When pride still matters

Chapter 79 Before he dies, I will buy him a drink

"I won't let that happen to me."

This sentence will be heard by many people if other people on the plane are not wearing headphones.

As one of the few staff members of the Wizards who can speak to Yu Fei, Steve Wyche regards Yu Fei as an "antisocial personality" in the professional basketball world.

No matter what their nature is, 99% of NBA players are docile and good babies in their rookie stage.

How humble was today's tyrant Jordan when he entered the league?He made it his goal to be selected as an All-Star; before he entered the evil path, Rodman was a shy boy who burst into tears after winning a trophy; even Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, one of the rare oddities in NBA history, was in Milwaukee. There were no symptoms of the disease for the past two years.

Yu Fei is another kind of existence.

He is high-profile, flamboyant, full of thorns, and undisciplined. No matter you are Jordan or Collins, whoever wants to educate him, he has his own set of logic to defend himself.

This makes Yu Fei an alternative to the Wizards.

The last rookie who felt so difficult was Bill Walton in 1974, and the next one was none other than Wizards legend Elvin Hayes.

Wyche doesn’t know Walton, but he knows Hayes.

The man who gave every coach who coached him and the teammates he worked with a headache, the freak who completely succumbed to his personal emotions and made his on-field performance horribly polarizing, the man who could voluntarily give up the game for a trivial matter, even during the season. A weakling who didn't care when he was stepped on and humiliated by an inferior horse in the post-race. Is it really reasonable to compare Yu Fei to someone like Hayes?
Wyche thought about it for a moment, but decided to maintain his judgment.

The scary thing about Hayes is not his habitual collapse on the court, but his uncontrollable personality. His sad personality makes him always collapse due to mental internal friction, while Yu Fei has sharp energy and is good at communicating with the outside world through Displace this energy by venting dissatisfaction, and both styles will produce the same result.

Yu Fei and Huai Qi never communicated again.

Until the plane landed, a notification came over the radio, and Yu Fei woke up from a light sleep, "Are we here?"

"Yes," Wyche asked. "Did you sleep well?"

"Very good, thank you for your concern." Yu Fei stood up and prepared to get his luggage, "I hope I can win tonight."

Huai Qi looked at Yu Fei.

At least now, Yu Fei seems to be a very approachable young man.

Just like Elvin Hayes, when he is not playing ball, Hayes is generous and charming, and he regularly visits the orphanage every month to play with the children.

But the most important thing in professional sports is the performance of the players. If you fly to your alma mater to attend your graduation ceremony on the day of a life-and-death playoff game like Vince Carter, and then lose the game that determines the survival of the season that night, this Behavior that seems perfectly normal will be criticized by many.

So, the most important thing is performance, so work hard, Frye, at least be the opposite of Big E, if you really want to fight MJ.

There were a lot of media outside the airport. After all, this was Jordan's first visit to Boston after his comeback.

Only at this time can Yu Fei and the others feel the benefits of being teammates with Jordan, which is that they are ignored by the media, who only want to interview Jordan.

The Boston media has been hyping the showdown between Jordan and Pierce, while the Wizards' coaches are very pragmatic.

Especially Johnny Bach, an old assistant coach who has worked with Jordan for many years: "I don't think you can expect Michael to guard Pierce and then have him do everything we expect on the offensive end. It will wear him down. He is young. It's hard to do that now. I'm sure he'll be matched up against Pierce in the game, but we're going to try to make sure that doesn't happen too early."

"If Michael doesn't go up against Paul, who are you going to put up against Paul?"

Bach's eyes twitched and he smiled lightly: "I think Frye can give it a try."

Bach thought very happily, but that was all.

Yu Fei was not included in tonight's starting list.

Doug Collins’ “secret weapon” for Pierce is Tyrone Naseby.

Besides Yu Fei, he is the hardest-trained player on the Wizards, and he is also one of the few loyal dogs who knelt and licked Jordan wholeheartedly. Letting him start will not cause any discomfort to Jordan.

As for whether he can guard Pierce, that's not Collins' concern.

If anyone wants to assume how Pierce will tear Naseby apart on the offensive end, then Collins will play a "believe Jordan" card. Although he has not really played a Jordan-style game since his comeback, who can be sure that it will not be tonight. ?

As before, Yu Fei came to the fleet center two hours before the start of the game.

Joining him are Kwame Brown and Chris Whitney.

"Forget it if you like to warm up in advance, why do you want to bring me with you?" Whitney has now been labeled as "Yu Fei's best friend", but he really doesn't want to have this status.

"Uncle, stop complaining, do you want to guess a riddle?" Brown asked excitedly.

