Basketball Legend: When Pride Still Matters

The point guard position requires organization, bringing the ball to the frontcourt, thinking about a multitude of things, which is too energy-consuming; it's better to let him return to the small forward position to fully leverage his offensive capabilities.

Therefore, Collins subbed out Hubert Davis and let Yu Fei take over the small forward position, bringing on Chris Whitney to be the transporter and perimeter shooter.

The Bucks made changes to their matchup as well.

Karl had confirmed that Cassell could not possibly limit Yu Fei defensively.

Because Yu Fei's shooting was on fire tonight.

A Yu Fei in such form had to be matched with an athletic forward of the same size to be contained.

Initially, Karl wanted to put Mason on Yu Fei, but he had seen Mason's performance and knew if he really went head-to-head with Yu Fei, they could end up making headlines with a rookie scoring 50 points in a game.

In the end, Karl reluctantly chose Tim Thomas from the bench.

Thomas, the number seven pick of 1997, was exceptionally talented, with size, athletic ability, and physical quality. What he lacked was determination.

But the problem was, Thomas had never had a good reputation on defense.

Karl put him on Yu Fei thinking only that physically, Thomas matched up well with Yu Fei, that was it.

What Karl didn't expect was that although Thomas matched up in size, he was at a disadvantage in every other aspect, especially his attitude and defensive skill, hardly resembling a veteran who had played four or five years in the NBA.

Suddenly, Yu Fei had unlimited permission to shoot at will.

In the first possession against Tim Thomas, although Yu Fei's stop-and-pop jumper didn't go in after a dribble breakthrough, a teammate grabbed the rebound, passed it out, and Whitney nailed the three-pointer.

In the following offensive possession for the Wizards, Yu Fei got the ball again, lowered his center of gravity, executed several crossover moves, and Thomas didn't even come close to defending him. He was completely juked out, looking like someone who spent two hours looking for a video but surrendered in just 50 seconds.

Yu Fei charged into the paint, backed down Joel Przybilla, and forcefully scored a layup despite the defense.

On the other hand, the Bucks were being propped up solely by Ray Allen's threes.

And, there was Mason, a known liability.

Yu Fei really wondered why Karl, such a strict coach, always failed to see his negative impact.

Collins was respectful to Jordan, right? But if Jordan had a terrible game, Collins would still cut back his minutes accordingly and offer him some advice.

But with Mason, Yu Fei really didn't feel the Bucks had any plan or requirements in place for him.

Mason's tactical role was unique, calling for the ball in the low post as soon as the offense began, taking the audience back to the 1950s and 60s when the big men would hold the ball in the low post for five or six seconds searching for an opportunity to pass, and if not, they'd take the shot themselves.

Such a playing style, carried into the present, was not only inefficient but also disrupted the offensive rhythm.

If Mason didn't get the ball, then it was even worse. He wouldn't clog up space in the low post; instead, he'd position himself on the wing, becoming an irrelevant bystander to the game, constantly nagging his teammates to "pass the ball."

Yu Fei had seen plenty of such toxic elements on the court.

For a toxicity to reach this extent and still be ignored by the head coach while teammates silently endured, Mason was one of a kind.

Then, Yu Fei decided not to invest too much effort into Mason.

An opponent with a toxic element was a good thing.

He wished every opposing team had a Mason.

Let's look at Mason demanding the ball again, this time, Cassell firmly refuses to pass it.

Ray Allen didn't create an opening; Cassell kept a tight hold of the ball, and then, Mason was whistled for a three-second violation.

At this point, the Bucks were trailing the Wizards by 11 points.

On offense, Yu Fei took the ball once again, marking his third consecutive solo play, with his teammates raising no objections.

Once more, Yu Fei dribbled in front of Tim Thomas.

"Stop him! Stop him!" Karl roared passionately.

Instead, Thomas's defense remained as flimsy as ever, and Fei shook him off with a crossover, stopping for a jumper, and this time he made it.

The gap between the teams increased to 13 points.

Karl hadn't even started to curse when Yu Fei sent back an opponent's shot with a defensive block at the other end.

He was everywhere on both offense and defense.

This invisibly brought up Karl's dream that had ended before it even began.

