Basketball Legend: When Pride Still Matters

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The Staples Center greeted their number 8 with the most enthusiastic cheers upon his return.

Instantly, the Lakers' number 8 took over the offense.

Although Yu Fei didn't believe in the buffs associated with playing consecutive games, today Kobe really resembled those anime athletes from Japanese sports series who seem to gain a sudden power up after a flashback.

Before Kobe came on the court, the Bucks had narrowed the gap to one point.

In the following half of the quarter, that one-point difference just couldn't be closed.

Even though the OK connection was cut off, having two dominant isolation players on both the inside and outside inherently provided a strong sense of security to their teammates.

Yu Fei decided to test the Pistons' Iron Bucket Formation in advance, deliberately leaving the Lakers' role players open.

Turns out, their catch-and-shoot was not half bad.

By the end of the first half, the Lakers' lead had increased back to five points.

58 to 53

The Lakers still held the initiative.

The main takeaway from the second quarter's experiment for Yu Fei was that the core of the Iron Bucket Formation lies in clogging space to reduce the core players' field goal percentage, then using their poor shooting performance to create a negative feedback loop for their teammates, thereby causing their overall shooting percentage to drop.

The more he played, the more it felt like he was lifting the fog of war.

Now, he wanted to know what kind of lineup George Karl prepared to emulate the Pistons' Iron Bucket Formation.

He also understood why young LeBron was able to end the Pistons' dominance in the Eastern Conference.

Fundamentally, he and James are the same type of player; they both represent the pinnacle of the small-ball era — the point forward.

The essential quality of a point forward is to be capable in scoring, passing, and shooting. Although James might be erratic with his shooting, his once-in-a-generation physical talents and delicate touch around the basket compensate for his shooting deficits.

Yu Fei had watched the highlights of James' first championship-clinching game— scoring 48 points against the Pistons in 2007's King of the Hill match, including the last 25 points on his own. That game, James was not just unstoppable when it came to driving, even his shooting went smoothly. On that night, it was as though he was born to counter the Pistons.

That's why Yu Fei wasn't worried about the Pistons because he knew his third-year self had more technical reserves to break the Iron Bucket Formation than the young LeBron did, plus he had the support of a five-out lineup. Therefore, he was confident he could beat the Pistons.

What worried him was, if they beat the Pistons but couldn't lock down the F4 Lakers like the Pistons did, and allowed the universe's first team deemed champions before the season even started to go down, that would lead to several consequences: getting trash-talked by Shaquille O'Neal, becoming Duncan's lifetime rival, last season's success being considered a fluke, and the possibility that the F4 might not disband.

No matter how you look at it, all these things combined gave Yu Fei an indescribable feeling of revulsion.

He didn't want to deal with any of these consequences.

So, it was necessary to tailor the Pistons' successful experiences against the Lakers.

George Karl has had a spring in his step lately. Ever since Red was traded, the atmosphere within the Bucks has improved and Ray Allen was no longer paranoid.

Now, he received a great suggestion from Yu Fei.

Yu Fei advised him to use the Pistons' defensive strategy, which might be very effective against the Lakers. Continue your journey with My Virtual Library Empire

At first, Karl didn't think much of it but after pondering it carefully, wasn't the Pistons' Iron Bucket Formation, specifically tailored for key superstars, the perfect strategy to counter the OK Lakers?

The strength of the OK Lakers since the start of the game stemmed from their isolation plays, especially Kobe's.

If Kobe fell silent, or Shaquille O'Neal's space got bottled up, the Lakers would remember how painful their past games against the Bucks were.

"We need some adjustments in the second half!"

Karl first announced the starting lineup for the second half: Yu Fei, Ray Allen, Sprewell, Mason, Mutombo.

Then, Karl explained the specific positioning and the purpose of these positions.

Sprewell, astute as ever, immediately saw where Karl had borrowed this positioning from.

"Isn't this Detroit's tactic?"

Karl replied, "It doesn't matter whose tactic it is, we've got to try it."

However, Sprewell glanced at Yu Fei and Ray Allen.

"No offense, but whether this defense succeeds or not hinges on Frye and Ray."

Ray Allen stated proudly, "My defense won't be a problem."

"Don't look at me!" Yu Fei hated feeling doubted, "You all know, I proved last season that if I want to, I can shut down opponents, even block more shots than anyone else on my team on the night we won the championship!"

Hearing Yu Fei say this, everyone was reassured.

Because they all knew, whether Yu Fei's defense was good or not really depended on whether he wanted to commit to it. As long as he decided to play defense, his physical abilities and basketball IQ made it hard to screw up.

At the start of the second half, the Bucks' starting lineup sparked discussions amongst the ABC commentary team and raised doubts within the Lakers' coaching group.

Seeing the Bucks start with Mutombo and Mason as their power forwards, Jackson doubted his vision.

Were the Bucks really willing to give up their stretchy bigs that posed a serious threat to Shaquille O'Neal, and instead use two defensive bigs to bolster their interior defense?

Could Shaquille O'Neal and Karl Malone be subdued just by beefing up interior defense?

Had they gone mad?

Soon, this condescending surprise turned into shock.

The Bucks had Mason stick to Karl Malone, while Mutombo, as usual, guarded Shaquille O'Neal.

But Yu Fei, who was matched against Fox, maintained a certain distance—close enough to disturb his three-point shooting, yet far enough to help with the inside defense, thus restricting the Lakers' movement in the paint.

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