Basketball Legend: When Pride Still Matters-Chapter 461 - 315 Demon of the Heart

Chapter 461: Chapter 315 Demon of the Heart

Pachulia made one of two free throws, and the Miami Heat hoped to start tonight’s game with low post offense centering around Shaquille O’Neal.

But defending O’Neal was not Pachulia’s responsibility alone.

For any team, dealing with O’Neal almost always requires a double-team, which is virtually a compulsory choice; the only question is who to send for the double-team.

The Bucks’ choice was that whoever was closest would double-team.

This time, the one doubling O’Neal was Yu Fei, as a result, he left James Posey unguarded.

Although not a playmaking center, O’Neal was well aware of how much attention his offensive threat could draw, and he was always ready to pass the ball after drawing a double-team.

The only question was, could his teammates make the damned shot?

Posey, who had shot 40% from three in the playoffs to date, made the three-pointer.

1 to 3

Yu Fei advanced the ball past half-court, and Martin, following the regular tactic, ran from the left side to the right. Suddenly, he noticed that O’Neal’s attention was all on Yu Fei, and behind him was a vast defensive void.

Although this was not part of the Bucks’ strategy, Martin dashed full speed toward the basket.

Yu Fei passed the ball quickly, and after Martin received the ball and stepped into the paint, he cleverly created a timing advantage; even if O’Neal realized and tried to block, he could never catch up to that unattainable ball.

3 to 3

In the following dozen seconds, O’Neal and the Bucks played a game of catch, attract the double-team, pass, catch again, attract the double-team, then pass again.

O’Neal was able to draw the double-team each time, but the Bucks’ defensive rotation was fast, and Yu Fei wouldn’t give Posey another open shot.

With only eight seconds left on the shot clock, the ball came to Wade’s hands, and he faced Raja Bell at the baseline.

In the semifinals against James in the Eastern Conference Finals, Bell experienced a drastic contrast of ‘fire and ice’ on the court.

If James was hard to stop due to his once-in-a-generation talent, what made Wade frightening was his ability to change direction at full speed without losing any velocity.

Bell thought his defense had no lapses, yet Wade’s full-speed variations and lightning-quick changes of direction plunged him into a defensive labyrinth. In the blink of an eye, Bell, who had started in a superior position, was thrown off balance.

Wade moved as fast as lightning, taking quick steps to cut in for a layup.

3 to 5

Yu Fei had seen plenty of players with fast breakthrough speeds—like McGrady’s explosiveness off the first step or Parker’s spinning layups after breaking into the paint. Those were fast, but Wade’s quickness was beyond common understanding.

Speaking solely of his take-off speed and explosiveness, he was fast, but not the fastest. His terror lay in the fact that his changes of direction and variations at full speed never slowed down; it was hard to imagine this was a man who had part of his meniscus removed.

“No wonder he’s the one who can make the Big Fatty behave like a dog,” Yu Fei said.

Bell countered, “You should beat him.”

Yu Fei tossed the ball to Bell for the inbound. “Why?”

“As far as I’m concerned,” Bell sarcastically said, “he’s more of a threat than that new-clothed king.

Yu Fei took the inbound from Bell and turned towards the frontcourt.

In recent years, the hottest topics in the NBA all seemed to revolve around Yu Fei.

Second only to that, the rivalry of the two titans.

The League had appointed James as Yu Fei’s destined archrival although this archrival, due to team circumstances, couldn’t yet compete with Yu Fei on the same stage, but the league had decided, “It’s you, nobody else is worthy.”

Under such promotion and hype, would Wade and others remain indifferent?

Yu Fei believed that Wade must be very angry inside, for his strength was noteworthy, and his team more than capable to compete with Yu Fei.

As for Wade’s mindset, Yu Fei had experienced it during the regular season; he was a competitor who disguised himself well. If you didn’t take him seriously, he would bite you hard.

Yu Fei arrived in the frontcourt signaling for a 1-2 pick-and-roll.

Bell happily offered the pick-and-roll, forcing Wade to switch onto Yu Fei.

Wade’s defensive skills and experience were not lacking. As a guard, he could be considered a defensive gate for the perimeter, but Yu Fei didn’t want to test his defense. He went straight for the height advantage with a fake and a step-back jump shot in response to Wade’s layup.

5 to 5

Yu Fei and Wade didn’t say anything, but a competition had spontaneously begun.

Wade once again dribbled forward and, after encountering a zone defense, passed the ball out to the perimeter.

His teammate didn’t hurry the shot, while O’Neal was desperately calling for the ball. The Bucks’ interior defense was the weakest they had faced since the playoffs began; it was time for him to shine.

But at that moment, Wade suddenly exuded a hint of the Lakers’ No. 8, giving Yu Fei a sense of déjà vu.

“Swish!”

Making a three-pointer over Bell’s head, Wade loudly said, “If you dare, keep letting me shoot threes!”

The most miraculous thing about Wade in the playoffs was the sudden surge in his three-point shooting percentage.

A cold shooter averaging only 17% from three during the regular season suddenly shot 35% in the playoffs, utterly irrational, as if chosen by fate.

Wade, with that kind of three-point shooting rate, suddenly matured into Pat Riley’s imagined complete player, a Michael Jordan minus five centimeters.

Wade came out attacking with full force, prompting Yu Fei’s strong desire to counter.

Yu Fei called for the 1-2 pick-and-roll once more.

With a hint from Posey, Wade and Posey suddenly double-teamed Yu Fei at the top of the arc.

The perimeter defense formed by Wade and Posey was touted as the strongest in the Eastern Conference. Their sudden double-team had caused numerous ball handlers to lose possession.

