Basketball Legend: When Pride Still Matters-Chapter 474 - 326: Special Care, But Not So Special
Chapter 474: Chapter 326: Special Care, But Not So Special
Interior enthusiasts hate the 2006 Finals, certainly there was a future Hall of Famer like Dirk Nowitzki at the power forward position, but the overall quality was concerning.
Besides, Nowitzki was clearly a player born in the wrong era.
Imagine if he played in the 2020s, what would that be like? The cost of being born in the wrong era is a lack of understanding.
Traditional interior fans generally wouldn’t appreciate a big man like Nowitzki who relies on shooting and can attack the basket like a guard, they couldn’t accept that Nowitzki defeated Duncan in the playoffs.
Besides Nowitzki, the center matchup between the two teams was not just disappointing, but also somewhat humorous.
Self-proclaimed second-best center in the Western Conference, Erick Dampier, versus self-proclaimed second-best center in the Eastern Conference, Kwame Brown.
ESPN’s NBA expert Chris Sheridan wrote in his Finals preview, “Kwame vs. Erick? Oh, that’s like this year’s NHL Finals, who cares if the Oilers or the Hurricanes lift the Stanley Cup⑴?”
⑴ That year, only 610,000 people watched NHL Finals G1.
With both sides being nearly equal in strength, the basic criterion to predict who would lose and who would win relied on one premise: you need to know who is the best player in this series.
If you know that, you know whose chances of winning are higher.
Conversely, if the strongest player in the series loses a well-matched duel, then undoubtedly he bears the greatest responsibility.
In Game 1 of the Finals, Yu Fei delivered a declarative performance.
The Mavericks played half-court offensive basketball similar to the Bucks.
Then, Fei began to single out Nowitzki on defense in a 1-4 pick-and-roll attack. What made Dallas feel helpless was that as the only remaining superstar in the playoffs, Fei had assembled whistle power like Kobe, Iverson, James, and Wade.
The Mavericks couldn’t touch Fei, any contact meant a foul.
Even with few drives to the basket, Fei earned 14 free throws, scoring 44 points, grabbing 10 rebounds, and dishing out 8 assists, leading his team to win the first game.
Mavericks supporters were furious, feeling they could compete with the Bucks, but the referees deprived them of the opportunity.
Among them, the most prominent was Mavericks owner Mark Cuban.
Cuban publicly said, “We can’t touch Frye, we can’t stop Frye, even if we just stand next to him, the referees would call a foul because my players’ breaths could blow on his face! Those are damn calls! They killed our chance on the road!”
Fei believed his ability to draw fouls was definitely above anyone else on the Mavericks, but it shouldn’t have reached the extent it did tonight.
This was the treatment reserved for Wade and James.
As a player who had already reached the summit, the League’s promotional strategies for him had shifted from aiding with foul call leniency to developing commercial value and brand marketing.
Put in plain language, Fei was now a mature product, ready to make money once launched, while the other players were still developing and needed some extra push to ripen.
So, why did such strong whistle power gather around him?
Fei didn’t understand, so he asked the people around him.
Lawson smiled and said, “Isn’t it good to have the whistle? It increases your chances of winning.”
Lin Kaiwen commented, “I think, this might not be your issue.”
“Whose issue is it then?” Fei countered.
“Mark Cuban,” guessed Lin Kaiwen, “As far as I know, no referee likes him, and if it’s up to the referees to decide, they surely want Mark’s team to lose.”
With that, clarity dawned on Fei.
“Makes sense.”
Fei didn’t mind the referees’ favor, but he felt that the favor he received tonight was a bit too much.
Even though he could win on his own strength, why should three godfathers suddenly appear out of nowhere?
Upon further thought, the League seemed to have no reason to care for him so much; as long as the Bucks and the Mavericks played a well-matched series, everything would be satisfactory from all angles.
If the referees spontaneously wanted to sink the Mavericks, that would be an entirely different concept.
So, it’s better not to talk too much ill of the referees.
People like Big Fei, who cursed at anyone in sight, didn’t say a word when Wade got nearly 20 free throws in a game for Miami Heat, helping them win; Karl directly lashed out at the referees, yet he said nothing and calmly accepted the fact that Wade was being looked after.
The NBA needed a script of rising stars, so even if Wade’s team was swept 4-1, his excellent performance against Fei and taking one game for his team is his resume’s shining moment, just like rookie Fei leading a battered Wizards to a 3-1 first-round exit against the Brooklyn Nets.
Fei didn’t know what plans the League had for this year’s Finals, but from game one, the referees’ dislike for Cuban seemed to outweigh other factors.
Game 2 of the Finals.
Early in the morning, Fei received a text from a friend with whom he didn’t usually communicate much.
He had saved this friend in his contacts as “Big Red” since his own nickname in the friend’s phone was “Little Red.”
Well, this person was Yao Ming.
