When pride still matters

Chapter 94 I’m a fool! ! ! ! !
"Hey, you should send a normal person to guard against me."

Popovich's expression changed rapidly, and he finally looked gloomily at Bowen, who was vaguely aware of the impending disaster, "Bruce, why do you think that rookie is so arrogant?"

Bowen accepted the fact that no matter how he responded, he would be criticized: "I don't know."

"Because you didn't fucking restrain him just now!"

it has started
Popovich berated Bowen for several minutes.During this time, Bowen just suffered in silence.

Soon, the Spurs failed to attack again. Yu Fei launched a defensive counterattack and assisted Chris Whitney to hit a chasing three-pointer. This goal stopped the Spurs.

27 is better than 25
There is only 2 points difference between the two sides.

Yu Fei's pursuit of points left little of the Spurs' lead established in the first quarter. Popovich did not dare to underestimate him and decisively replaced Parker, Bowen and Duncan, and let Duncan play center, allowing Malik Rose moves to his favorite swing four position.

For the Wizards, although Collins has shortcomings of one kind or another, he may be better than Popovich at this stage in terms of on-the-spot response.

He was keenly aware that Popovich would return to the main lineup and replace David Robinson with a loose attitude, so he asked Laettner to play the fifth position and replaced Popeye Jones with Kwame Brown. .

In terms of playing style, Collins still followed Yu Fei's preferences, but the adjustment in the lineup successfully guessed Popovich's response.

After the return of the Spurs' three starters, the offense has indeed strengthened a lot. The first is Parker, who passed Whitney like a wooden stake. Laettner was unable to provide the inside protection of Jones and was easily scored.

29 is better than 25
"Rookie, you made me get scolded so badly." Bowen's tone remained unchanged, but the words he said made people feel cold inside, "I won't let you go."

Hearing this, Yu Fei ran to the top of the arc to screen Whitney. The moment he pulled away, the ball came.

Because Parker did not switch defenses and Bowen's attention was also on Yu Fei, suddenly the two faced Fei and formed a double-team.

It seemed that Yu Fei could only break the game by passing the ball, but he saw a gap in the middle of the double-team between Bowen and Parker. As a person who is good at holding the ball, he knew what this gap meant to him. That was Opportunity to break through the defense.

In an instant, Yu Fei turned sideways, slapped the ball into his crotch from behind, took a step towards the gap with his right foot, moved his body forward, and caught the ball with his left hand. In almost the blink of an eye, Bowen and Parker were double-teamed by Yu Fei. Fei tore into pieces.

Duncan had to help defend, and the cost of assisting defense was to leave Laettner empty.

But Yu Fei used a passing movement to draw Malik Rose's attention to Laettner, giving Kwame Brown a chance to get rid of the defense and finally catch the ball and dunk.

29 is better than 27
"You can't guard both of them, are you serious?" Yu Fei did not forget to help Popovich put pressure on Bowen and Parker before returning to defense. He believed that Popovich would be moved by this.

In fact, Popovich was already frustrated. The two people he scolded most often were double-teamed by Yu Fei, which made him wonder who to get angry at.

However, even Duncan's assisting defense failed to stop Yu Fei from this goal. It can only be said that the opponent played well and there is no need to blame the players.

Coming to the offensive end, the Spurs decisively opened up and allowed Duncan to single out Laettner.

Yu Fei watched Duncan's back blow seriously.

Using his left foot as a pivot, he pushed back suddenly. Leitner, a weakling, had no power to resist, and Duncan pushed him away gently.After testing his opponent's strength, Duncan collected the ball decisively, turned around and crushed Laettner with his body. In the final shot, he pressed Laettner and put the ball into the basket.

From the perspective of the audience, Duncan played the ball very reluctantly because Laettner was close to him, but Yu Fei could see it clearly on the court. If no one helped Laettner to defend, Duncan would have played like this for 10 consecutive times. The result will not change after each round.

Duncan must be found on the offensive end, this is Yu Fei's idea.

