Basketball Legend: When Pride Still Matters Chapter 611 443 Good Things Will Naturally Occur

Durant was stunned for a mont; he hadn't expected Jas to say that to him.

"Really? I don't see it that way."

Durant responded briefly.

But Jas didn't go on. He knew Durant was Nike's new favorite. With his own failure and Kobe reaching the age of 30, what Yu Fei represented for Reebok was becoming dominant in the basketball sports equipnt market.

For Nike, Yu Fei's 'The Chosen One' series was the new era's 'His Airness' brand.

What was hateful was that this brand didn't belong to Nike.

Jas had heard so whispers; Nike planned to pull out all the stops to pursue Yu Fei the next sumr.

Because the 6-year, 130 million US Dollar endorsent deal that Yu Fei signed with Reebok in 2003 would expire then.

If Nike succeeded, they would gain the contemporary Jordan.

For other basketball athletes under Nike, this was a trendous pressure.

Especially for Jas, he couldn't accept this.

But he was helpless; if the choice ca down to him or Yu Fei, Nike would not hesitate to drop him.

From what Jas knew about Yu Fei, he figured the man probably wouldn't leave Reebok.

Because in essence, Nike was Jordan's "old nest."

So, Jas's biggest rival within Nike was actually Durant, standing next to Yu Fei.

Nike not only provided Durant with an endorsent contract only second to Jas's, but also gave him a rare public image in sports—apprentice, nice guy, boy next door.

This was a rare phenonon in Arican sports history.

People had seen Dr. J and Magic Johnson's sociable nature, had witnessed dominators like Jordan and Tiger Woods, and the villainous rebels like Tyson and Iverson, but none had ever been portrayed as the nice guy.

Is it a good thing for an athlete to be called a nice guy?

Maybe not, but being a nice guy in today's comrcialized era has one huge advantage—it removes the distance between the athlete and the fans.

This was Durant's edge.

Nike promoted him as Yu Fei's apprentice to the outside world, a good guy, and in front of the fans, the big boy with a backpack.

As Durant followed in Yu Fei's footsteps to win his first championship, Nike's marketing for him entered the next phase.

He began to devour the market shares that forrly belonged to Jas and, gradually, Nike started shifting their resources towards him.

Because they all knew Durant's draft template was Yu Fei.

They were looking forward to the new waves surpassing the old ones.

On this matter, they had already lost hope in Jas.

Jas was only two years younger than Yu Fei but lagged behind by five championships, four MVP titles, and twenty-six consecutive losses in head-to-head matchups.

Jordan's early playoff sweeps by Bird had beco evidence for people to question him in later generations, but Jas's losses against Yu Fei were even more damning, and such a gap was impossible to bridge.

Jas's camp realized this.

It exacerbated their sense of urgency.

Thus ca the words that Jas said to Durant; perhaps it was a genuine outburst, but his underlying purpose was not so simple.

Yu Fei was indifferent to the exchange between the two; the Cavaliers focused on outside play, allowing the Supersonics to concentrate their firepower on attacking their inside.

Shaquille O'Neal's defense was now just a facade.

He would pose as if he were earnestly defending but then remain motionless when it was really ti to exert effort.

Roy twice dribbled up to him and used the Euro step to lay up; O'Neal didn't react, just raising his hands as if going through the motions.

No one was fooled by such a bluff.

Jas, relying on his legally dubious four-step layup, attacked anyone he saw, and while the Supersonics' zone defense was useful, the Little Emperor wasn't fooled every ti.

Moreover, his shooting had improved from the last season.

The accuracy of his outside three-pointers was unfamiliar to Yu Fei.

Tonight, Jas was 4 for 7 from the outside, completely transitioning from a freak of nature with an uneven offensive arsenal to a precision outside shooter, capable from midrange and unstoppable in the paint, a triple-threat offensive weapon.

Yu Fei didn't know whether it was his own influence that propelled Jas's evolution, or if Cavaliers 1.0's Jas really had such ability. It didn't matter. What he noticed was that, with Jas's existing skill level combined with the four-step layup, he really was an unsolvable ball handler.

Neither him nor anyone else in the League could stop Jas one-on-one.

But Jas's old problem was his over 90% tendency to pass out when breaking into the paint; no one knew whether he couldn't pass inside or just disliked passing inside, favoring scoring drives instead. This offensive preference let the Supersonics be clear on their choices when defending against him.

Jas's singular passing tendency led to another result; he could not possibly have chemistry with O'Neal.

For soone like O'Neal, who took over the paint on offense, if the ball handler didn't give him any sweet deals, he wouldn't have any desire to position himself actively, leading to a vicious cycle where everyone crowded the inside.

Yu Fei, on the other hand, as he posted up against Jas, approached the ultimate door that one must inevitably touch after mastering post play—drawing the defense at the low post, creating a center-out explosion on all sides.

When Yu Fei scored for the fourth ti under Jas's defense in the low post, Mike Brown decided he couldn't let Yu Fei go at LeBron alone anymore.

"Where's our help defense? Where's our double-team?" exclaid the Bread Coach, "Are you damned guys able to provide any support for LeBron or not?"

They could.

But if they helped LeBron, who would help them?

After breaking through Jas's low-post defense, Yu Fei found his vision incredibly clear.

Because the Cavaliers' defense was forced to contract by him, anyti soone ca to help defend, it ant he had at least one teammate open.

After capitalizing on a few such opportunities, the Supersonics had stretched the lead to 12 points, and the first quarter was about to end.

