noveldrama
Chapter 1001 1001 581 Becoming the Explosive Point_3
Chapter 1001 1001 581 Becoming the Explosive Point_3
?Chapter 1001: Chapter 581 Becoming the Explosive Point_3 Chapter 1001: Chapter 581 Becoming the Explosive Point_3 Antetokounmpo said excitedly, “LeBron said I am a young King!”
Even Yu Fei couldn’t help but laugh at this.
“That’s what makes you happy?” Yu Fei said with a teasing tone.
“Better than being called ‘Buck’ or ‘Shaun’ (Bradley)!”
(1) This was a derogatory nickname from his teammates, mocking his slender physique.
Yu Fei asked, “Do you know LeBron hands out ‘young King’ as if it were wholesale? He says that to everyone.”
“That’s impossible! He said I was special!”
“I’ve said you were special too,” Yu Fei replied.
Antetokounmpo blinked, apparently unaware of this, “Really?”
“Sort of, I did say that.” Yu Fei smiled, “But if you’re getting all cocky because that ‘King’ called you ‘young King,’ then you’re no longer special. Giannis, complacency is like those secondhand clothes in your closet, not even a homeless person would want that trash!”
Yu Fei’s sermon snapped Antetokounmpo out of it. He went to James and returned the “young King” title, saying he didn’t need it.
James was surprised, “Didn’t you just like it a lot?”
“I don’t like it anymore.”
“Why?”
“Because ‘someone else’ doesn’t like it.” The Greek Freak started to say things that James couldn’t understand, “Ubuntu! This is Ubuntu! We are great because of ‘someone else’!”
Soon after, the game began. Yu Fei and James looked at each other, but neither spoke.
In the end, James couldn’t help but say, “Choosing the Clippers will be the biggest mistake of your career!”
“Will it be worse than scoring only 8 points in a do-or-die game?” Yu Fei retorted without mercy.
What followed was a fierce battle.
The Cavaliers had a better lineup overall than the Clippers; besides James, there was Chris Bosh, Garnett, and Bledsoe; while on the Clippers side, besides Yu Fei and Griffin, there were the old and the young.
But, veterans have their uses.
Pierce was a peculiar player, looking ready to retire when out of form, but capable of playing star-level when on a good day. Interestingly, Pierce almost always saved his best performances for James.
Before Yu Fei got going, Pierce, coming off the bench, showed his hot hand on the wing.
Looking at the Cavaliers’ other players, Bledsoe was aggressive but had his drives contained by the Clippers’ interior defense that night, and his shooting was off. Bosh played normally, but Garnett showed his age, although his defense was still valuable, defense alone could not change the tide.
Yu Fei and James’ face-offs were generally a 60-40 split.
Yu Fei had a slight edge, but James, in his prime, couldn’t suppress Yu Fei’s prowess, though his own performance wasn’t far behind.
With both teams’ stars exchanging blows, Pierce’s explosion became the key to breaking the deadlock.
The Cavaliers had planned for everything but hadn’t counted on losing to Pierce’s sudden outburst.
The most heartbreaking moment of the game came in the fourth quarter when Pierce took on James one-on-one from the perimeter and scored with a pull-up jumper, bringing his total to 32 points.
“LeBron, I’m a young King too,” Pierce said, and with that, the Cavaliers’ morale plummeted.
Yu Fei then consecutive defensive rebounds helped the Clippers pull ahead, eventually defeating the Cavaliers.
“I don’t want to hear anymore that we need a third star,” Yu Fei said in a post-game interview pointing at Pierce, “We already have a third star, he usually sits on the bench.”
The Clippers’ viewership was on the rise, and this change could be seen in many areas, such as team merchandise, star endorsements, season ticket sales, and home game ticket sales.
A basketball craze akin to that of Seattle was brewing in Los Angeles. Although it had not fully erupted yet, the signs were clear.
After every game, Yu Fei would become the media’s headline, the Clippers’ search index on social media skyrocketed. Dunk compilations of Griffin and others were spreading rapidly. Coupled with Pierce, the veteran still shining every now and then with a standout performance, all these points of interest turned this team, once considered “cursed,” into the focus of attention.
Does the curse still exist?
Or did Sterling take the curse away with him?
Or perhaps, Sterling himself was the curse?
This was a question without an answer.
The talk of a curse is ephemeral, much like the “Baby Curse” that once plagued Boston.
In the world of sports, a so-called curse often symbolizes the difficulties, misfortunes, and unfortunate accidents that lead to bad results that a team experiences. A long history of misfortune is the very breeding ground for the theory of the curse.
But now, the Clippers were showing their best form in the decades since the team was established.
On December 31, 2013, Yu Fei threw a grand party at home to celebrate his 31st birthday. Afterwards, he posted photos and short videos of the party on social media with the caption, “Look at these happy folks, do they look like they’re cursed?”