บท 13: Where is he from?
บรรณาธิการ: Atlas Studios
"Did you hear? Kobe seems to have challenged that guy from Nefaria!"
"Yes, yes, I heard it! It's true!"
"Interesting, interesting!"
On Nefaria's bench, Tony Johnson and Antony had not reacted yet.
And at that moment, Su Feng had already stood up slowly.
When the audience at the seats not too far away from Nefaria's bench saw this, they went wild.
"I've heard of him, he's the 'Philadelphia Hero!'"
"Does Kobe know him?"
"It looks like it, and look at Kobe's gaze!"
On the basketball court, after seeing Su Feng stand up, Kobe smiled and beckoned. "Come, I've been waiting for this day for a very long time."
Although Su Feng could not help but feel weird when he heard that, if…
You want to battle, then I shall battle!
Friendships among men were mostly formed via battles.
That was the case for Su Feng and Kobe's relationship too.
"Coach, sub me on." Su Feng looked calmly at Head Coach Tony Johnson, and the latter almost subconsciously nodded.
After Su Feng registered at the technical desk, Kobe committed a foul and slapped the hand of the unlucky John seemingly with the intention of allowing Su Feng to come on as soon as possible.
That made the entire gymnasium go even more crazy.
Because to everyone, this was originally a one-sided thrashing.
But now…
Things had gotten interesting!
Emmmm, indeed no one was able to resist the allure of juicy gossip…
"Go! Nefaria!"
"Although I don't know your name, Philadelphia Hero, GO! GO! GO!"
"Indeed, only an idiot would go spend time with their girlfriend. How could a girl be more interesting than basketball?"
As the fans cheered, Su Feng took a deep breath and… came on for John.
The poor guy had successfully helped Su Feng withstand the "Heavenly Thunderclap Steal". Who knew whether he would ever play basketball again after that…
Su Feng got onto the court!
On Lower Merion High School's substitute bench, the Downer father-and-son duo were deep in thought after seeing Su Feng come on.
Meanwhile, on the bleachers, many scouts who knew one another were busy exchanging information.
These scouts were all very familiar with Kobe.
But as for Su Feng, at this moment, they all wanted to ask…
Where the heck did he come from?
On the court, the match continued after Su Feng came on with Nefaria in possession.
But for Nefaria, Su Feng's teammates, who all had eight-grader syndrome, seemed to not have recovered from their shock yet.
Towns almost made a mistake again when dribbling.
Luckily, Su Feng clapped his hands at a crucial moment.
Towns passed the ball to Su Feng as though he was tossing a hot potato.
And just like Kobe had told him before the match, Kobe did not purposely look to match-up against Su Feng.
Currently, the one in charge of defending against Su Feng on the court was Lower Merion High School's point guard, Doner.
Don't feel weird. Kobe was truly a stubborn and unpredictable man.
That was because the Downer father-and-son duo refused to believe him. Hence, Kobe wanted to let everyone see with their own eyes that he… was not lying!
To Kobe, Su Feng was better than Doner and Schwartz.
So even if Kobe yearned to battle Su Feng and really wished to have a one-on-one with Su Feng on the court, he felt that Su Feng had to prove himself by defeating Doner and Schwartz first.
Perhaps this could be seen as stubbornness taken to the extreme!
Kobe's teammate Doner was 188cm tall, similar to Su Feng in height. However, his arms were obviously thicker than Su Feng's.
Even though he had not seen through Su Feng's tricks, Doner lowered his center of gravity, opened up his hands, and took one step back the moment Su Feng received the ball.
"He has a lean body shape and should be a speedy type. I just need to prevent him from breaking through…" Doner thought.
But right when Doner was guessing how Su Feng was going to break through, Su Feng suddenly…
Stretched his leg, sprang into the air, and flicked his wrists!
The height which Su Feng jumped up to was not ridiculous, but it had an unpredictable sense of rhythm to it.
He was also not airborne for long. But combined with the gentle flick of his wrists, the entire scene was extremely beautiful.
Meanwhile, Doner was completely stunned.
On the court, one could see the basketball draw a beautiful arc in the air.
Bang, clang, swoosh—!
Although the basketball went two rounds around the hoop, it still went through the hoop in the end.
2 - 6!
Su Feng secured Nefaria's first two points of the night. At the same time, it was also the first time he had scored in an official match…
After seeing Su Feng use his signature pull-up shot, Kobe could not help but think about what happened three months ago…
"Not bad!"
