Basketball Legend: When Pride Still Matters

George Karl watched Yu Fei's game, his mind filled with emotions that were a mix of joy and anger. Tonight was clearly the "big day" for the sophomore player.

His shooting touch was scorching hot, almost hitting every shot he took.

As such, his offense seemed somewhat detached from the team. A slew of isolation plays and pick-and-rolls all had their effect, but Karl didn't like it.

Karl admitted the NBA needed star performances, but that wasn't what he was after.

To him, a perfect NBA game was always based on a 20+30+30+30 foundation.

What is 20+30+30+30?

It means the team touches (doesn't have to be a block or a steal) the opponent's ball 20 times, gets 30 free throws, delivers 30 assists, and completes 30 shots, layups/dunks.

This foundation was also dubbed the "Karl index" by his assistants. If the team could reach this index in a given night, it meant their performance was both collective and strong on offense and defense.

To achieve this, defensive effort goes without saying, and on offense the ball needed to flow.

Because you can't rack up 30 assists with just one person.

And when there was an indefinite amount of isolation plays, like the kind Yu Fei showcased tonight, even if the Bucks led the Nets by 7 points with a 27-20 at the end of the first quarter, the Bucks would not tally many assists.

After the first quarter, Karl substituted Yu Fei out for a rest.

Yu Fei, who played the entire first quarter, scored 16 points, grabbed 4 rebounds, and dished out 1 assist. When he found his shooting rhythm, even the Nets had no means to stop him.

Karl said to Yu Fei, "Fei, every time down the court, New Jersey has 2-3 people focusing on you. Do you know what that means?"

Yu Fei wiped the sweat from his face with a towel and responded casually, "My teammates are going to get more opportunities?"

"Then you know what to do?" Karl tried to keep a pleasant expression.

But sometimes, if you are too nice to players, they'll take it too far.

Yu Fei said with a smile, "Continue iso?"

"No! God no!" Gentle Karl instantly became Crazy Karl, "Damn it, you have to pass the ball! You must pass to maximize your threat!"

In fact, Yu Fei knew it all, he just wasn't willing to play along.

He didn't want to stay on Popovich's Spurs, a team that insists on teamwork and where players scoring 30+ points would be rested.

Karl wanted him to pass the ball, and Yu Fei wanted to know how to pass it.

"If I'm the one with the highest shooting percentage on the court, wouldn't continuing to take shots maximize the threat I pose?" Yu Fei reasoned.

Karl was left speechless.

"No, that's fallacious reasoning! After you've demonstrated your individual threat, the defensive pressure on your teammates will decrease. Then, when you pass, it will lead to a completely different outcome!"

Since the head coach was asking, Yu Fei didn't want to be disrespectful.

So he made a small request along the lines of his coach's demand:

"Okay, but I need more shooters."

Karl looked at Yu Fei with subtle eyes—this was not a common suggestion.

"Sprewell, Ray-ray, Michael Reed, Chris," Yu Fei named these four players, "I want to hit the court with them."

Karl did not realize that this was a very rare 5 OUT lineup in the Big Ball Era.

His first reaction was, "Who's playing power forward?"

Yu Fei said, "Me."

"You're going to match up with Kenyon Martin? I know you have personal issues with him, but Kenyon is a very traditional tough power forward. Do you really think you can handle him?"

Who would be afraid of a tough power forward who had broken his leg?

Yu Fei asked in return, "How can I know without trying?"

Karl, who didn't know what Yu Fei was scheming, was visibly pleased. He was reassured by Yu Fei's assertiveness, "I support you!"

Yu Fei wasn't getting carried away by a hot hand, his ability to play the power forward position depended on the opponent's size and physicality.

Kenyon Martin was a contemporary iconic beastly power forward, like a rougher version of Blake Griffin. Why do people call them the beastly power forwards? Not because they look like beasts, but because they dominate the rim like beasts.

And for such beastly power forwards to maintain their athleticism and explosiveness, they had to control their weight well.

Therefore, though Kenyon Martin looked like a muscular brute whom Yu Fei wouldn't want to defend, he actually weighed only 234 pounds (106KG).

Yu Fei's weight from last season was 104KG, and he had put on another 2KG this summer.

That meant he and Martin were the same weight.

Maybe Martin's sheer strength was still greater than Yu Fei's, but it was definitely not a physical mismatch.

The game moved into the second quarter, and the Nets slowly showed their mettle as the Eastern Conference's strongest team.

Their half-court offense was complex, filled with various plays, and only Kidd really understood them.

This was why Kidd, despite his poor one-on-one offensive skills, could still orchestrate the team even in the Big Ball Era where the three-point shot wasn't emphasized and despite being left open—a super negative BUFF.

The drawbacks of a sophisticated tactical system were also obvious: when the plays broke down, the offense seemed extremely weak.

Yu Fei had already seen signs of weariness in the Nets at the start of the game.

They could go four consecutive minutes without scoring, then keep the opposition to only 2 points.

How ugly was that game?

