When pride still matters

Chapter 624 Don’t Stop Talking About LeBron

The Christmas game between the Clippers and the Heat is scheduled to be held in Los Angeles.

On the day of the game, countless celebrities flocked to the Staples Center.

Even Hollywood stars want to appear on such grand occasions.

As superstars, Yu Fei and James have both extended their tentacles into Hollywood, but James only dabbled in it, while Yu Fei developed a real career in Hollywood. He is a core member of the Marvel Studios, which is currently popular all over the world.

This is also the reason why the outside world believes that Yu Fei may retire.

A player's golden years usually come to an end around the age of 35, and even with the continuous advancement of modern sports medicine and post-game recovery technology, most players will find it difficult to play until the age of 40.

A 40-year-old basketball player is like an - or -year-old man. Although he is still healthy in terms of biological indicators, compared with young people, he is no longer able to do many things.

But it is different for actors, especially male actors, who often reach their golden age at the age of 40.

Of course, this is just speculation from the outside world. As for Yu Fei himself, he is not very interested in entering Hollywood.

However, on this occasion, the media naturally did not forget to ask the core question that everyone is concerned about: "Frye, you said that you would give us a final decision in January next year. Now, do you have an answer to that question?"

"I think so." Yu Fei answered with a hint of uncertainty.

But he then gave a clear direction: "It is certain that this contract is my last. I will not sign another contract."

He then added: "I think I can still play, so I may not retire after the end of this season. However, if someone can beat me this year and eliminate me from the playoffs, I will choose to retire." He said with a hint of self-mockery, "After all, I am old and can no longer bear another failure."

A reporter curiously asked: "Wouldn't failure inspire your competitiveness and make you want to prove yourself more?"

Yu Fei looked at the reporter as if he was forgiving a naive person: "I have won ten championship rings. You think I haven't proven myself yet? Really?"

After Yu Fei's answer, some people finally felt relieved.

At the same time, those who tried to plan a retirement tour for him have temporarily given up the idea.

But Yu Fei's words may inspire the fighting spirit of opponents. After all, being able to beat the GOAT in the playoffs not only means obtaining the extremely valuable record of "beating the GOAT in the playoffs", but also unlocking an unparalleled achievement - "beating the GOAT into retirement".

Isn’t this heart-warming?

Yu Fei's remarks quickly spread to the visiting team's locker room.

Jimmy Butler said carelessly: "We have one more reason to beat Frye!"

"If Frye retires because of this, can we say that we beat him into retirement?"

The Heat players talked excitedly.

James remained silent.

If he was young, he would have had this thought, but now, he only felt the arrogance of a superior from Yu Fei's speech.

Retire if defeated?
Too old to afford another failure?
How many times have you failed?
If you can't bear failure, how can others survive?

James could clearly read the subtext of these words: GOAT does not believe that he will be defeated before retirement, and he will not be beaten into retirement by anyone.

If someone can really beat him in the playoffs, James is willing to bet everything and swear that person will never retire. Instead, he will do his best to prove himself again.

It can be said that the only way to make him play until the age of 40 is to prove that he has lost his dominance. If he continues to win, he may become numb from too many victories and choose to retire.

When James figured this out, he was surprised that he knew Yu Fei so well.

Curry, like James, did not comment on the incident. He and Yu Fei are both members of Reebok and they have a close personal relationship. That year, Curry was even selected for the Dream Team because of Yu Fei's personal recommendation.

Before the game, Curry asked Yu Fei: "Will you really retire because you can't bear the failure?"

"Just teasing the media, do you believe it?" Yu Fei responded with a smile.

"That's good." Curry bit his braces and smiled like a villain in a horror movie, "This way I can beat you without any burden."

Just because of this sentence, Yu Fei will not let Curry have an easy time tonight.

Since Curry became the core of the Heat, the team has become the most troublesome opponent in the league. The small ball era is developing rapidly, and Curry's game style fits this trend perfectly. He is the contemporary "version answer". Once the outside line firepower is fully opened, he can beat the opponent in a few minutes.

After Wade left, the Heat's problem was Curry's lack of physical talent. Once faced with a lot of confrontation, his unique touch would also be affected. As for Love and Butler, they are not players who can turn the tide of the game alone.

James's addition solved this problem. When Curry was off target, the Heat could rely on James. James' presence prevented other teams from focusing on Curry.

However, the Clippers have Yu Fei.

When the coaching staff was planning to adopt a strategy of defeating the Heat one by one, Yu Fei rejected the plan and demanded that the defense against Curry be strengthened.

"What about LeBron?" Rivers asked. "If we focus on defending Curry, won't LeBron be free?"

