Basketball Legend: When Pride Still Matters

Chapter 815 815 521 Back to the Starting Point

?Chapter 815: Chapter 521: Back to the Starting Point Chapter 815: Chapter 521: Back to the Starting Point Formulating game strategy based on officiating advantage should be a plan, not a habit.

Yu Fei wouldn’t place his hopes on the referees. When calls favored him, he’d tend to make killer moves, and tonight, Dick Bavetta clearly came with a mission. Since the League decided to provide a fair explanation to the Lakers, the SuperSonics naturally had to adjust their style of play accordingly.

However, Durant was countered when trying to draw fouls at the start, and the SuperSonics’ tactics came to a halt. Yu Fei tried a three-pointer and missed, followed by another Lakers fast break.

Yu Fei forced a double team from the Lakers on the offensive end and passed to Chris Bosh, but Bosh’s mid-range shot missed.

This time, the SuperSonics’ transition defense was fast enough to prevent a Lakers fast break, but once settled into a half-court set, an energetic Kobe backing down his defender still scored.

The Lakers launched a 6-0 offensive spree in less than a minute and a half.

Tyronn Lue called for defense from the sidelines, as if doing so could change something.

But the SuperSonics’ three unsuccessful opening possessions accurately reflected how the players struggled to adjust to the changes in officiating.

Yu Fei wouldn’t count on the coaching staff to solve this problem.

He waved DeAndre Jordan over, set a pick and roll, with Jordan cutting in, Yu Fei delivered an alley-oop.

The Lakers didn’t react in time, and DeAndre Jordan was already hanging on the rim.

With that, the SuperSonics’ scoring drought was broken.

This was the kind of start the fans loved, not only spectacular but also amusing.

Every time the TV commentators mentioned “Frye connects with Jordan,” fans would exchange knowing smiles.

It was a signature scene in the SuperSonics’ games, not to be missed.

The SuperSonics scored in open play, while the Lakers settled into a half-court offense. Coach Lu emphasized defense, but when his players applied the same intensity as the previous game, the referees were not as tolerating.

Dick Bavetta, a prominent figure in the league’s OK three-peat dynasty and an unsung Sixth Man of the Year, first called Alonzo Gee for a defensive foul, followed by a blocking foul on Durant.

Moreover, both fouls occurred in the same possession.

Bavetta demonstrated to the SuperSonics with swift decisiveness: Don’t even think about bringing the same intensity as you did in the last game tonight.

Tightened officiating wasn’t good news for the SuperSonics.

Because players like Alonzo Gee and DeAndre Jordan, who rely mainly on their physicality and talent due to their lack of defensive skills, were susceptible to being baited into fouls.

Sure enough, DeAndre Jordan picked up his second foul with six minutes left in the first quarter, forcing Coach Lu to replace him with the original starting center Kwame Brown.

But Brown himself wasn’t very adept with his hands.

Following Yu Fei over the years, his average number of fouls per game remained high. Shortly after entering the game, he quickly committed a foul.

Since the SuperSonics’ fouls had tallied up, the Lakers began to hit the free-throw line.

The boos from Key Arena thundered down.

The fans wanted to know why they were receiving such officiating treatment on their home court.

With four minutes left before the end of the first quarter, the SuperSonics trailed the Lakers by nine points.

The momentum looked very bad, prompting Coach Lu to call for a timeout.

But what could be done after the timeout?

In recent days, Coach Lu and his coaching staff had focused all their energy on defensive arrangements. Now that the League had waved a big hand forbidding that strategy, what to do? Wait for demise?

“The old way, I’ll play as power forward.” Yu Fei said, “Let Chris be the center, Nick (Collison) to substitute.”

Without a better plan, Coach Lu complied.

“And what about defense, do we still give intensity?”

Coach Lu was flustered by the calls.

“Keep it up.” Yu Fei said, “Dick Bavetta won’t favor the Lakers all game long, and no referee will intentionally make biased calls all night long, so we have at least two quarters where we can be intense. If that’s our game plan, we stick with it, otherwise our efforts these past few days will be wasted.”

As a coach who’d been a player, Coach Lu naturally knew that referees not being one-sided all night was the norm.

But facing the start they’d had, Big Fei still dared to push the team to be aggressive, which gained Coach Lu’s admiration.

“Frye, you really understand the game.”

“Not as much as you do.”

Once the plan was set, Coach Lu replaced Brown, positioned Bosh as center, Yu Fei as power forward, and brought in Larry Hughes to run the point guard position.

These changes weren’t unfamiliar to the Lakers.

They had all been part of the Lakers’ previous game plans.

Phil Jackson had even predicted that Lu would play Yu Fei as power forward.

Therefore, the Lakers’ response was very targeted: they put Artest at power forward as the enforcer, and used Big Z, a traditional center, to harshly contest against Bosh, who was forcefully playing center at the power forward position.

Returning to the game, the SuperSonics’ adjustments led to some players’ discomfort.

Bosh only occasionally played center for the SuperSonics; most of the time, he was in his comfort zone as power forward.

Now with a shortage of players, he could accept playing center, but if the team still expected him to perform like a power forward, that would be a pipe dream.

Fortunately, his teammates did not intend to have him break through the opponent’s defensive line.

Durant was covered by James, Hughes didn’t have much one-on-one capability, and the likes of Alonzo Gee were offensive burdens, not worth strategizing around.

The ball came to Yu Fei’s hands.

Artest believed Yu Fei wouldn’t attempt to attack the basket since tonight’s calls were clearly favoring the Lakers. Going inside could very likely result in both the player and the ball being turned away.