Basketball Legend: When Pride Still Matters Chapter 564 - 402 Thoughts Connected

Yu Fei’s pressure on Paul threw the Hornets into disarray.

When the Hornets lost their usual ga rhythm because of Paul’s frenzy, the Supersonics surged ahead, leading by 18 points before halfti.

Byron Scott said to Paul, "Chris, you see? If you can’t keep your cool, we beco sitting ducks."

Paul saw, but what could he do?

Keeping calm in front of Yu Fei was a difficult task.

In the second half, the Hornets caught up so points under Paul’s lead, but Yu Fei and Roy quickly interrupted their montum.

Yu Fei fired from the outside, while Roy shattered Paul’s defense one-on-one.

When the Supersonics’ outside dual-core was both performing, they were nearly unbeatable.

By the end of the third quarter, the Supersonics led the Hornets by 15 points. Stay connected with Freewebnovel

At the start of the fourth quarter, other Supersonics players stepped up as well.

The overlooked Durant made jump shots and breakthroughs in position battles, Kwa Brown took advantage of the star’s gravity to continuously score easy baskets, and the ubiquitous Marion filled up the stat sheet.

Even though Paul started hitting three-pointers, Fei could respond with jump shots, find layup opportunities against Brown’s help defense, but a star needs to take over the ga and attempt a coback by simultaneously containing the opponents.

Otherwise, it might seem like padding stats during garbage ti.

In the end, 111 to 98, the Supersonics defeated the Hornets at ho, taking the first win of the series.

What was impressive was the strong animosity between the Supersonics and the Hornets.

After the ga, there were no hugs, no handshakes, each team went their separate ways.

"When they wanted to compete, all we could do was respond," Yu Fei remarked about Paul losing control on the court, "I might have said so excessive things, but I won’t shut up just because the other side feels hurt."

Yu Fei recalled the ga, distinctly rembering how the opponent broke down when he trash-talked using Paul’s grandfather.

So Yu Fei asked around, wanting to know what the relationship between Paul and his grandfather was like. Unexpectedly, he learned that the latter had passed away during Paul’s high school years, and Paul even scored 61 points in a single ga to commorate him.

Now that truly was talent without virtue.

Big Fei thought with self-mockery after learning the answer.

Of course, he wouldn’t continue to bring up Paul’s grandfather, but he didn’t plan to apologize either. After all, he started the ga with a smile, but Paul’s attitude of "give back my MVP" made it hard for him to not retaliate.

Yu Fei really didn’t understand Paul’s grudge about the MVP.

Paul was just the third in MVP votes, he didn’t take issue with the runner-up, so why bother with him?

Paul’s loss of control also exposed the Hornets’ Achilles’ heel.

They rise with Paul, they fall with Paul.

Once Paul’s control over the team was lost, as it was tonight, they were just an ordinary strong team.

In the following days, Seattle’s sports market was engrossed in a frenzied atmosphere.

While MVP wasn’t new to Fei—he had won several in Milwaukee—for Seattle, a professional basketball MVP was very fresh.

Although the team had a forty-year history in Erald City, they had never owned a regular season MVP.

Their last MVP was the 1979 Finals MVP Dennis Johnson, and before him the 1971 All-Star MVP Lanny Wilkens, but neither the Finals MVP nor the All-Star MVP could compare to the MVP in terms of difficulty or gold content. The latter required a sample of 82 gas, while the forr only needed one playoff round and an exhibition ga’s sample size.

The smaller the sample, the higher the chance of randomness.

The comrcial value generated by Fei fostered a bull market for sports rchandise around Key Arena.

The MVP intensified this phenonon.

Most of the rchandise related to Fei was pre-ordered before it even hit the shelves, and jerseys were especially hard to co by.

This feverish fandom began to spill over from downtown, subtly influencing other city residents who were previously indifferent to professional basketball.

The Supersonics’ comrcial potential was exploding.

And Seattle was never short of visionaries.

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballr developed a strong interest in investing in a new arena for the Supersonics.

Everything related to the Supersonics was being mobilized.

The Hornets in front of them were no longer the Supersonics’ concern. Their task was to defeat the Hornets, then push through divisional finals considerations, and finally win back that damned trophy in the Finals.

An economist who had once believed that the Supersonics had a zero economic impact on Seattle predicted, "If the Supersonics win the championship this year, they are expected to generate profits exceeding tens of millions of US Dollars and an economic impact of over one hundred million US Dollars."

