Basketball Legend: When Pride Still Matters

The day after losing to the Spurs, the Wizards announced that Jordan would miss the upcoming game against the Houston Rockets due to tendonitis.

Yu Fei took the game against the Rockets extremely seriously.

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Because it was Eddie Griffin's team.

Before the draft, Yu Fei was considered a yellow version of Griffin and a lower-tier substitute for him at the draft.

The New Jersey Nets initially planned to use their seventh pick to draft him, but changed their mind when they realized they had a chance to pick Griffin. As it turned out, they weren't that in love with Griffin, since on draft night, both Griffin and Yu Fei were traded before they could even become true Nets (Knights).

The Rockets eventually acquired Griffin, who, although his performance during his rookie season wasn't up to expectations, at least couldn't be said to be a letdown.

Not strong enough, lacking NBA-level reliable skills, top athletic ability but easily shoved around, foul-prone, quick-tempered and not diligent in training, and like Yu Fei, uncoachable but without Yu Fei's immediate combat readiness.

During the game against the Rockets, Yu Fei didn't get to clash with Griffin, because the latter was just an unimportant substitute.

Even though the Rockets had the star backcourt pair of Steve Francis and Cuttino Mobley, their obvious strong offense and weak defense, coupled with the lack of a defensive anchor inside, meant Yu Fei's drives were almost guaranteed to succeed, and his counterattacks were unstoppable.

A team with poor defense is the perfect stage for padding stats. In this game, Yu Fei played 34 minutes, made 11 out of 17 shots, and scored a career-high 28 points along with 14 rebounds and 11 assists, leading his team to victory while also unlocking his first career triple-double record.

Kwame Brown and Richard Hamilton were the primary beneficiaries of Yu Fei's triple-double performance.

Brown played a season-high 26 minutes that evening, achieving a milestone night with a 14 points and 10 rebounds double-double, his first career one, while Hamilton, as the second scoring option, put up 25 points, becoming Yu Fei's most trusted teammate on the floor.

"The young players need to step up, and that's what I've always said, and tonight they did," Collins said with a smile, "Even Michael would laugh if he saw it."

Yu Fei's first NBA showdown with Griffin could have been a great selling point since their last encounter during the tryouts had resulted in a fight and subsequent bad blood. However, Tomjanovich had no intention of meeting external expectations and kept Griffin benched to avoid any contact with Yu Fei.

Griffin could only take the floor when Yu Fei was resting, ultimately playing just 9 minutes and performing poorly, with a 1 for 5 shooting, unable to compare with Brown, and even less so with Yu Fei.

"We're in great form!" Hamilton exclaimed excitedly, "This is proof of the rise of the D.C. Young Guns! We've got Big Fei, we've got Big K (Kwame Brown), and me along with others, the future brigade of D.C. has started to unleash its potential!"

Hamilton's excitement caught Yu Fei by surprise; the boss had rested for just one game, and they already wanted to cash in on the future, pressuring Big Dan to come back?

Next was Yu Fei's interview.

When asked by a reporter how great it felt to get a triple-double against the Rockets, Yu Fei replied, "Not bad, it would have been even better if I could've really played a game against Eddie, I really wanted to go head-to-head with him because a lot of people say he's a black version of me."

With a sarcastic remark understood by everyone, Yu Fei ended the night perfectly, and then, as the Wizards flew to Dallas, Jordan rejoined the team.

"No problem, I can come back in the next game."

Since Jordan was going to come back, he was definitely going to.

"It's really exciting, I can't wait to hear the creative questions from reporters after the game about how I'll provide support to the boss on the court!"

Yu Fei continued with his sarcastic comments, and that night's game wasn't difficult since Dirk Nowitzki, the core of the Mavericks' interior, was sidelined with a tension in his hip.

As if to prove his legs were fine, Jordan played 42 minutes against the Mavericks, but with a classic 30% shooting percentage, he scored the team's highest points.

Why is a 30% shooting percentage called classic? Because that was Jordan's norm this season.

A 30% shooting rate was a distinctive feature of Wizards Dan; on nights he couldn't find his shooting touch, his shooting percentage would be just 30% or even lower.

One could say that Michael Finley blew up Jordan, scoring 32 points with a 55% shooting rate, but the victory still went to D.C.

Because Nowitzki's absence not only deprived the Mavericks' offense of a core player who could score an average of 24 points per game, but it also turned their interior from one of the best in the Western Conference to the worst.

That evening, the Mavericks' starting interior lineup was Wang Zhizhi and Juwan Howard...

While Old Wang's offense was decent, his defense in the NBA was certainly of the type that invited bullying, and as for Juwan Howard... After becoming an NBA player, Yu Fei listed a starting lineup of the worst NBA defenders, including star players.

This lineup was Earl Boykins (PG), Jason Terry, Steve Smith, Carlos Boozer, and Juwan Howard. Any team with this starting lineup would lose at least 65 games in a season, and each of their stats would still look decent.

The Mavericks' temporarily weak interior allowed the Wizards to have the advantage in the paint for once.