Whitney rolled her eyes at him, "Okay, as long as it's not a question of how much 1+1 equals."

"What do you think is so big and hard that it can make women scream?" Brown asked evilly.

Yu Fei was speechless, thinking, here he comes again.

As expected, Whitney showed a smile that "understood everything" and said, "Young man, you are still young."

"Uncle, where did you think about it?" Brown snorted, "The answer is the ironing board. I knew you would think wrong. You are just as prude as Frye!"

Whitney stared at Brown in confusion, then turned to Yu Fei.

Yu Fei shrugged and said, "This is a little game he has become obsessed with recently."

A sexually suggestive brainteaser?Whitney sighed, MJ was still too gentle to these young people.

It was Yu Fei's idea to let Brown and Whitney communicate more.

Whitney is the team's unstoppable starting point guard, and Brown's hand is a bit serious. He usually communicates with Whitney more often, such as this kind of pre-game training, and goes to the game scene in advance to start a small discussion, so that Whitney knows how to give. Brown passing the ball may reduce the frequency of butter hands.

"Thanks" to Jordan, Brown now has no airs about being the No. [-] pick. He is very obedient and teachable. He does whatever Whitney says during training.

After Yu Fei and the others practiced for an hour, Jordan also came.

The previous four regular season games can be regarded as warm-ups and are very important for the Celtics. Jordan does not want to become a stepping stone for young stars.

This is also the purpose of his comeback. He wants to prove that even at almost 40 years old, he is not as good as the current star players.

As for the incident of being beaten up by Jerry Stackhouse a few days ago, forget about it. The matter of the junior student beating the senior brother was an internal communication among UNC alumni, so don't take it seriously.

At this time, Yu Fei has completed his shooting warm-up and is conducting various footwork training on the sidelines.

However, Jordan actually shouted to him from a distance: "Rookie, come over and play some balls with me!"

Yu Fei's first reaction was "Did you call the wrong person?", but Jordan still pointed at him, "It's you!"

Yu Fei pointed at himself, "Is that right?"

"What are you waiting for?" Jordan shouted impatiently, "Come here!"

Almost everyone said "there's a good show to watch". Leitner, the bastard, would enjoy it, so he went straight to grab a bucket of popcorn.

Obviously, everyone remembers what happened the last time Brown faced off against Jordan.

"I attack and you defend, understand?" Jordan didn't ask Yu Fei's opinion at all. It was completely like a superior assigning tasks to subordinates.

Yu Fei's face was full of confusion, "You'd better find someone else, I'll be very harsh on the old man."

"Hmph!" He said to Jordan's amusement, "Rookie, don't you know how to appreciate it? No matter how hard you strike, can you still be as heavy as Paul Pierce tonight?"

Yu Fei really can't tell whether Pierce is more willing to step on Jordan to get the upper hand, or whether he is more motivated by the ill will he has accumulated towards Jordan over the past few months.

But since the boss said so, it would be rude for Yu Fei to refuse again.

Thus, this one-way offensive and defensive confrontation began.

Yu Fei's words and deeds are consistent. If he says he wants to increase his intensity, he will really increase his intensity.Jordan came up and tried to break through, but he pushed him away.

Then, Jordan created shooting space through delicate dribbling, and succeeded in a jump shot in front of Yu Fei.

"What are you guarding against?" Jordan began to say.

Yu Fei really doesn't want to say anything. Jordan's performance in training has always been very good, but he has never played at that level in a game.

But he really didn't want to see Jordan's triumphant expression anymore.

Yu Fei's concentration has increased to a new level. From now on, he not only has intensity, but also concentration. The emphasis on defense is completely in a state of actual combat.

Now Jordan actually has three skills on the offensive end.

After running without the ball, he catches the ball and shoots, dribbles to the basket and stops suddenly, and uses his feet to create space after playing from behind and shoots.

All three of these need to maintain the feel. If there is no feel, it will be finished.

Moreover, when physical strength decreases, the efficiency of facing the basket and playing with the back is very poor.

Yu Fei's size made Jordan directly give up the post-up option, so he could only dribble facing the basket.

Jordan, who did not have absolute speed, relied entirely on rhythm. He could shake Yu Fei once or twice, but after doing the same trick many times, Yu Fei gained experience.

When Jordan tried to take a shot for the second time, Yu Fei caught him, blocked the shot, and fanned the ball ten meters away.

"I really don't want to play against an old guy like you. Apart from dribbling blindly, he only has weak shots. I'll block every shot like that on the court."

After Yu Fei said these words, Jordan became anxious.

