Basketball Legend: When Pride Still Matters

Chapter 827 827 524

?Chapter 827: 524 Chapter 827: 524 Any instance of fronting defense in the paint is an admission that one’s skills are inferior, preferring to increase the difficulty of the opponent’s catch rather than be blasted away after they receive the ball.

“I can front him!” Bosh was not someone who cared much about saving face, but he had his own ideas, “But, Big Fei, we need to take him down!”

Bosh had made up his mind to restrict Pau Gasol from catching the ball even if it meant losing the pride of a star player, while also aiming to make Pau Gasol look foolish on the defensive end.

If there was to be embarrassment, they would all endure it together.

The Lakers had no retreat.

This wasn’t just because Pau Gasol had high tactical value for them; another aspect was that unlike the Supersonics, they didn’t have multiple athletic bigs.

The Supersonics had decided to play with a big and four smalls, letting Bosh play center with DeAndre Jordan, Little O, and Brown coming off the bench. Except for Little O, the other two might not be good offensively, but defensively they fit the small-ball requirements for defending the paint.

And the Lakers? They had stripped their assets for spacing and shooters.

Their mid-season reinforcements, be it Jamison or Miller, had provided the Lakers with enviable offensive resources that other teams coveted.

But there’s only one ball on the court, and the opportunities in each game are limited. With the Wizards, Jamison was the third option on the team, a role he was most accustomed to where he didn’t have to take on too much responsibility and yet had enough touches. But with the Lakers, he was purely the fifth option with no tactical status, so he got lost in the playoffs.

If Jamison got lost, Artest could fill in, but if Pau Gasol was really beaten to the point of not being able to play, who could substitute him?

Big Z? If he were marked by Yu Fei like that, the scenario would probably look even worse.

Yu Fei relentlessly targeted Pau Gasol, tearing a wound in the side of the Lakers.

Pau Gasol was forced in front of Yu Fei again due to continuous pick-and-rolls.

Yu Fei made a full-speed drive, and Pau Gasol, having no choice, committed a foul.

Sideline ball.

Pau Gasol stood at the free-throw line with a worried look, knowing that Yu Fei would call him out whenever he saw the opportunity.

This worry had evolved into panic in his heart. Bosh quietly ran from the baseline to the basket. It might have been just a second of inattention, when Yu Fei, pretending to look at Livingston, threw the ball towards the basket with both hands.

Bosh was waiting for just this moment.

He grabbed the ball and slammed it into the hoop like a battle-ax.

“Boom!!!” Bosh roared at Pau Gasol, spraying saliva as he screamed, “Whatever you want to play, I’ll stay with you to the end!”

The fans at the Staples Center were furious.

With three minutes left in the first quarter, the Lakers were behind.

Although the difference in score wasn’t significant, the trend was worrying enough.

Phil Jackson believed they had greatly overestimated how much trouble Pau Gasol’s weakness in defending pick-and-rolls could cause.

After all, back then Yu Fei did the same chasing Shaquille O’Neal around.

But even though O’Neal was targeted defensively, he could still hit back on the offensive end. It was ugly but didn’t give the impression like tonight’s, “If the Spaniard stays on the court, the Lakers are done.”

Yu Fei was like a grim reaper, relentlessly calling out names for four minutes straight.

Every round started with Pau Gasol; even if the points weren’t lost on his shot, the opportunity for the loss was on him.

At this moment, Zen Master wished he had a Rodman on his team.

If Pau Gasol were replaced with Rodman, the Lakers would be an invincible team.

Unfortunately, that wasn’t an option.

They had to solve this problem on their own.

First, Zen Master replaced Hamilton with Miller and then conveyed an extremely important instruction to Kobe and Artest.

“That’s enough!” Zen Master said, “I don’t want to see Frye attacking Mark at will anymore!”

“From now on, we have only two strategies for dealing with pick-and-rolls!” Zen Master announced loudly, “Either squeeze through that damn screen or double-team Frye! How you do it is up to you, but break that bastard’s rhythm!”

On the other hand, Coach Lu was about to instruct Yu Fei to keep the rhythm and hound Pau Gasol to death.

But Roy suddenly interjected, “Looking at their lineup, there’s no one who can replace the Spaniard. Therefore, they might actively double-team Frye, which seems even stupider, yet if done properly, it might disrupt our rhythm.”

Coach Lu nodded repeatedly, loving players who were skilled and understood the game.

Coach Lu made a slight adjustment to the rotation.

Moro replaced Livingston, Durant switched to the power forward position but didn’t tangle with Artest in the paint, drawing out the offense every time to use the opponent’s disadvantage of heavier weight and inability to chase around perimeter players, while Yu Fei took on the defensive matchups.

As for Moro, he had a terrible shooting performance in the previous game, but a sharpshooter’s reputation isn’t stripped away because of one bad game.

The team was in high spirits, and it was a good time for a shooter to start scoring.

Back in the game, as the Lakers attempted to send the ball down low, Bosh, like a mad dog, fronted Pau Gasol, denying him the chance to catch the ball securely.

The opportunity for a pass was fleeting; once it wasn’t executed in time, making the pass later became more difficult.

James hesitated, and Yu Fei’s defense had already closed in, making it difficult for him to observe the situation.

Kobe ran at full speed, received the ball, and took a difficult, long-range three-pointer that missed.

Yu Fei leapt to grab the long rebound, controlled the pace as he landed, and shouted, “Take it slow, prepare for the pick-and-roll!”

“Pick-and-roll,” this tactical term was about to become PTSD for the Lakers Team.

Especially when Yu Fei’s approach was so straightforward, targeting just one spot on them.