Chapter 515 Kevin Durant can’t, but Kobe Durant can
Chapter 515 Kevin Durant can’t, but Kobe Durant can
"50 points?"
Kobe raised his brows, stared at Gasol seriously and asked, "Did he really say that?"
"It's absolutely true." Xiaojia said, "There are many media people nearby. I think they have promoted this on TV now."
Xiaojia's judgment is correct.
The difference between television media and traditional news media is that they pursue entertainment and interest.
Especially in the sports world, turning out-of-context quotes into a journalistic art, as has become the case in today's corrupted traditional journalism industry, is feasible but not a long-term solution.
TV programs that can retain viewers are often those that are very "live".
Therefore, they welcome any idea that can attract an audience.
Like tonight, the news that Yu Fei took the initiative to claim 50 points was a natural breaking point.
The experienced TNT quickly canceled the scheduled pre-game show and asked the guys from TNT's Inside the NBA (TNT Team) studio to focus on the matter before the game started.
"Just now, Frye used an acrobatic backcourt shot to hit the warm-up ball into the Lakers' half-court basket. He also wanted Marc Gasol to convey a message to Kobe." Ernie Johnson recounted the play in his trademark newscaster voice, "He's going to score 50 points tonight."
Ernie looked at the old guys in the studio, Kenny Smith, Charles Barkley, and Reggie Miller. They were all NBA legends.
"Guys, what do you think?"
"Classic Frye moment!" Big Mouth Kenny shouted, "There will definitely be something good to watch tonight!"
Miller asked: "Just let Mark send a message to Kobe? What about LeBron? Isn't LeBron important in Frye's eyes?"
Hearing this, Barkley seemed to have fun: "You know, in the 1995 Finals, Shaq and Pence would definitely not let Kenny talk trash to Clyde, because they both knew who owned Houston. .”
Smith's big mouth immediately burst into laughter: "Why do you treat LeBron like this? Did LeBron play badly? LeBron tried his best!"
This is the reason why the TNT team has been widely praised since its establishment. It has excellent chemical reactions and instant evaluation of NBA current affairs.
The thing is, their teasing attitude toward James isn't because they hate it, it's because the public likes to hear it.
Excellent media people often become the mouthpiece of the public. They use their own mouth to say what the outside world wants to hear.
This is where LeBron James is with the Lakers.
He originally thought that coming to the Lakers would cause criticism, but as long as he could win, as long as he could defeat Yu Fei, and as long as he finally won the championship, all the negative public opinion about him would dissipate.
Those professionals who strongly supported him in taking this step told him that history will only remember the victors.
But now, the great cause has not been accomplished, and the external situation has caused James to have doubts.
There are more and more signs that the Lakers' success is not his success, and the Lakers' victory over the SuperSonics does not mean that he defeated Yu Fei.
Kobe is the big winner of this cooperation. He has not been criticized like James, and he is still far ahead in the MVP voting.
As for James, everything he has achieved with the Lakers has been viewed under a biased magnifying glass.
This made him doubt that even if he won the championship, the situation would not change.
Yu Fei's move to ask Xiaojia to give Kobe a message aggravated the situation.
James felt a sense of indignation at not being respected.
"This is his trick!" Kobe had his own judgment on the behavior of asking Garfield to pass the message. "Don't be fooled by him. As long as we play our own game, Seattle has no chance!"
These words stabilized people's hearts, and James thought so too.
Although he had many other ideas, defeating Yu Fei was still his first priority before something worse happened.
In front of this matter, other things can be put aside first.
Both sides started shooting to warm up.
Before the game started, the celebrity audience at Key Arena was also a rare sight.
Compared with the Staples Center, which is backed by the Hollywood market, although Key Arena lacks starlight, there are still many big-name stars coming to watch the game.
Among these people are not only Yu Fei’s ex-girlfriend Christina Hendricks, but also Jackie Cheng and Will Smith from China.
However, the TV media pays more attention to gossip.
They are willing to give more shots to Christina, who has become popular in recent years.
