When pride still matters

Chapter 86 The person most worthy of starting the game

Jordan doesn't know if Yu Fei can limit Tracy McGrady. If he can do it, that would be great. If he can't, there is still reason to put him on the bench after the game.

As for Jordan himself, he doesn't care if someone says he is avoiding the duel with Tracy McGrady, because even in the game with Pierce, they did not have many head-to-head duels. In the end, the media will naturally base their analysis on the data of the two and the few players on the court. There are few counterpoint sequences to tell the legendary story passed down from generation to generation.

"Come on, Chris, ball!"

From outside, Yu Fei waved to Whitney.

According to the general procedure, Leitner should be the one to take the ball in the high post to provide support, but Yu Fei's request for the ball interrupted the tactical process.

In the past, if someone other than Jordan did this, Collins would be furious, but when Yu Fei did this, he felt normal.

The establishment of power status is sometimes subtle.

Unknowingly, Yu Fei has become a franchise player in Collins' heart.

"Is this okay?" Hill knew Collins very well. "Doug doesn't like to see people straying outside the tactical system."

Yu Fei didn't respond, thinking of McGrady's footwork against Jordan just now.

In an instant, Yu Fei was like Tracy McGrady, protecting the ball with both hands and starting to test with his right foot.

Since Yu Fei hit a three-pointer before, his tentative step is more threatening than McGrady. The difference lies in the starting speed.

Yu Fei doesn't have the first step like McGrady to let Jordan eat the exhaust behind his butt.

Left, right, forward, backward, and left again. It took Yu Fei nearly 5 seconds to finally make a crack in Hill's defense.So, he broke forward without hesitation, and Hill's defense collapsed instantly.

His defense is not good!
This is the feeling Hill gave Yu Fei.

Magic center Steven Hunter came out to help defend. Yu Fei was not greedy for credit. After directing the defensive attraction to himself, he fed Jasidi White.

White caught the ball and scored a slam dunk.

"Ahahaha~~~" White dunked so happily that he gave Yu Fei a high five.

In many ways, White is remembered by Wizards fans as a throwback to the old days of an undersized center who fought as hard as he could when physically able but was often troubled by taller, more agile opponents.The Wizards' public address system would often play Cab Calloway's blues classic "Minnie the Moocher" when White scored, and fans would sing in unison: "Ja-hidee-hidee-hiJa- hidee-hidee-ho”

Tonight, when White dunked, the song reappeared.

White once expressed dissatisfaction with this because it made him look like a clown, however, he has now fully accepted this and will sing the song with the fans.

The Magic don't know yet that the Wizards have made matchup adjustments.

When McGrady ran forward, he found Yu Fei coming to his side.

"Go away, I want to play against Michael." McGrady had no interest in the rookie at all.

"Sorry," Yu Fei said, "The old guy is afraid of you, so I took over this matchup."

Although McGrady didn't know what happened, the reason was definitely not what Yu Fei said. Jordan was afraid.

The defensive end has the initiative in the matchup, and it is not popular in this era to find someone by name. In this case, McGrady doesn't mind beating the rookie first.

The Magic's tactics are a bit similar to the Wizards', both have arrangements for the big man to get the ball at the free throw line.

However, the problem is that the Wizards let the big man support them, while the Magic only let the big man serve as a transition station for the ball.

McGrady ran to the left, suddenly accelerated, and used Grant's excellent screen card to fall to Yu Fei. He caught the ball and pulled up an elegant long two-pointer.

"Shh!"

9 is better than 6
McGrady has scored all the Magic's points since the opening game.

The matchup arrangement between Yu Fei and McGrady is also clear.

Collins doesn't know why Jordan asked Yu Fei to switch defenses with him, but if he wants to suppress Yu Fei, having him face off against Tracy McGrady is the best choice.

Because it is not enough to rely on Hill to suppress Yu Fei.

Hill's defense is clear to Collins. Judging from his current state, it is unrealistic to expect him to educate Yu Fei.

So, let's get the best player in the East.

T-MAC, show off your ability to lead the team in blocks with the Raptors!

As a result, McGrady will not take the initiative to confront Yu Fei on the defensive end.

This became a spectacle on the field.

Yu Fei attacked Hill and defended McGrady.

In short, it means matching up with the Magic's boss and second-stringer on both offense and defense.