Yu Fei said calmly: "I'm not afraid of someone who can score 30 points in the whole game, I'm afraid of someone who can score 30 points in the first half."

To put it bluntly, these are two bottles of poison, but the Curry-brand poison is more potent and can kill quickly, while the James-brand poison may also lead to chronic death if left untreated.

However, no matter how boldly we estimate James' offensive explosiveness, it will not be as fatal as Curry's.

So, from the moment the game started, an invisible lock trapped Curry.

As long as Curry calls for a pick-and-roll, there will definitely be a switch in defense.

If Curry wants to move without the ball, the person opposite him will chase him desperately.

At the same time, on the offensive end, Yu Fei would call Curry's name for the pick-and-roll when he got the ball.

This all-round targeting of both ice and fire made Curry make only 7 of 1 shots at the start.

Now is the time for the Heat to lean on James.

James' game sense is undoubtedly top-notch. When he saw the Clippers targeting Curry, he immediately realized that this was his chance to show off. So, while continuing to feed Curry the ball and seize the opportunity to score, he also directed Butler to guard Antetokounmpo.

At the same time, the Heat also made full use of Love. But Yu Fei soon realized that the opponent was not bright in the east and bright in the west, so he asked Jokic to put pressure on Love.

Curry fell into his destined "Wall of Sighs", while the behind-the-scenes operators on both sides of the court were actively mobilizing their teammates. Yu Fei was ready to go, waiting for the explosion in the second half; while James stubbornly let Curry continue to attack under unfavorable circumstances, resulting in him making 15 of 5 shots in the first half and Love committing three fouls. Under Yu Fei's organization, the Clippers showed excellent team offense and entered the second half with a 4-point advantage.

At this point, James suggested: "I may need to take on more responsibility."

Although James promised to "share car keys" with Curry before joining the Heat, everyone knows that the Heat is Curry's team.

There is a strategy to seize power. Work hard on weekdays, keep silent, and then come to the rescue when Curry performs poorly. If this happens a few times, naturally, James' status will surpass Curry.

The so-called "shared car keys"? It's just a joke!
There are only a few cases of "shared car keys" in NBA history. The most recent success was in 1983, when Dr. J and Moses Malone teamed up. But the key to that success was that one of the two people who "shared car keys" had already passed his prime.

That is Dr. J, the original owner of this key.

He was once the ruler of another top basketball league, but after entering the NBA, he turned into a player version of Doc Rivers, like a walking king of reversals, and had to share car keys to achieve results. But what about Curry? He is four years younger than James, has two championships, and has just replaced James' classmate Wade as the owner of the Heat.

He kept saying he was willing to "share car keys," but James didn't believe it. With his years of experience in internal fighting, how could the team boss allow an outsider to be on equal footing with him? In James' eyes, Curry is like Olajuwon in 1994, a player who needs Drexler's help to continue his glory.

But unfortunately, he is not Drexler. A man born to wear a crown cannot submit to others.

This is fate. No one can easily see through the nature of others unless you have traveled through time.

If it was Yu Fei, he would never refuse to be teammates with Curry. He is the kind of person who can endure what ordinary people cannot endure in order to win.

The FMVP was snatched away by a substitute who was temporarily promoted to the starting lineup? I'll bear it.

The FMVP was snatched away twice by his teammates who led the team to a 1-3 comeback? He endured it.

This teammate who won the FMVP is still nagging like a little wife, disgusting himself and other teammates? Just bear with it!

Yu Fei believed that even if James really took Curry's position as the boss, Curry could tolerate it, but James did not believe that there was such a person in the world.

This is why the Heat lost tonight.

The reason why the Clippers are besieging Curry is simple: they can't let him find his touch. Once Curry gets hot, a few three-pointers can instantly ruin the game.

However, simply besieging Curry does not mean a sure win. The Heat have enough experience to let Curry attract firepower, and then others stand on his shoulders and shoot through opponents.

James showed his imperial mentality in this seemingly gimmicky but actually insignificant game. He could have taken advantage of Curry being surrounded and suppressed to establish an advantage, but he chose to maintain a superficial balance and spent a dull first half.

This is a story of an overly smart person making an overly smart decision in order to improve his own status, but it led to a stupid consequence.

When Yu Fei saw that James could have taken advantage of the opportunity but continued to play the so-called team basketball, he had a vague premonition in his heart.

"He's started again."

Therefore, at the beginning of the second half, Yu Fei suggested that the coaching staff make adjustments, letting Yao Ming start at the five position to strengthen the defense under the basket, letting himself play at the four position, Antetokounmpo switch to the three position, and Siakam substitute at the four position.

The Clippers intend to limit James' breakthroughs through physical fitness and athleticism.

