Basketball Legend: When Pride Still Matters-Chapter 408 - 267 It Would Feel Better If It Was Frye
Chapter 408: Chapter 267 It Would Feel Better If It Was Frye
The Bucks breaking through the Detroit Pistons to meet the Eastern Conference’s top Indiana Pacers in the finals went far beyond the expectations of outsiders.
From an external perspective, the Pistons just needed to contain Yu Fei to beat the Bucks without a problem.
But they couldn’t contain Yu Fei at all.
That’s because the Pistons’ key figure in facing Yu Fei, Tayshaun Prince, an elite defender with talent exceeding his size, was like all spider-wing players, he lacked the weight to resist Yu Fei’s drives.
This led to Yu Fei’s outside breakthroughs being unstoppable.
The Pacers, however, did not have this problem.
Their chief perimeter defender and recipient of the DPOY for two consecutive seasons, Ron Artest, defended like he was violating his opponents.
Every time Yu Fei encountered him, it was a tough battle, because this guy had skill, strength, and a build as sturdy as a bull—not the type that you could shake off with a slight shift and push past.
Battles with Artest were wars, causing Yu Fei to expend too much energy on perimeter offense.
And currently, the Bucks are extremely reliant on Yu Fei’s individual offense.
Cuttino Mobley has made it clear he won’t be coming back for the Eastern Conference finals, regardless of whether he’s recovered or not, because it’s his contract year and he wants to enter the offseason with no issues to sign a big contract.
So, Yu Fei was without support, unable to find a second teammate who could handle the ball and share the pressure.
The Bucks had no choice but to play a full 5 OUT lineup.
Their main plan: win if you’re hot, surrender if you’re not.
That was the only choice for the Bucks.
Once such a choice was made, the result was destined.
In Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Finals, the homecourt Pacers beat the Bucks 99 to 93, advancing to the finals with a 4-2 series victory.
“I don’t have much to say, I wish you guys the best in winning the championship.”
Yu Fei whispered in Artest’s ear while embracing him.
Artest asked, “Why, you don’t hate us?”
Artest was genuinely shocked—everyone said that Big Fei was narrow-minded and vengeful. They had personally ended the Bucks’ hopes for a three-peat, and Big Fei didn’t curse them, but actually wished them well?
“If you guys win the championship, I can at least comfort myself that we only lost to the strongest team of the season,” said Yu Fei helplessly. “So, you better win the championship.”
The logic wasn’t hard to understand, and Artest got it immediately.
“Don’t worry, we will,” Artest said confidently. “Actually, we wanted to play against the Pistons, but too bad you guys took care of them.”
Yu Fei could understand, since the Pacers were eliminated by the Pistons last year.
Afterward, Yu Fei and the Pacers’ players exchanged courtesies, showing the grace of a losing side, then he patted Kevin Martin, who was reduced to tears by him.
Thanks to his surprise performance against the Pistons, Martin played an average of 24 minutes in the Eastern Conference Finals, but his performance was dismal, shooting less than 40 percent and scoring only 6 points per game.
“Frye, it’s all my fault.”
Instead of comfort, Martin received affirmation.
“Yes, it’s all your fault,” said Yu Fei. “So you’d better put on 20 pounds of muscle before the new season starts, or I’ll send you to the Clippers.”
Martin was stunned.
Yu Fei added, “No, the Clippers aren’t a garbage dump, probably wouldn’t even want you, so if you can’t gain the weight by then, just find a deserted place to hang yourself.”
Back in the locker room, Yu Fei didn’t see disappointment or sadness; everyone had the mindset of “We’ve already done enough by getting here.”
After all, they had taken down the Pistons.
Missing out on a three-peat made Yu Fei somewhat regretful, but he also knew that getting this far this year was already beyond their goal, and there was nothing more to be said.
The person probably most upset about this was George Karl.
After all, his arch rival has a number of three-peats that exceed his total championship rings, a fact that’s infuriating to mention.
Now, how to summarize this season?
Karl thought for a long time but didn’t know what to say.
You can’t just say “It’s great we became Eastern Conference runners-up, everyone go home happily for vacation,” right?
Suddenly, Christian Laettner stood up.
“After tonight, I’m retiring. Besides wishing you all the best in the future, I want to say something else,” Laettner pointed at Yu Fei beside him. “Even though Frye usually seems aloof and distant, I believe that if he’s willing to fall out with management and fight for a fanatical fan, ultimately securing that bastard a big contract, he would do the same for any one of you. Since that day, he’s carried the team; without him, not only would we not be here, we wouldn’t have made the playoffs.”
“Most importantly, he’s not even 23 years old yet. You bunch of bastards might not realize how lucky you are. Support him well because with Frye, anything is possible, everything rides on him. I believe you guys can win championships in the future.”
Lawson, sitting next to Yu Fei, was astounded.