Back to the Wizards' half-court offense, Jordan, like Yu Fei, did not use tactics and took the ball to challenge Tracy McGrady.

This time McGrady really switched to Raptors mode, his eyes that couldn't be opened were full of energy, his 203 cm height and a pair of long arms covered Jordan, and his youthful vitality made it difficult for the Flyer to find comfortable shooting opportunities.

Although Jordan does not like to create difficulties for himself like Kobe, he will not pass this ball and will die in his own hands.

Jordan took turns using various feints, but McGrady refused to jump. In the end, he could only forcefully pull up, raise the arc of the shot, and then hit the iron. Everyone happily (expletive) returned to defense.

McGrady's quick play was amazing, but Magic's starting guard Darrell Armstrong didn't see it, so the Wizards returned to defense.

Armstrong suddenly shot cold arrows and struck iron in the chaos of the battle.

The basketball bounced off an extremely straight arc. Yu Fei flew out from the side, grabbed the ball, and accelerated immediately after landing.

This scene also made Collins' eyelids jump, the pace was too fast.

How could the forty-year-old man's old arms and legs bear this tossing back and forth?
Yu Fei completely ignored Jordan's presence. Looking at the entire court, he rushed to the opponent's basket and then dunked.

"Less than 5 minutes have passed in the first quarter, and Frye Yu has already scored 7 points!"

"He is the most surprising rookie this season!"

Grant Hill's lack of response to Fei's dynamic performance was something many didn't expect.

Hill couldn't tell the pain. Except for the previous singles, Yu Fei's points were basically simple points.

Even if he wanted to respond, it would be difficult for him because he could obviously feel discomfort in his ankle.

However, he has been on the injured list for a season. If he has to return to the sick list without playing a few games, his reputation as a "soft guy" in Detroit may be confirmed.

"Grant, show that rookie some color!"

McGrady was like a mirror in his mind, and did not blame Hill, but just asked him to respond.

Hill said so, but he didn't know it in his heart.

Is the discomfort coming from my ankle an injury sustained on the court, or is it
Hill's concerns about his body were palpable. Instead of attacking with the ball as McGrady expected, he called for McGrady's pick-and-roll and made a body movement that only the Magic players could read.

Although Maddie was surprised, she did as she was told.The cooperation between the two went smoothly. Yu Fei and Jordan switched defenses on their own, but Hill's call for the pick-and-roll was not to complete his offense.The moment McGrady completed the pick-and-roll, he cut directly to the basket and got rid of Jordan at a faster speed.

Hill just needs to throw the ball in the air and McGrady will do the rest.

A smooth alley-oop layup was completed.

McGrady scored 8 points in a row and was still the only one scoring for the Magic.

11 is better than 8
There is only 3 points difference between the two sides.

"Hey, man, you really need to teach that rookie a lesson!" McGrady didn't know Hill's situation, but just wanted to help his older teammate regain his confidence.

Subsequently, both sides fell into a scoring drought.

The reason for the Wizards is that Laettner clearly knows who has the better touch, but always deliberately ignores Yu Fei when launching tactics.

The Wizards naturally continued to strike.

Fortunately, it's not just the Wizards who have idiots, the Magic also have idiots. Starting point guard Darrell Armstrong is the worst point guard Yu Fei has ever seen so far.

His failure lies not in his strength, but in his confusion about his position.

There are obviously McGrady and Hill standing on the court, but Armstrong always likes to call a pick-and-roll, and then confidently seizes the open shot that the Wizards deliberately let him.

A standard Darrell Armstrong play goes like this, calling a pick-and-roll in the high post, making an open jump shot through the bodies of two people, and hitting the iron.

The same thing happened three times before Doc Rivers took him off the field.

Rivers decided to start a tactical experiment, and the Magic suddenly set up a lineup without a point guard. McGrady played the point guard, second-year star Mike Miller played the second position, and Hill was still the third position.

For the Wizards, Collins replaced Jordan and Laettner, and Richard Hamilton and Kwame Brown came on.

"Michael, are you feeling okay?"

Collins literally felt like Jordan's knee was on fire.

Jordan frowned, "I have no problem."

"Really?" Collins forgot, Jordan didn't like to be questioned.

"I said it's okay!" Jordan's tone became more serious.

Collins asked no more questions. As long as Jordan said he was fine, then he was fine and his knees would always be healthy.

