Basketball Legend: When Pride Still Matters

In his view, Yu Fei's experience was perfect.

He wanted to become MVP, lead the team to a championship, win more rings than O'Neal, but these were things that this Lakers team couldn't give him.

But could he complain?

Of course not, because the Lakers' current state was driven by him. Leaving a championship team in shambles and then just walking away wasn't his style.

Since he had turned the Lakers dynasty into ruins, the only thing left was to rebuild from the rubble, and he was confident in leading the Lakers back to their peak.

With this mindset, Kobe entered the locker room, only to hear Odom complaining about how no women in the Milwaukee hotel would knock on his door, and Smush Parker loudly complaining about the team's slow pace tonight.

"Shut up, Smush, just shut up!" Kobe yelled in annoyance at Parker, then turned to Odom, "Lamar, if you had focused more on tonight's game and less on fucking women, maybe we wouldn't be this far behind!"

Kobe, who saw Michael Jordan as a role model for learning, had never matched his idol in terms of interpersonal skills.

He wasn't a tyrant who used verbal abuse and bullying to push his teammates ahead, but when he reached his limit, he wasn't much different from Jordan.

Yu Fei had no idea what was happening in the visiting team's locker room. He decided to study Kobe's game to improve his post play, as his reasoning was clear: since Jordan never played in the era of zone defenses, his post moves might have something worth learning. Still, the game from the '90s was different from today's. Instead of studying the ancients, it was better to emulate the moderns. Besides, could he even watch the old game tapes? The resolution was worse than the mosaics that appeared in the adult videos Lin Kaiwen secretly watched, barely discernible at all.

You know, if you want to find an excuse, anything can be one. Big Fei was already being very restrained for not using "Dan Zi's shiny bald head blinding him" as an excuse.

The Bucks were too relaxed in the second half, while the Lakers, after Kobe's roaring, had a better edge in both offense and defense.

When the Lakers caught up in one quarter's time, the Bucks were still sharpening their rookie.

Danny Granger had a bad night; in the first half, when the team was smooth sailing, he spent most of the time seated.

Now, the team wanted him to experience being on the winning side, so he turned the game into playing against the wind.

On defense as power forward, Odom had him figured out. Granger was quite good as a stretch four in college, but in the NBA, facing a gifted forward like Odom with both height and basketball IQ, he was outmatched.

Granger was completely exploded on defense, and he also dared not shoot on offense.

His teammates passed him the ball, only for him to hesitate and miss the shooting opportunity.

Yu Fei noticed this and kept passing him the ball.

"Shoot!"

Granger didn't dare shoot.

The next possession, same position, still Yu Fei's pass.

"Shoot!"

Granger took a deep breath and shot the ball with determination.

A shooter with no confidence cannot hit any shot.

Granger missed, but felt a sense of relief because it wasn't so bad; missing a shot wasn't the end of the world.

Yu Fei grabbed the defensive rebound and passed to Granger again: "Be decisive, make that damn shot for me!"

Granger made his first shot of the second half.

At that moment, the score was close, but the situation began to reverse.

Without taking a single shot, Yu Fei changed the momentum of the game, starting with Granger's awakening, causing the Bucks' perimeter shooting to explode like rain, leaving the Lakers unable to respond.

In minutes, the Bucks made five three-pointers in a row, extending their lead to double digits. Stay updated through My Virtual Library Empire

Phil Jackson called for a timeout, but it was a bit too late.

After the timeout, Smush Parker inadvertently handed the ball to the opposing team with a simple drive and kick, passing it directly to Yu Fei.

Yu Fei then brought the ball up front and suddenly stopped, shaking off Odom who came to help defense, disrupted their formation, drew a three-point foul, and made the shot.

"Swish!!!!"

That was Yu Fei's first basket of the second half, and the shot that killed the game.

That scene made Phil Jackson slightly change his view of Yu Fei.

He had always thought of Yu Fei as a Wilt Chamberlain-type star, valuing stats above all else, hence why he would coerce the team to play around him, concentrating ball handling in his own hands, freely dominating the team's numbers, and leaving the juiciest stats for himself, thereby producing impressive data, excellent performance, with teammates appearing mediocre.

But tonight, Yu Fei played exactly like the superstar Phil Jackson knew.

It was true he was in control of the ball, but it was also true that only he had the ability to control it for the Bucks.

Just as Granger's confidence was about to collapse, it was Yu Fei who steadied the rookie's mindset, encouraging him to continue shooting until he regained his confidence.

In such a situation, Yu Fei even had the leisure to imitate Kobe's post moves.

Phil Jackson could no longer see through Yu Fei's true nature just by the surface.

Until today, Yu Fei was just an arrogant Millennial in Jackson's eyes.

He was dismissive of his seniors, disrespectful to his peers, scornful of the rules, even trampling on them... But today, he showed the maturity of a leader and was acutely aware of his own shortcomings. His seeker's mentality, eager to make himself perfect, commanded respect.