บท 39: Go, Brick Shot Warrior!
บรรณาธิการ: Atlas Studios
On March 21st, the quarter-finals between Lower Merion High School and Chester High School was being held at the Penn State Harrisburg Gymnasium in Harrisburg, the state capital of Pennsylvania.
In fact, Ridley High School had already entered the semi-finals the day before.
In other words, if Lower Merion could win this match, they would inevitably compete against Ridley High School, also known as "the past champion and the ultimate team that had won the Pennsylvania State Championship for six consecutive years", yet another time during the semi-finals.
Well…
Although Ridley had an awe-inspiring title, they had suffered crushing defeats twice in a row at the hands of Team Lower Merion…
But Team Lower Merion had decided to stay humble!
They shouldn't allow their ego to inflate any further!
All of them had learned it the hard way from Schwartz.
Quoting Lower Merion's center, David Lasman, "We are a bunch of humble, emotionless utility men."
During the warm-up prior to the match, Su Feng had noticed that aside from the imminent game, the most discussed topic among his teammates was Michael Jordan.
One wouldn't expect anything less from the most legendary man in the 1990s.
So what if there was no social media?
Jordan had been able to make his name known regardless, because he was Jordan.
However, most of the teammates were expressing their doubts about whether Jordan could relive his glorious past.
He had made a comeback this year, but the legend was already 32 years old.
And most importantly…
Jordan's performance in his very first game after his return was terrible.
It seemed to have proven the fact that even legends would fall from grace one day.
In the game against his old opponents, the Pacers, it was as though Jordan had been possessed by the future Four Great Shooting Guards one by one…
By the end of the game, the past legend had only scored seven out of 28 shots, ending up with a miserable score of 19 points. In the end, the Bulls had lost to the Pacers.
Luckily, people weren't as toxic in the 1990s. It took too much effort to criticize someone without social media.
Hence, most of the news outlets and Bulls fans had been rather forgiving towards Jordan, who had been away from basketball for 21 months.
But Su Feng knew that there would be many stories surrounding Jordan's comeback.
Not long later, during the offseason match between the Chicago Bulls and the Orlando Magic…
The shooting guard of the Magic, Nick Anderson, once mocked Jordan. He commented that Jordan "didn't look like the old Michael Jordan", and that "No. 45 doesn't explode like No. 23 used to. No. 23, he could just blow by you. He took off like a space shuttle. No. 45, he revs up but he really doesn't take off."
Hello?? What are you talking about??
That had actually proven to be a smack right in Anderson's face.
Su Feng remembered very clearly that after the defeat upon his return, Jordan had exerted himself hard and put in the best he had in the summer that had followed.
He had made many promises to his opponents, which had drawn mockery and bitter feelings towards him. After that, together with his Bulls, Jordan would return the slaps one by one.
Even a web-novel writer wouldn't dare to write a story like this.
In fact, many experts had analyzed the two instances of three consecutive victories the Bulls had achieved, and they concluded that the Bulls had obviously been stronger before.
In the end, however, the new Bulls had accomplished a miracle of 72 wins and 10 losses.
Put more simply… Have faith in yourself because sometimes faith can produce miracles and it can make you invincible.
Take for example…
Tomjanovich, who was about to unleash his trump card.
Cough, that's off-tangent. Back to the topic.
At Penn State Harrisburg Gymnasium, the utility men of Team Lower Merion were ready to go under the leadership of the two bricklayers.
Su Feng had thought that the public attention would have been shifted towards Jordan and away from Team Lower Merion. But he was wrong again…
In fact, Lower Merion hadn't lost its popularity at all. Instead, Jordan's comeback had actually drawn more attention to Lower Merion.
In the 1990s, it wasn't easy for Pennsylvania commoners to watch Jordan's games.
They were too far from where Jordan usually played, and it was almost impossible to get a ticket to the Bulls' games.
Hence, people in Pennsylvania could only rely on TV recordings, newspapers, and magazines to picture in their heads how Jordan had played on the court.
However, Lower Merion had reminded them that there was no need to travel that far just to watch the Bulls.
The "Junior Chicago Bulls" was right within their reach!
