Chapter 585 Another Curse
Eliminating the Warriors in the semifinals means that the Clippers made history.
This is a big deal in Los Angeles.
For a long time, the Clippers have been like the Fredo Corleone of professional sports in Los Angeles. No one takes them seriously because they have been unlucky for many years and have been called a curse.
So when GOAT chose to join the Clippers, there were so many people who were not optimistic about them.
But now, new history has emerged, and the cursed Clippers truly seem to be gone forever with the end of Donald Sterling.
"The Clippers refreshed their best record in history, and then what?"
The opponent the Clippers ushered in was the Spurs, whose strength completely surpassed the Western Conference teams.
This year's Spurs are one year older than last year, but Duncan and Ginobili are getting better and better as they get older. The loss in the finals provided them with motivation, and the growth of Paul George and Kemba Walker allowed them to The overall strength is significantly improved.
Yu Fei predicted before the start of the season that their upper limit was the Western Conference Finals, but they have already reached the conference finals. How can they be willing to not give it a try with the Spurs?
The Spurs are a completely different opponent than the Warriors.
As far as coaching is concerned, Rivers is nowhere near as good as Popovich.
As for player matchups, the Clippers expect their dominant matchups to be Yu Fei and Griffin.
As a result, after the game started, they found that only Yu Fei had the advantage.
Griffin can bully the Rockets and Warriors inside, but in front of the Spurs, his tactics won't work.
The 38-year-old Duncan looks very old. His white beard proves that he has reached the end of his career, and his old legs that have been enchanted by time no longer have excellent running and jumping abilities.
However, somehow, he was able to use various simple basic offensive methods inside to score the ball against Griffin's defense.
Griffin seems to be able to run and jump, but as an inside post, his static talent is completely suppressed by the old Duncan.
Old Duncan doesn't need to run or jump. He only needs to use his core strength to firmly lock Griffin's talent. When launching an attack, he can suppress the opponent and deny him any room to jump. Griffin has nothing to do.
Fortunately, Duncan is old after all. He could score 20 points on Griffin in the half, but in the second half, he didn't have much room to attack.
However, after finally wearing off Duncan's energy, Gasol started again.
His suppression power is not as good as Duncan's, but he won't let Griffin fight back easily.
Griffin carries the name of Griffin, has unparalleled running and jumping, and has superb skills, but he lacks the most critical thing as an insider - toughness in confrontations.
The toughness of inside players comes from core strength, and this energy related to the status of inside players is the least valued aspect of contemporary insiders. It is also the least valued point by the so-called unicorn insiders who thrive in the space basketball era.
Griffin can bully the Warriors' interiors at will, but in front of the Spurs' interiors, he is not even as tough as Antetokounmpo.
After a fight, Yu Fei knew that he couldn't count on Griffin.
At this intensity, Griffin must completely regard himself as an off-ball attacker.
But he just likes to get the ball.
Moreover, the Clippers really cannot lack his link.
If Griffin doesn't take the ball, the Clippers have to concentrate the ball on the flying hands.
Then, Rivers discovered, fuck GOAT? It doesn't seem impossible.
In G2 in the Holy City, Yu Fei played 44 minutes, slowing down the game by compressing the rhythm, and then constantly switching between roll call and one-star shooting, narrowly beating the Spurs 88 to 86.
Yu Fei scored 44 points, 14 rebounds and 9 assists.
"I like playing against Frye very much." Popovich said meaningfully. "He played like this in 2003. I didn't expect that he is still like this now."
Over the years, Yu Fei has undergone several transformations, and his style is already very different from that of 2003.
However, tonight, he was forced to use the 2003 method to force the next game at the Spurs' home court. This is indeed a lineup limitation that forces the Clippers to rely entirely on him.
But such a one-man show cannot last until the end of the series.
Because he was facing the 2014 Spurs.
Returning to the third game in Los Angeles, the Clippers hope to win this game to gain a 2-1 advantage in the series. However, the Spurs used excellent multiple pick-and-rolls, multiple cuts, and multiple ball-holding tactics, coupled with three-pointers from the left and right corners, and the game was ruined in the first half.
Yu Fei scored 35 points, 11 rebounds and 12 assists tonight, but in the end they still lost by 19 points.
