Chapter 550 The World of Big Shots
Although there are hierarchical role positions in the team such as core, starter, main rotation, substitute, and marginal player, in addition to these role divisions based on team status, there will also be many derivative roles due to the different situations of each team.
Just like Matt Bonner is to the Spurs and Haslem is to the Heat, every team has one or two mavericks who define the team's temperament.
Patrick Beverley may be one of the lowest-ranking people on the Sonics, but he's also one of the most arrogant players in the league.
Although he entered the NBA through the draft, the Lakers team that selected him did not recognize his ability, so he had to go overseas to work hard. Then, fortunately, he was appreciated by Yu F Fei during the lockout, and he opened the door to the NBA.
Beverly knew why Yu Fei admired him.
Therefore, even if he joins the league's first team, Beverley still goes his own way and does not sell anyone's face except Yu Fei.
He is the most diligent person and the most desperate person. It is not surprising that Alonzo Key has the same traits. However, compared to Key's kind, optimistic and cheerful character, Beverly is the opposite. He is vulgar and arrogant. He is willing to compete with anyone and must point out anything he doesn't like when he sees it.
If those hard-hitting players who have disappeared from the court are hated by their opponents but deeply loved by their teammates, then people like Beverley make everyone unhappy with him equally.
Beverly knows her role.
In those situations that emphasize positivity, he has to take the lead. He has to say some things that Yu Fei is not suitable to say.
Therefore, when he saw Durant ignoring his teammates and playing alone for several minutes, he couldn't help but question it.
For Durant, this is new.
This season, Durant's statistics have improved significantly. Since becoming a full-time third position, his average number of shots per game has increased to 18, averaging 26 points, 5 rebounds and 3 assists per game.
His scoring average is only 2 points less than Yu Fei.
He believes that when Yu Fei and Roy are not on the court, he has unlimited firing rights, which has always been the case before.
But today Beverley suddenly questioned this matter, because he went too far tonight and did not let other teammates take action for several minutes.
This matter belongs to the category of "even if he is wrong, you can't say it" because Durant's status is extraordinary, but Beverley unabashedly questioned Durant's offensive choices.
All of a sudden, the temperature on the field dropped sharply.
The most panicked person is Tyronn Lue.
Yu Fei's teammates publicly questioned Durant. Is this a spontaneous act by Beverley or Yu Fei's instruction? If it was Beverly's spontaneous act, how should it be handled? If it was Yu Fei who gave the order, what does that mean? Mr. GOAT doesn’t want to play the fourth position anymore? So he deliberately denied Durant in this way to get himself back to the third position?
Although Lu thinks the possibility is low, as someone who has experienced the infighting in OK, he will use the darkest thoughts to speculate on what happens on the field.
He glanced at Yu Fei, wondering what his attitude was.
"Don't worry about them."
GOAT issued instructions.
Then leave it alone.
Anyway, this kind of thing is not within the jurisdiction of the coaching staff.
This made Director Lu inexplicably sad.
I remember that Phil Jackson played an important role in OK's internal strife back then, but he had no voice in the Sonics.
Yu Fei decided with one word.
In the last thirty seconds of the first quarter, Beverley continued to pass to Durant.
But Durant seemed to take the advice and gave the ball back to Beverley with a few dribbles.
As a result, the Sonics finally played a well-organized strategy in the final attack of the first quarter.
Durant screened, Beverley broke through, and Anthony Morrow received a three-pointer from the outside.
It may seem like things are going well, but what happened a minute ago will never be forgotten.
After the first quarter, the Sonics led by 6 points.
When he came to the sidelines, Yu Fei said to Beverly: "Pat, you have to apologize to KD."
Beverly didn't even ask why, he apologized for what just happened in front of everyone.
The matter ends here.
There is no complicated secret or special hint. This is the kind of person Beverly is. He went too far just now, so he needs to apologize. This is what Yu Fei wants to convey.
Then, Durant couldn't just stand there and accept the apology.
He has his own persona.
His personality is that of the son of the United States who is "the best in the world". As a person who cannot have flaws, his performance just now was very selfish and he deserved to be questioned by his teammates, but he actually ridiculed Beverley as a "passer" hand"?
So he also admitted that he had done something wrong. Just when he was apologizing, a voice in his heart roared: I don't need to apologize!
The reason why he apologized was just to maintain his image, not because he really felt that he was at fault.
Look how much bad this damn hypocrite image has done him.
He doesn't get respect from the media, nor does he get respect from his opponents. Now even a dog raised by Yu Fei doesn't respect him.
