Basketball Legend: When Pride Still Matters-Chapter 529 - 368 Kevin Has Grown Up

Chapter 529: Chapter 368 Kevin Has Grown Up

James was called for a technical foul.

The head coaches of both teams tacitly subbed out the two players to control their emotions.

Yu Fei believed he was in a good mood and didn’t need to leave the court to adjust.

But Karl had far more experience than him.

“The referees have an opinion about you,”

Having been in the league for many years, Karl quickly realized something was off with the referees. They didn’t want their officiated games to lead to embarrassing incidents, yet Yu Fei had almost sparked a brawl between the superstars.

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The referees could allow Yu Fei to run wild, but pushing James to the brink of a fistfight was too much.

“They have an opinion just like that?” Yu Fei said nonchalantly, “I haven’t even started yet.”

Karl advised, “Better save some energy, you and LeBron have a long way to go.”

Yu Fei looked at Karl oddly, wondering why his straightforward comment sounded as though he and James were a divorced couple when coming from Karl.

But Karl was right.

Yu Fei wasn’t yet 25, and James wasn’t even 23. They would compete for many more years, and this feud would continue to spread.

However, from the audience’s perspective, the enmity between Yu and James had reached its limit. They couldn’t imagine how this already deteriorated relationship could get any worse.

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“Alright, it just so happens I also want to see what kind of performance Kevin will put on against that mad dog,” Yu Fei said.

Yu Fei sat down.

Although the Supersonics subbed out Yu Fei, they were not obviously affected like the Cavaliers.

Because James was everything to the Cavaliers, whereas Yu Fei had not extended his influence as the main core in Milwaukee over the entire Supersonics team.

To his teammates, Yu Fei was no different from the other wing cores, not so ball-dominant, absolutely reliable on offense, able to create opportunities for others, and willing to take on defensive responsibilities.

Supersonics fans naturally saw this as the secret to Yu Fei’s four championships in the past five years.

But only the veterans of the Bucks knew how much Yu Fei had changed.

This approach indeed kept Yu Fei from the mythical triple-double averages, but it also allowed him to integrate into the Supersonics system almost without any growing pains.

Even without him on the court, the Supersonics could still operate effectively.

Because Brandon Roy was there.

Larry Hughes continued his self-destructive defense, and Roy gratefully exploited the vulnerabilities he offered, increasing his personal offense appropriately.

At the same time, Roy wasn’t a selfish ball-handler.

In fact, he was so unselfish that Karl wished he would increase his personal offensive load.

Roy quickly learned how to pass to Kwame Brown, absorbing Yu Fei and Karl’s small ball concepts from Milwaukee like a sponge, and played the 1-4 pick-and-roll with Rashard Lewis as skillfully as a small-ball veteran.

He played too maturely, not at all like a second-year player.

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However, considering he played four years in college, and by age, he was a peer of Yu Fei, Karl was not surprised.

Brandon Roy was precisely the proof of how right it was for the once NBA lottery picks to stay in college for 3-4 years.

Roy was happy because Hughes was messing up.

Brown was happy because the alley-oops from Roy tasted good.

Lewis was happy because he thrived in George Karl’s system.

Even Josh Childress, the fourth-year wing who replaced Yu Fei, was happy. Although he didn’t get offensive opportunities and his defensive effort couldn’t be reflected in the stats, he felt that replacing Big Fei on the court showed the coaching staff’s recognition of him.

Why wasn’t it James Posey or Channing Frye replacing Big Fei, but him instead? Setting aside that they both played power forward in Karl’s system, Childress believed it was first and foremost because of his own overflowing talent; he was the only one who could truly fill in for Big Fei.

But happiness didn’t belong to everyone.

Durant was not happy.

Because he was closely guarded by Ron Artest.

As a former DPOY, Artest immediately realized what Durant’s slender frame implied.

No strength to withstand impact, unable to cope with intense physical play.

Artest used a level of close defense beyond Durant’s imagination, exerting a lot of pressure, confrontation, and frequent body contact.

Durant could assert that half of Artest’s actions were fouls.

If the referees weren’t blind, they should blow the whistle and harshly penalize this thug.

Unfortunately, rookies didn’t receive preferential treatment from referees.

Perhaps in the eyes of the referees, using Artest’s defense to teach Durant a lesson was exactly what they wanted to see.

Yu Fei observed carefully from the sidelines.

When Artest’s elbow jabbed into Durant’s body, one could see a clear flash of anger cross his face.

For such non-basketball actions, even the referees had to make a pretense of calling a defensive foul on Artest.

However, the same action might have been called a technical foul on someone else.

