Basketball Legend: When Pride Still Matters

The referee tossed the ball into the air, and Mutombo won the possession for the Bucks.

Yu Fei firmly blocked Prince's position, reached out to catch the ball, and then immediately accelerated forward.

Prince desperately tried to stick close to Yu Fei, but his body was too frail compared to his opponent.

Yu Fei had not even actively exerted any force, he simply leaned against the other player passively and pushed him away.

The Pistons had made their strategy from the previous games clear: force Yu Fei to play one-on-one as much as possible.

Thus, when Prince was pushed away, the other teammates just stood in place and watched, with no intention of stepping up to help defend.

Yu Fei stopped, jumped, and took the shot.

0 to 2

Yu Fei turned around and walked away, not even bothering with trash talk. Stay tuned with My Virtual Library Empire

Then, the Pistons started their systematic offense.

Billups called for a high pick and roll, broke through after dribbling, passed the ball to Rasheed Wallace, who took a jump shot in place, tying the game at 2 to 2.

The Pistons were definitely not a team that never varied their methods.

Although they had already decided not to double-team Yu Fei, they kept an eye on the changes to the Bucks' lineup.

Will Ariza, with a three-point shooting percentage of less than 30 percent, replacing Mobley as a starter, be able to create enough space?

Is it problematic to not double-team Yu Fei for someone like him?

Yu Fei brought the ball up again, and Hamilton, who was guarding Ariza, looked to his head coach, seeking some guidance.

Brown was willing to take the chance and nodded encouragingly for Hamilton to take a gamble.

The Pistons' defensive execution was among the best in the league; with Brown's nod, Hamilton charged with energy and flanked from the wing, joining Prince in a double-team pincer formation.

Yu Fei knew why the Pistons dared to double-team him, which was an inevitable consequence of Ariza entering the starting lineup.

But he was also willing to give Ariza a chance, waiting until Hamilton was close and then easily passing the ball out—Ariza attempted a three-pointer.

As expected, it was a miss.

However, Mutombo snatched the offensive rebound from Big Ben's grasp with a tiger's mouth.

He tossed the ball out and actively moved to set a pick for Yu Fei at the high post.

Yu Fei gladly accepted and used the pick to spread the defense—since Mutombo lacked shooting ability, Big Ben, fearing to miss the opportunity, eagerly moved forward to pressure Yu Fei to stop dribbling.

"Idiot..." Yu Fei muttered, casually tossing the ball into the air, "Don't you know there's an offensive play that comes straight from the heavens?"

When Big Ben heard Yu Fei calling him stupid, he already knew his double-teaming was too aggressive.

Mutombo comfortably jumped to the basket as if he was at home, completing the alley-oop.

"Good pass, Big Fei!" Mutombo said with his signature raspy voice, "Just, running back and forth like this is a bit tiring. You can pass the ball to me, I can play in the low post too."

Yu Fei was speechless at the older generation center's obsession with post-up play. Wasn't receiving alley-oops good enough? Why insist on post-ups that were strenuous and inefficient?

However, if Mutombo insisted on playing in the low post, Yu Fei was willing to reward him.

Only less than two minutes into the game, the Pistons found that the course of the game was completely different from what they had anticipated.

The Bucks had obviously started with a lineup that was better defensively but worse at spacing, yet Yu Fei was still threading the needle, navigating through the Iron Bucket Formation as if he was crossing the street on a quiet morning, moving freely to and fro.

Brown could not fault the choices of his players. Whether it was abandoning Ariza to double-team Yu Fei early or Big Ben not guarding Mutombo to focus on Yu Fei, it all made sense logically.

It's just that Big Ben made two mistakes in a single sequence this time. One was not protecting the defensive rebound, and the other was being too drawn in by Yu Fei's play, double-teaming excessively, which gave Mutombo an opportunity.

"Big Ben, stay cool!" Brown had to remind him, "Don't let your anger cloud your judgment!"

