When pride still matters

Chapter 632 One more time
Before the Finals began, the league's marketing machine was in full swing.

The media that likes to create gimmicks are also increasing their value.

As the current number one sports brand, Reebok internally views the finals as a victory for the company.

Putting aside James, the spoiler pushed forward by Nike, the Heat is still Curry's team.

As long as nothing unexpected happens, the Heat will continue to build their core around Curry.

Curry is younger and more popular than James. In addition, Curry's technical style is completely in line with the trend of the times. He will undoubtedly become the iconic figure of Reebok in the 2010s and the new generation of flag bearer after Yu Fei.

If Curry wins the finals, it will be tantamount to declaring that the "Son of Small Ball" has officially taken the throne.

As for James? Unless he outperforms Curry in the Finals, Reebok will do everything in its power to suppress his market influence.

The situation on the Clippers' side is clearer.

As Reebok's "direct" team, the Clippers have gathered Reebok superstars such as Yu Fei, Jokic and Antetokounmpo.

Yu Fei completely overturned the Nike empire created by Jordan and reshaped the landscape of sports brands in just over a decade.

There is much more narrative and publicity surrounding Yu Fei than the Heat.

The media wants to see him win.

The fans want him to win, too.

The league also expects him to win.

Because he is an undefeated legend in the finals.

Previously, Yu Fei had reached the finals ten times, won all of them, and never played to the seventh game.

His record in the finals left Jordan's supporters with no room for argument.

Whether it is the time span of achievements, the number of championships, or the record of consecutive championships, he firmly surpasses Jordan.

This is a real honor. If you want to talk about historical status, you must show such top achievements to be convincing.

Because Yu Fei has become a legendary figure, losing in the finals is both out of reach and unacceptable to him.

He must win in the end.

"If Steph wins, it will undoubtedly usher in a new era," Marc Stein wrote on Twitter. "But what if the Clippers win three consecutive championships? What does that mean? It means that the Clippers have established their own dynasty in the professional basketball world. It also means that the Lakers are no longer the only powerhouse in Los Angeles. More importantly, the 35-year-old Frye has tied Bill Russell's championship number. You have to know that the league Frye is in is highly commercialized and globalized, with unprecedented anti-monopoly efforts, teams, and no championship team can maintain a strong period of more than four years... In this context, if Frye can tie Bill Russell's championship number, what does it mean?"

Yu Fei's fans on Twitter responded bluntly: "This means that the statue outside the United Center should be removed."

"Yes, this is truly unprecedented," Stein wrote with certainty. "I would bet everything I have that we will never see another player win 10 championships again."

As long as Yu Fei is still playing, the outside world will always have expectations of him.

There's no way around it. Americans love sports heroes so much that they hope heroes will never die.

Yu Fei is not sure at which stage of his career the expectations on him have been the greatest, but it is definitely not now.

Chasing Bill Russell's championship numbers?
Only one step away?
This can be a motivating factor for him, but it is certainly not all.

The Clippers had to go to Miami to challenge for the top seed in the playoffs.

The lack of home advantage will give people a sense of insecurity, and this feeling can only be reassured by stealing the opponent's home advantage.

Interestingly, ESPN invited Dwyane Wade to be the commentator for the first game of the finals.

Considering Wade's former status in Miami and the way he left the city, this arrangement is sure to cause a lot of discussion.

However, Wade did not take revenge by speaking ill of the Heat directly on TV.

He analyzed the strengths and weaknesses of the two teams rationally.

Perhaps it is precisely because of this rationality that people can feel the unrest hidden beneath his appearance.

Wade has been controversial in Chicago this season.

First, he had conflicts with the veterans in the team over tactical position, and then he had disagreements with the newcomers over ideas.

Perhaps only by leaving a good team can you truly understand the value of a good team.

Before the game started, ESPN connected with the frontcourt.

Yu Fei also had a few private conversations with Wade that were not broadcast.

After listening to this, Wade looked helpless, as if he had expected the GOAT's answer.

Then the game started as usual.

The Heat are undoubtedly the strongest opponent the Clippers have encountered in their pursuit of a three-peat.

