Basketball Legend: When Pride Still Matters

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When the preseason training camp started, Yu Fei had only one thought about Udonis Haslem.

Had he brought about some butterfly effect that affected Haslem? Why was he so overweight?

Haslem was a bit over the weight limit.

But that wasn't a big problem; as long as he lost the weight, he would still be the same person Yu Fei remembered.

Mason started to mentor Haslem. They ate and trained together every day. Over the course of a season, Haslem lost several dozen pounds and developed muscle definition just like Mason.

That was the Haslem Yu Fei remembered.

Only, on the Bucks, his opportunities were limited because he couldn't shoot, and as a blue-collar player, he couldn't compare with Mason.

Tonight was a special opportunity.

Karl had just one requirement for Haslem: to be obedient.

Do whatever Yu Fei told him to do.

In Haslem's first offensive round after getting on the court, Yu Fei called for him to come out and set a screen.

The Pistons knew very little about Haslem, so they chose to focus their defense on Yu Fei.

This gave Haslem the chance to make a surprise attack on the basket.

Yu Fei made a delicate lob, assisting Haslem to dunk and score.

"Good job, UD," Yu Fei exclaimed, "as long as you can consistently make these shots, your next contract is in the bag."

Haslem suspected these people were using PUA tactics on him.

When he first joined the team, Coach Karl suggested he learn from Ratner, saying if he could learn to shoot threes, his next contract was in the bag.

Then, Mason scoffed at the suggestion to practice threes, thinking it was a task meant for wimps (which he deeply agreed with) and proposed that he lose weight. If Haslem could slim down, his next contract was in the bag.

Now Yu Fei was saying if he could catch and finish consistently, his next contract was in the bag.

Although he had just entered the first year of his rookie contract, far from the time to worry about his next contract, others constantly talking about contract matters brought him a lot of insecurity.

Hearing Yu Fei say this, Haslem couldn't afford not to take it seriously, but he soon found that catching and finishing wasn't a technical task.

The only difficulty was cutting to the basket successfully; as long as he could do that, Yu Fei's pass would come his way.

Yu Fei's passes were comfortable, not too fast or too slow, and every time Haslem caught the ball, it felt the same.

He just had the basket in front of him—all he had to do was put the ball in. Your journey continues at My Virtual Library Empire

It felt like being fed.

After playing for a few minutes, Haslem began to harbor an unworthy thought: if this was what playing pick-and-roll with Big Fei felt like, then he could be a starter too.

However, replacing Mason wasn't just about setting good screens and finishing easy baskets.

After a few minutes of sluggish offense, the Pistons realized they could exploit Haslem, focusing their effort on finding a breakthrough with the rookie.

Though Haslem was rugged, his lack of experience first led to fouls and then allowed mismatches for easy scoring opportunities, and just as the Pistons had hoped, he showed many defensive weaknesses.

The Bucks didn't expect him to fully take Mason's place, anyway.

The points Haslem gave up on defense, Yu Fei took back on offense, one by one.

Toward the latter half of the second quarter, Yu Fei's control over the game became increasingly apparent.

The Pistons were scoring on offense, but Yu Fei controlled the pace, looking for the right opportunities to attack.

No matter how much the Pistons profited from Haslem, they paid it all back on the defensive end.

In the final possession of the first half, Yu Fei held the ball to run down the clock.

By now, the Bucks had subbed out Mutombo, making room for Ratner to clear space for Yu Fei.

The Pistons didn't dare to gamble on Ratner's shooting, so they opted for Prince to stick to man-to-man defense.

Yu Fei didn't call for a screen either; he was confident he could break through the defense alone.

With the last five seconds of the first half ticking down, Yu Fei dribbled, faked left, started a drive to the right, stopped suddenly, feinted a spot-up jumper to shake Prince, stepped back, caught the ball, and took a jump shot from beyond the three-point line.

As the buzzer sounded, Yu Fei didn't leave the Pistons even a second.

"Swish!"

"56 to 49! Frye's buzzer-beating three-pointer gives the Bucks a seven-point lead heading into the second half!"

"25 points, 9 rebounds, 10 assists—Frye has nearly reached a triple-double in just the first half!"

The commentator's shout, the cheers from the fans, the apprehension of the opponents—all converged on Yu Fei.

His excellent performance reflected the breakdown of the Pistons' defensive system, forcing Larry Brown to consider a decision that went against tradition.

Zone defense— that was the only tactic they hadn't tried yet and the one fans would inevitably suggest when discussing "how to limit Big Fei."

Even though everyone knew the zone defense might work against Big Fei, Brown had been stubborn for four and a half games.

He had no choice now. If he didn't change his mindset, the Pistons would be completely defeated.

"Is change a good thing, Helt?"

Before the second half began, Brown asked his brother.

Helt replied, "I don't know, Larry. What I do know is that if we don't change, Frye will kill us."

Brown was uneasy about the imminent changes to the team, risky as they were, but he had to take the gamble.

If he succeeded, perhaps he would become the first professional basketball coach with a resume boasting both an NCAA championship and an NBA championship.

And if he failed?

It would just be another failure, just like the previous 21 NBA seasons he had coached.

As Yu Fei walked through the player's tunnel, fans reached out through the fence to high-five him.

Yu Fei responded, and at the same time glanced at James's VIP area, only to find it empty.

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Just when Yu Fei thought his outstanding performance had gotten under LeBron James' skin, he encountered him and his entourage, who followed him around all day, in the hallway.

"Brother, your performance was flawless!" James said as he walked up to Yu Fei and greeted him with a handshake and a pat on the shoulder, "I'm proud of you!"

Yu Fei sincerely replied, "It's nothing, in a few years, you'll be able to do the same."

