Basketball Legend: When Pride Still Matters

Yu Fei and Duncan were like two different styles of the same thing.

Duncan embodied the spirit of the millennium, resilience, and team-first philosophy, advocating for "one more pass" in basketball.

Guided by Yu Fei, the Bucks, also looking for open shooting opportunities, played a different kind of basketball.

Duncan did not hold the ball long; he was part of the collective, though the most important part, he was still one among many.

But Yu Fei was everything to the Bucks.

He controlled the ball, called for screens, and dominated the initiation of each play and most of their conclusions.

In terms of shot attempts, Yu Fei was not selfish.

However, his usage rate was astounding.

This style of play challenged the views of purist basketball scholars; the essence of team sports was disrupted, turning the Bucks' games into essentially a cake-cutting exercise, with Yu Fei holding the knife, giving a piece to whoever he wanted.

To Popovich, there was nothing uglier than this on the court.

It was selfishness masquerading behind the name of the team.

This was the reason behind Yu Fei's explosive stats. Whenever Popovich thought of Duncan losing the MVP vote to Yu Fei, he would get so angry that he couldn't even drink his wine.

To suppress Yu Fei's performance, in the second quarter, with the prior arrangement of Bowen on the outside and Duncan on the inside unchanged, the Spurs used a zone defense throughout, occasionally leaving the Bucks' corner three-point opportunities open.

The Bucks indeed found those corner opportunities, but they just couldn't make any corner threes.

Due to distance constraints, the corner three-point shot is theoretically the simplest.

But sometimes shooting touch is a mysterious thing.

Sprewell made his three-pointers from the top of the arc but overshot the corner threes; Red, who previously shot 50% from the corner, missed all his attempts tonight.

As for Ray Allen, there is no need to mention him; he couldn't make threes from any position tonight.

The Spurs, similarly lacking shooting touch, were not a team that insisted on taking shots.

Everyone rallied around the indestructible, all-capable Duncan.

Duncan didn't feel good offensively, but his presence in the paint was too strong, both in protecting the defensive rebounds and applying pressure on the offensive boards, giving the Spurs more room to correct mistakes.

Yu Fei clearly saw the difference between the Big Ball Era and the Small Ball Era.

The Small Ball Era was strictly faster, more accurate, more fluid, while the Big Ball Era was tougher, larger.

Under normal conditions, small ball could attack big ball by dimension reduction, but once in the playoffs, teams like the Spurs would exploit their version's advantages, forcefully limiting the shooting touch of teams like the Bucks to a standard close to their own on defense and physical confrontation.

When the Spurs' lead reached 5 points, Yu Fei stopped passing to the outside.

In the four minutes before halftime ended, Yu Fei started with a jump shot from the free-throw line and then scored a floater over Duncan's help defense.

After scoring 4 consecutive points, the Spurs' aggressive offensive momentum was interrupted, and the two sides began to seesaw again.

In the first half, the Spurs' final play was executed by Duncan.

Mason, afraid of fouling, only interfered without daring to apply strong pressure. The pressure was applied by his teammate—Yu Fei came in from high up to block Duncan's strong hand, offering The Stone Buddha two choices.

Either pass to an open teammate on the outside or finish with his left hand.

With the Bucks shooting only 35% overall and the Spurs doing even worse at just over 30%, passing was not an option for Duncan; he preferred to attack with his left on the final possession.

This was also Yu Fei's ultimate goal.

Duncan was renowned for his fundamental skills, but through deep engagement in the finals, Yu Fei realized that his free throws were inaccurate, and compared to his right hand, his left-hand offense was rough.

Duncan missed a left-handed layup under strong interference.

Yu Fei grabbed the defensive rebound and, with only 5 seconds left in the first half, launched a long pass to Sprewell, who was quickly breaking out.

Sprewell, as if riding on wheels of wind and fire, rushed to the frontcourt. The only Spurs player who managed to get back in time was Tony Parker, but his size limited him from stopping Sprewell.

With 1.4 seconds left before halftime, Sprewell scored with a layup.

48 to 47

The Bucks narrowly took the lead.

This game of mutual misses had become a contest of wills; whoever could endure more, dare to drive the ball to the basket, and seize the opportunities would control the course of the game.

In the second quarter's 12 minutes, Duncan controlled at least 8 minutes of it. It was Yu Fei who pushed back in the last few minutes, preventing the Spurs from entering the second half with a lead.

At the same time, it proved that the Bucks could play at this intensity.
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Maintaining that intensity was the Spurs' method to win, but if they couldn't sustain it, once the Bucks' shooting touch recovered, their doomsday would arrive.

ABC displayed a comparison of data between Yu Fei and Duncan at halftime.

Frye Yu, playing the entire first half, hit 6 out of 10 shots, slashing 18 points, 7 rebounds, 7 assists, 1 steal, and 3 blocks.

Tim Duncan, playing the entire first half, hit 5 out of 10 shots, amassing 14 points, 8 rebounds, 5 assists, and 5 blocks.

"We all know that Larry and Magic Johnson are the most iconic rivals in NBA history, but in fact, their peak periods did not coincide, and they never had this kind of head-to-head confrontation on the court. The showdown between Frye and Tim will go down in history!"

