Basketball Legend: When Pride Still Matters

Even at his highest jump, Yu Fei's floater remained out of reach for him.

"Swish!"

Yu Fei smoothly scored the Wizards' first point of the night.

"Shaq, wake up!"

"Don't let that rookie run wild!"

"It's time to teach him a lesson, Shaq!"

The most passionate was Nicholson, who appeared as angry as if Yu Fei had scored on him: "Damn! Shaq, you can't keep letting your opponent score in front of you! Give that rookie a hard lesson! Damn it! I don't want to see him score with those boring moves again!"

An extremely angry Shaquille O'Neal wanted to post up for the ball, but unfortunately, this season marked the first year of zone defense.

Collins, who was initially indifferent to zone defense, gradually discovered its effectiveness after witnessing Yu Fei being tortured by the strategy as the leading player for the opposing team.

The league's original intent in legalizing zone defense was to end the domination of Shaquille O'Neal and Duncan; the negative impact it had on ball handlers with unstable shooting like Fei was collateral damage.

Now, the Wizards were also using a zone defense against O'Neal, so whenever he got the ball, there would inevitably be three or four people collapsing on him.

The cost was that one or two Lakers would end up wide open on the perimeter.

This time, the open man was Brian Shaw.

Coach Lu had completely given up on defending him on the outside.

Shaw, whose career three-point shooting percentage was just over 30%, did not disappoint Coach Lu's "trust" and missed the wide-open three-pointer.

Yu Fei grabbed the long rebound, and with that, the Wizards' counterattack began.

The Lakers retreated quickly, but Yu Fei, after leading the team single-handedly at the end of the season, had increased the speed of his transition play, with his experience, knowledge, and choices of passes under various situations being extremely reasonable.

In contrast, the Lakers, with a starting lineup that included two substitutes and thus already having low chemistry, were slowed down in transition, especially since Shaw and Horry were veterans and not quick on their feet.

Kobe, even putting all his effort into getting back, could not stop Yu Fei's surgical bounce pass.

Bobby Simmons burst from the oblique side, charging straight into the paint for a thunderous dunk.

"How come we have a three-man fast break, and you only have two getting back on defense? Where is everyone else?" Yu Fei's taunts were never late, "Hey, big diesel, what are you doing? Step on it, big diesel!"

Staples Center immediately developed a towering hostility towards Yu Fei.

Unpleasant swearing and a cacophony of boos targeted Yu Fei.

O'Neal no longer cared about zone or no zone; he sealed off Jahidi White to get the ball from Brian Shaw.

With White's physique, there was no chance of stopping O'Neal if he wanted to position himself.

Therefore, White had to rely on his teammates for help.

Yu Fei decisively left Fox unguarded to move inside and join Coach Lu in forming a triple-team around Shaq.

Just as O'Neal was about to pass the ball out, Yu Fei, seeing it clearly, made a vigorous swipe and knocked the ball loose. Unfortunately, the angle was off; even though he got a hand on it, the ball went out of bounds, and the Lakers retained possession.

"What the hell are you looking at?" O'Neal yelled angrily at the referee, "Didn't you see that damn Chinese guy fouling me?"

However, before O'Neal could get a reaction from the referee, he was met with direct insults from Yu Fei at his side: "Shut up, you spineless real Big Fatty! Look at that dumb move of yours, I didn't even touch you. You want a foul? If you, you wimp, are scared of someone touching you on the court, then just roll back to your pigsty and eat your damn pig dung now!"

"!#￥#@!￥"

Due to the number of Yu Fei's teammates nearby, an enraged O'Neal couldn't immediately retaliate physically, and the two were pulled apart. The referees promptly controlled the situation and decided to let both off with a warning.

O'Neal, for showing disrespect to the referee, was assessed a technical foul.

Yu Fei, for insulting his opponent, which was against the spirit and ethics of sport, was also assessed a technical foul.

Both received a T, and as Yu Fei raised his hand to acknowledge the penalty, he even said to O'Neal, who might as well have wanted to devour him alive, "Big Fatty, this is what you call an offense."