Basketball Legend: When Pride Still Matters

If one said that in the first game of the NBA Finals, The Celtics had behaved like rookies, showing all the trademarks of inexperience and awkwardness, then Paul Pierce's clumsy imitation of Willis Reed's "comeback" moment was like an educational film about human connections and growing the inexperienced. They started to get used to the Finals. And so came the second game of the series. The Celtics played like they did in the regular season. They had a strong inside game, top-notch wings and posts, and a roster depth that surpassed the Supersonics gave the error-prone and slow-reacting Doc Rivers the highest margin for error. Throughout the game, The Celtics shot an impressive 54% from the field, with a rebound comparison of 41 to 30, and free throw attempts at 33 to 21. The Supersonics trailed in all key indicators. Yu Fei scored 36 points but could not change the outcome of consecutive losses on the road. What was still the most impressive was the atmosphere at the North Shore Garden. Usually, Fei could see many of his fans at away games. Fei's fanbase was the most powerful presence in basketball, no matter where he played, there were hundreds of fans there to support him. But in Boston, such people were few and far between. Was it because Bostonians were generally more loyal? No, that wasn't it. Once the playoffs started, The Celtics enacted a viewing rule: If you wore the away team's jersey or supported the opposing team at the game, you would be banned from the Garden for one year. Even if you were a season ticket holder, you would lose your season tickets for the next season. It sounded like a violation of the "freedom" of American society. But such a politically incorrect rule was legal in Boston, and no one saw a problem with it. Therefore, the Garden was filled with fans in green or white T-shirts, pushing the atmosphere to new heights. Then there were the sports stars celebrated in Boston, both active and retired, spanning other leagues as well. Tom Brady, Bobby Orr, Curt Schilling, John Havlicek... These names symbolized both today's heroes and past ghosts of Boston, a unique phenomenon in the city with frequent interactions among sports clubs from different leagues. Moreover, their recent situations converged. The Patriots had become the Yankees of the NFL, the Red Sox had broken the curse, and The Celtics were dispelling the gloom of old, all at their peaks. Good teams, good management, willing spenders for owners, and fanatic fans made Boston sports a hall of fame in America, and if you wanted to succeed, you had to learn from them. That night, The Celtics once again defended their home court, defeating the Supersonics 103 to 88, taking a 2-0 lead in the series. After the game, the feverish "Sports Guy" Bill Simmons excitedly wrote in his column, "In the past, Boston was a fairly understandable place. Things never changed, and more importantly, we liked that they never changed. Life revolved around the changing weather (often harsh), sports teams (often disappointing), and those occasional beautiful days bathed in April or October sunshine. Year after year, we faced traffic, blizzards, infrastructure, parking problems, and sports failures - that was us. But the resurgence of The Celtics, Red Sox, and Patriots reflected something happening to Boston as a whole. Simply put, the city I left in 2002 no longer exists." Sports in the United States are often given greater significance, something Fei could not understand when he was in Milwaukee. But look at Boston, the problems they face in life are still unsolved, no one can change the weather or solve the traffic issues, nor can anyone rejuvenate the already aging infrastructure, but when the sports teams start winning, they feel as though the city is revived. In the days back in Seattle, the Supersonics coaches had been studying The Celtics. George Karl thought they were strong, but how strong? Where did they rank among the various opponents they had faced before? Were they stronger than the 2006 Mavericks? Were they stronger than the 2007 Spurs? No, in comparison to Fei's past Finals opponents, The Celtics didn't have a clear superiority. The Celtics' biggest strength was balance. They had a complete lineup, able to provide immediate solutions to any problem based on their roster. But being well-rounded can lead to the problem of being a jack of all trades, master of none. The one thing The Celtics truly excelled at was defense. As a dominant regular season team, The Celtics did not have the great offense characteristic of past dominant teams. The Celtics' offense was not great, they often suffered outages, relying on defense to make up for their deficiencies. This seemed to have no fault. Karl thought so before he met Fei. Defense is something that will never betray you. But after achieving success with carnival basketball alongside Fei in Milwaukee, Karl's perspective had