He couldn’t believe this was the same Laettner who had once fought with Yu Fei in D.C.
But it was true—he had been there at the time.
Karl never expected Laettner to end the season in such a positive way.
Losing the Eastern Conference finals certainly meant losing the opportunity for a three-peat, but it didn’t mean losing the future.
That’s what Laettner wanted the team to understand.
With Yu Fei on board, the future is still bright.
George Karl suddenly felt that Christian Laettner should consider transitioning into coaching.
Unfortunately, Laettner had already made plans for his future.
That night, Yu Fei received a text message from Laettner.
“I’m in.”
A simple sentence, yet it warmed the heart.
“Sigh, there goes another one,” Yu Fei said, “After next season starts, my seniority increases by another level.”
Christina, lying beside Yu Fei, asked softly, “Who passed away?”
“My teammate.”
“May he rest in peace.”
Yu Fei laughed.
But what he said wasn’t wrong.
To a player, retirement is the end of the journey, and calling it death is not an exaggeration.
Afterwards, the basketball world turned its focus to the Finals between the Spurs and the Pacers.
This was a match-up born from the butterfly effect, and even Fei himself didn’t know which side would emerge victorious.
If he had to choose, he would pick the Pacers, but his gut told him that the Spurs might be slightly stronger.
Interestingly, before the Finals began, both the NBA officials and industry experts believed this series was packed with highlights and star-studded.
Duncan, Kidd, Ginobili, Miller, Jermaine O’Neal, Artest… How could such a lineup lack highlights?
But as it turned out, there really were no highlights.
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The Spurs’ games had always been called boring, and the Pacers were even more so.
Their semi-final against the Detroit Pistons last year was dubbed the most dreadful series in NBA history.
The so-called “excellent defense” rounds from both teams could be cut into a 30-minute highlight reel.
Scoring over 80 in a game was considered an excellent offensive performance.
If the Detroit Pistons are the Sleeping Dragon of ratings killers, then the up-and-comer must be the Pacers.
Once the series began, the Pacers quickly turned the game into the shape of an Eastern Conference playoff.
Both teams went back and forth, and the Spurs didn’t mind getting physical with the Pacers.
Because to them, whether facing an aggressive offensive team like the Suns or an extreme defensive team like the Pacers, they had methods to cope.
The turning point of the Finals occurred in Game 5.
The game’s brutality was rarely seen in modern times; both the Spurs and Pacers scored less than 70 points. In the end, it was Ginobili’s serpentine layup that completed The Shot, giving the Silver-Black Legion control of King of the Hill, leading the series 3-2.
It was a game new fans couldn’t comprehend, old fans cheered for, and cloud fans wouldn’t want to watch for a second.
As the game set a new record low for ratings, it caused some changes in the ongoing labor agreement negotiations.
The League was determined to suppress this increasingly defensive trend, with the first target being the despicable hand-checking rule.
As far as the players’ union was concerned, as long as their interests weren’t harmed, they generally wouldn’t antagonize the League.
This year, the negotiations between the labor and management sides were roughly harmonious. Aside from some disputes over restricting high schoolers from entering the draft and how to divide the money, other areas were progressing smoothly.
As the Finals drove the ratings into a pitch-black abyss, both parties realized that the coming years would be tough, so each made compromises and concessions.
Thus, prohibiting high schoolers from entering the NBA draft became a major concession by the union, while the management side gave up 1% of the total revenue being included in the salary cap.
This ensured that the regression which occurred this season, where the salary cap decreased instead of increasing, wouldn’t happen again.
Furthermore, both sides discussed Yu Fei’s astonishing 2+1 contract extension.
Most owners believed that Fei’s actions were an attempt to leave Milwaukee as soon as possible, as a superstar like him would only realize his value in a big city.
But you big cities need stars, and we small-market teams also need stars, so restrictions on such situations must be put in place. However, the players’ union would never agree to regulations that restrict free agents from changing teams to pass through labor agreements.
Hence, as small-market teams, the only option is to give them as much money as possible.
And so, the Fei Rule was introduced.
The rule stated that if a rookie player was named MVP during the rookie contract, or made the All-NBA team and All-Star game for three consecutive seasons⑴, they could receive a max contract worth 30% of the team’s salary cap (a 5% increase from the old contract) in their second contract.
⑴The difference from the Rose Rule is that “making the All-NBA team for two consecutive seasons” became three seasons.
With that, both sides reached an agreement on a multi-year labor negotiation.
And the NBA Finals came to the ugliest of conclusions.
The series stretched to seven games. The Spurs, for the second time, restricted the Pacers to under 70 points in a game and then scored 79 points themselves, thrillingly winning their second championship in franchise history, making up for the regrets of 2003.
Tim Duncan was controversially named Finals MVP.
His acceptance speech was, “It would’ve felt even better if the opponent was Milwaukee, if I had beaten Frye.”
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