When pride still matters

Chapter 623 The Judge

After winning the opening game, the Clippers raised the second flag and the players received rings. This process symbolized that all the achievements of last season would be forgotten and from now on, everything is new.

But these things are nothing new for the Clippers.

They knew their goal was to win three consecutive championships, but the long regular season became a test before them.

They had to wait.

This period of time is the most tiring.

In such a situation, many people will slack off.

For example, Klay Thompson, the most relaxed starter on the Clippers.

He struggled early in the season as a shooter, shooting 24-for-3 from deep in the first week of the season.

Fortunately, the team has an excellent bench lineup to fill the firepower that Thompson cannot meet for the time being.

But it is still a hidden danger.

"Klay, what's wrong with you? Did the team not pay you last month?"

Antetokounmpo, who considers himself the team's next leader, tried to enlighten Thompson with a joke.

"Don't talk like Nicola." Thompson didn't need any advice. "Mind your own business!"

Antetokounmpo was a little angry: "If your three-point shooting percentage wasn't so low, I wouldn't have to talk like Nikola!"

"I'll adjust back," Thompson said. "That's all I need. If there's any problem, just tell me."

Antetokounmpo seemed a little helpless.

He has been watching Yu Fei's game videos when he was young, and saw that his opponents were extremely afraid of this GOAT (the best player of all time). In addition to his extraordinary skills, what else is there to be afraid of about the GOAT?

After careful observation, Antetokounmpo concluded that Yu Fei always had a terrifying angry look on his face on the court. He felt that this expression was the key, so he began to imitate it.

In order to perfectly replicate this expression, Antetokounmpo even practiced it on various occasions.

The most standard way of practicing is for him to stand in front of a mirror, carefully recall the image in his mind, fine-tune his facial expressions, and then suddenly yell.

Once, Yu Fei ran into him and asked him, "What are you doing?"

"I'm imitating your expression."

Yu Fei swore: "I have never made such a stupid expression!"

Antetokounmpo said seriously: "That means I haven't learned it well enough."

So he spent more time practicing. What he was pursuing, in Yu Fei's opinion, was just to establish a sense of majesty.

This is like Sakuragi Hanamichi trying to scare his opponent with eye defense, which is putting the cart before the horse.

If Yu Fei had not messed up DC in his rookie season, forcing Jordan to trade him to maintain his position; if he had not fallen out with O'Neal and humiliated him in various ways in the following years; if he had not publicly retaliated against James after breaking up with him - then no one would find Yu Fei terrible.

True majesty comes from well-known deeds, not just an expression.

However, Yu Fei believes that Antetokounmpo will understand this sooner or later. After all, thinking about his performance in the 2022 Eastern Conference semifinals, you know that this guy is born with "wisdom" and is a material for great things.

However, after the training, Jokic commented on Antetokounmpo's "imitation show" while drinking Coke: "I really don't understand why some people have to try so hard to become someone else? Isn't it good to be yourself?"

Jokic's casual comments easily ignited Antetokounmpo's anger.

"An undisciplined idiot like you has no idea what it means to be a great player like Frye!" Antetokounmpo shouted angrily in his native dialect. "Keep drinking your damn Coke!"

Jokic's personality is the opposite of Antetokounmpo. When he pointed out the Greek's shortcomings, the Greek flew into a rage and criticized him in return. But he himself never cared about these so-called shortcomings.

At this time, Jokic, who was said to be undisciplined, didn't care at all. He happily took another sip of Coke and burped with satisfaction.

The training is over.

Now is the leisure time before disbanding.

However, some people are still training.

There are still about two months before Yu Fei turns 34, but he has stepped up his outside shooting practice.

This is Antetokounmpo's third season and Jokic's second season. Their potential is like a volcano about to erupt, ready to shock the audience at any time.

However, since the Clippers are a championship-contending team, their talents cannot be unleashed at will, but can only be gradually displayed through the running-in with teammates.

Even so, Antetokounmpo and Jokic's performances have become somewhat unstoppable.

Sometimes, Yu Fei felt that he might have become an obstacle to their complete outbreak.

Although his presence laid the foundation for the Clippers to win the championship, it also objectively compressed their ball possession space.

In order to reduce the negative impact of this mutual restriction, Yu Fei decided to increase his outside shooting. To do this, he must consolidate his shooting percentage.

Therefore, he now has to practice shooting every day.

Seeing Yu Fei working so hard, Antetokounmpo naturally felt embarrassed to sit idle. He would choose to practice more on another court.

And once Antetokounmpo joins the training, the rest of the team will start to complain.

