Basketball Legend: When Pride Still Matters-Chapter 527 - 367 I Will End Your Career

Chapter 527: Chapter 367 I Will End Your Career

Ron Artest’s ability to limit Yu Fei was being extolled more and more like the “1996 Payton starting to defend Jordan and the Supersonics reversing two games in a row”.

Whether it was Payton back then or Artest now, their outstanding defensive performances relied on an excellent defense system.

But now, the rules were no longer the same, the teams were no longer the same, and even Yu Fei was much stronger than back in those days, while Artest’s peak defense period had ended with the changing rules.

To better restrict Yu Fei, the other Cavaliers also assisted at his side.

However, Yu Fei’s unreasonable mismatched single play made Artest’s one-on-one defense look very unstable.

The Cavaliers countered Yu Fei’s solo play with Big Z’s offense inside the paint.

...

Then, Yu Fei broke through Artest’s defense using his speed and, attracting Larry Hughes’s help defense, finished with a sudden stop-jump shot.

With such feeble help from his teammates, Artest’s irrational temper started to flare up.

He roared at Hughes, “I don’t need your help, mind your own business!”

It seemed Artest believed his defensive failure was mainly due to Hughes’s “unnecessary” help defense.

Hughes could hardly believe Artest would say such a thing.

Having just been bypassed, Hughes knew that even if he didn’t step up to help, Artest’s speed would not be enough to catch up with Yu Fei.

Artest’s potential to disrupt the team became quietly apparent when his defense was not going smoothly.

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Addressing these discordant sparks, James only said one thing to Artest: “Ron, don’t mind it, Larry was just trying to help you.”

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“No need!” Artest rebutted without leaving any room for discussion, “He can’t help me, did you forget? He’s been scored 70 points on by Frye!”

Artest revealed the narrative angle within the Cavaliers regarding Yu Fei’s 70-point game.

While the outside world claimed Yu Fei scored 70 points over James’s head, inside the Cavaliers, Hughes was cast as the main character in that narrative.

Hughes had no way to dispute this since, in previous matchups against Yu Fei, the Cavaliers indeed asked him to guard Yu Fei. But in that 70-point game, Yu Fei often called for screens to specifically target James, and he scored far more over James than over him.

Fortunately, the fans had clear eyes; apart from within the Cavaliers, there was no narrative of Yu Fei scoring 70 points over Hughes.

Although Hughes resented this, he also knew that because he hadn’t become the strong support for James that the Cavaliers initially hoped for, his status on the team was diminishing, especially after Artest’s arrival, which replaced his value in defending against the opposition’s leading players.

There had always been rumors that the Cavaliers were actively looking to trade him.

Now, being bullied by Artest and seeing James, who claimed to protect everyone under his wing, opt for a middling approach, Hughes felt a deep resentment.

This sentiment directly reflected in Hughes’s desperate style of defense.

Roy hardly did anything, and Hughes rushed up on him, leaving a huge opening.

At first, Roy wondered if it was a trap.

When he broke through Hughes, he realized there was no trap; there was a problem with Hughes’s mentality.

Instead of relying on Yu Fei’s solo play to break the ice as originally planned, the Supersonics inadvertently allowed Roy to effortlessly break through the Cavalier’s perimeter, indirectly creating numerous easy scoring opportunities for Yu Fei.

Suddenly, Artest’s one-on-one defense lost its magic.

The legend of the weapon might come to an end tonight.

Because he could not only fail to stop Yu Fei’s ball-handling attack but was also powerless against Yu Fei’s off-ball offense.

Because of his heavy weight and lack of speed, he could not match the rhythm of Yu Fei’s off-ball offense.

Eight minutes into the game, the continuous connections between Roy and Yu Fei allowed the Supersonics to score 26 points, while the Cavaliers, relying on James’s inside drives and outside passes, only got 18 points.

Mike Brown called for a timeout with a serious look on his face.

James’s confidants were thoroughly disappointed with the defense of Artest and Hughes, and they were extremely envious of Yu Fei’s excellent teammates.

Why could this guy join a bottom-ranked Western team under the so-called guise of savior and get a teammate like Roy? And LeBron, working so hard, just wanted the team to bring in some worthy teammates, but he couldn’t get them?

Just as the leaders of both teams went to rest off-court, Durant unexpectedly became the highlight on the court.

His catch-and-shoot and dribble-pull-up shooting were excellent, and the Cavaliers couldn’t find anyone to match him for a while.

No longer believing Artest could limit Yu Fei, Brown decided to place this once-sharp, now-dulled blade in the most suitable position.

In the next quarter, when the main players from both teams returned to the court, there was an adjustment in the Cavaliers’ defensive matchups.

They assigned Artest to Durant, Hughes to Yu Fei, and James to Roy.

At that moment, the score was 39 to 28.

The Cavaliers were behind by 11 points.

This was mainly because they could neither limit the Supersonics’ main offensive threats nor did they have enough firepower to match the opponents’ offense.

Yu Fei was not pleased with the Cavaliers’ decision to have Hughes guard him.

They should know what the audience wanted to see.

So, when it was the Supersonics’ turn to attack, Yu Fei asked for the ball and before initiating the offense inquired Hughes, “Why isn’t LeBron guarding me? Is he going to be a deserter again?”

At that point, feeling that his time with the Cavaliers was counting down, Hughes had no intention of covering for James and replied, “He’s right beside you, you can ask him yourself.”