The reason is simple. Curry and James are basically the second and third in the league this season.

This alliance is similar to the team up between James and Kobe back then.

It is also a combination of the second and third best in the world.

However, James' disastrous performance in the crucial game caused the Lakers to lose the divisional finals, and Yu Fei took this opportunity to defeat the "Evil Empire" and establish his supreme reputation.

But at that time, Yu Fei was still young.

Now, he is 34 and a half years old.

Fortunately, he no longer bears most of the responsibility like before, and he has enough good teammates around him to share the pressure.

In the first game of the finals, the Clippers clearly showed their determination to silence Curry.

Klay Thompson is responsible for the matchup at the beginning of the game, while the players facing Curry fully bypass the screen to consume Curry's physical strength. Once Curry gets the ball and calls for a pick-and-roll, they will double-team without hesitation.

This tactic targeting Curry is not unfamiliar to the Heat.

The Heat will also use a similar arrangement to deal with Yu Fei.

And, they have good reason to do so.

Yu Fei is older. Once he encounters different players taking turns to consume him, can he still find the rhythm?
Theoretically, James, who should have faced off against Yu Fei on this stage, played the role of a firefighter, occasionally facing Yu Fei, occasionally defending Antetokounmpo, and occasionally going inside to confront Jokic. His main task was to create positional advantages and avoid these sharp confrontations.

The Heat fully believe in their superstars and firmly believe that their inside line will not be blown up by the Clippers like in the Christmas game.

After all, Hassan Whiteside averaged 10 points, 11 rebounds and 3.7 blocks per game as a starter.

Although James has some doubts about Whiteside's offensive ability, believing that his offensive means are mainly "eating cakes", which will seriously affect the team's offensive rhythm, the Heat's inside line has no one available.

Therefore, the emperor had no choice but to accept this reality.

However, James and Curry have different technical characteristics. The former needs to attack the restricted area a lot and shoot, while Curry has his own shooting threat, which can both output and create space. Therefore, although the impact of the center not shooting on Curry exists, it is relatively small.

Therefore, maintaining this lineup will only allow James to firmly maintain his position as the second star.

But as long as we can defeat Yu Fei in the finals and break his undefeated myth, all the sacrifices now will be worth it.

However, this process was not what James wanted.

Whiteside's obsession with rebounds and excessive desire for blocks, coupled with his lack of defensive positional sense, were completely exposed in front of Jokic.

He was like a toy in front of Jokic and quickly committed four fouls. The Heat's inside line began to collapse and the familiar feeling returned.

Then, Curry got lost in the Clippers' defensive system, and the Heat had to rely on the "iron-blooded singles" at the beginning of the century to survive, but Jimmy Butler's performance was too rough and Kevin Love seemed too soft. What about James, who should have stood up at this time?
He didn't expect that the inside line would be so vulnerable and was focused on by Yu Fei throughout the whole game. In the end, he only scored 25 points, 8 rebounds and 5 assists with limited breakthroughs and shooting, and the Heat lost to the Clippers in the first game.

Tonight, Yu Fei went all out in defense and rebounding, contributing 19 points, 11 rebounds, 4 blocks and 2 steals.

In terms of statistics, he is not as comprehensive as the running Antetokounmpo, and his scoring is not as high as Thompson, who scored the highest points on the team, but he confronted James in the right way at critical moments.

After the game, Wade revealed the secret between him and Yu Fei.

"Before the game, I asked Frye, 'You've won 10 championships. Does the game still bring you joy?'" Wade said. "He said, 'Of course not, but winning the game is a joy in itself, and my opponent is LeBron.'"

The GOAT likes to win and doesn't want to lose to LeBron, so he's willing to play a supporting role in a game where the situation is clear.

Some media began to call out: "Maybe we have finally waited for this day, and Frye is no longer the best player in the finals!"

Has that day come?

If you only watch the first game, probably.

In the second game, when Curry was not effectively defended and Antetokounmpo was unable to move under the defense of James and Butler, who did the Clippers need to rely on? Jokic? No, once Curry exploded, Jokic would be the first to suffer.

