Basketball Legend: When Pride Still Matters

Larry Brown's face was an iron shade, showing only one kind of emotion.

He wouldn't substitute someone else for Prince just because Prince was defeated twice in defense against Yu Fei, since even among them, no one was more suitable than Prince to match up against Yu Fei.

Chauncey Billups had already tried, Richard Hamilton? He was far worse than Prince.

So it must be Prince, and only Prince.

In the following possession, Billups scored with a jump shot in the paint using a pick-and-roll play that mismatched him against Horry.

4 to 2

The Detroit Pistons finally scored, and Yu Fei made a tactical error in the next round, his breakthrough pass intercepted by the opponent.

This was inevitable.

If he was to break through the Pistons' Iron Bucket Formation mainly by himself, he would have to handle the ball a lot, and a high ball-handling rate brought with it a high turnover rate.

For the Bucks, this was an acceptable price to pay.

What the Pistons didn't anticipate was that a team like the Bucks, known for their offense, could also be formidable when they got serious about defense.

The counterattack precipitated by Yu Fei's mistake was chased down and disrupted by Ray Allen.

Sprewell followed up on the loose ball and forced it off Prince's body to go out of bounds.

Back on the offensive end, Yu Fei called for a screen at the two position.

With the Pistons having strengthened their starting lineup at the four position, Hamilton was left as the only clear weak link.

The Iron Bucket Formation of the Pistons had its rigid aspect; under certain circumstances, they were definitely going to double-team the ball-handler.

For instance, now, if Hamilton didn't help defend, Yu Fei could use the pick-and-roll to break through Prince's defense. If Hamilton helped, then Ray Allen was left completely open.

That was Ray Allen, a sharpshooter with a three-point shooting percentage upwards of 40%!

Following inertia, as well as the Iron Bucket Formation's principle of inevitably conceding three-point shot opportunities to the opponent, even if it was Ray Allen, they would let him shoot when they were supposed to.

Yu Fei passed the ball out, and Ray Allen hit the three-pointer.

7 to 2

The Pistons called for a timeout.

After all, Larry Brown was a cautious man; he did not want Yu Fei to play in a comfortable rhythm, nor did he want to see the Bucks finding their shot from beyond the arc.

Yet Karl had no idea what his senior, George, had up his sleeve to counter the pick-and-roll offense of Yu Fei and Ray Allen.

To break that, there's actually just one strategy, to switch defenses.

If you were to double-team, then it was a gamble on Ray Allen's shooting feel.

George Karl, who considered himself shallow in insight, though he had been in the business for decades, had never seen a team willingly bet on a sharpshooter like Ray Allen missing the open shots.

"Chris!" Karl called Ratner from the bench to replace Horry, "Create more pick-and-rolls, let Frye take care of them!"

After the timeout, the Pistons did not, as expected, change their players.

This was not hard to understand, as the Pistons had emptied their rotation in the trade for Rasheed Wallace. The remainder of their roster was filled with old veterans who could still be used normally, but were unlikely viable against a strong team like the Bucks, especially not just minutes into the game where they could lower the intensity of their offense and defense to test their substitutes.

Yu Fei first tested Ratner's three-point feel.

Off the bat, he looked for a screen at the four position, and naturally, Rasheed Wallace double-teamed Yu Fei.

Yu Fei passed back to Ratner, whose three-point shot missed.

But the long rebound bounced out, and Yu Fei anticipated the landing spot of the board, grabbing the ball without letting it stay in his hands for a second and quickly pushing it to Sprewell at the corner.

Richard Hamilton, who thought the defensive round was over, missed his defensive assignment on Sprewell.

Sprewell hit the corner three.

"Since the start of the game, the Bucks' statistics account for 10 points, 3 rebounds, and 2 assists, all related to Frye Yu!"

"Phil Jackson once compared Frye's play to 'sharing the cake,' and now it seems, there is some truth to that. Frye really knows how to distribute the cake to his teammates."

The game then entered the Pistons' charm time.

The Pistons played the Iron Bucket Formation, and so did the Bucks.

This was an adjustment made by the Bucks themselves after reaping benefits against the Lakers earlier.

Although the Iron Bucket Formation has a weakness against ball-dominant stars, in the Eastern Conference, only Yu Fei, James, and half of McGrady qualified as such.

McGrady was already fishing, James was not yet up to par, and aside from Yu Fei, there was no one who could break the Iron Bucket Formation. This strategy might not work against Yu Fei, but it was particularly effective against the Pistons.

As high as Larry Brown's mastery was on the defensive end, it was equally rough on the offensive end. It wasn't that he didn't involve himself in offensive tactics, but when designing them, he was often restricted by personal preferences.

Whatever Brown believed should be done, that's how the Pistons played.

There were no stars like Iverson who often liked to place themselves above the team; everyone played their roles accordingly, only to encounter the very Iron Bucket Formation they were most familiar with.

Isolation didn't work, pick-and-roll attacks without a stable outside threat had no room for cuts.

Even securing two offensive rebounds in one possession, the Pistons' offense couldn't complete.

Meanwhile, the Bucks' offense was also repeatedly thwarted due to the Wallace Brothers' incredible defensive coverage area and mobility.

Big Ben was indeed easy to motivate; after his teammates set him up with a slam dunk at the start, he played with crazed energy on the defensive end, delivering consecutive blocks.

