0 - 8, Halfway to the Beastmaster State
November 21st, at Ridley High School's indoor basketball court.
It was the third match for Lower Merion, and their opponent was Ridley High School, the team that had dominated Pennsylvania for six consecutive years so far.
Despite the crushing defeat in the friendly match, Ridley had been an established basketball school in Pennsylvania. Moreover, since Lower Merion was not fighting in their home court, many Philadelphia news outlets believed that Ridley would regain their glory via this match.
Speaking of which…
There was something magical about the number "seven".
In Su Feng's former life, Ridley had lost their champion title in the seventh year, the year Su Feng was now in.
Nevertheless, Su Feng had been looking forward to competing with the champion team.
He would wish Ridley good luck every morning when he woke up.
….
At Ridley's indoor basketball court, both teams had sent their players to the court. As the man who could jump the highest in all of Philadelphia, Kobe walked to the center circle, ready to get the jump ball for Lower Merion.
Lower Merion sent out Lasman, Stewart, Su Feng, Kobe, and Schwartz as the first players, as usual.
Meanwhile, Ridley changed their first shooting guard, but the other members stayed the same.
Today, Ridley sent out Larson, Tinsley, Williamson, Kenny, and Goodman as the first players.
During the warm-up, Su Feng had noticed the black young man Kenny. He wasn't tall, probably shorter than 180cm, and his basketball skills were far from excellent too. However, he had an exceptionally large wingspan and commendable jumping abilities.
During the jump ball competition, Kobe lost to Larson, who was taller. Following that, Goodman led the first round of attack.
In their previous match, Williamson had not been able to perform properly because Su Feng had blocked him well. Hence, one of Su Feng's jobs today was to guard against Williamson again.
Apparently, though, the head coach, Fernandes, had learned his lesson. He appointed the German point guard, Goodman, to be the main offensive player.
Goodman and Larson adopted the pick-and-roll technique outside the three-point arc. After Larson distracted Kobe, Goodman did a jump shot under Schwartz's rigorous defense. But the ball hit the basket and bounced off.
Su Feng turned to retrieve the falling ball and passed it to Kobe.
It was now Lower Merion's turn to attack. When Su Feng ran to the front court, he suddenly saw the shooting guard Kenny throw himself at him.
That brought a smirk to Fernandes' face, as if he was saying, "What can you do now?" Clearly, Kenny had been deployed to suppress Su Feng.
In their previous match, Su Feng's splendid long-distance shots had destroyed Ridley's defense multiple times.
Despite Kenny's modest height, his wingspan was over 195cm. Coupled with Kenny's swift movements, Su Feng was not really at an advantage when fighting against him.
Looking at Kenny's attentive eyes and proactive defensive style, Su Feng had an urge to run to the side of the court and give Fernandes a huge hug right now.
"He's like myself!
"Stay calm!"
Su Feng composed himself. Then he ran to the low post and gestured to his teammate to pass him the ball.
At that moment, the ball was in Kobe's hands. He compared Su Feng and Kenny's heights with a glance and lobbed the ball to Su Feng straight away.
Needless to say, Kenny was an excellent defensive player.
Su Feng hadn't heard about him before, but he believed that Kenny would have become a promising player if he had been taller.
Su Feng had limited strength, and he would often get away with a quick fadeaway shot when facing strong resistance. However, before Su Feng could move, Kenny nudged him with an almost unnoticeable push.
It was hard to judge whether that was a foul. Besides, it wouldn't do any real harm to Su Feng, except for significantly destabilizing him when he was in the air performing a shot.
After all, the fadeaway shot had very high requirements on the precision of movements.
Clang!
A brick shot.
Clang!
After Su Feng's missed shot, Kobe charged forward and caught the ball in time. Then he leaped high into the air and dunked the ball into the basket against Larson's defense!
Nice!
2 - 0. That was the perfect ending to Su Feng.
Not only had he gained Brick Shot Points, he had also assisted Kobe to score two points.
Kobe was very familiar with Su Feng's playstyle. Hence, as soon as he saw Su Feng's imprecise movement during his fadeaway shot, Kobe had rushed to the front court, ready for the rebound.
Never question Kobe's dominance in the Pennsylvania high school basketball realm. In Su Feng's former life, Kobe had achieved a stellar result of 30.8 points, 12 rebounds, 6.5 assists, 4 steals, and 3.8 blocked shots per game on average.
In simpler words, Kobe was the ultimate trump card in his high school team. He could bring victory to his team whether he was playing inside or outside the three-point arc.
Kobe's dunk sparked a wave of cheering around the court. As a top basketball school, Ridley students had seen countless basketball matches, but…
It was rare to see someone like Kobe, a real-life
Back to the match. Goodman broke through Schwartz's defense and scored a shot. The score was now 2 - 2.
