Chapter 547: Chapter 385: Those Who Refuse Me Will Face Misfortune

With four and a half minutes left in the game, trailing by 17 points, in the Big Ball Era, this deficit was essentially a death sentence for The Celtics.

But The Celtics did not give up.

The tenacity and resistance they showed were equally impressive.

They persevered until the last second of the game.

As a result, they narrowed the gap to 9 points.

Looking at the outcome, their efforts seemed meaningless, but for the fans, a game that should have ended in a landslide defeat turned into a regular loss by a margin of 9 points, thanks to the players’ efforts.

Disappointing, yet acceptable.

Yu Fei delivered the most signature performance of the season, with 54 points, 10 rebounds, and 8 assists, virtually single-handedly taking down the League’s top team.

“If Frye was still in the Eastern Conference, would The Celtics still be the number one seed? Once upon a time, that was a question, but tonight’s game has given us the answer,” Doug Collins, as a well-known supporter of Yu’s, unabashedly lavished praise on Yu Fei, “If Frye were still in Milwaukee, Boston wouldn’t stand a chance.”

Moreover, the game took on extra drama because it involved the signing of PJ Brown.

But for PJ Brown himself, even if Yu Fei had won, he was still inclined toward The Celtics.

It was a strange mindset.

Yu Fei did his best to defeat The Celtics, but in PJ Brown’s view, it was a performance that couldn’t be sustained.

He couldn’t score 50 points against The Celtics every time.

For PJ Brown, his one demand was to win a championship. If The Celtics were the choice closer to that goal, why would he opt for a more distant one?

Some reporters at the scene also brought up the bet with PJ Brown to Yu Fei.

Yu Fei didn’t know how this had gotten out, but in the age of the internet, the NBA was like a show, so it didn’t matter who the source of the news was.

“It was just a joke. PJ will make the best choice for himself,” Yu Fei said, not naively thinking that just by beating The Celtics he could win over PJ Brown’s commitment.

After all, this old-timer hadn’t wanted to play basketball anymore, and with the season more than halfway over, the reason he wanted to come back was to retire with a championship.

Compared to The Celtics, the SuperSonics were far from championship material.

Humans are creatures that set rather flexible standards for their own words and actions.

Therefore, Yu Fei didn’t want to seriously publicize this bet, so he downplayed it as a joke, letting PJ Brown decide for himself.

If he came to Seattle, Yu Fei would of course welcome him. If he still chose The Celtics after watching the game, then Yu Fei would understand. But understanding didn’t mean he would accept it.

PJ Brown’s choice of The Celtics would give him one more reason to shatter The Celtics’ championship dreams this season.

The SuperSonics’ victory over The Celtics on the road could be called an upset.

Because The Celtics had an incredibly high home win rate this season, currently on a winning streak, while the SuperSonics were deeply mired in a weak frontcourt, facing a Celtics team with an absolute advantage in the paint, a loss was the most likely outcome.

No one expected Yu Fei to suddenly put on a burst of power.

This caused the SuperSonics’ victory to quickly dominate the front pages of the major media outlets.

Besides inquiring about the game with Yu Fei, reporters inevitably had to mention the issue of the SuperSonics’ relocation.

Many signs have indicated that the SuperSonics’ relocation plans had slowed down–even come to a halt–but in April of this year, Yu Fei, who took it upon himself to keep the SuperSonics in Seattle, still had a hurdle to overcome.

Every April, the NBA holds a shareholders meeting, where owners generally attend.

The shareholders meeting is usually for summarizing the gains and losses of the year and introducing the future direction of the League, and owners can also express their opinions.

If the SuperSonics were to relocate, Clay Bennett could bring it up at the shareholders meeting. If it comes to a vote, as long as there are more votes in favor of the SuperSonics’ relocation, the League would approve their relocation proposal.

Then, the SuperSonics’ relocation would become an internal fact within the League, and the only remaining issue would be the contract with Key Arena.

According to most experts’ guesses, as long as Bennett proposed a move at the shareholders meeting, the vote would certainly pass.

It was no longer a question of wanting or not wanting the big market of Seattle, but a choice made by the owners based on their own interests.

The SuperSonics, unable to garner support from the local government for a better arena, are facing an issue that will sooner or later fall upon other NBA teams. These owners, usually not handling affairs, were precisely the biggest supporters of Bennett’s relocation, hoping to mold Seattle into a typical case to threaten other NBA cities.

Upon hearing such concerns, the good mood from beating the Celtics naturally faded away.

