Basketball Legend: When Pride Still Matters

But when Yu Fei saw Yao Ming at the Rockets' home court, he felt completely unaffected by external pressure.

Of course, this might have something to do with his limited English skills at the moment.

Yu Fei's most direct impression of him was of his terrifyingly thick lower limbs, a foundation that allowed him to firmly hold his ground in the low post. The downside, however, was that it also impacted his lateral movement speed, meaning he wasn't great at defending pick-and-rolls. But that didn't matter; pick-and-rolls were only a small part of current professional basketball.

Before the game against the Rockets started, Yu Fei trash-talked Yao Ming in Chinese, "I'm going to dunk on you."

Yao Ming was initially surprised by Yu Fei's fluency in Chinese, then responded, "It won't be that easy."

Turned out, this was Yu Fei's strategic deception.

He didn't attempt a single drive-and-dunk in the half-court offense throughout the game. Every time he drove in, he would pass the ball out, which proved effective.

The Bucks' three-pointers were raining from outside. With numerous shooters, their scoring outbursts were incredibly powerful.

When the Bucks were hot from the perimeter, they were often hard to beat.

106 to 88

The Bucks comfortably took down the Rockets on the road, with Yu Fei securing the title of the game's best player with 22 points, 7 rebounds, and 11 assists.

At the post-game press conference, many Chinese reporters swarmed the place, incessantly asking Yao Ming questions, reminiscent of when in Washington, every game's end would have people asking Wizards players, "What kind of help did you offer Michael on the court tonight?"

The night's most typical question was, "Yu, Yao Ming had 3 blocks tonight, what do you think of his defense?"

Yu Fei answered, "It was quite oppressive."

That day, the headline on the sports page of Old Wave News read: "Yao's Block Party opens three times, Yu Fulai gasps for breath!"

By the end of November, Yu Fei outperformed McGrady to be named the Eastern Conference Player of the Month.

In the Western Conference, it was rare to see three players from the same team simultaneously named Players of the Month—those three were Michael Finley, Dirk Nowitzki, and Steve Nash. Under their leadership, the Mavericks created a dream start with fourteen consecutive wins, currently firmly seated at the top of the league, and they were the first team since the 1996 Chicago Bulls to forge a 72-win record that made people feel they might break that record.

Unfortunately, the first game in December saw the Bucks facing the Mavericks in Dallas.

The Bucks, fresh off a win against the Rockets, couldn't find their rhythm on the Mavericks' home court. Yu Fei scored 30 points, Ray Allen got 25, followed by Sprewell's 16 points, with only those three scoring in double figures for the Bucks. Their offensive threat did not spread to teammates, while the Mavericks saw Nowitzki notch 40 points, Finley bag 24 points, and Nash deliver 17 assists.

The shootout collapsed because the Bucks couldn't maintain their shooting touch all game.

The Mavericks triumphed with a fifteenth consecutive victory.

After the game, Yu Fei for the first time suggested to George Karl to integrate the 5 OUT system into the team's regular scheme.

He received a blunt reply from George Karl, "Don't be foolish, it's just not realistic."

"Why?" Yu Fei wanted an explanation.

Karl said, "Frye, devising tactics isn't as simple as you think. You're not to blame for tonight's loss, don't overthink it, I'll handle it. You guys just need to be all-in basketball fools."

Basketball fools—Yu Fei couldn't believe he actually said that.

On December 2, the Bucks came to San Antonio for a back-to-back challenge against the Spurs, the team with the strongest offensive and defensive intensity in the league.

As a result, their offense was stifled, and their interior was demolished.

After the game, Karl criticized Ray Allen for not taking responsibility, and Yu Fei began to understand Karl's thinking.

If the opposition had dominant big men like Nowitzki and Duncan with strong individual offensive capabilities, he wouldn't let Ratner play center and go for a 5 OUT lineup.

Conversely, if the opponent wasn't strong, he was quite willing to test out 5 OUT during the game.

To Yu Fei, this was completely missing the point.

His intention behind playing 5 OUT was precisely because this approach could completely dismantle a pivot like Duncan on defense in the post. The effectiveness of 5 OUT depended solely on two things: are the ball handlers strong, and is the perimeter shooting accurate? With a strong ball handler, you had the foundation for 5 OUT, and once a five-out lineup got hot, no matter who came at them, they would get blasted out.

That's the real reason for the offensive and defensive imbalance in the small-ball era.

As long as shots were falling, even if you gathered the league's best five defenders, they'd still be overwhelmed.

However, Karl's stubborn old-school thinking was long-standing and mainstream in the League. Yu Fei wasn't naive enough to think that just by showing Karl the advantages of a five-out lineup, he would fully embrace it.

It would take time. If time couldn't change Karl's mindset, Yu Fei was ready to force the issue.

The Bucks left Texas with a record of 1 win and 2 losses, but their next stop wasn't Milwaukee; it was Washington.

This was the last stop on their road trip.

December 4

The Bucks were set to have their first encounter of the season with the Wizards in Washington.

Unlike the strong-on-strong face-off with the Spurs and Mavericks, or the headline-grabbing yet substantially lesser battle with the Rockets, the Bucks versus the Wizards, and more specifically, Yu Fei against Jordan, was an element hyped by the media half a month in advance of the game.

At the airport, Yu Fei encountered many familiar faces from last season.

They were all part of the Washington local media, whom Yu Fei used to interview with whenever he went on the road with the team.