Basketball Legend: When Pride Still Matters

Chapter 1010 1010 584 The Gap in Coaching Really_3

?Chapter 1010: Chapter 584: The Gap in Coaching, Really_3 Chapter 1010: Chapter 584: The Gap in Coaching, Really_3 The Clippers learned a lesson tonight—they can’t let them get running.

The cost of letting the young guards run was more than they could bear.

Relying on a chaotic battle, the Warriors crushed the Clippers away 121 to 102, seizing the first victory of the series.

The Clippers’ home court advantage had vanished.

Coming into the second game of the semifinals, Yu Fei took the initiative, marking Leonard and also helping to disrupt Lillard. Through a joint defense, he forced the Warriors to rely on mid-air three-pointers and star players’ singles to solve problems.

Tonight, Giannis Antetokounmpo showed the ultimate that a Spider-Man could achieve on the defensive end.

He could defend the pick-and-roll on the perimeter, then return to the basket to protect it in less than a second.

The combination of terrifying static talent and outstanding dynamic talent was like a sweeper who could see into the future.

Klay Thompson was subdued under his shadow.

The Warriors’ efficiency in singles plummeted, and Yu Fei was, as ESPN commentator Chris Webber said, “Frye played like a GOAT!”

Yu Fei devastated the Warriors with 46 points, 15 rebounds, 7 assists and handed the opposition a 24-point defeat at home.

“For us, the series really starts only when we win in Golden State,”
Yu Fei said after the game without joy or sorrow.

But tonight, Yu Fei did discover significant issues with the Warriors’ interior.

Although Leonard was fine as a small four, David Lee as a small five was all offense.

Draymond Green was limited to a few minutes per game under Mark Jackson’s coaching.

Jackson did not trust Green.

This was the Clippers’ opportunity.

The next day, Yu Fei approached Rivers, volunteering to play as center in game three.

The coach, puzzled, asked, “Are you sure?”

Yu Fei said indifferently, “I’m not only sure, I’ll tear David Lee apart.”

Since Yu Fei had brought it up, Rivers found it hard to refuse, especially since he didn’t believe David Lee could compete at the five against a GOAT.

The Warriors were a very young team.

The youngsters would rely greatly on their talent unless someone was there to guide them.

That person might have been Jerry West, but their head coach Mark Jackson had precluded this possibility.

Jackson was ambitious and overly egotistic, something that was not apparent when he was paired with Van Gundy in commentating, but once his role changed to that of a coach, his disposition of recognizing only his success, ignoring his failures, would tear the team apart.

This phenomenon was thoroughly exposed in game three of the semifinals.

The Clippers’ lineup change was unexpected by the Warriors, as Yu Fei and Blake Griffin dominated the boards, relentlessly attacking with second chances and destroying their area.

During the game, Jackson’s chief assistant, Mike Malone, said, “We currently don’t have the lineup to withstand their intensity!”

“This is what the coaching staff unanimously decided before the game!” At this moment, Mark Jackson defined his own decision for the starting lineup as “a unanimous pre-game decision by the coaching team” and insisted on sticking to it. “Since we’ve decided to do this, we must trust them!”

Malone could understand Jackson’s approach—to maintain the current plan, even if it ended in defeat, all errors could be attributed to the entire coaching staff, and even blame the players if larger mistakes resulted from last-minute changes.

Yet Malone knew if they didn’t act now, they wouldn’t be able to do anything tonight.

The Warriors were like a well-prepared young boxer, knocked out as soon as they entered the ring.

The adjustment by Doc Rivers to place Yu Fei at center was hailed as a “masterstroke.”

Ultimately, this crucial away game for the Clippers ended with a significant win for them.

2 to 1
They had reclaimed the home court advantage, and almost cruelly abused the Warriors’ interior like a formulaic plot from an island nation drama—because you are inept to a certain degree, you don’t know how much your wife could learn—Yu Fei and Blake Griffin practically tormented the Warriors’ interior.