Due to Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady taking turns being injured during the first half of the season, the Houston Rockets dug too deep of a hole in their record to make a comeback for the playoffs, forcing them to give up on the season. They ended up securing the eighth pick in the recent lottery.
After the season ended, Yao didn’t rush to join the national team to prepare for this summer’s World Championships, instead choosing to stay in the United States to train and heal his injuries.
Over the past few days, he kept hearing the Texas media accusing the referees of favoritism towards Yu Fei.
It reminded him of last year’s first round against the Mavericks, how the Dallas People managed to push them out of the playoffs with the help of the referees.
A year had passed, but Yao still couldn’t let it go.
He might be the biggest player in the NBA in the literal sense since Shaquille O’Neal, but that didn’t mean his heart was as broad as his frame; in fact, the Shanghai giant could be very petty about certain things.
He wouldn’t forget how Dallas eliminated him, nor would he forget how Mark Cuban reported him to the League during the playoffs, which led to him being targeted by the referees in the following games, as if he’d angered them.
He’d remember all of that just like he wouldn’t forget how the devils in The Great Shark Club tried to block his NBA dreams initially.
His payback to those bastards was to buy The Great Shark and then kick out all those who had caused him trouble.
That was his way of revenge.
But he couldn’t make the Mavericks pay the same price.
All of a sudden, everyone was talking about the Mavericks being treated unfairly, that Big Fei was a bubble propped up by the League, cries of referee bias…
Yao had only one feeling.
“F*ck these motherf*ckers, the day has finally come!”
The more anxious these people became, the more delighted Yao felt. He didn’t want to disturb Yu Fei, but with all this fuss, he couldn’t help himself!
So Yao sent Yu Fei a text before the second game: “Justice, even if delayed, is still justice. I stand with you, beat the crap out of those idiots!”
Upon reading it, Yu Fei only had one thought: this guy’s manners have been declining ever since he came to the United States. Why can’t he learn a bit more from me? The average demeanor of Chinese players in the NBA is going to be brought down by this guy.
After some thought, Yu Fei replied, “See you in Japan, I’ll treat you to a hot spring.”
Instant reply: “Better not, the national team has discipline.”
Yu Fei sent another message: “Little punk, as if I don’t know you?”
Yao didn’t reply.
Yu Fei began his new day.
In the evening, fans gathered at the Bradley Center.
Dallas media’s tactic of creating an uproar against the League through public opinion had an effect on the second game.
The emperor-like privilege of getting free throws at the slightest touch had disappeared from Yu Fei’s game.
For Yu Fei, it actually worked out better this way.
While such officiating seemed hugely beneficial for the Bucks, it could also foster a dangerous reliance on being protected by the whistle.
If he really got into that comfort zone, what would happen if one day the Whistle Power vanished?
It was better the way it was now, having a fair share of superstar calls, but nothing too serious. Every star gets some preferential treatment. To find success in the playoffs, what mattered was performance under high pressure.
That seemed to be a shared strength of both teams.
Yu Fei was the type of player who thrived under intense pressure, while Dirk Nowitzki had been the League’s top clutch performer since the New Year, with decisive performances in the semi-finals against the Suns and in the Western finals against the Spurs.
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At least in 2006, the word “soft” was hard to attach to Nowitzki.
He and the Mavericks would need to go through a few more rounds of breakdowns before they could become synonymous with soft.
Tonight, Yu Fei and Nowitzki each showcased their exceptional talent.
Yu Fei was not hot from the perimeter, but thanks to his unguardable mismatch and all-around skills, he managed to score 28 points, grab 13 rebounds, and dish out 11 assists. Nowitzki, on the other hand, demonstrated dominance in the paint, matching Yu Fei step for step with 26 points and 16 rebounds.
But the collective firepower of the Bucks’ perimeter shooters made the Mavericks’ defense a futile endeavor.
Martin, Barry, Granger, Bell, Sprewell… every one of them hit threes, with Martin and Bell even hitting four apiece.
Although the rest of the Mavericks played well, they still developed a fear of firepower insufficiency under the Bucks’ onslaught, reminiscent of the era of small-ball.
118 to 104
The Bucks hit 20 three-pointers for the entire game, setting an NBA Finals record for most threes made in a single game, a clear case of firepower dominance.
Conservative basketball pundit, Hubie Brown predicted, “After tonight, the basketball we know might change drastically.”
Charles Barkley of TNT retracted his views: “Hey, I’m the big doofus who always said you can’t win a championship with shooting. But now, I take that back. You know, I’m the same dunce who kissed a donkey’s butt, and I say things that are wrong. From today on, we’re going to see some unprecedented games. The idea that shooting teams can’t win championships is outdated. Frye and his Bucks have proved something, it’s not that shooting teams can’t win championships, it’s those teams who can’t shoot threes that can’t win championships.”
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