Yu Fei said, “I don’t know if I should worry, and besides, the SuperSonics are moving in a positive direction. If we give up now, all our efforts would have been in vain.”

After the press conference ended, Yu Fei walked down the corridor.

Only the SuperSonics’ press officer and Kwame Brown were by his side.

They encountered two Celtics giants in the corridor.

Garnett and Pierce seemed to have been waiting for a while.

Garnett being there wasn’t surprising; Yu Fei and he were on fairly good terms. Pierce being there was unexpected–Yu Fei had just blown him out in the game tonight, and trash-talked both his physique and his psyche mercilessly.

“Frye, you guys played well tonight, but next time it will definitely be us who win,” Garnett said. “We’ll get our revenge on your home court.”

Yu Fei asked, “Did you really wait here just to tell me this?”

“We’re good, right?” Pierce wanted to make sure that Yu Fei’s dominance on the court wasn’t due to a personal vendetta.

Yu Fei countered with a question, “No problem?”

“Next time I’ll still get on your nerves,” Pierce said with a laugh.

Yu Fei also laughed, but his smile was bound to remind Pierce of tonight’s game, “I’ll shut you up.”

Afterward, they said their goodbyes.

Only after walking some distance did Brown say to Yu Fei, “You’re probably the only person who can make Paul Pierce feel scared.”

“Do you really think he’s scared of me?” In Yu Fei’s eyes, wasn’t Pierce just an indomitable annoyance regardless of how hard he was hit?

Brown said with certainty, “If he weren’t scared of you, he wouldn’t have gone out of his way. He came to chat tonight just to confirm you didn’t mistake him for LeBron.”

Yu Fei hadn’t thought that much; tonight was just a preliminary probe of the Celtics.

His conclusion was that the Celtics’ overall strength was above the SuperSonics, but their problem was the lack of a decisive closer.

Pierce had guts, and Red had once made a surprise performance against the Spurs in the 2003 finals. But did both men’s exceptional games come with a Klay Thompson-style selective memory boost? What does that mean? When you see Thompson shine in a series’ Game 6 – big C’s and special C’s – you tend to forget his mediocrity in the other games of the same series because the subjective excitement overshadows everything else.

Sudden outbursts in key games bring the ultimate experience to the audience, and then, that impression gets infinitely deepened.

This almost always happens to both unheralded players known for their resilience and grassroots superstars.

This selective memory phenomenon basically means that when they play well, everyone sings their praises, but when they play poorly, it’s overlooked.

The only thing that might change the grassroots vibe of the Celtics was Garnett, who was notoriously unreliable in clutch moments. That was the problem. The team’s most valuable star could change the team’s vibe, bring defense, and provide intensity, but at life-or-death moments, you didn’t want to see him with the ball because he tended to solve problems with jump shots. Rather than betting on his jumpers, it was better to rely on people like Pierce and Red who had been there in the big moments.

So, while the Celtics had the strongest overall power, they also had the worst responsive coaching staff and the most unpredictable attacking ability. These traits prevented them from winning those razor-thin away games; they had to use so-called courage, trust, commitment, teamwork, Celtics’ pride, and other intangibles not reflected in the stats, to amplify their home advantage and defeat their opponents.

That evening, the SuperSonics’ coaching staff reached out to PJ Brown to negotiate signing him.

As Yu Fei expected, they did not sign PJ Brown.

After contemplating deeply, PJ Brown called Yu Fei.

He said on the phone that he had to make a decision that was most likely to let him retire with a championship ring.

Yu Fei suddenly felt a bit of “admiration” for PJ Brown; he was not swayed by emotions, even if he himself had just dropped a near-triple-double with 50 points. He wasn’t the type to be staggered by subjective sensations.

But reason does not equate to being right.

Read latest Chapters at WuxiaWorld.Site Only

“You know, PJ, back in the summer of 2003, I tried to recruit Gary Payton to my team, but he thought the Lakers were better. They had OK and Karl Malone, so their chances of winning a championship seemed higher,” Yu Fei calmly said, “Do you know what happened next? Kobe was accused of raping a hotel employee in Eagle County, Karl Malone was plagued by injuries that season, and Payton had a finals performance that tarnished his legacy, afterwards wandering around like a stray dog and ultimately getting nothing.”

Yu Fei’s tone was so calm, not discomforting in the slightest, yet PJ Brown felt a chill down his back.

“Frye, what are you trying to say?”

“I’m just giving you a piece of advice,” Yu Fei said. “Those who refuse me tend to suffer misfortune.”

Vote