Basketball Legend: When Pride Still Matters

Chapter 770 770 508 LeBron Be Like Frye

?Chapter 770: Chapter 508 LeBron, Be Like Frye Chapter 770: Chapter 508 LeBron, Be Like Frye “`
Chapter 508: LeBron, Be Like Frye
James came on strong, but the Supersonic’s defensive setup was extremely ready.

This was thanks to Tim Grgurich, the veteran assistant who had followed George Karl for many years.

Although James’s shooting had improved a lot compared to the past, his favorite thing to do was still to break through.

Because even with a pure shooting percentage that reaches the league’s top caliber of over 40%, it still can’t compare to his finishing ability near the basket, which is comparable to an interior player in the paint.

Therefore, Grgurich’s defensive suggestion to limit James was to ensure that there was always a tall player standing guard under the basket at all times, and not to completely empty the paint due to the Lakers’ shooters.

This was not difficult for the Supersonics.

Both starters Brown and Chris Bosh had the ability to protect the basket, with DeAndre Jordan sitting off the court, plus Yu Fei and Durant who also had front-line capabilities to guard the hoop, it could be said that the Supersonics’ paint defense was as rock solid as the Lakers’ spacing.

However, to always maintain a presence under the basket, they would inevitably have to leave one of the Lakers’ spacers unguarded.

The Supersonics chose to leave the Lakers’ five, Marc Gasol, unguarded.

The Spaniard, although not as big a shooting threat as the others, still had a 36% three-point shooting percentage from the top of the arc. To leave him open was not safe.

Yet this was the challenge of a clash at the peak.

To limit the opposing team’s spearhead, extra resources had to be utilized.

Marc Gasol’s open position was right in front of them, while James motioned for someone to clear out, a move that wasn’t part of the Triangle Offense.

The ball movement stopped.

Neither the strong side’s strong triangle nor the weak side’s weak triangle got possession of the ball. Facing Yu Fei, James decided to go one-on-one and lifted his hand for the ball.

James drove to the left side like a ferocious tiger, that speed and burst of power were inhuman, and Yu Fei was a step slow. By the time he caught up, the opposition had already made a quick stop.

Luckily, James wasn’t as adept at using his athletic gifts in his technical transitions as he was in his breakthroughs.

To Yu Fei, James’s sudden pull-up jump shot appeared to have a frame-skipping phenomenon, a type of uncoordinated feeling that rarely appeared in a superstar of this level. But due to a breakthrough style that’s too rigid and not honed by more fundamentals in college, entering the league and becoming the team’s big boss so smoothly, James’s many technical aspects were flawed.

That pause almost buried the advantage he’d established breaking past Yu Fei moments before.

As James released his shot, Yu Fei’s block arrived in front of him.

“Bang!”

James was forced to adjust the arc significantly, resulting in a missed shot.

Chris Bosh grabbed the defensive rebound and passed it to Yu Fei.

James retreated quickly, but Yu Fei had no intention of leading a fast break, instead throwing the ball forward like a shot put.

Up ahead, Anthony Morrow, running down the court, received the ball like a goblin and went up for the layup.

“My God, Frye’s pass…!”

The commentators’ exclamations were incessant, Yu Fei simply high-fived the returning Morrow and then it was onto the next play.

James’s weakness was a sensitive heart, which often made him waver. However, his advantage was absolute rationality.

Whenever he faced setbacks, he instinctively weighed pros and cons.

His recent spar with Yu Fei had already cost him a round. Continuing in that manner would not be favorable, and he risked being labeled a ball-hog by some with ulterior motives. The Lakers couldn’t afford chaos; he needed to steady the ship.

Last round, James, who looked like he wanted a face-off with Yu Fei, returned to his rational self.

Why were the Supersonics able to keep a tall player at the basket at all times? That’s because they ignored Pau Gasol’s threes.

So give Marc Gasol the ball, he was open after all.

The Lakers, using the Spaniard as the breaking point, saw Marc demonstrate both an unstable side as well as the quality that a space-oriented five should possess.

Marc’s first two shots missed, but the third went in.

This seemed like a signal, Marc was beginning to find his rhythm.

Chris Bosh and the others looked to Tyronn Lue, wanting to know whether to adjust their formation.

But to Coach Lue, there was only one big man in the league you couldn’t leave open for shots, and that was the unique Nowitzki.

All the others, they couldn’t shoot you dead.

So, Lue made up his mind to let Marc take his shots and further tightened the restrictions on Kobe’s defense.

Against James, it was also a case of shoot if you want, but fancy coming in and brandishing the Emperor’s authority? That was wishful thinking.

Lue had a plan for Kobe too.

Perhaps Lue knew Kobe too well.

Just like Jordan, Kobe became the pivot of the Triangle Offense in the shooting guard position; however, compared to Jordan, Kobe’s post-up wasn’t as dominant. Jordan always managed to get the position in the paint like a big man, while Kobe often had to post up outside the three-second area. Offensively, this was an extension of the attacking distance, being further from the basket has a significant impact on offense efficiency.

However, Supersonics’ starting shooting guard Morrow was precisely a chicken that Kobe could bully. Therefore, Lue had no expectations that Morrow could push Kobe beyond the three-second area; his main task was to apply pressure, with key assistance coming from teammates’ double-teams.

This task fell on Yu Fei and Durant.

The two were tall wing players with both physique and arm reach, and the speed to double-team Kobe and block passing lanes with their long arms.

Their job was to double-team decisively whenever Kobe got the ball and was positioned reasonably close.

To accomplish this, both James and Hamilton could be left open.

In this situation, as Kobe didn’t possess point guard vision and didn’t have a big-picture perspective, combined with his limited height, he was more inclined to pass the ball to an interior player at a short distance rather than swinging the ball wide outside to break the situation like Yu Fei and James.

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