Basketball Legend: When Pride Still Matters-Chapter 1037 - 593 I Dont Know the Answer to This

Chapter 1037: Chapter 593: I Don’t Know the Answer to This Question_3 Chapter 1037: Chapter 593: I Don’t Know the Answer to This Question_3 The Supersonics, preoccupied with isolation plays, suffered from low offensive efficiency, which made it easy for the Clippers’ twin towers to dominate the rebound battle.

This was Jokić’s favorite type of game.

The opponents seemed unwise, repeatedly making irrational offensive decisions, and one rebound after another fell into the Clippers’ hands.

The abundance of rebounds also allowed Jokić to frequently perform classic moves, grabbing defensive rebounds and then dishing out assists in quick transitions.

ESPN commentators, former NBA star Chris Webber, exclaimed excitedly, “It’s time to apologize to Arne Trem! This Serbian truly knows how to play! Look at his passes! Goodness, he reminds me of Vlade Divac!”

The climax of the game came in the last attack of the third quarter.

By then, the Clippers had already taken a 29-point lead.

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Fei gave Roy a solid block, and after Jokić secured the loose ball, he pushed forward alone.

Antetokounmpo sprinted down the court, expecting the Serbian chubby to pass to him, but Jokić, keeping his eyes on him, unexpectedly passed the ball cleverly to Yao Ming who was trailing.

Yao took a step from beyond the three-point line, moved inside the free-throw line, caught the ball, and dunked it.

“What’s most terrifying isn’t that the Clippers beat the Supersonics by height, it’s that they won tonight with their high basketball IQ!”

The fourth quarter basically became garbage time.

Tonight, Fei played just 25 minutes, contributing 22 points, 6 rebounds, and 4 assists.

Now, he no longer needed to carry the heavy responsibility like he did in the past two years. With the rise of Antetokounmpo and the arrival of Jokić, these two versatile players needed room to grow, so he had to adjust his playing style.

Fei’s style had essentially returned to the early days of the Supersonics. In order to complement Roy’s style and to provide growth opportunities for Durant, he abandoned his usual central role and transformed into a traditional small forward. This change did not have a major impact on him personally; the only difference was a drop in his numbers.

In the end, Rivers left only Antetokounmpo and Thompson to control the game, substituting in Jefferson, Nine-Finger Green, and Zaza Pachulia.

Facing a 30-point deficit, the Supersonics were powerless.

Twelve minutes of garbage time could not change any results.

At the final buzzer, the Clippers won the game 124 to 96 against the Supersonics, taking their first victory of the new season.

This was the first NBA game in the history of the Boeing Aerospace Arena, yet, the victors were not the hosts of the arena.

However, the “Seattle Times” reported the next day: “The hosts of the Boeing Aerospace Arena rightfully won the first game in the arena’s history!”

The storm after the game did not end there.

Fei remained cordial towards the Supersonics, and did not use the victory as an opportunity to settle scores with Bennett.

However, Bennett directly criticized the fans who cheered for the visiting team in an interview with reporters.

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“I think we need to introduce a rule permanently banning those fans who cheer for the opposing team at our home games!” Bennett seemed still haunted by the cheers given to Fei. “If you are a Seattleite, you should support Seattle’s team, it’s only right!”

This statement set off a storm among fans.

Already resenting Bennett for his past actions in bringing down the empire, and now hearing him turn the blame on them, they responded in a multitude of ways.

Cancelling season tickets, cursing on the official website, and vilifying Bennett on the official Twitter account followed in quick succession.

Yet, this was not the worst thing that happened that evening.

After Bennett attacked the fans, reporters sensed something was off with his emotions, seemingly provoked by the game.

So, a reporter brought up the feud between him and Fei.

“Frye had a very pleasant collaboration with you, though it eventually fell apart for various reasons. However, the honors he brought to Seattle cannot be erased. In the future, does the Supersonics plan to retire Frye’s number 44 jersey?”

The response from Bennett was shocking:

“I don’t know the answer to that right now.”

No matter what Bennett was thinking at the time, his response was sure to ignite global outrage.

“Frye kept the Supersonics, earned Clay Bennett billions of US Dollars, brought the Boeing Aerospace Arena to Seattle, and secured four consecutive championships. This is one of the greatest achievements in modern NBA. And what in return? The man who accomplished all this, Frye, has no statue, and Bennett does not even know whether to retire his jersey? How can the NBA allow such a person to own a team?”

Fei’s close friend Mark Stein fiercely criticized Bennett.

Subsequently, major media outlets followed suit, mocking Bennett coldly and warmly, which plunged the Supersonics into a public relations storm.

As the situation escalated, the Supersonics’ image seemed to go back to before 2007, and Bennett had to bite the bullet and clarify his statement.

“Obviously, Frye’s honors can never be erased, no one can take that away. I think many people misunderstood my words. What I meant to say was that I don’t know if Frye would want his jersey retired by the Supersonics. If he does, I certainly have no objections.”

Although it was too late, it finally quelled the anger of the fans.

However, after those words from Bennett, he could never possibly receive the forgiveness of the GOAT.

Right after Bennett’s press conference, Fei tweeted:

“My jersey will never be retired in Clay Bennett’s team.”

When a person who dislikes saying “forever” breaks his habit, it signifies that, even in a world where “forever” is negated, there are moments of eternal curse.

Seattle’s greatest sports star publicly refused to have his jersey retired in Bennett’s team, fixing this story in history.

From that moment, Bennett became Seattle’s version of James Dolan.

Wherever he went, people would shout at him: “Sell your team!”