Basketball Legend: When Pride Still Matters

This year, the Eastern Conference has four teams with over 50 wins each: the Pacers with 60-22, the Detroit Pistons with 54-28, the Bucks with 53-29, and the Miami Heat with 50-32.

Since 1998, this is the first time the Eastern Conference has seen such a "grand occasion".

Of course, it still can't compare with the Western Conference.

Apart from having the Suns with the league's best 62 wins, and the Spurs with the second-best 60 wins, including two regular-season victories against the Pacers, they also have another four teams with over 50 wins. Moreover, the Denver Nuggets ranking seventh in the West have 49 wins, and the Memphis Grizzlies at eighth have 45 wins; if these two teams were placed in the Eastern Conference, they could rank fifth and sixth respectively.

Although the gap between the top teams in the East and West may not be so wide, the quality of the second and even third-tier teams is entirely different.

Entering the playoffs as the third in the Eastern Conference was a completely new experience for Fei.

In the past three seasons, his team was either eighth or first in the East.

Therefore, his first playoff opponent was either the strongest or the weakest in the division.

But being third in the East matched him up with the sixth seed, the Washington Wizards, in the first round.

Everyone knows what the Wizards mean to Fei.

However, before the game started, Yu Fei said, "I won't bring any personal emotions into this game. It's important for us to advance to the semifinals."

"Why is it important to advance to the semifinals?"

Yu Fei looked at the reporter as if he were looking at an idiot and explained casually, "Because Detroit is there."

Afterward, the first round began.

Yu Fei seemed to still be playing regular-season games, easily penetrating the Wizards' defense.

On the other hand, Gilbert Arenas, the Wizards' offensive core, performed just average when the team needed him to step up.

Yu Fei led the Bucks to win the first game.

Arenas only scored 19 points for the whole game, facing severe criticism from the outside.

Claiming to be the "General", his resistance to pressure was extremely limited; in the second game, he continued to underperform, allowing the Bucks to effortlessly take a 2-0 lead.

Sometimes, the quality of the opponent can be discerned in just one or two games.

The Bucks were cautious; they decided to give the Wizards another serious match.

The third match took place on the Wizards' home court.

If the former team is the most familiar stranger, then this place is the most unfamiliar home court for Yu Fei.

To erase the memories of the Jordan era, the Wizards went to great lengths, not only cleaning out all personnel, staff, and players who were familiar with Jordan but also making some adjustments to the layout of the home court.

Apart from the name Wizards, there was no trace of old memories that Yu Fei could find here.

Then came the game that evening. Arenas, back at home, was a bit more active than before, but today, the Bucks did not rely on Yu Fei's performance, as Mobley and others were in scorching hot form, hitting shots with ease.

This caused the Wizards to lose confidence in defending their home court.

By the end of the third quarter, the Wizards were significantly behind.

By the end of the fourth quarter, the Bucks achieved a big away victory over their opponent by 21 points.

A 3-0 lead in the playoffs essentially secured the Bucks' qualification for the semifinals.

"We have more important things to do," Yu Fei answered lightly when asked by reporters about his future prospects.

While the media began to hype up the matchup for the Bucks and the Pistons in the semifinals, the Western Conference was not to be outdone, also producing headline news.

In the first round of the West, the Rockets unexpectedly took the home-court advantage, causing the Mavericks to lose two home games in a row.

Higher-seeded teams usually have an advantage over lower-seeded ones, but the Mavericks were completely outplayed.

Moreover, according to Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy, the drubbing of the Mavericks happened even with "Godfather" help.

Van Gundy believed that the referees targeted Yao Ming in the games and that this was because Mavericks owner Mark Cuban had lodged a complaint with the league before the playoffs, claiming that some of Yao Ming's defensive moves were being overlooked, which was unfair to other teams.

Looking at the stats, Van Gundy's claim wasn't without merit: in the first game, McGrady performed outstandingly, but Yao was fouled out in just 20 minutes, while in the second game, Yao shot an incredible 13 out of 14, but with five personal fouls. After Van Gundy made these comments, he not only created a huge stir but also angered the league office.

Stern told reporters, "If he continues to talk like this, he should not stay in the league."

Subsequently, Van Gundy received a fine of $100,000 USD.

This was a record high for an NBA coach in terms of fines.

Although Yao Ming offered to pay half of his coach's fine, that wasn't the main issue; the key was that Van Gundy's vocal criticism led the Rockets to face even more severe targeting.

Originally, it might have only been Yao Ming who was targeted, but for the next five games, every Rockets player had to compete under a double standard.

This was destined to be a tragic first season for the Yao-McGrady Rockets.

Yu Fei thought the Rockets and Mavericks were playing a "scripted murder" game.

Sadly, the one getting "killed" was the Rockets themselves.

