Basketball Legend: When Pride Still Matters

Yu Fei chose to push Shaquille O'Neal away rather than treat him more violently, and the sole reason for this was that he needed to ensure he stayed on the court.

Because the Wizards needed this win.

If he got ejected, the Wizards would have no hope of winning the game.

O'Neal couldn't believe Yu Fei dared to do such a thing to him. By the time his rage reached its peak, the players from both teams had already intervened, pulling apart those involved in the conflict.

In the end, the referees' decision was to give O'Neal and Yu Fei one foul each, no technicals.

Since both of them had already received technical fouls earlier, issuing another T would have led to ejection, which would severely impact the quality of this highly anticipated showdown.

In a league where superstars were treated like gods, this could not happen.

Nevertheless, Yu Fei's act of pushing O'Neal down still drew boos from the entire stadium, and the Lakers' celebrity fans, taking advantage of being closer to the action, started berating Yu Fei directly.

Jack Nicholson cursed a blue streak.

Gwyneth Paltrow, acting like a die-hard Lakers fan, was furious, "You shameless bastard, Shaq is going to crush you!"

Yu Fei was pleased that Wenleister did not join in the chorus condemning him. As for the so-called national sweetheart Gwyneth, he had never found her attractive.

"Shut up, Karl Malone wannabe!" Yu Fei loudly retorted to Gwyneth.

This move sparked further outrage among the celebrities, who felt Yu Fei was being too disrespectful to Gwyneth.

The scene was chaotic, with countless Los Angeles People standing up to curse at Yu Fei.

This made Collins consider substituting Yu Fei out temporarily, letting things calm down before putting him back in.

But Yu Fei refused Collins's suggestion, as stepping down now would be seen as showing weakness.

Yu Fei stayed on the court, and the game continued.

Ratner approached Yu Fei, seemingly to express his gratitude for the earlier incident.

But Yu Fei didn't take the incident to heart; he would have stood up for any teammate humiliated by O'Neal in that way.

Seeing Yu Fei's indifferent attitude, Ratner also understood his intention.

If he wanted to repay Yu Fei, the best way was to provide all the experience and strength of a seasoned veteran on the court.

The Lakers gradually reverted to the O'Neal-Kobe duo-driven mode, while the Wizards, compared to the first quarter, seldom caught Lakers' defensive failures and lagging transitions for counterattacks.

Like the Lakers, the Wizards also needed to work hard to grind out points.

Once the game entered this phase, their solutions were limited.

Tyronn Lue could steal one or two with his speed. Bobby Simmons was only useful during fast breaks. Kwame Brown racked up three fouls before the half was over, and Ratner—he was the only reliable aid to Yu Fei.

Whenever the Wizards couldn't execute their plays, the ball would return to Yu Fei's hands. Find your next adventure on empire

And the only thing Yu Fei had to do was to call Ratner over for a pick-and-roll.

In the past, Ratner and Yu Fei's coordination included a lot of fake screens—he would play tricks, drawing the defender onto Yu Fei, while he himself would cut inside effortlessly.

But now, he didn't do that anymore.

Yu Fei could finally utilize the team's best tower to deliberately target O'Neal.

It was the cooperation between Yu Fei and Ratner that withstood the Lakers' aggressive onslaught in the first half.

44 to 46

With the half over, the Wizards led by 2 points.

Doug Collins, when interviewed at halftime, heard an interesting question.

"Frye called Gwyneth Paltrow 'Karl Malone.' Do you know why?"

Collins, barely holding back his laughter, replied, "I don't know. After the game, you can ask him yourself."

Although Collins also didn't understand what the insult meant, he was sure it wasn't anything good.

Then he took a deep breath, recalling the first half of the game, which was anything but dull—whether it was the early lead or Yu Fei's repeated confrontations with O'Neal, culminating in an unexpected defense of Ratner.

Before tonight, Collins would have never believed Yu Fei would face off against an opponent for Ratner's sake.

But it was true.

Did that mean the Devil King who didn't even respect Jordan was gradually becoming mature, realizing he needed more help?

Did he stand up for Ratner to win over the veteran?

Collins didn't know, but the result spoke for itself.

Ratner started to develop chemistry with Yu Fei, something unimaginable before.

And a Ratner, fully committed to cooperating with Yu Fei, made the targeted play much more powerful.

In Collins' memory, during the latter half of the second quarter, whenever the Wizards needed someone to forcefully complete the stalled tactics, Yu Fei would target O'Neal.

He succeeded every time.

Ratner's shooting provided enough space, and O'Neal's ineffectiveness against the pick-and-roll bolstered Fei's confidence.

Was such a play strategy sustainable?

Collins didn't know the answer, but he truly wondered how many big men in the league could limit Yu Fei's targeting.

Garnett?

Perhaps add Duncan?

Anyone else?

If only two big men in the entire league could withstand Yu Fei's targeting, what did that mean? Collins was bewildered and didn't know, yet he was excited.

As Collins' hope for victory, Yu Fei didn't have that many thoughts.

Even as he walked through the player's tunnel, he heard Lakers fans yelling that he was "trash" and the Wizards were a "garbage team."