Karl substituted Yu Fei out for a rest.

When Yu Fei sat down off the court, he asked assistant coach Sikma, "Jack, when you used to play in the post, you must have been double-tead a lot, right?"

With a touch of pride, Sikma said, "If they didn't double-team , I could have averaged 30 points a ga."

"How many assists did you average?" Yu Fei asked.

"About three," Sikma replied.

He then noticed Yu Fei seed surprised.

"What's up?"

"That's kind of low."

"Low?" Sikma said, sowhat annoyed, "That's a lot!"

Yu Fei said, "After I blew up LeBron on the post, the whole view of the court changed for , I can almost sense when they're going to double-team , and my teammates beco visible like moles popping out of their holes..."

Listening to Yu Fei recount his recent experience on the court, Sikma didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

As a player, what's your first reaction when you get double-tead on the court? Pride? Finally, the opponents are showing you respect?

No, your reaction is anxiety.

Double-teams are definitely aggressive, the opponents are using the strength of two players just to lock you down, why would they let you pass the ball easily?

So, 99% of players being double-tead would consider it a successful play just to pass the ball out.

Finding a teammate open or even making a beautiful pass is not sothing ordinary people can do.

In Sikma's view, Yu Fei was a player who preferred to have the ball first and had only chosen to transform after coming to the Supersonics. However, a player's personal style is as profound as lineage, and no matter how Yu Fei transford, he would eventually return to his original path.

But a player who can be the main core both at the top of the arc and down in the post has a completely different aning for the team.

"With you here," Sikma sighed, "Seattle is truly blessed."

"Don't," Yu Fei joked, "they have soone over there who is constantly told by the Cavaliers' owner 'Cleveland is blessed,' and now all he thinks about is how to leave. If you wish well, don't use that phrase on ."

"No, you're different."

"How so?"

Sikma said in a serious tone but with a funny comnt, "You won't take four steps for a layup."

"That's right!" Lin Kaiwen, Yu Fei's assistant, chid in, "Big Fei's biggest shortcoming is that his fundantals are too solid, he can't take four steps for a layup!"

Prophetically, while they were making rry off the court and joking about Jas's 012 layup, the ga changed in the second quarter.

In the first quarter, Jas played like a god, unstoppable in penetration and precise in his periter shooting.

But starting from the second quarter, it was as if the referees had changed personalities, becoming particularly strict when calling travel violations.

Jas was first called for traveling, which made him spread his hands in disbelief.

Then DeAndre Jordan got a traveling call after catching a pass from Yu Fei for an easy score.

The referees suddenly seed averse to traveling, blowing the whistle as if they'd rather wrongly call ten travels than miss one, totaling six traveling violations against the Supersonics and the Cavaliers in just one quarter.

For those accustod to good techniques, this was a blessing.

Yu Fei played as he always did.

But it wasn't easy for Jas. It's not that he couldn't play without traveling, only layn think that way; he's not in that category. The main issue was that the referees disrupted his ga rhythm, making him unable to find the feeling of controlling thunder and lightning like he did in the first quarter.

He was on par with Yu Fei initially, but suddenly, the Cavaliers' performance plumted.

Yu Fei didn't give Jas any chances, widening the gap to 20 points before halfti; fans in the Key Arena started holding up photoshopped images of Jas kneeling and crying in front of Yu Fei with a caption that read, "LeBron, a 27-ga losing streak is not your limit!"

In the second half, Jas returned to form, but the Cavaliers were too far behind, with no hope for a coback.

In the end, the second half beca a stage for stat padding.

Jas could lose, but his stats couldn't suffer.

He racked up 36 points, 13 rebounds, and 8 assists, matching Yu Fei's triple-double of 34 points, 12 rebounds, and 12 assists for the ga.

"Is there a possibility," Randy Mims, serving as Jas's mouthpiece, posed, "I an just a possibility. This is my personal opinion and has nothing to do with LeBron. The 27-ga losing streak isn't the gap between LeBron and Frye, but between Cleveland, Milwaukee, and Seattle?"

The intent of his statent was to continue the tired "Cavaliers lost but LeBron didn't lose" cliché, but since he substituted Cleveland for the Cavaliers, many from Cleveland wouldn't understand it.

As a result, Jas later faced criticism from his hotown.

Cleveland might not be as good as Seattle, but what poor backwater is Milwaukee?

Yu Fei first did an on-site interview and then made a point to approach the League commissioner.

While Yu Fei would like to believe that the referees made a sudden change on their own, reason told him that the only logical explanation for a referee to suddenly switch from a fan of four-step layups to a basketball rules fundantalist would be outside pressure.

Who on the scene was most likely and able to exert such influence?

Of course, it was the League's ruler.

"Mr. Commissioner, I hope this ga hasn't disappointed you," Yu Fei said, his tone flat.

"You never disappoint, which is good," Stern replied, "I hope Seattle won't be a disappointnt, either."

"We just work hard, and good things will happen naturally."

"Let's hope so."

Stern wasn't so naive, and he believed Yu Fei wasn't either.

Things in this world don't always turn out as one would hope just through hard work. If you don't believe it, just look at LeBron, who tried so hard to co to Seattle and stand in front of Frye, only to be knocked down with a single punch.

Although Stern had exerted so effort, he didn't feel that he affected the balance of the ga.

If the referee's interpretation is not in your favor and you lose your belief in victory, then maybe you don't deserve to win in the first place.