And how did this team that played such ugly basketball manage to not have the lowest Finals ratings in history—apart from the bubble Finals—if not for that notorious 2005 series? Just how bad was it?

Yu Fei awaited the moment to be summoned again by George Karl.

Under Kidd's leadership, the Nets' second unit began to close the gap.

An unknown player stood up, his name was Lucious Harris (Lucious Harris SG), introduced by ABC as the first pick of the second round in 1993. It was this veteran, who had toiled in the NBA for years, who became a key player in the Nets' comeback.

After Harris hit a three-pointer and then scored a pair of layups with Kidd's assistance within the first three minutes of the quarter, the Nets had already cut the lead to just a 1-point deficit.

29 to 30

In other words, the Bucks had only scored 3 points in the past three minutes.

"Their main lineup isn't back yet, I can't switch to the lineup you're talking about," Karl said to Fei, "Your task now is to break our scoring drought."

Fei joked, "Should I break it with a pass, or should I break it going solo?"

Karl said irritably, "No matter what method you use, as long as it works, it's fine!"

Alright then...

Fei hoped Coach Karl would like his unlimited one-on-one play.

Compared to Karl, Fei still preferred Collins, although the latter couldn't break free from Jordan's constraints, he had virtually no restrictions on star players.

He trusted the abilities of star players and was willing to give them power on the court.

Fei remembered that when he played under Collins, he was never required to pass, but that didn't stop him from averaging nearly 7 assists per game.

What does that tell you? He is a player who naturally likes to pass.

He was focused on going solo tonight simply because he had a hot hand.

To put it bluntly, is it wrong to take more shots when you have a good shooting touch?

Look at how Kidd did it; he stuffed the ball to whoever had the hot hand like stuffing a duck.

So, Fei didn't feel he was hogging the ball; he had been passing — he passed the ball to the one with the best shooting touch: himself.

Well, maybe he should hold a symposium with Kobe and Iverson on "How to Rationalize Ball-Hogging."

Currently, the players on the court for the Bucks were Kevin Ollie, Michael Redd, Anthony Mason, Christian Laettner, and Dan Gadzuric.

Fei gave Laettner a nod, asking him to create a dead ball so he could get on the court.

As a result, Laettner committed a deliberate foul on an opponent.

Fei replaced Mason.

Fei took the court, facing the Brooklyn Nets' backup forward Rodney Rogers.

The Nets resumed the game with an inbound pass.

Kidd held the ball at the top of the arc, calling out a play, still a complex one.

Fei saw the other four players run their routes simultaneously.

Rogers, whom Fei was guarding, clearly wasn't the endpoint of the play; he stood to the left outside the paint and set a screen for Lucious Harris.

Fei decisively switched defenders.

If executed properly, complex plays can indeed easily shake the opponent's defense.

But not every point guard can execute the plays clearly.

For some average point guards, even if their teammates run the plays perfectly, they can't capitalize on the opportunities the plays create.

Because those opportunities are fleeting.

The point guard initiating the play sometimes needs to be like a prophet, anticipating the opportunity before it even appears.

This is what sets Kidd and other players at his position apart.

He always sees the unfolding of three steps ahead when he takes the first step.

Kidd suddenly bounces the ball to Rogers, who wasn't supposed to be the endpoint of the play.

Rogers turns, attacks the basket, and uses his physical advantage to score 2 points.

30 to 31

The Nets took the lead in the first play after Fei was brought onto the court.

Even George Karl couldn't help but shake his head in admiration, "That's Jason Kidd, he is the world's number one point guard!"

For anyone who loves offensive and defensive tactics, the Nets' games are delightful, with their complexity of tactics, the precision of the players' running, and the lead guard's ability to orchestrate, all awe-inspiring.

But these are precisely the reasons why Fei finds the Nets' games ugly.

It's because there is a 20-year generation gap in watching games between them.

This is not just Fei's problem, nearly everyone accustomed to the pace of small-ball games finds it hard to get used to the rhythm of the Big Ball Era games.

Fei took the ball from Ollie (point guard), and the Nets still had Kidd defend Fei.

Fei faced Kidd in the frontcourt and while dribbling, asked, "Why does every play you run have to be so complicated?"

Hearing this, Kidd arrogantly replied like a seasoned sage looking down on a younger one, "You wouldn't understand!"

If I understand, does that mean I can beat up my wife like you did?

Fei hummed lightly without saying a word, suddenly accelerated, and crossed over, gaining half a body's advantage for a quick stop.

For Kidd, due to his physical disadvantage, once Fei had any lead in body position or location, his defense would hardly be effective.

"Swoosh!"

Fei scored one-on-one against Kidd and said, "Hey, Jason, are the two points from a complex play more noble than the two points I get from an easy solo play?"

Kidd's face turned sour, but most people didn't know what had happened.

Only Christian Laettner probably knew what was up.

If someone finishes a game against Fei and still feels good, it can only mean two things: they're too lousy, or Fei performed lousily.

You might call this the Fei Rule.

This was a lesson Laettner learned after being brutally beaten by Fei in D.C for a year, just so you know.