Chapter 551: Chapter 389: Big Fei Made Me a Villain

The following day was dedicated to individual events, most notably the slam dunk contest.

Dwight Howard, draped in Superman’s red cape, defended the honor of big men in the dunk contest, vindicating dunkers like Amar’e Stoudemire who often slam in regular-season games but fail to impress in the contests due to a lack of variety.

Then came the last day of the All-Star weekend: the day of the All-Star game itself.

This year, Yu Fei wasn’t interested in competing for the AMVP. He had a simple thought, that it didn’t matter if they didn’t win the All-Star game or if he didn’t get the AMVP, as long as James didn’t get it either.

Although the AMVP was not a big deal to him, he just didn’t want to see James win it in front of him.

Therefore, he specifically asked the Western All-Star Team’s head coach Popovich if he could defend against James.

“Do you hate him that much, Frye?”

Duncan’s joke got a good laugh out of the Western stars.

“How could I? I’m just not intending to let down the expectations of 2.8 million fans.” The vote leader displayed a sense of responsibility befitting his status. “They voted for me to see something different from me on this stage, right? While everyone else is thinking about how to show off, I’m thinking about playing serious defense. And you all should know, defense is much more tiring than offense…”

Since the vote leader was willing to put pressure on himself during the All-Star game, naturally, Popovich wouldn’t refuse.

Besides, it was a way to wear out Yu Fei.

He had no reason to let Yu Fei play more, but now that Yu Fei had volunteered, that settled it. Tonight, LeBron plays as long as Big Fei does, and both of you better lock down!

Once Popovich agreed, Yu Fei had no other thoughts on the matter.

Walking around the locker room, he suddenly noticed Kobe carefully wrapping protection around his finger.

“Is your hand injury serious?” Yu Fei asked under the guise of a fan concerned about his idol.

Kobe, unguarded, self-mockingly said, “You might as well consider me handicapped. I only have sensation in seven of my fingers.”

Yu Fei had heard about Kobe’s finger injury but never missing a game.

At first, he didn’t believe it because how could Kobe maintain perfect attendance if his finger was truly injured?

Now it seemed true. Kobe’s fingers had severe problems, yet he had not missed a single game. The Lakers were having a good season, and Kobe had recently ranked in the top three on the MVP leaderboard.

If one wanted to be a bit more dramatic, you might compare this phase of Kobe to Takenori Akagi returning to the court after being injured in the county competition against Hainan, seizing the hard-earned opportunity.

The difference, however, was that Akagi only needed to hold on for half a game, whereas Kobe still had a third of the season and playoffs ahead of him.

With such an injury, what percentage of his fighting power would Kobe have at game time? Yu Fei estimated that 70% would be a lot.

Yu Fei should have been pleased because the Lakers were one of their main competitors in the West, and such a significant hidden problem for Kobe was good news for them. However, it was a regret not to have the chance to battle with a fully fit Kobe.

Afterward, Yu Fei went to chat with Yao Ming.

A short time later, the Western stars received notice to get ready to take to the court.

The All-Star game that evening started off feeling a bit off.

Because Kobe, who usually loved to compete in this kind of game, only played for two minutes due to his finger injury before being substituted and rested.

When the usual instigator couldn’t stir things up, how motivated could the others be?

Allen Iverson was getting old, Duncan had always been indifferent to the All-Star games, his favorite event being the “Shooting Stars” dominated by his San Antonio team. Having exhausted himself in yesterday’s “Shooting Stars,” now he just wanted to take it easy.

Fortunately, aside from Yu Fei, there were others on the Western side willing to make an effort.

That person was Yao Ming, participating in his sixth All-Star game.

Yao Ming had always wanted to show off his well-known sense of humor at the All-Star game, but his understanding of humor was ahead of its time–to him, the main performance at the All-Star game was pretending to be a 7-foot-5 softie shooting three-pointers from the perimeter.

When he missed all three shots, Yu Fei’s quips were like artillery fire, “Is this what someone with an 87% free-throw shooting rate should be doing?”

“Damn it!” Yao Ming retorted, “You’re not any better!”

“I shut down James, how about you?”

“I shut down myself, is that enough?”

With the attitude the Western All-Star Team had towards the game, they should have been slaughtered by the Eastern All-Star Team that night.

But the tanking intent of the Eastern team was even more apparent; they all threw up three-pointers and missed.

This was why Yu Fei, even though not highly motivated for a win tonight, simply marked James closely–if it hadn’t been for the atrocious shooting rate of the Eastern All-Star Team, even just counterattacking could have established the lead.

With Kobe out, Duncan slacking, and Iverson sleepwalking, Yu Fei had to carry the Western family, taking the ball and also covering James, not giving him the chance to rack up stats and steal the AMVP.

And then, Yu Fei made countless Chinese fans’ dreams come true.

