Basketball Legend: When Pride Still Matters

Chapter 502: Chapter 345 Because the Bucks Will Always Be Here

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After the Spurs lost the third game of the NBA Finals to the Bucks with ease, they handed home-court advantage back to Milwaukee.

That night, the Spurs’ defense had many problems, mainly due to insufficient targeting of Fei.

Duncan scored 24 points and grabbed 11 rebounds, statistics impressive enough, but to win the game, he needed to play even greater.

Bill Simmons, the ESPN columnist known as “Sports Guy” who has always had feuds with Fei, analyzed in an article why Duncan’s consistently outstanding performance over ten years could feel “boring,” and he discovered the reason the Spurs were destined to lose to the Bucks within Duncan’s unparalleled consistency.

“From his first season to the end of his tenth (21.1 points, 11.9 rebounds, 2.7 assists, 2.5 blocks, 55% shooting, 39.1 minutes per game), Duncan’s stats are almost perfectly consistent with his tenth season (20.0 points, 10.6 rebounds, 3.4 assists, 2.4 blocks, 55% shooting, 34.1 minutes per game). His calm demeanor hasn’t changed a bit; he looks the same as he did ten years ago. An incredibly consistent big man who leads your team to at least 50 wins every year, that’s what Duncan brings. But you can’t expect him to dominate everyone like Shaq during the dynasty years, or Hakeem Olajuwon in 1994-95.”

Simmons believed that Duncan’s DNA lacked the talent for huge bursts of power, a trait posessed by very few players who can unleash greater strength when needed.

When the fourth game approached, the media friends brought Simmons’ views to Duncan, who stared at them and said, “I’m pretty sure I have the same chromosomes and DNA as Frye, we are both males.”

Despite it looking like the Spurs had exhausted all their strategies, they still couldn’t beat the Bucks.

In the fourth game of the Finals, still on the Spurs’ home court, the Bucks started with a 5 OUT lineup, an arrangement aimed at collapsing the opponent right from the start with their offense.

However, the Spurs were still the Spurs, but Popovich had a realization: never allow Frye the chance to use his passing to drive the team.

So even if it meant constantly giving mismatches for Fei to exploit, the Spurs resolutely executed a strategy of switch defense without hesitation.

During this period, what impressed Fei the most wasn’t the Spurs’ resilience, but Duncan. Having played nearly 900 games, over thirty years old and no longer as nimble as in his youth, Duncan’s defense against the Bucks was even more ferocious and suffocating than in the 2003 Finals.

Had Duncan undergone a Karl Malone-like transformation?

An aging star, who after turning thirty, actually has better defensive abilities?

No, Karl Malone’s case was bound to be a minority, Duncan’s display of greater defense than years before wasn’t about him personally; his individual defense had obviously declined from the 2003 Finals. Back then, Duncan alone could cover the area inside the free-throw line, but now, Duncan’s defensive strength lay in his being an excellent communicator for the team.

This was something Fei had noticed before, but tonight, Duncan was practically demonstrating face-to-face how to be a leader who can guide a team at a disadvantage forward.

It was a friendly yet competitive conversation, like five friends teaming up in a game, sharing information about themselves and the opponents, seeking a way to win. Duncan was the center of it all, the big brother looking after everyone. During time-outs, Fei always saw him hugging his teammates, then giving advice, or gesturing for everyone to come together for some impromptu motivation. He was the Spurs’ defensive anchor, the smartest player on the court, an emotional leader, the go-to scorer in crucial moments, and a competitive star.

Fei admitted having seen many stars, but Duncan was the rarest of superstars, with a legacy that stats alone couldn’t measure. Fifty years later, stats-oriented fans would point to Duncan’s numbers and conclude that Kevin Garnett was better. Indeed, when the small-ball era’s players had statistical explosions, Duncan’s comparatively bleak career averages would hardly conjure up the image of the greatest power forward ever in people’s minds.

Duncan made Fei reflect on his own ways of leading the team.

He believed he was doing enough on the court, but he truly was not an excellent communicator.

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Or rather, the X-Offense simplified complex tactics, so Yu Fei never had to shout out directions to his teammates for positioning like those shorter point guards.

On the defensive end, Yu Fei was never the core of the team’s defense, although he had made the All-Defensive Team for two consecutive years. This wasn’t because his defense was actually in the league’s top ten, but because he averaged 1+ block and steal per game on a team with strong overall defense.

The Spurs’ extremely tight defense caused the Bucks’ playoffs average points per game to drop below 100 for the first time.

However, when the final moments arrived, Yu Fei’s pass helped Raja Bell hit a crucial three-pointer.

Manu Ginobili’s excessive help defense gave Yu Fei the opportunity to complete a 2+1 jump shot over him.

The string of tension on San Antonio’s team snapped.

98 to 91

The Bucks won the fourth game without too much trouble, leading the series 3-1.

