Chapter 513 Poor acting, but useful
At the end of the game, Yu Fei was sweating like rain and looked exhausted, but he went directly to the assistant coach to get the statistics of the first game.
In the first game of the Western Conference Finals, the ratio of free throws between the two sides was 24 to 20, with the Sonics taking 4 more free throws.
In tonight's game, the ratio of free throws was 25 to 19, and the Sonics had 6 more free throws.
Getting more free throws two games in a row at the Lakers' home court certainly says something.
Yu Fei was going to tell Tyronn Lue this information.
However, no one is in the mood now.
However, some people are in a worse mood.
Yu Fei is the only person on the Sonics who can walk out of Staples Center with his head held high tonight.
Since Yu Fei moved to Seattle, the discussion surrounding the comparison between big cities and players' personal status has not stopped.
Some conspiracy theorists believe that Yu Fei's move to Seattle was not for the so-called rescue of the Sonics, but simply to get rid of Milwaukee's depressed market.
After all, Yu Fei's influence and commercial value in his five years in Milwaukee are far less than Yu Fei's three years in Seattle.
This is a very realistic argument.
But well debunked.
That is, before Yu Fei's arrival, Seattle's basketball market was in a half-dead state. But once Yu Fei arrived, not only the basketball market, but also his teammates around him had commercial value.
In recent years, many players have signed sponsorship contracts with Yu Fei.
Kwame Brown is one of the best.
Not only did he sign with Reebok, he also endorsed many foreign brands.
Suddenly, SuperSonics players have become commercially valuable, and even substitute players can become spokespersons for products. Is this the magic of big cities?
Only people who blindly believe in big cities would think so.
It is not ruled out that some people who think highly of themselves feel that they have earned this through their performance and charm.
But most people were awake. They knew that Yu Fei was eating meat in front of him, and they drank the soup after him.
When the Sonics win big and are invincible like last season, these commercial values are often accompanied by praise from the outside and love from the audience.
Players will feel like members of the band in its heyday, treated like kings wherever they go.
However, once you lose, the backlash is extraordinary.
Especially like tonight.
Yu Fei played a large triple-double of 40+10+10 and lost. Regardless of whether it is objective or subjective, he deserves the evaluation of "glory despite defeat".
This means that he did not lose even if the team lost.
Why didn't he lose? Because if only his teammates had performed better, Seattle might have won.
The first person to bear the brunt of this is naturally Kevin Durant.
"Kevin, what do you think caused your poor performance tonight?"
"The Lakers have changed their defense," Durant said. "The opponents have also changed. They have invested a lot of defensive resources on me. I'm not making excuses. I know that as a professional player, I need to do a good job." Preparation for adversity ”
"Do you think you can bounce back in the next game?"
"Of course, I am confident in myself."
"There is a view that you did not perform well tonight because Frye no longer took you under his wing like he did in the past because he faced the full impact of Kobe tonight. What do you think of this?"
Durant's mood began to change: "I am taller than him. I think he really can't protect me under his wings."
"Are you ready to be independent on the court without Frye's protection?"
Durant hates these questions.
But he couldn't resist the reporters' questions.
Because in the eyes of the world, the key reason why the Sonics lost the second game is that he is a person who keeps saying that he has to take on more responsibilities. Before the start of each game, he spends 5-10 minutes talking about "responsibility" with major TV stations. The guy who "carried" the "core mission" didn't do his part tonight.
As someone who aspires to be a superstar, he made 6 of 19 shots in this game and only scored 15 points.
This kind of performance is an insult to Kobe 01 for a person who wants to be Kobe 01.
What Durant couldn't understand was why he should deny his previous outstanding performance because of a bad game?
The reporters' words gave him the impression that his previous behavior was because he was being protected by Yu Fei.
He respects Yu Fei's strength and feels sorry for Yu Fei's good game tonight. He feels guilty, but he cannot understand, cannot accept, and cannot forgive reporters for viewing his previous outstanding performance in this way.
"I grew up in the suburbs of D.C." Durant pursed his lips and said, "I've seen a lot of things that you haven't seen, mostly the dark side of the world. Since I was a kid, I've known how to be self-reliant. I don't I need anyone to protect me.”
"Are you confident you can break LeBron's defense in the next game?"
Durant said indifferently: "I'm just out of shape tonight."
The subtext is: It has nothing to do with LeBron's defense.
