Basketball Legend: When Pride Still Matters-Chapter 467 - 321 Feels Like a Gorilla

Chapter 467: Chapter 321 Feels Like a Gorilla

The Miami Heat’s adjustments came swiftly, marking the most significant difference from their previous performance tonight.

With almost no margin for error and the absence of home-court advantage, falling behind 1-3 in the series would amount to a near-certain defeat.

Thus, Riley would decisively call for a timeout to make adjustments whenever a problem arose.

The Miami Heat were filled with veteran players, and although they lacked the sharpness of youth, this allowed them to adjust promptly when faced with issues.

To lessen Wade’s burden, it was up to the others to step up and shoulder their own share of the responsibility.

Payton caught Kevin Martin in a mismatch and exploited his insufficient defensive capabilities to score one-on-one from the high post.

The Bucks were well aware of their defensive issues with Martin and were not worried, for they knew Martin would fight back.

Fei passed the ball to Martin, clearly intending to let him redeem himself on the court.

However, Martin’s offense was anything but stable, failing to repay that trust.

In his quest for a championship, Payton had fallen from grace over the years, and everyone had forgotten just how formidable a defender he once was. Now, even with advancing age, the lenient home calls still enabled him to trouble Martin considerably.

Martin couldn’t create a shooting opportunity, and after driving the ball to the basket, he met with Alonzo Mourning’s block.

Like hitting a wall, Martin seemed to have lost his magic, stifled by the Heat’s aggressive defense.

This was exactly what the Heat had maintained since Game 3.

Maintaining defensive intensity is easier said than done, particularly in terms of mindset.

The Bucks excelled at undermining their opponents, and once their perimeter shooting found its rhythm, their groundbreaking offensive threat could shatter any defense.

The Heat were blown out in Milwaukee for two consecutive games, yet showed no signs of defeatism upon returning home, ultimately breaking the Bucks’ undefeated playoff run alongside Wade in Game 3.

This proved that the Miami Heat were indeed the most disciplined team in the Eastern Conference.

Now, the excellent defense against Martin also reflected this point.

Yet the Heat’s low efficiency in defensive counterattacks, and their excruciatingly slow pace was a source of agony for basketball fans, reminiscent of Masahiro Taniguchi’s discomforting attempt to play the tough guy Otousan in every one of his films from the 2020s.

After the Heat’s counterattack failed, Fei quickly grabbed the rebound and passed it to Raja Bell, assisting in the fast break score.

The gap in defensive counterattack efficiency between the two teams was so vast that even the home-court fans could easily discern the disparity.

Especially in this sequence, the back-to-back contrast of the Bucks’ quick pass and transition, along with their neat scoring, seemed like a public execution for the Heat.

However, the Heat didn’t seem to be bothered by this.

They weren’t a team that thrived on counterattacking defense, and apart from Wade, they didn’t have anyone capable of executing it efficiently.

What the Heat did best was continuing to suppress Martin’s shooting touch.

The liberation of tall and thin scorers like Martin had allowed them to flourish, but if they were content with the status quo and felt no need to bulk up, the Miamian education could be said to be quite effective.

Martin was confronted with his biggest flaw in this game and realized that if he couldn’t increase his weight and strength to better withstand tough defenses and intense competition, he might never be able to perform as he should in such suffocating games.

Seeing that Martin was off his game, George Karl immediately substituted him with Sprewell.

After the substitution, the Bucks’ defense strengthened, and although their outside shooting was diminished, the continuing contributions from Fei and Bell were enough to compensate.

By the end of the first quarter, the Bucks led the Heat by 5 points, 27-22.

Karl had initially wanted to give Fei a few minutes of rest, but then they saw the Heat bringing on Shaquille O’Neal at the start of the second quarter.

The rotation strategy of using a superior player to challenge an inferior one on the opposing team was easy to understand, and the Bucks often employed this tactic.

But this was the Eastern Conference Finals, and their opponent was O’Neal. If Martin had been in form tonight, Karl might have let him temporarily replace Fei, but now, looking at his whole team, the only Buck who could neutralize O’Neal’s impact was Fei himself.

Still, Karl wanted to consult Fei’s opinion before making a decision.

“Let me keep playing,” Fei said directly.

This simplified Karl’s rotation decision.

With enough shooters around Big Fei, O’Neal wouldn’t be able to jump around.

However, the cost was that Fei might only get a chance to rest during the last few minutes of the first half.

Riley had O’Neal sit out until the second quarter, ostensibly to leverage his top player against the Bucks’ weaker horses.

But with Fei now set to play continuously, that plan had been spoiled.

Riley didn’t think this was necessarily a bad thing, as it at least forced the Bucks to keep Fei on the court.

The rest was up to O’Neal.

Riley decided to give Wade a rest, and with O’Neal as the sole focus on the court, would he seek the ball as he did in the first two games, producing impressive but not game-winning stats, or would he sacrifice his individual glory for the greater good of the team?

Fei immediately targeted O’Neal for scoring as soon as he came on, extending their lead to 7 points.

Moreover, he was mouthing off.

Even from afar, Riley knew those weren’t kind words.

However, he was reassured by the fact that O’Neal wasn’t responding.

That indicated his emotions remained stable.

