Basketball Legend: When Pride Still Matters

Chapter 558: Chapter 396 I Want Them All

The advantage built during the first half made the locker room of the visiting team at the Staples Center quite cheerful.

Smush Parker said something that was both laughable and tear-jerking.

“If Frye gets his fourth MVP, I think I deserve immense credit,” Parker said, “because this game is worth 20 times more than other regular-season games, so one fourth of Frye’s MVP is my doing.”

The behavior of Smush Parker inexplicably had the beauty of RNG fans hoping that IG would knock out KT’s stuff.

Only Durant wasn’t feeling this joy.

Because he was constantly pondering the matchup between Yu Fei and Kobe.

While it wasn’t Yu Fei’s most impressive offensive performance of the season, it was the one that made Durant think the most.

The people around him kept telling him to extract the essence of Yu Fei’s game, so he paid close attention to Yu Fei’s play at every moment.

Because Yu Fei was his template, he indeed learned a lot from him.

But there were some aspects he couldn’t learn.

Organizing ability, instigating ability, the capacity to create opportunities for teammates and then let them seize those opportunities.

Durant’s understanding of organization was still at the level where he relied on his offense to draw defensive attention before passing the ball to a teammate.

This is also the highest level many scoring guards who seem to be good at passing can reach.

Durant tried to learn it, but quickly gave up.

There’s no benefit in learning a style that doesn’t suit oneself.

Therefore, he focused more on learning Yu Fei’s offense.

As a result, tonight Yu Fei showed him a comprehensive, no-dead-angle offense and a set of extremely difficult crossovers.

Durant didn’t know how long it would take for him to reach the same level, but Yu Fei had indeed pointed the way for his future.

“You’ve been staring at me the whole time, is there something on your mind?”

Yu Fei was uncomfortable with Durant’s gaze.

“I was thinking about that crossover you made in the first half,” Durant said, “I don’t think I can do that.”

Ball-handling is one of the most fundamental aspects of basketball.

The foundation laid at the beginning of one’s basketball enlightenment determines future ball-handling ability.

Since Yu Fei’s foundation came from his past life where he was a guard full of tricks, once his body after the crossover had the coordination to master the basics, he became an unstoppable ball-handler.

If Durant tried to be like him, he would be setting himself up for a mistake.

“Why do you want to be like me?” Yu Fei asked. “Don’t you have your own style?”

As the widely recognized ‘Yu Fei the Second,’ Durant didn’t see what was wrong with pursuing the style of the original.

“I don’t know what my style should be like.”

“Haven’t you noticed how smooth your shooting motion is after dribbling? In my opinion, there are few in the league who can link dribbling and shooting as fluidly as you,” Yu Fei spoke with the poise of a mentor, “Also, your horizontal dribbling has a very wide swing, just like AI at his peak, but considering your height, if you can refine this move, I don’t think anyone could guard you one-on-one.”

This scene was noticed by many.

Only someone like George Karl, who had been coaching Yu Fei since his sophomore year, knew how astonishing Mentor Big Fei could be.

During his early days in Milwaukee, Big Fei was a ‘solo act,’ in other words, he genuinely had eyes only for himself, oblivious to Michael Redd’s needs or Ray Allen’s thoughts, until finally losing both of them. Only then did he realize how hard it would be to find teammates who suited him so well again.

In Seattle, Big Fei came with the halo of a savior externally but internally he divided roles amicably with Roy. Roy recognized Big Fei’s status as the big brother, and Big Fei respected Roy’s leadership, making the power distribution very smooth between them due to their personal rapport.

But the way Big Fei treated Durant baffled many.

He was too harsh.

Yet, could anyone witnessing this scene believe that Big Fei had ill will toward Durant?

He was simply using his own methods to help Durant improve. This also indirectly proved Durant’s potential, for Big Fei wouldn’t waste his time on someone mediocre.

In the second half, the Lakers hustled to close the gap in the score.

Kobe’s solo plays continued to decrease, and Kidd led the team with some eye-catching offense.

Inside, Little O and Foster exerted significant rebounding pressure on the Supersonics.

Leveraging the offensive rebounding advantage, the Lakers at one point narrowed the gap to 9 points.

Then Karl put Marion at the small forward position and shifted Yu Fei to power forward, boosting the frontcourt’s athletic talent to secure rebounds.

Yu Fei’s all-around abilities were astonishing.

The Supersonics, who were initially getting trashed on rebounds, suddenly got a firm grip on the board, and Marion’s help defense made it difficult for the Lakers’ wings to score.

While the deities fought, the little demon profited.

Durant, unnoticed with people drawing away much of the attention, continued firing from mid to long-range.

Initially, the Lakers even let a defensive liability like Vujacic guard him.

So Durant turned back into his college self.

The strongest freshman in history averaging 25 points a game descended on the Staples Center.

Seeing Vujacic becoming Durant’s scoring token, Jackson switched Walton to defend.

And then Durant became his average NBA self, a quality rookie averaging 14 points a game.

