Chapter 1 Bidding Farewell to 1996

Bidding farewell to 1996, on the first day of the new year, before the team departed for Seattle, Su Feng specially treated Su Junyang to a meal.

Su Junyang, who held multiple positions, had recently been transferred back to the newspaper to cover the CBA, but after only a few days, *China Sports Daily* received many calls from enthusiastic readers.

The gist was, without Teacher Su’s reports about Su Feng, the NBA section of *China Sports Daily* just wasn’t as interesting!

You should know that currently in China, the number of basketball reporters is far less than that of soccer reporters.

Especially someone like Su Junyang, who could easily dash off a glowing 500-word essay about Su Feng, was even rarer.

The fans wanted to read Su Junyang’s little essays, so Su Junyang could only, under the affectionate gaze of the editor-in-chief, once again head to America to, truly, "gather material abroad."

"Hey, Lao Su, how do you usually write about me in your reports?" Su Feng, who had just finished a phone call with Su Weiguo the day before, now dared not trust Zhang Weiping anymore.

Philly's Big Boss, single-handedly dominating Jordan... Good heavens, were they really taking advantage of the fact that Chinese fans didn’t "understand" basketball?

How did the steady, low-key Su Feng get blown up to the heavens by Director Zhang?

Having lived two lives, Su Feng knew very well that sometimes being praised too highly wasn’t necessarily a good thing.

As the saying goes, to kill with praise, one must first praise.

To praise to death, or to beat to death with a stick, only a single word separates them.

Su Junyang, who was buried in his sweet tofu pudding, smiled and said, "Don't worry, Xiao Su, my reports are absolutely objective, fair, and based on facts."

Su Feng nodded. He didn’t have many Chinese reporters he could “trust” these days.

In his mind, Su Junyang was someone he should still be able to trust...

Right?

On the evening of the 1st, the 76ers flew to Seattle.

After finishing the games in December, Su Feng’s stats had risen to an average of 16.7 points, 5.4 rebounds, 1.8 assists, 1.9 steals, and 0.7 blocks per game.

His field goal percentage was 44.9%, his three-point percentage was 39%, and his free throw percentage was 80.5%.

The 76ers achieved an excellent record of 9 wins and 4 losses in December, and the team’s overall record was currently 17 wins and 11 losses.

You might not believe it, but if the 76ers' current record were in the West, they would be ranked fifth, but in the East...

The 76ers were currently 1.5 games behind the Wizards, who were ranked eighth.

However, as the Eastern Conference's internal battles in January and February were about to erupt, Su Feng knew that the opportunities for the Eastern powerhouses to pad their records against Western weaklings would decrease.

Therefore, in Su Feng’s view, as long as the 76ers could maintain a winning percentage of over 55%, the team’s hope of making the playoffs was still very high.

East strong, West weak, what a strange phrase...

Wait a few more years, and the pattern of West strong and East weak would be unchangeable for twenty years.

...

On the evening of the 2nd, in Seattle, this time the 76ers were unable to make a comeback on the Supersonics’ turf.

Payton, whose mentality was thrown off by Su Feng’s double-teaming in the previous game, was glued to Su Feng the entire game.

Iverson was nothing.

I, Gary Payton, only had Su Feng in my eyes tonight!

Kemp didn’t dare wander around before the game, because Coach Karl and Payton were already breathing fire even before the game started.

As if the 76ers had killed their fathers.

Play! Beat them to death!

Su Feng was happy… Ah, no, Su Feng was ‘sad’.

Because Payton’s missed shots were great, but in this game, when the Supersonics came out with the attitude of facing the Bulls to deal with the 76ers, the visiting 76ers were clearly unable to keep up.

Kemp drew a lot of free throws in this game, and both Big Ben and Ratliff were in foul trouble.

In the end, the 76ers, playing as guests in Seattle, lost to the Supersonics 88-99, releasing the Supersonics from the "pseudo-strong team" club.

On the 3rd, the 76ers faced the Warriors, coached by Rick Adelman, in Oakland on a back-to-back.

This Warriors team, which had "Madman" Sprewell, the 1995 top pick Joe Smith, "God’s Left Hand" Mullin, and Mark Price, had a terrible record in the new season.

In the future, people would always praise how great Adelman was, but in fact, besides blindly copying Princeton, this guy was also inflexible and stubborn.