What about Thompson?

Thompson's greatness lies in his magical three-pointers in critical moments, but when he is not in good form, fans tend to ignore him.

That’s right, the pressure will fall on Yu Fei again.

Facing the hot Curry, he scored 38 points, but the game still tilted towards defeat.

The overall score is 1 to 1.

Judging from the overall score, the Clippers have achieved their strategic goals.

The Heat no longer have home-court advantage.

"Is this the best outcome for you?" the reporter asked Yu Fei.

Yu Fei said greedily: "A 2-0 lead is the best result."

As the competition venue shifted to Los Angeles, Yu Fei discovered something ironic.

As a child of the small ball era, Curry and his team should have played the game that best suits the times, but what happened? Except for Love, who has degenerated into a pure space insider to make room for the big guys, the Heat's game style is unusually retro.

This is also the change they made starting from the third game.

They decided to follow Eastern tradition and go toe-to-toe with the Clippers.

Through close combat, the Heat effectively reduced the Clippers' shooting percentage, but in the face of severe disadvantages in the interior, this tactic is difficult to continue to work.

When the Heat regained home-court advantage in Game 3, they suffered a crushing defeat in Game 4.

The Clippers defeated the Heat with their unstoppable rebounding power, tied the score, and the game came to the fifth game - the decisive battle.

"Even if I have to give my soul to the devil, I will win this game."

James solemnly expressed how seriously he took the game before it started.

Hearing James's bold statement, Yu Fei said doubtfully: "I'm not sure if the devil would be interested in such a weak soul."

The verbal battle before the game is necessary. The conflict between the two sides has reached this point. If they don’t exchange a few words, the fans will feel unsatisfied.

But James knew that now was not the time to respond to Yu Fei.

Only when he achieves final victory will people listen to what he says.

Is history written by the victors? This statement is debatable, but the truth is that only those who win and survive are qualified to speak.

Bystanders have no choice; the only truth they accept is the winner's truth.

That atmosphere shaped Game 5.

Rough and intense, tense and anxious.

Both sides were very aggressive, with the Clippers playing with a seven-man rotation and the Heat playing with a six-man rotation.

You want to fight? Then max it out.

If you try to do something small, I will do something more aggressive.

You want to add extra body movement on defense? Then roll around in the dirt.

Starting from the second quarter, someone fell to the ground in almost every round due to intense confrontation.

A person who falls cannot expect his teammates to help him up; he must stand up on his own.

After standing up, there is no chance to catch your breath as you immediately start the next round of battle.

In order to control the emotions of both sides, the referee's whistle kept sounding.

But the two sides continued to fight back and forth, with such strong murderous intent that it seemed like two professional armies hating each other.

High-intensity confrontation and defense led to a large number of difficult shots.

A more difficult shot means a lower hit rate.

The Clippers grabbed far more offensive rebounds than their opponents by virtue of their inside advantage.

And the way they handle offensive rebounds is enough to make a college coach's blood pressure soar.

No matter who gets the rebound, the first choice is not to pass the ball, but to initiate a second attack directly on the spot.

Neither of them could stop, and the intense game was filled with harsh trash talk, which made people wonder: "Is there some deep blood feud between them?"

When the game entered the fourth quarter, both teams had lost interest in tactics. Especially the forwards and inside players were so excited that they bumped into each other.

The terrifying intensity was accompanied by a lot of contact, resulting in low shooting percentages for both sides.

In such a game, Curry became the most stable scoring point for the Heat. He contributed 35 points and almost exhausted his energy, while James looked inferior to Yu Fei.

Before the finals, the outside world believed that there were three monsters in the series, namely Yu Fei, Curry and James. The common point of these three is that they are all drivers of the game. Yu Fei and James have the attributes of ball-holding cores, while Curry becomes a natural creator of open shots with his own spatial gravity.

The problem is that the Heat have two monsters, so normally, two monsters are better than one monster. But there is only one ball on the basketball court, and there is only one absolute core.

Curry is recognized as the core of the Heat, and James must serve as a supporting role.