Durant’s anger flashed across his face, possibly in the blink of an eye, he had forcibly suppressed the negative emotion.

As if nothing had happened.

This is the image Durant had shown the world since his debut—a gentle and kind basketball player.

Everyone who has played basketball with Durant says he is Seattle’s Gandhi, but Gandhi wouldn’t compete with as much fighting spirit as Durant does.

Can strong competitive desire and kindness really coexist in one person?

Durant can endure, but for how long?

Not everyone can tolerate the intense, in-your-face defense like Ron Artest’s.

Durant couldn’t feel his teammates’ joy, the only thing he could feel was Artest’s malice.

“You’re overrated!”

“First pick? Is this the power of the first pick? I doubt you could lift a woman in a fireman’s carry!”

And Durant just kept reminding the referee, “Sir, he fouled me!”

The referee’s indulgence only emboldened Artest, who suddenly bumped Durant out of the way, causing him to miss Brandon Roy’s pass.

The ball went out of bounds, leaving Durant’s teammates puzzled.

They didn’t know what had happened here.

“Cry about it!” Artest mocked. “Go call your daddy Frye, he’s my real opponent!”

An unquenchable rage was burning in Durant’s heart.

He remembered Frye’s teachings on ordinary days, that serious face, those endless trash talks, those one-on-one games without any chance to fight back.

Frye asked him why he wouldn’t take an attitude of fighting for his life.

Durant’s answer was: We’re teammates.

Now, he was facing an opponent who thought him weak and vulnerable, and indeed, the opponent’s defense was having an effect.

The Knights capitalized on Durant’s failure to catch the pass and completed a set piece attack.

Afterwards, Durant immediately asked for the ball from Roy as soon as he got to the front court.

Roy passed it to him, then directed his teammates to spread out and reminded Durant, “Don’t just think about playing one-on-one, you can call for a pick and roll!”

At that moment, Durant wasn’t receptive to any advice; he lowered his center of gravity and pulled off a Yu Fei-style wide crossover dribble between his legs right in front of Artest, his coordination was enough to complete the move smoothly, and he managed to shake off Artest’s defense at that moment.

However, Artest physically wrapped himself around Durant’s body with his hands.

It was definitely a foul, but the referee remained indifferent, causing Durant’s offense to nearly fail, and after getting frustrated, he forced a shot that missed.

Thankfully, the ever-elusive Josh Childress snatched the offensive rebound and completed the putback.

Just when it seemed that the round would end there, Durant disgustingly waved his hands at the referee and roared, “If you can’t see him fouling me, take your damn eyes out and donate them to someone who can use them!”

“Whistle!”

Durant earned a technical foul with his effort.

Unexpectedly, seeing the referee give him a ‘T’, Durant persisted, “Didn’t expect your eyes to be blind and your ears dull, you can hear me, right? FUCK YOU!!!”

Another ‘T’ descended swiftly, and Durant picked up an ejection package.

An intense desire to win and kindness can’t coexist.

Yu Fei had always believed this, but he couldn’t rule out the possibility that “the original Durant might be a good person” until he saw Durant’s meltdown.

But now, everything became clear.

A persona is just a persona; fake can’t become real, no matter how Nike markets him, no matter how Durant disguises himself, no matter how much he gets into the role, as long as he can be provoked by someone like Artest, the act can’t last long.

As Durant was about to leave the court, Yu Fei approached the sidelines, ready to take over.

Yu Fei waved, and Durant slapped his hand in frustration.

But Yu Fei grasped Durant’s wrist and said, “From today on, don’t let me see you wearing a middle schooler’s backpack and pretending to be an innocent boy.”

Durant blinked, his pure eyes showing confusion.

“I can’t accept someone who tells the head referee ‘F-YOU’ pretending to be pure. You understand?” Yu Fei said, “This should be the first time you’ve been ejected from a game, I should say a few words to congratulate you. But I’ve thought about it, and there’s nothing to congratulate you on, it’s just great to see your true self. Welcome to the adult world, Kevin.”

The adult world? No, Durant still wanted to return to campus, to be his backpack boy.

But he knew, some things can’t be taken back.

As Durant walked down the corridor, Yu Fei’s personal reporter Jack McCallum came running up and asked, “Kevin, can you share what you said to the referee just now?”

“I said it was a bad call.” The Durant who did not want to grow up attempted to obscure the truth.

McCallum smiled without speaking, although he didn’t know what exactly Durant had said, he and everyone else in the arena had seen the “F-YOU” lip shape.

But this was not something to be sad about, it might be bad for Durant to encounter such a thing, but for those worried that his nice personality would put him at a disadvantage on the court, this was a great thing.

Their little Kevin had grown up.