Logically speaking, with the West only needing 36 wins to make the playoffs this season, and you can't even lead this roster to the playoffs, are you going to blame the players?

In Su Feng’s previous life, people always tried to defend Adelman, saying that he also advised Yao Ming to lose weight.

Come on, friends with a little bit of sports common sense all know that with Yao's body fat percentage and weight, you want him to lose muscle?

That wouldn’t be Yao Ming, that would be wanting his life.

Without the defensive system that Van Gundy left for Adelman, well, this game between the 76ers and the Warriors was an example. Besides running around randomly, what else could the Warriors' players do?

You should know that 'blindly attacking' isn’t just randomly attacking, and ‘overbearing shooting’ isn’t just reckless shooting.

Su Feng was curious, in this life, after Divac went to Dallas, how would Adelman play his Princeton without Divac in the future?

In this game, the 76ers passed easily.

The Warriors didn’t defend, and Iverson, Su Feng, and Stackhouse all scored 20+, while in return, the 76ers' defense made things very difficult for the Warriors.

114-94, the 76ers won a big victory over the Warriors on the road.

On the 5th, in Sacramento, the 76ers' unstable problem relapsed.

In the Iron King contest in Sacramento, the Kings' star player Mitch Richmond had the last laugh.

The Philadelphia Iron Trio joined hands to pay tribute to Jordan, striving to be "Jordan's successor."

The final score of this game was 77-81. After finishing this game, the 76ers also ended this three-game Western road trip with a record of 1 win and 2 losses.

...

On the evening of the 5th, the 76ers flew back to Philadelphia overnight.

On the 7th, the 76ers would host the Magic at home.

"Penny" had already recovered from his injury. As Su Feng remembered, after losing O’Neal, Hardaway’s shooting percentage had rapidly declined to 44.7% this season.

Huh? You say that "Penny" suffered an injury, so his stats declined?

Then why was he still able to play heroically in the playoffs this season, averaging 31 points per game and leading his team to a first-round exit?

There was only one truth.

Hardaway’s injury at the beginning of the season didn’t affect his career at all. His efficiency decreased because of O’Neal’s departure.

Without O’Neal attracting double teams, where would Hardaway get the chance to shoot easily?

Just like this season without Su Feng, could Iverson shoot 44% from the field?

In Su Feng's previous life, people always compared "Penny" and Hill, but whether it was the theoretical peak of these two or their popularity at this moment, Hardaway couldn't compare to Hill.

The results of the second round of All-Star voting proved it. Hardaway’s votes were about to be overtaken by Iverson.

And Hill’s votes...

Um...

Um!

Let’s discuss the possibility of Su Feng surpassing Pippen.

Although the hope wasn’t great, at least surpassing Pippen, in Su Feng’s view, was still possible.

Chinese fans in the United States were actively voting for Su Feng, but no matter how many Chinese fans there were in the United States, you couldn’t have more than the local fans.

However, recently Su Feng felt that there was something wrong with his votes…

To be honest, Su Feng felt that his votes were a bit too high.

After all, with the voting method of this era, suddenly increasing by two hundred thousand votes, without human intervention, Su Feng wouldn't believe it even if he was beaten to death.

It couldn’t be that suddenly a group of rabbits ran from the Rabbit Country to New York, and then voted for him and left, right?

If that was really the case, then how much gold content would Su Feng’s final vote count have?

...

On the 6th, after the team returned from the West, the whole team had a day off.

Su Feng wasn’t idle. He asked the assistant coach for the Magic’s game footage after Hardaway’s return.

Without O’Neal, this Magic team was no longer a championship-caliber team.

But relying on the foundation left over from the past two seasons, they were currently ranked seventh in the East this season, and had a direct competitive relationship with the 76ers.

If Su Feng remembered correctly, the Magic would end up with 45 wins this season.

Therefore, if they didn’t want to be eliminated in the first round of the playoffs, in Su Feng’s view, the difficulty of a seventh-seed upset was much smaller than that of an eighth-seed upset.

For this kind of game where winning one game was equal to winning two, Su Feng naturally paid special attention to it.

After O'Neal left, the Magic's inside was currently led by Rony Seikaly.

Born in Lebanon, Seikaly was nicknamed "Dr. Spin" and won the NBA Most Improved Player Award in the 89/90 season.

His signature performance was in the 92/93 season, when Seikaly grabbed 34 rebounds in a single game against the Bullets.

