On November 25, the game between the Seattle SuperSonics and the New Jersey Nets began at New Jersey Arenas.

And before the game, the Nets held a special retirement ceremony, and the retired player was none other than their center Alonzo Mourning, who was signed just this year.

Doctors believed that Mo Ning's kidney function could no longer support high-intensity events, and Mo Ning reluctantly announced his retirement.

What was seen as the final piece of the puzzle for the Nets to win the championship was shattered.

The crowd and players from both sides silently prayed for Alonzo Mourning to the music of the retirement ceremony, wishing him a speedy recovery.

Lu Fei stood on the court, and couldn't help but recall a photo in his mind.

It was a group photo of the Nets starting lineup before the Nets and Spurs met in the Finals in the 2002-2003 season.

The picture shows Jason Kidd, the best playmaker of the year and one of the best playmakers in history, Kenyon Martin, who played in the CBA, and of course, Richard Jefferson, who later assisted LeBron James in winning championships.

There is also Uncle Mu, who fans are very familiar with.

Most fans can remember the glorious moments of many teams in the NBA league, such as the Bulls dynasty co-created by Jordan and Pippen, the OK combination teamed up to play the Purple and Gold Dynasty, and Nowitzki's team led the team to defeat the Miami Big Three. There are also three points from Ray Allen in the 2013 Finals G6 and so on.

But in fact, in contrast, the New Jersey Nets, a team that has reached the Finals for two consecutive years, is rarely mentioned, and perhaps this team has long been forgotten by fans.

Jason Kidd, the on-court commander of the Nets back then, led the Nets to the Finals, which can also be said to be the role of the Nets management.

In the 2001-2002 season. The Nets traded Marbury and Newman from the Suns to get the all-time playmaker Jason Kidd.

In fact, when he was in the Suns, Kidd had already reached the All-Star level.

Three first-team selections, two-time All-Defensive Selection, three-time assist leader.

That kind of performance is enough for the Suns to keep him, Jason Kidd is in the Suns, what he lacks is proof in the playoffs, he has not led the Suns to the Finals.

Therefore, the Suns chose to trade Jason Kidd, who was still in his playing year.

The year before Jason Kidd came to the Nets, the Nets had a record of only 26 wins, and after Kidd arrived, the Nets, who held the No. 1 pick, suddenly became a championship contender.

After Jason Kidd came to the Nets, the Nets quickly got a boost, and the atmosphere in the locker room was also very harmonious.

In the end, the Nets did not disappoint Jason Kidd and also gave Jason Kidd the best honor.

Jason Kidd's No. 5 jersey was retired with the Nets.

Under Jason Kidd's leadership, rookies like them have unleashed tremendous potential, and the team's offensive and defensive transitions are unmatched, as evidenced by their ability to reach the Finals for the second year in a row.

But to the surprise of fans, no player in such a strong team averaged more than 20 points per game in the regular season in those two years.

And the SuperSonics are facing such a Nets today.

Although there is no Uncle Mu, and Mourning also retired due to kidney disease, this team still has the troika of Jason Kidd, Kenyon Martin, and Richard Jefferson.

When he saw the name of the opponent's starting center, Lu Fei laughed - Jason Collins.

The replacement for Mourning is the first active professional player to reveal his identity as a closet, and of course no one knows it yet.

Lu Fei could only look at Aoku who was unaware of it sympathetically.

Oku didn't notice anything out of the ordinary, except that it took a little bit longer for Collins to shake his hand.

When the MC on the scene introduced the scoring guard of the Nets, Dior whispered on the side: "If the Nets hadn't picked this guy with the No. 8 pick back then, if they had chosen Bryant, maybe they would have won the championship." ”

Lu Fei smiled, the name of this guy in Dior's mouth was Corey Kidders.

As Dio said, the Nets did have the No. 8 pick that year, and Kobe Bryant was selected by the Hornets with the 13th pick and traded to the Lakers, and the Nets could completely cut off.

And Kobe Bryant now has three championship rings in his hand.

Ray Allen laughed: "There are two reasons why the Nets gave up on Bryant, one is because the NBA was prejudiced against high school players and didn't trust high school players very much. ”

Lu Fei nodded.

This situation is related to the fact that high school players are young, have not gone to college, and have not gone through higher education.

Most of them are talented, but their skills are immature and still need time to be polished, and most of them are still mentally immature, not as easy to manage and adapt to professional leagues as college students.

"And the second reason, Kidders was definitely a good player at the time, although his current situation is 108,000 miles different from Bryant, but he was definitely a good choice back then, you must know that Bryant's rookie season was just a substitute, averaging only seven or eight points per game, no matter how compared to Kidders."

Ray Allen was right, Kobe Bryant in his rookie season was basically a fringe role on the team, and the Lakers' main point guard at the time was three-time All-Star Eddie Jones.

Eddie Jones was the No. 10 pick selected by the Lakers in 1994, a good defensive and offensive player, known as the "successor of Pippen" that year, averaging 17.2 points, 4.1 rebounds and 3.4 assists per game in the 96-97 season, and was the team's second scorer after O'Neal.

With Jones firmly occupying the starter, Kobe Bryant played in 71 games that season, only 6 starts, and played only a pitiful 15.5 minutes per game, Rao is so still able to see 7.9 points, 1.6 rebounds and 1.3 assists, the efficiency is still quite high, but compared with Kidders, it is obviously a little worse.

In his first season in the NBA, rookie Kidders was much better than rookie Kobe, he played all 82 games for the Nets, including 57 starts, and was already firmly in the Nets' starting second position in the late season, averaging 36.7 minutes per game, shooting 37.7% from three-point range, averaging 16.4 points, 1.9 steals, 3 assists, and was selected to the "All-Rookie Second Team" after the season.

It is worth mentioning that in his rookie season, Kidders set a record of 158 three-pointers in a single season for a rookie in NBA history, and it was not until the 2008-09 season that Rudy Fernandez broke it.

"But our toughest opponent is still their star of the day, Jason Kidd." Ray Allen said solemnly: "As long as Jason Kidd is here, their strength should not be underestimated, you must know that he is the best at turning the game into a playmaker who plays more and plays less...... Lu Fei, this is your most difficult task. ”

Lei Allen looked at Lu Fei.

Lu Fei shook his head and smiled bitterly, it was simple to prevent Kidd's offense, because Kidd's nickname was "Kidd's offense", although he still averaged 15 points per game, but compared to his organizational ability, this score was sprinkled with water.

The hardest part was to defend against his passes.

is also a passing organization, Lu Fei and Kidd are two completely different styles, Lu Fei is more about using his shooting and breakthrough to attract defense, and then find the vacancy of his teammates, while Kidd is in control of the overall situation, and his inadvertent pass is likely to form a local situation of more and less play.

At the referee's whistle, the game began immediately.

And Lu Fei knew that the confrontation with Kidd had officially kicked off.