You know, even when he was on the Lakers and faced peak Kobe, James never played a supporting role. He doesn't know how to play a supporting role. If you ask him to play a supporting role, he can only act according to instinct.

Superstars certainly have great instincts, but instincts cannot be used as a way of playing to maintain a player's presence. On the contrary, Yu Fei only did three things tonight: shooting, defending, and grabbing rebounds.

If he does these three things well, his role on the court will surpass that of James. Because in this kind of high-intensity chaos, if there is no superstar to take over the game, the game will gradually turn into a contest of "who does more things".

James fought on instinct.

Curry shot the ball as hard as he could.

Both sides hated each other, so the game turned into wrestling, pushing, speed, fighting on the ground, trash talk... and crucial shots.

When the Heat were trailing by 6 points, Curry made a long three-pointer. Yu Fei knew that the shot would not go in just by looking at the arc. The inside players were frantically trying to position themselves under the basket, but he rushed directly to the free throw line, accurately predicted where the ball would land, and caught it.

There was one minute left in the game.

Yu Fei dribbled the ball forward, facing James, calmly controlling the court, and asked: "How much have you changed since then?"

James didn't answer because he didn't even hear what Yu Fei said clearly.

Then, Yu Fei suddenly changed direction and made a cold-blooded buzzer-beating three-pointer over his head.

With 36 seconds left in the decisive battle between the Clippers and the Heat, Yu Fei's three-pointer widened the gap to 9 points.

A few minutes later, the final whistle sounded, and the Clippers won the decisive game with a crucial victory, leading by a score of 3-2.

After the game, "The devil won't accept weak souls" topped the charts on major social media as a hot search satirizing James.

But James suddenly seemed to have delayed receiving the information and remembered Yu Fei's last words.

"How much have you changed since then?"

Then?
Where next?

when?
James didn't know.

James didn't want to know either.

He just thought it was Yu Fei's psychological warfare.

Even if the outside world is turbulent, he will not be affected.

The finals aren’t over yet.

Being 2-3 down isn't hell.

He had seen hell and walked out of it. He hoped Yu Fei would go to hell and see it too.

Then he would understand what would become of a man who came out of hell.

The battlefield of the finals once again returned to Los Angeles.

On the day of Game 6, a Los Angeles reporter asked Yu Fei: "Michael never played a seventh game in the finals. Will this be a motivation for you?"

"Stupid question!" Yu Fei retorted mercilessly, "This old guy has ceased to be a driving force for me since 2003."

There was a big pre-game event at the Staples Center.

There was also a contest on whether this would be Frye's last game of his career.

Yu Fei hated this stupid guess because it suggested that the Clippers might lose tonight's game.

That night, all of Yu Fei's relatives and friends came to the scene.

Yu Fei's mother sat in the family area holding her granddaughter, while his wife and son Yu Bufan walked around in the front row.

And Yu Fei's friends, they all came here, as if to give him a reason not to lose.

Yu Fei took a deep breath, turned around, and put everything outside the field behind him.

Relying on the inside advantage and Thompson's three-pointer, the Clippers took the lead after the first quarter. Curry looked out of touch tonight, making only 5 of 1 shots in the first quarter.

Then, James started a series of surprising performances.

As the game entered the second quarter, James first hit a three-pointer, then used the basketball as a bomb and continued to sprint to the inside.

It was James' outburst in this quarter, scoring 15 points in a single quarter, that prevented the Heat from being left behind in the first half and gave Curry a chance to adjust his touch.

At the end of the first half, James' performance was perfect. He scored 22 points, 7 rebounds and 4 assists, completely suppressing Yu Fei who only scored 12 points and 8 rebounds.

It can be said that this is the first time since the start of the finals that James has used personal offense to break through Yu Fei's defense in the half court.

Yu Fei realized that James was indeed fighting desperately.

It is indeed time.

If James doesn't go all out now, he'll face another failure - and how many times can he fail?

At the end of the first half, the score was 56 to 53, with the Clippers only leading by 3 points.