“The Spurs have done everything they could, but the sky in Milwaukee is just too high!” Bill Walton said, “I tip my hat to Tim Duncan and his team for the great defense tonight, but we should also applaud Frye and the Bucks. They’re just one game away from victory, one game away from winning their fourth championship in five years. By any standard, and at least in my eyes, the Bucks have undoubtedly become a dynasty!”

That evening, Yu Fei’s press conference lasted half an hour.

A reporter asked, “If the Bucks win the championship, would you choose to stay?”

“That’s not something I need to think about right now.”

Because for Yu Fei, it was no longer a question.

That night, when Yu Fei returned to his hotel, he found Kwame Brown and Lawson rewatching the last episode of the final season of “The Sopranos.”

This episode had aired a few days earlier, but Brown and the others hadn’t watched it because the outcome of the Finals was still undetermined, and they weren’t “ready” mentally.

But as a phenomenal American TV show, its ending captivated the nation’s audience, much like those who delayed watching the third and fourth “The Avengers” movies would inevitably learn about Star-Lord’s atrocious behavior at the end of the third and how Iron Man took the lead in the fourth.

The most intriguing part of “The Sopranos” was that the writer kept the audience on tenterhooks until the very end, leaving an open-ended finale.

“Did Tony (the protagonist) die?” Yu Fei asked.

“Don’t know,” Lawson said. “I believe he’s still alive.”

Yu Fei didn’t like the show because the male lead Tony increasingly reminded him of Michael Jordan during his Wizards days; especially when he savagely roared, “I’m the motherfucking boss” – it was uncannily similar.

This stopped him from watching the show after the third season, but the buzz around the ending was too loud to ignore. He couldn’t help but overhear people discussing “Did Tony die or not,” so he had a rough idea of the finale.

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Two days later, the Bucks returned to the AT&T Center.

For the Spurs, on the bright side, they were as fortunate as last season’s Mavericks.

They sold out every home game ticket for the season.

At least in terms of ticket revenue, they didn’t lose.

But for Duncan, his career had been changed.

That night, executives from the League and the higher-ups from the Bucks gathered together.

According to their internal calculations, the Bucks had a 90% chance of winning the championship tonight.

Yet, they were wrong.

They underestimated the impact of the Spurs’ loss in the last game.

In game five, Duncan, as the most stable superstar in history, actually missed several simple layups.

What followed was a fierce offensive onslaught from the Bucks.

Kevin Martin broke through Ginobili’s defense from the wing, becoming the top scorer for the Bucks in the first half.

Danny Granger’s shooting was sharp, making every shot, and he seemed more impressive than Luol Deng, the rising star the Spurs relied on.

Aldridge, Brown, Bell, Barry, Sprewell… every Bucks player stepped up. Fei, average 34 points in the finals games, only had 18 points tonight but dished out 17 assists.

With three minutes left in the fourth quarter, the Bucks already had a 22-point lead.

It was then that Karl wanted to sub out Fei.

But Fei refused.

Karl hesitated for a second and then decided to let Fei finish the game.

The way the Bucks dominated the game sparked hot debate among the professional community present.@@novelbin@@

NCAA legendary coach Bob Knight couldn’t help asking, “Is Frye really planning to leave Milwaukee?”

“Not sure,” someone beside him said, “But all the clues are pointing to that. He’s preparing to leave.”

These rumors stung the Bucks’ owner Herb Kohl.

He had never communicated with Fei about the future. He thought that as long as the Bucks were competitive, as long as they did everything Fei asked, they would always have Frye. But when he heard Fei refused to negotiate an early extension, his heart sank. However, when he arrived outside St. Francis Training Center to negotiate with Fei, he saw poster after poster of Brett Favre not far from the center.

Despite Fei being Milwaukee’s hero, Favre’s influence here was still enormous, not to mention in the entire state of Wisconsin.

In terms of global commercial value and impact, Fei was beyond comparison with Favre, but here, he was not as revered as Favre.

The Bucks had given their all, but so had Fei for the team, four championships in five years, a record that would make him a demigod in regions less passionate about football, but not in Milwaukee, even less so in Wisconsin.

Now, the game was coming to its final moments.

The last ten seconds, 114 to 97, the Bucks’ victory was secure.

8 seconds

Fei had stopped playing.

5 seconds

The Bucks’ players were standing up on the sidelines, ready to rush onto the court.

3 seconds

Fei placed the ball on the ground.

1 second

As the buzzer sounded, the Bucks won their fifth championship in franchise history.

Hugs, celebrations, interviews, and the FMVP trophy.

Fei rightfully hoisted his fourth championship trophy and subsequently celebrated with his teammates in the locker room.

When the champagne had run dry and the media flooded in, an old reporter who had interviewed Fei many times over the past five years excitedly asked, “Frye, can we keep this team together? Is there any way to retain it?”

“Tom,” Fei said, wiping the champagne from his face, with a hint of relief in his expression. “Neither I nor anyone else can play for the Bucks forever. This team that has won it all will disappear sooner or later, we will go through generation changes, but from the bottom of my heart, I hope the fans in Milwaukee never have to pray for someone to come save them, because the Bucks will always be here.”

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