Finally, the Lakers couldn’t bear it and had Kobe take a turn at him.

Durant got shut down, but Marion was cutting for baskets, making it hard for the Lakers to cover both ends inside. Yu Fei’s attacks from the weak side were prolific – before the third quarter was over, he caused Little O to commit his fifth foul, and right at the start of the fourth, they sent the opponent off with six fouls.

Entering the fourth quarter, the Supersonics still led the Lakers by 15 points.

The victory was already evident.

Smush Parker entered the game again.

To both the Lakers and the audience at the Staples Center, Parker was like a thorn in the side.

This man was detested in Los Angeles, and nearly got naturally eliminated in the fierce competitive atmosphere of Miami, yet he managed to be sent to Seattle and revive his career.

“Does Big Fei really have some kind of magic? Can he even save this guy?”

Little O expressed his surprise upon hearing about Parker’s deeds with the Lakers.

Could such scum, worse than a dog, actually become better beside Big Fei?

Parker had already scored 15 points before the fourth quarter. After the quarter started, he didn’t accomplish much except for snatching 2 points on a counterattack and earning two free throws by flopping, although he only made one, finally securing 18 points.

Just 18 points, this couldn’t show that a person has completely changed.

But in the MVP race, the fact that the Supersonics dared to let him play for over 20 minutes, and made him look so useful, revealed a lot.

The Lakers still refused to give up, and Kobe took a large number of shots in the fourth quarter. Though it had no impact on the outcome, it allowed him to score more than Yu Fei.

However, this was of no benefit to the MVP competition.

Yu Fei had already won the duel.

Before garbage time arrived, all Fei had to do was pass the ball, grab rebounds, and play good defense.

The Lakers, on the other hand, wanted to reduce the point gap.

Each side got what they needed, Kobe won in scoring, the Lakers narrowed the gap to 11 points, and Fei notched a triple-double with huge numbers.

Everyone has a bright future.

At the end of the game, 112 to 101, the Supersonics beat the Lakers on their home court, completing a season sweep against their rivals.

Kobe went 14 for 32 from the field ending with 39 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists, whereas Yu Fei on the other side went an efficient 15 for 22, dropping 34 points, 13 rebounds, 14 assists, 3 blocks, and 2 steals.

“I still believe Kobe is the MVP.” Phil Jackson said after the game, “We should never use one game to determine the entire season.”

“Has Phil lost it? This is not just one game.” George Karl directly punctured Jackson’s rhetoric, “We haven’t lost to the Lakers this season. Not once, do you understand? It means Frye has completely outplayed Kobe in the regular season, and now, Frye’s team has a better record, his stats are better, and he has the advantage in head-to-head matchups. Are you sure you want to give your MVP vote to Kobe in this situation?”

It’s nothing unusual for a head coach to advocate for his star player.

What really hurt Kobe were the comments from others.

“The two years I played with Kobe weren’t as fun as the game tonight with Frye,” said Smush Parker with a dig that cut to the core, “Who is the MVP? Isn’t it obvious?”

“I absolutely support Kobe for MVP!” Little O told reporters, “Big Fei making Smush Parker better is no big deal, let’s see him improve me! I absolutely support Kobe!”

Kwame Brown was oblivious to the double meaning in Little O’s words, simply wanting to lash out at his lifelong adversary: “Does he mean he’s worse than a dog?”

In the corridor of the Staples Center, Kobe walked with a stagger.

He had given his all for tonight’s game, but some nights, he just couldn’t perform at his best.

This was increasingly common since he suffered the finger injury.

Could he play better if given another chance to play the game tonight? He couldn’t say for sure.

Because the injury was there.

At the crossroads ahead, straight ahead was the home team’s locker room, and to the right was the visiting team’s locker room.

Kobe didn’t expect to encounter Yu Fei here.

Clearly, he was about to attend the post-game press conference.

Seeing Kobe’s hand brace, the victorious top player of the league asked, “Are you okay?”

What was this? Crocodile tears? The victor’s greeting? Or a fan’s concern for his idol?

Does anyone really believe he’s my fan?

With self-derision, Kobe said, “I could still shoot another 30 shots.”

“Really? That sounds not bad,” the top player in the league responded, “I have to attend the press conference…”

He prepared to leave.

Kobe’s feelings towards him were complex. Initially, the other was just a junior to him, then suddenly he became Jordan’s enemy, and then Shaquille O’Neal’s enemy. After that, he started winning championships, securing back-to-back titles twice in a short span of seven years, surpassing every active player.

By the time Kobe realized, he found himself having to look up at the other.

How could this happen?

How was it even possible?

Years passed, and Kobe finally had a good team, but they still got easily defeated by the other side tonight.

Is this the end? No, this is a beginning.

A beginning of full-fledged competition.

“You can take the MVP,” Kobe said through clenched teeth, “but the championship…”

“I want to take that too.”

The league’s top player paused, turned back, and with a tone just like during the game when he claimed he would target Kobe’s right hand:

“I want it all.”

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