This season, after kicking O’Neal into the sea, the Magic’s management team signed Seikaly as a stopgap measure.

However, Seikaly’s power was clearly not on the same level as O’Neal.

Speaking of which, in Su Feng’s previous life, after Seikaly retired, he also transitioned to becoming a DJ.

Seikaly, who loved music, didn’t have a tough playing style, but he was indeed the nemesis of iron-headed guys like Big Ben and Ratliff.

When the 76ers beat the Magic last time, Seikaly was absent due to injury. This game he and Hardaway were both playing, and Su Feng knew that cutting off the Magic’s inside-outside connection was the key to the 76ers winning.

So, on the afternoon of the 7th, when the team gathered, Su Feng began his actions.

This was how a generation of famous coaches was cultivated.

Looking at Davis, who was brimming with confidence recently, Su Feng kept indirectly probing him during casual conversations.

As a result, Su Feng hadn’t even said a few words, and Davis had an inspiration.

"Jason, what do you think about starting Mark in this game?" Davis turned to look at his two assistant coaches.

"What's wrong? John, has Ben been playing poorly recently?" Jason and Rick looked at Davis curiously.

"No, I specifically studied this Magic team. I hope we can spread the floor and play an offensive game with them," Davis said.

The Magic's defense was pretty good this season, but their offense clearly encountered problems.

And Seikaly had an easily detectable weakness, which was that if the Magic's wings couldn't help him with the double-team, he couldn't cover the paint alone.

After Hendrickson came on, he and Ratliff could both pull Seikaly out, allowing Iverson to break through and create fouls more easily.

Su Feng's main attention in this game would be on dealing with Hardaway. The 76ers needed Iverson to stand up and deal explosive damage.

To be honest, in Su Feng’s eyes, Davis was ten thousand times better than Larry Brown.

Because this kind of coach who was good at listening to suggestions, as long as you gave him two top assistant coaches in the future, he could take off in minutes.

Also, not knowing if it was because he got addicted to “hacking Shaq” when playing against the Lakers, in this game, Davis actually told his players that after the team reached four fouls, if the Magic had momentum, they could immediately foul Nick Anderson.

The ill-fated Anderson…

This child was still fighting his inner demons.

In the future, many people would laugh at Anderson, saying that he shouldn't have provoked Michael Jordan.

But Su Feng knew that Anderson didn’t have no reason for confronting "Old Rogue" back then.

Because in Anderson’s high school days, he had a good buddy named Ben Wilson.

Wilson was recognized as one of the strongest high school students in the country at the time, and the extent to which he was sought after was definitely no less than that of the man in the future.

It was a pity that Wilson sealed his talent in his high school days forever.

After Wilson was shot and killed by thugs, Anderson, who witnessed his friend falling in front of him, chose the number 25 jersey that Wilson once wore after entering the league to commemorate Wilson.

And since then, as long as the TV station broadcast the Magic’s games, Wilson’s mother, Mary, would not miss them.

Because watching Anderson play on the court was like watching her son gallop on the court.

The reason why Anderson dared to say those words to Jordan back then was because, in Anderson’s view, he had witnessed a player who was even greater than Jordan.

Therefore, few people knew that Nick Anderson was one of the players in this league who was approved by Jordan to wear Air Jordans.

"Old Rogue" was annoyed, but he also knew about Anderson’s unknown past.

Of course, in this league, if you are kind to others, then what awaits you must be a painful lesson.

Su Feng didn’t have a "savior complex," so if Anderson was really sent to the free-throw line at that time, then he could only rely on himself...

...

On the evening of the 7th, at the Zhongzhou Arena, the 76ers hosted the Magic at home.

Now the 76ers' DJ had more and more tricks when introducing players, especially when mentioning "Ai Feng," he seemed eager to recite all of Su Feng and Iverson's classic moments from the past.

It was worth mentioning that during the pre-game warm-up, Hardaway always felt that he had a bit of an impression of Su Feng, but he couldn't quite remember the details.

At this time, Hardaway was at his peak. His appearance was very handsome among black players, so he had many fans.

However, thinking of his precarious popularity, which was about to be surpassed by Iverson, Hardaway felt very uncomfortable.

Tonight, he was determined to prove with his strength that an All-Star starter in the East was not up for grabs by a rookie.

After the two teams' entrance ceremony, the big screen showed the starting lineups for the two teams tonight.

