NBA's King of Talking

Chapter 217 Eastern Conference Semifinals

That evening, Jia Fei logged into the system to check his task completion status. He had scored 31 points in the previous game, which should have counted as completing the 30-point task. Sure enough, the task was completed, and he received a reward of 2000 points.

Adding the 9879 points he already had in his account, he now had a total of [number missing] points. He spent 7000 points to raise his "Iverson Peak Skill Integration" from 62% to 63%!

After achieving a 60% integration rate, Jia Fei felt he could perform Iverson's signature moves without much difficulty, though he just didn't execute them as effortlessly as Iverson. His height and wingspan made Iverson's crossovers incredibly difficult to defend; his speed and quick release meant that, as long as his shooting touch was on point, defenders were practically unable to block him.

On the evening of the 5th, at the Pacers' home arena, Bankers Life Arena.

The Indiana Pacers are a veteran team in the NBA, having been a well-established professional basketball team since the ABA era. Unfortunately, they have yet to win an NBA championship. They reached the Finals in the 1999-00 season but lost to the Los Angeles Lakers led by the "OK" duo.

Before the match, the media ran the slogan, "This is a contest between two of the most improved players."

The Pacers' current star player is Paul George, who won the Most Improved Player award in the 2012-13 season, while Jia Fei is the Most Improved Player award winner this season.

Barkley boasted on a pre-game show that Paul George and Roy Hibbert would shut down Jia Fei and stop the Hawks from advancing to the semifinals.

Jia Fei's outstanding performance in the first round not only made the Thunder team a laughingstock for a long time, but even the basketball god was not spared. He was also dragged into the criticism because he had two opportunities to beat Jia Fei, but he failed to seize either one...

There's a joke going around that Kobe Bryant has no son and has already gone 0-for-3 on his shooting, while Jordan has gone 0-for-2 against just one player, Jia Fei. The two greatest shooting guards in NBA history have such abysmal shooting percentages in this area...

This match was broadcast live on China Sports Channel, with commentators Yu Jia and guest Su Qun providing commentary.

Su Qun habitually adjusted his glasses, and when he felt uncomfortable, he took them off, wiped them with a cloth, and then put them back on.

"What do you think of this match, Teacher Su?" Yu Jia, as the host, asked the question as usual.

Su Qun answered slowly and deliberately: "The Hawks and the Pacers are different types of teams. The Hawks have good offensive spacing, pass a lot, and play a team style, which is a bit like the Spurs. Their coach comes from the Spurs. The Pacers have good defense, and Coach Vogel is good at coaching defense. When these two teams meet, it really depends on whether the Pacers' defense can stop the Hawks' offense."

"Does Teacher Su think Jia Fei will have a harder time in this round than in the last?" Yu Jia continued to ask.

"That's not necessarily true. The Pacers' defense is strong, but Roy Hibbert is a big center and doesn't come out of the paint much. Noah's help defense is better, and the Pacers are probably better at protecting the rim," Su Qun said.

The starting lineups for both teams have been announced.

The Pacers' starting lineup for the home game is Roy Hibbert, David West, Paul George, Lance Stephenson, and George Hill.

The Hawks' starting lineup for the away game is: Antić, Mills, Jafki, Korver, and Teague.

The game started quickly, with Roy Hibbert and Antić heading to the center circle to prepare for the jump ball.

Hibbert is jokingly called "Gao Yuanyuan" by Chinese fans. He is 218cm tall and stands tall like a pillar. With such a height, he should be able to grab rebounds easily. However, he sometimes contributes 0 points and 0 rebounds in the game. If he is not "Gao Yuanyuan", should he be called "Short Square"?

Seriously, Gao Yuanyuan is incredibly tall! Jia Fei felt that she wasn't much shorter than Chairman Yao, and with her wingspan, she was practically a mountain.

The jump ball began, and Gao Yuanyuan, being tall, won possession of the ball, which then went to point guard George Hill.

George Hill is nicknamed "Jiao Zhixi" by Chinese fans because his name sounds similar to the Chinese character "焦志喜" (Jiao Zhixi), and the Chinese-sounding name "Jiao Zhixi" makes it sound more endearing to Chinese fans.

The Pacers' offense is slow-paced. Aside from Stephenson, who plays shooting guard and whose rhythm is unpredictable, everyone else on the team prefers a slower pace. Their star player, Paul George, isn't particularly fast, but his playing style is aesthetically pleasing; his dribbling is incredibly smooth, and his elegant jump shot after a graceful dribble is like eating a Dove chocolate bar. In contrast, Akron's "shuttle walk," his "Yangcheng Lake jump shot," and his "jumbo layup" seem like completely different things.

Jia Fei's primary defender is Paul George. He knows George very well, having known him since his previous life. George can play both on and off the ball, is an excellent defender, has an amazing appearance as a Black man, dribbles with incredible fluidity, and is very popular. As a primary scorer, the main factor limiting his potential to become a top scorer is his ability to break free from defense with the ball.

Paul George's first step isn't quick enough, and he can't lower his center of gravity, which means he needs to add a lot more dribbling moves to get past his opponents. Sometimes, his smooth dribbling is because he can't get rid of them. Have you ever seen peak Iverson dribble, dribble, dribble? He could just do a crossover or a quick step-over and get past them without needing so many complicated moves.

He couldn't shift his center of gravity, and he lacked a quick first step; ultimately, these are all matters of talent. Paul George certainly doesn't have top-tier talent, otherwise he wouldn't have fallen to 10th place in the first round.

Both being 203cm small forwards known for their graceful playing style, McGrady's first step was noticeably faster. McGrady also had a higher center of gravity, but he was simply faster!

Jia Fei's defense against Paul George involves cramping his lower body, preventing him from gaining position, and forcing him to use his weaker hand to take a difficult shot.

Paul George couldn't shake off Jia Fei, and with the help of David West's screen, he took a shot from mid-range, but it was interfered with by Jia Fei who had squeezed through the screen—and missed!

Gao Yuanyuan naturally couldn't grab the rebound under the basket; the ball was snatched by the two-meter-tall Mi Shen.

Teague dribbled over and passed to Antić at the high post.

Antić passed the ball to Jia Fei, who, facing Paul George's defense, used a screen to move to the strong side and passed to Antić on the cut.

Antić passes to Korver in the corner again!

Korver faked out Stephenson and took a long two-pointer—it almost went in!

David West grabbed the rebound.

Neither side made a shot at the start, but you could clearly feel the difference in the two teams' offensive styles from the game.

Jiao Zhixi dribbled the ball slowly across half-court. He couldn't speed up too much because Gao Yuanyuan was running too slowly.

Jia Fei felt that even Chairman Yao was faster than Gao Yuanyuan. This kind of pure defensive center without shooting skills would be subjected to relentless training in the upcoming small-ball era.