Basketball Legend: When Pride Still Matters-Chapter 422 - 281 Are You Going to Fire That Gun or Not?

Chapter 422: Chapter 281 Are You Going to Fire That Gun or Not?

Yu Fei was earnestly preparing for the game against the Mavericks because he remembered that in ’06, the Mavericks had made it to the finals, only to be taken down by Wade, who was bolstered by an average of 16 free throws per game.

However, clinging entirely to past experience might not be accurate, because his arrival had already altered the landscape of the Eastern and Western conferences.

For the moment, the best Yu Fei could do was focus his attention on the Mavericks and the Miami Heat, the two known finalists.

He studied them carefully to see if there were any weaknesses.

Dallas, American Airlines Arena

Mark Cuban watched with self-satisfied pride as the powerful team he had assembled warmed up before the game.

Like in previous years, this season’s Mavericks were still favored by many.

Currently, they had 8 wins and 2 losses, ranking second in the Western Conference and second in the league, right behind the Spurs.

Then, the Bucks arrived at the venue.

Cuban didn’t like them.

In some ways, the Bucks were quite similar to the Mavericks.

Both teams were built around a superstar and seemed to be assembled in the manner of an NBA LIVE enthusiast, though Cuban denied doing any of this, despite admitting to trying out some “imaginative lineups” in NBA LIVE.

The Bucks took it further, betting it all on Yu Fei. Their prime big man was Kwame Brown, a washout discarded by the Mavericks themselves, surrounded by a spread of shooters, all depending on Yu Fei to initiate.

To many, this was unreasonable and went against the basic principles of basketball.

Yet, the Bucks stubbornly went their own way.

Cuban’s dissatisfaction stemmed from the Bucks having won two championships already. He believed that was the reason the Bucks were experimenting with their team-building, since they had won everything already, did results still matter? What was truly important was keeping Yu Fei happy.

The Bucks’ current lineup was the best fit for Yu Fei. It helped him average a triple-double, with the team ranked fourth in the league, enjoying unparalleled prominence for a while.

As Yu Fei caused an uproar among the fans with a windmill dunk, Cuban’s disdain peaked.

As an owner who liked to meddle with his team, he truly despised such superstars who tried to elevate themselves above everything else.

Because in the end, players given authority and strong management were naturally in conflict.

Cuban was thankful, for Dirk would never be like that.

“Mark, do you want to say a few words to everyone before the game starts?” Mavericks’ head coach Avery Johnson asked Cuban.

“There’s no need,” Cuban said, “but I think beating the Bucks at home would be a fantastic Thanksgiving gift.”

Today, the Bucks had not started Danny Granger at the small-ball four position as they usually did.

Because George Karl had taken into consideration that the core of the Mavericks was Dirk Nowitzki.

Granger was barely adequate against an average power forward, but to deal with Nowitzki, a bona fide power forward was much safer.

Tonight, the Bucks’ starting lineup was Yu Fei, Raja Bell, Kevin Martin, Robert Horry, and Kwame Brown.

As usual, on the first play Yu Fei passed the ball to Brown.

Today, Brown was exceptionally eager to perform.

Because he had played for the Mavericks the previous season.

While with the Mavericks, his experience was similar to his first two years in Washington: glued to the bench, only a few minutes of play each game. The problem was, his performance in games and practice was nearly identical to Dampier’s, yet the Mavericks firmly stuck with Dampier as a key part of the rotation.

Because in NBA LIVE, Cuban had discovered that the pairing of Dampier and Nowitzki was more effective for scoring points.

This was a greater humiliation than being looked down upon by Jordan early in his career.

The team owner had established his position on the team based solely on a single-player video game.

Unfortunately, Brown was overly excited, and upon seeing that the Mavericks weren’t defending his high post, he decided to try a mid-range shot.

Naturally, he missed.

The Mavericks’ poor defensive transition immediately exposed their biggest issue.

They did not have a reliable core point guard.

Jason Terry was a guard whose individual offense much exceeded his playmaking.

In this play, although Terry pushed the ball up fast, a passing error occurred, turning the counterattack into a half-court situation.

The Mavericks, missing their chance, handed the ball over to Nowitzki.

Nowitzki’s jump shot missed.

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Yu Fei grabbed the rebound and rushed to the frontcourt to exploit Terry’s mismatch, taunting before making his move, “Where’s your gun, cowboy? It didn’t jam, did it?”

As the words fell, Yu Fei steamrolled over Terry like a tank, raising high for a layup to score.

0 to 2

“You just wait!” Terry shouted furiously.

But Yu Fei never got a response.

Because Terry, upon penetrating to the basket, had to face the double defense of Yu Fei and Brown, leaving him no choice but to pass the ball off to Dampier underneath.

This kind of delicate handiwork isn’t something Terry can grasp.

He might be able to pass a pretty nice under-the-basket direct pass during the team scrimmages, but during an actual game, the difficulty of such a pass multiplies exponentially.

Take now, for instance, the Bucks aren’t giving any space for direct passes; if you insist on making one, you’ll have to lower your passing angle, but as soon as you do that, it becomes uncomfortable for a big center like Dampier to handle.

