Basketball Legend: When Pride Still Matters

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The Wizards Team's upward momentum didn't last long.

They were about to face their second opponent of the New Year—a Magic Team eager for revenge, now once again a one-man team centered around McGrady.

Before the game against the Magic started, the Wizards' Business Director, Susan O'Malley, had a small request for Jordan, "Michael, could you spare a moment to meet with our season ticket holders?"

Jordan still disagreed.

"It will only take a few minutes of your time," O'Malley insisted.

"No, I will not waste my time on such things," Jordan said decisively, "Our situation is great right now; even without these events, the fans will support us."

Jordan refused, but the event couldn't be canceled, someone had to take his place.

O'Malley found Yu Fei, who in her mind was also a thorn in the team's side, believing himself to have no extra duties towards the team.

Surprisingly, Yu Fei agreed.

Yu Fei appeared before hundreds of seasoned fans who held Wizards' season tickets, and for the next half an hour, he needed to answer all kinds of questions from this group.

There were many questions about Jordan and Yu Fei, all of which Yu Fei tactfully dodged.

Then an old fan named Don Nim asked, "Frye, can we win a championship in the MJ era?"

"I would say there are no absolutes, sir," Yu Fei replied, "Winning a championship is my goal, but I can't make a promise. I think even Shaquille O'Neal can't make that guarantee."

"Is your relationship with MJ an obstacle to winning the championship?"

Good question! Can someone drag this old coot out and bury him, please?

The next day, the Magic Team arrived in D.C.

That morning Kwame Brown rarely joined Yu Fei for the morning training session.

Although the regular season was less than half over, Yu Fei had already become the person Brown admired the most. This was not only for Yu Fei's strength beyond his peers, but also for his courage to face Jordan head-on—to stand up for him— and for his diligence. Brown believed that if he could practice as hard as Yu Fei, he too could quickly cash in on his talent, but he was too lazy to put in the effort.

"Big Fei, you know what, I asked my mom a question today."

Yu Fei was stretching with the help of Lawson, but still looked curious, "What question?"

"I asked her what a pair is."

Lawson was shocked, "You had to ask that?"

Yu Fei asked, "What did your mom say?"

"She said when two or three people are together, that's a pair."

Brown said with self-satisfaction, "That seems to explain why my parents' marriage fell apart."

"What's there to be happy about that?"

"Isn't it worth being happy about? I feel like I've solved a century-old problem that has troubled me for a long time."

Lawson laughed, "That's at least funnier than the sadistic chef joke from yesterday⑴."

That night, McGrady swept through for 45 points, 8 rebounds, and 8 assists on the road—even on their home court, Yu Fei couldn't escape the referees' sanctions and fouled out in the middle of the fourth quarter.

But McGrady's rampage was somewhat expected, as the Wizards didn't play like a team on a winning streak tonight, mainly because Richard Hamilton was injured and left the game in the first half.

If there's something Collins is most afraid of right now, it's a reduction in the roster akin to Ratner's situation.

Ratner's fracture made the Wizards' frontcourt rotation very problematic, and if Hamilton suffered a similar injury, the Wizards would be without a reliable scorer who could deliver 20 points per game for a period of time.

For the Wizards with a thin roster, this was an unacceptable loss.

113 to 100

The Wizards lost at home, and Collins accepted the interview with a gloomy expression, "Christian is injured, and now Rip might also be out. I know there are risks of injury in a game, but how many teams can sustain such losses?"

Later, the preliminary examination results from the hospital were released.

Richard Hamilton had suffered a groin tear and needed at least five weeks of rest.

This was a heavy blow to the Wizards who were in great momentum.

"I've always told him to find a way to strengthen his body, to gain muscle, but he never listened!" Jordan's complaint about Hamilton seemed somewhat callous at the training ground the next day, but at the start of training, he took a leader's stance, "We won't fall! We won't go down because of anyone's absence!"

Meanwhile, outside the court, Jordan was also shrouded by two dark clouds: one was the long-running tendonitis plaguing him, and the other was the mistress in Indiana who was "incessantly" clamoring through the media, determined not to give up until she extorted a significant amount of money from him.

On and off the court, Jordan faced major challenges.

Against this backdrop, the Wizards faced the New York Knicks at home.

This was the third encounter of the season.

Tonight, Yu Fei couldn't find his shooting touch, but his breakthroughs were still sharp. As a secondary attacker on the wings, he helped alleviate the pressure on Jordan, and his fast breaks were unstoppable for the New Yorkers.

Jordan, on the other hand, exploded against Sprewell on the perimeter, just as he had dominated Carter before.

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Suddenly, it was as if Jordan had returned.

In order to secure the victory, Collins played Yu Fei for 46 minutes and Jordan for 42 minutes. The tense game lasted until the last second and ultimately ended with Jordan's game-winning shot.

When Jordan scored the last basket, memories not too distant were awakened in the minds of the fans at the MCI Center.

This cold and ruthless Jordan, resembling a killer, was the man they remembered.

Almost all the Wizards players imitated Doug's fist clench and pursed lips after Jordan's game-winner, all except for Yu Fei, who sat on the ground gasping for breath.