Even from the official level, Durant's statement was very arrogant.
This is not his usual speaking style, which shows that his mentality has changed.
Just as the Los Angeles media was preparing to verbally criticize Durant, Bill Simmons, the No. 1 basketball player on the planet, said happily on Twitter: "KD can finally talk trash. This is a key step for him to grow into a superstar."
We are now at the end of Bill Simmons' creative peak. In the basketball world, he is like Han Han who was on the blog at the same time, and is an opinion leader in the eyes of a generation of netizens.
Simmons' comments gave Durant a rant that could have caused a public relations problem, downplayed into trash talk off the court.
You can talk trash, you can talk about anything, you can say greetings like Miller Payton, or you can insult your opponent's IQ like Bird, and of course there are also people like Durant who won't lose with their words.
Doesn't he look more like a schoolbag boy?
Those who like to be harsh after making mistakes are those rebellious teenagers in adolescence who are carrying schoolbags.
Although Durant's adolescence has long ended, this does not prevent some people from wanting to shape him into a simple and unsophisticated boy like a teenager.
Durant ended the interview and walked back to the locker room with an indifferent expression.
He saw Yu Fei but said nothing.
Yu Fei seemed to have nothing to say about tonight's game.
He accepts that his teammates play poorly because he also has bad moments.
That made what happened in the media room seem even more ironic to Durant.
The master of the empire is as stable as a rock, but the jesters behind him are all crazy with anxiety.
After all, this season is the key season for Yu Fei to become the GOAT. If he defeats the Lakers and enters the finals to win the championship, it will actually be five championships in five years. The number of personal championships will surpass Jordan. Even if there are a small number of struggling Qiao Feng, he will be outstanding. Controversy will also become the recognized new GOAT.
So jesters, hurry up, if such a good opportunity is cheated by your teammates, how frustrating would it be?
Durant's heart was unbalanced.
He didn't blame Yu Fei, but the longer this incident lasted, the more he felt that Yu Fei should bear the loss alone.
Because when the Sonics win, not many people praise their contribution, but on the contrary, quite a few people praise Fei.
The only empire.
That was Yu Fei's empire alone.
Since this is the empire of one person, wouldn't it be fair to attribute all the glory and sins to one person?
Durant is very aware of how dangerous his current thoughts are. This is an extreme thought produced by a person under extreme negative emotions.
He didn't speak, just like Yu Fei remained silent.
Tyronn Lue walked into the locker room and summed up tonight's failure in one sentence: "I thought we played well."
The rest is a consolation for the players.
"Although we lost tonight, don't forget that we have stolen their home court advantage." Director Lu said rationally, "We did not let them win two home games. Next, we have to strive for 3 at home. A big score of 1! Don’t be discouraged, everyone, you performed very well”
Coach Lu called on the players to stand up, put their fists together, and shouted, "Come on."
The night passed like this, and it seemed like nothing else happened.
The only one who caused discussion was Yu Fei.
He did not follow the team bus back to the hotel.
This is because Christina Hendricks gave her current contact information to Yu Fei’s assistant, Kevin Lin.
After Lin Kaiwen handed it over to Yu Fei, he asked Christina out.
The old lovers reunited after a long absence, and when Christina asked to see the tattoo on Yu Fei's back, they found their former tacit understanding.
The next day, what woke Yu Fei up was not years of inertia or an alarm clock, but a bombing call from Kevin Lin.
Due to last night's troubles, Yu Fei slept for two more hours. When he received a call from Lin Kaiwen, it was still half an hour before the team's meeting time.
"What happened?"
Christina lifted part of the quilt, revealing a ray of spring light.
For a real woman, manners and manners are more sexually attractive than appearance.
"We're going back to Seattle." Yu Fei said.
Christina asked: "When is the next game?"
"Two days later." Christina reminded Yu Fei of last night's joy with an extremely charming look: "Do you mind if I go to the scene?"
"I have no problem." Yu Fei joked, "But Scarlett might mind."
Christina is not the kind of little girl who gets angry when teased. Yu Feiyue said this, the more interested she is in letting Scarlett "mind" her, a rabbit who suddenly wants to turn around.
"I want a ticket for the family area." Christina said softly.
"That's easy to say." Yu Fei saw that time was running out, so he hurriedly said goodbye to Christina, "See you in Seattle."
When Yu Fei left the hotel, he saw many paparazzi.
