Basketball Legend: When Pride Still Matters

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The climax of 2001 was the pinnacle that such style of play could ever reach.

Now they're still playing the same way, and in front of the Bucks, Iverson's individual offensive efforts are not enough to control the overall situation of the game.

His offense is fierce, yet not efficient.

Yu Fei displayed a different style.

Occasional one-on-one plays, mostly using them as a decoy to set up his teammates.

As a result, Iverson had 28 points and 3 rebounds for the half, while Yu Fei had 18 points, 6 rebounds, and 7 assists.

At the end of the first half, the Bucks led the 76ers by 17 points.

Yu Fei asked George Karl, "Who do you think is playing better, me or AI?"

"What are you talking about? We're leading by 17 points, of course, it's you!"

Karl didn't persuade Yu Fei.

Yu Fei fell into the much-talked-about conundrum of the late first decade of the new century: "how to pierce The Chosen One's shield with Kobe's spear."

Aside from the total championship numbers, James likely outperforms Kobe in all basic and advanced stat categories, but Kobe's supporters have never acknowledged this.

This isn't just a clash of basketball aesthetics; it's also a divergence in basketball philosophy.

Yu Fei, puzzled, entered the locker room to see Mason shouting loudly, so he went to ask him, "Why do you want me to keep playing one-on-one?"

"Is that hard to understand?" Mason blinked, "If he turns the game into a one-on-one matchup, then you should accept the challenge."

Indeed, Yu Fei felt that he was responding pretty well.

"Do you think I caught on?" Yu Fei asked.

"So-so, but that's AI after all, not some 40-year-old man…"

"Are you asking to die or what? I've told you not to mention that guy!"

Mason said nonchalantly, "Anyway, you just keep on accepting his challenges in the second half, play however he wants to play!"

Mason didn't make Yu Fei understand the reasoning behind it.

The logic was simple.

Tonight's Iverson was the first superstar aside from Shaquille O'Neal and Kidd who had the capability to blow Yu Fei away and was very serious about targeting him as a competitor.

Yu Fei didn't mind the hype of the Reebok derby, but Iverson saw it as the ultimate honor, like the crown James inevitably had to wear.

At the start of the second half, it was still Iverson, dribbling to create a mismatch against Yu Fei, muttering "Kang Ming! Kang Ming!"

followed by a wide crossover, shaking off Yu Fei's defense, and then pulling up for a jump shot.

With that, he scored his 30th point of the night.

Following this trend, he might even reach 50.

If Iverson ended up with 40+ points and Yu Fei had a 30+ point triple-double or near-triple-double, that would surely be a head-to-head battle.

However, letting Iverson score 50 points in a playoff game would be a different story altogether.

Yu Fei wouldn't let that happen.

From this round onwards, Yu Fei finally dedicated himself entirely to the matchup against Iverson.

Based on Iverson's style of play, George Karl implemented a zone defense and instructed every defender on Iverson to give him half a meter of space.

Because Iverson's three-point shooting percentage was not exactly elite for a guard, and was actually poor among superstars—with a lowly season three-point shooting percentage of only 27% as a small scoring champ.

Changing from their loose first-half defense, the Bucks tightened up. In addition to maintaining excellent offense, they now rendered Iverson's offensive efforts ineffective.

Iverson's aggressive drives were limited by the zone defense, which led to him passing the ball.

For the Bucks players to guard him closely, he needed to prove his three-point threat.

Unfortunately, tonight Iverson was the epitome of a sharpshooter missing by a step.

Inside the three-point line, his jump shots were decent.

Outside the three-point line, they were virtually giveaways.

In contrast, Yu Fei on the other side did not play like a typical 6 foot 9 inch forward at all.

Yu Fei's first basket of the second half was a trailing three-pointer as the 76ers scrambled back on defense.

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Then came the dribble, a quick stop, and a long two-pointer.

Having showcased his shooting threat, Yu Fei began to drive inward.

The 76ers' interior defense was helpless against his floater.

Larry Brown cursed every player standing in the paint area, but when the big screen replayed Yu Fei's floater, Brown realized that it was unanswerable.

The only solution was not to let Yu Fei shoot floaters at will.

Thus, the 76ers began to increase the frequency of their double-teams on Yu Fei.

However, Yu Fei's passing activated Ray Allen.

In contrast, Iverson, also facing a tightened defense and unable to force his way through, did not receive reciprocation from his passes.

Because Iverson had been going one-on-one for too long, his teammates had already expended their energy and shooting touch in running back and physical confrontations.

The only solution was to let them shoot more; slowly, their touch would naturally return.

But the 76ers had no time left.

By the end of the third quarter, the Bucks had entered the fourth quarter with a 26-point lead.

For a team that averages less than a hundred points per game, 26 points were more than their average points per quarter, an impossible gap to overcome.

At the start of the fourth quarter, Brown wanted to substitute Iverson, who had not rested since the game started.

Iverson strongly refused, "Coach, I can't rest, for me, the game isn't over yet! I want to keep playing!"

Brown said, "I know, but you haven't rested for a minute tonight; I can't let you continue like this."

"I have rested," Iverson emphasized, "The halftime break was enough!"

"That doesn't count."

"Coach, I really can't go out!" How could two dominant and stubborn individuals come to a conclusion? Brown had tried for six years, but Iverson would always be Iverson.

Brown had heard that someone called Yu Fei The Chosen One and even that Yu Fei had a related tattoo on his back.

But it was Allen Iverson who was the real Chosen One.

Iverson himself, and everyone who believed in him, saw him that way.

Ann Iverson became pregnant with Allen at the age of 15, and when the doctor informed her grandmother of the news, the old woman was struck as by lightning, even more unbelievable was the doctor's second sentence: "She is still a virgin."

Indeed, Ann Iverson conceived Allen while still a virgin.

Therefore, Iverson's family believed: "God sent him to earth for a special reason."

Larry Brown had no interest in such one-in-a-million stories; he simply desired to steer Iverson in the right direction.

Clearly, he had failed.

He had failed not only tonight but for the past six years.

Watching Iverson's lone wolf offense, shooting absurdly as if he himself were God, these glaring images were so horrifying for Brown, but he would no longer strain his voice to tell Iverson to pass the ball.

Let it be.

Iverson's weakness in outside shooting prevented him from punishing the Bucks' defense, and the restrictions of a zone defense made his drives ineffective. Even when he passed to his teammates, they could not make the shots.

In the end, Iverson could only rely on himself.

He forced an opening from the double-team defense, hoping to make an extremely difficult shot as the game was slipping away.

Suddenly, a figure much taller than himself appeared before Iverson.

"Frye blocks Allen Iverson!!!!!"

Yu Fei chased down the ball no longer belonging to Iverson, like a raging wind, like a lightning bolt, and within seconds, his defensive counter dunk brought the lead to 30 points.

Larry Brown gazed at the young man under 21.

The arrogant troublemaker, who, according to legend, Michael Jordan couldn't tame, Shaquille O'Neal loathed to the bone, Jason Kidd and Kenyon Martin spoke of with gritted teeth, had on this night, where Iverson shone with an outrageous "charisma," restrained himself from the urge to share the dance and did what a core player ought to do.

He understood a truth that AI would never comprehend in his lifetime.

In that moment, Larry Brown's expression became vacant, his limbs felt weak, and he suddenly realized that the one truly chosen by the heavens did not need guidance.

He would find his way to the right path on his own.

According to Ann Iverson's account: On her 15th birthday, she and AI's father had planned to do something special, but at the crucial moment, Iverson's grandmother came home, and AI's father just stayed on the outside, not taking the final step. (I don't understand, can this really happen?)