novelhk Chapter 8: Matchup Against the Second Overall Pick, Trash Talk at the Start
Chapter 8: Matchup Against the Second Overall Pick, Trash Talk at the Start
The Warriors' locker room on game day looks like a peach canning factory.
As soon as the door was opened, a sweet, fruity aroma wafted out. A dozen or so burly men were each holding a can of yellow peaches, engrossed in eating them with great gusto. Even the head coach had half a peach in his mouth when he came in, and almost choked.
Richardson went even further, locking Lin Hao's suitcase directly into his locker like a family heirloom. Before the pre-match warm-up, he downed two cans of it and patted his chest, assuring Lin Hao, "Don't worry, Canned Food Bro, I'll take care of that runner-up Williams for you today! He dares to call himself an internet celebrity? I'll show him why flowers are so red!"
Lin Hao was leaning against the cabinet, flipping through his youth training notebook, which was filled with Jay Williams' technical characteristics and movement habits—he had stayed up half the night, painstakingly extracting them from video recordings.
Hearing this, he didn't even look up, and waved his hand: "No need, he specifically asked for me, I'll personally keep him company."
The backup center next to him leaned over, his mouth still stuffed with peach meat, and looked worried: "Lin, that's Jay Williams, Duke's star, this year's second overall pick, his talent is explosive, are you really going to guard him yourself?"
"So what if you're second place?" Lin Hao closed his notebook, put it in his pocket, and grinned. "Among the junior high students I've taught, there was even a city champion, but in the end, I still managed to subdue them completely."
Upon hearing this, his teammates immediately felt reassured.
After the last game, Lin Hao's words carry more weight in the Warriors' locker room than the head coach's. After all, that mysterious Eastern winning buff is there for all to see; those who experience it know its power.
Meanwhile, in the Bulls' locker room, the atmosphere was at the complete opposite extreme.
Jay Williams was sitting in a chair, having his trainer put protective gear on him, surrounded by reporters whose flashbulbs were going off non-stop.
A reporter held a microphone to his mouth, asking him what he thought of tonight's opponents, especially Lin Hao, the Warriors' second-round pick who became famous for his suona playing.
Williams' lips curled into an undisguised sneer. He tugged at his Bulls jersey and slowly said, "Just some internet celebrity who relies on sensationalism to grab attention. He dares to compare himself to me? Tonight, I'll show him that the NBA isn't his stage to play his tune. Internet celebrities don't deserve to play real basketball."
Upon hearing this, the reporters instantly got excited and even came up with headlines: "Second-ranked pick declares he'll teach a rising internet celebrity a lesson!"
These words quickly reached the Warriors' locker room, and Richardson immediately exploded. He grabbed a stool and was about to rush into the Bulls' locker room when Lin Hao pulled him back.
"What's the rush?" Lin Hao calmly unscrewed a can of food and handed it to him. "Eat this first, and stack up your buff. Later on the field, whatever he says, we'll just hit him back with the ball. That's better than anything else."
Richardson angrily took the can of food, gulped it down in a few bites, wiped his mouth, and said, "Canned Food Bro, you were right! We'll dry him out later!"
Ten minutes later, the players from both sides entered the field.
The Summer League arena in Las Vegas was packed to capacity today. Half the crowd came to see the talent of this year's second overall pick, Jay Williams, while the other half came to see if Lin Hao, the "suona internet celebrity," could actually play basketball.
As soon as Lin Hao appeared, cheers erupted from the audience. Some spectators even held up signs that read "Go, Suona Bro!" and some even brought their own suonas and blew one out from the stands, eliciting laughter from the entire crowd.
Williams, who was walking ahead of Lin Hao, heard the commotion, turned around and gave Lin Hao a cold look, his eyes full of disdain, as if he were looking at a clown jumping around.
Lin Hao ignored him completely, raised his hand and waved to the audience in the stands, and even gave a thumbs up to the audience playing the suona, which drew another round of cheers from the crowd.
During the jump ball, the Bulls gained possession first.
Williams received a pass from his teammate and slowly dribbled across half-court. Looking up, he saw that the person defending him was Lin Hao.
The scene instantly erupted!
No one expected that the Warriors would actually pair this second-round pick with this year's second overall pick right from the start!
The commentators on the sidelines chuckled, jokingly remarking, "Wow! This is interesting! The Warriors have arranged the matchup everyone's been waiting for! The internet celebrity rookie versus the prodigy second overall pick—let's see if Lin Hao can stop Williams, or if Williams will just blow him apart?"
Williams was also stunned for a moment, then a sinister smile appeared on his face.
He was just worried about where to find a place to fight, and this kid actually delivered himself to his doorstep?
He lowered his center of gravity, dribbling the basketball between his legs, his eyes fixed on Lin Hao, and started trash-talking: "Kid, you delivered yourself to me. If I get past you and you're crying, don't blame me for not giving you face."
Lin Hao stood still, his center of gravity steady, his arms outstretched, his expression unchanged, as if he hadn't heard a thing.
His eyes were fixed intently on Williams' knees.
His experience as a youth coach for over a decade in his previous life allowed him to see right through Williams – before each breakthrough and change of direction, his knee would always deflect one centimeter in the direction of the breakthrough, and he relied heavily on his left hand, choosing to go left for 80% of his breakthroughs.
Compared to the traffic lights at the village entrance, it only has the added blinking time, and its rhythm couldn't be more regular.
Williams, seeing that he didn't react, assumed he was just scared out of his wits. He sneered, then suddenly pushed off the ground and broke through at full speed down the left flank!
His first step was incredibly fast; almost no one in the NCAA could keep up with it. He was confident that this seemingly skinny Chinese rookie would be easily beaten by him.
