Silent Love

Some exist with pride, others struggle with pride, some compete with pride, and there are those who fail with pride, but very few can walk away with pride. 
Congratulations, for as you read these lines, you have witnessed the whole lives of many great basketball players.
This pronunciation was embodied when Stephen Curry, after facing defeat in 2021, claimed that no one would want to face them the following season; When Tim Duncan was convinced before the start of the 2014 Finals that they would not mess up; When Kobe Bryant promised at Old Buss's memorial to take the Lakers to the playoffs; When Nowitzki, shedding his label as a soft player, retreated to the locker room in tears at night; When Kevin Garnett let out a skyward howl after holding the championship trophy; When the 2004 Detroit Pistons won and the F4 Lakers lost…

Our story begins in an era when pride still mattered.

Basketball Legend: When Pride Still Matters

However, the Lakers' personnel assignment doomed their inside players to move outwards, making it no easy task to find a nearby teammate.


At this point, Kobe had to attempt wide-range passes.


And as a standard shooting guard by size, under Durant's influence, it was hard to judge whether the passing route was risky.


This involved a multi-layered game of wits. Coach Lu hadn't thought that deeply when he designed it, but the players brought their own creativity.


After probing for a while, the Lakers found that if they didn't force the big men out, they'd have to let Kobe and LeBron go one-on-one. If they didn't go one-on-one, the key to breaking the defense was getting Pau Gasol to consistently hit that damn three-pointer.


That was something the Lakers didn't want to attempt, because Gasol was a player with a considerable shooting percentage but a low three-point output.


Chapter 508 LeBron, Be Like Frye_2