During training camp, Jordan in this form destroyed Kwame Brown.But the same thing didn't happen on the field at Fleet Center.

Although the enraged Jordan played more vigorously, his shooting percentage did not increase. Yu Fei probably completed one obvious interference or direct block every three times he defended.

The match lasted for 20 minutes, and until the end, Jordan had to admit that with his current strength, he could not defeat Yu Fei in a duel.

This is still a state where they are attacking and defending. If Yu Fei is given a chance to attack according to the regular bullfighting rules, there may be more surprising results.

Steve Wyche was one of the witnesses to the showdown.

Unfortunately, Jordan did not defeat Yu Fei as planned.

In Wyche's view, this may be a watershed moment for something.

What would happen if you took a sociopath who had caused havoc and discovered that the strongest people in the place were only [-]-[-] equal to him?

Wyche glanced at Doug Collins. Sure enough, this diligent servant who maintained God's authority was worried about the outcome of this duel.

Wyche could feel that something was disappearing from Jordan.

That thing was unclear, but it caused everyone to fight for it. Jordan's successors were born for it. Even Pierce, who was no match for "Jordan's successor", wanted a piece of the pie, but Yu Fei indirectly through this game Prove that you are also qualified to compete for it.

"Will the current version of Elvin Hayes destroy this team, or will he turn into a butterfly and become the Bill Walton of 1977?"

With this thought in mind, Huai Qi looked at Yu Fei.

It’s 7:45 pm, 15 minutes before the game starts.

The Celtics have arrived at the scene, and Yu Fei and Pierce said hello.

The last time they met was when Yu Fei was training for the Celtics. The Celtics also gave him a draft commitment and made some "efforts" off the court. Unfortunately, they didn't work hard enough and the Wizards took the lead. .

If he had to choose between these two teams, Yu Fei would be more willing to play for the Celtics, because neither the team boss Walker nor the second team member Pierce are the kind of condescending and domineering bastards.

"Fry, I often see you in the top ten teams. It's a pity that you don't come to our team!" Pierce said with a smile.

Yu Fei smiled lightly: "I'm sorry too. I hope you will be nicer to Michael tonight."

"Hmph, I don't take that matter seriously at all. What's the point of being proud of defeating an old man?" Pierce looked indifferent, "I just don't like hearing people ask about MJ all day long, making it look like MJ The world was saved from the Y[-]K bug. Who were the people who saved the world? It was the firefighters who rushed into the flames, the soldiers and reporters who fought on the front lines."

I know, I know you don’t take such a great thing as beating Jordan seriously, you don’t need to say so much, damn little War Eagle!

Unlike Pierce's "don't care" attitude, the Wizards played against the Celtics in the preseason. Jordan and Pierce briefly faced off several times at that time, during which Pierce bumped him with his arm several times. This disrespectful offense made Jordan unhappy.It can be said that making fans in the new century realize that he can still compete with young stars is one of the main motivations for his comeback. At least so far, Pierce is a lower-level test for him to use Pierce to sacrifice the flag.Therefore, when an NBC reporter mentioned his dispute with Pierce in a pre-game interview, Jordan said without hesitation: "This kid wants to knock me down hard, but I'm ready."

Ironically, the NBC reporter used the same words as Yu Fei: "Oh, Michael, don't be too harsh on Paul, he is still a naive young man."

Jordan smiled and said charmingly: "Before he dies, I'll buy him a drink."

This is the Jordan people love.

Talkative, interesting, full of dominance, vowing to clean up the mentality of every usurper, a perfect supreme god.

As long as you don't get close to him, the charm of this man is endless.

Since he was not included in the starting lineup, Yu Fei changed into his playing uniform and sat down on the bench 10 minutes before the start of the game.

"Don't you think you are more suitable to start than T-Nez (Nezby)?" Brown said softly to Fei, "There is no way he can guard Paul Pierce."

It's okay, our head coach just randomly selected an unlucky guy from the roster to suffer on behalf of the boss. He didn't pick me. I'm really grateful to his mother. What more can I ask for?

"It doesn't matter, let's think about what the boss will do." Yu Fei replied without knowing what to do.

What will the boss do?Brown doesn’t believe Jordan can beat Pierce. After all, he can’t even beat Yu Fei now.
Tonight's Jordan was obviously different from before. After throwing the ball to Hamilton at the beginning and being spit on, he quickly caught the ball during the counterattack and made a left crotch cross before making an emergency stop.

Joe Johnson had no time to react.

"Shh!"

Seeing that Joe Johnson can actually start for the Celtics, it's hard for Yu Fei to have other ideas.

