Basketball Legend: When Pride Still Matters

The Bucks and the Spurs gradually shifted from pure rivals to becoming sworn enemies.

The dissatisfaction from the Spurs regarding the MVP selection results, along with the post-game remarks by the winning side after every game that seemed to twist the knife, intensified the malice between the two.

This malice peaked during the fourth game of the Finals.

The Bucks fired from the perimeter while the Spurs excelled all-around, especially in the paint.

Unlike the first three games, this was a match between equals.

Both the Bucks and the Spurs demonstrated their unique strengths, and the game remained deadlocked until halfway through the fourth quarter.

Then Yu Fei broke through and dunked, causing Stephen Jackson's sixth foul, disqualifying him from the game.

The variable occurred, and Popovich substituted the Argentine rookie, Manu Ginobili, for Jackson.

Ginobili...

This was Yu Fei's first on-court confrontation with the opponent since the Finals began.

As Ginobili was a substitute for the Spurs and had a mediocre performance before, with some highlights but not many, he was suddenly entrusted with a major role.

At the time Ginobili blocked The Shot that defeated the Houston Rockets in the 2017 semifinals, the untraveled Yu Fei was only 12 years old. He heard his father, biased towards the Rockets, complaining about Harden's softness and admiring Ginobili's craftiness, yet he only thought this person was impressive.

As for how impressive, he couldn't quite articulate it, he was too young then.

Moreover, before long, Ginobili retired, making him a former NBA star that left an impression on Yu Fei, but not a profound one.

Now, he stood with a head full of hair, a youthful face, exuding young people's unique confidence all over.

What did he bring to the Spurs?

Three-pointers, ghostly passes, drawing fouls.

Especially drawing fouls, built on the basis of Ginobili's disregard for the Bucks' perimeter defense, breaking through at will.

It's hard to imagine a white guard being able to penetrate a defense as easily as Ginobili did.

Ray Allen was surprisingly decimated by Ginobili's penetration, and then Mason racked up several key fouls and was ejected.

Especially the sixth foul, where Mason, furious, cursed loudly at the referee, leading to a technical foul for the team and completely tipping the scales in favor of the Spurs.

Although there was no garbage time, the Spurs maintained a lead of more than 5 points until just before the final buzzer.

Finally, 101 to 95, the Spurs defended their second home game, evening the series and resetting the competition.

Duncan still excelled, scoring 22 points, with 16 rebounds, 4 assists, and 4 blocks for the night.

Since the beginning of the Finals, Duncan had achieved at least 20 points, 16 rebounds, 4 assists, and 4 blocks per game, a performance that could be described as omnipotent.

However, it was Ginobili who was the key man of the night.

"I knew he could do some special things," said Popovich, "but not all special things are good. What we need to do is to try to prevent the bad ones from happening."

Subsequently, reporters inevitably asked the Spurs players about Yu Fei's "prophecy."

The so-called prophecy of "taking the point on the road and winning the championship back home.

"I hope the young man is not too presumptuous."

Popovich appeared to dismiss Yu Fei's comments.

"Look at Tim's performance. That's what helps a team win a championship. It took him many years to reach this point, and I don't expect Frye to understand that. He's too young and everything has come too easily for him."

Popovich spoke to the reporters like a sage from above: "Trust me, only failure will make you better, and that's the lesson TD is going to teach him."

Of course, Popovich's words would reach Yu Fei's ears.

The fourth estate is for doing just that.When Yu Fei heard Popovich say Duncan was going to teach him a lesson, he laughed disdainfully, "Coach Popovich is too ignorant."

"Frye, what do you mean by that?"

Yu Fei said indifferently, "You know, I'm not teachable."

On the other side, George Karl was also speaking up for Yu Fei: "Everything is going according to plan. We will win the fifth game and then take the championship back home, just as Frye said."

The following day, Karl yelled at Ray Allen for being demolished by Ginobili.

"It was an accident!" Ray Allen emphasized, "It just happened to occur to me."

Karl cursed, "I don't want to hear you talk about what's an accident or not, I just want you to respond like a man, the next game, we're going home with the point. If we don't, it's all your damn fault!"

Hearing this, Ray Allen's chest heaved with anger. Why was it all his fault? Wasn't the game played by the entire team?

"I think the main culprit last night wasn't Ray-ray, but the old guy."

The only "old guy" within the Bucks who could be referred to in such a way was, and particularly meant, Anthony Mason.

Mason, who was initially amused by Karl's rant against Ray Allen, suddenly scowled, "I'm up against the strongest player, do you think that's fair to say?"

Yu Fei ignored this fact, "Your last few fouls were indeed foolish, and besides, if it had just been the fouls, that would have been one thing, but you actually tried to cause a scene on the court after being ejected, resulting in us getting an extra technical. Are you saying that's not your fault?"

