Chapter 750: Chapter 501: If_3 Chapter 750: Chapter 501: If_3 Each play had a clear purpose, and, moreover, no two plays were the same.

Furthermore, the Supersonics were completely on their game from the start.

Yu Fei hadn’t even taken a shot, and the Supersonics had already slammed down 22 points in half a quarter.

The Timberwolves called a timeout, aiming to disrupt the Supersonics’ offensive rhythm, but after the timeout, Westbrook began to force his way through like a bull in a china shop because he was having an off shooting night. Yu Fei only needed to focus on guarding his drives.

Once Westbrook turned into a headless fly, he would become a hideous turnover machine.

Regarding turnovers, there’s nothing you can think of that he couldn’t achieve.

Yu Fei had not had many scoring opportunities up until then, but now, just by capitalizing on the defensive fast breaks handed to him by the opponent, he scored 6 points.

By the end of the quarter, the Timberwolves were still gasping for air, but only their wolf heads remained howling outside as their bodies were buried in the ground.

39 to 22
The Supersonics held a substantial lead.

Yu Fei rested early, as Coach Lu extravagantly used the playoff garbage time for rotation experiments.

He wanted every player on the big roster to get some time on the court to see who was in form.

Two players gave Coach Lu a pleasant surprise.

One was Shaun Livingston. Livingston was originally signed to back up Roy, but now, with Roy yet to return, he became Yu Fei’s backup.

Since Livingston didn’t shoot three-pointers, this severely limited his role in the Supersonics’ system.

Karl couldn’t figure out how to use Livingston properly and thus benched him entirely.

Coach Lu felt everyone had a role to play. What, you don’t play tactics? Well, that’s great, neither do I. Just play however you’re comfortable.

Coach Lu, during his player days, suffered from being confined by systems. He spent his entire career serving the team and its stars, never getting a chance to truly play freely. So, he was willing to grant guards more freedom.

That’s why he gave Fei the reins, hoping to call on a deity, and indeed, he summoned the Bucks’ Fei.

Livingston was a guard who needed to post up, so Coach Lu gave him just that, letting him play freely down low. With this arrangement, Livingston really came to life.

He transformed from an insipid backup to a valuable role player.

Of course, this came at a cost. The Supersonics’ second unit was basically unsystematic. Although they had basic tactics, the players mostly played their own game.

But Coach Lu believed in one principle.

Only when the ball handler is comfortable can the team’s offense be comfortable, too. If the ball handler plays disgustingly, his passes would turn into vomit, indirectly making the whole team sick.

This indirectly dismantled Karl’s second unit system but also made the transitional phase under Coach Lu look less chaotic. Although it lacked method, who cares? It was fluid, enjoyable, and it seemed everyone was happy–that was enough.

Another beneficiary in Coach Lu’s system was the rookie Alonzo Gee. Gee reminded Coach Lu of himself when he was younger, working so hard yet unseen by anyone. Doubling others’ training volumes didn’t earn him five minutes of play.

Coach Lu designated Gee as Durant’s backup and the backup power forward for certain intervals, and Gee repaid him with tremendous energy.

Durant liked the second unit’s style of play in the Supersonics.

He knew he could get many opportunities under this style, with the most important part being the lack of too many rules.

However, he and Yu Fei always played and rested at the same time.

Thus, he was almost always paired with Yu Fei, which was different from when Karl was around.

Karl often let Durant lead the transitional phase in order to let him take flight.

Coach Lu’s background meant he was grounded and proactive in thinking about the needs of the underdog players. At the same time, this mindset also led him to passively miss out on the chance to decompress Durant.

Why is coaching related to philosophy? Because this is not just a matter of tactical consideration; it requires deep logic in human consideration.

The second half of the second quarter, Yu Fei and Durant returned.

When Yu Fei came back, the reckless style led by Livingston disappeared.

Yu Fei commanded his troops like a general on the battlefield.

This authority was irresistible.

Durant became one of the lined up, and then, Yu Fei broke through, tore open Westbrook’s defense, and charged under the basket to score with a slam dunk.

The crowd at Key Arena began to cheer.

The Supersonics’ lead had reached 25 points.

