Basketball Legend: When Pride Still Matters

May 30, 2004

On the day of the King of the Hill battle, possibly due to Christina's substantial reward last night, Yu Fei felt incredibly invigorated today.

However, Christina was heading to Los Angeles for an audition today and couldn't attend the game in person.

Yu Fei felt a bit of regret; such an important game would be losing a sight for sore eyes—a loss for the venerable Bradley Center indeed.

Thankfully, Yu Fei learned of a piece of news during the afternoon's training that, in some ways, excited him even more than Christina's presence could have.

"Frye, your little brother might come to watch the game tonight," George Karl said with intrigue, "Better put on a good show."

Yu Fei snorted, "Who is this bitch that just shows up and starts calling me brother?"

"LeBron."

"Eh?" Yu Fei sensed something fishy, "Impossible, LeBron would definitely have told me in advance if he was coming to watch a game!"

Karl sighed, "He wanted to surprise you, but there are too many people, and tickets are sold out."

"He could buy scalped tickets though!"

The moment Yu Fei finished speaking, he realized how little that sounded like LeBron.

This is a guy who claims he wouldn't go online in a place without Wi-Fi—how could he possibly spend several times the price, even up to ten times, on a ticket?

"That won't be necessary," Karl smiled, "Allowing LeBron to use a scalped ticket to enter would be an insult to us."

Yu Fei got it, "You took care of it for him?"

Karl nodded, "I also promised him I'd keep it a secret, so please act surprised when you see him tonight."

"No problem."

Suddenly, Yu Fei was even more excited about the game.

The Detroit Pistons meant a lot to James' career—they were the first major hurdle he encountered.

But now, a man who should not have appeared in his life did—Brother Yu.

Now, as the representative figure of high school basketball players, Yu Fei's every move was used as a benchmark against LeBron.

If the original LeBron could decimate the Pistons in 2007, as the elder brother, demolishing the peak Pistons in 2004 shouldn't be too much to ask, right?

Yu Fei thought it was not too much. As long as he achieved this, even if LeBron enacted that legendary King of the Hill battle years later, it would only symbolize him "catching up with Yu Fei" in people's minds.

As the elder brother, Yu Fei believed it was to LeBron's advantage.

Despite the slowdown in how much the outside world praised him, it also created a more relaxed environment for his growth. He no longer needed to be compared with Jordan all the time; comparing himself with his Brother Yu was enough.

Thinking about how grabbing the limelight could bring so many benefits to LeBron, Yu Fei felt even more exhilarated and became increasingly pumped up.

And then, evening came.

With half an hour to go before the game, the Bucks arrived first.

At this time, LeBron and his three close friends had also reached the venue.

Yu Fei recognized the trio—they were Rich Paul, Maverick Carter (who was positioned at Nike), and Mims (the assistant).

LeBron and these three self-proclaimed "Four Horsemen" weren't blood-related, but they were even closer than real brothers.

"Ah, LeBron, seeing you guys really brightens my day!" Yu Fei exaggerated, "Why didn't you give me a heads up?"

His acting was too false, and LeBron immediately called him out, "You knew already, didn't you?"

"Of course," Yu Fei laughed, "In Milwaukee, no one does anything without me knowing."

Having knowledge of all happenings was also a symbol of status.

LeBron believed he held a similar status with the Cavaliers.

LeBron sighed, "So much for George's promise of secrecy."

"Now that you're all here, get ready to enjoy my performance," Yu Fei said excitedly, "Thanks to you, I'm full of energy now!"

LeBron had a run-in with the fully-equipped Detroit Pistons at the end of the season.

In that game, the Cavaliers scored only 76 points, and LeBron's performance was even worse— he shot 5 out of 17, scoring just 15 points with 7 rebounds and 3 assists.

LeBron still remembered how he felt ashamed that evening for letting down Carlos Boozer's excellent effort (10 out of 12 for 21 points and 17 rebounds).

LeBron also knew that as a rookie, even if he had one or two bad performances, he wouldn't be criticized.

But he was also happy to have a superb teammate like Boozer.

He believed they could achieve great things together in the future.

At this moment, seeing Yu Fei so confident made LeBron look forward to the game with anticipation.

Yu Fei returned to the court to warm up.

One could often get a hint of a player's state just by watching the warm-up.

Yu Fei gave off the impression tonight that he was about to set fire to the court, shooting from the free-throw line outwards, with each shot getting further and further away, hitting one after another until he finally missed from midcourt.

Mason, who was passing the ball, exclaimed in surprise, "Are you this hot-handed tonight?"

"Just average, I guess. If I wanted to score 50 points though, I'd need to be a little hotter."

50 points...

Mason, while believing in Yu Fei's ability, thought that scoring 50 points against the Pistons was something unthinkable. Ever since the Pistons became a complete team, holding opponents below 70 points in a single game was a common occurrence.

Now, you wanted to score 50 points on their heads by yourself, that seemed a bit far-fetched.

But Mason wouldn't outright dismiss Yu Fei's claim.

After all, this was someone who had dared promise a championship during a time when the Bucks didn't look anything like champions.