The big gang leader and the young gang leader took the lead, how dare others not to join in?

"Cena, you are such a troublemaker!" Yao Ming complained, "Because of you, the whole team is now practicing extra!"

Yu Fei snorted: "There are so many young people in the team, it's not a big problem to practice for half an hour longer. But you, with so many people practicing, can you sit still?"

Not only could Yao Ming sit still, he would have asked Jokic for a cup of Coke if he hadn't been afraid of indulging himself too much and not making it to 2019.

"You're asking me, a soon-to-be 37-year-old, to practice more?" Yao Ming said. "I guess you don't want me to play until 2019!"

The effect of additional training is very significant.

Starting from the second week of the regular season, the Clippers' players have been in great form, especially Thompson, who finally showed his strength as a top shooter who won two consecutive championships with the team.

The Clippers were a completely different team from the first week, scoring 130+ points in four consecutive games.

This dazzling scoring feast made a good start for this season that is destined to go down in history for its data explosion.

However, high-scoring draft picks are not a phenomenon unique to the Clippers.

According to ESPN reporter Zach Lowe: "The NBA is entering a crazy data overflow season!"

The Eastern Conference rival Miami Heat have three players averaging 20 points per game; the Rockets' Harden leads the scoring list with an average of 33.4 points per game.

What followed were a variety of high-scoring performances. Durant scored his first 50-point game of the season, followed by Curry. James scored 40 points, 15 rebounds, and 15 assists. Westbrook scored a triple-double in eight consecutive games, and finally became the focus of the data with an average of a triple-double per game.

In contrast, the Clippers did not have such a violent data explosion. Due to Yu Fei's restraint, the progress of Antetokounmpo and Jokic, as well as the clear team status and reasonable distribution of ball rights, the Clippers' player data seemed particularly "normal".

于飞场均25分、7篮板、6助攻，阿德托昆博场均22分、6篮板、5助攻，汤普森场均18分、3篮板，而约基奇则有场均17分、7篮板、6助攻的表现。替补席上的姚明也贡献了场均13分、5篮板、2盖帽。

Although Yu Fei's statistics are still the best on the team, they are his lowest statistics since 2002.

You know, he averaged 19 points, 8 rebounds and 6 assists per game in his rookie season. Now, except for a slight increase in scoring, his other statistics are actually lower than before.

The reason for this is closely related to the team's structure.

Antetokounmpo and Jokic are both all-around players, and their mutual influence is inevitable, and this influence is particularly obvious for Fei.

Because Yu Fei has the awareness of leading new players, and young players like Antetokounmpo usually just rush forward with all their strength without considering other people too much.

But this mode is precisely the healthiest state for a team that is still growing.

At the same time, Yu Fei can feel his aging more than anyone else.

Initially, he increased his three-point shooting just to improve efficiency, but later he found that it was also a good way to regulate his physical fitness.

He would choose to shoot from the outside in the first half, and if he felt good, he would continue shooting. If he didn't feel good, he would wait until the second half to return to the inside to adjust.

Rivers is also controlling Yu Fei's playing time.

At Yu Fei's reminder, Coach Zhutou also tried to tap the potential within the team.

For example, Curry Jr. does not have many opportunities in the Clippers and mostly plays in the Development League, but whenever he plays well, Yu Fei will suggest that he play in the regular season.

As a result, Curry Jr. soon encountered major challenges in his life.

Before Thanksgiving, the Clippers played against the Warriors away.

Rivers gave him 20 minutes of playing time, but he was overwhelmed by the pressure of the focus game and performed poorly. The Clippers were defeated by the Warriors due to lack of space on the outside.

"We asked him to be our Steph Curry," Rivers said of Curry's performance. "And he was like a wounded deer you find in the woods, with no confidence."

Yu Fei could only sigh that it was a bit too early to push Curry to the top position now, as he obviously needed to continue his experience in the Development League.

Then, Yao Ming, who was sitting on the bench, got injured.

Perhaps the Clippers should be thankful that Yao Ming is no longer a starter, although he is important but not indispensable.

During Yao Ming's injury, the Clippers still needed a center who could shoot three-pointers, so they signed Justin Hamilton in the free market.

This is an inside player who is good for nothing except outside shooting.

Ten years ago, he would have no chance to play in the NBA.

But now, if you can consistently hit the 3-pointer, you'll get a chance in the NBA. Small decisions like this are driving an unprecedented increase in 3-point shooting across the league.

"Today's NBA, in terms of lineup configuration and playing time distribution, is more inclined to shooters than ever before."

