Basketball Legend: When Pride Still Matters

Chapter 930 930 557 Hope It Can Last Forever_3

?Chapter 930: Chapter 557: Hope It Can Last Forever_3 Chapter 930: Chapter 557: Hope It Can Last Forever_3 The Miami Heat’s struggle proved futile, 117 to 104, the Supersonics defeated their opponent, leading the series 2 to 1.

“Don’t think we’ll be defeated so easily!” Yao Ming glared at Yu Fei and said, “We are different from the Spurs.”

“True, you should be able to hold out until Game 6.” Yu Fei joked as he bid Yao Ming farewell.

The Supersonics still had two home games, but the next one was crucial. If they won, it’d be 3 to 1; a 3 to 1 lead in the Finals was like a 3 to 0 lead outside of it, as there had never been a case in history of a team coming back from 1 to 3. This was because teams usually pulled off big comebacks when their opponents faced irreversible circumstances, or when their key players lacked determination and performed abnormally, or possibly due to injury. But the teams that made it to the Finals, after being tested thoroughly, were generally not flipped when holding three match points.

The Supersonics didn’t want to play King of the Hill with the Heat, and the Miami team was well aware that the outcome of the next game would determine the championship’s fate. Since Wade’s isolation plays were unreliable and Curry was targeted when handling the ball, the Heat decided to change their tactics again.

In Game 4, a huge responsibility fell upon Yao Ming. The Heat decided to start with him as the absolute core, blasting the Supersonics’ center. It was known that the center position, where Chris Bosh made players like Hibbert look like All-Stars, would be utterly heartbreaking with Yao Ming in the picture.

However, strategies that revolved around the center often attracted significant attention, and the Supersonics quickly recognized their opponent’s intent, hence they started to double-team Yao Ming. Unlike Curry, who could pass freely, Bosh began to let go of his pride and defended aggressively by fronting his opponent.

The game heated up from the first quarter. You double-team, I double-team; you pick-and-roll then switch, I do the same. The two teams battled fiercely on the court, pushing the game to a climax.

Both sides emulated and learned from each other, ultimately ratcheting up the intensity of the game to the highest level since the Finals began.

Intense physical clashes led to many unplanned collisions, and some players with less sturdy frames started to show problems.

First, on the Supersonics side, Hill injured his knee in the third quarter and left the game.

Then, on the Miami side, Curry sprained his ankle and also left the game.

In the fourth quarter, Bosh, who was being dominated by Yao Ming like a child, twisted his back while fighting for an offensive rebound. Before falling, he passed the ball out, and Yu Fei hit a three-pointer.

The game entered a timeout, and Bosh was carried off the court.

At that time, the Supersonics were only leading by 4 points.

DeAndre Jordan was about to come on as a substitute, and the Supersonics still had a decent interior defense to withstand Yao Ming’s onslaught.

Tyronn Lue, who should have been devising tactics, put down the clipboard and said something that touched the whole team: “Gentlemen, in our lives, there are two most important days, one is the day you are born, and the other is the day you figure out why you were born.”

“The history of winning four consecutive championships is right in front of us; it’s not unprecedented, but I’m sure this feat will be unmatched! I believe we were born for this, so let’s go and meet our destiny!”

In the main timeline, Tyronn Lue used this motivational speech to inspire the 2016 Cavaliers, leading to the first-ever 1 to 3 comeback in Finals history.

Now, as the Supersonics held the advantage and were leading in the score, motivated by these words, they had no reason to back down.

Within a minute, Yu Fei blocked Wade, counterattacked to assist Durant hitting a trailing three-pointer, came back to double-team Yao Ming causing a turnover, and scored again on a fast break.

The Miamians’ pursuit of greatness was thus disrupted.

They couldn’t catch their breath until the end of the game.

3 to 1
The Supersonics stood at the juncture of history.

Just one step away from that unmatched greatness.

“Does a seventh championship help Frye surpass Michael Jordan and become the greatest NBA player in history? I don’t think so,” said NBA veteran media personality David Aldridge, “but if he completes the four-peat—an achievement Michael never accomplished—then, we can say that he has reached a higher level among the all-time greats!”

Yu Fei’s GOAT status was not for the likes of David Aldridge to determine, but he wasn’t wrong.

Four championships in a row was something Jordan never achieved, though Yu Fei’s camp always proclaimed “Five in five years is a five-peat.”

But changing teams is a fact, and some people just won’t acknowledge it.

But this time, they had to admit it.

Two days later, the Supersonics and the Miami Heat returned to Key Arena.

Yu Fei had no plans to go to Miami for a sixth game.

As the best in history, he devastated the Miamian’s last hope with the standard of the best in history.

Throughout the game, Fei shot 20 times, hitting 16, with his spot shooting and perimeter shots almost never missing, the few misses were basically buzzer-beaters.

The Miami Heat had no idea how terrifying their opponent was; they could only feel their world losing light, like blind people falling into darkness.

As time passed, Fei’s dominance continued, and all that the Miami Heat had sworn about this season started to vanish; they gradually realized that this year did not belong to them, and neither did this season.

To accept this fact was to sever all hope.

The last 10 seconds
Fei dribbled the ball, no longer on the offensive.

The entire audience began to count down.

“Four-peat! The dream of the Seattleites continues…”

In the midst of the commentator’s cries of astonishment, the referee blew the final whistle, and Fei threw the ball into the air.

“!!#?#!@?”
Fei turned around, only to see his teammates rushing towards him uncontrollably.

Only one person stood still.

Kevin Durant; he forced himself to remain calm, warning himself not to be moved, all this glory belonged to the best in history, he had done all his work. No unnecessary emotions…

Then, DeAndre Jordan pushed him from the side, “Cheer up, brother, we did it! Can you believe it? Four-peat! We’ve done it! We’re going to keep winning, aim for a five-peat next year!”

“Yeah,” Durant smiled, “we’re going for a five-peat!”

DeAndre Jordan would become a restricted free agent this summer, and although the Supersonics could choose to match his contract, Clay Bennett was definitely not going to accept a team with four max contracts anymore.

And Durant, he lied to Fei, and that was the biggest lie of his life.

Especially now, he envied Fei’s glory and starlight uncontrollably, almost crazily, like never before. He knew that the greatest tragedy for people like him and LeBron was the mistake of considering themselves rivals to Frye, a person they could never catch up to.

However, one only knows the outcome of something after they’ve given it a try.

He had already made his decision.

But, like DeAndre Jordan, he boasted about aiming for a five-peat, epitomizing the arrogance of a person who had won everything.

They could only contemplate and make choices among the fragments of time, but every fragment would eventually fall along the trajectory they had decided, and all beauty and aspirations would vanish in the moment of landing.

Just for tonight, though, let it continue.

They just hoped that this beauty would last forever.

They were entitled to it.