With the Bucks finishing third in the league before Thanksgiving, owner Herb Kerr was so pleased that he invited the team to his estate for a Thanksgiving party.

At the party, Kerr thanked everyone up and down the Bucks.

Yu Fei is the object of key thanks.

This is completely different from last year's Chinese New Year's Eve.

Although Yu Fei was also a key figure in the Wizards' top-four finish in the East last year, the owner did not thank him because of the team's peculiar internal atmosphere.

And Cole obviously thanked Yu Fei as the first person on the team.

Even, even Yu Fei's seat is very particular.

In order to get rid of the direct contact with the boss, the players usually sit opposite the boss, who usually sits next to the head coach and the general manager.

However, Yu Fei replaced general manager Wally Walker and sat next to the boss alongside head coach George Carr.

"Fry, are you used to living in Milwaukee?" Cole, the owner, asked with concern.

Yu Fei said calmly: "There's nothing I can't get used to, I feel like I'm already half a Milwaukee." ”

"So, you must know what the locals hate the most?" Cole seemed looking forward to Yu Fei's answer.

Wisconsin, to which Milwaukee belongs, is a pure football region, and everyone in the state is a fan of the Green Bay Packers.

From this point of view, Yu Fei felt that the most hated by the locals should be the packer's old enemy: "Chicago Bears? ”

"Haha!" Cole laughed, "You're half right." ”

To correct it, it's half right!

"Locals hate Chicagoans, or rather, all non-Chicagoans in the Midwest hate Chicagoans," Cole said. ”

Yu Fei was not interested in the regional contradictions in the Midwest, but he had to listen to what Cole had to say.

"Because Chicagoans are rude, arrogant, arrogant, and love to show off, in Milwaukee, we use FIB to describe Chicago and everyone from Illinois."

Well, according to Yu Fei's understanding, FIB's F stands for foul mouth, I stands for Illinois, and what about B? Well, Yu is an elegant and easy-going person, and he guesses that the word B stands for should have 7 letters.

It sounds like Chicago, a sin city in Yu's eyes, is to the Midwest what New York is to major cities in the United States.

Yu Fei, who grew up in Kent, was indifferent to these things, all he had to do was establish some contact with his boss.

After Thanksgiving, Cole gave Yu Fei a phone number where he could be reached directly.

"If you have any questions, you can always come to me."

This means that if Yu Fei has any ideas, he can directly communicate with the management and boss directly bypassing the coaching staff.

After an unhealthy year, Yu Fei finally touched the privilege of Jordan's level.

And that's just the beginning.

After Thanksgiving, the Detroit Pistons, arguably the league's No. 1 defensive powerhouse, ended the Bucks' winning streak at home.

The Bucks were dragged into the quagmire of defensive battles, no one found their touch, and Yu Fei, the team's top scorer, only scored 16 points.

Both teams scored less than 150 points in the game.

"A lot of underdog teams give us the illusion that we're tough, look at Detroit tonight, it's a tough game!" George Carr is a big fan of the Pistons' defense.

The Bucks then fly to Texas, where they will host a trifecta in the West against the Rockets, Mavericks and Spurs.

The game between the Bucks and the Rockets was highly publicized because of the gimmicks of Yu Fei and Yao Shu.

At present, Yu Fei averaged 25 points, 8 rebounds and 8 assists per game in the Bucks, leading the team to play the first record in the East, and it can be said that he has locked the best of the month in November in advance.

Yao Shu, as the most hyped rookie since Shaquille O'Neal, only took three days to enter the state after suffering a low ebb after his debut, and quickly bankrupted Barkley's "impossible to score 19 points" curse, so American sports writers did everything they could to pursue this exotic talent.

The most vocalized Yao Shu is mainly from ESPN's Bill Wharton and Ralph Wiley. Wharton's affection for Yao goes without saying. And Willie, as a rare black sports writer, touted Yao to the point where even his compatriots might blush when he saw it.

After Yao Shu scored 30 points and 19 rebounds against the Lakers in O'Neal's absence, Willy praised him in the article: "If you haven't heard of him, it means that you are a little outdated - Yao is already a world celebrity!" He is on a mission, and has left his mark, redrawing a map of the world that depicts the prospect of him eventually ruling the Alliance, and that the Ming Dynasty will never collapse like the Holy Roman Empire – and by the end of the story, he will be the modern-day Genghis Khan and the nightmare of LeBron James. ”

Looking at Yao Shu, Yu Fei can feel the power of the media more intuitively.

Milwaukee's media isn't good enough to match Houston's, and Reebok's propaganda machine can't match the Nike that Yao currently represents.1

(1) After his rookie season, Yao switched to Reebok

A beautiful game can bring Yao Shu to the shoulders of the gods, which is not a good thing for him as a fledgling, and many people will collapse under this pressure.

