Basketball Legend: When Pride Still Matters Chapter 701 701 488 They are all right (combined)

Chapter 701: Chapter 488: They are all right (combined) Chapter 701: Chapter 488: They are all right (combined) The first day of 2010 brought the Supersonics an unpleasant New Year’s gift.

It was discovered that Brandon Roy had a niscal tear after being examined, and moreover, the knee that was injured this ti was not the sa one that had undergone ACL surgery in the past.

If there was anything fortunate, it was that the current environnt for Roy was better than in his previous life.

In his previous life, Roy had suffered the niscal tear during the playoffs. He mistakenly believed in the heroic tales of playing through an injury, forgetting that there was only one Willis Reed. Even Reed, after the “Reed’s Return” battle, was never the sa again.

Roy opted for conservative treatnt and returned to the playoffs eight days later, eventually exacerbating his injury. Both knees had their nisci removed, and by 2012, he had ended his professional career.

Now, Roy was important to the Supersonics.

He was the key to Yu Fei’s transformation.

...

But was he irreplaceable?

No. Yu Fei’s ability to transition into a traditional all-around small forward didn’t an he couldn’t revert to his old self during the Bucks period. Now with Roy injured, if he underwent surgery, he was conservatively estimated to need 6-8 weeks to recover. If the recovery didn’t go well, there was even a risk of missing the entire season.

Therefore, starting from the next ga, Fei returned to the point guard position.

Naturally, the person who felt happiest about this was Durant.

With Fei playing point guard, Durant could play his favorite position at small forward.

Moreover, Durant felt complicated emotions; he knew that Roy’s injury was a significant weakening of the team’s strength, but on a personal level, the injury had reshuffled the Supersonics’ main rotation.

Sharpshooter Anthony Moro moved up from the bench to the starting lineup, veteran Michael Finley went from backup’s backup to main rotation, and rookie Alonzo Gee, who previously only got garbage ti, saw a few more minutes on the court.

This was the “A single whale falls, myriad creatures rise” situation on the basketball court.

An absolute core player’s fall would have his tactical position and playing ti devoured by his teammates.

The New Year’s first battle, the Supersonics versus the Bucks.

Fei didn’t seem very aggressive on offense.

It was Durant who could be described as overjoyed.

Durant took over Fei’s forr position, repeatedly calling for the ball to attack and finding success with every attempt.

As a historical-level offensive powerhouse, Durant was now showing his potential, and on the Bucks side, Danny Granger dueled with him and was bested.

The inside line of Pau Gasol and LaMarcus Aldridge had the advantage, but whatever edge they created was nullified by the Supersonics’ three-point barrage.

Durant, in his first official ga playing small forward, scored 34 points with 5 rebounds.

“I told Brandon that I would get his points too!” Durant told the reporters, “No matter who’s down, the rest of us will fight for them. That’s my mindset!”

Unsurprisingly, Durant spent a few more minutes talking about the mindset of “fighting for teammates.”

It was his standard routine for every ga day.

The dia always gave him topics to showcase his eloquence.

Durant just needed to repeat those politically correct platitudes to make his image stick in people’s minds.

Fei, on the other hand, didn’t have that sa sense of commitnt to fighting for his teammates.

When a reporter asked him whether Roy would return for the playoffs, Fei answered, “The doctor told that if we’re lucky, he could co back in the last month of the regular season.”

The next day, this statent beca headline in the Seattle Tis: “Frye believes Brandon will return before the playoffs.”

Did they intentionally misinterpret Fei’s words? Not really.

The core of journalism is to spread what journalists believe must be conveyed.

What matters is what they want you to learn from the news.

If they wanted to instill optimism in the Supersonics’ fans through Fei’s comnts, then even a benevolent distortion of his words was considered viable.

A few days later, Roy successfully underwent surgery, and Presti’s recruitnt of Roy’s replacent arrived belatedly—the Supersonics signed free agent Shaun Livingston.

By then, Livingston had already recovered from one of the most dreadful injuries in NBA history, but many still doubted whether he could withstand the rigors of the NBA.

So he beca a journeyman.

Wherever there was an opportunity, he would go there to play basketball.

Did the Supersonics need a guard who could organize and attack? He seed to fit a bit of both, eting all the criteria except for not shooting threes.

And so, he ca.

However, Livingston’s arrival was not well-tid.

This period was one of Fei’s most emotionally down tis in several years.

Roy’s injury had ignited an unspeakable rage in his heart; he might be losing his biggest aide and his best friend in life.

Livingston joined the team at this wrong ti, as Roy’s replacent.

Then ca the second battle with the Lakers.

Despite being at ho, Fei’s emotional state caused his performance to fluctuate.

In the beginning, rage inspired a divine performance.

He was nearly bursting Jas.

But when the referees called a few balance-maintaining fouls, that frustration triggered Fei.

He suddenly felt as if the entire world was against him, and he roared at the referees.

That earned him a technical foul.

On the other end, Phil Jackson sumd up the failure of the Christmas battle and began to divide up Artest’s responsibilities.

Officially, Artest was still a power forward.