During Jordan's first retirement, the Supersonics and the Bulls had seriously discussed a one-for-one trade of Kemp for Pippen. However, the Bulls eventually put a stop to the trade. This is an underestimated "what if": If the trade had been completed, could Jordan have won three consecutive championships with Kemp upon his return? And could Pippen have teamed up with Payton to win a championship relying on defense?

When Karl was planning this trade, he even asked Jordan — a fellow North Carolina alumnus with whom he had a good personal relationship.

At that time, Jordan, who thought he would not return to basketball, strongly advised Karl to go through with the trade. But ultimately, because of unilateral reasons from the Bulls, the trade did not occur, and the rest became history.

Now, there appeared a mini-Pippen who seemed to have a brighter future than Pippen at that time.

Why is he still Jordan's player?

Karl didn't understand — was Jordan born to attract such players to assist him?

At this moment, Karl forgot the public conflicts between Yu Fei and Jordan, as well as the fact that Yu Fei had almost been traded before; he was only envious and jealous of Jordan always being able to find such excellent helpers.

Then, 10 minutes into the first quarter, Yu Fei came off the court with 15 points and 5 rebounds.

Achieving such numbers in 10 minutes showed just how outstanding Yu Fei's performance was tonight.

To catch up, Karl shortened the rotation, letting Ray Allen play the entire first quarter and then sending in Glenn Robinson to score.

It proved to be effective.

Because they were leading by 13 points, Collins took out Yu Fei and Jordan to rest.

With no one left to dictate the play on the court, the Wizards' offensive talent was so sparse that they had to rely on the newly subbed-in Christian Laettner as the core.

It had been 10 years since Laettner last played as the core during his NCAA days, basking in the limelight, yet now, he led the team to catch up by 8 points within a few minutes.

The first quarter ended with a score of 35 to 27, and both teams entered the second quarter.

Collins, not to mention anything else, carried the poise of a grandmaster even when being caught up, not in a hurry, and at the start of the second quarter still didn't play the two stars, having Tyronn Lue, Hubert Davis, Tyrone Nesby, Kwame Brown, and Jahidi White as the starters for the second period.

The Bucks' lineup for the second quarter looked obviously better.

All of the starters except for Ray Allen and Joel Przybilla were there.

Strangely, this seemingly better lineup did not achieve the expected results.

The shooting of Ray Allen's backup, Michael Redd, caught Yu Fei's attention as he came on and hit a pull-up shot with an impressive momentum.

But after that, the Bucks fell into the strange cycle of Mason demanding the ball and disrupting the system.

Mason truly epitomized what it meant to stand there and annoy people for a lifetime.

"Can't they see that Mason is severely disrupting the offensive rhythm on the court?" Yu Fei asked.

Chris Whitney blinked, about to answer, then realized Yu Fei wasn't asking him.

"The Washington Times" beat reporter Thomas Flynn said, "Anthony Mason is known as a troublemaker."

"Like me?" Yu Fei asked self-deprecatingly.

"Not the same," Flynn said, "Believe me, you're nowhere near Anthony Mason's level. If you compare yourself to him, you're selling yourself short."

Thanks to the toxic environment in D.C., Yu Fei, who chose to make it on his own, brought a lot of negative publicity to himself, leading to a poor image among so-called professionals — whom Yu Fei called Jordan's lapdogs. However, no matter how bad his image was, people still made distinctions.

It was like Zhou Shuyi, although she didn't understand the basic mechanics of the game as a commentator and only had poor performance in live broadcasting, at least had a face that could be looked at, but how would you feel if one day it came out that she and King Butt were together?

It wouldn't be worth it, really.

"Is that guy really that bad? I remember last offseason many teams were pursuing him," Yu Fei still remembered, "I recall Milwaukee and Philadelphia were competing for him, and it was Milwaukee that won."

"That's because George Karl and Larry Brown have never backed down from players with strong personalities. They believed they could control Mason," Flynn explained.

Yu Fei instantly realized something.

Yes, Karl and Brown, both were known as notorious taskmasters.

But if Mason, a clear troublemaker, had not been removed or treated, then there was only one explanation: George Karl had backed down.

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