Unfortunately, Dampier also has a pair of hands that could rival Kwame Brown’s for the “Butterfingers of the Sleeping Dragon and Phoenix Chicks” title, and Terry’s pass slips right through them, picked up by Fei.

At this point, the Mavericks have nothing on their mind but to fall back on defense.

Meanwhile, Fei was controlling the pace of the defensive counterattack, continuously signaling to Brown, waiting for him to get in position before delivering a silky lob pass.

This pass was so smooth it had Karl on the side exclaiming, “Frye ought to write a book solely about how to pass to players like Kwame!”

Brown catches the ball and slam dunks it, 0-4.

“All day long you have me on the bench!” Brown shouts in Cuban’s direction, “Am I worse than that asshole, you imbecile!”

The Mavericks were getting flustered.

Because Nowitzki wasn’t in his element tonight.

During a subsequent offensive play, Nowitzki, as per the strategy, moved to the low post to receive the ball, beautifully spinning inside and shaking Horry off to one side, stepping under the basket for a reverse layup.

And yet, he unbelievably missed a shot that he would never normally miss.

Brown fiercely grabbed the defensive rebound, “Who else wants some?!”

Fei was getting sick of it; all this posturing was far from elegant.

Kwame Brown’s posturing had become a must-see feature of the Bucks’ games, akin to the abstract painting of live broadcasting: initially off-putting but increasingly addictive the more you watch.

That’s why Fei decided to keep feeding Brown.

Moreover, this game was very important to Brown.

He wanted to prove himself in front of his former teammates.

So, setting Brown up was like killing two birds with one stone.

Only, Fei didn’t expect that Brown would shout trash talk every time he scored.

Such behavior might be tolerated on someone like Garnett, but the referees wouldn’t allow a bust number one draft pick to be so brazen.

After Brown gobbled up the fifth piece of “cake” served by Young Master Fei, he yelled toward Nowitzki, who had fouled him, “Not a single one of you can play, you goddamn need me too much!”

Nowitzki’s face was full of question marks, uncertain what this former teammate, who knew nothing but picking up leftovers and eating ‘cakes,’ was bragging about.

The referee could no longer tolerate it and slapped Brown with a technical.

“A technical? Are you joking? You’re actually giving me a technical?” Brown roared in disbelief.

Just as Brown was about to explode at the referee, Fei stepped forward and held him back, “Alright, let’s get back to the game.”

“No way!” Brown said, “It’s obvious the ref is jealous of my talent, otherwise why would he arbitrarily give me a technical?”

You’re just an average starter, showing your teeth and snarling like this on someone else’s court; it’s already good restraint that the referees have put up with it until now.

But Fei and Brown, they couldn’t get that point across, so they just gave Karl a look.

Karl knew what to do.

Shortly after, the Bucks subbed in Udonis Haslem for Kwame Brown.

Brown was undoubtedly the brightest player for the Bucks since the start of the game; his “cake-eating” was fluent, his defense was outstanding—clocking in 11 points, 4 rebounds, and 1 block in just six minutes.

Moreover, Brown’s vitality indirectly exposed another fatal issue for the Mavericks.

This was a problem that had existed for a long time.

The lack of strength at the number five position.

Although a shooting team like the Mavericks didn’t rely heavily on the number five position for offensive power, unlike the Bucks who needed Brown and Mutombo to maintain the intensity at that spot, the Mavericks placed their bets on Dampier over the summer.

Nowitzki is offense-heavy and defense-light; the Mavericks needed a strong center to cover for him, but Brown was not interested in the qualifying offer, the Mavericks didn’t want to spend money on him, and after failing to dig out Big Z from Cleveland, they had no choice but to pin their hopes on Dampier.

If Dampier had played at his 2003-04 season level (12 points, 12.2 rebounds), that would’ve solved their inner-line problems.

However, what the Mavericks got was not the Dampier of his contract year, nor the degraded Dampier of the previous season (averaging 9 points, 8.5 rebounds), but an even worse version than last season, averaging a mere 4 points and 7 rebounds to date this season.

At this level, he might at best be a substitute, but with his salary nearing $9 million this year, the Mavericks clearly couldn’t afford to let such an expensive center warm the bench; they had to keep using him, praying for his stats to improve—not even to the level of his contract year, but just back to last season’s numbers shouldn’t be too much to hope for, right?

This expectation wasn’t excessive, and then Kwame Brown shattered Dallas People’s illusion about Dampier.

If your substitute from last season is now taking a dump on your head, what more is there to say?

Mark Cuban’s face was growing increasingly grim.

Verbally humiliated by Brown live, and surrounded by home fans questioning why he’d given up Steve Nash for such a waste of talent.

A Nowitzki in poor form meant that the Mavericks, facing the Bucks who were firing well both inside and outside, found it difficult to even return fire.

At halftime, the Bucks led the Mavericks by 15 points, 64-49.

Fei continued his hot streak from earlier, chopping up 12 points, 10 rebounds, and 10 assists, refreshing the achievement of a triple-double at halftime.

“I just want to ask Jason Terry one question,” Karl expressed on behalf of the whole team during the mid-game interview, “Is your gun still firing? If you don’t start shooting, we’re going to lose, you know.”

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