In this game, Yu Fei scored 32 points with 15 rebounds, while Blake Griffin had 25 points and 14 rebounds, and together, they grabbed 13 offensive boards out of a total of 29 rebounds.

“We lacked toughness, vitality, and didn’t show courage!” Mark Jackson skillfully shifted the blame, “You can’t expect to win a game when you’ve lost so many offensive rebounds!”

What followed was a series of internal issues within the Warriors Team.

The next day, WOJ broke the news: “Mark Jackson erupted in a team meeting and questioned the management as to why they did not push for Blake Griffin’s trade.”

Rumors emerged: “Klay Thompson stormed off, becoming the scapegoat for the loss.”

In the age of social media, invasive gossip left teams at the center of public opinion with no secrets.

Plagued by internal and external troubles, the Warriors Team faced game four, still unable to shake off the shadow of their third game’s defeat.

Rivers continued to play Yu Fei as the center, and what about the Warriors Team’s adjustments? There were none.

Mark Jackson insisted that the problem was with the players, not the tactical setup.

So when Yu Fei and Griffin once again dominated the boards, the commentator joked, “Are we watching a replay of the third game?”

Yu Fei didn’t want to openly say that Rivers had completely outclassed Jackson in the semifinals, but it was the truth.

Having Yu Fei play the five completely disrupted the Warriors Team’s lineup.

Two consecutive devastating losses were enough to destroy the confidence of a young team.

Moreover, Yu Fei’s statistical performance was astonishingly reminiscent of ancient legends.

In the fourth game, Yu Fei slashed through with 34 points, 22 rebounds, eight assists, and four blocks, forcing the Golden State Warriors into a corner with a performance that could be recorded in the annals of great centers.

3 to 1.

At this point in the series, the Warriors Team’s chances of victory were slender.

“Some media leaks say that the Warriors’ upper management deeply regrets not pushing Blake Griffin’s trade.” Such unsubstantiated rumors further undermined the Warriors’ morale.

The semifinal’s fifth game moved to Los Angeles.

Meanwhile, the eighth-seeded Lakers had been eliminated by the first-seeded Spurs, making the Clippers the last hope for Los Angeles.

As they seemed likely to advance to the Western Conference Finals to challenge the Spurs, support for the Clippers in Los Angeles surged significantly.

In the ensuing G5, Yu Fei returned to the small forward position, facing a demoralized Warriors team; they no longer needed tricks but only solid and steady play to comfortably secure victory.

The low-spirited Warriors Team had lost the will to resist, with almost no one but Lillard showing the desire to win. The Clippers turned the game into an exhibition match, performing spectacular dunks one after another in their opponents’ zone as if they were against a weaker team in a regular season game.

Yu Fei targeted Leonard throughout, the young man who had been selected for the first-team All-Defense for two consecutive years and was the cornerstone of the Warriors, but his impact was limited in this series. However, it wasn’t entirely his fault; the chaos within the team wasn’t something an immature cornerstone could resolve.

His only issue was being isolated by Yu Fei nine times tonight, with a defensive success rate of zero.

The last isolation took place in the fourth quarter, where Yu Fei, like a fierce beast, bypassed Leonard’s defense at a step, charged into the zone, and, with a force that David Lee couldn’t contend with, soared and completed a dunk over his opponent’s head that electrified the Staples Center.

“!#@?!#?”
“GOAT!!!!”

“GOAT!!!!”

“GOAT!!!!”

After landing, Yu Fei looked back at Leonard calmly and said, “Try again next year.”

Score: 132 to 98
Series total score: Clippers defeat Warriors 4 to 1.

The reporter handed the microphone to Yu Fei, asking for his thoughts on breaking the record for the best season in his first year with the Clippers.

But Yu Fei felt, the reporters should really be interviewing Mark Jackson. They absolutely needed to ask him how he managed to conclude a series Yu Fei expected to last at least six games in just five, with four of those games being almost total defeats.

How did he do it?

In this world, there were not many who could exhibit such a coaching disparity against Rivers; he hoped to see the opponent coaching the Warriors Team next year.