He connected with Yao Ming time and again, as if they were a match made in heaven.

But that was just an illusion created by Yu Fei’s superb passing skills.

For a big center like Yao Ming who constantly needs to position himself in the low post, it isn’t quite suitable for Yu Fei, but there are so many defensive holes in an All-Star game that there’s always a chance to pass.

Yao Ming knew Yu Fei could pass, but he didn’t realize he could pass like this– from all angles, in all manners, using all sorts of unexpected techniques.

Yu Fei made Yao Ming, who traditionally couldn’t blend into the All-Star game, become the Western All-Star Team’s scoring leader.

The more Yao Ming played, the more confident he became.

In the first half, his three-pointers were 0 for 2; in the second half, he surprisingly made them.

When Yao Ming scored 25 points and grabbed 10 rebounds, the nature of the match changed.

Initially, Yu Fei just didn’t want James to get the AMVP; he didn’t care about the rest. But now, Yao Ming actually had the chance to take the AMVP, so he decided to lend a hand.

Big Red had it tough–the summer spent playing for the national team, then being grinded down by Rick Adelman in the NBA; how could his body withstand all that?

Yu Fei couldn’t change Yao Ming’s predicament, the only thing he could do was to help him deliver an All-Star game performance that fans would reminisce about.

“Good pass!” Yao Ming couldn’t help but give Yu Fei a thumbs-up after catching the ball and slamming it down, “That was really a great pass!”

“Less chit-chat. Get serious when you’re defending the basket and stop giving them easy layups.”

“Who ever plays serious defense in the All-Star game?”

“Fine. Then at least focus on defending James.”

Yao Ming liked Yu Fei’s straightforward approach to settling personal scores under the guise of being impartial; he clearly wanted to make life difficult for James but pretended to be all high-minded about it.

“Damn!” The Shanghai giant’s manners seemed to get worse in front of Yu Fei, “James is really unlucky to have a ‘brother’ like you!”

With Yu Fei on the outside and Yao Ming on the inside, James felt the malice from the Western team.

Yet, the indifference from his fellow Eastern teammates infuriated him.

They kept shooting threes and ended up with an overall lower shooting percentage than Yao Ming.

Yao Ming was 1 for 3 from beyond the arc, a 33% shooting rate, while the Eastern All-Star Team was 10 for 36, a mere 27.8%.

When Yu Fei didn’t care about winning or losing, the indiscriminate three-point attempts only gave the impression they were going through the motions; but once Yu Fei wanted to win, his instinct for long rebounds let him seize those missed shots and lead the team on fast breaks.

In the fourth quarter, the Western All-Star Team took the lead and from then on, the Eastern team never had a chance.

Yu Fei’s strategy to allow James to drive but not shoot threw him off, as he would encounter a 226cm tall obstacle once he penetrated the inside.

His only choice was a pull-up jumper, and even if Yu Fei couldn’t block it, he could still interfere.

With only 5 for 15 shooting, James’s performance was lackluster, while Yao Ming led the Western All-Star Team to victory with a stat line of 39 points and 14 rebounds.

Yu Fei’s stats were quite unique: just four attempts, all fast-break dunks, resulting in 8 points, 13 rebounds, and 15 assists.

He was the key reason the Western All-Star Team won this tank battle, despite almost everyone else performing poorly.

For him, this was the best outcome.

The game was won, James was held in check, and the AMVP went to Big Red.

“I think I can retire from the All-Star game now. I won’t come back because I won’t get another AMVP,” said Yao Ming, combining his characteristic humor with a playful jab.

In the end, he dutifully thanked everyone, but it was only when mentioning Yu Fei that his speech became a touch personal: “The person I should thank the most is Frye, but suddenly I don’t want to thank him. He turned me into a bad guy; he threatened to not pass the ball to me unless I played defense seriously. Ladies and gentlemen, that’s the secret of my AMVP.”

Everyone laughed, except James, whose expression changed.

He knew Yao Ming wouldn’t target him for no reason, and hearing the truth spoken in jest by the man himself didn’t surprise James at all.

That’s Yu Fei for you, not willing to give an inch even during an All-Star game.

The show in New Orleans had ended, and Yu Fei left contentedly.

It was on the next day after the All-Star weekend ended that the NBA officially announced the astonishing trade between the Supersonics and the Miami Heat.

Read latest Chapters at WuxiaWorld.Site Only

The Supersonics traded Rashard Lewis and Luke Ridnour to Miami for Shawn Marion and Smush Parker.

This was the first shot before the trade deadline in the storm of transactions, but not the last.

For the strong teams other than the Celtics, half a season’s experience proved that if they wanted to go further, they had to make trades. Standing still would only take them further from their goals.

As the holiday approached its end, the teams eyeing the championship could smell the blood of the playoffs in the air–this was their last chance to bolster their squads before the ultimate test, an opportunity too critical to miss.

Vote