At the start of December, the Wizards weren't having a good time, and they were heading into a five-game road trip, first to Miami to take on the Heat, then to Texas against the Spurs, Rockets, and Mavericks, then to Memphis to face the Grizzlies, and then home.

The difficulty of this journey is mainly in the Texas trip, and the Spurs and Mavericks are both Western powerhouses that should not be underestimated.

For the Wizards, if they can achieve a 3-2 record in a five-game losing streak, it will be worth the trip.

Yu Fei took the team bus to the airport as usual.

Yesterday's events were still circling in Fei's mind, but after meeting Jordan today, he didn't mention yesterday's events, as if he didn't know everything.

Yu Fei would not be naïve to think that Jordan didn't get the news, and even if he didn't, Pauline would find a way to let Jordan know about it.

Since Jordan didn't take the initiative to mention this, Yu Fei wouldn't rush to make him angry, it would be better if he was as respectful as he is now.

Miami

Jordan's old rival Pat Riley has been looking forward to reuniting with Jordan for some time, but the Heat's slump has made Riley lose his mood.

As a spin-off of the New York Knicks gangs of the '90s, Riley's biggest wish is to lead this team to championships. However, a string of playoff losses against the Knicks, as well as Alonzo Mourning's kidneys, hindered the Heat's ambitions.

Last season, the Heat finished third in the East and had the second-place payroll in the East, but were swept out of the playoffs in the first round. This made owner Mickey Allison determined to rebuild and asked Riley to keep the bill at a level that would not trigger the luxury tax.

The requirement means that Tim Hardaway, Anthony Mason, Dan Marley, Anthony Carter, and Bruce Bowen will be back in the team at most.

The ending was sloppy, with Hardaway going to Dallas, Mason going to Milwaukee, Marley going to Phoenix, Bowen going to San Antonio, and the cheapest Anthony Carter staying.

In the NBA, Riley has always been a James Cameron-esque presence, and there's a joke that he doesn't know what the team's budget numbers are, and he doesn't look at the bills unless the team wins a championship.

The Heat, who lost three starters without receiving any substantial compensation, can only pray that Mourning will become a kidney fighter and hope that Rich Davis in the fourth year and Eddie House in the second year can carry the burden, and if they can't do it, then it's over, and the consequences of the end are not bitter, and the bad swing can bring the lotto lottery, and the Heat need this.

Before the start of the game against the Heat, Yu Fei arrived at the American Airlines Center two and a half hours early.

This suggests that he almost got off the team bus and then asked the taxi to bring him here.

The only one who followed him was Anthony Lawson.

Third-year guard Anthony Carter, who had high hopes for Riley, also had a habit of arriving hours early for shooting drills, and he was surprised to see the visiting players on the spot.

"When did he arrive?" Carter asked the court staff.

"An hour ago."

When Riley arrived at the scene, he learned about Yu Fei's warm-up from Carter, and hoped that the team would focus on him tonight.

"I know he's the young man who has a conflict with Michael." Riley's eyes seemed to glow, and he looked at Yu Fei for a long time before he said to the people around him, "Go and inquire, is Frye like this every time he goes to the away game, or is it just an accident today." ”

Riley admires players who can suffer, and he firmly believes that only hellish training can lead to strong will and reliable technique.

Those who fall in hell are not worth mentioning.

That night, the Heat dragged the Wizards into the abyss with a tenacious defense.

Yu Fei's breakthrough lost his interior lethality in front of the Heat's disciplined defense, and his pass was exchanged for a teammate's iron.

Thankfully, the pre-game shooting warm-up was valuable.

In the second half, Yu Fei began to shoot at the free throw line to help the team break the deadlock, and Jordan also played a beautiful game, scoring 22 points, 11 rebounds and 4 assists on 10-of-20 shooting.

Yu Fei followed closely behind, scoring 18 points, 9 rebounds and 3 assists on 7-of-13 shooting.

Combined with Hamilton on 6-of-19 shooting, the Wizards had a total of three players score in double figures to win 88-77 over the Heat.

After the game, Riley and Jordan had a good conversation.

Yu Fei wanted to say hello to Riley and leave, but he didn't expect the other party to hold his hand warmly: "You are the best player of the Wizards tonight!" ”

"MJ is." Yu Fei emphasized, "This is the best of your home selection. ”

Riley seemed to hear the unhappiness in Yu Fei's tone: "In my heart, you are the best player." ”

Yu Fei's impression of Riley stayed after 2015, the old man who squeezed a group of low-pick and undrafted talents through devil training, which made the Heat grow into a strong team in the East and entered the Finals twice and was crushed by the talent of the Western champion.

