Basketball Legend: When Pride Still Matters

Bradley Center

Though the Christmas battle between the Bucks and the Detroit Pistons was eye-catching, they weren't at full strength.

Ray Allen had not recovered from his injury, and Sprewell felt discomfort in his left calf before the game and was also rested.

Compared with the last match at The Palace of Auburn Hills, the Bucks might have Yu Fei, but they were missing two key players.

However, Yu Fei's presence still commanded respect for the Bucks.

Given the recent injuries the Bucks had faced, one would at least expect their performance to be erratic, but they managed to win almost all the games they should have won. Yu Fei's offensive firepower was fully unleashed, averaging 36 points this month and ranking first in the scoring charts for the season.

"They excel at scoring," Larry Brown said to the media in Milwaukee, "We excel at limiting the opponent's scoring."

For Brown, the summertime journey with the Dream Team had temporarily ended, and his full attention was now on his new team.

Before long, the players began to show their dissatisfaction with him.

This matched the rumored image of Larry Brown—he treated all of his players like dogs.

In the coaching ranks of the NBA, Brown undoubtedly belonged to a unique category. His youthful experiences playing in the ABA shaped his style.

HIs ABA career cast a shadow over him to some extent. He had seen how chaotic and aimless games could become when a team was out of control, which made him determined to firmly hold onto the reins of every team he coached. This attitude obviously affected the respect he had for those who played for him.

It wasn't that he didn't respect the players; of course, he did. However, his respect was reserved only for those who respected the game. As for what constituted respecting the game, that standard was up to him alone.

Brown had three immutable principles: players must demonstrate dedication, obey commands, and love their country. Even though the Dream Team under his command had swept the Americas Championship with an invincible stature, he still could not forgive Yu Fei's absence. In his view, this was a person who had realized the American Dream but was not willing to give back to the country.

The Pistons had the most intense pre-game training in the entire league.

Because Brown was a coach who preferred training far more than the actual games.

He also possessed the ability to track everyone on the training court at the same time. If anyone was in a poor state of training, he would not mince words.

"Chauncey, should I get you a skirt?"

"Big Ben, are you still not awake?"

"Rip, the team has been criticized for giving you 70 million US dollars, do you want to prove them right?"

Of all the players, the one least liked by Brown was the Pistons' second overall pick of the year—Darko Milicic.

Like the Trail Blazers 19 years ago, who missed out on a future star proclaimed across the United States by saying "We need an inside player," Milicic failed to win Brown's favor. Or rather, Milicic's style was exactly what Brown least preferred.

When Brown asked Milicic to work on his basic inside skills, Milicic refused, instead investing more effort in ball-handling and shooting, which Brown despised.

This exacerbated their conflict.

Brown had put all his patience into Iverson. He had not come to Detroit to babysit another Iverson, so he decided to bench Milicic as punishment for his rebellion.

Today, facing the Bucks, Brown wanted to give Milicic a chance.

Since the Bucks' inside line was weak and Big Ben lacked offensive threat, maybe Milicic could bring some surprise.

Instead, Brown caught Milicic neglecting basics like posting up, setting picks, and defensive footwork in favor of playing shooting games with Okur, which ignited a fire within him.

"You incurable fool, if you like shooting so much, damn go back to your Serbian countryside and shoot to your heart's content!"

The Bucks naturally didn't know about the Pistons' preparation, but Karl took tonight's match very seriously because the Pistons' defense was extraordinary. If Yu Fei could lead the team to victory tonight without the help of Ray Allen and Sprewell, it would be easier to set up against them in the future.

Before the game, Yu Fei gave Karl a suggestion.

"Since our inside line is at a disadvantage regardless, why not start the game by attacking with lower-ranking horses against their higher-ranking ones?"

Yu Fei's meant that he suggested starting with Haslem and Pachulia to hold the fort.

Karl was taken aback and responded, "Are you sure Mason and Big Dan (Gadzuric) are high-ranking horses?"

"Well, the old guy may not be top-rate, but Big Dan truly is a high-ranking horse!" Yu Fei jokingly said, "He's the number one man in guarding Duncan one-on-one."

Indeed, if Duncan could consistently produce average stats of 25 points and 20 rebounds, a few more like Big Dan and Duncan could dream of averaging 20 rebounds per game in the regular season.

However, since Yu Fei spoke up, Karl could only agree.

After all, Big Fei now had a significant say in the Bucks, and unless there was an obvious issue, Karl usually wouldn't reject his suggestions.

7:30 PM

Before his time travel, Yu Fei had heard of this Pistons team.

Especially if a sports forum mentioned this team, some old fans would immediately cite stats, like how many consecutive games they kept the opponent under 80 points. Such commentaries often came with a mix of glorifying the past and denigrating the current small-ball era. Enjoy new chapters from empire

Yu Fei had no particular feeling for this kind of elevation and criticism, but seeing the Pistons repeatedly keep their opponent's score under 80 points, he couldn't help but wonder: just how ugly were those games?

After crossing over, he realized that it wasn't appropriate to describe it as ugly—the correct term should be constipated.