Magic: Seikaly, Grant, Scott, Anderson, Hardaway.

76ers: Ratliff, Hendrickson, Su Feng, Harris, Iverson.

The average height of the Magic’s starting lineup was over 2 meters. Under Su Feng’s gentle persuasion, Davis made the decision before the game to let Iverson defend Scott, who was 201 centimeters tall.

Dennis Scott was a player with a height of 203 centimeters whose playing style mainly revolved around catch-and-shoot.

Last season, with O’Neal, he averaged nearly 7.7 three-point attempts per game, with a hit rate of 42.5%.

This season, relying solely on Hardaway’s drive-and-dish, he couldn’t get so many open shot opportunities.

In Su Feng’s previous life, in order to protect our weak Curry, Kerr often had Curry defend the opposing 3-and-D players, and then had Klay take care of the opposing main offensive players.

Tonight, Davis’ arrangement, influenced by Su Feng, was clearly a theoretically advanced arrangement.

Hardaway, who was preparing to blow up Iverson, was stunned, because after Seikaly won the tip-off for the Magic, Su Feng directly put on a full-court press on him.

Su Feng was very clear that the best way to defend against players who were good at breaking through by relying on rhythm was to stick to him tightly on the full court.

Hardaway’s three-pointers weren’t accurate, but his mid-range shooting percentage was quite good, so Su Feng had to try to reduce the number of one-on-one battles with Hardaway inside the three-point line as much as possible.

Why was the mid-range shot difficult to defend?

Because outside the three-point line, you weren't afraid even if you stuck tightly to the opposing shooter.

After he broke inside, someone in the paint would naturally help you rotate over.

But inside the three-point line, in order to defend against this kind of player who was good at breaking through, you often had to take a step back.

Because once you were passed inside the three-point line, your teammates had a hard time reacting.

The reason why Su Feng took a lot of mid-range shots this season was because of this reason.

It could even be said that, on the basketball court, the mid-range shot was sometimes a shot that you had to give to the opponent.

So, Su Feng was very clear that once he let Hardaway enter the three-point line and go one-on-one with him, then no matter how good his defense was, it would be difficult to contain Hardaway.

On the court, Hardaway, who was tightly wound by Su Feng, was chased back by Su Feng after repeatedly using several Crossover moves to shake Su Feng off.

Su Feng adopted an extended defense, giving himself plenty of time to use his speed and lateral movement to catch up with "Penny."

Having faced Hill and Jordan, Su Feng clearly felt that this guy’s starting speed was a bit slower than those two monsters.

The leader of the Iron-Shooting Gang, who was about to turn 34, only looked at whether he wanted to break through you...

As for Grant Hill, once you were passed by that guy, he wouldn’t give you any chance to react and would rush straight to the basket.

The Magic’s first attack, Hardaway couldn’t show off. If he dribbled any further, his stamina bar would be depleted by Su Feng.

Basketball was a sport with high instantaneous consumption, so those who could take 47 shots in a game were collectively called:

Iron Man.

Hardaway wasn’t Iron Man, because he was the elegant "Penny."

He passed the ball to Grant on the right wing, and then Grant lobbed the ball into the paint.

Seikaly’s footwork was indeed solid. The reason why players like Scola could dominate the league in the future was because of their solid inside footwork.

Unfortunately, Ratliff, who had been tricked by Hakeem Olajuwon before, saw through Seikaly’s trick at a glance. He pretended to turn from the baseline but actually wanted to cut to the other side and hook the ball.

The stacking armor tactic was like this. Only after experiencing countless failures could Ratliff grow into an aging warrior.

Pa—!

Seikaly’s hook shot was directly blocked by Ratliff. After Harris secured the rebound, he carried forward the excellent tradition of being a 76ers role player and quickly passed the ball to Iverson.

Hardaway couldn’t keep up with Iverson on this play. "The Answer" broke through and scored a one-handed layup.

0-2!

And in return, just as Hardaway was about to receive the ball on the baseline, Su Feng directly went up for a big delay.

Hardaway was a little stunned, because in his opinion, if Su Feng played like this from the start, would his stamina be able to withstand it?

Unfortunately, Hardaway was clearly out of touch during his injury recovery.

Su Feng’s stamina might or might not be able to withstand it, but Pi Er Ye on TV knew that Hardaway must be the first one to lie down in this duel...