If Duncan is not frustrated on the defensive end, his determination and confidence in tearing apart Laettner and Brown on the offensive end will become firm and unshakable.

Whitney continued to dribble the ball across half court, and Yu Fei set him a pick-and-roll and then caught the ball, just like the previous round.

The Spurs neither double-teamed like they did in the last round, nor did they make the best solution to defend against the pick-and-roll - switching defenses.

Because Yu Fei did not show enough shooting threat tonight, and maintaining the matchup by switching defenses to give opponents mismatches is not in line with the current mainstream understanding.

Not switching defenses will inevitably create offensive opportunities for the side calling the pick-and-roll.

Yu Fei decisively broke through inside, and Bowen followed him after he was more than half a body ahead. None of his elbows were safe inside the three-point line.

Perhaps this is why in modern times there is no need to switch defenses when encountering outside pick-and-rolls?

First, the ball handler does not have the ability and habit of setting up a pick-and-roll and directly shooting a three-pointer like in the small ball era. Second, the defensive system that allows for hands-off inside the three-point line allows the defender to use his hands without losing most of his body. To forcefully delay the opponent.

The pressure brought by the league's top defensive players like Bowen has made Yu Fei's need for the ability to stop shooting in pick-and-rolls greater, but that is for the future. Not only does he need to train for this shooting rhythm during training, but he also needs to use A lot of actual combat to get a feel for it.

The Wizards currently cannot give him a chance to practice.

All kinds of thoughts flashed through him in an instant. Yu Fei made a sudden move and pushed forward despite Bowen's interference. His opponent's body got stronger in the paint area, and he finally caused a foul.

"You are really difficult to deal with."

Every word Bowen said made Yu Fei wonder if it was a threat of imminent evil.

Yu Fei gave him a cold look. Even though he hadn't done anything evil yet, the elbow bump against his body just now still made him feel bad.

"You are easier to deal with than I thought." Yu Fei responded.

Popovich on the sidelines was no longer angry that Bao Wenming had already tagged Yu Fei and had to pay the price for a foul.

He found that although Yu Fei was young, he was really difficult to deal with.

That kind of height coupled with the dribbling hands that can rival a point guard is simply incredible.

Generally, no matter how good the dribbling skills of a big man are, he cannot keep his center of gravity and the ball steady when faced with high-intensity defense. However, Yu Fei not only stabilized his position when being pressured by Bowen, but also caused a foul.

Popovich believes that Bowen has treated Yu Fei as an opponent at the level of Kobe, Carter, and Tracy McGrady, but the sport of basketball has developed for more than 100 years. When it was born, the defense was advantageous, but Professional basketball always has to accommodate the offensive side for commercial needs. Today, more than 100 years after its birth, the offensive side is already the strongest side in the game.

Although the alliance feels it is not enough, it is really strong.

It is so strong that a top defender like Bowen cannot use legal means to stop an attacker who is already close to him within the scope of the rules.When this attacker takes on the defensive pressure, he can really do whatever he wants against others.

The problem is that few attackers can withstand the pressure.

But Yu Fei can.

Although the Spurs coaching staff has not studied Tai Fei in detail, a rookie who can do this when he is alone has proven how strong he is in immediate combat, and his age means that he There is unlimited potential for development.

Then, Duncan leaned against Laettner and beckoned for the ball.

Popovich was relieved.

The future of the NBA lies with people like Fly, but the current NBA is dominated by people like Duncan.

Duncan exerted his strength.

Leitner was crushed again, and when Yu Fei took the initiative to double-team him in the next defensive round and was blown away again, he gave up.

It was obvious that the referee didn't want him to "touch" Duncan, and in that case, he didn't.

After all, he is not the only one who can help defend Duncan.

What is unexpected is that whether it is one-on-one or one-on-two, Duncan can always find the optimal solution. His effortless way of playing is reminiscent of Jokic.

But his playing style is completely different from Jokic's ball-holding, big-core center.