All the TV commentators praised Yu Fei and Duncan.

As one of the NBA's main partners, ABC wouldn't miss out on the opportunity to talk to professionals on-site.

They first interviewed Team USA's head coach Larry Brown, and ABC wanted to know if Yu Fei and Duncan would be key members of his Dream Team.

"Any coach who has the opportunity to coach Tim and Frye is lucky," Brown said calmly, "If the time is right, I believe fans will be able to see them donning the Team USA jerseys."

"So, who do you think performed better?"

"Based on the stats, it's neck and neck," Brown said, "But personally, Frye's performance is a 99, while Tim's is a 100."

"Why is that?"

Brown began a lengthy exposition of Duncan's various contributions on the court.

Larry Brown's answer was not at all surprising.

Duncan represents a politically correct style of basketball on the court. He plays the game the right way, ensuring every play is logical, and he also makes his teammates comfortable, even though his game is boring; but he always wins.

This aura of "rightness" has surrounded Duncan for a long time, and finally, this year, crossing the big hurdle of the OK Lakers, he embarked on the path to prove himself.

However, being acknowledged while simultaneously being left behind by those with voting rights also demonstrates the media's hypocrisy; their support for the absolute correctness of the basketball style that Duncan represents stays at a lip-service level.

Their actual actions were no different from those shallow fans who think the Spurs' games are boring.

Besides Larry Brown, ABC also interviewed Jason Kidd, who was caught in a whirlwind of rumors.

Kidd's choice to come to Milwaukee to watch the finals was a blatantly obvious hint as a big catch in the summer free agent market.

Since Kidd rejected the Brooklyn Nets' early extension during the season, rumors have been flying about him joining the Spurs as a free agent in the offseason.

Showing up at the Bradley Center tonight was like announcing to the world that he was ready to join a 60-win Western team.

ABC's reporter asked Kidd about his recent situation and the rumors swirling around him.

As a veteran, Kidd knew how to handle the media.

He wouldn't reveal any information before he officially threw himself into the free-agent market.

Finally, ABC's reporter asked about the game.

"What do you think of Frye Yu and Tim Duncan's first-half performances?"

Kidd immediately said, "In my view, both of them played on an MVP level, especially TD."

Kidd took the same road as Larry Brown.

Unlike Brown, his admiration for Duncan wasn't just about praise; there was a hint of flattery in his words.

"Tim is the best active player. I actually don't care about his stats because no matter how bad his performance might be, he can still get you 20 points, 15 rebounds, 5 assists, 5 blocks. The stats really don't reflect his worth; you can see how much his teammates are willing to fight for him, he's the kind of person you can confidently turn your back to..."

Realizing his praise for Duncan was a bit over the top, Kidd backtracked, "Um... I know it sounds like I'm hinting at something, but I don't mean anything by it. I just want you guys to know what TD looks like in my eyes."

What about Frye?

"Frye is also great; he's an excellent player."

Yu Fei didn't care how the professionals at the scene rated him compared to Duncan.

If he had to compare himself to Duncan, he would admit that Duncan was currently better, but he also wasn't playing poorly.

The most pressing problem facing the Bucks was the foul trouble in the frontcourt.

The starting center Dan Gadzuric had two fouls, and both power forwards, Anthony Mason and Tyrone Hill, had three fouls each.

The frontcourt was the Bucks' weakest point; they had to be ready for Duncan to attack them in the second half.

The interior was the gateway to defense; once it was breached, it was hard to fight back.

Thinking of this, everyone couldn't help feeling gloomy about the prospects for the second half.

"Don't look so down, didn't I play well enough in the first half?" Fei said to Mason, "Old man, what are you EMO about?"

Mason bulged his eyes at Fei.

He didn't know if this young man lacked empathy or really didn't know that his first-half performance could match Duncan's, all because the old bros in the frontcourt were fighting desperately to hold the line.

If Duncan really got going, it wouldn't just be "these" stats.

But then again, holding off Duncan was part of their job.

Fei's performance indeed gave everyone a boost.

"You stop talking nonsense!" Mason grumbled to himself, "If we can't hold off in the second half..."

Fei cut Mason off: "Then I'll make sure their perimeter can't hold off first."

This wasn't the first time Mason felt he was close to a championship.

In 1994, he had that same feeling.

Then John Starks' disastrous performance ruined everything.

Can I trust Fei?

Mason clenched his teeth, speaking as if he was squeezing the words out of his mouth: "You'll soon get a chance to prove that!"

Mason didn't believe in karma; he knew he had given his all for a championship but didn't get the return he deserved. Now, facing an opponent like Hakeem Olajuwon in '94, he was going through the same agony again.

The question was, would he get the redemption he didn't receive in 1994, this year?

What if Fei, like John Starks, dashed everyone's dreams?

"Alright, anyone who's fretting like an old man, stay in the locker room and don't come out. Now, I'm going back to the court, and I want those who want to win standing beside me," Fei said with a defiant smile, "As for those who don't dare believe we can win or are even scared of losing this game, just kneel here and wait for my triumphant return!"