And Rasheed Wallace, as one of the rare Pistons starters who could bring seven feet of height, was just as important for his rebound protection and high-area sweeps as he was for his defense.

Most importantly, in addition to his defensive complement to Big Ben, he also had a back-to-the-basket turnaround jumper and a mid-to-long range catch-and-shoot jumper after pick-and-rolls, capabilities Big Ben lacked.

At first, no one thought much of it.

It wasn't until the scoring drought for both teams persisted for four minutes that George Karl finally called for a timeout.
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The defense was harrowing for Karl, and even Yu Fei's shooting touch had been nullified by the intense physicality, with his jump shots and floaters all missing the mark.

Karl had wanted to create an isolation opportunity for Yu Fei on the weak side.

But Yu Fei refused. He took the tactical board and pointing to the bottom left corner, he said, "As long as I can break through, they'll have to collapse their defense to stop me, and this spot will definitely be open, Rey-ray…"

Ray Allen responded, "I'll get to that spot."

"Then we have no problems," Yu Fei returned the tactical board to Karl, "Just four minutes without scoring, George, you seem a little impatient tonight."

Karl was frustrated: "Then you damn well hurry up and score for me. Once the ball is in, I'll calm down!"

Hearing this, Yu Fei smiled.

The timeout ended, and Yu Fei returned to the court.

Although they started off well, the Detroit Pistons, those butchers by nature, liked to feed their fans crap—a tradition of theirs.

But in the past four minutes, Yu Fei still gathered some experience.

The Pistons were adept at clogging space with their bodies and maximizing the defensive reach of Prince and the Wallace Brothers.

A perfectly good player, Larry Brown just liked to place him in an inconspicuous critical position to spread his arms wide, effectively choking space and offering a one vs two defensive deterrent.

It had to be said, he succeeded.

Especially when the Bucks were off their shooting game, this kind of defense was as irksome as a booger stuck deep in one's nose.

After the timeout, Yu Fei didn't immediately create the three-point opportunity from the corner but instead drove and passed the ball to Gadzuric under the rim, drawing a defensive foul from Big Ben. Gadzuric made one of two free throws.

This was the first score by either team in four minutes.

The change of rhythm brought by a timeout could always disrupt the original tempo of a team.

But the changes are relative, and on the Pistons side, Rasheed Wallace took the ball in the low post and scored 2 points with a straight-arm jumper.

Yu Fei took a deep breath before making eye contact with Ray Allen at the start of the offense.

Allen understood.

Immediately, Yu Fei didn't call for a screen, and after a series of between-the-legs crossovers, he quickly accelerated. Prince wasn't shaken off, but Yu Fei still managed to forcefully create a gap using his body.

To the Pistons, such a reckless act was a sign that the Bucks were losing patience.

The Iron Bucket Formation was set to close in.

However, just as they were about to complete the encirclement of Yu Fei, the seemingly irrational Yu Fei suddenly stopped short, grabbed the ball with one hand and faked left and right like a juggler, finally passing it behind his back to Ray Allen in the bottom left corner.

The patiently waiting Ray Allen caught the ball, his straight body quickly leaping up.

"Tsk, tsk..." Every time Yu Fei watched Ray Allen shoot, he felt like hanging those who said Ray Allen was a shooting textbook and beating them.

This is a textbook? With that shot speed, the shoulder shimmy, the ball lifting, the release rate—is this what they call a textbook?

Mainly, it's because he shoots so quickly, and yet at the moment of the shot, he maintains his balance throughout his body which stabilizes his shooting accuracy.

This shot, it's good.

Yu Fei thought to himself, and sure enough, the ball sailed through the net, a swish.

"Leaving the corner unguarded, huh?" Yu Fei looked mockingly at Larry Brown, "Keep this up, and there'll be trouble in the FIBA with its shorter three-point line."

Brown arrogantly replied, "That's none of your concern, especially for someone who has refused his country's call-up."

"I didn't refuse the national call-up; I refused your call-up!" Yu Fei actually stayed in the frontcourt to trash talk with Brown, "Look at KG, T-MAC, Kobe... nobody wants to play for you!"

The Pistons had their pride, and seeing Yu Fei show such disrespect to their coach, Rasheed Wallace stepped up to perform a song of loyalty.

"You better shut your mouth, Frye!" Rasheed growled.

Although the situation didn't escalate, after Yu Fei's outburst, the mutual animosity between the teams deepened by more than a little, leading to even more thorough physical confrontations.

To ease the situation, the referee blew a slew of touch fouls, forcing both sides to lower the intensity.

But disputes aside, the game had to go on. The Pistons, unable to find a stable scoring option, turned to Rasheed Wallace to post up again.

This time, Yu Fei left Prince and doubled down on Rasheed.

Rasheed passed it to Prince, who missed a three-pointer.

Yu Fei grabbed the rebound again, and the Pistons retreated in full speed like startled birds.

Leading the way, Prince stood on the three-point line, ready to move forward to apply pressure, but Yu Fei suddenly stopped just outside the arc, one meter beyond the three-point line, and gathered the ball—what was he doing?—In an instant, it was too late for Prince, who instinctively moved forward.

Yu Fei's trailing three-pointer shot out swiftly.

No time for the Pistons to react.

"Swish!"

Yu Fei spread his arms just like Michael Jordan in 1992.

When unguarded, this is how I play the game.

He didn't say a word, but in this moment, silence was louder than words.