Basketball Legend: When Pride Still Matters-Chapter 451 - 305 When Love Becomes a Thing of the Past

Chapter 451: Chapter 305 When Love Becomes a Thing of the Past

The regular season ended, and the Bucks ranked first in the league with a record of 66 wins and 16 losses.

Following the Bucks, ranking second was the Spurs from the Western Conference with 62 wins, then the Mavericks with 60 wins, and after that, the Detroit Pistons with 59 wins.

In terms of the regular season, this has been the league’s landscape in recent years.

Bucks, Pistons, Mavericks, Spurs—four powerhouses standing tall.

It’s just that, in the Eastern Conference, the Miami Heat rose last year, and this year the Knights have surged.

Last season, the Knights stopped short of the playoffs, but this season, with James averaging 31+8+8, they charged to fourth in the Eastern Conference with a record of 46 wins.

Although James entered the playoffs a year or two later than the outside world expected, at least he made it.

On April 14, 2006, the first round of the playoffs kicked off.

As the number one seed in the Eastern Conference, the Bucks faced the Indiana Pacers, who knocked them out of the playoffs last season.

In the eyes of some, this was karma for stopping a dynasty.

In just one year, the Pacers fell from the peak of power in the East to the edge of the playoffs.

The biggest issue was Ron Artest’s strange behavior and unprofessional conduct.

He could ask for leave during the season, claiming he had to miss games to promote his new album.

He could also miss training sessions on a whim because he “wasn’t in the mood.”

When he took a week off for a family emergency and then got into a bar fight and landed in jail, Pacers President Larry Bird was infuriated.

Artest was officially put on the trading block at the beginning of the year.

But because the Pacers couldn’t get a suitable offer by the trade deadline, Artest just rotted on the roster.

It proved that if you don’t cut out a tumor, it will eventually metastasize.

If Yu Fei was the league’s MVP, averaging a triple-double and leading a team lacking in star power to first place in the league, then Artest was the league’s most destructive player.

He single-handedly ruined the foundation of a team.

With Artest’s relationship with the team souring, the burden mostly fell on Jermaine O’Neal’s shoulders. But Jermaine O’Neal, as a power forward playing center, was overwhelmed to the point of being plagued with injuries all season, and only had a brief moment of fun with Big Fei during the All-Star weekend.

“Where’s Ron Artest?” Fei asked.

Jermaine O’Neal grimaced and said, “Don’t mention that guy, he’s not playing.”

“Why isn’t he playing?”

“Because Larry won’t give him his meal allowance.”

Fei had seen many a miser, but vengefulness out of miserliness was a rarity.

Someone like Artest who used this as an excuse not to play basketball was even rarer.

Of course, Artest had his own side of the story. Was it the few hundred dollars per day in meal allowances that he was missing? No, what he was missing was respect, and this was supposedly the last time Larry Bird disrespected him.

Fei expressed deep sympathy for Jermaine O’Neal’s predicament and said before the game began, “If you want to request a trade, remember to let me know.”

Jermaine O’Neal looked at him expectantly, “What do you have in mind?”

“I can get the management to offer Dikembe in a trade to Larry,” Fei said earnestly. “I hope he won’t be ungrateful.”

“F-YOU! Big Fei!”

“Okay, okay, for that comment, I’ll make sure you become the first team to start preparing for the 2006-07 season in the playoffs!”

With Artest not playing, Fei didn’t feel much pressure playing against the Pacers.

Because Artest was the only defender in the league who could cause him trouble in one-on-one situations.

Without Artest, the Pacers’ wings had no surprises, and the only advantage in the paint was Jermaine O’Neal.

The first game of the series was like a surprise attack. Fei moved like the wind, setting a pace the Pacers couldn’t handle, leading his team to score 62 points by halftime.

“I thought they scored 100 points by halftime, but it was only 62,” Pacers coach Carlisle said sarcastically. “I think we did well.”

The Pacers performed admirably, trying to engage in a shoot-out with the Bucks even though they couldn’t keep up with the tempo and managed to score 51 points, avoiding a blowout.

Jermaine O’Neal played a pivotal role in the post.

In Fei’s opinion, among all the big men facing the Bucks, the toughest was ’03 Duncan, followed by Jermaine O’Neal at any given time.

He was so fierce that Fei wondered if Jermaine O’Neal in his previous life was a black slave toiling away in Milwaukee, where else could such resentment come from.

In the end, 117-104, the Bucks easily defeated the Pacers.

Fei secured a triple-double, and Jermaine O’Neal, with 35 points and 15 rebounds, became the leader of the empty stats crew.

“FUCK!” Jermaine O’Neal complained to his teammates after the game, “I played like that and still didn’t win; we’re really going to get swept by Big Fei!”

His teammate Anthony Johnson corrected, “You mean swept by the Bucks.”

“FUCK!” Jermaine O’Neal glared at him, “Do you have any misunderstanding about the Milwaukee Big Fei? Milwaukee is Big Fei, Big Fei is Milwaukee!”

“Damn N-word, you better remember what I said, Big Fei is Milwaukee!”

Johnson joked, “No problem, he’ll leave in a couple of years.”

“SHIT~~~~~!!” Jermaine O’Neal suddenly had a thought, “What if Big Fei wins two more championships and then leaves Milwaukee, doesn’t that mean I’ll be the only one in the East who has beaten him in the playoffs?”

