Basketball Legend: When Pride Still Matters

"...You said you were going to help me turn around Cleveland's bad luck, what the hell was that just now?"

James felt a whirlwind of emotions, and despite his previous claims that he would join forces with Davis to reverse Cleveland's misfortune, it was never meant to be like this, as a subordinate providing assistance.

It was nothing more than polite rhetoric to ease internal relations.

James knew there were those on the team who were jealous of him, they had no idea what he had done in high school to earn such hype and pursuit.

Now, Davis was ostensibly asking for the ball, but in reality, he was reaffirming his own status on the team.

Suppressing his displeasure, James said, "No problem, Ricky."

Ricky Davis got the ball possession he demanded.

The Sprewell in front of him was clawing fiercely, pressuring him like a wild beast.

Despite the team acquiring King James, the boss of the team was still him in the eyes of Silas and Miles, and even the rebellious Boozer had openly said, "In this position, Ricky is the better player." (Cleveland's evaluation when selecting James)

However, the nightmare of five consecutive losses at the start of the season was deepening. If Davis couldn't carry the team, Silas would naturally promote James.

Under Sprewell's tight defense, Davis forced a shot and missed.

"Damn!"

Davis possessed two extreme personalities: extreme arrogance and extreme insecurity. When he felt he could do it, he played like a superstar. Then, people would call him selfish, and he would reduce his shots, focusing only on defense, but even that wasn't enough.

James grabbed the offensive rebound and, using Irgenskas's screen, barely shook Fei by a step before pulling up for a jumper on the right wing of the free-throw line.

"Swish!"

The Gund Arena erupted with cheers.

Their home commentator proudly said, "That's our kid, scoring against the best player in the League!"

Fei should perhaps be grateful to James. Although he had won everything last season, he was rarely recognized as the League's best player.

Experts usually reserved that title for Duncan or Shaquille O'Neal, and sometimes Garnett received it, though due to the no-championship Garnett Rule, it was hard for Garnett to hold it for long.

And to be honest, James wasn't just wearing number 23 for nothing; that pull-up jumper had a touch of Coach Dan.

Suddenly, the Knights switched up their defense in the frontcourt.

Darius Miles excitedly took the defensive matchup against Fei before James even had the chance.

"Let me try!" Miles said, "Frye, stop always picking on our rookie."

As a notable high school draft bust, Miles was coming to the end of his rookie contract.

For any team considering drafting high school players, the successes of Garnett, Kobe, McGrady, and Yu were astonishing, but they also had to consider the painful draft failures like Miles.

Fei didn't even bother to speak with Miles. He dribbled, adjusted his stance, and was about to call for a play at the arc when he spotted a major opening in Miles's left-hand defense.

If the opponent were a strong defensive team, Fei might worry about traps, but against the Knights, he didn't even have to think before changing posture, crossing the ball to his left hand, and exploding past Miles's defense. He stepped inside the free-throw line, gathered the ball, took a step into the paint, and slammed it home.

Simple and decisive. Enjoy new stories from empire

Fei looked back, glancing at Miles with contempt, "You're nowhere near as good as my little brother."

"Impossible!" Miles said arrogantly, "Come on again!"

The disheartened Miles snatched the defensive assignment against Fei from James, insisting on taking him on.

For James, Miles's actions were infuriating—he hadn't even consulted me—but was defending against Brother Yu really a good deal? Seeing Brother Yu's form tonight made it clear he was out to crush him. If Miles wanted to die for him, then let him.

James then faced Sprewell.

Unfortunately, this was a man with better one-on-one defensive skills than Fei.

Sprewell didn't treat James merely as a child; he stayed in the frontcourt, giving the Little Emperor full-court pressure.

His defense was extremely aggressive; despite the League's rule against hand-checking beyond the three-point line, Sprewell was doing far more than that.

Before tonight, James had not encountered such violent defense, and only now did he realize Brother Yu had been holding back.

If he really wanted to crush him, Brother Yu would have played defense like Sprewell.

James was disoriented in the backcourt, and in less than a second, Sprewell stole the ball and went up for a dunk right there.

"!￥!#￥"

The Gund Arena erupted with boos, directed at Sprewell.

The audience thought Sprewell had fouled just now.

"Seriously, I don't know why the media talks about you all day long," Sprewell said piercingly, "You're nowhere close to Frye during his rookie year!"

Those words were not just trash talk, but also spoken sincerely.

Fei's first game with the Wizards was against Sprewell's Knicks.

Although Fei wasn't as strong then as he is now, he was formidable, especially with his trash talk, which rattled Sprewell at their first encounter.

Sprewell guarded Fei with much more intensity than he did James.

As a result, not only did Fei play well, but he also contributed a debut game-winning shot.

Now facing this genius touted as a once-in-a-decade talent, it was natural to compare him to Fei.