The Spurs' "beautiful basketball" makes the greatest individual talents seem powerless in front of the team.
Yu Fei thought to himself that only five wing players could limit the Spurs' beautiful basketball.
However, the Clippers are fully prepared, and only Yu Fei, Antetokounmpo and Matt Barnes can make unlimited defense changes.
Judging from the lineup configuration, they simply do not have the basic conditions to defeat the Spurs.
Coming to G4, it was almost the same script repeated.
The only difference is that the Spurs' performance was even more amazing than in the previous game.
Throughout the first half, the Spurs' overall shooting percentage reached 65%. They split the Clippers' defense with constant passes and cuts, and then found easy scoring opportunities. While the team's tacit understanding is strong, they also hit every three-point shot from the outside.
Yu Fei thought he had performed well enough. Tonight he changed his style of play and continued to assist his teammates in three-point shots through breakthrough points. However, there was a 20 percentage point difference in shooting percentage between the two sides.
The Clippers trailed by 24 points at halftime.
Every second after that felt like repaying a debt for the mistakes of the first half.
After playing with all their strength for 48 minutes, the score difference was only reduced to 14 points.
"What's more disappointing than Frye's poor performance causing the Clippers to lose is that Frye plays well in every game, but the Clippers have no hope of winning at all."
Yu Fei is unwilling to give up, he is still looking for Spurs' flaws.
But after searching around, the only flaw he saw was that the Spurs' inside line seemed a little helpless when faced with roll call tactics.
However, the problem is that the Spurs' shooting percentage in these two games is too high.
Faced with such a hit rate, no matter how you target the opponent, it will be useless. The only thing you can do is shoot more accurately than your opponent. However, the Clippers have relied on dunks to ignite the passion of the audience throughout the season. The essence of being keen on dunking is that they actually do not fully conform to the mainstream style of play of the era.
The Clippers' average three-point shooting percentage and number of hits per game are at the bottom of the league, and they can't blame others.
Griffin doesn't take many three-pointers, and his shooting percentage is average. Players like Pachulia and Brown don't even shoot three-pointers. Hawes only joined the team halfway through the season and only served as a substitute. They also need to develop Antetokounmpo. Although the Greek Freak brought surprises in shooting, he was unable to increase his production in a short period of time.
The Clippers' main outside firepower is Yu Fei and Chauncey Billups.
Billups is more like Antetokounmpo's guide, and his role is like a pseudo-starter. Therefore, Yu Fei is the Clippers' real outside hot spot - this is simply the opposite of Tiangang's positioning. Because GOAT has always been the beneficiary of the space system in the past. He wanted to suck the blood of shooters to feed the entire offense. Now, in turn, Griffin and Antetokounmpo are sucking his blood to gain space for dunks.
However, the lineup is so deformed that it cannot be changed this season. Yu Fei can only adjust his playing style.
The problems caused by the lineup were not exposed much in front of the Rockets and the self-destructed Warriors, but they were very glaring in front of the Spurs, the peak form of team basketball.
Heading to the fifth battle in the Holy City, Rivers and Yu Fei discussed it.
They all agreed that there was no chance of winning if they did not change their formation.
Ever since Rivers tasted the sweetness of letting GOAT play inside, he has wanted to use this move whenever the situation cannot open up.
But can the Spurs' inside line be comparable to that of the Warriors?
Yu Fei's concern is: "If I play inside, who will go outside to open up the situation?"
"Trust Paul Pierce," Rivers said, "the truth will come true."
Well, he simply loved the truth.
But Yu Fei admitted that they must change their formation to make the Spurs unable to adapt to their rhythm, and they must prevent Duncan from continuing to draw money when he is full of energy.
Watching Duncan take what he wanted from Griffin like a father beating his son was a huge blow to the Clippers' morale.
This move essentially transfers the pressure that should have been borne by Griffin to the GOAT.
What if GOAT is defeated by Duncan in the paint? This is something Rivers hadn't considered.
No, even Griffin himself has never thought about what to do if GOAT is defeated.
Griffin can't guard Duncan, and Yu Fei has stronger core strength, but the offensive logic of the Spurs' No. 21 veteran pick is not to use strength to crush the opponent. It's just that Griffin's bottom plate is too soft, so it sets off the opponent's strength. ferocious.