But when the crew from "The Twilight Saga" came to the scene and spent a lot of money to put the trailer for "The Twilight Saga" on the big screen at Key Arena, the gossip fire among the crowd began to burn brightly.
The gossip about Yu Fei and Twilight Girl was equally as popular as the scandal between him and Scarlett now.
This was something that made Yu Fei very helpless.
The person he actually dated at that time was Rachelle Lefevre, the supporting actress in "Twilight", and they dated briefly.
But Yu Fei couldn't give Rachel a sense of security, so the relationship came and went in a hurry.
Yu Fei visited the crew of "Twilight" and admitted that he had been seduced by Twilight Girl. In his opinion, Twilight Girl and Scarlett were like two extremes. A person who thinks he is noble and knows that everyone loves him has a lofty vision that ordinary men will not look down on. The other one is extreme. She also knows that she is a goddess, but she is not picky about food. Even if she has a boyfriend like Twilight Man, who is considered a top handsome guy in Hollywood, she still wants to maintain an open relationship. From the filthy director to the She wanted to "try" a top athlete like Fei.
This violated Yu Fei's bottom line. He and Twilight Man were considered friends, but his girlfriend wanted to sleep with him? Putting all that aside, Twilight Girl doesn't have much appeal to Tobi, she's like the Hollywood version of Washio Mei. She has nothing but her looks, and the latter has nothing but her figure.
Yu Fei is not a face-controller, so he cannot be tempted by Twilight Girl.
He was helpless when the scene was so hesitant.
"Fry," Durant rarely joked about Yu Fei, "Would you choose Twilight or Scarlett?"
Yu Fei asked back: "Are you going to be Kobe 01 or Kobe 03 tonight?"
"I want to be myself." Durant said stubbornly.
"Don't be yourself." Yu Fei laughed, "I've seen enough in the last show."
Durant suddenly found the correct usage of "Kobe": "The last game was not me, it was 03 Kobe!"
"The 17-for-47 version of Kobe?"
"That's right!"
Yu Fei said: "I hope you won't let me see the 2001 Finals version of Kobe tonight."
The warm-up is over.
The head coaches of both sides warned the starting players.
"This is our home court!" Coach Lu said loudly, "Show momentum! Defend well! We have to take the lead!"
"No problem, this is our home court, that's how it should be." Before taking the court, Yu Fei said like a teacher assigning homework, "I'm going to get 50 points tonight. KD gets 25 points, and you can get 35 for the rest." points, so we have 110 points. If we limit the Lakers to less than 100 points, our second defeat in Los Angeles will be over.”
Hughes asked: "Is it too much to score 50 points? That's the Lakers."
"Do you know?" Yu Fei said, "I once scored 71 points in a single game in the playoffs."
Unfortunately, Hughes knew.
He nodded and said: "Well, you scored 71 points on LeBron's head, and I was there that night."
"So do you have any questions?"
"No more."
Both sides made their debut.
The Sonics caused discussion among all parties because they replaced two starting players.
ESPN's Jeff Van Gundy pointedly pointed out: "This is a symbol of the Sonics' decision to focus on defense."
However, Mark Jackson has a different view.
He believes that the focus of the Sonics must still be offense, because they have always been an offense-led team.
At the beginning of the game, Jordan won the jump ball. Yu Fei quickly advanced with the ball and passed the ball to Durant who was following up.
Durant reacted quickly and decisively decided to take a three-pointer.
This goal was an attempt to defeat the Lakers, who were not yet firmly on their feet, but failed to score.
Since Durant took a quick shot before the two sides formed a confrontation, his teammates retreated quickly. Although they did not score, they did not give the Lakers a chance to speed up their counterattack.
James discovered that the SuperSonics began to let Yu Fei come to confront him.
What does this mean?
The Sonics know very well that he is the core player of the Lakers.
Let Mark give Kobe a message? Pretend to make the world think he is just a subordinate of Kobe?
These methods can only deceive ignorant people.
