Basketball Legend: When Pride Still Matters

Chapter 980 980 574 A Sense of Deja Vu_3

?Chapter 980: Chapter 574: A Sense of Deja Vu_3 Chapter 980: Chapter 574: A Sense of Deja Vu_3 Griffin’s biggest weaknesses were mercilessly exposed in front of the whole team. Although strong physically, he seemed powerless in confrontations; his low-post turns and facing-the-basket skills became ineffective against Yu Fei’s strong core; his dribbling, though outstanding among power forwards, was rendered futile in front of an opponent like Yu Fei.

Griffin’s offense became incredibly awkward, as he found he could not score against Yu Fei using his individual skills. Despite what should have been a mismatch in his favor, he just couldn’t make it work. The gap in strength was unbelievable to him.

After another unsuccessful offense, Griffin quickly fell back on defense. The Greek halted the fast break to wait for his teammates to get into position.

Yu Fei moved to the frontcourt, receiving the ball from Antetokounmpo. Since Yu Fei had decided to play power forward in this game, the black team naturally assigned Griffin to guard him.

The characteristic of inner-team matches is not to avoid mismatches but rather to use them as an opportunity for training. Initially, everyone had thought Griffin would have some advantage, but now the situation was completely the opposite.

Yu Fei gave up even attempting to attack face-on with the ball, choosing instead to use his body to back down from a high position. There were no fancy skills, just pure power.

Griffin’s core strength was weak, and his lower body strength was even worse, under Yu Fei’s bulldozer-like fierce attack, he could only keep retreating.

In the paint, Yu Fei suddenly turned around, faked a move that completely fooled the already ineffective Griffin, and easily scored with a layup.

Griffin’s consciousness began to blur.

When a player can neither score offensively nor defend effectively, the immediate sense of defeat that arises continues to erode their confidence. Stars are often arrogant, but the sense of defeat can be unimaginable if they are thoroughly crushed by an opponent in an area where they believe they have an advantage.

Griffin’s first basket was a jump shot; he finally gave up on scoring with individual skills, solving the problem at hand. This was his most proficient scoring method, and handling the ball in offense was just an added flair. He had hoped to prove his progress through extensive ball-handling, but reality was different.

Yu Fei’s onslaught was not over yet, as the game progressed, his energy seemed only to grow. Although Griffin defended with all his might, Yu Fei effortlessly bumped him aside and hit a turnaround jumper.

“Did you think before today that I could never beat you at power forward?” Yu Fei asked.

“Never?” he sarcastically repeated the word.

Sometimes “never” is a unit of time, other times, it’s the outcome of something. If someone uses “never” to assert something, they must ensure they have put in unsurpassable effort.

Yu Fei wanted Griffin to understand this and remember it “forever.”

The more commercialized the league, the more it tends to produce monsters with inflated egos. Almost every team star is an arrogant madman. Griffin was no exception. Before he joined the Clippers, this team was a joke in Los Angeles, and he changed that status within a few years. Although fans criticized him for not taking the team to the playoffs, it was just human insatiability.

Now, it was time to defend his personal dignity. The Greatest of All Time had dominated him at power forward. If he couldn’t respond to the challenge, he might indeed never get a chance to turn the tables.

Thus, Griffin abandoned the more assured off-ball offense and turned to face Yu Fei fearlessly. He once again demonstrated his ball-handling skills, a capability that would make 95% of power forwards envious. But his reach limited his control over the ball, and being tall, he naturally found it difficult to protect the ball in front of a defender, especially against someone like Yu Fei, who was familiar with ball trajectories and had been selected multiple times for the All-Defensive Team.

Griffin realized he couldn’t lose Yu Fei’s defense with his dribbling skills, so he tried to force his way through physically. However, this was inevitably a dead end, unless the referee called it; the stronger Yu Fei wouldn’t be easily knocked open.

Just as Griffin exerted force to push forward, Yu Fei stretched his long arm and cleanly stole the basketball right in front of him. Griffin was stupefied; he thought he had protected the ball in what he considered a safe area, not realizing that for a defender like Yu Fei, with quick reflexes and an additional 10 centimeters reach, that was hardly a safe zone.

“Crack!”

Yu Fei cleanly intercepted Griffin’s ball, and instantly, the roles of offense and defense switched. Under anger and humiliation, Griffin shouted, “Big Fei!!!”

He chased with full effort, but the two best athletes had already reached the frontcourt. Yu Fei caught the ball outside the paint and with just one step, powered up to jump. Griffin attempted to block, but his hand couldn’t reach the ball. Yu Fei soared high, dunking forcefully as Griffin lost his balance awkwardly.

“BOOMMMM!!!”

Various sounds echoed across the court, finally leaving only Yu Fei’s cold voice.

He looked down at Griffin with undeniable authority and said, “From today, don’t let me ever hear the word ‘never’ from you again, you arrogant fool!”

Before today, the Greatest of All Time had dominated his opponents with his momentum, but from this day, he had utterly overwhelmed Griffin with his ability.

If the Clippers could only have one voice, it would be the voice of the Greatest of All Time. Rivers had already set this tone:
“We are great because of others.”

Kwame Brown was so shocked by this scene that he was left speechless. Dead memories suddenly surged, striking him fiercely.

“What’s the matter, Kwame?” Yu Fei asked as he ran by.

“Nothing.” In Brown’s eyes, the image of Yu Fei started overlapping with that of someone else. “It just feels familiar.”