After shaking his head and laughing, Kobe ran beside Su Feng and smiled while saying, "Your shooting form has gotten better and your throwing speed has gotten faster. However…"
Not waiting for Kobe to finish, Su Feng interrupted, "However, I'm still no match for America's top high school student, Kobe Bryant, right?"
Kobe did not say anything, instead raising his eyebrows in glee.
"But you should know my personality," Su Feng suddenly said sternly.
"Of course." Kobe also got serious. This was a change in attitude from when he was matching up to John earlier.
Bam—,Bam—,Bam—!
After Su Feng smacked the floor consecutively three times to remind his teammates to focus on defending, the entire gymnasium's attention was drawn to the match-up between Kobe and Su Feng.
Although Kobe did not deliberately try to match up with Su Feng, Su Feng knew from the fearful expressions on his teammates' faces that…
He was the one who had to take up the important task of defending against Kobe.
"Interesting." On the bleachers, Duke University's scout, Wesley, narrowed his eyes after observing Su Feng's defensive positioning and center of gravity thoroughly.
After all, Wesley could be considered a basketball insider.
If Lower Merion High School's basketball fans were just making a commotion, the scouts and the coaching staff of both teams were all stunned by Su Feng.
That was because in Pennsylvania, there were very few players at Kobe's age who dared to defend against him.
However, Su Feng seemed to faintly exude the aura of a"professional player" when he was on the court.
Thump, thump, thump!
On the court, after utility point guard Schwartz dribbled past the half-court, Kobe launched his attack the moment he received the ball.
Kobe's head and body moved with a unique rhythm. At the same time, the moment his right and left hands completed a crossover, Kobe immediately followed up by feinting a breakthrough to the right.
That was…
The Kobe-style crossover!
On the court, Su Feng did not get tricked. Having brawled against Kobe multiple times, he subconsciously saw through Kobe's feint…
However, Kobe obviously guessed that Su Feng would see through his feint.
However, Su Feng also knew that Kobe would definitely guess that he would be able to see through his feint.
In the end, Kobe was still better than Su Feng. Just as he was about to crash into Su Feng while dribbling, Kobe somehow managed to pull the ball back to him.
"That was close!" Kobe looked at Su Feng and thought, "This is the guy who makes awesome sandwiches and sports drinks, of course he's strong!"
"So close!" Su Feng looked at Kobe and thought, "This guy's my human ch… Cough, he's my idol after all. Awesome!"
"Amazing!" Watching Kobe start dribbling again as he prepared to attack, Wesley, who was on the bleachers, felt that he had made the absolute correct decision to watch this match today.
Because America's high school basketball league had an attacking time limit of 35 seconds, Kobe was not anxious after he failed to break through just now.
On the court, the players of Nefaria and Lower Merion watched Su Feng and Kobe quietly. It seemed like no one wanted to interfere in their one-on-one…
Although the innermost emotions of the players on both teams were different, they strangely came to an agreement at that moment.
Meanwhile, at the side of the court, Tony Johnson and Antony felt that Su Feng had surprised them once again. Meanwhile, the Downer father-and-son duo looked at each other with very interesting expressions on their faces.
Thump, thump, thump!
On the field, Kobe started his attack once again!
And even though Su Feng used the handcheck rule to his advantage, Kobe's breakthrough this time was way too dirty…
That was because he used brute force this time!
He charged forward recklessly and looked just like that man!
Um, wait a minute, that man should still be a child now, right?
Clang!
Su Feng failed to keep up with Kobe's last step and Kobe charged forward.
He then completed his fourth slam dunk of the match without hesitation.
2 - 8!
After landing, Kobe even threw a cocky glance at Su Feng, and his expression was full of glee.
"This isn't fair!" Su Feng shouted at Kobe.
"Huh?" Kobe threw up his hands.
"You definitely didn't use normal methods to break past me. You must've been afraid that I would block your shot. That's why you used such a cowardly breakthrough to sneak-attack me," Su Feng said self-righteously.
Kobe did not reply.
Luckily, after three months of interaction, Su Feng was already used to Kobe's stubbornness. Meanwhile, Kobe was used to Su Feng's trash talk. So the both of them were really…
"Fine, I'll use true skill to defeat you later." After being taunted by Su Feng, the fire in Kobe's heart was ignited.
Su Feng nodded in satisfaction.
Actually, we should not blame Su Feng for playing dirty. Kobe was known as the gangster after all.
In reality, at this stage of the match, Su Feng already completely understood.