But when Yu Fei saw Yao Shu at the Rockets' home court, he felt that he was not under pressure from the outside world at all.

Of course, this may have something to do with the fact that his English is not very good now.

Yu Fei's most intuitive impression of him is the terrifying stout lower limbs, which can make him tightly stuck in the low position. The downside is that his traverse speed is also affected, in other words, he is not good at blocking and pick-and-rolling. But it doesn't matter, pick-and-roll is only a small part of today's professional basketball.

Before the opening of the game against the Rockets, Yu Fei sprayed trash words at Yao Shu in Chinese: "I'm going to dunk on your head." ”

Yao Shu was first surprised by Fei's fluency in Chinese, and then responded, "It's not that easy. ”

As a result, this was Yu Fei's strategic fraud.

He didn't try a breakaway dunk in a positional battle for the whole game, and every time he burst in, he passed the ball out, which worked.

The Bucks are raining three-pointers from the outside, and they have a lot of explosive scoring power due to the large number of shooters.

When the Bucks are hot on the outside, they tend to have a hard time losing.

106 to 88

The Bucks easily won the Rockets on the road, and Yu Fei became the best of the game with 22 points, 7 rebounds and 11 assists.

There were a lot of Chinese reporters at the post-game press conference, and they kept asking Yao Shu questions, which was quite like when he was in Washington, D.C., when someone asked the Wizards players "what kind of help did you give Michael on the court tonight?"

The most typical question of the night was this: "Yu, Yao Shu contributed 3 blocks tonight, what do you think of his defense?" ”

Yu Fei replied: "It's very oppressive. ”

On the same day, the headline of the sports section of Jiulang News was: "Yao's hot pot restaurant has opened three times, and Yu Fulai is suffocating!" ”

At the end of November, Yu Feili beat Maddie and was elected Eastern Conference Player of the Month.

In the west, it was rare for three people to be voted the best of the month at the same time. All three are from the same team – Michael Finley, Dirk Nowitzki and Steve Nash. Under their leadership, the Mavericks got off to a dream start with a fourteen-game winning streak and are currently the top team in the league and the first team to see if the Chicago Bulls had a chance of breaking the 72-win record since they started with 72 wins in 1996.

Unfortunately, in the first game of December, the Bucks will take on the Mavericks in Dallas.

The Bucks, who had just won the Rockets, didn't find their groove on the road in Dallas, with Yu Fei scoring 30 points, Ray Allen scoring 25 points, and then Sprewell's 16 points, with the Bucks the only three to score in double figures. Their offensive threat didn't radiate to their teammates, while the Mavericks had Nowitzki scoring 40 points, Finley scoring 24 points and Nash dished out 17 assists.

This offensive battle collapsed because the Bucks' shooting touch failed to last the whole court.

Mavericks won fifteen in a row.

Yu Fei proposed to George Karl for the first time after the game that the 5 OUT system should be incorporated into the team's regular system.

It turned out to be a quote from George Carr: "Don't be stupid, that's not realistic." ”

"Why?" Yu Fei wanted an explanation.

Karl said: "Fry, it's not as simple as you think, the responsibility for losing tonight is not yours, you don't have to think about it, I'll take care of it, you just have to be a stupid basketball player who gives it his all." ”

Stupid basketball player, Yu Fei couldn't believe that he really said such a thing.

On Dec. 2, the Bucks came to San Antonio back-to-back to challenge the Spurs, who are the league's No. 1 team in offensive and defensive intensity.

As a result, the offense was still suffocated, and the inside line was blown up.

Karl criticized Ray Allen after the game for not taking responsibility, and Yu Fei figured out Carl's thoughts.

If the opponent had the likes of Nowitzki and Duncan on the roster, he wouldn't have let Leitner play 5 OUT as a center.

On the other hand, if the opponent is not strong, he is more than willing to test 5 OUT in the competition.

This is purely a sacrifice for Fei.

The reason he wants to play 5 OUT is precisely because this style of play can completely dismantle the pivotal role of Duncan and other interior players as defensive pillars on the offensive end. 5 OUT only depends on two things, whether the ball handler is strong or not and the outside shooting is not accurate, with a strong ball handler there is a foundation of 5 OUT, and once the 5 OUT lineup finds the feel, no matter who comes, it will be shot.

This is the real reason for the imbalance between offense and defense in the small-ball era.

As long as the shooting is open, even if the opposite side puts together the best five defenders in the league, they will take care of one or the other.