Logically, the League wouldn't favor the Mavericks, and if Stern had to name the owner he least wanted to see win a championship, he would not hesitate to say Mark Cuban's name.

Since Cuban had bought the Mavericks, he had embarrassed the League countless times. If Stern found Van Gundy's refereeing bias towards the Mavericks unacceptable, then Cuban's actions were ten times worse, or even more.

But, like George Karl often reminisces about the '93 Western Conference Finals when the Suns got 60+ free throws to advance to the Finals.

There's a force in the universe that wanted Barkley and Jordan to meet in the Finals.

So, was there another force that absolutely had to take down the Rockets?

What would everyone gain by the Mavericks advancing to the second round?

The audience could watch the Mavericks battle the Suns, witnessing Nash retaliate against his former team, giving Cuban the top-tier entertainment of spending millions on a bust—signing Eric Dampier to lessen the load on the interior, Cuban let go of Nash, a decision that would deal a heartbreaking blow in the playoffs.

This was the ending the League wanted to see, only the Rockets stood in the way.

Of course, this was just Yu Fei's personal opinion. He didn't actually know what the real situation was.

Yu Fei wouldn't directly help Yao voice complaints about the officials or the League. After all, he was already seen as a problematic figure in the eyes of the League's top brass, and their semi-final against the Pistons was about to begin. Any additional complications might attract "special treatment".

However, not helping directly didn't mean he couldn't offer indirect assistance.

In the Bucks' game eliminating the Wizards, the Wizards also received some "care" from the officials, which was normal given that they were trailing by a large margin and still had home-court advantage.

Yu Fei was called for four fouls during the game, and afterwards, he expressed his strong dissatisfaction, "I don't believe there's systemic injustice in the games, but I've seen the series between Dallas and Houston, I know what Yao went through, and tonight, I encountered the same thing. It's not a blacklist; it's the reality of the country and society, the fact of this nation's systemic discrimination against all people of color for centuries."
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Now it was the officials' turn to explain their stance.

The League had to distance itself and announced it would conduct an investigation.

But this investigation was sure to be inconclusive.

Yu Fei, the troublemaker, faced no repercussions. He could only remark that political correctness was still somewhat effective.

Then, the Bucks advanced to the semi-finals.

They still had to wait for the outcome of the Pistons and 76ers game.

Compared to the Bucks, the Pistons had a less smooth journey to the semi-finals, losing one of the first four games to the 76ers.

Then, in the fifth game, like sending a message to someone, the Pistons put up a zone defense against the 76ers, shutting down Iverson, and frighteningly limiting the opponent to 64 points while scoring 79 themselves, advancing to the semi-finals with a 4-1 series lead.

Both teams, as they had hoped, met in the semi-finals, pleasing the higher-ups at the League.

The pre-game buildup and media promotion were now falling into place.

Now the only thing to ensure was the relative fairness of the series and the security at The Palace of Auburn Hills.

Stern warned the Pistons that if there were instances of fans throwing objects onto the court again, the League would deduct from the Pistons' bonus for the year.

The brawl at Auburn Hills caused millions in direct financial losses to the League, but considering the negative impact, the true cost was in the billions.

Yu Fei watched the fifth game between the Pistons and the 76ers and noticed their zone defense had improved significantly since last year.

However, the only thing that had improved wasn't just the Pistons' defense.

At a crucial moment last season, the Pistons also used a zone defense that, though rough, was effective. If it wasn't for Yu Fei's hot shooting, dead-eye threes that killed the opposition's strategy, the outcome would've been uncertain.

This was why Yu Fei, as the sole leader of his team, had significantly increased his three-point attempts.

Yu Fei's three-point shooting percentage was close to 37%, higher than the League average, but his average three-point attempts per game were 10.8, only four fewer than the entire Pistons team.

This was a completely different concept.

This year's Pistons might have been able to contain last year's Yu Fei, but against the current version, even though they had the best zone defense in the League, it would be difficult to limit him.

Before the first game of the Eastern Conference semi-finals, Tayshaun Prince unexpectedly said, "I'm the best in the world at defending Frye among all able-bodied people."

"I have nothing to say to him," Yu Fei mocked, "When I'm old, do you think I will tell my grandchildren that I scored 50 points against Tayshaun Prince in an Eastern Conference semi-final?"

Yu Fei's response both ridiculed Prince and set a goal for himself.

He was to score 50 points in an Eastern Conference semi-final.

Could this be done?

"It's just wishful thinking!" Big Ben responded, "We came here to avenge last year's defeat. This isn't a game; it's a personal grudge!"

Yu Fei didn't respond further because setting too many goals could backfire.

Now, he just needed to focus on preparing seriously and wait for the semi-finals to begin.