Basketball Legend: When Pride Still Matters

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That certain "something" was elusive, yet it sparked a fierce competition. The supposed heirs to Jordan jostled for it, and even Pierce—who wasn't remotely connected to being Jordan's successor—wanted in on the action. Yu Fei, through this game, indirectly proved that he, too, was qualified to compete for it.
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"Will the modern version of Elvin Hayes destroy this team, or will he emerge from his cocoon like the 1977 Bill Walton?"

Huai Qi harbored this thought as he looked at Yu Fei.

It was 7:45 PM, fifteen minutes before the start of the game.

The Celtics had already arrived at the venue, and Yu Fei exchanged greetings with Pierce.

The last time they met was when Yu Fei tried out for the Celtics, who had promised to draft him and had made certain "efforts" off the court to secure him. Unfortunately, the efforts weren't enough, and the Wizards swooped in first.

If forced to choose between the two teams, Yu Fei would've preferred playing for the Celtics since neither the team leader Walker nor the second-in-command Pierce were the kind of assholes who lorded over others.

"Frye, I often see you in the top plays; it's really a shame you aren't with our team!" Pierce said with a grin.

Yu Fei smiled faintly, "I regret it too. Hope you'll go easy on Michael tonight."

"Hmph, I don't care about that at all. What's there to be proud of beating an old man?" Pierce said with a look of indifference, "What I hate is people constantly asking about MJ, as if he saved the world from the Y2K bug. Who saves the world? It's those firefighters rushing into blazes and the soldiers and journalists on the front lines..."

All right, we get it. You don't find beating Jordan that big of a deal. You don't need to go on about it, damn little Hawk!

Unlike Pierce's indifferent attitude, the Wizards had previously faced off against the Celtics in the preseason, where Jordan and Pierce had briefly clashed a few times. Pierce's disrespectful elbowing had irked Jordan. One could say that proving he could still contend with the young stars was one of his main motivations for returning, at least for the moment. Pierce was a lesser challenge that he intended to use as a stepping stone. Hence, when an NBC reporter brought up the altercation with Pierce before the game, Jordan didn't shy away from saying, "The kid wants to take me down hard, but I'm ready."

Ironically, the NBC reporter used the same phrasing as Yu Fei: "Oh Michael, don't be too hard on Paul; he's just a naïve kid."

Jordan chuckled, radiating charm, "Before he dies, I'll buy him a drink."

This was the Jordan that people loved.

Talkative, entertaining, full of dominance, and determined to settle scores with every pretender – a perfect, supreme god.

As long as you don't get too close, his charm is boundless.

Because he wasn't in the starting lineup, Yu Fei changed into his uniform and sat on the bench ten minutes before the game started.

"Don't you think you're more suited to start than Nesby?" Brown whispered to Yu Fei, "He can't possibly defend Paul Pierce."

No big deal. Our dear coach just randomly picked someone from the roster to take the beating instead of the boss. I'm thankful he didn't choose me; could I ask for more?

"No worries, let's just think about what the boss would do," Yu Fei replied noncommittally.

What would the boss do? Brown couldn't believe Jordan could blow Pierce away, especially since he couldn't even handle Yu Fei...

Jordan was clearly different tonight, quickly recovering after being turned over while setting up Hamilton, and in the counter-attack, received the ball and performed an abrupt stop-and-shoot after a crossover dribble to the left.

Joe Johnson couldn't react in time.

"Swish!"

Seeing Johnson in the Celtics' starting lineup made Yu Fei quite envious.

If there had been a strong player in the same position within the team, it might've been a different story, but the Wizards' lineup was full of holes, with only the shooting guard position being relatively robust.

To Yu Fei's surprise, Collins' so-called secret weapon, Tyronn Nesby, wasn't playing as a small forward but instead as a center... They were using him like Ben Wallace.

So far, it wasn't working.

Nesby's playing at center meant one thing – on the defensive end, it wasn't Jordan guarding Pierce; it was Hamilton.

Since the coaching staff wanted to delay the "Jordan defending Pierce" image as long as possible, Hamilton had to suffer for now.

Watching Hamilton try to hold off Pierce with his slender frame made Yu Fei sympathize with him.

Poised, Pierce shoved Hamilton aside, turned around, and shot. It wasn't as stylish as Jordan, but it was the same two-point jumper in essence.

Jordan was eager to establish his position, calling for the ball, but this time he was matched against Antoine Walker, who was physically mismatched against him.

Jordan had difficulty finding his spot in front of Walker.

It was understandable why Jordan viewed Walker like a lucky gift – as long as his teammates could pass the ball smoothly, he was confident he could complete the offense.

Walker's defensive threat only existed before Jordan caught the ball. Once Jordan had it, Walker's defense was virtually non-existent.

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