Basketball Legend: When Pride Still Matters

Yu Fei's comment about Abe Pollin stung some people's nerves.

They thought Yu Fei was too harsh on the deceased.

This reaction continued to Yu Fei's Twitter feed.

When Yu Fei retweeted the promo for "Iron Man 2," a group of fans from D.C. asked him to take back his comment about Pollin below the post.

"Frye, you only spent one year in D.C., and you don't know what Mr. Pollin meant to D.C. He was definitely not a bad owner. You must take back what you said and let the dead rest in peace."

This comment received the most support.

Yu Fei bluntly replied, "You'll soon have a new owner; unless he's worse than the predecessor, you will forget Abe Pollin as fast as possible. And me? I'll be the last person on this planet to remember him. So spare me your hypocrisy."

This was just an episode during the season.

The game against the Miami Heat ended, and December's travels had just begun.

The next day, the SuperSonics headed to Cleveland for an away game.

This was the city of lost sports dreams.

Yu Fei could never forget the day James live-streamed "The Decision"; his radio show was flooded with heartbroken Cavaliers fans.

What James did convinced Clevelanders that their sports were cursed by God, because otherwise, some things are just unexplainable.

Over half a century of championship drought, famous in the basketball world as "The Shot" aside, around the same period, they also suffered equally painful defeats in the NFL. Soon after, Clevelanders had their spirit crushed when the Browns announced they were moving (only to move back later but still barely alive), followed by Shawn Kemp's arrival in Cleveland, where he ballooned in weight and fathered numerous children; they welcomed the new millennium in desperation and then in 2001 unknowingly watched as their eighth pick, Frye, got traded to D.C., and in 2003 celebrated the arrival of the King.

What could be more painful than that?

They sent away The Chosen One and welcomed back someone heralded as a natural-born king, only for this king to leave them in the least kingly manner.

Thus, Yu Fei fully understood why Cavaliers fans harbored resentment—they had every right to. It wasn't because James left, but the way he left. The relationship between fans and players is inherently unequal. They buy tickets and jerseys, cheer on site, defend the player's honor off the field, make excuses for your failures, and ideally, provide you with wealth. As long as you stay healthy, give your all on the court, and do nothing to hurt the fans, they will support you through thick and thin.

After what had happened, Clevelanders had every reason to hate James.

Ironically, after tonight's game against the SuperSonics, they were to welcome the Lakers at home.

It would be James's first return to Cleveland since his defection.

Yu Fei couldn't help but think how cleverly James had played his cards in 2014 by using his return home as a pretext to leave a Miami Heat team that had lost its championship potential.

The reasoning was justifiable, and everyone ended up happy; the 2016 championship was the key that unlocked the gateway to the pantheon for James. Many Leonard fans say Durant dreams of a 2019 Raptors-style championship—really? Ostensibly defeating the mighty warriors, but in reality, they took down a team whose core was left with just Curry and Green still hardly standing—the 2016 Cavaliers had the story and impact Durant truly dreams about.

But in this life, would James come back?

Yu Fei wasn't sure.

If they defeated the Lakers, turning James's "Decision" into a joke, what reason would James have to return here?

That night, the Cavaliers' starting lineup hadn't changed much from last season.

Or rather, they retained the team built for James.

So when their starting players came on, those whose impression of the Cavaliers was stuck in last season always felt like they were missing something.

Once the game started, they realized it; the superstar who had led this group to win 50 games in the Eastern Conference had disappeared.

The Cavaliers were a typical James's team.

Everyone existed to make it easier for James to play. So James could lead them to 50 wins, but once James left, the whole team looked like a headless fly, and the only player with solid isolation ability was Mo Williams.

If Mo Williams were at the core, Cavaliers fans were destined to remember some not-so-good times.

Such as the Ricky Davis era.

Although Mo couldn't do something like shooting at his own basket to rake in a triple-double, having him as the core would only lead to a darker future than the Ricky Davis era.

That night, Yu Fei barely broke a sweat, as the Cavaliers were probably the worst NBA team at the moment.

For them, winning 20 games this season would be considered a success.

Finishing last was almost a foregone conclusion.

Considering their rare beating in NBA history, Yu Fei had every reason to believe the League would compensate them with the 2010 draft's first overall pick.

Rather than padding his stats in this foregone game, Yu Fei was more interested in the fans' mindset.

Consequently, Yu Fei scored his season's lowest tonight: 18 points.

Yet, it was such an inconsequential game that gave the SuperSonics a hair-raising incident.