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Chapter 825 825 524 Pursuit and Counterattack
Chapter 825 825 524 Pursuit and Counterattack
?Chapter 825: Chapter 524 Pursuit and Counterattack Chapter 825: Chapter 524 Pursuit and Counterattack With six minutes into the first quarter, James was matched up against Fei. After calling for a screen, he passed to Chris Bosh, then exploited the mismatch by driving hard to the basket. However, from behind, Fei was fiercely catching up, and near the basket, Alonzo Gee was deceitfully helping in the defense.
In the ensuing chaos, James flicked the ball to Kobe on the outside.
Kobe breezed past a visibly exhausted Roy and scored with a jump shot just outside the paint.
17 to 14
The Lakers led by four points, prompting the Supersonics to immediately call a timeout.
“I’ll take over the ball-handling!” Fei told Coach Lu.
Roy responded, “I can keep going.”
“Cut the chatter!” Fei said, “Six minutes is enough; take a good rest.”
Roy didn’t insist, knowing he couldn’t keep up. He realized he wasn’t going to be the team’s savior. His presence tonight was more inspiring for the others, and his initial performance was unexpectedly stellar.
For Fei, however, it seemed like a testament that the team was out of options.
If there had been any other way, would they have brought Roy back?
Why hadn’t he more resolutely stopped this decision?
During the lengthy one-minute timeout, Fei quickly reflected on his career and realized he was sorely missing one experience in his second life—adversity.
This thought seemed errant, for he’d risen from adversity, his rookie season in DC was hell for any newcomer, but he’d survived, forcing Jordan to make that trade that reshaped the NBA landscape for the 2000s.
Had he faced adversity since then?
The winter of 2004 at Auburn Hills?
In his view, that hardly counted as adversity; his track record of seven finals in six years showed how smoothly he had progressed, with no rival exerting more pressure than the Spurs in 2003.
Why was that? Because in that finals against the Spurs, Fei wasn’t the best player in that series.
The strongest Duncan brought out the best in Fei at that stage.
Since then, he hadn’t encountered similar troubles.
He had almost forgotten what it was like to play basketball with a sense of desperation.
Now, with the series that would decide the rise and fall of dynasties tied up, as his generation’s two biggest rivals, Kobe and James seemed to have found their synergy, much like Iron Man and Captain America after “Civil War.”
The Lakers’ shooters provided additional support for the duo.
They were undoubtedly the toughest opponents Fei had ever met.
They had pushed him to this point.
Making him remember how he played when he was just a nobody.
“Frye, time’s up.”
Chris Bosh shouted.
Fei returned to the court and told Bosh, “It’s time to chase the Spaniard off the court.”
Bosh thought Fei was suggesting he play more actively, not to be outdone by Little Gasol inside.
But that was not what was happening at all.
Both teams made substitutions.
The Supersonics brought in Larry Hughes for Roy, while the Lakers replaced the slumbering Jamison with Artest.
After the timeout, Fei dribbled at the top of the arc. As James approached, the Supersonics’ pick-and-roll action already kicked off.
Bosh came to set a screen, and Fei targeted Little Gasol with precision.
Against pick-and-rolls, the Lakers usually had Little Gasol extend his defense to the free-throw line then stop, leaving the rest to his teammates.
Last game, after spending a long time at the center position, Bosh struggled to find his touch, and tonight, only halfway through the first half, the Lakers chose to leave him unguarded again; Fei promptly passed the ball.
Bosh instantly punished Little Gasol with a left-side three-pointer for his reluctance to leave his position.
17 to 17
“If he wants to play inside, let him have the position, but don’t let him drain your opportunities,” Fei told Bosh, “If he pulls out as you do after a screen, show him how modern big men defend!”
Bosh felt like he was just a pawn being manipulated.
All season, Fei’s on-the-spot commands had never been this frequent.
But he had a sneaky feeling it was effective.
If he really had to face off against Little Gasol at the center position, he had no advantage. Using his mobility and steady shooting post-screen this clearly was the right strategy for an athletic big man like him to handle Gasol.
Of course, the precondition was he had to make the shots that he was supposed to make; like last game, failing to score or grapple would indeed be beyond any help.
The Lakers also sought to respond with a pick-and-roll.
But when they called for the screen, the Supersonics decisively switched defenders; James’s new marker switched from Fei to Alonzo Gee.
James decisively drove inside, even though carrying two fouls, but Gee defended aggressively, aware his unwavering robustness was why Coach Lu had favored him, willing to annoy James to the extent of risking six fouls in one quarter.
James failed to draw a foul and sensed the restricted space underneath the basket as Durant, using his long arms, closed in for a disrupt yet consequently lost track of Artest in the corner.
James passed the ball, Artest caught it but didn’t shoot due to it not being his sweet spot; instead, he drove in and Durant disrupted his layup attempt that missed.
James, right there under the basket, grabbed the offensive rebound, just as he was about to go for a second attempt, Fei ferociously blocked him from behind.
The basketball hit the floor, and then, all ten players on the court started a scrambleshoot for the loose ball.
Remarkably, it was Gee, the underdog, who seized the initiative, grabbing the ball and then smashing it against a Lakers player’s leg to send it out of bounds.