly, Fisher even gave up delaying Fei in a high position.

Although this arrangement lasted only two minutes, it was enough to determine the final outcome.

Durant was like an innocent boy, thinking that the superstar showdown was a traditional one-on-one battle between real men. When he scored over Yu Fei's head after continuous changes of direction, he smiled proudly.

Little did he know that Yu Fei also laughed.

Young man, do you think I, a thirty-year-old man, have nothing better to do than to play traditional PK with you?
If the Knicks do their job well and provide necessary delays and card-swipe assists for Yu Fei, then Yu Fei will have to respect tradition even if he doesn't want it.

But the Knicks didn't do that. The consequence of not doing that was that Yu Fei could easily use the high-quality screens of Antetokounmpo and Jokic to run into open space, catch the ball, shoot, and swish!
Before Yu Fei did this, the Clippers were only leading the Knicks by 5 points.

In less than two minutes, Yu Fei made five consecutive three-pointers from different angles, widening the score difference from 5 points to 16 points.

The Knicks were shocked. Isn't this just a copy of Curry?

But how come this Curry is 206 cm tall?
The Knicks entered the fourth quarter in frustration, looking at the suffocating score difference.

The competition comes to the last step: simmering the sauce over high heat.

Fisher didn't know how to calm down the players at this time, let alone tell them: "There is still plenty of time, let's fight back step by step."

Instead, he arranged a lot of three-point tactics, hoping to quickly catch up with the points through three-pointers.

The three-pointer is indeed a good thing, it has ushered in the era of small ball and space basketball. But if the hit rate is not good, the three-pointer will not only ruin the opponent, but also may ruin yourself.

Although the 16-point difference seems large, there is still one quarter left in the game, so it is not time to despair. However, if the Knicks bet everything on three-pointers, their fate will be decided in a few minutes. Either they can make the shot and continue to fight, or they can only go home if they fail to make the shot.

In the end, the New Yorkers returned home safe and sound.

The Clippers won two games in a row and took a 2-0 lead in the series.

"It seems that even Derek Fisher is unwilling to let KD prevent Frye from getting his tenth ring." This sentence comes from Steve Kerr.

Kerr had just had his dream of coaching ruthlessly ended by the Clippers not long ago, but he seemed to quickly integrate into his new role. As a coach who was "returned" by the team, he keenly saw that there were problems with the Knicks coaching staff.

Kerr's remarks quickly set the pace, and the media immediately fanned the flames, pushing Fisher to the forefront of public opinion.

Fisher had reason to believe that Kerr was deliberately taking advantage of the situation, hoping to see another coach fired by management because of a playoff failure. This was a naked frame-up.

But even if you see through the opponent's intentions, what can you do? Only winning can change public opinion.

But who can beat the Clippers?

Not long ago, Kerr had just lost to the Clippers 0-4, ending his coaching career. Now, he is sitting in the studio giving instructions and commenting.

Just when Fisher was caught in the whirlpool of public opinion, Durant stood up and said: "You damn media, why can't you sincerely praise the Clippers' performance? Isn't it because they played well that we lost? The reason we lost is very simple, that is, the Clippers played better in the past two games!"

Durant's outspoken attitude and disregard for the media is bound to be criticized, but his remarks did share the pressure on Fisher.

The series returned to New York, and although the Knicks fell behind 0-2, they did not lose hope.

"I've never played in the Finals in New York, but I know that Madison Square Garden is the holy land of basketball. However, what is the greatest basketball moment here?" Yu Fei asked a question on Twitter.

One fan responded on Twitter, posting a photo of Jerry West wearing No. 44 with the Lakers: "It was meant to be, Frye, you and him both wore No. 1970 in 44."

Jerry West, as a team consultant, usually does not travel with the team on away games, so Yu Fei called him to ask about this.

West did not deny: "Yes, I made a key long-range shot in New York. But there was no three-point line at the time. That shot only sent us into overtime, and we still lost in the end."

"The league later introduced the three-point line. Do you regret that?"

"If I had been bothered by this kind of thing, I would have died a long time ago."

"Did you win the finals that year?" Yu Fei asked casually, but it was like a dagger stabbing the vital point.

Although the two were thousands of miles apart, West's tone made Yu Fei almost imagine the other's expression: "Have you heard the story of 'The Return of Willis Reed'?"

"I heard."

“That shot happened that year.”

"Oh, Jerry, I'm so sorry."

"I don't need anyone to feel sorry for me. I've already climbed the highest mountain in my life," West said calmly. "The most important thing for you is not to let this year become your regret many years later. Do what you should do."

That night, Yu Fei walked into Madison Square Garden and agreed to a pre-game interview with TNT.

This is an unusual thing.

He hasn't connected with the media for interviews before the game for a long time. In his opinion, it is a way for young players to show the media how much they care about the game.

