Basketball Legend: When Pride Still Matters

Some top college basketball recruiters, who had only heard of Yu Fei but had never seen him play in person, had initially worried that his stature wouldn't be sufficient for him to play as a center in higher-level games.

Now, those thoughts had vanished.

Yu Fei had always played as a center because, aside from him, the Royal Team had no one else capable of fulfilling the role of a center in high-standard high school competitions.

Defensively, he was a center, dutifully serving as the defensive anchor, but on offense, he showed no difference from a forward or even a guard.

He liked to dribble, had adept ball-handling skills, could pull off various guard-like dribbling moves, and possessed a shooting ability. Though he had only recently developed this skill, he was full of confidence, willing to take shots, and his shooting form looked good; with persistent practice, he was sure to turn shooting into a standard weapon in his offensive arsenal.

Long Beach High School was crushed by Yu Fei on both offense and defense.

They couldn't effectively penetrate the zone guarded by Yu Fei.

The closer they tried to get to the basket, the less success they had.

This was Long Beach High School's biggest problem; they were a team that liked to play inside, but they lacked a powerful weapon on the perimeter. Before, relying on Larry Turner and the overall superiority of their roster, they could score in the paint against other teams, but against a talent like Yu Fei, who was beyond the level of a Washington State 4A high school player, they were stopped in their tracks.

Worse yet, Yu Fei not only dominated defensively—his performance on offense was equally devastating.

With enthusiasm, Yu Fei exhibited graceful guard skills that made it easy to forget he was a center who kept serving up blocks to the opposing players.

In the first half, his shooting touch was a bit off, but starting from the second half, he began to hit open threes, and then Long Beach High School could no longer leave him open.

Yu Fei demolished Long Beach High School with his exceptional control over both offense and defense, scoring 51 points, 18 rebounds, 6 assists, and 10 blocks in this championship battle, leading Kent Meridian High School to its first-ever state championship.

The moment the game ended, Yu Fei was surrounded by his teammates, and the Key Arena was engulfed in an indescribable frenzy.

The experts, scouts, and college recruiters who had come to watch him all felt the trip was worthwhile.

Yu Fei was the real deal.

This was not just because Yu Fei single-handedly tore apart Long Beach High School, but also because he showcased many skills that could be effective at even higher levels of competition.

Yu Fei was unanimously recognized as a top ten high school player in the nation.

The rational industry professionals gradually left the venue.

The on-site celebration ceremony then began.

Yu Fei, wearing a cap with the Kent Meridian High School logo, climbed onto a folding chair and cut down the net to hand over to the principal.

Afterward, Gary Payton from the Seattle SuperSonics presented Yu Fei with the MVP trophy.

Honestly, before his time travel, there was a long period when Yu Fei had not known who Payton was.

Exaggeration? Not at all.

Who could blame him when Payton and the other SuperSonics legends had lost their roots? Their team had been sneakily moved to Oklahoma, and they refused to recognize the new team, so the Oklahoma City Thunder Team also righteously disassociated with them, mutually ignoring each other.

Without a team, it wasn't until 2008 that Payton began appearing frequently on public platforms, largely due to the glow from the great Michael Jordan. At that time, as the United States was struggling with the pandemic, Jordan's documentary "The Last Dance" was released, featuring (and to some extent, embarrassing) Payton.

Yu Fei happened to have watched the documentary, and while he didn't know Payton at the time, he felt that Jordan's way of humiliating past rivals in the film was in poor taste, something that the honorable never did.

Hmm... But then again, ever since transmigrating, Yu Fei, with his new body and past life skills dominating the court, rarely encountered an adversary, and he suddenly understood that despicable mindset of Michael Jordan's, "The strong should thoroughly humiliate the weak."

Whenever he humiliated his opponents on the court, his heart would surge with pleasure comparable to that of a perfect hand job, but afterwards, he would feel ashamed of his behavior, believing he should not act that way.

Yet, as the game went on, he would get carried away, disregarding his opponents' dignity, spewing all sorts of unbearable trash talk, and then that joy didn't diminish at all, which intoxicated him and left him conflicted.

He wondered if he had somehow developed a psychological disorder that he was unaware of due to improperly transmigrating into Yu Fei.

Hmm, the topic has strayed; let's return from the wanderings of Yu Fei's mind back to reality.

Having witnessed Yu Fei's performance firsthand, Payton didn't forget to adopt a senior's posture when handing over the trophy, educating the younger generation, "Kid, you're amazing, I like your attitude on the court and I also enjoy your trash talk but let me tell you, if you want to make it to the NBA, you still have to develop your inside scoring abilities. You're too tall to always be handling the ball outside, got it? Got it, that's good; Uncle here, I fucking love obedient little brats like you!"

Yu Fei smiled in agreement with Payton, "Thank you for telling me this, I'm very grateful."

Couldn't he perform inside attacks? To be fair, that kind of traditional inside post-up was not exactly his thing, but he had been learning it for quite a while.

The reason he didn't use post-ups was because that skill didn't offer good enough returns for him at the moment.

Post-ups were tiring, and when it came to reliability, they weren't as good as mid-to-long range shots. Facing a formidable foe like Long Beach High School, the Royal Team couldn't afford errors, and Yu Fei had to play the game in the way he was best at.

Developing his inside offensive game was definitely on the agenda, but not for now.

What he needed now was to win.

He had won, and that was enough.

Afterwards, all the Washington State 4A high school basketball teams that entered the finals gathered on site to commence the awarding of various prizes.

Yu Fei received several of the most important awards; the rest were not worth mentioning.

Later, the basketball team players and their parents met up and booked a restaurant near Key Arena for a group meal.

Inside, they celebrated and frolicked, everyone forgetting themselves in the excitement.

For the Royal Team, the state championship was something they had not even dared to dream of, and now it had become a reality.

The principal of Kent Meridian High School spoke movingly in her toast, and many of the parents were natives of Kent City. They were born there, grew up there, and would eventually be buried there. When they realized that the state championship won by the Royal Team was not only the first overall championship in K-M's history but also the first high school basketball state championship in the history of Kent City, most of them proudly shed tears.

Since the start of the dinner, people continuously entered the restaurant to congratulate the Royal Team.

Sport has a kind of magic that can make people stop caring about other external matters.

Today, in 2001, the United States is entering a turning point into the new century, during which the established order since the Cold War era of the past century will be completely overturned.

In comparison to the unpredictable major era, Yu Fei is just a unique ordinary person. His presence is special not only to Kent City but also to Seattle, which is ten miles away. Today, he led Kent Meridian High School to win the state championship, and the news devoured everything around it like a whirlpool.

All of a sudden, this dark-haired, yellow-skinned twelfth-grader became the most popular topic in Washington State, and the waves generated engulfed both Yu Fei and Seattle. He became even more popular than Gary Payton and Rashard Lewis.

The people who watched him grow up were filled with hope, and what were once vague or wavering expectations had now become a belief. They believed that one day in the future, Yu Fei would step onto a bigger stage and, with a cold smile, completely destroy his competitors just as he did today.

The funniest thing was when they were full and ready to go home, the restaurant owner came over. She was a Latina lady in her sixties, dressed elegantly—just like those ladies who frequent the country club. She approached Yu Fei and said sincerely, "Fulai, watching you compete with the other players made me feel as if I was watching my own son. Congratulations on your victory."

Yu Fei smiled politely and replied, "Thank you for the support, I also felt a grandmotherly warmth in you."