Basketball Legend: When Pride Still Matters

The Wizards' starting lineup against the Pistons was unchanged from before, featuring the same five players: Chris Whitney, Richard Hamilton, Michael Jordan, Christian Laettner, and Jahidi White.

The Pistons' starting lineup, aside from Big Ben, was filled with players that made Yu Fei wonder, "Who are you?"

As expected before the game, and given the Wizards' three-game winning streak at the start of the season, the Pistons had no chance of winning tonight.

After all, they were up against a team ranked sixth in the Eastern Conference power rankings by ESPN before the season started.

The Pistons? They were ranked fourteenth in the Eastern Conference.

The Pistons showed some shame-driven courage, starting the season with a 2-1 record, not as bad as the experts had predicted.

After the opening, Hamilton took a screen from White just beyond the three-point line on the right and hit a long two-pointer at the extreme range.

In every game, you could see N number of shot choices that would get a player chewed out by coaches in the era of small-ball—a reason why Yu Fei loved the NBA in 2001.

Keep shooting, he loved to watch.

Back in the backcourt, Jordan tangled with the opponent's number 42.

Suddenly, Big Ben's off-ball screen came crushing down, and though he seemed small in stature, the quality of his screen was absurd, completely separating Jordan from his man and giving number 42 a wide-open shot.

The Pistons' pass came in the first moment, and Stackhouse smoothly caught it and shot.

With that style of play, put an AI face-swap on Jordan of the Bulls, and there would be absolutely no sense of dissonance.

Then, Yu Fei heard Grover say, "Having the current Mike guard Jerry Stackhouse is a bit too hard, that guy scored an average of 30 points per game last season!"

A few plays later, Yu Fei felt a bit disappointed because Jordan had several opportunities to go one-on-one, but he kept passing the ball away.

As a recognized perfectionist, Jordan's technical maneuvers were enough for many to learn for a lifetime, especially in his current older state, with slower movements making it easier to see clearly in person and more convenient to study.

But he kept avoiding isolation plays, wanting to pass whenever he felt like it.

It couldn't be that he believed the excuses made in the last few games to save his dignity, could it?

In the past three games, although the Wizards had won three in a row, besides the second game against the Atlanta Hawks, Jordan hadn't played like the His Airness everyone was familiar with. He himself said that his shooting felt off and that he needed to pass more, so The Washington Post and other media began saying he was playing like Stockton and Magic Johnson.

How does the saying go? If you believe it yourself, that's fine, but don't deceive your buddies.

So, when Jordan got the ball in the fourth minute in the frontcourt, because he gathered the ball too early and could only fake out his defender with no real effect, Yu Fei stood up and shouted, "Don't wimp out, old man. You don't play like this in practice!"

At that moment, Jordan's rhythm was completely off and he had no chance to shoot, so he threw the ball to White, who was posting up inside.

But White's condition was also feeble. After receiving the ball, he should have backed his man down to finish, but he couldn't make one more step inside.

Could you blame him for that?

After all, the guy behind him was Ben Wallace!

The paint is such a cruel place; if you're not stronger than the opponent, even a viewer who knows nothing about basketball can see the decline in the matchup.

Unable to shake Big Ben, White could only make the worst choice—throwing an impotent hook shot from outside the paint with an awkward posture.

"What the hell are you doing?!" Jordan exploded, "That guy's not even two meters tall. Can't you play against him?"

White's face turned from green to purple. What could he say?

Give it up, Cassidy, don't tell your boss that the guy you're up against snagged the league's top rebounding spot last season with just a two-meter frame. Maybe in a few years when he's going one-on-one with Shaq in the Finals, your boss will understand you, but by that time, he would have already passed you by.

Five minutes into the game, Jordan was visibly tired.

He started letting Hamilton help him guard Stackhouse.

Considering Jordan's defensive effort in the past five minutes, you couldn't say he defended badly. Stackhouse had only made two shots in five minutes.

However, Hamilton was just too frail to handle Stackhouse.

As expected, once Hamilton switched to defend him, Stackhouse began to aggressively use his body to play physically.

Back-down play from outside the paint, one step inside the three-point line, driving with the ball, and an easy pull-up jumper after pushing Hamilton away.

Stackhouse undoubtedly ignited his teammates.

In terms of in-game performance, Hamilton was the best player on the Wizards team.

Now, Stackhouse was blowing him up.

So, Clifford Robinson started to play like Durant with the ball at the perimeter, stopping and popping for a jump shot—is this what a center should be doing? Is this 2001?

Although Christian Laettner managed to draw Big Ben out with the ball, he was too slow, and when he went for a layup inside, Ben caught up and served him a massive block.

But it wasn't over!

After Big Ben's block, the Pistons' point guard, a man Yu Fei had never heard of—Dana Barros—quickly dribbled to the frontcourt, suddenly letting loose a trailing three-pointer while his defender was still off-balance.

