Basketball Legend: When Pride Still Matters

Chapter 835 835 527

?Chapter 835: 527 Chapter 835: 527 The small ball revolution initiated by Curry had changed basketball itself. However, now Fei had become synonymous with this matter.

The Carnival Basketball he created at the Bucks had changed the face of the League, hence the birth of the current Lakers team.

To say he created this era was not an exaggeration.

But does being a creator mean being the strongest?

James didn’t see it that way, at least the Supersonics’ lineup that Fei was in had strayed from the original intention of space basketball.

They had only one consistent shooter, Chris Bosh’s transition to a space four was unsuccessful, and now their style was completely against the trend, showing none of the small ball’s characteristics.

As long as the Lakers were firing on all cylinders, how could they withstand it?

James called Hamilton to screen for him, and after breaking through, he passed the ball to the opponent.

After the switch, Hamilton was actually guarding Fei.

He needed another teammate’s cover.

After several exhausting plays, even though Hamilton had gotten an open position, this shooter with a near 40% three-point shooting percentage still missed the open three-pointer.

Fei turned and grabbed the long rebound.

The Lakers’ fast retreat was undoubtedly the coaching staff’s arrangement.

Because this lineup couldn’t apply pressure on rebounds, they could only retreat quickly to not give the defense a chance to counterattack.

They were both hurried and fast, while the Supersonics were slow and fierce.

The two sides showed completely different styles.

“No need to rush.”

Fei reassuringly said.

As Fei spoke, he called Durant to screen.

Durant brought out Jamison, James chose to switch, letting Jamison guard Fei.

Since Fei hadn’t scored in play for a few minutes, maybe his touch wasn’t good, Jamison might be able to… Beautiful illusions lasted only five seconds, as Fei explosively took a step to break through Jamison, scoring with a jump shot behind him.

The Supersonics’ lead returned to 10 points.

After that, the Lakers relied on Kobe’s individual ability to forcefully make a three-pointer from the outside.

Alonzo Gee defended as best he could, but Kobe was that player who scored in the most unreasonable ways, then made you feel there was a hint of reasonableness to it.

Fei patiently orchestrated the attack, with this screen, that cover, and suddenly, the ball was passed to Bosh cutting down.

Kobe was standing ready to protect the basket.

But in front of the cutting inside man, it’s very difficult for a guard to protect the basket.

Bosh gave Kobe due respect and instead of opting for a forceful dunk, he used his height to place the ball into the basket.

That was his personal 20th point of the night, plus 8 rebounds, making this his best performance in the Western finals.

The Lakers struggled to spread out with five on the outside. Kobe tried for another difficult shot but unsurprisingly missed; fortunately, the rebound fell into James’s hands.

James fiercely drove to the basket, drawing a defensive foul from Bosh.

James’s two free throws were both successful, but subsequently, the Lakers’ two attempts at outside three-pointers were unsuccessful, and the Supersonics seized the opportunity to counterattack, quickly extending the lead to 12 points. Afterwards, James tried an outside three-pointer himself, still missing, but then Kobe desperately grabbed the long rebound and passed it to Hamilton, who continued to shoot three-pointers.

This time they scored, but this scoring method was certainly not what they wanted to see when assembling this lineup.

The continuous misses from three-pointers, the lucky offensive rebounds—this is obviously the blessing for teams brave enough to shoot three-pointers. More three-pointers lead to more long rebounds, making it easier to break free from the control of the inside players, all depending on individual positioning and anticipation.

However, some problems were subtly emerging.

Fei had played many years with a ball-dominant star and five-out, so he was well aware of the issues with this system.

The main issues were two: rigid tactics and endurance difficulties.

A system created by one person is never complex, almost always reusing a few tactics. This is rigid tactics.

Endurance difficulty is another issue.

It’s deeper, more obscure, more subtle than the first.

Because essentially, it’s not a basketball issue; it’s about managerial choices.

With a ball-dominant core, to play a five-out strategy, you need plenty of shooters; the Lakers team has always done so. But the problem is, even though other teams may not have as good offensive resources as them, they can easily obtain defensive resources.

For instance, the SuperSonics are not a defense-reliant team, but when pure offense fails to secure victory, they turn to defense. Tyronn Lue insanely shortened the rotation, forcing Fei and Durant to play over 40 minutes a game, and even continued to use players like Alonzo Gee, who had almost been dismissed by George Karl, robust defenders but raw in technique, bursting with energy.

The SuperSonics maximized their defensive resources, and players like Fei and Durant, who nearly reach 210 cm in shoes with a wingspan over 220 cm, could use their body sizes and mobility to attend to two points of the opponent simultaneously on defense.

Therefore, when players like Hamilton or Jamison got an open shot, it actually wasn’t fully open because the interference from the SuperSonics’ Spider-Men was present.

Moreover, after having gone through intense physical contests before receiving the ball and likely not getting it in a comfortable position due to unforeseen disturbances along the pass, under all these negative influences, what could a shooter, usually with a 40% hit rate, maintain under such conditions?

This is the paradox brought about by a system led by a ball-dominant star and full-spread lineup. To play this system, you need to tilt a large portion of the salary cap towards shooters and space-oriented big men. Then your defensive resources become scarce; you can’t use the same methods against the opponents, you can only rely on shooters, but under intense pressure, even someone like Curry can miss several games in a series, what about those so-called sharpshooters?