When pride still matters

Chapter 115 Big Diesel Knows Everything
The Wizards need to move on.

Their next road trip is Portland.

The Wizards had already played a game with the Trail Blazers before.

In that game, several confrontations between Jordan and Pippen were photographed, and then someone called a freeze-frame photo of Jordan and Pippen as "the most heartbreaking moment in NBA history." Listen It sounds like two siblings who have to be enemies of each other.

The Wizards lost that game.

And tonight, the Wizards also lost.

Although the Trail Blazers are ranked fifth in the Western Conference, their lineup depth is undoubtedly the first in the Western Conference.

This is a team with a total payroll of $8000 million.

And this is an era with a $4000 million salary cap.

If you have a roster that's twice the salary cap and doesn't have eye-popping depth, then the general manager of the team is going to be thrown into the hell of professional basketball and never get over it.

Rasheed Wallace, Bunch Wells, Damon Stoudemire, Scottie Pippen, Shawn Kemp, Derek Anderson, Steve Kerr, Zach Randolph The Blazers have a rich lineup that can deal with any opponent, but the problem is, with so many talents, how can everyone be satisfied with their playing time, tactical position, ball rights, and data?
impossible.

It can't be done.

Even if you have a coaching staff composed of Reid Auerbach, Gregg Popovich, Phil Jackson, and Pat Riley, you can't do it.

Of course, if they suddenly awaken to some kind of time traveler system, or inexplicably have the infectious power that very few people have that makes players selfless, reasonable, and don't care about anything except winning, then there may be a 1% chance of doing so. arrive.

But there is no such person in the Trail Blazers, and there is no such person in the entire NBA.

Trail Blazers head coach Maurice Cheeks was hired as head coach by the Blazers' decision-makers because of his lubricating effect in Philadelphia as the go-between for Larry Brown and Allen Iverson.

They forgot one thing. As a middleman, they can say some nonsense to ease the atmosphere, but as a head coach who directly determines the team's power level?
Those are two different things.

Although the Blazers' success and failure are closely related to their luxurious lineup, their talent is obviously not something the Wizards can compete with.

Yu Fei encountered the full defense of Pippen. Although he could not find his shooting touch, he relied on the pick-and-roll offense to score 25 points, 7 rebounds and 2 assists.

His assist numbers are the reason why the Wizards lose.

Although the personal offense was opened, the Trail Blazers' defensive system successfully forced Yu Fei into a lonely situation.

105 is better than 88
The Wizards lost a game that was considered a long shot before the game.

Scottie Pippen glanced at Yu Fei in the distance, who was being interviewed.

He obviously lost, but he was shrouded in the spotlight as if he was the big winner.

Is this the person who dares to compete with Jordan?
But Pippen didn't think this was anything special, because Yu Fei was competing against Jordan, who was almost 40 years old, and he was completely different from the Jordan he faced when he was young.

Pippen decided to leave. He no longer cares about the spotlight. As a veteran who is approaching retirement, he just wants peace and tranquility.

Until Yu Fei passed him in the tunnel.

"Scotty, why can you always guess my breakthrough route?" Yu Fei asked.

Pippen's expression changed. This kid scored 25 points tonight, but he praised me for my defense?Is this making fun of me?

"What difference does it make? You still got the points you deserved." Pippen said.

Yu Fei shook his head and said: "No, if you were a few years younger, maybe I would be sad tonight."

Hearing this, Pippen, who had been as serious and rigid as a robot from beginning to end, laughed, and his metallic voice, like a robot, was also full of joy: "Don't you know? Every time you break through, your body will move towards the breakthrough point. If you sway sideways, any experienced defender can predict your breakthrough route, but the problem is, you are too high, and even if you successfully predict it, it will be difficult to stop you."

Yu Fei never knew he had such a problem.

If Pippen can find clues through his own habits, then some teams that specialize in defense will surely find them too.

It may be difficult for them to find the right person to match up with them, but they can design traps based on the breakthrough route.

"You are worthy of being the greatest No. 2 in history!" Yu Fei seemed to not know what Pippen didn't want to hear the most, and it directly hurt his heart, "I have benefited a lot from competing with you."

Sure enough, as soon as Yu Fei's "No. 2 greatest in history" sentence came out, Pippin's face turned ugly.

Pippen never, never, never felt like he was the No. [-] player behind Jordan with the Bulls.

In his opinion, he is the same as Jordan.