Soon after, the warm-up ended, and players from both teams went off the court to listen to their head coaches' pre-game instruction.

Karl didn't ask for much, only that the team could bring out its characteristics at the start of the game.

His attention was entirely focused on Yu Fei.

"Frye, watch out for their double teams."

This was the only piece of advice Karl gave.

This line sounded simple, but it was anything but easy to execute.

Starting from the third game, Detroit Pistons' pick-and-roll defense against Yu Fei was no longer formulaic.

They liked to suddenly double team at unconventional spots, forcing Yu Fei to pass the ball from uncomfortable positions.

However, these irregular double teams under the guise of randomness carried the Pistons' tactical intentions.

Since there were tactical intentions, there had to be a pattern.

The Bucks had identified this pattern internally, but how to counter it, that was still key on Yu Fei.

Soon after, both teams' starters entered the court.

One change for the Bucks was putting Ratner in the starting lineup, providing Yu Fei with the support of a 4 OUT from the very beginning.

Whenever Karl thought back to the first game's victory over the Pistons, he felt a lingering sense of incompleteness; he wanted to experience it again.

That style of having all players blossoming at the same time, bombarding the competition—even the strongest defensive team in history seemed helpless—that sense of pure offensive beauty and the vision it brought of superiority— a vision of the future of basketball—it fascinated Karl.

As for the Pistons, they were different from the Bucks; their starting lineup was already set in stone.

Brown was not the kind of coach who would easily change his starting lineup, especially the Pistons', which seemed impeccable. Considering their play style, he didn't know who among those five he could replace.

If Brown had to choose from the entire league to optimize his lineup, the only change he would consider would be Kobe replacing Hamilton.

He didn't consider anything else.

But even without changes, that lineup was arguably the most correct for their strategy.

The game tipped off, and Gadzuric leaped high, helping the Bucks secure the ball.

Yu Fei wanted to fast-break, but he was stopped by Prince.

Although Prince hadn't been able to stop Yu Fei in the past four games, he was a player with stable emotions; even if he got trounced, he wouldn't doubt himself.

Yu Fei had tried to break him with trash talk, but Prince acted as if he didn't even understand English.

No matter how many times he got beaten, he would keep on fighting in his own way.

He was amongst those who could endure any blow and keep fighting.

Yu Fei admired such people.

In his view, what Kwame Brown lacked the most was exactly this type of perseverance.

Yu Fei patiently waited for Ratner to run up to the frontcourt to set a screen for him.

Rasheed Wallace hadn't reacted yet, and Yu Fei had already broken through to the free-throw line, forcing the Pistons' defense to collapse inwards, then he passed the ball out to the three-point line.

This was the opportunity Ratner had been longing for.

"Swish!"

3 to 0

Ratner excitedly clenched his fist; this was his first time finding a good rhythm in the series, and he craved more passes.

The Pistons were still playing constipated offense.

Every time he saw the Pistons play like this, Yu Fei was glad he didn't participate in Larry Brown's national team—this was simply not the basketball humans were supposed to play.

They initiated their tactics systematically, but the thoroughly versed Bucks sealed off their strategy, forcing them to change plans and pass the ball to Rasheed, letting this Big Ben's half-brother force a one-on-one.

This was another advantage Rasheed brought to the Pistons.

They really could score with this kind of disorganized one-on-one play.

Rasheed made a post-up turnaround jumper, and Ratner's defense was almost non-existent.

3 to 2

Watching the Pistons players run past him, Yu Fei sighed.

He believed the Pistons certainly didn't think their offense was constipated.

Yu Fei felt there was a problem with the Pistons' playstyle because he came from the future, and the Bucks played an advanced form of offense under his command. But, if one didn't compare the Pistons with the Bucks or view them through the lens of the future, the Pistons didn't seem to have many issues.

With an average of only 80.7 points lost per game in playoffs and still managing to score 87 points, this suffocating offensive and defensive dominance was rare.

Yu Fei once again called for the power forward to set a screen.

Having learned their lesson from the start, the Pistons decided to switch defenders, sticking close to Ratner to deny him any shooting opportunities.

However, this move gave Yu Fei an opening.

The defending Rasheed, who was also recognized as a defensive elite, was now in front of Yu Fei. But Yu Fei was the man who could challenge Duncan in the finals, so why would he fear a Roaring Celestial?

"Thump thump!"

To the Pistons, all they saw was Yu Fei quickly dribbling past— in the blink of an eye, Rasheed lost his defensive position, watching as Yu Fei burst into the paint, drawing a foul from Ben Wallace's defense.

Although he didn't convert the basket into a 2+1, Yu Fei's avid show of determination was enough to bring cheers from the entire arena.

The excited fans even began chanting MVP before he took his free throws.

Yu Fei's performance made LeBron James, who had yet to play an NBA playoff game, yearn for it.

James often imagined himself in Yu Fei's place, and watching Yu Fei's actions, he felt that he could achieve the same if it were him there.

Many people around James thought the same, and they were very willing to share their views with him.

"LeBron, I've always felt that Frye is just a more mature version of you," said Rich Paul. "Even his athleticism isn't as good as yours. That last shot, if it were you, might have gone in."