He envies that Yu Fei can show his character to the world without any scruples. When the world praises his humility and kindness, he will force a smile because this is not the real him.
Now, he realizes that this image will not bring him much real help
On the contrary, he will be hampered everywhere because of this image.
In Durant's heart, a rebellious mentality and the desire to be himself suddenly occupied the high ground.
Then came their opponents. The Nets replaced Howard on the court early in the second quarter. They hoped to let Warcraft dominate the league's first inside line.
This is an era when insiders are withering, and it is also an era when traditions are abandoned.
Howard's natural rival Yao Wei has become a fifth position who focuses on outside shooting and supplements with low post singles.
When inside players are asked to move outside, their rebound count will drop. With the Timberwolves' second pick, Oden, who was said to be more talented than Durant at the time, was reimbursed for the season due to ACL at the beginning of the season. The league's inside talent is already in jeopardy. .
Howard, who follows tradition, is the only center currently averaging 20+10 points per game.
The result was not what the Nets hoped for.
Because the Sonics replaced DeAndre Jordan, a player who can compete with Howard in terms of explosiveness and comparable physical condition, but is far inferior to the inside player.
As a multiple-time repeater at Hakeem Olajuwon's DreamWorks in the summer, Howard attempted to perform his dream dance moves on DeAndre Jordan.
Yu Fei couldn't understand, but was deeply shocked.
Sometimes he really doesn't understand what those insiders who don't know how to hook or turn over are doing back-stepping all day long.
If you are really asked to withdraw from a position, can you hook the ball or shoot with the flow?
Howard is not without skills at all. He really squeezed him to the basket. Relying on his extremely developed upper body strength and inhuman shoulder width, his near-basket hook shot is very accurate.
However, once he can't reach the basket, there's nothing he can do.
Jordan's position in the SuperSonics is just a main rotation, but the strength he showed in the few minutes against Howard was surprising enough.
"Why do I say Seattle's four consecutive championships are unstoppable?" ESPN's Jeff Van Gundy said, "DeAndre Jordan is already the most talented young big man in the league, and he can only play off the bench in Seattle. This That's why they're going to be successful, the Sonics have depth that's second to none."
Although Jordan is more anti-trend than Howard, this is an era of declining insiders.
The requirements for insiders in the space age are to switch defenses, protect the basket, and make three-pointers.
If Jordan doesn't continue to gain weight, his speed can complete defense changes. Basket protection is his strength, and three-pointers are his only weak point.
Having two excellent longboards is enough to make him a star insider of this era.
This kind of potential will not be hidden by substitutes, especially for a team like the Sonics that is studied with a magnifying glass.
Therefore, Jordan will definitely receive a maximum salary offer next summer.
By then, it is also foreseeable what decision the Sonics, whose salary cap is already horribly high, will make.
Basketball started to become unhappy, and Howard didn't expect that he couldn't even play as a substitute.
The Nets quickly replaced Paul to calm Howard's mood.
With Paul here, Howard doesn't have to work hard to hit the back.
But the SuperSonics also replaced Yu Fei.
After Yu Fei came on the court, he immediately implemented the double-teaming strategy against Paul.
After Paul's initial discomfort, he was able to steadily find open teammates.
Under the leadership of Yu Fei, the SuperSonics constantly attacked the Nets' weak side, thus creating open shooting opportunities from the outside.
Veteran Grant Hill is one of the surprise players tonight. He is the starter with the worst tactical treatment in the league. He plays very little time and averages very few shots per game. The Nets also value this and frequently let him go.
Hill may be the purest person on the Sonics team. He just came here to win the championship. As long as he can win the championship, he can give up anything. Ball rights? status? Appearance time? None of this matters.
He had supreme star power in the 1990s, and in his peak season he was ranked among the top five in the league. However, how many people still remember him today? What is Hill's most important mark on basketball history? In the winter of 2001, he became a stepping stone for Frye Yu to take over.
Such memories are cruel and helpless, but this is the price of being linked to the greats of history.
When he came to Seattle, he found that No. 33, which he had worn for many years, already had an owner. The No. 33 owner of the Sonics is Alonzo Key.
Key was willing to give up his number, but Hill refused because he was no longer No. 33.
So, he chose No. 3. This means that he is now only half of what he once was.
The prosperity at the beginning of his career and the decline at the end of his career allow Hill to accept various results. Now he is just showing his residual heat as a veteran, and then starts to cause headaches for New Jersey.
