Basketball Legend: When Pride Still Matters

Yu Fei faced Pierce with utmost seriousness, so what happened? Pierce played with a happy-go-lucky attitude, trash-talking like friends do.

Yu Fei wasn't that familiar with him, nor did he want to get close to his opponents.

From this standpoint, Jordan thought Yu Fei was very much like himself.

However, Jordan was dissatisfied with Yu Fei for never taking the initiative to be friendly, which is why he had been holding Yu Fei back and not letting him be a starter.

As a rookie, you can be proud, have your own temper and personality, you can be disrespectful to veterans because of your youth, but you must never fail to recognize who is the master of the team.

Yu Fei didn't know, or rather, he refused to acknowledge this.

Jordan was both the player and the boss; he was the master.

Yu Fei didn't recognize him as the master, had never proactively spoken a word or cracked a single joke with him since joining the team, nor had he even hypocritically inquired about his tendinitis condition.

This disregard was even more infuriating to Jordan than Kwame Brown's weakness and incompetence.

After the pre-game clash with Yu Fei today, Jordan gradually figured out the other side's mentality.

Yu Fei wanted to compete with him. He wouldn't bow his head, show humble intentions, or have the consciousness of a rookie. What he wanted was not just the starting position, but also control of the team.

This was consistent with Doug Collins's judgment.

Yu Fei had ambition, and Jordan should be pleased.

But today, he found he might not be able to dominate Yu Fei on the court.

So, the matter became delicate. Should he relinquish his position like Kareem did for Magic Johnson?

If forced to choose, Jordan would rather be the 1992 Larry Bird. He wanted to walk away with pride, and as for Yu Fei, let the damned rookie die like Reggie Lewis!

After Yu Fei left the field, Brown's performance also rapidly declined. Without anyone passing him the ball, Jordan's commanding mixed with curses made him tread on thin ice. Soon, Brown was benched.

"Welcome back!" Tyronn Lue said jokingly, "This will always be your home!"

Yu Fei also teasingly asked, "Why is it that when you play with Michael, you suddenly seem to forget how to play?"

Brown responded with a phrase perfectly fitting a hopeless Millennial waster: "Because Michael doesn't let me be myself."

"Shush, don't call an elder by name, call him Boss."

Steve Wyche watched with excitement as the young players off the court complained and joked about Jordan, and then, like a god of war, Jordan returned to his early-game form on the court.

As long as he had stamina and touch, Jordan was still a difficult player to deal with.

The Celtics learned that in the second quarter.

With his mood disrupted by Yu Fei, Pierce lost the liveliness of the first quarter, suffering repeatedly at the hands of Jordan. Instead, it was the Celtics' big boss who stood up.

But still, Jordan was the most dazzling one on the court.

Spiritual reverse run and alley-oop layup;

Turnaround jump shot from the center of the paint;

Signature crossover dribble into a quick stop jump shot.

He reclaimed his form and proved with his best performance since his comeback that he was still the dominator of the court.

Pierce was frustrated, Walker's momentum was lacking, and Jordan acted as though he had never left.

Steve Wyche recalled the beginning of the year when he heard Jordan discuss his thirst for the game in the Wizards' office.

Isn't that why he came back?

Professional sports, especially basketball, are so different from nearly every other type of sport for one reason: they have only one unique, top-tier NBA. Hence, space at the top is incredibly limited, as narrow as a funnel, with room for only one player. Therefore, it's entirely unlike Hollywood's entertainment industry, like the film business, where there's always enough room for great veteran actors and promising new ones; Pacino and De Niro can coexist with seasoned Nicholson and Hoffman, younger stars like Sean Penn, Denzel Washington, and Russell Crowe won't overtake their niches, Hollywood never refuses rising stars, they allow these people to exist in the same Pantheon.

In the NBA, from the Mikan era, there's been an everlasting rule: someone must fall for another to rise. Those at the peak can only maintain their position by defeating their competitors. The 24-second shot clock ended Mikan's time, Russell ruled over Chamberlain and the Western year after year, Magic won the black and white battle, and most notably, there was Jordan.

The League under Stern's rule and Jordan's team solemnly narrated Jordan's commitment to the team concept and to winning, thus covering up the importance of a superstar to a championship team. Ultimately, this propaganda crafted Jordan's idol, and like all successful basketball players, everyone was forced to compete by Jordan's standard – if you didn't dominate your opponents, if you couldn't take over in the last moments, if you ran away, if you took shortcuts, then you were never Jordan.

Pierce was from the generation that worshipped Jordan, they grew up in his legendary stories and longed to write their own Jordan sagas.

Hence, he spoke ill of Jordan and wanted to defeat him in the game.

Steve Wyche understood the subtext of this game, Yu Fei was an unknown factor.

His performance, behavior, and words all showed he too wished to be part of this competition.

But Jordan didn't give him the chance, and Pierce didn't consider him a contender.

That's why he was acting irrationally. .net