Basketball Legend: When Pride Still Matters

Chapter 804 804 517 The Tragedy Foretold_3

?Chapter 804: Chapter 517: The Tragedy Foretold_3 Chapter 804: Chapter 517: The Tragedy Foretold_3 The events that took place on the court made the leaders of MCCAIT realize that their influence was being suppressed and their vision of securing a new arena for the SuperSonics was disintegrating.

But what could they do?

The influence of an organization like MCCAIT inherently came from serving the will of the people, and now, the will of the people was not on their side.

The people’s favor lay with Fei, and he did not disappoint them in the least.

Fei, using his individual ability at the top of the arc, called for the ball, waiting for the Lakers to start double-teaming him before he passed the ball to a teammate, creating chaos through pick-and-rolls with Larry Hughes and others.

Then, he returned to the low post.

James did not want to repeat the disasters of the first quarter and defended with all his effort, but his poor low post defensive skills could not restrict Fei at all.

Worse still, the return of the entire Lakers lineup did not provide him with the positive support he needed.

The Zen Master, seeing his effectiveness in the pivot role, simply cast him as the O of the OK, letting Kobe return to his old role.

Kobe had no objections, but James’s performance was possible because his opponent was Durant.

Fei was a different level of existence.

Post-up turn and face the basket? Fei was only too happy to see him try that.

Low post face-up offense moving to an outside drive seemed like the finishing phase of an attack where the opponent’s interference was most severe.

But in the low post, such interference was just the beginning, followed by the threat of physical confrontation and help defense that James had to consider.

Consequently, James found himself in a dilemma.

This situation exposed all his technical weaknesses.

His shooting accuracy declined under strong confrontation, he liked to force his way through the paint when protected by the hoop but without a foul call, his efficiency plummeted, he couldn’t dominate anyone in a low post offense, he could exploit Durant’s inexperience with face-up play, but against Fei, it was suicidal.

Suddenly, James found himself to be a mediocre player, not knowing what to do in this situation.

The Lakers’ offense failed, failed again, a third time, and then a fourth.

When Kobe saw the gap — which was just seven points when he entered — being pushed back to 16 points by James, the star of the comeback, he couldn’t take it anymore.

“LeBron!”

Kobe wanted to attack.

But James did not want to cede control in that manner.

Suddenly, a pick-and-roll play by the Lakers drew Fei outwards, mismatching him in the low post with James’s old acquaintance from Cleveland — Larry Hughes.

If he couldn’t beat Fei, could he not beat Hughes?

Determined to prove himself, James dominated his mind, dribbling low and fiercely attacking, but Hughes didn’t step back, and in the end, the beleaguered Emperor opted for an ugly fadeaway shot.

“LeBron backs down Larry Hughes on the right low post and takes the jump shot!” ESPN’s Mike Breen called out in less than a second, “It’s not good! LeBron couldn’t punish Larry Hughes in the low post!”

In some ways, James was lucky the SuperSonics didn’t have a pocket-sized guard like Jose Barea to test the lower limits of his low post game, but during this critical moment, failing to back down Larry Hughes was undoubtedly a heavy blow to his psychological defense.

DeAndre Jordan secured the defensive rebound, passed it to Fei, and the subsequent defensive counterattack was unobstructed.

Fei soared for a slam dunk, scoring his 26th point of the first half.

Back in the backcourt, Fei looked at James and tauntingly asked, “Did you know that Larry can’t defend anyone’s low post offense during our team’s practices?”

James, bereft of any rational thought, desperately sought opportunities, dribbling continuously on the perimeter, and finally, he chose to pull up in front of Fei.

This was done without any mispositioning in Fei’s defense.

Fei reacted instantly, leaping fiercely and brutally blocking the shot as it left the basketball.

James’s mind went blank as Fei whizzed past him, catching up with the ball, performing a 360-degree spin dunk, bringing the lead to 19 points, and the Lakers once again called for a timeout.

The events of the first half made Phil Jackson realize that they could no longer rely on James to compete against Fei, with Kobe exerting pressure from the other side to defeat the SuperSonics.

James could not match Fei.

He was no match for Fei.

The first half proved this twice.

Fei destroyed his will in the low post, which was James’s biggest technical weakness.

If the Lakers wanted to win, they had to do like in the second game, with Kobe as the main scoring outlet, giving his all, while James would be the secondary offensive role, primarily responsible for screening, passing, and perimeter defense.

In other words, he needed to be Kobe’s Scottie Pippen.

Expecting Kobe and James to both overwhelm the SuperSonics with outstanding performances was impossible, because Fei would surely suppress one of them.

Most importantly, the one who was suppressed had to dare to sacrifice himself to coordinate with the other.

The Zen Master didn’t know what James’s reaction to his decision would be, but from now on, the Lakers’s core was not going to change.

Technically flawless, mature in mindset, and having demonstrated excellent performance throughout the series, Kobe would be firmly locked in the core position.

This was their key to victory.

But after the timeout, the situation did not improve.

Fei’s nearly formidable influence on the court began to bring out the best in his teammates.

Even as the Lakers shifted their focus to Kobe, stabilizing their scoring efficiency, the SuperSonics saw Chris Bosh’s mid-range shots, Hughes’s long-range shots, and DeAndre Jordan’s finishes all come into play.

The Lakers’s hope of reducing the gap to within 15 points before the end of the first half was dashed.

Just before halftime, Fei drew Pau Gasol’s third foul, and on the free-throw line, he made both shots.

65 to 46
At the end of the first half, the SuperSonics led the Lakers by 19 points, with Fei scoring 32 points, 8 rebounds, and 6 assists.

The pregame declaration of scoring 50 points, at this moment, seemed far from arrogant.

Now, this was merely a prelude to a massacre.

The primary culprit was Fei.

The accomplice was LeBron James.