Yu Fei, who seemed to be powerless to stop James, said to Yao Ming beside him with a smile: "He is in great shape. Do you think I can beat him tonight?"

"It's uncertain!" Yao Ming replied, "Save some energy and prepare for Game 7."

At the beginning of the second half, both sides used extremely tough defense to block the other side for one round.

But the stalemate did not last long, as the Heat broke the deadlock with a pick-and-roll between Curry and James.

Afterwards, Yu Fei and Thompson combined to hit a three-pointer, and Jokic scored against Whiteside in the low post, and the Clippers maintained a 3-point lead.

James continued to exert his strength, breaking through Yu Fei and scoring a tough tank layup, and assisted Whiteside to complete an alley-oop, and the score was instantly leveled.

Next, the Clippers exploded.

Yu Fei dribbled past James and scored a layup, Antetokounmpo made a jump shot from outside the three-point line, and Jokic made a tip-in after grabbing the offensive rebound, and the Clippers widened the gap to 6 points in one breath.

Immediately afterwards, Curry and James hit three-pointers in succession, and the Clippers' 6-point lead was tied again in less than two minutes.

It was then that Yu Fei started playing singles.

James was concentrating on defending, but Yu Fei acted decisively. He dodged left and right, cut into the paint area and scored a layup.

James, who put aside his distractions, was equally unstoppable, and still forced shots to score despite being double-teamed by the Clippers.

Yu Fei broke through from the weak side, received the ball and faced James, and a three-pointer with a rainbow arc went into the net, and the audience in the stadium burst into amazement.

In the final minutes of the third quarter, the duel between the two superstars was like a heavy blow fight in a boxing match.

This suffocating and tense situation continued until the fourth quarter.

The Clippers did not change their main players, and the Heat also stuck to their starting lineup. The coaching staffs of both teams understood that what was being competed at this moment was intensity and endurance, and the side that fell first would completely lose the chance of winning.

Rivers said to Yu Fei on the sidelines: "If you want to take a breath, remember to tell me."

As a result, the confrontation between all the main players became intense at the beginning of the fourth quarter.

As physical energy was greatly consumed, the intensity of the game remained unchanged, resulting in a sharp drop in the hit rate of both sides.

The frequency of scoring decreases, the difficulty of scoring increases, and every point becomes more precious.

After the scoring drought lasted for a few minutes, Yu Fei made a turnaround jump shot in the low post with the support of James.

The Clippers led by 3 points again.

Soon, James broke through in response.

Thompson made a three-pointer, but before the Clippers could enjoy the 4-point lead, Love also made a three-pointer from the outside.

The more intense the game, the more likely it is to have intermittent scoring spurts.

They can go minutes without scoring, then minutes after minutes of scoring, and they're evenly matched.

This seems to have become a rule, making the gap of a few points seem like an insurmountable chasm.

When the game entered the last five minutes, this season's MVP James used an ultra-long three-pointer to narrow the gap to 1 point.

Thompson took another three-pointer, but this time, his touch was not good.

However, the offensive rebound fell into Yu Fei's hands.

The oldest player on the court, the opponent that Miami fears the most, was flanked by Butler the moment he got the rebound, trying to force him into a desperate situation with James.

But Yu Fei jumped up immediately after landing, and made a mid-range bank shot.

This was Yu Fei's 20th point in the second half.

He hasn't stopped yet.

And history began to be written at this moment.

James responded with a jump shot.

Yu Fei backed up in the low post, shook his shoulders, turned around and stepped in to score.

Curry tied the score again with a McGrady-style dribble and a pull-up three-pointer.

However, Yu Fei got an open position under Jokic's pick-and-roll and decisively took a three-pointer.

The Heat tried to find Curry again, but the Clippers defended tightly and no longer allowed the MVP to take easy shots.

James got the ball, and Yu Fei let go a little, forcing him to take a three-pointer from the outside.

Some people say that human power is unlimited, but in fact, only time can change everything.

The change that time has left on James is to do everything possible to keep him the same.

Suddenly, James figured out Yu Fei's problem that day.

How much have you changed since then?

That was the Adidas ABCD training camp in 2001, and it was also the place where James and Yu Fei first met.