Duncan is still strong in the basic inside skills that are engraved in his bones.
Yu Fei resisted without losing his position, but Duncan had already reached his hot zone, so he took the interference and shot directly, and still entered.
Being passively beaten is not GOAT's style.
He didn't even think about guarding Duncan.
As long as Duncan scores on him, he will work harder to get it back. Yu Fei held the ball in the low post and turned to the basket in an instant. Duncan's defense collapsed in an instant. The situation on the inside began to change, while Pierce on the outside seized the opportunity to start.
For a veteran like him, his state every night is like rolling a dice, and tonight Pierce got a 6.
The game was dragged into the second half, and Duncan's physical strength began to decline. He was gradually unable to attack and could only passively defend. Gasol began to be unable to cover Griffin.
The shaking of the interior pillars caused the Spurs' shooting percentage to plummet. On the defensive end, Yu Fei was like a rebounding maniac, grabbing consecutive defensive rebounds in the crowd, and then passed the ball to Antetokounmpo. Immediately afterwards, there was a dunk that made Spurs fans' scalps numb, like a strange dunk that started from outside the three-point line.
"No matter what problem he encounters, Doc Rivers always seems to have only one trick - 'There is nothing we can do, let's let GOAT play inside and hope for a miracle!' As a result, this trick works every time. Is this the benefit of coaching GOAT? ”
Game 5 was considered the Clippers' "homecoming game." As a result, Rivers once again turned the tide of the game by letting Yu Fei play inside.
This is undoubtedly a blessing, but will this blessing last forever?
Tonight's loss leaves the Spurs feeling a strong sense of urgency.
Because this defeat was different from the G2 game that relied solely on the individual abilities of the stars, the Clippers cleverly took advantage of GOAT's unsolvable all-around swing advantage, putting him inside and wearing out Duncan. After gaining the advantage at the basket in the second half, this advantage was fed back to the outside.
This is a strategy that can be used consistently. The Spurs must find a solution in Game 6. Otherwise, if the game is dragged to the seventh game, Popovich cannot imagine how much motivation the GOAT will bring to "bringing the Clippers to the Finals when the whole world is not optimistic about them."
Timeless lesson: Don’t enter into a “win or go home” matchup with the best player in the world.
The Spurs' tactics revolve around saving Duncan's energy. Popovich even used Brazilian big man Split to start the game at the beginning of the game, trying to play a "lower horse vs. better horse" game with the Clippers.
Rivers thought to himself, do you think I will be afraid? It is not a problem for our GOAT to play the entire 48 minutes.
Just as the two sides were fighting nervously and competing with each other for wits and courage, a tight string for the Clippers suddenly broke.
Griffin received an alley-oop dunk from Yu Feinei and sprained his thigh after landing.
The cost of over-reliance on key players ultimately came back to the Clippers.
Despite his unsatisfactory performance in the Western Conference Finals, Rivers still allowed Griffin to play an average of 40 minutes per game.
Because in many cases, the performance of core players is of course the most important, but if they perform poorly, letting them continue to "exist" on the court can be considered to be the best use of their resources.
In front of the Spurs, the Clippers are inferior horses. They are not qualified to "play a game and change a card." The available players must be used to death until they have problems.
The moment Griffin was injured, a sinful thought flashed through Rivers' mind: Fortunately, it was not Frye who was injured...
But, back to reality, he also clearly knows what Griffin's injury means.
Yu Fei can fight against Duncan or Gasol, but he cannot fight against two people at the same time. Losing Griffin means losing a key force to check and balance Gasol. No matter whether the Clippers replace Pachulia or Brown, they can't prevent the imbalance inside.
The situation began to deteriorate, and whenever the Clippers were about to be unable to recover, Yu Fei would have an astonishingly dominant performance.
He would play 2+1 in the paint, grab key offensive rebounds and assist his teammates in hitting three-pointers, and then face Duncan in isolation or make a big jump, or even sweep the high post like a center and then go to the basket to block Paul George.
Isn't this the performance of the league's number one insider?
However, the Clippers' luck has come to an end.
