As last year's Eastern Conference runner-up, the Detroit Pistons had not been performing well since the season began.
Larry Brown seemed still to be haunted by the nightmare of Athens, with Billups and Hamilton's shooting off the mark and the Wallace Brothers not exerting enough influence on the game.
They needed an outlet to let themselves explode.
The Bucks were just such an opponent.
From the moment the Bucks stepped into The Palace of Auburn Hills, they could feel the malice within its walls.
During warmups, Yu Fei saw a Pistons fan unfurl a poster caricaturing him with the words "The NBA doesn't need obstructions."
Upon seeing this, Yu Fei simply thought, aside from not playing for Team USA, his haters could find no other point to nitpick.
In Yu Fei's view, the poster was less hurtful than some nasty haters writing online about him and Paris Hilton being royal uncles.
It was the other Bucks players who received harsher taunts and attacks.