However, Carl's stubborn conservative thinking has been formed for a long time, and it is also the mainstream idea of the league, Yu Fei will not naively think that if Carl sees the advantages of the five-foreign lineup, the other party will accept this completely.

It takes time. If time can't turn Carl's concept around, Yu Fei will forcibly break it.

The Bucks retreated from Texas with a 1-2 record, but the destination was not Milwaukee, but Washington.

This is the last leg of their road trip.

December 4th

The Bucks will meet the Wizards for the first time of the season in Washington.

is different from the strong dialogue between the Spurs and the Mavericks, and the focus battle of the Rockets where the gimmick is greater than the actual significance, the Bucks vs. the Wizards, Yu Fei vs. Jordan, the latter element is enough for the media to build momentum for this game half a month in advance.

At the airport, Yu Fei met many familiar faces from last season.

They are all local media in Washington, and Yu Fei would be interviewed by them every time he traveled with the team last season.

However, this time, they came to Yu Fei with a sour mood.

"Fry, how does it feel to be back?"

"It's not to come back, it's to come. It's not my home anymore. ”

"But. . . Your mom still lives in"

"Does it matter? I now live in Milwaukee and come to Washington today for the Bucks, and that's it. ”

"Is there anything you'd like to say to the fans in Washington?"

"The Wizards are definitely better off without me, please continue to support the Wizards."

The reporters present were all reporters who were tracking Tai Fei's rookie season, and they knew that Yu Fei would not let go of this opportunity to rub salt in the wound.

After that, Yu Fei took Lawson and Clark back to the house to stay with his mother for a while, and then went to the hotel to check in.

In the evening, Yu Fei and Lawson set off for the MCI Center, the home of the Wizards.

"Nostalgic?"

When he came to Chinatown outside the MCI Center, Lawson asked with a smile.

"If you're referring to the days when I was training here after the draft. Well, of course, it's worth being missed. ”

"What if it's your rookie season?"

Then, Yu Fei looked at assistant Clark, who was a native of Boston, "Alex, do you miss the days when the Red Sox had Roger Clemens (2)?" ”

"Nope! Fuck Roger Clemens! Clark blasted like he had PTSD.

Currently, the Bucks are 13-4 and in first place in the East, while the Wizards are 8-9 and eighth in the East.

If Jordan's supposed way out of the slump was to get the Wizards into the playoffs, they've succeeded by now.

But alas, Jordan made it clear at the beginning that the wizards who got out of the trough were better than the Bucks.

If the Bucks are targeted, the Wizards' current situation is hardly satisfying.

However, Jordan remains confident, and his team has repeatedly reiterated that the Wizards' goal this year is more than just qualifying for the "playoff experience" as they did last year.

Under Jordan's influence, the media began to paint a picture of the Wizards' playoff prospects.

It's as if making the playoffs two years in a row is the most basic thing.

However, all teams that have played against the Wizards know that even if they make the playoffs, they won't make it past the first round.

So why does a capped first-round team get so much attention?

This is a legitimate question. The more important question is why should fans care about this? Who the hell likes to watch the Wizards limp into the playoffs and then be eliminated in the first round? What glory is there?

The answer is simple, the media is pouring out about the Wizards' playoff possibility, simply because Jordan insists that the Wizards have only played the playoffs twice in the last 15 years, so as long as the Wizards make the playoffs again under him, it shows that his comeback has indeed turned the team around.

In fact, it doesn't make any sense, but if a sports superstar who can dominate public opinion uses the power of the media to promote such a concept for a long time, then it will become the mainstream perception and standard.

That is: making the playoffs means that the Wizards have had great success under Jordan's leadership.

Despite the uncertain future of the season, certain stats still set the stage for Jordan's end in Washington.

According to the Washington Post, the Wizards sold 14,000 season tickets last season (sold out) and 12,000 this season, which is still a staggering number for a team that doesn't have full appeal locally, but it's not up to par by Jordan's standards.

The 2,000 unsold season tickets mean that 2,000 middle-class fans find Jordan no longer attractive.

According to the cockroach theory, the 2,000 people who gave up renewing their season tickets are hiding an even bigger secret — if even the 2,000 people in Washington find Jordan unattractive, how big would that be if that range was extended to the whole of the United States?

Before the opening, Yu Fei met his old friends.

Kwame Brown, Jasidy White, Bobby Simmons, and Doug Collins.

"The boss has done so much for you, what are you going to do tonight to repay him?"

Kwame Brown looked very anxious to see Yu Fei on the court to settle for Jordan's sins.

It's no wonder that he's a top pick, averaging less than 18 minutes per game in his rookie season.

Brown, now in his second year of career, still doesn't have plenty of playing time with the Wizards.

