Chapter 757: Chapter 504: A Kobe that Can Be Liked is a Good Kobe Chapter 757: Chapter 504: A Kobe that Can Be Liked is a Good Kobe Strange as it may seem, after Yu Fei granted Durant the right to pose as Kobe on the court, he seemed much more normal.

Maybe it was the low shooting percentage in the first quarter that made him wary, or perhaps those few minutes sitting on the cold bench off-court helped him clear his head. During the time he led the second unit, he played just as the coaching staff wished to see.

Leaving aside the restrictions Durant faced within the system, his sheer talent was enough to support him in producing All-Star numbers in a middling team.

The Spurs, lulled by their successful defense in the first quarter, had lowered their guard against Durant, which was their biggest mistake of the night.

Their failure to maintain constant defensive pressure allowed Durant to find his comfort zone, where he started to dominate in the areas he was accustomed to.

Durant’s performance escalated with a pull-up jumper after a left-hand dribble, followed by a steal and a coast-to-coast dunk, and finally a three-pointer that forced the Spurs to switch back to Andre Iguodala.

But by then, the gap had widened to 16 points.

Popovich’s response was a bit slower than expected.

Knowing that Iguodala did not match well with him, Durant’s basketball IQ recovered upon facing this adversary again–this was a characteristic he had not displayed in the first quarter. He used his offensive threat to disrupt the Spurs’ defense, like a courtesan who teases but does not surrender. Iguodala, a wealthy patron invited by the madame, could not get the kind of contact he desired.

Durant passed the ball.

Could one witness both the Durant of 2019 and the Durant from the 2022 semi-finals against the Bucks tonight?

If the 2019 Durant was a late-stage princess disease, the 2022 Durant was the peak of his individual heroism. He had moments close to the 2019 Leonard and the 2018 James, but ultimately missed out on the opportunity for a “real ring” by half a foot.

Yu Fei believed Durant was not encumbered by such complex circumstances now.

He had simply been provoked by some external factors.

Specifically, what could it be? Yu Fei suspected it was the matter of Durant being left off the All-NBA Team.

Personally, Yu Fei understood Durant’s desire to perform better. But regrettably, the SuperSonics were not his team. The SuperSonics already had a leader, and Durant was fated to play second fiddle. What he truly needed to understand was that it was not Yu Fei blocking his performance, but Chris Bosh.

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Bosh, under Tyronn Lue’s coaching, had successfully freed himself, regaining the sensation of being a star player. His synergy with the ball-dominant core, combined with his active integration into the system, had consumed the space that belonged to Durant.

Status is always earned through competition, yet Durant did not see himself in a competitive relationship with Bosh. He believed all that happened because Yu Fei wanted it to happen.

This was a perspective that magnified Yu Fei’s influence to the extreme, indirectly showing how successful the external myth-making about him was.

Even Durant believed that Yu Fei could orchestrate such maneuvers.

In reality, Yu Fei didn’t have that many thoughts.

The core principle of the ball-dominant system was minimalism. A tactic that required 15 seconds could be executed in five seconds by just the core and a pick-and-roll partner.

And the other three players? They just had to be ready for contingencies.

In this frequent two-man dance, whoever was more compatible with the core had more comfortable playtime.

Bosh’s experience and style made him emerge victorious in the competition.

The key reason Bosh could win, however, was that Durant did not believe he needed to compete with Bosh. Yu Fei was first, he was second; it should’ve been this way.

Now, with the correct style of play, he stood out on his own, making Coach Lu realize Durant’s greater tactical value.

But how could Durant’s tactical value be effective within Yu Fei’s system?

Coach Lu asked his assistant coaches, wanting to know how to incorporate a secondary scorer alongside a ball-dominant core.

Assistant coach John Welch vividly recalled Yu Fei’s time with the Bucks.

“Back then, Frye needed the ball more, but he enjoyed working with Ray Allen and Kevin Martin,” Welch said directly, “Maybe we could draw some lessons from that.”

While using a formula could speed up problem-solving, Coach Lu felt something wasn’t quite right, so he consulted Tim Grgurich, his most trusted veteran assistant coach.

There was a problem with that too.

Grgurich was a coach with a severe bias. If Coach Lu discussed defense with him, Grgurich would draw from a wealth of knowledge, but offense? Grgurich’s understanding of offense did not include a ball-dominant core, so he couldn’t offer relevant advice.

“If you were to ask me how to limit Frye, I might be able to give you a few suggestions,” Grgurich said with a smile.

Coach Lu’s last hope was Adrian Dantley, the reticent assistant, brought in by Karl to be a player development coach.

Although no one really understood why someone renowned for their selfish play during their career was responsible for the players’ future development, at this point, Lu had no choice but to resort to this option.

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Surprisingly, Dantley, who seemed taciturn, turned out to be quite talkative on topics he liked.

Lu asked him, “Adrian, do you see KD being a good secondary scorer to Frye like how Ray Allen was back in the day?”

Yet, Dantley shook his head seriously, “It won’t work.”

“Why not?” Lu asked.

“Ray Allen was a typical shooting guard, but KD is not a typical small forward,” Dantley stated bluntly, “Starting his offense frequently from the three-point line is an extremely inefficient way for him. He’s too tall. George had tried it before, and it failed.”