Basketball Legend: When Pride Still Matters

Jordan's reaction to questions related to Yu Fei was priceless.

It proved just how much the contrast between the Bucks' positive momentum and the Wizards' slump angered him.

This has made the first showdown between the two teams in early December even more anticipated.

Before that, the Bucks still had some games to play.

Their next opponent was the current bottom feeder of the Eastern Conference, the Miami Heat, perhaps the worst team Pat Riley ever had; at first glance, not a single player could be considered a star.

The Heat, with a record of 1 win and 7 losses, could be said to be one of the first teams preparing for the 2003 draft this season.

As the opponent wasn't strong, it was natural for Yu Fei to use them for practice.

In the game against the Heat, Yu Fei took 27 shots, and due to a large number of step-back jumpers and low-post back-downs, his shooting percentage wasn't high, but he still led the team to extinguish the Heat with a team-high of 34 points, 7 rebounds, and 7 assists.

"Those were all good shots," Yu Fei said about his number of attempts and misses after the game, "I just didn't make them."

Although George Karl didn't like Yu Fei's style of play tonight, he couldn't really complain because the Heat were too weak.

How could it matter if a star acted willfully against such a weak team?

Ray Allen, rather big brotherly, did criticize Yu Fei, "Frye was a bit selfish tonight, he took too many shots."

For Allen, that was a normal criticism.

But if such criticism happened in a big city like Los Angeles, New York, or Washington, the media would definitely make a big deal out of it.

Yet with the Bucks, no one took it seriously.

The attention to Ray Allen's criticism of Yu Fei was not even as much as the attention to Yu Fei's comments on the Wizards.

When Yu Fei was asked how he viewed the Wizards' current 50% win rate and their 10th place standing in the Eastern Conference, a subtle expression appeared on his face.

"I really don't like to talk about other teams' business, but you asked, and I can't just not answer, right?"

The media was full of anticipation for what Yu Fei would say next.

Because Yu Fei wouldn't leave D.C. with any shred of dignity.

This was a man who would take his revenge.

"I think this fully shows that their trade of me was based on personal grudges rather than basketball reasons," Yu Fei said bluntly, "It also proves that the person who helped them make it to the playoffs last season was me, not that old guy who was simultaneously playing as a player, coach, general manager, and owner."

Just like that, there was tomorrow's headline.

Everyone became even more eager for the December 3 game between the Bucks and the Wizards.

Within the Bucks, Yu Fei's grudge with his former team didn't cause much of a stir.

After beating the Heat, the Bucks' next opponent was the Golden State Warriors.

What was expected to be another easy victory turned sour as the Warriors had a team-wide breakout, with seven players scoring in double digits, ending the Bucks' winning streak.

After two days off, the Bucks went on the road again, this time to Los Angeles to face the Lakers Team.

This was the Bucks' first nationally anticipated game of the season.

Not just because of the Lakers' draw, but also because Yu Fei had some "history" with the Lakers as well.

In the previous season's second game against the Wizards, with Jordan and Hamilton both season-ending injured, Yu Fei hit The Shot on the Lakers' court, which was considered a massive upset at the time.

Yu Fei not only won over his teammates in that game but also continued his feud with Shaquille O'Neal and provided a post-game quote that could be written into his epitaph.

Now, with the Bucks on the rise facing the three-peat Lakers, the media hoped this rejuvenated Eastern team could give the somewhat stale Lakers a breath of fresh air and a shock.

There was a bad pre-season omen for the Lakers this season, which was the passing of the legendary broadcaster Chick Hearn. As people grew tired of the Lakers' "back-to-back-to-back" promotions, when the quarrels between OK didn't seem to escalate any further, when Phil Jackson was tirelessly promoting his Zen philosophy, even Los Angeles People were becoming numb. The only thing touching them was Hearn's death.

Surprisingly, Shaquille O'Neal, who usually understood the ways of the world, missed Hearn's funeral claiming a "family emergency," while Kobe silently became one of the Lakers members who were there for Hearn's family. Besides Kobe, there were Jabbar, Magic Johnson, Riley, West... In such moments, every member of the Lakers kingdom would be by Hearn's family's side.

If you missed this moment, then it meant you didn't belong here.

But as Bill Plaschke wrote in the "Los Angeles Times": "Those who attended Hearn's funeral will soon forget that Kobe Bryant was there and Shaquille O'Neal was not."

Because Shaquille O'Neal knew far better than Kobe how to control the power of the media.

But missing Hearn's funeral was not the worst thing Shaquille O'Neal had done lately, the worst was that shortly after Hearn's funeral, he underwent toe surgery. Starting at the end of August, he would be out for nine weeks. Jerry Buss was infuriated, not understanding why Shaquille O'Neal had delayed the surgery until just before the season started.

Shaquille O'Neal's reason for getting surgery angered everyone else: "This is my summer vacation, my days off, I'm not going to walk around with a plaster cast, I should recuperate on company time for an injury that happened during work."

That's why the Lakers were now 4-9 and ranked tenth in the Western Conference. Looking solely at the record, it was hard to imagine this as the team that had won three consecutive championships.