Playing 46 minutes, and due to a poor shooting performance, he concentrated most of his energy on defense, eventually scoring 16 points, grabbing 13 rebounds, and adding 5 assists, 3 blocks, and 1 steal.

Yu Fei knew it, and so did Collins, without his contribution tonight, the Wizards wouldn't have won.

But what did that matter? Tomorrow's headlines would be dominated by Jordan's game-winner.

Yu Fei finally understood Scottie Pippen's frustration: he did everything apart from scoring, an essential part of winning, yet it was overlooked.

But Yu Fei wouldn't be jealous of Jordan like Pippen was.

Why should he be jealous?

Jealous of a spent force?

No, he wouldn't.

On the contrary, he should pay tribute to Jordan tonight.

Playing 42 minutes with tendinitis and amidst off-court rumors, bursting past Sprewell and hitting the game-winner sounded just like something Jordan would do.

But the question was, how long could this condition last, and when would his body fail him?

"Frye, how much did you help Michael out there tonight?"

By now, Yu Fei had evolved from his initial dislike of the question to numbness.

No matter if Yu Fei teased, ridiculed, or lashed out at the media, they would continue to ask this question; they had their missions, after all.

So Yu Fei answered this question in his own way: "I provided 16 points, 13 rebounds, 5 assists, 3 blocks, and 1 steal of assistance. If you have doubts, go watch the game footage," he said.

Interestingly, Yu Fei inspired his teammates.

At some point, whenever Wizards players heard this question and if they had performed well that evening, like Yu Fei, they could just lay out their stats without blushing, following the "same as me" principle to give the same response.

As for Jordan's tendinitis and private life, Yu Fei's reaction was somewhat indifferent: "I'm not concerned. Since he can play, his body must be fine. As for his private life, I don't know anything about it."

As for Jordan, he was more spirited.

"I feel good, I feel very good. It's great to still be able to play games at my age." Jordan seemed to realize that age really can be an issue. "I saw through Latrell's tricks; he missed a lot of shots on the court, hmm, our defense was good," he said.

He was humble, but when talking about the absence of key players and the crucial shots he made, he still exuded an inner arrogance that said, "You must respect me".

"Christian and Rip were out, we had to overcome that. We needed to play defense just like we did tonight. As long as we keep the suspense until the very last moment, they know who will end the game." At this, Jordan laughed in relief, "I made a key shot, I know, but don't be surprised, I can't even remember how many similar ones I've made."

This very satisfying evening for Jordan did not bring him prolonged joy.

The next day, the Wizards were back-to-back at home against the Milwaukee Bucks.

Jordan took this game very seriously because the Bucks' star player Ray Allen, like Yu Fei, was an openly 'Anti-Mike'.

At the start of the season, everyone welcomed Jordan's return, but Ray Allen stood out by saying something similar to Wang Chuanjun, who was the one to speak up and say "I don't like it" when hundreds of stars were bootlicking the movie "See You Tomorrow", produced by Wong Kar-wai. He also made his stance clear.

He did not like Jordan, didn't like his dominance, didn't like his dictatorship, didn't like that Jordan always took all the glory for himself. Their Bucks were a great team, so why should everyone care so much about Jordan?

That night, Jordan played 45 minutes, making 11 out of 34 shots, and managed to get only 25 points.

On the other side, Ray Allen made 11 of his 19 attempts, including sinking 4 out of 5 three-pointers, to score an efficient 27 points along with 3 rebounds and 4 assists.

With such a significant difference in performance of the core players, the outcome was self-evident.

The more Yu Fei played, the more frustrated he became. It wasn't that he minded Jordan taking 34 shots; what bothered him was Jordan still taking 34 shots in a slow-paced game and doing so inefficiently. In such circumstances, not only did he not have the opportunity to play his preferred fast-paced offense, but he also had to clean up after Jordan's prolific misses. By contrast, the Bucks played a more systematic game, passing the ball on offense and fiercely tearing at defense, making them a team with high intensity on both ends of the court.

Yu Fei played 44 minutes, but had only 11 attempts. Even being efficient was futile; the Wizards' style was fundamentally flawed.

With only 15 points, 10 rebounds, and 4 assists, Yu Fei's performance wasn't enough to lead the team to victory. In the locker room, he directly confronted the issue.

"Look at the stat sheet!" Yu Fei, clutching the booklet recording the game stats, exclaimed, "Look at these damn statistics! 34 shots and only 11 makes? Are you kidding me? Can't you pass the ball? Why do we have to trot up the court with you slowing us down for a one-on-one? Why are you always so inefficient? Why can't you cede the post to someone more deserving on a night when you're not shooting well?"

Jordan exploded in rage, shouting, "I have six championship rings, you want to teach me how to play basketball?"

Yu Fei liked the words Klay Thompson said on Paul George's radio show.

Thompson said he used his championship rings to silence Dillon Brooks' provocations because his performance had been so terrible that there was no room left for rebuttal, and it was his only way to fight back.

When Jordan laid out his six championships, Yu Fei just sneered, and the argument ended.

In the media interview room, when a reporter asked Yu Fei what he thought of Jordan's 34-shot, 11-make performance.

Yu Fei said, "That's how we do it on the Washington Jordan Team."