Big Ben was irritated by such preaching. It's easy to say, but how could they possibly stay calm when facing Yu Fei?

Ariza, poor on the offense, decided to put all his energy into defense. However, the last thing a rookie needs is to overcommit.

Ariza attacked Hamilton like a mad dog.

This kind of defensive privilege didn't belong to a green second-round pick, and the referee soon stopped his rampage with a foul call.

"What do you mean, no touching? That's a foul?"

Another rookie issue is not being able to take a hit.

Ariza looked like he wanted to devour the referee, but before he could get a technical foul, Yu Fei pulled him back, "Sorry, Jack. The rookie doesn't know any better."

Ariza was challenging Jack Nies, the second referee for today's game.

Nies was about to show Ariza a lesson, but now that Yu Fei had stepped in, he had to say, "Not next time!"

Yu Fei let go of Ariza, refused to listen to his excuse, and said indifferently, like a robot, "Keep your cool, rookie."

"But..."

"I don't want to hear 'but'," Yu Fei said, "Stay on the court and do your best. Don't be impulsive."

Yu Fei was neither a control-freak kind of leader nor a harsh tyrant; in fact, he was more lenient with his teammates than many would expect.

As his teammates would say, "You can hardly remember when he ever lost his temper."

But this detachment to the extreme in his leadership style could also make someone think, "Maybe Frye really doesn't care about me at all," which has its pros and cons.

But for a soldier like Ariza, Yu Fei's advice was very important.

From then on, Ariza no longer considered himself a hunting dog but a guard dog.

Hunting dogs strike proactively, while guard dogs protect their domain.

All he had to do was make sure Hamilton didn't get easy scores on his defense, and that was enough.

Ariza ensured that the Bucks' flank defense was no longer a weak link, something Mobley couldn't do.

But at the same time, Ariza could not shoot three-pointers at a 40 percent rate or add some dribble-drive offense like Mobley could.

So, from the first quarter, all the offensive pressure for the Bucks was on Yu Fei's shoulders.

Conversely, the Pistons, with the league's best defense, also placed all their weight on Yu Fei.

In the first quarter, Yu Fei notched 14 points, 4 rebounds, and 3 assists, and the Bucks' total was 25 points, with all of their field goals connected to him aside from a few free throws.

Moreover, it was evident that Yu Fei was still conserving energy.

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The audience could hardly see him attacking with full force.

This restrained style of play left the Bucks with only a 2-point lead at the end of the first quarter.

"Frye has proved with one quarter why choosing him as MVP was such a correct decision," Charles Barkley, in his usual big-mouth style on TNT, said, "You won't see this kind of performance on Steve Nash."

Kenny Smith nodded and said, "Yeah, he basically controlled the situation, I bet every second of the game so far has been within his expectation."

Smith was wrong, at least one thing was not in Yu Fei's expectation.

His teammates were still not very accurate tonight.

This was a chain reaction following Mobley's injury.

The fewer shooters, the more targeted the Pistons' defense became.

Normally they have to keep an eye on several people at once, but now they only have to make sure to cover Barry, the most accurate, and then apply enough pressure, naturally the shooting percentage would drop.

However, judging by the score, the Bucks' plan was successful.

The offense relied on Yu Fei alone, while the defense was assisted by Ariza and Mutombo, giving the Bucks the lead at the end of the first quarter.

"Frye, do you want to take a break?"

Karl asked seriously, looking towards Yu Fei.

Yu Fei shook his head and said, "I'm fine, I don't need a break."

Karl believed that every head coach wanted a young core who could play the entire first quarter and still say they didn't need rest.

If the Bucks didn't need Yu Fei so much right now, Karl wouldn't let him take the risk.

Now, he could only trust that Yu Fei had enough stamina to sustain the game.

To free up Yu Fei, Karl made major changes to the lineup.

Barry was still on the court, and Kevin Martin, who previously had few opportunities, was also brought in, with Devean George and Ratner responsible for the four and five positions.