Schwartz's build was inferior to Goodman's in terms of both his height and weight. Moreover, considering Schwartz's commendable performance in the team recently, Kobe only patted his shoulder encouragingly and didn't say anything.
Schwartz was relieved that Kobe didn't give him the death stare. The game resumed.
In the front court, Su Feng chose to remain in the low post. Schwartz, who thought of himself as the Pennsylvania Nash, passed the ball to Su Feng as soon as the opportunity arose.
After the successful defense just now, Kenny had become even more aggressive in the defense against Su Feng, poking Su Feng's waist repeatedly with his elbow.
That was tough. Su Feng almost burst out crying.
Err…
Don't be mistaken. It was tears of excitement.
This was real basketball! How could you call it a basketball match if it didn't involve some physical resistance?
In basketball, rough play was the way to go.
Otherwise, how could Su Feng display his true strength?
Clang!
Thanks to Kenny's interference, Su Feng's second shot missed the hoop again.
And Kobe saved it again…
He leaped up and gently shoved the ball away from the top of Larson's head, like Sakuragi Hanamichi in the Slam Dunk manga.
In the next instant, Kobe jumped up again and caught the rebound. He turned his body like a waltz dancer to dodge the defense.
Then he hurled the ball up in an elegant trajectory. 4 - 2!
Statistically speaking, Su Feng did not even assist in the scoring of this shot. However, Kobe pointed at Su Feng after the goal.
Su Feng knew that Kobe was complimenting him.
Sigh, I have to say that the scoring statistics of this era were too shallow. They didn't even include the important "rebound assist" count.
"Su, he's got a long wingspan. Don't attack head-on," Kobe reminded Su Feng, concerned that Su Feng might have misunderstood him.
Su Feng nodded.
As a responsible team player, Su Feng knew his job very well. He shouldn't aim to farm up his own statistics at the expense of his teammates'.
But…
Strange.
Or maybe Su Feng had run out of luck!
He had had perfect ball sense recently, but today, the basket had offered him its sincere greetings and kindness.
Clang, clang, clang!
Afterwards, Su Feng shot four times, but surprisingly, none went in.
Moreover, one of the shots was made in an absolutely open area when Kenny wasn't around.
As we've already known, the system would not recognize an intentionally missed shot. Hence, Su Feng had been totally concentrated when he shot the ball. By no means had he meant to miss.
However…
"I'm not buying it!" In the second period, it was Lower Merion's turn to attack. Kobe passed the ball to Su Feng, and the latter jumped up under the basket, ready to launch a bank shot.
Clang!
Su Feng was speechless.
The seventh time!
Looking at the increasing Brick Shot Points, Su Feng was now struggling hard to hide his inner joy. He felt that he might burst out into laughter at any moment.
"No way. I must put on a sad face and control my emotions," Su Feng thought "bitterly".
As of this moment, Ridley was falling behind. However, Fernandes was happy that Kenny had successfully suppressed Su Feng.
"Hmph, you are the one who crushed us last time, aren't you?
"We'll crush you tonight!"
But Fernandes didn't know that Su Feng had now viewed him as an "ally".
What a good man!
"Su, stay calm, cheer up. Don't stress yourself out. We are far ahead of them now. I'll try to pass the ball to you more and help you regain your ball sense," Kobe comforted Su Feng when they were falling back to defend. He was worried that Su Feng might feel discouraged from the seven missed shots.
Unlike Su Feng, Kobe was in his prime tonight. He had achieved 16 points and 11 rebounds before the end of the first half.
Actually, Su Feng wouldn't have taken it so lightly if Kobe hadn't been performing well.
After all, winning the game was the No.1 priority to Su Feng.
However…
Having received Kobe's encouragement, Su Feng felt that he shouldn't go on failing Kobe's good intentions.
"Rest assured, Kobe. I am a shooter and I know what a shooter should do. I will keep on shooting even though I've missed the first seven shots!" Su Feng reassured Kobe, patting his own chest confidently.
Kobe nodded and smiled a heartened smile.
Ridley made a mistake in their offense, and Lower Merion took the chance to fight back.
Kobe passed the ball to Su Feng at once. He believed that he was responsible for helping his good friend regain his usual state despite his under-performance so far.
But…
Clang!
The basket sent its love to Su Feng again, with help from Kenny!
0 - 8!
Su Feng was halfway to reaching the legendary Beastmaster
"What a pity. I wish I could accomplish the Beastmaster State in this match."
Although that would look bad on his game history, it wouldn't really matter to have one or two high school matches like that. Su Feng had plenty of time to pull his statistics back up.
In addition, after Su Feng's eighth missed shot, Kobe gave a thumbs-up to Su Feng and said, "Keep it up and don't stop shooting! I'll continue passing the ball to you."
Su Feng nodded gratefully and said, "I'll never give up!"
….