James started suddenly with full of fighting spirit. He originally wanted to pass Yu Fei in one step, but unexpectedly the opponent ignored the rule prohibiting touching and blatantly blocked his way with both hands.
Even a historical breakthrough player like James cannot break through as he wants when his opponent actively uses his upper body to interfere with his advancement speed.
Yu Fei's move surprised James.
James was forced to pass the ball, but it went straight out of bounds.
"What are you doing?!" James turned to the referee Scott Foster and shouted with a dance, "He committed a foul! He blocked me with an illegal move, didn't you fucking see it?!"
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Foster's most famous personality is that he never gives face to superstar players.
James's rebuke sounded like the buzzing of flies to his ears, and he said impatiently: "If you keep talking nonsense, even you will get the T!"
Hearing this, James was so angry that he cursed and spread his hands.
Subsequently, Yu Fei did not dribble, but asked Hughes to bring the ball to the frontcourt.
James wanted to retaliate in his own way, but Yu Fei didn't give him a chance at all. He came to the frontcourt, dived directly into the right waist, hung his back on James, opened his hands and shouted: " Larry, no one is guarding me, pass the ball quickly”
How loud is Yu Fei's voice?
Even viewers in front of the TV can hear the word "pass" as long as they turn up the volume.
As for the audience in the front row, they clearly heard what he said.
No one on guard?
The strongest small forward in the league is now stuck behind him, and he actually said he was unguarded?
Hughes felt a sense of alienation in his heart. Years ago, he was a knife-carrying guard beside James, and his duty was to defend Yu Fei. At that time, Yu Fei was still James' eldest brother, and no one expected that the relationship between the two would deteriorate to the point it is now.
However, even though James has grown into one of the top three players in the league, Yu Fei still doesn't take him seriously.
Hughes passed the ball.
When Yu Fei caught the ball, James' low-post defense looked very mediocre. It neither caused difficulties for his key position nor applied pressure after he caught the ball.
James didn't even lower his waist and seemed very confident in his body and strength.
But Yu Fei didn't make any extra moves. He turned around and shot with a subtle fadeaway shot.
"Whoosh!"
Yu Fei looked at the Lakers coaching staff provocatively, his gaze directed at Zen Master, "Coach Jackson, why don't you send someone to guard me?"
"Don't be so arrogant!" Artest jumped up and shouted, "You can't make a shot every round!"
Jackson did not answer Yu Fei's words.
In the eyes of others, he was pretending to be profound, but in fact, he just wanted to see how James responded. Subsequently, what the Lakers felt was extremely tough defense.
It's not just Yu Fei's tough defense against James.
Xiaojia tried to set up a pick-and-roll for James.
Yu Fei's choice was to squeeze through the cover roughly and pursue him to the end.
And Jordan, who came out with Xiaojia, chose to flank James.
The defensive intensity that only increased but not decreased made James suspect that he would be intercepted if he controlled the ball for one second, so he quickly passed the ball to Xiaojia.
However, such a passing distance is too close, and Yu Fei can not only react, but also reach out to interfere with Xiaojia's shooting.
The Lakers' offensive model has been completely small-ball.
It is the consensus of every player to take action when an opportunity arises.
Xiaojia made a three-pointer under Yu Fei's interference.
"Bang!"
This is the new requirement Tyronn Lue puts on his players on the defensive end.
After changing the starting lineup, the second shortest person on the SuperSonics team is Yu Fei, whose bare feet are 206 centimeters.
Larry Hughes himself is a 1.96-cm forward and defensive swingman. His physical condition is definitely excellent on the back line.
Therefore, the Sonics are now equivalent to putting five Spider-Men on the court, four of whom are at their peak age and athletic ability.
The advantage of having long hands and feet is that as long as they defend with all their strength, they can use their long arms to achieve the effect of one defense against two in a small area.
Phil Jackson posed a semi-open problem for Seattle's shooters in the last game.
Jackson believes that 40% of the so-called sharpshooters have difficulty maintaining output in half-open situations. Morrow's performance proves the success of this defensive design.