He hit a three-pointer from the top of the key, then a weak-side three-pointer, and finally a simple corner three-pointer, two in a row.
Throughout the second quarter, if you only watch the text live broadcast, fans will only remember one thing: Frye broke through and scored Hill, and Hill made a three-pointer and hit it.
Hill, who averaged only 36% of his three-point shooting per game, made 6 of 6 shots in the second quarter tonight and scored 18 points in a single quarter. He almost single-handedly pushed the game into garbage time. If Paul and Anthony hadn't been tough and each scored in singles at critical points to extend their lives, the suspense of the game would have disappeared before halftime.
At halftime, Hill had a smile on his face, and time seemed to go back 20 years.
The genius who was so high-spirited at Duke is back.
Yu Fei asked: "Grant, basketball is fun, right?"
"If it wasn't so much fun," Hill laughed, "I wouldn't be playing until I'm 40."
It seems that Hill loves this sport more than Yu Fei.
Hill is willing to play until the age of 40, but that is something Yu Fei cannot imagine. He will play until the age of 35 at most, because he cannot accept that he will be beaten by young people as a stepping stone when he gets older.
This has nothing to do with love. The higher a person stands, the more fragile his self-esteem becomes and cannot withstand any stimulation.
The Sonics entered the second half with a 12-point advantage.
Tyronn Lue praised Hill with glee.
He said Hill is a treasure in Seattle.
"Grant had the greatest veteran performance I've ever seen tonight."
Lu also said: "He made 6 three-pointers in one quarter. Can you believe it? Three-pointers are not his strong point. Is this a new record in the league? I wonder why he doesn't shrug in front of the camera." ”
Who should I choose, Director Lu?
The momentum of the game is in the hands of the Sonics.
The fans at the scene were looking forward to a big victory. However, there was a reason why the Nets were able to sweep the entire team at the beginning of the season.
Paul, who only focused on threading the needle in the first half, suddenly started to launch an offensive. His stature may seem so small, but his determination and will have spread to every corner of the team. ,
It's obviously the Big Three, but Anthony can't say this is his team, and Howard can't say it either, but Paul can. Without him, the Nets are just an average strong team.
Paul played several textbook-level one-on-one singles, then assisted Anthony to hit a three-pointer, and connected with Howard. The Sonics only played hard for a few rounds, and the point difference was directly reduced to 5 points.
Before Curry, Paul was the number one point guard at the moment.
In a regular season like this that does not involve a life-and-death showdown in the playoffs, even if it is a focus game, his influence is intuitive.
Yu Fei watched him bring back the suspense of the game, and what he was thinking was, how could he do the same thing in the fourth position?
If he still plays the one or three position now, he will be more influential than Paul.
But now that you’ve decided to try a new style, you can’t give up halfway.
Yu Fei's main problem now is that he has not strengthened his strength to meet the needs of the fourth position. Although he currently has no strength disadvantage against the fourth position of most teams, he will be uncomfortable when facing the fifth position.
To play the fourth position, misalignment with the fifth position is inevitable.
But this matter is difficult to improve during the season, because training is systematic. Once the proportion of strength training increases, the body balance will be broken, and many technical movements and muscle memory need to be restructured.
This is a long process.
The two teams began to put pressure around the 5-point difference. Yu Fei caught the ball several times, Roy's off-ball offense, and Durant's singles all failed to kill the Nets.
Four minutes before the end of the game, Anthony threw a three-pointer directly in front of Durant.
"Whoosh!"
In just a moment, the score difference came to 2 points.
Anthony arrogantly tapped his head three times with his hand, and the Nets' momentum rose to its peak.
Durant was anxious. He really believed that he was better than Anthony, so he decisively stopped the tactics and attacked with the ball.
Anthony didn't guard him, it was Howard's help that guarded him.
Durant took a risk and took a jump shot, but it missed completely.
"Too reckless!" Roy was dissatisfied with Durant's offensive choice.
At this moment, a figure crossed the sky, and everyone only saw that it was Supersonic No. 44. Immediately, No. 44 grabbed the basketball and slammed it into the basket in front of Howard.
"I've seen enough." The cold No. 44, the arrogant No. 44, the domineering No. 44, the unsolvable No. 44. He just walked back, but said unbearable words: "That's it, Merry Christmas."
Anthony said angrily: "Fry, you are too arrogant!"
Anthony will know immediately whether he is arrogant or not.
Paul encountered Yu Fei's misplaced defense and wanted to use his small advantage to make a big difference, but his rhythm was completely blocked and he was unable to get out of the space and was forced to pass the ball.
