Basketball Legend: When Pride Still Matters

The fans at the MCI Center cheered enthusiastically for the two young men.

Yu Fei said to Brown, "With Derrick Coleman on the court, Philadelphia's power forward defense is very weak."

Brown's eyes changed, "What do you mean?"

"If you want to hold your head up in front of the boss tomorrow, tonight's a good chance," Yu Fei finished, and Brown understood completely.

Unlike Fei, who dared to challenge Jordan, Brown didn't have the guts to do so, but he had plenty of courage to strut his stuff in front of a weaker opponent to prove to Jordan and Collins that he wasn't a dud.

As a Small Forward, Fei was too tall for the shorter backcourt of the 76ers.

Both Mark Haplin and Aaron McGee were small forwards in front of Fei, and what's more, Haplin lacked speed, and McGee was physically overpowered.

After Fei came on the court, he first powered over McGee's body for points, then used his speed to shake off Haplin and complete a silky stop-jump shot at the free-throw line position.

"Frye is like a combination of Lamar Odom and Jamaal Wilkes," said Bob Costas, NBC's ace commentator.

Jamaal Wilkes: A key player for the Showtime Lakers during the early period, nicknamed Silk, famous for his shooting.

Just as Larry Brown was struggling with how to defend against Fei, Kwame Brown's pick-and-roll offense swamped Philadelphia's inside area.

Brown's pick-and-roll was indeed very primitive.

Yet, it was this primitive movement that left Coleman with no solution when Mutombo was drawn out.

Yu Fei and Chris Whitney racked up assists with ease, Brown proudly scored 8 points in a row, allowing the Wizards to take a 14-point lead before the end of the first quarter.

By the end of the first quarter, the Wizards' new jacks were shining brightly, with Hamilton, Fei, and Brown securing 27 of the team's 34 points.

It could be said that this was the sort of performance expected of a playoff team in a game where they're supposed to dominate.

The question was, were the Wizards a playoff team?

In the second quarter, Jordan returned, and in order to change the pace, or maybe for other purposes, had Collins sub in Tyronn Lue for Chris Whitney.

Coach Lue became famous for toughing it out with Iverson in the Finals and won two championships with the Lakers, granting him championship experience that average players lack, and the Wizards hoped for more of the same from him.

But Coach Lue had already shown an incompatibility with Jordan during the training camp.

His speed was too fast, his rhythm too hurried, and in set plays, he disliked taking open three-pointers.

However, Coach Lue had one thing Whitney and others lacked, which was a lack of point guard dignity.

He could even go without controlling the ball.

Without ball control, what does he do? Defend. Even though the 76ers' perimeter players basically lacked solo offensive capabilities, he could still defend. What's that, Eric Snow likes three-pointers even less than Coach Lue? That's perfect, he loves defending that kind of non-aggressive guard.

Now, you may ask, if Coach Lue, the point guard, isn't controlling the ball, then who is?

The answer, of course, is Jordan.

Unable to find his shooting touch, Jordan wanted to influence the game in other ways, like playing point forward, passing the ball here and there, and picking up a few rebounds. Even with poor shooting percentages, a well-rounded stat line would still save his face in the media.

Jordan himself probably didn't have the intention of using comprehensive stats to cover up his shortcomings, but the era's requirements for a comprehensive player were really low. As long as rebounds and assists reached 5+5, he could be considered a comprehensive core player.

Therefore, as long as Jordan's stats were up to par, he was untouchable.

Fei patiently awaited Collins' summons.

He sincerely hoped Jordan would find his rhythm. If Jordan got into his groove, the game would quickly enter garbage time, and then Collins would let him and Brown play longer. However, he was pessimistic about Jordan's form. Not to mention that his style of play clashed with that of Coach Lue, his partner.

Even though Coach Lue relinquished his control of the ball, this issue was still evident.

Because of the 76ers' low field goal percentage in set plays, all Coach Lue needed to do after grabbing a rebound was speed up like he had wheels of wind and fire attached. There was no slowing down or braking.

With Hamilton, the speedster, the Wizards could run a fast break amongst the top five in the League.

"Speed up! Speed up! Speed up!" This style of fast break was torture for the 38-year-old Jordan.

However, as Hamilton kept scoring from quick counterattacks, Jordan had no basis for complaint.

Fei thoroughly enjoyed watching, and Jordan's expression was like that of a man in prison.

The more they played this way, the more they needed to maintain composure. A mistake would give boss Jordan something to talk about.

And an all-out fast break was bound to make mistakes.

When Coach Lue missed an opportunity and threw the ball out of bounds, the tormented leader of the Wizards yelled, "You're running too fast! Your position is too forward! That's why you make mistakes! Control the tempo, take it easy, don't rush!" Dive deeper into the story on m-vle-mpyr

From that moment, Tyronn Lue became hesitant. His greatest asset suddenly became a hindrance.

As a low-ranking player, he hoped to satisfy someone like Jordan, and Jordan's eruption over a single mistake severely dented his confidence.

The Wizards' fast breaks disappeared.

Hamilton was no longer the runner.

The set plays that Jordan loved came back.

But what if Jordan had no shooting touch tonight? Control the ball! Coach Lue had already relinquished ball control.