As a half-disciple of the Zen master, Coach Lu has no other skills. He can steal first and rob second. The tactics you used very well in the last game will be used by me in the next game.
Director Lu believes that this kind of defensive arrangement that leaves opponents with half-open spaces is very suitable for them because they have many talented monsters with height and long arms.
As the starting player with the most unstable outside shooting ability in the Lakers team, Marceau missed the first shot.
This bolstered the Sonics' confidence.
Xiaojia missed a three-pointer, Durant grabbed the rebound and gave it to Yu Fei.
Yu ran like a cheetah, rushing to the frontcourt and stopping outside the three-point line.
James was startled and raised his hands to defend himself, but it was too late.
Yu Fei's chasing three-pointer hit a hollow hit!
Within the first minute of the game, Yu Fei scored 5 points in a row.
"It seems that Frye was not bluffing when he said he wanted to score 50 points." TNT's NBA2K voice Kevin Harlan said, "If he keeps playing like this, he can exceed his goal."
At the same time, ESPN studio analyst Hubie Brown said: "The most special thing tonight is the SuperSonics defense. They made the Lakers do nothing."
Just when Brown finished speaking, the Sonics used suffocating defense to make James pass the ball ineffectively.
James' ball passed to Richard Hamilton in the corner, but Hamilton was in vain under Hughes' physical defense and the ball returned to James' hands.
James was heartbroken and chose to break out.
Yu Fei's blocking was still tough. What James was not used to was that even though he had suffered so many foul-level physical contacts, the referee did not whistle at all.
James' reluctant breakthrough did not achieve any results. His layup was interfered with. Fortunately, Xiaojia grabbed the offensive rebound and threw the ball to Kobe.
Kobe also made poor shooting choices when faced with Durant, who was larger than him in all aspects.
Kobe dribbled one step to the right, then drifted and forced a shot as if looking for a killer attack.
At that time, the Lakers had just grabbed an offensive rebound and they had a full 24 seconds to attack. Maybe Kobe was impatient with James' various invalid breakthroughs and invalid passes. He wanted to play faster, but at that time , such an offensive choice is definitely unwise.
"Bang!"
Of course this kind of goal will not be scored.
Yu Fei jumped up and grabbed the rebound. He was about to counterattack, but found that the Lakers had retreated in place, so he took advantage of the situation and gestured with his left hand to keep his teammates steady.
"Take your time!" Yu Fei said, "Steady and score this goal!"
The pace of the game is often uncertain.
Either fast or slow. In a normal game, the rhythm often switches back and forth between fast and slow. This is where the influence of the coaching staff lies.
This is what makes the Sonics special.
It is not the coaching staff that controls the rhythm of the game, but Yu Fei.
Therefore, the situation with supersonic speed is that Yu Fei can go as fast as he wants and go as slow as he wants.
The Lakers are still thinking about why the Sonics, who have just made great achievements in fast breaks, don't continue to play fast. Yu Fei has dribbled to the frontcourt and given enough trust to Durant to let his teammates pull away and then give him Drop ball.
Yu Fei's targeted attack on James at the beginning prevented the Lakers from implementing the "James vs. Durant" matchup that worked well in the previous game.
The responsibility for this lies with James.
He wanted to compete with Yu Fei, so he asked Kobe to guard Durant.
They are both primary defense, what’s the difference?
Kobe is not like James who can crush Durant with size, strength, and talent.
Today, Kobe is at the end of his prime, and his defense cannot be compared with that of his youth. He mainly relies on his tenacity, experience and cunning judgment to deal with young people.
Durant took a deep breath, then suddenly pulled up, trying to use height to win.
Kobe predicted it, but Durant was too tall, so he could only interfere.
Lady luck was on Durant's side, and the ball bounced off the rim a few times before falling into the net.
The SuperSonics used a 7-0 start to force the Lakers' first timeout.
With the Zen master's patience, he usually won't pause so quickly.
But it's different now. He sees that the Sonics are struggling defensively, so the Lakers' offensive focus must change.
