Basketball Legend: When Pride Still Matters-Chapter 1121 - 623 I Hope

Chapter 1121: Chapter 623 I Hope Chapter 1121: Chapter 623 I Hope There is a smell of gunpowder in the Clippers’ training camp, mainly coming from two young ones who seem to have boundless energy.

Antetokounmpo and Jokić have a direct rivalry between them.

Since the Greek joined the team a year earlier than the Serb, he naturally developed a sense of superiority akin to the East Asian “seniority-based hierarchy”. However, from the beginning, the Serbian made it clear—he had no intention of participating in any so-called competition.

The Greek didn’t believe this. In his view, as long as one plays in the NBA, there is inevitably competition, whether within the team or outside it. Jokić was the Rising Star that GOAT had high hopes for, and Yao Ming even gave up his starting position to support him. How could such treatment not make the Greek suspect that he too was covertly vying for a higher status?

Therefore, the rivalry was often instigated by Antetokounmpo, with Jokić responding in kind. This summer, after the off-season training, Antetokounmpo seemed like a young male lion that had built absolute confidence during its long wanderings, eager to invade the old lion’s territory and declare his dominance.

In contrast, Jokić didn’t possess the “there can only be one” mentality. But like all top competitors, he had an uncontrollable desire to win. Whenever Antetokounmpo challenged him, he would fight back with all his might, turning the court into a scene of fierce combat.

Yao Ming always watched these young men’s contests with the interest of an observer.

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“If I had such rivals when I was young, I could have achieved even more,” lamented Yao Ming.

Yu Fei teased, “Was Old Wang not tough enough on you, or did the Bayi Rockets not beat you enough?”

Yao Ming retorted in frustration, “Damn it! I led my team to beat them and won the championship before coming to the United States!”

Yu Fei reminded, “Just to remind you, the Bayi Rockets you beat had let Old Wang go to play in the NBA; it wasn’t their complete team.”

Back then, one of Shanghai Team’s conditions for letting Yao Ming go was that he had to lead the team to a championship win. Luckily, Wang Zhizhi left in 2001, otherwise Shanghai Team definitely wouldn’t have won the 2002 CBA championship.

At that point, Yao Ming could only have played the “let me go or I retire” card.

Just thinking about it was rather embarrassing.

“Those years, the Bayi Rockets were indeed strong.”

“And now?”

“Stubbornly clinging on to life in the CBA.”

Yu Fei also asked, “Is Old Wang still playing?”

“He’s basically retired, just short of an official announcement.”

Then, they dropped the topic.

The scrimmage on the court eventually ended with Jokić’s White Team victorious.

After the game, an angry Antetokounmpo kicked the ball fiercely towards the distant wall, fuming with anger. “If you guys don’t want to play, just quit!” he harshly reprimanded Siakam, who had made frequent mistakes during training, “If you’re going to play like this, you might as well roll back to Africa!”

Actually, in most of the training face-offs between Antetokounmpo and Jokić, Antetokounmpo was victorious, as his team usually had better players, whereas Jokić was casual about choosing teammates. He didn’t care about winning or losing the training games, what mattered more to him was the direct confrontation with Antetokounmpo.

Antetokounmpo, on the contrary, was nearly obsessed with his desire for victory—whether in official matches or practice, he had to win. Losing made him extremely annoyed, especially losing to a rival like Jokić.

“Giannis, that’s not something a leader should say,” veteran Richard Jefferson interjected.

Although Antetokounmpo was acutely aware of his own status, he always had great respect for the veterans.

“Then what should I say?” Antetokounmpo asked.

“You should first reflect on your own issues,” Jefferson said calmly, “Frye never blames the poorest performer when we lose. As a leader, you must take responsibility for everything.”

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Antetokounmpo turned to look at GOAT, hoping for more guidance.

Yu Fei said lightly, “Maybe you can try being an irresponsible but still successful leader, maybe that would make you the most unique figure in history.”

Antetokounmpo did not respond. He turned to check the game stats: he scored 18 points, grabbed 8 rebounds, and had 4 assists in this training game, while Siakam only made 2 of 7 shots, obtaining 6 points, 3 assists, and 1 block.

Why should the best performer bear the responsibility for the worst performer?

He wanted to raise the question but ultimately chose to apologize to Siakam.

As for Jokić, as soon as the training game was over, he retreated to the side and started drinking a Coke on his own. Rivers, seeing this, could not contain his fury and severely scolded the player who could never stick to dietary rules.

“If I don’t have the right to drink a Coke to celebrate after beating Giannis, then what’s the point of life!” Jokić shouted back in protest.

Antetokounmpo, hearing this, was infuriated, “You didn’t beat me!”

“45 to 40!” Jokić immediately reported the score of the training game.

Yao Ming laughed so hard at the side that he almost couldn’t catch his breath.

“You should play a few more years,” Yao Ming said to Yu Fei with a laugh, “Without you here, these two will definitely end up in internal strife!”

Yet Yu Fei seriously asked, “Do you know why the OK combination eventually split up?”

“Personality clash, I guess,” Yao Ming casually replied.

“It’s because Shaquille O’Neal was unprofessional, relied on his seniority, and even had racial tendencies, which was really off-putting,” Yu Fei explained with personal bias.