Basketball Legend: When Pride Still Matters

Yu Fei, in the midst of completing his pivot, inadvertently collided his right elbow violently against Pierce's shoulder due to his unfamiliarity with the low-post pivot move to face the basket. But the incident happened so suddenly and swiftly that the referee couldn't see it clearly, and Pierce couldn't react in time; it was all over in an instant.

"Damn it!"

Pierce cursed, but his defense had already crumbled.

Yu Fei charged to the basket and, like a wild beast, finished with a one-handed reverse dunk, drawing a mix of gasps and jeers from the arena.

Pissed off, Pierce glared at Yu Fei, thinking the rookie's move was too dirty.

Without a hint of apology, Yu Fei merely glanced at Pierce and said, "Don't act like you can handle me so easily when your defense is such a mess."

With just one minute left in the first quarter, Yu Fei, unsurprisingly, had irritated his opponent.

This was a staple in the Wizards Team's games.

If there was a game where Yu Fei didn't manage to annoy his opponent, it meant that the opponent was simply too good-natured.

"Ignorant brat, I'm going to teach you a lesson on MJ's behalf!"

Fuming, Pierce aggressively positioned himself, shouting for the ball from his teammates.

Once Pierce got into a favorable position and the ball came to him, he bumped with his sizeable rear, pushing Yu Fei back a significant half-meter, ready to take his shot.

Instinctively, Yu Fei reached out, and like a paring knife, sliced the ball off from Pierce's hand.

It was a clean steal that couldn't have been any cleaner, but the referee wouldn't allow a rookie to show off like that on the visiting court, so a foul was called on Yu Fei for the mere brush of a body hair.

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"That's a foul?" Yu Fei said as he headed towards the referee, but Whitney intercepted him immediately, "Whatever the referee says goes, shut your mouth!"

Pierce, unable to wait, started to trash talk, "Ha! That's a foul! Rookie, this is professional basketball. You're still too green. Learn how to avoid fouls first!"

Yu Fei glanced at the clock.

There were 50 seconds left in the first quarter.

Enough time for the Celtics to inbound the ball for an offensive play, then let the Wizards finish with the last shot of the quarter, before giving the Celtics a dozen or so seconds for a buzzer-beating attempt.

Jordan was having a good night, which meant he wouldn't be sitting on the bench for long. That also meant Yu Fei wouldn't get much playing time, so his foul count didn't really matter.

In fact, Yu Fei could use it as a means to penalize his opponents.

For instance, teach a lesson to some assholes who think they're so great, treating the game like a joke, not taking him seriously.

Paul Pierce was still laughing, completely unaware of the full malice in Yu Fei's eyes.

The Celtics resumed play with Antoine Walker taking on Kwame Brown in a one-on-one.

As the Celtics' main man, Walker's performance was far less impressive than Pierce's tonight.

But to underestimate him because of his negative defensive impact would be a big mistake.

Brown didn't take Walker's offense seriously and ended up getting scored on by a swift pivot dribble and stop-and-pop bank shot.

"What's so impressive? I can do that too."

Now, Brown only dared to brag in front of Yu Fei.

Well, Yu Fei believed he could do it in practice, but in a real game, he would likely fail the attack because of his 'sensitive little hands' inability to control the ball.

As Jordan sat next to Collins, Yu Fei was sure he would be in the game in the second quarter, which would be his cue to exit.

"Kwame, make a 45-degree angle screen and cut inside."

After instructing Brown, around ten seconds later, Brown did as told.

Immediately, a vacuum appeared in the Celtics' defense zone, with only Brown in sight. Yu Fei decisively lobbed a pass, assisting Brown for a slam dunk score.

23 to 21.

With the first quarter down to its last 12 seconds, the Celtics quickly crossed half-court, and Pierce wanted the ball for a one-on-one with Yu Fei.

"You can't guard me!"

Following his words, Pierce targeted the gap Yu Fei had deliberately left open, swiftly took one step to gain a favorable position, and jumped up with the ball.

What Paul Pierce didn't expect was that Yu Fei had never intended on seriously defending the shot from the beginning.

What he planned to do was—

Yu Fei leaped from beside Pierce, shouldering his weight onto the opponent, and swung his arm fiercely, knocking down both the arm and the ball while causing the airborne Pierce to lose balance and crash heavily onto the floor.

"@#￥%@#%..."

Yu Fei turned around and yelled at the referee who had called his previous steal a foul, "@#￥%@#%, that's a fucking foul!"

The foul, bordering on flagrant, was initially called as a normal one—but after that shout, the referee issued a technical foul against Yu Fei.

The raging Pierce hadn't even gotten a chance to confront Yu Fei before being held back, and Yu Fei was substituted out by Doug Collins with 18,000 spectators in the arena expressing their intense disapproval of Yu Fei's egregious act.

Boos and curses were heard all around.

"That's despicable, this young man should be ejected from the game!" Celtics legend Tom Heinsen shouted, "I don't want to see him in this game anymore!"

Doug Collins looked at Yu Fei with disappointment: "It seems like you haven't taken the 'Bible's' reprimands to heart at all."

"Leave the reprimands to Jesus," Yu Fei sneered, "My job is to ensure he meets Jesus in his dreams!"

In the final seconds of the first quarter, Jordan returned to the court.

According to the plan, he was supposed to come back in the second quarter, but Yu Fei's 'loss of control' had disrupted Collins's arrangements.

Collins didn't know why Yu Fei was so angry, but Jordan knew. It was because of the playing time and Pierce's dismissive attitude.

As a competitor, Yu Fei took every opponent seriously. What Pierce sought from Jordan was the same thing Yu Fei was after.