You haven't heard of the "Junior Chicago Bulls"? Keywords: Kobe, Su Feng, Lower Merion, and Philadelphia Twin Towers. Go check them out!
After Lower Merion arrived at Harrisburg, the dwindling state capital had actually come back to life!
Don't be surprised. Harrisburg was probably one of the saddest state capitals in the United States.
Few people knew it because it had been eclipsed by loud names like Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.
However, thanks to Lower Merion, crowds of people had flocked to Harrisburg in these two days…
Although it was just a High School League game, the Americans' zeal over sports should never be questioned.
Take the NCAA for example. Even a baseball stadium that could accommodate 100,000 people would have a full house of Americans during March Madness.
So what do you expect of the Penn State Harrisburg Gymnasium, which only had 13,400 seats?
"Are we really that popular?" When the team entered the court, the audience were chanting "Su, Su, Su, Su", which Su Feng had found inauspicious.
"Of course. We are the best team in the entire state, no, the entire United States," Kobe said smilingly as he patted Su Feng's shoulder.
When the announcer introduced the two teams, Su Feng had a first-hand experience of how dramatic Americans could get…
"People celebrate their names from the Delaware River to the Schuylkill River; their talent has shot past the highest peak of the Appalachian Mountains. They dominate Pennsylvania like General Washington, and they are the Philadelphia Twin Towers, the Kings of Lower Merion--"
"Kobe-- Bryant!!"
"Su-- Feng!!"
Su Feng was speechless.
Now he understood why Blizzard heroes were so dramatic.
That sense of drama had been flowing through all American veins.
After the announcer was done with the introduction, even Su Feng had an urge to toss some chalk in front of the technical
But he didn't put the thought into action, because he had vaguely heard a voice saying, "Forget it, Brother Feng. Don't make him lose his job because of you…"
"This is our first match towards winning the state championship! Let's show them what we've got!" Kobe lectured the team as he fixed them with his death stare.
In the center circle, Kobe's jump ball opponent was the Chester center, Chris.
Pang!
Full of energy and high in spirits, Kobe didn't give Chris any chance.
In the previous friendly match between the two teams, Kobe had lost the jump ball to Chris, and Kobe had remembered that very well.
Lower Merion was the first to attack.
Deafening cheers immediately exploded around the court.
That's how popular they were.
Chester had lost the support of the audience even at the start of the game.
Speaking of which, Su Feng's match-up opponent this time was still the ultimate, imaginative freak DeMarcus.
Once the game started, Su Feng ran to his position as instructed by the coach's team strategy. He created an opening with the help from Lasman and Stewart covering for him.
After the apology last time, the utility man, Schwartz, had re-recognized his role in the team with Kobe's help. He swiftly passed the ball to Su Feng.
However, Chester was a well-trained team. They lived up to the fact that they had defeated Kobe's team in Grade 12 in Su Feng's previous life.
Two Chester players dashed towards Su Feng to block him at once.
Su Feng looked at Kobe, who returned him a look of approval.
As the opponents were drawing near, Su Feng stretched his legs, sprang into the air, and flicked his wrists without any more hesitation!
The great brick successor had no fear!
Swoosh!
Beep--!
The referee blew the whistle as the ball went through the hoop!
As the Chester players had been coming at him aggressively, Su Feng shifted his body and fell to the ground naturally. With his excellent acting, it looked as if Su Feng had been pushed.
The game had started with a four-point play!
Sitting on the Lower Merion substitute bench, Gregg waved his fist hard in excitement.
But Drew shot a despised glimpse at his father.
"Dad, I somehow heard you say the F word when Su Feng made the gesture to shoot just now?"
Fine. Gregg had actually allowed Su Feng to play like that.
Basketball talents deserved privileges.
Besides, once Su Feng had shot, Kobe had already prepared for the rebound. Given Kobe's extraordinary jumping abilities, he would have undoubtedly secured the rebound if Su Feng had missed the shot.
And that was the first step in Su Feng's "Grand Sewer Stats Farming
He wanted to convince Kobe to get more of his rebounds.
It was rather simple. He said, "Look, Kobe, you are a real gem. Your offensive skills are amazing.
"But you have to be more all-rounded if you want to join the NBA, don't you?
