Chapter 72: Mission Completed, New Badge Earned - Pick-and-Roll Shooter!
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On November 3, the Lakers hosted their third regular-season game at home against the Golden State Warriors.
During this period, the Warriors were considered one of the worst teams in the league. Their most notable players were dunk king Jason Richardson and Eric Dampier. For the Lakers, this opponent posed no significant threat.
The game itself played out as expected. The Lakers cruised to an easy victory, defeating the Warriors 97-72, a whopping 25-point difference. With this win, the Lakers secured their third consecutive victory at the start of the regular season.
Kobe led the team with 21 points, O'Neal added 17 points and 14 rebounds, and both Malone and Payton also scored in double figures.
As for Wang Chong, he made 6 out of 12 shots, 2 out of 3 from beyond the arc, and went 4-for-4 from the free-throw line, finishing with 17 points, matching O'Neal's total.
As many expected, Kobe's return significantly impacted Wang Chong's playing time and scoring opportunities, leading to a decrease in his number of shots. However, even with these changes, Wang Chong maintained an average of 22.6 points per game after three games—making him the highest-scoring player for the Lakers so far.
Moreover, over on the Cavaliers' side, James struggled in his third game—a notable drop in performance. On November 1, during the Cavaliers' third regular-season game, James played 39 minutes but seemed to be sleepwalking on the court, scoring only 8 points, grabbing 4 rebounds, and dishing out 6 assists on 3-for-12 shooting.
But this wasn't the end of James' rough patch. On November 5, the Cavaliers were set to face the Denver Nuggets at home. This game was highly anticipated, with James and Anthony—once hailed as the two greatest high school players—facing off on the NBA court.
However, the game did not live up to the hype. Both stars had underwhelming performances: Anthony shot 6 of 17, finishing with 14 points and 6 rebounds, while James performed even worse, going 3 for 11 with 7 points, 11 rebounds, and 7 assists.
Due to scheduling, Wang Chong's Lakers only had three games in the first week. After the debacle between James and Anthony, their average points per game for the first week were 15.3 for James and 16.8 for Anthony. Although James contributed in other stats like rebounds and assists, his overall performance paled in comparison to Wang Chong's 22.6 points per game.
The entire league was stunned.
What was going on? Were James and Anthony not living up to their hype? The brightest rookie of the 2003 draft class turned out to be Wang Chong, the 13th overall pick?
The Lakers' luck seemed extraordinary. Not only did they have the strongest F4 lineup in the league, but they also now had Wang Chong. How could other teams even compete?
Wang Chong himself was a bit taken aback. He didn't quite remember the specifics of James and Anthony's early performances this season. Did they really start this poorly?
He had been worried for days, fearing that one of them would suddenly break out with a 40+ point game and surpass his scoring average. But instead, both had faltered, making Wang Chong's path to completing the system task unexpectedly smooth.
"Hey, aren't these guys supposed to be the league's next big thing? They didn't last a few days," Wang Chong thought with a chuckle.
Of course, with their talent, James and Anthony would soon adjust to the NBA's pace and start performing well. But for now, it had nothing to do with Wang Chong.
Wang Chong happily received the reward for completing his system task.
"Ding! Mission completed. Distributing rewards now."
This time, the system task reward was a random silver badge, something Wang Chong had been eagerly awaiting.
"Ding - Congratulations, you have received a shooting badge: Pick-and-Roll Shooter. Please check it."
Wang Chong entered the consciousness space and found a new badge emitting a silver-white light on the wall of shooting badges.
"Pick-and-Roll Shooter: For a few seconds after setting a screen for a teammate, mid-range and long-range shots receive a bonus."
It seemed Wang Chong's good fortune was shining once again.
This was an extremely practical badge, particularly suitable for Wang Chong at this stage. His tactical role with the Lakers wasn't high, especially after Kobe's return. Opportunities for him to handle the ball one-on-one were scarce. Most of his scoring chances came from catch-and-shoot situations after running without the ball or from pick-and-roll plays with Payton.
These were Wang Chong's most confident offensive methods at present. Now, with the added benefit of a silver-level Pick-and-Roll Shooter enhancement, his game was about to get even better. This would allow Wang Chong to maximize his scoring potential even without a lot of ball possession.
At this point, Wang Chong possessed five badges, and his overall ability rating had reached 83—meeting the standard of an All-Star player in the league.
Having completed this task, Wang Chong could now focus on continuing to improve his skills through games and daily training. He just needed to wait for new system tasks to refresh, earn more points and badges, and constantly enhance his abilities.
In short, he needed to keep growing steadily and make the most of his time.
The first week of the 2003 rookie class regular season ended with Wang Chong emerging as the winner by a considerable margin, finally giving Barkley a rare victory over Kenny Smith.
This was just a small side story off the court, while the regular season schedule continued.
On November 6, the Lakers, riding a three-game winning streak, suffered their first defeat of the new season, losing to the Spurs 117-120 in an away game.
Last season, the Lakers were eliminated by the Spurs in the playoffs, ending their quest for a four-peat.
The two teams met again in the new season, and the atmosphere was tense.
David Robinson, one of the Spurs' "Twin Towers," had officially retired over the summer. Stephen Jackson, a key small forward who would later lead the Warriors to a famous playoff upset, also left the team, leaving the Spurs noticeably weaker.
On the other hand, the Lakers had not only assembled an invincible F4 combination but also added a promising rookie in Wang Chong.
Given these changes, a revenge victory for the Lakers seemed almost inevitable.
But the Lakers lost, and the game went into overtime, with both teams locked in a stalemate.
Both O'Neal and Kobe had strong performances. O'Neal posted a massive double-double with 35 points and 20 rebounds, while Kobe dropped a game-high 37 points.
It was hard to believe that despite combining for 72 points, the OK duo could not lead the Lakers to victory.
But looking at the other Lakers players' stats, it began to make sense.
Karl Malone made only 4 of 12 shots, finishing with 10 points and 8 rebounds.
Gary Payton shot 5 of 15, ending with 11 points, 6 assists, and 4 turnovers.
Although Wang Chong shot efficiently, making 6 of 9 and 6 of 7 from the free-throw line for 18 points, a more challenging problem arose during the game—he couldn't get the ball.
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