"Tonight's penalty scale is biased towards defense, let's go to the basket!" Jackson said to James, "LeBron, you have to be more determined when attacking. You should know that no one can stop you from attacking the basket!"
On the other side, Yu Fei and Durant exchanged offensive thoughts: "The shot you just made was a bit reluctant."
Durant said with a guilty conscience: "Just go in."
"Luck won't be on your side every time." Yu Fei said, "You have to use your brain when playing ball."
Durant humbly asked for advice: "Is there a better choice just now?"
"I didn't see you take the initiative to make any physical contact with Kobe just now. He is not LeBron. What are you afraid of?" Yu Fei said, "Next time he is so defensive, you can boldly get closer. Don't forget , this is our home court!”
The timeout ended, and James' offense was much more determined than before.
He is already prepared to deal with difficulties. After all, he is also a person who played in the hands-on era. He just needs to get used to it.
However, DeAndre Jordan and Bosh's attention seemed to be on his side.
While they were looking at their own men, they were ready to double-team at any time. Their clear defensive intentions confused James' judgment.
He wanted to create opportunities, but was afraid of being double-teamed in a position where he couldn't pass the ball. The burden of thinking ahead and looking back made him pass the ball to Kobe in the middle of the breakthrough.
There is no threat in this pass.
He knew it himself, so he hurriedly ran to the outside to get the ball again.
But Kobe has decided to go it alone.
Sometimes, James envies Kobe. No. 24 dreams of becoming Jordan, but Jordan will never be as offensive-minded as him. Kobe often gives people a "very forced" feeling, but Jordan never gives people this feeling.
Only better decision-making and stronger counterpoint dominance can give people this feeling.
James envies Kobe because even though Kobe is 32 years old, he often acts like a passionate young man who takes life and death lightly. People like him who carry the offensive and defensive burden of the Lakers on their shoulders have too many things to consider.
Within ten seconds, Kobe did not fake the ball.
He carried Durant until he turned over and shot a jumper at the last second.
Hit the board!
This goal broke the Lakers' scoring drought since the opening three minutes.
"You don't want to fight back, do you?" Yu Fei asked.
Durant said seriously: "Kevin Durant won't do this, but Kobe Durant will."
"Hmph," Yu Fei always teased with relief whenever Durant showed the stubbornness of a future superstar who refuses to admit defeat, "Go and ask for your seat."
James is still guarding Yu Fei.
This arrangement only shows that the Lakers also want to see the matchup between Kobe and Durant.
Yu Fei waited for Durant to settle down, then dribbled the ball and asked James sarcastically: "How does it feel to be protected by Kobe under his wings?"
"My affairs have nothing to do with you." James said coldly.
"It seems you have accepted your fate." After Yu Fei finished speaking, he dropped the ball to Durant. "This is why KD would rather challenge Kobe than deal with you."
When Durant got the ball, he clearly felt Kobe's hands on his body. The opponent was too aggressive, and this defensive method was easily exploited.
Suddenly, Durant had an idea and turned around with the ball. He grabbed the ball with both hands and spun it in a loop in front of his chest. He dragged Kobe's hand around and then started to shoot. The referee's whistle Then it sounded.
"Beep!!!"
Kobe Bryant yelled: "WTF?!"
The giant loop that has gone down in history appears tonight, and Kobe is the first to experience it.
Just like everyone else, Kobe was hit 2+1 on the head by Durant before he could react.
Kobe complained loudly to the referee, but the penalty could not be changed.
Durant clenched his fists excitedly, recalling Yu Fei's teachings just now, and was deeply touched. Frye is Frye, and every word he said has its own truth.
Just when Durant was excited about his further understanding of offensive methods, Yu Fei, who was next to James, continued to sneer: "See, your level is too low."
"Even Kevin doesn't want to waste time on you."
James suppressed his anger: "Shut up!"
"If you can't even accept this," Yu Fei laughed, "then you'll have to endure it tonight."
(End of chapter)