Basketball Legend: When Pride Still Matters

Two days later, the Wizards faced the Brooklyn Nets, a team having a strong season.

As if to prove that the 51 points against the Hornets was no fluke, tonight, Jordan scored another 45 points, powerfully leading the team to a 95-76 victory over the Nets and clinching another win.

Chapter Enjoy:

Yu Fei once again played the role of a good lieutenant, scoring 16 points, grabbing 6 rebounds, and dishing out 10 assists alongside Jordan, making Pippen's influence more and more evident.

This made Jordan feel that the time had come to win Yu Fei over.

"Come to the press conference with me," Jordan said to Yu Fei.

This was the first time Yu Fei had been invited by Jordan since joining the Wizards.

As someone who had never shown weakness to Jordan, Yu Fei seemed to have finally earned Jordan's approval.

Yu Fei stood up, donned his clothes, and walked out of the locker room with Jordan.

For the rest of the Wizards, this was an unimaginable moment.

"Has Big Fei entered into MJ's embrace?" Tyronn Lue looked at Kwame Brown, wanting to know what had happened.

Brown soberly said, "Impossible, that's impossible!"

"Then how do you explain this?" Coach Lu asked.

"Simple," veteran Chris Whitney said, "MJ knows who can help him win games; it's an encouragement for Frye."

"Right! That's it!" Brown agreed with Whitney's simple and understandable explanation, which he couldn't fully articulate himself, "That's the boss! You are only useful to him when you can create value! Frye saw through him a long time ago!"

When Yu Fei and Jordan appeared in the media room, the atmosphere was sensational.

The media had never expected to see these two attend an interview together.

It was like seeing Dwayne Johnson and his family sitting together for a meal in the last Fast and Furious movie, then ending with "Paul Walker's Happy Tune" ("See you again").

It was bizarre!

"Let me introduce my little brother," Jordan said with a kind smile, "Frye Yu, he's my best helper in D.C., and one of the most talented young players I've met in my career. He has great character."

Jordan's words made the reporters laugh.

It was hard for them to imagine Jordan and Yu Fei becoming friends.

Whether it was the initial "little brother" or Jordan's self-deprecating remark that Yu Fei had "great character," the mood was quite pleasant.

"Have you resolved all your disagreements?"

Jordan answered this question: "Even with the closest family members, we have disagreements, and disagreements will always exist."

"Have you and Michael become friends? How well do you know him?"

Of course, this question was for Yu Fei.

Yu Fei didn't feel that helping Jordan win two good games meant that the past had been blown away like smoke.

The disrespect he showed Jordan, the challenges he posed to Jordan, and the cold ridicule on the nights when Jordan played poorly—all those things whispered in his ear like the wind; Jordan only needed to close his eyes and listen carefully to feel Yu Fei's scorn and disdain.

"I value privacy as much as Michael does," said Yu Fei, "To me, work is work, life is life. Our seamless cooperation on the court doesn't mean we have to be friends. Michael is a great teammate."

That put an end to the friendship questions.

Jordan could obviously sense Yu Fei's detachment, and conveniently, he had no intention of telling the reporters how close their relationship was.

Because you can't pretend to enjoy a closeness that doesn't exist.

Jordan began to talk about tonight's game, "I could have scored 50 points again tonight."

So far in NBA history, there have only been five instances of a player scoring 50 points consecutively, one of them belonging to Jordan, with the other four achieved by Chamberlain.

"What kept you from achieving it?" the sagacious reporter knew how to ask the question.

"If you watched the game, you'd know I missed a three-point shot before leaving the floor. If I'd made it, I would have scored 48 points." This meant that he was just 2 points shy of scoring 50 points for two consecutive games, and even though Jordan was so tired he could hardly run, he would have persevered if he had made that three-pointer.

"However, what's done is done; I won't discuss things that didn't happen." Jordan said with a smile, but his expression was still nostalgic.

Then, a reporter brought up tendinitis.

On a night when Jordan was excelling, this was not an unpleasant question.

"I'm receiving treatment." The reporters could even sense Jordan's excitement, "If my body recovers, you'll see me more active than I was tonight."

Then, Jordan left, patting Yu Fei on the shoulder like an elder brother who cares for his younger sibling before exiting the media room, "I leave this to you."

Yu Fei smiled with a nod, watching him leave.

Then, Yu Fei began to answer a large number of questions from the reporters.

All kinds of questions, about two-thirds of which were related to Jordan.

Yu Fei admired their tenacity in asking all sorts of questions centered around Jordan's name.

Then, a reporter from the Associated Press asked, "For some time, your relationship with Michael seems to have been tested; what have you learned from that? What has Michael taught you, and what has he given you? If possible, how would you rate your rookie season so far?"

"That's a lot of questions," Yu Fei laughed, "I will only answer one of them. What has Michael taught me? It's both simple and profound: the world is structured, humans are selfish and admirers of strength. If you start higher than others, you easily receive favors, but when others catch up, you lose everything; if you have established yourself and are respected, but once you get old, and perform poorly, the same crowd that once exalted you to the heavens will turn into crows to feast on your carcass; only when you're performing well can you avoid these. No one is absolutely trustworthy, no one is absolutely reliable, the person who curses you today might praise you tomorrow, what you gain today you may lose tomorrow; from the beginning to the end, the only thing that matters is oneself. Everything depends on oneself."