noveldrama
Chapter 842 842 528
Chapter 842 842 528
?Chapter 842: 528 Chapter 842: 528 And now, Yu Fei alone has eclipsed both Kobe and James, seizing 50 points in three consecutive games, a starlight bright enough to overshadow Durant’s contributions.
One most direct piece of data, after tonight’s game, Reebok’s stock price surged by 4% in a very short time.
Nike, on the other hand, failed to gain any positive news from Durant’s win, and instead saw its stock price drop due to James’s disastrous performance.
This is a conclusive result, not just that Yu Fei won, but Reebok won as well.
Of course, Durant won too.
But Nike lost completely.
Yu Fei arrived at the media room, which was filled with media from around the world.
They had countless questions.
The pre-game footage of Yu Fei and Kobe was the first to be brought up.
The media asked Yu Fei if he thought Kobe would keep his promise and choose to retire.
“That’s Kobe’s business,” Yu Fei said, “personally, I still hope to face him.”
Then, another media outlet asked Yu Fei if he would strive to score 50 points in four consecutive playoff games.
Yu Fei smiled and shook his head, “I don’t think the Lakers can give us that much trouble in the next game, I don’t need to score 50 points again.”
Thus, Seattle’s media relayed James’s so-called battle for dignity to Yu Fei.
Yu Fei laughed mockingly, “Hearing him talk about fighting for dignity is like hearing a playboy talk about defending the sanctity of virginity while having sex. Isn’t that ridiculous? What dignity does he have left to speak of?”
This was just a gentle stab from Yu Fei, much gentler than the media.
In the two days following Game 5, GIFs of James backing down Roy began to flood the internet.
Jokes like “When you need someone to score with a post-up to save your life, and LeBron steps up,” were shattering every image of James.
Before G5, James may have been despised and ridiculed for “The Decision,” but he was still considered a superhuman with the most powerful body, a perfect template of the ultimate warrior.
Now, however, his reputation began to turn.
Fans talk about him as if Yu Fei openly called him soft, considering him a coward.
Media like Bill Simmons began to suggest James lacked the “killer instinct.”
The recency effect was too strong; there was no room for James’s camp to argue, and even lying down to be ridiculed became difficult.
The Lakers’ infighting continued.
Artest’s comments undoubtedly caused continuous harm to James.
When a team consciously pushes the blame for failure onto one person, they cannot possibly find peace.
Under intense external pressure and the torment of extremely low morale within, the Lakers faced Game 6 of the Western Conference Finals.
May 29, Key Arena
The one who claimed to fight for dignity looked more like a person without dignity.
He neither showed bloodlust nor fighting spirit, nor the desire to win; he was present on the court in body, but merely as a walking corpse.
He would undertake offensive plays, but that was basically to maintain his stats.
In the first quarter, he scored 9 points on 3-of-8 shooting, while Kobe scored 10 points on 4-of-7 shooting, seemingly performing well, but the Lakers’ defense was completely defeated.
The interior was targeted, the perimeter defense lacked enthusiasm, and James passively watched as the SuperSonics scored 34 points at home in one quarter.
By the end of the first quarter, the Lakers were already down by 13 points.
Those who dreamt of a Lakers comeback tonight were disappointed.
Kobe was indeed trying to bounce back, but he alone could not achieve it.
With the interior targeted to the point they couldn’t play, Kobe and James needed to fully ignite their firepower just to contend with the SuperSonics on the court.
But James scored 9 points in the first quarter and then went cold in the second.
He seemed unable to find the energy for the game.
Such a performance from James was nothing unusual to Fei. Last year, when he was still with the Knights, during the series with the Bucks, there was a scandal involving his mother, but wasn’t he playing the same way then?
Yet, last year’s scandal involving his mother turned out to be baseless rumors, and now, it seems he hasn’t recovered from the defeat in Game 5.
No one knew what he had gone through, and no one knew what he was thinking. He just stood there on the court, like a man whose fate had run its course, naturally passing away.
He scored 9 points in the first quarter and then not a single one afterward.
He didn’t attack, didn’t defend, only occasionally grabbed a rebound, passed the ball to Kobe after dribbling past midcourt, and then just stayed on the perimeter.
Kobe took on all the responsibility, but unfortunately, he couldn’t perform miracles under the tight defense of the SuperSonics.
In the end, Kobe went 15 for 34 from the field, inefficiently notching 36 points, 7 rebounds, and 5 assists, as the Lakers lost by 22 points on the road.
This was the end of the Western Conference Finals.
It was the conclusion of the empire battle that the outside world had eagerly anticipated for a year.
It was justice overcoming evil.
It was Reebok about to take over Nike’s domination in the sports world.
James finished the game with 9 points, 5 rebounds, and 6 assists.
His performance, his stats, were they anything like the swagger with which he made his decision, the boldness he showed at the Lakers’ first press conference, promising not just one, not two, not three championships?
Kobe and James equal five championships.
That was the expectation of the outside world for them.
Now, all dreams had to land on solid ground, and all obsessions were to become bullets of reality.
4 to 2
The Seattle SuperSonics had eliminated the Los Angeles Lakers from the playoffs.
“Actually, I wished the game had been more intense.” On the night of the victory, Yu Fei didn’t further insult his opponent. “I thought they would play better. I know Kobe gave it his all, but the other guy? I thought I understood him, but it seems he’s not who I imagined. Maybe we never really knew him, but that’s okay, enjoy life, maybe to him, it’s just a game.”
The Chosen One would never understand that when your real life is like a living joke, it’s hard to enjoy it.
But pretending to enjoy it is easy.
That’s what LeBron James did.
He said, “All the people that were rooting for me to fail, tomorrow they will wake up and have the same life they had before they woke up today. They have the same personal problems they had today. I’m going to continue living the way I want to live.”
After the match
“My phone was on silent, no ring, I am thinking of renaming it to LeBron mode.” — Bill Simmons
“Hey, LeBron, maybe when you stop playing like a coward, you might actually live up to Frye.” — Skip Bayless
“LeBron is right. I lived the same life today as I did yesterday. And I’m still happy he lost.” — Dan Gilbert.
“Frye, you’re defending the integrity of competition, go for your seventh championship, you are the true GOAT!” — Dan Gilbert (posting twice)
“LeBron, you’re right, I woke up to the same life this morning, and both you and I still have the same number of rings! Wow! #NBAFinals” — Marc Stein
In Cleveland, the city that James had abandoned, fans jeered at him in sports bars, reported Dan Wetzel of Yahoo Sports.
“No one here hates LeBron, they’re laughing at him,” Wetzel wrote.
The affiliate TV station of CNN, WOIO-TV, wrote one word under the photo of James holding up a Lakers jersey on its sports page: “Loser!” The story on the website began with, “LeBron James still has no rings.”
On Monday morning, ESPN Radio’s Colin Cowherd launched a contest on Twitter: “LeBron ran into a barrier. We’re trying to come up with a word to describe it… weird, scared, disappearance, LeBron. Any suggestions?”
Kwame Brown finished the topic with a typical James joke: “Haven’t we already got the answer?”
“CowardBrown!”
While the regicide convention was in full swing, Yu Fei actually agreed with James.
Indeed, when he woke up tomorrow, his life would still be the same as yesterday.
He still had to prepare for the finals, still aimed for victory, still carried the mission to save the SuperSonics.
It wasn’t over yet.