Basketball Legend: When Pride Still Matters

The Jade Team and the Ace Team started the second half with Anthony hitting two consecutive three-pointers right off the bat, taking an early lead. Lenny Cook seemed to have an epiphany and stopped trying to clash directly with Yu Fei.

The Ace Team sailed smoothly, leading by as much as nine points at one point.

Since a half only lasts 10 minutes at the ABCD Camp, a nine-point lead was significant.

It appeared that Anthony, with his superior offensive talent, was about to win the game for the Ace Team.

With less than five minutes left in the game, Roy, like a shooter in a 2K game who's gone cold, was completely unable to score.

Iguodala was blown out by Anthony and had lost all confidence.

After quickly crossing half court, Yu Fei slowed down the pace, dribbling leisurely to the top of the arc. Cook lowered his center of gravity but wasn't very wary.

That's because Yu Fei had seldom initiated an attack from beyond the three-point line that day.

However, suddenly lowering his stance, Yu Fei's basketball crossed from his left hand to his right hand under his legs, a sharp change of direction—Cook shifted his weight to one side and was rendered powerless against Yu Fei's next crossover.

When Yu Fei executed the second crossover under the legs, Cook's defense had already crumbled, he couldn't even make a move, his body frozen in place.

Yu Fei took a large stride inside the three-point line, dribbled once more, gathered, stepped forward, and leapt for a powerful dunk.

"Andre!" Yu Fei yelled in the frontcourt, pointing at Cook, "This trash is for you to handle, Cameron is mine."

"What did you say?"

Cook was angry at Yu Fei's derogatory remark, but he couldn't muster a response. Seeing that his defender was Iguodala, he thought about giving tit for tat.

If he couldn't play against Yu Fei, he couldn't possibly not play against Iguodala, could he?

Cook thought so, and he acted on it.

He overestimated his own abilities. With his physical talent and skills, he could have scored over Iguodala with some patience and rhythm.

But he insisted on taking difficult, long-range, pull-up shots like Anthony.

He wasn't Anthony, nor would he ever be.

What's worse, Cook, in his desire to make a good impression on the professionals, was shutting his own NBA door.

Yu Fei grabbed the rebound and immediately went for a coast-to-coast fast break.

After crossing half court, he again adjusted the pace, loudly calling his teammates to set up a screen.

Before Anthony could react, having just positioned himself, Roy had already constructed a fragile human wall by his side.

Yu Fei made a dribble under the legs, accelerating toward the screen direction. Anthony didn't plan to fight through the screen and simply watched his opponent dribble into an undefended space.

At that moment, Yu Fei crossed under the legs again, transferring the ball from his left to his right hand, hitting a perfect shooting rhythm.

In an instant, Yu Fei gathered the ball, hoisted up, and soared into the air, elongating his body.

"Swoosh!"

It was almost a chasedown three-pointer.

In less than a minute, the gap closed to four points.

Gary Smith, the chief writer from Sports Illustrated who had been following Yu Fei for months, had many insights upon seeing his performance against some of America's best high schoolers.

He might have been the most knowledgeable person about Yu Fei among the professionals present.

If the intensity of the State of Washington's 4A championship was insufficient to confirm Yu Fei's talent, then Yu Fei's performance at ABCD Camp was proving something.

What fascinated people even more was Yu Fei's ability to exert force at crucial moments, just as the Jade Team was close to collapsing.

This was the true nature of a star player.

Many players excel during regular play, but once they reach a tense moment, they miss the mark, lose sight of the hoop, and squander a good situation.

Only a few can withstand that suffocating pressure and dare to take responsibility.

After making that three-pointer, Yu Fei provocatively gestured across his neck toward Anthony, "Cameron, if you pass the ball to that trash again, you're going to lose!"

When he delivered this statement, Smith was sitting in the front row less than 10 meters away from him.

A smile crossed his face.

He was provoking, sowing discord, and piling on the pressure to his opponents.

Although youthful, it was more than enough to handle high schoolers.

This was a bold and resourceful youth, reminding Smith of Larry Bird in his prime.

Yu Fei possessed a peculiar charm, one that attracted insightful observers like Smith.

Anthony took the bait — he certainly didn't want the team's advantage to be ruined by Lenny Cook alone, so he ignored Cook's demand for the ball and decisively launched an offensive against Yu Fei's defense.

The game's most closely watched pair was ready to settle the score.

Anthony responded to Yu Fei with a difficult jump shot.

Afterward, Yu Fei shook off Anthony's defense with a change of direction and completed another breakout dunk.

Anthony dribbled to the front court and hit a three-pointer from the top of the arc.

Yu Fei sank a simple, unadorned pull-up three-pointer.

The duel between the two lasted until the final 90 seconds of the game when Anthony fired a three-pointer, but missed, and twisted his ankle upon landing.

As Anthony was carried off the court, the Ace Team still led by two points, but his exit effectively announced the outcome of the match.

Yu Fei emphatically blocked Cook and caught up with the ball, foregoing the opportunity for a fast-break dunk and instead smashing the ball towards the front court's backboard.

The rebounding basketball was caught by the leaping Iguodala, who completed a thunderous slam dunk.

It was a moment of showmanship and also the judgment of the strongest.

Yu Fei continued to humiliate Cook, "I hear you want to declare for the draft next year? Ridiculous, what makes you think you're NBA material?"

Under the pressure of his opponent, Cook crumbled.

He shot an abysmal airball, allowing the Jade Team to counter with The Shot in the last 20 seconds.

"Hey, Lenny," Yu Fei said cuttingly, "Don't forget to bring an oxygen tank on your way home tomorrow. I'm worried you'll suffocate before you get there."

It was over; the Ace Team collapsed after Anthony's injury exit.

Lenny Cook was disgracefully exposed, while Yu Fei received high praise from Hubie Brown and many other professionals.

Now, like Smith, they felt the charm emanating from Yu Fei.

"Frye, if we had a kid as outstanding as you at home, I'd be the happiest old man in the world," Brown expressed his fondness for Yu Fei openly.

Brown's affection for Yu Fei reminded Smith of an anecdote he had heard in Seattle.

It was said that on the night Yu Fei led his team to the state championship, an elderly Latina woman told him that watching him play was like watching her own child.

Smith's heart beat rapidly; he too wanted to exchange a few words with Yu Fei. He wanted to tell the young man that he was preparing to write a column about him in Sports Illustrated and that it would be good for him if he aspired to the NBA.

It sounded as though Smith wanted to gain something from Yu Fei.

But he had no ulterior motives. From the moment he took an interest in Yu Fei, the only reason driving him to start this job was one — he liked the kid.

By Sonny Vacarro's side, after watching the game, Jerry West mused, "One year? How could that be possible?"

Wakaro laughed, "I didn't believe it at first either, but it's true."

"If that's the case..." West instinctively wanted to say he was a player not to be missed, but the reality was he had no current connection to the NBA.

Even if Yu Fei was a player not to be missed, what did it mean to him?

He had no chance to trade for an all-star center, obtain a lottery pick, and then make a surprising move at the draft anymore.

"So what?" Vacarro pressed.

"He will be the biggest uncertainty since 1979," West said, "He's either Michael Olowokandi or Magic Johnson, with no middle ground."