But as soon as he took his first step, he found that Lin Hao had moved to his path and blocked his way!
Williams was startled and quickly gathered the ball, making a sudden stop and pulling it back behind his back, trying to switch to the right wing to break through. But as soon as he pulled the ball to his right hand, he found that Lin Hao was sticking to him like a leech, leaving him no space at all.
The audience gasped in surprise!
No one expected that this rising star of the internet celebrity would actually catch up with Williams' breakthrough in one step and block his path completely!
Williams was forced into a corner and had no choice but to force a turnaround jump shot. Under Lin Hao's interference, the basketball hit the front edge of the rim and bounced out.
The Warriors grabbed the rebound.
Richardson rushed over, patted Lin Hao on the back, and shouted excitedly, "Well done, Canned Food Bro! That's how you defend against him!"
Lin Hao smiled, said nothing, and ran towards the front of the field.
After successfully defending the first round, Williams assumed it was just carelessness and didn't take it seriously. But in the following rounds, he was completely dumbfounded.
No matter whether he drives to the left or the right, whether he uses a crossover or a behind-the-back dribble, Lin Hao can always be a step ahead and block his path, as if he knows in advance where he is going, making his defense impenetrable.
For four consecutive possessions, Williams was either forced to take shots that missed, or he was forced to pass the ball, without getting a single comfortable shot opportunity.
He was completely out of control.
He's this year's second overall pick, a talented guard from Duke University, and yet he's being defended so badly by a social media influencer who was drafted late in the second round that he can barely even get a shot off? If this gets out, where will he put his face?
With three minutes left in the first quarter, the Bulls were on offense. Williams received the ball again, waved to his teammates to spread out, and went to challenge Lin Hao one-on-one.
The scene instantly erupted, with the audience standing up, whistling, and eagerly awaiting the one-on-one match between the prodigy runner-up and the internet celebrity upstart.
Williams dribbled between his legs three times in a row, then suddenly made a sharp crossover, followed by a sudden acceleration. Using his body to push Lin Hao aside by half a body length, he took off and made a layup, sending the ball into the basket.
The moment the ball went in, Williams landed, clenched his fist, and pressed close to Lin Hao, spewing vicious trash talk:
"See that? This is the NBA! Is that all? Second round is second round, you'll never catch me!"
The crowd erupted in cheers, and the Bulls' bench also stood up, waving towels and cheering wildly.
Williams raised his chin smugly, waiting to see Lin Hao's exasperated expression.
Lin Hao merely glanced at him indifferently, picked up the basketball from the ground, and walked towards the service line, slowly uttering a sentence in Northeastern dialect:
"We have a saying in Northeast China: 'The one who laughs last is the real man.' Scoring one goal and you're already this cocky? Never seen anything like it before?"
With just one sentence, Williams' face turned dark instantly. He was about to say something more when Lin Hao turned around and walked towards the front of the court, completely ignoring him.
At the end of the first quarter, the Bulls led the Warriors by only 2 points.
Jay Williams, the second overall pick, only scored 4 points on 2-of-7 shooting in the first quarter, along with 2 turnovers, making his efficiency ridiculously low.
Lin Hao only took one shot in the first quarter, without scoring, and only managed two rebounds and one assist, making his stats unremarkable.
The commentators on the sidelines, looking at the statistics, abandoned their initial joking tone and their voices were full of surprise:
"Guys, I don't know if you noticed, but Jay Williams only made 2 of 7 shots when facing Lin Hao's defense, a shooting percentage of less than 30%, and he also committed two turnovers. This second-round pick's defensive awareness is simply outrageous! He completely anticipated all of Williams's moves and completely contained this talented second overall pick!"
In the locker room, the Warriors players surrounded Lin Hao, all of them extremely excited.
"Lin! You're amazing! You've kept Williams completely under your thumb, even his own mother wouldn't recognize him!"
"The way he looked so smug after scoring just now almost made me throw up. Keep shutting him down in the second quarter!"
Richardson went even further, pulling out all the canned peaches from his cupboard and shoving them into Lin Hao's hands: "Canned Peach Bro! Quick! Give us a boost! Let's crush him in the second quarter!"
Lin Hao smiled and took the can of food. Just as he opened it, he heard the whistle signaling the end of the halftime break.
He put the can on the stool, wiped his hands, and got up to walk onto the field.
He knew that Williams was overwhelmed by the defense in the first quarter, and he would definitely go crazy looking for him to go one-on-one in the second quarter, and his actions would only become more and more aggressive.
But he didn't expect the other party to play such dirty tricks.
Less than two minutes into the second quarter, Williams once again broke through Lin Hao's defense with the ball. When he jumped to lay up, he deliberately stepped on Lin Hao's landing spot with his foot!
The moment Lin Hao landed, he heard a soft "crack" from his ankle, and a piercing pain shot up from the sole of his foot. He staggered and fell to one knee, clutching his ankle tightly.
The entire room fell silent instantly.
The team doctor rushed onto the field like a madman, and Richardson, his eyes red, also rushed over, shoving aside the feigning innocence Williams, and squatting down next to Lin Hao, his voice trembling with anxiety: "Lin! How are you?! Are you alright?!"
The team doctor squatted down, examined Lin Hao's ankle, and his face immediately darkened. He waved to the bench, indicating that a substitution was needed, and helped Lin Hao off the field.
But Lin Hao pushed away the team doctor's hand, gritted his teeth, and forced himself to stand up.
He wiggled his injured ankle; the excruciating pain instantly made cold sweat break out on his forehead. But he shook his head at the team doctor and said, word by word:
"I'm not leaving the field."
"I haven't finished playing this ball yet."