The score of 11 to 8 has lasted for more than three minutes. Now it is the Magic's possession. McGrady starts dribbling directly from the backcourt. His intention is obvious. Since he has already won the Magic's 8 points since the start, he can get more. So what about 2 points?

Although Yu Fei was prepared, McGrady played too easily, as if he didn't take his opponent seriously at all, dribbling, starting, stopping suddenly, and turning around and shooting.

Yu Fei was sure that the range that his blocking could cover had reached the extreme, but...
"Shh!"

McGrady doesn't like to talk trash, he just scores and runs.

Yu Fei can distinguish between reality and dreams. Compared with the top five players in the league like McGrady, he is still far behind, but he definitely has the ability to respond, because McGrady is not a player with both offense and defense.

Among the stars of the "I want to be like Mike" generation, the only players who can truly be "like Mike" on offense and defense are Kobe, Wade and James (as long as he wants to defend).

When Yu Fei ran to the frontcourt, he unexpectedly discovered that the Magic now neither allowed Hill to face him nor McGrady to face him, but instead sent Miller.

It's not that Yu Fei looks down on Miller, Yu Fei just thinks that there is little value in playing against Miller.

So Yu Fei said "very politely": "Let T-MAC come, I'm not interested in you."

"Rookie, I was last year's Rookie of the Year, show me some respect!" Miller responded dissatisfied.

Rookie of the Year?Who cares about that kind of stuff?

"Chris!"

Yu Fei once again ended his tactical operation and forced the ball over.

"Damn, where are our tactics?" Laettner complained off the court. "Why does Chris trust the rookie so much?"

Then, Yu Fei used Miller's defensive skills to test the steps he stole from McGrady to face the basket. Although it was still very clumsy, Miller's defense was not good enough. In addition, Yu Fei had already scored 7 points in the first quarter. , the deterrence is there.That footwork that was full of shortcomings in the eyes of McGrady and Jordan was ugly, but useful. Miller was shaken away by a probing step to the left, and then dribbled forward, striding into the paint and feeding Mr. Brown hand by hand. cake.

"Da Fei, you have changed. You don't even ask me to pick and roll now!" Brown said to Yu Fei.

Yu Feixiao asked: "Then do you like my assist?"

"like."

"Then what the hell is your name?"

McGrady came again, condemning Yu Fei's behavior of treating Miller as an experience bag, "Rookie, your imitation is clumsy and ridiculous!"

After saying that, McGrady will use his most famous goalkeeping skill - a pull-up three-pointer from the outside that won the NBA's most beautiful calf award.

McGrady underestimated Yu Fei too much and regarded him as an inexperienced rookie, so he even skipped the basic ball-protecting movements and wanted to directly use pull-ups to solve the defense.

Cutting the ball is one of Yu Fei's unique skills. McGrady suddenly presented the opportunity. He would never miss it. With a bang, the atmosphere in MCI became crazy.

"Fry stole the ball from T-MAC in a one-on-one situation!"

DC City Radio shouted excitedly at this moment.

Yu Fei moved forward at full speed.

Maddie gave up after a little hard pursuit, but saw that she couldn't catch up.

He is not the kind of person who likes to compete for every ball, so he will never chase Andre Miller 28 meters after a mistake like Kobe did.

Yu Fei was not in danger of being blocked because McGrady stopped very early.

The opponent has given up the stage, and there is no reason not to put on a good show.

Yu Fei collected the ball at the free throw line, took two steps, gathered enough strength to jump up, and hit the oval windmill dunk, successfully igniting MCI.

"This is what we've been saying, Frye Yu can bring a lot of energy to DC, he has been doing the same thing off the bench the past dozen games, and it's great to have him in the starting lineup." NBC's The commentator joked, "Maybe we should ask, why has he not been included in the starting lineup until now?"

2 minutes later, Yu Fei, who played 8 minutes in the first quarter, was replaced.

9 points, 4 rebounds and 2 assists, this is what Yu Fei did in 8 minutes, and it is also the reason why the Wizards were not defeated by McGrady's powerful personal offensive.

When Yu Fei left the field, Collins had mixed emotions. He knew that he and Jordan could no longer find any reason to put the most qualified starter on the team on the bench.

"Play well and take a good rest. We need you to continue playing like this in the second quarter!"

Collins looked at Yu Fei and said insincerely.

Yu Fei didn't even pay attention to Collins. He just said "hmm" and walked to the court to sit down.

(End of this chapter)