However, when Riley saw O’Neal positioning for the ball in the low post as soon as he got to the front court, his heart sank.

If O’Neal didn’t understand this—if he couldn’t grasp that he was no longer the most influential player in the NBA—and Miami was about to be dismantled by the NBA’s current most influential player, then the end was near.

Shaquille O’Neal got the ball, and the Bucks’ defense quickly shrank.

Just as Riley thought all was lost, O’Neal passed the ball to Antoine Walker on the perimeter.

Walker raised his hand and sank a three-pointer.

Updat𝒆d fr𝑜m freewebnøvel.com.

Afterward, O’Neal showed his excellence in protecting the rim, disrupting the Bucks’ offense, grabbed the defensive rebound, and passed it to Payton to initiate the fast break.

Back and forth, the Heat recovered 5 points, narrowing the gap to just 2 points.

Yu Fei and Danny Granger played a pick and roll.

After setting the screen, Granger popped out to receive the ball and shot a three-pointer.

“Swoosh!”

Then, Fei continued to mock O’Neal’s inability to defend the pick and roll.

However, the other side stopped retorting.

Even on O’Neal’s face, Fei couldn’t see any signs of anger.

It was as though he had an epiphany, fully aware of his strengths and weaknesses, and had completely accepted the obvious fact: he was no longer the best player.

O’Neal had become a dedicated team player, and Fei’s attacks on him started to decrease as they both did their best to change the situation with their skills.

A big man like O’Neal, who could do everything but defend the pick and roll and shoot from distance, could bring a qualitative change on both ends of the court by focusing on serving the team.

The most evident change in the Heat was that veterans like Walker, Posey, Payton, and others began to benefit from O’Neal’s transformation.

Five minutes into the second quarter, the Bucks were leading by only 3 points.

At this time, Wade returned to the court.

This version of O’Neal on the floor was his favorite one.

As long as O’Neal kept playing this way, he could attack wholeheartedly like he did in Game 3.

Wade gradually took over the Heat’s offense and smartly utilized the home-court advantage, drawing fouls from the Bucks in quick succession, causing Raja Bell to pick up his third personal foul before half-time.

The Bucks substituted Bell for Ariza, continuing to block Wade.

The tempo of the game suddenly became extremely slow, with Fei and Wade controlling the main ball possession for their teams.

Fei could clearly feel Wade’s condition improving. Despite nearly being broken by him in the first quarter, he had miraculously adjusted.

Could this year’s Heat truly be the team of destiny?

When Wade drew Kwame Brown’s third foul and completed a 2+1 layup, Fei inexplicably entertained that thought.

Immediately afterward, he scorned himself internally. If this year’s Heat were the team of destiny, then what were the ’03 Spurs and ’04 Pistons? The forsaken by fate?

Destiny is how those who feel powerless to change their situation interpret their current and foreseeable future; Fei didn’t buy that.

Fei responded to Wade’s 2+1 with a three-pointer of his own, keeping the Bucks’ lead at 4 points.

No matter how much O’Neal played for the team, and how much Wade’s condition improved, the Heat just couldn’t turn the tide in the second quarter.

Because Fei ended up playing the entire first half, scoring 29 points, grabbing 8 rebounds, and dishing out 5 assists.

58 to 54

The Bucks were still leading by 4 points.

“Many people say that if the Bucks can’t stop Wade, then Miami will win this game. But look at Frye’s stats for the half.”

“If Frye keeps playing like this, can Miami take it?”

Bill Walton was praising Fei like a true believer in the ESPN studio.

His enthusiasm for Fei made people wonder if the former NBA top 50 superstar had some kind of vested interest with Big Fei.

Meanwhile, during the half-time interview, the coaches of both teams had different views on the game.

Karl stated bluntly: “You know, there’s some kind of unwritten rule in Miami, no matter what we do, the referees always find a way to give Wade free throws.”

A reporter asked, “Like what?”

“I farted off the court,” Karl was prepared to be fined to make sarcastic comments about his opponent, “yet the referee called it for two free throws for Wade.”

On the other hand, Riley directly ignored his opponent’s sarcasm and publicly expressed his confidence about tonight’s game.

“Tonight’s Shaq is like Kareem in 1985.” As the head coach of that legendary Lakers team, Riley believed he was entitled to make such a comparison, “And Dwyane is like Magic Johnson in 1987. We are very confident about the game; we will definitely win, and the series will be reset…”

Fans usually don’t think about such complicated things.

They only know that this series is indeed about some known issues.

If the Bucks lose, their hopes of revival might be shattered, Fei’s title as the number one player in the League could change hands, and Wade could become the best player among the younger generation.

If the Heat lose, they would be just another failed challenger. The only difference is that this challenger has a former dominant player like O’Neal. Their failure could mean the end of the rivalry between Fei and O’Neal.

What about Fei? What does he think?

He has no thoughts on the matter.

Having just played a full half, he was feeling a bit fatigued and hungry. Suddenly craving pork cutlet rice, an impossibility at the moment since the only things the team could offer were bananas and Gatorade.

Fei settled for a banana, pretending it was a pork cutlet.

This made him feel like a gorilla.

COMMENT

0 comment

Vote

3 left

SEND GIFT