Johnson blinked, “I was there last season too.”

“SHIT!” Little O snarled, “You were not the deciding factor.”

Johnson rolled his eyes, “Well, you’re not the only one who’s beaten him. Jason Kidd did too.”

“When?”

“When Big Fei was still in D.C.”

“SHIT~~~~~”

When you see two starters on a team amusing themselves with their old glories of past victories, you know they’re done for.

But then again, no one really thought the Pacers stood a chance against the Bucks.

A self-destructing team versus a team climbing to its peak, the gap between them is infinite.

In the following second game of the series, Kwame Brown thought that Little O jumping around in the paint like that was unreasonable, claiming he could rack up stats too if he had the ball.

George Karl believed his bullshit and started him off with low post isolation plays.

Then Kwame contributed a total of one miss, one pass, and one ball-handling turnover in three possessions.

“From now on, you just set screens and roll,” Yu Fei mocked, “You no longer deserve to go one-on-one.”

“Screen and roll then, screen and roll, what’s the big deal.” Brown shouted back, “I don’t need to go one-on-one to deal with him.”

Although Yu Fei couldn’t help but laugh at Brown’s kindergarten-level one-on-one game, he still had to dish out assists.

He averaged a triple-double; Brown gave up a lot, even the simple defense and rebounds, adding to his glorious stats with aggressive positioning in both the frontcourt and backcourt.

So whether he wanted to go one-on-one or not, he could just try a few times; if it didn’t work out, he’d just take the dimes. He could even comfort himself by thinking Jermaine O’Neal didn’t deserve to be played one-on-one by him.

Back in the day with the Wizards, Brown and Yu Fei had a great understanding, and over an 82-game regular season, they developed the sort of psychic connection Harden has with Capela.

This chapter is updated by freēwēbnovel.com.

Sometimes Yu Fei didn’t even have to call the play, Brown just knew what to do.

A look, a gesture, what may seem like meaningless stillness or motion to others was full of the kind of subtle understanding between them that outsiders couldn’t fathom.

Kwame Brown redeemed himself, transforming into the Greek god in charge of receiving dimes.

Pick-and-roll dives, baseline cuts, catching the ball under the basket, finishing fast breaks with dunks, rolling to the basket after setting screens…

All sorts of pick-and-roll actions, countless attacks, Brown’s small hands holding great power, reminding Jermaine O’Neal of the recent All-Star game in Houston, where he and Big Fei had such a blast together.

“SHIT!” Little O suddenly really wanted to kill Anthony Johnson, this bastard only knew how to get him the ball in the post and bash away.

Look at Big Fei, the way he passes the ball; even making Kwame Brown look like an All-Star. That’s what a great dime-dropping master looks like.

After another game, the Pacers were defeated by a gap of over 30 points.

The biggest difference from the last game was that Little O no longer had the advantage in the paint.

By the numbers, he was even outperformed by Kwame Brown.

Little O went 9 for 19 in the paint, scoring 22 points and grabbing 14 boards, but on the other side, Brown was 11 for 14, scoring a game-high 26 points, along with 10 rebounds and 3 blocks.

“I’ve told you guys before, I should’ve been an All-Star, and I still think so now. Look at my performance tonight, who can stop me? I’m unstoppable! Really, I’m fucking unstoppable!”

Kwame Brown was agitated and full of grievance as if he were greatly wronged.

Some media created a buzz around him, and suddenly, everyone forgot the million-vote gap between him, Little O, and Big Shaq, as if his missing the All-Star game was some travesty.

Some meddlesome reporters went to Little O to stir up trouble, asking him, “What do you think about Kwame Brown thinking he deserves to be an All-Star more than you do?”

“He’s crazy!” Little O roared, “If it wasn’t for Big Fei, he wouldn’t get a point off me!”

Before game three, Brown responded to Little O’s comments, “Dude, is he serious? I have Big Fei because I recognized talent. If he doesn’t have Big Fei, is that my fault? Why doesn’t he have his own Big Fei? I hope he looks within for the problem, instead of complaining all the time. Look at me, he stole my All-Star spot, have I complained?”

As a frequent mention in trash talk, Yu Fei chose to stay out of it.

He got along great with Little O, and Brown was his brother. What could he say? As long as they didn’t come to blows, they could trash-talk all they wanted; he was there to play ball.

The third and fourth games were nothing like the first game for the Pacers, which had been marginally respectable.

The Bucks dominated the entire series.

Yu Fei got a triple-double in four consecutive games, and Brown matched Little O with an average of 20 points and 9 rebounds.

After the fourth game, Little O, having scored a hollow 30 points and 10 rebounds, came up to Yu Fei and mentioned how the Bucks beating the Pacers 4-1 in the Eastern Conference Finals seemed like something from a past life.

“Big Fei,” said Little O to Yu Fei, “go get that damn championship.”

Yu Fei responded with a smile, “Of course.”

“Also,”

“What?”

“Make Kwame Brown shut his fucking mouth!” Little O cursed, “He tells me to look for my own reasons? Is his head screwed up? Is it my fault I never got to be teammates with you?”

And so, with a 4-0 sweep, the Bucks became the first team this season to advance to the second round.

PS: I recommend a book, the new work from the soccer mogul Zaizi Banmian, “Football: Starting Alongside Messi at the FIFA Youth Championships,” also known as “Glory As Classical.”

The introduction to the work can be found in the “Author’s Note.”

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