noveldrama
Chapter 956 956 566 The Last Suspense_3
Chapter 956 956 566 The Last Suspense_3
?Chapter 956: Chapter 566 The Last Suspense_3 Chapter 956: Chapter 566 The Last Suspense_3 Basketball was turning into a sport he no longer liked.
The once brutal battles and high-pressure defense were disappearing, replaced by more and more shooting, especially from longer distances. Not only perimeter players were taking three-pointers but even interior players had to shoot threes.
Duncan certainly understood that basketball was a sport that required space, and since ancient times, every team had been looking for the most offensive space. Nevertheless, even so, he still couldn’t accept what was happening today; even someone like him, who was supposed to dominate his opponents in the low post, had to take on the responsibility of creating space.
Duncan hadn’t yet developed the habit of shooting threes, whereas Yao Ming, the center with the biggest low-post threat after Shaquille O’Neal, the last pride of traditional centers, had already become a maverick among them.
Yao Ming’s three-pointers, just like his free-throw percentage, were incongruous with his identity as an interior player, even seldom matched by perimeter players.
This giant, standing 229 centimeters in shoes, ended the suspense of the game with his three-pointers.
Even after Yao Ming’s “scythe” had fallen, Duncan still didn’t like such games.
“Damn Frye!” the greatest power forward in history muttered under his breath.
“It was him who turned the game into this mess!”
Not far away, Stephen Curry chuckled, revealing those pearly white teeth, the obvious gap between them seeming to mock under certain circumstances: “Don’t say that, Frye never expected it to turn out like this.”
“Young man, I know how it happened,” Duncan said, putting on airs for once, then turned and walked away.
Curry pouted his ageless baby face: “I know how it happened…” he imitated Duncan’s tone, “He has no idea!”
Curry thought he knew the truth. But in this world, there were still many things he didn’t know.
Miami Heat had amassed 27 consecutive wins.
Suddenly, they saw the NBA’s winning streak record waving at them.
“I actually didn’t care much about it until someone mentioned we were approaching the record,” Yao Ming said, “At that moment, I thought, since we’re close, let’s catch up to it!”
On the eve of the trade deadline, the unstoppable Miami Heat encountered their twenty-eighth opponent on their pursuit of history.
They were the defending champions from Seattle.
Due to a series of unforeseen events, the SuperSonics, although still aiming for a fifth consecutive title, were no longer favored by the outside world.
In the Western Conference, they were clearly not on par with the Spurs, and they were even further behind the Miami Heat.
Tonight, the expectation was that the SuperSonics would become the twenty-eighth victim under Miami’s feet.
“Sorry, your streak ends here.”
Yu Fei casually said when he met Yao Ming.
Yao Ming’s eyebrows raised, not yet aware of the severity of the issue.
From the start of the game, the SuperSonics made clear the direction of the match.
The inside was abandoned, but against Yao Ming, the opposing player had to front him relentlessly. If he got the ball in the low post, they would immediately double team him.
This usually wouldn’t work because Yao Ming had Love by his side, and the Heat didn’t typically play through the inside anyway.
However, apparent weaknesses, if exploited properly, could also change the opponent’s strategy.
Coach Spo might have been too wary of the SuperSonics’ reputation, attempting to harness the interior advantage to activate the perimeter. However, that was exactly what the opponent had planned for.
Tonight was a challenging night for Yao Ming.
He faced several obvious issues. First, he struggled with pick-and-roll offenses, as he couldn’t quickly defend on the perimeter and even if he managed to follow out, it was hard to recover in time. Second, his passing out of the low post wasn’t impressive. Although he had moments of brilliance, these were like Zhou Qi in the Rockets’ sporadic games with his long passes to Harden for scoring after grabbing a defensive rebound—it was a player’s spark of genius.
The so-called spark often meant that it was a fleeting moment, unable to orchestrate the team like Joki?, Divac, and Sabonis could.
The SuperSonics’ arrangements tonight were spot on against Yao Ming.
Yao Ming struggled from the start and became increasingly frustrated as the game went on. The strong Miami Heat were quickly down by double digits early on against the SuperSonics.
However, this team, claiming to be broken-tier super strong, would not crumble just because of a bad start. They adjusted very quickly, with Wade and Curry leading the charge in the second quarter to help the Miami Heat overtake the score before the end of the first half.
This is a typical Miami Heat game script.
They might be caught off guard at the start, but after making adjustments, they could easily erase the deficit.
Yet, the SuperSonics still believed that victory was beckoning to them.
“Because Frye wants to win this game,” Tyronn Lue said during the halftime interview, “Many people have forgotten that we too are contenders for the championship. If we can break Miami’s winning streak, the outside world will redefine our competitiveness.”
In the second half, the SuperSonics unveiled an extreme small-ball lineup.
The lineup consisted of Irving, Green, Fei, Parsons, and Jae Crowder.
This lineup had four spacing options and completely abandoned the inside advantage, betting on outside shooting.
In the half-court set, they often used the extreme strategy of four out, one in isolation. Every time Fei waved his hand, whether it was Yao, Curry, or Love, there would always be a Miami player who suffered.
The Miamians relived the nightmare of last year’s finals.
They were so close to the dream yet seemed so far away.
Even if they broke the NBA’s winning streak record, if they failed to win the final championship, history would remember them differently.
This was the lesson they learned tonight.
The SuperSonics’ desperate small-ball lineup with outstanding outside shooting extinguished the flames of Miami.
The Miami Heat’s winning streak ended at 27 games.
The final score, 115 to 108.
Fei scored a season-high 58 points, 11 rebounds, 8 assists.
“Anyone who thinks Miami has it in the bag, I’ll have them watch tonight’s game footage,” ESPN’s Jeff Van Gundy said, “The Heat are not invulnerable; they have significant vulnerabilities on the defensive end.”
The national focus due to putting out the fire, the defending champions did not make any “nobody should underestimate us” proclamations.
After the game, Fei said with a smile, “My kid was here tonight, and although he’s young, I would never lose this game because it’s his first time watching me play.”
Fatherly love is as heavy as a mountain; who would have thought that GOAT’s motivation to defeat the Miami Heat originated from this.
This victory swept through the professional basketball scene, even causing the upcoming trade deadline to lose attention.
A day later, the trade deadline arrived.
Of the three teams that were thought to possibly make big moves that day, only the Celtics took action.
The SuperSonics refused to trade Stoudemire, the Knight kept Wall as they did not receive a suitable offer, and after days of back-and-forth, the Celtics finally sent Rajon Rondo to New York in exchange for a junk contract and first-round draft picks in 2013 and 2015.
Beyond that, no other significant events occurred as the deadline passed.
There were some trades, but they were all minor and had no impact on the league’s landscape.
After the trade deadline, the season entered a fast-paced stage as the regular season was almost devoid of suspense.
The Miami Heat were far ahead in the standings, with the Spurs in second place, and fierce competition for third in the league. Apart from that, the remaining teams were inconsequential.
But the SuperSonics, the defending champions striving for the top three, had one more wish.
That was for Brandon Roy to make his return at the end of the season. Could this man bring good fortune to Seattle like he did in 2010?