Everyone who watches the Nuggets will be impressed by Jokic, and Duncan doesn't dominate the ball a lot.

Yu Fei, who didn't want to pay any more fouls, focused on calling the fifth pick-and-roll on the offensive end to attack Duncan, but Duncan was completely different from the opponents he had encountered before.

Duncan will follow, but he won't be passed by him like those clumsy inside players.

Duncan always maintains the correct position, giving Yu Fei space to shoot but allowing himself to interfere.As long as Yu Fei doesn't have the touch to hit the shot despite interference, it can bring about a series of chain reactions.

Yu Fei's good habit of going to the arena a few hours in advance to warm up every time he came to an away game did not allow Yu Fei to find the best feel at this moment.

He needs actual combat practice so much.

After Yu Fei made 3 of 1 shots, he gave up trying to attack Duncan on his own, and instead used Laettner's excellent shooting ability in the fifth position to punish the Spurs' defense. Although it had a certain effect, he was not the type he was in the small ball era. It has completely degenerated into a space five turret, and the shooting is not stable, but Duncan's singles success rate is almost 100%.

The Wizards had no one to stop him.

At halftime, 55 to 47, the Spurs had an 8-point lead.

In the second half, Jordan did not return. According to the team doctor, he had already gone to the hospital, but the Wizards also could not find a solution for Duncan.

We can't blame them. Even the Lakers have no solution to Duncan.

O'Neal can suppress Duncan at most, but most of the time they fight each other. The reason why the Spurs can't beat the Lakers is because the Lakers have Kobe on the outside. The big king and the big king cancel each other out. No one can control the little king, and the situation is naturally unbalanced.This is also a problem that teams in the league have no solution for when they meet the Lakers.

However, when not meeting the Lakers, Duncan is also unsolvable for other teams.

In the second half, Yu Fei changed his mind and used floaters to challenge Duncan, and then called a large number of defenders in pick-and-rolls to misplace the Spurs' small man. It was effective, but in the end they needed to go back to Duncan.

If you can't solve Duncan, you can't win the game.

In the fourth quarter, Yu Fei worked hard, but ended up paying another foul on Duncan.

107 is better than 95
Tonight, there was no solution to Duncan's problem, and the Wizards lost to the Spurs by 12 points on the road.

Post-match interview
"This is a very personal question and I will know the answer, but I don't know yet. Michael is in the hospital for examination, please stay tuned for our official news." - Doug Collins' response to Jordan's injury.

"I know Michael can play, and Michael knows that if he can't play, he won't play." - Doug Collins' second response to Jordan's injury.

"I don't know, Michael sometimes misses training, but he is Michael, and we all know that he is not an ordinary person, and injuries cannot trouble him." - Doug Collins' third response to Jordan's injury.

"I don't want to answer that question." - Richard Hamilton was asked how he could help Jordan on the court.

"I'm not happy. It was an ugly game. We didn't play well, especially defensively. When I see the statistics of No. 44, I have the urge to trade Bruce." - Greg Poe Povich talks about tonight's game.

"It was just a normal game." - Tim Duncan on this game.

"No. 44 is a difficult player to deal with. He gave me a difficult night. We won, but I didn't win. I will do better next time." - Bruce Bowen talking about playing against Yu Fei Bit.

"Fry, do you know about Michael's tenosynovitis?"

"Oh, I think I might know."

"But you said before that you didn't know, and you also said that anyone who suspected Michael had tenosynovitis was an asshole with ulterior motives."

"Do you want me to take responsibility for every word I say? Sorry, I can't."

".What do you think of Michael's situation?"

"Can you stop talking about old Mike Mike? The rest of us played the next three quarters. We worked hard. Although we didn't win, we played with all our strength. Don't you even have a question related to the game? I can listen Something unrelated to Michael’s tenosynovitis?”

"When Michael comes back, what will you do on the court to help him?"

"I'm so crazy!!!!!!"

——Yu Fei’s post-game interview.

(End of this chapter)