But why is Jordan the king of the world, yet he has to work on a child labor contract to perform as a star?

Pippen was committed to aligning with Jordan both on and off the court, not because he felt like he was "under Jordan's wing," but because he felt like he was the same as Jordan.If Jordan doesn't train, he doesn't train either. Jordan has privileges, and he also has privileges. At least within the Bulls, whatever Jordan has, he has to have.

He is not No. 2, he is No. 1 like Jordan.

"It's time for me to go," Pippen said coldly.

"Okay, okay, let's go. Originally, Michael asked me to bring you a message, but it seems you don't want to hear it."

The strange thing is that Pippen no longer has any contact with Jordan, but he is still curious about what Jordan has to say to him.

He stopped and turned to look at Yu Fei: "What are you talking about?"

"Be nice to Scotty," Yu Fei made up a big lie without blushing or out of breath, "He is my best helper."

"Be nice to me?" Pippen's dissatisfaction rose rapidly. "We won easily, but he wants you to be nice to me?"

Does Jordan not approve of Pippen?No, he approved it.

Before Pippen's autobiography was published, no matter what occasion Jordan encountered, as long as he mentioned Pippen, he would say that he was his best helper. Without him, he would not have won so many championships.

However, what Pippen hated most was his condescending attitude and understatement.

The term "best helper" is too general to summarize Pippen's contribution, and Jordan always felt that this gave Pippen enough respect.

What did Pippen think?
Who temporarily took over Magic's matchup in the 1991 Finals to change the situation?

On the night of the defending championship in 1992, who was behind the Trail Blazers by 15 points in the fourth quarter and brought the score back with the bench?
Who took over the mantle of leadership after someone irresponsibly and suddenly retired in 1994 and nearly led the team to the Eastern Conference Finals?

In 1997, who gave Malone a piece of trash talk that will go down in history at the free throw line and gave someone a chance to beat the buzzer?

In 1998, who publicly broke with the management and asked the team to trade him, then returned to the team after recovering from surgery, and supported the whole game with a torn back injury on a night when someone pushed down the opponent and hit the shot of the century. Competition?

Pippen's biggest dissatisfaction with Jordan is that he got everything, but when he performed poorly, the media would say that he was an "occasional mistaker", and when his teammates did not play well, the media would Accusing them of holding Jordan back.

Remember, the law of "the boss tried his best, don't blame him for losing" applies to all superstars.

"He looks very arrogant," Yu Fei said with a smile, "right?"

Pippen's dissatisfaction with Jordan rose to a new level at this moment.

"This is him!" Pippen said angrily, "This is him!"

Yu Fei could completely feel Pippen's emotions from his dissatisfaction, "Yes, this is him."

At that moment, Pi Peng and Yu Fei's eyes met, and they looked at each other.

This is the meeting of the century between the two great Joe Blacks of the present and future.

Pippen had heard about the grievances between Yu Fei and Jordan. He knew that Yu Fei was definitely not Jordan's lackey, otherwise there would be no need to talk to him about Jordan here.

Pippen didn't care what Yu Fei wanted to get from him. What was important was that they were all poisoned by Jordan. They were all dissatisfied with Jordan. As long as Yu Fei and Jordan were against each other, Pippen would definitely provide him with all support except actual actions. .

Do you think Pippen only knows how to talk?No, Pippen is just dissatisfied with Jordan now, and the two sides are far from breaking up.

This requires several steps.

Pippen went bankrupt after retiring/Jordan became a boss after retiring—Pippen turned into a clown after retiring, and the media people repeatedly danced around/Jordan, as a capitalist, lived in seclusion and disdained to be associated with him—when "The Last Dance" aired/"The Last Dance" aired After his release - Pippen lost his son and got divorced - Jordan's son fell in love with Pippen's ex-wife.

Any man who has experienced the above things cannot have a normal and fair evaluation of Jordan.Yu Fei knew that Pippen was full of prejudice against Jordan, but so what?Anyway, he only needs to ask Pippen for advice on defense and share Black Jordan's experiences with each other from time to time. That's enough.

Two days later, the Wizards returned home and played until the last minute against the Golden State Warriors.

The Warriors' best player is also a rookie.

That man's name is Gilbert Arenas.

Yu Fei only has two impressions of Arenas. One is that he was mad at the league after Morant held a gun, and the other was that he admitted that he was cheated by James and felt that James was a bitch.

But Yu Fei didn't expect that Arenas was also very good as a player.