But Yu Fei kept dribbling towards the sideline, and when pushed to the limit, he abruptly stopped, turned around for an off-balanced, one-legged fadeaway jump shot, facing the double block, he forcefully shot the ball.

“Whistle!”

Posey’s aggressive physical contact made the referee blow the whistle.

And that ball, it hit the backboard with a high-speed spin and bounced into the basket.

“And one!!!” Mike Breen exclaimed passionately, “Frye Yu takes on two and hits an extreme jump shot just on the line!”

With a disdainful smile on his face, Yu Fei asked, “Are two people enough?”

Wade stopped short of speaking.

“Just a fluke!” Posey yelled.

“Luck?” Yu Fei mocked, “That’s something people like you need. Not a single one of my shots is a fluke.”

After speaking, Yu Fei walked up to the free-throw line, and after making the extra shot, he saw Shaquille O’Neal glaring at him and said, “Dwyane is trying so hard, why aren’t you barking along like the dog you are?”

“Shut up, you mongrel!” O’Neal shouted powerlessly.

Yu Fei ran off while O’Neal pressured Wade, “Dwyane, if I get position down low, you’ve got to pass me the ball!”

What’s scary isn’t Wade not passing the ball, what’s scary is Wade becoming more and more like Kobe.

In the face of O’Neal’s complaints, Wade had only one thing to say: “Oh, I got it.”

But how could Wade be like Kobe? He wasn’t even like Penny, the hypocritically refined pretty boy.

What pleased O’Neal the most was that, although Wade was the future face the Heat relied on, at least he respected O’Neal and treated him like a big brother.

Coming to the frontcourt, O’Neal fiercely fought for position, but the Bucks rarely double-teamed.

O’Neal caught the ball, thinking his chance had come, but as he muscled under the basket, ready to smash the rim in a moment of venting, Pachulia ruthlessly committed a hard foul.

“!￥!￥”

A confrontation broke out directly under the basket, and Yu Fei dashed over, getting in Pachulia’s face and trading insults with O’Neal.

The referees intervened to stop the scene.

Apart from Pachulia’s hitting foul, there were no other additional fouls.

O’Neal seemed to have an anger within him that could never be vented.

This was George Karl’s plan.

Constant double-teaming O’Neal was certainly feasible, but it was time-consuming and labor-intensive, and might even fire up the Heat’s outside shooters.

So, interspersed with the double teams was the Hack-a-Shaq strategy, leaving O’Neal always in a situation where he had the ball but couldn’t attack, could attack but not finish, and even if he finished, he might get fouled.

Even the bravest of warriors targeted this way would be unable to exhibit their full prowess, even if they had godlike strength.

Moreover, athletic contests are not just about strength, but also about mindset, emotions, and desire. O’Neal now was like a player in an FPS game who gets sniped the moment they peek out; even the strongest of people would be thrown off their game if they were harassed like this.

Against any team led by Yu Fei, O’Neal found it hard to maintain his composure. The more he wanted to perform, the less the Bucks let him, and that was Karl’s sinister intent.

He understood all too well the pain of “wanting so badly to slaughter the opponent but just being unable to.”

Before he coached Fei, he felt similarly towards Phil Jackson.

O’Neal’s mindset was exploding as he missed both free throws.

Yu Fei grabbed the defensive rebound, passed long to Martin, who then distributed it to Bell, assisting the latter’s dunk.

“Mr. Pig, if you keep playing like this, Dwyane might trade you to the Clippers,” Yu Fei taunted.

O’Neal roared back, “Apart from fouling me, what else can you do?”

Then the Bucks immediately demonstrated what else they could do.

O’Neal’s once overwhelming inside presence during the OK Dynasty had ushered in the era of zone defense legality. As one of the prime victims of this rule, O’Neal was about to taste this bitter fruit for the nth time.

Pachulia intentionally allowed O’Neal to catch the ball near the middle lane, which meant O’Neal had to face a triple team from three directions.

Yu Fei and Bell both moved in.

This chapt𝒆r is updated by frёewebηovel.cѳm.

Martin blocked the passing lanes, Yu Fei made a sharp steal, and the moment O’Neal turned the ball over, the Bradley Center erupted with thunderous applause, as everyone on the court experienced tinnitus for a second, two seconds, three seconds, until Yu Fei arrived in the frontcourt and dunked the ball.

“!￥!##￥%”

The momentum on the court completely shifted to the Bucks, with O’Neal showing signs of collapsing like he did in the first round against the Bulls in the third and fourth games.

Riley knew Yu Fei restrained O’Neal, but he hadn’t anticipated the scene being this horrible.

Yu Fei was no longer just a restraint to O’Neal.

He was now O’Neal’s personal demon. As soon as he saw him, O’Neal would lose control. He would want to show his worth, and if he couldn’t, he would become anxious. And once he was anxious, Yu Fei’s targeted insults, filled with personal attacks and derogatory trash talk, were enough to shatter O’Neal’s defenses.

“The Miami Heat Team calls for a timeout!”

This was a fact Riley had already known during the regular season and was now reaffirming.

To defeat the Bucks, they couldn’t rely on O’Neal. The Bucks’ seemingly weak inside was an illusion. Should they be deceived and regard O’Neal as the absolute core of the game, the great giant would turn into poison and kill them all.

Riley saw this clearly, but he wondered whether O’Neal could see it.

Or rather, was O’Neal willing to be, as Yu Fei put it, the dog by Wade’s side, offering help instead of insisting on being the centerpiece to defeat Yu Fei?

That would determine the direction of the series and the future of this veteran-rookie partnership.

Pat Riley urgently wanted to know the answer.

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