His friendship with Jordan was obviously good, and Yu Fei was wary of him, so he said like a young man who didn't know how to be polite: "Thank you, but I don't care." ”

With that, he left.

Assistant coach Keith Atkins saw Riley's thoughts: "Pat, are you interested in that kid?" ”

"It should be true that he and Michael are at odds." Riley chuckled, "Let people pay more attention to the news of the Wizards, if Michael has had enough of him one day."

Atkins only felt that Riley's words were a bit fanciful.

Will the Wizards trade Yu Fei?

This sounds incredible, Yu Fei is undoubtedly the best rookie in the class of 2001, currently averaging 14 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal and 1 block per game, considering his age and the speed of his progress, he undoubtedly has the potential to be an All-Star or even a superstar, how could the Wizards trade him?

"I know what you're thinking, but you have to remember that behind all unconscionable things, there is an absolutely rational factor." Riley said like a prophet, "Trust me, this will happen." ”

It can be said that everything went well that night, the Wizards won, Jordan shot 50% from the field, and the topics of "how tenosynovitis affects Jordan" and "does Jordan really have tenosynovitis" were curbed to some extent. The reason the media is obsessed with this is that Jordan's performance is not good enough, and once Jordan behaves well, let alone say that he has tenosynovitis, even if his brain is electrified, it can be ignored.

A day later, the Wizards arrived in San Antonio.

Interestingly, on the way to the hotel from the Wizards, it is not uncommon to see oversized Spurs fans holding signs on the street that say "MJ, you need Charles Barkley."

These brands make Jordan laugh every time.

Claiming to be back to assist Jordan is just the starting point of Barkley's abstract career at TNT, and he has a big job to do next year that Chinese fans will be familiar with.

As usual, Yu Fei always came to the stadium early to warm up.

However, it's okay not to come, as soon as he came, the Spurs' home stadium surprised Yu Fei.

The Alamo Dome is a super-large domed gymnasium.

It has a capacity of 65,000 spectators, which means that since the Spurs chose to play here in 1993, their home stadium has not been full.

Which genius chose this home court, and how to watch the basketball game in the huge arena with 65,000 people?

The advantage of the big arena is that every time you encounter a key game, there will be a lot of fans who buy tickets to support it.

Tonight, the San Antonios weren't as immune to Jordan as the Washingtonians, with more than 36,000 votes in total, which was really unusual.

Then, Yu Fei met Tim Duncan and Tony Parker for the first time.

Before flying through, it was common to see people on the Internet saying "Duncan averaged this data per game, what is the first PF". He also doesn't know why Duncan is the No. 1 PF because he hasn't watched Duncan's game. But he watched James' games, and he felt that Duncan's career was as valuable as James, just as Curry's historical status depended on James' historical status.

If Duncan is the No. 1 PF, then James, whom he has beaten twice in the Finals, must be in the top five all-time. The only reason Duncan isn't the No. 1 PF is that some people can argue that Curry is a system star with unquestionable theory. Once Curry is a system player, then he has no gold in defeating James three times in the Finals, and James, who has been defeated three times by a system star, is not only not qualified to be selected into the top five in history, but also not enough to watch the top ten in history, and it is doubtful whether Duncan, who "only" defeated James twice, is qualified to be the first PF.

It seems that this is a triangular relationship, but Yu Fei, who lives in 2001, can't see their respective debaters entering the arena to argue.

So he decided to beat James out of the top 10 in history, and then make Curry a system star, so that no one would quarrel, and the basketball world would be peaceful, wouldn't it be beautiful?

Tonight, the Wizards' starters changed slightly, namely Jordan (as point guard), Hamilton, Yu Fei, Leitner, and White.

The Spurs' starters are Parker, (Steve) Smith, Bowen, Robinson, and Duncan.

It was Collins' lineup experiment, allowing Jordan to play the No. 1 spot, so Hamilton could be in the starting lineup.

It was a bold move, and looking at Jordan's entire career, he only played point guard for a while in the late '80s and then got a triple-double in 10 of 11 games.

There's no doubt that this is proof that Jordan "can average a triple-double per game if he wants", but it must be pointed out that the Bulls lost six of those 11 games, so the truth is that "even if he could, it would have been a Westbrook-esque triple-double (1)."

But that is Jordan in his prime, what the elderly version of Jordan looks like as a point guard, it remains to be seen, in short, Yu Fei is not optimistic.

(1) When Jordan brushed a triple-double, he often went to the technical desk to ask himself how many assists and rebounds he lacked. If I'm going to hack Jordan, science will stop there, but I'm just stating objective facts. The objective facts also include that the public opinion at the time said that he was not as selfless as Magic, not as comprehensive as Bird, and could not improve his teammates, so he brushed a triple-double in order to be angry.

(End of chapter)