Hearing Brother Yu's praise, James humbly chuckled, "I still have a lot to learn."

"Bron, that's what I like about you. You're already excellent, yet you remain so humble." Yu Fei had to get back to the locker room, and before leaving, he gently patted the younger brother on the shoulder, "See you later."

After Yu Fei left, the people around him began to express their opinions.

Assistant Mims said, "Bron, I think you don't need a few years, you can do what he's done right now."

What James really craved wasn't to do what Yu Fei had done, but to be in the spotlight at the center stage, like him.

As for what he could do there, that was a different matter.

He believed he was no worse than Yu Fei, he just needed to wait for the opportunity to come.

Rich Paul didn't like Yu Fei because every time Yu Fei came in front of James, he put on airs, giving off a strong big brother vibe.

Yu Fei was indeed two years older than James and had taken good care of him before, but Paul didn't see their relationship as one between an elder brother and a younger brother.

Yet, through Yu Fei's efforts, he had successfully ingrained this perception in people's minds: LeBron James was his little brother.

In the short term, it seemed to pose no problem.

Yu Fei was one of the hottest young superstars in the NBA, having led his team to a championship in his second year, with the momentum to reach the Mount Rushmore of greatness—whose wouldn't want a big brother like that?

But the "bond of big brother" could change everything. The expectations that were originally placed on James at the beginning of his career, to "surpass Jordan", would gradually become "surpass big brother Frye".

These were two different sets of expectations.

For James' camp, their aim had never been Yu Fei.

However, James' perspective was quite different from theirs. Although Paul and the rest had never heard James sincerely express his views on Yu Fei, they all knew that deep down, James' inner voice was not as harmonious and friendly as it seemed on the surface.

Yu Fei hummed a tune as he walked to the locker room.

He actually bore no ill will toward James.

If there were any negative views, they were due to the anti-flopping movement stirring up in the basketball circles of the domestic internet before he crossed over.

But he was a person who valued reality over the internet, not paying too much attention to online opinions, though he had inevitably been influenced somewhat by the online chatter. However, after crossing over, interacting face-to-face with the person was a completely different matter.

Understanding someone through the internet often leads to one-sided prejudices, while in reality, even if only the surface is seen, one could still have a more three-dimensional perception.

James gave an excellent first impression, was high in emotional intelligence, and spoke well. Yu Fei enjoyed the feeling of being the elder brother, and he believed LeBron enjoyed the feeling of being the little brother too.

Yep.

Back in the locker room, George Karl gave a passionate speech, with the theme, "The Detroit people have reached the end of their road."

The central idea was that the team still needed to be united.

He ended by invoking the prospect of defending the championship to arouse the players' fighting spirit.

Karl wanted to make it to the finals because it was highly likely that the Lakers' F4 could sweep through the Western Conference.

The Bucks had already proven in the regular season that they could beat the Lakers. If they made it to the finals and faced them, their chances of winning were high.

Last year, Yu Fei settled the score with Jordan; this year it was his turn to settle it with Phil Jackson.

Five minutes before the start of the second half, the Bucks returned to the court to shoot and warm up.

With a comforting 7-point lead and Yu Fei, the tool to break the Iron Bucket Formation, the whole team was brimming with confidence.

Afterward, the second half began, and Detroit's starting lineup was the same five players, just as the Bucks had anticipated—they had no more changes to make.

Initially, to acquire Rasheed Wallace, they had drained their roster's depth and now had to rely on their starters throughout the playoffs.

In the half-court offense, Detroit created outside shooting opportunities for Richard Hamilton.

Hamilton shot a three-pointer, and it went in.

56 to 52.

Starting the second half with an outside shot was an unusual move for Detroit.

Next, it was the Bucks' turn to attack.

Yu Fei handled the ball, Prince harassed him in the frontcourt.

The two sides spent six or seven seconds before reaching the frontcourt.

Yu Fei looked up, thinking there was something wrong with his eyes.

He took another look and confirmed it was correct.

Detroit was playing a zone defense. It was a 1-3-1 zone, had Larry Brown changed his ways? Wasn't he the one who hated zone defenses the most?

Detroit's use of the 1-3-1 zone was clearly well thought out.

This defense mainly targeted the top of the key, the free-throw line, and its two sides, which were the areas where Yu Fei frequently initiated attacks in the first half.

However, the downside of this defense was that it tended to leave open the corners of the paint and the bottom corners on both sides for three-pointers.

But the Bucks' corner three-point shooting was off that night.

After a strong drive by Yu Fei, he passed the ball to Sprewell in the corner.

Sprewell shot a three-pointer from the corner; it missed.

Just as Detroit had anticipated, the Bucks' corner three-point shooting was not accurate that night.

The rhythm and nature of the game entered a new realm from that point forward. Although Detroit's zone defense was raw, they had the defensive resources to pull it off. With the Wallace brothers as a versatile defensive pillar capable of pressuring the high post, sweeping the arc top, and protecting the rim in the low post, using them as the core of the Iron Bucket Formation felt like underutilizing them; playing zone was a brilliant strategy to unleash their full defensive potential.

Now Detroit had played all their cards, and the Bucks had to face the test of the corner three-pointer. If they could nail those shots, everything would come alive. If not, it was anybody's guess.

In the next three possessions, Yu Fei fed Ray Allen and Sprewell one corner three-pointer each. The results? One hit the iron, and the other was disrupted by Prince's long arm, both missed. The only success was a hook shot by Gadzuric from the left edge of the paint—an insufficient relief. In a desperate move, Detroit's use of zone defense turned the tide, once again pushing the Bucks into difficulty. The game was climbing toward its peak of pressure.