The Spurs let Duncan rest for a long time so that he had enough energy to play singles in the second half. Dajia, who was not restricted by Griffin, exerted enough pressure on the other side.
Pierce lost his courage in Game 5, and once Antetokounmpo had no chance to counterattack, he only had two skills: fixed-point three-pointers and air-cutting.
But the Clippers, with their limited space, couldn't give him a chance to cut in. He could only shoot from the outside.
When a 19-year-old suddenly has to bear the heavy pressure of unlocking the team's space, even if he usually shoots 36% from three-point range, his technical movements, touch and muscle memory are shattered by the heavy pressure.
The Clippers collapsed in the final five minutes of the fourth quarter.
With 58 seconds left in the game, Yu Fei had not rested for a second since the game started and was finally replaced by Rivers.
When Yu Fei came off the field, he was thinking, if he had known that this would be the result, why would he have worked so hard?
But this negative thought only lasted for a moment.
"!#￥#@!￥%"
"Ladies and gentlemen, give your applause to our GOAT!!!"
The nascent Clippers will lose tonight, but in essence, this failure will mirror their past failures.
Their bad luck, Griffin fell injured at a critical moment.
But is that all?
It's much more than that.
They became the most entertaining team in the league during the regular season, and broke the franchise record in the playoffs. However, in front of this so-called "best Spurs team in history", they have run out of bullets.
Next year, GOAT will still be here.
Antetokounmpo will continue to grow.
The Clippers will get better.
They have become a well-liked and respected top team.
"Fry, you had the greatest performance I've ever seen tonight!"
Rivers said in a hoarse voice.
I played my greatest game and still lost, right?
"What a great comfort, Doug." Yu Fei said mockingly.
"We'll be back, like you said." Rivers said, "We'll be back in the conference finals."
Now that things have come to this, what else can be done?
Yu Fei let out a breath and said, "Next year it won't be like this."
The last minute is just garbage time.
Yu Fei's game statistics were displayed on the Sifang big screen at the scene: he played 47 minutes and 2 seconds, scored 39 points, 21 rebounds, 8 assists, 4 blocks, 2 steals and the inevitable 5 turnovers.
This series truly showcased Yu Fei's endless swing ability as a player in various positions.
He can play as the ball-carrying core at the first position, as a space point shooter, and as the ace third position. When these roles fail, he can also play inside. The fourth and fifth positions are no problem. He can even beat Duncan.
In this day and age, if he can beat Duncan, he can beat any other big man.
Perhaps only Howard and Yao Ming are beyond his reach in terms of absolute strength and tonnage, but these two also have their own flaws and shortcomings, and they are not the type that requires Yu Fei to take the initiative to suppress them inside.
Although the Clippers lost, Yu Fei's infinite possibilities frightened his opponents.
They can't imagine how high the Clippers' ceiling would be if he was paired with a few suitable teammates.
After all, even with such an unbalanced Clippers, if Griffin is not injured, the outcome tonight is still uncertain. Once the series gets to Game 7, anything is possible.
Now that the world's most powerful basketball player is stuck in the conference finals, that's good news for other contenders.
At least in 2014, there was no chance of a world championship with Frye Yu.
The game is over.
The Spurs eliminated the Clippers 4-2.
They learned from last year's lesson and remembered the GOAT's curse - don't celebrate. If you use all your tears to celebrate defeating the GOAT at this moment, what will you have to celebrate in the finals?
Therefore, the Spurs silently digested the feat of eliminating Yu Fei for two consecutive years, only secretly rejoicing in their hearts, and then turned their attention to the finals.
Duncan hugged Yu Fei after the game.
"Can we win this year?" Yu Fei asked.
"We won't screw it up this time."
"Well, I wish you good luck." Yu Fei smiled, "But those who beat me in the playoffs usually don't have good luck."
This is definitely not trash talk.
Let’s look at the Nets in 2002, the Pacers in 2005 and the Spurs last year.
They all reached the finals after defeating GOAT, and then all failed.
Defeating the Chosen One may be sinful.
Yu Fei reminded Duncan sincerely.
And Duncan did think of that history, which sent a chill down the back of the No. 21 veteran.
Is this another curse of the GOAT?
(End of chapter)