Generally speaking, although paparazzi will follow celebrities, there shouldn't be so many of them.
So many paparazzi are enough to put myself on the gossip page headlines again.
He had just been having an affair with Scarlett in the gossip news, and now he was confirmed to have spent the night in his ex-girlfriend's hotel.
This will indeed arouse some negative public opinion, but it is more beneficial to your physical and mental health to light up your worries on the night of losing than to fly to the casino to play cards all night like Jordan.
In less than half a day, photos of Yu Fei having close contact with Christina in the car last night, entering the hotel together, and leaving the next morning spread all over the Internet.
As the mouthpiece of the Lakers, the "Orange County Chronicle" commented: "How much blow did Frye Yu receive before he chose to find his ex-girlfriend to relieve his depression? As we all know, Frye will not be involved with the same woman twice. . Is Christina Hendricks really his muse? ”
The most powerful one is the "Seattle Times". In the face of such irrefutable pornographic news, they still discovered Yu Fei's shining point with a keen eye.
"The fact that the person in the car is Christina and not Scarlett, who has been rumored for a long time, proves many things. First, the gossip about Frye and Scarlett is mostly false. Secondly, Frye is a nostalgic person. Thirdly, , one of Fry and Christina is unmarried, and the other is unmarried. No matter what happened to them last night, they are all free adults."
For Fei, this is indeed not a scandal.
In the media, it was mainly ridicule.
Among the players, this incident seems to only prove that Yu Fei is also a mortal. He will be depressed when he loses and needs a channel to vent his anger.
The most important thing is tomorrow night's Game 3 of the Western Conference Finals.
The Sonics' goal is to win both games, so that they can take a 3-1 lead. If that doesn't work, they have to keep at least one home court.
A 2-2 victory would bring the best-of-seven series back to the starting point, which is not unacceptable.
That afternoon
Yu Fei gave feedback to Tyronn Lue about the subtle changes in penalty standards he felt during the two games at Staples Center.
Lu attaches great importance to the information shared by Fei.
The coaching staff has long felt that the team has received more whistles than its opponents in the Lakers' home court in the past two games. However, on the one hand, the advantage of free throws is not significant, and penalties are not the reason for the Sonics' loss.
This causes them to ignore key issues.
Even if it's not the Lakers, if it's an ordinary team playing the playoffs at home, there will be corresponding care. ,
But the referee almost leveled the bowl of water at the Staples Center, and judging from the number of free throws, it was a bit biased towards the Sonics.
If they return to their home court, wouldn't the penalty advantage be even more obvious?
The home court penalty scale is the most important home court advantage.
Having the home court advantage not only allows you to get more free throw opportunities on the offensive end, but you can also take the initiative to intensify your opponents on the defensive end.
The most powerless thing about the Lakers' current performance is the strength of their core.
Ke Zhan alone is not as good as Yu Fei, but when put together, it is unimaginable.
Kobe is in hot form now, while James is invisible in one game and performs normally in the other. He just played normally and guarded Durant to death. The Lakers' offensive firepower is sufficient to allow James to concentrate on defense, while the SuperSonics need Durant to score.
Lue has no confidence that Durant will adapt to James' defense in the series.
The information provided by Yu Fei brought him new ideas.
Although the Sonics are based on offense, if they are really pushed, using penalty scale to put defensive pressure on the Lakers is also a good strategy.
Lu immediately notified the coaching staff to hold a meeting.
Although Yu Fei provided information, the coaching staff still needs to review the game to confirm whether the penalty scale is consistent with the intelligence.
In the afternoon, the Sonics trained as usual.
But the morale within the team is not high.
A large part of the reason is that the public opinion of "Da Fei tried his best, teammates CBA" has caused trouble.
Durant has heard enough similar voices, but others have not heard enough.
Most players stay away from the media narrative in normal times, but now, they are the key to the playoffs. If they can't exert their strength, it will be difficult for the Sonics to win.
Over the years, there have been countless media camps that have turned against Fei.
At first, Yu Fei asked Quint DeMeo to set up a media company under his own name for public relations and publicity. However, as Reebok grew stronger and his achievements increased, until today, he can Aim for the throne of GOAT.
More than half of the media outlets that were rude to him back then have moved their butts to his side.