shifted. He now thought that while defense is important, if you don't have a great offense, you're not a dominant team. The Celtics' postseason journey so far reflected this. Even their trusted defense had to be bolstered by the advantage of home court to perform at its best. "Frye," Karl said before the third game, "it's time to be yourself again." Yu Fei looked utterly perplexed, as if he couldn't believe averaging 40 points a game in the Finals wasn't actually him. "What should I do?" "Play like you did in Milwaukee." Did that mean Channing Frye was going to replace Brown in the starting lineup temporarily? Yu Fei guessed right. Karl lacked confidence in the current system— or rather, he wasn't confident that the young players on the team could shoulder their responsibilities and allow Yu Fei to play the ace at the small forward position with peace of mind. What was good about the big-core style of play? It simplified everything. Frye could only hit threes? Then you focus on shooting threes, much like a caste system, where you would do only this one thing and be fit only for this one thing. In the short term, this approach could make the most of what one had, but a long-term continuation would harm a player's developmental potential. This was the reason Yu Fei was determined to transform. But now it was a different matter. The young players couldn't bear such a heavy burden, so Yu Fei had to step up and disrupt The Celtics' setup by making significant adjustments to the formation. Moreover, back on their home court, the Supersonics would undoubtedly benefit from the refereeing, so revolving around Yu Fei as the absolute core, with Roy being the wing assailant, was similar to the Bucks of a few years ago. Only Roy was more mature than Martin had been then. Yu Fei had no objections. The Supersonics simply practiced the big-core style of play. The process wasn't complicated. Yu Fei was even more familiar with it. Then came Game 3 of the Finals. Unlike North Shore Garden, Key Arena did not discourage fans of the visiting team from coming to watch, with even the front-row seats occupied by visiting fans. Bill Simmons came all the way to Seattle, having pulled strings to get a ticket for the front row. His reason? He said he didn't want to miss The Celtics winning the championship on the road. That was a good joke because The Celtics had yet to win a road game in the playoffs. "Let's win the championship, Frye. The Supersonics have already secured their future, you've achieved your goal," Simmons teased Yu Fei from the front row. "We can't be too greedy, can we?" Yu Fei replied sarcastically, "A Celtics fan whose team has won sixteen championships thinks it's greedy for the Supersonics to want to win their second? Don't you think that it's because there are too many people like you, The Celtics needed a decade-plus to pay off their debts?" "Enough, Frye, you're no match for us!" "Is that something a fan of a team that has never won on the road has the right to say?" Yu Fei retorted. "Tonight, you'll be exposed for what you really are!" True to his words, Yu Fei took firm control of the game as soon as it began, returning to his big-core role. The Supersonics scored 33 points in the first quarter, with Yu Fei accounting for 19 of them. The pigheaded coach's eyes bulged. What kind of play was this? It wasn't in the scouting report! By the time The Celtics were down by 20 at halftime, Rivers and his coaching staff were certain that Yu Fei had reverted to the style he played with the Bucks. However, the tide had already turned against them. The most significant reason The '08 Celtics would never be synonymous with dominance was their disgraceful performance on the road. When their three main tactics failed, Rivers' ability to adjust was insufficient. Many of his timeouts were spent giving pep talks, telling the players to fight on their own. Fighting was fine, of course, but would the referees on the road allow you to fight in your own way? So, when the strategy failed, there was no counter, fighting got you nowhere, classic formulaic substitutions widened the point gap, and a rout became inevitable. Yu Fei seemed to have returned to the past; the team won, and he grabbed an astounding triple-double. Tonight, he scored a monstrous 45 points, 15 rebounds, and 13 assists. "Frye is the most attractive player in history!" Doug Collins exclaimed. "He's back!" Then, after the game, Yu Fei left a remark that made Seattle explode with excitement and made Bostonians both angry and restless: "The Finals are simple. We just need to win one road game to become champions." "You still have two home games left. Are you really confident you can win them all?" Yu Fei said mockingly with a smile, "You shouldn't be asking me that question; you should be asking the team that hasn't won a single road game so far. Let's see how much they want to become the first champions in history without a road victory."