Mason, who was questioned until his face turned red, really wanted to retort loudly, "Are you fucking blameless?" But he couldn't say it because Yu Fei truly hadn't done anything wrong—he had, after all, chalked up a hollow 30 points, 7 rebounds, and 5 assists last night.

If Yu Fei wasn't at fault, then who was to blame?

Unconvinced that he was the main culprit, Mason turned his glare toward Ray Allen, seeming to find an outlet for his frustration, "When all's said and done, it's all Ray's fault!!!"

Ray Allen had a look of "Why the fuck does this fall on me again?" on his face.

"If you weren't getting breached by that Argentinean every time, would I need to cover for you? If I didn't cover, would I commit fouls? If I didn't foul, how would the refs target me? If the refs didn't target me, how would I get a technical? It's all your fucking fault!"

So was Ray Allen the precursor to Benzema as the origin of all evils in the world?
Continue your adventure with empire

Yu Fei looked at the team leader with a face full of regret. "It looks like it really is that way."

Ray Allen, his face burning with embarrassment and anger, turned and walked away to practice.

That was the right thing to do.

Dwelling on an unchangeable outcome is pointless. If blame is to be assigned, wait until after the finals are lost. Now is not the time.

Yu Fei also left, off to play a game of bullfighting with Sprewell.

Mason headed to the gym to pump iron.

Karl, amid a crowd of players loafing and spectating at the edge of the court, locked onto Michael Redd and said, "Michael, do you have anything you want to say?"

Redd stated, "It's none of my business."

"Indeed, you didn't show much last night and your playing time was limited," Karl paused, then said, "but don't you feel angry? In certain situations, you're a better shooter than Ray. Why can't you get more playing time?"

Redd looked seriously at his head coach.

"Because you don't want it badly enough," Karl leaned in close and whispered, "Ray is indecisive, not cut out for greatness. You should be more self-reliant."

A day later, the NBA finals welcomed the highly anticipated King of the Hill game.

The Bucks and Spurs were a finals matchup with little to no attraction.

The Spurs need no mention; they've always been ratings poison. Like an art-house movie in the NBA, well-reviewed but not box-office material.

The Bucks belonged to the kind that had their own niche fan base within a particular area, but outsiders had a filter on them, not finding them appealing.

Then, Yu Fei's performance in the finals shattered the traditional filter of the Bucks' games being plain and hard to watch.

Everyone who watched the Bucks' games was stunned. Yu Fei's style was elegant, fresh, and imaginative, and their plays did not exhibit the stiff formality of the Spurs, making them incredibly smooth to watch.

From the first game of the finals, viewership increased by a base of 1 million people for each match.

"The League Office is planning a full repeal of the handcheck rule to increase offensive emphasis, but Frye's performance seems to have altered that trend."

"Yes, Frye and the Bucks have proven that handchecking, or the lack of it, isn't the main factor determining the entertainment value of a game. Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, and Larry Bird all played in an era with more vigorous handchecking, yet the watchability of their games is well acknowledged."

Commentators from ABC, TNT, and ESPN discussed the recent hot topic of whether prohibiting defensive handchecks would make the game better.

Most commentators believed that the ancestral methods shouldn't be changed.

Yu Fei provided them with solid arguments.

Only one person held the opposite view.

That was the ever controversial Bill Walton: "Banning handchecks isn't about making Frye better, but about enabling less skilled players to showcase entertaining offense. From a business standpoint, banning handchecks is the trend."

If this issue were brought to Yu Fei, he would strongly support the League's ban on defensive handchecks.

Because as long as handchecking on defense was allowed, extreme defensive tactics indeed could limit his effectiveness.

But once handchecking was prohibited, Yu Fei felt like his seal would be broken, and by then his performance would surely be better than those actors in the "explosive restraint" series.

During the pre-game warm-up and the opening pleasantries, Yu Fei continued to tease Parker, "Tony, can you put on a good performance tonight? Don't embarrass us 2001 class players. Keep playing like this and Coach Popovich might just optimize you out with Jason Kidd."

Popovich wasn't afraid of Yu Fei's "prophesies," nor of him averaging 30 points against Bowen's defense, but he indeed worried that Parker's game could be thrown off by Yu Fei's trash talk.

"Don't listen to his bullshit!" Popovich roared, "Just play your game!"

Parker bit his lip, saying nothing.

"Indeed, my words are bullshit. Surely, you're not interested in Jason Kidd, and the hundreds of articles out there about Kidd coming to San Antonio are completely baseless rumors, all fake!"

Everyone on the court knew that it was true.

Still, to keep Parker's composure, even if it was true, it is now false.

Unreliable, unreliable.

PS: The exact reason for the "math formulas" that have popped up these past few days is unclear, but they're easy to fix, just replace them all.