Basketball Legend: When Pride Still Matters

Fei said with a faint smile, "In terms of offense, you shouldn't worry about me. You should be worrying about whether those damn Detroit can score 18 points in seven minutes."

Karl thought to himself, that's right, compared to them, the Pistons' offensive capability is even more worrisome.

Following that, the fourth quarter began.

Right from the start, the Bucks brought out a game rhythm that was completely different from the third quarter.

One meter beyond the three-point line...

At this position, this distance, the Detroit people already had PTSD.

Prince pounced like a madman, but the Bucks didn't even have their screens set, and such an aggressive overplay on defense was simply a moving vulnerability for the offense.

Fei changed direction and shook past Prince, then pulled up beside him and drained another three-pointer.

59 to 83

The Pistons connected inside and out, Big Ben feasted.

61 to 83

Fei took another shot from the outside, but missed.

However, the long rebound from the three-pointer hitting the rim brought a sigh of admiration from the Wallace Brothers as the Bucks, more familiar with the situation, grabbed the offensive rebound.

The ball returned to Fei's hands, and he flung it to Barry on the side, positioning himself on the wing, waiting for the right moment.

Laettner ran up high for the pick and roll, Barry faced a switch, and passed the ball straight away.

Laettner didn't hurry after receiving the ball, giving Fei a handoff right there and then.

Fei took the ball and immediately pulled up forcefully behind Laettner.

This sort of unreasonable, illogical shot selection that couldn't even be described as proper, referred to by Larry Brown as an absurd choice, happened again.

And this time, he made it!

Seeing Brown with a complexion like pig liver, Fei couldn't help but spread his hands, "Oh, heretical basketball scores again, what to do?"

The so-called consequence that Brown spoke of never occurred, and the retribution that the Pistons and the brawl at The Palace of Auburn Hills seeded had come to ripe fruition.

The Bucks kept launching three-pointers, their shooting percentage wasn't high, and aside from Fei, nobody else's accuracy was close to 40 percent.

But even that level of accuracy was higher than the Pistons' field goal percentage in the set offense.

Seeing the Pistons' score wasn't climbing, Fei directed his teammates to beef up the defense around the key, occasionally granting the opponent the chance for open threes.

Prince's open-threes tonight were accurate.

He was a ray of light for the Pistons in the fourth quarter, the only player that brought visible hope.

This made Larry Brown increasingly uncomfortable.

For him, the three-pointer was only the worst option on the offensive end.

Yet in the fourth quarter, it was with three-pointers that the Pistons barely hung on.

Then, the last six minutes of the game arrived.

Billups' jump shot clanked off the rim.

Fei led the counterattack and scored.

75 to 97

The Bucks took the initiative to expand their defense to force the Pistons to come in and score.

Fei stood under the basket looking like a bona fide shot blocker; the Pistons seemed terrified by his presence, not daring to venture into the paint.

Hamilton pulled up for a mid-range jumper halfway through his drive.

"Bang!"

There were 5 minutes and 34 seconds left in the game.

Doug Rivers was the only person who noticed that the score and the time left in the game were eerily similar to those of "Fight Night": "Just need the Bucks to score another 3 points, and the Pistons another 2, and things will get interesting."

Fei attempted a three-pointer from the outside but missed.

The Pistons' fast break got halfway and stopped again.

This made Fei and his teammates grind their teeth in frustration—why couldn't this group of idiots, completely brainwashed by Brown, just be reckless for once?

Prince's mid-range jumper, same as always, clanked off the rim.

The rebound was secured by Big Ben.

Big Ben's crude offensive skills still couldn't finish against the Bucks' nominal defense.

As the game was about to enter its final five minutes, Horry, unable to contain himself, did the most controversial thing of the day—he leaped up, single-handedly grabbed the rebound, and then stuffed it into his own basket while still airborne.

"Was that a mistake...… or what!???"

Because Horry's last move didn't look like a mistake at all, it looked like he had done it on purpose.

Facing the surprised expressions of his opponents, Horry said indifferently, "That's exactly right."

"Frye!!!"

Horry passed the ball to Fei with 5 minutes and 11 seconds remaining in the game.