With this, Yu Fei had a five-out formation again, but compared to the past starting lineup with two 40% three-point shooters, this lineup's shooting accuracy was not frightening.

George and Ratner had both severely declined, especially in three-point shooting percentage. They used to be above the League standard, but now they couldn't even reach the league's average.

As for Martin, the Bucks had internally deemed this draft pick a failure.

In his rookie season, Martin averaged only 2 points and 1 rebound per game, with shooting percentages of 33+20+65.

Karl didn't let him play much because he obviously didn't adapt to the NBA's intensity.

In the second half of the season, Martin successfully gained a few pounds of muscle, but it still wasn't enough.

His sudden appearance on the court now only proved how much the Bucks were lacking in shooters to create space for Yu Fei.

"Rook, you're up against Chauncey."

Yu Fei arranged Martin's match-up and said, "Don't think too much, even if you can't guard him, no one will blame you. You should know why we put you on the court."

Martin did know what he was there for.

Apart from Yu Fei, it seemed like everyone on the Bucks had a grudge against the basket tonight, wishing they could smash it askew with their shots.

But Martin felt that the basket was his lover, and he wanted to connect with it in the smoothest way possible.

At the start of the second quarter, the Pistons indeed went hard at Martin.

Billups knew how to bully the weak; he immediately used his body to push Martin away and scored with a jump stop.

25 to 25

The score was tied, and Billups mockingly said to Yu Fei, "You've even put a high schooler on the court, have you become that desperate?"

Then, Billups ran off.

Yu Fei said to Martin, "High schooler, get ready for the pick and roll."

Martin inexplicably got a new nickname, and it was one he disliked.

Calling him a high schooler was actually a dig at him, suggesting his frame was so slender he didn't look like an adult, that only a high schooler or a malnourished refugee would look like that.

Yu Fei's response came quickly; he raised his hand to signal for a 1-2 pick and roll, and Martin brought Billups over.

Subsequently, Yu Fei didn't use Martin's screen at all, but instead headed straight into the Pistons' defensive trap. For the Pistons, although Martin looked like a shooter, his regular-season shooting percentage was reassuring enough. So, Billups decisively trapped Yu Fei in a corner with Prince.

Everything happened just as Yu Fei had anticipated. He created a big open space for Martin and then waved the ball his way.

Martin caught the ball, sank his body, and showed the world his weird shooting posture.

"Swish!"

Martin, like a juvenile high schooler, pumped his fist while letting out a roar, trying to psych himself up, thinking that was a response.

What is a response?

Yu Fei would let him know.

Right in the frontcourt, Yu Fei stuck close to Billups to prevent him from receiving the ball, saying like a machine gun, "What's the point of an NBA team that can't even guard a high schooler? Might as well disband, right? And tear down this sh*tty arena while you're at it..."

Yu Fei's trash talk and close-fought skirmish left Billups distressed; in a fit of anger, he pushed back with his hand.

Yu Fei was waiting for just that and fell back deliberately as the whistle blew.

Chauncey Billups was slapped with a technical foul.

"Can't guard a high schooler and then you throw in a technical foul as a bonus?" Yu Fei laughed from the ground, "Seems like you really want to lose this game."

!@￥@!￥

The conflict didn't escalate, but cursing between the Pistons and Bucks ensued.

The referee controlled the situation, and Yu Fei designated Martin to shoot the free throw.

Usually, such easy points are taken by the team leader, but Yu Fei didn't care; he told Martin, "Sink the free throw, and if you miss, just go hang yourself where nobody is around."

Big Fei could indeed protect and sting. Martin didn't dare miss; he made both free throws and then pulled a high schooler-style fist pump in front of the Pistons players.

Yu Fei rolled his eyes.

They say one is shaped by the company one keeps; this rookie has been spurred on by his buddies for a year now, but how come he hasn't learned anything good?

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