Chapter 433: Chapter 289: Everyone is Equal, Except for Shaquille O’Neal

Pat Riley still hadn’t forgotten the excitement of acquiring Shaquille O’Neal from the Lakers.

For the Miami Heat at the time, it was a major victory because they had managed to get the league’s best player by only trading Lamar Odom, Caron Butler, and some draft picks.

This wasn’t Riley’s blind confidence in O’Neal. Back then, basketball experts felt that the Los Angeles environment had led Shaquille O’Neal to lose his edge, and a new setting would rekindle his drive, motivated by the insult of the Lakers choosing Kobe over him.

As a result, while O’Neal’s condition had improved compared to his Lakers days, the improvement was limited, and after a season, everyone knew he was no longer “the most dominant in history.”

Luckily, Dwyane Wade’s rise made up for the shortfall brought by O’Neal.

Before tonight, Riley had always felt that even if O’Neal wasn’t the best in the league, he was still a prime candidate for the league’s top center.

This might have been correct, but Riley hadn’t expected that O’Neal would become an obvious weakness on the court.

After Yu Fei made a three-pointer over O’Neal’s head, the public execution of O’Neal entered a new phase.

Mutombo fouled O’Neal, and the Bucks put Horry in at center, bringing Granger in as power forward. Now, whether Yu Fei wanted a 1-4 pick-and-roll or a 1-5 pick-and-roll, the screener was capable of shooting threes.

Once on defense, O’Neal was like a bitch in heat, surrounded by a pack of males, each with lewd intentions.

Horry hit a three-pointer, Granger also hit a three-pointer, and on the Heat’s side, James Posey responded from outside. Meanwhile, O’Neal wanted the ball to vent his frustration but got fouled tactically by Granger.

O’Neal missed both free throws, Granger grabbed the defensive rebound and passed to Yu Fei.

In less than five seconds, Yu Fei hit a chase-down three-pointer at the frontcourt…

Riley didn’t even look and walked toward the scorers’ table, shouting, “Timeout!”

But what to do after the timeout? The Heat had no plan for this.

Riley called the timeout based on experience, then turned to assistant coach Spo, “Eric, do you have any suggestions?”

Spo said, “Frye used a similar tactic to beat the DPOY Ben Wallace, so it’s almost impossible to find a countermeasure on defense.”

Erik Spoelstra wasn’t a traditional genius coach; he lacked the innovative thinking that Riley cherished, but that didn’t prevent him from considering this Filipino-American the successor.

He would be even better than Jeff Van Gundy.

Because he was an all-knowing basketball expert.

If he said there was no solution to the Frye problem on defense, then Riley would only consider offensive strategies.

The best response on offense was to bring Wade back onto the court.

That was also Riley’s choice.

Since last season, when Wade was firing on all cylinders, the Miami Heat often looked much more dominant, and this season was no exception.

Moreover, in the first quarter, they managed to tie the game with the Bucks under Wade’s leadership.

So the Wade whom Yu Fei had eagerly anticipated returned to the court.

But the mess O’Neal had made was a big one for Wade to untangle.

In less than five minutes, the Heat had gone from trailing by one point to trailing by 14 points.

Wade needed to perform even better than in the first quarter to turn this tide.

Conversely, the Bucks also changed their lineup.

George Karl anticipated that Riley would bring Wade into play. Yu Fei had previously expressed the desire for a fair competition with Wade, so Karl kept only Horry in the paint, replacing Granger with Udonis Haslem.

Seeing Haslem enter the game in a Bucks uniform, especially against the Miami Heat, felt very awkward no matter how you looked at it.

However, that feeling was unique to Yu Fei alone, for only he knew what he had truly done.

After Wade entered, the pressure on O’Neal clearly lifted.

The team no longer relied on his post-ups, and even if he was targeted on defense, the offense didn’t depend on him much due to the “Hack-a-Shaq” strategy, with Wade providing support.

From a technical standpoint, Wade was nearly a perfect ball-handler under the existing rules, except for long-range shooting.

In a one-on-one isolation, he could overpower anyone on the Bucks.

However, for a team trailing by 14 points, the key player’s three-point ability was also crucial.

Wade’s first move was his signature Euro step, smoothly scoring over the help defense.

Yu Fei couldn’t wait to continue the duel with Wade, crossing half-court and calling a 1-2 pick-and-roll, dribbling between his legs, swaying left and right, then stepping back beyond the three-point line to hit his third three-pointer of the night.

Wade’s scoring not only failed to cut the gap but was countered by Yu Fei who increased the margin to 15 points.

Afterward, the Bucks’ zone defense forced Wade to pass on his drive.

On the perimeter, Payton missed a three-pointer.

The Heat’s momentum was interrupted, and the Bucks ran the fast break efficiently under Yu Fei’s control.

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Even though the Heat had three players in the backcourt, they couldn’t organize an effective defense, as Yu Fei’s presence was too overwhelming, drawing the attention of almost all the Heat players.

Yu Fei only needed to penetrate the zone to compress their defense into a small area before passing out.

It was Ariza who benefited from the fast break, with Yu Fei drawing fire in front, he simply had to catch and finish, once again showcasing his extraordinary athleticism with a slam dunk to cap the counterattack.

“Keep it up, Dwyane,” taunted Yu Fei, “keep attacking like you did in the first quarter and show me what you can do.”

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