Fei charged forward at full speed, bulldozing through Prince, who attempted to defend him, and once again slashed into the paint. This time, only Big Ben Wallace stood in the way.

Determined to stop Fei, Big Ben confronted him in the air with a fierce physical contest, a contact that was inevitably going to draw a foul. In the end, using his height advantage, Fei scored over Big Ben's head with an underhand scoop.

The basketball hit the backboard hard and bounced right into the hoop.

"Whistle Whistle Whistle!!!!!!!"

The referee's shrill whistle sounded, fearful of another conflict.

Fei, supported by his teammates from behind, did not fall, while Big Ben was sent flying under the basket.

He glared at Fei with fury, "Did you do that on purpose?!"
Enjoy more content from My Virtual Library Empire

"If you can tell it was on purpose, that means you're not irredeemably stupid," Fei mocked him, "Of course, if you had fought back a bit more, Robert probably wouldn't have had to do that, so, if there's anyone to blame, it's yourselves."

Fei scored the extra point.

The game returned to where it had ended that night.

In the final five minutes, the Bucks led the Pistons 100 to 77.

But the Pistons were powerless to fight back, left with only their unvented anger, wounded pride, and shattered spirits.

In the end, the Bucks triumphed over the Pistons with a crushing 114 to 86 victory on the road, advancing to the Eastern Conference Finals with a 4-3 series win.

Not only had they completed their revenge, but they also humiliated their opponents on their home court in a highly controversial manner, bringing them an endless stream of controversy that was enduring and destined to be remembered, just like every Detroit Pistons fan who had watched the game.

Such an ignominious defeat was forever etched in their memories.

Post-game interviews

"I've said it before, Detroit reaps what it sows, and I'm proud of my players," George Karl commented on the various controversies of the game.

"I just wanted to go back to that night and finish the five minutes we didn't complete. What's wrong with that?" Robert Horry explained his decision to score in his own basket.

"This is what Detroit deserves," Christian Laettner responded to accusations that the Bucks lacked sportsmanship.

"They're like Nazis on the basketball court! With their horrendous game, they have distorted the sport, lacking any spirit of sportsmanship and player pride. It was a nauseating game, and I will never forgive any of the Bucks players involved!" Larry Brown furiously accused the Bucks of their actions after the game.

"There's not much I can say about the loss, but I'm upset that we lost to a group of people without a sense of fairness in sport," Chauncey Billups reflected on the game.

"There's a reason that person doesn't get along with MJ, Shaq, and everyone else," Richard Hamilton hinted that Fei was the mastermind.

...

Fei played the full 48 minutes of the game, racking up 48 points, 13 rebounds, 8 assists, 2 steals, and 4 blocks.

When the game ended, ABC and ESPN wanted to interview him on the spot.

But he said breathlessly, "I don't know what to say, I'm feeling a lot right now."

Then, he walked away.

Back in the locker room, everyone was celebrating, cheering for the revengeful victory, perhaps even more exuberant than if they had won a three-peat.

After a short rest, Fei headed to the media room.

A large number of journalists had prepared countless questions for him.

"How does it feel to make it to the Eastern Conference Finals again?"

"It doesn't feel like anything special, I'm used to it."

"For a long time, you've been criticized for pushing the team to draft Kevin Martin. Does his performance tonight make you feel vindicated?"

"Well, I'm very fortunate to have him."

"Do you feel confident about reaching the Finals and winning a three-peat?"

"That's our goal, and I will do my best."

"Was Robert Horry's fourth-quarter tip-in intentional?"

"I hope it was intentional," Fei chuckled, "but I think it was unintentional."

"How do you respond to the Pistons' accusation that you lack sportsmanship?"

"Sportsmanship, we have it, but it depends on who our opponent is," Fei said, "Detroit doesn't deserve any sportsmanship because what we have experienced here had nothing to do with sportsmanship."

"What are your thoughts on this playoff series?"

"It's not about me, it's about us," Fei stated, "We wanted to win the series, and it's not just for ourselves. It's for Ray Allen, for Latrell Sprewell, for those who couldn't stand here with us, we needed to win the series, and I'm glad we did."