Chapter 470: 157:11

"Damn it!!!"

The HG men's basketball team's locker room was in shambles, with tables and chairs smashed to pieces. 

Several players were venting their anger, until the security guards intervened and stopped them.

The Huaxia men's basketball team, on the other hand, was much more civilized.

"It was just a joke, Huang Yu. I bet that HG netizen is feeling pretty proud right now. He must think we're the HG team," Huang Yu teased Wade Dong.

"Get lost!"

Wade Dong crumpled his towel into a ball and threw it at Huang Yu, who caught it with a laugh.

Leading by 75 points at halftime!

In an international competition, had there ever been such a huge point difference at halftime?

Winning by a margin of over a hundred points was already impressive, and Wade Dong was about to break another record—the largest point difference in the history of the Men's Basketball World Cup.

...

The second half was about to begin, and the players were leaving the locker room. Several security guards responsible for the locker room gathered to chat.

"Damn, the HG team has terrible manners. They almost destroyed our locker room! I'm going to record a video and expose them!"

"Really? I'll go check it out later..."

"The Huaxia team is different. They speak quietly in the locker room. I just went to take a look, and it's clean and tidy."

"The difference in manners is obvious!"

"They deserve to lose so badly. I hope they don't score a single point in the second half."

...

"Why are you guys here?"

When Wade Dong returned to the court, he noticed Curry and the other three. 

Curry smiled and said, "We just finished our game and came to find you. Let's go for a drink later."

"Did you lose badly?"

"So, you came to find me to drown your sorrows in alcohol?" Wade Dong joked.

Irving pointed at the scoreboard. "Could it be worse than their loss?"

"Wait for me. I'll score a few more points, and then we can go for a drink after the game."

The game had already started, and Wade Dong didn't continue chatting with Curry and the others.

The tickets for the Huaxia men's basketball team's match against the HG team had sold out long ago, but for Curry and his friends, there were still ways to get in and watch the game.

The HG team attacked.

Li Zhongxian got a chance to shoot but missed.

Gu Qi grabbed the rebound and passed it to Wade Dong. The five players from the HG team quickly returned to defense, but Wade Dong changed direction, faked out Park Chan-hee, turned, and drove through the middle of Li Zhongxian and Moon Tae-jong, finishing with a layup over Lee Sung-joon and Yang Dong-geun.

This level of 1-on-5 play was too easy for Wade Dong.

The score was now 82-5!!!

The HG team became more and more anxious as the game went on.

The Huaxia team, on the other hand, grew more and more stable.

Curry and the other three were stunned, "Is this how the score gap widened?"

"This is the level of defense you see in the Finals!"

All five players on the court for the Huaxia team were NBA players, and for this game, Deng Hua didn't plan to let the newcomers like Ding Hang play. 

"Tsk tsk tsk..."

Curry shook his head as he watched.

...

For the HG team, this was the most agonizing game of their careers.

When the referee blew the whistle to end the game, three players collapsed on the court... They were dejected, but also felt a sense of relief.

The final score was 157-11!!!

In the end, the Huaxia team won by a massive 146 points, setting a new record for the largest point difference in the history of the Men's Basketball World Cup.

The game stats were as follows:

Wade Dong: 57 points, 6 rebounds, 9 assists, 7 steals, 11 blocks.

Huang Yu: 21 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists, 3 steals, 1 block.

Lin Hao: 19 points, 3 rebounds, 21 assists, 6 steals, 3 blocks.

Yi Nan: 29 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals, 5 blocks.

Gu Qi: 15 points, 27 rebounds, 3 assists, 0 steals, 7 blocks.

Li Pei: 16 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals, 0 blocks.

HG team: 11 points, 3 rebounds, 0 assists, 0 steals, 0 blocks.

This was a massacre, and it wasn't just reflected in the score. The rebounds, steals, and blocks were even more telling, as these three stats best demonstrated the Huaxia team's defensive prowess.

After the game, the HG team had three stats with zeroes, and their combined team stats were still inferior to those of a single substitute player on the Huaxia team.

...

"It was worth it! Staying up all night was worth it!"

"Are there any brothers living near XX District, XX Street in XX City? Let's go for a late-night snack."

"Brother, I live nearby. How about some authentic barbecue? Their shop is open until 6 AM."

"Let's go! We won't leave until we're drunk!"

After the game, it was already 2 AM in Huaxia time, but the excited fans couldn't sleep and started making plans to go out for drinks.

This was undoubtedly the Huaxia men's basketball team's second most impressive game on the international stage, second only to the 2012 Olympics when Wade Dong scored 91 points to lead the team to a comeback victory and the Olympic gold medal.

...

"Madrid is a very passionate city. Are you sure you don't want to go to a nightclub?"

Harden was feeling down and a bit regretful for coming.

Curry had invited Harden to watch the Huaxia team's game, and Harden had been hoping that Wade Dong would join them for a night out at a nightclub.

But...

The group found a very quiet bar, which left Harden disappointed.

"There's still a game tomorrow. Aren't you worried about partying too hard and affecting your performance?"

"It's just the group stage. We can take it easy and still win no matter what."

"What about the finals?"

"Of course, we'll take the finals seriously."

"Haha... After the World Cup, when you guys get the runner-up spot, I'll treat everyone to a night out at a nightclub."

"Why not when you get the runner-up spot, Dong Ge?"

"Because you guys aren't our Huaxia team's opponents..."

"Pfft!"

"Two beers, please!"

Wade Dong and his friends were sitting by the window on the second floor, enjoying the Madrid evening breeze and the sight of foreign women passing by on the street.

...

Based on this year's Men's Basketball World Cup group stage, the Huaxia team wouldn't meet the M Country team until the finals, where the two teams were most likely to clash.

There were three more group stage games left, against the AD team, LT team, and AG team.

The strongest among them was the LT team, which had won several bronze medals in the Men's Basketball World Cup.

The AD team was also not weak. In the 2012 World Cup, the two teams had met, and the Huaxia team had won by over 70 points.

However, in a subsequent NBA game, Wade Dong had jumped over Bogut's head to complete a dunk, a move comparable to Carter's famous 'Dunk of the Century'. After that dunk, Bogut seemed to lose all his basketball skills.

Bogut's performance declined, and with injuries adding to his troubles, he seemed to have left the NBA last year, though Wade Dong wasn't sure which league he was playing in now.

After seeing that Bogut wasn't on the AD team's roster, Wade Dong no longer had the desire to crush them. The results of the next three games were:

September 1st: Huaxia 107, AD 73.

September 2nd: Huaxia 95, LT 83.

September 3rd: Huaxia 103, AG 86.

The Huaxia team finished the group stage with 10 points and advanced to the next round as the top seed.