It's a slight increase from his rookie season — he averaged 22 minutes per game — but that's still a pitiful amount for a top-notch pick.

Yu Fei said, "I'll give him a home run." ”

Kwame Brown made a wish: "I hope it will be a goodbye home run." ”

Unfortunately, this is only a hope after all.

It is impossible for Yu Fei to retire Jordan tonight.

Finally, Yu Fei and Collins meet.

Collins looked at him with a complicated expression, "Be nice to Michael." ”

"Rest assured, we still have a few regular season games to play." Yu Fei said with a kind expression but a fierce tone, "Before he retires, I will give him a royal-level full-body package." ”

Then, tonight's two protagonists met in midfield on behalf of their respective teams.

Sam Cassel, the Bucks' main bargaining chip in a trade for Fly, is also looking forward to the game, and he doesn't have a good opinion of Fly, because the rude young man repeatedly spewed trash about his appearance when the two teams met last season.

"Hey, dog mongrel, come shake hands." It seems that no one has told Cassel that when he laughs, it is also when his face, which is outstanding in the ugly class, is most vividly displayed

"I'm going to kick your ass hard tonight!" ”

Yu Fei glanced at Cassel, then turned his gaze back to Jordan: "I don't shake hands with dead people. ”

"Of course," Yu Fei smiled sarcastically, "I won't shake hands with someone who is about to die." ”

"What did you say?"

Kassel is already in the dust.

Although his head was as bare as Jordan's, he didn't look like he had much hair to blow up, Yu Fei did fill the smell of gunpowder on both sides before the game even started.

After all the pre-game ceremonies were over, Yu Fei couldn't wait to run into the field.

As he walked towards Jordan, ABC commentator Brad Nessler was surprised to find: "Frye's starting position tonight is. Scoring guard?! ”

Bill Wharton, Nesler's partner and ESPN's signed writer, laughed: "Wow, this is a pin-and-needle, we haven't seen such a hostile duel since Muhammad Ali and Joe Fraser!" ”

New viewers are still wondering about Wharton's outrageous metaphors, and older viewers have become accustomed to Wharton's hilariousness.

"How many times did you stop me in training?"

The two sides were about to jump the ball, Jordan sneered.

"For someone who shoots only 40 percent from the field, is it useful for him to play well in practice?" Yu Fei said sarcastically.

The referee then threw the ball into the air.

The Bucks' starting center, Dan Gazuric, can be said to be okay with this and that, but he has one thing that he can recognize, and that is his bounce.

"Bang!"

That's why he's won the jump ball time and time again.

Sprewell, who temporarily swung to the No. 3 position tonight, received the ball and passed it to Yu Fei as soon as possible.

Yu Fei directly accelerated the dribble, Jordan wanted to block it, but was directly pushed away by the former, and then, the outside line was lost.

Yu Fei rushed to the basket, and Kassel, who was resentful of him, wanted to create an offensive foul, but his legs were too slow to stand firm.

Momentary sluggishness can have terrible consequences that cannot be reversed.

Yu Fei took off like a bird of prey in the penalty area, like smashing a papier-mâché wall, knocking Cassel out of bounds from under the basket, grabbing the ball with his right hand and pulling out a terrifying arc. Washingtonians at the scene will not be unfamiliar, and the large tomahawk dunk is Yu Fei's signature show.

BOOM!!!!!

Death's scythe swung violently, snatching away the destined two points.

"Beep !!"

Cassel, who wanted to create an offensive foul, was instead caused a defensive foul, and Yu Fei's dunk was not only effective, but also a free throw.

"This is a foul at all, the Chinese guy hit someone with the ball!" Cassel sat on the ground and roared.

"Shut up, ugly," Yu Fei sneered, "Don't you think you have lost enough face this round?" ”

Cassel is furious and tries to do something but is stopped by his teammates.

Although Yu Fei angered Cassel, he really wanted to target someone else, and when he walked to the free throw line, he glanced at Jordan.

He'll play with a sense of enjoyment.

He hoped that when the game was over, Jordan would enjoy it as much as he did.

Isn't it the noblest form of sportsmanship to enjoy the game?

Thinking of this, the Chosen One couldn't help but feel proud of himself.

"Huh!"

Very good, the penalty also went in.

But that's not enough.

(2) Roger Clemens is a superstar pitcher in MLB, I won't say what he did to Boston, for example, Boston people hate him just as Liaoning fans, XJ fans, and former Guangdong fans hate Zhou Qi. I understand everything I know, and I have another example here if I don't understand, just like the little knight hates Scout. Still don't understand? OK, one last example: like the Cavaliers fans who witnessed James' decision to go live and the Thunder fans who watched Durant go down the toughest road.

(End of chapter)