Is this really 2001?

Stackhouse is playing like Leonard in 2019, Robinson like a center version Durant, Barros like Curry in 2013... just which ESPN genius ranked this team last in the East?

It was 18 to 9 now, and Doug Collins sat firmly in his fishing spot, refusing to call a timeout.

After being thrashed, Hamilton was anxious to get the ball, and after a series of crossovers, he suddenly found Jahidi White making a wide loop, creating a perfect opportunity.

Hamilton passed the ball quickly.

However, White's speed was nowhere near Big Ben's.

Just as White received the ball and got ready to dunk, Big Ben moved with the swiftness of someone who had hit the sprint button, racing back under the basket and delivering a visually stunning block from behind.

The atmosphere at The Palace of Auburn Hills turned terrifying, with the frenzied fans losing interest in Jordan as the Pistons played at their best.

In the frontcourt, Starkhouse dribbled at the top of the arc, not even allowing for a spread.

This was a phenomenon unique to NBA games at the start of the new century.

Spread out? That wasn't necessary.

Because usually, the stars would dribble outside the three-point line, take on a defender one-on-one, and then shoot from just inside the three-point line.

No space needed!

Not wanting to give Starkhouse another chance to run into him, Hamilton backed off by a good half meter.

The consequence was giving Starkhouse an easy step into his sweet spot, and then he pulled up for a jumper right in Hamilton's face.

20 to 9

Doug Collins' Zen Master impersonation show was over.

Or rather, it had been forcibly ended by the officials.

The official timeout interrupted the game, and Collins took a deep breath before looking at Jordan, "Michael, do you need a break?"

Panting, Jordan grunted softly in response.

Then Collins took him out.

That meant Yu Fei was about to come in.

Along with Yu Fei, Collins also replaced Laettner with Brown.

"Frye, I want you to take over Starkhouse's matchup," Collins said, "but you need to know, guarding Jerry isn't about beating him. You're guarding Jerry to free up Rip. Only if Rip gets reactivated do we stand a chance to catch up!"

Down by 11 halfway through the quarter, the game was indeed tough if they didn't wake up their most reliable scorer.

Collins understood this, but Yu Fei had his own understanding.

The Pistons' 11-point lead was fundamentally because Starkhouse had blown up Hamilton, which was true, but the key was that the Wizards didn't have an answer for Big Ben's interior defense, and at the same time, they let players like Curry, Robinson, and Barros get going.

So, finding the answer to breaking Big Ben's interior defense, or effectively disrupting the rhythm of the others, was the key to turning defeat into victory.

"You want to handle the ball?" Whitney thought Yu Fei really liked to control the ball.

But Yu Fei shook his head, "No, you take it, you're the point guard."

"Glad you realize that," Whitney said, passing the ball to White.

Yu Fei's physique made it hard for the Pistons to determine his position.

Like other teams, Carlisle had his small forward guard Yu Fei.

Thus, Starkhouse stepped up in front of Yu Fei.

"Come on, pass me the ball!"

Yu Fei was getting excited; Starkhouse had given both Jordan and Hamilton a hard time, and if he could gain an advantage in his matchup, he believed the calls for him to start would become so loud that the Wizards would have to take notice.

Having observed Starkhouse from the sidelines for half a quarter, Yu Fei could tell his defense was lacking, and it wasn't the "I can defend well but I won't" kind of bad—it was pure and simple bad defense.
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As his teammates passed him the ball, Yu Fei immediately switched from posting up to facing the basket.

Yu Fei directly performed a pick-and-roll with Brown, easily breaking Starkhouse's defense and drawing Robinson's switch.

However, Robinson's steps were slow. Or rather, he hadn't expected Yu Fei to drive so quickly with the ball, and he was caught off guard.

There was only one line of defense left—the future four-time Defensive Player of the Year, the greatest defender of the new century, Big Ben Wallace, defending the "crystal palace."

Whether a stroke of genius or a deliberate move, Yu Fei's momentum was clearly heading for a dunk, his signature move.

Because of his dunks, Yu Fei was already a frequent presence in NBC's top five and top ten plays, but this time, as he penetrated into the paint, he suddenly stopped abruptly, leaping and releasing a half-hook shot with a slight fadeaway.

Even Big Ben couldn't possibly react to that shot.

"Swish!"

The shot went in, unassuming and without a trace of disturbance.

"Ha!" Yu Fei mockingly said to his teammates, "Take notes! If you can't overpower, then shoot. Did you see him block me?"

The issue was, White couldn't shoot.

Brown, for some reason, had lost his shooting ability in the NBA.

So, they couldn't learn even if they wanted to.

Yu Fei was teaching his teammates a lesson, but the "Did you see him block me?" remark made Big Ben silently mark him in his mind as the person "I swear I won't stop tonight until I've blocked you to shit."