But today, he specially connected with TNT.

Barkley asked, "This is your first time playing in the Finals at Madison Square Garden. How does it feel?"

"It's hard for me to express my feelings in words," Yu Fei replied. "I've won championships at Staples Center and in Boston, which are the most legendary arenas in NBA history, but I haven't won a championship at Madison Square Garden. It would be a pity if I can't do that."

For someone like Barkley, who has been ridiculed as a pop culture figure because of his championship-less career, it is hard for Yu Fei to understand why he would regret not winning another championship even though he has already won nine championships. He cannot understand it.

At this time, O'Neal, who was also on the TNT team, originally did not intend to interrupt, but his feud with Yu Fei was well known, and he finally couldn't help but speak: "I am the only one here who wants you to lose, you'd better let me get my wish."

This sentence ignited the fighting spirit.

Yu Fei walked into the court full of passion, and Durant was also determined to win.

Although it is impossible for Fisher to transform into a famous coach in just a few days, after discussion among the coaching staff, the Knicks decided to put Durant at the power forward position, allowing him to defend like Garnett and attack like Nowitzki.

This game was about the survival of the season, and Durant ultimately led the Knicks to their best performance of the Finals.

He took on multiple roles on the court at the same time, including singles, rim protection, and rebounding. In the final moments, he even had a heroic duel with Yu Fei.

However, the opponent he faced tonight seemed to be blessed by the gods.

In the first half, Yu Fei made 11 of 11 shots and was in hot form.

In the second half, he finally missed the first shot, but when the team needed someone to step up, he always stepped up.

The game was fierce until the last few minutes of the fourth quarter, and Durant was desperately looking for opportunities to play one-on-one with him.

In those few minutes, after a whole night of fighting, Yu Fei finally felt his physical strength gradually running out.

This was a feeling he had never experienced in his youth.

"It's not over yet." Yu Fei said to Durant, "This is not all of me."

A few seconds later, Yu Fei received the ball from the outside, jumped up directly, and made a rainbow-like three-pointer under Durant's tight defense.

His physical strength was not as good as when he was young, his speed was not as fast, and his explosive power had also decreased, but Yu Fei always felt that there was some indescribable power in his body that made him incredibly focused at this moment.

This wasn't a game he couldn't afford to lose, it was just a game he decided to win.

That three-pointer extended the lead to 6 points.

In the next round, Durant, who supported the Knicks throughout the game, missed the key shot. Yu Fei grabbed the defensive rebound, rushed to the frontcourt, and once again jumped up in front of Durant, another three-pointer!

"GOAT hit his ninth three-pointer of the night!"

The announcers unknowingly began to call Yu Fei "GOAT" and no one thought it was flattering. This is the respect that No. 44 deserves.

The Knicks requested a timeout, gasping for breath.

Yu Fei told Durant: "Once I can no longer score like this, I will retire."

杜兰特全场砍下38分、15篮板、7助攻、4盖帽，然而依然不敌于飞的48分11篮板表现。

3:0.

"I want to be like Frye," Antetokounmpo said before Game 30. "To break down guys like he does, to dominate like he does. I want to be able to do that. If I'm not like Frye by the time I'm , then I've failed."

The Greeks aspired to be like Frye.

In the Knicks' final battle - Game 4, Klay Thompson seemed to replicate Yu Fei's performance in Game 3 and did not miss a single shot in the first half.

Just like the fourth game of the Western Conference Finals, when the opponent's fighting spirit was destroyed in the third game, the fourth game became a stage for young players to show themselves without pressure.

Today, Yu Fei is still the mainstay of the Clippers. The series is about to end before those young players who were highly expected have a chance to really take over the game.

It's not their fault, because GOAT didn't give his opponents any chance to breathe.

This is the established pattern of this season.

The Clippers' strength is not only reflected in their talent, but also because they have a superstar who can break the team's framework and lead the team forward.

Other teams are slightly less talented, and even if they perform exceptionally well, they will find it difficult to withstand the response of the GOAT.

If you can't respond, you will only fail.

The Warriors are like this, the Knicks are like this. Now what the world wants to know is, how did the Spurs win the next game?

But it doesn't matter anymore.

When the game was over, Mike Breen suppressed his frustration over the home team's defeat and gave the newly crowned ten-time champion unparalleled praise: "Fry Yu joined Bill Russell's club, which was founded in 1968 and has no new members since then. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Dr. J, Larry, Magic, Isiah, Michael... Half a century has passed, and our world has finally ushered in a new Lord of the Rings. You can't say that he succeeded in an era of insufficient competitiveness, nor can you say that he couldn't win in your so-called era, because he lives in the present, right in front of us. Ladies and gentlemen, the GOAT is still running! He hasn't stopped yet, just like he will never stop!"

(End of this chapter)