But describing Pistons' games as looking constipated was by no means a demerit to them because their defensive principle was to make the opponent's offense constipated. If you came to this realization, it meant they were doing their job very well.

However, after watching a few quarters of the last game between the Pistons and the Bucks, Yu Fei felt that the Pistons' defense was a bit better than the Spurs' last season, but it was far from the legendary level people talked about. At the very least, in the starting lineup, there was an obvious weakness.

Mehmet Okur, if he were on the Bucks, he might be quite useful to them; but on the Pistons, other than continually reminding Larry Brown of that hall-of-fame dumbass trade where he exchanged Mutombo for Van Horn in Philadelphia, I don't know what other use he could serve.

Given Okur's presence, Yu Fei deduced that the Pistons would have to make a trade later on; otherwise, he really didn't think their defense was so strong it was unbeatable.

Before the start of the game, Yu Fei, along with Mason, went to the center court to greet the folks from the Pistons.

But it turned out that only Chauncey and Big Ben showed up from the Pistons' side.

What about Hamilton?

Last season, although they only nodded at each other when they met, they still greeted each other. What's going on today?

Yu Fei really wanted to chat with him; although back in the day in D.C., for some unmentionable motives, he had activated "Intelligent Groin," Yu, as a generous man, didn't hold it against him—after all, Hamilton's absence helped to a degree in creating the legend of his rookie season leading the team to the playoffs. Now that they were no longer on the Wizards, and Yu Fei had already led his team to a championship, while Hamilton's future with the Pistons looked very bright, he wouldn't even say hello?

"Rip doesn't want to say hi to me?"

As Yu Fei shook hands with Billups, he asked with a hidden edge in his smile.

"Uh, I'm not sure about that," Billups didn't want to stir up any trouble.

Big Ben, on the other hand, had a bad impression of Yu Fei; this kid had been disrespectful to him back when he was a rookie.

"Rip took good care of you back in D.C., but now he doesn't want to shake your hand. I think you should consider the reasons for yourself," Big Ben looked at Yu Fei warily. "What exactly did you do to make him dislike you so much?"

Mason bared his teeth upon hearing this, "Bullshit! That guy doesn't even have the guts to greet people, clearly he's the one with problems!"

As Billups and Big Ben were about to walk back, Yu Fei called out to them, "Hey..."

They turned to look.

"Tell Rip, I had already let go of the past, but since he dwells on it so much, I guess I'll have to remember it with him." Yu Fei said, "I can honestly say I've done nothing wrong by him, as for him, I'm not sure if he's brave enough to say the same to me."

After they left, Mason then asked, "What's the grudge and grievance this time?"

Why do they say Mason is a good dog? Simply because he bites without regard for right or wrong.

He doesn't ask whether Yu Fei is right or wrong; he just bites first.

Yu Fei gave him a look, "Weren't you clear on it just now?"

"I don't understand a damn thing!" Mason grumbled, "I haven't played in D.C.; how would I know what happened between you two!"

"He used to be willing to shake hands with me, but today he doesn't even go through the motions. But I didn't do anything to him. What does that tell you?" Yu Fei thought it over and concluded that there was only one reason, "He's jealous I won the championship."

Mason nodded in understanding, "Alright, that's pretty bastardly of him."

A few minutes later, the starters from both teams took the court.

Surprisingly, the Bucks started with two rookie big men, leading to much speculation from the commentators.

The Pistons didn't care about the Bucks' lineup change.

No matter how the opponent shuffled their lineup, they only had one way of playing the game.

The game began with the jump ball, with the Pistons getting possession.

Though the Pistons were known for their defense, their ability to speed up and go fast wasn't necessarily weaker than that of offensive powerhouses.

Billups quickly advanced the ball to the frontcourt. Before the Bucks could form their defensive structure, Big Ben had already broken through the central passage, heading straight for the basket.

Billups tossed the ball high into the air, allowing Big Ben to start off with a show-stopping alley-oop dunk that could make the top ten plays.

After the dunk, Big Ben punched the air joyously.

An absolute truth on the basketball court: To make a big man work like an ox, keep feeding him cookies!

"A bit careless, Zaza, that won't do," Yu Fei warned the Georgian.

Pachulia immediately acknowledged the remark.

Then, Yu Fei turned to Michael Redd, "Get ready to set a screen for me."

A screen for me? Redd was a bit confused.

A few seconds later, Yu Fei dribbled up the court and suddenly raised his hand to signal his teammates to hold steady.

Then, he suddenly pointed at number 32 of the Pistons, "Deserter from Washington, Richard Hamilton, come forward!"

In an instant, Redd stepped up to set a screen, and Yu Fei took advantage of a gap in Hamilton's defense to stride past him, forcing Big Ben to confront him. In almost exactly the same way, he assisted Pachulia with an alley-oop... layup.

Yu Fei didn't expect much from Pachulia's jumping ability and was currently focused on Hamilton, "Your defense is still as lousy as it used to be."

Hamilton's mask concealed his facial expressions.

But if one could zoom in on his face, they would see his features twisted in anger.

Promoting a friend's book—Title: "The Coach: Losing the Hawk King in the Beginning, Serendipitously Picking up 'No Pass' Mo," for details see "Author's Note."