noveldrama
Chapter 926 926 556
Chapter 926 926 556
?Chapter 926: 556 Chapter 926: 556 However, Kobe wasn’t so fearful of such a future.
Facing Yu Fei, he threw his last shot before leaving the court.
It was a three-pointer.
“Swish!”
This shot was irrelevant to the outcome, at best a final struggle before dying.
After that, Kobe cramped up.
With three minutes left in the game, the Lakers were down by 18 points.
Mike Brown, after consulting Kobe and James, called a timeout and subbed both of them out, allowing the game to enter garbage time.
The Staples Center erupted in boos.
They believed the Lakers could still fight.
They didn’t know about Kobe’s cramps and thought the Lakers had given up the game before they did.
Subsequently, the Supersonics also subbed out Yu Fei and the others; in the final minutes, the reserves tacitly exchanged baskets, keeping the margin unchanged.
Thus, the final game of the “Evil Empire” came to an end.
4-0
Ending the history of battles between the empires.
After tonight, the history of the Lakers team would turn a brand-new page.
“As a player, I just want to win games,” James said, “That’s the only reason I’m on the court.”
How many people caught the subtext from the King?
He just wanted to win, but the Lakers couldn’t let him continue winning, so was it not normal for him to choose to leave?
No one thought about this for the moment; fans and media only felt he was being hypocritical. Clearly swept out of the playoffs, yet he acted as if he bore no responsibility, how dare he?
If Yu Fei had been there, he probably would have said the same.
But Yu Fei had no time to care about how James salvaged his dignity after the game.
At the end of the match, Kobe limped over to pay his respects.
“Are you okay?”
Yu Fei asked.
Kobe casually said, “The only thing that would make me feel better is to take that damn championship.”
Yu Fei laughed and asked, “Is that your blessing? How unusual, have I misunderstood you? Are you actually a good guy?”
“You misunderstood,” Kobe said arrogantly, “I can only be at peace if you win the championship since I lost to the season’s champions.”
This logic was a bit like Jermaine O’Neal, who, after falling from grace, constantly claimed to be the last star player in the world to defeat the GOAT in the playoffs.
Yu Fei was about to mention this, but seeing Kobe’s difficulty walking, he held back his words.
“Get some rest. You should thank me; thanks to me, you got an early vacation.”
“Screw you, I damn well won’t thank you!”
“Okay, then.” Yu Fei retorted without politeness, “I hope you’re ready to fight alone.”
Kobe stopped, turned back, and looked at Yu Fei.
“LeBron is definitely going to run. Once LeBron runs, you and the Lakers team will pose no threat,” Yu Fei mocked mercilessly, “I wish you well in the future. However, the only thing you can do is to chase stats on a team with no hope for a championship and pray to break Kareem’s scoring record before you retire.”
“Good luck, Kobe.”
Kobe never rebutted Yu Fei.
He was not one to speculate about the future, but his intuition told him that Yu Fei might have just foreshadowed his own future. But was that the future he wanted?
He didn’t know. Afterwards, he returned to the locker room, changed his clothes, and attended the press conference.
He explained why the Lakers had given up in the final minutes, then remained optimistic about the future and promised to make a comeback next season.
He had been saying the same thing every year since the summer of 2004.
Then, the media asked Kobe if he felt confident that James would stay with the Lakers.
Instantly, Kobe subconsciously responded, “I don’t know.”
Immediately realizing his slip, he hastily added, “I believe that LeBron will make the best decision for him and his family.”
Kobe appeared to lack even the optimism that “LeBron might stay.”
Every Lakers fan had given up on that idea.
The Lakers’ elimination signified the end of a structure since 2009, where the only empire faced off against the Evil Empire.
The Evil Empire was about to dissolve, and the only empire seemed to come together as a team in the playoffs, with the chance to achieve the greatest accomplishment in modern basketball.
Before that, they still had to wait for the winner between the Spurs and Mavericks.
Then came the major regular-season awards for the 2011-12 season.
Wade, Kobe, James, Yu Fei, and Howard were selected for All-NBA First Team.
In addition, Durant was selected for the Second Team, and Roy for the Third Team.
However, Yu Fei, who had been selected for All-Defensive Team multiple seasons in a row, was off the team this season.
Experts thought Yu Fei’s defense at the power forward position wasn’t as remarkable as those of the traditional power forwards.
Because traditional power forwards just need to fight hard in doing the dirty and tiring work, but the GOAT had to consider all aspects.
According to the All-NBA Team voting, Yu Fei was selected as a power forward for the First Team.
It was his first year playing as a power forward, and achieving this was already extraordinary.
About the honors, Yu Fei had not much thought.
Being selected for the First Team was routine for him, and being dropped from the defensive team didn’t bother him, as defense had always been a needless concern for him; he was the type with impressive defensive stats but not as effective in reality.
Due to his physical abilities, he could easily get steals and blocks, but because of the role he took on offense, it was a fact that he could not fully focus on defense.
Now playing as a power forward and dropping out of the defensive team was quite normal.