The suspense was gone.

The second half was all garbage time; the Supersonics didn’t continue to play with intensity but matched the Timberwolves point for point to maintain a 20+ point gap until the final buzzer sounded.

Yu Fei only played 28 minutes, securing 24 points, 9 rebounds, and 11 assists.

Compared to Yu Fei’s average stats in the regular season–29 points, 10 rebounds, 12 assists (scoring champion + assist leader)–tonight’s numbers didn’t reach his average level.

However, the competitive state displayed by the Supersonics was enough to sound the death knell for the Timberwolves.

Durant accepted an exclusive interview with ESPN on the topic of “how important selflessness is for a three-peat.”

Yu Fei took a courtside interview.

Regarding the victory, he seemed indifferent, but he fully acknowledged the support of the fans at the scene.

“I’ve heard that Rucker Park at its prime was a basketball holy land,” Yu Fei said, “If the rumors are true, then Key Arena tonight is basketball heaven.”

An ABC reporter asked, “So in your view, heaven is a basketball court?”

Heaven is a basketball court?

Yu Fei laughed, “This is the best interpretation of the game I can think of.”

Then, tonight’s losing side vowed to give the Supersonics a hard time. Westbrook said, “We had no energy tonight, but it won’t be like that every night.”

McGrady threatened, “If we hadn’t made so many mistakes, the game definitely wouldn’t have ended like this.”

Kwame Brown pointed out on Twitter, “Look, Tracy is starting with the ‘ifs’ again. Is that a good sign for us?”

Afterwards, the process of the Supersonics’ second away game was no different from the previous one.

The Supersonics still led from start to finish, still with a 20+ point victory.

The Timberwolves wanted to take back a game at home.

For the third game of the first round, the outside world had a lot of confidence in the Timberwolves because the head referee was the notorious Scott Foster.

Many future fans are familiar with him primarily because he became Chris Paul’s “arch-nemesis.”

But at present, in today’s 2010, Foster’s tarnished reputation mainly comes from his deep friendship with Tim Donaghy.

Donaghy is the most evil figure in basketball, and Stern swore Donaghy was the only bad apple. Yet Foster, the man with an intimate relationship with him, became the most likely “seed player” to be tainted. Under this prejudice, Foster’s personal style was magnified; he was known for arrogance, unwillingness to listen to players and coaches, and a tendency to instigate rather than quell conflicts.

Yu Fei’s supporters worried that Foster would rig the game, but Yu Fei himself was not worried at all.

Two years ago, when Foster’s father died, Yu Fei was one of the few players who sent him a condolence message.

He was not friends with Foster, but Foster would not make things difficult for him.

Even, Foster was willing to call ticky-tack fouls for Yu Fei at away games.

Yu Fei did not know if this had anything to do with the message he sent back then, but Foster’s favorable impression of him definitely resulted in some unnecessary protection in certain games.

That night, the Timberwolves played with strong fighting spirit, standing up to the Supersonics for three quarters; in the final quarter, Yu Fei repeatedly drove to the basket, causing the Timberwolves’ starting center to foul out, filling the arena’s center with curses at the referee.

They thought Foster would be the team’s savior; instead, he was a disaster.

Without their starting center, the Wolves’ defense fell apart, wasting the effort of the first three quarters. Yu Fei blasted 42 points, 11 rebounds, and 7 assists, with 17 free throws being particularly eye-catching, as many as the entire Timberwolves team.

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After the game, Westbrook furiously blasted the referees, and afterward received a fine of 100,000 US Dollars.

When Minnesota’s media pointedly asked Yu Fei about the free throws, the answer they got was infuriating.

“That might be one of the reasons the Timberwolves lost tonight,” Yu Fei said dismissively, “But I think you should know that we can beat the Timberwolves even without the advantage in free throw numbers. If you have doubts about the free throw count, file a complaint, have your video analysts edit the footage and send it to the League. Don’t ask me why I had as many free throws as the entire Timberwolves team. Should the referees ignore your fouls just because you don’t have many free throws?”

“Or is it that…”

Yu Fei asked with a smile, “Are you actually complaining that the referees didn’t help you enough?”