Basketball Legend: When Pride Still Matters

Collins laid bare people's dissatisfaction with Jordan to Steve Wyche, "Many say Michael can no longer soar, no longer perform spectacular maneuvers in the air like in the 1991 finals, but so what? I don't see that as a problem," he's just aged, and as people get older, they do older people's things. What's so hard to understand about that?"

I really like a quote from Jordan, "Age is just an excuse for wimps and people like me."

Yu Fei quietly ate his food, hardly speaking.

Flynn found it laughable to try and wheedle bad words about Jordan from Pollin.

Don't they see how much good Jordan has done for him? Even if he were dissatisfied, he wouldn't publicly show the slightest bit of it.

Unless Jordan can no longer make money for him.

However, Yu Fei didn't think Jordan still had a great attraction to the new generation of fans, because Jordan spent 5 out of the past 17 years not playing, with 3 of those years occurring in the most recent three. Three years was enough for some stars to rise and take over his position.

In the latest All-Star voting, Jordan's popularity clearly lagged behind Iverson, Carter, Kobe, Shaquille O'Neal, and Garnett.

It can be said that Jordan has lost the favor of children and young people, and thereby his control over advertisers. His core audience now leans towards an older demographic, but even among that group, the infatuation has waned. Even Nike expressed that they would use younger athletes to promote Jordan's upcoming $200 new sneakers. Despite being the greatest basketball player in history, he has become outdated among young and fresh fans. The harsh reality is that he's losing fans at the same rate he's losing his jumping ability.

For New Year's, the Wizards flew to Canada's Toronto to challenge the Raptors.

It was a marquee matchup.

No amount of praise was too much for the Vince Carter of 2001, the media's appointed successor of Jordan, but he was fed up with the hype, and Jordan didn't like his successor either, because he didn't play defense.

Although both hailing from North Carolina, Jordan clearly did not want another similar player from North Carolina appearing, and due to past grievances, Carter was brilliant tonight, scoring 22 points in the first half.

Then it came to the second half, when Carter blew past Jordan, suddenly Yu Fei leaped from the side, knocked Carter down mid-air, and blocked him.

It was a foul, no doubt.

As a rookie, with Carter being a superstar playing at home, the referees wouldn't miss penalizing this foul.

Yu Fei readily raised his hand, admitting his foul.

Placed on a typically conceited star, such an aggressive foul would indicate desperation on the opponent's part, they would respond with full force.

However, Carter was a "calm" person; Yu Fei's rough foul was like a bucket of cold water, dousing his fighting spirit.

Carter's shooting lost its touch, and a sense of defeat was sweeping over him.

Yu Fei couldn't help but reflect that a weak heart can make a player choose to back down when faced with adversity. Carter was such a person, and this trait of his was already visible the first time he led the Raptors into the playoffs — back then, McGrady was still on the team, it was Carter's soaring year, they faced the Knicks in the first round and, although they were swept, every game was close. But Carter at those moments, when people expected him to be Jordan, did not become Jordan; he passed the ball away.

Tonight, Carter wanted to prove that a young man like himself was no match for an aging Jordan; he did well in the first half, but Yu Fei's violent foul extinguished his will to fight immediately.

Then, when Carter violently stopped Jordan's layup, the referees likewise blew the whistle.

As a result, Carter mockingly said to the referee, "You can keep bailing him out, it's a good way to help him escape trouble."

Jordan shot him a cold glance, and suddenly, everything changed.

Yu Fei couldn't quite pinpoint what had changed in Jordan, he was still that annoying old man, with tendinitis as the root of all his unstable performance, but Jordan managed to dominate both ends of the court against Carter, with mid-range shots, breakthroughs and even pull-up threes, he was so excited that he even pulled out his trademark up-and-under move from before his second retirement.

This was the Jordan that the Wizards Team players knew well.

He often found this state in practice, but it was rare to see in games.

Unfortunately for Carter, he ran straight into the line of fire.

No matter how well he played in the first half, it was now meaningless.

The crumbling Carter started to take a barrage of three-point shots, none of which went in, and Yu Fei collected these long rebounds, leading the team to a swift counterattack like the wind.

Yu Fei himself dunked off a solo drive and also passed the ball to Hamilton, then even Jordan enjoyed the fun of the counterattack.

Since Yu Fei started in the lineup, this was their best game in terms of chemistry.

Jordan, who had only 4 points in the first half, exploded for 26 points in the second half, finishing with 30 points, 4 rebounds, and 5 assists, leading the team to four consecutive victories.

After the game, Carter stubbornly said, not wanting his performance to be "misinterpreted," "This was a game between Toronto and D.C., MJ and I were just part of it."

Why did Carter suddenly understand the truth that an individual is only part of a team in team sports?

Would he have said this if he had dominated Jordan?

Yu Fei explained his rough foul on Carter: "It was accidental, I was going for the ball."

No one was happier than Jordan.

"He's a tough guy to play against," Jordan began with a pretense, "I spent the first half of the game trying to understand his game tendencies."

When Jordan said this, the smile on his face was clear to see, his pride was unabashed, and this was the physical manifestation of what he had confided to Steve Wyche in his office at the Verizon Center a year ago.

In the end, Jordan spoke as a victor, "I did a little study on him during halftime and then I took away his rhythm. He still needs to work on his defense."

So was Yu Fei's harsh foul inconsequential? What about Yu Fei?

"Our feelings for each other are good, he has accepted my guidance, you know, I always try to guide him, and he's not the type to easily take someone else's advice, but I've started to see changes in our structured offense," Jordan ended the conversation in an ambiguous but positive tone: "I think he's getting a comprehensive understanding of the game, and I hope he can learn from this type of game."

The Wizards, firmly at fourth in the Eastern Conference, seemed to have everything going for them, lead by the perfect leader Jordan, top second-in-command Hamilton, and the rising superstar Yu Fei, they were doing better than "Sports Illustrated" had predicted before the season (seventh in the Eastern Conference). Could the new year really bring a new climate?