The Seattle Tis quoted this prediction and reminded the fans who had brought all this about.

"If it weren’t for Frye, none of this would have happened."

The powerful celebrity effect began to benefit the brands under Fei’s na.

Yu Fenglin’s restaurant in Seattle thrived, and Reebok swiftly defeated competitors such as Nike and Adidas in the basketball market, monopolizing Seattle’s basketball scene, with every brand associated with Yu Fei eager to trumpet their relationship with him.

For a ti, Yu Fei seed like a roaming deity among humans—he was everywhere, and everywhere was his domain.

The most direct witnesses to this were the players of the Hornets.

"Did you know? Even the delivery guys’ uniforms have No. 44 on them!" Paul’s brother, CJ, complained. "It’s No. 44 everywhere! It’s like it’s his city alone!"

Paul listened in silence.

After the first ga ended, he realized that the attitude he had displayed was harming the long-term relationship between him and Yu Fei.

Although they had no personal friendship, as teammates on Team USA, they would fight side by side this sumr.

If they fell out now, how could they cooperate then?

Nevertheless, Paul still couldn’t accept being snubbed in the MVP voting.

He had rescued professional basketball in New Orleans and kept the Hornets there; before Yu Fei completed the great task of saving the Supersonics, he had already saved the Hornets.

Why were people blind to this?

But when Paul saw Seattle’s sports market taking off and the basketball economy quickly reviving, he could distinctly feel a direct difference between what he had done and what Yu Fei had accomplished.

Stricken by Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans was still rebuilding, the Hornets had stayed, but the market hadn’t recovered, nor had a flood of sponsors co pouring in.

And the Supersonics?

Their future was still uncertain; the team needed to get the Seattle City Governnt to pass a financing plan before the sumr of 2010 arrived, or the current boom would be as fleeting as flowers reflected in a mirror, gone in an instant.

But that was what was terrifying.

The Supersonics were still playing in Key Arena, their revenue could not be maximized, yet under such circumstances, the basketball scene had fully recovered, the market was bustling, and Supersonics rchandise continued to sell out.

What if they stayed and gained a better arena?

Both were salvations, but the impact on the city was worlds apart.

The Hornets staying in New Orleans was a consolation in the aftermath of a disaster.

But the Supersonics, having ignited a major market coback, could have a profound impact on the culture and economy of the city.

This difference and impact were exactly what distinguished Yu Fei from Paul.

In each era, in every highly comrcialized sport, there are only one or two individuals like Yu Fei.

Their nas have beco symbols, their very existence a personification of comrcial value, and when they can bring profit to everyone, their presence transcends the role of just an athlete.

He would be the avatar of comrce, the embodint of public sentint, the representative of the league, the darling of the dia, and unfortunately, Paul, who had also saved New Orleans, was destined not to be ntioned in the sa breath as such a person.

From the beginning, the competition was not fair.

When Yu Fei returned to Seattle, he had already won.

Paul was a smart man; when reality kept striking him hard, he began to reflect on the whole situation.

In the end, he realized that neither Yu Fei nor himself had done anything wrong. They both deserved the MVP, but to the world, Yu Fei was more deserving.

This is how professional basketball operates; this is the sweet spot that the business league provides to those stars who bring them profit. They simply deserve it more than others.

"Frye is not wrong, he deserves the MVP."

Suddenly, Paul said.

"Chris?" CJ was shocked. "What are you talking about?"

"Hear out," Paul said. "I deserve the MVP too, but it’s not us who decide these things. It’s those money-grubbing bastards. Do you think I should oppose Frye over this?"

That may be true, but now that the teams were facing off in the playoffs, without the courage to oppose Yu Fei, how could they hope to defeat the Supersonics and advance to the next round?

CJ’s concerns were valid.

Paul understood, but his fighting spirit to face Yu Fei head-on had also faded.

A day later, the teams were back at Key Arena, battling through four quarters; Paul played steadily, but Yu Fei’s unstoppable one-on-one plays at critical monts left the Hornets helpless.

106 to 101

The Supersonics won against the Hornets again, leading the series 2-0.

That night, Paul proactively shook hands with Yu Fei, "You’ve done what you had to do. Now it’s our turn."

Yu Fei was, of course, unaware of the change in Paul, but it seed he had co to an understanding.

That was good.

Even though he truly lost his one and only chance at the MVP in his lifeti, the most important thing for a person living in this world is to have clarity of thought, as being constantly troubled by worries can lead to premature aging.