Basketball Legend: When Pride Still Matters

The Christmas Day game, as one of the NBA's well-known successful marketing strategies, is always promoted as a highlight of the early season to the fans.

The league emphasizes promoting those matchups with strong storylines.

As the top team in the Eastern Conference, the Milwaukee Bucks with a record of 22 wins and 7 losses will face the New Jersey Nets, ranked third in the Eastern Conference tonight.

From the moment Yu Fei was sent to Milwaukee during the off-season, it was destined that the Bucks would appear in this year's Christmas Day game.

The only question was which team would be arranged to play against the Bucks.

Yu Fei, as a popular star, has only played for less than a season and a half, but he's already made numerous enemies; one could say that any team you chose for him would be worth watching.

The choice of the Nets as opponents was mainly due to the incidents that happened in the first round of the playoffs last season between Yu Fei at the Wizards and the Nets.

Yu Fei and Kenyon Martin exchanged words, and their conflict escalated after the game; in their first match of this season, their disagreement turned into a feud.

Hence, there was this Christmas Day game which was heavily promoted.

Continental Airlines Arena

As Yu Fei entered the Nets' home court, he could sense the passion among the crowd.

After all, the Nets reached the finals last season. Even though they were swept 4-0, it was a significant highlight in their team history, and it was normal for the excitement around basketball to surge.

The feud between Yu Fei and Kenyon Martin made the New Jersey crowd unfriendly towards their guests tonight.

"Martin's going to dunk hard on you!"

"Pretend powerhouse!"

"Undeserving Eastern number one!"

All sorts of ridiculous trash talk came from the stands.

When Yu Fei and Ray Allen arrived at midcourt, Jason Kidd said to Allen in a light tone, "Next time we meet, you'll probably be wearing a Supersonics jersey, right?"

The trade rumor involving Ray Allen and Gary Payton was one of the NBA's biggest gossips lately.

But Yu Fei was certain Kidd didn't just bring this up as a form of small talk with Ray Allen.

And Ray Allen didn't like this kind of small talk either.

"I don't care." Ray-ray once again put on an arrogant attitude, "I'm just here to play ball."

Then Yu Fei asked a question, "Jason, where's your team's big trash talker?"

Kidd cautiously glanced at Yu Fei, "Kenyon refuses to shake your hand; he won't shake an enemy's hand."

"It seems the experience of breaking his leg in college didn't teach him much," Yu Fei cursed calmly, "I wouldn't be surprised if one day his hand also broke."

Kidd didn't reply; he had always known Yu Fei was not an easy person to deal with, but he didn't expect him to be this harsh in his words.

The two sides parted.

Ray Allen didn't talk to Yu Fei about the comment until they returned to the Bucks' backcourt, "You weren't serious about breaking Kenyon Martin's hand, were you?"

Taking everything too seriously would cause you to miss out on a lot of fun in life, Ray-ray.

"Do you know that the things spoken in trash talk only happen in a second space beyond reality?" Yu Fei explained considerately, "For instance, if I say Kenyon Martin's mother is dead, his mother in real life wouldn't actually die. It's only his mother in that second space who dies. And this mother is always produced in batches, dying whenever I need her to."

Ray Allen displayed an "elderly man looking at a smartphone" expression: "I understand every single word you say, but I can't understand them when they're strung together."

Yu Fei shrugged, "Alright, I won't actually break his hand."

Ray Allen breathed a sigh of relief.

After that, everything proceeded as usual.

The teams warmed up, shot baskets, and hardly interacted.

Before the game started, Karl called Yu Fei over and said, "Frye, tonight you need to pay extra attention to my hand signals."

Yu Fei responded, "George, I don't want to be a dumb player."

"Unless you think you're smarter than Jason Kidd."

"I do think I'm smarter than Jason Kidd."

"Shut up and listen, you damn Generation Y!"

"Alright, if it's helpful."

Yu Fei could indeed feel that Karl was very serious about teaching him something, but his actions gave others the feeling of a man desiring for the child to fulfill his own dreams. Yu Fei felt that he could be successful his own way, but Karl disagreed because he knew basketball better.

Tonight, Karl decided to have Yu Fei play the full-time point guard position and go head-to-head with Kidd.

On the Nets' side, Dikembe Mutombo replaced Aaron Williams as the temporary starting center for the Nets.

The only reason for this defensive powerhouse, whose influence spanned the '90s, to suddenly enter the starting lineup was that the Nets needed his shot-blocking ability to reduce Yu Fei's impact on the inside.

At the start of the game, Mutombo won the jump ball.

Kidd advanced the ball at a deliberate pace, yet methodically.

While warding off Yu Fei's close pressure, he orchestrated his teammates into position.

In the frontcourt, Kidd passed to Cory Kittles, who then passed to Richard Jefferson. Jefferson shot a three and scored.

3-0

"See that? That's the difference between you and Jason Kidd!"

Yu Fei heard a woman shouting from the sidelines; he turned to glance at her, long black hair, rose-red lips, attractive features.

Then, Karl's roar pulled Yu Fei back from his reverie to reality, "Frye, we're going inside!"

With Mutombo starting at the five spot for the Nets, with his energy bar full, still one of the best defenders in the league, was it even serious to challenge inside now?

Despite his thoughts, Yu Fei still followed Karl's intent.

