Basketball Legend: When Pride Still Matters-Chapter 450 - 304: The Time to Become a God

Chapter 450: Chapter 304: The Time to Become a God

In early March, Yu Fei faced a crucial game against the Suns, the first showdown of the season.

It was also the second MVP competition between him and Nash.

Last season, after the brawl at The Palace of Auburn Hills, Yu Fei single-handedly led his team to 50 wins with an average of 36 points per game and advanced to the Eastern Conference finals, snatching away what would have been a dramatic fairy tale comeback for Nash and causing him to miss out on the MVP.

This season, the script was flipped.

The Bucks were strong, while the Suns lost Amar’e Stoudemire at the start of the season, and Nash had to struggle to keep his team afloat, which seemed to finally be leading him to his MVP.

However, Yu Fei’s average triple-double cast a huge question mark on that assumption.

Tonight, as the origin of all small-ball, fast-paced play in the new century, the Bucks didn’t mind playing fast against the Suns.

Both teams pushed the pace to the max, with offensive efficiency climbing, ultimately delivering a standard small-ball game in the Big Ball Era.

At the end of regulation time, 127 to 121, the Bucks defeated the Suns by a 6-point margin, with Yu Fei blasting 50 points, 13 rebounds, and 9 assists, nearly replicating his All-Star game’s 50+15+10 performance.

Nash, on the other hand, lamented with his 35 points and 15 assists.

“I know some people want to say that last season Frye won MVP because of a similar predicament, and so Steve should be awarded this season’s MVP,” George Karl said with a sneer, “But tonight’s game proved that Frye is not only the best player on the best team, but also a star among stars. Steve Nash is good, but there’s a clear gap between him and Frye, and I’m the first to disagree with giving him the MVP.”

Then Mike D’Antoni started his old tune again, accusing Yu Fei of hogging the ball, damaging the team, and hindering the growth of young players, unlike Nash, who even without Stoudemire managed to elevate Boris Diaw.

Such remarks originally came from Phil Jackson, but he stopped saying it in recent years, as the flaws were too obvious.

Karl thought it wasn’t worth refuting, but since D’Antoni was the one making the comments, not striking back might lead others to follow the narrative.

So, Karl responded at the press conference, “You talk about helping young players grow? Boris Diaw? Did he make the All-Star game? Frye, on the other hand, turned Kevin Martin from a fringe player who was about to be swept out of the league into an All-Star in his sophomore year.”

Karl and D’Antoni’s war of words became a sight in the League, but it also highlighted Yu Fei’s advantage in this competition.

For Karl, defending Yu Fei’s honor was part of his job, and if D’Antoni continued to bark, he would start attacking Nash directly.

The Bucks charged ahead, and by the end of March, they headed off for an away rematch with the Suns.

This time, the Suns lay in wait, having rested for three days before facing the Bucks.

The Bucks, on the other hand, came to Phoenix after one day’s rest following a back-to-back.

Tonight, with Raja Bell resting, Karl inserted Ariza into the starting lineup and had Robert Horry replace Kwame Brown as the starting center, adopting a 5 OUT strategy from the start, expecting Yu Fei to take off.

“As long as we take down Steve Nash in Phoenix, there will be no suspense left in the MVP race!” Karl said bluntly.

Take down Nash? Yu Fei got the message.

He would do to Nash what the Cavaliers did to Curry in the 2016 Finals.

Curry’s Warriors, as the reincarnation of Nash’s Suns, differed from the original team in that Curry, the core perimeter player, was an adequate defender, not a liability like Nash.

The Cavaliers’ logic in targeting Curry was simple: exhaust him first; moreover, he really was the best player on the Warriors for them to call out on the floor.

Nash was different.

The Suns’ offensive linchpin also required his teammates to cover for him on defense, and if the Bucks targeted Nash relentlessly like the Cavaliers did Curry, Nash, as team leader, would find himself in a very awkward position.

That’s exactly what happened tonight.

The Suns treated the game like a playoff match, with D’Antoni using his players like beasts in a seven-man rotation.

Fortunately, everyone on the Suns had beast-like stamina, maintaining accurate shooting throughout the game.

But Nash was ruthlessly targeted the entire time.

Yu Fei called him out, Martin did as well, then even Ariza clumsily joined in, followed by Granger. If it weren’t for Horry’s current dislike for ball-handling on offense, Nash would have been on his menu too.

To show his difference from Nash, Yu Fei generously shared the ball tonight, exerting considerable energy on defense and then using the rest to target Nash.

This led to a terrifying scene on the court.

Nash was a defensive liability, which allowed both Yu Fei and Ariza to ride roughshod over him.

In contrast, on defense, Yu Fei suddenly resembled Pau Gasol, sweeping the high post, protecting the paint, and guarding pick-and-rolls, to everyone’s amazement.

“I know what you want to say, but tonight, Frye was the combination of Ray Allen, Gary Payton, and Shawn Kemp!” an excited Karl exclaimed. “I’ve coached all three, so I’m qualified to say this!”

The Suns were crushed at home.

Since Yu Fei shared the ball a lot tonight and played more one-on-one, he didn’t achieve a triple-double but managed to secure 37 points, 12 rebounds, 6 assists, 3 steals, and 5 blocks.

On the other side, Nash started strong but fizzled out, getting blown out at home and performing unremarkably with only 19 points and 11 assists. If not for his teammates’ outstanding performances, the match would have been stretched longer.

