Artest was as arrogant as ever against Durant, yet he became restrained when facing Yu Fei.
Against Durant, he could defend aggressively without care, because Durant couldn't handle him and the referees were on his side.
But against Fei, if he defended like he did against Durant, Fei could quickly break through with his swift footwork.
As for those moves that infuriated Durant...
They could be used, but Artest had already seen firsthand how Fei treated his enemies.
He felt that having LeBron on the Cavaliers to bear all the karma was enough; he didn't need to provoke Fei.
Thus, Artest brought preseason-level defensive intensity to Fei.
Fei almost suspected this man had some sort of plot against him.
But he quickly felt the same joy as Roy, seizing the opportunity to score decisively when he saw an obvious flaw in his opponent that came without any traps.
By the time James returned to the game, the Supersonics' lead had already reached 17 points.