Basketball Legend: When Pride Still Matters

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"Just getting 6 points, this is a new low in my professional career, I'm sure you all are saying I'm getting old," Jordan glanced at the questioner in front of him, seemingly confirming the doubt, the other party nodded, meaningful laughter broke out around them, but he hadn't finished. "I know, after that game, you'll say I lost everything I once had, that making a comeback wasn't a good idea. But I tell you, the truth is quite the opposite."

That night, before the game, Yu Fei was informed by Collins that he would be starting as point guard.

"Did the boss agree?" Yu Fei asked.

Collins said indifferently, "That's what he means."

Then, before the game started, Jordan found Yu Fei: "If you don't play ball the way I'm used to, this will be your last time playing point guard in D.C."

The biggest difference between Yu Fei and other members of the Wizards was that he asked nothing of Jordan.

He wouldn't submit to Jordan just to play as point guard.

"If you're looking for a compliant dog, I might not be the best choice," Yu Fei said sarcastically.

Jordan retorted, "Get the ball past half-court, pass me the ball, figure out how to launch a fast break, then sink the damn three-pointer, that's what you need to do!"

These demands sounded easy, especially if Jordan thought he could be the main attacker; Yu Fei had no objections.

But after his 34 shots and 11 hits in three games and just 6 points in a single game, who would have confidence in him?

Nevertheless, Yu Fei had underestimated Jordan.

That evening, facing the Charlotte Hornets, Jordan scored 24 points in the first quarter alone, constantly signaling to Yu Fei: "Give it to me! Give it to me!"

Yu Fei swore that even the most insatiable person couldn't show more offensive desire in bed than Jordan did on the court.

What impressed Yu Fei even more was that Jordan erupted at the head referee when a foul during a breakthrough layup wasn't called: "What the hell are you watching? Didn't he foul? What are you watching? What the hell are you watching?"

No other player could get away with treating an official like that without receiving a technical foul.

It was another example of Jordan's privileges in the game.

But tonight truly belonged to Jordan. Yu Fei did as he was told, took the ball across half-court, passed, defended, countered, and made three-pointers. While Jordan became the oldest player ever to score 50 points with his 51 points, 7 rebounds, and 4 assists, Yu Fei achieved his career's third triple-double with 14 points, 10 rebounds, 16 assists, 2 steals, and 2 blocks.

"This is the greatest performance I've seen!" Collins excitedly told NBC's reporter.

Jordan had been reborn, and the atmosphere at the venue was akin to the appearance of a deity.

"I'm sure they'll talk less now and try to understand that I can still play at this level, even though I'm almost 40," he said confidently.

Yu Fei was the only person who wasn't excited.

Indeed, he'd done everything Jordan said, and Jordan had his best game of the season, but whether it was 50 points in a single game or 100, it was still just one game.

If coming to the point guard position meant he couldn't play the way he wanted, with his own style and rhythm, he'd rather go on playing as small forward.

"Aren't you happy?"

Thomas Flynn noticed Yu Fei's downcast mood.

"Should I be happy?" Yu Fei asked him.

Flynn said, "I think you have reason to be. You've become a point guard, you've received the ball control you wanted most, Michael's form is returning, and you guys are getting back on track."

"No, the boss is the only one on track, everyone else has gone off the rails, especially me," Yu Fei said, "It's simply impossible for me to play my own game within a framework centered around him."

Flynn looked deeply at the young man before him.

He had repeatedly told himself not to view Yu Fei by common standards.

Any rookie in Yu Fei's position would be immensely grateful.

From an eighth pick far less noticed than Kwame Brown, in a team that could be called autocratic, he had resisted the autocrat, yet still fought for a starting spot, and quickly became the front-runner for Rookie of the Year. Now, even the autocrat had to rely on his performance at point guard.

Flynn could tell that Jordan saw Yu Fei as the Wizards' Pippen, even if this Pippen was full of irreverence towards himself.

But Yu Fei didn't want to be Pippen, especially not for a 38-year-old Jordan's Pippen.

"You've already gotten a lot," Flynn said gently, "and you still have a lot of time."

"Would anyone complain about getting too much?" Yu Fei said earnestly, "Indeed, I have plenty of time."

Saying this, his expression hardened, followed by a near-cold clarity and rationality.

"But not a second is worth wasting."

The more Flynn interacted with Yu Fei, the less he disliked the assignment as a beat reporter with the Wizards.

Everyone liked to focus the narrative on Jordan, but in his view, the world as seen through Yu Fei's eyes, the Wizards and Jordan through Yu Fei's eyes, the NBA through Yu Fei's eyes, was what was worth delving into.

Yu Fei belonged to a generation with audacious ambition.

Flynn could capture the trajectory of the NBA's development for the next decade from Yu Fei.

"What do you want to do?" Flynn asked.

"I know what you're thinking, Thomas, but don't worry, I won't do that," Yu Fei said with a smile, memories of Jordan's tendinitis and his mistress far away in Indiana flashing through his mind, "I'll wait for the right moment, and I know it's very, very close, closer than Carla Knafel's (Jordan's mistress) settlement."

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