Steve Kerr said this when analyzing the current trend of the game. He then reminded the industry where the modern style started: "Thirteen years ago, when the Bucks defeated the Spurs with their super three-point shooting, we realized that jump-shooting teams can also win championships. The dominoes had already fallen at that time, but people at that time couldn't understand this style. They called the Bucks' style of play 'carnival basketball.' And now, all teams seem to be playing in a carnival style!"

The explosion of three-point shooting is not new, but after years of accumulation, it has accelerated at an unprecedented speed.

自2010年起，每个赛季NBA都会打破三分出手次数的纪录。本赛季有37%的投篮来自三分线外，而上赛季为34.5%，2012-13赛季时则只有30%。

This trend shows no signs of stopping anytime soon.

Critics have been complaining for years. Their main concern is a change in style: Do fans really want to see a team shoot 80 2013-pointers in a fast-paced game? What about mid-range shooting and low-post offense? Even the league's top brass has expressed concerns. "When our team is hot, the game really flows," former commissioner David Stern said in 41, half-jokingly. "But when we're not, we can go 3-for-."

This season may be the moment when stylistic objections and practical issues intersect.

Thanks to the three-point craze and its chain reaction, the league is expected to break the historical record for points per possession.

According to NBA.com, the league's average scoring rate has reached 100 points per 106.5 possessions, far exceeding last season's level and matching the three or four highest-scoring seasons in history.

This extreme three-point craze has led many traditionalists to criticize Yu Fei, believing that he is the initiator of the change in basketball style - their views are not without reason - it was Yu Fei who gradually faded out the iron-blooded tough guy basketball and made the basketball game "softer". Some people even ridiculed this style as "sissy basketball."

Of course, Yu Fei was unwilling to remain silent about this.

“There is a reason why we moved from the cold weapon era to the hot weapon era,” Yu Fei responded to critics in early December, “because those who insisted on using cold weapons were eventually eliminated.”

Although these words are a little obscure, their meaning is very clear.

Those who cling to traditional tough basketball have been defeated by the modern fast-paced, three-point-dominated style - since they can't beat them, they can only join them.

However, this response did not convince the conservatives.

After all, what fans are looking for is visual stimulation.

Some people prefer the fierce confrontation, while others prefer a smooth attacking style.

However, the general trend will not change because of the opinions of a few people. Unless the league modifies the rules to favor defenders, the momentum of small ball will not be interrupted.

December has just begun, and the media is already warming up to the Christmas battle between the Clippers and the Heat.

The preheating gimmick this time is quite exquisite.

Since this season may be Yu Fei's last season, although he has not yet confirmed it personally, the media's marketing methods have already been overwhelming. They began to hype that this will be the last Christmas battle of "Frye vs. LeBron".

There is nothing wrong with the media's publicity. After all, James has not won a championship for many years and has always been called "the first man without a championship." If you don't look into it too much, you can really put the two names together.

But there are always people who like to be serious.

Kwame Brown, who retired, set up his own studio under Yu Fei's media company to produce podcasts. He bluntly said in the podcast: "Even if this is Frye's last season, the Christmas game with LeBron is not worth the publicity. LeBron is just a loser in front of Frye, and his name is not worthy of being listed alongside Frye. Doing so is even more disrespectful to Stephen Curry - the owner of Miami is Stephen, not LeBron!"

This problem existed as early as when James joined Miami.

In the mainstream timeline, when people see the 39-year-old James cooperating with Curry like a deluxe version of Draymond Green in the US team, they may lament that it is a pity that they did not play together when they were young. But who would really regard the young James as a blue-collar worker like Green?
Being Green means taking on a blue-collar role, cooperating with the core players and being willing to be a supporting role. Expecting a man who was lost in the playoffs due to psychological imbalance and ended up with only 8 points and ruined the season to have such dedication is like inviting a streetwalker to talk about a vigorous pure love.

Once Brown's remarks fermented, the Heat suffered two consecutive defeats.

Reporters asked James: "Are you affected by these comments?"

James responded calmly: "No, we will go back and review the game, find out the problem and solve it."

Then someone asked a more pointed question: "Do you think your name deserves to be listed alongside Frye?"

What an awkward question!
James tried to remain calm and replied, "I think I'm qualified."

However, things did not end there.
The next day, Yu Fei went to Minnesota for an away game. Reporters traveled thousands of miles to Minnesota just to hype up the incident. They repeated James' remarks to Yu Fei word for word and waited for his response.

The GOAT did not disappoint them.

"The Heat is Stephen's team. I have no interest in LeBron's affairs." Yu Fei responded coldly, like a judge. "Because he hasn't won anything yet."

(End of this chapter)