After consolidating all the information, to put it simply, Kobe must have recommended him to his team's head coach not long ago. However, his team's head coach must have thought that Kobe was bragging.
You would understand too if you thought about it. In the 90s, how could a Chinese high school student have a one-on-one with Kobe?
To others, that was absolutely ludicrous.
That was why Kobe had told him that he would not deliberately match up with him in this match.
That was because he wished for Su Feng to defeat his teammates first so as to prove that he was not lying…
Um… if that happened to someone else, Su Feng might have found it weird, but if it was Kobe…
Then everything made sense.
So after he understood everything, Su Feng felt that he could not let Kobe down.
And because of that, if Kobe got serious and defeated him as well, would that not go against his original intentions?
In life, one must never forget their original intentions.
Since Kobe had already set up the stage for him, Su Feng naturally…
Swoosh!
On the field, Lower Merion's point guard, Doner, was dumbfounded.
That was because…
Su Feng shot after receiving the ball when he was still around one meter away from the three-point line.
This, this is too d*mn…
Unreasonable!
Doner really wanted to talk to Su Feng about that.
At the side of the court, Nefaria's head coach, Tony Johnson, and assistant coach, Antony, both unwittingly recalled a question they had asked Su Feng.
"Su, why do you dislike shooting three-point shots while standing on the three-point line?" Antony asked curiously while looking at Su Feng, who loved shooting three-point shots from really far away.
"But… this is where I usually shoot from when I train!"
Su Feng felt that he was really innocent. He did not say that because he wanted to act like a big shot, but because he knew that the NBA's shortening of the three-point line was only temporary. If he wanted to make a name for himself in the future, it would be good for him to get used to the distance of the NBA's three-point line as early as possible.
So, Su Feng had always trained to shoot his three-point shots from 7.25 meters away. That was the standard distance of the NBA's three-point line from the hoop.
Therefore…
The crowd went wild at Lower Merion high school.
That was because Su Feng had actually managed to steal the ball from Kobe!
Kobe thought that he was bound to make a mistake eventually.
It was just that…
"Hahahaha, so it's possible to steal the ball from you after all." In their previous one-on-ones, Su Feng did manage to steal from Kobe several times. But obviously Kobe stole the ball from Su Feng more than Su Feng stole the ball from Kobe…
And just as Kobe did crossovers continuously in a handsome manner, possibly because the mantra Su Feng silently chanted actually took effect, the ball actually hit his sneakers…
Then Su Feng looked back and stole the ball.
Um… let's just say the mantra was really unpleasant.
Kobe was stunned.
He seemed to have already heard all the taunts Su Feng was going to say to him.
"No, no, I definitely cannot allow that b*stard to mock me!"
So, as Su Feng charged towards Lower Merion's half of the court after stealing the ball, Kobe chased after him.
Probably because he was too focused, Su Feng did not notice Kobe behind him.
Looking at Lower Merion's empty half, Su Feng had one thought in his mind at that moment. "Should I try a dunk?"
Su Feng decided to try it. Even if he did not manage a dunk, he could still manage to do a normal layup!
Su Feng had tested his jumping in training before, and he could only say that it was nothing extraordinary.
But Su Feng knew that his jumping ability was enough for him to complete a dunk.
But right as Su Feng leapt up, Kobe, who was behind him, paused.
"Sh*t!" Kobe knew Su Feng wanted to do a dunk.
But obviously, Su Feng had never practiced dunking before.
That was why… the position he jumped from was a little too far.
At that moment, Kobe stopped trying to defend against Su Feng and quickly ran towards where Su Feng was about to land.
Su Feng did indeed lose his balance in mid-air…
Although Su Feng put the ball through the hoop before landing, his body fell uncontrollably because of gravity…
Into Kobe's arms.
The entire gymnasium went silent for three seconds.
Afterwards, everyone applauded Kobe for protecting his opponent.
"Stop messing around!" Kobe, who broke out in a cold sweat, scolded Su Feng.
That was why, no matter how calm a person seemed to be, there would still be moments of recklessness.
Su Feng quickly did a self-reflection.
"I can't fool around, I can't fool around… I shouldn't have read that novel back then. Strangely, I would always do reckless things like a certain character from that novel…" Su Feng thought logically.
But then again, Su Feng never expected that Kobe would come to protect him.
"Thanks!" Su Feng thanked Kobe.
Kobe shook his head. "What are you thanking me for? I won't go easy on you later."
The match continued!
….
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