Basketball Legend: When Pride Still Matters

Chapter 497: Chapter 342: I Have Decided (Two in One)_3

Once the main ball-handler could not play his role of one against four, he was basically no different from a traditional one-on-one outside star.

Tonight, James scored only 3 assists, and although he forced his way to 25 points with his formidable physical talent, the entire tactical system was completely shattered by the Bucks.

Yufei put up stats of 35 points, 11 rebounds, 6 assists, and 4 steals, comprehensively outperforming James.

The gap in their stats was like the score difference between the Cavaliers and the Bucks.

The Bucks won with ease by 18 points, taking the first game of the Eastern Conference Finals.

“I don’t think there’s been any change in the Cavaliers,” George Karl said, discussing his feelings about facing the Cavaliers for the second time in the playoffs. His words were sincere yet embarrassing, “It’s still the same people, even LeBron is the LeBron of before. Are you trying to say they’ve changed a lot? Do you think this is a game? They defeated the Detroit Pistons, so they got experience from Detroit and grew from it? I think, maybe it’s that Detroit has gotten weaker?”

Karl’s outspokenness was sure to provoke anger and embarrassment in the opposition.

This will bring many unnecessary emotions to the following games.

But this is a consensus within the Bucks.

Not only the people around Yufei, but even his teammates, his coach, they all dislike hearing the “dual hero” hype. It’s not just about feeling injustice for Yufei.

The hotter the “dual hero” hype gets, the easier it is for the outside world to ignore the other participants in the Eastern Conference Finals.

They are NBA players too, they also play under the spotlight, so why should they be drowned out by this ridiculous hype?

If this was a match-up of equals like Larry Bird and Magic Johnson, okay, everyone could accept being a supporting role in this play, but it never was.

On the way back to the hotel, Lin Kaiwen suddenly mentioned, “Do you guys know who’s predicted to be the first pick in the latest mock draft?”

Yufei humorously asked, “Chinese Yi?”

“I admit that the Chinese guy is talented. He could have been the top pick last year, but this year, you know, there were originally three candidates, now there are only two⑵,” Lin Kaiwen said, smiling.

Lawson asked, “Is it that kid who once asked Frye on the radio if he was willing to drink Kate Winslet’s foot-washing water?”

Lin Kaiwen was shocked, “There’s such a thing?”

Lawson shrugged, “That kid is just that kind of freak.”

Lin Kaiwen then said, “Correct, the latest draft prediction has Kevin Durant as number one.”

This was not surprising at all.@@novelbin@@

Since Yufei started targeting and defeating the Spurs in 2003 with his pinpoint attacks, a revolution of eliminating traditional big men had begun. With the Bucks winning the championship again, more and more studies around Yufei surfaced, and correspondingly, young players with his style of play became increasingly popular.

If Durant originally had less than a ten percent chance to challenge Greg Oden for the top draft pick, now the odds were roughly sixty-forty between them.

Oden was still considered to be the best big man prospect since Tim Duncan, while Durant’s label as “little Yufei” had already spread throughout the basketball world.

Although “Oden or Durant” had been one of the hottest topics in the basketball world for the past few months, Yufei had little interest in it.

However, would the Supersonics get the second pick as they did in the previous life?

That was more of a concern to Yufei.

“When does the lottery start?” asked Yufei.

Lin Kaiwen replied, “May 30th.”

Yufei calculated the time; if they could sweep the Cavaliers, by then he could watch the lottery show with a relaxed mind.

It seemed he had one more reason to sweep the Cavaliers.

A day later, the second game of the Eastern Conference Finals still took place at the Bradley Center.

Yufei entered the game as usual, with his only goal being to win, so he maintained a normal game rhythm throughout.

But a normal game rhythm did not mean he was lacking intensity.

There was still intensity, and for the Cavaliers, that intensity was too high.

The worst possible scenario occurred for the Cavaliers at the venue.

The Bucks, criticized for shooting too many three-pointers, had a field goal percentage of 50% from the outside tonight.

The Cavaliers’ defense collapsed before halftime.

By the third quarter, the Bucks led the Cavaliers by 28 points.

In the last offense of the third quarter, Yufei shook off James’ defense with a variation, then hit a step-back three-pointer, bringing the lead to 31 points.

The fourth quarter was essentially garbage time.

Yufei’s stats weren’t explosive, but they were just enough to surpass those of James.

The two games without suspense disappointed the media who had been anticipating sparks between the two heroes.

In the past, because the overall strength of the Cavaliers was not as good as the Bucks, people were tolerant of James. But now, having reached the Eastern Conference Finals, the Cavaliers proved they were the second-best team in the Eastern Conference and James had proven he could dominate games, so why couldn’t he perform the same against the Bucks?

Since the first game, every question James heard from the media was related to Yufei.

Are you afraid of Frye?

Why don’t you take the initiative to challenge Frye?

You look lethargic; what did Frye do to you?

The question that broke James’ composure came from a non-sports journalist, “Why can’t you admit like Frye that you turn a blind eye to the genocide happening in Darfur for the sake of the Chinese market?”

“I can’t sit here and listen to you talk about things I don’t understand!” even on the verge of exploding, James’ mind still crafted an official response, “I won’t make judgments about something I don’t understand unless there’s a substantial amount of information available!”

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