Basketball Legend: When Pride Still Matters

Chapter 824 824 523 After He Returned_3

?Chapter 824: Chapter 523: After He Returned_3 Chapter 824: Chapter 523: After He Returned_3 Durant quickly ran towards the frontcourt.

Probably no other Supersonics player felt it more deeply than he did.

Initially, when Roy was injured, he thought his chance had come. However, Karl resigned due to cancer shortly after, which led to Tyronn Lue taking over, and the Supersonics began to transform into a replica of the Milwaukee Bucks.

Durant hadn’t gotten the opportunities he wanted before the playoffs.

But just when he thought the opportunity was in his hands, there stood the Lakers, a colossal opponent.

In front of the Lakers, his tricks often failed, and the threat posed by Fei alone couldn’t create enough opportunities for him.

But it was different with Roy.

Roy’s passes were as excellent as before the injury, and Durant, with a repentant heart, caught it and charged forward, dunking for a score.

6 to 6
At this moment, Durant truly regretted many things, having once stated on Twitter with a burner account that without Roy, the team would be better.

This formed an ironic contrast to the excitement he felt when he heard the news of Roy’s comeback.

He had nothing to repay, only to do his best, play better, and try his hardest to win this game.

The Lakers began to notice the unique aspect of this Supersonics lineup.

James called a 1-5 pick-and-roll, but coming out was Fei, not Bosh.

Fei and Gee switched defenses.

Fei was guarding James, Gee followed Pau Gasol.

On the other side, Kobe received Jamison’s screen, but Bosh also came out, this time Roy went inside to mismatch and guard Jamison, Bosh guarded Kobe.

In order to keep the Lakers always facing a one-on-one situation, the Supersonics didn’t mind mismatched defenses.

James, with determination, tried to play one-on-one against Fei.

But Fei was not like Alonzo Gee, who would draw a foul upon contact.

Clearly, the referees had completely different standards for rookies, veterans, and star players.

After “The Decision,” James’s reputation hit rock bottom, even as a superstar, he was a “pariah” kind of superstar.

He wouldn’t receive the same treatment as other superstars.

Fei both confronted and got on top, and James, bearing this pressure, broke through to the free-throw line, felt he could not penetrate further, and urgently stopped for a jump shot.

However, severely disturbed, James couldn’t find his aim.

His jump shot missed the basket.

However, the consequence of unlimited switching was that Supersonics’ big men often got switched out, thus their rim protection was insufficient, and they failed to secure the rebound.

Jamison grabbed the offensive rebound and scored on the second attempt.

“After all these years, is that all you’ve got?”

James showed no intention of staying in the backcourt, and Fei followed up.

James didn’t want too much contact with Fei, but this psychological hint was far less reflective of his inner thoughts than his previous choice.

He wanted to score on Fei to break the deadlock.

He knew, only by defeating Fei straightforwardly could he truly drive away the inner demons.

“That’s enough to deal with you.”

James responded coldly.

Then, Fei got the ball.

“Kobe!” Fei shouted at Roy’s Kobe at the arc, “Why don’t you guys guard me?”

In the past, Fei always said this after scoring to taunt his direct opponent.

This time, he said it before the offense.

On the surface, James seemed fine, but his body language betrayed his state of mind.

In terms of defense for that round, James was perfect, neither allowing Fei to break through with the ball, nor falling for any feints, nor letting the opponent create space with rhythm.

In the moment Fei launched his jump shot, James’s blocking hand had already obscured his vision.

Relying solely on instinct, he increased the arc of his shot to evade the block, and the ball amazingly sank into the net.

This was the most unreasonable presence on the court: individual skill.

“Is this your defense? Can you even defend?” Fei taunted, “Being in the All-Defensive Team with someone like you is a disgrace to me.”

People often questioned Fei’s selection to the All-Defensive Team. Many informed fans thought he was chosen only because his defensive statistics looked good, and his actual defensive performance was just passable, but his consecutive selections were definitely exaggerated by the statistics. And James, currently in his prime, was considered an integrated offensive and defensive player, with no one questioning his defense.

Fei’s bold counterattack genuinely angered James.

Coming up the court again, James was angry, yet he did not deliberately call for a pick and roll to have Fei switch to guard him face-to-face.

Such childish disputes were not his style.

Since Alonzo Gee clearly couldn’t guard him and the Supersonics insisted on him being guarded solo, why wouldn’t he exploit that?

This time James didn’t even call a play, had his teammates spread out, and broke through Gee’s defense in one move, storming to the basket for a thunderous dunk.

By then, James had already scored 5 points.

“Gee, from now on you guard Antoine on the inside,” Fei said, “Don’t worry, he’s soft.”

Gee thought it was because he had been repeatedly exploited by James, making it intolerable for Fei to watch anymore.

He was just about to stand his ground and ask Fei for another chance.

But Fei hadn’t finished speaking.

“Antoine likes to pull out to the forty-five degree angles on the left and right wings, which just aren’t LeBron’s favorite passing areas, so if Antoine pulls out, you can look for an opportunity to double team.”

James scoring 5 points on Gee wasn’t a feat to boast about.

Yet, conversely, having a smaller player like Gee create trouble for James would be very beneficial for the underdog’s mental fortitude.

When Fei came up the court, the Lakers still thought he would ask for the ball to face James again.

However, Fei suddenly cut to the top of the key, set a pick for Roy, then quickly split.

This had been the Supersonics’s ace strategy for two years, six months ago.

As Roy broke to the middle, met by resistance, he passed the ball directly to Fei on the outside.

Antoine Jamison seemed unaware of the correct defensive position in this screen play; he first chased Roy, then shifted to guard Fei, resulting in a chaotic defensive formation.

Fei received the pass from Roy and, raising his hand, made a three-point shot.

“Frye has completed his 7 out of 50 tonight,”
Mike Breen stated.

Fei seemed to have forgotten his pre-game declaration of scoring 50 points.

After making the three-pointer, he simply jogged back, Roy quickly caught up with him, and the two high-fived without a word.

Was he back?

Maybe not completely.

But for some people, just being there is enough.

Roy’s performance had already far exceeded expectations, but most importantly, he allowed Fei to completely let go of any distractions.

He no longer needed to think about orchestrating the play.

All he had to focus on were the fundamentals of the game: offense and defense.

When James passed the ball to Kobe, but Kobe was double-teamed in the low post and attempted to lob the ball over Fei’s defensive area to Jamison.

Fei had an absurd feeling.

Did Kobe actually think he didn’t deserve to be in the All-Defensive Team?

Could this pass even make it?

Indeed, even superstars can make the most ordinary mistakes; Fei intercepted Kobe’s pass and flicked it to Gee, who was sprinting down the court for a slam dunk.

Suddenly, the Supersonics were gaining momentum, and Phil Jackson wasn’t about to just watch; he called a timeout before this surge could really sting them.