Basketball Legend: When Pride Still Matters-Chapter 1104 - 617 Good Luck_2

Chapter 1104: Chapter 617 Good Luck_2 Chapter 1104: Chapter 617 Good Luck_2 After losing the opportunity to break the record, the regular season games against the Clippers lost much significance.

They had already secured the top position in the League; even if they lost all the remaining games, this fact would not change.

Usually very methodical in his coaching, Rivers started to boldly imitate Popovich by adopting massive rotations at Yu Fei’s suggestion.

Yu Fei also took a rest for the last two games of the season.

This delayed his milestone of 33,000 points until the final game of the season.

That night, their opponent was the Portland Trail Blazers.

Yu Fei needed just 25 points tonight to join the 33,000 points club.

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As a versatile forward, Yu Fei did not shy away from being considered a scorer, especially since he averaged a memorable 36 points in his last year of his upward trajectory.

Over the years, Yu Fei has mostly stayed healthy, and due to the emergence of the space age, combined with the team needing him to carry them in multiple seasons, his scoring stats remained high, currently averaging 30 points, 10 rebounds, and 9 assists per game, making tonight’s game against the Trail Blazers his 1,100th career game.

Joining the 33,000-point club in his 1,100th career game seemed a beautiful symmetry.

Eventually, Yu Fei did not disappoint the crowd, in a game where everyone enjoyed his scoring, shooting 30 times and notching 52 points and 11 rebounds to put a perfect end to the season.

After the game, Portland’s home game ball was given to Yu Fei, who threw it into the crowd; he did not need it.

A reporter asked him, “Why not keep the ball?”

“Then I’d have too much to keep,” Yu Fei said with a smile, “33,000 points is just the result of statistics, there’s no need to fixate on it.”

“But still, it’s pretty great, isn’t it?”

“I suppose so, it means you need to stay healthy and perform excellently for fourteen consecutive seasons,” Yu Fei said, “That itself is indeed great.”

Then, a reporter purely loving hypotheticals asked another question: “If there hadn’t been a lockout in the 2011-12 season, your total score might have surpassed 35,000 points by now, potentially surpassing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar before age 37 to become the NBA’s all-time scoring leader. Does that bother you?”

“Becoming the scoring leader is still a great accomplishment, as it means a player can maintain a high performance level for nearly two decades,” Yu Fei said, “But essentially, it’s still a result of statistical accumulation.”

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“If you still see me on the court at 37, it definitely won’t be for chasing such records, but because I love basketball.”

Changes gradually emerged in Yu Fei that even he had not anticipated.

He became more inclined to reason, more eager to correct reporters’ questions, gradually displaying that slightly greasy middle-aged trait, often citing his many years of learned lessons.

When you try to contradict him, he, on the contrary, would display a rare fighting spirit, trying his best to respond to your skepticism.

Thus, reporters often could only surrender, thinking: Indeed, GOAT is right, being the scoring leader isn’t all that great, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar has probably fainted in the restroom by now.

Most amusingly, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar himself quoted Yu Fei’s interview on Twitter, and stated: “Frye is a true baller, he knows what’s most important.”

At the end of the regular season, the Clippers entered the playoffs with an impressive record of 73 wins and 8 losses.

This season, Yu Fei played 77 games, averaging 25 points, 7 rebounds, and 7 assists per game.

His stats had slightly declined from the previous season due to the growth of Antetokounmpo and Jokić, leading to a redistribution of the ball within the team.

In the first round of the Western playoffs, the Clippers faced the eighth-seeded Rockets.

The Rockets struggled with Howard issues throughout the season, and their performance didn’t meet expectations. They had a chance to turn things around before the trade deadline but ended up not trading due to unsatisfactory offers, dragging the issue to the end of the season as Howard’s shadow loomed over the team.

Facing the troubled Rockets, Clippers coach Rivers was as composed as ever. His strategy was to shut down Harden, as other Rockets players frantically trying couldn’t truly challenge the core of the Clippers.

Interestingly, Rockets coach Kevin McHale had a similar strategy.

He tried to restrict Yu Fei through zone defense and frequent double-teams, hoping other Clippers players couldn’t deliver the finishing blows. However, it turned out this tactic had limited effect. Although the Rockets did succeed in limiting Yu Fei in one game, the versatile play styles of other Clippers players made it hard for the Rockets’ defense to cope.

Rivers’ strategy was very effective. As one of the few Western stars who could single-handedly dismantle opponents, Harden, once he got in his rhythm, could explode at any moment. Therefore, keeping Harden uncomfortable was the entire focus of the series for the Clippers, and indeed, they managed to achieve this.

For Harden, the Clippers’ defensive resources were just too abundant. Tall, short, robust, lean, fast, dirty players, high jumpers—no matter what type of defender he faced, Rivers always found a corresponding counter-strategy. Conversely, the Rockets’ tactic to lock down Yu Fei was only effective in the first game, after which the Clippers controlled the tempo of the entire series.

Then, Yu Fei easily cracked the opponents’ strategy with his off-ball movement, immediately turning the series one-sided.