As for Curry? After the torture in the first half, the defense on him can be relaxed for a while.

Sure enough, the Heat adjusted their strategy in the second half, and James began to attack. But the Clippers immediately changed their formation, using Spider-Man-like athleticism to block the area within the three-point line, and with Yao Ming, the rim-protecting monster that James feared the most, James's breakthrough was impossible.

Unable to break through, James could only choose to shoot. His shooting touch tonight was pretty good, but it was not enough to turn the tide of the game.

Instead, the Clippers accelerated the tempo of their offense in a way that James could never have anticipated.

Yu Fei brought the ball to the frontcourt, faced Curry, raised his hand slightly, and shot an ultra-long three-pointer two meters away from the three-point line.

Then, Yao Ming popped out after the pick-and-roll, caught the ball and shot a three-pointer.

Curry tried to use his speed to train Yao Ming, but in turn, Antetokounmpo used exaggerated footwork to overpower James.

Yu Fei continued to change his play on the perimeter. He and Yao Ming set pick-and-rolls, either passing the ball to Thompson on the perimeter, or passing the ball back to Yao Ming, or directly attacking the basket. The Heat were forced to switch defense, but Yu Fei cleverly passed the ball to Yao Ming again, resulting in an extremely ironic scene on the court:

Curry, who is 1.9 meters tall, is defending Yao Ming, who is 2.23 meters tall, in the paint area.

This scene even made Yao Ming himself feel a little funny. He threw the ball lightly and put it into the basket over Curry's head.

"Is not dunking a sign of your gentleness?" Yu Fei asked.

"I can't dunk it," Yao Ming shrugged. "I don't have the ability to do that."

The score was widened and James began to get anxious. This was not the scenario he had imagined. The Clippers stopped attacking Curry in the second half.

In order to make the Clippers "change their minds", James became a real team player.

He began to focus on defense, constantly breaking through and passing the ball, hoping to get Curry's touch back.

But the touch is the metaphysics of the basketball court. Sometimes it's there when you just raise your hand, and sometimes it's just not there no matter how hard you shoot. Curry was artificially pushed into that state tonight.

Although James is a team player, Curry really needs him to step up tonight.

By the fourth quarter, the Clippers' lead reached 20 points and the defense became relaxed. James then realized that only if he let go would he have a chance to win.

So he started scoring.

For a while, Yu Fei sat on the sidelines and watched James dominate the court, as if the outcome was still uncertain.

Yu Fei has already rested.

The person who had a tacit understanding with James on the court to brush up his stats was Antetokounmpo.

Antetokounmpo is still young, he needs to enrich himself with data, and he also needs some classic moments to enhance his reputation. Therefore, he brushed the data in the game with reason and logic.

As for James, Yu Fei couldn't tell whether he wanted the team to lose gracefully or just wanted to put up a nice personal data sheet so that he could look like he had tried his best in the game.

In any case, the suspense of the game was over long ago.

最终，快船以17分优势战胜热火。于飞全场砍下30分8篮板5助攻，而对面的詹姆斯则拿下27分11篮板9助攻。

The biggest "culprit" of the game was undoubtedly Curry. He made 23 of 9 shots, and he missed many shots when the team needed him the most, completely "letting down" James' hard work.

This kind of thing happens to be a typical event that Nike would promote heavily.

But in this professional basketball public opinion field dominated by Reebok marketing agency, Curry will not be the one to be whipped.

After the game, reporters asked Yu Fei to comment on Curry's performance, but Yu Fei deliberately changed the subject and mentioned Curry's "good partner": "Why don't you ask me about LeBron's performance? I think Stephen's performance tonight is not worth mentioning at all. The one we should really discuss is LeBron."

Reporters followed up by asking: "So what do you think of LeBron's performance?"

Yu Fei said without hesitation: "When Stephen was surrounded by us, he kept passing the ball. When the team needed someone to step up, he still passed the ball. In the second half, after he tried to score but was blocked, he continued to pass the ball. But when the game lost suspense, he started to attack. As a result, his final data looks even better than mine."

The media soon noticed that every time the GOAT mentioned LeBron, there was obvious aggression in his words.

After all, most of the players who had grievances with GOAT have retired.

But LeBron is still here, and he's relatively young.

After commenting on James' performance, Yu Fei said bluntly: "Now you know why he can't win the championship, right? He has too many ideas, too many desires, too many distractions and schemes. These things mixed together have made him what you see today. Simply put, he doesn't deserve to win the championship. Whether he was with Kobe back then or with Stephen today, he doesn't deserve it."

On this day, many people realized one thing.

If you want the GOAT to continue playing, don't stop talking about LeBron.

Especially in front of him.

(End of this chapter)