“The MVP race? Let’s not talk about that anymore; it’s over,” Karl said, refusing to answer any more MVP-related questions.

During an interview, Yu Fei said, “I really don’t care about it. Instead of discussing an MVP race that won’t yield any results now, it’s better to pay more attention to the performance of our young players. You always focus on Kevin, but tonight, Trevor had an excellent game.”

Ariza had always been Yu Fei’s sidekick, just like Damon Jones was to James.

However, his growth curve was really tortuous.

The main issue was his shooting; because of his poor shooting, Karl assigned him the role of a functional substitute, a double-edged sword who was excellent on defense but likely to encroach on Big Fei’s offensive space when he was on the court.

Ariza was well aware of where his problems lay, but not everyone could quickly improve their shooting. After two years of effort, he finally stabilized his three-point shooting percentage at 30%, but this was still below the league average.

Tonight, Ariza’s basket was not accurate, but he unexpectedly showcased another minor strength—clumsy ball handling and offense.

It was definitely not enough to rely on him for secondary offense, but it wasn’t difficult to take advantage of Nash’s defensive weaknesses.

Having lost at home and exposed his deficiencies, Nash was quickly left behind by Yu Fei in terms of public opinion.

Some potential voters who had supported Nash changed their minds: “When the day comes (voting day), I will remember Steve’s performance today.”

Having secured a complete victory in the confrontation with Nash, Yu Fei had objectively cleared the hurdle of defending the MVP title.

Entering April, Yu Fei only needed to focus on two things.

Keep the team at number one in the league and then pad his stats wherever possible, maintaining the triple-double average he had sustained for a long time until the very end.

For a team that was completely committed to small ball, with the core data output aligned with small-ball teams, this wasn’t a big problem.

In the opening game of April, the Bucks crushed the Eastern Conference’s seventh-ranked Pacers, causing them to drop to the eighth spot.

Then, they encountered the Miami Heat without Shaquille O’Neal on their home court.

Expecting to continue their winning streak, the Bucks instead fell into a Waterloo, getting unexpectedly defeated by a solo-led Dwyane Wade.

About this game, they only had one thing to say.

Dark, really dark.

The Bucks attempted free throws 24 times tonight.

On the Heat’s side, Wade alone attempted free throws 26 times.

Yu Fei joked, “On the bright side, it’s good that Dwyane got so many free throws tonight because I don’t want him to get that many in the playoffs.”

Karl wanted to criticize the referees, but didn’t want to pay a fine, so he had to shut his mouth.

There were only the last eight games of the regular season left.

The Bucks’ goal was to win them all.

But though the plan was good, they encountered problems at the third step.

Facing the disorganized Knicks who, when on a hot streak, could beat any team, the Bucks struggled against them until the end, only to be finished off by a buzzer-beater from Jamal Crawford.

Yet this was just a minor upset during the regular season; the Bucks secured the league’s top spot in their third-to-last regular season game.

Just when the outside world thought the Bucks would rest Yu Fei to eliminate all risks, Yu Fei surprisingly let loose in the last three games.

Against the Eastern Conference’s bottom-dwelling Atlanta Hawks, Yu Fei channelled his inner Kobe fan, paying tribute to Kobe’s 47/17 by shooting 40 times and scoring a career-high 64 points.

Then, against the second-ranked Detroit Pistons in the East, he delivered his ninth 40-point triple-double of the season.

In the final regular season game against his former team, the Wizards, Yu Fei finally eased off, securing 28 points, 10 rebounds, and 8 assists in 32 minutes—a performance that was quite subdued for him, as he concluded the 2005-06 regular season.

The night of the game against the Wizards was a night of celebration for Yu Fei’s camp.

Because Yu Fei had achieved a triple-double average.

For Reebok, this was key to further elevating Yu Fei to a godly status.

A god is considered a god because he does what humans cannot do, which is why he is called a god.

The Big O’s triple-double average had become a legend, just like Chamberlain’s average of 50 points, revered by later generations. Over the years, one all-around monster after another attempted to come close, but all failed.

Big men couldn’t average 10 assists per game, and guards had trouble grabbing 10 rebounds per game. Why? Because the unique position of big men in the Big Ball Era didn’t give them the stamina to take on the ball-handling needed to average 10 assists per game, and guards couldn’t pull down 10 rebounds in an era where 30 rebounds were produced per game.

So how did The Big O manage it?

You have to admit The Big O was great, but you also have to consider the objective context of the time—it was the 60s, there was no three-point line, the average shooting percentage was 40%, there were few black players, mostly whites (with underwhelming athletic ability), and as a result, each game produced 70 rebounds.

This was the context in which The Big O created his legend, as well as the reason later generations couldn’t match the triple-double average.

So how did Big Fei do it? Others playing the big core of small ball had already broken free from the confines of the Big Ball Era.

But no matter how much one might analyze, Yu Fei had reached the peak of the regular season.

In the 2005-06 season, appearing in all 82 games, he averaged 33 points, 11 rebounds, 10 assists, 2 steals, and 1 block. After 44 years, someone finally stepped before the god of data and loudly proclaimed:

“A triple-double average, mere child’s play.”

Th𝗲 most uptodate novels are published on ƒгeewёbnovel.com.

COMMENT

0 comment

Vote

3 left

SEND GIFT