noveldrama
Chapter 890 890 544 Difficult to be a Good Person_2
Chapter 890 890 544 Difficult to be a Good Person_2
?Chapter 890: Chapter 544 Difficult to be a Good Person_2 Chapter 890: Chapter 544 Difficult to be a Good Person_2 Hill, the false starter, didn’t need to shoot at all. Despite playing 22 minutes per game, he only shot four times per game—all three-pointers.
The Supersonics undoubtedly played the most advanced game in the entire league. They had the fastest pace, the most average shots per game, and the highest average points per game, with their average winning margin exceeding 20 points for the season so far due to crushing weaker teams.
Such a team, clear in its hierarchy and seemingly free from internal issues, wasn’t something The Celtics could contend with.
At the end of the game, Ainge stared fixedly at the score.
The Supersonics easily beat them by 26 points.
This made The Celtics the sixth team to lose to the Supersonics by more than 20 points.
The strength of their opponent was so intimidating that Ainge couldn’t resist giving them some malicious praise,
“I think the Supersonics are an 80-win team.”
Ainge’s comment was headline news.
Then the Supersonics returned home and had a major letdown.
Their opponents were the San Antonio Spurs, who also had started the season with six straight wins.
The Spurs’ “repeater” Paul George, fearless like a young calf, opened with a pull-up shot that made Yu Fei take a second look at this Reebok junior.
George, as if to prove that his initial signing with Reebok was more than just a PR necessity, unleashed a plethora of moves reminiscent of Fei’s style, scoring consecutively with high-post jump shots.
Fei took things seriously in the second half, shutting down George, but Bosh and Durant were blown out inside by Duncan and Big Jah’s twin towers.
They not only couldn’t defend but also couldn’t secure rebounds.
Their only option to counterattack was to resort to outside shooting.
Durant could still respond, but Bosh was utterly deflated, making only three of his 11 shots, scoring a meager eight points and grabbing one rebound.
Roy’s passing was off that night, but he was fully on in terms of personal offense.
This led him to increase his personal attacks and decrease his passing.
Thus, Durant found that, although he could respond on offense, his shooting opportunities were even fewer than usual, with only 14 attempts that night.
The evening’s game became an internal meeting for Reebok.
Yu Fei and Roy performed superbly, but the Spurs won with their interior advantage, with Reebok’s rising star George facing off against Fei to score 16 points and grab six rebounds.
Had there not been a lockout, George would have been in his sophomore year, but the lockout made him repeat the year, making him a “repeater.”
His performance that night was worthy of his words when signing with Reebok.
He had said, “I’ve been a fan of Frye since I was a kid. Signing with Reebok was a dream come true for me, and I can’t wait to face off against Frye on the court.”
Indeed, his technique was reminiscent of Fei, much like Durant, learning some of Fei’s moves but not mastering the core secrets—his dribbling had even bigger issues than Durant’s. Durant could not serve as a point guard, but his ball handling was still fine, whereas George exhibited a high center of gravity when handling the ball, a result of subpar fundamental skills during his early years.
However, just as it took Nike 20 years to find a proper successor to Jordan, Reebok’s longing for a Yu Fei the Second would face the same challenge.
What makes superstars super is their uniqueness. And a GOAT contender like Fei, a Giant God among super giants, is even harder to match.
Luckily, Fei is still young, and the next generation of Reebok stars after Fei is already rising.
This is what Nike fears the most.
The war between sneaker brands is essentially a war of finding proxies.
These proxies, like politicians brought forth, represent certain public opinions and political views, embodying a massive body of shared interests.
In sports, the value of an athlete to a sneaker brand far exceeds.
A revolutionary player can revitalize a sneaker company on the brink of bankruptcy, turning it into a benchmark in the industry, revered by future generations. This was the impact Jordan had on Nike and the legacy he left during his player days.
Yet, that era has ended.
Jordan’s tenure in Washington marked the beginning of the end.
The decade Yu Fei replaced Jordan as the GOAT marked the gradual end of that era.
During those ten years, Yu Fei replaced Jordan’s position in the basketball world, becoming the idol of most young basketball fans. Thus, Reebok’s influence within this group replaced that of Nike during those days.
In 2008, Rose, influenced by earlier Chicago native Jordan, chose Nike over Reebok in his signing.
However, top new stars after Rose, like Westbrook, Curry, Wall, and now George, all joined Reebok.
These were guards and forwards who could sell shoes.
Even if they couldn’t become superstars, they could continue the company’s influence through branding.
Yet Nike completely lost the battle to Reebok.
That was Nike’s greatest fear.
They have not forgotten how Converse in the ’80s and Reebok in the early ’90s were replaced by them.
Basketball has a vast influence that can spread across the globe, yet the market for basketball is so small that it can’t support multiple super leagues like soccer. Hence, one Jordan can birth a sports empire. Similarly, one Yu Fei could lead Nike down the path once walked by Converse.
This trend seems inevitable, but no one will simply sit back and wait.
Nike doesn’t know how Reebok has such a keen eye for talent; they only know their company’s allure is in grave danger. A single Rose can’t change the situation. Kobe and James, after losing the empire clash, saw their reputations plummet. And the most promising and talented Durant willingly serves the owner of Reebok in Seattle as a loyal dog?