Yu Fei can supervise the media companies under his name and influence those media friends who have direct contact with him, but he cannot control those inexplicable excesses of self-awareness, put on a face of loyalty and protect the master, and wish to make every mistake too much. Teammates were court-martialed by the press.
They often have their own interests.
It seems that he is defending Yu Fei's honor, but in fact it is just because criticizing Yu Fei's teammates is exactly in line with the demands of the majority of Yu Fei fans.
If you could get countless amounts of honey traffic by mocking Yu Fei's teammates, who would refuse?
The traditional journalistic spirit of seeking truth from facts has long since died. Spreading whatever news is popular is the most popular tactic of the Fourth Estate.
This is the nightmare that accompanies Yu Fei's empire.
However, Yu Fei does not intend to apologize for this.
The most he can express is regret and apology? In what name? I'm sorry, bro, my 40+10+10 failed to help you win last night, and you, the cheaters, were scolded by the media. I'm really sorry?
Yu Fei chose to practice his own.
The Furtado Center looks peaceful, everyone has something to do.
Until Brandon Roy walked to the sidelines in training clothes and said to Fei: "I'm ready for a 5V5 training match, what about you?"
Everyone's eyes were fixed on him.
"Really, Brandon?!"
"You're back? How come there's no news at all before?"
"Oh my God, this is the best news!"
You can see everyone is happy for Roy.
But Yu Fei is not optimistic. As someone said, if Roy is ready to come back, it is impossible for him not to get the news in advance.
"Show me your examination report." Yu Fei said, "Also have the doctor's signature allowing you to participate in 5V5 training."
Roy seemed to be trying to excuse himself: "None of this is important. What's important is standing here. I'm ready."
In an instant, Roy pulled off the lead and angered Yu Fei.
"Are you kidding me? Are you ready? Is this a reason?" Yu Fei shouted, "You can't come back without the latest test report and the doctor's permission!"
"I'm ready."
"Are you ready?!" Yu Fei laughed angrily, pointed at Durant and said, "Not long ago, that bastard promised me that he would become Kobe in 2001. He also said that he was ready, but yesterday How about a night? He’s like a fucking piece of shit, and he can’t even breathe after being guarded by LeBron!”
Everyone was shocked. Yu Fei, who had been silent about Durant's performance since the game last night, suddenly turned his back.
"And these bastards!" Yu Fei started to shoot everyone, "We only won one game in Los Angeles, and they didn't take the Lakers seriously! Everyone acted as if they had a chance to win. This is me The most arrogant team I have ever been in, we deserved last night’s loss, we didn’t deserve to win! Because there are many idiots like you in our team who think they are ready!”
Roy seemed to be annoyed by the spray, and replied with trembling lips: "What about you? Do you think you have no responsibility? Don't you think you are self-righteous? You are the most damn arrogant person in Seattle. Apart from you, this Who else in the world considers themselves the master of the empire? You are the fool who cannot see yourself clearly!”
"You're fucking right!" Yu Fei laughed angrily, "I'm a fool because I only got 40 points last night instead of 50 points, because I didn't get 50 fucking points and we lost the game. , because I failed to lead you idiots to win, and now there are a million asshole reporters out there questioning whether any of you A couple of NBA caliber players! I'm sorry, but this loss may put some of you out of work next season! But before you lose your fucking job (pointing to Roy), at least don't let this cripple feel like he's without him! Help, we can’t beat the fucking Lakers!”
Is the problem solved? No.
Is the stress gone? No, it's bigger than before.
But speaking out is more important than anything else.
Bosh nodded and said: "If we have to rely on a person with handicapped legs and feet to defeat the Lakers, we might as well retire."
"Yes, I don't agree with what Frye said today, but the last sentence is correct." Larry Hughes said, "We don't need cripples."
Inside the Furtado Center, the Sonics players quickly reached a consensus.
Although they don't like each other now, especially those who were criticized for their poor performance in the second game, they are a bit prejudiced against Fei, but Yu Fei is right, defeating the Lakers does not require the help of a cripple.
"OK!" Roy said angrily, "Remember what you said, don't come to beg me then! Even if you kneel in front of me, I will not come back!"
Then Roy left.
"Did he say that on purpose?"
Kwame Brown has seen it.
"Yes." Yu Fei said, "The acting is very poor."
However, only Brown in the team noticed Roy's poor acting skills.
Isn’t this a terrifying thing to think about?
It's time to re-examine the average IQ of this group of people.
(End of chapter)