Basketball Legend: When Pride Still Matters

What's different about the Pistons this season compared to last?

There's not much difference in the roster, but there's a slight decline in defense.

Last season, the Pistons limited their opponents to an average score of 84 points per game, while this season, their opponents are scoring an average of 90 points.

However, the Pistons clearly shifted gears entering the playoffs, holding the 76ers to an average of 85 points in the first round and even put on a show of a zone defense specifically prepared for Yu Fei in the last game.

May 9, 2005

The first game of the semifinals.

The Bucks came to The Palace of Auburn Hills again, reminding many of the day that changed the team's fortune.

The Palace was still raucous, and the feeling of being hated by tens of thousands of people was even stronger than before.

In the hallway, Yu Fei was surrounded by his teammates.

Before entering the arena, every team would have someone stand out to give a speech, and the content would vary depending on the opponent.

Previously, veterans like Sprewell or Horry would do the talking, but today, Yu Fei was pushed forward, and he only said one sentence, "For everyone, we need to win the semifinal."

Everyone on the scene knew what Yu Fei's "everyone" referred to.

It wasn't just about those who came here, but also for those who couldn't make it; they needed to win the semifinal for all these people.

Tonight, the Bucks' starting lineup was Yu Fei, Mobley, Barry, Horry, and Mutombo.

Two sharpshooters with a three-point shooting percentage reaching 40% ensured that every time Yu Fei called for a screen, they could tear open a gap.

Whether it was Yu Fei and Barry or Mobley executing a 1-2 pick and roll, or pairing with Horry for a 1-4 pick and roll, the Pistons had the same response, which was to double-team.

They believed that the intensity of the playoffs could cause the Bucks' sharpshooters to miss their mark.

However, Barry and Mobley did not miss the open threes as the Pistons had expected; instead, they repeatedly cashed in on the great passes from Yu Fei, driving the Detroit people into disarray with their precise three-point shooting.

The Pistons' erroneous defensive strategy led to a trend of collapse in the first quarter.

Yu Fei finished the quarter with 4 points and 7 assists, leading his team to a 31-17 score at the end of the first.

The tone for the first game was set from that moment.

In every subsequent round, the Pistons were making up for the losses in the first quarter, with 22-year-old Yu Fei controlling the pace of the game with the finesse of a 32-year-old veteran.

Pass the ball, play the tactics, and if all else fails, call a 1-2 pick to feast on Billups.

"The game was over from the first quarter," ESPN analyst Jack Ramsey said, "Frye's dominance is astonishing, the way he controls the game is as beautiful as art. You can't see this kind of performance from another 22-year-old, he's the MVP of this season."

In the first game of the semifinals, Yu Fei scored 24 points, grabbed 8 rebounds, and handed out 16 assists, dissecting the Pistons' defensive system like a skilled butcher.

Despite losing the home-court advantage, the Pistons were still confident about the series.

"There's no history of one man against a team in professional basketball," Brown said, "and if there is, it won't start with Frye and us."

Yu Fei's performance bolstered his MVP momentum.

Given Yu Fei's regular season stats and the Bucks' record, he would be the clear choice for MVP.

However, there were three external factors that cast doubt on his crowning.

One was Yu Fei publicly taking a stand for thugs like Sprewell after the brawl at The Palace of Auburn Hills, threatening the team to re-sign him; another was his shocking demand for a short-term 2+1 contract as his second contract; and then, there was Nash's rise in Phoenix that was equally commendable.

But the media force behind Yu Fei had already started to exert its influence.

Without his second and third best teammates, Yu Fei led the team to 53 wins, dominating the major stat boards with monster statistics reminiscent of the '60s. In terms of individual impact and legendary status, no one was more deserving of the MVP than him.

Reebok people believed that through a series of marketing and PR efforts, they could likely ensure Yu Fei's second MVP win, so the most important thing at the moment was the series with the Pistons.

Whether they could avenge the Pistons was the key to reversing Yu Fei's reputation.

In the second game of the semifinals that followed, the Pistons responded to the Bucks.

The loss in the first game reminded the Pistons of last year's Eastern Conference Finals.

After careful review, they concluded that double-teaming Yu Fei should be done cautiously because, facing the basket, his vision was unobstructed, and he could rely on the height to see his teammates' opportunities and then pass the ball.

The Bucks had a collection of sharpshooters who only needed to hit nearly 40% of their three-point shots for the Pistons' defense to potentially collapse.

Learning from the loss, Brown demanded that the team start the game at full intensity. If Yu Fei wanted to single out someone for a screen, let him; first engage the Bucks in a physical contest, and when both sides were about equally worn out, selectively leave someone open.

What the Pistons didn't anticipate, however, was how quickly their dreams would come true.

They had predicted before the game that the Bucks couldn't always be accurate, and if they kept up the intensity, they would eventually miss their shots.

Then, in the second game, the Bucks proceeded to miss fifteen consecutive three-pointers.

Unable to make shots from outside and blocked by the zone defense and Big Ben inside, the Bucks collapsed in the third quarter, ultimately being savagely beaten by the Pistons by 20 points.

"Outside shooting is something written into our DNA," Yu Fei explained why the game was lost so cleanly, "We didn't activate it tonight."

Despite the Bucks' loss, everyone could see that Yu Fei hadn't yet given his all.