He first called for Mason's pick-and-roll to draw Kenyon out, then charged directly to the paint, stopped abruptly to shake off the defense, and took a close jump shot in front of Mutombo.

Despite being so close, Mutombo could hardly interfere at all, watching helplessly as Yu Fei's shot flew past him into the basket.

3 to 2

Yu Fei glanced at Martin, "How can someone not even play tight defense?"

Then, Yu Fei overheard fans in the front row cursing him.

The heckler was a woman, but clearly not a friendly one.

Feeling insulted yet again, Martin ran to the frontcourt, setting a pick for Kidd, and then flared wide.

Martin's pick wasn't of great quality and his habit of flaring was poor; his most reliable way to score was still to roll to the basket for an easy finish, but now he inexplicably flared out to one step inside the left corner three-point line.

Kidd passed him the ball, and Martin shot it as soon as he caught it.

Such an ill-advised shot naturally did not end well.

Martin's shot clanged off the rim and bounced out of bounds, not even giving them a chance to fight for the offensive rebound.

"How can someone not even know where they're good at attacking?"

Martin, visibly agitated and biting his lip, yearned to explode against Yu Fei in the frontcourt.

However, his teammates saw he was getting baited and promptly pulled him back.

"It's time for the others to start moving, don't hold onto the ball for too long!"

When Yu Fei first played point guard for the Wizards, he enjoyed it. But playing point guard for the Bucks was torture.

Because Karl would come to the sidelines before every offense and tell him what to do next.

This made Yu Fei feel as if Karl controlled his body to play the game.

And this style of over-coaching seemed to be the mainstream nowadays; only because Yu Fei's last head coach didn't have real power, otherwise, he too would have undoubtedly been remote-controlling the point guard from the sideline.

That's what made the Brooklyn Nets' lead guard position so precious.

Their head coach Byron Scott didn't even have the qualifications to instruct Kidd on tactics.

Following Karl's arrangement, Yu Fei got to the frontcourt and passed the ball to Sprewell.

Then, Sprewell drove the ball to the paint, and after being enveloped by Mutombo, passed it back out.

Ray Allen received the pass, tapped the ball, and took a long two-pointer one step inside the three-point line.

Fantastic, unforgettable, that was Yu Fei's impression of contemporary basketball.

"Bang!"

Ray Allen's shot seemed to give Karl another reason to trade him, his shouting voice carried from the backcourt, "Ray, the fuck don't you realize we had enough time to set up an effective offense?"

While Karl was blasting Allen with the hairdryer treatment, the Brooklyn Nets' counterattack had already advanced to the frontcourt.

Kidd was aware of Yu Fei on his heels, so his sole purpose was to draw the defense until they both entered the paint, then he passed back.

Kenyon Martin followed through; he knew Kidd's passing habits too well.

Without suspense, with Yu Fei brought out of defensive position by Kidd, there was no way to stop Martin's dunk.

5 to 2

"I said you were overrated, it wasn't just talk, it was a fact, you bitch better remember my words!"

Martin yelled at Yu Fei.

Familiar with the feud between the two, the home crowd also stood up to cheer for Martin.

Washington Wizards' beat reporter Steve Wyche had once analyzed Yu Fei, claiming he was antisocial by NBA standards.

Because once something angered Yu Fei, he would act recklessly without considering the consequences.

That was something everyone on the Wizards had experienced firsthand.

"You're not going to let this slide, are you?" Sprewell asked with a smile.

Yu Fei replied emotionlessly, "Of course."

George Karl once again called out Yu Fei's name, "Frye!"

"Shhh!" Yu Fei hushed Karl, then without even looking at him, dribbled towards the frontcourt on his own.

Karl knew that his kite had broken its string once again.

Normally Yu Fei might humor him for a quarter or two, but tonight that cooperation had ended in just a few possessions.

What was the problem? Karl thought back to Martin's trash talk after the dunk.

Kenyon Martin, that damned bastard was derailing his grand plans for Big Fei, the bastard deserved to die!

When Yu Fei reached the frontcourt, he didn't go for Martin directly. Instead, he called a five-position pick-and-roll play.

It seemed he had given up on competing with Martin; in reality, by drawing Mutombo out and leaving Martin to protect the rim, he could achieve his goal.

Once Mutombo was forced out of the paint to face Yu Fei at the high post, Yu Fei easily broke through his defense. The reason Mutombo dared to leave the basket was the confidence that even in his absence, Martin could protect the rim with his ferocious athleticism.

Yu Fei wanted Martin to stay under the basket.

He nearly sprinted past Mutombo's defense, stepped inside the free-throw line, gathered the ball quickly, then exploded upwards, meeting Martin in the air.

Kenyon Martin was known as a beastly power forward, but he was lighter than Yu Fei. In this situation, he had no advantage. Yu Fei crashed into him heedlessly in mid-air, knocking Martin aside, the visual effect akin to a bicycle being hit by a car on the highway; Martin looked just as helpless and disheveled.

And Yu Fei? He stabilized his body like a deity, slamming the ball into the basket with all his might.

"BOOM!!!!!!!"

(Whistle blows)

Martin, knocked under the basket, struggled to open his eyes, only to see Yu Fei gripping the rim, shaking as he looked down at him.

"Who did you say was overrated?"