Basketball Legend: When Pride Still Matters

The Bucks, enjoying a 9-point advantage, naturally let Yu Fei rest at the start of the second quarter.

The Spurs side was not so relaxed.

19 to 28

For a team that averages 90 points per game, being down by 9 points after the first quarter was a signal that they must be vigilant.

"Tim, don't just think about passing the ball to the most accurate one," Popovich said loudly. "You must understand that situations change rapidly!"

Duncan's big eyes flashed with various thoughts, and Popovich could see many things in them—except for any resentment about being instructed.

"Bruce is flustered," Duncan said. "Frye has affected him."

Popovich responded coolly, "I will wake him up!"

In the second quarter, the Spurs started with Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili, Stephen Jackson, Tim Duncan, and David Robinson.

Switching Ginobili for Bowen would be the usual starting lineup for the Spurs.

On the other hand, the Bucks were playing without Yu Fei, and their lineup consisted of Sprewell handling the ball, accompanied by Michael Redd, Devean George, Tyrone Hill, and Dan Gadzuric.

Yu Fei, Mason, and Ray Allen all sat off the court.

Parker, standing outside, tossed the ball to Duncan, who came up to the free-throw line to coordinate.

The moment Duncan got the ball, Robinson had already penetrated from the outside. However, Gadzuric was blocking the way, and it seemed like there was no chance. But this wasn't enough to stump Duncan.

If the team needed it, Duncan could deliver attractive passes as well.

For instance, at this moment, with the passing lane blocked and Robinson's ineffective cut inside, not only was such a play wasting time, but it also clogged the space in the paint—truly a lose-lose situation.

Yet, Duncan found an angle from somewhere, flicked the ball with one hand to bounce pass it at a high speed. The ball shot past Gadzuric before he could react, arriving into Robinson's hands.

The biggest drawback of playing up-front defense is that once the opponent receives the ball, the defense can no longer interfere with the offense.

Robinson scored with a slam dunk.

21 to 28

Then, Devean George missed a three-pointer from the outside.

Parker's counterattack was blocked, so he passed to Ginobili. The Argentinian's following three-pointer didn't go in, but Duncan had already reached the front court, snatched the offensive rebound, and drew Gadzuric's third foul as he rose up forcefully.

After this play was over, Gadzuric's foul count became a delicate issue, and Karl couldn't sit still any longer.

The center position was unmanned and the power forward spot lacked vitality—obvious problems for the Bucks.

Karl didn't prematurely substitute Yu Fei but instead used center Travis Knight, who rarely got playing time, to replace Gadzuric.

Knight, from the 1996 draft class, was a player favored by Jerry West and went to the Lakers with Kobe. Although his development didn't meet expectations, he was a respectable white-collar big man. Last season, he played for the Knicks and was bundled into New York as part of the trade involving Big Dog Robinson and Sprewell.

To make this trade happen, the Bucks' general manager had to part with Karl's favorite, Ervin Johnson. Therefore, Karl never liked Knight.

This was also related to Knight being plagued with injuries, having lost much of his immediate battle strength to a large extent.

He didn't fit what Karl needed.

But now, with Duncan about to break out, even if he was just a punching bag, Karl had to put Knight on the floor for a few minutes.

"George, I can go on," Yu Fei said.

Karl indeed wanted to put Yu Fei in, but the chance to rest was rare, and he would not use Yu Fei in the same tireless way the Spurs used Duncan.

"Wait a little longer," Karl responded softly, as if lacking confidence, he murmured again, "Wait a little longer..."

Before Yu Fei's crossing over, he was in an era of small ball and explosive data.

Therefore, when he saw that the career average of the best power forward in history was "only" 19+10, like other millennials, he naturally disparaged the past in favor of the present.

But having actually played against Duncan after crossing over, he understood why the latter was able to claim the title of the best in an era filled with outstanding power forwards.

Offense and defense integration was just an adjective for the former Yu Fei.

What is offense and defense integration? Even with all his imagination, he could only think of Leonard in 2019 and Antetokounmpo in 2022; he had not seen LeBron before 2014, nor Kobe in the 2000s, let alone earlier stars.

Offense and defense integration was an abstract term. In his understanding, it was usually used to describe stars with good offense and decent defense, but did there really exist players who excelled equally on offense and defense?

Duncan gave him the answer.

Such people did exist.

Moreover, not just in attack and defense, but also in boxing out, pick-and-roll, and other areas, Duncan gave the same feeling.

Top-notch.

Taken individually, perhaps none of his skills would be considered the best in the league. But when all these top-tier skills came together in one person, that's the essence of fundamental basketball.

In the fourth minute of the second quarter, Duncan made a play that led Karl to decide to put Yu Fei in the game.

Ginobili missed a three-pointer from the outside. Travis Knight had a favorable position, and the ball was heading in their direction.

Knight should have secured that rebound.

What happened? In an attempt to box out Duncan, Knight pushed too hard, and his center of gravity shifted entirely onto Duncan. Although this gained him the position, it also cost him the chance to jump for the rebound.

On the other hand, Duncan, though boxed out, had relatively free hands; he watched as Knight, unable to do anything else but contend for position, looked on helplessly as Duncan grabbed the rebound over his head.

How superb was that core strength and boxing out technique?

Yu Fei pondered, and then Duncan scored with a layup right in front of Knight.

Enough was enough for George Karl.

He turned to Yu Fei and said, "Frye, it's time!"

