Basketball Legend: When Pride Still Matters

Shaquille O'Neal missed the free throw.

When Yu Fei was substituted onto the court, the score was locked at 24 to 29.

The gap was only 5 points.

Shaquille O'Neal looked at Yu Fei and glanced at Ratner who had just come onto the court, thinking about destroying the Wizards even more urgently.

This team had a rookie who disrespected him as well as a "thief" who "stole" his place on the Dream Team I.

"Time to settle the score, kid!" Shaquille O'Neal told Yu Fei.

Hearing about "settling the score," Ratner's complexion changed.

He might be the first NBA player in history who wanted to "settle the score" with Yu Fei, and the outcome wasn't good for him.

Yu Fei just smiled and didn't take Shaquille O'Neal's words seriously.

Back in the backcourt, Ratner took the inbound.

Yu Fei said, "Don't stick around in the paint, come out for more pick and rolls."

Having "awakened" some terrible memories, Ratner completely ignored Yu Fei and kept running forward on his own.

In the frontcourt, the Lakers chose to have Devean George guard Yu Fei.

George, as people often said, had a superstar physique with blue-collar skills.

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But his biggest drawback was that he had a babyish character.

Calling him babyish didn't mean he was immature or hard to get along with, but rather, he was fragile like a baby and couldn't handle pressure.

"Yo, it's you," Yu Fei recognized the opponent who, like himself, had come to the court early to practice shooting before the game started.

George was tense, having already perceived Yu Fei as a danger.

A number eight draft pick who dared to fall out with Jordan in his rookie season was definitely not an ordinary person.

George didn't respond to Yu Fei's greeting.

After that, Yu Fei gestured for Ratner to come out for a pick and roll.

Shaquille O'Neal only moved symbolically from the basket, stopping just outside the paint, while Yu Fei shook off George with the screen and without paying attention to Shaquille O'Neal's bluffing from just inside the free throw line, he made a jump shot.

24 to 31

"Big Fatty, don't you like moving?" Yu Fei aimed his words at Shaquille O'Neal, "Are you especially missing Kobe?"

Shaquille O'Neal was furious, but couldn't respond directly to Yu Fei, so he vented his anger on George, "DG, are you even defending properly? Why did you let him break in so easily?"

"Sorry, my fault!" George, who clearly wasn't at fault, admitted the blame without any fight.

Shaquille O'Neal knew very well who was to blame, but he couldn't admit his mistake—that was his privilege.

Privileged players don't make mistakes.

Carrying a belly full of rage, Shaquille O'Neal moved to the frontcourt and forcefully positioned himself; Ratner couldn't withstand such pressure.

Once Shaquille O'Neal completely got the advantageous spot, he raised his hand, and Fisher lobbed the ball from the perimeter.

Shaquille O'Neal's original intention was to hammer in an alley-oop over Ratner.

However, Kwame Brown intervened in time, preventing him from completing his plan.

No matter - the ball was still in his hands.

The current situation was almost identical to the previous play—facing the Wizards' double-team, Shaquille O'Neal loudly yelled, shouldering the confrontation of both defenders.

With no pressure, Shaquille O'Neal once again put the ball into the basket.

And, Brown was called for a phantom foul.

Shaquille O'Neal shook his head, pouting his lips, and let out a "ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh" taunt, which was a mocking jeer. Brown, having no words to say, raised his hand, while Ratner questioned him unsatisfiedly, "If you're going to foul, why not do it hard?!"

The detestable Ratner criticized Brown.

However, Yu Fei thought he wasn't wrong.

Under the circumstances back then, if you were going to foul, better to make it a hard one; giving away an and-one is a losing deal.

Fortunately, you can always trust Shaquille O'Neal's free throws.

His extra throw once again hit the rim.

Yu Feifei soared to grab the defensive rebound, and as soon as he landed, the Wizards' counterattack launched.

Devean George wanted to commit a tactical foul but was shaken off by Yu Fei with a behind-the-back move, then Rick Fox in the frontcourt tried to foul Yu Fei.

Instead, Yu Fei collected the ball early, using his elbow to bear the foul from the opponent and forcefully shot.

"Whistle!"

The foul was inevitable; what Yu Fei cared about was the ball.

The ball he shot after being fouled flew high, not with the usual arc—but it headed towards the exact center above the hoop, brushed against it, and then bounced right into the net.

And One!!!

Fox complained to the referee about Yu Fei's elbowing, while Yu Fei shot back with trash talk, "How can you complain to Mr. Referee? You should be complaining about that dead fatty pig; it's all his fault for always missing free throws, which is why you had to commit the foul!"

After speaking, Yu Fei turned toward the Lakers' bench and yelled at the Zen Master, "Where's Kobe? Give me Kobe! I want to go up against Kobe, only complaining old farts and a dead fatty pig who can't score free throws are too boring, give me Kobe, Coach!"

Kobe smiled. What Yu Fei was doing was disadvantageous to the Lakers, but advantageous for him.

He stood up and said to Jackson, "Alright, put me in."

Jackson looked seriously at Kobe, "You have to promise me that you will cooperate with Shaq."

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"That's impossible." Kobe declined to make the promise.

Jackson negotiated, "If you affect the game again due to selfishness, I'll sub you out at any time!"

The communication was enough. Kobe turned and approached the sideline, ready to substitute for Fox.

Kobe replaced Fox, and Yu Fei made the free throw.

Under normal circumstances, replacing George with Fox would be one of the Lakers' regular starters.

But tonight, since the Wizards were heavily using a zone defense, the Lakers needed perimeter players who could score threes, so as long as George didn't have a major problem, his value on the court was clearly greater than that of Fox.

Yu Fei somewhat agreed with the Zen Master's view of Kobe.