Basketball Legend: When Pride Still Matters

After the All-Star weekend, the Bucks, who originally had a complete roster, suffered from injuries.

Anthony Mason twisted his thigh in the first game back from the holiday and needed to be out for 2-4 weeks.

No one cared about the gap at the power forward position initially because the reformed Mason had been doing some inconspicuous tasks.

The interior line was the Bucks' greatest weakness, and with Mason around, as long as they did not face star centers, the overall performance was passable. Suddenly without Mason, center Dan Gadzuric was only good for his athleticism and there was no one who could replace Mason's role at power forward.

When the Bucks were swept by the Mavericks and then suffered their first back-to-back defeat of the season to the Pacers' Jermaine O'Neal, who ran rampant with 40 points and 12 rebounds, George Karl nudged rookie Rony Seikaly forward.

Turns out, Bannisk, with his impressive physique, was nowhere near the starting caliber of a postseason powerhouse and after two consecutive terrible games, he was benched.

Karl gritted his teeth, worked Yu Fei to death, running the X-Offense throughout, and then complained about his general manager not earning his pay: "I've always stressed that we have a problem with our interior line, yet we've made no reinforcements."

"Are we really expecting Anthony Mason to guard every single power forward? That's impossible!"

With the trade deadline approaching, the Bucks still had the opportunity to strengthen their roster.

The Cleveland Cavaliers, determined to tank to the end, released a disgruntled veteran from his contract.

This veteran was Tyrone Hill (Tyrone Hill PF), whose résumé was unremarkable: entered the league in 1990 and made it to the All-Star game once in the 1994-95 season; otherwise, he was virtually unknown.

He was the type to be quickly forgotten once he retired despite his capabilities.

Now, 35-year-old Tyrone Hill was at the tail end of his career and didn't want to wait for a new star in Cleveland, thus he made his wish to leave known to the team.

The Cavaliers agreed.

Suddenly, Tyrone Hill became the target of competition among strong teams.

The team that needed him the most, of course, was the Milwaukee Bucks, who were desperate for reinforcements to their interior line.

General manager Larry Harris was full of sincerity.

He promised Hill he would get at least 20 minutes of playtime and, if he wished, he could play in Milwaukee until retirement. Moreover, the Bucks were willing to offer him a job after retirement.

The recruitment of a veteran by the Bucks, who were ranked first in the Eastern Conference, was difficult to witness.

As a result, Tyrone Hill made an odd request to Harris: "I can go to Milwaukee, but only if Frye promises me."

Harris expressed confusion: what did Frye have to promise?

Hill said directly, "I was in the NBA playing ball when Frye was still wearing split pants. I've heard his stories, and I've played against him; he needs to promise me that if I go to Milwaukee, he'll respect me."

Harris's expression was priceless; he hadn't expected Yu Fei to become a stumbling block in recruitment.

But upon reflection, since Yu Fei's feud with Jordan, the latter's media friends had been constantly conveying a message to the outside world: Yu Fei was a jerk; he didn't respect veterans; he liked to bully veterans...

Over time, people started to believe it.

No matter how Yu Fei's team rebutted, the incidents of Yu Fei punching Jordan and kicking Shaq were there for all to see.

If he could act like that with Jordan and Shaq, would other veterans without clout really be treated as people in his eyes?

Yet if Yu Fei were truly like that, the Bucks wouldn't have their current record.

"I assure you, Frye isn't the person that the rumors make him out to be," he said.

Hill hesitated for a few days, but eventually picked the Bucks over the 76ers.

The reason being, the Bucks were currently 43 wins to 13 losses, ranking first in the Eastern Conference, second in the League (one game behind the Mavericks, but needing to win two more games to overtake due to being swept by them).

With Tyrone Hill's arrival, the Bucks now had a second experienced and battle-ready veteran at the power forward position.

Thus, even if Mason was injured, there wouldn't be a situation with no one to play.

Later, as Mason returned, a fully staffed Bucks looked forward to entering the playoffs with the League's best record.

In March, the Bucks' first opponent was the Los Angeles Lakers, with whom they had quite a history of grievances.

In terms of history, the rivalry between the Bucks and the Lakers needed to be traced back to the 1970s, and in the new millennium, the two teams barely had any chances of conflict.

Their only grievance lay between Yu Fei and Shaquille O'Neal.

As the representatives of their respective teams, the grievances between Yu Fei and O'Neal could essentially be considered as those between the Bucks and the Lakers.

Ever since O'Neal's racist attack on Yao Ming was easily glossed over, Yu Fei's opinion of him grew even worse.

O'Neal, in turn, was extremely dissatisfied with the way Yu Fei "added fuel to the fire" during that incident.

This was evident in both players' pre-game interviews.

An ABC frontline reporter asked Yu Fei, "Do you think Shaquille O'Neal will be a problem for you guys?"

"The Lakers' strength has nothing to do with him," Yu Fei replied. "If Kobe hadn't averaged 40 points last month, the Lakers might already be out of the playoff running⑴."