Joining Yu Fei in being subbed onto the court was also Ray Allen.

```

"Rey-ray, set more screens for me."

Initially, Ray Allen was reluctant to provide screens for Yu Fei, as he didn't see the point.

His frame wasn't likely to give Yu Fei comfortable screens, yet as Yu Fei time and time again tore open gaps in the opponent's defense with off-guard screens and passed the ball to him, he realized a high-quality screen was not a necessary nor sufficient condition in Yu Fei's screening offense system.

As long as it had the basic effect of a screen—slightly delaying the defender—Yu Fei could turn the situation on its head.

This disruptive concept shook the entire Bucks team.

Soon everyone moved from skepticism to understanding.

In Yu Fei's first play on the court, the Spurs had Stephen Jackson match up against him, with Ray Allen's screen bringing Bruce Bowen in front of Yu Fei.

However, the switch defense after the screen wasn't Bowen's strength in man-to-man defense; it was unexpected.

Seizing the moment of the screen, Yu Fei charged in, leaning against Bowen's body for a right-handed layup off the backboard and scored.

In an instant, Dick Bavetta blew the whistle.

"Defensive foul on Bruce Bowen! That's his third personal foul!"

"Enough! If this is the standard, we simply can't defend!" Popovich complained loudly.

If he said that, Yu Fei had an objection.

"Can't defend? You mean your fouls shouldn't be called?" Yu Fei nodded mockingly, "That's why you averaged 10 more free throws than the Lakers in the semifinals; this is how the defending champions lose."

The situation wasn't as exaggerated as Yu Fei stated, but it wasn't far off either.

In the Spurs vs Lakers semifinals, the main controversy was Kobe's nearly 27 average shots per game yielding 33 points, but the Spurs did benefit from the calls, receiving 50 more free throws than the Lakers over the series. Though not the average of 10 more per game Yu Fei claimed, it wasn't far from that.

Popovich turned ashen. Generally speaking, publicly mocking the opposing coach could lead to a brawl, but the Spurs were not a team that liked to fight.

Popovich intended to substitute Bowen, but now he couldn't afford to lose his defense on the court, so he growled, "Bruce, watch your fouls, and shut that sophomore up!"

Bowen's face was expressionless, but those familiar with him knew that once he was out of options against someone, unpleasant actions would be part of his next plan.

On the Bucks' side, George Karl wasn't going to let Yu Fei fight alone. Knowing the Spurs played dirty, he substituted Anthony Mason and Christian Laettner for Tyrone Hill and Dan Gadzuric before the free throw.

"Stay close to Bruce Bowen!" Karl said coldly, "If anything happens to Frye, it's on you!"

"Quit nagging, you think I'd just watch him get messed with?" Mason knew all too well what he had to do.

After all, his heyday was during the era when enforcers were common in the NBA.

Playing rough was the norm back then.

As a time traveler, Yu Fei was naturally aware of Bowen's "exploits."

When it came to dirty play, he was no match for Bowen, but there was no reason to only play defense and not offense. If he really couldn't guard against it, he would just ignore him.

When Bowen came up to match, Yu Fei called for a screen.

```

Christian Laettner, infamous since his college days for his dirty play, started showing his true colors by deliberately tripping Bruce Bowen during a pick-and-roll.

The referee called him for an offensive foul.

Laettner just gave Bowen a meaningful look, as if to warn him.

Yu Fei didn't care, tossed the ball to the referee, headed back on defense with Laettner, and teased, "Not giving him a kick when he's down doesn't seem like you."

Laettner's college days were riddled with bad behavior, most notably his tendency to deliberately stomp on fallen opponents, which truly showed his demonic nature.

"If you need me to," Laettner said, subtly.

"No need, we're all civilized people here. Leave that kind of thing for the old guys to do, you're more valuable than that," Yu Fei said. "I need your outside shooting."

Yu Fei was pleased with Carl's rotation; the presence of Mason and Laettner gave a strong sense of security. If only Devean George could be replaced with Sprewell, it would be even better.

What could be more reassuring than being protected by the strongest muscle men in the league, ready to trample on opponents for you, and choke someone's neck when pushed to the brink?

In the half-court set, David Robinson scored with a mid-range jumper.

The Spurs had closed the gap to just 2 points.

Then, without leaving any gaps, as soon as the Spurs' offense ended, Yu Fei drove the ball straight from the backcourt to the frontcourt.

For Duncan, who hadn't rested since the game began, this was undoubtedly daunting.

Bowen gritted his teeth and caught up, finally confronting Yu Fei just as Devean George set a screen beside them.

Everyone thought Yu Fei was going to break through Bowen using that screen.

However, Yu Fei took a step towards the screen, letting Bowen crash into George, then lowered his center of gravity, switched hands, and crossed over to the other side, retreating to create a half-body lead and firing off a long two just a step inside the three-point line.

"Swish!"

Bowen, having lost his position, tried to stretch his foot forward in hopes of causing Yu Fei to trip upon landing.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

But he was faked out too far and couldn't reach in time—his reflexive foot stab looked ugly and malicious.

"You like playing defense like that?"

As soon as Yu Fei's words fell, Mason rushed up and started berating Bowen face-to-face.

Mason's language, starting with the N-word and laced with F's and B's, spat out like a rap single, throwing the scene into chaos. Both teams circled up, the arena filled with the smell of gunpowder, and the Spurs fans at the SBC Center unsurprisingly let out a chorus of boos. In the end, it was up to the referee to step in and calm things down. Stay updated through empire

Dick Bavetta didn't call a foul on anyone; he simply separated the players and issued a warning.

No one getting hurt was the best outcome, but the seeds of hatred had been sown.

Bowen's intentions were clear to all, but the Bucks were no lambs to be bullied. Yu Fei himself was a troublemaker, not to mention the group of thugs ready to fight for him at any moment.

After that, Carl subbed out the mild-mannered Devean George, bringing back Sprewell with one requirement:

"If Bruce Bowen dares stretch his filthy foot where it doesn't belong again, I swear we're going to see blood right here!"