Basketball Legend: When Pride Still Matters

"You're really not easy to deal with."

Every word Frye said made Yu Fei suspect that a sneak attack was imminent.

Yu Fei glanced at him coldly. Even though he hadn't resorted to any dirty tricks yet, the feeling of being elbowed and bumped still lingered unpleasantly.

"You're actually easier to handle than I thought," Yu Fei responded.

On the sidelines, Popovich was no longer angry about Frye sticking to Yu Fei, even at the cost of committing a foul.

He realized that Yu Fei, despite his youth, was indeed difficult to handle.

That kind of height, combined with ball-handling skills comparable to a point guard, was simply unbelievable.

Normally, even big men with good ball skills lose their center of gravity and the ball when facing intense defense, but Yu Fei maintained his poise under the pressure of Frye's close defense and even drew a foul.

Popovich believed that Frye was guarding Yu Fei as if he were on the level of Kobe, Carter, or McGrady, but basketball had evolved over a hundred years. At its inception, the defense had the advantage. Yet, because of commercial demands, professional basketball has always favored the offense, and today, a hundred years after its birth, the offense has become the dominant force in the game.

Although the League felt it was still not enough, the offense truly was very strong.

It was strong enough to prevent top defenders like Frye from legally stopping an attacker who was already up close within the allowed rules.

When that attacker withstands the defensive pressure, he really can do as he pleases with defenders on his back.

The problem is, few attackers can withstand that pressure.

But Yu Fei could.

Although the Spurs' coaching staff hadn't studied Yu Fei in detail yet, the fact that a rookie could perform to such an extent in a leading role already proved his strong immediate combat ability, and his age meant he had unlimited potential for development.

Then, Duncan posted up Ratner and called for the ball.

Popovich's heart eased.

The future of the NBA lies with the likes of Yu Fei, but the current NBA is dominated by people like Duncan.

Duncan exerted his strength.

Ratner was crushed once again, and when Yu Fei was called for a foul on the next defensive play for trying to double-team aggressively, he gave up.

It was clear that the referees didn't want him to "touch" Duncan, so he wouldn't.

After all, he wasn't the only one who could help defend against Duncan.

Unexpectedly, whether it was one-on-one or two-on-one, Duncan always found the optimal solution, and his effortless playing style reminded people of Jokić.

Yet his approach to playing the role of a ball-dominant center was completely different from Jokić's.

Everyone who has watched the Denver Nuggets play would be impressed by Jokić, but Duncan doesn't command the ball as much.

Not wanting to risk more fouls, Yu Fei focused on calling for pick-and-rolls at the offensive end to target Duncan, but Duncan was unlike any opponent he had faced before.

Duncan would come out to him but wouldn't get beaten in a single move like those clumsy big men.

Duncan always maintained the correct positioning, giving Yu Fei enough space to shoot but also being able to contest. Unless Yu Fei had the touch to hit shots under duress, it would lead to a series of chain reactions.

Coming to the arena a few hours early to warm up, a habit that is usually good, didn't help Yu Fei find his best touch at this moment.

He desperately needed more practice in real games.

After Yu Fei made 1 of 3 shots, he gave up on charging at Duncan himself and began to use Ratner's exceptional shooting ability at the center position to punish the Spurs' defense. Although this was somewhat effective, Ratner was not one of those completely spaced-out centers from the era of small ball, and his shooting was unstable, whereas Duncan's one-on-one success rate was nearly 100%.

No one on the Wizards could stop him.

By halftime, the score was 55 to 47; the Spurs had an 8-point lead.

In the second half, Jordan didn't return to the game, according to the team physician, he had gone to the hospital, and the Wizards still couldn't find a way to deal with Duncan.

That wasn't their fault, even the Lakers had no answer for Duncan.

Shaquille O'Neal could only suppress Duncan, but most of the time they would explode against each other. The reason why the Spurs couldn't beat the Lakers was that the Lakers had Kobe. With the kings canceling each other out, no one could control the prince, and the situation would naturally become unbalanced. This was the unsolvable problem that all teams faced when they went up against the Lakers.

Nevertheless, when not facing the Lakers, Duncan was just as unsolvable for other teams.Nôv(el)B\\jnn

In the second half, Yu Fei changed his strategy, challenging Duncan with floaters and calling for a lot of guard pick and rolls to mismatches against the Spurs' shorter players, all of which were effective. But ultimately, they needed to return to Duncan.

If they couldn't resolve the Duncan problem, they couldn't win the game.

In the fourth quarter, Yu Fei tried hard, but ended up committing another foul on Duncan.

107 to 95

Tonight, with the Duncan problem unsolved, the Wizards fell to the Spurs on the road by a 12-point margin.

Postgame Interview

"This is a very personal question. I'll know the answer, but I don't know it now. Michael is in the hospital getting an examination, please stay tuned for our official updates." — Doug Collins's response about Jordan's injury.

"I know Michael can play, Michael knows it too, and if he couldn't play, he wouldn't." — Doug Collins's second response about Jordan's injury.

"I don't know, sometimes Michael misses practice, but he's Michael, we all know he's not ordinary, injuries can't keep him down." — Doug Collins's third response about Jordan's injury.

"I don't want to answer that question." — Richard Hamilton when asked how to help Jordan on the court.

"I'm not happy, this was an ugly game, we played poorly, especially on defense. When I see No. 44's stats, I get the impulse to trade Bruce." — Gregg Popovich discussing tonight's game.

"It was just an ordinary game." — Tim Duncan sharing his thoughts on the game.

"No. 44 is a tough player, he gave me a tough night. We won, but I didn't win. Next time I'll do better." — Bruce Bowen on his matchup with Yu Fei.

"Frye, do you know about Michael's tendinitis?"

"Oh, I think I might know."

"But you said before that you didn't know, and you called anyone who suspected Michael had tendinitis a malicious bastard."

"Do you want me to be responsible for everything I say? Sorry, can't do that."

"...How do you think Michael is doing?"

"Can you stop harping on about Michael? The rest of us played the last three quarters. We tried hard even though we didn't win, but we gave it everything we had. Don't you have any questions related to the game? Can I hear some questions not related to Michael's tendinitis?"

"When Michael comes back, what will you do on the court to help him?"

"[Expletive]!!!!!"

— Yu Fei's postgame interview.