At that time, James was just a boy under 15 years old. He didn't know that Yu Fei would become his brother in the future, that the two would become enemies, and that this relationship would be torn apart for many years.

Yu Fei has now reached a high place where he can look down at James, but he still asked this question.

Does it make sense?
James was unwilling to admit that he had been changed by the fame and fortune of the adult world.

He only admitted one thing: the person who pushed him to where he is today was Yu Fei.

It was Yu Fei who left him with no way out.

There must be a break between them!
The last three minutes were a duel between Yu Fei and James.

After Yu Fei scored, James must have responded with all his strength.

James is young, energetic, and capable of many impossible things. However, when the game was 47 minutes in, his physical strength was exhausted, and his talent no longer obeyed his body, the -year-old King missed an easy jump shot in front of his old enemy.

Yu Fei turned around and got into position, while Jokic protected the rebound.

At this moment, the score was 96 to 93, with the Clippers leading by 3 points.

Yu Fei took the pass from Jokic and started to move forward slowly.

"I tell you, the most alluring attraction in the world is not Hollywood stars..." ESPN's Jeff Van Gundy said excitedly, "but people like Yu Fei! Just imagine, the greatest player in basketball history will do what great things to defend his historical status in front of the person he least wants to lose to?"

Yu Fei did not think about the so-called great history. These illusory things had nothing to do with him.

Outside the three-point line, Yu Fei was dribbling the ball, and James was less than five feet in front of him. With less than fifty seconds left in the game, this shot was crucial.

But Yu Fei had lost all hatred and any belief in the glory of the championship. He only had one question: Why did James miss the shot just now? Why couldn't he fight with him to the last second at 100%? Why?
Maybe because he never won?

Maybe it's because that's the limit of his skills?
Maybe there is no reason, this is his fate.

Those who stay on the top of the mountain too long see a completely different view from those at the bottom of the mountain.

Yu Fei sprinted forward, and James rushed forward as if he were facing a formidable enemy.

However, Yu Fei suddenly stopped, stepped back easily, and released James' force. The emperor slid to one side, but the best player in history raised his hand at that moment and made a soft shot that was enough to decide the fate of the season.

"Ugh!!!!"

James' eyes widened and he felt a blockage in his chest.

Yu Fei turned around and looked down at him as if the outcome was already decided. His face was filled with the confidence of a winner, but with a cold word, he dragged James from the world into hell again:
"Is that all you can do, LeBron?"

With less than 40 seconds left in the game and the score difference widened to 6 points, the Heat requested a timeout.

After the timeout, Curry forced a three-pointer but missed, and Jokic grabbed the rebound again. The Heat committed a tactical foul, and Jokic made both free throws.

Half a minute later, the final whistle sounded at Staples Center.

101 is better than 93
The Clippers defeated the Heat 4-2, completed their three consecutive championships, and established their own dynasty.

This is destined to be another frustrating summer for Miami people.

Curry looked up at the sky and couldn't help wondering, if he had handled the last few balls, would the results have been better?
James stood there blankly, lost in thought for a long time.

What about their opponents?

The celebration has begun.

The young players gathered, surrounded the GOAT, and then threw the powerful old guy into the air.

This was undoubtedly the craziest celebration Yu Fei had ever experienced in his career.

The scene has turned into a sea of ​​joy.

From the Hollywood celebrities in the front row to the ordinary audience on the mountaintop, everyone was immersed in the joy of establishing a dynasty.

They have one last wish.

That was the roar that swept in from all directions when Yu Fei and his teammates left the field.

“One more time!!!!!”

“One more time!!!!!”

“One more time!!!!!”

“One more time“

(One more year)
PS: The reason I updated it only now is that my coding software crashed at 6 o'clock, and the content that I had already completed was reset to zero. I adjusted my mentality and started writing again until now.

PPS: There is probably one chapter left. Maybe one chapter + an epilogue? I don't know, but I want to write the last chapter slowly, so I won't update it in the next few days. The last chapter of the main text may be updated on the 30th or 31st.

(End of this chapter)