"Right now, you can achieve an average of 10 rebounds per game. Why not pull it up to 15 or more?
"I believe you are totally capable of that. You can attack after you've got the rebound, and in that case, you are much more likely to succeed.
"I'll be more confident in my shots too, which will help our team score even higher."
Kobe was convinced. He was worried that Su Feng might not be selected for the NBA in the future.
In Kobe's eyes, he was obliged to help Su Feng because he had personally taught Su Feng his basketball skills.
That's how strong their friendship was!
Su Feng walked to the freethrow line and shot. It was a goal.
4 - 0.
Besides commoners, there were a total of 128 professionals present among the audience, including photographers, journalists, scouts from North Carolina, Duke, the NCAA, the NBA, and reporters from various news presses, TV stations, radios, and TV shows!
Speed, the trusted friend of NBA superior Mark, was carefully taking notes of the happenings on the court.
Recently, Mark had been telling Speed that for some reason, Stern couldn't stop laughing whenever he read Speed's reports about Lower Merion.
But…
"I'm pretty confident about my choice of words. I've written those reports extremely carefully," Speed said, puzzled.
"Forget it. No use over-thinking. What superiors do is none of my business."
Speed organized his thoughts and wrote on the notebook:
Su has never failed to bring an element of surprise to his audience. It is as if his shots are magical, and you can't help hoping that the ball will be passed to him. You want to see whether he can score again.
Speed was an amateur scout, thus his words were rather unprofessional.
It was now Chester's turn to attack.
Under his teammate's cover, DeMarcus attempted to shoot. But when he tried to end this round of attack with his best shooting style, the normal layup…
Pang!
Having waited for a long time, Su Feng startled him with a not-so-pleasant surprise.
During the winter holiday, Kobe had helped Su Feng realize that there were many useful techniques and minute details to blocked shots and steals.
"You've got a wide arm span, and your palms are… big, your fingers… long. So you don't have to stick close to your opponent. You can put your physical advantages to good use and destroy your opponent in one shot at the right time."
For some reason, when Kobe taught him blocked shots, Su Feng had noticed that there was some bitterness in Kobe's tone.
After Su Feng had successfully deflected away the ball, Kobe caught the ball in time after it had bounced once on the floor. Look, that's the kind of fast reaction that was needed!
Luckily, Kobe couldn't read Su Feng's mind. If he could, there would be another round of endless one-on-one duels.
Clang!
Having retrieved the ball, Kobe charged forward alone with Su Feng following behind. When everyone was expecting to watch Kobe perform his signature slam dunk, he suddenly stopped short…
Then he gently knocked the ball at the backboard. He even took into account how high Su Feng could jump.
At that time, Su Feng had already caught up with him. Without any hesitation, Su Feng sprang into the air, took hold of the ball, and single-handedly slammed the ball into the basket!
Hmm… Although Su Feng's current jumping abilities were far inferior compared to Kobe and Carter, that was a much better dunk than he had done before!
It was definitely not purely by luck!
Well…
Not purely by luck… perhaps?
As of now, Su Feng's jump score was 61. That was considered excellent among commoners. But it was below satisfactory among legendary NBA players. (Take note that jump score does not equate to the highest jump in centimeters)
6 - 0!
Su Feng had scored 6 points in a row at the start of the game!
"Good job! Fight for the NBA!" Kobe gave Su Feng a fist bump after the shot.
Su Feng nodded. "For the NBA."
He had somehow seen the shadow of the future Kobe in him.
The match continued, and Chester High School made another mistake…
During defense, Su Feng decisively adopted the Iverson-way of defense.
With Kobe assisting him from behind and Su Feng's remarkable sideslip speed, Su Feng didn't have to worry that he might lose his position.
Moreover, how could you not learn from Iverson if you wanted to farm up your steal stats?
Su Feng certainly didn't forget to pass the ball to Kobe after the steal. Then he accomplished another "glide dunk" after Kobe had passed the ball back.
By Su Feng's standard, it was considered a "glide" so long as he had moved through the air!
As for how long he had glided across?
That didn't matter!
Because it was still a dunk!
That's what mattered! The dunk!
8 - 0!
Su Feng petrified Chester High School with a start of eight consecutive points.
…
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