Anthony hit a single with a stick and missed a three-pointer.
Yu Fei went directly to the fast break, received the pass in the middle, rushed to the frontcourt, and dunked hard.
Now Paul was also anxious. He kept shaking after hitting the high post, taking advantage of the time difference and successfully scored.
New Jerseyans thought they could take a breather.
Yu Fei just ran slowly to the frontcourt. Durant was just about to ask Roy for the ball, but saw Yu Fei pointing at the bottom corner with a gesture that could not be refused, asking him to get out of the way.
Then, he waved at Roy and the ball came directly.
Anthony defended with all his strength, but Yu Fei quickly crossed his hips and switched hands to dribble, banging a few times to shake the opponent's center of gravity, and then took a huge step back to get out of position, and made a heart-shaking three-pointer. The ball is hollow and pocketed.
Anthony refused to give up and wanted to fight Yu Fei back, but he also made mistakes at critical moments. He did not play in the low post or run tactics. Instead, he tried to attack with the ball.
As soon as Yu Fei put pressure on him, Anthony became unstable. He made another mistake and the ball dropped.
That was 90 seconds before the end.
Yu Fei snatched the out-of-control ball on the ground and rushed forward as if gliding close to the ground.
Anthony chased back wildly, but he was only the nearest spectator to the most exciting dunk tonight.
There were less than 80 seconds left on the clock, and the score difference was stretched to 9 points.
Starting from that putback dunk, Yu Fei scored seven points in a row, completely destroying the net with his own strength.
The Nets reluctantly requested a timeout, which was a belated timeout. They knew the situation was over.
What's heartbreaking is what Yu Fei said to Anthony before he left the field.
"Mello." GOAT "welcomes" Carmelo Anthony to the world of big shots in his own unique way. "You are far worse than LeBron."
After the timeout, the Nets struggled a few times, but failed to change the result.
115 to 106
The SuperSonics defeated the Big Three of the Nets by 9 points and won the Christmas Day game.
After the game
The quarrel between Durant and Beverley is one of the focuses of the outside world. Here are their respective explanations.
Beverley said: "I have apologized to KD for this matter. It is not a big deal. We are brothers and various things will happen during the game."
Durant said: "I like what happened tonight. Friends who are willing to point out your shortcomings are more important than those who only know how to praise you."
Then Tyronn Lue can legitimately lead everyone to make dumplings together: "Those who criticize us for internal discord, I can only say that you neither understand the championship nor the team. This is our Seattle SuperSonics!"< br>
After they finished making the dumplings, Yu Fei had nothing to say. He only needed to praise Hill.
Regarding his performance of scoring 7 consecutive points to end the game, Yu Fei simply said: "I just did what I should do."
Reporters have indeed calmed down after the frenzy during the game.
After all, that kind of behavior was commonplace on Fei.
So, either make dumplings with Director Lu or sing praises to Hill, this is the theme of tonight.
Hill said with emotion: "All your experiences along the way will eventually be reflected in your career. When you look back on those dark times, you will ask yourself whether you still want to continue playing...because of injuries and age. , I’ll never be the same again, but I’m still playing and I have to keep moving forward.”
That day, Hill returned to the locker room.
Alonzo Key held up his No. 33 jersey with both hands: "Grant, it's time to be yourself."
However, Hill rejected him with a smile.
"No, young man, you are its master now."
The only good thing that the long dark time brought to Grant Hill was his cherishment of time.
The young Grant Hill can use a change of direction to accelerate the dribble, easily get rid of 95% of NBA players, and then use a long stride to break through and complete a razor-like layup; if he is happy, he can do it every week Get a triple-double. And when he found out he could play again after almost retiring due to injury and nearly dying from a viral infection, he decided to keep playing until he couldn't.
Grant Hill who wears No. 33 is unlucky, but Grant Hill who wears No. 3 is lucky. At the end of his career, he gets to play with the greatest player of all time.
Hill declined Key's offer and walked to his closet. The mirror next to the cabinet reflected Yu Fei standing behind.
"Grant, I'm still used to seeing you wearing No. 33." Yu Fei said.
"Are you used to seeing me wearing No. 33, or do you just want to recall that game through me?"
"Yes, don't you miss it?" Yu Fei said, "You used to be able to play like you did tonight every night."
"That was ten years ago," Hill replied.
So said the man who misses Grant Hill who wears No. 33 the most in the world.
"I have forgotten all about it."
(End of chapter)