Basketball Legend: When Pride Still Matters

For some, there's joy; for others, sorrow.

If Milwaukee Bucks' fans had a happy year, then the Washington Wizards' fans hadn't felt joy since the start of the new season.

From last October to this June when the season ended, every time Yu Fei pulled off something astonishing, "that trade" was brought up.

Yu Fei never hid his disdain for Jordan.

The Wizards always found themselves the target of all.

Even the fans who supported the team were ridiculed as fools, with others saying, Is this the team you support? They traded away the best rookie since Wes Unseld for a 40-year-old man?

It was a difficult thing to refute.

More taxing than the Bucks competing for the top spot in the league, and the Wizards struggling for a playoff spot, was the Wizards having to face the Bucks three times during the regular season.

In their first meeting, Yu Fei came with fury and scored 56 points for the game.

In the second confrontation, Yu Fei scored over 40 points and led his team to a big win over the Wizards, prompting Jordan to utter his classic blame-shifting remark, "His horse is taking off, while my mule is ****ing."

The most devastating was the third battle between the Bucks and the Wizards.

By then, the Wizards' playoff prospects were hanging by a thread, and one more loss would have spelled the end of even their theoretical chances of advancing to the playoffs.

As it turned out, Yu Fei descended like a god of war, scoring 60 points in three quarters and causing a severe knee injury to Jordan in the final play.

In order to stabilize morale and help with ticket sales, Jordan didn't immediately announce he was out for the season, instead using a "game-to-game" status as a smokescreen.

To Wizards fans, even if they couldn't make the playoffs, it would be nice to witness Jordan's final performances.

But Jordan never played again.

For Jordan, this was the worst possible outcome.

Once you stop playing, what people remember is how Yu Fei had made a fool of you.

Criticism of Jordan began to grow, with questions and doubts about "that trade" multiplying.

The external media atmosphere was overwhelmingly one-sided.

Within the Wizards, a collapse seemed inevitable.

The person driving this implosion was Doug Collins.

Trying to be more tolerant and steadfast in the face of adversity, Collins quoted Edison to his players before the third-to-last regular-season game: "Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up."

It had little effect.

Kwame Brown started and then began a flurry of mistakes; Collins benched him and gave him a harsh lecture.

With Jordan out, Collins' own authority seemed to dwindle.

An adolescent-rebellious Kwame Brown yelled at Collins, "Go to hell!"

Collins was shocked; he realized his control over the team hinged entirely on Jordan's authority, leading to a terrifying result: He was clueless about how to effectively coach a player whose surname wasn't Jordan.

This led to Jordan's intervention, as he dragged his injured body to the practice court and warned Brown, "You can't treat our coach like that!"

Thus, Brown was forced to apologize.

Then, Collins fielded an outside lineup of Cassell, Starkhouse, and Hughes against New Jersey, which worked wonders.

They defeated the Eastern Conference's third-ranked Brooklyn Nets on the road.

That night, Collins was very emotional in the media room, his voice trembling.

"This is a real victory that I and my team have won together," Collins said, "because we've been through a lot of ups and downs.... I've never felt prouder of them.... I'm very touched. I became a grandfather yesterday." Suddenly, he seemed about to cry. "This is the best gift."

That's Collins for you, letting everyone see all of him, everything laid bare for about 30 seconds—his pride, joy, anxiety, and sadness, the kind of display that made his colleagues worry about him, just as the people in Chicago and Detroit did.

But reporters had no interest in Collins becoming a grandfather.

They had another agenda.

"Does this victory mean that MJ is not as important to D.C. as everyone thought, that he is a double-edged sword?"
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When it came to questions related to Jordan, Collins would become another person: "What makes you think MJ is a double-edged sword?"

"I don't know. That's my question."

"But you just said it."

Watching Collins defensively confuse his own speech, the reporter sighed, "So, is MJ a double-edged sword?"

"I don't think he's had any negative impact on the team," Collins responded carefully.

The reporter unabashedly probed, "Maybe you're just afraid to face the truth, afraid of MJ's power?"

"What do you know?" Collins snapped, "Any player who has reached that level can never be a double-edged sword!"

Another reporter asked, "Are you afraid of him?"

"That's a stupid question, you can ask him yourself." Collins stripped off all emotion and became an impassioned defender of Jordan, "These questions don't scare me."

He looked around, the smile on his face more apparent, with a mocking hint, glancing at the offensive reporter, then toward the others, as if to say, Look at this guy, asking such a dumb question.

In a blink, the Wizards had only one regular-season game left.

This was their last game of the season.

Would Jordan make a comeback?

Those who cared for the Wizards already knew the answer, Jordan wouldn't be returning.