It would be fine if there was a big brother in the same position in the team. The problem is that the Wizards' lineup is full of holes. Except for the second position, there is no particularly strong position.

To Yu Fei's surprise, Collins' so-called secret weapon, Tyrone Naseby, was not playing the third position, but the fifth position. This was because he was being used as Ben Wallace.

So far, no results are visible.

In addition to bringing the Wizards' interior height back to the Unseld era, Naseby's playing at the five position also represents one thing - the one who defends Pierce on the defensive end is either Jordan or Hamilton.

Since the coaching staff does not want the scene of "Jordan defending Pierce" to appear too early, Hamilton can only suffer now.

Seeing Hamilton push Pierce with his thin body, Yu Fei felt that he was not worth it.

I saw Pierce sitting Hamilton away, turning around, and shooting. It was not as handsome as Jordan, but it was a two-point jumper, essentially the same.

Jordan was eager for success and actively wanted positions, but this time he was facing Antoine Walker, and the two did not match in size.

It was difficult for Jordan to get a position in front of Walker.

It’s understandable why Jordan saw Walker as if he were seeing a lucky gift bag.

Because as long as his teammates pass the ball smoothly, he is absolutely sure to complete the attack.

Walker's defensive threat is only before Jordan catches the ball. Once he catches the ball, Walker's defense is almost 0.

Jordan's body swayed back and forth, and this shaky position made Chris Whitney afraid to pass the ball.

"Can't you fucking just pass it on?!"

Urgent, urgent, Jordan is in a hurry.

The result of putting pressure on teammates even after failing to catch the ball is to stimulate them into a panic.

Whitney made the worst decision in the chaos, pulling up a three-pointer from the outside.

"What is uncle doing?" Brown couldn't understand.

"Okay, now let's see what the boss will do." Yu Fei was completely amused.

Brown looked at him strangely: "You have said this several times today."

Then, Celtics starting point guard Nick Anderson also burned the CPU and forced a shot without breaking free from the defense.

However, if the shot failed, the Celtics still had rebounds.

Except for being taller than Ben, Tyrone Naseby is not in the same level as Ben in other aspects.

Walker got an offensive rebound first, but missed the tip-in.

Pierce rushed in and swiped another one, but still missed.

Walker took off again and got his second offensive rebound, this time in.

In the next few rounds, the Wizards excessively pursued conduct. Although they created opportunities, Hamilton, as the pie eater, seemed like he didn't want to win tonight. He spit out pie repeatedly, and even the opportunity ball under the basket was blocked.

In the end, Jordan had to step in and fake a shot at the free throw line to trick Joe Johnson into touching himself. The referee decisively called the latter a defensive foul.

It has to be Jordan!
Then it almost got into Jordan's show.

Still facing Joe Johnson, after meeting the rookie, the muscle memory of bullying young people returned to God. He was almost full of tricks. He controlled the ball with both hands on his abdomen, and his unpredictable left and right swings made Johnson lose his defensive direction. , was shaken away by Jordan without dribbling.

Jordan broke into the paint and switched hands for a layup. One minute later, he made a pass from the high post to Christian Laettner.

Regarding what happened on the court, Yu Fei had no disturbance in his heart. This was a performance that Jordan should have performed long ago.

Pierce continues to enjoy Hamilton-branded snack platters on offense.

On the Wizards' side, Laettner suddenly shot a cold arrow from the outside, and Antoine Walker, who was supposed to prevent his shooting, exposed his lack of defense at all.

This greatly increased Laettner's aggressiveness. In the next round, Laettner shot Walker again from almost the same position.

This wave of Walker's defensive bonus made Laettner happy, and it also made the situation on the court more intertwined, and it was impossible to tell who had the advantage.

Seeing the outstanding performance of Jordan and Laettner, Yu Fei has no expectations for his playing time tonight.

15 minutes is considered a victory.

It's ironic that his playing time actually needed to be improved by the performance of Jordan and Laettner - especially Jordan.

Because Collins placed Jordan at the third position and identified Yu Fei as the third position, and after confirming Yu Qiao's inability to play together through his performance against the Pistons in the past few days, Yu Fei's playing time can be said to be directly related to Jordan's Performance is tied.

This is unacceptable to Yu Fei.

There will be no results in communicating directly with Collins, and it is even more impossible to bow to Jordan. The first thing he has to do is to seize every opportunity to play every minute and make every second he plays valuable, thereby putting pressure on Collins.

The better he plays, the more effective the pressure will be. If Collins is determined to ignore it all for Jordan, then Yu Fei has only one choice left.

(End of this chapter)