Basketball Legend: When Pride Still Matters

Yu Fei quickly proved that Bavita had no intention of blacking out the Bucks like he did with the Kings to the point of heartbreak.

The proof was the high intensity shown towards the other 76ers.

As a result, the whistle didn't blow.

The untouchable boundary was reserved for Iverson alone.

The message was clear, now no one could play tough on Iverson, so the number of points he would score was entirely up to him. If he lost under these circumstances, he could only blame himself.

Unfortunately, Iverson's shooting feel was off today, and although his break-throughs were easy, each time he approached the basket he met with interference from the taller defenders.

If you can't touch him, don't touch him, after all he is short, there's always a way to interfere a little bit.

Using the officiating standards to his advantage, Iverson managed to achieve an extremely high field goal percentage under the rim, but his teammates were equally unable to withstand the Bucks' assault.

Yu Fei's pick-and-roll tactics targeted mismatches perfectly, executing one after another with precision.

Ray Allen, as if he had taken some sort of pill, managed to outperform Iverson in offensive output without many free throws and with fewer shot attempts.

Favoritism from the referees was impossible to last the whole game.

Even if the referees were biased intentionally, they would adjust the standards under certain circumstances.
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Simply put, no team can benefit from biased refereeing for the whole game (if it lasted the entire game, it would be called match-fixing instead).

Experienced referees, like Bavita, choose to call biased whistles at the beginning and at the end of the game.

If the favoritism doesn't play an effective role, or if, when the refereeing returns to normal, the beneficiary team crumbles, then the referees wouldn't search for biased calls in the final quarter.

This was what happened to the 76ers.

With Bavita's help at the start, the 76ers were incredibly spirited, but the support from the referees started to vanish during a certain phase of the second quarter.

The Bucks held onto the game and quickly took the lead during several minutes of normal officiating.

By halftime, the Bucks were leading the 76ers by 5 points, 48 to 43.

With 12 points, 6 rebounds, and 6 assists, Yu Fei became the standout of the half.

Ray Allen, on the other hand, chased after Iverson with a 19-point performance during the half, and he was, along with Yu Fei, the main reason the Bucks were able to keep the score close during the biased officiating phase.

During the halftime break, Yu Fei asked Ray Allen about his and Iverson's grudge.

As it turned out, they did have some unpleasant history.

It happened before the two entered the NBA when both Ray Allen and Iverson were representing Team USA at the Universiade. During training, they had an argument over differing philosophies, and Iverson was the first to throw a punch. He took down Ray, who couldn't fight, pinned him to the ground, and choked him by the neck.

"I thought he really wanted to kill me," Ray Allen said, still shaken by the memory.

"Did something like that really happen?" Yu Fei pretended to be surprised, but this was after Iverson had caused the assault incident, and everybody knew what kind of a scumbag he was. "No wonder you're so pissed."

Taking a deep breath, Ray Allen said, "If I get a chance to sweep him, I definitely won't let it slip."

George Karl nodded approvingly, "Well said."

It had been years since he had seen Ray Allen so manly.

It seemed that scumbags not only arouse a sense of justice in people but also turn cowards into tough guys.

Yu Fei really didn't know why every time he changed his opinion about Iverson, he would hear more bad news about him.

It was difficult to adhere to "regardless of how he is with others, just remember how he was with me," because they didn't have that deep of a friendship, and Iverson might go berserk on the court over some trash talk and do something terrible.

In the second half, Yu Fei took more outside shots.

Since the Bucks were leading, the 76ers didn't have enough defensive intensity, and a relaxed Yu Fei shot 50% from three-point range, easily surpassing Iverson in scoring.

Iverson seemed as if he hadn't had enough of the biased referee benefits, wanting to receive the same royal VIP treatment at the start of the third quarter as in the beginning of the game.

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However, the referees actually allowed the Bucks players to touch him.

Since the referee didn't blow the whistle, Iverson, who was intent on drawing a foul, became mentally unbalanced, "Why aren't you calling that? Isn't that a fucking foul?!"

Dealing with such scum, the scum of the refereeing world simply gave him a T, to let him know how to speak to the benefactor who had been biased in his favor for a half and a quarter.

"Technical foul? Are you fucking kidding me? Are you messing with me? This is our home court!"

Iverson seemed not to understand the situation, taking Bavita's warning T as an offence against himself.

After so many years in the NBA, he still had no conception of the referees' standards and habits, just like he threw around money in nightclubs, he felt he deserved to be treated with the respect accorded to Jordan on the court.

He had the right to be dissatisfied.

Bavita didn't want to eject him, but if he approached the referee, spouting offensive language and with threatening body movements, then the referee had to act.

With the 76ers down by 13 points, Iverson was ejected from the game.

He kept cursing at Bavita and even incited the entire crowd to join the cursing match.

This proved Bavita's view of superstar players.

No amount of preferential treatment is enough, no amount of sweeteners is satisfactory, the moment one call doesn't go their way, they turn around and curse the referee's entire family.

Who created this sick relationship?

Iverson was ejected.

This effectively doomed the 76ers' hopes of winning.

It was the third game of the series, and the 76ers were already down 0 to 2, they had no margin for error.

If they lost this game, it was over.

Even if they were as resilient as the Trail Blazers in the Western first round, they couldn't pull off an amazing comeback.

The Trail Blazers had proved with their blood and tears that even if they came back from a 0-3 deficit to tie the series 3-3, they would still collapse due to running out of steam.

Reebok executive Paul Farman witnessed this scene.

Iverson was still the same typical Iverson, arrogantly imperious, as if even God should dote on him. When he was young and strong, this attitude was fitting, but once his bloom faded, if he still maintained such an attitude, it would be dangerous.

However, Yu Fei's performance surprised Farman.

Yu Fei neither broke down nor lost control because of the initial refereeing standards and calmly waited until the biased calls had ended, gradually gaining control of the situation through communication with the referees.

Insulting the referee is the most foolish way to confront them.

What's the best way? It's like Kobe telling the referees, "You just missed one for me, you owe me one now," or like Jordan during his Bulls era discussing life, hobbies, and family with the referees, subtly turning Jordan into a friend. If they're friends, refs could even fix matches for Jordan – wouldn't making a biased call during the game be trivial compared to that?

Iverson hadn't understood in years of playing what Yu Fei seemingly knew from the start.

Then he took advantage of the "garbage time" after Iverson left the court, padding his stats to 44 points, 15 rebounds, and 11 assists before the official garbage time arrived in the last seven minutes of the fourth quarter.

On the Milwaukee Bucks Team's playoff history, the last person to get a sizable triple-double was Lou Alcindor.

Ejected from the game, Iverson's stats were frozen at 24 points, 3 rebounds, and 4 assists. He was not only going to lose the game but also the stats battle.

In the not-too-distant future, he would lose everything, just like Jordan during his Wizards days, where all that would remain was an empty reputation, shadow-like existence, meaningless to all but that still proud ego.

Farman turned and left the suite. The multiple-choice question in front of him no longer needed an answer – the issue was how to make Yu Fei feel a sense of belonging and identification with the company.

One thing is for certain: An endorsement fee of three million US Dollars a year is absolutely inadequate for making a superstar, who has already earned the company tens of times more in profits, feel a sense of belonging and identification.

This issue and the risks that came with it had to be resolved.

(1) The "Freebie List" originates from "Friends," referring to "Without considering other factors, which five celebrities would you be willing to sleep with?"

(2) The Trail Blazers' comeback from a 0-3 deficit felt closer to a mythical comeback, even more so than the Celtics' because in the Celtics' seventh game, they were finished right from the start.

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