⑴ In February 2003, Kobe averaged 29 shots and 40 points, 4 rebounds, and 3 assists per game, leading the team to an 11-3 record for the month but missing out on Player of the Month (Western Conference's Player of the Month was Garnett, with averages of 28 points, 14 rebounds, and 7 assists).

ABC's reporter turned into a messenger, conveying Yu Fei's remarks directly to O'Neal.

O'Neal, like a defender of NBA tradition, said, "I'm not surprised, really. I know that guy would say that. If he doesn't even respect MJ, he won't respect anyone. I'll show him that in the NBA, you speak with your performance, and he doesn't have the clout to say whatever he wants."

Bradley Center

This was one of Shaquille O'Neal's least favorite away venues, old and dilapidated, and if it was winter, the very thought of playing there was unbearable. While the rest of the league's venues had adopted advanced heating systems, the Bradley Center still used a type of cold coal for heating that was no longer being produced in most regions.

The effect, needless to say, was consistently terrible.

Today, the coach of the Lakers, Phil Jackson, was absent from the game due to kidney stones, so the coaching duties fell onto an assistant.

Frank Hamblen, who temporarily took over as coach, didn't make detailed demands, he only said to Kobe, "Tonight, no matter what, you can't shoot more than 30 times."

Kobe enjoyed the privilege that even his coach only requested and did not order him to control his shooting.

In fact, because Shaquille O'Neal had smartly delayed his toe surgery until just before the season began, Kobe had gained significant ball rights early in the season. Although he hadn't played well at the time, ball rights carry momentum. If Kobe was averaging 25 shots at the start of the season, then as the season progressed, his number of shots would only increase, never decrease.

Thus, everyone was able to witness Kobe scoring 40 points with an average of 29 shots per game for the month.

It could be said that Kobe was now truly the boss of the Lakers.

But he still needed to prove himself, since the Lakers had only one standard for their leader, and that was to win a championship.

Only by winning the championship could Kobe's position be justified.

"Let's go say hello," Kobe said, looking at No. 44 not far away.

Shaquille O'Neal stayed in the backcourt; he had no interest in greeting Yu Fei, nor did he want to stand beside Kobe, seeming like a true number two.

In the end, only Kobe approached center court to meet Yu Fei and Ray Allen.

"How's it going recently?"

"Not bad."

Yu Fei and Kobe exchanged brief pleasantries, while Ray Allen was more aloof, merely shaking hands before departing.

Back in his own territory, George Karl reminded Yu Fei, "I know you have a grudge against Shaq, but keep your emotions in check."

Yu Fei nodded and said, "I can control my emotions, but there's no need."

Karl's most helpless point with Yu Fei was that when the young player wanted to mess around, he simply couldn't be controlled.

"If you go too far and get ejected, we might lose to the Lakers. Do you want to lose?" Karl laid out the consequences.

Yu Fei thought he was being misunderstood.

Who said playing with emotion would get him ejected? He wasn't Rasheed Wallace. Even Rasheed Wallace improved, like two years ago when he got 41 Ts in a season, now halfway through the season he hadn't even reached 20, a significant improvement!

In the opening jump ball, Dan Gadzuric won possession for the Bucks.

Yu Fei dribbled the ball, feeding it to Sprewell.

Sprewell took the shot as soon as he got the ball.

He missed, but since Shaquille O'Neal didn't bother to box out, Gadzuric was able to grab the offensive rebound in front of him and scored with a put-back dunk.

2-0

Then, the Lakers demonstrated one of their most classic scenes of the season.

Shaquille O'Neal was positioned in the low post, but his teammates didn't pass immediately.

Fisher passed the ball back to Kobe.

Kobe glanced at Shaquille O'Neal and decided that, rather than passing to him, his chances were higher taking a three-pointer against the defense of Ray Allen.

That's something the inside players hate to see, luckily Yu Fei no longer played inside.

In this round, the ball was controlled by Sprewell for the Bucks, while Yu Fei stayed open on the left, wanting to challenge Shaquille O'Neal, but it wasn't time yet.

Sprewell passed the ball to Ray Allen.

Under heavy defense from Kobe, Ray Allen took a shot with an awkward posture.

Those types of shots are hard to make, but it wasn't clear if Shaquille O'Neal was intentionally playing with a lack of energy or just being lazy, as he failed to box out again.

This allowed Dan Gadzuric to grab his second offensive rebound.

As Gadzuric snatched the rebound, Yu Fei cut in from the weak side.

Unable to initiate an offense from his position, Gadzuric saw the rapidly approaching Yu Fei and, without hesitation, tossed the ball to him.

Yu Fei caught the ball and took off without wasting a second, moving with lightning speed that gave Shaquille O'Neal no chance to react.

In the blink of an eye, Yu Fei used his right leg to push off, knocking Shaquille O'Neal's body and ferociously slamming the ball home.

The Bradley Center erupted in jubilation, as people could hardly recall the last time a Bucks player had played with such flair.

Shaquille O'Neal bellowed at the referee, "Didn't you f*cking see him kick up?"

"Shut up!" Yu Fei spoke from a position of absolute righteousness to Shaquille O'Neal, "You racist bastard have no right to complain!"