This night, Yu Fei scored 24 points and Arenas scored 25 points.

The Warriors' zone defense against Fei achieved certain results, and Yu Fei also suffered the bitter pill of not having Hamilton by his side.

A shooter who averages 20 points per game is really hard to replace, and no one on the Wizards can threaten opponents' wings like Hamilton.

This makes opponents more daring to use double teams and zone defenses when facing opponents.

But luck was on the Wizards' side, and at the last moment, Jasidi White made a tip-in for a buzzer-beater.

Subsequently, in the game against the Utah Jazz, Yu Fei played 44 minutes.

Facing a more ruthless zone defense, Yu Fei decisively supported and shot at the free throw line. Although it was effective, no one knew better than Sloan how to deal with such a ball-handler with outstanding personal ability.

If one person is not enough, then two people will be used. If two people are not enough, then three people will be used. In short, the person must be killed.

Sloan did not believe that Yu Fei's teammates could bring enough help.

Encountering a double-team, Yu Fei had to pass the ball, which resulted in his seventh triple-double of his rookie season, but the result was just as Sloan expected.

114 is better than 107
Yu Feikong scored 28 points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists. His lone heroic performance not only failed to bring him applause, but also aroused the doubts of Jordan cancer patients: "Fry, if you had to do it again, would you choose Let yourself decide the success or failure of this game.”

The reporter was referring to the fact that Yu Fei was double-teamed by the Jazz in the last few minutes and passed the ball to an open teammate but missed a shot.

Judging from the results, those missed open shots not only caused the Wizards to miss the opportunity to seize the game, but also allowed the Jazz to counterattack and score.

But Yu Fei had no better choice at the time.

He played for 44 minutes, holding the ball for a long time and serving as the main attacker. It can be said that he shouldered both offense and defense. At that time, he had no energy left to break through the Jazz's double-team.

In this case, instead of forcing the shot yourself, it is a safer choice to give your teammates an open shot.

"Are you trying to say that I should force the attack under double-teaming?" Yu Fei questioned the opponent's IQ and intentions, "This is not a smart question. You are either stupid or you have ulterior motives."

Jerry Sloan said it fairly: "Looking at the entire game, I don't think No. 44 can do more."

Then Doug Collins ran into a dilemma.

One reporter asked, "Coach Collins, how are you going to get Frye out of this alone situation?"

Collins was anxious: "What is the problem? I have never put players in trouble! We lost two players who averaged 20 points per game. This was not caused by me."

The impact of this defeat not only completely exposed Fei's lack of helpers, but also caused several other teams to catch up.

Playoff contenders such as the Magic and Bucks all won tonight. Their records are consistent with the Wizards, relying on the relationship between wins and losses to squeeze the Wizards from seventh in the Eastern Conference to ninth in the Eastern Conference.

Seeing that the Wizards fell outside the playoff circle again, the media began to criticize the Wizards.

They believe that the Wizards have become mediocre and incompetent after losing Jordan. Yu Fei is the only bright spot, and the rest are useless.

"Look at the roster of this team. The incompetent Christian Laettner, the mediocre Tyrone Naseby, the low basketball IQ Tyronn Lue, the disappointing Kwame Brown, and the lack of independent thinking ability of Paul. Simmons. This is the worst team in the NBA. They are the reason Michael Jordan is injured, they are the reason Richard Hamilton is injured, and they are the reason Frye Yu is in so much pain! DC has degenerated into professional basketball. The wasteland!"

With one stroke of a pen, the "New York Times" negated the Wizards' hard work and efforts over the past period of time.

They had 3 wins and 5 losses after losing Jordan, and 2 wins and 3 losses after losing Hamilton. In the end, they were trash, scum, and garbage that was holding them back?
Then, Jordan's team revealed that MJ, who was recovering from his injury, did not stay away from the team. He often went back to visit his teammates and encouraged them with "Jordan-like" words.

One day later, during a pre-game interview against the Denver Nuggets, an NBC reporter asked how Jordan encouraged them.

"Oh, Michael said something at Verizon about hard work, struggle, and that he's going to come back in the playoffs, and everyone laughed."

Then, just before the game started, Yu Fei dragged his pants, lifted them up, turned around and said to his teammates: "Trash, it's time to prove the value of trash!"

Tonight, Collins allowed Yu Fei to play 46 minutes.

From the opening to the last two minutes, Yu Fei didn't rest for a second.

Only when the overall situation was decided, Collins replaced Yu Fei.

In 46 minutes, Yu Fei scored 36 points, 8 rebounds and 7 assists, while Laettner and Bobby Simmons also scored in double figures. A total of three people scored in double figures for the Wizards to defeat the Nuggets, bringing the winning number to 34 games. , squeezed out the losing Magic and returned to the playoffs again.

When the Wizards started winning games, the media's hopes rekindled.

Because Jordan said he might come back in the playoffs.

So the media asked Yu Fei: "Do you think Michael will come back in the playoffs?"

Yu Fei had long been dissatisfied with the media's fault-finding, and now he was even more furious when he heard this question: "Is this important? Michael is not here! Rip is not here either! We won the game! If we lose , you will say that we are waste and rubbish. Now that we have won, you care about whether Michael can come back? Are you kidding me? We are not playing hard to make Michael come back in the playoffs. We are playing hard for ourselves and for this. A city that has worked hard to turn the Wizards into a respected team, I've had enough of your double standards!"

Yu Fei's emotional response didn't change anything.

The media still asks Jordan.

And when the Wizards won, Jordan always disappeared.

He will only show up when the Wizards lose and are about to say goodbye to the playoffs.

Teammates other than Yu Fei are still trash and garbage, and Jordan is irresponsible for this.

Things haven't changed for the Wizards, they'll lose a game or two and then win one on a night when Fei gets help from his teammates.

As April approaches, teams in the Eastern Conference playoff circle must win at least 38 games, and the Wizards have only won 37 games so far.

There are still six games left until the end of the season, and the Wizards undoubtedly have the worst schedule among teams in the late playoff bracket.

They are ranked ninth, one or even two games behind their main competitors, but they need to face the Lakers, two 76ers, Nets, Grizzlies, and Pacers (main competitors).

It can be said that every game after that is a matter of life and death.

The more losses they lose, the slimmer the Wizards' playoff hopes become.

The first stop on this death journey is Los Angeles.

At the end of the season, the league's hegemony has been rejuvenated, and Shaquille O'Neal knows a little thing about Yu Fei - Yu Fei once asked Kobe a question at the ABCD training camp last year. He asked Kobe when he could Replacing O'Neal as the Lakers' best player, he also said that O'Neal was lazy, fat and unqualified to represent the Lakers.

Tong Yan Wu Ji?O'Neal has no such concept.

"DC? I know, I know this team, it was Michael's team, but now Michael's not here, so they're just a bad team, but I know they have a very 'interesting' young man, I know he Said something." Shaquille O'Neal said in a recent interview, "Big Diesel knows it all!"

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"Judging from the schedule, the probability of the Wizards entering the playoffs is 0." - "Washington Times"

"Frye Yu will easily be elected Rookie of the Year after averaging 18.6 points, 7.7 rebounds and 6.8 assists per game." - "Washington Post"

"Although there are many obstacles, the most high-profile overseas players in the past three years have been qualified to participate in the draft. Yao Wei will easily become the No. 2002 pick in the [-] draft." - "Sports Illustrated"

"With Nike launching the $160 Shox VC last week, they are positioning Vince Carter to match the likes of Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods. Even though Carter is the All-Star vote-winner, his reputation within the league But it's nowhere near as high as it once was. More and more executives, coaches and players are privately criticizing him as a superficial superstar who shuns the responsibility of defending and leading a team and who is unlikely to succeed." — —ESPN: Mark Stein's column.

"Shaq said he would destroy the Wizards' playoff dream with his own hands, then he will destroy the Wizards' playoff dream. There is no doubt about it." - "Los Angeles Times"

⑴I’ll just paste Pippen’s evaluation of this incident in his autobiography: “On Sunday, June 1997, 6, in the last 1 seconds of Game 9.2 of the Finals against the Utah Jazz, the score was tied at 82, and their star Power forward Karl Malone, also known as The Postman, made two free throws. As Karl stood at the line, I said to him, "The Postman doesn't work on the weekends. "Karl shot 76 percent from the line, but he missed his last two free throw opportunities. On the next possession, Michael hit the buzzer-beater to help us win the game. We ended up beating the Jazz in six games. , winning his fifth championship. The trash talk I said to Karl should have been in the documentary (but they didn’t mention it). I’m sure if it had been Michael who said that trash talk, this moment would have been Being a part of his legend is repeated over and over again."

(End of this chapter)